Title: Preliminary Music Video Task

When and how did you use the six general rules of shooting a music video in this
project? Use examples, evaluate why you used them for effect and purpose.
The six general rules are:
-

Match on action
Match cuts
Editing to the beat
The camera moves
75% of the shots are of the artist
75% of the shots are mid close ups

Match cuts within this shot, we can see the main artist holding the microphone
close to his mouth while singing into it. In the first shot (the top photo) we can see
that the artist is singing the lyrics A seven nation army couldnt. We can then see
the shot change to the other side for the lyrics hold me back. By doing this, we are
able to see the singer from another angle, as well as showing a closer shot of the
microphone and mouth.

Editing to the beat Throughout the whole music video, there is a strong sense of
editing to the best. The opening shot shows six segments of the video all placed next to each
other and plucking the string of the guitar as you can hear the bass guitar. Each cut away then
appears on the screen, in different colours as the beat progresses. This same editing to the
beat is shown when the drum comes in, and the colours, yet again, change as the beat does.
This theme continues throughout the duration of the song, allowing the editing to change
from a slow pace to a faster one, whilst still keeping the same editing theme. By doing this, we
were able to emphasise the change in tempo, and add additional dramatic effect. This idea is
also shown through the threshold, cartoon filter which was added onto each frame.

The camera moves During a shot which

contains the lyrics And Im talking to myself at night so that I cant forget, we
can see that the camera moves in a 180 anti-clockwise motion around the
artist. This movement was added to symbolise the fact that the lyric line flows
without any cuts or breaks. By adding many short spurts of coloured filter on
top of this, we were able to make it appear as if there were many different shots,
while still keeping the camera movement flowing, thus adding emphasis.

Match on Action In this shot, we can see that the artist is saying the phrase
Theyre gonna rip them off, while in a crouched down stance, holding the
microphone and singing into the camera. Later on, we can see the singer follow on to
sing Taking their time right behind my back. Between these two shots there is an
extra shot of the drum which follows the beat of the music. By forming the long shot
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with the artist in the same stance as the close up, we have managed to create a sense of match on action.

75% of shots of the artist As we can see within this music video, there are very few shots without the artist
in them. To be able to show the instruments playing as well, we focused on them
when the artist was not singing, as well as using over the shoulder shots of the
drummer with the artist in the background. By doing this, we were able to show the
audience where the music was coming from and how it was being made. This also
meant that we could use the artist as the main
focal point of some shots, but still including the band in the background. A key
point where this idea is included is the 180 shot of the main singer. During this,
we can still see the band members, but the main focus is automatically drawn
towards the singer. Although, many times, we decided that it would be a good
idea to just focus the shot on the artist. By doing this, the audience is able to
engage with the music, as well as get a keen sense of who is singing the song.

75% of the shots close up There are many different close-up shots
within this video. The key idea of these shots within the beginning of the music
video was to hide the identity of the artist,
as well as the band members, to purely
focus on the music. The use of the threshold
filter on top of the shots also helped to
achieve this. By simply highlighting the mouth and the movements of the
instruments, we were able to emphasise the point that they were producing
music/singing the song.

Evaluate how you contributed to the project, what problems occurred and how you
solved any problems.
I contributed to the project by shooting the video. With the aid of my fellow class mates, I was able to film the
footage for the music video while they played the instruments and sung the song. This task caused some difficulties,
due to the fact that while shooting shots of the drum, as well as the guitar, there was often poor lighting which leads
to a low quality video. This problem was improved by constant reshooting, as well as the use of torches and adapted
natural light to add shadows and highlights. I then, along with my partner, edited the footage. Together we were
able to edit the music to the correct length and then fit the pace of the video with the correct beat. WE faced many
problems with this stage. The first of which was adapting the filters in the correct manor to fit with the music, as well
as the general theme. Further problems aroused when we decided to use the threshold filter on every shot, while
still keeping within the red and white colour scheme. By adding in an additional colour, blue, the transition between
the black and white and the red shots seemed smoother and more prominent.

Discuss the process you went through in creating the music video.
To begin this task, my group and I sat down and discussed general ideas of what could be included within the music
video and how we could fit it with the beat. This then lead to an intense stage of storyboarding the video with many
different stages and alternatives we could use if our initial idea didnt work, or any adaptations which may have
needed to be added. Once the storyboarding stage was completed, we followed by filming the initial footage. This
stage took us around an hour and a half, with a few stages of reshooting certain parts which did not fit during the
editing process. Although our footage did conform to the initial story board, some changes had to be made to make
the transitions within the video much smoother. Once we were satisfied with our footage, Fran and I decided to edit
the music video together, while asking for feedback from our peers and including any additional ideas or
amendments when necessary.
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