Evaluation of dummy mash up

• What lessons did you learn about planning and the use of Storyboards/Shot Lists and Production Meeting Agendas? Why are they important when out on shoot?

It is important to thoroughly plan for each and every film shoot, our shot list was especially helpful in remembering which shots we had and hadn’t got as well as identify which actors were needed where and when, this allowed us to be more efficient in filming by using two cameras to film individual sections at double the speed. The production meeting agenda was also necessary in delegating responsibility for everything in our shoot and ensured we and our actors didn’t forget to bring anything crucial on the day. Next time  I will ensure I print off more than one copy of each document since some got damaged whilst filming outside and so each member of the production team has one to avoid confusion.

• What should the camera operator be doing whilst filming? 

Directing the performer constantly and encouraging them to interact with the camera as well as ensuring the shot is steady and effectively framed, I found we did this very well but it was often difficult to encourage the performer to be confident and energetic. From this I will ensure I choose enthusiastic and confident people to perform in my music video.

• What lessons did you learn about directing people in front of the camera? What information do they need to know about their character / their performance style? How can the director get them to relax and have confidence in front of the camera in order to perform well? 

I learnt that it is crucial to make the performer aware of who or what they are addressing, for our video is as very important they used direct audience address which meant maintaining eye contact with the camera, before we made them aware of this our performers often didn’t do what we intended. The performer needs to be aware of the key themes of the song in order to reflect it in their performance, by encouraging the performer to practice the sequence multiple time it builds their confidence and gets the best possible performance. Next time I will notify the performer before filming exactly who to address and to allow them even more rehearsal time to ensure we don’t miss out on key shots of lines.

• What lessons did you learn about filming the performance for your production?

I found it was far easier to film the performance of a music video than previous projects I have undertaken, once the repertoire of elements and the genre is analysed it is very simple to get multiple shots and have a large amount of film to work with in the editing process, we found we had far more footage than we needed but this was a positive thing as it allowed us to experiment with variety. I also found getting a large range of shot distances was important to create a visually interesting video. Next time I would like to try getting more long shots and closeups to have an even greater diversity of shots.

• What did you learn about editing and post-production?

Editing was also a much more relaxed and straightforward process for the music video as it was easy to cut between lyrics and beats in the music video with the multiple different shots we had achieved, this meant a rough cut for our section was completed almost instantaneously. Next time I will make sure all our clips in the editing suite are connected together to ensure there inst a short black clip in the middle of our video.

• What did you discover about the use of conventional Mise-En-Scene for music videos?

Mise-en-scene was a more difficult endeavor for our dummy mash-up as we studied the conventional clothing of girl groups we found them to be quite extraordinary and lavish which added to the paradox of the star. We asked our performers to wear clothes they would feel comfortable in on a “going out” night which helped to convey the themes of the song. We dressed our male dancer in jeans and a hoodie however this seemed too simple and boring. We wanted to ensure there was lots of natural scenery int eh background of shots such as trees and plants and so we actively avoided cars. Next time I will more carefully consider the costume of all performer to ensure it follows the conventions of the chosen genre.