Previous work - Mr Bojangles (2007)

Previous work. Mr Bojangles (2007) Thurston Community College



This music video is a narrative based video, which tells us the story of “Charlie Chaplin” and his trip to the future. Within this video there are a number of very successful parts which worked and made this video. One of these was the way in which they used colour and black and white. It worked really well how they made transitions between the two, moving between the future and his current life. This was very helpful and helped to move the story along. There was a very good attempt at the 360° shot, which worked very well but found it was weaker than maybe was intended as it was unsteady. I like the way in which they have used two locations which contrast each other. Firstly they have the oldie looking street which is seen in black and white. And then the contrast of London which is the big city where everything happens. We are able to see how they have included some of Goodwin’s six into this piece. Having a clear reference to the lyrics and visuals and also including intertexual reference. Over all I think this video works really well, and has a number of different elements which we might considered to include into our video.

Parts which I like:
• The use of black and white works really well as it suits the style of the piece
• The transition between the black and white to colour is clear and works well together and makes the change clear about what is going on. Helps to show the narrative.
• Liked the different angles which were used when he was chancing his hat.
• Liked the way that the cuts start to speed up when the music speeded up.
• Transition at 02:20. Works really well as they both flow into each other smoothly.

Parts which did not work as well:
• Found that the piano playing did not work as well
• I would have liked to see more of the character singing, as it only happened once and worked really well when it was used.
• Some of the shots which were used where slightly unsteady.
• Like the 360° shot of “Charlie chaplin” but found it very unsteady which did not make it as strong.
Areas which I may do differently:

• Would like to see more of the character singer, as it worked really well.
• I would have the character to be seen doing more tourist things rather than establishing shots of the location.
• Would have had the entrance back into the black and white world the same as going into colour to keep it the same.
• Maybe not film in places like London, as it Is not that easy to go back and re-co shots if they did not work.

From watching this I have learnt that to make sure that we are able to get the best possible video that we can we need to think about the locations which we are going to use. As within this video parts of it are filmed in London. Meaning that if any shots are needed to be re-filmed this would not be possible. by using a location closer to home we will be able to go out again and re-film if needed. I can also see that the link between black and white and switching to colour works really well with the equipment which is available. The one thing which we need to make sure that we look at is getting the correct point on when to switch so that they flow naturally. I liked the narrative based video but feel that there could have been more elements of singing or playing an instrument, which I feel we should include into our video as it keeps the connection to the artist as well as the narrative which is going on.