Prelim Outtakes

Here are our groups' outtakes! I hope that this video provides an insight to the hard work that we put into producing our prelim. We thought that making this video was beneficial as it provided us the opportunity to practice our editing skills using the new version of iMovie.

Prelim Evaluation

We experienced a few difficulties when producing our prelim. As previously stated in another post (Filming for Prelim), the dance routine was probably the most difficult aspect of the prelim. I also found that editing was harder than I had expected, it was quite time consuming trying to edit to the beat as well as matching the lip-synch correctly. Towards the end of the prelim, at around 00:28, the lip-synch is slightly off, which is very distracting for the audience, for our final music video we will spend more time carefully editing to ensure that this mistake is not repeated. I also think that it would be helpful if we didn't include as much performance, this would cut down on the amount of lip-synching required.

Unlike the original video, we filmed outside of the school instead of on the street, this was for practical reasons, it would have been too busy to film in public, this would have made it harder to obtain the required shots. For our final music video, we would need to pay closer attention to our mise-en-scene to ensure that it is relevant to the chosen song and genre, thereby creating a more professional-looking video.

Whilst the setting was very different, we wanted our costumes to be as similar as possible. We put a lot of effort into our outfits and I am quite proud of the results. The best costume, in my opinion, was Janadhi's (below left) as she had an almost identical blazer. For the other costumes, we had to compromise and substitute certain items, for example, we didn't have black or white blazers so, instead, we wore other items of clothing but in the same colours (below right) so that it was clear which characters we were portraying.

              

We managed to match Jane to Bruno Mars almost perfectly (hat, chain, sunglasses) with the exception of the pink blazer.

 
I think that costume is an extremely important element of a music video as it helps to set the tone, for example, bright colours for an upbeat song, like our prelim, and darker colours for a sadder song. We will continue this attention to detail in our final music video.

Below is a vlog showing audience reactions to our prelim. I thought that this was helpful as I could listen to criticisms from an outside perspective to see how others thought we could improve.

Prelim

Here is our finished prelim:

Prelim Vlog

We finally finished our prelim today! We had to refine the editing slightly so that the lip synching was correct and that everything looked as smooth and seamless as possible. Here is our vlog where we reflect on the prelim production process:

Female Indie Artists

We have decided that we want a song with a female vocalist, this will allow a member of our group to star in the music video, making it more practical for filming as we won't have to rely on outside help. Starting to think about song choices, I began to research female indie artists. I discovered an article in The Telegraph, titled '10 Amazing Female Singers You Haven't Heard of Yet', which introduced me to many potential artists that we could use for our music video. It is important to look at existing videos by female artists so that I can gain inspiration and to identify common themes within the indie genre.

My favourite artists from the article, for either song and/or music video, are listed below:

Rescue -
Yuna



I really like this song as it is very upbeat and would be ideal for a performance video. The video contains some very interesting editing techniques, for example (below top), a landscape shot has been layered over a close up of the artist, making the shot more unusual. Another shot that stood out to me (below bottom) showed the sun seeping through the trees, illuminating the artist's clothing, the contrast between her golden scarf against the dark background and the light reflecting in the camera lens creates a dream-like atmosphere.

This video conforms with multiple elements of Andrew Goodwin's theory. The relationship between the music and visuals is clear, the upbeat, lively song is paired with the vibrant visuals of the locations and the artist's clothing. There is also a relationship with the lyrics. There is a theme of freedom and escaping throughout the song, 'she don't need rescuing, she's okay', this is shown through very open spaces, such as by the sea, this is further shown by the strong wind that blows her scarves throughout the video, presenting an idea of being free like a bird. The lyrics are also very hopeful, for example, 'things were bad, she was in despair...she came up for air...she found herself', this is represented through the inclusion of light in the video, making the artist look bright.

There are also many close ups of the artist, typical for an indie music video as it helps to promote the artist and create a 'star image'. The music video also fits the conventions of a performance video, there are multiple settings and there is lip-synching throughout.

Vibrant shots are shown throughout

Freedom shown through wind

Every Time the Sun Comes Up -
Sharon Van Etten



Whilst I think that this song is too slow to use for our music video, I was intrigued by its existing video. The narrative is very unusual and unique whilst also being very emotion, the viewer is able to empathise with the  main character, this is an element that I would be interested in including in our music video. Unlike most indie videos, this contains very little performance, and even then it is only an animation instead of the real artist (below), which I thought was quite entertaining.

Andrew Goodwin's theory can be applied to this music video due to its notion of 'looking', there are many television screens shown throughout, as well as mirrors. There is also a relationship with the music and visuals, the slow paced song is matched with long, drawn out shots and the use of slow motion. A relationship with the lyrics can also be seen, for example, as the lyric  'I see double' is said, there is a shot of two layered clips that give the effect of blurry vision or 'seeing double'.  I found it interesting that there was a very obvious link to the lyric 'we broke your glasses but covered our asses' where a woman can be seen holding a card with this written on.

Notion of 'looking'

'I see double'

'We broke your glasses but covered our asses'

Portrait -
Josephine



This isn't the genre/style of song that our group is looking for, we would rather indie pop or indie folk, however, I really liked the techniques used in the video. The entire video is in reverse, I found it very interesting to watch a narrative backwards. This is a technique that I think we could use in our video, possibly on a lesser scale.

Typical of a narrative video, there is no lip-synching and a clear story. Applying Goodwin's theory, there is a link between the music and visuals, the calm beat is complimented with the slow paced video, creating a relaxing atmosphere. There is also a relationship between the lyrics and visuals, for example, the lyrics talk about 'portraits' and identity so it is fitting that the video focuses on a single person, allowing the audience to connect with them. Also, the lyric 'every rose we grow' is paired with a shot of some flowers (below). Close ups of the artist throughout help to create a 'star image'.

Closer
Rae Morris



I think that this would be a good song to choose for our music video. I think that it has a strong beat that would be easy to edit to, there is also a clear differentiation between the chorus and verses, making the song less repetitive and helps to create different moods throughout, this would be helpful if we choose to create a narrative video as the atmosphere would also change throughout.

Conventions of the Indie Genre

We have decided to create an indie music video. This is because they tend to have lower budgets and limited filming locations, this is beneficial as the video will be cheaper and easier to make. We also think that indie music suits the tone of video that we are hoping to make. Here is a Prezi that I made detailing the conventions of indie music videos. This will help us to create a video that suits our song (which will be from the indie genre) and is similar to existing music videos.

Filming for Prelim

We started filming our prelim today, focusing on the group shots. We wanted our prelim to be as similar to the original as possible so we carefully chose our costumes so that we resembled the characters, we wore the same colours and sunglasses to match our corresponding character.

I think that one of the hardest parts of the shoot was learning the dance routine and performing in time with the music, it took a while to learn and, also, to then stand in the correct places and hit the correct marks that we drew on the floor. It was quite difficult to compose the shots as we needed everyone to be in frame, even as we walked closer to the camera. We only have a few more shots to do, we are planning to finish filming by Friday. Below are some photos from the shoot:

Us in costume

The group watching the footage back

Preliminary Task

Today we were given our preliminary task, we have to recreate 30 seconds of an existing music video, shot for shot. By copying the video exactly, we will be able to build on our existing skills, for example, camera work (framing, panning etc), attention to detail (through our mise-en-scene and ability to frame the shots as they appear in the original music video)  as well as our planning and time management.

We have chosen to use the song 'Uptown Funk' by Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars, we are planning to copy the first 33 seconds. We chose this song as it was fast paced with a strong beat, allowing us to edit the shots in time with the music. The video contains a variety of different shots, for example, close ups, mid shots and long shots, allowing us to practice our camera work, it will also provide us with inspiration when it comes to storyboarding our final music video.