Feedback on my blog

This is feedback that I received from Johnny on my blog, including research and planning posts. As Johnny had already reviewd my music video and ancillary products, he is clearly aware of the theme running throughout my products and therefore can give me constructive criticism and advice on how to improve my coursework as a whole. Additionally, he is able to tell whether I have planned my products well and the reasons for any changes that I decided to make along the way.

Feedback on my completed first draft

This is feedback from one of my classmates. Here, Johnny is reviewing my completed first draft of my music video by pointing out things that I have done well and letting me know on areas where I can improve to ensure that my video is of the best quality.
I will take Johnny's advice to improve my video, especially any feedback on the camera work due to his experience in photography and working with SLR cameras. Not only is his feedback from the point of view of someone who would potentially watch this video as an audience member, but also from someone who is media literate and aware of the codes and conventions of a slow piano pop song.

First draft of my music video - A Thousand Years

Sequence 03 from Neha Raithatha on Vimeo.

This is my completed first draft of my music video. I have decided that this will just be the first draft rather than my final draft as I have already received feedback on how to improve it, which I have written about in previous blog posts, therefore I would like to make these changes in order to make the video look more aesthetically pleasing as well as more professional.
The majority of the video shows Monique sitting alone in a dark room, singing the song about her lover who she is waiting for, looking lonely and isolated.
Towards the end of the song, where the artist is more positive that she will be reunited with her lover, Monique stands and sings proudly, almost making it seem as if she is performing on a stage.
The Hyde Park footage has been used as flashbacks as the singer reminisces about her love and shows her finding an old letter that we assume is from her lover. The fact that the letter is tea-stained makes it look old and depicts how long the artist has been waiting for her lover to return.
Additionally, there is one shot during the final chorus where the breaking of the fourth wall is clearly illustrated. This makes the protagonist seem brave enough to deter from the conventions of a ballad and suggests that her bravery and courage comes from the knowledge that her lover will return to her and that she will not be isolated for much longer.

Production Post - Alterations made along the way

• Initial Idea - Montage of Monique and her lover as a couple. Monique walking through Hyde Park miming the lyrics to 'A Thousand Years' by Christina Perri. She finds clues around the Rose Garden which trigger flashbacks of her past relationship with her lover. Towards the end of the song, she walks out of the confined archway into an opening to a fountain, where her lover is waiting for her. She is finally reunited with him, after waiting for "a thousand years".
• I considered changing the video slightly by making it so that her lover is in the army, hence why she feels like she has not seen him for so long, but is willing to wait for him for a thousand years.

• When we got to Hyde Park, Monique was uncomfortable with miming in public so I decided that the miming would be filmed in a studio-like room, such as the black recital room at my school.
• We also didn't get to film everything in Hyde Park and needed to return to film the flashbacks but this was difficult to arrange due to Winter Wonderland being set up.
• I originally wanted the studio footage of Monique miming to show her sitting on the floor in a black room with spotlight lighting, illuminated by tea-light candles and rose petals surrounding her. However, seeing as this was a fire hazard, and the bad weather would make it difficult to film outside, I decided to opt for a Adele style, 'Rolling in the deep' shoot with Monique sitting on a chair in the middle of a dark room, illuminated by spotlights as she mimes the lyrics.
• It turned out that the footage from the studio shoot was of a higher quality than that from the Hyde Park shoot, and seeing as Winter Wonderland is open until January 5th but my deadline was before Christmas, I decided to have the majority of the video of Monique singing in the studio, with the Hyde Park footage of her finding the letter scattered throughout.

Production Log - Completing the first draft of my coursework

Today I completed the first draft of my entire coursework and tomorrow I will hand it in to be analysed and marked over the Christmas holidays by my teacher. This will give me a great deal of qualitative feedback which I can use in the new year to help understand how I can improve my work.

The best piece of feedback that I have already recieved would be to re-shoot some of the footage for  my music video (especially that from the studio) and usea crane rather than just placing the camera on a tripod. The reason for this is because the still shots create a static feel to my video, whereas slow, sweeping movements would add to the whimsical, romantic tone of the song. Additionally, the cuts from one shot to another seem too harsh for the soft sound of the song.
For now, I have tried to soften the look of the video by using crossfade transisions on each clip using Adobe Premiere CS6. These transitions allow clips to fade into one another, which helps the movement look smother rather than harsh cuts that do not reflect the mood of the song well.

When re-recording my studio footage, I would like to get a wider variety of shot such as footage of Monique naturally relaxing or dancing around rather than all of it of her sitting in one position on a char, singing the lyrics as it may get slightly repetitive.

My peer advised me on how to integrate the Hyde Park footage as I told him that I didn't feel like I had a large amount of decent footage, therefore for now I have split up the part where Monique finds the letter and spread it throughout the video in quite a chronological order, so instead of the Hyde Park footage being the linear narrative, it in fact a flashback itself and it is as if Monique is telling the story through the miming of the lyrics in the studio footage.

Drafts of my Ancillary Products

This presentation goes through the creation of my products as well as the changes that I made along the way due to audience feedback that I had received.
This will help me to track the creation of the products as well as making it easier for me when it comes to writing my evaluations as I will understand how my products have developed and how I acted upon the feedback that I received when creating them.

Feedback on my first draft

This is audience feedback that I received whilst creating the first draft of my music video from Rag'e Ali who could give me audience feedback from a male's perspective as well as constructive criticism from the point of view of a media literate student who is aware of the codes and conventions of a pop music video.

Production Log - Completing the first draft of my music video

This entry explains the final touches I made in order to complete the first draft of my music video. I also talk about the feedback that if received and how I will act upon this, as well as the next steps that need to be taken in order to improve this further.