Evaluation Q2 What have you learnt from participating in each of the prelim tasks 1,2,3 and 5?

Prelim Task 1: Complete an Audition Video

The first prelim task was to create an 'audition video' for the role(s) we wanted to get in the music video shoot. This video was massively fun to make, as I created it with two of my friends, Tom and Jack, who made the filming process very entertaining. This audition video gave me an idea of how to lip sync convincingly, and while this didn't come in useful for the video shoot due to my role of Graham not requiring a lip-sync, it will doubtless still be useful if I appear in a music video in A2. I also learnt how to 'get into the groove' of a song on camera, and how to keep moving in rhythm, which were both vital to my role of the drummer. The audition video is inserted below:

Prelim Task 2: Learn and practice your performance

Our director Dom positioning us on set.

I attended all of the performance sessions, ran primarily by our performance director Jasmine, and these sessions helped me develop my performance in a number of different ways. It made the physical movement of the shoot day seem less challenging, as we did a lot of exercises, such as dancing in a number of different ways. The sessions also let me improve the energy and passion of my performance through games that revolved around these things, such as 'Woo-Ha'. I also learned how to channel different emotions into a more realistic performance in these sessions, which although i din't use on the shoot day, will undoubtedly be useful for my future performances. I was also given some advice in these sessions about how to improve my performance as Graham, such as what posture to sit with and what facial expressions to use.

Prelim Task 3: Help to plan and organise your costume

My drummer costume

Me in my 'standing' costume.

My costume was decided on and put together in a number of costume meetings held during lessons, with my final costume consisting of a checked shirt, black skinny jeans (Which were my own contribution to the costume.), a blue tie, smart black shoes and a black fedora, with a black blazer also worn for some shots. This is not exactly what Graham wears in the video, but it is very similar, and works well in the video. These sessions taught me the importance of costume, an area I hadn't even considered for the video, which I now realise it one of the most vital visuals present in the music video format, as it is a major signifier of the genre of a music video, and gives the audience an idea of the personality of the artist. 

Prelim Task 5: Complete the Remake Edit

An example of a shot which I believe is graded very
similarly to the original video.

Me in the process of editing

Although I had observed it in passing during the shoot day, it was the edit of our remake that really made me realise just how many different shots there are in a typical music video. I had expected the edit to be fairly simple, and although the only real difficulty I faced was when I had to attempt to sync footage of our singer, Sian with the lip-sync of the original video, the whole took a very long time. The edit taught me just how often and quickly shots change in a typical music video, and the grading process taught me how to make a video look somewhat professional. The way I did the grading was quick and efficient, and I believe it looks similar to the original video at many points.