Being the Examiner

Hiya Guys

So, today in lesson we have been looking at the criteria for our music video which gives us a good idea of what needs to be included within the music video to achieve the highest of marks. In short, the criteria divides the marks up into four levels. Level 3 and 4 are the ones we should aim for within level 3's grade boundaries being between 24-31 and level 4's being 32-40.

Level 4 states that candidates are expected to demonstrate excellence in the creative use of most of the following technical skills:

• Shooting material appropriate to the task set; including controlled use of the camera, attention to framing, variety of shot sizes and close attention to mise-en-scene
• Editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer and making selective and appropriate use of shot transitions, captions and other effects
• Recording and editing sound with images appropriately

(As our group are aiming for the highest of levels, i am only including level 4!)

From looking at these mark boundaries we then watched as a class, a few music videos from students who had done this task before.

The first video we looked at was 'message in a bottle', a Lower Than Atlantis cover. This video was in the highest mark band, and scored a very strone 38/40, which is an A grade piece of work. 

What went well: Good use of mise-en scene throughout the whole music video, with great locations to fit in with the song choice. Lip syncing throughout the whole video is carefully done, with no sign of the artist being out of time with the song. Additionally, the video had a wide range of different camera shots, for example over the shoulder, tracking shots, close ups, mid shots etc. There is also a good variation of clips from the footage of the band to the narrative. There is not that much editing in the product, however, there is some subtle colour changes to the narrative part of the video which gives the video a vintage 'indie' feel, which could be suitable for their genre.

Areas for improvement: Some shots in the narrative part were too long and made it awkward for the audience watching, if they were to improve they could make these parts of the music video much smaller to make it less awkward to watch.

The next video we watched was 'Hurricane'. This video was also in the highest mark band, however it was at the lower end of the spectrum as this production received a 32/40, which just scrapes the level 4 boundary.

What went well: Great use of lighting such as the silhouette shots in front of the water, or the shots in the corridor. Good range of shots and the mise-en scene has be carefully thought through. Additionally, the locations were good, and fit in with the song.

Areas for improvement: Some shots too long, got boring at some points watching the video. 

Fortunately it seemed that these videos surpassed our expectations for what grade they got despite us all thinking they weren't too impressive. This gave us all confidence that our skills could allow us to achieve a high grade.  However, it is easy to notice mistakes in other people's work rather than your own. Which brings me to this, perhaps it would be a good idea to show mine and Emily's and Amy's progress during our post-production stage to see whether people like it or can see room for improvements.