Collaborating with musicians, artists and producers on a music video was a creative and fun process that provided real-life experience. We were lucky to work with the musician James Chatburn, on his song Omens. James was open to our ideas and he was very interested in our interpretation of his music, which gave us plenty of freedom. This was a great strength of our project, as we were able to develop a strong narrative. We also worked with an up and coming dancer Diego Garcia, who along with our musician provided us with plenty of talent which ensured we captured quality content. As our musician is located overseas, this was challenging at times and meant we could not include him in our filming and narrative. We could have developed our story further by creating a deeper connection between the musician and the dancer in our video if we were all in the same location. Despite this, we were able to shoot during actual protests to develop our concept, adding a sense of reality and relevance to our ideas.
Video Omens by James Chatburn
With a strong narrative and an open client, we were able to create our own interpretation of the song, yet we still had to always be conscious of working with a real client. Top of mind was the quality of our film and sound, as we wanted to represent James and his work as best as possible, especially as he is an established artist. Our M.O.U was suitable for this project, but if we were to continue working on a similar project in the future, I would consider adding more details around budgets and timelines to the M.O.U. The method of distribution and use of video could also be included. If we were working on a larger scale project, I would outline the role of each team member in the M.O.U as clarity for the artists.
(Photo – Diego Garcia, dancer – video Omens by James Chatburn)
When collaborating on a project with a real client and deadline, I feel it is efficient to share tasks amongst the group, based on group members’ strengths and interests where possible. Some members of our group wanted to work on every aspect of the video instead of dividing tasks, this was challenging for completing within the timeframe and ensuring workload was shared evenly. Along the way, we identified strengths and skills within the team, and we were eventually able to divide tasks accordingly. My role within the group as executive producer, coordinating the musician, dancer and managing our tasks and timelines. As I had existing relationships with our musician and dancer, I was responsible for liaising with them on behalf of our group. I felt I brought many ideas to the team and provided opportunities for the entire team to be involved and take part. As I was excited about this project with many ideas, it was difficult at the beginning of the project when others did not share my enthusiasm. I had to be very conscious to include everyone in the group and be open to listening to everyone’s ideas and their views on mine. As I brought some previous experience in producing, I had to be mindful of my approach to delegating to allow others to participate and experience different roles for themselves. Although it can be challenging at times working in a group with competing ideas, it provided us with experience on a real music video production working with various stakeholders on a large-scale production.
(Photo – Diego Garcia, dancer – video Omens by James Chatburn)
When reviewing the music videos from the other groups, we can see strong examples of the impact of images (below). In Robert Baxter – Comfort You, there is a rhythm between the music and the use of colour which suits the style of the song. The cliché objects acting as symbols of love and comfort are familiar and recognisable and you quickly connect with the concepts of the lyrics. This is done in a tongue in cheek way, again suiting the upbeat style of the music. For example, chocolates, flowers, hearts and teddy bears. The combination of the quirky objects cut with the artist singing against similar coloured backgrounds gives an artistic feel to the music video.
In the music video of Claim – Endless Day, the majority of the video is shot in close to the subjects helping to tell the story, climaxing into a wide shot that pans upwards and out towards the end of the video (Images below). This is a really clever and unique shot that signals the climax of the song and the end of the video and storyline showing an overview of the band, broken down car and landscape all in one shot. The postproduction of this shot was very professional, we can see the impact of editing and variation of shots in music videos with this example.
Overall this project has provided me with experience working on a collaborative project with a real-life client. We had to create our own ideas and concepts, yet always be conscious of our clients’ work as well as working with other artists, such as the dancer in our case. This is valuable learning for any project involving multiple artists and team members. Other video work where these skills could be applied would be for corporate video content, such as a promotional video, where an idea and concept need to be conveyed, multiple teams are involved, however, the clients’ interests always need to be considered. Although this type of production requires creativity, you must remember you are producing it for your client and the focus is on developing quality work for them. Thank you.
