Reflecting on music video challenge

My job for our "In the Sun" remake was to do the lighting, i also supplied the guitar and the amp for our male character to use. Lighting was a very important in this video, as there are some very high contrast shots in terms of lighting, it also gave me a chance to improve my skills with the more technical aspects of the filming world.

WWW: -I managed to create contrast in the shots that needed to have contrast (for instance when "him" is by himself in the library.) Also i got to increase my skills with the technical aspects of the lighting/filming features of media, for instance i can now set up a key light and an overhead, this will definately help me when making my own music video. Finally I developed my skills at actually filming, i now know about the vital areas to filming any music video.

EBI: I feel that i was underprepared for this exercise, i made some mistakes in setting up the lights (fitting them to stands etc) however I suppose that this is the point of the exercise, to prepare me for later filming. Also I took too long to set up at some points, this help up the whole proceedings, therefore I will have to be faster in the future. Lastly I wanted to be more involved with my directing parts, however my lighting duties took up most of my time, so when I film my music video I will have to manage my time better.

What makes a good music video?

There are several traits that every good music video should possess:

1. The lip synching should be perfectly in time with the actual music, otherwise the video will be confusing to watch as the sound will not fit the performers lips. However if done correctly the video looks very professional and the performers look like they are actually singing. In this example of lip synching (see below) the performers are exactly in time, this gives the video a profesional look.
2. Using different shots prevents viewer fatigue and keeps them engaged in the video, this can be done by varying camera movement (handheld/steady). This also encompasses the camera angles or distances, the guys in the video use the varied shot types to prevent viewer fatigue we can see that long and mid-shots are dominant in the video, as we can see in the contact sheet above.
3. Using costumes/setting in accordance to the genre of music that they have focussed their video on, for instance, in the video we see here the boys have clearly looked at the boy band music type. They are dressed in very fashionable clothes which is typical of boybands of today (JLS etc). Added to this they dance in synch and are set in a high class house, these are also traits of the typical boy band video. This has the effect of being very linked in with the music genre, also it demonstrates the guys knowledge of the musi industry.

In short the music video must go along with the conventions of the music genre, and it must look professional. All in all the guys who did this music video have done all the key areas for making a good music video.



What went well/Even better if for our lip synch task

WWW's:

- Lip synch went well with the song, and was almost perfectly in time with the song.

- The entire group participated in the performance which made it a group effort which also added variety to the composition of shots which reduced viewer fatigue.

- As I have already stated there was little viewer fatigue which gave our simple videos one of the key traits that a music Video should have.

EBI:

- If the shots where more varied rather than one big long shot it would reduce viewer fatigue even further.

- Different setting/costumes to fit with the mise-en-scene of the song would have demonstrated a deeper knowledge of the industry.

- A larger cast would have reduced viewer fatigue as well as enabling us to do more with the song (more performances, dancing etc)