Final major project evaluation revisited

Final major project evaluation revisited

• 1.
  Jack Dixon Final MajorProject Evaluation For my final major project unit I was asked to create my own media product such as radio advert, music video, photo shoot or motion graphics composition. From the different products I then had to think of ideas for my major project; I decided to produce a music video for the song Bassline by The GetAlongGang as I enjoyed the music video production last year. Once I had decided on this idea I began to research other music videos from the same genre, I was already familiar with a lot of them but had never analysed the styles and conventions used. From my research I decided that I would stick to typical conventions of this genre of music video which include different types of camera shots such as POV and pan shots as well as including similar props such as DJ equipment and alcohol. On my first shoot I went to Clifton Country Park where I shot the outdoor scenes, the country park had many unique backdrops that I wanted to use in the dancing scenes of my music video. Once I got back to college and uploaded the footage onto the computer I found that although the footage looked good on the camera the quality was poor when shown on a larger screen so I could not use any of the clips from the first shoot. This caused a large set back as I was now behind with my filming; because of this I decided to take the camera with me to an indoor music festival that I was attending that weekend in order to get back on schedule, this was not my initial plan so I was no longer following my storyboard and had to completely rethink my idea. At the festival I shot similar footage to what I had planned, although I was not able to film in the desired location and had limited props the footage was good quality and used a diverse range of camera angles and shots. Once I returned home from the festival I shot some more footage in my bedroom of the DJ equipment being used as well as some clips that would link well to the footage I had already got such as preparation for the festival. Due to the different situations in which I filmed I could not control the pace of what was going on, for example when filming the dancing it was all unplanned freestyle dancing. The footage that I recorded at home was filmed whilst the song was playing; I did this to match the timing better as this gives a more professional look. Once I began to edit the clips together I tried to match the visual movement to the pace of the song which is fairly slow although I decide to speed up the speed of some clips to add variation. This is footage from my first shoot at Clifton Country Park and then the music festival shoot, as you can see the second shot is in much better quality to the initial shoot. This makes the video look like it has been shot professionally. This is footage from the final shoot that took place in my bedroom. As I had more props available at this shoot this is when I tried to include branding and familiar props for my audience. At the start of the song in my music video there are some small individual sounds; I tried to match the flicker from a lighter to these sounds. It was quite difficult to get this perfect but I believe it works well and was worth the effort.
• 2.
  Jack Dixon This isan example of layering clips together. I believe this suits the style of the video due to the dark background contrasting with the glow sticks which could connote a nightclub. Once I had enough footage I started the editing process on adobe premiere pro, I began by trimming individual clips leaving only the sections that I would be using in my music video, this was the easiest part of the editing process. Once I had cut all of the clips I imported the song that I had decided to use for the music video; unfortunately an official music video for the song that I initially planned on using had been released that week which put me off using the song so I used another song from the same genre; Hot Since 82- Every Little Piece. Now that I had the trimmed clips and the song onto Premiere I began to sequence the clips together, following a narrative of getting ready for the festival and then following the events throughout the weekend. Getting the footage to match the music was the most difficult part of editing as it is hard to get the footage in sync with the beat, to do this I had to change the speed and duration of some clips. When deciding where to place the clips I had to make sure that I spread the more interesting clips around in order to keep the audience entertained. I later found that the song that I chose was far too long to fill with my footage but as I had already synced the footage to this song I made the decision to cut the song down instead of choosing a different shorter song. Once I had completed the sequence and watched it back I found some of the scenes quite boring to watch so I decided to layer clips on top of each other to give a slightly transparent effect to some of the footage. Another thing I added was the use of split screen; I split the screen into sections with each section showing something different, I believe this made the composition much more interesting and professional looking. After making these changes I was happy with the sequence so I moved on to editing some individual clips in Adobe After Effects; I used the blur and sharpen effects on some of the clips that I had used more than once to make them look a little bit different to each other, once I had added these effects to the clips I then exported to clip back into my Premiere project. Once I was happy with my project I had to render and export the finished product and upload it to YouTube. Throughout the production of my final major project I developed many skills that I had covered in the first year of college to a much higher standard. I am much more confident with the Adobe software; Premiere Pro and After Effects as well as using a camera to film. During the production of this music video I watched tutorials on YouTube to find effects and styles that I could use in my composition, my favourite discovery was the use of split screen as I had not seen this in many music videos and believe it makes the video much more interesting for the viewer. The use of layering footage also helped me to achieve a professional look throughout my composition. On one of the lessons before I had good quality footage I played around with different effects to help me get a unique idea for my music video, I decide to use the blur effect on the glow stick scenes as it makes the glow look slightly like that of a light saber. As I was working independently this year I had to be involved with much more of the filming and planning, I already had a basic knowledge from my first project but as I had no one to do the things that I couldn’t I was forced to learn these new skills. I can now say that I am confident at producing a music video as well as other film based products. Due to the first day of filming being unsuccessful which resulted in me taking the camera to the music festival which I hadn’t originally planned, the final product does not follow the storyboard but This shows the split screen that I used in my music video. Each section shows something different although 2 are the same clip but played at different times.
• 3.
  Jack Dixon some ofthe intended content is still there. The music video is still aimed at the exact same demographic audience and I believe I have reached my target audience needs that I detailed in the proposal. Although the music video now follows a different narrative and storyboard, many of the key elements from my proposal are still there, for example my music video only uses characters that are of a similar age to my intended audience as I believe that students would prefer to see people their own age in media products as they can relate to them. I was hoping to use different characters for each scene but as only 6 of us went to the festival I had to use the same people throughout. My music video also includes branding that will be familiar to students such as Captain Morgan’s rum and clothing brand Hugo Boss, I also included some recognizable festival wristbands in the video as the demographic audience participate in clubbing and festivals and when they see this merchandise they could be reminded of their time there meaning they would have an emotional connection with the video. The song has also changed from the song on my proposal but in my opinion the final song works well with the theme of my video, also at the time when I chose this song the artist was very popular within the house music community. Unfortunately I was unable to include strobe lights in my music video so instead I decided to use glow sticks as these are related to clubbing and also gave the video a unique aspect. The main difference from my initial proposal is the camera techniques; in my proposal I planned to use the tripod to create stable footage as I believe this looks more professional but once I began filming in this style I found it to be boring. This is when I decided to use POV; this involves the audience much more as they may feel like they are there with the characters, this style also makes the scenes more realistic and not planned. Time management is something that I need to work on, when I planned my schedule at the start I didn’t consider any problems that I may face during production. As I was working independently I had to do some work outside of lesson whereas last year when I was working in a group I managed to complete all work inside college with help from a teacher, this has made me confident at working alone to make decisions and solve problems. I used a production diary to monitor what I had done and what was needed to be done in the next lesson; this ensured that I always knew what needed to be done. In the future if I were too create a music video again I would create a written schedule whilst considering setbacks as well as choosing some smaller tasks to do in my own time as to not get a build-up of work by the end of the year. If my first filming date would have gone to plan I would have been on time for the rest of the production, this was my fault as I didn’t ask for advice on using the camera before I headed out to film but now I am confident that this wouldn’t happen again. If I would have had more time leftover at the end of the project I would have tried to add more effects the music video using After Effects, this would have gave a much more professional look. I received positive feedback from everyone I shown the video too, as soon as the video was complete I gathered my friends that came to the festival with me as well as a few others and watched the video together. All of them were laughing throughout the whole video which shows This screenshot shows the characters in my music video; all of which are of a similar age to the intended audience. You can also see a coca cola bottle on top of the wardrobe as this is a popular drink for teenagers. I used POV camera shots to give the audience more involvement with the characters in the music video. By doing this I also managed to include lots of branded props in the background which is why I created a messy look in the room; it’s a well- known fact that students are known to be messy and lazy.
• 4.
  Jack Dixon that thehumour I intended to include is visible; I find that if something makes me laugh I am more likely to remember it and want to watch it again so I am glad this worked. When I shown my family the video (none of which are the intended audience) they didn’t laugh like my friends did and didn’t pick up on things such as the festival merchandise, this shows that the video is well suited to the correct audience that I planned to appeal too. A friend who also studied media pointed out some parts of the video that were not perfectly in time, if I would’ve shown him this before I made the final edit I would’ve been able to change this, in the future I will try to get feedback for a rough draft before I perfect the final edit. In my opinion I believe that I successfully created a music video that appealed to the intended demographic; students with an interest in house music, festivals and clubbing. If I were given the opportunity to create a media product again in the future I would choose to create another music video as I believe I am getting better with each attempt. There are some slight changes that I would make to this music video however; firstly I would make sure I shot much more footage as this music video is under 3 minutes long. Another change I would make would be to include some female characters as there are only males in this video, doing this could help me to reach a wider target audience. Finally I would have liked to include footage from inside a club or live music venue, when I was filming this video I did not want to take the camera into the rooms where music was being played as I could’ve damaged the camera, if I would have planned ahead better I could have spoken to the organizers of the festival and possibly filmed from a safe location. Overall I am pleased with the final product and I believe that I have developed my editing and filming skills to a good level.