Category: Music Video

We have now completed our music video.

Reflection

Overall, we did not change our video after peer feedback. We felt like our narrative and performance worked together seamlessly, and any additions may have resulted in the video looking tacky and unprofessional. Our star image is prominent and conveyed well through our use of mise-en-scene and the variety of shots we used to highlight the deep emotions our star was addressing. Our technical forms, such as editing to the beat and lip-syncing, all work together well and allow our video to have a nice pace – making it more enjoyable to watch. In terms of the brief, we feel we have achieved it to the best of our ability. We have conveyed our stars’ ideology of being your true self well and have emphasised this through our narrative.

To ensure that we were on the right track with our music video, we received some feedback from our peers.

Peer Feedback:

‘The narrative for your music video is amazing and really easy to pick up from the start of the video. You have used a wide variety of shots and angles which I love as it helps create a connection with the audience. Aidan’s (Actor) acting was amazing, his facial expressions really help emphasise your narrative. I like how your performance was fairly basic as it not only contrasts well with your narrative but it also helps distinguish the narrative from the performance. Your aspects of mise-en-scene brought the music video together really well and the variety of locations is great.’

‘All the shots are focused and framed well. You have made good use of mise-en-scene to convey the narrative. There is a good variety of shots. I am not sure of the significance of the disco ball, I don’t think it adds much to the video. The lip-syncing doesn’t always lineup. Some studio shots can feel repetitive.’

Focus Forward

It was extremely helpful and crucial to receive feedback from our peers – this was since the majority were a part of our target population. It allowed us to understand that we had so far created a music video that conveyed the correct meanings and genre to our audience. However, some feedback given we do not feel is accurate but have taken into consideration. This feedback has given us confidence and will allow us to make a few minor tweaks before our final draft.

 

 

We have made some important and crucial changes to our music video since draft 3.

What has changed?

• We have changed the narrative montage in the middle to be more upbeat. We removed some of the walking scenes, as it was becoming boring and repetitive. Instead, we included a variety of extreme close-ups, close-ups, and mid-shots to add variety and dimension to this section of the music video. 
• One of the most important shots was at the end of the ‘How to Fit in’ book. Previously the quality was awful and the zoom made it look tacky. Instead, we have reordered the segment and used a still image, to focus on the old life our star has left behind. 
• We have fixed some colour projection issues to make our work of better quality, allowing us to see the mise-en-scene a lot more clearly. 
• We have added some fun and quirky transitions near the end section, to create an uplifting, dynamic environment that allows our audience to feel proud of the star. 

 Focus Forward

All in all our music video is almost complete. After receiving some peer feedback we are expecting to make a few tweaks so that it appeals and targets our audience better.

To understand where we can improve our video, we have received feedback from our teacher.

What do we need to improve?

• We need to focus more on the narrative and use special effects to emphasise the importance of our stars’ redemption.
• We have a slight continuity error in the beginning. We have used a jump cut of the actor that does not align with the previous clip.
• During the narrative montage, we do not allow enough time for the audience to digest the meanings of the clips, so we should play around with the segment and make it longer.
• As our actor opens the door before the transition, we cut back to our performance. It diminishes the momentum and we should think about swapping around some clips. Not only this, during the transition, we should include some colour correction and special effects to make our star pop. During the transition, we should also dip to white to emphasise the importance of our actor making this step.
• We should attempt to mute the colours before the transition to highlight the boring and unfulfilling life our character had before undertaking the transition to his true self.
• During one of the clips, cars can be seen on the right-hand side. This is distracting, and we should reframe it so that our attention is directly on our performer. 
• We should change some of the clips of our star walking on the path – it becomes repetitive. 
• We should reorder the shot when the performer throws the book, as the performance in between is meaningless. 

Focus Forward

After receiving feedback from our teacher, we can now focus on different aspects of our music video that need working. In particular, we need to focus on our narrative – it took us a while to figure out our performance projector effect, but now that is sorted, we can put all of our efforts into improving the narrative. We will do this by ensuring the sequencing is correct and improving the colour in several of the clips to emphasise meaning. This feedback was very helpful and will allow us to make some needed improvements to our video to make it the best quality before final submission.

Following our last self-assessment and Specsavers’ feedback we have produced an improved draft.

We have solved the issues surrounding our projector effect – by using different blend modes and opacity changes – which has allowed us to see the critical mise-en-scene we lacked in the previous draft. This was extremely important as it allows us to convey our star image more effectively. We improved our video quality by using colour correction and stabilised many of the clips. However, there are still some things for us to work on.

What do we need to work on?

• At the end, we zoom into the ‘how to fit in’ book. However, this is done poorly and removes quality from our video. We will instead use a still clip of the book. 
• We need to slightly alter the scale of the projector on the split screens, they are slightly bigger than our performance shots, and this can be seen and is irritating. 
• We also need to quickly rectify the colour on our pink performers’ split screen – it is currently too dark and lacking quality – this can easily be achieved by using lumetri colour correction. 
• In the performance montage at the end the blue projector is too dark, so we lose some critical mise-en-scene, we will alter this by changing the opacity. 
• In the final narrative montage, there is a clip that slightly goes out of focus, we can fix this by slightly cutting the clip and reordering the montage. 

Focus Forward

We now have specific instructions and tasks to complete within our video. This is useful as it allows us to be efficient and use our remaining time wisely, allowing us to create a video that is of the best quality. In particular, we are focusing on small elements, which allows us to understand there are no big issues remaining in our music video, such as previously struggling with the projector effect. We are also going to receive some formal feedback from our teacher will enable us to put our best foot forward when completing draft 4.

 

 

We were lucky enough to have the opportunity for feedback from professionals at Specsavers.

Feedback

• Ensure that all of our work is organised and colour-coded to be more productive. It will allow us to separate the narrative from the performance and have more control over our workspace. 
• We concluded that we have solved our issue with the projector. After trying many different techniques within the software after effects and different lighting styles, we concluded that using the multiply blend mode will enable the best quality footage and video. We will also have to do some colour correction to ensure our work is of the highest quality and the colours pop.  
• When shooting, we should’ve adjusted the contrast settings on our camera to allow us to have more contrast compared to the projector background – allowing our star to be seen more clearly. 

Tips and Tricks

• We have learnt how to copy and paste effects across our whole video by using the ‘copy and paste attributes’ tool. This will ensure we have the same settings and adjustments across all the required videos. Not only this it will save us a lot of time and enable us to work more efficiently and promptly, allowing us to focus on different aspects of the video. 
• We have learnt how to do a sudden zoom instead of a gradual one, this will help us with video progression and creating variety in our video.

Focus Forward

After been given some advice and new directions we are able to focus on the details within our video. By getting a professional opinion we can understand and learn industry standard techniques to make our work of a better quality. It has given us new ideas and directions which will help development within our video.

To further develop our music videos, we created a draft including the narrative. In this draft, we managed to create a complete music video. However, there are a few things to change and tweak to make it better.

To think critically about the work we have produced, we assessed it against some key conventions of a music video.

What went well?

• Our video’s editing reflects the rhythm of the music. We put an emphasis on our group editing to the beat. This was crucial as it allowed the video and music to work together simultaneously, creating a better atmosphere. It allowed our video to be professional and encouraged a steady pace of progression within the narrative. 
• Our mise-en-scene, particularly in the narrative, was enhanced using colour correction techniques. This allowed us to accentuate our key messages, ideas, and themes, inspiring people to be their true selves. It is bold and brave and works cohesively with the performers. It helped convey the star image and represent some of our target audience members. 
• We found we had a wide variety of different shots and angles to choose from; This allowed us to put together quality footage that had lots of variation and was engaging. This was useful as it allowed us to make a cohesive video that was interesting and appealing to the eye. 
• In the end, we introduced the pin board again, which had become such a key feature within the video – this created a cyclic structure and acted as a reminder to the audience of the story’s humble beginnings. The use of transitions at the end was a nice touch as the video was not cut abruptly.

Targets for Improvement

• We struggled again with our projector effect and getting it right – currently – it is far too light but does, however, show our intricate and detailed makeup looks. To rectify this, we are looking into using a new software called After Effects to layer the two video clips and ensure that no quality is lost. 
• We could add some more transitions into our music video to create a more seamless edit that is not so abrupt. In particular, during the narrative, we can include them in some montages. We must ensure we do not overdo this – otherwise, it’ll look tacky and unprofessional. 
• The majority of our shots are still, and the tripod was set up correctly. However, particularly during a montage, there are a few clips that require stabilising. This is to ensure that our edit is of the highest quality and is easy to watch. 
• Our editing for the narrative is well established but needs some work. In our next draft, I think we should include more clips before the final transition to accentuate how difficult it is to live when you are unable to be yourself. 
• During a clip where the ‘How to Fit In’ book is shown, some black can be seen at the bottom of the clip due to a zoom we added. We will rectify this in the next draft.

Focus Forward

Overall we have made good progress without a music video. By ensuring we completed the song, we can now look at the video as a whole and ensure that everything works together. We have identified some key issues we are facing and how we will address them. The most important thing we learned during this task – was how to ensure that the narrative and performance interacted well and proficiently. We worked well as a team and generated some fun and new ideas, which is crucial when working on a project like this. We will continue to work in this manner and focus on key issues within our music video in draft 3.

 

For our second shoot, we filmed at two different locations. One indoors and one outside – this enabled us to have versatility and variation within in our music video. We used one actor throughout the video to focus on an individuals journey and how impactful it can be.

We curated two unique props for this shoot. We created a scrapbook titled ‘How to Fit In’ which was filled with conventional images of activities the stereotypical teenage boy would like. This prop highlighted entrapment and despair when aiming for an ideological vision in order to fit in and not be seen as an outcast. However, there was positive light shed on the book when the actor threw it, highlighting the message that he was tired of trying to be somebody that he wasn’t and that he was never going to be perfect. This prop added a personal touch and added to the mise-en-scene. Furthermore, we created a bright, positive mood board that provoked the fun transition. We used different techniques to convey this, keeping in mind how we would edit the clips together.

 

 

 

 

Above, are images we took during our shoot. Pictured above is also the pinboard we created.

I felt that overall the shoot went well. We achieved well-lit, focussed shots from a variety of angles and distances. Our mise-en-scene was conveyed extremely well and was bright and colourful. We managed to get a lot of footage to work with, which will enable us to create a well-edited and framed video with the variety of shots we got.

Next time, I would ensure that we had a clearer plan at the second location. Even though we achieved a variety of decent shots, it would have been more time-efficient to have a clear and concise plan, similar to the one we had at our first location. The lights we used were temperamental, so we had to deal with the switching on and off all of the time. Next time we need to ensure that they are fully charged and working.

Focus Forward

This task allowed us to further develop the skills and attributes we acquired whilst previously filming. In particular, directing to convey the narrative as it requires more thought and depth than that of the performance. The shots we got were fantastic and will allow us to convey the narrative well using a variety of different shots. The mise-en-scene was also good, and we can enhance these colours further in post-production.

To ensure that we were safe when filming we created a risk assessment form that was approved by our teacher.

Focus Forward

This task enabled us to think critically about whether we would be safe during our shoot. It will help us be proactive and make us aware of different dangers we may face.

To enable us to be well prepared and equipped for shoot 2, we created a PMA to plan and organise what we needed and where we would be. We focused heavily on the mise-en-scene and different props, hair, and makeup items we would need to convey our key themes and messages. We could focus on details and allocate our various responsibilities.

We established that we wanted our star image to be bright, bold, and colourful. We wanted an eccentric look, and with this plan, it can be achieved. In this shoot, we had a key focus on props, some of which we will be curating ourselves (book and pinboard). This adds to the personal factor of our video, generating the idea that the star made these himself when going on his journey.

Focus Forward

This task allowed my group to be organised and have a clear picture of what we wanted to achieve within the shoot – this will help us when filming – to be concise and accurate. It allowed us to research and generate ideas about costumes and props which would adequately fit our star image and key themes. We could also identify what equipment we had to film with and what we needed to borrow – so it could be arranged in time for our shoot.