The Brief

Our year thirteen task involves us creating a promotional package for the release of an album and to include a promotional music video. For this we have to design a cover for its release as part of a digipak and create a magazine advertisement for the digipak (CD/DVD package)

Finished In The Sun Task And Commentary

Assessment 19/7/11 MCU

WWW

• Detailed and thoughtful reflection on skills learned when using final cut.
• Images used well in places to illustrate points, and to make posts visual.
• Improvements made to previous posts, well done.

EBI

• When embedding you tube clips of music videos, think about shortening them so that they are short and to the point. Examiners will not want to watch a whole music video to see the one shot that you are discussing. Ask me how you do this.
• You should write a post discussing your development from year 12 into year 13 media and make it visual.
• You should upload the planning documents that you produced when preparing for the video shoot.

Due Thursday 21/7

The final edit of In the Sun embedded to your blog.

You should write, record and embed a directors commentary analysing the video.

Good work here Dan, this is impressive and very positive. I am pleased that you also worked to get the In the Sun edit done way before the deadline. Make sure you act upon the improvements suggested straight away.

EFFORT - mostly VG but some IN (missing posts)

Developing My Skills On Final Cut Express

My skills on Final Cut Express have increasingly improved at a rapid rate. In the duration of two weeks I have learned how to cut/trim clips,  
move selected clips, add in sound clips, layering and much more. For example, I had to layer the clips so that the clip on top is always the one that is shown, anything underneath this clip will be hidden during playback. I also had to cut clips to fit the time spacing and to place the clips in sync with the sound clip. This took precision as the clip had to be on the millisecond otherwise it would be out of sync.


The sound clip was also added in, this is added so that all the clips can be synchronised up and keep everything in time. It is also what the viewers will hear when they watch the video. All the clips that we used had to be transferred from one file into the Final Cut Express file. This was done by 'Log and Transfer' which is where I could scroll through all available clips. To save space I then add an 'In' and 'Out' marker so that the time of the clip within them markers was all that was added into Final Cut.

WWW And EBI For 'In The Sun' Class Task

WWW - I think that all the lighting in every shot was accurate and suitable so that the music video seems more realistic and impressive.
- I also think that the speed of the movements I made were accurate as they were not to fast for the song but the pace was not too slow either.
- Lastly I believe that the one shot that I filmed was perfect as it was steady, the correct angle was used and sustained throughout.

EBI - The costuming that I had chosen to wear was more accurate, as of the guitar colour just to make the music video similar than to the one we are influenced by.
- It would be better if in some of the shots my continuity would be better as in some I started off without folders under my arm and then they appeared there from nowhere.
- Lastly I think that the health and safety aspect of the lighting could have had more attention paid to it as at one point there was some wiring in a vulnerable place prescribing the risk of injury.

Job Role For 'In The Sun' Class Task

For our class filing for the music video of 'In The Sun' I was in charge of lighting along side Alex Richards. I had to help set p the lighting equipment fast and efficiently. For this I had to practice setting the lights up fast and the disassembling them quickly so that we could swiftly move from one location to another. If I was not fast enough at doing these responsibilities then I would have held up the class from filming causing us to have less time to film so the shots would not be as good.


I also had to decide on whether or not we need artificial lighting or if the natural light or the lighting in the room was good enough for the desired shot. Luckily, for the majority of the time the natural light from the sun was enough and was in the correct positioning for the lighting in the shot.


Another role in the filming that I had to play was the guitarist/lead male in the music video. This was simple as all I had to was, in most shots, walk or stand in one position. Besides the last few shots in which I am playing the guitar solo. For this role I had to know where to walk, how fast to walk, when to turn off camera and I also learned the guitar solo so that it is more realistic rather than having the wrong part of the solo being played against the song itself.

Overall, I think my roles in the music video were important but also of an intermediate level. I think that I succeeded in both roles and that I have accomplished what it is I set out to achieve before we began filming as everything was organised and all went to plan.