AMY REID produced a music video as her Final Major Project for her Digital Film Production degree.
My passion for filmmaking began in my first GCSE class of Media Studies at King Edward VI. From then on I felt excitement every time my camera came out of its bag, which carried on through my sixth form experience, and now finishing my years at Ravensbourne University London.
To be able to complete my Digital Film Production degree, I had to make any moving picture production called a Final Major Project, therefore, I had chosen a music video. This is because I have always enjoyed the art and aesthetic of music videos, that can highlight the visual creativity of the sounds we listen to.
My music video idea surrounded female empowerment; working with a female artist to promote herself and her music to others, subtracting the stereotypical representation of females as sexual objects in music videos. I am also aware that we have come a long way in the film industry with regards to this subject on female objectification and the male gaze, however with this project I intend on carrying on this positive change. Therefore, I planned my camera shot types, and movement that helps promote the artist and her track in a different and creative way. Once we had received the music track from our artist, we were able to get more of a feel for what the song was about; the lyrics reveal it is about love and how it can last ‘longer than a month’, which is why we decided to film it in one continuous shot reinforcing this concept from the song.
As some may know, producing a film can come at a significant cost, and due to the recent pandemic, gathering funds to produce this video became very difficult, which is where the Old Burians came in to help me. From this, we were able to hire out the equipment needed, feed the crew on the day, supply finance for our cast and crew regarding travel, and hire a competent post-production editor and colourist, which significantly brought the whole project together.
This grant enabled me to complete my degree with a finalised music video, as our university was providing limited financial support during the COVID-19 pandemic. At Ravensbourne, we have a very large Digital Film Production course of around 200 people, with only two working cinema cameras available to us. This is why I decided to hire out external camera equipment, because of the high demand at our university, especially with the majority of our lectures online, and a limited time frame to film before the deadline. Thankfully, the film industry were still allowed to go ahead during the COVID-19 lockdown, which was why my Final Major Project was able to be filmed this academic year.
I am incredibly grateful for this opportunity the Old Burians have provided me with, especially as I can also use this video as a part of my portfolio to get work, and progress successfully in the film industry.