MUSIC VIDEO RECONSTRUCTION EVALUATION

As a small task to get us used to the editing suit and creating a music video, we had to deconstruct and reconstruct 30 seconds of a music video. We created a diary to record what we did and when we did it. We was allocated into groups of 4/5 and looked at each of our 1 minute story boards which we had created over the summer and decided which would be suitable to reconstruct. We based our decision on mise - en - scene, props, cast and the locations we could use, and focused on a music video that would encourage our editing skills. We decided on 'Rihanna - We Found Love'. We picked out 30 seconds in which we thought we would be able to reproduce at a high standard of work. We watched the video over and as a group chose to deconstruct and reconstruct from 1:16 – 1:46.

Next we needed to watch the clip through and look at the mise en scene, location and cast of the video. We looked at what the male and female was wearing and chose how we could all work together to create the same sort of costume style. We also looked on YouTube to find some stock footage clips of flowers growing, corn blowing and clouds moving. *I have shown these on this post - http://rubyrogersa2media.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/backdrops-for-we-found-love-music-video.html *

To make everything a bit easier and organised we allocated roles of each of ourselves, however we all ended up doing a bit of everything so we could all try something out. Due to illness, Amy Fenwick was unable to plan and film the main parts of our video; however she helped out a lot during editing!

Chelsie Reed – Producer/Editor/Cast

Ruby Rogers– Editor/camera/director

Rachel Milner – Editor/camera/director

Amy Fenwick- Editor

We created a production plan so we all knew the dates and times of when we needed to film, on this post…http://rubyrogersa2media.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/30-second-deconstruction-reconstruction.html

We chose our actors and based this on if they was a good performer, actor, and if they actually looked the part. After choosing our actors, we needed to find suitable locations. After a lot of discussion over whether to film the skateboarding scene at, Haltemprice/little Switzerland/ Beverley Skate park – we decided on Beverley Skate park as it looked the part more and we was all able to get there. We also thought we could film the takeaway scene in the same day and went to a takeaway near the skate park. We then needed to use the green room for the scene with the stock footage, however after deep consideration and looking over the original music video again, we all agreed that a projector was actually being used instead of the green room. This meant that we needed to relocate and find an empty classroom with a projector and whiteboard. Luckily, we found one that wasn’t being used and was able to start filming.

Whilst filming, we found quite a lot of obstacles to overcome, however our team work really well together and listened to each other’s ideas so we was able to get past these. Looking at our storyboard and original video we had on Chelsies iPod, we looked at the cinematography of each individual shot and tried to get this as exact as we could. We filmed each shot various times so we could see which looked best in the editing suit and which matched up to the original. Filming at the skatepark worked well, however we worried at first as it had been raining and we needed to use the ramps. However, after getting ourselves prepared and discussion where everyone needed to be, the rain had dried a little. We also struggled to concentrate at some points as there was some guys on the skate park trying to distract us…However this ended up in our favour as in the original music video there was some guys in the background, we asked if they would take part in the shot and they co-operated making our scene look more realistic.

We then started to film in the take away, luckily the staff let us use the tables and chairs as props which was really helpful as this also made our scene look more exact and realistic. Once again we asked people who was walking in the takeaway to be background actors and they kindly took part. We all really enjoyed filming these scenes especially as it was fun and we all worked together.

Following our production plan, we immediately stated filming the next day. Ray showed us how to use the editing suit (Adobe Premier) and we all wrote notes down so we’d remember.  We was talked us through how to cut, crop, and render our video. I lost track of how many hours it actually took to edit just these few shots…which worried our group as we still needed to edit our main task of a 3-4 minute song. However, we all worked together and got the first editing parts done.

We then started filming the projector scenes for our video. This was much harder than we thought and needed to finish this off during the week. We had troubles with the lighting as when we turned the lights off, Chelsies face was too dark on the camera, and when we tried opening the blinds we found it was hard to see the image on the projector. However we experimented different ways to get light and realised we could also edit the contrast and lighting on the editing suite so shot it lots of times and chose the best one. The camera angles was hard to get right as the board wasn't that big so we couldn't zoom out too much without getting the edges of the board in the shot which looked unrealistic.

Following our production plan once again, we started editing straight away. We found it challenging to get the video and singing in sync however once we did so, it was exciting to watch together and we also played the original video at the same time to see if they were in sync with each other. It was challenging to get the camera, fan, and light ready whilst also playing the stock footage and the original clip all at the same time (so Chelsie could mime along). Sometimes our group missed the song play and had to start again which was frustrated as we all wanted to get it done after trying to do it so many times.

We then filmed the last few shots of the video which was tablets falling on the table and a guy putting them in his mouth, this was pretty quick to do, however we found it hard to get the tablets falling as accurate as the original video.

After editing our video together we needed to add a colour effect on the top as when we saw the original the camera has a greeny/blue tint to it. We tried changing the gamma colours and this took so long. John showed us how to do this a much simpler way, realising we’d wasted so much time…however this luckily was the last few editing parts. We then imported a clip off YouTube of an eye dilating for our video.

From this process I have definitely learnt that time planning is crucial to planning, filming and editing a music video. I learnt so much on Adobe Premier such as how to change the colour of the clip, zooming in so we could cut the clip more accurately, and the different editing techniques we could use after filming. We also learnt how to use the camera more and the different cinematography shots for music videos. I also think we have learnt how to work more in a group and put our ideas across to each other as we was all very willing to listen to each other. I’m glad we planned ahead as this made each day feel like we were getting something done. If I was to do this again I would use the story board more as we ended up relying mostly on the actual video clip on Chelsies iPod. If I had problems such as lighting in my own music video I think I would spend less time fussing to try getting it perfect, as when we watched it back on the editing suite it was much lighter anyway.