1. Final Major Project Evaluation
For my final major project unit I was asked to create my own media product such as radio advert,
music video, photo shoot or motion graphics composition. From the different products I then had to
think of ideas for my major project; I decided to produce a music video for the song Bassline by The
GetAlongGang as I enjoyed the music video production last year. Once I had decided on this idea I
began to research other music videos from the same genre, I was already familiar with a lot of them
but had never analysed the styles and conventions used. From my research I decide that I would
stick to typical conventions of this genre of music video which include different types of camera
shots such as POV and pan shots as well as including similar props such as DJ equipment and alcohol.
On my first shoot I went to Clifton Country Park where I shot the outdoor scenes, the country park
had many unique backdrops that I wanted to use in the dancing scenes of my music video. Once I
got back to college and uploaded the footage onto the computer I found that although the footage
looked good on the camera the quality was poor when shown on a larger screen so I could not use
any of the clips from the first shoot. This caused a large set back as I was now behind with my
filming; because of this I decided to take the camera with me to an indoor music festival that I was
attending that weekend in order to get back on schedule, this was not my initial plan so I was no
longer following my storyboard and had to completely rethink my idea. At the festival I shot similar
footage to what I had planned, although I was not able to film in the desired location and had limited
props the footage was good quality and used a diverse range of camera angles and shots. Once I
returned home from the festival I shot some more footage in my bedroom of the DJ equipment
being used as well as some clips that would link well to the footage I had already got such as
preparation for the festival.
Once I had enough footage I started the editing process on adobe premiere pro, I began by trimming
individual clips leaving only the sections that I would be using in my music video, this was the easiest
part of the editing process. Once I had cut all of the clips I imported the song that I had decided to
use for the music video; unfortunately an official music video for the song that I initially planned on
using had been released that week which put me off using the song so I used another song from the
same genre; Hot Since 82- Every Little Piece. Now that I had the trimmed clips and the song onto
Premiere I began to sequence the clips together, following a narrative of getting ready for the
festival and then following the events throughout the weekend. Getting the footage to match the
music was the most difficult part of editing as it is hard to get the footage in sync with the beat, to
do this I had to change the speed and duration of some clips. When deciding where to place the clips
I had to make sure that I spread the more interesting clips around in order to keep the audience
entertained. I later found that the song that I chose was far too long to fill with my footage but as I
had already synced the footage to this song I made the decision to cut the song down instead of
choosing a different shorter song. Once I had completed the sequence and watched it back I found
some of the scenes quite boring to watch so I decided to layer clips on top of each other to give a
slightly transparent effect to some of the footage. Another thing I added was the use of split screen;
I split the screen into sections with each section showing something different, I believe this made
the composition much more interesting and professional looking. After making these changes I was
happy with the sequence so I moved on to editing some individual clips in Adobe After Effects; I used
the blur and sharpen effects on some of the clips that I had used more than once to make them look
a little bit different to each other, once I had added these effects to the clips I then exported to clip

2. back into my Premiere project. Once I was happy with my project I had to render and export the
finished product and upload it to YouTube.
Throughout the production of my final major project I developed many skills that I had covered in
the first year of college to a much higher standard. I am much more confident with the Adobe
software; Premiere Pro and After Effects as well as using a camera to film. During the production of
this music video I watched tutorials on YouTube to find effects and styles that I could use in my
composition, my favourite discovery was the use of split screen as I had not seen this in many music
videos and believe it makes the video much more interesting for the viewer. The use of layering
footage also helped me to achieve a professional look throughout my composition. On one of the
lessons before I had good quality footage I played around with different effects to help me get a
unique idea for my music video, I decide to use the blur effect on the glow stick scenes as it makes
the glow look slightly like that of a light saber. As I was working independently this year I had to be
involved with much more of the filming and planning, I already had a basic knowledge from my first
project but as I had no one to do the things that I couldn’t I was forced to learn these new skills. I can
now say that I am confident at producing a music video as well as other film based products.
Due to the first day of filming being unsuccessful which resulted in me taking the camera to the
music festival which I hadn’t originally planned, the final product does not follow the storyboard but
some of the intended content is still there. The music video is still aimed at the exact same
demographic audience and I believe I have reached my target audience needs that I detailed in the
proposal. Although the music video now follows a different narrative and storyboard, many of the
key elements from my proposal are still there, for example my music video only uses characters that
are of a similar age to my intended audience as I believe that students would prefer to see people
their own age in media products as they can relate to them. I was hoping to use different characters
for each scene but as only 6 of us went to the festival I had to use the same people throughout. My
music video also includes branding that will be familiar to students such as Captain Morgan’s rum
and clothing brand Hugo Boss, I also included some recognizable festival wristbands in the video as
the demographic audience participate in clubbing and festivals and when they see this merchandise
they could be reminded of their time there meaning they would have an emotional connection with
the video. The song has also changed from the song on my proposal but in my opinion the final song
works well with the theme of my video, also at the time when I chose this song the artist was very
popular within the house music community. Unfortunately I was unable to include strobe lights in
my music video so instead I decided to use glow sticks as these are related to clubbing and also gave
the video a unique aspect. The main difference from my initial proposal is the camera techniques; in
my proposal I planned to use the tripod to create stable footage as I believe this looks more
professional but once I began filming in this style I found it to be boring. This is when I decided to use
POV; this involves the audience much more as they may feel like they are there with the characters,
this style also makes the scenes more realistic and not planned.
Time management is something that I need to work on, when I planned my schedule at the start I
didn’t consider any problems that I may face during production. As I was working independently I
had to do some work outside of lesson whereas last year when I was working in a group I managed
to complete all work inside college with help from a teacher, this has made me confident at working
alone to make decisions and solve problems. In the future if I were too create a music video again I
would create a written schedule whilst considering setbacks as well as choosing some smaller tasks

3. to do in my own time as to not get a build-up of work by the end of the year. If my first filming date
would have gone to plan I would have been on time for the rest of the production, this was my fault
as I didn’t ask for advice on using the camera before I headed out to film but now I am confident that
this wouldn’t happen again. If I would have had more time leftover at the end of the project I would
have tried to add more effects the music video using After Effects, this would have gave a much
more professional look.
I received positive feedback from everyone I shown the video too, as soon as the video was
complete I gathered my friends that came to the festival with me as well as a few others and
watched the video together. All of them were laughing throughout the whole video which shows
that the humour I intended to include is visible; I find that if something makes me laugh I am more
likely to remember it and want to watch it again so I am glad this worked. When I shown my family
the video (none of which are the intended audience) they didn’t laugh like my friends did and didn’t
pick up on things such as the festival merchandise, this shows that the video is well suited to the
correct audience that I planned to appeal too. A friend who also studied media pointed out some
parts of the video that were not perfectly in time, if I would’ve shown him this before I made the
final edit I would’ve been able to change this, in the future I will try to get feedback for a rough draft
before I perfect the final edit.
In my opinion I believe that I successfully created a music video that appealed to the intended
demographic; students with an interest in house music, festivals and clubbing. If I were given the
opportunity to create a media product again in the future I would choose to create another music
video as I believe I am getting better with each attempt. There are some slight changes that I would
make to this music video however; firstly I would make sure I shot much more footage as this music
video is under 3 minutes long. Another change I would make would be to include some female
characters as there are only males in this video, doing this could help me to reach a wider target
audience. Finally I would have liked to include footage from inside a club or live music venue, when I
was filming this video I did not want to take the camera into the rooms where music was being
played as I could’ve damaged the camera, if I would have planned ahead better I could have spoken
to the organizers of the festival and possibly filmed from a safe location. Overall I am pleased with
the final product and I believe that I have developed my editing and filming skills to a good level.