Music Video - Evaluation

Prior to the performance, we arrived at the venue with all the required equipment in order to set up safely and orderly. For camera 1, we taped down the tripod in front of the barrier, in order to limit the possibly of the set up becoming a safety hazard. This also meant that there would be less of a chance for the camera being damaged by any accidental moving of the tripod. During the performance I remained mindful of where I moved around with the two other cameras. Although it was vital to get a variety of shots, I had to stay alert at all times, to avoid potential injury to others, or damage to the equipment.

In order to get a sufficient amount of footage, I filmed throughout the gig and not just during the chosen song. I was able to capture a selection of audience shots, performance shots (from each band member) and various filler shots.

One major disadvantage that I encountered, was not having control over the lighting set up, however from my previous experience of shooting gigs, I made sure that I had equipment which was going to benefit my filming the most. I used lenses that allow a low aperture setting to compensate for low lighting, as I would need a relatively fast shutter speed to capture movement without much motion blur and a low iso to reduce graininess.

Prior to starting the editing process, I went through all the clips I had shot and organised them into categories, such as drum shots, guitar shots, bass shots, audience shots etc. This helped to speed up the overall editing process, as I was able to access the footage I needed with ease, without having to sift through each clip individually.

Both myself and the band decided to have the video in black and white. When comparing the raw footage (which was shot in colour) to the edited monochrome sequence, we found that the desaturated version has much more aesthetic appeal. As stated in the extract below, I feel that the use of black and white in this instance has a more elusive meaning, it has been used particularly for visual impact, as opposed to a means of conveying any deeper significance.

As the audio track was over five minutes in length, I felt that the biggest challenge was creating a sequence that didn't have a repetitive or dry feel to it, therefore I made use of all the footage I had shot and incorporated overlay during the outro. This visually reflected the heavier section of the song, by representing the dense structure of the final crescendo. 

BUTLER, J G. (1994): Television: Critical Methods and Applications. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.