Music Video Evaluation

WWW 1:
When making my music video, I had the opportunity to use Adobe Premiere to cut and edit the various clips and shots together to create the full music video. Adobe Premiere is new software and therefore I have not had much experience using the program in the past. Despite this, I feel I tackled the program and learned how to use the various tools and effects available effectively. As a result of this, I feel that I edited the shots and clips very well. I aimed for fast paced editing and think that I achieved this. My shots are cut precisely and  fit well to the beat of the song. 

WWW 2:
Throughout my music video, the lip sync Kenny Kendrick and Mikel Monroe performed was precise and exact. When making a music video, it is important to show the artist lip syncing; I spent a lot of time on this feature of my music video to ensure it was precise and effective throughout the duration of the song. I was pleased that Mikel Monroe and Kenny Kendrick performed the lip sync so well; however it made it much harder to pick shots and clips to use for the video as each time we filmed the lip sync sections, they performed better than the last time. Overall, filming high energy and exciting lip syncing sections made the music video more entertaining to watch and easier to put together.

WWW 3:
When preparing to make the music video as a class, we discussed the locations we would like to use. We chose an existing location, the classroom, a set that we had to create, the prom, and a green screen location. I think that, as a class, we put together our best ideas and the locations we used for our music video were exciting and filmed to the best of our ability. The locations also allowed us to experiment with different lighting; for example the prom scenes are dark as it looks like a party, whereas the green screen looks light and bright as the main focus in the shot is the artists.


EBI 1:
To improve the music video, I think we could have tried to use a wider variation of camera angles and shot types. We used a lot of plain, mid shots, long shots and close ups and did not experiment with shots such as over the shoulder shots or tracks for example. Using other types of shots would have made the music video more entertaining and more interesting for the audience to watch. A wider range of camera angles would have had the same result. The classroom scene shows a short high angled clip, however low angles and moving shots would contribute to a much more exciting range of shots to chose from and experiment with.

EBI 2:
Another element of my music video that could be improved is the green screen scenes. I would have liked to have had more time to edit the colours of the background in the green screen sections. I had ideas to have black and white shapes moving around behind Mikel and Kenny, morphing from one shape to another or moving in random directions. I think that my music video would have been much more exciting and effective if I had the chance to create this effect.

EBI 3:
A third improvement I would make to my music video would be to use faster paced editing techniques from the start of my music video. Although the way I have edited my music video is precise and accurate, it is fairly slow and uneventful towards the start of the song. I would edit the beginning of my music video to make it faster and make the cuts between shots faster and more exciting. I think this would help improve my music video as there would be a more consisted editing speed. The editing becomes faster and more effective during the instrumental section of the song; I chose to use this section to show off the performance of some of the boys in the class as they are entertaining to watch. This section has much more exciting editing compared to the rest of my video as I took the opportunity to cut to syncopated beats of the song rather than just the obvious, constant beat. If I had have adopted this technique more often throughout the music video, it would be more effective and more entertaining for the audience.


5 Effective Sections

One section of my music video that I thought was particularly effective was the very beginning of the song. 




TubeChop from 00:01-00:10

The very beginning of the music video consists of a series of changing shots. The first effect of this sequence is the 'fade in'. The first shot appears gradually; the shot starts black and the picture slowly appears. This is effective as it signals the start of the music video and suggests there is a narrative to the video. The sequence does not have any sound, therefore making it important that the visual aspects of the sequence are interesting. There are a few different angles and shot types that are included in the starting sequence that help make it entertaining and attention grabbing for the audience. Different shots cut from one to another until a still, mid shot of Mikel Monroe fades out into black. This 'fade out' signals the end of the opening sequence of the music video. I think this sequence is effective as it catches the attention of the audience and causes them to wonder what kind of song this music video has been made for. I also think it is effective as it shows an exciting 'over the shoulder' camera angle, as well as shots such as mid shots, close ups and extreme close ups.



Another section that I though was effective was:



TubeChop from 00:55 - 01:04

This section is effective as it shows a moving camera shot. The camera moves from the focus of the artists to the extras in the shot around them. This shot allows the audience to see other people involved in the music video enjoying themselves and having fun. This keeps the audience's attention on the music video as the majority of the music video is focused around the performance of the artists. The sequence is effective as it fun, entertaining to watch, accurately lip synced and cuts clearly from one location to another.



Thirdly, I thought this section was also effective:




TubeChop from 01:06 - 01:26
I think this section of my music video is effective as it shows a range of clips from each location within the 20 second TubeChop I have highlighted. It is important to show a range of locations in a music video to keep the audience entertained and interested in the video and not just the song. I think this section of my music video demonstrates this well as there are an equal range of clips from each location, however, to improve this section and make it more effective, editing the clips at a faster pace would allow for more entertaining viewing as the audience would see shorter clips of the location each time. 


Finally, I thought the end section of my music video was effective.


TubeChop from 4:01 - 4:17

I thought this section was effective as it shows fast paced editing, a good range of locations and an exciting 'fade out' technique. This sequence of shots is attention grabbing and entertaining. Not only is the content of the shots happy, amusing and joyful, the shots have been put together in an effective sequence. No two locations are seen next to each other and the people featuring in each shot are smiling, laughing, happy and enjoying themselves. This is a contributing factor as to how effective this sequence is as it makes the audience feel happy when they are watching it. The shots are mostly mid shots and the camera angles are also mostly front facing angles but as the lyrics finish, the audience can see the artists enjoying themselves with the other people in the shot with them. 


One section I did not think was effective was:



TubeChop from 00:33 - 00:55

I did not think this section was particularly effective as the editing was slow paced and the clips were only showing two locations; the set and the green screen. The clips were around 5 seconds each and cut from the green screen to the prom set over and over again. This section will appear boring to the audience as it is slow and showing the same locations. Showing a diverse range of clips, shot types, camera angles and locations is important in ensuring a music video is exciting and holds the interest of the audience. I do not think this section of my music video would hold the interest of an audience as the main conventions of a music video are not executed as well as they could have been.

Music Video Tips

10 tips I would give to anyone making a music video would be:

1. make sure you choose at least 3 locations to film different parts of the music video in
2. plan the different shot types and camera angles to allow you to prepare for the possibility of needed advanced equipment
3. ensure you have a reliable artist to feature in the music video
4. ask the artist to practice lip syncing the song before the day you are due to shoot in the various locations
5. plan for various outfits to be worn in the locations and ensure the artist is aware of this
6. ensure the artist makes eye contact with the audience
7. make sure you have access to high standard software to edit the music video
8. ensure that you understand how to use the software to edit the video
9. edit the music video with a fast paced and non-repetitive technique to ensure the video is entertaining and enjoyable to watch
10. have a shooting schedule planned and follow it to ensure all the shots, camera angles and locations are covered; this will ensure you have plenty of footage to use when editing

Decisions and Process of Making the Ident

To make my Ident, I needed to make lots of decisions.

First of all, I had to think of an idea to film to make a 30 second television ident.

A very important part of the process of making my ident was the ideas and planning. My ideas and planning included the ideas for The GRID ident in the form of mind maps and spider diagrams. From these ideas, I needed to make a choice as to which idea I would use to continue to develop and create into a full television ident. 

Once I had made this choice, my music/concert idea, I then had to draw up all the planning documents in order to ensure I made the ident to the best of my ability and was able to create it to a professional standard. 

The planning documents included a props and costume list, a developed idea, a font choice, a music choice, a location post and a story board series. 

Each of these planning documents played a part in the process of making the final ident.

In the raw footage of Bobby and I filming the first stages and filming some test shots of the ident, you can see that we have had to use a Green Screen to simulate the location we wished to film the ident in; unfortunately, such a venue was unavailable at the time and so we had to make a decision to film the ident in front of a Green Screen to save time. Furthermore, the costume we wanted Charlie to be wearing, all black, was unrealistic as the background of the ident (the Green Screen) was going to be black as well which would have made it very difficult to see Charlie and him moving along with the beat behind the drum kit. As a result of this, we asked Charlie to wear a striped T-shirt, however we would have preferred a slightly more colourful one.

After we had written and made all the necessary decisions for the ideas and planning documents, we began to film the ident. The Green Screen was an extremely handy tool for Bobby and I as it allowed us to film the shots we needed in one day and edit all the footage on the computer, with little fuss.

The raw footage below will give you an idea of the process of making our ident:



Our raw footage helps show the decisions we made. 

To start, the first few clips of our raw footage shows an orange rectangle covering the logo. Bobby and I couldn't decide as to how we would cover the logo on the front of the drum kit and cover it with our design of The GRID logo. We filmed a few shots with the orange rectangle covering the logo on the drum kit and then filmed the shots again without the rectangle covering the logo.
In the end, when we were editing the ident, we used the shots without the rectangle as it was easier to design a similar logo for The GRID with a circular background that would cover the entire front area of the base drum. Overall, we felt this looked more effective and professional. 


The raw footage shot by Bobby and myself show the progression we made whilst using the technology to produce our ident. To begin with, our shots were slightly out of focus and we struggled to fin the correct frame to film the shots we wanted. However, with time and practice (in the form of many short 5 second recordings) we were able to film our ident shots to a good standard and edit them using Adobe Premiere to make them look as professional as we could.

Ideas and Planning Documents - Shooting Schedule

The GRID Ident - First Draft

The GRID Ident - Final Draft

Music Video Production - Spider Diagrams

 

Idea 1: Contrast

The majority of the music video will be filmed in a black and white colour scheme. The chorus will indicate when the video will burst into colour, showing lively, bright colours and an energetic club scene. This idea will follow the lives of 4 men, attempting to attract the attention of one girl. The colour scheme will shwo a contrast between two, very different atmosphere's and the focus on one young woman will reflect the lyrics well.

Idea 2: Clubbing
Our second idea is mainly based around a dance scene and a club. The artist would be performing at a gig venue, which would be full of people salsa dancing and enjoying themselves. Whilst the artist is performing, shots will vary to young men trying to get the attention of girls and dance with them. This idea would be shot in predominantly, one venue, however showing different locations within the night club/gig venue.

Idea 3: 1,2,3
This idea will follow the lives of three pairs of couples. Each pair will feature in a certain location, either a house party, a club, or out on the streets of London. Each location and pair are supposed to represent a different stage of a relationship; getting to know each other, going out together and forming an intimate relationship.