college work

1. Final Major Project Evaluation and Feedback (Music video) –
Shauna Leacy
Evaluation:
My chosen final major project was to make a music video, me and Emily Aldred worked
together we planned a story line, chose a song and began filming. The song we chose was
‘Years & Years – Desire’ this was a second choice because we originally planned to make
our music video with the song ‘James Bay – Hold Back The River’ we decided to change our
song choice half way through editing we didn’t like the way the song went with the footage
we filmed, we both decided that the new song choice fit the shots better and the story line.
we both created rough edits before the final music video so me and Emily had our own ideas
and what we wanted to do with the clips when we came to do the final music video it was a
struggle to choose what we liked and didn’t like because we both had to agree with the same
clips because our rough edits were so different, so some bits in the final edit Emily might not
like as much as I might like them vice a versa.
We begin our music video with a shot of someone coming in the room sitting down and
pressing play on a remote, the camera then goes to the TV where a clip begins to play, we
then began to zoom in on the TV so the whole screen is the shot on the TV we them fade it
in so the clip that’s playing on the TV becomes the clip that’s playing on the actual screen, in
the clip the girl puts the vinyl on and the music begins to play this is when the video properly
kicks off, before any music is playing we didn’t want the first couple of clips to be silent so we
played a song quietly in the background so it was as if it was playing on a radio in the room
the girl was sat in, we also added a vinyl scratch sound effect to make it sound more real.
The next series of shots is the vinyl spinning around whilst the music plays we layered over
this clip the song title so people were aware of what song it was, we then wanted to get clips
to go to the beat of the song, this is one of my favourite bits in the video because of the way
its matched up to the song, you also get a slight idea of how the video is going to be edited,
the clips that follow that are filmed from a car we wanted to layer the clips over each other to
give it a unique look we didn’t want the same basic music video style we wanted to add our
own touch, with the location of the clips we wanted to keep a narrative so all the clips at the
start is someone travelling we tried to keep this going throughout, the next couple of shots
are of people, we have a group of friends filming themselves having a good time just
hanging out and enjoying life, the upbeat music goes with the dancing clips and people
laughing we layered the dancing clips over each other to give people more to look at, at 0:36
we introduced a cropped editing style where we took two clips and cropped them so they
were above and below again we wanted a certain style to our video. The next shots of Ryan
on the bridge are my favourite because it was just by chance me and Emily where filming
him at different distances so we put these together so you can see him from different angles,
again we use the cropped effect to create to clips in one shot, when the song comes to the
part just before the chorus I tried to match the clips up with the music best as possible when
Emily gestures the camera to follow her the lyrics sort of respond which I think has a cool
effect, we also use the layering technique again we layer a clip over another but make the
one on top smaller so it gives it a border we use this ‘border’ effect for the next couple of
clips that follow, the shot of Emily and Ryan running towards the camera is slowed down at
the end because I wanted to give the chorus a build up the music then kicks off to start the

2. chorus this is where we change location it also gave us a good opportunity to introduce a
new location, this is the start of the bike ride clips the same group of people enjoying a
sunny day with the upbeat music playing In the back, I wanted to give the people watching a
‘point of view’ so you see what the person holding the camera can see this is why I edited
the clips together so you can see the bike handles as if you’re on the bike and the scenery
surrounding them also the people they are on a bike ride with the theme we tried to stick with
was the POV of friends. Also the time-lapse was to give it another effect which changes the
style of the video, this shows them just having a minute chilling out. We used layering again
to give it a sort of ‘memory’ look like the person watching the video is remembering the day
out sort of, also the people in the video pose at the cameras it’s to make sure people get the
gist and know that it’s supposed to be them filming themselves. We then changed location to
a night out the lights and the ‘night life’ vibe you see them all dancing and having fun, going
out to different places, they also move to a concert where you see Ryan singing along, I’m
not hundred percent on the clips of the water and the trees being randomly placed but we
didn’t want the clips to go to waste. Again we wanted to change location so putting a clip of
the sun setting knowing its getting late and it’s a different day you see a new location of a
different group of friends still the same main girls having a chat chilling, making funny poses
and interacting with the person filming to give it a fun vibe, we also bring back the layering
clips with the border just to add a bit of colour. We also added another time-lapse so the one
earlier on wants randomly placed. We wanted to have something that shows friends keeping
memories and having fun just silly immature things we didn’t want to take it so serious with a
deep story we just wanted something that shows all the different activates friends can do
even if they are completely opposites like bike rides and night outs etc. All the clips in the
video have the contrast slightly changed and some clips towards the end that are very dark
we brightened up so you could see them better, Overall we wanted the clips to go with the
beat of the music.
The video quality can be put to 1080p, it varies with the clips when it comes to quality
because we filmed majority of the footage on a canon and some clips with a phone, you
can’t really tell with the effects we have put on the clips and he layering, the music video is
supposed to have a slight tint to it anyway some clips its more obvious. The layout of some
clips are different than others, I have changed the size of clips and cropped some to fit two
clips into one. Personally I have learned how to use adobe premiere pro, I have discovered
new effects and used more tools, I think if I was ever to use this again I would have more of
an idea on what I can do or what I can create, finding out how to change colour of clips by
using tints or changing opacity and how to use the crop tool, this is just a few things I’ve
used in my video. When looking back at our ideas generations and story boards you see a
lot of things we have kept the theme of the video has stayed the same throughout just small
things like having a continues story we decided to just have a mix of locations into one, in
our story boards we mentions scenes like a ‘getting ready’ scene and some footage in
Liverpool we never ended up filming there. We stuck to the same ending and most of the
places we wanted to film as we did we even added a few extra places that weren’t
mentioned in the actual planning, things like car footage and the record at the start are all in
the storyboards and our final edit but things like the rewind footage on the TV screen we
decided that it was pretty difficult to do so we just took that bit out. Personally I think we have
stuck to the schedule with filming dates and having the edits done in time, when working with
a partner it’s important that you stay on schedule because you both have to have spare time
you have to manage your time so you both have a free day to film scheduling filming days, I

3. think that me and Emily managed our time well keeping the schedules up to date was
something we couldn’t really forget because we were updating it weekly so we could stay on
track and keep everything within the planned time.
Feedback:
Me and Emily created a group on Facebook which we named ‘Final Major Project’ we added
13 people to watch our video and give a short paragraph telling us what our strengths and
weaknesses are and what we can improve on we gathered our responses in the comments
we asked Media students and people who aren’t familiar with media terms so we had a mix
of responses, I read through them and wrote a short paragraph, this is what we got.

4. The first comment we got was from Joe Carroll who said he liked how the clips work with the
song which is positive he also mentions some of the techniques we used like the split screen
and the overlap/boarders, the negative comments were that he said the slow mo scenes
were ‘laggy’ and we should of reduced the slow motion slightly also that the scene where the
TV cuts to the real video could have been made smoother, I personally think that the cut
from TV to real video was fine it was hard to position the screen over the TV shot because it
was zoomed in we edited it several times and it took a while to get it how we wanted it. So I
wouldn’t agree with that but I’ll take it as criticism, but I would agree with the slow motion
parts but I wouldn’t say its ‘laggy’ it’s supposed to be slowed down we did it on purpose.
Since Joe is also a media student I think that having him watch the video and give his
response is really good he knows what to look out for so it matters a lot.
The second comment was made by Ryan Sharman who also said that the song works well
with the clips/concept he mentioned that he liked the style of the video and that he liked the
overlays and split screens which Is good to hear because we wanted it to be different and
not like all other videos, the negative part of his comment is that he thinks we could of
matched the 3 split shots at the start up better with the music, I agree with this because in
my rough edit it matches better because I took time to match it up but with the final edit it
was hard to fit everything in so moving things around was harder than we thought, he also
mentioned that some clips could of matched better to the music which would of made the
video better so the song matches a lot more. Again Ryan is also a media student you can tell
by some words he’s used in the comment this is important because he’s also knows what to
look out for.
The third comment was made by Sarah Cunningham she said that she likes the build up at
the start of the song she said that its different and gets the audience anticipating the song,
she also said that she liked the vinyl shot with the title over the top, she mentioned that the
fast paced clips make it interesting to watch and that there’s always something different to
watch, she gave us something to improve on which is moving the convert footage to stick to

5. the ‘club’ shots I agree it keeps a narrative then she also mentioned how she liked the light
to dark throughout the video how it progressively changes. Again Sarah is also a media
student so she knows what to look out for also, so when she mentioned moving clips about
its more important than say someone who isn’t a media student.
The fourth comment was made by Sara Ramsdale she said that she likes how the video is
fast paced and how it’s just a group of friends messing around having fun, this is good to
read because that the whole point of our video it’s to show people having fun documenting
their time together so seeing someone notice this and mention it was really positive to read,
she didn’t mention anything negative at all. It’s also good to get feedback from someone who
isn’t a media student because it gives us a perspective of someone just watching a video
and not trying to look out for terms etc.
The fifth comment was made by Sarah Murray, she also said that the music goes well with
the clips, she also said that having a range of different locations adds more anchorage, she
said that her favourite part is the start with the three split screens she said that it is very
clever and well timed which is good to hear considering it was my original idea I noticed the
music at the start had a specific beat so I wanted the clips to go with it just to try and connect
the shots with the music, she also said that she likes the overlay having two shots at once,
the negative/criticism part of the comment was that some shots are grainy, I agree with this
because some shots are filmed with a phone whilst the rest are filmed with a camera, we
would of improved on this but we liked the shots that the phone filmed they fit really well and
also that we weren’t a loud a camera in the venue, so taking this criticism id agree with what
she’s saying but we already noticed this and we couldn’t do much other than layer all the
clips with a slight colour tint.

6. The sixth comment was made by Irina Mconnell, she said that she also likes the start of the
video, she also mentions how she likes the overlays when two images are on top of each
other, she also mentioned that she likes the switch/contrast between the locations like the
bike ride shots then the shots in the club, the criticism she gave us was how we didn’t stick
fully to the light to dark progression of the shots its only by having one clip which is of the
sun setting with the clips before being in the ‘club’ which ruins this theme I agree with this
small criticism.
All together the feedback we got was mostly positive with small criticism made most of the
positive comments made were similar a lot of people said they liked the overlays of the clips,
a few comments mentioned how they liked how the music fit with the clips and two or three
said they liked the start where the three split shots come in, overall we had a lot of positive
things said towards the video which is a confidence boost for our video, even taking in the
criticism is important because we need to know the things we could of changed for
improvements in the future.
Conclusion:
Overall for a conclusion If I was to ever do it again I’d of planned ahead with filming, I would
of liked to have done the filming at Liverpool I feel like that would of added more to the video,
more location. I think that once I got the idea to do a music video and had a plan with the
story I’d of made sure that people were free and set up a date to go to certain places
because most of the filming was spontaneous, I would of also tried to stick fully to the
storyboard because the ideas we had in our head were what we definitely wanted. I also
think that it would have been easier for me and Emily if we had done the rough edits
together because we both had very different editing styles, it would have been much easier
to make the final video because deciding between us what clips we wanted from our rough
edits is hard because we both liked the our rough edits and some clips were the same that
we used so choosing whose edited clips we were going to use was difficult. I would of
definitely put more thought into even though we really did plan and put a lot of effort into
editing I feel like everything can be improved and there is a lot in that video that me
personally might of not stuck with but its joint effort so having us both have our input in the
final edit was very important. With the footage and how the video turned out I’m very happy
with it the would be very minor changes, I think it shows people having fun which is what we
wanted to show so that side to it I wouldn’t change. Also seeing people’s responses and
seeing how positive they were was really a confidence boost, it’s good to see people
watching it and reacting so positively. I also got a lot of positive feedback from my rough edit
I am very proud of that because it was just me it was independent and people seemed to like
what I came out with so it also made me quite excited to start the final edit, there was more
of the layering/frame technique in my rough edit you don’t see it as much in our final edit, I
probably would say it would be good to have kept more of that in the final edit because it’s

7. very different and unique, but then it wouldn’t of been a decision between both of us and
wouldn’t of been fair on Emily. So choosing our favourites bits out of each other’s rough edits
was the best idea.