Music Video - Production Log

1. MUSIC VIDEO PRODUCTION
LOG
Jack Hurst

2. Production Log: Guidance
• This document is for you to track the progress of your production –
filming, editing and post-production.
• This is so you can track what you did and how you did it, explaining
and amendments and changes you made and tracking the decisions
that have shaped the practical creation of your music video.
• The more detail you include about how you made your music video,
the better. The document is broken down in to two sections, Filming
and Editing, each of these is then made of specific elements that
occur in both.
• For each slide there is a prompt detailing what you should include,
delete the prompt after you have complete the slide.
• Remember, images often show what you’ve done more effectively
than words. Use text to explain an illustration.

3. FILMING

4. Technical
I used a canon 600d camera, a tripod, a bluescreen, photography lights and for the slow
motions videos anther canon camera.
Cameras – the 600d camera worked very well for this video as I could change the setting for
the slow motion video to be 50 frames per second so the video runs smoothly. I didn’t have
any problems with the camera themselves as they both worked perfectly for what I wanted to
do. The two problems I had were, the battery ran out of charge on the first day of filming
which slowed down the filming process. The other problem was that when I smashed the
watermelon and went to the beach, the camera could have been damaged with small pieces
getting inside the camera.
Tripod – the tripod worked really well as I could keep the camera in the same place when
changing the shot and all the shots were really smooth. I could have used a hand held tripod
for the beach scene as they were quite wobbly shots ruining the video. Another problem with
the tripod was the space it took up which restricted the movement and angles of the camera.
Bluescreen – I used a bluescreen to be able to create a smooth plain background to most of
the shots. I wanted to do this to choose a colour which will compliment what is happening in
that shot and to show emotions if needed. They bluescreen worked well as I could change the
colour except all the creases and shadows showed up as the didn’t change colour (as shown
above) this meant the background wasn’t as smooth as I wanted it to be. Next time I will
spend more time on smoothing out all of the creases and getting rid of all the shadows. As
this was my first time using the bluescreen, I didn’t know how much a small crease can
change the whole background, so next time this won’t happen.
Lighting – I used Neewer photography lights with coloured filters to be able to change the
colour of the scene, to be able to highlight certain details and to make all the objects bright
enough to see clearly. I used 2 lights to cancel out the shadows as much as possible for the
bluescreen which helped with the background colour. I loved using the lights for the berry
scenes as I used blue and pink filters to reflect the berries and watermelon colours. Being able
to change the colour of the set gave me so many more choices to play with as I could change
the emotion of the scene very easily and it made the shots look more aesthetically pleasing.

5. Logistical
I only used 3 locations to film my video, in my kitchen, in my garden and on the beach. The
weather was slightly a problem but it didn’t cause any major changes.
Locations – All of my locations worked as I used the kitchen for the bluescreen the berries and
the table scenes. This worked well as I had all the equipment in the kitchen to carve the
watermelons, to use the plates and bowls, to use the table as the background and to eat
around the table. I used my garden for the slow motion scene to create the mess outside
making it easier to clean up. I filmed that scene when it was dark so the lighting could be
used to focus on all the small pieces that flew off the watermelon, making the slow motion
more effective. Finally I went to the beach to use it as a background when the watermelon is
lip syncing. This location worked well as it was open and not many people were there because
of Covid.
Weather – the weather wasn’t a big problem for me as I was filming inside for most of the
video. I had to change the scene at the table from being in the garden to being in the kitchen
which worked out better as I could use lights to add the same colours as the berry scenes,
linking the scenes together. When filming on the beach, the weather wasn’t ideal as it was
drizzling and very cold. The rain and sand could have damaged the camera very easily as the
wind was blowing the sand around and the rain was landing on the camera. I couldn’t change
the day we went to the beach as it was the last day I could go which meant I had to film what I
could to use in my video.

6. Personnel
I only had one crew member to help me as we were helping each other.
People – I was helping one of my friends who is doing the course and he was helping me. This
worked really well as I got experience with filming with him and I got to use some of his
equipment. As we were helping each other on separate days, we weren’t late or we didn’t
cancel on each other as we needed the help to complete our videos. I decided not to have
many people to work with (I used watermelons instead of performers) which worked in my
favour as our bus had to isolate so my friend couldn’t film his video on the day he wanted to.
Overall, I didn’t have any problems with people as I had planned ahead for anything that could
go wrong.

7. Planning
I have done lots of planning for my video to ensure I know everything I am doing and to not make
any mistakes which could have gone correctly. This has ensured I have produced a video to my high
standard.
Pre-production planning – I have done lots of pre-production planning: I have planned the locations,
the equipment, the facilities, a mood board, a story board, the schedule, the shot list, the risk
assessment and the contingency plan. These have all helped me to decide what I am going to do and
how I am going to do it when filming. The schedule helped as it gave me a rough idea as how long
everything was going to take, meaning I could plan the day to use the time as effectively as possible.
As I had planned the equipment and locations, I had everything I needed and had planned when I
needed to go somewhere to film. I had all the equipment in my kitchen for the shots and had also
planned the equipment I needed to take to the beach, the camera, battery, SD card and the
watermelon. The schedule ensured I didn’t waste lots of time like I would have done if I wasn’t
prepared. When I was working with my friend, they weren’t as prepared so they was lots of gaps in
between shots slowing down the filming process. This encouraged me to have my schedule planned
for every shot so it would run smoothly. Creating the shot list helped the most as I had a list of every
shot needed to be filmed. This helped to create the schedule and to ensure I wouldn’t miss any shot.
Using the shot list made filming easier and less stressful as I knew what the next step was for each
section. The risk assessment made me think about what I need to be careful of when filming – the
knives for carving. This made me realise I need to be very careful to not hurt myself or my friend
when filming those shots (there were no injuries). Finally, the contingency plan made me think about
everything that could go wrong and what solution I had for that problem. Luckily I didn’t need to use
any of these as it all went to plan but having that plan ensured I could still make my video. Once I
had completed all of this planning, I then timed the song and worked out how long each line was so I
could make sure the shots weren’t to long. Using these timings improved my video as the shots
weren’t to short for the line I was using it for. The night before I made a list of all the steps I needed
to shot for each scene. This helped me as it was a simplified version of the shot list, I used this plan
for the basics then referred back to the shot list for extra detail.
Overall, I wouldn’t change any of my planning except add some backup shots as I ran out of footage
at the end of my video. All of this planning ensured I produced the best video I could with what I had
at the time.

8. Planning

9. Next Time
There are a few things I would change about my video if I had the chance.
NEXT TIME 1 – I would refilm the beach scene on a brighter day as the colours are quite dull
on the unedited version of that shot and the camera was quite shaky making a low quality
shot. I would have to plan for a few days to be able to go to the beach so I have options for
the weather as it can change quite quickly. To reduce the shakiness of the camera I would
need to buy a hand held tripod or a rig that creates smooth shots such as a shoulder camera
rig. I would also refilm the strawberry shot were the camera pans down the bowl of
strawberries as it is very shaky and wobbly. The final shot I would refilm is the shot of the
mixed berries, I would make more of the berries to be able to have animations on them (have
them evenly spread out). Those are the only shots I would refilm as all the other shots are at a
high standard.
NEXT TIME 2 – In some scenes/shots I have added coloured lighting add to the scenes/shots.
However I feel that I could have added some extra colours to the scenes giving more of a
variety to the video compared to the same colours throughout the whole video. I would look in
more detail about which colours to use to reflect the emotions of the song.
NEXT TIME 3 – One of my main problems was the bluescreen as it wasn’t tight enough causing
creases which weren’t properly coloured. To stop this from happening again, I would have to
iron the bluescreen before using it and to use a bluescreen frame so it won’t fold onto itself.
Doing all of this would make the video look more aesthetically pleasing and more like a higher
production piece of media.
NEXT TIME 4 – Another thing I would do next time would be to film more as I was running
short on footage towards the end of the editing process. I would have to add these shots to
my plan but it could be different angles or different locations which wouldn’t take much time
to film. This wouldn’t effect the schedule as I could add it into part of a section or add a new
section to the end of a day.

10. EDITING

11. What Went Well
With all of my editing progress, most of it went well and when there was a problem, I found a
solution for it.
WWW 1 – I decided to add a split screen feature for 2 of my shots to use 4 shots at once as
they compliment each other together. First I had to layer the 4 shots above each other on the
tracks and then arrange them how I wanted. I did this by resizing the shots on the screen and
then moving the shots to fill a quarter of the whole screen. I am very happy with how it turned
out because one of them is the 4 shots of the watermelon smashing in slow motion.
WWW 2 – For the watermelon scenes on the beach and the berry scenes, I added animations
on them to make them look like faces. I did this by creating the eyes and mouths on
photoshop with a blue background to act as a bluescreen, then imported them to the
premiere pro file and removed the blue background. As I was using multiple faces in the berry
scenes I have to layer 7 files on top to be able to have the full effect of the animation. Using
the layers have enabled me to create multiple faces/features and using the blade tool, I've
been able to make the eyes look like they can blink.
WWW 3 – I was able to colour in the bluescreen to any colour I wanted to replace the blue. In
premiere pro I went on effects-video effects-keying-ultra key-output-composite and setting-
aggressive to get the best effect on cancelling the bluescreen out. I had tried another way
before which gave weaker results as more blue showed up.
WWW 4 – Due to the animations and bluescreen, I had to add new tracks as there are were not
enough default tracks. Luckily I figured this out quickly meaning it didn’t slow down the
editing process and meant I could add more animation.

12. What Went Well
Above is the split screen
section for the slow motion
of smashing the
watermelons
Above is the animations
added to the berry scenes
Above is the photoshop file
for the animations with the
blue screen.
Above is the process for
changing the bluescreen to
any background
Above is the added video
tracks, the section shown is
the animation part for the
eyes.

13. What Problems Did You Have?
Whilst completing the editing of my video, I have found some problems that I had to find a
solution for to create a high production video.
PROBLEM 1 – I would say the bluescreen is used and edited well, however there are some
creases and shadows that have shown up when I have edited it. Unfortunately I only realised
that the bluescreen wouldn't work as well as I hoped until I was editing. There might be a
more effective way to get the smooth background but I am happy with the shots I have edited.
PROBLEM 2 – I struggled a bit with getting the timings right as premiere pro uses frames
instead of seconds so I would have to guess most of the time when speeding or slowing the
shot down. This slowed the process of editing and I used a lot of trial and error to get the
right length and part of the shot. By the end of editing I was getting more use to this so I was
spending less time on that part and more time on the larger aspects.
PROBLEM 3 – There weren’t enough video tracks so I had to add about 3 extra on to the
default ones. Also as I was adding files into the video tracks, the files had audio with them so I
had to mute all of the audio tracks except for the song file.
Above is how the bluescreen
hasn’t worked as well as I
wanted it to
Above is the video tracks as
I have added lots more to
work on the animation.

14. Extra Steps
On Photoshop I have cut around watermelon
clipart and created my own banner for the
lyrics. To add these to my video I have made
the background blue to act as a blue screen. I
have then chosen colour by creating a blank
coloured page and exported it as a JPEG file
to go under the watermelon. I have then
added the banner to the correct section of my
video. To get the correct location on screen
for these, I have got the same scale and
locations number so it looks smoother.
After adding the black writing to my video, I
thought there wasn’t enough contrast to the
background so I changed it to the pale pink
to reflect the light on the table. I also decided
to go for a red banner as the main berries are
strawberries and it isn’t to bright distracting
from the shot or animation. I am very happy I
chose to swap colours as it makes the shot
more appealing on the eye as all the colours
link together. I also added a transition to the
banner to soften the swap from shots.
In one of my shots, the camera is very wobbly
which ruined the smoothness of my video. To
fix this I searched for a stabilizer to remove
the shaking and found the warp stabilizer
which worked perfectly. Now the short shot
fits in with the other 3 shots it goes with.
Doing this has meant the viewer isn’t
thinking about what is wrong with the video
as it is the 2nd shot, but how smooth the
video flows. I have learnt that when filming
you need to create smooth videos but you
have a stabilizer just in case.
As I have added 7 colours, bright and pastel,
to be the background of the watermelon
clipart, I thought it looked to harsh when
switching. When watching the videos back I
knew it didn’t work, so I added transitions to
merge 2 colours together slowing down the
change in background. I am very happy that I
have added transitions such as slide, push
and centre split as it compliments the rest of
the video as I didn’t want any harsh cuts to
be distracting when watching the video.
Below are screenshots of 4 colours I used to
put under the watermelon clipart. Below are
the pastel versions of the colours as I wanted
them to contrast to the bright colours in the
section before. As you can see I didn’t
change the placement of the circle as I
wanted to the colours to link together.
Keeping the circle in the same place but
changing the colour means you get the exact
same shade of every colour. I did this for the
bright colours too, keeping the circle in the
top right corner.
To make editing easier I have used the
padlock symbol on the video tracks to be able
to delete the audio for those videos that are
muted, so there is less in the audio tracks.
Being able to delete the tracks has meant I
didn’t accidentally change audio that isn’t
muted when moving other video files around.
However as I was organising this all, I moved
some files which did disturb the lyric file so
the video went out of sync. I removed the
audio file and replaced it to fix that problem.

15. OVERALL

16. Next Steps.
Completing this project has taught me a range of new skills that will be useful for the rest of
the course. I will use these new skills in different topics and will find new skills along the way.
1 – I have learnt that lots of research is needed to complete each project to a high standard.
We have researched what is needed in a music video for every aspect, we have watched and
reviewed lots of videos to see how those aspects are used and we have learnt what to do
because of this research.
2 – I have learnt that lots of planning is needed for a music video as lots could go wrong, I
have had to plan the locations, the equipment, the facilities, the schedule, the shot list, the
risk assessment and the contingency plan. All of this has helped to make sure the production
of the music video is smooth and effective.
3 – I have learnt some new skills whilst filming. I have learnt when to change the frames per
second, I have learnt about different camera angles and camera movements and I have used
new equipment whilst filming such as a dolly. When filming I have improved knowing what
works best through the camera.
4 – I have learnt how to use a bluescreen/greenscreen which is a brand new skill to me as I
haven’t done any filming before using one. I have learnt what works best with a
bluescreen/greenscreen and what doesn’t work well meaning next time I will improve the
standard.
5 – I have learnt how to edit a video as I have done no editing at all for video production. I
have really enjoyed making the music video as I have been able to edit at the basic level then
start to add more advanced features such as layering, bluescreen and split screen. I have also
learnt about changing the colour for different shots to portray certain emotions