Our music video

4. How do you think your workshop experiences will impact on your approach to next term's music video coursework?

The experience can only have a positive effect on my coursework, I have learnt a great deal and can definitely apply my findings to future projects. The things that stand out to me as the most important to consider our:

• Shooting the whole sequence in each set up – This gives us much more flexibility with our shots, and gives us an insurance if other shots are to be unsuccessful.

• Lighting – if we are shooting inside this is vital as it can add a professional touch to our video and gives us more control over shots, meaning that colour grading is less of an issue at the editing stage.

3. Are you pleased with the footage and your edit? Is it how you expected it to look?

I am overwhelmed by the footage that we have, and enjoyed editing all the shots together.

This was the first time I have really used lighting, yet it worked exceptionally well, this combined with the high quality camera meant we had stunning footage.

Playback team

As for the edit, we decided that we would challenge ourserlves to make a better version that the original, varying greatly from it. We have cut some shots from it, and ignored the original order. We felt this was the best option, as we believed we would learn more about how to select the best shots, and when to cut at the correct times, rather then sticking to a template.

Everyone got involved

This proved to be a good decision, as it was more enjoyable and was not affected by the fact some of our shots were not recreated properly. Personally, I think that our video looks very professional and is technically good, for example the lip synching is accurate and convincing, and the lighting and performers were of a high standard.

What have you learnt from the workshop?

 I got an idea of what it was to be like to be on a real music video set, from both the cast and crew perspectives. Performing was a real highlight for me as I’ve always wanted to be in a band, however I also got involved in the technical side of the day.

I loved performing

 I learnt about the hard work that goes into the music video, and was surprised by the amount of set ups required. When I was not performing, I spoke to the cameraman and learnt about what thoughts go into getting a good shot – focus, exposure and framing were mentioned as being vital to a successful shot.

The cameran taught me a lot

Whats more, the day seemed to bring to life a lot of the theory we had learnt in class in the form of the real set. For instance I knew about tracks, and jibs as well as different lighting. Seeing all this take place before my eyes, and getting involved was very beneficial.

The shoot has no doubt improved my team working skills and bonded with my class as the rewarding feeling of bringing the theory to life emerged.

Did you enjoy the workshop day? What were your best bits and why?

The workshop day was genuinely one of the funniest days of my life, despite the hard work. I am sure that it will live with me for the rest of my life. We all kept our spirits high at the tiring moments, encouraging each other and all getting stuck in.



The band




I really enjoyed being part of the band, and loved performing, however it was great to sit back and watch the monitor as well as stand and watch the cameraman.

The professional environment, combined with the relaxed attitude of the crew meant I could learn and enjoy myself, I hope that future media students have the opportunity to make their own music video.

Re-Edit

Our latest task was to re-edit the music video that we are going to be making as part of Pre-lim. This was a very valuable process, as well as enjoyable.
The top 3 things that I got out of the exercise were:

How many cuts go into a video to maintain a fast and rapid pace.

How clips are repeated, chopped up and spread around the video, breaking continuity. This means that there are a lot less set ups than I expected.

The process taught me the importance of disconuity.
For example, often there are cuts from wide shots to close-ups, or cuts between very similar shot types and distances. Shots seldom last more than a few seconds, with some before cutting to keep the exciting pace of the video and the clips are often cut to the exact beat of the music.

Lip Synch

Above is me and my groups lipsynch practice for our prelim task,Five's 'Everybody get up.' I put lots of energy and enthusiasm into my performance, making sure I knew the words to the song to make my performance convincing. In my group were Robbie, Eva and myself, we worked well as a team to encourage each other to 'let go' and not to be embarrassed, by motivation I feel would be very useful on set as a member of the band to help get the best out of hopefully my 4 fellow band mates.

What did I learn from this?
I learnt that when filming it is important to get several takes of the same shot, therefore I would propose that when filming, we did a complete run through from one each angle. Although this would be time consuming, I feel that it covers us in the sense we will have plenty of footage as well as potentially avoiding any re shoots. Each run through should be done to the best of our ability until we get a near perfect take then move on. This wasn't really possible with our time restraint however.
I also learnt that when editing it would be good to organise the different shots into bins; by type rather than name, so as to speed up the editing process, making the shots we need easier to find.

My Audition
My biggest hope is to be cast as "Ritchie", in the video Ritchie shows lots of enthuasasm and energy, qualities that I have in abundance. As long distance runner I have the stamina to maintain this energy the whole way through the shoot. Furthermore, in my prelim, the shots where I jump on Robbie are very similar to Ritchie's performance. I feel I have more than proved my worth in terms of enthusiasm (having actually completed homeworks on time, this year and throughout my time at Latymer media) and showing a great deal of commitment, having learnt all the words in time for the lipsynch work as well as spending 2 free periods and coming in on my day off to finish editing our lip synch. I also own all but one item of his clothing which I plan to search for in Charity shops, this is all fits me and therefore makes the process of fitting the band members in their correct attire a lot easier. When I was younger Abs and Ritchie were my favourite members of the band, I was a massive fan of the song 'keep on movin' and genuinely would love to play the role of one of my childhood idols. I love a challenge and love performing, I am confident that I would be very successful in the role of Ritchie and can guarantee that I would not shy from the camera, infact I would be overly energetic just like Ritchie is. Although my preference, I would be happy to be any member of the band and am confident with both raps, I would be able to perform Abs and Jason very well, however as my favourite member Richie is my priority.