Dear examiner,
Here is my A2 final media production. Due to many time constraints linked to: my location being remodeled halfway through filming, Having to change the cast at the last minute due to illness; and subsequently having to re film the whole of my production, i am not happy with the quality of it.
First of all, i will say that i'm not completely happy with this piece. Throughout this evaluative piece on my production as a whole, i will state areas that i'm not happy with in my A2 final production
The introduction
I used the switch sound effect and that influencing the change to the grey scale pallette to suggest that this was a moment of reflection and story telling for the main character and him influencing the change to grey was his attempt in trying to set his story as best he can.
This links to the common convention which uses a grey scale or a muted colour pallette to suggest a negative change in their life. Aside from Noir films, this technique is used in a variety of media platforms to suggest a negative swing of events; as if to suggest that all the colour has been ripped out of their life. This is shown in the video of "How to Save a Life" by The Fray.
Secondly, in the scene where our main starts to get out of bed, i was planning to have a small clip of the girlfriend appear out of nowhere and start to hug him. This idea fell through due to what went in to making the shot. From the way i was envisioning it, there would have to be a hole in the bed so the actress could reach out and being the hugging scene. This would have involved a large cost and greater planning however, so i decided to scrap it.
Rhythmic Editing
I decided to use a variety of rhythmic editing in this piece as it featured quite a few moments that benefited from matching the music to the video. This is seen through the series of short shots at 0:52- 0:59 of my piece.
Lip Sync
I decided to use elements of lip sync in both locations of my music video (the Dark hall with the piano and the bedroom) This is common place in many music videos to grant an extra link between the video and the song. However, my use of lip sync in both the piano and bedroom scenes show how the singer is deeply immersed in his recount of the story. a similar use of lip Sync is shown in Hoobastank's "the reason" video.
Fade and Overlay editing
I used a fair amount of overlay editing to create a disorientating mood for the viewer which links to the alcohol in the video and linking to the situation the main character finds himself in.
One area where i wish i had used an overlay track is the section marked by the lyrics "she takes you in with her crying eyes". Without the overlay, that section seems rather clunky as the clip of the girl his just simply placed in the middle of the main character drinking. I wish i had used better transitions aswell as many of them seem rather rushed
Composition of shots
Many of my shots feature pretty standard staging, common in many different examples. My main source of composition theory was the rule of thirds, where the action of the picture is focused normally towards the sides of the screen rather than in the centre. This is challenged by my shot of the main falling onto the floor with a halo of pictures surrounding his head.
Conclusion
While i'm not completely happy with my piece overall; looking back on it, it is clear to see where my inspiration has appeared in my shots, composition and ideas leading into the production.
I decided to make a DVD cover and band website for my Ancillary texts. The main themes running through both were the colour schemes, which is taken from the album cover the track is off, and the idea that the music video is used as a comeback; bringing the artists music from the old days into the modern eye again.
Looking back, i can see that one of the main colours in the theme is completely off, but i feel it still links well with the overall theme of the video in terms of the grey.
In my about section, i talk about how this video is a chance for the Artist, John Mayer, to bring some of his older songs back into the limelight again. This is also referenced on my DVD cover when looking at the rolling stone review.
There are many issues with these ancillary texts, however. For instance, i wished i had taken more time to get photos of the new cast when i had to change them suddenly close to the deadline. This meant that all images are captured from the main task itself rather than taken in post. This has lead to some issues in the cropping and finding ways to fit them on a website or DVD cover easily. It also limited my range of shots to choose from.
Due to my late finishing because of casting and location difficulties, i didn't have much time to be able to conduct full audience research. I have been able to show it to close friends and family, however, which has given me enough points for me to take on board and allow me to develop as a creator and user of the media.
The First element commented on was the greyscale, some thinking that it would be better if it were staggered better rather than it being constant. While i can understand their point, i used the greyscale all the way through to try and illustrate the depth the main character is going into to best tell his story. This has allowed me to see how some elements that i thought would benefit the story and cinematography aren't received in the same way by consumers. This suggests that a better approach is having consumers involved all the way through in order to make sure that some elements are visible in terms of their reason for being.
Secondly, my sample seemed to like the element of recount held throughout. My brother suggested that the first transition into the bedroom scenes, marked by a fade, links it to being more dream- like, which was the mood i was trying for.
other observations made by my sample were;
good examples of camera placement and shots
nice use of establishing shots
maybe needing a greater diversity of items and shots
There are issues concerning objectivity when using a small sample like mine. First of all, a small personal sample is less likely to be heavily critical of your work due to the personal factor between you, meaning that you don't receive a full critique. Secondly, there is little hard data to collect in order to spot trends and create charts. This is often an advantage of an online survey as you can reach a large amount of people that can fill out a small questionnaire in their leisure. Furthermore, there is a chance that a fair amount of people involved in the questionnaire don't know you as a person very well, meaning they have more freedom to be critical.
However, keeping the sample size small with an unstructured interview allowed me to get a greater, more in depth view from people rather than just receiving a numerical outcome.
