Category: Preliminary Tasks

For this first practice shoot I learnt a good amount about what does and doesn’t work, and what I’ll need to work on and improve moving forward.

In this instance, I’m happy with the sync of the video and audio, editing to the beat and achieving accurate lip syncing. This also allowed us to experiment with colour and light adjustments (although this example isn’t the most complex, with a singular adjustment layer with one filter applied over all). I am also happy with how we managed to convey lots of expression in directing this performance (despite this being a test shoot, not using the same actor that we will for the final product), showing how we can successfully convey our ideas to the actors.

However there is of course room for improvement, as multiple shots were out of focus, something we should look out for and avoid in future. We could also work on improving our efficiency with filming time, as this video alone required two shoots to achieve exactly what we wanted. This can be improved by trying to put together a more concise list of the exact shots we need before going into a shoot. I feel that, for the real thing, we can also make an effort to better control the lighting of the set and shot consistency (the camera moves very slightly in places here), as well as allow ourselves to be more experimental and ambitious with editing in post.

Below is my first attempt at editing together a lip sync, as well as some experimentation with green screen editing.

Lip sync is an important skill to develop before making a music video as it presents the star image as a convincing performer and, if done well, will help sustain the viewer’s immersion in the video. To prepare for this in advance it can be helpful to advise that your performer does not over-enunciate the lyrics to the extent of appearing unnatural, this is another reason why it is important to choose a performer who visually matches the grain of the voice you are syncing to.

When it comes to editing the footage in Premiere Pro it’s helpful to note specific tools that are provided in the program to aid you in the process of lip syncing. Most notably, the marker tool allows you to add a tag/marker to a certain point in the footage and line this up with other markers in the timeline, as well as this it can be helpful to compare the audio waves of both the music track and video so as to match them as closely as possible.

In reflection, my video definitely isn’t perfect and with more time could be refined and much improved, example areas for improvement are;

• The lip sync isn’t consistently successful for every shot, whilst most work fine there are a couple examples where the sync is very slightly off and this stands out against the more successful clips.
• The green screen editing isn’t very clean as you can see a green outline still around some shots, as well as areas being cut out that shouldn’t be, hopefully with more practice this is something I can improve on.
• The transitions aren’t consistent and sometimes the effect will cut the clip short or last too long.
• Due to the moving cameras or the performers moving too much, sometimes they will be cropped unnaturally on the sides

However, despite these flaws, being able to identify them is still helpful and allows me to make improvement in future tasks. After this first practice with lip sync I have gained valuable experience and have a much better idea of how to work with the program and equipment than before.

To begin with our video production work we have been tasked with creating a short 30-40 second montage in groups, based around a proverb. My group has chosen to base our montage on the idea of “practice makes perfect”, showing the progression and improvement somebody makes in three different skills with practice. In preparation for creating our montage we planned out our shoot by creating a storyboard, highlighting each key shot and to get a better idea of the chronology of the product. With the three different narratives/skills we used three different colours to distinguish these, with each individual narrative following the simple structure of;

• Attempt one
• Failure
• Attempt two
• Failure again
• (Extra training)
• Attempt three
• Success

On this storyboard we have also made note of our planned shot types, specifying detail such as being a mid-shot, close-up or long shot, whether we include a pan etc.

Resulting Video:

After shooting, editing and completing the video I can now address some set reflection questions;

1. Do you think your montage has an impact?Yes, I feel that the clear stories effectively relay the message of Practice makes Perfect and creates the desired motivational impact for the viewer
2. Do you get a sense of feeling or story / relationship?With the simple and clear narratives and progression the viewer can easily track and follow the stories shown
3. How does one specified cut create meaning?
   One cut in particular which works well to create meaning is around the 0:48 timestamp when we get a reaction shot after Casey successfully shoots a basketball shoot, clearly showing his contentedness and joy at achieving what he’d been working so hard to do
4. Is there a sense of progression or are you trying just to reflect an experience?There is a clear sense of progression throughout the video, as each narrative follows a structure of
   1. Established tasks
   2. Failed attempt at task
   3. Continuing to practice task
   4. Success in improving at task
5. Do you use repetition of some shots? If so, how do they help communicate your idea?We do repeat some visually similar shots, shown at 0:31, emphasizing the repetition of a task that is essential to practice, then further showing the resulting improvement as we see another similar shot later on which shows success
6. What additional shot would you have liked to get to further communicate the idea?Some additional reaction shots during the process of practicing and failure could be included to further emphasize the change that comes later on

Overall, reflectively this task has helped familiarize me with the whole process of creating a video, including planning, shooting and editing as well as developing skills in working with a team. These are all skills that will be essential to creating a successful music video.