Evaluation
Here will be my Evaluation page where I analyse some of the finished work that I have done and on this page I will go into fine details about my feelings, progress and other factors that go into making this project!
DESCRIPTION
Our Level 3 year 2 course kicks off with a bang, the first project of the academic year is one that I've been wanting to make ever since I joined the college back in 2019... A MUSIC VIDEO!
Our tutor Paul Boddy along with our secondary teacher Sam Instone revealed this task to us the day we left for summer back in Level 3 Year 1, I think was probably the best way to go about telling the class the first project as it allows our anticipation and excitement for the project to build over the summer and then coming to an explosive start when we joined back in September 2021.
As a class, we was tasked to re-create a music video for an artist of our own choice! (For me I chose Lil Skies). Everyone in the class seemed to go for a different genre and a different artists which stirs up the excitement for being able to finish and show off our work to the other students in our class as well as being proud of our work when we finally show our tutor.
Now, I will go through the separate milestones within this project!
STEP 1-
Our first deadline to meet was the initial ideas and research milestone, This includes researching my chosen artist as well as other factors that have a huge role in the production of our music videos, researching the demographic charts of the artist as well as genre of music, geo-graphical location, colour pallets and intended audiences... every bit of research about our artists is vital in order to make a believable video.
Not to forget we did research not only on one artist but we had to pick 3 main artists that are potential matches for the video we originally had in mind when the project was first announced... I actually ended up researching 4 artists including Lil skies, Post Malone, Meekz Manny and French the kid. I originally was very torn between who to go with but I eventually created a mind map debating between Lil skies and French the kid.
After our desired artist was chosen, we then move onto step 2.
STEP 2-
Next, Our teachers made sure to teach our class some Adobe Software editing techniques, I'm grateful for our teachers doing this as it allowed me to boost my confidence when it came to editing after a long summer off, If you visit pages such as the "Research" or "On-going reflection" page on my blog you can see the amount of tutorials we had done on a vast array of Adobe software such as Premier Pro and After Effects! This will most certainly come in handy when it comes to editing my final video as it allows me to use my new found knowledge of some effects in my video to get extra marks, effects can also be used to alter the video to certain demographics such as including illustrations, lyrics on screen or other elements that added in post production.
STEP 3-
Now comes possibly the most important step... The Pitch presentation.
This is when all of our research comes into play, The pitch presentation is where we lay out our music video ideas to our teacher in order to get the "go-ahead" which basically means the teacher saying our idea is well enough researched in order to actually start production and filming.
My pitch presentation video is on the "PRODUCTION" page on my blog, On that page I talk about my personal positive and negatives about how my Pitch went.
If you couldn't tell, my Pitch got the heavenly "Green Light" on first time of asking which was beneficial to me as I did not have to re-think any of my ideas and I could jump into the production stage head first!
STEP 4-
By now the production stage is in full swing, I began my filming on NOVEMBER 10th. I started by recording the "Performance" segment of my video in the college... After was time to go to the locations outside of college and wrap filming as soon as possible to start the lengthy post production process.
FINAL STEP-
The last step of this project is the Post-production process... this is where the magic happens! finally putting all of the hard work over the first term and project into the editing stage where it all comes together!
FEELINGS
When the assignment was announced back in the summer I was extremely excited and eager to begin working on the project!
At the very start of the new college term I spent weeks trying to debate with myself what song and artist would suit me as an individual more... I spent ages researching rappers such as Meekz, French the Kid, Post Malone and Lil Skies but I had an even harder time trying to pin point exactly what artist and song I wanted to re-create.
After the difficulties of picking an artist and song I decided to go with Lil skies and his song from his newest album called "How You Feel". I chose this song because the lyrics connected with me in a way that the other songs did not... The themes of the song are about overcoming challenges, working for a better life and possibly the main theme of the song is about doing good for your family, this is why I wanted to do this song because the lyrics genuinely made me want to do my own visual spin on the track.
Personally I had a few ups and downs when it comes to this project, at times I felt passionate, eager, excited and ready but other times I felt overwhelmed, stuck, stressed and exhausted.
I think that the reason for me sometimes feeling stressed or overwhelmed with this project was due to my time schedule when it came to my part time job and college... I had many days where I wanted to go out and film but I just simply could not because I had my job to go to.
I realise now that I had plenty of time to get everything done in the time frame of the project, I was just overthinking.
EVALUATION
WHAT WENT WELL:
I will admit that I am extremely pleased that the project went relatively smoothly overall when it comes to every aspect including the initial research, pre-production, filming and editing stages.
After the bulk of the recording was finished I had a sense of relaxation and satisfaction seeing my vision come together, I felt excited to edit my clips together in multiple different ways to see which order of scenes would be best, I will also state that after I had created the story board for my music video I had some thinking of whether the original order of the story board and shot list was the best or if I could switch the order up and create a similar vision but easier to edit with.
Also I want to mention the useful and resourceful tutorials that our teachers delivered to us, the many different effects and techniques I had learned over the course of the project really helped me develop my creative ideas when it came to post production and it broadened my knowledge of both Adobe Premier Pro & Adobe After Effects... I learned that both of these software platforms have quite a difficult to use user interface (U.I) but at the same time it felt like a challenge to use the software which added to the sense of satisfaction and pride when the project was finally finished.
I think gradually over the space of the 2-3 years I have been on the media course at Bracknell & Wokingham college, my work ethic and motivation to do well in my course just keeps on growing and pushing me to keep working hard more than ever before... I find my course fun, interesting and I feel passionate about what I do and where I want to be in the future, so another point of what had gone well during this project is being able to motivate myself to do well with what I set out to accomplish.
WHAT DIDNT GO SO WELL
Trying to pinpoint what didn't go very well with my project is pretty tough as in my opinion the vast majority of steps leading up to the final deadline went as smooth as I could possibly make it.
If there was any segment of my project that I personally feel could use the most tweaking I think it would be the pitch presentation! This isn't to say my pitch was terrible because I in fact got the green light on the first time of asking but that isn't to say after re-watching my pitch presentation video sent to me by Sam that I didn't instantly think I could of done more to make mine more memorable and stand out.
In my opinion I think I slightly rushed my Pitch that resulted in a kind of messy PowerPoint that doesn't highlight the exact reason Lil skies stood out to me and why "How you feel" was a perfect match for me
GOOD EXPERIENCES
I would like to start by saying that I feel the project as a whole was a good experience for me not just because the project went well for me but also because it allowed me to test my filmmaking and editing skills within a project I felt pretty passionate and excited about.
I think the production process as a whole was a very eye-opening and self sufficient couple of weeks which boosted by independence and confidence as I had to complete everything by myself! I take this as an overall good experience.
Also the multiple Adobe tutorials were a massive help for me as it taught me many different editing effects and techniques that I ended up using in my final video such as the colour correction, saturation adjustment and others.
BAD EXPERIENCES
I think I can count this as a bad experience... My pre-production work and planning could of used some tweaking and re-doing such as the shot list and storyboard. Both the shot list and storyboard do follow the same aesthetic and tone of the final product however it wasn't totally accurate when it came to the intended frames I wanted.
I managed to follow the pre-production paperwork relatively well however I know I could improve the paper work in order to fit the video more accurately.
A DIFFICULT SITUATION & HOW I RESOLVED IT
A difficult situation for me during this project was finding someone outside of college to help me with recording certain scenes in my music video.
Within college it was fairly easy to get someone to help out with camerawork as there was friends in my class who was more than willing to help me out in college hours...
However trying to find someone when I was outside of college was more difficult, I messaged a few of my friends and they seemed to be busy with either their job or other personal reasons so for a few days I was beginning to think of a plan B on how to get these shots I wanted, But thankfully a friend of mine called Aron said he had spare time to help me film so on Saturday the 20th of November, Aron and myself met up in a mutual location between both of our houses and we went off to Easthampstead church to film!
I was working before Aron and myself met up and I finished at 3pm, which in November after 3pm there is not a lot of time before the sun goes down and it gets freezing cold and pitch black so I filmed in the space of about 30 mins and we had all the shots I wanted.
If it wasn't for my friend I don't think I would of finished the music video in a reasonable time to give me a comfortable space to edit and evaluate my work at the end!
ANALYSIS
WHY DID THINGS GO RIGHT FOR ME?
I believe that the reason the music video project came out great was purely down to me as an eager and passionate student. I felt really excited about the combination of my media course and my music taste... It really made for a project that I felt happy to put my time into!
This filters down to me being fully engaged and involved with the work that our teachers set and keeping up with deadlines! That's why my project came out as well as I hoped.
WHY DID SOME THINGS GO WRONG?
If I had to point out 2 parts of this project that caused slightly more hassle then the rest would probably be the pre-production work and the Pitch presentation... Overall I just think I didn't put enough planning into either.
When it comes to the pre-production I feel the storyboard and shot list wasn't the most accurate when it came to the final video outcome, The story line was the same throughout but there was some parts that was missing such as certain shots or locations couldn't be used due to time constraints as I still had to edit and evaluate my work after!
And lastly I feel that the Pitch presentation was slightly rushed together by me in order to have more time with the actual production and post production process, This leads to a slightly messy PowerPoint that didn't go in depth with my chosen artist as much as I hoped it would! Even though I was given the green light on first time of asking I couldn't help but think of what I could of done differently.
COULD MY TEACHERS DO ANYTHING TO HELP?
My teachers Paul, Sam & Ivana were absolutely brilliant when it came to delivering tutorials, checking on my work and giving me feedback. In my opinion I think they done the upmost great job at influencing and motivating me to complete my work!
Both Paul and Sam taught the class many different and versatile tutorials on the Adobe software that really helped me gain confidence in working alone with the different Adobe domains.
I personally really enjoyed the after effects tutorials that you can see in my ON-GOING REFLECTION page!
Overall my teachers were very helpful to me in so many different ways but when it comes down to my work its only me who can determine what grade I get by putting in the effort!
COMPARING MY KNOWLEDGE BEFORE AND AFTER THIS PROJECT
Before the project began, I knew a lot about music videos and how demographics can affect the visual element of a music video but I never realised how subjective music videos actually were!
After the many theory lessons and practical tutorials throughout the duration of this project I really grew an appreciation for music video directors and how they utilise different socially powered ways to influence their videos!
Also I realised how difficult it is to make one myself... It took a lot of time and dedication to create the video I wanted.
Overall I feel my knowledge on music videos has grown over the months I've been working on this project and so has my appreciation towards everyone involved in creating videos for artists!
CONCLUSION
WHAT CAN I NOW DO BETTER?
After the post production stage was finished I realised how much I've developed as an individual worker... I've defiantly gained confidence & motivation to do my work to best I can.
I feel that over the duration of the music video project I have grown as a creative mind and I feel like doors have opened when it comes to doing creative work by myself, a standout section of this is defiantly the editing process! Being able to record, edit and evaluate by myself has really made my work ethic shoot upwards as I now have so much more confidence in my ability to produce good work.
And I cannot forget to mention that I now understand music videos much better than I did before the project began, I think the way I analyse music videos has changed forever as I now look at music videos in much more detail.
WHAT SKILLS CAN I IMPROVE UPON?
Honestly, I feel the main skill that could use improvement for me is the planning side of the project, I feel the way I plan and plot out the way I want my filming to go could of used more time to be more accurate to what the final outcome was... Don't get me wrong, I'm still happy with the outcome of the video but I look at some of my pre-production work and think of how I could of improved it?
I didn't get some of the shots I wanted from the beginning and some of the shots I did get wasn't the way I initially envisioned on my pre-production work.
WHAT HAVE I LEARNED FROM THIS PROJECT?
This music video project has taught me a ton... I've learnt how to work individually and I have found out countless effects that will certainly come in handy in the future!
The many Adobe tutorials have really elevated my editing style compared to previous projects from other years! I think my knowledge when it comes to the theory side as well has really grown and improved over the time of this project.
Learning about different ways to identify demographics such as geo-graphics and social economics I think will be so helpful in future projects where I have my own creative freedom!
ACTION PLAN
WHERE CAN I USE MY NEW EXPERIENCE? & HOW CAN I USE MY NEW KNOWLEDGE AND TECHNIQUES THAT I'VE PICKED UP?
Like I said previously, from now on every time I watch a music video I will be able to subconsciously recognise tropes and other elements that form the visual element of the video! I feel I will be able to use my new knowledge and experiences in other projects in the future too.
I can use my new techniques as-well in other forms of media not just music videos which is brilliant for allowing me to further my media skills in other creative industries.
IF I WAS TO DO THIS PROJECT AGAIN... WHAT WOULD I DO DIFFERENTLY?
If this project was to happen again, I instantly know what I would change about it!
1- I would defiantly change the artist from Lil Skies to someone else I think fondly of their music, I have many different artists in mind such as the other artists I did my research on such as Meekz or Post Malone but part of me would thinks I would of done a whole new roster of artists to research! But defiantly if this project was to happen again I would change the track!
2- I also would change the video style... The first time round I did a performance/narrative style video but if I was to do this again I think I would like to create a music video with a vastly different style... maybe a parody or a comedy style music video? I just know I would like to experiment with different styles!
3- The settings would also see a change. I think I would use more variety in my locations instead of 2-3 locations I would like to use more and switch them more frequently in the video to give it a sense of scale. Possibly go to places outside of Bracknell to record which I think would boost the production of the video upwards.
4- Lastly, I would include different effects in the music video instead of the ones I used for this one, In my first music video I used an effect called "Echo" a few times and I utilised colour correction and saturation to add more "pop" to the scenes, but I think I would switch it up and use more effects we learned throughout the project such as the "tracers".
REFLECTION
FINISHING STATEMENT
In conclusion to the first project of my Level 3 Year 2 course at Bracknell & Wokingham college, I have had so much fun creating my own music video! This project has seen ups & downs but overall I am happy with the outcome of the final video as I feel it fulfils the purpose I set out when I initially thought of the track and artist.
My intended target audience & demographic for this project was young teens to young adults and I really feel that my video caters towards that age range with the style and aesthetic of the video with the inclusion of a vast array of colours and the overall tone that I was aiming for while recording.
I'm looking forward to seeing my class mates reaction to my video as well as seeing what my teachers think of my music video. I've put a lot of time and effort into creating a visually pleasing video that ticks boxes related to the intended demographic and I think I have successfully achieved this but I have to wait and see what my teachers think first!
I will most defiantly use my knowledge that I have gained over the duration of this project in any future project I have with the college!
Zac Chevasco.