A2 Music Video: My Opinion

Was the video appropriate for the song?
I personally feel that we captured the erratic, fun, fast paced music well with a character to match this style. However, Chris was quite slow paced in some places and it would have worked better if he had physically moved the pace we had sped him up to. For example, I think it would have been more entertaining at the scene where he brushes his teeth if he was physically moving that speed and becoming messier. Also, I think that if we had more people available to us then we could have included a band performance. This would have maybe promoted the band more successfully. Despite this, the name "Cousins" reminds me of family and presenting this small idea of the song with a family man has worked quite well.

Was it entertaining?
I definitely think so. Freddie and I have very similar senses of humor so the events that happened made us laugh and we enjoyed watching them back. It has been very rewarding to receive positive feedback to this question as it is quite difficult to make something funny and entertaining. It is easy to fall into thinking something is funny because one person enjoyed it. For example, a friend breaking into a laughing fit during filming is funny to us at the time, but no one else would enjoy watching that.

Was the balance of Story and Performance right?
This was one part that I wold maybe change, I am really pleased with the results of the music video considering we had a limited amount of actors. However, if we had more actors and a lot more time (and a longer song) I would try to include a band appearance/performance. This would tie the video together nicely and fit more with a typical music video convention. Although, I also like the secrecy of not knowing the artist, this is typical of the artist Bob Synclair.

Good choice of props, locations and costume?
I am very pleased with these elements. A lot of care went into selecting them and our idea relied on these to tell the story. However, it would have been good find an actual office for the office scene. Peterborough is not the greatest location offices, nor could we find anywhere in time.

Were the camera angles and movements interesting?
The tracking shots are the shots I am most pleased with! It was great fun to experiment with a range of angles such as the tracking despite our dolly not working. Our shot list was planned knowing that music videos include lots of cuts and we wanted to make these cuts interesting. There is no point cutting to another shot filmed exactly the same way.

Was it a success?
I am very pleased with the outcome. We had no issues editing and I feel the tie changing as he goes down stairs had a high standard outcome. We were very lucky for our storyboarding and shot planning to have worked out so well. We have definitely improved in our organisation skills since AS.
There is a shot, however, where Chris' singing looks as though it is out of sync. Unfortunately, no matter how much we edited this, it always looked this way. We have come to the conclusion that it is the way that Chris sang along to this part. If we had more time, I would have maybe re-shot this part. This and the lack of a band appearance is the only thing I would change.
Another mistake was that Chris was not wearing his tie in the running shots, this has worked to our advantage as I feel that the shot where Chris' tie comes off works better. It is entertaining and ties the running to the house exit nicely.
Our extensive planning, good actors, several filming sessions and improved editing skills have meant that our final music video has worked out better than planned. Our target audience has proved to like the music video. I feel that overall, the music video was a definite success.