Connor Davidson

Scenario

This is the scenario we were given at the start of the task. We would then go on to complete 7 different tasks based around our scenario and eventually put them all together on our blog.

You are to commence the pre-production, production and post-production phases of your music video. You will prepare all relevant pre-production materials and you will use pre-production documentation to produce your music video footage. Prior to filming you must ensure that you thoroughly understand your job role and the responsibilities that accompany your role. To ensure the smooth running of the production process, it is essential that you do not encroach on the job roles of others in your team. For this assignment you will need to provide evidence of how you manage and deal with production (and any problems that may arise) in the form of an evaluation. For this assignment you must produce individual edits of your music video. This will help you to provide evidence of knowledge and application of video post-production techniques.

We chose to do our music video for the song 'SAIL' by AWOLNATION. We thought this was a good song to do a music video to as it has very meaningful lyrics and would be easy to express through a video. After creating the storyboard and script we realised that maybe we didn't have enough time or the skills to do everything we wanted, so we had to alter our ideas slightly to make them realistic. We felt we had enough people within the group to achieve our aims and were positive our idea would work.

TASK 1

Task 1 was split into 2 different sections. Firstly we had to 'produce a comprehensive word-processed or voice recorded analysis of three music videos. Our examples had to be 3 different type of music video. They were performance, concept and narrative. I chose a music video by Stormzy for performance, Nico and Vinz for narrative and Tenacious D for concept. I think these 3 music videos show these types of music video well and clearly demonstrated how different each type is. These music videos did help me gather ideas for our own music video, which I put forward to the group.

Here is an example of the analysis I did. This is part of my work for concept based music video which was KICKAPOO by TENACIOUS D. The analysis was broken down into 7 sections. These sections were:Target Audience & NeedsLyrics (Meaning Implied)TempoGenreCamera TechniqueEditingUse of Digital Effects.

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This picture shows just a couple of the sections we had to analyse and the amount of analysis we had to do. We also had to include screenshots from the music video as examples to back up our analysis. Not only did we have to analyse the on screen actions, we also had to listen carefully to the lyrics and analyse the meanings of them. This was easier for the narrative and concept songs as the lyrics tell the story, however the performance based music video was a bit more difficult. Using subject specific terminology, we had to comment on how styles, techniques and conventions have been used to appeal to a target audience. Analysing the music videos helped explain what purpose or purposes our music videos served the artist and the audience.

Analysing these music videos did help me with my own ideas, on what to include within the video. It also gave me ideas for types of editing to use and what would suit the genre of music video we choose to do. As we analysed 3 different type of music video, this kept my mind open on ideas for our own video.

TASK 2

Task 2 focused on brainstorming ideas for our own music video. We did this in the form of hand drawn sketches and an online digitally produced mind map. We also made a slideshow of different images which represent different genres of videos and talked about the conventions you would expect to see within that style of music video. Here is an image of the mind map I created for my music video. I researched many different genres and sub genres for my music video idea. I came up with the ideas under the sub headers Lyrical Meaning, Camera Work and Cinematography, Editing and Digital Effects and Settings/Visual Style/Lighting and Props. These helped me think and create my music video idea and present

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my ideas to the group. We all created separate mind maps but then came together and showed each other. I created this using the software ‘MindGenius Education’.

This screenshot is taken from a slide show which I created to show different conventions of different music genres. I created numerous slides for different music genres, such as rock, pop and Grime. I got images of typical things you would expect to see in these types of music video.

TASK 3

For task 3 we had to produce a report and budget that outlines the specific requirements for our music video, with supporting research and staff and equipment costs. For this we had to describe what job roles will need staffing; for example director, camera man and sound recording etc. I also defined the responsibilities for each job role. This helped me decide which job role would suit who better and helped me choose which I would be best at. I had to consider health and safety aspects when looking at the different roles. As well as researching

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different job roles, we also had to create a budget list for a music video shoot. Within our list we had to include equipment to film on, different light and sound equipment and also a computer to edit the video on. The overall cost came to around £3700 from our £4000 budget. Obviously it wouldn't cost this much to make our own music video, but thus was just an example of what it can cost. Here is what each slide looked like for all the individual pieces of equipment.

The equipment I included in my advert were the top equipment that proffesionals will use, not the equipment we would be using. We could hire a camera and tripod from camera, along with cases/bags for each and then also use the software on college computers to edit our videos.

TASK 4For task 4 we had to produce content, specific for pre – production planning for my chosen music video idea. This had to include script, storyboard, location recces, production schedules, production call sheets and risk assessments. We then had to upload each of these documents to our individual blogs.

This task was helped by the previous task, in which we learnt about job roles. We were able to allocate each member of our team a job role, so that we all had roughly the same amount of work to do. We would go off and do our own part of the task and then save them to a shared document in which we could all access. This means we could all be doing a

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part at the same time, which helped speed up the process. Within this we had all our final copies of each task, from there on all we had to do was upload them to blogger.

I was allocated the location recces task, where I had to scout the locations we wanted to film in and check they were suitable to film in. This included checking the safety aspects of the locations, the accessibility, the amount of light etc. We had to make sure we could get to our locations easily enough within our college breaks and that there would be enough light to film in. We also had to check the areas were safe to be filming in and we wouldn’t be disrupting anybody.

This is what my location recces looked like. I had taken pictures or gathered images from the internet of our location and analysed the safety and other required knowledge for each location. In total we had 6 different locations that were looked at and deemed suitable to film in.

After I had finished my location recces I uploaded it to my personal blogger and checked everybody had finished their task before uploading them too. This helped our pre-production as we were now confident with where we filming, what we were filming and knowing we could film with safety.

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TASK 5

For task 5 we had to use the pre-production documents to film our music video and record any relevant sounds we needed. We had to make sure we filmed additional footage in case we didn’t have enough to fit the song, or for any outtakes. We had to document the production phase of making our music video through print screened music video shots and photographs taken during the production shoots. We then had to look at the photographs we had taken and add any information about what was happening during this photograph. For example, here is one of the photographs I used for my photo diary. The text next to the photo describes that this was Shakeel looking at our storyboard and informing the team on what we needed to film next and where we had to do it. Obviously this is helpful for us as we then knew what had to be done. The photo diary helps show anybody who wasn’t there how we worked as a team and that we also enjoyed producing our music video.

TASK 6

For task 6 we had to produce our final edit of our music video. We each had to create our own individual versions of our music video. For this is used the storyboard and script so I knew which order each scene came in, which helped speed up the process of creating the video. Once I had chosen the footage I wanted to use, I launched the Adobe After Effects software and started importing the clips over to it. From here I cut down the videos to the required length I needed them and added any effects to them. For my video, I wanted to make the screen dark as the music video is quite dark and depressing. I used the effects from After Effects to do this, using black and white and toning. If you look at the two screenshots you can see the difference this made to my footage, once the effects had been

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added. Once I was happy with the effects I added I rendered all my footage to the correct settings, and then imported them all to Adobe Premier. Using Premier, I cut down the clips and edited them together. This means I could choose where I wanted the clips to go, how

long they would be there and the editing pace I would make it. I found the editing of the videos quite easy as it is something I enjoy doing and I felt this is the best piece of work I made. We had to make slight changes from the original idea as we weren’t able to get all the shots we needed. We didn’t quite have enough footage to reach the whole of the song, so I added some title credits at the end to make up for the extra time. This worked well and looked quite professional.

There were many strengths and a few weaknesses throughout our time of filming. I felt I edited my music video to the best of my ability, but having more footage would have definitely helped, as I could have chosen from a wider range of clips.

One thing I thought was good about the task is that we all worked well together as a team. We all were allocated a specific role to do, in which we all did to a high standard and on schedule. We helped each other out when anyone needed advice and we had our music

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video created on time. We had lots of fun whilst creating our music video which is good as it made sure we didn’t get bored. Another strength I thought was the editing I placed onto my video. The black and white effect made it suit the lyrical meaning of the song, as it showed it was a dark subject. The timing of the editing also fit in time with the song, as the majority of the cut scenes were on the beat of the song. A weakness of the music video would probably be the quality of some of the shots. We didn’t take numerous takes of each scene to give us an option of which to choose; we only had 1 version of some scenes, meaning we had to use them. Some of the scenes weren’t quite long enough, meaning I had to re-use a couple of them.

CONCLUSIONOverall I think my music video production went well. I thought I completed all the tasks to the best of my ability and have learnt a lot through the task. I learnt how to use different editing techniques within After Effects and Premier. I also learnt about different purposes of advertising artists and how they become famous. I enjoyed doing the whole production as the team worked well together and had a good time whilst making sure the tasks were complete. To make it better next time, I would make sure we had all the necessary clips needed and had enough footage to reach the end of the song and spares so I could choose which I preferred.