After showing my Peers the first draft of my music video, I asked them for some feedback on it, to understand how to improve, and what work well. The questions that I asked to my classmates were:
The feedback is colour co-ordinated, to the people who left comments.
What do you think I should put between clips? - This is because I knew that the video was relatively one dimensional and I wanted some outside input to see what people would like.
Feedback:
Perhaps invert the colours every now and again to
add pace and an element of changing.
You could add some different colours to break
up the video as I feel the black and white can become too similar at certain
points of the video.
I don’t think the video completely needs colour
as the music is dramatic and what you’ve done is so different and interesting;
however the clips are quite slow so you might want to speed up parts of it.
I believe that clips put in-between shots could
have some form of you painting swirls on paper and different types of patterns
to break up the fact that its just a women being painted or finding herself.
I think the black and white worked well
throughout the video, maybe some other shapes could be presented in the middle
of clips to relate to shapes being created.
-This feedback is really helpful because I was finding it difficult, thinking of other visuals to include in the music video.
What shots do and do not work? - I asked this question, because I wanted to know what there was too much of or too little of. Also, to see if there were some shots which people found not as aesthetically pleasing as others.
Feedback:
I really like the progression of close ups from
feet to face, particularly the close ups of hands and face! The formation of
the person through paint is very clever
I like the shot at the end of the video, I
think it’s a good way of ending the video as all the close ups used feel like
they have been leading up to us seeing the character
The shots of her face and hair are my
favourites and its good how you slowly built the video up using different shots
of her body. The shots of her legs go on for a long time and are a bit hard to
read at first.
I really like the way it shows this woman finding herself, however the shots do need to be broken up with
some sort of different pattern. Maybe if you use water droplets dripping into
some water?
The shots which show the paint slowly being
applied look really great especially with the effect added, the shots which
could potentially not work so well I think would be the ones which do not show
the patterns as well or are a little too long
-I like this feedback because it reassures me that the idea of the music video is a good one, with the positive comments. Also, the constructive criticism really helps to develop ideas, and understand what audiences want from a music video.
Do you think there should be a direct relationship between the music and the visuals? - I asked this to see if the audience liked the direction that the music video was headed, or whether I should reconsider the idea behind the music video.
Feedback:
I don’t think so, I like the concept element of it,
it’s very striking and interesting to watch unfold. Works well with the music.
I don’t think there needs to be a direct
relationship, the visuals work very well with the song and its different to
other videos which I may expect to see for a song like this (performance)
I don’t think it needs to at all, the idea is
so unique it completely captured me and it already fits the music well.
I don’t believe there should need to be a
relationship between the visuals and lyrics however I believe the music does
connect with the visuals! When listening to the music I feel a sense of power
and this song shows this woman finding herself so I think it works really well!
I think the tribal sounding drum style works
well with the painting idea, however I do not feel it needs to relate directly
with the music and visuals as it is a very conceptual idea
-Again, this feedback lets me know what audiences like to see in music videos.
How would you improve this music video? - The final question was a broad one, just to get the audience feedback, and how they feel about the music video.
Changing paces – shot on action etc. Also less
focus on the feet in the beginning as it takes a while to build up to the face
and you wonder whether it’s going to be the bottom half of the body for the
whole time.
I feel the video could be improved by using
more than one actor and cutting between the two, you could match the cutting of
the scenes to the beat of the music
I agree with first comment – less time spent on
feet/legs
I feel as if there is too much time spent on
the first section of the video showing legs and feet. You need to hurry that
section and get to the more interesting parts of the body.
There could maybe be more pace and matching to
the music pace but the video works well in relation to the music -This feedback allows the peers who left comments to have an input to the music video, it also helps me know what I need to do to improve.
I believe that the feedback that I have received on my first draft music video is really helpful. I thought that all of the comments were helpful and I will definitely act upon the comments left.
This task has been really helpful, and I believe it will be a really influential step, in the process of creating my music video.
A Gorillapod is a flexible tripod, consisting of many ball and socket joint, which allow the tripod to attatch to almost any object.
I like using this piece of equipment, due to how diverse it is, and the fact that it can attatch anywhere, allowing my filming to go one step further, and add another elemint to my filming, in terms of camera angles.
I have experimented in multiple different ways with the Gorillapod, attatching it to moving and static objects, such as the roof of my house, my car, a remote control car and a tree branch, to experiment with different camera angles and environments. The Gorillapod can also be used as a shoulder mount, with one leg fully extended, sat on the shoulder, and the other two with a slight bend, acting as the handles. This works as well as an actual shoulder mount. Obviously from below, when the camera is stable, there is no issue, however, when the camera is moving, there needs to be a smooth surface, and little camera movement, as there is a lack of quality in the video and of the footage.
Raury's music is falls into multiple genres and is extremely diverse, appealing to a wide variety of audiences. The majority of his music falls into these genres:
Indie
Folk
Hip Hop
Soul
Rap
And then his music falls into other sub-genres slightly. However, what we must take into consideration is that the lines between genres are forever getting more and more blurred and genre is becoming less of an aspect in music, because music nowadays contain influences from all over the place.
Indie:
This is a lifestyle that follows social trends that are considered to consciously deviate from the mainstream.
The term 'indie', within music, originates from artists who couldn't get financial support and sign with a record label, so they began producing and distributing their music individually. This concept then extends to people known as 'indie', because they do things their own way, not conforming to mainstream trends. However being 'indie' and the genre itself is becoming more and more popular, which is ironic, as it is considered individual, but is now, in reality, the mainstream, especially in the youth.
Age range: 16-30
Gender: Male&Female
Folk/Soul:
Music with the folk and soul genres incorporated is rare in modern, popular music. The fact that there is a huge influence, from these genres, on Raury's music, makes him a different, more diverse artist. The instruments in his music, style of music and sometimes the tempo, is what makes his music appeal to the fans of the folk genre and the soul genre. Also, his voice is not stereotypical for a pure Hip Hop artist, it is more pure and stripped back, falling into these two genres, more so than it does in the more popular music genres of today.
Age range: 20+
Genders: Males, Females less so.
Hip Hop:
Hip Hop culture originated in the 1960s in the Bronx, NY, amongst the African American youth. This genre splits into four main sections, which extend further than just music. Rap (oral), DJing (aural), B-Boying (physical), Graffiti Art (visual). This genre has expanded more and more over the years, and has now become the most popular genre in modern music. The way that Raury incorporates this genre into his music, and makes it, arguably, the most dominant genre in his music, allows him to extend his audience even further.
Age range: 16-28
Gender: Predominantly Males, Females less so.
My audience would watch my music video for escapism and entertainment (Katz & Blumer's 'Uses and Gratification Theory).
I think time lapses are very aesthetically pleasing, however the fast pace may not go with the slow tempo of music. Also, time lapses don't last for too long when taken on an iPhone, due to battery life, so they could be quite short and not capture the amount of time that I would prefer.