University Portfolio

Music Video

During my Year 12 coursework in Autumn and Winter of 2021-2022, I was tasked with creating a music video for a song without an official music video. I decided to chose the song Tickle Me Pink by Johnny Flynn which is a folk song, as it is one of my favourite songs and allows me to imagine being free in the countryside. Throughout this project I had to follow a brief which had a number of demands. For example, it must not exceed a BBFC rating of a 12A, it must include at least 70% of original content, must consider the conventions of the genre and can either be performance, narrative, concept or a mixture of all three. I decided my video would be a narrative and I chose a colour scheme of rich, vibrant oranges, greens and blues which all link to nature.

This was the storyboard I create to aid me in the creation of my music video, I did not stick to it completely due to contingencies such as time constraints or changes in ideas; however, mainly managed to stick to it. I decided the narrative would surround a young man who has left his job to live freely in the hills and countryside, he would make friends along the way, have a point of doubt where he returns back to his town, but eventually reach his goal.

This is my final music video which I am very proud of. I had to overcome a number of challenges such as the weather and amount of time to film scenes (as it was filmed in Winter). Due to finishing classes in sixth form at 3pm and the sun setting at 4pm, along with having to walk up onto the moor, we battled serious time constraints which lead us to changing scene locations and different parts of the narrative whilst out filming; however, I managed to pull through it with resilience and initiative. 

The majority of folk surrounds the theme of he ideology of freedom and escaping old, mundane lives for new, free ones. You see many conventions in folk music videos to convey this meaning of freedom. A convention commonly seen is a natural, bright sky and good whether to add to the effect of being outside, happy and free. A technical code you see in folk music videos are jump cuts in the chorus to see the passing of time and journeys to happiness. In folk music videos where the concept is freedom, you tend to see a lot of bright yellows, oranges, greens and blues which relate to nature, linking to folk music's appreciation of nature. Also seen is many different camera shots such as master shots of any performance and close ups of instruments along with wide shots and extreme wide shots of the character within nature. I filmed and edited all these aspects to juxtapose this meaning of freedom.

Scriptwriting

During my Year 12 coursework in Spring/Summer of 2022, I was tasked with writing a 10–15-minute extract of a shooting script for a TV Drama idea for BBC 3 which I had previously planned. The target audience was 15-21-year-olds, and the aim was to get more young people to watch TV on the BBC, particularly because they have lost market share to video on demand conglomerates such as Netflix. My idea was to use this opportunity to raise awareness of an issue and reduce the stigma around men's mental health. To do this, I created a teen/crime drama following a teenage boy called Sam, who's father dies. Sam struggles to cope with his father's death and this leads to with mental health issues and drug use. In the end he receives help, which I believe can help viewers motivate themselves to get help too and fits with the BBC's remit to "inform, educate and entertain". My drama is titled 'I Need Help', and my script covers the first 10-15 minutes of the pilot episode. My script is shown below.

Advertising Campaign

During my Year 13 coursework in Autumn and Winter of 2022-2023, I was tasked with creating a cross-media advertising campaign for my TV drama idea. My client stated in the brief that I must create adverts in at least 3 different media. I chose to create a TV advert/trailer, a radio advert/trailer and advertisements on different social media platforms. I was also tasked with creating a concept for an interactive app, which must include a quiz element and a visual/opening element which displays an avatar of the protagonist/antagonist. In order to make these adverts, I needed to create a proposal for my client, this is shown below.

Continuity Editing Challenge

During the Summer Holidays in 2022, I was tasked with creating a continuity sequence. It must include certain shots such as a low angle shot, cutaway, panning shot, shot against a light source, birds eye view etc. Finally he had to be a video of someone doing something simple. My mind instantly went to baking, however this turned out to be more complicated than we thought. As compared to making a cup of tea (which was the example video we were shown), there are a lot more steps. However, this was a perfect opportunity to challenge myself. We were not tasked with creating any planning documents, meaning I could properly test my initiative and flow of creative ideas. Turning up to my friends house with nothing else apart from my phone and the idea of a baking continuity sequence, I created this which I am very proud of.

The idea behind it was a wholesome video of a couple baking brownies on a sunny summers day. The outfit choices reflect that too, the colours of light blue, red and white have connotations of summer as they're bright and vibrant. The song I chose was 'He Can Only Hold Her' by Amy Winehouse as it has a good beat to it and the piano and use of brass instruments makes it a very cheerful song. However, the meaning of the lyrics is opposite to this, they reflect a time where she (Amy Winehouse) was in a relationship but still missed her previous lover, so I decided to subvert these lyrics by showing a happy couple in a stable relationship.