What Music Means To Me

My Childhood:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8OipmKFDeM&safe=active


Early Teens:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSLv68OHGWY


Now:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcrbM1l_BoI

Music Video Prelim Evaluation

1. Did you enjoy the workshop day? What were your best bits and why?

- I really enjoyed the workshop day. I loved being able to be in front of the camera for a change, and experience how the actors would feel. It was interesting to be able to see a semi-professional shoot in action, and all the different elements coming together. It really helped me to realise that this is definitely what I want to do in the future. One of my favourite parts was the end dance routine, where everyone came together to perform. I also loved shadowing the director, doing playback (showing the actors the shots they were about to perform) and cable bashing as I really felt like part of the team.

2. What have you learnt from participating in each of the prelim tasks?

- I learnt many things throughout the whole process of this music video recreation. The first task was analysing a music video. I chose Beautiful Liar by Shakira and Beyonce and this helped me to study the lip-sync more closely, see discontinuous editing in action and understand the other conventions of performance music videos.
- The next prelim task was the audition video. This really helped to get all the performance nerves out of the way early. We realised that we had to be confident performers for the final video to look as professional.
- Once we were given our parts we had to learn the performance. Tasha, a year 13 with dance experience taught us the dance. It took a lot of concentration and practise and I learnt how much time and effort needs to go in before the actual shoot day. As soon as one person went wrong in the dance, the whole shot would look bad, so we needed to concentrate individually.
- Planning and organising costume was a particular example of where we learnt the importance of teamwork.  We all brought in clothes and lent them to each-other. Although costume may seem like a minor part, this was the point at which we realised how important it is. Once a costume was accurate and complete, everything looked better and it felt like things were starting to come together.
- One Day Workshop. The things I learnt which stand out are the importance of pre-planning for the actual shoot, and the amount of shots and set-ups that are needed to make a music video look professional and interesting. Without all the highly organised pre-production, the shoot would never have come together as successfully as it did. Records and paperwork are of the utmost importance. I also learnt that there were many specific roles and jobs for the people in the production team and they are always stuck to.
- Workshop Edit. In the editing process, the different takes and set-ups seemed vital in make our re-make video seem interesting and bland, it also gave us a better chance of creating an exact match. It also helped me realise that timing, particularly in the dance, was of the utmost importance to get right on the day, because we were not able to re-shoot. There were many shots when the dance was wrong or actions were incomplete, and these are the shots where our edit looks less professional than intended.


3. Are you pleased with the footage and your edit? Is it how you expected it to look?

- I'm really pleased with how the footage looked. There were shots which didn't capture the actions in the real video exactly, but a lot of them were extremely similar. The confidence of all the performers also shines through. Our editing of the shots are very accurate and the finished product looks very professional. However, there are quite a few shots where the actions and dance moves are not particularly in time or exact   when compared with the real video. Not everything was achievable because of the day's time-limit, but if we had more time in hindsight, we could have spent more time making sure all the shots were exact. Due to the amazing lighting on the shoot day, the grading was kept to a minimum. With the low budget of the production, i'm extremely impressed with what we've achieved.


4. How do you think your prelim experiences will impact on your approach to next term's music video coursework?

The process has really helped me to realise how important the planning process is, so I will make sure that our group spends a lot of time an effort towards this next term. I also now see that costume and set/mise-en-scene can really take a music video from amateur to looking professional, I will therefore ensure this is planned out thoroughly. Before the shoot, I was definitely hesistant as to deciding on a studio based performance video, but after participating in this remake video I have completely changed my mind. This style is really fun and when done well, looks very professional and exciting. After playing one of the band members, I understand the pressure put on the actors when shooting, so I will ensure that they are well-treated and made to feel comfortable to maximise their energetic performances.
This prelim has really given me an insight to the work we'll need to put in to create an exceptional music video next term.

Performance Music Video Analysis

The music video I have chosen to analyse is 'Beautiful Liar' by Beyonce and Shakira.

1. There is not much of a link between the lyrics and imagery. However, the style of dancing performed by both Shakira and Beyonce fits with the style of music. The persono singing does not necessarily dictate who is in the shots on screen, but often this is the case. The colour scheme and calm nature of the video matches the style of music.

2. The performance definitely drives the music video. Both Beyonce and Shakira are very much playing up to the camera throughout the whole piece and there is never a moment when they are not in shot performing.

3. Both artists' lip syncs are maintained throughout the whole music video successfully. However, there are some point where the artists do not mime the words and are solely performing to the camera.

4. The role of the artists do not really switch, it is only artist performance. The performance in the video does not particuarly match the story being told in the lyrics in a narrative way.

5. The video includes both singing and dancing, typical of Shakira and Beyonce.

6. The interesting settings, changes in styling and constant beauty shots of the artists are definitely striking and engaging. However, compared to some of the artists' other videos, it is not as upbeat and memorable, it is all quite calm and collected.

7. Everything in the video is definitely highly stylised. Being a studio based video, there is variety in the settings and backdrops, differing for each artist. Shakira and Beyonce's outfits are constantly very flattering and work well together.

8. There is not a strong sense of development in the performance, however the artists do join together towards the shots and the end, enhancing the performance further.

9. From this music video, we get a sense of the style of artist that they both are. There are sections where Shakira is belly dancing, a common feature throughout her performances. They are both presented as beautiful and aspirational women. However, in many sections of the video, they are portrayed similarly, blurring the individuality of the two different artists.

10. I think that nearly every shot in this video could be seen as a beauty shot. Beyonce and Shakira are highly stylised throughout the whole piece and there are both CUs of their faces, and LSs to show off their figures and outfits.

11. There aren't many binary opposites as the artists are presented quite similarly throughout, however there are differences in setting. For example, Beyonce with the blue background and Shakira with the red. They both dress in black and act and dance in similar styles.

12. The editing is discontinous, cutting between shots and often going back to the same set ups.

13. I feel most of the pop culture references would come from the lyrics rather than the music video. However, the way Beyonce and Shakira move and dance is how many girls would dance now, and if not, theis would be recognisable and aspirational. Their clothing is typical of this style of video too.

14. The music video does not seem to be polysemic, as it is quite similar and simple from beginning to end.

15. The video did provoke a strong audience reaction, most probably due to the aspirational artists and their confidence throughout the video, gaining 47,903,712 views on YouTube.