Preliminary - Evaluation

Preliminary - Evaluation
Following on from publishing our rendition of the song 'What Time Is It', I am now able to draw on several thoughts regarding to the overall quality of the video, as well as possible areas of improvement. Below is an embeded link to the video, as well as sections relating to the strengths and weaknesses of the final outcome.

Strengths:
Overall, I believe that our recreation of the video was relatively consistent and reflective of the original version. I think this is mostly due to my group's ability to easily lip-synch with the track, as well as our skill in recreating certain shot types and angles. This is a skill I will hopefully adopt further into the task, as I believe lip-synching is vital in maintaining the audience's attention and investment in a music video of this type.

In terms of post production, I think that my group was also very successful in editing our many shots and scenes together, as our video (mostly) directly imitates the original. This is another positive attribute I hope to reuse, as it demonstrates my group's, and my own, skill at recreating existing pieces, as well as how to arrange each scene/shot correctly.

Weaknesses/Potential Improvements:
If we were given the chance to improve our video, my group and I would likely take more consideration into the costume of our characters, as we rarely took notice of it during the initial filming of our video. Whilst not disruptive of the shots or scenes, I believe that making our clothing more reflective of the original characters and performers. This would help to improve the authenticity of the video, as it would show a greater level of planning and study over the original video.

As well as this, I would also aim to aquire more actors to be present in the scene, as the original features multiple actors in the backround, wheres ours only featured myself, Rachel, Joelle and Keaton. I think that including more actors would help to make the scene resemble a real classroom, instead of the same four actors used in diferent roles.

Summary:
In conclusion, I believe I have gained an understanding of what skills are needed for the basis of a high quality music video, as well as the need for conventions such as lip synching. Both the strengths and weaknesses of our video will allow me to pursue a greater quality further into this coursework, in turn giving me an improved perception of music videos as a whole.

Preliminary - Editing

Preliminary Task - Editing

Joelle utilising the dual monitor setup available in our media classroom

On the 23rd of June we began the editing and post production phase of our preliminary task, which we later completed on the 27th. Mostly, I believe that the process of editing was highly smooth and efficient, as my group were able to easily structure our recreational shots around the original sequence.

For the editing of our video, we used Adobe Premiere Pro, an editing software we each had lengthy experience of using in past projects and coursework. Premiere allowed us to easily layer and trim the several visual elements of our video, meaning we were quickly able to edit and publish our perliminary task.

Preliminary - Filming

Preliminary - Filming

Preliminary - Planning - 4

Preliminary Planning
Below is the brief given to our class for the preliminary task of this course, of which my group (Rachel Pride and Joelle Riley) will create a video to match.

"Your task is to shoot and edit a shot by shot copy of a real music video (about 60-70 seconds). You will need to chose your track from the choice below depending on available actors in the group. All members of the group should be involved in singing, filming, directing and editing. You should upload a smaller version of the real video to the corner of your screen to help you edit"

Immediately after being given our brief, our group set about in choosing which music video to recreate for our preliminary task. After being offered four music videos to choose from, my group eventually decided on recreating 'What Time is it?' from the film High School Musical 2. We chose to do this as we felt it would be easy to recreate in our school, as we would be able to quickly mimic the locations and shots of the one minute segment.

  

The image to the left is of the 'shot planning' sheet my group created to assist us when filming later in the week. We frequently referenced the sheet when trying to remember specific shot details, such as 'Mid shot =I> Troy - One take'. The sheet will also help us to film the video in chronological order, meaning no scenes are forgotten or misplaced during editing. 

The image to the right is a section we later added to the 'shot planning' sheet which details the various characters featured in the video, as well as who we agreed should play them.