Music Video Evaluation

EVALUATION By Andrew Goldman

Overview Task 1: Types of videos

There are 3 types of video – Performance, Narrative and Conceptual • Write a small description on each type and find an example from YouTube. • Upload work to blogger • Label – Unit 5 Music

Task 2: Choose a song for your video • write down who sang the song • write down ideas you have when listening to song • Label – Unit 5 Music

Task 3: Get into groups • in your groups, decide whose song you will be making and why • brief outline as to what you will be filming • Label – Unit 5 Music •

Task 4: • Film your video

Task 5: • Edit your video • Label – Unit 5 Music

Task 6: • Evaluate • Label – Unit 5 Music

Introduction My Group: Owen, Josh, Rory,

Will, Myself

For Unit 5 we were instructed to create a Music Video for a song of our choice containing different conventions of music videos. We had to choose from three different types of music video, these were…

Performance: A performance video shows the artist or band performing in a live type of format. This feature generally consists of members of the band or the artist lip syncing to their own song. It is a common feature in music videos and is low budget. However despite the low budget approach is helps the audience feel as though they are at a live show watching them.

Narrative: This feature generally has the song as the story background, telling the story with words while something is happening on screen which correlates with it. This can be done by using actors or animation.

Conceptual: Conceptual videos are based around a single idea or concept and are generally quite different, even surreal for the audience. This unusual content is an attraction to many consumers, which draws them in.

Pre - Production For pre – production my group and I had to decide on the song we would use for our

music video. The final two choices were ‘Turn Down For What’ by DJ Snake and Lil Jon and of course ‘Need You 100%’ by Duke Dumont feat A.M.E. Myself and Rory’s personal choice was Turn Down For What, Josh and Owen’s choice was Need You 100%. William was happy with either. In the end we decided Need You 100% would be a more mature and doable, as opposed to the manic and crazy nature of the other video. Once decided we got straight to work on the planning phase, this in my opinion should have been improved. Our planning was not extensive enough, therefore while filming we would often stop and think to ourselves ‘what’s next?’ Planning is incredibly important within the overall pre – production phase as it co – ordinates what we will be doing in the upcoming stages. Its too much of a vital stage to brush over, so next time we should definitely take the time to plan thoroughly before setting out filming the video itself. Going into the filming process should only be done with a full plan, not a rough idea plan like ours was.

The Story The primary storyline for our music video was that of a depressed and unlucky school

teacher names Bill who lives for nothing. Eventually his life turns upside down and he becomes a social, crazy, party animal with a much happier outlook on life. He decides to go out and live life completely the opposite way to what it once was. He may be much happier this way, however he still is plagued by the worst of luck. After waking up drunk from a fun filled night he crosses the road he had discovered his new nature on. The difference is how the end outcome is presented. The first time he looks both ways and quickly walks across, the second time he is too busy talking to his new friends on his phone and is tragically struck by a speeding car and presumably killed. Fatally effected by his bad luck curse, the video cuts to black and the audience is left wondering.

The Protagonist

Filming After the brief pre – production phase we commenced our filming. Immediately Owen

and Josh set themselves up as the primary directors and cameramen. I was recruited to star as the videos protagonist whose story will later be explained. Rory and Will both made brief cameos as passers by and during the filming were advisers to the video. I think we worked very well as a group on the whole however would often stop for long periods due to Josh and Owen’s constant squabbling over certain camera angles, which in some ways just reiterates their passion for the subject. During filming we established many great Media camera shots such as over the shoulder and panning. These worked well in my opinion as it gave a whole range of differing point of views and interesting angles in which to tell the interesting story. Another element we encountered during filming was that of locations, there wasn’t really a range of different locations used and that should be improved upon next time. More locations means more interest for the audience and would make them even more intrigued.

Editing For the editing phase we used Adobe Premier as the primary editing software and after

previous experiences I was a little hesitant about how I would find it. But when the footage was imported I began to become more comfortable and by the end I knew much more about the software and how to use it. Certain elements of editing went very well for me. Special effects imported by the helpful website www.FootageCrate.com, I was able to transport some very effective sound and video footage that made my final product better. I found timing of the music in correlation with your footage extremely difficult. Certain parts of footage were well accompanied by certain parts of the song, and to accompany them together was a real challenge. My task was made harder when my originally imported music stopped working and despite my best efforts stayed broken. This meant that I had re upload a new version of ‘Need You 100%’ which was frustrating and put me behind quite considerably in terms of completion.

Eventually when fixed and re done thankfully the song worked and didn’t malfunction which meant I could continue. I learnt many new techniques during the editing phase and in my opinion have improved significantly since my first Media project ‘The Chase’. My editing is much smoother and makes my final piece look better as a whole, I can visibly see my improvements when watching back ‘The Chase’, ‘FIB – New Haven’ and ‘Mythical Crimewatch’. For me ‘Need You 100%’ could be my best media project in terms of editing.

Editing Techniques For certain parts of the song there are two distinct and quick beats. I decided to

incorporate those two beats within my video. Using up close editing I was able to create a blackout effect between the two quick beats. This worked very well in my opinion because it was a quick and interesting feature, the audience watching would soon get used to these blackouts and if they knew the song they’d know when the blackouts would happen. Also the blackouts could be seen as a precursor for the end of the video where the blackout is the final feature. The blackouts are seen as the low points in his life and the final blackout is a great example.

Another technique used was that of already recorded imagery. During the character’s fun filled night in the town I used video’s via YouTube to convey the story that the protagonist is in London and is at the night club shown. This is a clever way from my point of view to communicate to the audience and let them know what's going on behind closed doors during the night. However to improve I would have made the nightclub video longer and more eye-catching, this could be done by alternative angles and different lighting effects which can be done in Adobe Premier.

Originally I was to have small sentences appear throughout the video, for example to introduce the character as ‘Bad Luck’ Bill. This would have been a great narrative element but it looked to tacky and almost unwelcome in the piece itself. The only narrative seen as words is the ‘Morning after’

Props, Set and Equipment Classrooms – To be shown as the work environment for the protagonist Dented Car – Generously permitted by Mr Drummond, the dented car is used to show the

bad luck the protagonist has Car Keys – These keys fail to work in the car door again showing the bad luck side of the

protagonists life Poster – The Spearmint Rhino poster was developed by Josh and was used as the eye-

catching item that starts the night to follow Computer – As a office prop Canon Camera – The great quality camera used for filming Tripod – For holding the camera in a steady frame for certain shots Slider – Used as way to get a certain shot, camera slides across the floor on top of a slider

Responsibilities Owen Bowden – Co director, Cameraman, Cameo appearance Josh Sullivan – Co director, Cameraman, Cameo appearance Will Traynor – Consultant, Cameo appearance Rory Giddings – Consultant, Cameo appearance Andrew Goldman – Protagonist, Consultant

LocationsOur primary locations were all located in Ringwood School which was handy considering our video was set in a working environment. English corridors and classrooms were the only indoor shots in the whole video (excluding the night club shots.)

Where we got ideas The lyrics were the main motivation as to why we used this particular song. For

example the line ‘Need You 100%’ can communicate to the audience that the protagonist is in serious need of company and fun. Also ‘ I wanna be the one you tell all your friends about’ tells how the protagonist wants to be noticed and the centre of attention which is something he gains by the end of the video, also in death he is the centre of attention. Whether the audience realises it or not the lyrics play a huge role in the narrative of the piece and I think the song choice worked well, as did the storyline to convey the lyrics in.

To conclude Overall I am very pleased with my final piece and I believe that I have gradually

improved since the start of the year and this particular project is a good example of that. It was a fun and enjoyable project which my group and I approached in good spirit and produced, in my opinion, a great music video featuring many different conventions of Music Video. We worked well as a unit and I would love to once again work with this group and hopefully shift positions slightly, so that myself, Rory and Will can have more of a directing approach.