Workshop Evaluation: 5) How do you think the work you have completed for the preliminary tasks will impact on your real music video project?

Like all other video projects, I will make sure (along with my group) that all aspects of pre-production have been covered and that anything which is likely to come up and disrupt the shoot will be avoided. This includes storyboarding (many times over) and making sure that there are no continuity errors and organising props etc, and, should there be a performance, making sure that all actors and actresses are clued up as to what they need to do. We did this with the prelim task, from learning dance routines to organising and setting up props for the library set in our remake of In the Sun.

During production, I have learnt how vital it is to communicate with your team-members and share roles amongst people. Therefore, everyone gets to be included and more work will get to be done in a limited timeframe. Also, during shooting, we need to take into account problems which may arise when we come to edit; therefore, to avoid such problems we need to do things like shoot as many shots as possible and go over existing shots to see what looks good and what needs to be improved.

With all the tasks that we have completed, I have learnt that the most important thing to shooting a music video is the energy the people in shot have to give off and the emotion they need to convey according to the song. If they successfully do this, then the audience can really engage with the artist and the more effectively the song, artist and album would be marketed. This is above all the most important thing I have learnt from the tasks, and in addition to making sure the singers know the song, this is the primary thing which will influence the production of my real music video project.

Workshop Evaluation: 4) Have the lipsync tasks benefitted you in any way?

The preliminary lipsync task was useful in helping us learn the song in preparation for the workshop. Additionally, by doing a prelim lipsync of the song we got into the mood of filming and having fun. At first, I was quite self concious on camera and I think it showed, however, going on,  I learnt to loosen up and have fun with my friends. Additionally, when it came to editing our footage, we realied just how meticulous we had to be with matching the movement of the mouths with the lyrics of the song. I feel we achieved this really well with the lipsync above!



When it came to our individual lipsyncs, Anisah and I went all out! At first it was difficult choosing the song we wanted to to, but in the end we settled for the famous I don't wanna miss a thing by Aerosmith. We chose this song in the end because we would be able to show a lot of emotion and because it was a song that everyone would be able to recognise. I felt a lot more confident in front of the camera, possibly because I had had some experience being in front of it (the She&Him lipsync and the workshop). We also learnt how important it is to learn the lyrics, as Anisah had some trouble remembering a few lines, but I don't really think this matters because I think our performance was enough to distract the audience from things like this. You can tell we had fun shooting this, and that we weren't taking it too seriously, which is what I think makes our lipsync successful. Also, as we had not set storyboard to go by, it was easier to edit as we could choose whatever shot we wanted, as also as we did not have to think about continuity. However, I do admit that at times we found editing hard as we had so many shots to choose from!

Workshop Evaluation: 3) Are you pleased with your edit?

Is this how you expected it to look?Identify the successes and failures of your edited version. In hindsight, what would you have done differently at the production stage?



I am very happy with mine and Anisah's edit of In the Sun. We followed the original as close as possible (you can compare it with the original on the corner of the screen), both in choosing the shots and in the timing and editing.

Our edited version was successful mainly because it stayed true to the original video. We were extremly tight with our timing, making sure that almost everything we could match on time to the original was matched, for instance when Ciara shimmys her shoulders in the hallway to when she winks in the gym. However, our edit would not have been as successful were it not for the effort put in during the shoot. The energy shown by the lead, Ciara and the backing dancers contributes to a lot of the mood which the edit gives out.

Of course, there were some shots which we were not able to match to the original perfectly. However, I don't really think this mattered, as it allowed us some lee-way into the types of shot we chose for the final cut. I also liked that the shots we shot in the workshop were slightly different to the shots in the original, as it meant we could afford to be more creative with what we achieved.

As we were editing, we realised that the lighting in some of the shots did not correspond to each other. Though this is not something we could have controlled on set (even with extra lighting) we managed to solve this by changing the brightness and contrast on some shots to make them match (as best as possible) with the others.
After having completed the edit, I realised that our remake of In the Sun turned out better than I thought it'd be. It's great how close we have stayed to the original video, both in terms of camera work, performance and in the editing. However, wuith hindsight, there are several things which we could have rectified during the production stage of the task:

• We had to use the shot of the main male lead closing the locker door from the original video as we were unable to find a suitibale locker. Of course, in this instance we were constrained by our environment, though had we more time, we could have found a way to achieve this.
• The hallway was a bit too narrow for the dancers to spread out behind the female lead. In the end, they ended up looking a bit cramped at certain points in the video. However, once again we were constrained by our environment, and although the hallway was too narrow, that did not stop us from getting great shots!
• There is a basketball hoop in the top corner in the library shots. Had we spotted that on the shoot, we would have been able to correct this.
• In the last shot, as the female lead is walking away a fly flies into shot. Though we could not have possibly stopped this, with hindsight I feel that we could have shot a few more shots during production, as I found the fly rather distracting and because the shot with the fly in it was the only one we could have used.

Workshop Evaluation: 2) For you, what was the best bit of the day and why?

I really enjoyed the day of the shoot, not only because I got a day off the normal school routine but also because I had a lot of fun, whilst also learning something in the process!
I have to say that the best part of the day was when I was on set performing. Usually in video projects in media, I'm usually working behind the camera as I do not consider myself to have the best stage presence. However, it was a nice change being infront of the camera, and though it took me a while, I started to relax and not feel so self concious. This was especially true of the shots in the gym, when we were shooting the shots with the hoops. Here, we were all really allowed to let go and have a good time, as we were not required to do a set dance routine, and have more freedom on set.

Overall, I enjoyed most of the workshop. Though it was hard work, I appreciated all the effort that myself, my friends, and the team on set that day, put in. Without it, the final edit may not have been as successful.

Workshop Evaluation: 1) What do you think you learnt from Monday's workshop?

The workshop has really taught me to appreciate the team working around you. Without them, there would have been no way we could have achieved the end result. It also taught me the key to a successful shoot was communication; to be able to commment on and criticise the work allowed the team to make critical changes and to improve the shots. For everyone to participate in the shoot, a monitor was set up in the sports hall, where those who were not in shot or helping with the technology were allowed to sit and watch the set through the eyes of the camera, as the monitor was directly linked to it. Not only did it allow us students to offer advice, it also helped the director, Jake to step back and analyse the footage on set from the point of view of the camera.

For the workshop, Ms Blackborow had hired professional equipment for us to use on the day. These included the 'china ball' light, a track and dolly and and crane for the HA shots. The china ball light allowed for more lighting in the shot were normal lights in a room would not be able to achieve the brighter look that the video called for. Though I had not personally handled it myself, I saw that it was easy to use, hanging from a hook which allowed for easy manouverability. Looking on the screen, I also saw the effect the light had on shots; without it lighting up the shot, the characters infront of the HD camera did not look clear enough. The track and dolly allowed for the camera to move smoothly and the crane helped us to achieve the HA shot. However, despite all this technology, much of the time we had to improvise with what we had. For instance, for the shots in the hallway, the camera-man had to be pushed around on a wheelchair whilst he was filming to be able to follow the movement of the characters. Even though professional technology was not used in this instance, it still gave off the desired effect and result that we all wanted.

Additionally, I also learnt that what we might see on camera might not necessarily look the same as it does in person. When setting up the library in the sports hall, I admit I found it hard to visualise the set as being a library. However, actually seeing the library set-up on the camera showed me the transformation of the set looking like there were a bunch of props in the sports hall to an actual library. Therefore, this taught me to see "through the eye of the camera".

Foo Fighters - Learn To Fly

I really love this music video because it's one of the funniest I've seen! I love how the band members have played nearly all the characters in the video and how they have combined performance with narrative (you can see them performing on the TV screen on the plane).
The theme of the video is instantly recognisable, as the costume and mise-en-scene show that it is possibly set on a plane journey from the 80s or 90s. The uniform of the stewards, stewardesses and the pilots also show that we are in an American setting.
The shots are incredibly simple, and there is a lack of special effects as the director wants the audience to concentrate on the video, artists and narrative, rather than distracting us with special effects.
I also love the cameo from Jack Black and Kyle Gass, as it shows the band's connection with other bands (Tenacious D) and also their connections with the film industry.

My thoughts so far...

Returning to school after exams, Ms Blackborow introduced us to our new media course; music videos.

In lessons we were asked to think about the music industry as a whole, and the function music videos serve to the artist and record company, as well as others involved within the production of the video: directors, editors, producers etc.In the end, we came to the conclusion that music videos were in fact advertisements. They help to advertise the artist, the song and the album, the record company and directors etc.

Following this, we went on to analysing music videos and interpreting them. Ms Blackborow started us off by giving us lyrics to a song, withholding information regarding the artist or record company. From this, we learnt that directors would need to study the lyrics, the artist, the genre of their music as well as their past work before beginning to generate ideas for directing a new video. We learnt that the lyrics Ms Blackborow gave us were from the song, In the Sun, by She & Him (above) and that we would recreate the video as part of our preliminary task.

To get us stuck into the task, Ms B introduced us to Jake Wynne, who has directed music videos for artists such as Stereophonics and Geri Halliwell. What was interesting was that he told us the key to making a music video successful was to not concentrate too much on the lyrics, and to not use the video to reflect the literal meaning of the song. He also told us that the role of the director on the day of the shoot was to not take such as key role in the events of the day, but rather to take a step back and view the production from a distance. He also stressed the importance of being on friendly terms with not only the artist that you are working with, but your production team as well.

As well as having met Jake, we had several sessions with Jasmine, our choreographer and assisstant director. In these sessions, we were taught the routine to the dances in the music video, but we were mainly taught to loosen up and have fun- as that would in the end make the video seem more realistic and lively.

I'm really enjoying the course so far, espescially the workshops we have had and I'm looking forward to the others we will have. In particular, I'm espescially interested in seeing our final remake of the music video!