Research; past student work analysis

I'll start with the video, this is a music video from past students of my school - it was a few years ago now so it's nice to compare this with the technology they had then and what we have now.




I'm going to look at the good and bad points of this music video instead of analysing in depth each aspect, I think will help me overcome any bad points we're anticipating in videoing and editing our music video, and also it can help us be aware of anything that may not run smoothly in filming and editing.

Good points:

• Fantastic location; It looks like they thought really hard about where they wanted to set their music video, and I think it's actually filmed at Ickworth house which is quite local to us. They would probably have had to ask permission to film their but obviously picked a time and day and enquired first. Also I think the forest is a really nice location that fits in with the prior location. Although the fireplace setting doesn't fit quite as well with the forest and Ickworth house, it still fits with the weather and the mood of the video as it seems quite cold and winter like, so the fireplace contrasts with this.
• Camerawork; There are a huge range of different types of shots and angles throughout this video which makes it really interesting to watch - on the girl there are a lot of mid shots, close ups, and long shots. But also on the wildlife and location shots there are a variety of high angles, low angles, close ups and tilts! Put together it makes a really interesting video making the viewer feel like they've walked around the location and we really get a feel for what it's like. Also I thought the shots of the piano were really varied which was fantastic, especially in the split screen as it gave four different views of her playing piano which was interesting to watch.
• Lighting; I really love the use of natural lighting in this video - which I have especially noted as we are using natural lighting throughout our video so I can take some ideas from this! Although it's a really foggy wet day in the video, I think they may have edited it to use the fog and natural look and made it look really bright and fresh which I think is a fantastic look for the video! As we are filming at the same time of year I think even though we want it to be a clear day when we film - if it's not a clear day it will still look really good if we take some tips from this and make it look bright and fresh!
• Editing; This links slightly with the lighting as one thing I really like in this video is the use of colour and black and white shots. I think it gives a varied look on the video as simply only using one of the two techniques would have made it slightly dull, however having the contrast in black and white and colour in the outdoor shots and indoor shots gave the indoor shots a completely different feel which is interesting for the viewer. I also love the jump cuts between all the shots - as there are noticeable different beats throughout the song, the jump cuts between shots are really interesting and cause the viewer to listen for these beats.

Points to improve;

• Lip syncing; This was one really noticeable thing throughout the entirety of the video which did put me off it slightly. It's really important that the actors can lip sync to create a more believable video for the audience. If the lip syncing is not believable or out of time it makes the viewer notice it and focus solely on the lips, therefore taking them away from the rest of the video which isn't good at all.
• Characterisation; I feel that the actress either didn't take on a certain character or the director perhaps didn't explain to her what her character was meant to be like, therefore leaving her seemingly slightly bland and unbelievable. This means she doesn't really look like she's enjoying the song or is performing the song or acting with emotion and feeling - this becomes apparent to the audience and so they may not become as enthralled with the video as much as they could. 
• Costume; I think that even though her costume is really cute and quirky which will portray their target audience, they could have dressed her in a costume that fits more with the location. This is because the location is obviously vintage and grande, and the grounds where it's being filmed is extremely grande also, they could have made an effort to dress her in something vintage also as this would fit in with the location and so just tie the music video together slightly more. 

I've actually found it really useful to analyse the music video in this way as I haven't really solely looked at what I think is good and bad in a music video yet, and so pointing out the bad points especially has helped me think of a few things we could improve in our music video and planning!