2.My Role

Describe your role & how you feel about it.My role is the girl drummer.

 Initially I was happy to get this part as I am a confident drummer and so thought that I would be confident in this role. However, I soon realised that there is a lot more to the role and acting as a whole. It is difficult to act something that you're used to doing as it feels incredibly unnatural. There are also other parts to the role that I did not initially notice, and so I feel that these will prove challenging to me.

What does the performance actually consist of?For my role I have to play drums in the girls' band. I also have to be in scenes with the male drummer.

Is this challenging for you, or something within your comfort zone?Although being behind a drum kit is not challenging for me, acting like the girl in the video is incredibly challenging for me as I have no previous acting experience. In addition, the scenes acting with the male drummer will be difficult as I don't know Josh very well and so it may be hard to feel comfortable acting with him.

3.My Costume

My costume is all black, consisting of:

Leggings
Heeled ankle boots
Black cropped top

My costume

Costume in the video

My look is supposed to be quite feminine however not like the girls in the actual video as this is far too sexualised and this is not the mood we are aiming for in our remake.

Do you have the items you need or are you planning to beg/borrow? Is there anything that may need to be bought?
I have the leggings however I have to borrow the top off a friend, and the shoes were brought in by another media student.

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

I really enjoyed the shoot as a whole. Acting in the video was challenging as it put me out of my comfort zone, however it proved to be a positive challenge and I feel it was incredibly beneficial to me, probably being my favourite part of the day.

Me in my role

Getting to watch and participate in a professional shoot was really fun and interesting, allowing me to learn a lot about the production of music video. It was also fun to work on a professional style shoot as it was like working realistically in the industry. 

Overall view of the shoot

The whole team, from the director to the hair and makeup team, were friendly and easy to work with which made the whole experience more enjoyable and ensured that the shoot ran smoothly.

Me with the other actors in my scene

2.What have you learnt from participating in each of the prelim tasks?

Task 1: Audition Video

From the making the audition video I learned how to lip sync which was a key part of the production of the music video. I was fairly confident with the use of a camera and framing etc. which meant that the actual filming wasn't a problem, however I soon came to realise that being on camera was a challenge for me. From this task I learned the basics of conducting yourself on camera and feeling confident being filmed. In addition, in the editing stage I learned how to create a performance bed and also how to use the audio in order to sync movement. All of these skills were incredibly important to the development of the project and helped me greatly in later stages.

Lip syncing in our audition video

Task 2: Learn and Practice Your Performance
In the first rehearsal I found it difficult to get into character and act with ease while people were watching. However, I gradually learnt to be comfortable with the idea of being on camera and acting in front of my peers and the crew. In addition, I became aware of the importance of directions given from the crew and how each specific part of the performance would effect the end result. Having the long rehearsals after school got me used to the idea of a 12 hour shoot and it soon became a less daunting and more enjoyable experience. I felt improvement with each rehearsal, learning of the importance of practicing performance in order to have the footage outcome intended.

Task 3: Help to Plan and Organise Your Costume
As we weren't copying the costumes of the girls in the actual video, it was quite difficult to know what to wear without trying on various outfits and seeing what looked best. It was hard to tell for myself so I soon realised the importance of the opinion of the teachers and my peers in knowing what looked best. I also learned of the importance of getting costume, hair and makeup looking as good as possible as this would drastically affect the end product.

Task 4: The Shoot
From the shoot I learned how to act in front of a camera in a situation where it was really important, as opposed to the small scale acting which we did for the audition video. I learned to get into the role and do as I had done in rehearsals but with maximum effort, trying to get the shots in as few takes as possible in order to keep the shoot on track for time. It was important to work as a team on the shoot. As well as the acting side, I learned some technical aspects too. For example, I was taught how the lighting works from upstairs in the studio. I also got to do playback which I soon realised was a crucial part of music video production.

Mari and I doing Playback

By watching the big monitor screen, we all got to watch how things looked on the camera, learning a lot about camerawork and framing on a large scale. In addition, I learned a lot about a large scale professional shoot and how everything is run, with the importance of teamwork and cooperation.

Task 5: The Edit
As there was a deadline for the edit, it soon became apparent that working well with Georgie to maximize the usage of our time was crucial to the editing process. We worked incredibly hard throughout this task but it proved to be worth it in the end. From a technical point of view, I was able to apply the skills learnt in the audition video task, while learning some new ones for example how to use key frames in order to create flashes that were identical to the original, as seen below.     

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

When we got to see the footage we were really impressed with it. It looked incredibly professional and surprisingly similar to the original video. It was actually even better than we expected it to look, especially once we had placed it all in order.

Some of the footage wasn't the same as the original, for example we had to use a Vespa instead of a car because we couldn't get this into the studio. Despite there being some inaccuracy and a few continuity errors as there was nothing to copy for these shots, I feel that we did the best that we could and it also added some character to our version of the video, making it more personal to us as well as allowing for some creativity.

Our Version

The Original

I was very pleased with Georgie and my edit as it was pretty much all in sync with the music, and we used the available footage well to maximize the potential of the video. Some of the lighting in the shoot was different to the original so we did have to spend a long time grading each shot, however this greatly approved the appearance and realism of the video as a whole. The way in which we edited using a performance bed was different to how we have edited in the past which proved a challenge, however we soon got used to it and were also quickly able to sync video with audio.
Overall I was very impressed with our edit and proud of the final outcome. It was better than I had ever expected it to be.

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

From working on such a large scale project I have realised that there are a lot more possibilities than I knew about before. For example, I haven't worked with a camera as good as the one that was used for the remake. I'd also never realised how much lighting can change the footage and how many options we have with the facilities in the studio at school. In addition, I now realise that it is challenging but quite possible to make something produced at an amateur level look somewhat professional and incredibly impressive. This has made me think more ambitiously about the music video that we produce for A2.

The professional camera used in the shoot

However, I have now realised that it takes a lot of work to produce something on such a large scale and so pre-production and planning will be crucial to the shoot, and most importantly the end product. We will have to work very hard next term, but from the impressive outcome of the prelim I know that it will definitely be worth it. I have also gained various skills from each task that can be applied to next term's coursework. For example, acting in front of camera, working in a team, sticking to a shoot schedule and also technical aspects which can be applied to editing such as a performance bed and audio sync.
Overall, I feel that this prelim experience has prepared me well for next term's music video coursework, however I appreciate that there is a lot more to learn.