Music Video – What would you do? – Tate McRae

Please watch in playback quality 1080p for the best results

Above is our final draft of the music video. Overall Jemima and I are very proud of what we have produced. We feel that we made an appropriate use of effects without over complicating the video or straying from the conventions of the pop genre. Also, we used a variety of shot distances to convey the narrative and create a memorable performance.

We payed particular attention to mise-en-scene taking care in the details of the wedding reception style performance scene and the setting of the church in the narrative. When editing, we made sure to edit to the beat as this is conventional for our genre and also ensure that in terms of proxemics, our star was the main focus of majority of scenes.

Of course the final product wasn’t going to come without its faults. Particularly we are frustrated that we didn’t pay enough attention to the continuity when filming the narrative – this wasn’t highlighted to us until we received peer feedback and once we noticed it we couldn’t miss it. In our final edit we tried our best to rearrange and cover clips so that it is less obvious but we simply didn’t have the shots to cover it up or fix it entirely but this will teach us to take care with this when filming in the future.

Another continuity error that has been pointed out to us is the wedding cake is smashed in some scenes and then not in some of the following but we were aware of this and feel that it isn’t an issue because it is simply a prop in the performance and when the actress is not smashing it, it is simply an element of the setting.

In totality, we created a music video that followed the conventions of a pop genre and used a creative narrative to produce a high quality music video

 

After receiving a variety of feedback, Jemima and I have near finalised our music video.

To work towards our final draft, we have received two rounds of peer feedback as documented below;

Another round of feedback was also given in a different format;

Multiple shots where cake is smashed at it cuts back to a reassembled cake

• Continuity error with veil towards end of the video as it disappears when she is running but reappears again
• Fran looks behind him as she runs away but cuts back and he is facing forward and turns again
• Blurry shot – I don’t know if this was intentional
• Flower gets plucked but reappears again

Getting two rounds of feedback from the perspective of someone else who is also aiming for the same success criteria as us as been helpful because it shows us how someone skilled on the outside views the effects. I find that I struggle with making the effects and transitions look intentional, this kind of feedback helps us learn what works and what doesn’t when conveying our genre in the performance and our narrative.

Our teacher has left us some feedback through a platform called Screencastify, this allows her to narrate her thoughts and feedback to us as she watches it. I have embedded the video below:

Targets for our next draft:

• Make opening shot longer or comply with rule of thirds
• Have a close up earlier on in the performance and then can cut back
• Lipstick narrative – jump cuts must be in threes otherwise it looks like a mistake
• Pick up the bottle quicker and lessen the delay
• Cut to close up of cake detail
• Ensure performance shots don’t break the fourth wall
• Make the cake smash more significant with a close up
• Change the walking up to the church scenes to slowmotion to signify impending doom
• Add in more rotation to chaos cake scenes – gives energy
• Have groom’s reaction shot earlier on in the sequence
• Slow down the low angle grass shot
• Edit out people in the background
• Close ups of romantic shots and slower action
• Colour filter on the performance to differentiate or use effects to contrast
• More connection between the girls
• Use colour to help convey emotions in the narrative

From this feedback I have learnt that whilst editing we need to pay closer attention to rule of thirds, particularly in our jump cuts to make them look sleek and purposeful. We’d like to use this advice in our next draft to add effects, make it more interesting and ensure the narrative is conveyed correctly.

For our next draft, we were lucky to have Lenny from the Specsavers Creative Team review our draft as well as teach us some new skills on Adobe Premier Pro to improve it further.

Specsavers Draft 2 Feedback:

• Use Lumetri Colour FX in post-production to make the bride’s star image is more white and radiant.
• Lengthen out the narrative so that the video seems less rushed.
• Use cropping to refine clips that have unwanted things in the frame.

 

Draft 3:

I feel that this feedback has hugely benefitted us as from the beginning we knew that we needed to improve our knowledge of Premier Pro as FX add character and can help portray the genre as well as fix some mistakes in post production. Specsavers also taught us how to crop and scale our clips, how to utilise the layers within the software to make editing easier and copying effect attributes.

 

This week, Jemima and I added our narrative footage to our music video to form draft 2 of our video.

Draft 2:

In order to improve our video we have completed a self assessment and got feedback from our teacher. This allows us to reflect on ourselves and our skills in editing, camera skills and genre conventions as well as set targets and goals for the next draft.

Below is the success criteria and ticked boxes to show where we think we lie on each element and skill.

What went well:

• Use of the tripod throughout narrative shots and camera movement is relevant such as canted angles that imply chaos and show action.
• Video clips sync well with the words and most to the beat as well.
• All footage is visually pleasing and we have plenty to help convey the story through editing.

To Improve on next time: 

• Attention to rule of thirds and the 180 rule – we have a variety of footage but at some points have neglected these rules in favour of our preferred footage, even if the angles don’t follow these rules.
• Effects – so far we don’t have any effects in our video, we wish to improve on this by doing things like adding filters to wedding scenes to differentiate from performance and narrative, crop and refine videos where unwanted things are in the background and use some transitions to make the video flow better.
• Sequencing – we feel that we’ve rushed into the narrative too much and that the story is not spread out in a way that goes with the song and is not consistent in how much we display in the narrative:performance ratio.
• The video ending – we want to refine the ending by making the narrative ending more clear and having less performance.

Teacher Feedback: (Image below)

• Stabilise pan at the start
• What is she looking at when picks up the phone (include close up)
• In the dress sequence add a filter to represent future
• Make sure all performance footage is focused
• Close up of Groom for reaction shot
• Crop out the ice cream van
• Extend the video where she first hits/smashes the cake
• Add a glitter/flower filter

Self assessment and teacher feedback has helped me to learn how to analyse my work against a success criteria as well as see it through an outsider audience perspective. It’s important to take a step back and reflect on the video so that we ensure we have a good final product.

Above are some pictures from behind the scenes of our narrative shoot. We chose to film in the beginning of the summer holidays so that both our actresses were available and so that we would prioritise the shoot.

Across two days we shot our narrative – day one was located at my house and we adapted the lighting in my parent’s room and cleared the dressing table for our bride to get ready for the wedding. We dressed her in a satin robe so that this costume represents how any bride would be on the big day, we directed her body language to be nervous and wary as the narrative is that she doesn’t want this wedding and finally we made sure to get a variety of angles and shots including close-ups, mid-shots and various shots from behind her but focused on the mirror to give us an interesting range.

On the second day of the shoot we drove down to St. Apolline’s Church – a small church where it would be empty and available to use so that we could film the main action of her deciding not to go through with this wedding. Additionally, we went to Les Amarreurs and Ladies Bay to film some action shots such as handhelds of the bride running away. In keeping with our altered narrative, the bride runs away to be with the girl that she likes so we also shot them bonding and meeting each other on the beach to close the story.

In summary…

Positives:

• Good use of three locations to use the ‘rule of thirds’ and split our narrative into three sections
• Used our shot list and PMA to get the wide variety of shots wanted from each action and location
• Worked faster and more efficiently as actress was more familiar with cameras.
• Utilised MES with the wedding dress and veil
• Got out of our tripod comfort zone and filmed handhelds and canted angles relevant to the action
• Practiced two-shots as we now have two characters

Improvements:

• MORE attention to detail with MES e.g. painted toes and fingernails, same makeup etc
• Maybe just a few more running shots for consistency

Before we do our narrative shoot, we must make sure that everything will run smoothly, be successful and that everyone involved is safe. To do this, Jemima and I have written up a production meeting agenda- it includes useful things to remember such as equipment, location, costumes, props, makeup and practical information like the phone numbers of teachers.

Additionally, we have created a risk assessment which our teacher has signed so that we can ensure everyone’s safety and be aware of the dangers.

Completing the risk assessment and PMA have prepared us for our narrative shoot, not just in terms of planning mis-en-scene, shoot details and responsibility but also for protecting us from the dangers that could arise in the process.

Shot List for narrative shoot

In order to ensure that our narrative shoot is successful, we must make sure we get every shot we set out to do and envision for our video. To do this we have created a shot list which includes general images to give an idea of the location / action as well as the type of shots and action we want to film.

This shot list has improved our narrative sense as it has forced us to entirely think through the structure and so now we know exactly how the story will play out and have an idea of the types of action sequences we need. It has also made us realise that our main themes are breaking free, power and drama. The narrative themes are important to remember so that we will film in a way that the audience will denote as intended.

We have listed most actions as having multiple shots so that we get a variety of shot distances and are able to cut to close up in post production.

Planning using a shot list for the narrative shoot has helped us gain a clearer vision of our storyline and themes as well as preparing us for the actual shoot.

Performance shoot rough cut

This is the first rough cut of our music video. We edited this using Adobe Premier Pro, a software that allows us to manipulate videos and add music.

• Jemima and I found that we had plenty of footage to fill almost the entire song although we did wish we filmed some lyrics more as we were lacking in good shots for the second verse, however, getting the lip sync to match the audio was easy for us as we know the software well and our actress was in time
• For the next cut I would like to make an effort to edit to the beat more – I feel that we focused too much on editing to the rhythm of the music but our chosen song has lots of edit-to-the-beat potential too.
• Our star image is conveyed well in this rough cut – she seems sweet or neutral in the beginning of the clip and as the song builds, the star’s anger and sass builds too but I think especially when paired with the narrative it will be clear that she’s playing a part – pop stars are conventionally seen as kind and creative and the narrative will help fit the genre.
• I think that we did well to get a variety of shots within the small setting and the props aided this, maybe in the narrative we will get a bit more created such as more canted, pans or tracking shots.
• During post production we made sure to include a variety of movement from our star – there is lots of action like cake smashing, throwing roses, eating, etc
• We used a repetoire of elements to make our rough cut fit the conventions of the pop genre such as close-up shots, emotive acting and lots of editing to the lyrics but I think that now we need to get more creative and utilise the effects on Premier Pro to make the video more exciting.

Completing this rough cut has helped us by making it clear that our production structure works effectively – we have enough footage to fill the whole song we just haven’t edited to the end of the song. It has also helped me to adapt to the software and get used to moving footage, adding audio and making the various cuts and edits. Also, it has improved our collaboration skills as we worked on it together.

For our first shoot, we filmed a performance in the lecture theatre. We used the corner of the lecture theatre at school and utilised the white walls in the corner to create our mini wedding reception ‘room’. Our idea came to life really well – the fairy lights accentuated the setup and added to the mise-en-scene as a gentle addition to the background.

We used high-key lighting to make the room bright and used white within our props and setting as it is a colour that conveys marriage. We shot the performance from a variety of angles and played around with different concepts such as cake smashing filmed in midshots, handheld and tracking shots.

Although, next time I would make sure that our actress knows more lyrics as we did it in sections but I think it would be more beneficial and time efficient to film every concept and angle once through with the whole entire song.

I think that we prepared well in terms of props, we used the champagne and flowers in lots of shots to make movement seem more natural and especially as Jemima prepared two cakes so that we could keep consistency and get the most out of our two hours of filming.

From looking back on the footage I don’t think we would need to pick up shots but I would like to film a performance shoot in another location but with the same outfit, just for a bit more variety in performance shots and to give us as much content as possible.

In future shoots I would like to be equally as prepared but with additional lyric knowledge from the actress – once warmed up into the shooting process it became much more natural and easy to film

In summary…

Positives:

• Prepared mise-en-scene
• Good lighting
• Appropriate and good use of props
• Getting a variety of shots
• Good collaboration with Jemima
• Good directing

Improvements for the next shoot:

• Filmed in too many little sections- caused us to nearly miss out footage for some lyrics
• Put more effort into consistency
• Another performance shoot for variation
• Help Actress be more prepared / perfect the acting