We decided to do a third shoot in the studio for our music video performance as we felt like we did not have enough shots to create a well edited music video.
This shoot went a lot better than our first studio shoot as we got a wider variety of shots for example high/low angles and side shots and the lip syncing was a lot better from our performer.
After our shoots we then imported our footage into premier pro to edit our music video. During post-production we learnt how to use many different features which helped our music video achieve the aim of being preferred by our target audience.
The first skill that we found important was the curves tool. The helped adjust the colour and lighting of some of our shots. For example some of our bunker shots looked grainy due to poor lighting so by using this effect our shots looked more in focus so that we can see the performers emotions, for example her fear and anxiety, and the narrative comes across more clearly. We also used curves on some studio shots to change the colour of the shot. This gave our music video a more electropop feel giving our audience a preferred reading.
Another skill that we used a lot was the speed/duration tool to slow down our shots for example the blinking and walking ones. This gives the video a more dynamic feel and also gets us to see the performer’s emotion better especially in the close ups.
Finally anther tool we used was the scale/position tool that we used to create a zoom effect. We used this particularly on a shot of our performer kicking towards the camera. This added dimension and depth to the shot helping give an edgy and grungy feel to the music video.
For our performance we did two shoots, one in the studio and one off site and each of these shoots presented us with many different challenges. Below our some photos from our shoots:
One of our shoots was in a bunker at Pleinmont observation tower. The challenges of this shoot was the weather as it was raining so we had to keep our equipment dry. It was also dark so lighting was a problem.
The other shoot we did was in the white studio. This shoot was a lot easier and simpler however we had problems as our performer didn’t fully know the words to the song so our lip sync shots were difficult to get.
Overall I think that the shoots went well as we got a wide variety of shots that are clear and in focus. I also think that our mise en scene accurately portrayed our star image which helped feed into the metanarrative of the star. However we have decided to do a third shoot as we feel that we do not have enough shots to make a purely performance video. In this shoot we aim to:
Above is our production meeting agenda for our two performance shoots. This document keeps us organised and makes sure that we don’t forget anything that would be detrimental for our music video. Everything that we have planned to bring will help to portray the performer’s star image so it is it vital for our music video that we don’t forget anything in order to appeal to our target audience.
Above is our risk assessment for our location shoot. This is a very important document as it will keep us safe but will also tell our teacher where we are at what time if we have any problems.
Star image if a very important aspect to portray as to appeal to the correct target audience as the imagine conveys the artists vibe, beliefs and generally what they are all about.
The theorist Richard Dyer had some opinions on star image and put forward the paradox of the star. He said that artists need to ordinary but also extraordinary and present while also absent.
Below is a mood board that we made in order to get a grasp on what AU/RA star image is:
From this task we understood that she portrays herself as quite a quirky, unique and edgy star. She also shows off her luxurious lifestyle while also remaining ordinary and getting involved with important issues. All the aspects and features of AU/RA we have just mentioned feed into her metanarrative and when we shoot our performance we need to make sure to get across all of these aspects across. An example of what we will do is have our star dressed in black in order to give off the edgy, grungy feel. This is so our audience have a preferred reading to our performer’s star image and therefore enjoy the music video making us money.
Understanding our audience’s demographic and psychographic will be vital to making our music video successful as we need to appeal to our target audience. There are some theories that will be useful in understanding how to appeal to our target audience which have been described below:
Bumler and Katz are theorists who have had ideas about what media is for which will be useful to understand what our audience are using our music video for. Their uses and gratifications theory states that audiences use media for four reasons: entertainment, information, personal identity and social interaction. To make our video as successful as possible we will aim to fit into as many uses as possible
Stuart Hall put forward the reception theory which states that audiences like media that they have a preferred reading to. This means we have to make the performance appeal to our target audience so that they dont have an oppositional reading.
This task was important in understanding our audience so we can use the two theories previously mentioned effectively. We made a moodboard of what we thought, from our own expereice and research on sites like YouGov, a person of our target audience would be like. We will take what we have learnt into our shoots for both the narrative and performance in order for our music video to be as successful as it can be.
In order to do the best job that we can at our actual shoot we did a test shoot to see how many shots and angles would be necessary. We learnt a lot from this and will go into our shoot more informed about what worked and what didn’t.
Below is an edited 30 second clip of our song:
I think overall the shoot went quite well as we got a variety of shots that were in focus and well lit. The lip sync was also mainly in time with the music which is important as if it is not in time it distracts the audience from the actual performance and narrative. I also think our star image was conveyed with the use of mise en scene as I wore dark clothes and performed in dark locations. However there are things that needed improvements that we can make sure we focus on during our real shoot, these are:
The genre of our chosen artist is electro-pop. Within this genre there are many conventional shots that you would expect to see during the performance for example during our research we saw a lot of high angle shots and dolly movement shots.
In order to keep to the conventions of the genre we have decided that we will make sure that we use these conventions. However we will still use a wide variety of shots in order to create an interesting performance.
The performance is pivotal for the star image of the artist as it helps to promote what they are about. For example an artist in the electro-pop genre is conventionally portrayed as dark, edgy and grungy.
In order to use the song Panic Room we had to contact the artists, Au/Ra to get permission. This is important as it means that we do not break copyright especially as the use of the song is for educational reasons.
