Workshop Evaluation

What do you think you learnt from Monday's workshop?

• This main point of learning for me was about the different roles of a production crew and how they interact. Namely, the relationship with between the 1st AD (Jasmine) and the creative team, and their mutual sacrifices made in order to both keep the shots as high quality as possible as well as keep the shoot on scheduele

• Jake Wynne was very informative in teaching me how to get the best out of the performers. For example, in getting the big smiles and enthuasism from the cast towards the end of the day, he laughed and joked around to make everyone have a giggle to, which then showed on camera in the hula-hoop shots

• Learnt technical skills including using the crane, cameras and professional lighting as well as the exact uses of the monitor

For you, what was the best bit of the day and why?

From the day, I have 2 main personal highlights:

• Working within the technical crew, both shooting with the camera on the dolly, and working with Jake looking at the monitor to improve the shots. At these two points I got to personally use professional equipment, as well as learn what to look for within the frame of the camera

• Performing with the hula hoops as everyone had a laugh and we got to watch the crane in action

Are you pleased with your edit? Is it how you expected it to look? Identify the successes and failures of your edited version. In hindsight, what would you do differently at the production stage?

• I am very pleased with my final edit, as it the footage looks successfully like the real video, with changes at the end to create a more interesting variety of shots
• The corridor sequences work particularly well as the performers appear confident in their dance routines, it is well lit and the lighting is constant and the camera movement is smooth and steady
• The performances look very convincing, particularly the main girl (Ciara as Zooey) as she maintains the smily, happy yet tongue-in-cheek persona

• The costumes and sets, despite being relatively hard to replicate, still look convincing and mirror the video closely
• The lighting in the library scenes changes dramtically from the wide to the CU, one being less lit than the other
• The hula-hoop sequence did not look as effective when replicated excatly as they were not the best lit/most interesting shots

Have the lip sync tasks benefitted you in any way?

• The final 'In the Sun' lip sync was actually our second attempt, as our first didn't have enough footage to cover the whole sequence. This taught us the essential lesson that everything needs atleast some planning before attempting to execute it
• Despite not being the best in front of the camera, the lip sync tasks have helped me learn what is necessary to give a convincing artists performance (lip sync, relationship with camera, facial expressions)
• Reminder that even in a performance based music video, there is more than the lip syncing with the music in between the words that needs filling too

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

• I now know the importance of ensuring maximum time to plan both the music choice and the visuals, making sure all the necessary shots are taken and we are doing the desired song (we regretted the S Club 7 choice, but didnt have enough time to change it)
• From the In the Sun workshop day, I learnt many technical skills that will be highly useful in the real project, including techniques with lighting, camera movement and framing and performance motivation

S Club 7 - Reach - Lip sync

Here is mine and Wanda's lip sync to Reach, aimed to practise the art of performing and editing the clips to sync with the track

She & Him - In the Sun - Lip Sync

Here is my group's (me and Wanda) first attempt at filming and editing a lip sync to a track (In the Sun)

Workshop - Final Edit

This is my personal edit of the She and Him Workshop day footage. Me and Wanda chose to follow the real video as close as possible, besides changing the 'hula-hoop' scene to shots we felt were more effectively framed and lit.

Workshop day!

Today was the day of the workshop, filming In the Sun (She and Him).

It was a highly successful day, getting all the necessary shots.

It especially enjoyed getting the chance to work behind the camera with the professional crew (Jake, Tom, Adam and Matt), understanding what it is like to work amongst them.

Also getting the chance to perform in front of the camera, forgetting previous worries about being self concious, and just enjoy that aspect of making a music video. Due to this, I now feel more able to understand both the workings of the crew and the performer.

Music Video Analysis

OK GO - Here It Goes Again

Besides liking the song, I think this video is effective because:

• It sells the band's alternative image and strong personalities, and fits with the up beat sound of the track
• It proves a good video can be made on virtually no budget
• The video is taken in one shot, making it look unique and creative. The mistakes included in the video also add to it's charm
• Unlike most mainstream pop videos in the current charts, this video isn't pretentious or selling the artists 'beauty' but humourous and 'feel good'
• The look of the video also inspires people watching to try something similar as it looks relatively amateur. It also makes something quite hard (dancing on treadmills) look smooth, simple and easy