Evaluation

Conventions

- Tends to be black and white

- The artist/band is shown throughout

- The use of extreme close ups and long shots are popular

- Dark locations

- Face paced

- Some use of special effects

When comparing my video to the conventions of an Indie/rock music video i felt my video conformed to alot of the conventions above. However I did not choose to have it in black and white because I felt the scenes in the park needed to be in colour for them to have as great an effect. I used the band throughout the whole video, as most indie/rock videos i had looked at this was the case. I used extreme close ups when filming in the park - the shots of each member of the band smoking a cigarette is an example of this. The shots of the band playing the lighting is quite dark this contrasted to the daylight scenes in the park. To conclude the conventions I used in my music video the majority conformed to the conventions of and indie/rock music video with some differences that were more appropriate to my video.



Use of New Media

New media in my research - when researching for my music video i used sites such as youtube to research existing videos to identify any trends or patterns in my genre of music. I also recorded my research on my blog so that at the end i could collect the research to begin planning.

New media in my planning - to plan my music video i created a website for the band I had chosen, in promoting the band.

I also recorded my planning on my blog and created an animatic story board.

I used social networking sites such as facebook and myspace to promote the band. These proved very effective.

To edit my footage and compose the final outcome I used the progammes Final cut express and Imovie.

Final outcome and ancillary tasks.

When the video was finished, I then set to work creating my Digipak to coincide with the video. I was pleased with the outcome of the digipak and the 2 images worked well with the overall idea and message of the band. The title poetry was clearly displayed on the first image and i think the monochrome black and white made it more edgy. The idea for the second image was very much put forward by the band as the inspiration for the song came from finding the right words and sometimes being unable to express your emotions through words. This image portrayed that beautifally and really matched up to the song.

The website also too was successful in coexisting with the final outcome of the video and the video and songs were put onto the website to help promote the band. the feedback that we got for the website both me and the band was very positive and encouraging.

Attracting the Audience.

I took the pre-production survey results very seriously and listened to what people wanted to see from a music video. This helped me when it came to my post-production survey. The majority of people who took part really loved the video and felt it went together well with the music and style of the band.

"IT WAS FUN, ENTERTAINING AND NOT TOO SERIOUS. JUST WHAT A MUSIC VIDEO SHOULD BE."

"I PARTICULARLY LIKED THE SPED UP EFFECT, IT MADE THE VIDEO COME TO LIFE AND REALLY MADE ME SMILE."

When i asked what people wanted to see change the majority of answers included a clearer shot of the band when performing and maybe a better location.

Things I would do differently.

Agreeing with the audience feedback I think clearer shots of the band when performing would have helped the video reach that next level and maybe more time to shoot the video, as we had enough footage but shooting became slightly stressful. A better audio track would probably help the video to improve as the one I used was not the best and recording the track in a proper studio would have made it alot better. Overall I am very happy with the final outcome of my video and the band really love it!

Post-Production Feedback

After the final edit for my video I wanted some feedback to see what people thought about it, strong and weak points.

I created a survey for people to answer after they had watched it and also additional comments they wanted to make.

I then put all of this feedback data into several graphs to show what the main areas for improvement for each part of the project and also what people liked.




The Feedback i recieved for the digipak, it was clear that choice of colour was the main area for improvement. Many people felt a little bit of colour on the digipak would have been nice as it was a little bit too black and white. However on the whole the majority of people liked the digipak and thought it went well with the video - this was good as this was what i was aiming for.



The feedback I recieved for the video showed that many people thought after watching the video that the special effects needed more care and attention, "they were nice effects but needed polishing as some areas did not quite fit". Also consistency was an area that people felt could do with tweaking - more still shots that weren't handheld were needed. However most people felt the overall collective outcome was effective and fitted with the music and band.

Editing the video

Once I had filmed all of the footage, I then had the task of editing it to produce the final outcome. I wanted the music to coincide with the scene changes and found that I had so much footage and it would be too long so I tried putting a ped up effect which would look good with the 'home movie' theme and it worked but only on the storylined footage.

shooting the film

In the October half term I went to London to film the band which I had organised. We spent 2-3 days filming and had arranged to stay in a derelict building which we had a room for shooting the video. Staying here gave us alot more time and we could film late into the evenings. It was also very convenient as there were no neighbours to disturb so the music could be as loud as we wanted and we would have several chances to film. The Band were extremely co-operative and I could tell them my ideas and they were willing and eager to do everything that i asked. We were also able to interview them and ask them questions on their musical history and what their music represented. During the 2nd day we travelled to Finsbury park which was mearby to film the storylined parts of the video. I had a brief idea of what i wanted to include from the rough draft storyboard but alot of it was improvised on the day and the band helped contribute to new ideas. Overall the videa shooting was veryb successful with very little complications although one original scene i wanted to do was not possible to film on these days. I had alot of fun filming the video and this helped eased the atmosphere and also added to the 'home video' look of the film as the scenes we were shooting were meant to look genuine and like we were just having a fun day out which is what we had.

Storyboard

pre-production survey results

Results

3. What genre of music do you like?












4. What type of music do you find most entertaining?








5. What are the conventions you expect from a Indie/punk/rock music video?














Evaluation of pre-production survey

From the results of my pre-production survey it is clear that what people expect to see from a particular genre of music video is key in producing a successful video. Indie/rock is still very popular amongst young people and people would prefer to see a performance from the band and also some storyline included in the video. The conventions that people expect to see are mainly the artists in the video, some narrative as we found out in the previous question but also some special effects and close ups of the character’s or band members. This survey was very helpful in planning and researching ideas for my video.

location scouting

My band members helped me to find a location in London where we would base the music video, it ended up being in a derelict flat above a mechanics, where may bands use the space to practice their music. It was messy and there was insulation hanging out of the walls amplifiers and music gear scattered everywhere and so much space where we could be as loud as we wanted.

Here are some photos.