Evaluation

What happened?

Honestly, not a whole lot. The overall process of doing my research, pre-production, production and evaluating my class tasks was pretty smooth sailings. While things did get a bit tricky near the end with me submitting my music video a week later than It should of been. And, I will elaborate on why that happened in the first place. The music video project went very well with very little things that I would criticise myself for. Nevertheless, I will be going through each stage in production and evaluating myself on what went well, and what I could of done better. Lets start with the Research Page first.

I am quite pleased with how my Research Page turned out. The amount of detail that I put into each part of the page shows that I have a clear understanding of the material that was brought forward to me. Interestingly, I noticed that there was a lot more analysis on this project than I've done for any other on this course. This isn't really an issue as I think one of my core strengths is my ability to analyse and evaluate, with being able to provide an accurate and detailed amount on the subject matter. During this stage of production, I had considered a lot of songs varying from different genres for my music video. But, I had no idea what song would be the best. There were a lot of factors that I was considering like, the duration, what type of music video I wanted to create, what was going on in it and, how was I going to create something that was not only the product of my unique vision but would also simultaneously appeal to whoever's target demographic. Considering the fact I hadn't even decided on which artist to pick, it was a lot for me to handle. But, I think I was simply overthinking a little and getting ahead of myself. There wasn't any need to think about the roles or the context of the music video yet since that's saved for when you start doing pre-production, and that wasn't going to be for a while. While the duration of the song I would of chosen was something that I was rightfully concerned about. Most of the music I listen to was 2-3 minutes long anyway, which was the recommend duration of the music video so I was just being concerned for nothing. I think what I learnt from this was not rush into things and simply take the process of considering what I should do and when to do it one step at a time. I feel like I have put in a sufficient amount of information regarding the contents of my research page. I wouldn't change anything about it and I'm honestly very happy with how it turned out. Thanks to doing this research, I have learnt a plethora of definitions, techniques and have increased my overall knowledge relating to music videos. The one thing that I regret however is that I feel like I have missed a couple things relating to research. I have looked over at my peers research page and have updated it based on what I've missed. Though I still feel like there is one or two things that are still missing. With the subject of my next project in mind, even if I may not finish analysing or explaining research on the day it was tasked. I will make sure to at least put a bullet point on it so when I come back and continue it, I know that I haven't missed any bits of research.

The second part of my research page is artist research/audience demographic. I feel like I put a lot of effort into this.

Regarding my pre-production page, I feel like this is the most I have ever done out of any other project. Unlike my Documentary, where a lot of the pre-production wasn't necessary as it was an all digital video. The music video required almost all of the pre-production work that I had done so far in my media course. Which, to say the least I was not happy about. I am very pleased with how my storyboard turned out, while it did take a while to complete (approx. 1 week) the end result was worth it and I had a clear picture on how I wanted to shoot my music video. In previous projects, I had never really taken storyboards too seriously before. I couldn't really give you an exact reason why but, most of the storyboards I had done in previous projects were relatively useless as I already had a clear picture in my mind on how I wanted to do a certain shot. Storyboards were simply reminders for me. However, ever since doing one for my music video. I now understand how crucial they are to the development of your media projects. With it, I was able to brainstorm a lot more ideas than I usually would and it was a lot easier to imagine how I was going to transition a shot into the next one. It was also a lot easier to keep a record of what type of shot I wanted to do for each scene. This helped me remember what I was trying to encapsulate in every scene and was the main reason why my music video has a huge variety of angles. I had never made such a detailed storyboard before but, It was really fun and am very satisfied with how it turned out. I definitely think that I have improved on creating them and, while there are some shots that were made in the storyboard that didn't make it to the final version of my music video (me jumping in a lake or using the greenscreen to put a trippy background on), that's simply the nature of creating a plan, things change and they turn out different from what you originally expected. Overall, I learnt a lot from creating a storyboard like this and I wouldn't change anything about it.

I think my proposal is fine. Back before I had decided to make a music video on ThunderCat's 'Them Changes', I had a couple of other song ideas. One of them was 'Alive' by the Warbly Jets and the other was 'Mr Fear' by SIAMES. The reason why I didn't choose these songs though was for a couple reasons. While 'Mr Fear' was my first consideration for a making a music video on, all it was in actuality was simply the first song that had popped up into my mind. I didn't have any serious thoughts on actually creating a music video on it and didn't even have any idea for how to. I had one or two ideas for 'Alive'. One of them was basically a recreational video. Only, I would record in the green screen and play some instruments with my friends while the background continuously changes. Ultimately though, I decided against doing that. It seemed pretty lazy to just copy what they did in their own video and plus, it would have been really boring. Since it was my first time doing a music video, I wanted to do something unique and out of the box, and most importantly, fun. With 'Them Changes' though, the moment I heard the song, I felt like their was a lot of potential to be had with it. The lyrics told a story that could be spun in many different ways, the beat was funky, yet it was also ominous and unsettling, creating the opportunity to mess around with the visuals and make it seem natural instead of forced. I hadn't watched the music video for it either so all of the ideas I thought for it were completely original. Back on topic with the proposal. Considering that I already done one in the past. There wasn't much that I had learnt by doing it again and I don't really think there is really that much else I can learn from doing it anymore anymore. I get better at doing one every time though so I suppose that's good. There's nothing that I would change about it.

I always say this in every evaluation and I'll say it again. I despise pre-production. Just because I'm good at it, doesn't mean I enjoy doing it. What I hate the most though out of any bit of pre-production is the location recce's and risk assessments. With each project, normally, I do one location recce and the appropriate risk assessment for it. My projects so far have been tied to one location so luckily, I only had to do one of each. However, unlike my other projects, I've been out recording in different locations like, an underpass, a park and near a lake. Not to mention that I recorded in the greenscreen room too. So I had to do 4 separate location recce's with their own respective risk assessments. That's 8 bits of paperwork that I had to fill out. 8. That's 8 too many. I obviously understand the importance of filling them out but man is it annoying. The only silver lining here is, because I've done them so many times now, I'm practically the master of doing location recce's and risk assessment's.

Regrading my other bits of pre-production, I believe that I have done well filling them all out and providing the necessary amount of information. The time management workbook was a nice new bit of pre-production (I have no idea if it is or isn't so I just added it to be safe). It's easy and doesn't take long so I have nothing to complain about. Like always, the mind-map and mood board are fairly straightforward. Though, it felt as if I had to consider more on what I was going to add to my mood board, instead of just adding whatever came to my head first which was a nice change of pace. The shot list was a lot easier to deal with than the others I've done in other projects. This was probably because I had already completed my storyboard, which explained what was going on in the scene while describing what kind of shot it was. And the production schedule was the same as with any other bit of pre-production work. Overall, I am happy with the level of writing and detail I am putting into my pre-production work and I wouldn't change a thing.

I am also very happy with how my class tasks page turned out. Unlike with a few of my other projects. I was able to finish and export the majority of tutorials the day that we were tasked with it. This allowed me to give more accurate and detailed evaluations which, I could then look back on in the future. As far as I know, there are only two videos that I didn't export, which is disappointing since those two are basically near completion. The two videos are the subtitle lyrics that I had made for a song of my choice and, the Gorillaz bouncing ball video. Other than that though, I am very pleased to see that my work efficiency is improving, while also improving my own skills at the same time.

My presentation pitch was alright. Compared to my other pitch for the documentary though. I would say that it was worse. I think that my presentation had too much text on some of the pages. I remember Paul saying that we shouldn't bloat our pitches with information, otherwise it will just bore the people that we're trying to present to and ultimately resulting the pitch in death by PowerPoint. While I wouldn't go as far to describe my pitch as "death by PowerPoint", it doesn't change the fact that there was just simply too much information. When it came to my research on ThunderCat and his target demographic, I think I did pretty well explaining it. I put in the necessary bits of information which helped me able to convey my points across. I think a pretty big weak point of mine in this pitch though was with how I spoke. I didn't make a plan for what I was going to say in each part of my presentation, so It was pretty unorganised. This is obviously a bad thing as if I can't convey the details of my pitch correctly, then how are they supposed to understand with what I'm trying to say? I also stuttered quite a bit and, there were a few instances where I didn't know what to say so it was just dead silence for a couple seconds. Making the slides was honestly pretty easy. The information gathering was easy too. The only problem was what information was I going to add to the PowerPoint and how much should I add? I did end up delating one or two slides which was pretty unfortunate. However, it was necessary as I didn't want to make my PowerPoint too long. Thanks to this presentation pitch, I learnt just how important it is to have a small plan in your head for what you are going to say. I also learnt a lot of information regarding ThunderCat which, will definitely come in handy. It was also nice to have a go at making another pitch, I feel like if I ever have to make one again, I'll be prepared for it.

Finally, lets talk about my music video. Overall, I am very pleased with how the finalised version came out. It took a while no doubt, with being roughly a week behind from when I was supposed to submit it. This was due to my own faults in poor scheduling with the recording. I had not only planned the times fairly late in the afternoons so, I was only able to record for much smaller periods but It was also inconsiderate of me to consider whether the actor may or may not be available. Next time I go out recording, I'll make sure that I do it at a much earlier time. I really like the variety of locations, angles and the type of shots that I used. I think it makes it visually appealing and creative.

I think that the final version of my music video appeals to ThunderCat's target demographic because of the different approach that took with the video. The music video of 'Them changes' is about a toxic relationship. My version of the video is about a man infighting with himself. While these two things aren't really synonymous with each-other, I feel as if this would be something that ThunderCat might make, which his audience likes. His music videos have a record of being surreal, and I think mine is too. Also,

How well planned/organised were you? If not, why not?

I would say that I was actually fairy organised this project and, was able to keep up with the timescale of it. I had a clear plan on what I should be doing at all times and I managed to do it efficiently. While I did forget to add some things like a couple class tasks, I aim to improve on this by being more pro active with my work outside of college. Like with what I said in my previous evaluation. By making a small plan, I was able to be a lot more organised than I usually would be which helped me complete this project.

How well did you cope with the timescale given for the project?

I think I managed to cope pretty well with timescale given for this project. I already mentioned that I made a small plan for this music video to help me keep on track. But this was a big reason why I wasn't behind on my work.

If things didn't quite go to plan, explain in detail why & what contingency plans did you introduce?

There weren't many things that didn't 'quite go to plan' on this project. The only few instances that I can think of is when I was recording. As you can see with my music video, even though I'm in one location for the majority of it. The weather changed 3 times. One was dark and cloudy, the other was snowy and with the last few shots, the sun was out. Though, I do like the change from dark and cloudy to snowy as, it give of the impression that I was in a completely different location and plus, it correlated pretty well with when I transitioned to the next couple shots. With the sun however, there wasn't much I could of done. I think that in the end, the shots did manage to come out really nice. But it doesn't correlate well with the feeling I was going for in the video. It's supposed to be melancholic, sad, and ominous. So to have the sun out in a big chunk of my video where the tone of it is sad, is pretty counter-intuitive. I didn't introduce a contingency plan for this but if I did. It would be to redo the shots with the sun in it. The only reason I didn't do this in the first place though was because I was strapped for time in this stage of production.

How well structured is your final video? Does it have a definitive beginning/middle/end?

I would say so. The beginning of my video is pretty simple, just a mysterious man walking down a pathway while someone else is following him. It's very...weird but like I said, it's simple and that's all there is to it. I would say the middle of my video is at the part with the greenscreen and mini me's. This part took a lot of time to make as I had a lot of different ideas for it, the one you see now was my third edit. I think the ending of my video is good. I can't really tell if my story was easy to follow, but putting the twist that the events were all in his head all along was pretty nice. Though, recording that bit was pretty embarrassing considering I was just laying on the floor while a camera was pointed at me.

Quality of camerawork (eg. Shot composition/focus etc/picture quality)

Aside from 1 shot, the picture quality throughout the video was excellent. You can clearly see what is happening in each shot which is very nice for the viewer and it reflects well on me. I have a wide variety of camera angles throughout my music video. While I think there are a few too many close ups, the other angles are great and grant a fresh perspective that you might not otherwise see in a music video.

Quality of audio (eg. How well is your voiceover or general audio recorded?)

I don't have a voiceover in this video, neither do I have any sound effects. The only bit of audio that's in it is the music, and I would say that the quality of it is pretty good. I never had any plans to add any sound effects to my music video, and that's because I felt like it wouldn't fit with the type of music video I was making. Looking back on it, I'm glad that I didn't add any sound effects and that my judgement was right.

Quality of final edit (eg. How smooth are the transitions, does the final version look professional?)

I think that the final version of my music video likes very professional. The only thing I would change would be how fast the zoom in is at the beginning, and end of the song. It's too fast and there's a small hiccup with the final shot that really bugs me. I feel like each shot is natural and transitions into the next one really well. It's something that I'm very happy about as since my video is a narrative, it's important that the viewer knows exactly what's going on in each shot so that they can easily understand the story. Overall, I am pleased with how the video looks and there isn't one thing I would change.

Use of graphics (if applicable)

I didn't use a huge variety of graphics in my music video. Though, I feel like I did use them in a creative way. I made them spin and hold hands. I used the crop technique on two close ups of my face, one wearing a mask and the other not. Then, I simply connected them together. Originally, I was going to make use of other graphics. These were backgrounds for the greenscreen part but in the end, I opted to just use footage of shots that I had already recorded. I think that overall, while my music video doesn't have a wide range of graphics, the way I used them was creative enough for them to be entertaining.

Final summary - if you were given the chance to improve or do the project again, what would you do differently?

The first thing I would do differently is redo the last quarter of my music video. Like I said before, I don't like the sun being present in it. It ruins the overall atmosphere of the video and it gives of a different feeling than the one I'm trying to convey. Like you wouldn't have a scene where it's raining, while seeing people having fun or playing games. Another thing I would change would be some of the edits I did in post-production. The only that bothers me though is the frequent zoom ins. The last thing I would of changed about my music video is the amount of close ups. There's a few too many at the beginning that bother me as it doesn't give room for the viewer to look at the different visuals that are prevalent in my video. I wouldn't change or improve anything regarding my research, pre-production and class tasks section. I think I've done really well with each section. The last thing I would say that I can improve on is scheduling times to record as my poor planning with my friend was the main reason I was behind with recording my music video. Overall, I am very happy with how my music video turned out, I was able to properly convey my chosen themes, got a wide variety of angles so the video was interesting to look at, and I can tell that my editing skills have definitely improved.