Introduction: Over the last 2 months I have been slowly developing a project that I wished to create for the end of my first year on the course. Now on the final day of the project, I will look back on what I have achieved, what I could have done better and, most importantly, what have I learned.

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Pre Production: Every project starts with an idea. I had been tasked with developing a creative media project for my 1st year final project. The only rule was that it needed to have some relevance with the word CHANGE. I knew right from the beginning that I wanted to create a music video. I had only just finished the music video project from before this and really wanted a second chance to really make a proper music video I was happy with.

I think that one of the best decisions I made in the project was to go into it blind. I knew the key to succeeding was to DEVELOP the project and not necessarily have a great film. Starting from scratch is a great way to develop a project. After looking at some official music videos and sending out a survey I had reached an idea. I was going to tell the story of a character who suffers from social anxiety and wants to overcome their troubles. It then later developed into the idea that someone would meet them and they would come out of their shell, so to speak. I came across a song by Noel Gallagher's high flying birds (of which I am a fan) called Ballad Of The Mighty I. I loved the song anyway which is a big step in the right direction. I also realised the song has a specific tone that I thought really fit what I was going for: upbeat, indie-rock sounding, but also the lyrics could be weaved into the concept I had created. Standouts included: 'You just pass me by' and 'Ill find you' which are both repeated throughout the song. It was a no-brainer. I continued to develop my research by looking at some more music videos and the styles they have, I researched a little about anxiety, created a mood board, looked at the clothes the band where usually and created a colour scheme. All the research I compiled in the early stages led to me really seeing this vision of what I wanted the music video to look like. I really tried to use multiple different sources for my research as well to try to get the best understand I could to create the music video. After some planning and a shooting script I was ready to go out and film.

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Production: Just because I started to film doesn't mean that research is over. I continued it by going out and testing some camera techniques to see if it could work in the final video and how you do it. I also looked at different camera angles and other techniques for filming. When we were ready for shooting we went to the first location and got all the footage that I knew I needed. Because I'd laid the shooting script out in such a way that the different sections of the song were divided into sections in the video, it was easy to know what footage to get and how I should direct my actors. When It came to the second day is where things started to go wrong. One of the actors told me that he could not make the shoot on the day we were meant to be going out to film. This through a massive spanner in the works and meant I not only had to rebook equipment but also it meant I had to go a week only being able to edit half the footage I needed. They were able to attend the following week however and I was able to get production wrapped after.

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Post Production: Now to edit the footage. Possibly my favourite stage of the film making pipeline is editing. I enjoy being able to put all the footage together into one timeline and seeing your idea come to life. While I do enjoy it, there were a few hiccups during post production that did annoy me. The main trouble was that as I was adding more stuff to the Premiere Pro timeline, the software began to be extremely slow to run and almost unbearable at one point. It took ages to save, export or even open my assembly tab. With the amount of footage I had and the effects I had applied I can see why it struggled so much but it did delay stuff a little. Speaking of effects I had stated all the way back at the time of my pitch that I wanted to use this project to gain some basic knowledge of how After Effects works. It is a great softly for applying motion graphics and visual effects to all sorts of media. Unfortunately when the time came for me to load up the software, my file was to big to be able to add any effects or even play the footage back within AE. With the little time I had left in the project, I decided to pull the plug on that idea and that it wasn't a necessary aspect to creating the music video. I did go through multiple renditions of the music video, some of which are located on this website. I even altered what was on the shooting script. I decided that I needed to at least appear in my music video otherwise no one would know who made it. I took inspiration from some of Noel Gallagher's music videos and gave myself a full on character. My character was going to be the reason (catalyst) that brought the other 2 characters together. The guitar that I had chosen to be the thing that draws them to each other was actually owned by this third character. I really liked the idea and adds a real hook to the plot of the video to keep people interested.

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The Final Cut: What do I think of it? When I watched through, what would eventually be, the final cut of my video I had a big grin on my face and was head banging throughout all 5 and a half minutes of it and knew that I had achieved what I originally set out to do. Albeit some of the shots are a bit clunky in places but that is mainly due to the lack of budget, resources and time I had to make it. After the screening in front of all the other people who had their own projects to do I am happy with the response I have received. I really like the colour grading in the video, it matches all the way through where it is meant to and makes it seem cinematic and almost Americana, which is what I was going for. I have been told that the actors were perfectly cast as they fit the style of NGHFB. The clothes worn by said actors are also fitted with the colour scheme I had chosen and the locations are exactly what I was hoping they would look like. The weather also helped make it look the way it did (for a change). Some criticism I have received for the music video is that the part of the 3rd character isn't very clear. I can see this being an issue with a lot of people however it is only minor. Other than that I am thrilled with the way it turned out.

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Conclusion: What next? As stated before I am really happy with the way it turned out. It is what I envisioned it would be (minus some effects) about 2 months ago when I began the project. Over the course of it I have learned how to edit efficiently, how to composite different shots together and also some different techniques and effects I can use both in camera and in post. I have also learned to be very careful relying on people and make sure they can attend shooting. Something that has been stated in my work is that I chose to have this music video be like a subtle sequel (for the want of a better term) to the Something in The Way video I helped to create in the project prior to this. The guitar is the same one and is why two characters are drawn to it and it is so significant. Due to the success of this music video I may create a 3rd one to turn it into a trilogy which will expand on some of the story and further my skills in film making during the summer away from college. I am going to submit the music video to a local film festival because I am so happy with it and eagerly await what the more people that watch it think in the future.