Final Draft / Draft 4

This is the final version of our music video:

Reflection:

From draft 3 and receiving peer feedback we made final amendments to our music video. After receiving peer feedback we realized we had missed out tiny little details that we needed to improve on and different edits we could make better. We feel that in our final draft we have the perfect balance of performance and narrative as well as different editing techniques.  We feel that our music heavily relies on mes-en-scene and that is what tells the story, through props, body language, costumes and makeup. Over all I am really happy with the final outcome of our music video and we feel it fits the alternative indie genre well.

However before starting the creation of our music video there were a few things I wish we had done. For example before filming each of the scenes I feel it would have benefited us to of created a more thorough shot list and camera angles that we wanted to achieve, this would have allowed us to spend more time on filming and editing in the long run instead of trying to figure out at the shoot what shots and camera angles we wanted. Another fault that we should have thought ahead is the first 30 ish seconds of our music is set in the night time but we shot in the daytime, editing this later on to make it look like night consumed a lot of our editing time.

All being done now I am happy with our finished product and happy with what my group has achieved.

Peer Feedback

 

What Went Well…

• Narrative is shown well and is clear and simple to understand throughout the video
• Acting and lip syncing is really well performed. The model did a great job when filming, there were some really effective performance shots.  
• Location shoot was good as the lighting and composition was thought out well and was really good quality.
• Editing of the clips are all on beat and works well with the music. 

 

Improvements…

• The video could use some more close up shots in the performance clips for more of a variety of shot distances and frames.

• Could try playing around a bit more with filters and transitions as it lacks slightly in editing.
• There is not much camera movement, a lot of the clips are very static although this could be added in post.

 

Receiving peer feedback has given us the opportunity to look at our music video through the critiques of our peers which allowed us to get feedback from someone who hasn’t watched our music video . For example one of the critiques given to us was to add in more filters and transitions. So going into our final draft we played around with more filters and transitions to better our music video. Now having made the improvements it has hugely improved the overall look of the video.

Our Mission Statement – The Package Brand

 

Reflection:

In the process of making our digipacks we decided to make a mission statement and a marketing strategy to figure out the aim for our star image and who our brands competition is.

We looked into our audiences demographics and psychographics, doing this allows us to design a digipak to appeal to our target audiences likes and interests.  We most importantly looked into who our competition would be and what we could do to promote our star image in different ways to make it more appealing to our target audience. When looking into alternative indie album covers there are many similarities in which the artists design there album cover. For example the colors are very neutral but vibrant at the same time, the star image is almost all the time the main focus on the front of the album cover with not much surrounding.

When it comes down to making our own digipak we now know the key details and conventions of a digipak to make ours stand out to our target audience and to promote the star image in the best way.

 

Music video Draft 1

 

Reflection:

Our first draft was just performance with no narrative. This is because we are yet to shoot our narrative part of the sequence. Although we saw this as a good thing as it gave us the opportunity to get the basics in order first and then just left us to add in our narrative when we were ready.

What went well:

• When putting together our performance the hardest part was to match up our star lyp syncing with the original audio. This did take us a while to get right but we managed to add in a full video of pure lyp syncing with a variety of different shots for example, low angle, mide shots and even side shots of our model.

What to improve:

• Going into draft 2 our main priority is to add in our narrative to the sequence. Once adding in our narrative we will be left to edit and add in transitions which will start to bring our music video together . We will edit in transitions between the clips on beat with the music to bring together a smooth moving music video

Specsavers feedback

We were lucky enough to have our music video seen by two professional’s in the media design industry come in from specsavers to give us advice and tips on how to better our music video. They watched our music video and gave us tips on what to include for ur final draft:

Tips and advice given:

• Our whole music video is based around the murder and the build up towards it. It was important we made the music video to give off an eary, mysterious look about it. The two professionals showed us some editing advice within premiere of how to better our aim of the mysterious look using different types of effects. We plan on adding these on for our final draft.
• In our music video our key point is the murder scene which includes a lot of blood. As we used fake blood trying to create a murder in some parts it doesn’t look as realistic as we wanted it to be therefore they showed us ways of enhancing the blood look and making it more realistic.
• The two of them also just showed us basic ways in which we can better our music video. For example just adding in a few more transitions and making some clips longer just as we seemed to chop and change quite a bit within the music video and try and squash everything in one certain bit.

 

Going into draft 4 we now have our last set of goals we want to achieve. Taking on the advice we have been given we feel it is going to better our music video to achieve the top marks we want.

Music Video Draft 2

 

Reflection:

From draft 1 it highlighted the key points we needed to add on/change within our music video. We have now added in our narrative shoot to our music video which is now really starting to come together. Since adding our narrative sequence it is clear now we have new targets going forward on what we need to do.

Targets for improvement:

• One of our main issues we have is our clips are not cutting on beat with the music. This is making our music video look messy and looks like not much work has gone into it, therefore in preparation for draft 3 we need to be editing and cutting between clips on the beat to make it flow better.
• Another big change we need to incorporate into our music video is transitions between two clips. Currently in our music video you can see the two clips cutting between is either just black or moving to slowly. This is when we could add a transition on beat to the music to make it all come together and not be so choppy from one shot to another.
• Due to our lights running out of battery half way through filming the lighting in some clips are off because we either had to use daytime lighting or lights inside the house with yellow ish tones. Therefore we need to edit the lighting to look the same.

Digipak Conventions Analysis

 

Reflection:

From doing this task its allowed me to understand the key conventions of an album cover. It has opened my eyes to know what is and isn’t eye catching on the front of the cover and how to draw the audience’s attention directly to your album cover.

Teacher Feedback

 

Reflection – summary of feedback 

What to improve:

• Improve the transitions between the narrative and performance, at the moment the cuts aren’t smooth between shots
• To improve the lighting/blurry scenes in some parts of the music video. Some lightings are different per shot which makes it look messy
• Repeat masking effect scene
• Start the music video with the washing machine and end the music video with the washing machine

 

Targets:

• Edits between cuts needs to be cleaner
• When the clips are to long, cut between different shots as there is unnecessary bits of the shots which doesn’t make it look good
• Add in more transitions between clips so its not just going straight to a new clip or blackness in-between, we need to add transitions to sooth going from one clip to another

Music video draft 3

 

Reflection:

During draft 3 it was important we took onboard our improvements from draft 2 and that is what we have done.

Improvements from draft 2:

• One of the main changes we made from following on our tips from draft 2 is that we have added in transitions between clips now to make our music video run through smoother, We have also cut between clips more on beat with the music so it does not look so choppy. It was important that we really focused in on these two elements to improve on as this is what examiners look into when giving out marks.

Targets for improvement:

• Following on from draft 2 we are still struggling to adjust the lighting in some clips to make it all the same. We are looking into different ways in premiere that we can change it but still not having much luck. Therefore in draft 4 we hope to have accomplished the lighting issue.
• Another thing going on from draft 2 is our transitions and effects. Although we have added a lot when cutting between clips we still feel the use of effects are missing and we are wanting to add more to give more effect when our audience is watching it.
• When putting together draft 3 we were also in the middle of re shooting as in draft 2 we had realized we didn’t have enough clips of the major points in our music video, for example our music video is about a girl killing her cheating boyfriend with a knife and we felt we didn’t have enough camera time around the whole knife bit so we  decided to re shoot and these clips will be added when going into draft 4.

Shoot 2 Reflection (Narrative)

Reflection:

Our second shoot consisted just of narrative. This is the shoot where we needed both our models. Orlagh playing the killer girlfriend and josh playing our model who has cheated on his girlfriend. When carrying out our shoot it was important that we got specific shots that would tell our story and focusing on key points in our narrative story line to tell the story. We wanted to incorporate specific parts of the original song into our music video. For example the song is called “Washing machine heart” therefore our finishing shot was the bloody sheets in the washing machine after the murder. We got a close up shot of the washing machine to signify that it was an important part of the music video. We feel we successfully got enough shots and different camera movements to tell a clear story line to our audience focusing on the star image.

What went well:

• Following our previous shoot with the bad lighting and technical difficulties we prepared in advance this time by making sure all of our equipment was working and ready for a long day of shooting. Having been prepared this ensured us that we would have every minute to film a successful sequence.
• Before our shoot we made a meeting agenda with all the props, makeup and clothes we wanted our models to be in. Having done this it made my group feel prepared and our models feel ready. We let our models no well in advance of the look we wanted so they knew our expectations when coming to the shoot.
• In our shoot we used a variety of different props to add detail in our sequence. Our main prop was the knife that in the end she ends up using to kill her cheating boyfriend. This was the prop that would pull our whole sequence together. We carried out specific safety precautions to ensure the safety of our models when using the knife.

 

What didn’t:

• When putting all of our shots into premiere and looking through them we realized we could have gotten a few different shots to make the sequence flow better. For example in one shot our model is upstairs in her pyjamas and then the next shot she is downstairs in different clothes. Therefore we have organized a new date to shoot the missing shots to improve the sequences flow.
• A downfall when shooting our narrative sequence was the timing of the day. Pretty much half of our narrative sequence was supposed to be set in night time whereas we shot in the daytime so that left us finding it hard to achieve the night time look. Since our shoot and now into editing stage we are finding ways to set the scene darker to make it look realistic night.