Evaluation

Above is the finished project, I believe it could have gone better but could have been worse. I enjoyed shooting the music promo, it was a lot of fun and I felt I expanded on my knowledge. The first idea we had was to film our video on a beach following the theme of a typical love song but we all decided after a lot of thinking that it would be fun, challenging and unusual if we created an article which was unique. We were inspired by Florence and The Machine's music video “Dog days are over” I found watching her video comfortable and different, it was inspirational to watch because the idea was simple yet compelling. The cast in her promo consisted of circus acts; one being a clown which caught my attention due to his eccentric face paints and colourful costume. This helped us realise how we would portray the creatures to our audience.

The most popular idea was to create woodland creatures living in a world full of imagination. The idea was difficult to pursue to the audience without any confusion. I thought it was best to structure the video as a story because it was easier to follow, the audience are able to realise what is happening and the promo itself doesn't look unorganised. It was important that the video flowed nicely and was not uncomfortable to watch because otherwise it wouldn't appeal to our target audience.

During the production it was very important to keep up to date with the weather. Our location had no heating or shelter which meant if rain was expected for the duration of the week we would be able to have a plan B. A problem that we did have was filming the sun rise, We were up Monday to Wednesday morning by 6:45am but didn't manage to produce a clear capture. So Thursday morning I drove to Wherstead and filmed the sunrise, however I was disappointed when I logged and captured my footage because the camera moved which altered the frame of the shot. Talking to Tim in pre-production he thought the most successful technique to use was to use quick time capture; stop the recording every few minutes cutting the shot meaning in editing it allows you to speed up the scene, creating an edgy effect. However because the focus of the sunrise was so still when pressing record it jolted the camera which gave us an unsteady scene. I was happy with the setting, it was beautiful however if I was to film it again I would record the sunrise as a hole shot and then in editing I would just speed it up. This way I would prevent any unnecessary movement of the camera.

I think the hardest part to this project was to create the music. Firstly I suggested we chose a genre, allowing us to explore and find ideas. For example: if we had chosen Hip Hop as our genre our music would consist of dominant catchy beats whereas if we had chosen Rock/Metal the vibe would be heavy and threatening using electric guitars and drums to portray this image. We firstly created an acoustic genre using acoustic guitars and piano but we found it hard to create successful audio to match with our visuals. So we started to chose something more lighthearted finding inspiration from Coldplay, we still used piano and a slow acoustic guitar but our backing track was dominant throughout our piece; meaning our lyrics were able to easily flow with the music.

The lyrics were hard to write, we set each other a task which was to go home and all write lyrics about the certain topic we had chosen and then come back in the next day and compare. Reading through our lyrics we all had different emotions and it was hard to contrast them together. In the end we found the easiest way was to really listen to the music and brainstorm our ideas. I found this most successful because it meant we as a group all took part and the lyrics fitted well with the song. If I was to do the music again I would have chosen a slower paced song and maybe added a bit more of an edge to it due to our visuals being mysterious creating an eerie effect. However I was very pleased with the outcome apart from my singing. I had a lot of fun recording and creating the music.

Our location being Pin Mill was ideal for our video, It is exactly what we had hoped for and it was the easiest location to access. It was very easy finding different points within our location to create edgy and varied shots. One issue that did occur to me in pre-production was lighting, because of being in the woodlands surrounded by trees, light is restricted which may have affected our picture but whilst filming we found the light complimented our piece because we were lucky with the sunshine. The temperature reached minus degrees Celsius some days and because there was no heating we did struggle to film and act. If I was to do this again I would take extra belongings such as, rugs, blankets, coats and jumpers; to sit on, keep warm and have for extra layers. Warm drinks; keeping our bodies warm and energised.

It was very important to have dominant costumes in order to portray the creatures to the audience. In order o keep costs low and fair we decided to use what we had, It was lucky I had lots of old Moroccan summer clothing because the colours of the trousers and scarves were bold and bright and the style of them was unusual. The clothing wasn't ideal due to the temperature of the weather. If I was to do it again I would come to a fair agreement and create costumes using old clothes and accessories. The costumes played an important role because we had to make the audience understand who we were however I didn't think it looked very successful. Using face paint on our faces was a good idea because it added identity to the creatures and the overall appearance looked odd and slightly threatening. Applying face paints each day was time consuming and our group couldn't really afford to lose more time than we needed due to our busy production schedule. If I was to do this again I would maybe suggest using masks and personalise them ourselves preventing time loss resulting in keeping the same identity each day of filming. I would also suggest painting any visible nude part of the body for example: arms; to really emphasis the creatures identity.

During filming we had no major problems, what I did find is that we didn't have enough footage. We all took turns with the camera allowing us to all have a chance at filming and to be seen in our production. However, I was disappointed I only had a short time on camera, I would've liked to contribute a lot more footage to our piece but it was hard because not everybody wanted to be the talent, so we had to come to a fair agreement. If I was to make any improvements I think wearing masks would be a better idea for everybody resulting in us all looking the same meaning nobody feels embarrassed in front of the camera. Allowing us all to have a fair share with filming.

Our group decided to use image stills to create an edgy effect. I had never use this technique before so I had fun experimenting. I was impressed with all the image stills I took and how effective it looked on playback. To emphasis the creatures mysterious mannerisms this effect worked well because it made them look out of the ordinary. I especially liked the angle of Kirstin when she was twirling around within the trees. The angle made her look superior because the camera was positioned beneath her. The only doubt I had when capturing these images was the slight movement of the camera, in Industry remote controls are used to capture the image instead of pressing the button this prevents any contact with the camera causing any slight movement which will affect the end result. I was disappointed with the outcome of images when the creatures came together. The setting was changed due to light conditions which altered the exposure time. If I was to make any improvements on this I would take more practice and use more variety of shots experimenting with the talent.

We used two tapes to record our video, so as a group we alternated times to log and capture because of the amount of footage. But when logging and capturing our footage I realised we didn't have enough which changed our idea. Whilst we were filming I did have that concern, so in the woods each of us took a few shots of the surroundings. Jess captured some lovely shots of the bunting, I found that panning the camera within the trees worked effectively and Kirstin captured some shots of the walkway, These shots help connect scenes together and are able to keep the audience engaged with the creatures habitat.

I felt I had a strong role during editing, I enjoyed watching our footage on playback and piecing it all together however I was very disappointed when the work I had achieved had been changed. But due to our team work we came to a few compromises. I feel that towards the end of the video (2:15) this certain scene is weak and the audience are unable to piece together what may be going on because the sequence becomes random. (2:31) The audience can realise that the visuals are being reversed. Jess and I thought this was a good idea because the visuals connect with the lyrics. Woodland creatures go into hibernation “One day, One Month” suggests how ever long the creatures are apart their imagination will always be true to them. “Imagine us 10 years from now” suggests the creatures have woken from their habitat and rekindled their love for each other and beyond their celebrations and happiness they'll soon have to return to hibernation but their love for each other will continue 10 years from now, 20 years from now, for eternity because it's “Forever you and me”.

Showing our video to our class surprised me because our feedback was very positive. About 5 pupils said they felt that the music promo was unique. I felt pleased by this response because it is what we had planned to portray and we were able to keep that standard continuous throughout filming. Many pupils in our class found the Mise-En-Scene effective, the use of costumes and make allowed the audience to identify the connection with the creatures. One of the main areas I found we really succeeded on was the sunrise, the feedback given was very productive and pleasing to hear, our audience was very impressed with the visual and editing.

However much I didn't like the sound of my voice our group was praised with the effort we put in by our audience. “The music flows very well with the visuals” “A lot of effort has been made”.

It was interesting to notice after the video had been played the audience had mixed opinions about what genre of music it is. “Snow Patrol” was a popular answer which resulted in our genre being Indie. The reason why Snow Patrol was a popular answer was due to our backing track whereas some of our audience suggested “Pop” because of our singing. I was happy with these decisions because it means the audio was lighthearted and the visuals were able to compliment the lyrics keeping a neutral balance between the two.

I found that our music video visually represented us as a band, showing that we are unique to our audience, due to the promotion of our group the audience will now expect our image when listening to this piece of music.