Evaluation Question 5: How do you think the work you have completed for the preliminary tasks will impact on your real music video project?

When we started this project I knew next to nothing about the way in which a music video was shot, and this workshop task and the lip-sync tasks have really helped increase my knowledge and understanding of this new kind of filming. With the insight and experience I have gained, I feel that I can start the real music video project with far more confidence. I have far more understanding about all of the roles of the crew, the importance of lighting and mise-en-scene, correography, framing and so on., and have learnt so much about the editing of a music video. I have also learnt about the importance of time management, never to rush as it will be obvious in the final piece, and the importance of responsibility and organisation when working in a team.

The lip sync tasks taught me about variation, and made me get to grips with the conventional shot types in a music video, as well as boosting my confidence on the other side of the camera lens a little!

I'll be looking forward to doing our music video project greatly - after seeing professionals at work, learning tips from them, and trying it out for myself I am far less hesitant and feel I have a solid basis to get stuck in with more of my own ideas and input next year. I am also, of course, incredibly pleased about everything we've everything we acheived - especially the In the Sun video.

Evaluation Question 4: Have the lip sync tasks benefitted you in any way?

The lip sync tasks, although obviously not particularly well thought out in terms of costume, setting, narrative etc., as they were intended just as practices, taught me a lot. Most importantly I think was to relax in front of the camera, and be more comfortable being a bit stupid and getting involved. They also taught me a lot about the importance of varying shots - when me and George watched back the clips of us singing 'Never had a Dream Come True' straight at the camera without any variation we realised how boring it would be if we didn't add more variations in, eg. close-ups, tracking shots, mid shot, long shots etc., which instantly livened it up and kept it interesting.

I also learnt how to edit the clips so that the movement of the lips matched the singing on the track, and although this was fiddly and time-consuming at first it came far more naturally the more I practiced. There was a lot more freedom to mess about with cutting up shots with the lip syncs, which I think is true for all music videos - as long as you get plenty of footage and shot variety there is a lot of free reign.

Evaluation Question 3: Are you pleased with your edit? Is it how you expected it to look?

I am so pleased with the turn out of the edit. We worked to the real music video as we cut it up and edited it together and the shots all fit perfectly.

Although, obviously, not everything is exact to the original, and there are a couple of small errors for example when the male dancer, ciara, and the two female backing dancers leap out of the room, they leap out of a single door and out through double doors, but these are minor issues that could not be avoided and I think it is as close to perfect as we could have managed. It's amazing seeing how it's all come together through everyone pulling their weight and taking care over their responsibilites in the shoot, and it was nice that everyone put effort into learning their words and the dances, especially as none of us are particularly good singers or dancers!

Other small errors can also be found in the lighting, as in some of the shots it doesn't match up, and I think if I were to re-shoot it would be this I would focus on changing, but I don't think it detracts from the sequence too much and I am still incredibly happy with the result.

Evaluation Question 2: For you, what was the best bit of the day and why?

I found most of the day really interesting, despite it being extremley draining towards the end. Although my dancing needs a lot to be desired, I enjoyed the dancing the most, and the fact that we were all in it together made it a lot less embarrassing than I thought it would be. We had a good laugh filming it, and the hula-hoop scenes were also good fun (the first couple of hundred takes anyway!). As I am considering a media course for University, it was also helpful to talk to the technichal crew about some of their experiences with it, so between filming was interesting as well; being around and learning from people who do media as a profession.

It was also brilliant to have the oppurtunity to try out the hi-tech, top-of-the-range equipment that was hired and see it in action, for example the crane.

Evaluation Question 1: What do you think you learnt from Monday's workshop?

I took a lot from the workshop day, most importantly, I think, how important everyone's roles are on set. We had a director, assistant camera-man, lighting techinchian and correographer and they all had ensure that they worked together. The whole thing would have fallen through had one of them failed to fulfill their role - there was no one role more important than any other. Communication between them, and with us as the cast, was key.

The day before, we helped put out the set and arrange the book shelves in the library etc., and we all had to put together our own costumes. It was interesting to learn how important the mise-en-scene really is - little tweaks like the scarves for the dancers and the male dancers' blue scarf, and the printed out books in the back of the "library" made all the difference to the believability, and the mood.

There was so much more to each shot than just the costume, correography and learning the words though. Frequently on the day we would perform our routine and think we had it perfect, only to have to re-do it because of techinchal glitches or lighting issues. The lighting, camera and other equipment was all fundamental in producing a good quality shot, and no single part of it could be rushed in any way. Taking time over everything and doing it over again until it was perfect was what I believe really ensured the success of our final sequence.

Me and George lip sync 'Never Had a Dream Come True'

In The Sun Final Edit

In The Sun Lipsynch Practice

Lily Allen - Littlest Things

Aside from the fact that this one of my favourite songs, I love this video because of it's simplicity. The lyrics of the song talk about how she wishes she could just pretend that she was back with her boyfriend, and so the music video is set in the style of a film set, keeping up the idea of acting and pretence. It's all done in black and white, and is simple and understated, to match the pace of the song. I do think sometimes that less is more and that is certainly true for this video.

Thoughts/reflections on the course so far

At first I was sceptical about the choice of song for our music video project - I thought the song was too cutesy and that I would start to find it annoying. However after having listened to some of the various people who have come in to talk to us about the project, I have realised that it is not always important to love the song. In the music industry, there will never be a guarantee that you will like the artist's music that you are asked to direct for, you just have to make the best of it - possibly with a better overview as you will be objective to the song - so this is good practice for the real world.

Jake's talk was extremely beneficial. I found it interesting to learn more about the way a shoot works, and picked up some useful information such as the fact that real music videos are also shot over the space of a day, and that big stars rarely perform the trickier dance moves in their videos - their faces are superimposed onto the bodies of professional dancers. I am looking forward to learning more from him on the day of the shoot itself.

Jasmine's dance sessions have also been really helpful - I think I've learnt to be a little bit less embarrassed by my awful dancing in front of my friends and just have a laugh instead. Overall, I'm starting to look forward to the shoot a lot more. I'm interested to see how it will all come together.