Commentary Script

When planning our video for the song 'Hardest of Hearts' by Florence and the Machine we wanted to give it a mysterious and different feel to a 'typical' alternative pop music video. Leading up to shooting our video we researched into the genre and tried to fit into its conventions.

In the video, the music/visuals and lyric and visuals were contrasting to create a sense of disturbance as it was uncomfortable for the viewer. This helped to sell the artist as they appeared creepy and mysterious and so people would want more.

One of these was intertextuality where the video featured images of other artists in a subtle way, for example the hat and mask were mimicking Michael Jackson. This also fitted in with our genre and achieved the effect we wanted.

The concept we were trying to communicate was that the artist was mysterious and almost anonymous, and so we tried to make the audience of the products want to know more about the artist. We achieved this through the use of lighting to make the artist look quirky but at the same time through the masks to make the artist anonymous and creepy.

This meant that the image of the artist was easy to create as it was almost like a character in a horror film. They were successful at attracting the target audience as the creepy horror film type label of the artist made our target audience interested in what the artist was about. Also the confusing element made the narrative sophisticated and this would appeal to hardcore fans.

Within the video we 'meet' two new people which later on become masked, however this is the same person throughout, this suggested an element of mental instability, linking back to the sinister edge we were looking for.

Whilst filming we tried to keep a clear narrative, however we are aware that at some points it may become confusing to some viewers, but we don't see this as a negative as it makes the viewer think more about the video and the story behind it.

After filming and editing our video into a final product we created some ancillary products. This involved a DigiPack and Magazine advert. When making these products we considered our theme but ended up making the products more particular to the single rather than the album.

This helped us to develop our artist by making different images that are unique to them. They still linked well and just made the products look more exciting. At first we did use images that were from the video but after feedback we decided to go for a new look and ended up creating a better final product.

We have learnt a lot from audience feedback since the pitch, it was has been very mixed and so we could strengthen our products. The feedback from the pitch was mainly positive as we had a lot of detail and we built up a strong character bio and our goodwins points were well planned so we had a good base to create the music video. What we learnt from this is that it is important to plan well before the products are created.

Negative feedback was that it looked very hard to achieve what we had planned and what we learnt from this is that we should set aims which are not too complicated to achieve; the quality of our video fell as a result of this.

More negative feedback was that there could have been a wider range of shots and the narrative was a bit confusing. What we learnt from this was that we should have spent more time planning in more shots and made the story more clearer.

Feedback on our rough cut was generally positive as the visuals were creepy and matched the music. There wee good uses of lighting and editing and our extreme shots were good. The masks added to the mystery of the song and overall it was a unique and creative. What we leant from this was that it was important to be creative and extreme as this made the products more unique.

The final cut feedback was all good except that the visuals did not seem to match the lyrics. What we learnt from this was that a more simple video would have made it easier to follow.


We used a lot of new media technology to construct, research and plan our products. Blogger was a very good blog to use for research and to look back or to see how to improve the video. Final cut was used to construct the video which was very helpful as we could organise our clips and add colour effects and transitions to it.

At first Final Cut was hard to get to grips with and difficult to create the vision we had for our video. After experimenting with different techniques and visuals, Final Cut became very helpful and gave a professional look to our video.

One part of Final Cut that was very useful for our editing process was the effects that we could use such as colour correction, shot layering and cross dissolves which we used as cuts in certain scenes, and many more.

Shot layering was an idea we cam up with in the research section of our project, as it linked back to the overall theme of mental instability. It looks really effective and we continued to use it numerous times in the video.

The HD cameras were useful as we could create good professional shots. The still cameras were helpful as we could manipulate our surroundings to take creepy yet interesting shots which we used in our research.

We also used many websites which helped us with our research on music videos and on audiences we would target. The websites we used were: Youtube, Myspace, NME (and other magazine websites). We also gained inspiration from watching films such as Saw which uses masks as a focal point for the audience.

Overall the technology helped us create a successful product as it was professional, reliable and with enough time, we could fully learn how to use all the technology efficiently. Final cut did hinder us as they were hard to layer but once this was mastered, they did not trouble us.

As a group we are very pleased with the end result, as it achieved what we had originally planned and we think it sends out the message that we wanted. Also from evaluating and comparing professional examples, we believe our music video looks sophisticated and professional.