Analysis Of Another Students Blog

Who’s Blog Have I Chosen?• I have chosen to analyse Ellie Zambakides blog as I think her final piece

was the most successful both visually and media wise ( camera angles / setting choices and camera shots ) . Ellie also achieved full marks in her course work , so for this reason I chose to analyse her blog as it will allow me to see what I need to include in my coursework in order to achieve the highest mark. Also by analysing her blog it will allow me to be inspired by some of her work and therefore help me and my own ideas grow, so hopefully my video will be a success too. On the next slide I will have some screenshots of her blog in general, this will include the layout , the different web pages and a screen shot from her final piece , by showing you these it will back up my point to why Ellie's blog was such a success and the reason why I chose to analyse her blog .

Ellie’s Blog

Above are the screenshots from Ellie’s website, you can see that her blog is very organised and attractive to the eye.

Analysis Of Her Research

• First thing I noticed when scrolling down Ellie’s research page was that there was a lot of content, I was instantly made aware that she had done a lot of home research alongside the ones set in class. I think that the amount of research she carried out defiantly contributed to her final grade as it allowed her to have a better understanding of music videos an how to make them successful. Additionally the research Ellie had carried out was all presented neatly and in order. I believe the most important part of research she carried out was looking at the history of music videos, as this allowed her to have an idea of what makes a music video successful and what not to include as it has become less popular over the years. Ellie’s research meant she has a good foundation to start her project with.

Analysis Of Her Planning• Ellie’s planning was very detailed, it was clear that she had a plan

that she was going to make work. Ellie’s planning consisted of floor plans, shooting schedules, actors releases and more, this showed she was organised / prepared this was why she was able to shoot her music video successfully. On the planning section of her blog it was clear to see the posts were updated frequently, this showed that Ellie was organised. Being organised helped when she was filming her music video as it meant Ellie had all her actors/actresses sorted, her filming locations and all other necessary things. To finalise Ellie’s planning was splendid and played a huge part in her final grade.

The Music Video

• Ellie's music video was one of my favourites from last years students , it showed a story whilst keeping you engaged from the beginning to the end. Her song choice of "youth" was also very clever because this song had lyrics which told a story whilst also having a deeper meaning , this meant that Ellie was able to create a story through the use of the song lyrics whilst incorporating the acting from her sister / boyfriend who both played the main role in the music video.

• Moreover Ellie's video is done in chronological order , her use of different shots and filming placed together with the music tells a story of a break up between two people. I also noticed that Ellie played close attention to the lyrics as she matched up shots with the words of the song , such as "we are just young and wild" , where she had a shot of the two young people drinking from an alcohol bottle , this symbolised the two people to be young and reckless.

• Another thing I loved about Ellie's video is her choice of filming locations , she had a variety of back ground shots including some in central London, some in her back garden and some in Brighton , by having a variety of different filming locations it added variety to her video and made it very pleasing to the audiences eye. I also think that by travelling to Brighton beach also showed that she went out of her way for this A-level task , it demonstrated her to be passionate about her music video task alongside making the music video more successful.

• Ellie's music video characters were all very good at acting / doing the role asked , this therefore helped the music video to look very realistic. They also must of been very flexible as they went out their way to travel to Brighton and up to London to film , this is an important factor which helped make the music video a success as without their flexibility I believe the video would of been rather boring and unoriginal and lacked creativity.

• Last thing I am going to comment on is Ellie's editing throughout the video , Ellie must of spent ages editing her video because I can not fault it at all . At the end of her video she does a fast rewind of all the video footage to illustrate how much of a good time the character had when she was with her boyfriend , this editing technique was extremely clever as it makes the audience feel very emotional and allows them to create a connection with the video itself . Similarly Ellie does use a variety of fades in the music video which makes the footage fit in with the song pace/temp, this made her music video look very professional and what I call a success.

• Therefore my overall opinion on Ellie's music video is that it is extremely good , by just using a story line allowed it to be extremely effective and ensured the video was emotional to the audience. Additionally you are able to understand what the music video story is trying to tell you from just one watch , this is very beneficial as this makes the video more enjoyable to watch for the audience. To finalise I aspire to make my music video as successful as Ellie's because it achieved full marks and is a music video that I could watch over and over again without becoming bored