1. The first assignment was IG1. This was where my pre-production began. First I had to research the
different styles of music videos and be able to categorize them to identify whether it is a concept,
narrative or performance video. I then went on to learn that different genres of music abide by
different codes and conventions, for example a hip-hop music video would generally involve
expensive cars and gold chains. Although I worked through IG1 relatively quick and understood the
general concept of each separate style of video, I could have gone into more detail and used more
media terminology when producing my mind maps for each individual style. At first I did struggle
with finding an example of a narrative music video that I could evaluate, however I went back and
addressed this later in the assignment when I had a more clear understanding. I grasped the concept
of performance and concept music videos quickly and understood the codes and conventions for
both styles.
After completing IG1, we then had to form small groups and choose who we wanted to film our
music videos with. We then shared with each other our storyboards and ideas generation mind
maps and discussed whose general idea was the most interesting and then each added suggestions
from our own storyboards to create our video. IG2 consisted of planning the production of our music
video. For example arranging meeting points and times to discuss and film our video. Also we had to
conduct risk assessments for each of our chosen filming locations to assess the dangers and
potential hazards in the area. As a team we worked swiftly on the practical side of work, for example
the actual filming of the video was finished relatively quickly, I think this was due to the fact we all
managed to stick to our arranged filming dates and everyone attended each recording session.
When all of the pre-production tasks had been completed we then started IG3. This unit consisted of
actually shooting and editing our music video, then uploading it to our own Youtube channel. Task 1
was to put together a Photograph Production Diary that documented the production phase of our
video. This included photographs of us at our filming locations operating the camera as evidence of
us recording the shoot. However while we were filming our video we forgot to take these
photographs, therefore after we had completed all the recording we had to go back to each filming
location to get a few quick snap shots of each other operating the camera or fiddling with the tri-
pod, which worked just as well.
Overall I feel like I completed IG3 to a relatively high standard and moved through the tasks quickly. I
think this is due to the fact I enjoyed the practical side of the course a lot more and found producing
my own music video very interesting. I used a fast, up-beat track that works perfectly with the quick-
cut editing I used and follows the typical codes and conventions of a Drum and Bass music video.
Another thing that I did well was quickly pick up techniques used in Adobe Premier Pro. Before
starting to shoot my music video I had never used Premier before and it looked to me like a very
complex piece of software. However after being shown the basics, and being left to experiment, I
quickly got my head around it and managed to edit my video to a good standard allowing myself to
use any editing techniques I required, for example reverse speed and smooth transitions between
clips. When my rough edit had been completed and uploaded to Youtube, I received feedback off my
tutors and peers on what I could do to improve the quality of my video and make it look a lot more
professional.

2. Some of the constructive criticism I received was to re-shoot some of the clips as they had been
distorted by the lighting or were out of focus. Also some of the editing was a bit lazy allowing a few
clips to drag on a few seconds too long, this was easily changed in Adobe Premier and quickly
tightened up my editing. Also after watching my rough edit my tutor suggested I did some work in
Adobe After Effects which is a post- production editing software to add visual effects. In After Effect
there is an effect called Turbulence Displacement, this creates a wavy/warped effect which worked
well with the scenes in my video that included
flashing lights. It also added an abstract and
more visually attractive theme to my video.
Here is an example of a print screen from After
Effects:
As a whole I am very satisfied with my music
video as a first attempt of every producing
one. However if I was to shoot another music
video I would do some things differently.
Firstly I would choose a longer track to shoot
the video too as the one I chose for this music
video was only 2 minutes long, which is relatively short for a music video. The reason for this is due
to the fact I did not have enough time to implement all my desired footage and I had to go through a
selection process to narrow down my favourite clips. Also I would produce a music video that
followed different codes and conventions as I have already created a Drum and Bass genre video.
Another important factor that I would do differently next time I come to create a music video would
be to go into a lot more detail during the pre-production phase of research as it will give me a much
clearer idea of what I want to shoot from the very beginning of the video.