Using HD Cameras

Using the Hd camera for filming our A2 videos this year will be a big improvement from the mini DV cameras. The main reason is the improved quality of footage, however they are much easier and more efficient to use. The ability to take footage onto the SD card which can be easily transferred onto the computers to be uploaded. It also means we don't have to carry around tapes and worry about losing footage.  They are also more light weight and easy to carry and get better shots. There are many different setting we can use to improve the quality of the shot taken at the time, and overall It's much easier to use and the footage is better quality. 

Comparing Albanian Music Videos

We looked at 3 different music videos from Albanian artists, all 3 with very different styles. The first was a traditional Albanian music video which was pretty bad by todays standards however it did give us a good idea how not to do the videos. It had extremely long takes and was overall fairly boring. The next one we looked at was based in Albania again, however it was a rap music video and overall better made. It was fairly typical as most of the shots where of Albanian gangsters wielding guns. The shot type where more varied and the editing style was a lot more engaging compared to the previous video. 


We then looked at an Albanian rapper who was based in American and it's clear to see that it was well made due to higher budgets and improved lighting and sound quality. The editing is also much improved and engages the target audience. This also has the same theme as the previous video of gang culture. 

The Doors - People Are Strange

Around a week ago we had the task to think up a music video idea for the Doors song People are strange, in preparation for our mini vid. It was a hard song to come up with ideas for a most of the class had similar ideas such as the band walking down a street, however most of the ideas lacked proper narrative. We thought about the theme of people popping out or having ghosts walking down the street. 


We then went on to look at the actually music video and a video made for the song by past A2 students. This video played around with the idea of people pooping out around a house and being followed. The original video was made as music video production was in its infancy so there weren't many effects used and the editing was very slow paced. Overall it helped us develop ideas for the mini vid pitch and gave us an idea for the process of developing a music video. 

Learning From Mini Vid

what makes for a good pitch? 

First of all to have a good pitch you need to have a good idea of what you want to create. You also need to have confidence behind your pitch and a good idea of where you want to film and what you want to be filming.

what are the key steps involved in R+P?

Firstly listening to the song and seeing if there are any noticeable lyrics, you can also watch the music video for inspiration, in the comments there was also feedback from someone in the comments "If you're gonna make a classic video that never ages - have nature scenery as a backdrop!"

if this had been the actual coursework, what would you have to add/improve (look at the assessment criteria) to get good marks for R+P?

We would of firstly spent much more time on looking at the songs music videos and music videos that are of the same genre. We would of also created things such as story boards and call sheets, we may have also asked for feedback on our idea from a number of people; including teenagers and adults. 

what can you say now about the roles of cinematographer, director, producer? is it important to have one person taking responsibility for each of these roles?

related to the last point, was your shoot well organised?

In terms of knowing where we wanted to shoot- yes. Although we didn't have much time to pick locations due to the sudden suprise of actually shooting part of a music video. 

what can/did go wrong on a shoot, and what steps help you overcome such problems (better still, prevent them from happening in the first place!)? 

School children cut short our filming. We also didn't have a tripod which on reflection didn't work out as well as we'd hoped.

did shoots take more/less time than you estimated?

Finding different locations took longer than the actual filming as we were productive with the time we had.

what difference does working with HD as opposed to mini-DV make?

We get sharper images and you can get more detail and better quality when either zooming in or out. 

is it necessary to stick to a genre you're familiar with to have a good idea?

No. We had a great time listening to Jason Donovan. 

what issues are raised by working within a group

We had different ideas on where to film and where not to film.

do you think you could manage a full music video production single-handed?

With a greater collection of clips as well as equipment such as multiple cameras and a tripod I think I could.

what more have you learned about Final Cut Express?

We have used new editing techniques such as key framing and rotating clips. 

how many shots do you now think a good music vid will have for every 30 seconds of screen time?

For 30 seconds they may have 20-30 shots.

did you shoot each planned shots repeatedly (from different angles)? did you need to shoot more sequences repeatedly to create better shot variation for editing a dynamic video?

As we had limited time we only shot a few of the shots at different angles.

anything else that occurs to you (eg importance of mise-en-scene and locations; pre-preparing cast with lines + basic direction; having loud portable media player to play track when shooting, dance choreography if relevant etc etc)?

We had a lyric sheet as well as a an iPod with the song on to play the music, this helped us to keep in time. 

Mini Vid - Me, Sean an Andy

Editing The Mini Vid

We used Final cut again for the editing of the mini vid and developing our skills using layering and effects. The first challenge was syncing the video clips to the original song and matching up the footages. We used keyframes to animate certain shots to zoom and spin into the flowers. 


We also synced certain parts with the beat of the song. When the drum machine makes a fill the shots cut in time with the song. Overall the editing went well We attempted to keep the cuts fairly fast to engage the audience. We used layers to make the scenery shots more interesting. Overall we chose a editing style that fitted with the clips, however we could have used more effects for the pop genre of music.

Getting Footage For The Mini Vid

On tuesday we went out to get footage for our mini vid task. We decided to go up to Ilkley moor for the shoot due to it's nice scenery and because the original video being set on moorland. Also in the comments of that video someone mentions the fact that videos set in the countryside are timeless. We used the camera hand help to save time setting up a tripod. We did struggle at times to keep it steady, however it did save us  a lot of time. Overall the HD cameras where easier to use than the mini Dv as we didn't have to worry about tapes or filming over footage.

We experimented with different camera angles and zooms. We took performance footage and some scenery of things like ducks and flowers fitting in with the genre. I took us around 45 minutes to get all the footage as we had to go to different locations on the moor. We took shots from low angles and different distances using pans across showing moorland. We managed to sync most of the song well due to having the lyrics sheet on us at all times.  We had a few problems filming due to random people walking around the tarn, but there weren't that many people around which was good.

Slipknot - Duality Video Analysis

Artist: Slipknot
Song: Duality
Director: Tony Petrossian
Year: 2003

Performance Footage

The video starts out with a close up shot of a person, which then cuts to a slow motion shots of lots of people running towards a house. It's a long take with very shaky camera work done intentionally, The slow motion fits with the slow start to the song. The song then picks up and cuts to performance shots inside the house, with the band members in their trade mark costumes. As the intensity of the song builds up the editing becomes quicker, with lot's shot variation including close-ups, birds eye views and shots of multiple band members.

Action Shot

There are plenty of low angle shots used also to connote power and menace. 

A good effect used is as the shots cuts to outside the lyrics are painted on the garage which correspond to what's being sung at the time. There isn't a particular narrative to the video, it cuts between performance shots of the band in the house to fans who are trashing the house. At some points it looks like an earthquake style effect may have been used as the song builds up to the chorus. As the song goes through more and more of the house gets destroyed such as people breaking through ceilings and smashing through windows. The video is very fitting for the type of song which is a heavy alternative style of metal. The video was actually shot at a fans house in Iowa who was compensated $50,000 for the damages.

I think the video works well due to it's great shot variation and camera work which is very fitting for the song. How the editing matches the pace of the music and style. Overall I think it's a very effective video.

A2 Music Videos Introduction

Music videos where first popularised by the television channel MTV (music television). This channel was the first television channel introduced for only showing music videos, however nowadays due to the increased use of the internet and sites like youtube, MTV has pretty much stopped showing music videos alltogether. The first video shown of MTV was 'Video killed the radio star'  by the Buggles. The start of MTV increased the popularity of music videos, before the 80's music videos generally just contained performace footage, but increasingly nowaday videos are a mixture of performence and narrative combined into one video. Also MTV's videos where targeted at a teenage audience so things like editing became much more fast paced to appeal more to the target audience.

Music videos often contain alot of post-modernism and a high degree of intertexuality. The music video for Micheal Jackson's 'Thriller' greatly referenced An American werewolf in london. This is due to the director bieng the same. This video for Thriller was 13 minutes long practically making it a short film and featured a narrative. However this is also a good example of old fashioned style of editing with super long takes of over 30 seconds long.

The great advantage of using music videos in our courrswork is the ability to take ideas from every form of media. From films, magazines and television there is alot of post-modernism involved.

Issues with song selection

There are certain things you have to consider when choosing your song for A2 coursework. Things which will either lose you marks or that will offend certain people.


 First of all it is important your song contains little or no swearing as you will have to bleep out and offensive words your song might contain. Also racial or homophobic slang will offend people so it's important your song dosen't contain any offensive lyrics. Also things within the video itself like nudity, drug use and alcohol consumption should be restricted, however it depends on the audience you are targeting and what's age appropriate. The length of the song is also an important factor to consider. 


If you song is too short you may drop marks and will not have enough time to fully develop a narrative. If a song is too long you will have too   much footage to get as most music video often have around 20 shots for every 30 seconds of song. It is also important that your song genre ties in with the narrative and that the narrative appeals to your target audience. The last thing to take into account is copyright issues. The exam board states however that as long as you ask the record label for permission to use the song, you can use whatever song you like.

A2 Coursework brief

At A2 you produce a portfolio of productions: a promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with two of the following three options: a website homepage for the band; a digipak for the album’s release; a magazine advertisement for the digipak. So, that's a music video as your main text, plus two 'ancillary texts' linked to this.