Dan Watt

In this evaluation I will be talking about the overall blog showing the good and bad aspects of my work in order by assignment.

IG1 –

The purpose of IG1 was to develop your ideas generation, research skills and technical code analysis of music videos.

Task 1: For this task we made three mind maps on a program called “Mind genius” for three different music videos. The ones I chose were Nikki Minaj “Starships” (pop genre), Ed Sheeran “Drunk” (Acoustic) and Foster the people “Call it what you want” (Indie). I had chosen these artists and songs as they all differed from one another, as they belong to different music genres. This meant they each had their own codes and conventions which I could analyse. I believe I did well in this task as I analysed each music video in depth and because I could analyse everything with ease, then write about it using correct media terminology. However I could have probably found more little details in the music videos to write about to give me a higher grade. I found this task easy to complete, the Mind genius program was easy to operate and I enjoyed analysing the music videos. These images are of my three music videos from my mind maps:

Task 2: The first part of this task was further ideas generation. This was done by going on a website called Tagxedo.com. Once on this website using a selection of words of my choosing and an image relating to my music videos conventions (the band, instruments used in the genre etc.), I created an image of the picture made up of the words I had chosen. Making a visual aid for conventions for that particular genre I had chosen (Indie). I believe I did this part of the task well; I created the images with ease and created a number of visual representations of conventions of the genre. I also believe I made the images visually attractive and eye catching. The second part of this task was a mood board PowerPoint. In this power point I gathered images relating to the indie-rock and pop genres and then wrote a definition for both of them and listed conventions of them. I felt that I could have done this part of the task to a better grade standard. I could have done this by putting more images, and going into more detail with the genres. This would have given me more ideas for when I was thinking of an idea for my music video. The final part of this task was my Music video Ideas generation. This entailed making a mind map with all my ideas for a music video. I think I did this task to a good standard. I went into a lot of detail on this mind map, noting things such as: Types of characters, editing and digital effects, camera work, lyrical meaning, setting and genre. I talked about things which heavily related to my chosen music genre as this would help me have more indie conventions in my music video. I feel like I could have added more complex conventions to my mind map. Here are two images from my further ideas generation:

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Task 3 - The first part of task 3 was the Job roles in media production. For this part of the task I made a PowerPoint about jobs in media such as, Director, Camera person, Sound editor and Lighting operator. I think I did this well, I talked in great detail about every job and what each one entailed. The second part of this task was the Music Video production budget. This was a spread sheet, with an estimation of how much the production would cost, if we took things such as the camera and other equipment into consideration. I also on a word document got links to the sites where I would in theory get the equipment for my music video production. I believe I did this task well, I understood how much it would take to make a production. What to consider in making a production such as needed equipment and the prices these cost.

Task 4 - This task was the Music video proposal and treatment. For this task I had to show that I understood what I was aiming for and what I wanted my target audience to be. This further showed that I could work with my group to come up with a way of handling our music video as we were all aiming for the same end product.

Task 5 - The last part of IG1 was the music video script. I wrote a script for my music video. I think I did this task well. I described each shot in detail and I used a range of different shots in my music video. My initial idea which is this script was chosen by my group to use as our base idea. I think I could have made this script more practical to film.

IG2 –

The 2nd draft script was a rewrite of my original script. I improved my script by adding more complex ideas and by making my script more practical to film. We started discussing our different ideas for this script and each made our own version of it. This helped us come to a final decision of what our 2nd draft script would be. For the final draft script we used Christian Owens’s idea. We used this script as it had better conventions of our chosen music genre. Next we had to do a casting call, this helped us learn about what work would need to be done in a real production. We cast ourselves into roles in our production with me being the Camera man. I chose this role as I felt I would be the most useful using the camera and equipment. The next part of this unit was the locations. We took images of locations we would possibly be filming our music video. We had to take in aspects of the locations such as if the place would be practical to film, would it be a safe environment and if it was okay to film their (making sure we were not on private land). The risk assessment links in with this task a lot. For the risk assessment we had to assess the locations to see if they were safe to film at and if there were any risks to health we should note down and be aware of. This was so we would know where

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to film to avoid injures on set. I think I did the risk assessment well I took photos and analysed any possible things that might cause an injury. For the meeting record sheet, as a group we discussed what music script we was going to use for our final music video, this is when we chose Chris’s idea. The last part of IG2 we made a story board version of his idea. I believe I did this well, clearly displaying all of the camera shots and locations. However I believe I could have drawn the story board to a better standard. These are images of my storyboard.

IG3 – My music video rough edit was my first, attempt at my music video. I think I did this task well as I edited my video well, making the sound and footage in perfect sync. I also think I made my video entertaining for the audience, mixing up the footage enough to do this. I also included a good variety of shots in my rough edit. I could have improved my rough edit by adding effects however I wanted things I could improve in my final draft. The next task of IG3 was the Production phase photos. For that we took photos while we were shooting out music video, as evidence that it was us that filmed the footage. I feel like I could have written more about each photo however there wasn’t much more to discuss apart from what you could see in the photos. My evaluation of my rough edit was good in my opinion; I summed up all the good and bad aspects of my video and talked about what I would improve next time. I used my evaluation when making my final draft to get rid of all the flaws that were in my rough edit. Finally I am going to evaluate all the good and bad aspects of my music video Re-edit. I will also be discussing all the improvements I made from the rough edit of the music video and how I got to this final product. I think my music video works well; it’s not too complicated and still features a few effects. It also has a good variety of camera shots and angles which make it look professional. These camera shots and angles are as follows: Mid-shot, an extreme long-shot, long-shot, panning-shot, zooming out, and close up. Those shots and angles are used throughout my music video. It also flows well so I think it will be able to keep the audience’s attention. I also like how my music video ends professionally with it fading to black.

Dan Watt

There are still some things in my music video which I still don’t like, for example how some of the footage was too similar in my music video, however I didn’t have the resources or time to shoot new footage. If I could do this assignment again I would pick a different song. As this songs genre doesn’t make the music video that flexible for example, the music video had to be serious in order for it to correspond with the genre.

The following are all the improvements I made on my video. I decided to edit into my video a fade out and in effect for the black cuts in my video, this makes it more interesting for the audience to watch and makes my video look more professional. I also added a fade out effect for the end of my music video as that would also make it look more professional. I was going to make more changes to my video however I decided I didn’t want to make it any more complicated and leave it how it originally is in my rough edit. I personally believe me and my group worked well as a team while filming our footage. We managed our time well while filming, helped each other with certain shots discussing which ones we should use for certain scenes. We also discussed which locations provided the best lighting for shots.