Completed Music Video

Here is my completed music video for VersaEmerge - Figure It Out:



I have made a seperate page explaining the effects I used when creating my music video.

Evaluation [Part 4]

4) How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?


To create my music video, advertisement, digipack, evaluation and other general coursework ideas, I used many different programmes:

• Blogger
• Microsoft PowerPoint
• Adobe PhotoShop
• YouTube
• Adobe Premiere Pro

Evaluation [Part 3]

3) What have you learned from your audience feedback?


Graph Statistics:
When we held a public screening at our school, we encouraged the audience to fill out short forms so that we could use this. I recieved a total of about 42 result forms. Below are the results, (4 being the highest, 1 the lowest) and my opinions of them.

The majority of the audience voted a 3 for if I had edited sound and image appropriately, and this was followed by a 4.  This means that I got good feedback for how well my film flowed.  However, 9% voted a 2, this meant that I may not have made it clear enough.  However, I would suggest that in a way, dreams may not make sense, and this is reflected in my video.  To improve, maybe I should of added more effects to create that surreal reality.

The 54% of the audience voted a 3 for if the video had a clear meaning and 21% voted 4 .  However, 23% voted a 2, this meant that I may not have made it clear enough.  Although, dreams are not supposed to make sense and that is what my video was based on.






I have good results below to how well I used my special effects. 49% voted 3, and 37% voted a 4.  The effects I used in my video was very subtle, with high contrast on the dream and many fade in/out effects to keep the flow of time moving.
However, few results are in the 2 / 1 boundary.  In my opinion, some of the audience may not have noticed the effects I had used.

I have good feedback for how steady were the shots.  However, 5% of the audience voted a 2 for the steadiness of my results.  


This confused me.  I filmed the majority of my film using a tripod, and only a couple of shops shake intentionally.

Again, I got very good results for my choice of locations, except for the 7% which voted a 2.  Sadly, no one left any additional comments about this question, so I am not sure what the audience would have preferred with the choice of locations.

Again, I have 93% of votes in the 4/3 boxes.  7% of the audience voted a 2 for how well framed were my shots.


In my opinion, I agree with the 3/4's of my video.  This is because there are certain shots which give a certain feel to the video and I believe I achieved this through how the shots were framed and what angle I filmed them from.

When I saw the results for this question, it made me wonder if the audience completely understood.  I thought this because 9% voted a 2 for how varied were my shots.  But because my storyline is a continuing flow of time, the girl is never in the same area for the majority of shots.  I mixed various different types of shots throughout my whole video, and even the band shots were very varied.  I completely disagree with the 9% that voted a 2 for this question.

Here I did get good results for the lighting.  However, through various comments I received through the videos below, and the problems I faced whilst creating the video night scenes, I agree with the 5% that voted 2, but for different reasons.  Yes, the lighting was appropriate at the night scene, because it emphasises that fact that she is asleep, however I had to use many lighting effects in Premiere Pro to brighten it up.
To have improved this, I could have started filming earlier so it was easier to see on camera.


Below is a video I made in which I have filmed some of my peers giving video feedback.  I asked them to tell me what they liked, and what I could improve on.  I also included the graphs which show statistics given from the audience at the Public Screening we held at school as well as peers.

Here I have included some further peer feedback.

I feel that peer feedback is helpful because they understand the task and how we had to create it.  They were not afraid to say what was good and bad, and what I could have improved on.

Evaluation [Part 2]

2) How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Evaluation [Part 1]

1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

My music video was aimed at an age group of young teenagers to young adults.
I used a teenage girl to play the main part of my music video.  The song, VersaEmerge - Figure It Out is of an alternative, pop/punk/rock genre.
Because I aimed this at a teenage/young adult audience, I tried to create a sense of magic realism.
I started with the girl sleeping followed my 'sleepwalking' into another world.
Many music videos display a sense of magic realism and this is a way that I have conformed to the musical genre.  

I decided to have two main settings for my music video.  This was the forest, and the band performing the track.  Many punk/rock music videos have a band performing the track.  In my music video, I have a band performing the track.  Like in other music videos, I used various different shots including pans and low angle shots to create an interesting mixture of instrument, vocal and full band shots.  I have conformed to how other music videos in this genre have filed their music videos because having a artist/band perform the track keeps the viewer entertained.  In my opinion, it is a good way to see the artist/band as a whole.

Here is a shot from the forest near the beginning of the music video.  I decided to change the girls clothes for two reasons.  The first being that it added to the sense of fantasy; that she walked through her garden and came out the other side in a forest.  The other being that based on weather conditions, the safer option would be to have her wear normal clothes.  I think this effect has worked well.  In many music videos, the artists change clothes depending on where they are.
However, I have challenged this by using it in a way to give a sense of dreaming/fantasy in my video.

To the right, I have print screened a shot from my video where I sung in the forest for the video.  Like before, I changed the clothes I wore from the original band setup so that it adds to the magic realism feel.  Most of the shots of the vocals in the forest were of just myself.  I then thought it would be a good idea to include the actors in a shot with myself.  It develops the feel that the singer is actually there with the other characters, in a realistic sense.  I have conformed to some music videos as they sometimes have the singer acting as a 'narrator' along with the story being acted in the background.  I challenged this because originally, I had the character spread out.  This didn't work so I used effects to place them closer together.

The way I ordered my shots shows how the girl is being followed throughout the video.  It relates to the song lyrics, 'Why can't I even figure it out?'  The girl can't work out why she is being followed or who is following/chasing her.  I have challenged other music videos of this genre by keeping an ongoing throughout the whole music story line video, and then closing this story line up by having it end where she first started - at home asleep.

I kept the band shots moving by choosing different angles and actions for the other members of the bands.  I made sure that since I was singing, I was constantly moving around.  
Many rock band singers use actions such as 'head banging' in their music videos.  I decided to replicate this.  It helped me and the other actors get into the feel.  Having to move the camera in between shots to where I wanted was slightly time consuming - but I knew what I wanted.  I mixed some of the shots of the band with speed effects to create interesting dynamics.

I decided to introduce another character halfway through my music video.  This conforms to the genre of music video I made because usually the characters would be introduced, even for a second earlier on in the video.  I decided to just have him 'appear'.
This adds to the whole 'not being about to figure it out' theme from the song lyrics.  I had both males to wear black so that they matched.  The colour can also mean 'offering no hope'.  I also had each band member wearing an item of black clothing, and this singles out the girl in my music video as she does not wear black.  Conforming/challenging the clothing style can vary in this genre.  Some artists prefer to wear their own clothes, others prefer to arrange what each band member will be wearing.

I used the different sections of the song to replicate actions/storyline changes in my music video.  For example, the first chorus of my music video is where you really get to see who is following the girl. Also, the bridge section of the song acts like a tide turner in my video, things start looking up for the girl when the two figures disappear, and she starts making her way back.  I think this challenges some music videos of this genre because sometimes the storyline of the video may not really fit in with the song.  However, some music videos (Paramore - Misery Business) for example, does have a pattern to how the video has been edited.

 I decided to finish my video by having the girl exit the forest the same way she arrived.  I then allowed for a few seconds of her asleep, emphasising that it was a dream.  I have conformed to other music videos of this genre by using this idea.  For example, Evanescence - Bring Me To Life ends the same way.
I think this has worked very well to finish the video and sums it up.

Magazine Advertisement

Below is a magazine advertisement for my digipack:

Below is a guide to how I made my advertisement:

Final Version Of The Digipack

Below is the final version of my digipack.  A walkthrough guide to how I made it and what effects are used are on other pages of my blog.

Risk Assessment

Below is the risk assessment I made for filming my music video.  I had to take the following things into account:

Location Shots

Location Shots:

26th October: Leigh Technology Academy Lecture Theatre

The day in the lecture theatre went very well.  We only had about 4 hours filming time however.  We were due to start at about 8am, but didn't start until 9am.  This only left us with 3 hours.  However, this wasn't a problem.  The other people performing in the band were very good and we kept the filming up for the majority of the 3 hours.  I ended up with alot more film than I needed, which gave me a very good collection to choose. 


Because I was singing in this band section, my friend had to hit the record button for me.  However, I moved the camera around the room and zoomed in and out to where I wanted it.

28th October: Joyden's Wood, Bexley



Filming in Joyden's Wood went very well.  Most of the actors live in this area, and know their way around Joyden's Wood.  This saved us a lot of time with finding the exact areas I wanted to film in.  I got all the footage I needed on this one day which was good, and the weather was clear.  


Mostly the actors were serious when I was filming them, but of course there were some moments where they had to have a break because of laughing too much, or bursting into laughter during the film.  However, this did add to the fun factor of the filming.  It meant that everyone had a really interesting, fun day.


I had to get my friend to film the section in which I had to sing.  I set up the camera using the viewing screen to make sure I was centered.  

28th October: House, Eynsford

Filming at my house went okay.  However I struggled with it being dark outside, getting the light settings right.  


In the end it was too dark to film outside so we did it early the next morning.  


Also I found my dogs enjoyed getting in the way of the filming and had to shut them in another room until we had finished indoors.

Making The Digipack

Below is a step-by-step to how I made and designed my music video:

Photoshop Effects

Below are some of the effects I used to create my digipack:

Making The CD Cover

Below is a step-by-step of how I made my CD:

     Here is my final CD design:

Experimenting With Fonts

Below is a page showing some of the fonts that I liked.  I used each with the band name to see how it suited the band.  I then picked the 3 which I thought looked best, added colour and the song name.  I chose green because my music video is set in a forest, and this will probably work best.

This has helped me because I now have a narrowed down idea of wants I am wanting to use for the final digipak.

Music Video Technical Effects

Below is an evaluation of the technical effects I used throughout my music video:

Filming Diary

Below is a diary of how my days of filming went:


26th October [8.00am-12.00pm]:
I organised this day to meet with 4 people at school who could perform in this band as well as a friend to help out.  In the end, we didn't start filming until about 9am because we had to collect a drum kit from the drummer's house.


When we started filming, one of the actors playing guitar hadn't turned up, so we decided to take shots that he wouldn't have been seen in.  We took many various angled shots, and by 10.20am we realised he defiantly wasn't coming.  This was when we took many more shots to get the full band in.


I had many ideas which will take part in my video.  There is a lot of zooming and moving around with the camera.  We even made a trolley cam using a table in which it could be moved safely.

The tape went around the back of the tripod legs and we made sure it was firmly supported.  We did test runs of moving the table sideways and had no problems so we used this to film certain shots I wanted.




I managed to get a lot of good footage of the band as well as some photos which I may use for my CD cover/magazine.








28th October [9am-4pm]:
On the Thursday, I organised for a few friends to act for my music video down in Joyden's Wood.  This is a good place to film because we knew our way around this wood and know how to get to certain key areas here.


We didn't end up getting their until 10am and another friend who also wanted to help didn't get their until about 11.30am.  During the first hour and a half, we filmed the beginning and end footage I needed, as well as the footage where the third person wasn't part of.


When the third person was nearly at the location, we decided to head back to my friends house to recharge the camera because it had nearly ran out of battery.  As well as this, I was finding that I was running out of tape to use.  I had about 15 minutes left worth of tape, so I knew that I had to make sure the shots I took were close to perfect.


When we arrived back at the wood, we went straight back into filming and I made sure the camera was turned off at any time I wasn't using it.  My friends were very good and didn't laugh too much so most of the shots I managed to get in one take.  I am grateful of this because otherwise we may of had to come back another day to film some more footage.


Towards the end, I only had about 2 minutes left of tape left and about 3 more shots to do.  As well as 2 minutes left of camera battery.  We worked fast and I did manage to get all the shots I needed in that small amount of time.  


I think this day of filming went very well because it wasn't cold and the weather was cloudy/sunny.  However I know for next time that I may need another role of tape to take with me if I am going film a lot of footage because I used that one tape for both the band shots and forest shots of my music video.  


28th October [5pm onwards]:
This was cancelled so I still need to get some more footage of the girl and my house at night for the beginning of my music video.


6th November [3pm onwards]:
I started filming the outside of my house at around 5pm.  It wasn't that dark but on the camera it appears to be dark.  When my friend arrived, it was too dark to film outside (around 6pm), so we did what we had to do inside and waited until the morning.  The first part went well because we got it done quickly and efficiently.


The next morning was cloudy outside and quite foggy.  This creates a good effect on camera, but it is brighter than the previous footage.  I got all the shots I need, and will try and counter the brightness by editing the video clips.  If it doesn't look right, then I will have to re-film this section of footage.

CD Cover Analysis

I have analysed different CD covers to get an idea of what a CD cover involves.  


Basic Information:
The typical layout for an album cover would be to feature the artist/band's name and also the name of the album.  A CD single would feature the name of the artist/band and the song name.  Both would include a picture of some sort, maybe of the artist, or an object that would draw someone to the CD.


Some people may categorise an album or single to a specific genre just by how it looks.  For example, if an album cover included a band with a guitar or dark colours, then they may assume the music genre is rock.  If there is an artists dancing on the cover, with many bright colours they may assume it's pop.


The purpose of an album cover is to draw people to buy it.  This means they have to look good and professional as well as have a reasonable price.  This is very important because many people in the modern day download music track illegally - without paying for them.


CD/Album Cover Analysis:

Target Audience + Shot List

Target Audience
My target audience of the music video will be teenagers to young adults.  This is because the song choice is of the 'alternative/pop rock' genre so realistically comparing them to bands such as Paramore gives a good idea of the target audience.


I also think that my music video will have a lot of 'magic realism' which makes what's happening seem real.  This adds to the teenager target audience factor.

Shot List
When filming my video I'm going to need to decide what type of shot I am going to use for each frame.  Here is the shot list I have created:


[0.00-00.1] - Establishing shot of house, zooming in
[0.01-0.02] - Bridging shot of door, moving through
[0.02-0.05] - Bridging shot, zoom up stairs, moving through
[0.05-0.07] - Long shot of band, so you can see all band members 
[0.07-0.08] - Bridging shot entering bedroom door
[0.08-0.09] - Medium long shot of band
[0.09-0.10] - High angle, girl sleeping
[0.10-0.12] - Long shot, band
[0.12-0.13] - Medium Close-up, drummer
[0.13-0.14] - long shot, band lights on
[0.14-0.15] - Medium Close-up, singer in forest
[0.15-0.16] - Medium shot, girl waking up
[0.16-0.20] - Long shot, girl walking down stairs
[0.20-0.21] - Medium Close-up, singer
[0.21-0.23] - Long shot, band
[0.23-0.24] - Long shot, girl coming from stairs
0.24-0.26] - Medium shot, girl opening door
[0.26-0.27] - Medium Close-up, guitar
[0.27-0.28] - Medium shot, girl in doorway
[0.28-0.29] - Close-up, drummer
[0.29-0.30] - Medium shot, girl in doorway
[0.30-0.30] - Medium Close-up, singer
0.30-0.31] - Long shot, band
[0.31-0.31] - Medium shot, girl stepped through door
[0.31-0.33] - Medium long, band
[0.33-0.35] - Medium long, girl walking through garden
[0.35-0.37] - Medium Close-up, singer
[0.37-0.39] - Medium shot into Medium long, girl walking further into garden
[0.39-0.40] - Medium Close-up, singer
0.40-0.42] - Medium long, something catches girls eye
[0.42-0.43] - Close-up, singer in forest
[0.43-0.44] - Medium long, girl moving into bush
[0.44-0.45] - Medium Close-up, singer in forest
[0.45-0.46] - Passing shot, girl moving through bush
[0.46-0.47] - Long shot, band
[0.47-0.48] - Medium long, girl moving through bush
[0.48-0.49] - Medium shot, girl out of bush looking around
[0.49-0.50] - 2 shot, band
[0.50-0.50] - Medium shot, girl out of bush looking around
[0.50-0.50] - Long shot, girl looking around 
[0.50-0.51] - Wide shot, girl looking around
[0.51-0.52] - Establishing shot, girl looking around
[0.52-0.53] - Medium Close-up, singer
[0.53-0.55] - Medium shot, girl looking at new dress
[0.55-0.57] - Medium shot, band
[0.57-0.58] - Medium long, shows girl walking
[0.58-1.01] - Long shot, band
[1.01-1.02] - Medium shot, girl walking
[1.02-1.03] - Close-up, drummer
[1.03-1.04] - Medium Close-up, singer
[1.04-1.06] - Cross-dissolve, girl walking away
[1.06-1.07] - Medium Close-up, singer
[1.07-1.09] - Cross-dissolve, girl walking further away
[1.09-1.11] - Medium Close-up, singer in forest
[1.11-1.12] - Medium shot, girl walking
[1.12-1.13] - Medium Close-up, singer in forest
[1.13-1.14] - Medium shot, girl walking
[1.14-1.15] - Medium Close-up, singer in forest
[1.15-1.16] - Medium shot, girl walking
[1.16-1.17] - Medium Close-up, singer in forest
[1.17-1.19] - Medium long + pan, girl
[1.19-1.20] - Over-the-shoulder shot / racking shot, revealing person following
[1.20-1.23] - Medium long, revealing person
[1.23-1.24] - Medium shot, band
[1.24-1.26] - Arc shot/2-shot, both characters
[1.26-1.27] - Close-up, guitar
[1.27-1.29] - Medium Close-up, singer in forest
[1.29-1.31] - Over-the-shoulder shot, figure
[1.31-1.32] - Medium Close-up, singer in forest
[1.32-1.34] - Over-the-shoulder shot, girl sees figure
[1.34-1.36] - Medium close-up, girl surprised
[1.36-1.37] - Medium long, band
[1.37-1.38] - Mid-shot, band
[1.38-1.40] - Medium long, girl starting to run
[1.40-1.44] - Medium long/Pan, band
[1.44-1.45] - Medium long/High angle, girl running
[1.45-1.47] - Mid-shot, singer in forest
[1.47-1.49] - Mid-shot/Racking shot, girl behind
[1.49-1.50] - Medium long/Pan, band
[1.50-1.51] - Close-up, singer in forest
[1.51-1.53] - Medium long/Passing shot/2-shot, girl + figure moving through forest
[1.53-1.55] - Medium Close-up, singer
[1.55-1.56] - Over-the-shoulder/Pan, revealing figure
[1.56-1.58] - Medium Close-up, singer
[1.58-1.59] - Medium long, all figures
[1.59-2.01] - Pan, band
[2.01-2.04] - Medium long/Tilt/Low angle, girl running
[2.04-2.05] - 2-shot, band
[2.05-2.07] - Long shot, girl running
[2.07-2.08] - 2-shot, band
[2.08-2.10] - Wide shot, girl running
[2.10-2.12] - Mid-shot, band
[2.12-2.12] - Mid-shot/High angle, girl running
[2.12-2.16] - Mid-shot/Canted angle, band
[2.16-2.19] - Arc shot, both figures
[2.19-2.21] - Mid-shot, singer
[2.21-2.23] - Medium long, all figures
[2.23-2.25] - Mid-shot, singer
[2.25-2.27] - Mid-shot, figure
[2.27-2.29] - Medium Close-up, singer in forest
[2.29-2.32] - Medium long, all figures
[2.32-2.34] - Mid-shot, band
[2.34-2.35] - Medium long, all figures
[2.35-2.37] - Over-the-shoulder shot/Shallow focus, figures moving in
[2.37-2.40] - Screen fades.
[2.40-2.41] - Mid-shot, band
[2.41-2.43] - Medium Close-up, singer in forest
[2.43-2.45] - Over-the-shoulder shot, fade in
[2.45-2.47] - Medium Close-up, singer in forest
[2.47-2.48] - Medium long, girl sitting
[2.48-2.49] - Medium Close-up, singer in forest
[2.49-2.49] - Mid-shot, girl standing
[2.49-2.50] - Medium long, girl starting to run
[2.50-2.51] - Medium Close-up, singer in forest
[2.51-2.52] - Medium long, girl running back
[2.52-2.54] - Medium long/Pan, band
[2.54-2.55] - Mid-shot, girl running with figure behind
[2.55-2.58] - Close-up, singer
[2.58-2.59] - Medium long/Tilt, girl running
[2.59-3.01] - Medium Close-up, singer in forest
[3.01-3.02] - Medium long/Pan/2-shot, figures running
[3.02-3.04] - Mid-shot, band
[3.04-3.07] - Medium long, girl running towards bush
[3.07-3.10] - Medium Close-up, singer in forest
[3.10-3.14] - Medium long/Over-the-shoulder, girl moving into bush
[3.14-3.15] - Passing shot, girl moving through bush
[3.15-3.17] - Medium Close-up, singer
[3.17-3.20] - Medium long/Mid-shot/Medium close-up, girl coming out bush, looking around
[3.20-3.22] - Medium Close-up, singer in forest
[3.22-3.25] - Medium long, band fades out
[3.25-3.27] - Medium long, girl standing there