UNIT 13
final major project
research
I have chosen to make a music video. This will be the third music video I have made on this course which is why originally I had decided against this idea. However, I feel that my strengths in media are in my conceptualisation of ideas and my technical abilities. I like to experiment and try new things and I like to create aesthetics. I believe a music video will give me the greatest flexibility and opportunity to explore my ideas and produce something creative without having to adhere too closely to a set of conventions. I don't necessarily want to break conventions but I do want to have the ability to be more fluid in the development of my idea. So I've chosen music video again for FMP.
Research Report
FMP Pitch
My pitch was pretty demotivating and I needed to add a lot more passion into it. My primary feedback was about what I was planning on researching for this product. Specifically I was asked about my target audience and I hadn't thrashed enough detail out for this yet. I was also questioned about the music videos I was drawing inspiration from and how/why I was using one song but drawing my main inspiration from another. I have completed deconstructions for these but perhaps I did not present this information well. My main aim now is to complete my treatment with a well thought out target audience.
pre-production
FMP UAL Proposal
Treatment
Location Recces
Risk Assessments
Cast and Roles
Change of plan
From this point on due to feasibility I decided to change my entire plan for my final product, this featured much more flexibility in actors, location, and production resources.
I decided to change the song, shot list, and some of the locations.
The new song chosen is 'Better' by Jack Garratt
and I'd like to be able to act myself as a bit of a cameo as its something I haven't really experimented with myself, and also it allows me to focus on the other shots, filming, and directing overall.
Shot list
PRODUCTION
Shoot 1 Davidstow
I went to Davidstow and shot myself performing to camera in the forest. I set up 1 camera on a tripod and 3 lights and the smoke machine powered by a generator at 11.45pm to make sure it was dark enough. I test shot the smoke and lights to get the exposure correct then shot myself doing some performance to camera. I was really pleased with how it came out and it was exactly what I envisaged. I packed down and left about 2am. Apart from the camera dying which meant I lost a really long take which included the generator powering off which I had really wanted to use. Will need to check batteries and take spares to future shoots.
Shoot 2 Dunmere woods
Me and my friend Sam (performer and guitarist) went to the woods in the afternoon. I took 2 cameras, one which I set up on a tripod and one I used on a gimble. 2 lights and the smoke grenades. I realised this time I had bought spare batteries but only 1 SD card! So I had to take more and longer takes on each camera rather than double shooting 1 performance. Although this gave me more flexibility when I was filming on that the camera was never in shot. The smoke grenades worked really well in the light and this also allowed me to use coloured smoke. Sam's performance was really good and I was pleased with how the lighting worked in the background. Need to remember to take enough SD cards.
Stills from shoots
Shoot 3 Studio
I shot in the college studio to get more performance using 2 cameras, one on a tripod and and another one a gimble which I shot some B roll of just the lights. I also used 3 cam TV strip lights set to strobe and a boling light and a photographic flash head lighting the smoke - I wanted to use this set up because I didn't want to hide the fact I was shooting in a studio and liked including the light heads and the tripod legs and greenscreen and chairs etc into the shot to make it look busier. I used the smoke machine and recorded some performance to camera. I then also used this time to film my short narrative sequence where I run from the studio to another classroom and fall back into the woods. I used another media student to help film this section. After the shoot the SD card that I had used on the B roll camera had corrupted and this was annoying as it meant I was only left with my static shots from the studio.
BTS
I edited my music video in Premier Pro. I experimented with some new editing techniques but I focused more on my in camera production skills in this project. It was quite a large edit but not the biggest I've ever done. I found the edit quite easy and this wasn't particularly challenging for me.