All of Me by John Legend

Unit 29 Music Video Production –Task 4 Criteria 4

Production diary:

 

For the production of my music video the first filming day (Friday 30^th May) did not go smoothly. With a lot of events meaning that none of the footage could be used from that day, for instance the actors not knowing each other meant that they had to get used to each other, and so the fact that I was directing them to play a couple meant they were very awkward around each other and kept bursting into fits of giggles, i.e. every time something went wrong and so all of the takes that were made that day although had a few good points in them weren’t substantial enough to use and so we could not use them. If I were to go back and do the proses again on this day in particular there are a few things I would have changed due to the fact that it was a one woman production I was directing my actors, I was also the camera woman sound woman and along with this making sure that the scenes were slated so that there was a visual and sound aid for syncing up the sound later on in the editing proses there was a lot to get right with this day getting me used to my role as everything needed organising looking back I think we should have had a meeting face to face so that; a) the actors got to know each other and b) to run through what would be happening on each day so that everyone was aware of what they were needed for.

 

We then filmed on the Monday 2^nd June after the initial Friday beforehand being a disaster this day was much more productive with the actors now better equipped to deal with the fact that they were nervous and with them talking to me and saying that they didn’t know what I had really wanted from them on the previous shoot and so I took their concerns into consideration and tried to give them better directions and actually demonstrating where I wanted them and what I wanted them to do for the shots this method worked a lot better than the first day we shot and we got all of the shots that I wanted.  However, after as I was re-naming all of the rushes and making sure that they fit the purpose of what I wanted them for, I noticed that two of the shots where blurry along with the pan on the cliffs being way too shaky with the hand held work to be unusable.  I asked my actors to come and do another day of filming for these last shots. Looking back in hindsight what I should have done is gone back into the camera and looked over each shot and made sure that the technical aspects of the shot was right which would have saved us a lot of work in the long run meaning we would have been able to re shoot the shot there and then and not had to go back and waste another day of editing.

 

On Wednesday 4^th June I went to the editing suit and started importing what I had into Avid as I thought that I might as well start editing with what I have got and so I started my timeline with what I had.

I went through my rushes with my editing decision list and the list that was made on the days of filming that told me which edits where usable and which ones where no good and placed the bad takes into another folder on the hard drive that I was using so that I could make sure I was only importing what was needed into Avid as it would have taken a lot longer to import if I had imported the bad rushes in as well; if I had wanted the good parts to the bad footage later on in the editing process I could have then imported just the clip I needed which would also save a lot of time.

 

On Friday 6^th June me and my actors then met up again to re-shoot the last few scenes that I thought needed re-doing with the team now very strong and used to the procedure of what needed doing we first got picked up by my grandad who took us up to the cliffs to do the re-take of the panning shot that was too shaky to use and due to the fact that I didn’t think I would be able to do a better take of the hand held I compromised with having the shot still and level on the tripod so that we at least had a shot I could edit into the video as it was a vital location as there needed to be a link as the cliffs is where the proposal happened for the end of the music video and so I needed a link to the cliffs otherwise the jump in scenery would have put the viewer off and make them wonder and so the continuity would have been compromised.

 

Overall the vision of what I had wanted for my music video and how I pictured it whilst doing the paper work is what I got as my end result, if not better.  Before when I was planning I didn’t have as many shots planned however as the filming process went along I had ideas as to what parts of the planning I would change, they are only very subtle changes, however, they make the video look that much more realistic for instance I have added a scene with the couple shopping for an outfit it is showing that they are not just actors doing as they are told they are human beings; giving the audience that extra bit of detail about the couple that they didn’t know along with showing the singer along with the cards instead of a double shot of the hands holding the cards to add more interest in the end result these things have all been thought out so that the audience doesn’t get bored of seeing the same shots repeat itself and helps portray what the song is all about which is the couples progression in their relationship.

 

Editing Diary:

 

In the editing proses the first thing you have to do is decide what footage you actually want for importing into the editing software (Avid). This is where you make a folder on either the internal hard drive of the computer that you are working off of or on to an external hard drive that you intend on working on; this being what I did.

I used an external hard drive for safety and the fact that you can move to different computers if there is someone on the computer you are editing however there are some issues with this as sometimes if you move computers the editing system doesn’t like it and will put your footage into offline mode which is what mine did and so the only way around this is to re import the files back into the system to activate them again.

 

Once you have decided what rushes you want and re named them all as well as making sure that they are saved in the right place then you can import the rushes into the editing system this took me a few hours both times I tried to import them into the system however once It had imported the proses of putting the footage together went fairly quickly due to the fact that I had done a fairly extensive planning pack and so I knew what shots I wanted where and how I wanted to transition them due to this list (see below) the editing proses took me no time at all.

 

‘All of Me’ Music Video

Scene 1 Location: Beach Wall Scene

Storyboard Number	Shot No.	Action	Dialogue / Commentary / Sound
1	1.1	Actor sings sitting on a wall with the beach in the background.	What would I do without your smart mouth? Drawing me in, and you kicking me out You've got my head spinning, no kidding, I can't pin you down.
6	1.2	“                                                     “	The world is beating you down, I'm around through every mood You're my downfall, you're my muse My worst distraction, my rhythm and blues I can't stop singing, it's ringing, in my head for you.

 

Scene 2 Location: Dover Pier

Storyboard Number	Shot No.	Action	Dialogue / Commentary / Sound
2	2.1	Standing by the left side of the wall with the girl singing.	What's going on in that beautiful mind I'm on your magical mystery ride And I'm so dizzy, don't know what hit me, but I'll be alright.
5	2.2	“                                                     “	How many times do I have to tell you Even when you're crying you're beautiful too?

 

Scene 3 Location: On the Beach Pebbles

Storyboard Number	Shot No.	Action	Dialogue / Commentary / Sound
3	3.1	The couple sitting on the beach as the girl is singing.	My head's under water But I'm breathing fine You're crazy and I'm out of my mind.
7	3.2	Couple are still on the beach but there is a close up of the girl singing.	My head's under water But I'm breathing fine You're crazy and I'm out of my mind.

Scene 4 Location: On the Beach Picnic Table

Storyboard Number	Shot No.	Action	Dialogue / Commentary / Sound
9	3.1	The female actor is holding 7 heart playing cards.	Cards on the table, we're both showing hearts Risking it all, though it's hard
9	3.2	The male is holding 6 heart playing cards.	Cards on the table, we're both showing hearts Risking it all, though it's hard

 

Scene 5 Location Dover cliffs

Storyboard Number	Shot No.	Action	Dialogue / Commentary / Sound
4	3.1	Panning long shot of female actor singing on top of the cliffs with the sea in the background.	'Cause all of me Loves all of you Love your curves and all your edges All your perfect imperfections Give your all to me I'll give my all to you You're my end and my beginning Even when I lose I'm winning 'Cause I give you all of me And you give me all of you, oh.
10	3.2	“                                                “	Cause all of me loves all of you.
11	3.3	Close up of female actor singing on the cliffs.	Love your curves and all your edges.
12	3.4	Blending into proposal scene.	All your perfect imperfections.

 

Scene 6 Location beach railings proposal scene

Storyboard Number	Shot No.	Action	Dialogue / Commentary / Sound
13	3.1	Male actor proposing to female actor and them both celebrating. However the girl isn’t singing along with the track.	Give your all to me I'll give my all to you You're my end and my beginning Even when I lose I'm winning 'Cause I give you all of me And you give me all of you.
14	3.2	The two actors put their heads together as the girl sings the last lines of the song.	I give you all of me And you give me all of you, oh.

 

Scene 5 Location: shop changing rooms

Storyboard Number	Shot No.	Action	Dialogue / Commentary / Sound
8	3.1	Couple standing in front of changing room mirror singing.	Cause all of me Loves all of you Love your curves and all your edges All your perfect imperfections Give your all to me I'll give my all to you You're my end and my beginning Even when I lose I'm winning 'Cause I give you all of me And you give me all of you, oh.

The format that you can see above for the music video was changed slightly due to the fact that I had shot a few extra shots for the music video to create interest and so the changes were; that I filmed the two actors messing around trying to skim stones with my male actor (Joe) trying to teach Katie (the female actor) how to skim stones because she had never been able to this. Along with the fact that after the shoot we went shopping in a few shops in town and I kept getting ideas for different shots that would complement the story and so I kept filming little snip its of different activities to add into the video to create interest for the audience.

Some of the techniques I used when it came to editing my music video were; to use dissolves this gave me the effect that time was passing on a few shots however because I was not cutting to the beat like a rock song would I didn’t want jump cuts as I hated the way the music video looked and so I used soft dissolves which complimented the pace of the song as the shots I used were quite long between each shot as the pace of the song is slow and so the dissolves complimented that aspect of the song.

 

The other effect that I used in the music video was the effect that enables you to put two shots in one so you can see another shot as well as the one that is underneath it (see right for example).I used this technique so that you could still see the actors and see the emotions on their face however give an extra visual so that they know what is being spoken about giving the information that they are going all in and giving each other their hearts almost gambling their ‘heart cards’ (their hearts) to love each other. And so this why I used this visual as again it is showing that this couple are going to stay together no matter what happens.

 

Apart from the two effects that I have described the only other simple effect that I have used is the fade in and out at the beginning and at the end to signify the end of the song I have kept the effects to a minimum because the song is very simple and slow and so putting big effects into the footage would have degraded the fact that I wanted the scenes to be very simplistic so that instead of the viewer concentrating on all of the fancy effects they were concentrating on the story that I was trying to portray and so I have only used subtle effects that I thought would complement the song.

 

Evaluation Report:

 

Overall I am very happy with how the music video looks now, in my opinion I believe it came out better than what I thought I would do when I was seeing it on paper. I love how simple but effective it is when it comes to portraying what the lyrics are actually stating. With the fact that they are growing in their relationship, Learning to love each other for who they are and showing that they would gamble everything for each other and jumping into their lives together by deciding to get engaged.

 

I undertook a questionnaire to see what my audience thought of my music video asking them six questions these being:

 

1.      What do you think the purpose of the music video was? – a. to promote the artist b. to promote the song  c. a bit of both

2.      Do you think technically it was shot and edited well? – Yes, no and then please specify why.

3.      Do you think the music video was successful? – yes, no, a bit. And then again please specify.

4.      Can you tell me a few positives and negatives to the music video e.g. would you have changes anything?

5.      What is the genre of the music video?

6.      Can you see a narrative to the video? If so can you give a brief description?

 

So the first question that I asked was asking the participants about what they thought the purpose of the music video was I asked this to see if I had made it clear enough to the audience that the music video was made to promote the cover artist and to show the world what they are capable of whereas if you had a very well-known artist they would be promoting their song as they are already known and so would just want people to hear what they are capable of. I asked ten people to answer my questionnaire with 5 of them picking that it they thought it was to promote the artist with two picking that it was for the music and three stating hat it was a bit of both and so the majority thought that it was doing its job by promoting the artist.

 

The next question that I asked was did they think it was shot and edited right in their opinion with all ten candidates circling the yes with positive comments such as that they liked the locations and the shot types and the way it was composed and angles of shots along with the fact that a lot of the participants liked the transition dissolves linking the shots together and so I know that my feelings for keeping my shots and transitions simple was the right choice and has been effective in what I was looking for with the look and feel of the video.

The third question asked the candidates to comment on whether they thought the music video was successful with many different answers with 8 saying that thought it was and 2 thinking that it was a little successful I also asked them to justify their answer as I wanted to know what they thought with a big majority of the participants saying that they liked it as it ‘portrayed the story well’ and ‘showed what the artist was capable of’ and so looking at these comments I know that I was successful in promoting what the artist is capable of and shows off her talents along with the fact that I have portrayed the songs meaning as they understood what the song was about.

 

The next question that I asked was, could the candidates tell me what they thought s few negatives and positives of the video that they could see so that I had feedback as to what I could improve on next time I am making a video.  The main criticism that I got from the answers was that they thought the weather changes from slightly over cast to really sunny was slightly confusing and the fact that in some of the shots the male actor looked a little uncomfortable or didn’t look as if he knew what to do which are two very valid problems to the video and so taking this into consideration I can see that I should have directed the male more so that he looked more natural whilst being the females prop as he was there so it was that she was expressing her feelings to him rather than an unknown being. Further also making sure that I check the weather before filming so that I can make sure that the continuity for the shots is going to be there so that the audience doesn’t get confused and the continuity stays intact.

 

The fifth question that I asked the participants was what genre they thought the music video is as the song is a pop/soul song I wanted to make sure that the audience get that this is what genre the video is as I put some typical pop genre expectations into the video so that the audience was aware that the music is pop/ soul these genre expectations where the fact that it is a love story as it is very common to see pop music revolving around love stories and the fact that the stories usually end up being happy with ten out of the ten saying they thought it was pop with a few also mentioning that it was soul also and so again the way I have produced the music video means that I have achieved what I wanted to portray in my music video.

 

Finally the last question that I asked the participants was did they see a narrative, if so could they describe it to me so that I knew again that the audience understood what the video was trying to portray and showing that I had seceded in making a successful music video that was clear in meaning. All of the candidate showed understanding of what they thought the music videos narrative was about with these being a few answers that I got ‘the couple showing their love for one another’ and ‘the couple demonstrating their love for each other’ and further more ‘there’s the couple going through their relationship and seeing it develop and shows that they are going to love each other not matter what’. These all showing that the participants understood exactly what the narrative was trying to portray the sense that this couple is going to love each other no matter how bad life gets no matter what they look like because they love each other and that is all that matters.

 

If I were to make the music video again I think the only things that I would definitely change would have to be the days that we filmed so that the shots matched up slightly better when it came to the weather as that is the main thing that the participants of my questionnaire picked up on. And along with this I think that I would have had a meeting with the actors before the actual shooting started as we wasted a whole day because the actor didn’t know each other and so I think this could have affected the video quite badly however the problem was resolved with an extra unscheduled filming day to get everything to the standard that I wanted.

 

If there was anything that I could say about how I performed when it came to my directing and organisational skills I think that me directing skills need to improve for next time as this is a feedback that I got from my actors as they told me that they didn’t actually know what they wanted from me and so this is something that I need to improve on for next time.

 

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MH9LBezcT18