Over the past few weeks I have been working on my final major project for which I chose to make a music video. My aim was to create a music video for the rapper Bones in the style that his videos are usually in and I feel like overall I have done that pretty well. My initial idea was a performance based music video filmed in a dark or run down area with b roll of the performer in interesting or unique locations that is made to look like it was filmed with a old (semi broken) VHS camera.

As soon as I chose this idea I had an actor in mind however when I first asked him he wasn’t too keen on being in the video however as I started to get ideas for the videos and told him them he agreed to be in it. I created camera scripts and storyboards however I feel like they don’t really show how my final video will look like as one of the main focuses of the video is how it was edited.

As the artist is known for making dark music I had the obvious idea to have the performer wearing all black however since I wanted a lot of it would be filmed at night I thought a bright contrasting colour would look good on the performer. For some of the performance shots the actor wore a reflective neon hoodie which not only stood out but also made the background look darker.

I originally planned on filming in the two weeks off as the actor has college Monday-Friday and I usually work on the weekend so it would be hard to organise a day after the two weeks off to film. We ended up filming on the 25th of April, we met in Cardiff town and walked to the museum, on the way we walked through a tunnel and thought it would be a good location to get some b-roll so we filmed a few shots there. We got to the museum at around 3pm as this is when it starts to get quiet according to google, we confirmed with a worker that we were allowed to film inside the museum and got all the footage we needed. Our next location was a public graveyard next to the actors house however we had to wait till it got dark so we went back to the actors house so I could explain the shots I want to get to him in further detail and for him to learn the lyrics to the song (something I told him to do for about a month before filming). We also acquired a LED light that attaches onto the top of a DSLR which ended up being so much better than my original plan (aiming a torch at the performer) as it lit up the whole area that the camera is pointed at as appose to a torch which would light up a small area, I feel like if I didn’t get the LED light my video would’ve turned out really different and not in a good way. It took many attempts but I got all the performance needed along with some more b-roll.

I feel like I managed my time and resources well, luckily I didn’t have to book any equipment as I used my own camera and a LED light that I borrowed from my friend, I also brought a tripod with me just in case but I didn’t end up using it. Finding a date to film on was harder than I thought, I wanted to film in the two weeks off as I wanted to have plenty of time to edit and it would be pretty unlikely that both me and the actor would both have a full free day to film afterwards. The first week of the two weeks off we were unable to film as we were both busy, the second week we were both free on many days however it was raining heavily for most of the week, we ended up deciding the day before filming as there was a low chance of rain once it got dark, it rained all day but luckily as it started to get dark the rain stopped so we were able to film.

I feel like one of the strengths of my video is the variety of unique shots I have throughout, this allows me to have fast cuts and in my opinion the video doesn’t feel repetitive. My aim was to recreate the style of video that Bones is known for while incorporating effects that would not normally be seen in one of his videos and I feel like I have successfully done this whilst filming and editing my video.

I feel like one of the weaknesses of my video is at some points the lip syncing isn’t very convincing due to the fact that the actor didn’t know the lyrics to the songs, I tried to get rid of this issue by filming some lines of the song separately to ensure he knows them as well as he can and by adding effects or transitions over the parts where he clearly doesn’t know the lyrics so he isn’t the main focus of the video at these points.

I showed my video to my class and my tutors and got some feedback, I was told that I successfully recreated the style of Bones’s music video in my video, I was also told that I chose the right actor as he fits the dark style of the video, I feel like as my video focuses mainly on the artist or in this case actor finding the right actor was important and as soon as I had the idea for my video I knew exactly who to have as the actor, I feel like the video would’ve turned out really differently if I had a different actor. The one thing that I was told I could’ve improved is the lip-syncing at some parts, I regularly reminded the actor for about a month before filming to learn the lyrics and he still waited until the last hour to start learning them, to improve this next time I should check whether the actor is learning the lyrics/lines way before filming.

09/04/2019

I plan on filming some of my shots in Cardiff museum, on the weekend just gone me and a few of my friends went down there to shoot promotional photos for my friends clothing brand. This gave me a good idea of what the lighting is like in the museum and the different types of shot that I will be able to get. There are rooms in the museum that are dark but have lit up exhibits which is exactly the type of location I wanted to have in my video.

Week 1 – 1st-7th April

• Think of idea
• Research (primary, secondary)
• Develop idea
• Write proposal
• Prepare pitch

Week 2 – 8th-14th April

• Present pitch
• Develop ideas
• Research
• Pre production paperwork (storyboards, camera scripts, recces, etc.)
• Gather cast
• Plan dates and locations

Week 3 – 15th-21st April (Easter holidays)

• Test shots
• Pre production paperwork
• Film
• Update blog after filming

Week 4 – 22nd-28th April (Easter holidays)

• Gather all footage and see if I need more
• Pre production paperwork
• Film (make sure I have all needed footage)
• Update blog

Week 5 – 29th April-5th May

• Start editing
• Film more (if needs be)
• Edit log
• Update blog

Week 6 – 6th-12th May

• Edit
• Paperwork

Week 7 – 13th-19th May

• Edit
• Paperwork
• Start conclusion

Week 8 – 20th-24th May

• Show finished video to class, get feedback
• Conclusion
• Make sure all paperwork is done

02/04/2019

For my final major project I will be creating a music video for the artist Bones, the first problem I have come across is that the majority of his songs are really short (about 2 minutes) and the ones that are longer tend to be in a different style to his regular music, his longer songs tend to have him singing and are not as dark as his other music. So I am pretty limited to what song I can use if I want to make a dark video, however I have found the song that I want to use. Bones’s song RickysDustyOldCassette has an eerie beat and the artist raps in his dark, croaky voiced that is he known for and I feel like this could make it an interesting song to create a music video for, it is also one of his longer songs (2:37).

03/04/2019

I have created the pitch for my music video, I have a better idea of locations and cast. I will be filming in Cardiff museum (hopefully) and around Queen street Cardiff at night. I have found a possible cast member however we haven’t decided whether I’m filming and he’s performing or vice versa.

05/04/2019

I found many tutorials on YouTube on how to get that VHS effect I’m looking for but this one definitely has the best outcome, it uses an adjustment layer on premiere pro and a bunch of effects combined and gives the video a look similar to that of the one I want, on my actual video I will adjust some of the effects to get it exactly how I want it. I tested it on some footage I had from the previous project and this was the outcome.

I am pleased with the outcome however since my video will have a lot of dark footage I will adjust the effects to look good with the footage.

The effects used on the adjustment layer change the way the footage looks by adjusting brightness, contrast, shadows and highlights to make it look old and washed out, the colours are duller and not as dominant which really helps to get that VHS camera feel. The emboss and colour and emboss make the footage seem a bit distorted and the directional blur makes it look less clear. The noise and dust and scratches make the footage just a bit grainier and the wave warp gives it the effect of looking like it was filmed on a tape.

Shots

Performance in museum – close ups, mediums, in front of exhibits

Walking through museum – following performer, shots of interesting exhibits

Walking through street at night – high vis jacket, flashlight to make high vis shine, following performer

Performance at night – flashlight on performer, close ups, mediums

Performance at night (with high vis) – flashlight on performer to make high vis shine, close ups, mediums, long shots (maybe)

09/04/2019

I pitched my final project idea to the class today and got feedback from my peers and tutor, they said that I have a very clear idea of what features my music video will have however I didn’t really say what the shots will look like or what will actually be on screen.

I have added some test shots from inside the museum to my blog and have started to work on the storyboards for my shots.

25/04/2019

Today I filmed the majority of the shots needed for my video, the cast and crew were all present and the filming went well however there was a problem with the performer not knowing some of the lyrics however after a few listens of the song he was good to go. I was at first going to use a torch to light up the areas we were filming but I managed to acquire an LED light that attaches to the top of a camera which made things so much easier and made me realise how hard it would’ve been to film without one. 

As the graveyard shots have an almost entirely black background I decided to test out ultra keying them, after doing so I decided I want more footage from the museum to put in the background such as some of the informative videos that are played next to the exhibits, I’m going to be in Cardiff again tomorrow so I will get more of this footage.

26/04/2019

I went back to the museum today and got some more footage that I will be able to use in the background of the ultra keyed footage.

30/04/2019

Today I imported all my footage onto the computer and started to edit, I created my adjustment layer but realised that i couldn’t use one of the effects. When creating my previous adjustment layer I had two brightness and contrast effects that made the colours look “washed out” however in the night shots it made the shots look really grey and objects in the scene could not be seen. I’ve edited the first 10 seconds of my video however I still need to adjust it slightly. So far I feel like I have enough footage for my video.

07/05/2019

For the past few lessons I have continued to edit my video, I am a minute and 20 seconds in which is the halfway point of the song. I have kept to the VHS style that I wanted to replicate however this can’t be done with the adjustment layer alone, I have used outside resources such as a free to use VHS overlay pack, I have mainly used to to create transitions where it looks like the “tape” is breaking or glitching. I have also tried experimenting with the ultra key effect as the night shots have an all black background for the most part, there is a few points in the video where there is performance or b roll at night, the camera “glitches”, the clip is ultra keyed with something else in the background for about 1 second then it “glitches” again and goes back to normal. I have tried to ensure that I have fast cuts in my edit to keep the viewer interested.

For the first 30 seconds of the song there are no lyrics so the first 30 seconds of my video is just b roll and atmospheric shots. When the lyrics start in the song the performance starts in the video, the performer wasn’t too confident with the songs lyrics however as we shot the performance multiple times I have got footage for each line of the song.

I also tried using masks, for example in this shot I added a VHS glitch effects, when that overlay is covering parts of the screen and distracting the viewer a grave from another shot appears on the screen and stays there for 1 second, it then cuts to another shot where the grave is in the exact same place and the actor walks from behind it.

14/05/2019

I’ve just finished editing my video and I’m really happy with how it turned out. I feel like I have successfully stuck to the style of most of Bones’s music video while experimenting with ultra keying, blend modes and other effects to make it more unique, I also feel like the lip syncing is surprisingly good even though the actor didn’t really know the lyrics. I have uploaded it to the teamsesh subreddit to get feedback.

02/04/2019

Bones is an American rapper, singer and songwriter who is often regarded as as one of the most influential artists in the underground rap scene, he has no specific music genre however he his music is often categorized as emo rap or experimental hip-hop. His music is often dark and he doesn’t stray away from talking about controversial topics, his 2014 album “TeenWitch” which got him major popularity was based on the Columbine High School massacre, the dark themes and sounds of his music are reflected in his music videos.

Bones’s music videos are filmed (or made to look like they were filmed) on a VHS camera, there is a lot of close up shots focusing on the artist and there are often what appears to be glitches in the VHS tape. They are often filmed at night or in dark locations, I feel like this really complements his dark music, the locations often look abandoned, dirty or run down.

At the start of his music videos, before there are any vocals, there is often sped up footage of the location or the artist which contrasts the slow start of the songs, an example of this is the start of the video for the song SunnyDay where the location and artist are shown at the start of the video through this sped up footage.

To create a music video in this style, finding the correct location is crucial, an idea I had is to film some of the footage in Cardiff Museum as there are certain rooms that are dark and only the exhibits are lit up. At first I thought that they would not allow filming inside the museum however I looked on the website (https://museum.wales/cardiff/hire/filming-location/) and they are all for it, however I will have to find out whether they allow filming on normal days when the museum is open to the public or whether its just for large film productions to hire out rooms in the museum. If I do film here it will have to be on a weekday as it is very busy on weekends.

Other locations won’t have to be as specific, just any type of dark, dirty or run down looking location, there are a lot of side streets or alleys in near Queen Street Cardiff that match this criteria however filming in the dark in “dodgy” locations could be a very big health and safety risk. Queen Street at night could also be a good option as in some places there are colourful that would look good in the background and give my video a more unique look.

05/04/2019

The song that I am creating a music video for is protected by copyright however after researching the copyright laws I found out that there are exceptions for copyright when the content is being used for educational purposes. Copyrighted work can be used in licensed education schemes if the purpose of the use is non-commercial meaning that I can use the song for my music video since it applies to both of these factors.

I have condoned some primary research in order to find out what Bones fans would expect to see in a Bones music video, I posted in the r/TeamSESH subreddit which focuses on the artist Bones and his music collective. I have had a few responses so far (some of them more serious than others) and all of them have similar ideas to me.

Target audience and distribution platform

The target audience for my music video will be the already existing Bones fan base, which from what I know is people aged around 15-25, I could post a questionnaire on the subreddit or Facebook group however I feel like it would be weird to post a questionnaire asking people their age and other personal information via an online music group. One thing that is clear about the Bones fan base is that a lot of them are from Russia/speak Russian, this is due to the high amount of Russian comments on Bones’s music, videos and social media accounts, Bones also occasionally tweets to his fans in Russian as so much of his fan base is Russian. I could incorporate this into my music video by having Russian text on screen, maybe for the title at the start or for a certain lyric, I don’t know if I will incorporate this but if I do it won’t be a main focus point of the video, just a small reference to the fan base. My primary research tells me what the fan base want to see or expect to see in a Bones music video, these are the same features that I found whilst doing secondary research.

The platform I would be using to distribute my music video is YouTube as there aren’t really any other options for sharing music videos online, it could be distributed through a music TV channel however due to the song and artist not being popular this is unlikely. YouTube is also more popular than television among teenagers according to a survey done in 2016, since a lot of Bones’s fan base are teenagers or slightly older it would be wiser to distribute it on YouTube rather than television.

10/04/2019

Music video codes and conventions

Music videos are made for many different reasons; to promote the song or album, introduce the artist to a broader audience, a chance for the artist to explore a new media, to promote products, to explain the meaning of the song, etc. In most cases a music video is created for the first single of an album, this song often ends up being the most popular song on the album so the budget is the biggest for this first video, this is done in order to promote the album. Music videos often tell a story about the song and it’s lyrics, this is done to further elaborate on the lyrics and to explain them, it can be also done to entertain the viewer, if a music video is interesting enough someone may watch it even if they don’t really enjoy the song. Record labels often have a lot of control over an artist’s music videos, they can choose to include as much or as little of the artist in the video as they want, if an artist doesn’t already have an established image or they are not well known for their appearance then the record label may not include much of them in the video, the record label will usually make their decisions depending on how much money they think they will make out of it.

When creating a music video it is important to look at the conventions of music videos and see what makes a music video successful, there are conventions for camera shots, lighting, editing, locations, etc. Music videos tend to include close ups and medium shots to focus on the artists, their emotions and the lyrics whereas long shots are used to focus on the themes and locations of the video. Music videos also tend to use a lot of symbolism, small things in the video that some people wouldn’t take notice of such as the colours and locations are chosen because of the mood of the song, for example a video for a slow, sad song may feature the artist on their own, wearing dark clothes or in a dark, empty place. Jump cuts are a popular editing technique in music videos, especially for fast paced songs, a sudden change from one scene to another can make a video seem much more exciting and action packed than it actually is. A video for a slow paced song may have less cuts and may use slow transitions to make the cut less sudden, this will make them fit with the pace of the song.

Different genres of music will have different conventions for music videos as they focus on different themes, a pop music video will be very different to a rap music video. A pop video may be bright and colourful and be family friendly as they are targeted at almost everyone. The songs are upbeat and this is reflected in the video, the artist tends to have a well known image so they are featured in the video and there are close ups that show the happy emotions of the artists. On the other hand, a rap music video may be darker and not as family friendly, rap videos tend to reflect the lyrics which are often about money, drugs, crimes, women and other not family friendly themes. There are often close ups of the artist but rather than showing their emotions it shows off their clothes, jewellery and other belongings. The locations that these videos are set in are on opposite ends of the spectrum, some are set in rough, poor neighbourhoods whereas others are set in exotic areas, this is done to show that the artists used to live in poverty and to show off their current wealth.

Performance based music videos are often popular in the rap genre, they tend to focus on the artist themselves and the location. Often the artists show of their wealth wether it be through their clothes, jewellery or other belongings or the location they are in, some artists film their videos in rough areas that they grew up in to show that even though they have raised to fame and riches they still remember where they came from. Bones is a rapper who doesn’t fall into this category, he is never seen showing off clothes or jewellery in his videos and the locations are never exotic, they are quite the opposite. Bones is also known to promote drinking water and healthy eating in his music videos, which is something not often done in the rap genre as the lyrics are often about explicit topics, this shows that he strays away from the conventions of a rap music video.

Bibliography

Ruth Soetendorp and Bartolomeo Meletti. (-). Education. Available: https://www.copyrightuser.org/understand/exceptions/education/. Last accessed 2019.

Nathan McAlone. (2016). Teens are watching YouTube more often than cable TV for the first time. Available: https://www.businessinsider.com/youtube-more-popular-than-cable-tv-for-teens-2016-10?r=US&IR=T. Last accessed 2019.

Khaulafaisal. (2015). Types & styles of music videos. Available: https://www.slideshare.net/Khaulafaisal/types-styles-of-music-videos. Last accessed 2019.

jamsjamsjams. (2010). Conventions of Music Videos. Available: https://www.slideshare.net/jamsjamsjams/conventions-of-music-videos-2935597. Last accessed 2019.

Over the past few weeks I have been working in a group to create a music video for the song Take me out by Franz Ferdinand, my role in the group was the producer so right at the start of the project the directors pitches their ideas and I chose the one that I felt would work the best and would give us the best final outcome. The initial idea of the video was to focus on an up and coming musician who is good at writing music but is not good at writing the lyrics for this music, this is due to the songs limited and simple lyrics, I thought this was a very good idea for the video however I didn’t know how easy this would be to portray in a music video without leaving gaps in the actual music for dialogue. We planned the video in more detail, created storyboards and camera scripts for the video and gathered a cast, once all this was done we could start to decide on filming dates and book equipment and locations if needed.

We had the idea to film the main actor at a gig watching another band play however we didn’t know if it would be worth travelling and trying to get permission to film at a gig for only a few seconds of footage, we found out that there was a gig happening in the college in the next few days, we got permission to film for our video in the gig as long as we filmed the gig for the bands playing. This was the first bit of filming we did way before we filmed the rest, we didn’t really know whether we were going to use the footage or not however it was better to have it since we got the opportunity to film.

Our first proper filming day was the 19th of February, this is when we filmed the performance part of our video, this shoot went well, all the cast and crew were there and on time, everyone knew their part of the song, we got all the shots we needed (a medium shot of the whole band and close ups of each member.)

Our second shoot when we shot another performance shot and the story was on the 8th of March, we filmed a performance shot of the singer from the band in front of a red brick wall, we didn’t initially plan to have this shot when we first created storyboards for our video however this shot came in very useful when editing the video. On this day the director of photography was unable to attend the shoot however we decided to go on with it anyway, we got a lot of shots on this day however we missed some and some of the shots we did get were out of focus or we used the wrong angle.

We decided to film again on the 13th to re-film the shots that we messed up, everyone was definitely available this time. This shoot was more successful than the previous, we filmed everything we needed for the story part of the video making sure we had the correct angles and all the shots were in focus.

I feel like one of the strengths of my video is that the story can be understood without any spoken narrative or subtitles, however I may just think this because I already know the story of it but I feel like most people would have a general idea of what the story is about. Another strength of my video is the moving close up shot of the singer as the singer is always performing to the camera, I feel like this almost interacts with the viewer and makes the video seem more active compared to the static close up.

I feel like one of the weaknesses of my video is the lack of shots, I thought we had more than enough shots when we were filming however when it came to editing the video I realised that even more shots would’ve been useful. I had enough footage for the video however more footage would of been better as it would’ve allowed me to have quicker cuts and more variation of shots, there are parts of the video especially towards the ends before the final shot where the shots feel repetitive.

I feel like as a group we managed our time and resources well, we had to book equipment and the recording studio on dates that no one else was using them and had to make sure our cast and crew weren’t busy filming or being filmed for another music video, it was hard finding a date at first but once we got a date we filmed all we needed in the studio and for the story part of the we could film on any day that the one cast member needed was available.

I asked a classmate and an ex media student for feedback on my video, they said that there is a good balance between the story and the performance parts of the video and the story was edited in well, they also said that the song was synced well to the video. When it comes to the negatives, they gave the same points as me that some of the cuts (especially in the performance) were too slow and some footage was on the screen for too long. This is due to a lack of footage, to not get this problem next time I just need to get plenty of footage, even if it seems like I got enough (which it did this time) I need to film more to the point that it seems I have too much.

 

Franz Ferdinand is a Scottish rock band formed in 2002, they are one of the more popular pop-punk revival bands with multiple UK top 20 hits, they have been nominated for several Grammy awards, received two Brit awards as well as an NME award.

“Take me out” was the second single to be released from their debut album, the single reached number three in the UK singles chart and number one on the UK indie chart so they were doing pretty well from the start. The main themes of the songs are love and death, the lyrics talk about a relationship between the singer and a girl as well as the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand so a lot of the lyrics have multiple meanings, for example “I’m just a shot away from you” is referring to the girl he is talking about and how he is close to her, it is also referring to Archduke Franz Ferdinand when his wife got assassinated, he didn’t want to spend his life without her so he was a shot away from being dead with her. There aren’t really many lyrics in the song, it is just one verse, a hook and a chorus, none of the lyrics really stand out as being about a different topic or theme.

The audience for this song and the group in general seems to be young adult males however due to the songs catchy lyrics and memorable guitar riff can make it appeal to almost anyone, obviously this was the case as the song did so well when it was released.

Music videos are made for many different reasons; to promote the song or album, introduce the artist to a broader audience, a chance for the artist to explore a new media, to promote products, to explain the meaning of the song, etc. In most cases a music video is created for the first single of an album, this song often ends up being the most popular song on the album so the budget is the biggest for this first video, this is done in order to promote the album. Music videos often tell a story about the song and it’s lyrics, this is done to further elaborate on the lyrics and to explain them, it can be also done to entertain the viewer, if a music video is interesting enough someone may watch it even if they don’t really enjoy the song. Record labels often have a lot of control over an artist’s music videos, they can choose to include as much or as little of the artist in the video as they want, if an artist doesn’t already have an established image or they are not well known for their appearance then the record label may not include much of them in the video, the record label will usually make their decisions depending on how much money they think they will make out of it.

There are many different styles of music videos, the most popular styles being performance based, narrative based and concept based. Performance based videos seem to be the most popular types of videos at the moment especially with the artists I listen to, they tend to focus on the artist themselves, what they look like, the location and creative editing. Performance based doesn’t just mean live performances at shows which is why a performance based video is so easy to make, you don’t need any footage from shows, you don’t need to think of any creative narrative, all you need is a camera, a location and the ability to lip sync and you can make a basic performance based video. Obviously videos for big artists have more to them than that, some performance based videos may also tell a narrative in between the performance and some may have a unique type of filming or editing to make them really stand out from the rest. This video by the artist Bones is a perfect example of a performance based video that was probably easy to make, whereas most performance based videos require a specific location, this one doesn’t due to the filming and editing. The filming looks like it was done with a VHS camera, however this could be done in post, but the quality of the camera is so bad that you cannot really see the location, obviously this was done on purpose as the video was made in 2013, a time where it is much easier to find a HD camera rather than a VHS one.

Narrative based videos tell a story, most of the time about the lyrics in the song, they may still feature some performance but the main focus is telling a story. These don’t require to have the artist in the video and are much harder to make as you need to hire actors, write a script, book specific locations, etc. a narrative based music video is like a short film when it comes to the production. A relationship is often established between the song’s lyrics and the visuals, this is to give viewers a better understanding of what the lyrics mean. Record labels may choose to create a narrative based video that doesn’t include the artist if they feel the artist doesn’t have enough of a recognizable appearance, a narrative video is more likely to grab the viewers attention than an artist or group that they may not recognize.

Concept based videos are based on a specific theme or topic that may have nothing to do with the lyrics of the song, these videos are often harder for the user to understand as they are not related to the song or lyrics and are harder to produce for this reason. The unusual content of the video may not be understood by everyone however this is what may attract others to watch the video as they may find it interesting. A concept based video can be about anything, some may focus on themes whereas some will be completely random. A great example of a concept based video is the video for I’ve seen footage by the group Death Grips, it features over 2500 images taken by members of the group and each image is shown on screen for a few frames, these images seem to be in chronological order however they don’t tell a story, they are just random pictures taken by the group. Some people would see this as a lazy video and not find it interesting however many Death Grips fans find the concept very interesting, in fact there are Reddit posts that showcase every single image used in the video which shows how interesting some fans found the video.

When creating a music video it is important to look at the conventions of music videos and see what makes a music video successful, there are conventions for camera shots, lighting, editing, locations, etc. Music videos tend to include close ups and medium shots to focus on the artists, their emotions and the lyrics whereas long shots are used to focus on the themes and locations of the video. Music videos also tend to use a lot of symbolism, small things in the video that some people wouldn’t take notice of such as the colours and locations are chosen because of the mood of the song, for example a video for a slow, sad song may feature the artist on their own, wearing dark clothes or in a dark, empty place. Jump cuts are a popular editing technique in music videos, especially for fast paced songs, a sudden change from one scene to another can make a video seem much more exciting and action packed than it actually is. A video for a slow paced song may have less cuts and may use slow transitions to make the cut less sudden, this will make them fit with the pace of the song.

Different genres of music will have different conventions for music videos as they focus on different themes, a pop music video will be very different to a rap music video. A pop video may be bright and colourful and be family friendly as they are targeted at almost everyone. The songs are upbeat and this is reflected in the video, the artist tends to have a well known image so they are featured in the video and there are close ups that show the happy emotions of the artists. On the other hand, a rap music video may be darker and not as family friendly, rap videos tend to reflect the lyrics which are often about money, drugs, crimes, women and other not family friendly themes. There are often close ups of the artist but rather than showing their emotions it shows off their clothes, jewellery and other belongings. The locations that these videos are set in are on opposite ends of the spectrum, some are set in rough, poor neighbourhoods whereas others are set in exotic areas, this is done to show that the artists used to live in poverty and to show off their current wealth.

Khaulafaisal. (2015). Types & styles of music videos. Available: https://www.slideshare.net/Khaulafaisal/types-styles-of-music-videos. Last accessed 2019.

jamsjamsjams. (2010). Conventions of Music Videos. Available: https://www.slideshare.net/jamsjamsjams/conventions-of-music-videos-2935597. Last accessed 2019.

I think my campaign successfully meets the brief as I managed to create the three adverts; TV, radio and viral. I feel like all of my adverts promote the brand Quorn and World Meat Free day well in different ways, my TV and viral advert use the same footage however they promote the brand in different ways, my TV advert promotes it with a narrative whereas my viral advert promotes it with simply a video and a voiceover, both are effective in my opinion. My radio advert also uses a narrative however unlike my TV advert it has two people having a conversation about the brand Quorn, this is to add variation to my campaign and also make it more entertaining for the listener.

Out of my three adverts I feel like the TV advert is the most effective as it has a story to it with a voice over, so not only does it entertain the viewer (hopefully) with the story but it also educates them on World Meat Free day and promotes the brand Quorn. The other two adverts also do this however I think the TV advert does it the most effectively, I also feel like it has a lot of different shots for how short it is without it getting too confusing or hard to follow.

I feel like one of my main strengths was that I created a narrative for my TV advert and I stuck to it, normally I would have trouble thinking of a narrative and I would adjust it as I went along with the project but this time I planned a narrative, wrote a script, made storyboards for it and stuck to it for the most part, some shots were changed ever so slightly however for the most part I managed to stick to the plan. One of my weaknesses was the lighting on my indoor shots, it was really yellow due to having to use lights in my house for lighting however there wasn’t much I could do about this, as I am filming during such a dark time of the year it was too dark when filming indoors without artificial lighting even in the middle of the day, I needed to keep my shutter speed the same due to the frame rate I was filming at, my aperture was as bright as it can get and setting my ISO too high would result in grainy footage.

I feel like I managed my time and resources well, I tried to make the most of my two weeks off by filming during that time however I should’ve stuck to my plan and not rushed to film a few days earlier as I was interrupted by my family coming home, I was still able to film but I had to make sure everyone was quiet and not in shot. Filming the over the shoulder shot was harder than expected especially as I filmed it by myself, this took a few attempts to get right but I was able to get it just like I wanted to. Filming a group of chickens also ended up being harder than I expected as they didn’t stay in one group, however when I filmed myself feeding them they all ran towards the food so I could easily film the shot of them eating. Before I started filming my TV advert I made sure my radio advert was recorded as I knew I can’t do this from home, I also edited it before I started filming just to get it out of the way.

When editing my TV I realised that my storyboard and plan is pretty unrealistic for a 30 second advert, I had to cut the length of many shots to get the advert down to 30 seconds, I also had to start my voiceover earlier for it to fit, it still made sense in the advert however it wasn’t quite how I wanted it. I also realised that burgers probably aren’t Quorn’s best looking product, compared to normal burgers they looked skinny and dry so the close up shot of the burgers cooking and the burger being made didn’t look as appetising as I thought they would and these are the only time the viewer sees the product. If I were to do this advertising campaign I would pick another Quorn product to focus on or research more about how companies make food look more appealing for the viewer.

When a few of my peers watched my TV advert they said that they liked the way all the shots looked and that the script went well with the advert, they also mentioned that throughout all my adverts it was clear what I was advertising and that I made sure to promote World Meat Free day as the brief stated. It was also mentioned that the music goes well with the advert, I had trouble finding the correct song for the advert so I’m glad to know other people think it fits. One negative thing that was mentioned is that my lighting was off in some of the shots especially in the indoor ones and that the burger doesn’t look very appealing. There’s not much I can do about the burger not looking appealing to some people as that’s subjective, some people may find it very appealing. However my lighting can be improved, some of my shots were overexposed for example the shot of me walking into the house, everything inside was the correct brightness however outside is very overexposed, to fix this I could’ve tried to make the lighting inside be similar to the lighting outside however this may not be possible at all times so sometimes it may have to be corrected in post, there is a way on premiere to turn down the brightness only in certain parts of the video so I could use this feature to fix problems like this in future products.

Radio advert

Whilst editing my radio advert I realised my script was much longer than I intended it too be so I had to cut out a portion of the conversation in order to make my advert 30 seconds. Although some of my conversation has to be cut out, my advert still makes sense and I am still getting my point across.

So far I have trimmed down my conversation to the correct length, next I have to add the background sound effects.

I’ve now added some supermarket background noise which I got from Freesound.org, this is my radio advert finished for now unless I think of something I could add to improve it.

TV Advert

20/12/2018

I started to film for my TV and Viral advert yesterday, I filmed all the outdoor shots yesterday. Today I filmed all the indoor shots, so I have all my footage and I am ready to start editing.

28/12/2018

Today I edited my TV Advert and once again realised that I had filmed and recorded way too much for a 30 second advert, luckily the audio fit into the advert however I had to trim down a lot of the video. I was successful in editing my footage to look like how I planned on my storyboard, luckily I didn’t have to alter any of my lighting so my editing was as simple as cutting, zooming and putting my footage in the correct order. I added copyright free music from freesound.org that I think fits the theme of the advert very well. I made sure all the audio levels were correct as the video and music was much louder than the voice-over.

Viral Advert

11/01/2019

My viral advert is just one shot cut into 15 seconds with a voice over so it wasn’t too hard to edit, as this is an advert that would probably be shown on sites such as youtube I added a small Quorn logo in the bottom right corner throughout the video along with a larger world meat free day logo in the top left, this is so the viewer instantly knows what the advert is about. At the end a hashtag is shown on screen, this is to try to get the viewers to spread the message of world meat free day on social media.