For the planning of the project we first created grids and planned what would be needed for each of the two days of filming. This, I feel helped me realise the planning process I will have to complete and use to plan my final piece. This involved planning for Locations, actors, props, and technical kits. We decided that the Tuesday would be filming in our H2 class room and we decided we would film all the teacher shots and to leave the outside shots to Thursday.
On the first day we devised who would be needed and who would be starring. For example we devised who would be Charlie, Matt and James the teacher, and the different extras. We then nominated a camera person and a director who worked closely together to ensure things flowed smoothly. This I feel was important as these two working together allowed the whole programme to run smoothly. This is something I will plan to incorporate in my final piece,
Within the props section of the planning we decided what would be needed in each scene. we watched the video closely and decided on what was needed. For example on the Tuesday it was decided that it was necessary that we have ties and blazers etc. However on Thursday, as well as those we decided that we needed the guitars for outdoor filming. I think this is good preparation for my actual music video and coursework as it highlights the need for continuity within the clip and it will mean that when I come to the process of my final piece, I will be prepared to plan in a detailed fashion.
Next we decided what equipment would be needed. On the Tuesday we decided that we needed a computer to follow the actual video to help ourselves keep up to date and to allow the process to flow smoothly. Secondly, to aid in lip syncing we needed a music player to play the track so as Charlie, Matt and James could lip sync effectively, I played Charlie and therefore planned ahead and learnt the lyrics I would be lip syncing. This was done to help the whole process run well and to maximise time. Something which will be vital come the real thing. We ensured we had a tripod so that the camera was steady and that the filming was good, this is vital as what we created had to be an exact replica of the original video. We made sure we had a working tape. We lastly decided it was necessary for us to turn up dressed to the class to maximise our time use. Which I would say we did efficiently.
We planned the whole process across both the Tuesday and the Thursday and I feel this was important. Possibly the most important element of this preliminary I will carry across to my final piece is that of organisation and the maximum use of time. I learnt, via the process of coming dressed to the classes that efficiency is key to creating a good project.
As well as creating a grid, I also created a storyboard. This was drawings and a description of the clip, what happened, the type of shots used, the lyrics sung, and the lighting of individual clips within the song's video up until the cut off point of 1.14. I can say that I think this is the most important part of the whole video making process. As without this the video cannot be shot as at each section, a detailed description is necessary. With the power of hindsight I can say that the shot angles have to be known and the storyboard is incredibly useful when it comes to editing. As it ensures you know that you know at what point in the videos time line each clip falls.
Production
The production process within our classes video I feel went smoothly and was completed professionally. We did take more than one shot of each scene but I feel this is important. As having finished editing I feel it is important to have a selection of clips to choose from when editing as the just the one clip may not be identical to the one used in the music video. When I come to producing my final video I am going to ensure I have more than one shot of each clip, purely to give me a selection to help aid the later process of editing.
To enable the production practice to run as smoothly as ours did, I feel that it is vital that the director and the camera person have a good relationship as in each clip these to work closely together on a process which is fundamental to the whole video.
Having completed this preliminary I have discovered that organisation will be vital to whatever video I make. As often shooting can overrun time it is important to factor more time in in places where it might be necessary. By doing this, I can ensure that hopefully at no point will my project be pushed for time on certain aspects and therefore produce shots to a lower standard than what they could be. This use of time will be something I will encorporate into my final product.
Editing
After completing the editing for my preliminary work I can say that the process relies heavily on observations that have been made at early times such as the storyboard. Having a detailed storyboard and shot sequence enables different shots to be put in the correct order. It allows the length of each clip to be recorded which makes cutting each recorded clip much easier and thus allows the sequence of shots to fit the music and therefore the lip syncing to match the lyrics.
From the beginning of the process of editing my preliminary to the complete stage that it is at now I feel I have learned a lot about editing. The software we used was imovie on Apple Macs. Prior until this point I had no real experience of using Macs and certainly no experience with editing. I now feel I have good capabilities on the Macs and I understand how to edit. I feel this will stand me in good stead for when I come to editing my own video. I feel this experience will enable me to edit to my best capabilities and therefore achieve the results I want from my own music video.
This process of a preliminary video has taught me techniques I feel I will come to rely on when I do my final piece, such as a good capability to edit and a thorough understanding of how to storyboard and organise I feel that via this process I have put myself in a good position for my final piece of work.
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