1. Did you enjoy the workshop day? What were your best bits and why? I did enjoy the workshop day, it was very tiring but getting to try equipment out and getting involved was very fun and made up for it. I particularly enjoyed getting to do playback as it was an important role and I felt like I was doing something important and helping the actors learn their particular moves.
I also liked controlling the music when the shot was being played as I knew I had the power to stop the sound if I wanted to so I felt more responsible. Another thing I enjoyed was working as a team and performing in the afternoon. It was interesting to see what it was like to be on the other side of a camera, and ill be able to use this experience to work well with actors who I could be filming.
2. What have you learnt from participating in each of the prelim tasks? In the first task for the prelim I had to analyse the STARSTRUKK music video by 3OH!3 (feat Katy Perry). I found it very interesting observing in detail the techniques that were included in the video and the way the actors perform, and enjoyed finding things I had never noticed before. In the second prelim where we had to do lip syncing to a music video. I realised how hard it is, you actually have to sing the words not just pretend to be by moving your mouth. I also found having to learn all the lyrics difficult. In the third task I learnt about how to perform a dance routine as a group. I learnt how to keep time and it also improved my teamwork skills. In the final remake task I learnt about different roles on set such as assistant director and lighting crews. I especially learnt about playback as I got try that out.
3. Are you pleased with the footage and your edit? Is it how you expected it to look? I am quite pleased with the way it turned out and with the way we edited it. Even though it was not exactly the same as the original music video, it was still much more similar than I thought it was going to be. I was particularly impressed by the almost identical costumes worn by the actors and very accurate backdrops, this made the music video more like the original. I think we edited quite accurately having the same effects done to the shots and exactly the same cuts, but I believe we should have done slightly better grading and colour correcting when editing our piece.
4. How do you think your prelim experiences will impact on your approach to next term's music video coursework? I think I will be much more prepared for next years coursework, specifically the practical side. I have learnt how lip syncing works and how the overall performance side is achieved. The experienced I gained from the prelim will give me more confidence in achieving an idea and has made me more prepared to perform if need be in a music video without being embarrassed and nervous. I have also learnt techniques used when editing music videos, such as how to align the sound tracks using the sound waves to create a realistic lip sync. Also learning to work with many shots which are very short and cut very quickly.
Who did you work with and how did you manage the task between you?
I worked with Matthew, Daniel and Jeremy on this task.
We tried to manage the task as equal as possible between us. To start with though came up with ideas for what we should do in are brainstorming session and ended up with a mix of everyone's for the final idea.
We then organised things for each of us in the group to do at home, such as the shot list and script. I had the task of doing the storyboard.
When it came to filming three of us were actors, shots mostly of myself and Matthew and a few shots of Daniel. So Jeremy and Daniel did most of the camera work and directing, but when someone wasn't acting they would have a go at filming or directing.
When editing we split up so we could have more editing time each. I worked with Matthew, while Daniel and Jeremy worked together.
How did you plan your sequence? what processes did you use? What theories did you try to take into account?
Brainstorming- The first thing we did was brainstorming, we each thought of a couple of ideas and eventually settled on a serious themed thriller that would have a funny twist to the end. However we worked around the idea that the genre was a thriller, as the comedy aspect wouldn't be known until the end of are planned sequence. We thought it would be interesting to try working around this genre as we all liked the genre and hoped it would be a fun challenge.
Shot list- Our shot list was done by Matthew, it was the second step that we felt needed to be done before we needed to move on to our next steps. Once Matthew had done it he posted it on a Facebook message we made, so that it was accessible by others in the group. The shot list was a great way of seeing the shots we had to do on are shooting day, once we had finished filming a shot we crossed it off so we knew it was done. We also wrote on the shot list what order we would take the shots taking into account setups and time slots such as when we were allowed to shoot in the media lobby.
Storyboard- I had the job of doing the storyboard and made it after Matthew had created and posted the shot list on Facebook. I used the shot list to plan out the order of the shots and fill in the descriptive parts such as type of shot and what happens in shot. Then after drew the drawings of how the shots would roughly look for when we would film our preliminary sequence. I had to take into account cinematography throughout creating the storyboard, like making sure I drew the pictures in frame depending on what the type of shot was. Also, indicating using arrows when the shot was being panned or zoomed in and making sure to keep continuity, such as thinking not breaking the 30 degree and 180 degree rules and including match-on-action shots.
Script- Daniel had the job of writing the script for the conversation in our sequence. This helped myself and Matthew easily learn and remember what we would have to say for the shots of our conversation.
What technology did you use to complete the task, and how did you use it?
Before the day of filming we didn't really use any technology, all that was required to plan the sequence was our minds and general writing and drawing equipment. The only technology we used before hand was computers to type up the shot list and script.
On the day of filming we used a video camera and tripod, the valuable video camera allowed us to easily film many shots and had a long battery life. The tripod kept the camera steady when filming and also helped create panning shots without difficulty. We did not use any lighting as it was sufficient to use natural lighting.
We used the high tech editing software: Adobe Premiere Pro, to adjust and order the shots and create a sequence. The software was easy to use and get your head around and we did our best to edit and create a well cut and ordered sequence.
What factors did you have to take into account when planning, shooting and editing?
In planning we had to make sure we equally spread the load of tasks and jobs, to help us do this we made a Facebook message where we could post work, and discuss issues and ideas, and be ready for production day.
When shooting we had ordered the shooting schedule using setups, and made sure we didn't spend too long on a shot, this allowed the time it took to for the overall filming production stage to be very well-timed.
When editing we made sure that we cut out all parts of shots that we thought of us unnecessary, this allowed our sequence to be shorter and correctly timed and not too slow and dull.
For the overall process we had to make sure we included had good continuity, this was especially important as was the main point of the task. We did this by including some match-on-action shots where possible and making sure we did not break the 30 degree rule and also thinking about the 180 degree rule.
How successful was your sequence? Please identify what worked well, and with hindsight, what would you improve/ do differently?
I think are sequence was overall quite successful, I think we made quite a humourous and exciting sequence and included good continuity techniques that we had learnt in class such as use of match-on-action, establishing shots and working around the 30 degree and 180 degree rules.
When editing we realised that some of our shots didn't transition how we had planned. Like when we wanted to show Boy A (Acted by Me) looking at clock after the shot of packing his pack we realised the attempt on match-on-action wasn't quite right and couldn't do anything about it, except edit it as best we could.
If we could do the sequence differently, I think we would have taken more care and thought into getting the match-on-action and transition shots done correctly, as it can really cause a problem trying to get it to look right when editing.
What have you learnt from completing this task? Looking ahead, how will this learning be significant when completing the rest of your foundation coursework, do you think?
The exercise helped me to see the importance of continuity in filming, especially making the transitions between shots look right and not breaking the 30 degree and 180 degree rules which can make your footage look wrong if not taken into account.
Also the exercise helped me improve in my skills as working as a group, we shared tasks out evenly which not only made it fairer, but also made the planning and overall process easily and efficiently done.
I also realised how being well-organised for the production day made the process less complicated and we didn't get into any difficulties on the day since we had planned so well before hand. I especially found planning what order we would do shots according to their setup was very useful, as it greatly shortens the amount of time spent on filming.
