Detailed Analysis Of Our Music Video

This is the completed version of our music video. We have tried extremely hard in the time we have had to try and get it up to an very good standard, we believe we have achieved this.

At the beginning of the scene we see cross cutting of both Michael and Jermaine; Michael is trying to get hold of his friend to give him some important news. This footage is necessary as it sets the tone for the rest of the song. The news Michael is telling Jermaine is that their friend is dead (played by Ivor). There is then a shot of Jermaine walking up the bridge with the footage of the traffic faded into the background. This is a good shot because it symbolises the chaotic lifestyle he has, and how he's just got to cope the best he can.

The video then goes into various shots of Jermaine doing his first verse. The locations used in these shots are filmed in Hulme, Manchester. This represents where he comes from and the type of life he lives. The song talks about him getting on the right track and being able to not get involved in the crime that surrounds him. The next shot is then of Jermaine and Ivor sitting on a wall talking, and Ivor disappears. This shot is extremely effective because it shows that his friend is no longer with him and it is affecting him. It is also symbolising the fact that the character Jermaine plays obviously misses his friend and cannot get used to him being around. The technique we used to get Ivor to disappear was not to complex but was impressive when done.

The video then goes to shots of Michael performing the chorus. The facial expressions he uses show that he is also relating to the words of the song and making it look very realistic.

The video also has black and white shots of the youth club and Jermaines' character getting stabbed, these show that these events have happened in the past. They also appear in the exact same part of the song where they are mentioned. This shows that detail has been payed to the song. There s another shot where Ivor disappears but this time it is with Michael, as they make contact Ivor starts to fade. This is another example of how him dying has affected their lives.

Evaluation - How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

With our music video, magazine advert and CD case we wanted to make sure that they all had the same kind of theme running through them. We wanted them all to be serious and be able to get the message across of the trouble the males are going through in their lives. The colours we used had a huge impact in the way we wanted our project to look. We used a lot of dark colours such as blues and greys which added to the downbeat feel of the song, as our song is serious we didn't want a lot of bright colours. These colours are also seen regularly in the areas of Manchester, where we shot the video, which we believe is a good link.

Also with our project we wanted it to attract a certain type of audience. We wanted to attract teenagers in particular males, and we believe we have been able to achieve that. As our video is based on the streets of Manchester, teenagers are able to relate to this because they have maybe been brought up in the same kind of city. Our feedback from the audience has also shown that we have achieved this because most of the males that have sat down and watched it, said they can relate to whats going on. The mise en scene that we have used throughout the video, magazine advert and CD cover also attract a certain audience. It attracts teenagers because most of them nowadays do wear hoodies and baggy pants. This will instantly catch their eye because they have something in common.

Our video is of a genre of music which is extremely popular in this day and age with teenagers and young adults; so it would be one that is well-known in the community. Admittedly this video would not be something a lot of adults would listen to but they would still be able to appreciate the camera work used throughout. Such as the camera trick we used when Ivor disappears, or the numerous shots we have of the boys performing in different, interesting locations.

Our camera work with the video and photos are going to attract and audience also. The different camera shots we have used and also the locations are likely to make people look more because of the fact that they are interesting. Also the effects we have used such as Ivor disappearing out of the shot should impress people. Our video is telling a story throughout, so taking the viewer to different locations is going to make them pay more attention and hopefully make them start to become a fan of the video. The CD cover and magazine advert pictures compliment the video because they are carrying on the theme/storyline of the video.

Un-edited shots we will be using for our front cover and magazine advert

We recently did a photo shot for our magazine advert and CD cover. Here are some examples of the shots we took-

We may use these shots for the inside covers of the CD or possibly the magazine cover.



These shots are possibly going to be used on either the front or the back cover of the CD.



These shots are most likely going to be used on the inside covers of CD.

Evaluation - What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Having interviewed a number of people and watching it back, we have found some areas that we believe they think we have excelled in and some areas that they thought we can do better. We asked the participants a number of questions about the video and urged them to give honest answers.

The first question we asked was What was your overall impression of the video?
One of the interviewees explained that they really enjoyed the video especially the story line that ran throughout. He also thought that the lip syncing was of a good quality. He also said that he thought "at the start it wasn't going to work out" but we pulled our selves together and focused on the work. Another boy that we interviewed goes on to explain that he thinks we are able to relate to the video especially as the music video is based around teenage boys.

The next question we asked was What did you think of the technical aspects used in the video?
Some of the people we interviewed said that the effects we used made it look like one of the videos that you see on an actual music channel. They also thought that the effect we used when Ivor disappears from the shot was very affective.

We then asked Where do you think we could improve on the video?
One guy thought that we should have maybe included more people into the video just so it had more versatility. We as a group agreed with this point but believed that if we added more people into the video it would take away the concentration from the two main characters.

Evaluation - How did you use media technologies in the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages?

Throughout the making of this video we have used a number of different technologies. The main device we used was obviously a camcorder, we had to get used to using the memory card instead of tapes but we found this very easy. For a lot of our filming we used the tripod, so through most of the performance shots this was the main tool we used; but when we were filming tracking shots of Michael and Jermaine we used hand held. We also used many different shots in our video from mid shot, long shot, extreme long shot, medium long shot and medium shot. We have also used a close up shot of Jermaine at the end of the video. For our video we decided to opt out of using green screen as we didn't really need to use it.

Once we had all of our footage we were then able to use Final Cut Pro. One of our group members Ivor, was extremely good at using the software and had experience from his last project so knew exactly what to do. What we first did was convert all our shots onto the software which meant converting them to Quick time player so we could watch them. We then had to fill up the time line with the shots we wanted and delete the ones we didn't need. We then had to make sure that the footage went with the music, and that the lip syncing was perfect. Sometimes it took a while to line up the music with the footage but once it was lined up perfect we carried on with the next task. Also the effects, such as the fade were then added into the shots. With the fade we were able to make it as long and as short as we wanted, and make the shots fade into one another smoothly. Also when our footage went into flashbacks we wanted to make these black and white so it was more obvious. We did this by finding the effect in one of the files and then dragged it on top of the shot.


For our blog we used a number of technologies to make it look more creative. We have used screen shots of our video and of other technologies we have used to illustrate what we are talking about. We have also scanned some of our work onto the computer so we were able to put in on the blog. This has made our blog more interesting and shows we have gone into plenty of detail. We also plan on adding more videos to our blog but in college we are not able to do it, so we are going to do it at home.

Update On The Music Video

Our time line is currently finished and we are satisfied with the vast majority of the footage we have. However, we still believe that we can add to our piece to boost our grade.
We have agreed to change the start of the video as our initial ideas have been changed, therefore the starting 0:30 seconds doesn't really make much sense anymore.

Storyboard of "On the Low"

Here is a storyboard of our music video "On The Low":

The first shot we see is of Michael making a phone call to
Jermaine to give him some bad news. He is walking through an alley way which adds to the effect of it being in a urban environment. The lighting used is natural.



The next shot is of the traffic off Hulme bridge being sped up, and Jermaine
fading into the picture. We use and extreme long shot
with dark lighting.



The next shot is of Jermaine performing the first verse.The shot is filmed from
a side angle and he is looking into the camera. We filmed in the
daylight. We filmed a lot of him performing
this verse in different locations.



The video then goes into tracking shots of Michael performing his verse. We also
see shots of him performing on the bridge. We used a mixture of lighting
as some was filmed in the night and some in the day.



We then bring in the shot of Michael and Jermaine together performing the song.
We got our lighting from a street light next to them.

This shot is of a youth club sign which we zoom into. In the song it mentions a youth club so we thought it would be a good idea to use a cut away shot of the sign. This shot is
in black and white to represent that it is in the past.



This is another black and white shot of Jermaine getting "stabbed" as
this is mentioned in the song. This shot is of a hooded male
hiding behind a wall and Jemaine walking down.



We then end the video with a shot of Michael and Jermaine sitting on a wall. This shot then zooms into Jermaines' face, so the video ends with an extreme closeup.

A Selection Of Our Audience Feedback

Overall Impression

• I found this music video brilliant, this is because the filming was very simple but effective. Due to the filming locations and use of effects.
• It was really good, like the transition shots of graffiti and traffic made a statement in itself about the pace of urban life and how people don't always have time for each other. I like the over the shoulder shot of when he does "perfect picture" hand movement.

3 Positives

• - Good use of the fade effects

- Locations fit together

- The cutting kept to the speed of the music

• - Lip syncing on point throughout

- Vibrant colour graffiti made it interesting

1 area to improve

• Some of the lip syncing was a bit off que - however was hard to tell and the lyrics were very fast so you cannot expect to be perfect. Also more of a narrative should be used.
• Maybe have some more narrative scenes or memories to mix it up because there was alot of lip syncing.

Analyse/ technical area- Camerawork- Mise en scene - editing

• A lot of the shots were still shots which worked well when the characters were singing. Also I liked the way some of the lyrics were linked to the footage i.e. the stabbing scene.