Evaluation

Question 1

When analysing our music video we can see music video conventions being used despite the style (stop motion and animation) that is slightly different to the normal.  Using Goodwin’s points I can evaluate our music video.

The progression of our video mainly includes lyrics corresponding directly with the visual; sometimes it is even the word itself ‘try, try’   is written as the music plays. This is because we have a very literal interpretation of the song highlighting key moments such as ‘sky will run out’, ‘talking heads’ and of course the recurring imagery of ‘fly’. This will make the pop song more memorable as there are very distinct images to look at.    

     

When it comes to selling the artist in our video it is done in a more subtle way then close up, dramatic costumes and makeup. She is the centre of attention as the animation follows her in a linear storyline and that the animation is meant to represent her world giving a more quirky feeling to it.  This is more suited to our artist as we want to promote her as a singer song writer who is about music not material possessions or appearances (which is arguably said for most conventional female solo artists).

 



     There was no interxuality in our video as we do not want the artist supporting a brand for money; she is promoted to be about music. In addition the setting and animation would not accommodate brand logos very well, making it unsuitable for the mise – en –scene of our video.

 The music corresponding to the visuals were used for the timing for the photographs at the beginning and the heart monitor, it was edited to the beat to give more impact and (with the heart monitor) would have a more literal meaning because the beat of the music would represent a pulse. We thought initially when we first listened to the song that the beat and tempo of the music would suit stop motion.  



 Question 4

For our animation we used the software ‘Istop motion’. The process of using istop is fairly straight forward however it was finding out what settings would work best for our ideas. For example the amount of photographs to create the right pace (we generally used two) and the focus.

 Get the right focus consistently with our varied shots was difficult as the quality of the camera found it difficult to focus on the drawings (despite doing the drawings in marker pens). 

When we put anything onto istop the vibrant colours became muted and darker. We used lamps and reflectors whilst filming to make it lighter however it still didn't match the real depth of colour and light.  

In editing we used ‘final cut’ witched helped pace our footage better, such as the clock sequence which was sped up, it also varied our shots in the footage we had to repeat by flipping it.   

Colour corrector was entail part as well because the camera on the istop turned orange at some point which we needed to alter. This proved difficult as it was very temperamental and was very hard to find the exact settings for our shot. It also didn't help as we animated a sweeping shot (instead of doing through editing) so it also changed the colour of the bright blue sky. We also made the blacks darker and the whites brighter to have a bigger contrast although we did lose the definition of the birds.

  To show our planning we have used ‘blogger.com’. It has been good in showing the planning process as it dates each post and is easy to explain using pictures from the internet or uploading photos.

As I have done the art work for the video it has helped me express my planning process and presents the ideas in an effective way as there is evidence of all the prep work.

I also found that when analysing other videos or look inspirations from all types of film (like when I looked at opening credits ) it is easier for me to explain with being able to embed the footage of what I wanted something to look like or have a similar style with.