Evaluation Q2: What have you learnt from participating in each of the prelim tasks 1, 2, 3 and 5?

Task 1: Audition Video


Although I wasn't really looking forward to filming the audition video, it was actually really fun to film and doing it as a group made me more comfortable and made us all perform better I think.

Our audition video

From this task, I learnt that the best way to create a believable lip-sync was to actually sing out loud, as doing this gives authentic throat movement and facial expressions associated with each word, and then just delete the sound in the edit. As well as learning about how to convincingly lip-sync, task 1 taught me that you really have to go for it and perform to the camera no matter how silly you feel because those give the best shots. This was made really obvious in the edit where some of the first shots we took were just not used because we looked to self-conscious. I also realised from this task that whoever I was cast as in the remake, I would need to work on keeping my eyes focused to the camera.

Editing the video took longer than expected because we had so many different shots with different people in the lead position to get through and I had to watch each take to the very end to make sure I didn't miss a good bit. It was still fun to edit and see ourselves having a good time just going for it.



Task 2: Learn and practice your performance

As the music video doesn't really have set choreography, in our rehearsals we mainly focused on just getting comfortable moving to music, making sure that we knew the lyrics, learning the person we were playing and ensuring that we could portray the right emotions throughout the song.

Each rehearsal started with us all doing a dance warm-up to music, lead by our performance director Jasmine. In lines we would follow each other down the studio doing a move before running back round to start again. We also each took turns at leading the group with a move that we had chosen which pushed us to get out of our comfort zone and prepared us for the end cool kids dance scene in the music video.

Me, Meera, Jasmine and Dom at rehearsals

In the later rehearsals we also spent time in front of the camera to get us used to what it would actually be like on the day. Jasmine, our performance director, would give us a line to say and prompts to say it in different ways, showcasing various emotions and how much more believable it gets when you connect the words to real feelings that you have. I learnt a lot from this exercise as it made me really think about the lyrics and what thoughts and feelings I could associate with them to improve my performance. I also think this really did work and can be seen in everyone's performance in the remake - I believe what we're all doing and singing.

The rehearsals were also where I realised how much easier it was to perform when my friends sang along with me. Meera and I took turns supporting each other when we were performing in front of the camera by signing along and cheering for each other, which honestly was a massive help to me.


Task 3: Help to plan and organise your costume

Example dresses I looked at

In preparation for the shoot, we each had to help find costumes not just for ourselves but everyone else if we owned something that could work for their costume.

My costume was quite hard to find as the dress Sydney wears is very particular. We tried on a lot of dresses before finally settling on a white mini dress that, although being quite different to the one in the original, stood out against the backdrop and fit the indie vibe.

This task highlighted how important it was to style characters so that they connoted the genre of the song and became a strong, easily identified icon of the artist's brand image.




Below is  a picture of Sydney's costume (left) and our take on it (right).

Sydney

Me in costume

Task 5: Complete the remake edit

I worked with Meera to complete the remake edit and we each shared the responsibility of editing all parts from naming the rushes all the way through to grading. Editing for a music video was a new experience for me as although I had used all of the software before I hadn't edited in this way before. Throughout this task I learnt about and consolidated my understanding of:

• The principle of discontinuous editing
• Post-production slow-motion
• Re-sizing shots
• Grading
• Lip-Sync matching
• Title overlays and opacity

Me editing

From all of the prelim tasks I learnt a lot of new skills and consolidated old ones that will be very helpful fr when I come to do my own music video next year.