Media evaluation

1. Spinoza-
Music VideoUNIT 21: EVALUATION

2. INITIAL IDEAS
My initial ideas for Unit 21 were between either a photography exhibition or music video. I originally wanted to focus on these as felt like these were
the creative media fields in which I was the most confident and experienced in- enabling me the best chance to produce a good quality, final product
for either of the two.
I then went on to decide that I wanted to focus my Unit 21: Creative Unit on the format of film. I chose to do a music video as I felt the most
familiar with the media sector and had access to the most inspiration for my own ideas (through an interest of music/the videos in which
compliment them). I had a few ideas of the genre of music that I wanted to base the video on by conduction research prior to the pre-production
stages, this also enabled me to decide that a conceptual/narrative video would best be suitable. After knowing which song I wanted to create a
music video for ( Spinoza-Generationals) and the genre of video I could then start to brainstorm ideas using a program called ‘Inspiration 8’.
I chose the song, Spinoza, as I liked the 80s new wave feel to it from an upbeat instrumental with contrasting delirious vocals (and lyrics)
which would allow me to create a conceptual/narrative video to compliment it. I also decided from my brainstorm that I wanted to
interpret a costume into the music video to create a contrast to the video in a similar way that it has a contrast between the vocals and
the upbeat instrumentals. I also wanted to add a performance element, of lip synching to the video as it will help emphasise so of the
lyrics that I deem as more important.

3. Mu s i c v i d e o r e s e ar ch:
RESEARCH
Due to previous experience of making music videos prior to Unit 21 I had already gained a good
understanding of the different types of music video such as conceptual, narrative and performance and this
allowed me to understand the different elements behind certain music videos.
To gain further understanding I watched a variety of different music videos, this allowed me to see how
existing music videos have successfully complimented the songs behind them. Some genres of music video,
particularly narrative, helped to enhance the stories from within the songs themselves where as others such
as conceptual had no specific relation to the lyrics of the song.
I found that narrative videos like ‘Since I Left You’ by The Avalanches and Foals- ‘My Number’ helped to tell
a story that without the song would have no relationship (the dancing scenes fitting in with the song) had
strong elements of conceptual throughout them.
I liked this idea and was eager to create
my music video to fit both narrative and
conceptual genres likewise therefore I
conducted further research into this
specific music video. In this stage of music
video research I specifically focused on the
shot types and camera movements used by
the producers which enable them to tell the
story through the format of film alongside
the song. I also found that to tell a story,
and be an effective narrative video, the
video needed to follow a chronological
order so that the viewers could easily follow
it. This would help me when planning my
music video to create a fluent storyline
alongside the conceptual elements of the
music video.

4. PRODUCTION PROCESS
Pre-production:
Artist research:
Before I could create a storyboard of my music video
for ‘Spinoza’ I had to research the artists behind the
song. This would allow me to know what genre of
music they play- this could then give me a better idea
of the most suitable music video type
(narrative/performance/ conceptual). The music
genre of new wave which they are linked to led me to
conclude that a conceptual/narrative video would
best be suited to the song.
Production-schedule/ Shot list
Before starting the majority of the pre-production process for this unit I made a production schedule
(specifically on pre-production) to make sure that I had targets for each lesson. By having the
production schedule it motivated me to achieve goals set for each lesson, making the production
process of the music video more efficient- enabling me to move on to the filming and editing stage
of the music video while knowing what was required.
Part of my pre-production process was to create a shot list which correlated with my storyboard.
This would allow me to understand which shots will be used throughout the music video- making
the quality of filming better than if I hadn’t invested time in planning the shots.
Annotated lyrics/ Storyboard
To gain a more in-depth understanding of the
lyrics behind ‘Spinoza’ I found the lyrics online
and began to annotate them with ideas that
could relate to the lyrics of the song. After
annotating the lyrics it allowed me to create a
storyboard of which helped benefit the fluidity
of my music video and keeping attentive focus
on portraying the story to the audience. A
good example of the effect of pre-planning
would be the lyric ‘I took a hammer to my
head’ where the main character is shown lip
synching the lyric while wiping fake blood from
his forehead. I am pleased with this shot as I
think the actor creates a more realistic
representation of the lyric and injury along side
the (poor quality) fake blood on his head. This
shot was more effective as, through the story
board, the actor knew his role.

5. PRODUCTION PROCESS
Pre-production:
After establishing the concept behind the music
video and the shots that I wanted to use, I had to
develop a cast and crew. This crew included myself
(as camera operator, director and editor) and my
friend Oscar to play both of the characters in the
music video. I chose Oscar to act as both
characters as I felt as though it would add an
almost psychedelic twist to the video and this
would complement the sound of the song.
Cast and crew
I am happy with the outcome of this in the music
video as I believe that the desired iconoclastic
effect is stable throughout the duration of the video-
leaving the audience equally confused by previous
clips and intrigued to what will come next. I also
chose Oscar as the actor in the music as he comes
from a thespian background and was very
enthusiastic when the original idea was pitched to
him. This lead to a more efficient filming process of
the video as he understood fully the tasks he was
faced with and knew the personality of the
characters that he was playing, allowing the video
to appear more professional and keeping the
desired ‘weirdness’ intact throughout the music
video.
I also think that by putting myself in
charge of directing the music video as well
as the other production stages (such as
editing and filming) allow me to create a
video as close to the original plan as
possible. This is because I had an idea and
by directing the video I could stick to it
more accurately than if someone else was
to direct it. However while filming certain
scenes of the video had changed, this
could have been a result of a continuous
improvement and a hands on view of the
shot types and transitions between clips.
Obviously the music video includes far
more shots than was drafted in the
storyboard as otherwise there wouldn’t be
enough footage to last the duration of the
song therefore I am pleased with the extra
shots that I have used in the video as I
believe that they not only makes the
music video cover the whole song but they
help to tell the story of the character
running from himself. Clearances/copyright
Before going out to Neacroft (the location for filming the music video) there were many clearances that
needed to be taken care of prior to filming the music video. Firstly I had to make sure that the
producers of the song (generationals) would allow me to use their song in my music video, so I had to
email them to explain the purpose of which I was using their song for and asking for their permission. In
the email it was also explained that if I didn’t hear back from them in a certain time period I would
assume that it was ok to use the song, Spinoza. As there was no reply I proceeded to take care of other
clearances.
As Oscar, the actor featured in the music video, is under
the age of 18, therefore I had to get consent from his
parents to allow him to be filmed. I created the consent
form (above) for both Oscar and his parents to fill out,
showing that they are both happy with participating in
filming/allowing their son to feature in my music video.

6. PRODUCTION PROCESS
Pre-production:
Other considerations
Again, before filming there were other factors to take into
consideration- health and safety for example:
• To prevent injury of the actors in my music video we will
need to make sure that we have practised key scenes prior
to filming. This will help to eliminate any mistakes and will
highlight dangerous objects that need to be removed, for
example any tripping hazards on a path.
• When the actor is lip synching it will be important that the
actor knows where he is going as his sight will be fixed on
the camera. Therefore I will need to make sure the path he
will be travelling along will be hazard free (by removing
objects, making sure it’s smooth and slip free).
• Scenes that are shot on the road will extra awareness of
road users such as drivers and cyclists. We will need to find
a quiet road and make sure that they are clear before
shooting the clips.
• To prevent injury to the camera operator they should be
aware of the setting in which they are filming and make
sure that there are no dangerous things such as tripping
hazards etc. This will help to prevent damage to both the
camera man and any equipment used for filming.
I believe that by being aware of possible hazards and
highlighting them in the pre-production stage of unit 21 I was
able to implicate the correct procedures to prevent injury to
the crew involved. This also helped to reduce chance of
damage to both crew members and equipment , making the
cost of production minimal. It also help to add an element of
professionalism to the production as many areas were covered
regarding the safety of all involved.
Legal and ethical issues:
• Ensure that there is nothing to cause offence to any member of the audience.
• There will be no unsuitable activities (drinking/smoking etc.) featured in the
video to prevent promoting them to the audience.
• Make sure that the music video is appropriate to suitable age groups.
• If young people are featured in the music video they shouldn’t participated in
illegal or unethical activities such as under aged sex or drug taking.
• There will be no swearing featured in the video as it can be seen as offensive.
• If the actor(s) is below the age of 18 years old a permission slip may need to be
filled out to gain parental consent.
In order to make sure that the music video was suitable for such a wide audience
there were many aspects to consider before creating the video. These covered
sensitive areas that could potentially offend audience members if not addressed in
the correct manner- by taking these into consideration it ensured that it was
possible that more of the audience members would enjoy the video.
One main consideration that needed to be taken care of was the issue of the actor
being under the age of 18 years old, this was easily resolved by getting Oscar’s
parents to sign a consent form.

7. PRODUCTION PROCESS
Production
We agreed on a single date to be set for
filming as personally I felt that it was more
than possible to film all of the clips needed
in less than a day due to both Oscar and I
knowing what footage was needed. I think
that by shooting over a single day that the
quality of the final video was better than if
we had filmed over a longer period as the
idea was fresh in both of our minds and our
attention was solely set on getting not only
enough footage for the video but at the
best quality (that would allow the desired
effect to be portrayed to the audience).
Also by filming on the day it would ensure
that the weather wouldn’t change
throughout the music video and personally
I like the gloomy, overcast and dull
atmospheric conditions as I feel that it
helps to contrast the vibrancy of the
dinosaur costume in the video- linking to
the contrast of the upbeat instrumental of
the song with it’s seemingly sombre toned
vocals.
While filming I also had a
copy of the story board with
me, this allowed us to plan the
order in which we filmed the
shots- relating to the chosen
locations and shots set in
them. The shoot also
benefitted from having a copy
of the annotated lyrics
alongside the song on my
phone to play key sections of
it to Oscar as he lip synched
some of the lyrics such as
“you might look back” .
Filming
Finally, after the completion of all of the
pre-production stages needed in order to
ensure a water tight, fluent music video we
( being me and Oscar) could go out to the
chosen location, Neacroft, and film all of
the footage needed for the final video.
I think that the lip syncing aspect used in the music video were
successful in adding an aesthetic quality to the video as otherwise it
would have just consisted of clips that essentially would have been
Oscar running around in a dinosaur costume. This wouldn’t have been
very engaging for the audience and wouldn’t have show the audience
any real artistic value to the music video and they would have become
uninterested in the video.
However, filming some of the lip sync footage proved more difficult
than anticipated as not only did the actor have to lip sync he was
running towards the camera. I shot these clips on a Nikon D3100
without the use of a steady cam, therefor they appear shaky in the
final video. However I think this added movement helps to suggest that
the other character is running as well and looking back at the figure
that is in his head. I think that next time the video would
benefit from using a steady cam rig while filming the
footage to ensure the stability of the clips in the final
product, this would make the filming process easier and
more efficient as less re-takes would have been needed.

8. PRODUCTION PROCESS
Production
Filming
All of the footage used in the music video
was shot on a Nikon D3100 as I had
access to the camera through borrowing it
from a friend. The camera offered many
different settings that helped with filming
such as the close-up setting alongside the
manual focus that helped to shoot a variety
of close-ups such as the shots of the
character’s eyes.
The manual focus benefitted stationary
shots ,such as the above, as it allowed
me to really focus the subject and blur
out the background- highlighting the
importance of the character’s emotion
in the clip as he is being chased by this
perplexing figure that he isn’t sure if it’s
existence is true or not.
Another benefit of the manual focus and
zoom on the camera was that it allowed
me to diversify the transitions between
footage such as going from blurred to
to in-focus on different scenery.
Such as the transition between the
carrier bag to the rusty digger
scoop.
Even though it helped to divide up
the scenes of the music video in an
artistic way the carrier bag holds
no significance in the relationship
to the story line. This meant that it
could potentially confuse the
audience which was not the desired
affect but rather to include a range
of transitions between clips other
than them being in concise
chronological order.
Overall I am pleased with quality of the filming for the music video
as I feel that I have developed in skill as a camera operator. This is
because I had no prior experience with the Nikon D3100 camera
so throughout the duration of filming the music video I gained a
better understanding of the different settings and could use them
to my advantage. The use of a tripod always allowed me to
stabilise the stationary shots, further improving the quality of the
shots used, however for mobile clips some were more shaky (as
mentioned before).
Using a tripod also benefitted the filming quality as it added a
variety of camera movements such as the panning shot in the 2nd
shot of the video. This shot was the first panning shot of the music
video and I think that it could be improved through a smoother
movement; the clip was shot on a cheap quality tripod which
meant that the transition was effected- hence the slight change in
speed midway through. To improve the video I would re-shoot this
clip as it lacks in quality compared to other shots, this could have
been picked up during filming by reviewing footage in more detail
before moving on to film the next scene.
But overall I am pleased with the quality of the footage used in my
music video as the production team worked well together and both
knew the desired concept behind the video along with a vision of
the final outcome.

9. PRODUCTION PROCESS
Production
Editing
After the completion of filming all of
the clips needed to create the music
video I could go on to edit the footage.
I initially started by opening ‘Adobe
Premier Pro CS5.5’ and rendering all
of the clips into the programme. I
decided to use this programme as I am
familiar with using the different
settings on it from previous projects,
also it is available to use at school so I
wouldn’t have to spend any money on
editing software.
During the editing stage I used a variety
of tools that I had previously used such
as; the razor tool, the mark in and mark
out tool. These tools allowed me to
remove excess parts of footage that I
didn’t want to include in my final
footage; such as the shaky sections or
out of focus shots. This helped to
improve the quality of the footage used
throughout the music video as only the
best sections of footage remained in
the final product, however some of the
shots are out of focus such as the
panning shot of when the main
character is running out of his house.
Now, I would love to say that the
shot was deliberately out of focus
in order to make the car number
plates unreadable but it was
through the fault of my own by
leaving manual focus on with out
adjusting the lens. Although the
blurriness of the clip can help to
intrigued the audience as to why
he is running away, creating
tension for the next clip: therefore
I am pleased that this footage was
less in focus than say the close up
shots and consider it a strength.
Another adjustment to the footage that was made possible by using
the programme, ‘Adobe Premier Pro CS5.5’, was changing the
opacity of the footage. This helped to make the edited footage
appear more dimly light compared to the original footage (as shown
on the left), I decided to do this as through my music video research
I had found that the genre of music that the Generationals fall under
had music videos that featured some sort of distortion to the lighting
of the footage. I knew that I wanted to use this technique- to ensure
that my music video fitted the chosen genre and was suitable to the
audience. There were many ways that this was possible to do such
as using colour correction on ‘After Effects’, however I had no
previous experience with that programme and definitely didn’t have
enough time to enable me to teach myself how to use it. This meant
that I had to find a way that would allow me to change the
appearance of the footage on ‘Premier Pro’, thus changing the
opacity was suitable. This technique was very simple and easy to use
(helping to cut down time on the editing stage of production, making
the process more efficient) as all that was require was moving the
opacity line down from 100% to around 70% to make the clips
darker. I think the gloomy, dim lighting of the footage was a massive
strength of the final music video as it helped to further emphasise
the contrast between not only the characters but lyrics and
instrumentals, both of which compliment each other and in my eyes
have successfully been portrayed to each other.
During this creative unit I feel that my skills as an editor have
developed through the repetitive use of tools such as the razor tool
and duration tool ( to partially slow down footage like the puddle
scene) and I am happy with the final product as it fits the genre and
is suitable to the target audience.

10. FINISHED PRODUCT
Originally I wanted the opening scene to be set around a busy, school environment as
I thought it would help to emphasise that the character is young. However in the final
video I decided to open the scene in the characters bedroom, I think this helped to
improve the videos fluidity as the scenes are set in a chronological order rather than
randomly placed (which would have confused viewers). By showing the bedroom it
also helps to show the personality of the character through the posters on his wall
etc. developing a character profile to the audience right from the start.
I used a high angle shot to show that the character is vulnerable and show his
powerlessness compared to the figure of his own imagination.
I managed to include the panning shot that I had drafted through a storyboard,
which turned out to be a useful tool in the filming stages. Although the panning
used for this clip wasn’t as smooth as it could have been and I think that next time I
would improve it by practising the camera movement with the unfamiliar tripod
before shooting the final shot.
Another shot that I was happy with and pleased that I managed to include was the
‘running out of the house panning shot’ which again matched my storyboard. As
highlighted previously the shot was out of focus but I don’t think that this was a
massive weakness as it helped to make the number plates of the cars unreadable,
which helped to protect the car owners privacy. Being out of focus also made the
clip seem more tense and create an element of curiosity for the audience, therefore
I feel that the mistake had benefitted the video.
I think that the lip synching shot of the line ‘I took a hammer to my head’ was
another strength of my video. I think this because the close up shot was framed
really nicely and the movement from both that actor and the camera help to
create a subconscious feeling, similar to that expected with a head injury. Face
paint was used to create a visual injury of the actor to further correlate with lyrics,
this wasn’t to a very good standard but doesn’t affect the video in a negative way
but rather adds a comical twist to a slightly dark atmosphere video.

11. FINISHED PRODUCT
Comparing this shot to the storyboard I had decided that I wanted to have the
camera positioned in front of the actor to capture his facial expression but I wanted
to include a bigger variety of camera shots and angles therefore I placed the
camera behind the character. This allowed me to show the audience that he was
being chased through a point of view (POV) style shot and capture his panicked
facial expressions. I think that the variety of shot types used in my music video was
a strength as it helped to make it more entertaining for the audience rather than
repetitive through only using close-up shots.
Initially I wanted to set the final scene of the video in a park as it is a familiar
setting with the target audience but as a result of continuous development of
filming it was set on a farm gate. I had the idea of layering the clips to enable
both characters to be present in the final shot and give away the idea of the
character running from himself. The editing of the clip proved harder than
anticipated but after experimenting with the settings and tools on ‘Premier Pro’
I had settled for a mediocre looking final shot. I think that if I was to improve
the music video I would practise the technique of layering the clips for the final
shot to make it more professional in appearance.
Overall
Overall I am pleased with the out come of my music video as I feel that it is suitable for my target audience, I know this from peer feedback of
the members in the class. I feel that it was successful through my pre-production and research stages as before initiating the production
stages I had a full, developed understanding of the genre of music video I wanted to create. The pre-production stages also helped me to make
sure that I was organised throughout the duration of creating the music video meaning that no key shots were missed out, leading to a more
professional and effective final product.
Obviously the music video has its weaknesses such as the editing in the final shot and some of the excess camera movements in some of the
shots. These things could be resolved by investing in better camera equipment such as a steady cam and developing editing skills on the
Adobe Premier Pro Cs5.5 software.