(13) Music Video or Short Film?
Which Direction Should I Take My Coursework?
When thinking about which direction I should take my project, there are several aspects I need to consider before beginning to weigh the pros and cons of both formats. For example, the technical aspects, such as which is easier and more practical to do, or how the project will benefit me exactly.
Music Video?
The main advantage I feel creating a music video will carry is the fact that it will definitely be easier and lessen my workload. Firstly, I don't have to worry about audio and how I can make it enhance storytelling as it will have one song playing throughout. Secondly, a music video generally runs for less time than a short film, meaning I will have to capture less footage than I would for a short film.
Another definite advantage to creating a music video is that it requires less creativity to still look good. For example, a music video that only features the artist lip-syncing can still be good without much planning efforts (because the main purpose of most music videos is to promote the artist), whereas, a short film requires loads and loads of creative effort to perfect storytelling - which is the main purpose of any narrative short film. It's a lot easier to make a music video look good than a short film, music videos have the song to grip the audience whereas short films need to grip the audience on their own. Similarly, short films require a lot more technical knowledge, such as knowing how to record good quality audio.
On the other hand, I find that creating a music video might limit my creative freedom. For example, I have to keep it relevant to the song's context, genre and mood. Although, I can pick a song to suit my idea. However, if I wanted to adapt the idea, my chosen song would limit how dramatically I could make alterations.
Short Film?
As opposed to music videos, I feel short films will allow me total creative freedom (disregarding my own financial and environmental circumstances). This is because I don't have to work within the boundaries of a song and can, therefore, produce a more creative and original piece of work. Furthermore, I feel that creating a short film will personally benefit me in the long run, as firstly, I would quite like to make short films in the future so this would serve as good practice. Secondly, a short film will help extend my portfolio and better me in the future, this can't really be done to promote myself if I chose to produce a music video because of copyright restrictions on the song, unless I get the song cleared.
Another advantage to short film is that good quality short films are more cinematic than music videos by a long shot, which just improves the overall quality and makes a video more pleasant to watch. This is because the use of music (from the music industry, not cinematic scores) takes away any merit the story holds because it will always just be a music video and not have a real sense of cinema to it. Furthermore, the music can't be chopped up and altered to improve a scene, whereas, in a short film, a cinematic score can be used wherever you like to really emphasize emotion: there's way more freedom. This being said, it is a lot harder to make a good quality short film than a music video. Often, people create music videos by just placing vibey music over a compilation of irrelevant clips, and because of the vibey music, it becomes impressive despite the lack of impressive content.
I personally like watching short films over music videos, too. So I feel like creating a short film just appeals to me better, personally.
Brainstorming
Before I make a final decision, I decided to create two diagrams that listed a few of my ideas for both music videos and short films. The reason this will help me come to a decision is because I can weigh the ideas and see, out of all of them, which one is my favourite. Secondly, if I change my mind later in the course, I have loads of ideas to fall back on for both music video and short film. It also allows me to boost creativity which will aid me when developing on any of the ideas.
After comparing both of my mindmaps, I found that my music video ideas were very lighthearted and happy, whereas, my short film ideas were a lot more serious. I picked two of my favourite ideas, however, I found myself in a tricky position because one of them is a music video and one of them is a short film - making me still undecided about which to choose.
The ideas I chose was the shark idea (music video) and the political idea (short film). Although I am undecided on these specific ideas, I generally lean more towards short film than music video.
So, Music Video or Short Film?
After weighing all of the benefits of doing either one of these, I have decided to choose Short Film. This is because, even though short films are more challenging and less practical to do, I personally think producing a short film will benefit me more than producing a music video. This being said, I am very open to reconsidering if I come up with better ideas for a music video in the future.
When thinking about which direction I should take my project, there are several aspects I need to consider before beginning to weigh the pros and cons of both formats. For example, the technical aspects, such as which is easier and more practical to do, or how the project will benefit me exactly.
Music Video?
The main advantage I feel creating a music video will carry is the fact that it will definitely be easier and lessen my workload. Firstly, I don't have to worry about audio and how I can make it enhance storytelling as it will have one song playing throughout. Secondly, a music video generally runs for less time than a short film, meaning I will have to capture less footage than I would for a short film.
Another definite advantage to creating a music video is that it requires less creativity to still look good. For example, a music video that only features the artist lip-syncing can still be good without much planning efforts (because the main purpose of most music videos is to promote the artist), whereas, a short film requires loads and loads of creative effort to perfect storytelling - which is the main purpose of any narrative short film. It's a lot easier to make a music video look good than a short film, music videos have the song to grip the audience whereas short films need to grip the audience on their own. Similarly, short films require a lot more technical knowledge, such as knowing how to record good quality audio.
On the other hand, I find that creating a music video might limit my creative freedom. For example, I have to keep it relevant to the song's context, genre and mood. Although, I can pick a song to suit my idea. However, if I wanted to adapt the idea, my chosen song would limit how dramatically I could make alterations.
Short Film?
As opposed to music videos, I feel short films will allow me total creative freedom (disregarding my own financial and environmental circumstances). This is because I don't have to work within the boundaries of a song and can, therefore, produce a more creative and original piece of work. Furthermore, I feel that creating a short film will personally benefit me in the long run, as firstly, I would quite like to make short films in the future so this would serve as good practice. Secondly, a short film will help extend my portfolio and better me in the future, this can't really be done to promote myself if I chose to produce a music video because of copyright restrictions on the song, unless I get the song cleared.
Another advantage to short film is that good quality short films are more cinematic than music videos by a long shot, which just improves the overall quality and makes a video more pleasant to watch. This is because the use of music (from the music industry, not cinematic scores) takes away any merit the story holds because it will always just be a music video and not have a real sense of cinema to it. Furthermore, the music can't be chopped up and altered to improve a scene, whereas, in a short film, a cinematic score can be used wherever you like to really emphasize emotion: there's way more freedom. This being said, it is a lot harder to make a good quality short film than a music video. Often, people create music videos by just placing vibey music over a compilation of irrelevant clips, and because of the vibey music, it becomes impressive despite the lack of impressive content.
I personally like watching short films over music videos, too. So I feel like creating a short film just appeals to me better, personally.
Brainstorming
Before I make a final decision, I decided to create two diagrams that listed a few of my ideas for both music videos and short films. The reason this will help me come to a decision is because I can weigh the ideas and see, out of all of them, which one is my favourite. Secondly, if I change my mind later in the course, I have loads of ideas to fall back on for both music video and short film. It also allows me to boost creativity which will aid me when developing on any of the ideas.
These are the ideas I wrote down:
After comparing both of my mindmaps, I found that my music video ideas were very lighthearted and happy, whereas, my short film ideas were a lot more serious. I picked two of my favourite ideas, however, I found myself in a tricky position because one of them is a music video and one of them is a short film - making me still undecided about which to choose.
The ideas I chose was the shark idea (music video) and the political idea (short film). Although I am undecided on these specific ideas, I generally lean more towards short film than music video.
So, Music Video or Short Film?
After weighing all of the benefits of doing either one of these, I have decided to choose Short Film. This is because, even though short films are more challenging and less practical to do, I personally think producing a short film will benefit me more than producing a music video. This being said, I am very open to reconsidering if I come up with better ideas for a music video in the future.
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