Evaluation of video

Our music video production follows the conventions of real music videos by using camera shots commonly found in film. These include as such some establishing shots, close ups, long shots, medium shots, high/ low angle shots and extreme close ups.

We used these different shots to communicate a variety of aspects to the audience for example, a range of close ups to show the characters facial expressions. This made the audience more visually perceptive to what the character was thinking and feeling. It was also a good way of drawing attention to the miming of the song, which was evident mainly in the chorus which we filmed in the studio.

Another type of camera shot we used was the tracking shot, the best of which was filmed in the woods using a hand held camera in a small chase scene. The effect of the hand held meant that the outcome was frantic and disturbed. This coincided with the theme of the song and could be viewed as a portrayal of how a person may be feeling by the effects of a drug.

At the beginning of the video we opened with a couple of establishing shots filmed in Lewes town. This was an effective way of showing some of the location to our video. We hoped that the busy town centre of Lewes would provide us with some energetic commotion to fit with the song tempo. This was not the case. To rectify this however we edited the play speed in ‘Final Cut’. The shots then became a time lapse which was a powerful technique in making a correlating visual tempo in relation to the song.

There is no clear narrative in the video which is typical of music production as the focus is normally the artist performing the song in the form of mime which is what we replicated. We had some initial ideas to include a narrative form on the theme of drugs but it was decided that this wouldn’t be as visually stimulating. The idea that you go from one scene to another with a running narrative was felt as if it would have a contrasting visual tone to the song. Instead we used cohesion of running locations to display our theme which worked as a collection.

There were some setbacks in our production which included severe weather conditions in which the college was closed and filming was postponed. This took up some valuable time which had to be made up on return. There were also some issues involving clashing lesson/work times which meant that it was difficult to find time for all the group members to meet. Another constraint was of location because we had originally planned to do most of our filming in Brighton however it was difficult for all group members to travel. We decided to use more local areas to film in as it proved more practical. We used the local woodlands to our advantage as a portrayal of an alternate environment in which the character may feel they are trapped inside as a result of their substance misuse.

Through analysis of other music videos we gained some knowledge in composing shots and the effect it can have on the outcome. However such things as aperture settings and white balance were trial and error for most parts and with no previous camera experience it was tough. However after a number of test runs using different techniques we were able to achieve some good manipulation. This is demonstrated in an extreme close up shot of a drinks can which is demonstrated in an inordinate depth of field.