The student created a music video for a class and received feedback both positive and negative. Some felt the storyline was confusing while others praised the smooth camerawork from the steadicam. However, the lip synching wasn't clear and many found the video boring at times. Overall, the concept of running to match the music was seen as a good idea fitting for the genre, but the student recognizes areas for improvement in future projects.

1. I showed the class my video, and asked them to right down both their criticisms and praises. This
resulted in a pile of post-it notes with a range of comments, I have cut these down to a Wordle, as
seen above. I will now consider and comment on all of these comments.
“Confusing Storyline”
Some felt that the storyline was quite difficult to follow and a few didn’t actually understand what
was happening. I feel this is a fair comment and the narrative was quite weak and although there
was a clear link between the song and the story, I don’t think I made it very clear in the video, as
some thought the character was just running for the sake of running. In future projects I will aim to
ensure the narrative is much more apparent to the audience. I could do this by perhaps introducing
some breaks in the music to introduce some dialogue, This would then make the audience aware of
what was happening and overall improve the video. But at the same time, maybe if I would need to
explain a narrative, then maybe its not the correct narrative or an appropriate stroyline to be used
for this genre specifically.
“Good Use Of Steadicam”
In my video I used a lot of the steadicam, I felt this offered a proffessional and smooth aestethic to
the moving shots in the video. My audience agreed with this statement as there was a common
remark throughout that the shots were smooth and the steadicam was used effectively. This is a
technical skill I wanted to include in my video as I feel it would take the video to a higher level. I
really like how the use of steadicam looked in the video, offering a really smooth dimension to my

2. moving shots, something I wanted to improve on from last year when some of my shots were shaky.
Usage of the steadicam connotes a freedom and unrestricted movement, this is reflective of my
chartacter who seeks to find a similar level of self-fulfillment and freedom.
“Lip Synching Not Clear”
This is something I noticed in post-production, and something that all members of my audience
commented on, and that is the fact that the actor didn’t really open his mouth to a significant width
when lip-synching. I initially wanted him to do this, because I felt it would add a more personal, and
intimate vibe to the lip synching segments,and this would then contrast heavily with the fast pace of
the drop. Theoretically ideal, but in practice it seemed to come across as though the lip synching was
just poor and the actor wasn’t involved in the role. In future projects I think I, as the director, would
need to be more enforcing and forceful over the direction of my actors, to make sure they know
what they are doing and can get across what I am trying to portray. I feel that while the vision is in
my head and is clear, I must ensure that that vision is correctly transferred from my head to the
screen, this may involve determination to guarantee that my actors, despite any complaints, give
their all the to make that vision a reality.
“Boring”
A common comment from all of my audience members was that the video was at times quite boring
and repetitive, they said the while the running steadicam shots were a good technical skill and
looked good, there was too many and for too long. I agree with this statement and feel as though
the video didn’t really engage and hold the attention of my audience very well. In future projects I
could perhaps include more special effects or include some more technical editing in order to break
up long segments of similar footage. This, I hope, will make the video considerabley less boring and
will enable me to hold the attention of the audience for a much greater period of time. The video
has been created entirely to promote the artist and their music, and if the video is of a standard
whereby the audience quickly lose interest in what they are seeing, they will also lose interest in
what they are hearing, and as a promotional video for the song, it is integral that the audience
remain capitvated by the video and listen to the song till its end, or else I may feel as though I have
failed the artist in promoting his/her song.
“Good concept”
My audience felt that the idea of having the character running on the drop of the song was a really
good idea. The convention that on the drop of a Drum & Bass song there is usually an explosion of
energy and speed, similar to that of running. This, my audience felt, fitted in really well with the
genre and set it apart as a Drum & Bass video. Also, there was a large majority that said that the
consistent themes of movement, and the contrast between calm serenity and explosion exertion

3. also met with the genre perfectly, and enabled them to recognise it as Drum & Bass. From this I can
take that although I received criticism, and some parts of the video werent met with complete
elation, I have found that the technical acheivements of using the steadicam and the fact that the
audience appreciated the initial concept is encouraging, and although there is clear room for
improvement, I feel that overall my target audience enjoyed my video, which is great.