1. Did you enjoy your workshop day? What were your best bits and why?
The workshop day was a great experience to learn more about how the media runs and the professional elements of running a shoot. It was a unique experience which many highly exprienced media professionals helped to run whilst giving us a vision of how a shoot works.
A few of my favourite things included:
Helping out on set: We were able to shadow crew members and learn about different aspects of what their role on the crew involves. We were also able to help out in the dressing rooms, helping eachother with hair and make up. Learning about a professional shoot really gives you more of an insight into media. For example I was also able to help operate the camera and stand on the dolly whilst it moved up and down the track, which was a unique experience and something I had never seen before!
Building my confidence: The whole day helped to build my confidence. Previously I hated dancing and performing in front of people but practicing a routine dance with our media group and realising that no one is judging your performance helped to boost my confidence and I really enjoyed performing the dance in front of the cameras. The cast and the crew all worked together and supported eachother and ensured everyone felt comfortable.
Learning about lighting: We learnt about lighting in the lighting room upstairs was another great experience, because for our AS film opening it had been a big problem, so learning about lighting and all the different types from the professionals really helped and will help in future videos or footage we take.
2. What have you learnt from participating in each of the prelim tasks?
Task 1: Analyse a music video: From analysing a performance music video of our own choice it helped to understand how important it is to ensure that a simple idea can go a long way and that a music video is made up of a montage of shots and continuity is not neccessary. Shot set ups and costume change frequently in order to keep the audience interested.
Task 2: Audition video: Helped to build confidence slightly and prepare yourself for having to learn how to dance and lipsync professionally. I learnt it is best to sing rather than just lipsync otherwise it may look slightly out of time.
Task 3: Learn your performance: From learning a choreographed dance performance I learnt that putting all your energy into every move is the most important thing. Every move has to be exaggerated in order to look great on camera. Learning a group dance was a big confidence boost!
Task 4: Plan and organize your costumes: Communicating with everyone and asking around for items you don't have or offering items that others did not have was the most important aspect of costumes. To ensure that every outfit was as stylish as possible and as similar as possible to the outfits in the music video was important and therefore with a range of clothes supplied by everyone it was possible to keep a low budget and only a few items needed to be made or ordered.
Task 5: The One-Day Workshop: The shoot was the most fun day and everything had been leading up to this day. We were able to shadow professionals in the industry and I learnt that it was important for everyone to do their role and do it properly and not to step on other people's toes or the shoot may not run to schedule. I was able to operate the camera, shadow the director and learn about lighting. We were also able to experience being the performer and being in front of the camera which was tiring but still an exciting, unique experience!
Task 6: The Workshop Edit: Timing has been the biggest factor within the edit. It can make shots perfect, or completely out of sync with the song. A lot of time and effort is put into editing to ensure it keeps the audience captivated and markets the band. The edit is made up of a montage of shots, all changing quickly and discontinuously. Everyone has to be putting all their energy into the shoot the whole time, in order for the edit to be successful!
3. Are you pleased with the footage and your edit? Is it how you expected it to look?
The footage is really professional and the lighting and camera have worked really well together to produce professional shots that look really similar to the Little Mix music video. Most of the shots capture the band doing actions exactly like in the Little Mix video and therefore our remake will be very similar. However, there are a few shots where the dance is slightly out of time with the music, or it is the right move but the shot type is not right. This has made it difficult to edit some scenes, especially the dance scene, however we have managed to adapt and change shots where necessary, for example in the Little Mix video there is shot of boots during the dancers dance, however our shots are out of focus and do not look good, so instead we have chosen long shots of the dancers that act as a substitute for this shot.
The lighting for the shoot was great, so little grading will be needed, which really saves time with the editing ensuring we can spend more time choosing the right shots. We have managed to recreate the Little Mix music video really effectively and professionally so I am pleased which the results. I did not expect it to look as professional as it does, but with all the hard work the crew and the cast put in we have managed to achieve higher than expected.
The prelim experiences have helped me to understand a bit more about the roles of each different crew member which will have an impact on how our group works together. Learning about choreography and how each move must be exaggerated in order for it to be camera worthy will also help with the choreography or the moves within our music video in order to make sure the video is full of energy. Ensuring the moves and shots look good also means ensuring you choose actors who are comfortable working with eachother to make sure nothing looks awkward and they do not feel embarassed. (on-screen chemistry)
I have also learnt how much planning and pre-production goes into making a music video in order to ensure the shoot goes as smoothly as possible and minimising the possibility of retakes or running over schedule. So plan, plan, plan! This includes creating moodboards for the whole 'mise-en-scene' of the music video that is desired, creating shot lists, timetables, visual references for hair, make up and costume and for the set or locations for the shoot. The shoot has helped set up my expectations for A2 and encouraged be to be creative with my music video idea, whilst improving my skills in aspects of media such as lighting and grading.
