Wednesday 4 September 2013

Reflective Task - Planning & Video

Introduction
In preparation for the A2 year, we have been experimenting with a couple of skills needed to create a music video, as we are doing just that this coming year. As well as recreating the first 1 minute and 8 seconds of Busted's video for What I Go to School For, we have been developing our lip syncing skills. This is an extremely important part of each music video, and will be one of the main things that must be included in our own.

Research & Planning
The planning task I personally found the most useful was the creating of a storyboard. In doing this, we were able to see exactly which scenes we needed and the order in which they fell in the clip. This made it a lot simpler to shoot and edit the video.
I do, however, wish we had done more planning of the logistics of the scene with the big group of people towards the end of the clip, as this required a location with an appropriate background and the knowledge of who was going to for the dancing crowd.
In the coming year, I expect to be doing similar sorts of planning as with these tasks, but also planning more important things, including:
   - getting artist's permission to use their song
   - time taken to complete filming and subsequent editing
   - who will be in the video (won't be group members this time around, as I plan to work alone
     on my music video)
   - risk assessments
   - booking camcorders

Production: Digital Technology
My knowledge of the digital technology developed over the course of these tasks in the form of things such as learning how to operate a tripod and the main features of the camera, but mostly, I developed a much greater knowledge of the Adobe Premier Pro video editing suite. These skills will be vital when it comes to creating my music video in the A2 year, as speed will be a key factor in getting my project finished and handed in on time. Therefore, knowing my way around at least the basic functions of this program is extremely important.
The main skills I would like to develop over the course of the A2 media studies year are, mostly, the ability to create my own music videos. This will require the knowledge of operating Premier Pro as well as camcorders, in order to shoot and edit my videos.

Production
Overall, I feel the shoot went well and generally as expected. We managed to get the shots done relatively quickly, as well as decisions made on costumes and research and planning requirements such as the storyboard and shooting script. This was good as it showed us how long things can actually take; long or short.
Very little actually went wrong. The main thing was the confidence of the actors in the video to lip sync and perform. This can be avoided next time by having people assigned to roles earlier on, so that performing a certain part doesn't come as a surprise to some. For the music video, I believe people will be in a different mindset from the one they were in for these tasks. This is because it will be seen as - because it is - an integral chunk of the A2 work, and therefore can't be taken lightly.

Post-Production: Digital Technology
The editing also went well, with everyone in the group showing and helping one another with any troubles they might be having with the editing suite. I feel, however, that a more focused attitude within the group could have generated more effective editing, as well as a greater knowledge of the program, which is an issue that should be at least partly eliminated when it comes to editing one's own music video.
The main devices in Premier Pro that helped in editing were, for me, the ability to 'zoom' in and out on the timeline. This allowed for more precise matching up of the track to the video recording, allowing us to get the lip sync near-perfect.


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