All about me video
An “All About Me” video serves as a personal introduction, designed to provide the audience with an insight into the individual they are choosing to watching. Its purpose is to help viewers develop a clearer understanding of the creator’s background, personality, and interests, which can foster a stronger sense of connection and relatability, as the audience may feel closer or more alike to they person they are choosing to watch.
In this video, I discuss aspects of my life, explain my reasons for choosing to take Media Studies again, and outline my hobbies and interests as well as what I am thinking of doing next year in university. I created this project using AI technology (Magic Light), which has enabled me to further develop my skills in working with AI tools. However, for my next preliminary task, I intend to avoid using AI so that I can focus on strengthening my editing abilities through the use of real life footage.
Mini Music Video
Preliminary Task 2 – Music Video
Before producing a music video as my second preliminary task, I set 3 goals I should work towards:
– Practice producing a short music video
–Trying to improve my grade from last year
–Trying to add more meaning to whatever I am producing
Planning/ Shot list
ELS(Extreme long shot) – slow pan of the beach
Long Shot – Running around (Change the exposure)
Mid Shot – 75 degree angle facing a person setting the ball – 0.65% speed
Close up – Tracking shot of the ball – convey emotion
ECU – Of the sunset/rise
The planning for this music video, i tried to focus on using a variety of shot types and camera techniques to create a visually engaging music video that and guides the audience’s emotions.
The scene begins with an extreme long shot (ELS) of the beach with a slow pan. This helps to establish the setting and give the audience a clear sense of location. By slowly panning across the beach, the viewer can take in the environment and atmosphere before the action begins. It also helps set the mood of the scene, especially since it is taking place during sunset.
Next, a long shot of someone running around the beach was planned. This shot shows the character’s full body and movement while still keeping some of the background visible. Changing the exposure was included in the planning to adjust the lighting so the scene remains clear and visually balanced, especially if the natural light changes we also planned on doing this to create more of a retro vibe, set in the 1980’s or so.
A mid shot filmed at a 75 degree angle was planned for the moment when a person is setting the volleyball. This angle adds a slightly more dynamic perspective compared to a fowards shot. Slowing the footage to 0.65 speed was planned to emphasize the action and make the moment feel more dramatic and focused on the pure and good of hanging out and playing sports with friends..
The close up tracking shot of the ball was planned to capture movement and emotion. By following the ball closely, the audience’s attention is directed to the key object in the scene, and it helps build tension or excitement as the action unfolds. This is also important as the volleyball is a motif of change and also comes back later in the video to show how things change over time and therfore show how it went from this one person with all of his friends to now only them playing volleyball.
Finally, an extreme close up (ECU) of the sunset was planned to end the scene. This shot provides a strong visual ending and enforces the atmosphere of the beach setting. It also creates a calm or reflective moment after the action.
Mini- Music video filming
My role
As an actor, it was my responsibility to bring the necessary equipment, which included the camera, tripod, volleyball, the car we were filming in, and the stabilizer. My main duties in this were to make sure that I was dressed appropriately for recording the scenes and to make sure that all of the equipment arrived at our filming location undamaged.
Successes
Some successes of this production was how easy the clips were to film as we only had to do four different scenes in similar settings which made it easy to change out and record. This is because during the happy scenes where everyone is playing volleyball we only had to get a couple of shots of this which was pretty simple as me along with other students had to try and hit the ball over the net and make it look like we were having the time of our lives. This then contrasted with the more mondane scene of the volleyball being played alone, which created a sad and rather empathetic tone and also makes the audience wonder where everyone has gone and what exactly happened. Another success was that despite it being a busy Saturday night everyone still managed to come together and film, which was proven difficult as there were a lot of instances where not everyone was free at the same time. Which was good when we found a date and time that worked for everyone and when everyone got there on time.
Challenges
However, some challenges we faced were the weather, it was a very gloomy day and was also extremely windy which caused some problems especially when filming. As out clothing and equipment would blow in the wind and therefore look unnatural, however there was nothing that we could do about the weather despite trying to find a date that would work where it was good weather. However despite all of that it created a good atmosphere especially when having the connotations of someone driving and playing alone.
Planning, Collaboration and Creativity
Through our planning, collaboration and creativity it set us up well for the actual filming, however this could have been done a lot quicker and therefore be a lot less stressful if we were to have gotten it done quicker and be more organised. The filming went very smooth being at Milford beach it set us up well for the editing of it. Especially since after filming we still had another weekend and week to fall back on if the footage wasnt what we expected it to be.
Production
We chose to film at Castor Bay Beach as our main and only location as it was relatively close to everyone, filming on the beach gave the film a natural and open setting which we thought would add to the dynamics of the song. However, the weather on the day was grey and overcast, which slightly affected the mood and lighting of our shots which was a little hard to then change in editing to make it look clearer. While this could be seen as fitting for a more serious tone, it also made some scenes look dull and less visually appealing than we had originally planned. One of the biggest challenges we faced was finding a date when everyone in the group was free, as we all had different schedules and commitments leading up to the due date of the music video. This delayed our filming process and meant we had limited time once we were actually on location since we decided to film one weekend before it was due, meaning we only had one other weekend to film if anything went wrong.
During filming, everyone in the group took on acting roles except for Alina, who was responsible for recording. This made coordination easier in some ways, but it also meant that we were not always fully focused on delivering strong performances. Looking back, our acting could have been more convincing and natural, as at times it felt a bit forced. Additionally, the filming itself could have been steadier, as some shots came out slightly shaky, which reduced the overall quality of the footage, however now looking back on this i know how to improve for my final outcome.
Editing
The editing process took around two weeks, which was longer than expected and not the most efficient use of time. Part of the issue was that we had to sort through a lot of footage and deal with mistakes made during filming. For example, we couldn’t use several clips because they were filmed in portrait instead of landscape, which didn’t match the rest of the footage, therefore causing a problem . This was especially frustrating because some of these clips included more emotional or “sad” scenes that would have added depth to the film, but we had to leave them out entirely due to the angles not being correct which was a shame as the “sad” clips would have added dimension and a comparison factor.
Another issue during editing was that some creative choices didn’t fully support the final product. For instance, Malachy, who was editing, included several close up shots of bags that distracted attention away from the actors and now looking at the music video we decided we didn’t really like, so now we know this for out final task. These shots weren’t necessary and took away from the focus of the narrative. Overall, while the editing process helped bring the project together, it also highlighted areas where better planning and consistency during filming could have improved the final outcome.