Inveralmond Media Production

Post Production went quite smoothly. By this time the group had learned the importance of time management and we were much better at focusing on our respective tasks. It took much less time for us to get organised and less time was wasted.
Gavin and Naomi took on the task of editing the footage together as they were assigned the roles of co-editors during the pre-production planning stage. They were responsible for a lot of decision making and had storyboards to follow but had to improvise in some cases and use their own creativity to make decisions. They seem to have successfully negotiated these decisions and made the choices that were in the best interests of the production.
There were a few minor problems which had to be addressed. During editing it was discovered that there was a six second gap that we had not taken any footage for. This oversight didn’t cause any major problems for the group. We arranged an extra filming session and filmed the missing section so that editing could continue again.
The final product was very successful. It is well tailored to the genre of the track because it fitted with the conventions typical of alternative/pop-rock music. It had fast paced editing and erratic movements as well as the direct address to camera which is typical of all music videos.
The language of the video also went according to plan. Tracking shots were used for large portions of the video as we wanted to keep the idea of movement throughout the whole video as the songs never slows down we wanted the video to be constantly in motion. Fast editing and sharp cuts to the beat and stop motion also add to this effect.
The narrative of the video is simple but effective. It follows Todorov’s three act structure. The equilibrium is when we initially see the house. The disruption comes when the two main characters get out of bed and the second equilibrium is the ending when the two characters finally meet.
The production was a success and we produced a good quality video but we did learn a few lessons about institutional constraints such as deadlines and negotiation. The group didn’t face many problems but there were some disagreements and we learned how difficult it can sometimes be to resolve these for the benefit of the production. Similarly we learned how tough it can be to stick to schedules and meet deadlines over a long period of time but how important it is that you do this and don’t fall behind.
If we had another assignment of the same kind then I think the main strategy that we would recommend is to come up with a strict production schedule and be sure that you are able to meet all the deadlines. This way you ensure you have enough time for the final stages of the production and can make sure the final production is as good as possible.

The group as a whole has been fairly well organised. There have been a few issues with group members being unprepared or forgetting to bring things to meetings but this has been minor and everyone has managed to meet the deadlines up to this point.

The group has been remarkably co-operative and we have all managed to work well together. Decisions are made as a group and this seems to work well for us. Whenever disagreements arise they are generally easily dealt with and any differences in opinions have not disadvantaged the group.

We have been holding regular meetings to discuss progress and ensure we are well on our way to meeting deadlines. These meetings have also been useful for communicating new ideas and information which has meant the production is constantly evolving. In between these meetings it is very easy to get in touch with other group memebers regarding the production through the group blog.

Most of the technological duties have been dealt with by Gavin, such as equiptment and blog maintenance. He has a lot of experience with technology and so in my opinion has carried out these tasks with a high level of expertise. Non-technological skills have also been well handled so far. The production schedule has been utilised well and the groups notes and plans have been of good quality.

The production schedule has been subject to a lot of change. We have managed to stick to our self-imposed deadlines but the dates of meetings have had to be flexible due to the various commitments of group members. However all in all the schedule has been an effective way of keeping us focused and on track.

The biggest problem faced by the group was group members being unable to attend meetings. As has been mentioned before, this was solved by being more flexible and sometimes just accepting that we would have to work without the full group. Another problem was that we had a lot of tracking shots which were difficult to film with a hand held camera as it produced too much wobbling. We solved this by attaching a tri-pod to a golf caddy which meant we could wheel the camera around easily.

We think we are reaching our target audience fairly effectively. The main characters in the video are of the same age and gender as the target audience which is an audience pleasure as they are seeing people like them in a position of respect. It is filmed in a setting which is recognisable as a British location and so it will be familiar to the target audience. It is also filmed in certain areas where the style is a little abstract which is something that will hopefully appeal to the fans of alternative music as it is a convention of music videos from that genre.

The Brief:

Select a track from the CD of music you have been given and produce a video to accompany it. You will need to identify the target audience for the track and plan your key aspects around this. The technology available to you will be DV cameras and computer editing equiptment.

The group settled on this brief as it allowed us the opportunity to put conventions of music video into practice in our own production and the music chosen would hopefully be helpful as inspiration for the video. The track chosen was “Signal Noise” by the band ‘Shut Your Eyes and You’ll Burst into Flames’.

The band was contacted and their opinion was given on what the video should feature. Bright colours and fast moving images were their suggestions and our production group factored these into our ideas.

Ideas given were all considered equally before the group made any decisions. Some of these ideas were filming a large party. This was good as the movement would likely fit the tempo of the music and could easily incorporate the theme of bright colours. However we rejected this idea on the basis that it would require a nightclub style setting which would be hard to organise and it would involve lots of extras which would again be difficult to organise as the time of filming was scheduled for the run up to exams. This would mean less people would be free around this time. Another idea which was pitched was the idea of a video following a teenage boy on a journey as he wanders around a city. This idea was well received by the group as we agreed it fitted the tone of the song. However the city location was deemed to be a problem as transportation and time would be an issue. The setting was then changed to an ordinary street. The group decided this would be the base idea for the video. It was suggested that the video could also feature a girl and that the boy and the girl would mirror each other at the end. This idea was also incorporated into the plan for the video.

We determined that the target audience of the track and so the video was young, (15-25 year old) male and female people in the UK who were fans of alternative music. We believe that the video is appropriate to the target age and gender because people of that age and gender are featured in the video and to see your contemporaries in an important place in the video is an emotional pleasure for the audience.

The group has worked well so far. We have discussed and negotiated up until this point where we have managed to come to an agreement on the plan for the video. We are now ready to take on our separate roles and tasks to begin work on the production. The group worked very well together and we had a good discussion about who had skills that would make them best suited to each role. Gavin and Naomi took on the roles of co-editors for post-production and actors during filming because they are more technical. Rosie and Samantha took on the roles of co-producers. Danielle took on the role of camera person and the group decided to split the role of director equally and make directorial decisions as a group.

So far the group has been working well and people seem to be performing their respective tasks well. All tasks seem to have been completed to a fairly high quality. Mostly the group has stuck to the production schedule however there have been some issues over people being unavailable at particular times. This has been solved so far purely by being flexible with meetings and planning.

The finished article.

Today I edited together part of the video, well the introduction, and deicided to upload it :)

Well you know that handheld shake that looks horrible all thr way throughout your own video files?

I solved that problem for us.

By taking a golf trolley and a tripod I was able to create a moving camera stand! This allows for clearer shots to be taking.