Evaluation of Prelim Task

1) Who did you work with and how did you manage the task between you?

I worked with Nathan, Joe and Rory. The team worked well as a collective we all acted and all completed the tasks together. Nathan took most of the responsibility with the filming, this was because of his keen interest in photography. I took the responsibility of editing the task, while the Joe and Rory spent the rest of the time completing the written work including the production diary and the location scout.

2) How did you plan your sequence? What processes did you use?

We planned our sequence by firstly watching the video and then creating a story board of each shot we had to make. We broke these shots down into our shooting schedule deciding on what shots to do on each days. The factors we had to consider while completing this was the availability of these locations, for example we used the school's minibus for one of the shots but it was only available to us on one of the days. Once we had the footage the editing process began which i took a lead in. We completed this by inserting the original video into the bottom right of the frame and then matching our shots with the shots in the original video.

3) What theories could you apply to the video you chose?
The editing in the prelim relates to Vernallis' in regards to cutting to the beat. This is evident in the first part with the close ups of the band which cut to the music. Varnallis also talks about a narrative being created within a piece. A narrative in this video is the history between the singers in the flashback parts.


4) What technology did you use to complete the task, and how did you use it?

We used a DSLR camera in order to film our footage, this ensured great detail throughout the video. We only encountered one problem with the camera and this was the inconsistency in focus, some shots were blurry and some looked great, this is something we will remember to think about when we are creating our music video. We also used a computer to complete the editing process of our video. We used the programme Adobe Premiere Pro to edit our video, this is a great programme as it allows you to have your footage in your workspace while you're editing so it is easy to drop clips into the video.

5) What factors did you have to take into account when planning, shooting and editing?

Thing we had to take into account when planning was the costumes, we all found clothing which was pretty similar to that in the video. We also bought a blow up doll to play Zain in our video in our planning stages this was for a humorous effect as it was a metaphor for Zain no longer being in the group. When shooting we had to take into account the lighting, this was because we were filming outside while it was sunny with some clouds. Some of the shots were quite dark but we tried to overcome this with the editing.

6) How successful was your music video copy? Please identify what worked well, and with hindsight, what would you improve/do differently? What did others say about your production?

I believe that our music video copy was extremely successful, all of our transitions in the editing process were perfect and our footage was extremely accurate. To improve the video i would use some more accurate locations, for example we were supposed to use a bedroom for one of the shots but had to make do with a table and some green sheets. I would also try and improve the video by improving the focus of the video. I would also think about the sunlight more when filming to try and get a better video.

7) What have you learnt from completing this task? Looking ahead, how will this learning be significant when completing your music video, do you think?

From this task i have learned a lot about transitions in a music video from an editing perspective. I understand that cuts in time with the beats are very important. Another thing that i have learned is the shire amount of footage we will need to collect. It took us three days to collect 30 seconds worth of film for our prelim task therefore for our actual music video we will have to take this into account.

8) How does it compare with filming an opening to a film?

I feel like filming a music video is a lot more relaxed then making a film opening as footage is going to be chopped and changed and there will be a lot less straight cuts. With my film opening Cohen we used a variety of long wide sweeping shots however, this prelim task used a variety of short shots.

9) What are your strengths and weaknesses as a group member?

As a group member i feel that my strengths are in directing and in editing. I have developed a lot of skills to do with editing after creating a variety of videos using Adobe Premiere Pro. I also filmed my film opening last year which required a lot of directing and i was very proud of our finished product last year. One of my weaknesses as a group member is that i am very possessive over my ideas and don't like it when my group members try to alter them. However, this is something i am improving on.

10) Looking at the other group's videos which do you think were most successful and why?

I believe the Wonderwall video was very successful. This is because the detail they went into in there filming process was brilliant. An example of that is the shot of Chirs' face in the reflection of a mirror.