Prelim Edit

Audition Video

My Role

Describe your role, how do you feel about it?
My role is 'red girl' who is one of the pool girls. I feel alright about it as it doesn't involve any lipsynching and all the shots I'm in are with other people, which I think will help me feel more confident about performing.


These video clips show some of the scenes I will be in:











What does the performance actually consist of?
My role involves playing a snare drum, although not properly as she is characterised as an airhead model. It also involves doing actions in synch with the other pool girls, such as crossing legs. The character also needs to look confident and determined.


Is this a challenge for you, or something within your comfort zone?
Performing confidently will be a challenge for me but as I don't need to lipsynch I feel a bit more comfortable with it.

My Costume

Describe or list the specific costume/look you are aiming for.
My character is meant to be in red, beach type clothes, so I will be wearing red shorts, a red and white stripy vest and red heels, with a flower garland around my neck. In the original video the girls wear lingerie but our costumes will be less revealing.

These are the main parts of my costume

Do you have the items you need or are you planning to beg/borrow? Is there anything that may need to be bought?
The flower garland was bought but I have borrowed the shorts, vest and shoes from other people as I don't own any red clothes.

Personal Achievement

What do you personally want to get out of the whole A2 prelim experience?
I want to learn about the process of making a music video which will help for next year when we make our own original music videos, and to experience what a professional shoot is like.


Is it a challenge for you or within your comfort zone?
Performing in general is outside of my comfort zone as I have no experience of it, especially in front of a camera as it makes me quite self-conscious, so I think this will be a challenge.


Have you achieved/learnt anything so far?
We have been taught performance techniques and how to act confident and in character, which will make the process much easier. We also learned how to lipsynch effectively, which isn't needed for my character but may be a useful life skill. Another thing I've realised is how much work and planning goes in to shooting a music video and how many different roles are involved. When editing the audition videos we learned how to synch the audio and video using performance beds, which will be useful for editing the final video.

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

I thoroughly enjoyed the workshop day, despite how tiring it was, as it was a lot of fun and gave me a great insight in to how a professional shoot is run and how all the different parts come together successfully. There was a really positive atmosphere throughout the day which I think added to the experience and kept everyone going.

I was really interested in how much work went in to the make up and costumes side of the production to make the characters true to the original video while making sure everyone looked their best. One of my favourite parts of the day was watching everyone perform, as the make up, costumes and lighting made everyone look amazing on screen

I also enjoyed having the chance to use the clapperboard as helping the crew in this way made me feel more involved with producing the video than if I was just performing in it.

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

Task 1: Audition video

• I learned proper lip sync techniques which are: learning the lyrics, and actually singing so it looks convincing.
• I was forced to be in front of and perform to the camera so it forced me to be confident, which is something that I needed work on at the beginning of this project.
• While editing the video, I learned how to use performance beds to sync the audio and the video, which was a useful skill to use for the final video to save time.

Task 2: Learn and practice your performance

• We all took part in a performance workshop before rehearsals to get in to role and practice looking confident, which included playing drama games and practicing lipsynching.
• During the rehearsal, we practiced poses, actions and general confidence while performing to the camera, which greatly benefited my performance on the actual day.

Task 3: Help to plan and organise your costume

• I realised how easy it is to adapt the costumes while trying to keep them true to the characters in the original video, and I thought that the looks of most of the characters matched really well.

The girl band in the original  video

The girls band in our remake

• I also learned how important it is to sort out costumes well in advance, especially if relying on other people, as it can be stressful if you are still chasing people up at the last minute.

Task 4: The Shoot

• Throughout the project, but on the shoot day in particular, I built up my confidence in performing and was able to perform as best I could by being directed and encouraged by the crew. 

Tasha helping us to perform well

• On the shoot day I spent some time up in the lighting gallery learning how the lighting is set up and changed, which was not only interesting, but also a skill which I can use when we make our  own music videos next term.

Task 5: The Edit

• I also built on my teamwork skills as I was working in a three to start with, and later in a pair, so we had to delegate editing time equally and make decisions together.
• I think my grading improved during this task as I got used to what each of the settings did, and my judgement of what looked good definitely also improved.
• I learned how to create the flashes on the photography shots using contrast and brightness at key frames, which is shown in the gif below:

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

I was pleased with the footage, as although some shots weren't exactly the same, we did the best with what we had, for example replacing the car in the actual video with a Vespa. Some of the lighting also wasn't exactly the same, but the shots still looked good and could be changed during editing.

Scene in in the original video

Our version, with a bike

I was pleased with our edit, and though I never imagined that it would match up completely, I think it follows the original video well. I am also pleased with how we graded it as, although it also doesn't completely match the video, I think we made decisions that made the shots we had look good. There were some continuity issues with some of the bike scene shots, but we worked with what we had to produce the video to the highest standard we could, and I am proud of our finished edit. I honestly didn't expect the remake to look as good as it did in the end.

I particularly liked our grading on the yellow shots

Example of shots which replicate the original well

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

Lip-synching: the techniques we were taught will be extremely important for making our own music videos to the best possible standard, as the person performing needs to look like they are the one singing the song, making the performance more convincing. Although I personally didn't do any lip-synching in the video, I still learned how to do it convincingly during the audition process, which may be useful.

Costume: after completing this project, I've realised that I should dedicate more time to planning and creating costumes than I originally would have, as I didn't realise how much work goes in to it to make the people and the overall video look good.

The original costume and my adapted costume

Shoot organisation: I am now more aware of all the different roles and how they all work together, how much time we should allow for each shot depending on how many we plan to film, and feel confident in anyone to be able to perform well.

Performance: after having to perform in our Girls remake I would definitely be more confident performing in front of a camera for our videos next year (although I still wouldn't bee too happy about it), as I have had practice and been taught how to act confidently.

Editing: I learned techniques which are specific to editing a music video, such as using performance beds to the sync the audio and video, and cutting between different set-ups or narratives. I also learned how to create the look of having camera flashes, which may be useful.

Using key frames to create the camera flashes

Some of the different set-ups

Make up: I learned the importance of planning and practicing the looks and techniques to make the performers look as good as possible on camera, and will be able to apply this to making my own music video.

Just some of the make up used for the shoot

Lighting: I realised how complex the lighting set ups are and how many different components are needed, and so this needs a decent amount of planning time, which I will allow for when planning my own music video. I also learned the basics of operating the lighting desk, which will definitely be beneficial for filming my own music video.

The lighting desk and different lighting set-ups