Music Video

A2 Media Studies Coursework.

Summary:

For my A2 coursework, we were instructed to create a music video with 2 ancillary products, our choices for these were: A website, magazine advert or a digi-pak; we chose to create an advert and digi-pak. We had to work in groups of 3 maximum and post all of our work onto Blogger. Research, Planning and Preparation (RPP) took up 20% of our coursework grade meaning that we had to ensure our steps towards filming were precise and detailed.
My colleague and I created this acoustic music video. The song, Don't Know Why was written and sang by Sylvia- Ella Kesington who I worked with at The Farm Group on work experience. She was very supportive throughout the whole process which encouraged and aided us to ensure the video was the best it could be. I very much enjoyed making this simply because we chose to expand our locations and the concepts behind the video have been influenced by Sylvia herself.


The Idea: I firstly analysed the song lyrics and came up with potential ideas. I had recently heard about Leake Street Tunnel in Waterloo from my friend and I was determined to visit the place and therefore suggested we incorporate the graffiti tunnel into the video. I established the satanic and dark theme to the song in which we related to Sylvia's personality, then we used this as a basis for our own character.
Influences: We agreed to make the video more personal to Sylvia, I asked her via Facebook, what messages she would have liked to be projected from the video or any ideas she wanted to include/exclude- which we applied. Ed Sheeran - The A Team was also an influence as the circular narrative and journey aspect was similar to ours. It also featured aspects we inclded such as the idea of a bad lifestyle and drugs.
How we created it: It was difficult creating the music video as there was only two of us actually handling the production work. We made a detailed schedule for our filming days and what we would film and where, we also provided our character with this. The schedule allowed us to manage our time effectively and ensure we were not missing anything.
Challenges: Again, it was difficult considering we were working as a pair and it would have been much easier with a bigger group, but we over came this by allocating specific and equal amount of jobs for each other. We really wanted the point of view tube scene but this was a challenge considering I had to go through paper work with London Underground Staff and wake up at 4am to film. We had to be flexible with timings despite our schedule as we (including our main character) understood the fact we all had other A Level subjects that needed attention.


We used Final Cut Pro for the first time when constructing 'Don't Know Why' I learned how to develop new technological skills in a short period of time as well as use them effectively.