What would I change?

It's come to the end of the whole project, but there are so many improvements I would make for future reference. Fortunately, I have still made several accomplishments during this whole journey that I am quite proud of.

• PLANNING: In terms of quality planning, I do feel I have been much more detailed than in last years coursework. I had ideas before but they were vaguely explained and this meant I went straight in to filming without feeling prepared. In this A2 coursework I have taken the planning stage much more seriously, for example, I really felt it was necessary to do some  basic research to help me with not just the content of the music video, but also the way in which the content was delivered; I carried this out by doing some research on various filming techniques, i.e. stop-motion  and tried to practise them myself. This was actually very beneficial; the problem was, I left a lot of this crucial planning a bit too late so some of the quality in the scenes of my video may have suffered as a result.

• EXPERIMENTING: I feel I've come a long way since AS, where I would often try and 'play it safe' as it was and just stick to what I've learnt in class to aid me in my coursework, but this coursework has inspired me to think outside of the box in terms of  editing and problem solving.
  For example, in terms of problem solving,  having problems of availability (with the cast) would have affected me before and I probably wouldn't have had the confidence to not stick to my initial plan, but in this coursework I managed to overcome these problems, even if it meant certain cast members were not available I decided to use the people available, i.e. getting two friends who were not specifically in the allocated roles to play the boy and girl for the short hug scene. It was so simple and easy yet I probably wouldn't have thought of it before.

• Have A sharper eye for DETAIL: Some of the most major mistakes in my coursework have been caused by my lack of attention to detail. This can be evidenced by mistakes in the filming stage. For instance, simple mistakes such as not looking at the way in which the main character was lip syncing for a certain part and allowing objects in the mise-en-scene of some scenes which may be distracting, to be filmed.

• OVERTHINKING: I have the tendency to other think things and one of my friends has even told me this. During this project, one of my main obstacles was trying to convey meaning without going overboard. At one point I wanted to have lots of little added scenes and props to have in the filming, my friend could only describe me as being incredibly 'cheesy' when she found out I'd bought heart shaped wedding confetti and was planning on buying love heart lights for certain scenes! What I learnt is that sometimes keeping things simple is best from my peers. I have seen some fantastic music videos within my group and they are all kept pretty simple but effective, allowing easy viewing for the audience. Perhaps this is what works best. If I had to do this project again I would definitely go easy on the extra things that I had in mind and stay focused more on being able to master the basics.

Evaluation

Digipak Templates & Promo Poster with Feedback

I've just finished my ancillary tasks with the help of some feedback. Below are the final outcomes and based on majority views, I've decided to use the second version of the digipak and promotional poster. I hope I have made the right decision. All my feedback can be seen below!

Music Video - Final

Myxx - I'll Be Waiting (Coursework Music Video) from Imani Pratt on Vimeo.

So this is the end result of my final edit!....
I am relieved to have gotten it finished after all that work, but it was a fun process most times, testing out all the different video effects, transitions and ways of using the Adobe Premiere software.

Filming session 8

Today I filmed the scenes where Rosemary and her friend are supposed to be hanging out. I say 'friend' because unfortunately the other character was too ill to be filmed today. In general I had to make changes anyway as I eventually decided to change the location completely. Originally I wanted to have it in Enfield town where the little outdoor mall is. But knowing that the scene is only a few seconds short, and that travelling would have been more trouble than necessary for the two characters - which would waste more time, I thought, no, why not do it somewhere closer, with less people to interrupt the scene and have it close enough so that I could easily travel to the next filming location (my house).
I did several walking outtakes with the main character and her friend. The idea was to have them casually walking and talking so that when I edit it, it will look like they are just hanging out and chilling out normally as friends would. I wanted to experiment with different angles so I filmed behind them and then back in front so that they would be walking away from the camera from behind and then toward the camera as I moved it in front.
After the 2 cast members arrived at my house I filmed the scene where Rose is rudely interrupted whilst having a conversation with her friend, as her friend's phone rings and he boyfriend happens to be calling. I had a close up of the phone and a quick cut to the friend going off on the phone to illustrate the sense of loneliness the main character felt.
Secondly I had the two characters walking down the red stairs and a close up of Rose's hand turning the door knob, as well as her doing her make-up in front of the mirror. The last scene I did was towards the end of the day at about 6ish when I saw the sky outside, I couldn't resist filming another time lapse just as the sun was beginning to set. I wanted to keep the scenes short and snappy but I am worried that they will be too quick for the viewers to digest.

As previously planned, I did have many other scenes I would have liked to do such as the 'waving a sign' scene where Rose sees a sign that is completely different to what is actually there, or the ending scene where she meets her prince charming and we see a panning up from his legs....but, I decided that as much as I'd like to really narrate the music video as much as I could through the scenes, that being literal isn't always the best technique to use. In fact, I think that the viewers probably get the whole concept of 'waiting' in the song as soon as the first chorus is sung. Instead I'm thinking of doing as I planned in terms of crosscutting back to the beginning when she was in the classroom BUT not including the other playful, really short scenes because they are actually quite unnecessary now that I think about it.
If it's anything new I've learned today its that sometimes simplicity is better when illustrating a music video.

Re-filming Scene 6

I re-filmed Kemi's part today. The weather was nice and sunny. I had her in a completely different spot from last time to eradicate space restrictions. There is a small area with a brick wall just behind the grass at one of the back door entrances in to the school. I had Kemi walk up the path to the school, walk across the grass and then I filmed her against the brick wall in different positions. I had her in the shady part of the wall because the intense sunlight on her just wasn't working on the screen, not only could I not see her because the exposure levels were too high, it was also probably uncomfortable for her as well standing in the sun. As a result I decided to limit her standing in the sun too much. So the final result ended up with her standing in the dark for the majority but one of the last shots standing in the light. It wasn't intended BUT...I think it highlights a concept in itself, her going from light to dark could visually link to the lyrics and the fact that time is going by gradually as she is waiting for love. "need love like yesterday, and the day before, and the day before that," so in my opinion it does work conceptually if not visually. Overall I think this filming session was a lot smoother, I wasn't constantly zooming in and out as she was walking and I kept the shots simple. This allowed me to be more steady with the camera and focus more on the variation of shots to take.
But when I edit the whole thing I'm thinking of cropping the edges because some parts of the mise-en-scene seem a bit necessary, for example when she is walking there are garbage containers evident, not exactly the look I was going for.

Filming session 7

Filmed the cafe scene today with Sharlene and Mikael, main character Rose and an extra as her friend.

Getting permission was easier than I thought, I just asked the man if I could film, and once I told him how long I'd be he let me but he said I didn't have long.
The layout of the cafe was not really as I expected. As soon as I walked in I noticed the seats were not at the front, and I originally intended to have an over the shoulder shot of Rose standing and looking at the couple from inside of the place. So instead I decided to film inside, with the 4 characters sitting parallel to each other and having their own discussions going on before they both interlinked with each other as Rose turns to see them.
I decided to have a shot panning of the inside of the store before it got to the characters sitting down in the frame.
The lighting was a downfall, it could have been a lot lighter and it was quite dark in there. But I did manage to get the short scene done even if I had to change the whole structure of camera shots to work around the layout of it.
Yes...I will admit there was an element of poor preparation in terms of working with the structure of the setting, for example, I could have gone after school to have a quick browse around the store so that I could see what kind of shots would have been suitable for the layout of the place. This wouldn't have changed the situation but it would have allowed me to be more prepared instead of having to think on the spot all time.
What I've realized is that although organization is KEY, it is not my forte!