Evaluation of the project.

The final product of this project is my music video for the song 'Let's go surfing'. I am really pleased with the video as I think it really fulfills its purpose and I think the overall finish of the video is really good.

Developing my ideas

When I first thought about creating a BSL music video I thought it would be really hard. I didn't know any sign language and I wasn't sure what the deaf community look for in a music video. I therefor found the help from the Dereham Sense centre unvaluable as they both taught me the signs I needed and how to make a good sign language video.


Once I had decided that I was going to create a BSL video I had a clear vision of what I wanted the video to be like. There aren't that many BSL music videos around and the ones there are are quite bland. I wanted to create something that used sign language but that was also visually interesting.

Song choice: I am still really pleased with the song I chose 'Let's go surfing' by The Drums. The signs to the song are really easy and look effective. The repetition of the chorus also makes for a good BSL video.

Filming my video

Filming the video was really fun. I particularily enjoyed using the green screen as it was something I had never done before. A lot of the filming was simply trial and error as I had to film the clips and see how they looked on screen. If I was to film a project like this again I would like to use a higher definition camera so the footage would be of better quality.

Editing the video

Editing the video took musch longer than filming it. I used Imovie on my macbook, which was really good, and I think the final video was editied quite smoothly. The reason the editing process took so long was because I had to green screen each clip and then make sure the lip syncing was correct. Once everything had been green-screened etc. I also decided to add subtitles to my video to make sure people could understand the signing as easily as possilble. If I was to try and edit another BSL video it would probably be much easier as I would know all the techniques. I found it quite difficult this time around as some of the skills, such as green-screening, I had never done before.

The Completed Video

I am  really pleased with the video now it is finished. I think I have managed to create a BSL video which is creative and easy to understand. The most rewarding part of creating my video was reciving feedback from the students at the Sense College.

Feedback

Last week I took my video to the Sense College in Dereham and showed them my video. They all said they liked it and I was really pleased when they sent me these letters with advice and praise about the video.
This feedback is really important to me as the student at the Sense centre are my target audience. All the students use sign language and have diiferent levels of hearing imparments. These letters have given me the confidence to pu tmy video on YouTube and share it with the rest if the world.

The letter bellow was the one I was most pleased with. It is from the signing instuctor, Beverley, at Sense who taught me the signs and so her approvale is really valued. Beverley is completely deaf and the fact she could understand most of the signs is really good. Her comments also means I can go over the parts of the video she found harder to understand and improve them.

THE FINISHED PRODUCT

Created by- Ela Gök

Music by - The Drums- 'Let's go surfing' 

Extras- Marnie Hodgson and Eve Silver 

To watch the video in better quality got to- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVSFn6K4lic 

The filming and editing process- step by step.

This post is going to outline each section of my video, from start to finish, with how it was filmed and then how it was edited.

Part 1. Introduction-

I wanted my music video to have a sort clip at the beginning with the title of the song. I thought it would be cool if it incorporated some of the 'neon' colour I was planning on using throughout the video. In the end I created a short flashing clip in blue, green and pink. At first I wasn't sure how I could do this and thought I may have to try and find a programme which does it for you, but then I thought maybe you could create a a presentation on Powerpoint, then convert it to a movie. This way you can simply create two different slides in different colours and alternate between them to give the impression they are flashing. I then took this and speeded it up in IMovie.

Part 2. Surfboard-

During the instrumental at the beginning of the song I wanted to actually have someone surfing.  As I don't actually have a surfboard, or know anyone that can surf, this was going to be difficult. In the end I decided to try and use my mums washing board. It looked a bit funny but I think it works in a 'kooky' kind of way. I then lay the green screen on the floor and got one of my 'surf girls' to try and imitate surfing on it. I then took the clip into Imovie and green-screened it onto a blue background. A kind of 'home-made' surfing clip.

Part 3. Mugshots-

The next part of the video consists of two short clips of my two 'surf girls'. I tried to film the two clips against a white background in kind of old fashioned lifeguard poses.

Part 4. Verse 1-

For verse one I green screened in a simple background of a beach and palm tree. I used this to set the scene but I didn't want anything too busy. It was extremely hard to find a clip online of a beach which was free. Most websites wanted you to buy the clips but in the end, after  lot of looking, I managed to find a website which supplied free clips. After the clip had been green screened I decided to add subtitles at the bottom incase my signing wasn't clear enough.

Part 5. Chorus 1-

For the first time the chorus is played I filmed a shot of the two 'surf girls' with their heads back to back mouthing the lyrics of the song. I used this clip as lip reading can be very important to deaf people as it is another way for them to understand what people are saying. I tried to make sure their mouthing was really clear. Afterwards in I movie I inserted a green-screened clip of me signing into the corner of the screen.

Part 6. Short Instrumental-

In the short instrumental between the chorus and 2nd verse I added a few short clips of the 'surf girls'. They had been green-screened into beachy backgrounds.

Part 7. Verse 2-

Verse two was also of me signing. This time it was green- screened onto a different beach background. For this verse I also included the subtitles.

Part 8. Chorus 2-

For the second time the chorus is played I took the footage of the 'surf girls' mouthing along and then cut it in half so each girls was on a separate clip. I then took the clips, rotated them, and then put them at the top of the screen. At the bottom of the screen I used a yellow background and then green-screened me in again. It was really difficult to make sure all three individual clips were in time with each other and the music.

Part 9. Down Down Baby-

During the refrain at the end of the song, which is repeated four times, I once again used me signing. But to make it look more interesting I edited it so I am signing but the colour of the background behind me changes at the beginning of each repeat of the refrain.

Part 10. 2x chorus-

At the end of the song the chorus is repeated twice and I use the clips from the two previous choruses.

CREDITS- At the end of the video I give thanks to my extras and the students at sense.

Time Table for Creating my BSL Music Video

Time Table for Creating my BSL Music Video

I am going to learn the signs to the song I am using for my video on the first Monday of the Easter holidays. I have therefore set myself the task of completing my video before the end of the holidays. I am going to try and use this timetable to help me do so.

TASK	How Long It Should Take	What Happened and What I Would Try to Improve.
To send a letter to the students at the Dereham Sense centre asking for their help on how I should go about creating my BSL music video.	The letter shouldn’t take more than an hour to write and then my mum can give it to her students to reply. She has said I should expect a few days before they get around to replying.	I was really pleased with the replies to the letters I sent they were really useful and the student seemed really interested in what I am doing. If I had of had more time I would have liked to actually go into the centre and talked to the students themselves as it would have been nice to have that extra level of contact.
Go into the Dereham Sense centre and learn the signs.	Beverly, the BSL instructor, has set aside I few hours to teach me the signs to the video. As the song is very repetitive she says it should take no longer than this.	The lesson was great. Beverly knew all the signs to the song and was able to teach them to me quite easily. After the lesson I forgot a few of the signs so it would have been nice to have planned a second session with Beverly to make sure everything was perfect.
Gathering the equipment so I was able to shoot the video.	I know people who own most of the equipment I need so hopefully it will only take a few phone calls.	I didn’t have any money to buy equipment for the video so I have had to be quite resourceful in finding what I need. I am going to use my own camera, which is just a cheap digital camera, but will hopefully do the trick. I am lending the tri-pod from the business where my dad works and the green screen from a friend.
Teaching the signs to the chorus to my extras.	This should hopefully be quicker than it took me to learn the signs as I am only going to teach them the chorus.	This didn’t take very long at all I just had to try and remember all the signing rules Beverly had taught me.
ON THE DAY OF FILMING
The first job was to set up the green screen and tri-pod.	This shouldn’t take to long apart from the fact the green screen I am using is a piece of green fabric and I don’t know where I can hang it from so it has the best light.	The tri-pod was easy to set up but the green screen was a different story. We had to hang it from about five different places until it had minimal shadows across it. Next time I would try and work out where the green screen was going to go before hand so I wouldn’t loose filming time.
Filming the video	I have no idea how long this is going to take. Me and my extras have set aside two days to try and get the filming done in.	In the end the filming did take a very long time. We all struggled to keep are signs in time with the music and making sure our signs were defined and easy to understand once on screen. In the end we filmed across two days. On the first day we filmed and then that evening I started the editing process to see what was missing etc. The next day we simply filmed any improvements or clips, which were missing. If I was film a video like this again I would give myself a clear outline of what we need to do and a better time scale.

Learning the BSL signs for the music video.

Learning the BSL signs for the music video.

Beverly Sutton, a BSL instructor at Sense Dereham, has kindly agreed to teach me the signs to The Drum's 'Let's go surfing'. she didn't only teach me the signs but also the importance of the signing frame and the transitions between each sign.

I found the signs hard to learn as they have to all be kept quite close to your chest and within a small space called your 'signing frame'. Once I had learnt all the signs I had to put them to the music. This was really difficult as the lyrics to the music are really fast and it is hard to sign that fast. After about 2 and a half hours  I'd got most of the signs and was able to go away and practice them by myself.

The video bellow show one of the signing practices. The running at the begging (which looks really funny) was me trying to 'emphasise the beat'. We left that out in the end. This was one of my first attempts : 

My song choice for my music video.

My song choice for my music video.

I have decided to choose a song with simple lyrics and a lot of repetition for my music video as this will make it easier to sign along to.  The song i'm using is going to be 'Let's go surfing' by The Drums. It is one of my favourite songs and I like it because it has a catchy and repetitive chorus the song also has a strong beat which I would like to try and mirror in my own video.




Wake up
It's a beautiful morning
Honey, while the sun is still shining
Wake up
Would you like to go with me?
Honey, take a run down to the beach

Oh, mama
I wanna go surfing
Oh, mama
I don't care about nothing

Wake up
There's a new kid in the town
Honey, he's moving into the big house
Remember
When I was so very hopeless
Darling, he's gonna make it all better

Oh, mama
I wanna go surfing
Oh, mama
I don't care about nothing

Down, down baby
Down by the rollercoaster
Sweet, sweet baby
I'll never let you go (X 4)

Oh, mama
I wanna go surfing
Oh, mama
I don't care about nothing

Oh, mama
I wanna go surfing
Oh, mama
I don't care about nothing