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Editing The Music Video

I was in charge of editing the music video and for me this was the hardest part. Firstly I hadn’t used the editing software and so it took me a while to know how to use it. Another problem, through no fault of mine or anyone else, was that the computer couldn’t find some files and this has been a problem with a few other peoples work and the only way to fix it is to sit and search for any file it cant find. This took a long time and shortened the amount of time I had to edit. Then I had to get all of videos in sync with the track which I found very difficult at first but then with a little help it was really easy. The problem was that I was taking a long time and it became easier if I put all of the footage that I wanted on and then cut and delete when necessary. This then went a lot faster and by the time a representative of the band came in I had all but a few shots finished. They liked the video a part from a few parts where the music and videos weren’t in sync and they wanted to tweak some of the footage to portray more how they would perform on stage. This was easily done. We decided to change the footage to black and white because the lighting was a bit different in some shots and so didn’t really fit continuity editing. The video however wasn’t finished on time as I was not in school but all I had to do was add credits and change the footage to black and white and this was easy to do and wouldn’t take me very long at all.

23rd January 2011- The Day Of The Shoot

On the 23rd January 2011 we filmed our music video. I arrived at about 13:00, as I had not received a production schedule prior to this date and so did not know that I was scheduled to help the other group with their lighting, if I were able to do this, so I turned up at the original time that we had agreed. Most of the band for Group therapy, the band before us, were in our band and had gone to lunch by the time I had got to the location of Sawtry Community College.

My first job was to make sure that all of the equipment we had booked out was there and working. At about 14:00ish one of the girls turned up and about 14:15ish the band musicians turned up from their lunch. Then about 14:30ish the other two girls showed up and then they all went to go get changed into their costumes that we all had agreed on. Whilst they got changed we took some photos and got some footage for the behind the scenes and set up the hall and stage for the video. I set up for the first shot that I would be filming, which was the close up shot of the lead singer of the girls. We decided to put a camera on a tripod underneath my camera to film the mid-long shot of the three girls. The band had finished getting changed and returned at about 14:50ish and then Max went through with them what they had to do and what we would be filming and when we would be filming these shots. I checked the shot one more time just to make sure that the shot was in centre  and to what Max wanted it as and then the band did a quick rehearsal of miming to a track. Then at about 15:00ish we started to film for real.

We did two takes of the close up and mid-long shots because the lead forgot her words. I was in charge of the close up and Molly was in charge of the mid-close up. Then the next shot was the close up of the girl on the left and then after I filmed a close up of the girl on the right. During this Molly filmed a long shot of the three girls. Then I filmed a close up of the drummer playing. After I did a close up of the keyboard player. Then after a did a panning shot of the drummer and then a panning shot of the keyboard player. After Max filmed a panning shot of the three girls by walking across the stage and then we were finished about 16:20. All the while the behind the scenes was filmed by Connor Thorpe and the lighting for the music video was done by Lloyd Wallis. I packed away 3 out of the 4 cameras and tripods that we had used as they needed the other camera and tripod to film the interviews with the band. Once those interviews were filmed the I packed the camera away and left the tripod out so that Chelsea could take the pictures for the DVD cover and then packed that camera away when she was finished. Then I put the cameras, tripods and lights somewhere where I could pick them up the next day to return to the Media Department. Then we had finished about 17:00ish, which was an hour shorter than we had planned for.

21st January 2011- TryingTo Get My Lighting Certificate

On Friday 21st January I attempted to get my lighting certificate to prove that I am capable in using the Sawtry Community College lights. It didn't go well at all because firstly I spent ages just trying to find out how to put the lights on the stands and later on I blew a bulb through fault of my own. So I failed at trying to get the certificate and so can not use the lights. The only problem with this is that we were going to use the lights for the photography, the only other option is to use the stage lights.

Possible Layouts For The Cameras

As I am the cameraman for the music video it was my job to think about where the cameras are going to be placed in location that we are filming in.

The Camera Work Of The Shoop Shoop Song

I have noticed that the cameraman for this video has not had to do a lot of moving around on the location/ set. I have also noticed that the camera is always positioned on a tripod, or it could be a steady cam. The camera also doesn't zoom in and out too much either and the shots vary in length.

The Job Of A Music Video Cameraman

Music video cameramen have to set up the lights to fit the mood of the music video and to keep it in with the director's ideas and what he wants for the video. The lighting seems to be one of the hardest jobs that a cameraman has to do because they have to also visualize what the video has to look like, as set by the director, with combing all of the elements together.

A cameraman may end up having to go to the shoot location early and stay later than anyone else because it takes a long time to prep the cameras. It might be that a cameraman has to take longer than anyone else on the crew to set up. Depending on the time taken to set up would also depend on the size of the camera. Larger cameras are more delicate and have more small pieces to fit on, which takes longer than smaller cameras. Also these small parts all have their own case which means the cameraman has more watch over to prevent loss or damage. Cameras are most often rented for the productions and come with all of the pieces required and for this reason cameramen most often have assistants that would do the same hours as the cameraman  to account for these pieces; otherwise it would be the production's fault for any loss or damage of the equipment.

Most of the camera prep can take up to a week and so during this time a camera crew would get to know all of the pieces involved with the camera; where they go and what they do.

11th January 2011 Email To Group

I have emailed Chelsea to ask the for the song that the band recorded because Molly couldn't for some reason.

11th January 2011

Today we found out that we will most likely be filming at this Peppercorn theatre because of some drama class that would be taking place. The most likely place that we would be filming is now at the Sawtry Community College hall. If this is the case then we would be doing something to the background to make it seem nicer.

The Preliminary Task

The preliminary task has taught me a lot. By doing this I found out how difficult it is just to do a few minutes of a music video. First of all i realised that there was a lot of research that needs to go into audience, styling, form and past videos. My job was the cameraman and I had to learn how to use the camera and set it up. I also found that I needed to communicate more within my team as we fell behind on a lot of the work that was set. I did produce the poster as we had fallen behind. I have also learnt that I needed to work a bit on my organisation skills because of how far we fell  behind. I think that in this task it has helped to set up the main task.

9th January 2011 Email To Group

I emailed Molly to ask her to ask the band if they had actually recorded the song for the music video. I did this because we are still a little bit sketchy as to whether or not we will be filming on the 23rd January and if they hadn't then they are cutting it a bit fine.

Molly has since replied to my question.

9th January 2011 Email To Group

Today I have received an email from Chelsea. I have only just received because I had a couple of problems with my emails. Chelsea emailed me the questions that she wanted Molly to ask the band leader. I replied saying that there are a couple of questions that I think need to answered.