Initial Planning Evaluation - Exam

For this project my planning has been pretty successful. I started out researching indie/rock songs then created a mini music video for The Struts // Could Have Been Me, based off the things that I found in my research surrounding rock music video conventions. This is something that is different from my planning in AS.
 Last year, we didn't shoot a mini title sequence, we shot a series of narrative videos in order to get the gist of all the components of shooting a film. The first one was called The Prisoner, where we were given a scenario and a script and we had to film it. The second, heavily grounded in continuity, was called Haemetemesis where we were told we had to shoot a conversation between two people. Rhiann and myself decided to have a conversation between two world leaders discussing an outbreak of disease across the world. These two projects really helped us, through trial and error, to learn about camera techniques and how different shots work to create an effective piece.This meant  that when shooting my title sequence, it was the first time I had filmed one of that kind, and even though these projects had provided us with experience in filming, it was the first time we were going to stage a complete narrative that had to have perfect continuity and in the set up of a title sequence.
 However this year, the fact that I have already worked with a track and shot a video to accompany it gives me a lot more experience and confidence for when I shoot my final piece in the half term holidays. I already know how to plan with a song using storyboards and I know how to shoot to ensure that I get all the footage I need to fit the beats of the song. I know that I must break down every lyric of the song, and every few seconds of the song and match the shot to go with it.
Last years title sequence, however, was accompanied by a song which I had to edit the shots to. This gives me even further experience in the editing side of production as I had to make sure the shots were cut at the right time to fit the music. This is something that I will have to look at even more carefully in this project. The genre and artist I have chosen, MAX, has a heavy driving beat right the way through the song, which means that the editing has to be absolutely on point in order for the video to flow properly.Since the song is the driving force of the video, the editing must be slick and perfect in order to make it look professional. This is something I am confident that I will be able to do as I feel I am experienced enough with Premier Pro to know what I am doing. My preliminary music video was not editing properly when rendered. For some unknown reason, somewhere between me saving the video on Premier Pro and uploading it to Vimeo the music track had moved so the beats weren't at the same time as the cuts. For my final piece I will make sure that this doesn't happen by rendering, exporting and saving correctly.

As for the rest of the planning, I have done a lot of research into conventions of a indie/rock music video. After completing this work along with my preliminary task, I realised that I wanted to do a genre that gave me more scope for being a bit more light-hearted and fun. From this I then looked at Pop/ dance/hip hop music (genre's I have trouble differentiating between) and found artists that would allow me to be colourful and fun. At AS level, by this point I had a pretty steady idea of what my final piece would be. From the beginning of the project I knew I wanted to do quite a sinister title sequence and then I went on to shoot a title sequence about a film about a man who enjoys to murder women in his spare time, and this is where the planning stage differs from AS to A2.
In my lesson today, me and my teacher listened to the song and realised that my new idea of a girl with a doll and a boy ending up in random places in different costumes will not fit the slightly darker tone to my chosen song 'Puppeteer'. This song's message was quite seductive and dark. This means that I again have to alter the direction of my project, actually going back to my first ideas of a darker indie music video. Even though this song is not considered indie, the conventions that I learnt from my initial research will be useful to apply to 'Puppeteer' as it has a strong driving beat much like indie and rock songs. I will be able to take the conventions of a narrative and darker themes and challenge the conventions of pop music videos.

 This year I have had a lot of mind changes about the direction of my project. I am not calling this a negative fall from last year, but as evidence of me developing as a filmmaker and wanting to try out a range of different ideas. After changing my mind many times about my music video, it has allowed me to research into areas of media that I may not have done otherwise, such as conventions of rock music videos, music theory and the different between conventions of rock and conventions of pop/dance/hip hop and how they can be intertwined and twisted.