Construction, Research, Planning and Evaluation

Construction

The performance section of our video was filmed using an ordinary camcorder. To increase the speed of the shoot we used multiple cameras set up at different angles around the room. Although this made the editing of the video harder as we had to keep finding small sections from a lot of footage the overall end product looked a lot better. For the narrative section we used a DLSR camera as it allowed us to get a variety of focuses and altogether a much cleaner and precise shot.

The main programme we used for construction was Premier pro CS5.5. We had used this programme before in the AS project however we didn’t use it to its full potential. This year we used a wide variety of effects on the shots (such as brighten and contrast) to make sure that the video looked professional and there were no dark or out of place sections. However we did come across a few problems as we didn’t know how to use certain features but we used YouTube to quickly find out how to do it.

For my poster and digipak I used the editing software Photoshop. I had no experience of Photoshop so I quickly became stuck. However I became more confident after I used Google and YouTube to get tips and tricks on how to use the tools on Photoshop. When I first tried to edit the pictures I had taken on my phone I soon realised that they were not good enough quality meaning that we had to re-take the photos. To overcome this problem I used a DLSR camera which gave much better quality images.

Research

Having not much knowledge of the music industry in general we made sure we researched in to that area. Using Google, we researched in to the ways they actual construct the videos, the companies that show music videos, the places you can view music videos and the general purpose of a music videos. After finding out about all these sections of the music industry it allowed us to understand more about the platforms that we can put our video on.

We also researched in to a few music video theories such as Goodwin’s theory and Laura Mulvey’s gaze theory. Having researched in to these theories it allowed us to understand more in to the ideas and thought processes behind producers of music videos. I also researched the conventions of the different genres of music. I specifically looked at the rock/indie genre as Royal Blood fit in to that genre of music. I found out about the type of cuts, editing, clothing and setting that the rock genre generally uses so I can use them in my video to make it look more professional.

Planning

For us the most important thing to plan was the audience that our video aimed at and the setting of our video. We wanted to make sure we had a clear and precise audience which we could aim for. To find out what age range would be interested in our video we sent out a questionnaire. We included lots of questions about their music interests and just about them in general. From our results we produced a large range of pie charts which allowed us to see what ages would be interested in the music video as well as some of their other interests. We used the programme Microsoft Publisher to compile our results and allow us to tailor the look of the people and setting of the video to suit our audience.

In AS media we always forgot props or someone wore the wrong clothing, so this year we decided to write out extensive lists for us and the performers in our video using Microsoft Word. Especially for

the performers in the band they needed to have separate lists as we wanted them to look especially professional and like a real band. We also wanted our setting to be perfect so we came up with some ideas of where to film and then we went to each location to see which one would be suitable. We decided the film the narrative section in Bishop Sutton as it suited the run down requirement we needed, for the performance we used a drama room as it had good lighting and it could look like a place a band could practice and perform. To find out these locations we used google maps.

We also wrote a script for out performers so it was easier for them to understand what they have to do and how that relates to the overall story. As well as this we drew up a storyboard of all the shots so we could visual the shots we are going to film and what angle/length they’re going to be.

Evaluation

The evaluation for our video did take more effort than I originally thought however I did manage to complete the two individual ones, with one on the presentation software Prezi and the other on a Microsoft word document. For the group questions we did one as a commentary over our video and another where we analysed our audience feedback over the video footage. However if we were to do this again we would make our directors commentary fit in with what is being shown in the video and we would do similar with the audience feedback question.

Overall I think our music video was of a good standard. However there were some parts that if we were to redo it I would change or just re-shoot the shots. On the narrative side I would like to re do the narrative story because the one we have at the moment didn’t really have much of a story to follow. Also some of the shots in the narrative are a bit off in terms of the performer being out of position or the shots don’t flow properly.

Also in the performance part of our video there was a set of shots that didn’t have proper lighting and there were a few where the actually guitar or drum playing was out of time with the song which I would re film. However I am happy with everything else we did and the performance and narrative suited the genres and conventions of rock and the band Royal Blood.