This is my final music video for Unit 36, with the video being planned and created in a group with Morgan and Jack. The song was an original created by Jack which we then planned an original music video for, with each of us in the group creating a different edit based on our own ideas.
Evaluation
We started with an original song created by Jack, which we then as a group listened to and started generating some plans as to what type of video we could create based on the song. We all had similar ideas of creating a sad, slow narrative based video which we thought would fit the beat and pace of the song well. This obviously led to more indepth ideas of what we could actually film and we thought it would be easier if we could make a video of a couple arguing and then breaking up leading to a depression phase for the man. Jack then came up with the idea of relating the video to male abuse in relationships and trying to highlight the issues of male suicides which we then collectively decided to incorperate into the video and so this led to us planning a video about a man in a relationship get abused and then become depressed and eventually lead to taking his own life as to highlight the issues mentioned previously. We then thought it would be best if we each individually created our own edit with the footage we filmed together, creating videos based on the same overall plan but each turning out slightly different.
Firstly, when we began planning filming originally we had much larger visions, however these became unachievable due to a number of difficulties such as budgetary constraints, locations available to us, weather and time. We did manage to overcome these issues though in the end but, this did possibly cause us to have to shortcomings in our final product. With the Cinematography I am personally happy with our results from our days of filming. We spent one day filming all the footage we needed that required Jacks home, this day of filming went well as we didn't have to deal with any weather since we were indoors and also lighting was ok due to having the house lights. Of course though this wasn't all perfect, as the weather for that day was raining, the clouds limited the outside lighting meaning that even with the house lights some of our shots were still under exposed forcing us to compromise on footage quality by boosting the ISO in some shots to 800 at the highest we wanted it to go, to reduce the amount of noise, and also keeping the aperture as low as possible. In the end though even with some of the issues faced that day, I feel we did manage to get a decent amount of footage shot, and with a variety of camera angles and shot types to give us a wider choice in our final edit. For example we used a lot of close up shots and mid shots, as we felt these would allow us to convey the emotion felt by both the characters as this was a main focus for the video to be emotional and allow the audience to possibly relate to the video. A number of tracking and panning shots were used as well to fit the narrative idea, and make it feel as though we are actually following this man through his pain and emotion and life. When it came to equipment used to film the shots in the house we settled on using the standard camera and settings used to shoot film, and to assistance with some of the shots we used a powered gimble which helped stabilise a lot of ours shots, and this became very helpful with a number of the panning and tracking shots we used as it meant there was significantly less shaking with the camera giving us much smoother footage compared to doing the shots freehand. But, while the gimble was very useful it did have some drawbacks such as when using it to pan the camera it was quite slow adding a lot of length to the shot and preventing us from doing a lot more panning shots than we wanted. Since we were filming in a group too we also decided it would be best if we split filming and directing between all of us, with mainly me and Morgan switcing between camerman and director, with one of us filming a shot and trying our way of filming it and the other offering direction and assistance where needed, then obvisouly we would swap roles.
On our second day of filming we had chosen to shoot in some wooded area, and specifically one that featured a bridge in order for us to get a shot suggesting the suicide. This day of filming was a lot more difficult as we were outdoors in public, meaning we had weather to deal with and other people walking past and preventing us from filming at some points. The weather especially proved and issue for us on this day since it kept varying from rain, to wind and then sun, the sunlight would cause lensflaring on some shots, and the wind would cause our filming rigs barn doors flap about sometimes getting into the shot and ruining the footage which was the case with a few of our shots. The shots we got outdoors were I'd say pretty good since we needed to get a lot of tracking shots of the character, and also a combination of mid shots, establishing shots, and close ups. The tracking was to once again give a pace to the video and make it seem as though we are following him, the establishing shots were to obviosuly show us where he is and sort of hint to what he might do, the mid shots helped show his isolation and also his emotion on his face, and the close ups once again further showed his emotion. The equipment we used when we filmed the outdoor shots were the larger shoulder mounted camera rig, which gave us a lot of ease when it came to doing the tracking shots as it meant we could get more stability and control over our shots.
When it came to editing all the footage together, as a group we all realised an issue with making a video fitting the full length of the song at 5:24. I found this problem difficult to overcome as it resulted in my reusing footage throughout the video and even having to cut the song length down as to prevent me using the same clips ten times throughout the video. This obviously made us realise that we didn't get enough footage as previously thought and is something we need to consider next time we make a video of any kind. Another issue I came across due to lack of footage was trying to fill the length of the video without leaving clips on for their full length as it would slow the pace of the video and result in it looking more film like than music video like, so I ended up cutting up the footage and adding more cuts between clips and even cutting the same clip down just to fit the beat better and keep the pace up. My overall idea for my edit of the video was to have a non-linear narrative with flashbacks and flash forwards to give a story and give answers to the audience. Of course I had to give the audience answers for something so I started the video with an enigma of the characters death right at the beginning, meaning that the rest of the video then gave answers to that enigma and eventually ending with the same shot as it started.
In conclusion, I feel the music video was good, I am happy with the footage we got and with my final edit of the video itself as it achieved my expectations for myself as an editor and cameraman. However, there were some drawbacks that I need to consider next time when filming anything, and that's length of the video I want and also making sure I get enough footage to create the ideal video I want.
Firstly, when we began planning filming originally we had much larger visions, however these became unachievable due to a number of difficulties such as budgetary constraints, locations available to us, weather and time. We did manage to overcome these issues though in the end but, this did possibly cause us to have to shortcomings in our final product. With the Cinematography I am personally happy with our results from our days of filming. We spent one day filming all the footage we needed that required Jacks home, this day of filming went well as we didn't have to deal with any weather since we were indoors and also lighting was ok due to having the house lights. Of course though this wasn't all perfect, as the weather for that day was raining, the clouds limited the outside lighting meaning that even with the house lights some of our shots were still under exposed forcing us to compromise on footage quality by boosting the ISO in some shots to 800 at the highest we wanted it to go, to reduce the amount of noise, and also keeping the aperture as low as possible. In the end though even with some of the issues faced that day, I feel we did manage to get a decent amount of footage shot, and with a variety of camera angles and shot types to give us a wider choice in our final edit. For example we used a lot of close up shots and mid shots, as we felt these would allow us to convey the emotion felt by both the characters as this was a main focus for the video to be emotional and allow the audience to possibly relate to the video. A number of tracking and panning shots were used as well to fit the narrative idea, and make it feel as though we are actually following this man through his pain and emotion and life. When it came to equipment used to film the shots in the house we settled on using the standard camera and settings used to shoot film, and to assistance with some of the shots we used a powered gimble which helped stabilise a lot of ours shots, and this became very helpful with a number of the panning and tracking shots we used as it meant there was significantly less shaking with the camera giving us much smoother footage compared to doing the shots freehand. But, while the gimble was very useful it did have some drawbacks such as when using it to pan the camera it was quite slow adding a lot of length to the shot and preventing us from doing a lot more panning shots than we wanted. Since we were filming in a group too we also decided it would be best if we split filming and directing between all of us, with mainly me and Morgan switcing between camerman and director, with one of us filming a shot and trying our way of filming it and the other offering direction and assistance where needed, then obvisouly we would swap roles.
On our second day of filming we had chosen to shoot in some wooded area, and specifically one that featured a bridge in order for us to get a shot suggesting the suicide. This day of filming was a lot more difficult as we were outdoors in public, meaning we had weather to deal with and other people walking past and preventing us from filming at some points. The weather especially proved and issue for us on this day since it kept varying from rain, to wind and then sun, the sunlight would cause lensflaring on some shots, and the wind would cause our filming rigs barn doors flap about sometimes getting into the shot and ruining the footage which was the case with a few of our shots. The shots we got outdoors were I'd say pretty good since we needed to get a lot of tracking shots of the character, and also a combination of mid shots, establishing shots, and close ups. The tracking was to once again give a pace to the video and make it seem as though we are following him, the establishing shots were to obviosuly show us where he is and sort of hint to what he might do, the mid shots helped show his isolation and also his emotion on his face, and the close ups once again further showed his emotion. The equipment we used when we filmed the outdoor shots were the larger shoulder mounted camera rig, which gave us a lot of ease when it came to doing the tracking shots as it meant we could get more stability and control over our shots.
When it came to editing all the footage together, as a group we all realised an issue with making a video fitting the full length of the song at 5:24. I found this problem difficult to overcome as it resulted in my reusing footage throughout the video and even having to cut the song length down as to prevent me using the same clips ten times throughout the video. This obviously made us realise that we didn't get enough footage as previously thought and is something we need to consider next time we make a video of any kind. Another issue I came across due to lack of footage was trying to fill the length of the video without leaving clips on for their full length as it would slow the pace of the video and result in it looking more film like than music video like, so I ended up cutting up the footage and adding more cuts between clips and even cutting the same clip down just to fit the beat better and keep the pace up. My overall idea for my edit of the video was to have a non-linear narrative with flashbacks and flash forwards to give a story and give answers to the audience. Of course I had to give the audience answers for something so I started the video with an enigma of the characters death right at the beginning, meaning that the rest of the video then gave answers to that enigma and eventually ending with the same shot as it started.
In conclusion, I feel the music video was good, I am happy with the footage we got and with my final edit of the video itself as it achieved my expectations for myself as an editor and cameraman. However, there were some drawbacks that I need to consider next time when filming anything, and that's length of the video I want and also making sure I get enough footage to create the ideal video I want.
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