Evaluation
This unit was for me the last chance I would have to really show what I was capable of as a professional an artist and a creative mind. I approached a local musician, who is also a close friend, about collaborating and creating a music video for one of his songs entitled ‘On My Own’, written after he found a man dying of a heroin overdose in the street. My goal was to develop some kind of narrative and relative imagery based upon numerous stages of creative development.
I had no pre conceptions about what I was going to end up with, so really started with a clean slate, which I found refreshing as I normally dive straight into my first idea with very little method or process in place. I wanted my approach to be original and unique so I set about gaining a deeper understanding of the lyrics themselves, and how the interpretation of which can differ form person to person. I broke the lyrics down to sentences and asked people to sum up the image in a nutshell by drawing an image of what they felt it represented. I felt this was a really good way to start off as it allowed me to gain a very broad insight into the subject matter, whilst also taking a step back from the song itself and actually analyzing the lyrics for what they were.
This led me onto the first stage of my visual development. One of the themes that had emerged was one of routine, which came about from the lyrics “nothing really makes sense to me”, and how we as people are often stuck in a cycle of life that is repeating itself. So I began exploring the technique of time lapsing, and how this could potentially be utilised as a visual tool or even as a narrative device. What became apparent to me was that it was a very rigid technique that had the potential to look decent, but offered very little in terms of versatility and took a long time to achieve anything of substance. I still wanted to explore the concept of routine and the loneliness within it so decided to focus on the initial idea, which was a depressing, mundane cycle of life lacking in reason or substance. This approach did play somewhat into my hands as it is something I can relate to from my time out before university, and as they say, write about what you know.
In a nutshell the story followed the life of our lead character who was a heroin addict, played by Simon Gibbs. The character takes some heroin and a dream like aspiration of what he could have been emerges, this could also be perceived as a memory of what he once was. This memory was the most important bit of the story as it was to act as a reflection of the day to day life that could potentially drive someone to such levels of depravity. I chose my scenes very carefully and for the most part used only one shot to reflect one stage of the day. This was done to show a very methodical, structured progression throughout his typical day, one painful step at a time. I can again relate to this, remembering the walk to work step by step, each turn, every shortcut through to the strangers you pass every day. That is why on his way to work, and on his way home…the shots are identical. This was not done to save time, this was done to specifically reflect the repetition at every stage of his typical day.
Visually I was very happy with the final outcome of my music video. I felt the cinematography was consistent with my theme and in some places actually looked very nice. As I have previously stated I was not intending to make anything flashy or slick but rather something delicate and moving, which I feel it generally is. There are various skills that I learnt throughout this project, and most of them were unexpected. Of course I learnt a little about green screening, colour grading and the various processes of making a film. But what I was not expecting to learn about was the more technical aspects of film making such as digital formats, my workflow and DVD authoring, all of which are useful skills that will stand me in good stead when trying to get a job, so I can safely say that the bulk of the work was a big learning curve.
I did encounter numerous issues along the way throughout the production of this film. These problems could have almost always been overcome by a little more thorough planning on my part. The oversights were minimal, but as always when working with film they are always vital. An example of which would be when I left the auto-gain setting on which resulted in some extremely grainy footage…that was one of about 20 things I had to remember everytime I took a shot. As one door closed another one opens because without making that mistake, I would not have learnt how to clear up grainy footage in After Effects. The ending sequence looks a little flat, this is because I worked out how to remove the grain from the image, and I have never been so happy as that was one of the few visual faux pas I had been responsible for, and it really left a sour taste in my mouth whenever I watched it.
With regards to actual editing side of production I am not actually too happy with it. On this occasion I think it was my Direction and Production that shone through. The clips with Mischa look nice and everything but I am not too happy with them as they are rather inconsistent colour wise. I intentionally made Mischa stand out to separate him from the rest of the gloomy Mise-en-scene, and to make him appear as if he were from the spiritual realm. This worked on the whole as an additional concept but the colours and saturation are a little inconsistant for my liking. The idea was nice though as I aided one of my initial goals, which was to produce a promotional tool for Mischa and this reflected his spiritual side nicely, however minimal it may have been.
I often wander if I would change anything if I were given the chance to redo this project and there is very little in terms of my approach I would change. I would have liked to have had another chance at recording another version of ‘On My Own’, because I feel the version I used wasn’t good enough, and I didn’t have enough money for the studio time. If I actually had some kind of budget for the song I would have maybe set my sights a bit higher, perhaps filmed it in London and really tried to hammer home the urban decay I was so desperately trying to reflect. The only other thing I would have planned differently was the opening and closing shots of our lead character indulging in some heroin. I had planned a very dark, gritty scene with a bin fire lighting a very derelict surrounding. This didn’t happen, as I almost set fire to my shed attempting it…so the images are a little flat and plain.
I intend on using this film as a platform on which to build and learn more skills on my way to securing a job in the industry. I truly feel this film shows enough of my understanding and creative ability to at least get me a foot in the door. To help me with this I will also be entering this video into competitions. Not because I think it could win, but as a window for me to get my name out there for people to see. This has been a great project, that I have learnt lots in and will always look back on fondly.
