Issues I have faced over my coursework & brief evaluation

Issues during planning production:

I faced many issues during planning my music video. Every time I organised to meet the band and discuss, I could not get to them, due to their inflexible work schedules and unpredictable nature of their shifts or plans. Therefore, I was unable to plan my music video with the band. This eradicated the potential for a story line or a more creative narrative, but in my research into the genre, I discovered that a narrative structure is less important, and the focus could be put into a grand narrative, such as the perception of the band (musicians as a profession) or gender representation. This research led me to realise that my music video could be far more effective in a mere documentary structure. Simply filming the band in practice would allow me to show the band off so to speak. It would introduce the band both as a band, and just as four guys who play music together. In pop punk there is huge potential to be 'silly' or boast a strong sense of humour which tends to dehumanise the band in a way; to display them in their musical talent returns them to their true nature: Four friends with shared musical interest. This is one issue I found that I could easily overcome, and I feel the lack of story line or any form of plot (outside to playing their single) made sure my music video was just easily accessible, not visually engaging - but not musically uninteresting.

Issues during production:

As stated previously, the band proved themselves difficult to meet up with. I had intentions to film on two locations: A studio of their choice, and to create a city/country mix (Pop Punk is a very inner-city themed genre) I intended to film in an empty farm building, a huge corrugated iron warehouse with nothing but hay bales for the band to use as props when playing. This was to create a reflection between practising playing a song, as bands have to do religiously (and often forgotten: Music is both an art and talent that has to be perfected) and to show them performing, in their element. Unfortunately, due to circumstances such as band location, band scheduling and generally being busy the warehouse option became impossible to accomplish.

Initially, I had intended to film the studio shots in Plug Studios, in Norwich. A studio I was very familiar with from playing there myself on occasion. I had allotted 4 hours studio time with them and had confirmed with the band that this was the plan. Plug Studios wasn't too far a walk from the city centre, and as I was carrying a camera, tripod and lighting equipment, it was plausible. Unfortunately, the band told me that they were unable to attend to play the 4 hours, as many had to work later, and I was to be given 2 hours and 30 minutes. I was then told that they would no longer play at Plug Studios, and it would now be at Earth Studios, which is way out of the city centre. This meant I had to try and find transport, and ended up having to ask around very politely for a lift there. I then discovered I was only to be given an hour and a half film time, which I felt was not enough.
Furthermore, I was informed they were practising in general, and would not have the opportunity to film the song for my music video in the extent that I wanted to. This meant that about 85% of my footage is 'stock footage' of them playing other songs. This meant that I was to struggle in the editing process later.

When actually filming, it became apparent to me that my tripod was useless, as I had forgotten to bring the part to actually mount the camera. This meant my entire project was to be handheld.
I had initially intend to use my uncles camera. It was an HD camera that films beautifully and would have been ideal to film the band. It also captures sound perfectly, so I would have potentially been able to use a live track of them in studio. Unfortunately, during testing, it became apparent that the file type that it uses wasn't recognised by the software and rendered useless. Fortunately, my media teacher and I discovered this before filming. Unfortunately, it was on the day. Fortunately, he allowed me to use one of the cameras that the media department had. Unfortunately, when filming, I actually discovered the battery power was less than enough for the time that they had whittled me down to, and after an hour, the battery died, leaving me with 30 minutes to do very little. A few videos on my phone proved poor, so I had to settle for the hour of footage I had. This would have been okay, but the last half hour, they offered to play through 'Sword of Damocles' in more detail so I could get all the minute details or the intricate shots I wanted. Unfortunately I had to settle for the shorter clips, but, I had 2 full song recordings of it, in which I had filmed all instruments, all from very different angles. They played the song very well, Andrew offering input on what he'd like to do or how he'd like to be filmed, and Tom offering to sing in a certain way helped incredibly. However, he had forgotten the first verse to the song, and I had to prompt him.

Issues during editing:

I quickly discovered that I could only rely on the two full length recordings for the vocals. If I wanted a shot of  Tom singing, I would have to find a section of that song I hadn't used yet. Often I was able to replace him with a shot of Johnny playing Bass or Joel on drums, or Andrew doing backing vocals (even if they weren't in the line). This meant it looked scrambled, or fragmented, and made no chronological sense and took unpredictable turns. with regard to genre conventions, Goodwin outlines that the audience know what they want to see, and what they expect. As the singer begins the first line of a verse, you expect to see him sing it. As the drummer makes a fill, or the guitarist plays a solo or the bassist plays a bass hook that stands out, you expect to see them play. This takes the focus away from the parts you're trying to focus on. The aim of my music video was to focus on the musicians and their talent, and showing all the intricacies of how and what they're playing is vital, so not being able to show off the lead singer proved a bit problematic.

I also discovered, that I could only use shots of other songs if it was purely instrumental, and brief, as often
it was visually obvious that they weren't playing what you can hear. So plenty of filler shots made up the bulk of my music video. Another problem, is that in studio, the band play at a different tempo, or sing in a different way to the track, creating a divide between the original, and them playing the original. This compromised the synchronicity of my music video.

Another issue I faced, was simply spending hours on my project, and forgetting to save. Usually, not an extreme issue until your computer freezes. Simply overcome, by learning my lesson of not to be foolish and save regularly.

Issues post editing/pre-print production

I faced few issues at this stage. Photoshop is a programme I am familiar with, and have (limited) knowledge on how to use it, so learning the processes was not an issue. I got good feedback from my classmates about my music video, and the planning process for my print production was easy enough due to the fact I had already planned it when I got the single.

One issue though, which is rather major, is that the band broke up. The lead singer moved away to London, so I was unable to get any photos of them as a collective, which was tailored to my needs for my print production. Nevertheless though, I already knew my project was going to be photoshop based so I continued as I was.

Issues during print production:

The only issues I have found in this section of my coursework was keeping my work appropriate to the theme. For example, the original album art was cartoon animals, so I recreated the animal idea on the band as humans with photoshopped animal faces. Another idea I had was to have a 'Sailor Jerry' tattoo style album art, with tattoo themed writing of 'Dying Breeds' and 'Sword of Damocles' which would be relevant due to Pop Punk's strong relation with tattoos and piercings. However, I have had to whittle this idea down to a poster in my print design. A small problem, that has now given my final product an original idea and an extra element that would be aesthetically pleasing to the audience, which is vital.