Wednesday 26 June 2013

Lip Sync Task

As part of preparation for the second year, we were asked to complete a couple of preliminary tasks first. For the first, we were asked to pick a song from a small list and film it being sung along to. My group chose to do 'Living on a Prayer' by Bon Jovi, which you can see perfomed below by Dani.



The process of creating this video was very minimal but did involve some considerable technical skill. Originally, we shot the whole video in one take and well, it's safe to say that it was pretty boring. So we had to shoot about five different takes. Then, we edited the clips together with the mp3 file in Adobe Premier Pro CS5. There were a LOT of problems with this: Dani forgot the words in parts, the lighting caused her to be in a shade too much etc. However, there wasn't really much planning involved prior and it gave us something to work up from.

Here is the second and more worked on task - the 'Busted - What I Go To School For' music video task. We were asked to recreate at least the first minute of the pre-existing video, and below is the result we came up with.


In terms of research and planning, it's safe to say that we were lacking in places. We'd found the original video and from it, created  a storyboard comprised of screen shots however, this was barely used during filming or editing as instead, we just used the video as reference. Luckily, we didn't miss out any of the shots but this was something that could have potentially happened. We did however, manage to collect enough information on costume and props (although they were fairly simple).

When it came to production it was remembering these costumes which became the problem. Lack of communication caused confusion between the cast as to whether or not we were shooting or not, resulting in inconsistent costume (most notably on Greg, who switched from shirt to t-shirt and jumper). I was pleased with most of the shots that we ended up with but in some cases I feel we rushed our shoots. The shot angles we not as accurate as they could have been and there wasn't quite enough attention put towards continuity (particular when it came to the lighting). There was, at times, a feeling of wanted to just get the shots done as quickly as possible which was good in one respect, as we did have a schedule to keep to, however it caused a lower level of accuracy than we could of achieved. For example, the angles, as I mentioned, were not quite correct and at times, cast members didn't enunciate properly, making it hard to tell what was said. Having said this, our shots were still of a high level.

I found that in this task, technology was one of our strong points. The cameras and tripods we used, were easy to understand and work with and so on a shooting level, we had near no problems. However, it would be nice to experiment quite a ways before the shoot during the planning stages, to see just what kind of shots we are capable of using the cameras that we will have. This will give more opportunity to use more variety and potentially make for a more interesting watch.

Considering technology on a post production level, Adobe Premier Pro was considerably easy to understand and so made editing fairly quick. I felt that it was a program I seemed to be able to communicate with effectively and know that it would only be natural to use it when it comes to my A2 task. Once again, what we required of the program was fairly basic and so I would experiment with this also during planning to explore its capabilities.

In terms of my A2 task, when approaching the music video, a would appoint myself as camera-woman as well as director so that if something in the shot isn't quite right, I can then direct my cast or change the set etc. to what I need it to be. Also, having a song that I have chosen and a music video I have actually come up with will allow for less of an actual right and wrong and more of a personal right and wrong. And, although this was quite a fun project to do, I will be even more eager to be fully immersed within the project, resulting in more of a willingness to plan thoroughly. Obviously, there would be no existing video to go on and so I would have to make sure that I had clear storyboards with timings written on them, as well as prop, costume and cast lists that are all clear and easy to understand. Or, at the very least, as director, I would need to make sure that my planning translates well to my cast, meaning it is my responsibility to communicate what I require of them to them clearly.

Targets I would set for myself next year would be:

  • To fully prepare all of my storyboards, prop and set lists etc. to a thorough and high standard.
  • To experiment with my technologies prior to production so that I can fully utilize the technology I have.
  • To communicate strongly and clearly when directing so as to get exactly the shots I want from my cast, rather than just settling for what we achieve.

Tuesday 25 June 2013

Task


Hi, my name is Deanna Hinett. I have just finished studying as an AS Media student at Worcester Sixth Form College and am looking to do A2 Media next year.

Welcome to my blog. Here is where I will be posting all of my coursework for the time coming (as long as I am entered in for the second year). The task is to create a promotional package for the release of an album which includes:

  • a music promo video
  • a digipack for the album's release
  • a magazine advertisement for the digipack
Here will be all of the processes involved in researching for and producing the above items. Hope you enjoy!