Preliminary Task | Lip Sync

Introduction

For this preliminary task, I had to work in a group to create a lip syncing music video. This was a new and challenging experience and taught me a lot which will help me when I do my final music video task.

Planning

The cover for the single

For this task, I was in a group of 3 with Esha and Chiska. Together we had to create a lip syncing video to the song 'Burning Down the House' by Tom Jones & The Cardigans. Before the task, none of us had heard this song so it was more challenging to do as we all had to learn the lyrics. We got in contact with each other before the day of filming and came up with a few ideas to use. We also decided that we would go with monochrome clothing and then whenever the song mentions fire, we would use some pieces of red clothing and lighting. Since we didn't have much time to plan, most of the planning was done on the morning of the filming when we could all meet up.

Filming

When it came to filming day, we were lucky enough to have a chance to film at Giltbrook Studios. This gave us the opportunity to work with proper filming equipment and in a real studio. My group and I decided to use the infinity cove as the backdrop for our music video. This gave us a chance to use lighting as a tool for our video. In the shot we used a drum kit, a keyboard and a microphone on a stand. I was in the middle with the microphone and was stood slightly in front of the other two. Esha was to my left on the keyboard and Chiska was on my right with the drum kit. We decided to film two full run throughs of the song at a wide shot of all three of us. The first run through was in monochrome colouring and the second was with the red accessories and lights. We could then use these two shots to fill in gaps in the editing later. This was also a fail safe in case we ran out of time for filming, we could then just use these full clips in place of any missing clips we didn't manage to get. We also wrote the lyrics on a large piece of card which was placed just to the side of the camera so we could read the lyrics in between shots without needing to leave our places. After we had done a few takes of the wide shot we then went into doing different solo shots. These included close ups of us singing as well as close ups of the instruments being played. We did this for both the monochrome colours and the red accessories. We also had the music playing in the background so we could all keep in time with each other.

 Editing

On the day we were meant to edit, Chiska was unable to make it to the lesson so Esha and I shared out the editing between us. All of the editing was done in Adobe Premier Pro and was then rendered and uploaded to YouTube.

The first thing we did was get our raw footage from the camera memory card and put it into a folder on the computer we were going to edit on. I then looked through all the footage and named each clip so we could easily sort through and find the footage we needed. In the name I generally included what shot it was and who was within it. I also said if it was with the monochrome lighting or the red lighting. This made the rest of the editing process a lot easier. We also got the segment of the song we were using and added this to the folder too.

We then imported all of the clips into Premier Pro so we were ready to start editing. The raw footage was meant to have the music in the background so we could then sync that video to the separate music file but something went wrong and the sound was corrupt on our footage so we had to scrap it. This meant that it took a little longer to sync the video to the music. We started by first placing the music file into the timeline to use as an anchor for our clips. We would do cuts in the video but leave the sound as a constant. We locked the sound clip so we couldn't edit it and moved on. For a second anchor, we added in the two full takes of the video to use as the basis of our editing. We would then add different clips over the top of these full takes and cut different parts of it out. This helped us to keep organised and also meant that if we ran out of time to edit then at least we still had footage to play in the background.

We then started looking through our separate shots to find the right ones to use. This was the longest part of the process but once it was done it made it a lot easier to edit the video. When looking through all the shots, we would add them into the editor on Premier Pro which would let us cut the clip down to what we wanted before we added it to the timeline. As we cut the clips down we would add them into our timeline in the rough place that we wanted it so we could then fine tune it later. Once we had placed all the clips into our timeline we then went on to finalising the video. Esha and myself took it in turns to fix different parts of the video.

The editing between each clip consisted of practically all straight cuts. At one point during the song there is a shot of Esha and Chiska facing slightly towards each other. This was actually done with two different solo shots of Esha and Chiska. I flipped one of the images so it looked like they were facing each other and then cut the size of the image down so the both fit into one shot. I then changed the colours so both videos blended well and made it look like they were both in the shot together.

Throughout the video, every time that the fire theme was mentioned, we would use the clips of us with the red lighting and accessories. We kept this consistent throughout the video to give our own feel to the music.

Once we had finished all the editing, we rendered the video in a 1080p setting and I uploaded it to my YouTube account. I then sent the link to Esha so she could add the video to her own blog.

Finished Video

Evaluation

Looking back on the prelim task, I see that there are a few things that could have been improved and I will learn from this to make sure I do better in my official task.

I realise now how much planning needs to go into the filming before you actually start filming. Before we went into filming, we didn't have much of an idea of the different shots we were going to do and most of it was just improvised. When I am filming my official music video, I am going to need to a put a lot more time into planning out the different shots and all the clips I am going to need from a certain location or shoot because once I go to start editing, it is a lot harder to go back and get more footage. So time management is a big improvement that I need to make before I do my music video.

Lighting and sound are also two large parts of making the music video. While the sound in this task was provided, we still had to think of how to match the shots to the sound. This will also happen in my music video as I will have to match different cuts and scenes to the sound of the music. Lighting was a big thing while at the studio. Luckily we had the help of the manager of the studio who knew how to use all the lights. When I am doing my music video I may be out on location for filming and this is much harder to get the correct lighting compared to in a studio. I am going to need to plan out the lighting carefully before we go and do and filming on location or in studio. This once again falls under planning which is the keystone for making a successful video.

The final thing that I noticed from the prelim is the acting. Obviously none of us in the video are proper actors and therefore we did not do an amazing job at making the video entertaining. However, in my music video, I am going to need to put a lot of thinking into who I want to have to act. Since I have to do the filming and the camera work, it means that I cannot be in the video and therefore I am going to have to ask someone to act for me. This will take a lot of planning as the performance ofthe actor can make or break a music video.