Jack Dixon created a music video for his final major project. He filmed scenes at a country park and music festival after his initial footage was poor quality. Editing challenges included syncing footage to the beat and speeding up clips. Feedback was positive from friends who found it funny, showing the intended humor was effective. While the final video differed from his original plan, it still targeted the desired demographic of students interested in house music and festivals. Through this project, Jack improved his skills with Adobe software, camerawork, and independent working.

1. Jack Dixon
Final Major Project Evaluation
For my final major project unit I was asked to create my own media product
such as radio advert, music video, photo shoot or motion graphics
composition. From the different products I then had to think of ideas for my
major project; I decided to produce a music video for the song Bassline by
The GetAlongGang as I enjoyed the music video production last year. Once I
had decided on this idea I began to research other music videos from the
same genre, I was already familiar with a lot of them but had never
analysed the styles and conventions used. From my research I decided that I
would stick to typical conventions of this genre of music video which
include different types of camera shots such as POV and pan shots as well
as including similar props such as DJ equipment and alcohol. On my first
shoot I went to Clifton Country Park where I shot the outdoor scenes, the
country park had many unique backdrops that I wanted to use in the
dancing scenes of my music video. Once I got back to college and uploaded
the footage onto the computer I found that although the footage looked
good on the camera the quality was poor when shown
on a larger screen so I could not use any of the clips
from the first shoot. This caused a large set back as I was
now behind with my filming; because of this I decided to take the camera with
me to an indoor music festival that I was attending that weekend in order to get
back on schedule, this was not my initial plan so I was no longer following my
storyboard and had to completely rethink my idea. At the festival I shot similar
footage to what I had planned, although I was not able to film in the desired
location and had limited props the footage was good quality and used a diverse
range of camera angles and shots. Once I returned home from the festival I shot
some more footage in my bedroom of the DJ equipment being used as well as
some clips that would link well to the footage I had already got such as
preparation for the festival. Due to the different situations in which I filmed I
could not control the pace of what was going on, for example when filming the
dancing it was all unplanned freestyle dancing. The footage that I recorded at home was filmed
whilst the song was playing; I did this to match the timing better as this gives a more professional
look. Once I began to edit the clips together I tried to match the visual movement to the pace of the
song which is fairly slow although I decide to speed up the speed of some clips to add variation.
This is footage from my first shoot at
Clifton Country Park and then the
music festival shoot, as you can see the
second shot is in much better quality to
the initial shoot. This makes the video
look like it has been shot
professionally.
This is footage from the final
shoot that took place in my
bedroom. As I had more props
available at this shoot this is
when I tried to include branding
and familiar props for my
audience.
At the start of the song in my music video
there are some small individual sounds; I
tried to match the flicker from a lighter to
these sounds. It was quite difficult to get this
perfect but I believe it works well and was
worth the effort.

2. Jack Dixon
This is an example of layering clips
together. I believe this suits the style
of the video due to the dark
background contrasting with the glow
sticks which could connote a
nightclub.
Once I had enough footage I started the editing process on adobe premiere
pro, I began by trimming individual clips leaving only the sections that I
would be using in my music video, this was the easiest part of the editing
process. Once I had cut all of the clips I imported the song that I had decided
to use for the music video; unfortunately an official music video for the song
that I initially planned on using had been released that week which put me
off using the song so I used another song from the same genre; Hot Since 82-
Every Little Piece. Now that I had the trimmed clips and the song onto
Premiere I began to sequence the clips together, following a narrative of
getting ready for the festival and then following the events throughout the
weekend. Getting the footage to match the music was the most difficult part
of editing as it is hard to get the footage in sync with the beat, to do this I had to change the speed
and duration of some clips. When deciding where to place the clips I had to make sure that I spread
the more interesting clips around in order to keep the audience entertained. I later found that the
song that I chose was far too long to fill with my footage but as I had already synced the footage to
this song I made the decision to cut the song down instead of choosing a different shorter song.
Once I had completed the sequence and watched it back I found some of the
scenes quite boring to watch so I decided to layer clips on top of each other to
give a slightly transparent effect to some of the footage. Another thing I added
was the use of split screen; I split the screen into sections with each section
showing something different, I believe this made the composition much more
interesting and professional looking. After making these changes I was happy
with the sequence so I moved on to editing some individual clips in Adobe
After Effects; I used the blur and sharpen effects on some of the clips that I
had used more than once to make them look a little bit different to each
other, once I had added these effects to the clips I then exported to clip back
into my Premiere project. Once I was happy with my project I had to render
and export the finished product and upload it to YouTube.
Throughout the production of my final major project I developed many skills that I had covered in
the first year of college to a much higher standard. I am much more confident with the Adobe
software; Premiere Pro and After Effects as well as using a camera to film. During the production of
this music video I watched tutorials on YouTube to find effects and styles that I could use in my
composition, my favourite discovery was the use of split screen as I had not seen this in many music
videos and believe it makes the video much more interesting for the viewer. The use of layering
footage also helped me to achieve a professional look throughout my composition. On one of the
lessons before I had good quality footage I played around with different effects to help me get a
unique idea for my music video, I decide to use the blur effect on the glow stick scenes as it makes
the glow look slightly like that of a light saber. As I was working independently this year I had to be
involved with much more of the filming and planning, I already had a basic knowledge from my first
project but as I had no one to do the things that I couldn’t I was forced to learn these new skills. I can
now say that I am confident at producing a music video as well as other film based products.
Due to the first day of filming being unsuccessful which resulted in me taking the camera to the
music festival which I hadn’t originally planned, the final product does not follow the storyboard but
This shows the split screen that I used
in my music video. Each section shows
something different although 2 are the
same clip but played at different times.

3. Jack Dixon
some of the intended content is still there. The music video is still aimed at the exact same
demographic audience and I believe I have reached my target audience needs that I detailed in the
proposal. Although the music video now follows a different narrative and
storyboard, many of the key elements from my proposal are still there, for
example my music video only uses characters that are of a similar age to my
intended audience as I believe that students would prefer to see people their
own age in media products as they can relate to them. I was hoping to use
different characters for each scene but as only 6 of us went to the festival I had
to use the same people throughout. My music video also includes branding
that will be familiar to students such as Captain Morgan’s rum and clothing
brand Hugo Boss, I also included some recognizable festival wristbands in the
video as the demographic audience participate in clubbing and festivals and
when they see this merchandise they could be
reminded of their time there meaning they would have
an emotional connection with the video. The song has also changed from
the song on my proposal but in my opinion the final song works well with
the theme of my video, also at the time when I chose this song the artist
was very popular within the house music community. Unfortunately I was
unable to include strobe lights in my music video so instead I decided to use
glow sticks as these are related to clubbing and also gave the video a unique
aspect. The main difference from my initial proposal is the camera
techniques; in my proposal I planned to use the tripod to create stable
footage as I believe this looks more professional but once I began filming in
this style I found it to be boring. This is when I decided to use POV; this
involves the audience much more as they may feel like they are there with
the characters, this style also makes the scenes more realistic and not
planned.
Time management is something that I need to work on, when I planned my schedule at the start I
didn’t consider any problems that I may face during production. As I was working independently I
had to do some work outside of lesson whereas last year when I was working in a group I managed
to complete all work inside college with help from a teacher, this has made me confident at working
alone to make decisions and solve problems. I used a production diary to monitor what I had done
and what was needed to be done in the next lesson; this ensured that I always knew what needed to
be done. In the future if I were too create a music video again I would create a written schedule
whilst considering setbacks as well as choosing some smaller tasks to do in my own time as to not
get a build-up of work by the end of the year. If my first filming date would have gone to plan I
would have been on time for the rest of the production, this was my fault as I didn’t ask for advice
on using the camera before I headed out to film but now I am confident that this wouldn’t happen
again. If I would have had more time leftover at the end of the project I would have tried to add
more effects the music video using After Effects, this would have gave a much more professional
look.
I received positive feedback from everyone I shown the video too, as soon as the video was
complete I gathered my friends that came to the festival with me as well as a few others and
watched the video together. All of them were laughing throughout the whole video which shows
This screenshot shows the
characters in my music video; all of
which are of a similar age to the
intended audience. You can also
see a coca cola bottle on top of the
wardrobe as this is a popular drink
for teenagers.
I used POV camera shots to give the
audience more involvement with the
characters in the music video. By
doing this I also managed to include
lots of branded props in the
background which is why I created a
messy look in the room; it’s a well-
known fact that students are known
to be messy and lazy.

4. Jack Dixon
that the humour I intended to include is visible; I find that if something makes me laugh I am more
likely to remember it and want to watch it again so I am glad this worked. When I shown my family
the video (none of which are the intended audience) they didn’t laugh like my friends did and didn’t
pick up on things such as the festival merchandise, this shows that the video is well suited to the
correct audience that I planned to appeal too. A friend who also studied media pointed out some
parts of the video that were not perfectly in time, if I would’ve shown him this before I made the
final edit I would’ve been able to change this, in the future I will try to get feedback for a rough draft
before I perfect the final edit.
In my opinion I believe that I successfully created a music video that appealed to the intended
demographic; students with an interest in house music, festivals and clubbing. If I were given the
opportunity to create a media product again in the future I would choose to create another music
video as I believe I am getting better with each attempt. There are some slight changes that I would
make to this music video however; firstly I would make sure I shot much more footage as this music
video is under 3 minutes long. Another change I would make would be to include some female
characters as there are only males in this video, doing this could help me to reach a wider target
audience. Finally I would have liked to include footage from inside a club or live music venue, when I
was filming this video I did not want to take the camera into the rooms where music was being
played as I could’ve damaged the camera, if I would have planned ahead better I could have spoken
to the organizers of the festival and possibly filmed from a safe location. Overall I am pleased with
the final product and I believe that I have developed my editing and filming skills to a good level.