Evaluation.

This pictures shows the two main bits of feedback we received from our peers. Near enough all of our class mates said they liked the way the video seemed to flow, which was our main target really, so this gave us alot of satisfaction. They all loved the originality of the concept and they all knew what we were capable of so it wasn't a great suprise when they saw the standard we achieved. The negative feedback was from one of our slower students, Joe, who couldn't understand whether there was two storylines or one narative and the band. We didn't foresee any problems with our layout but we did explain to Joe that there was just one storyline and the band.

Whilst doing this project we really enjoyed ourselves and if the opportunity ever occurred again, we would happily have another go. One major thing that threatened our sanity was the technology that we used.

As this picture shows we did use a vast range of software. This group of products were generally very good. The cameras were very reliable, Blogger was great, Itunes was fine, Bluetooth was flawless but it was Imovie HD that was the source of a lot of frustration. We uploaded our footage without a problem, we even got the song into the program with relative ease but the main problem was that after getting about a quarter of the way through the editing process the program decided to start crashing every 5-10 minutes which meant we lost all unsaved work. This was easily overcome but it was very irrating but worst of all, when you get into the editing you do find yourself forgetting to press save after every little change. This meant we got a nasty reminder to save and we lost all of our previous progress.
Despite these little discrepancies we had a really good time and did look forward to working on our video. The main thing we learnt and will always remember is to plan what you are doing very precisely and know what you need to film and complete everything punctually, this will give you enough time to edit and set you free from stressful times. Although you do need to plan, I do feel that using a little bit of creativity is also necessary and can often make a project that little bit more special.

Construction.

Once we had done our planning we were given a HD video camera to start the Shooting of our music video. Our editing software was the very,very unreliable I-movie HD which to this very day I hate. The first scene that we shot was the one with Iron Man waking up. This was always how I saw Iron Mans introduction to the Video. He wakes up and goes down stairs for breakfast. However, he cannot eat his toast, this makes him feel low and his day just gets slowly worse from then onwards. During these early stages of our video the music is very slow and we purposely chose the shots needed to help portray this. During the early stages of the song we try to use dull settings and to keep the colours neutral.

This helps to show how Iron Man is feeling, as later on the tempo picks up and the colours brighten up. We always tried to keep the visuals and the music corresponding with one another as we felt that a good music video flows and that you shouldn't find yourself noticing when changes happen so much.
The opening shot of the Video is Christian looking out over the channel. This shot is very aesthetically pleasing. This was another one of our creative shots that was not planned but ultimately helped to improve the look of our video.

As you can see from this picture, the shot is a very nice, bright looking shot and it acts as a great way to show the viewer what is to come. Shortly after this shot you get to see another well thought out shot. This is Christian walking away from the camera. This shot started as an accident but did prove to a masterpiece. We wanted to just show him walking away from the camera but as it was a bright day the camera had to refocus and we ended up with this;


This effect makes the shot look as if someone has woken up on a bright day and 'opened their eyes' which links with the name of the song. This shot was a technically brilliant shot as we used the technology of the self-focussing camera to create this bright white haziness.
As we progress through the video we start to see Iron Man leave his house and step into the harsh world where people who are not conventional can be punished for it by some small mind people. For this scene we used some of our 6th form peers and also small younger peoples, one of which is my brother. They acted as the 'Gang' who don't appreciate different people. We got my brother to throw an object at Me (Iron Man) this made Iron Man react, which he doesn't like doing. As he tries to grab the youngster, the gang pile in and begin to kick him. The way we filmed this was to actually allow the actors to kick iron man in order to get the realism. This was painful but I was willing to take it. As a superhero Iron man could over powered them all but as he is a peaceful soul he decided to take it. Just as the beating is coming to an end we switched to a 1st person shot. This allowed the viewer to be put in Iron Mans shoes. as he looks up he sees a Girl holding out her hand to help him out. As he gets to his feet the chemistry is clearly apparent and they walk off together. He also recieves the invite around this time. This is where the tempo of the song begins to pick up.
One of the best technical shots we used was the one in the auditorium. We left the camera in the same position and also left it recording while christian changed seats and walked around. we then cut this clip and used an overlap transition to make it seem as if christian transports to different places. This makes him seem superhuman just like Iron Man. This shot was one that caught the eye of our peers during our showing of the video and recieved alot of compliments.

I knew about this setting from previous visits and we subsequently went there to film Christian singing, this idea eventually changed and we quickly filmed this shot before we were found in the auditorium. Moving on in the video the music starts to pick up therefore we decided to up the amount of cuts. This made the whole scene seem more action packed and lively. Not only did we increase the amount of cuts, we synchronised them with the beat of the music. This really helps the viewer to become emerged and it all flows which is vital when making a music video as the viewer doesn't want to notice that the cuts are out of sync. The whole party scene is possibly the main part of the video as this is where the colours brighten up and Iron Man is finally accepted. There is a clear difference between the beginning of our video and the ending simply down to the colours in the shots. The brighter colours at the end symbolise Iron Mans mood, he is now happy and content with his life and girlfriend.
The end of this video is my personal favourite part of the whole project. We started to move away from the party and we show Iron Man laying on his bed and we used the same overlap effect as in the auditorium and make his girlfriend appear next to him. This just shows how he is no longer alone and that a space has been filled in his life.

Then we show the lead singer painting on a wall, he writes the words 'The Incredible Snow Patrol' This helps sell the artist/group as the viewers get reminded who they are listening to. We also use an overlap to speed up the whole sequence of the painting, so not to bore the audience. This scene just seems to fit in with the whole feeling of the video. The final shot you get to see is an absolute beauty. It is a beautiful shot of the sky in Dover, this was filmed with our last 10secs of battery and we were very lucky to have caught this on camera.


When we started to do our subsidary tasks we wanted to keep everything linked together so we decided to carry the Iron Man theme on. We chose to do a Digipak and a Website homepage. Our first idea was to use a Comic book theme as Iron Man was originally a comic book. With this in mind we began searching for a suitable comic book to modify and use. We had found a few but we had a very strong vision for a certain comic.

This is the Comic and The picture we wanted to combine. This picture shows the band and their current theme. This helps to sell the band. The picture below show what we came up with.

Our second subsidary task was the website page. This wasn't as good as our first task but it does the job. Our peers agreed with this opinion and told us so. This was the main critisism and we were happy to act upon this and subsequently add some more to it.

Planning.

When we had to decide what we wanted to do we didn't really have to think to be honest, we had already done a music video for our extended project which meant we knew how to go about it. So now we had chosen to do the music video we had to decide what song to do. This did take a while and we did pick a song which was Snow patrol - You could be happy. We had an idea in mind and we knew our story line but once we had drawn up the storyboards, it started to dawn on us that it was extremely boring and stereotypical, we didn't like the idea of being conventional or run of the mill like some other A level students can be. So we began to brain storm.

Eventually something just happend and I thought of a Super Hero theme, I don't know why but I did. This really got our imaginations flowing and the storyline just wrote its self. We chose Snow Patrol - Open Your Eyes as the song was just perfect for our idea.

The idea was that we would portray Iron Man as a normal kind of guy, who wanted to fit in but the rest of society just wouldn't allow it. Until he meets a girl who shows some empathy and take pity if you like. This starts to change things for him and they organise a party for him, to show that he has finally been accepted.


After this we didn't really do much more planning, we just jumped straight in and filmed. This was possibly why we were very unorganised and always blagging the shots although this isn't very clear in the video due to its high quality. Many of the shots were 'off the cuff' and spur of the moment. We were very lucky to have creative members in the group as these individuals were the making of this video.