Our final uploaded music video-let me flow with correct framings 4:3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4pukc-6JHE

follow the link above, thank you.

The role of a music video director

A music director is a person who directs the crew in making the video.A director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects, while guiding the technical crew in the scene. The director is responsible for overseeing creative aspects of a music video under the producer. The director also plays a key role in post-production. He or she works with the editor to ensure that the emotions of the scene and the close ups, mid shots and wide or long shots appropriately reflect which character is driving the narrative. The director also advises on the (colour) grading of the final images, adding warmth or frigidity to the composition of the shots to reflect the emotional subtext of the character or environment. The director also participates in the sound mix and musical composition of the film. Directors often use storyboards to illustrate sequences and concepts in a music video. Also, directors work closely with the cast and crew to shape the music video in becoming a potential marketing vechicle. Some like to conduct rigorous rehearsals in pre-production while others do so before each scene.

More Screen Grabs with special effects [Representation Issues]

This is a new screen grab with a special effect added. The background seems to be light and grey which represents the mood of the setting whereas a bright setting would represent something different such as the mood will be more embracing and happy. The artist has open body language where he is able to show his actions through his feelings. His body gesture emphazize how he is feeling towards the audience.

This screen grab has also been taken with a special effect and it is shot at a straight eye level shot near estates.

Audience feedback to music video

Through the process of my media project which consisted of making a music video, creating a magazine advert and making a CD/digipak design, I have learnt a number of things from audience feedback. I will outline the positive and negative feedback of the music video and explain what I have learnt from this process.

My group and I conducted a couple of questionnaires and surveys on each aspect of the music video which included directing, producing, editing and camerawork. As the director, I showed the music video to the potential audience which is age ranged 16-25 and I asked them to give me individual feedback to tell me what was good about the video and what could have been improved. The music video was shown to the potential audience through social network sites such as Facebook, YouTube and MySpace. I managed to obtain all of the feedback as I made sure all the answers remained anonymous so that no one knew who wrote what.

The positive feedback was that the editing had a nice flow of continuity and was combined very well with the soundtrack as the beat of the song was very fast as editing had quick cuts and was seen to be unique and innovative. The audience also said edits and the camera angles made the music video look professional which I am very pleased with this comment.  The lip syncing was said to be in time with the music which was very important in the music video where the key editor Abdullah and me as the director were responsible for everything to be in sync. The mise-en scene was very good as it brought out a good representation to the genre of the music video. Location scouting was very clever and simple as the audience as the audience said the music video went very well with the locations chosen where the producer Mena and I were responsible in the mise-en scene elements. Also lighting was seen to be consistent and effective to the genre of the music video as the video had different variety of lighting which was said to be interesting. The positive feeback on camerawork was that there was very good framed shots that was directed in the video and also the use of hand held camera shots such as when the artist was walking down the road/walking around the corner which seemed to follow the codes and conventions of our genre which is rap/grime as the audience said the majority of rap music videos are mostly shot with hand held camera movement. Also the audience enjoyed the focus pulls and trombone shots as they said this created an effective outlook and went with the beat of the song. 

There was some negative feedback but not so much as  the majority of the potential audience thought the music video was good. The negative feedback was that the music video could have had a sense of originality to it as most grime/rap music videos are based around estates and secluded roads so there was a lack of diversity here. As being the director of the music video, I had my own personal view on this as I feel that basing the music video around estates, secluded roads and alleyways etc... followed the US codes and conventions even though it is a UK music video. The audience's view about originality has been taken into account as when I first started this media project, as a group we were going to shoot parts of the video in the studio, due to time management, travel and accessibility for the artist and my group, we found it difficult to try this out so we maintained our original plan to shoot the music video in different exterior locations.

There was also a lack in camera angles. The audience explained to me that I should have explored more camera angles such as more high angle shots as this was seen to be limited in the music video. They said it would have created a nice effect to create meaning in the video. Also a small amount of people like 2 or 3 people said that the music video needed more content and variables. This is where I put in more variables in the music video as the video needed something especially in the chorus for it to feel completed. With the comments about music video content, I went out of college and shot a couple more scenes and shots for the video to make the music video look more interesting and consumable.

Music video completed and ready for you tube upload

Before the christmas holidays, the final draft cut of the video was completed but there was no special effects included in the media product. The music video has followed codes and conventions of our music genre which is rap as this is shown through mise en scene, cinematography, sound and editing. On the 17th of January, my group and I went through the media product to check that everything is correct such as the right use of edits, the use of rapid cuts, making sure everything is in sync and that there is a flow of continuity to make sure that selection and construction of the media clips are effective. As the director, I have experimented different special effects and I also kept the original copy of the music video to see which one we like as a group. I will upload both copies of the video on you tube and I will then allow the potential consumers to view and comment on the both copies of the music video. In the end we will keep an original copy of the music video and then the other copy will stay on you tube showing the examiner the other ideas we had for the video. We are still experimenting different special effects to put in the music video to make the video look more interesting.