Music Video Evaluation

For my music video I worked on my own, the idea was inspired instantly from listening to the song. I did the pre-production work, production and editing all by myself. Abbie helped with the production giving me ideas on location and lighting techniques when in the studio.

In regards to how well I did my role, on reflection I should have communicated better with my actress and been more professional when filming as I didn’t give her clear and strict instructions of what I wanted from her. I generally let her do her own things in scenes when I wanted, a casual and relaxed look. I think this gave the wrong impression and ended up with her getting side tract, losing valuable filming time. Which I later regretted as I found out in the filming stages, she was suspended from college, so I was unable to finish filming the footage that I needed for the last two verses. I communicated well with my production assistants Joanna and Abbie when they helped me in the studio as they understood and did what I asked of them; they were really helpful.

The only constraints was the actress’s availability as well as my production assistants, I was only able to book out the TV studio at awkward times as the availability was limited which was an issue with regards to my production schedule, as I hoped to start filming sooner. This meant my actress and assistants had to leave to go home a couple of hours before my booking finished, which gave me a limited time to film. In terms of the budget I was able to get costumes from student from the other group and the only thing I needed to buy was the rose petals as the microphone and rose was lent to me by a relative.  I didn’t have any issues with the idea as the original one only adapted to be more creative towards the end but the vision was how I wanted it from the beginning.

I enjoyed making the video, the  filming I found was the hardest as I don’t believe I am a good director so I found it quite stressful, however the editing I found enjoyable because when I saw it with the music I felt more positive about the finished outcome.

Another issue I had with the production was I filmed some shoots in the wrong frame size so I had to stretch some clips, which was time consuming. If I was to do any production again I will check I’m filming in the right size before, so I don’t have this issue again. The main problem I found with the whole production was the lack of time I had which was down to me starting my filming later than I wanted and having educational days off  meaning I missed a days’ worth of editing.

The biggest success for me was the footage I used to replace the scenes I would have had of Mercy if she wasn’t suspended. I was really struggling for clips to use but I’m happy with the idea I had of zooming into the roses and going around the microphone stand with cuts of it panning up Mercy outside. I’m generally happy with the idea, the main changes was due to the actress being suspended as the ending would have been as storyboarded.

If I was to do it again I would have had more creative shots and extended the storyline of her and the man, as well as had more of her singing whilst with him. I would have improved the syncing  to make it look more professional as well as adding colour effects especially in some studio shots as I found it was too dark at times.

 

 

I’m generally happy with the finished video, I only feel as though it could have been more polished. The feedback I got was generally positive on my lighting and studio effects with the flashing lights. It was also said that one of my strengths was the lip syncing. I got mixed views on the locations and my story as they were put as my strengths and weaknesses. They agreed with me on the low key lighting in the studio and I agree with them on the locations I should have been more adventurous and creative with my locations and had some more out door shots as I liked the colours in those unlike my dark studio shots.

From the production of the music video, I’ve learnt the value of pre-production and planning making the filming easier. I have also learnt that it is a struggle to lip sync as I thought it would be really easy and the actress would be able to sing the music in one take and it would be perfect. To my surprise it wasn’t. I’ve found it challenging taking on all the roles of a director, producer etc. However I enjoyed the challenge and would like to do a music video for my FMP. Even though I felt I didn’t do well as a director I feel as though I developed and improved from each shoot, learning from my mistakes and inefficiency on some shoots. I have also discovered more interesting shots and techniques in the studio and when filming, when testing things which I will use in future projects.