Prelim Edit

Audition Video

Personal Achievement

What do you personally want to get out of the whole A2 Prelim experience?

Because the shoot will be set up like a professional shoot I would like to gain technical experience. I am looking forward to shadowing both Jake the Cinematographer and the lighting director on the day. Hopefully I will gain a more advanced knowledge of the Canon 5D MK II and learn how the lighting desk in the studio works. Gaining an insight into what it's like to be a screen performer is also something I want to get out of the prelim because it will help me in my own music video when directing other performers.

Is it a challenge for you or within your comfort zone?

I have had experience performing on stage and in front of a camera so that aspect of the prelim is in my comfort zone. However, I haven't performed in front of a camera on this kind of scale on a professional shoot so that will be out of my comfort zone.

Have you achieved/learnt anything so far?

The performance workshop we did on Wednesday taught us various techniques for performing in front of a camera. We learnt how to lip sync and. the importance of over pronouncing words because it looks better on camera; How moving your eye line can add so much to a character; and that movement and attitude is key to developing a character. As demonstrated in the clip below:

My Role

I have been cast in the role of 'Ponytail Guitar Girl' who is the guitarist in the 'White Background setup'. She is a part of the female band. The model who plays her is Raina Hein.

She is quite harsh and spends the video playing the guitar with a lot of bounce and movement. However, she is a little playful with a small smile playing across her face. During her solo MS she smiles but looks away from the camera.

I think my character is within my comfort zone because I can play the guitar so am comfortable holding one and she is quite reserved.

These are the shots that I will be in:

The Female Band setup

Ponytail Guitar Girl's MS

My Costume

Describe or list the specific costume/look you are aiming for

I have a black top, skinny jeans, vans, high heels and jackets so I will be able to choose the best outfit from these things. The outfit will depend what suits me and what fits with the character.

The original outfit

Do you have the items you need or are you planning to beg/borrow? Is there anything that may need to be brought?

If it is decided that I should wear heels I will need to borrow a pair as I do not own any heels.

Q1 - Prelim Evaluation: Did you enjoy the workshop day? What were your best bits and why?

I really enjoyed the workshop day. It was amazing seeing the Seward Studio in full-on shoot mode with the Plasma Screens setup for playback, the lighting in full use and the cyclorama set up. I loved how similar it was to a professional shoot because everyone had a job and knew what they were doing.

My favourite part was helping out in the camera department as this is where I want work professionally. I got to be clapper, where I learnt how focused you have to be because missing or forgetting which take it is has a knock on effect for the rest of the scene and in the edit. I really enjoyed being Cinematographer for a couple of shots where I got to record and yell 'camera speed' and 'cut'. Moving the camera by lifting and adjusting the tripod and changing lenses was also fun.

The camera setup

Me as the clapper

When in front of the camera I was much more comfortable than I thought I would be. Having performance coaches really helped as did the performance rehearsals earlier in the week; they taught us how to be confident and not think self consciously in front of the camera.

Our performance coach Tasha helping Alice

I wish i'd gotten more involved in the lighting department as this is an area I want to learn more about. I moved, adjusted and put gels on lights on the studio floor but didn't get a chance to see how the lighting desk worked. I hope to learn this when we make our own music videos. It was great seeing so many different lights and all the equipment that goes along with it in use. I love the effect the diffusers had of softening the light from the ARRI Redheads.

ARRI Redheads behind a diffuser

Overall I had a really enjoyable day because I got to experience every department and was busy all day.

Q2 - Prelim Evaluation: What have you learnt from participating in each of the prelim tasks?

During this prelim we undertook 5 tasks to help us learn and gain skills that we will put to use when making our own music videos.

Task 1: Audition Video

For this task we were required to shoot and edit a performance video of us lip syncing to 'Girls' by The 1975. These were used as our audition videos for roles in the video remake of the song. This is the video I made with Alice:

Performing:

We were required to perform to camera using direct address. This was a fairly new experience as I had performed to camera before but never lip-synced. We used the lip syncing techniques we had been taught such as: actually singing, figuring out how each line is performed and thinking about the sound the singer is making makes the lip sync look more realistic. I also learnt how to study a character, such as the models in the 'Girls' music video, and apply that to myself. For example Tate Ashley (pictured below) lip syncs with a lot of attitude but is soft at the same time.

Tate Ashley

Editing:

Editing the audition video was the first time I had edited by laying a performance bed. Which is where you place each full take onto the timeline and cut between them. This process also taught me how to be selective with which takes I wanted to use. However, I found having all the footage on the timeline was cluttered and it was harder to keep track of takes. I amended this in the final edit by only cutting takes from each scene then deciding between those. I also learnt how to sync up the lip syncing with the track by using the audio from the original and listening to see if they were in sync.

Screenshot of our performance bed

Task 2: Learn and practice your performance

Following our audition videos we attended a performance evening where, led by our performance director and performance coach, we did warm-ups and exercises designed to help us with performance. For example, we were put into pairs and told to recite the lyrics of 'Girls' to each other in order to practice direct eye contact and pronunciation.

Our performance director with Vivien and Abi

Once we had been cast we attended performance rehearsals to help us develop our character. During these rehearsals we did things to help our performances such as playing in different styles. Our characters were models pretending to be a band so we played as the extremes of these character. Firstly we played as a girl band playing a Glastonbury, so we had to be natural and lively, then as supermodels so we had to be confident and posey as if we were in front of a stills camera.

The band during rehearsals

These sessions taught us to be aware of our bodies and our movements as everything is picked up on camera and that eye contact and where you're looking can add depth to a character (as in the video below).

In this clip Raina Hein goes from direct address to looking down away from the camera, connoting her as a confident model

Task 3:  Help to plan and organise your costume

I had to find a black outfit that was similar to Ponytail Guitar Girl's but was more suited to a girl in a rock band. We had costume meetings where we worked with the staff to find the right outfit for our characters. I learned how much time and planning goes into creating a visual style for a character.

Original Outfit

My outfit

Task 4: The Shoot

We shot our remake in the Seward Studio over 12 hours. It was meant to be as close to a professional shoot as we could get so we could see how music videos are made in a studio.

Because I was a performer I learnt what the shoot day is like from an actor's perspective. A lot of waiting around is involved but you need to be paying attention as to when you'll be needed.

Because I was wrapped at 11am I spent the rest of the day helping the crew. I learnt that to be a clapper you need to be constantly focused on what's going on as you need to keep track of takes and scenes.

The main thing that we all learnt was how important sticking to the schedule was, as going over on one scene has a knock on effect on every other scene that day.

Our Camera Op and Director

Our 1st AD and producer keeping us to schedule

Task 5: The Edit

For the edit we were split into pairs and each edited our own version of the 'Girls' remake. It took us about a week to watch, edit and grade all of our footage.

As in Task 1 we had to sync up the lip syncing, but we also had to sync up our actor's actions to those of the models and band members in the girls video. For example, for when Matt Healy rubs his eye we had to find the shot of Kayvon and make the actions happen as simultaneously as possible.

I also learnt how to grade footage shot in a studio using ProcAmp and Three-Way Colour corrector. For example, the shot of Georgie was slightly underexposed so I turned the contrast up and the saturation up to produce a more pleasing image.

Before

After

Q3 - Prelim Evaluation: Are you pleased with the footage and your edit? Is it how you expected it to look?

Overall I am pleased with the footage. We managed to replicate the original video extremely well considering we do not have a professional studio or the budget of a record label. The sets used in the original video are quite simple so were easy for us to replicate. For example, for the white scenes we put a drumkit, amps and a wooden frame in front of a white cyclorama.

The band in the white setup

I found that costume, movement and characteristics were the most important aspects to playing character as opposed to race or hairstyle. For example, Kayvon was cast as Matt Healy and played the character extremely well. Aesthetically, Kayvon and Matt Healy are vastly different but by studying Matt Healy's movements, attitude and characteristics Kayvon made sure looks didn't affect his performance.

Kayvon acting as Matt Healy

One problem that we faced was that our lighting was sometimes quite different to the original. Because we were only using ProcAmp and Three Way Colour Corrector, this was hard to fix in grading. There were some problems that we could not fix in Adobe Premiere Pro. For example, in the white scenes the top corners are darker than the rest of the backdrop.

Original White Scene

Our White Scene

I am also pleased with my edit. Everything is in sync and we were able to use our favourite shots to make the edit we wanted. We uploaded our final edit to Youtube and it now has over 1,600 views after just 5 days. Even though I am pleased with the edit, I wish I had spend more time on grading as I feel there are some shots that weren't quite right. For example, the two shot of Matt Healy and Tate Ashley is slightly blue but we found this difficult to replicate in grading.

Original two shot

Our two shot

Overall I am extremely happy with the footage and our edit. Based on previous remakes I was expecting the same quality which is what we got and even surpassed in some cases.

Q4 - Prelim Evaluation: How do you think your prelim experiences will impact on your approach to next term's music video coursework?

Pretty much all of the skills we have learnt during this prelim are transferrable to next term's music video coursework.

Through the performance coaches and rehearsals I have gained the confidence to perform for a music video in front of a camera. Next year we will probably end up performing in our own videos as it is easier for scheduling and practicality; therefore we will be able to apply the performance skills we have learnt. Embodying a character is one of these performance skills. I have also learnt how important costume is for developing a character so we will spend a lot of time on it next term.

Me as Ponytail Guitar Girl

Because we now have an experience of shooting in the Seward Studio we know how it works and its capabilities and limits. By helping in various departments, I am confident using it which will be useful next year when we will be shooting in there by ourselves. The studio is flexible and can be changed to suit most genres, an aspect which i'm sure we will exploit.

Our full studio setup

Having edited my own version of the 'Girls' video, I now know how to edit a music video with a loose narrative structure. However, the editing of a video with a narrative can also be applied to those without narratives. For example, the use of cross cutting between scenes and setups is used in non-narrative music video. Editing by laying a performance bed is also a skill I will carry through to next term.

Our video cross cutting between different scenes and setups

In short, over the course of this prelim I have acquired skills that will aid me in all aspects of next term's coursework.