Final Evaluation
Final Evaluation
Target Audience:
I believe my music video would suit H.E.R and Daniel Caesar's target audience as it showcases a young couple in love; this fits the theme of a lot of their music as they both often sing about love or love stories. Both of these singers have extensive fan bases, which are mainly 50/50 male and female; therefore, having both perspectives in my video means it's easier for the viewer to relate to. I filmed my music video to match a similar style to those of Daniel Caesar and H.E.R; therefore, the people enjoying their videos would also enjoy mine. As my final video is shared on youtube, it can easily be shared around by people who enjoy it with people of a similar age and who are like-minded. The style of a less modern video that was achieved via editing will help entertain those watching as it adds a sentimental feeling to the video.
Description:
In the past few weeks, we have been planning on filming and editing a music video to a song that we individually chose; a few days ago, I filmed and edited the video. I filmed the video with my chosen actors Jasmine and Ben, they both have had experience being in music videos, and I felt their styles would fit my video. I decided to film my music video alone; as COVID-19 is still prominent, it was hard to organise a crew for filming. Luckily both actors were very helpful when it came to bringing equipment and gave plenty of input when it came to ideas. My original idea was to have Jasmine walk through Windsor, and Ben wasn't going to be in it. Still, after the first day of filming and some feedback from my teacher, I realised it was necessary to have another actor to add more narrative to the finished product. The Storyline was that Jasmine and Ben are in love but aren't together; they are singing to each other in the video even though they are in different locations.
Feelings:
While filming my music video, I was excited to be getting it done as I felt a sense of accomplishment; I was prepared, so I wasn't too worried about completing it. But as I had to go out for the second day of filming, it threw a bit of a spanner in the works. I tackled this when necessary and managed to put together both days of footage with it remaining fluid. After both days of filming, I checked all my footage and was delighted to see that my footage came out perfectly and the quality was brilliant. The atmosphere created when filming with Jasmine and Ben was great, and both were very happy to refilm clips multiple time to make sure I got the best shot I could. They also gave me their input when needed, which helped me get an alternative perspective and some excellent ideas. They were both very excited to see the final result as they enjoyed filming and assisting in the production stage. I'm very happy I chose to add the second day of footage into my video as it made it much more three dimensional and not so dull; the narrative created by adding Ben changed the entire video.
Evaluation:
This time around, I chose to be much more organised, and that started with proper communication with my actors; as seen in my music video plan page, I talked through every step with them. I wanted it to be obvious the idea I was going for this time to ensure they knew the task I was asking them to do. When it comes to the actual filming portion of my music video, it was done in good time; I chose to film some clips multiple times so that when it came to editing, I had choices and didn't feel like I had nothing to use. Even so, the filming days didn't seem too long, and I was happy with all the footage I got. I wish my music video had a stronger narrative and that it was slightly easier to understand, but as an overall point, I believe all my footage was shot very well, and the editing was done very well. Next time I would defiantly go in with a narrative planned out; this would avoid trying to create one later on in the editing time. The weather on the first day of filming wasn't great, but both me and Jasmine were aware of this and took the appropriate measure to still be able to film.
Analysis:
As I had filmed a music video before and had to reshoot, I went into it this time knowing it's best to film more than you need than not enough. The last time I got home ready to edit and was left with not enough footage/ camera angles, which I feel left my music video feeling very amateur, and I could have done a lot better. This time I reshot clips multiple times and used many more angles to avoid this; when it came to editing, it made my life a lot easier because if I wasn't happy with one clip, I had a replacement ready to use. I had done work on shot lists and just the general plan for my video initially, which meant I had a good understanding of what I wanted to film. But when I got there to film, I chose to change a portion of my plan as the weather wasn't what we initially thought. I don't believe this negatively affected my final video, and I implemented the weather conditions into my video. The gloomier look of my music video is one of the things I like the most because although the song is about love, my video shows two people who are in love but are never together. The grey tint that you can see on all my clips is intentional and helps to create the sad look I was going for; it reflects how they feel about being in love but not being together. When it came to shooting the second day of my video, I didn't rush into this either as I wanted to be ready and know what I was filming, I used Ben as a filler in some parts of my video, and near the end, you can see how the editing flips from one to another. I chose to film these parts similarly to make it seem like they were doing the same thing but weren't at the same place.
Conclusion:
This is the second music video I have filmed, and I can honestly say I have learned so much from doing this twice; this time around, I knew how to plan my music video out to reduce the stress of not knowing what to film. When it came to doing all my pre-production work, I was very prepared and already had most of my ideas planned out, so that was very easy to fill out. They helped on the day of filming as I used my shot list to remind me of my initial thoughts and to not stray too far from what I had planned. After finishing this project, I feel more than prepared if I ever chose to film another music video, and I believe the knowledge I have gained from this can be easily implemented into any media project. Some skills I have gained since starting this project are time management, how to properly research and analyse your work. But also just generally how to film and edit more efficiently, this is an essential skill for me if I chose to continue a career in media as I will need these skills for the rest of my life. Meeting deadlines is something you encounter in every profession and having to do that with this project was no different; there was a fair amount of work, but when you finish it all on time, you can feel a sense of accomplishment. In conclusion, I really like my music video and I am very proud of how far my work has come over the past two years, I think my filming, editing and general writing skills have improved exponentially.
Action Plan:
As this is the last project I will be completing at college and I will be going off to university in September, I think I will really benefit from the knowledge I have gained from this project. I will be able to use these skills throughout my time in university and also in everyday life. I started using lists to write down everything I need to do so that it seems like less of a stressful project and more like lots of mini-projects that are easy to do. This has personally helped me throughout the last year at college and has meant I can get all my work before any deadlines with minimal stress. As I mentioned above, I wish there was more narrative to my music video, and I think if I ever have to do a similar project while in higher education, I will keep this in mind and ensure the storyline is easy to follow; no matter who is watching.
My Music Video
Black and white vs colour:
As you can see, I have two separate music video, they are the same video, but one of them is in black and white; this idea came from the editing stage of my promotion video, which is also in black and white. I decided to have two versions of my final video as I think it can show the development of my music video. Black and white adds a new theme to the video and means that more is left up to the imagination of the viewer, without colour you are forced to look deeper into the video and appreciate the more minor details such as the camera angles used or the fact that I have tried to incorporate symmetry into specific clips of my video.
Black and white video is very timeless, and this was the only way videos were made for a long time; I think having the second version of my video in black and white pulls from that and does help to create a feeling of nostalgia in my video. The song is a very slow pace and is packed with feelings; I think the black and white builds on that and continues to make emotions the focal point of the video. It allows you to pay attention to the emotions shown on screen, and you can start to understand the relationship between the two actors with less distraction.
The text above shows a piece of feedback given from my teacher, this was an idea he had to help make my project more dynamic and interesting. As you can see I took this feedback and chose to make the second video, I am very happy I did this as now I have one video but in two different styles. Sometimes it's nice to get an outsider perspective on your work especially if they haven't seen it before. All you need is a fresh pair of eyes and it can make all the difference.
The Process of Filming:
The process of filming my music video was unique as I filmed it using my iPhone; I chose to use this over a DSLR to achieve the exact 4K resolution and excellent quality and make my life a lot easier in the filming process. I used a gimble to steady my phone, which gave it the very smooth feel you can see when you watch the video; this was all hoping that I could create some professional footage with much less equipment than you usually would. Using my phone instead of a camera, I found, made getting certain angles of shots much more manageable; without the weight and size of a camera, my phone was able to capture some great close up shots of my actors, which I think was a great asset to my final video.
I have used the technique of filming on my phone before in some videos I've created hence why I knew it would work for this project; I do believe that in some perspectives, using a camera might have improved the look of my final video. One aspect I think would have been better would be lighting; I find that filming on a phone means you don't quite get the same quality with the lighting. On the other hand, you can do a fair amount to aid this in the post-production stage, such as colour correction and general colour grading. I think I would defiantly use my phone again for other filming projects, but it would be wise to plan further in advance at whether a camera or my phone would benefit the outcome of the project
My Music Video Promo
I created a short 12-second promo video to help promote my music video, this was posted on social media in the hopes that more people would interact with my video once it's posted. Having the video say "coming soon" helps to build anticipation about my video as people will be prepared and can even be waiting for it to be released to watch it. I chose to use an edited part of my music video but decided having it in black and white would make it seem more trailer like than keeping the original colours. I chose this part of my video to be in the promo as it showcases some of the best editing and filming in my video, it also shows both characters but not enough to give away the entire music video.
On my actual music video, I used Final Cut Pro to edit whereas I used Adobe Premiere Pro for my promo, this is because I find it easier when editing smaller videos and also using colours on Premiere Pro is a much more streamlined process. I believe this video would reach the audience I am aiming for as many celebrities making teaser videos such as this to gain hype about videos they are releasing and they often do well on social media.
To the right you can see the video posted on my Instagram, this was posted publically as a teaser, it is proven that when you post a promo/ teaser before the actual video comes out it is more likely to perform well. Using insights on Instagram you can see how many times your video has been shared or saved, this feature is helpful to understand whether the post helped to increase your views.
Editing:
While editing my music video, I chose to use the transform tools to make some of my clips have the effect of zooming in and out. This is a technique that I picked up on from my last filming project as it can make the video seem more professional, and if a clip is too still compared to the others, it can help keep the fluidity going. I used this technique on a handful of my clips but did so in a way that it isn't too noticeable to see annoying but just enough for it to look natural.
During the editing process, I found myself having to mess around with colour grading to find a way to make my clips seem seamless, even if they were filmed in different locations at different times. The lighting can differ significantly, sometimes even within one clip. To combat this, I altered some clips' saturation and general colour intensity to make them seem more natural and avoid jumping from a low saturation clip to a highly saturation clip. As well as using this to make the clips more fluid, I also used it to enhance the colours of the scenery shots within my music video. On my first day of filming, we found the weather was very gloomy, but I have tried my best to make this not noticeable by enhancing the colour of clips where it was too prominent.
One of the most important parts of editing a music video in my style is timing the lipsyncing, which is a very long process if you want it to be perfect. I used markers to know where to stop and start, but using this doesn't mean it will be quick and straightforward. Markers can help to point out where certain breaks in the audio are, but it is helpful to follow the frequency of the music shown on your timeline as you can find the exact moments where something is sung.
At the end of my music video I chose to add a split-screen, this was something I was planning the whole time but wasn't sure how I was going to execute it, I had a clip of both Jasmine and Ben walking off into the distance and chose to use that part of the song to put the split-screen in. I did this by layering the two clips and using the crop and transform tools, I put the split in the middle of the screen. I then timed it as best as I could to seem like they were walking at the same time. The video ends right after this and I see it as them walking off (possibly to meet?), personally, I think it makes the ending more interesting rather than just a dull black screen. Shortly after this, the title screen plays and the music video ends.