Music Video Evaluation

Our Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkszxdHSfJw

Introduction:
For this Project I had worked with Karla and Paige to create a music video for the song Why do you always call me when your high by Arctic Monkeys and we had to get this done by the 13th of December.
The way we got grouped up was in class, the teacher gave us a choice in which to either go in any group (Maximum 3) or just work by ourselves, I chose to be in a group so that I could get to know other peoples way of filming so that I could maybe find things that could help my own way of filming.
When grouped up, we had five minutes to decide two songs in which we wanted to use, we had originally picked that song we used and also a song called Pound Cake by Drake, everyone had to present their chosen songs to the class and it became a class decision on what song they thought would be better.
When our chosen song was given to us we had then the remainder of the lesson writing up a filming schedule
to see during our time period when we was going to start on the pre-production, production and then the Post-Production and who was going to what.

We had starting Pre-Production about a day after the time we had got given our assignment so that we could get a good start and so that we could get it done and start on the filming.
There are a lot of things you have to do when doing the pre-production for a music video (which we was unaware of until we had actually started) these things included the script, which was mostly arranged different so that instead of using things for them to say it was to show their actions, then we had started on the storyboard, which was so that we knew what shots we was going to get and in what order, shot list, so that we knew what our shots where going to be (e.g. establishing shot of room), after that came the proposal, which is so that we could show whoever is in charge what we are doing, actors contract, so that we have the actors permission to film and lastly the treatment, which is kind off like an extended proposal but with more detail.
During the Pre-Production there where a lot of easy things to do because we was in a group, one was the script because the video is a music video, they don't really need to speak in the video (depending on the video) so instead I ended up just writing the lyrics and showing what happens at that moment, that became easy because the video where very longed out so it became a very easy process to write.
Another thing that was quite easy was the shot list because like I said the shots were very longed off so there wasn't really much to write.
Even though there was quite a few easy ones, there was a lot of hard ones, one of the many hard ones was the storyboard, because of course none of us were the best drawers in the world so it was quite hard to actually pull of a good looking storyboard for when we film, what made this difficult was actually when we was doing the filming it was very hard to understand the scene because of the drawing, so it became a very annoying part of this project. Another hard thing was Actors contracts because being that everyone had started their project at the same time and all the actors we got was in our class it was very hard to get them to take the time out of their own projects and signs some stuff for us, we could of improved this by asking someone we knew or going to the drama department and asking them.
The pre-production stage of the project took about 2 days to get done because there was a large amount of us and we went off and individually done different things in pre production, like I would do script and someone else would do proposal. It became a very good technique being that we got it finished a lot quicker then it was suppose to be on the schedule.

During the entire pre production stage, mostly when we was developing the scenes and shots, we used a lot of inspiration to get us through it. One thing we did was look at the actual video to the song and we tried to create something similar but different at the same time, this was because the video itself is the only thing you could possibly do to this song using narrative based performance and that was the thing we was going for, but when we would make an idea we would make sure it wasn't on the actual video.
Another thing is because the song is about getting high, we researched a few videos where they involve drugs, that really helped us with some scenes because we was able to copy that type of look.

When it came to production we had a very short amount of time to actually film because either some of us couldn't make it to the locations on time or personal reasons, so it became a tricky task for us. When filming we had made sure that we ran by the three shot method, which is where you take on scene and you shoot it in three different shots so that on post you could play around with it so that not only can you have loads of different angles of the scene but also so that the video wouldn't be one shot and boring. Another thing we done was make sure that the actors where in the right place all the time because we didn't want there to be any mistakes when it came to filming some scenes (e.g. if in one shot the actors there then the next he/she isn't).

There were a few amount of good things that we did during production so that the video would go well. One was finding the right areas to film in because originally we had the meeting scene in the college but we thought that the scene would look more better if they was to meet in the library so that it would be more sense if she had books in her hand and also it looked a lot better when filming.
Another thing that we did well was How determined everyone was during the filming time we had, because we only had the last two days of filming It was, at the start, a struggle to see if we was going to finish in time, but this was I think the best way to film because the entire time we was filming we would be discussing what scene we was going to do next and in the end we managed to get it done and ready to edit a day before it was suppose to be handed in.

Even though there was quite a few successes during the filming time we had, there where a few bad ones. One included timing, like I said before we only had the last two days to film because people couldn't make it to filming before (for their own reasons), so it became very hard to get the video done in time and if none of us where determined enough then we probably wouldn't of actually filmed it in time.
Getting the actors to come and film was another hard one, this was because they all had their own videos to edit and also their evaluations to do as well (because we had chosen people from our class) so this became a struggle to ask them and try to convince them to even come out for a few hours, what we should of done was try and convince other people, like people from drama or people we know, to be in our video so that it wouldn't of been a hassle to try and get them from skipping doing their work.

This part of the Production was the hardest out of them because of only having two days to film and actors that had to have their own work to do at the time, but in the end we managed to get it finished in time and ready for editing. How we managed this was just, I think, pure luck and determination through out the whole time we filmed. To stop this from ever happening again I would need to make sure that, if working in a group, that I would arrange good times to film and think of a realistic and reliable area to film when doing so.

In Post-Production I had to make sure that the video would suit the mood of not only the song but the way it was filmed at the same time, firstly I had to make sure the colour correction was good, so that the   colour would tell what the mood was like (e.g. Gradient blue to give a cold look). Another thing you would have to do it try and link clips so that they not only in order but also link well with the lyrics and beat, to do this you would have to keep playing around with the clips to make sure that it did so by either splitting them or changing them around.
You would also have to make sure is that the video looks good (Quality Wise) to do this you would have to make sure that the video is firstly, filmed in a good quality (otherwise theres no point doing the next thing) next, you would have to export or render in the best quality that your video supports (e.g. 720p - 24fps).

When in post we had used a different technique, this technique was to get everyone to edit the video individually and then the person who has the better looking video would upload it. The good sides to this is that no matter what you would have more then one video so that if one was to go wrong or is edited wrong then the other persons might have a very well edited video. The bad sides to this is that if they are both rightly edited then it becomes a huge argument on who's video gets posted which causes people to fall out and then they might not every work together again, which is very bad in the media industry.

The good sides to editing this video was that because we had discussed what we was going to do with the video in advance we had already knew what the video would look like (Dark and weird) so this became a high advantage. Another good thing was cause the video had a very slow it meant that we didn't always have to go on beat all the time, which was very helpful being that we didn't have enough different footage to get us through thoughts type of beats.
Lastly, when researching other videos there was a lot of stuff that you could see was used in post and that really helped when editing cause then I could find the video that suited mine the most and then copy the way they made it look (colour and pace).

I've been editing videos for about 4 to 5 years now and even now I still always have my bad moments when doing so. One bad thing I done was when doing the colour correction I didn't make the effort to look what it would look like in the entire video, the way I coloured it was very dark, dim and had a shade of green, but when watching some scenes it was to dark to even see the actors, so to prevent that from ever happening again I would have to make sure that I watch over everything just to make sure it works.
Another bad thing I done was also the colour again, because I had to do a lot of splitter so that I could change the look when it showed the drugs, it meant that I would have way to many things on the timeline, so when I watched it over after I had rendered it (about 10 minutes before I had to leave) I noticed that the colour changed in certain scenes then went back to the same look again, which wasn't what I intended to do because I wanted the entire thing to have this dark look but some scene where quite light and happy, to stop this from happening again I should take different scenes and edit then individually depending on what colour they use (e.g. if most of the video is happy, then I would take all the happy ones and colour correct them then edit them in the right place after).

In Conclusion, I think we did equally good and bad because we didn't even film until the last two days but we manage to do it and get it done a day before we had to upload it, we finished pre-production within two days and post was done over night.
I think I made a good choice working In a group, the reason for that it we managed to get things done so much quicker that way and even know we had a few arguments over what songs to pick and how it would look we all manage to create really good ideas and plus hopefully, we all learnt each others own techniques of filming so that we can all become better at it in the future. Lastly, even though we all lived about 30 minutes between each other, we all managed to find ways to still film and get it finished by communicating.

The Overall Experience was very educational, I learnt how to handle yourself when given a short deadline, that you should not panic but instead just go with the flow and put a lot of hard work into it. Another thing that was very educational was arranging location because I have never had to ask people to go into that location before, so it was quite fun to go to the forum and ask for the permission to film.
Lastly, it was being able to use good equipment such as the Canon 600D, it was an incredible camera to use and it made most of the scenes look so professional.