Finished Music Video

Music Video Evaluation

Evaluation For Music Video

My brief for this unit was to “Produce footage and edit to a standard acceptable to a client” I believe I achieved the brief and I think this is the best work I have done so far. This is shown through my client feedback where my client says I did such a good job on this video they want me to film the bands next video. The style of music video I went for was a live performance music video which basically documents the band playing at multiple venues and can also contain what goes on in between venues such as the tour bus or backstage. The reason why I chose to do a live performance video is because I have always preferred them to a narrative based video because you get a behind the scenes glimpse of how the band works and what they look like live if you have never seen them live before.

Before I started filming I did some planning, the first part of my planning was watching some live performance music videos and choosing the best ones that I wanted to take influence from. The videos I analysed were “Dead Ends” by the band “Heights”, “Fancy Dress” by “Don Broco” and “Hell Above” by “Pierce The Veil”. I analysed each video multiple times to get a good knowledge on the typical codes and conventions found in live performance music videos so that I could ensure my video contains them too.

The next step in my planning was to storyboard. I made story boards for certain shots that I thought were going to be really important to the video and that I wanted to get perfect. Shot one of my storyboards is clearly shown in the video when the bass player is tuning his guitar at the intro. Whilst planning I also decided that I would do the entire video in black and white as one of my main influence videos was done the same way, this is clearly shown through my entire video. The final part to my planning was to choose locations where I would film. Because it was a live performance video and I needed footage of the band playing the locations were the different venues they played at. All together I travelled with the band to four different places, two venues were local and one was in Leicester, The final location I filmed them at was a warehouse where they practise. The best footage I took was from the warehouse. This was because I had plenty of room to move around there whereas I couldn’t at other gigs due to the crowd. This is shown to be effective in my video in all close up shots as these were all filmed at the warehouse.

Production skills

Overall I believe that my production skills were to a good standard and worked well in this particular unit. My camera work could have been better focused at the gigs and if I was to do this again I would probably set the camera to auto focus. I believe that the angles I shot from was good and proved effective for example the shot when it cuts from a close up of the drummers pedal to a higher angle of him hitting the drums. How ever, if I were to do this again I would take another person with me to film and more cameras, this way I could get more footage at lots of different angles. I was however pleased with the overall outcome of my camera work and my favourite footage is where I have filmed the bands equipment out of focus and then slowly bringing them into focus. I believe that all my footage fits the purpose of a live performance music video, as it is entirely hand held. This gives the viewer a sense of being in the crowd. I was dedicated to getting the footage I needed even if it meant travelling further away to a gig. I was confident with what I wanted to achieve at a gig and what shots I wanted to get because of good planning. Before each gig I would make a shot list of what I was going to film and I would try my hardest at gigs to get all of them. This proved effective as I ensured I was getting shots from as many angles as I could. This is shown in the chorus of the video when the editing is faster paced and every shot is from a different angle. It was difficult at the Leicester gig due to there being poor lighting on the stage, which meant the majority of shots I took, were in low key lighting. To resolve this problem I made effective judgements whilst editing. I looked through all of the footage from that gig and chose the ones I needed most and I used the “Gamma Correction” tool on premiere to brighten the footage. By making this effective judgement it meant that I did not loose out on any of the shots that I needed and were important to my film.

List for improvements

·      Take more people to help me film

·      Take more cameras to cover more angles of the stage

·      Use tripod

·      Take extra lighting

·      Film more footage of the band back stage, on the road etc.

·      Film some footage separately along to a click track.

·      Better focused shots

·      More close ups

·      Get some whip pans (typical convention that adds effect).

·      More mid shots

·      Get some zoom shots

Editing Skills

As soon as I had all of the footage I needed, I started editing. The editing process went really well overall, this is because I did a good amount of planning before filming and I also had a clear idea in my head for the direction of the music video. After taking influence from my chosen music videos I knew I wanted to do the entire video in black and white and use montages. I put these into practise by changing all my footage to black and white and having a montage sequences throughout my video. If I did this again I would use more montage so that the videos pace matched the song all the way through.  In my opening sequence, the bands equipment, tuning up, sound checking etc. is all edited as a slow paced montage. This is to match the pace of the ambient sound at the start. I was to do this again I would do quicker cuts towards the end of the opening montage, this way I could build up to the start of the song and it would have given the video more energy. It is shown that my influence has been put to good practise at the start of my video for the opening sequence.  I made this more effective by adding some ambient sounds to then blend in with the ambient guitar at the start of the song. Another example of how my editing skills have been put to good practise is when the vocals on the song start. For this I synced the footage with the song as close as I could. This is made effective through the entire video except for a small part when the guitarist steps in front of the microphone to sing. If I were to do this again I would film the guitarist on his own singing his parts to a click track so that the timing was perfect for all the vocals. I also used the editing technique of continuity, an example of where I used this effectively is when the drummer is being filmed from the front of the stage and then it cuts to a close up of him hitting the drums. I was to go back I would use a lot more continuity so that the viewer would get to see everything that the band is playing, it would also have added more pace to the video, as I would have done quicker cuts.

List for Improvements

·      Quicker cuts, therefore I would need more footage.

·      More montages

·      Sync vocals footage

·      Use more continuity effectively

·      Quicker paced

Final Product

Overall I feel that my music video has met the goals and the client’s needs that were set. It does this by appealing to the target audience, which are the bands fans. It appeals to them because it gives them an insight into the band live and also at practise. I have done this by filming the band at practise and gigs and editing it together as a montage. This keeps the video well paced and also has a good transition between live performance and practise performance. I feel that my video definitely shows influence from my chosen music videos for example the video for “Heights” is filmed entirely in black and white and has a strong use of montage throughout. You can also see where I have taken influence from this in the opening sequence as it has the bands logo in white text layered on top of the montage, as does the “Heights” video.

There are some things on my video that I would change such as the pace of the cuts. If I were to go back I would get loads more footage so that I had more to work with and I could do quicker cuts. I would also take more people with me to help film with more cameras, this way I could cover multiple angles of the stage and also get some close ups. As I had a problem with lighting at one gig I would ensure that I had some form of lighting with me just in case this sort of thing happened. The final thing I would change is I would get more footage of the band messing about or drinking etc. This way the video not only captures the live performance of the band but what the get up to backstage, on the road etc.

Client Feedback

This is my client feedback for my live performance music video. The email is from James, the bass player for the band Only Shadows. As you can see he and the rest of the band are really happy with the end product and even want me to film there next video as well.