Stand By Me - Music Video

Concept

For this project, we were to do another music video, although hopefully better than last year. We chose "Stand By Me" by Ben E. King. The concept was changed several times, but we finally arrived on the idea circled around three friends having a good time on their last day before one of the friends moves away. Our director, Aidan, was inspired by the movie "Stand By Me" for this video.

Process

Pre-production: We ran through several concepts (almost one too many) but finally settled on one after a few days. The storyboard was very detailed and the beat sheet was as well. We created a prop list and actor list in order to prepare for everything.

Production: We filmed throughout several days and on short intervals... it was surprising that we made it! Everybody handled the responsibility of cinematographer, more or less. Anything to get the shot. Our actors were pretty much our whole group, mind Max Cooper. 

Post-Production: Our editor, Brett, did a fantastic job in editing the video in as little as two days. He had a short window to work with but handled it well, and the result definitely reflects that.

Learn/Skills

I learned how important time management is and the importance of location scouting. I also learned how to better my camera techniques. We used technical skills in the area of cinematography and editing, communication in arriving on location and getting props, leadership in directing the video and taking charge of the short amount of time, collaboration in working all together to create an amazing film with time constraints, and project management in completing the video on time.

Different/Same

I wasn't there for the entire shoot, so the shots indoors I would re-do. Also, some of the shots go in and out of focus because they were on auto mode so I would re-do those as well. Other than that, I would keep everything else the same. The fades between shots really matched well in this video, but might not for every video. I would maybe edit it a little differently, but not much.

Experiences/Conclusions

I will draw the project management I learned in this film to be used in my next project. The minimal time that we had still turned out to be a great product. It goes to show that you have to make the most of the time you are given in order to be completely satisfied with the end result. All in all, I am very pleased with this project and can't wait to get into shorts and features.