My name is Laith Lyster (9274) and this my A2 media blog. I worked in group 1 with Sian Richefond (9319) and Meera Nakrani (9292). To see my portfolio evidence, please click on the 3 labels on the right named A2 Construction, A2 Research and Planning, and A2 Evaluation.
Below is our finished music video
My Outside Digipak Panels
My Inside Digipak Panels
Please click the image below to view our finished website
For me the main workshop shoot day was very enjoyable as due to the great levels of teamwork within the group which in turn lead to a non-hostile working environment. This therefore meant we could all focus and learn from the more experienced crew members, such as the director. Also, another bonus of the commitment shown by all of us was that numerous re-takes were not required, thus lowering stress levels and allowing more free time throughout the day. Below you can see a time lapse of the day, showing how the set and lighting set-ups changed throughout:
On the day my role did not vary that much as I was primarily in front of camera playing the role of Jamie. When I was not in front of the camera I was either on clapper board duties or supporting the actors on screen with words of encouragement. Even though my experience of acting on camera was minimal, the warm atmosphere around the set helped me settle quickly and in turn made me enjoy the experience even more. In my performance of Jamie,my roles varied from modelling to playing the guitar and at some points lip-syncing along with the actor playing Sydney, usually Sian. Below you can see some of the scenes I was involved in:
Me in costume whilst waiting for the dancing shots
My solo in a mid-shot
My Best Bits:
In my opinion, the amount of takes it took me to do my scenes was a very big positive as prior to filming I thought I would mess up and in turn cause a multitude of re-takes. However, this turned out not to be the case as my scene went very well with myself getting into character fairly quickly and in turn making myself proud of my scenes.
Overall, I think my best scene was when I had to play the guitar on my own in front of the camera. I think this scene went very well as I managed to pull off every move required of me whilst also being able to enjoy my performance which I think was reflected well on screen. A short cut of this long take can be seen in the GIF below:
Due to this being this being the first audition I have done, the idea of putting myself on camera like this was pretty daunting. Moreover, it was even harder to get myself to look straight into the camera rather than the display lens or any lyrics. This made the process take longer than it should have done but in the end we became more familiar with the music and more confident with our movements/appearance, thus enabling a better and more enjoyable experience.
What I learnt:
that framing shots and then acting within them is very time consuming
effective lip-syncs require actual signing
music videos need many shots to keep them interesting
to just have fun when lip-syncing as this brings out more genuine/energetic performances
Task 2: Learn and practice your performance
Jasmine was our performance director and she was very helpful in getting me more used to the camera and developing my characters moves. We had many rehearsal sessions with her in which we all worked together to help boost everyone's confidence as we believed this was the key to a stronger performance in front of the camera. One of the most useful tools I took on when practicing was the 'movement dictionary'; after watching the original music video I realised my character Jamie had certain moves which he repeatedly used, in turn I learnt these moves and gave each one a name. Jasmine was then able to shout these names to me when I was performing so I knew to instantly do them; this made my performance far easier as the pressure of memorizing a routine was withdrawn.
Me being instructed on my performance by Jasmine (on right)
Task 3: Help to plan and organise your costume
In terms of my costume, I provided the shoes (borrowed of a friend), the white shirt and the skinny jeans. Apart from these items, the tie and the blazer I wore were provided by other members of the crew and my class.
Me in my band costume, whilst playing a guitar provided by one of the runners on the day
Away from my costume, I also brought in a variety of smart shirts which were either worn by both member of the 'cool kids' and a member of the band (Ray). I also brought in 3 pairs of VANS shoes as these were specifically required by some of the 'cool kids' to complete their look. Below are some of the items of clothing I brought in which contributed to some of the characters costumes:
Through this task I also learnt that wearing the costume can be very useful in actually getting into character; this helps bring out better performances from the actors and is thus something I will take forward into my next project.
Task 5: Complete the remake edit
For the edit I worked with Sailesh and I believe we worked well as a team as we equally divided the editing time to ensure fairness whilst I also felt that both our creative inputs were respected in our final edit.
In my edit I:
An example of a shot where I had to match the lip-sync
helped choose the best takes and place them on the timeline
graded some shots
sped up and slowed down some shots to match the original music video
matched the lip-sync of our actors to the music track
changed the framing of some shots
The timeline of our sequence
I really enjoyed editing Cool Kids as I was able to explore more creative possibilities as music videos are not restrained to the traditional continuity rules. For example, each shot is very short and the transitions are constant. This makes the video fast-paced and in turn keeps the audience interested whilst not taking anything away from the actual music track (which must take priority). An example of the fast-paced editing can be seen a a GIF below:
Conclusion
Overall, I think that tasks 1, 2, 3 and 5 have helped me consolidate and improve my skills which which be very useful when it comes to making my own music video next year.
I am very pleased with my final cut as I believe that our remake was a similar yet still original in it own right from the actual music video by Echosmith. Also, I think that the great work of the cast and crew contributed to a lot of high quality shots and thus made the editing process a far easier task. Below you will be able to watch our finished edit:
ProcAmp was the tool we used for our grading
What works well:
All the lip-syncs match
All cuts match with the original
We managed to get the set designs very similar to the original
The costumes matched those in the original music video
Our grading achieved its desired look
The movements of the actors matched those in the original
Before grading
After grading
What would I change:
The main thing I would change in our remake would be to have shot every shot which was in the original, example can be seen below. Overall, I think this would have made our sequence a better match to Echosmiths music video.
I think my prelim experience will have a positive impact on my approach to next term's music video coursework. Overall, I have learnt a lot from all three sectors of production, pre-production, main shoot and post-production.
Pre-production
From pre-production I have learnt that it is important to have:
Our performance schedule
a clear sense of what genre our music video belongs to as this will heavily affect lighting and styling choices
detailed schedules for both cast and crew and this helps keep everyone focused and stress-free
choreography learnt and thoroughly rehearsed before the shoot as this will help it run smoothly
all required locations booked/available so shoot days have less hassle
Main shoot
From our prelim's main shoot I have learnt to:
The set-up on the day of the main shoot
have an assistant director whose job is to ensure we don't over-run; on the day I felt this was critical in us having a more productive shoot
shoot every take more than once as this gives you more options when editing
ensure that any actors who are required to lip-sync actually sing as this helps make their mouth movements more believable on camera
ensure that all the actors are supported and encouraged frequently as this helps bring out better performances as a result of boosts in confidence
Post-production
Through the post-production period I have learnt that:
Me working at my edit suite
having an edit schedule is imperative in making sure that the final deadline for the project is met and in turn helps keep the load more evenly spread out between group members
grading choices can only be decided by experimenting and they must accurately reflect the genre of the music and therefore the look/style you are going for
cutting shots to the beat is very effective in delivering a professional music video of which the story being portrayed does not take away from the music
Conclusion
Overall, I believe that this prelim has taught me a vast range of new skills which I can carry on into my next project. It also taught me that the time required to actually make a music video is very long and thus must not be underestimated by any one taking part. However, no matter how long it took I also feel that this process was thoroughly enjoyable and has made me very excited for next year.
