During our other media lessons, with Dan, we have been creating our take/our version of an existing music video. The music video that we re-created in our lessons was; 'Teenage Dirtbag' by Wheatus.
We first starting out this process/project by looking at the music video a couple of times. After which we were handed a storyboard for the 'Teenage Dirtbag' video, which we used to note down information about the shots within the video. This would then help us later on in the video making process. On this storyboard we would need to write things down like: the shot number and what type of shot it was, a description of the action taking place, the camera movement and the direction of the camera, the location of the shot, what costumes and props were used, and finally a description of what sound/audio accompanies the shot. It is important to note these pieces of information down so that we could create the correct image, and using similar props etc so that we could make a good re-creation of the original music video.
We then also did a re-cap of the different things a camera can do, from camera movement (static shots, panning, zoom and tracking), to things like the focus on the camera (depth of field and pull focus) and also some of the different shot types that can be used. We then also went over framing the shot, the composition, what you have or put in the frame and also knowing what to leave out of the shot. I think it was helpful for us to go over these things so that our minds are refreshed about these things that we should think about, not only when re-creating this existing video, but also when we go into a groups and produce our own music video, so that these our fresh in our minds and we know and remember to check and include these different elements.
We then learnt a little bit more about some of the equipment that we would need to start shooting any film etc. The first thing was the tape that we would actually record on, this is called a Mini D.V. tape, we found out that, for when we film our own music videos, that we can buy these either from the technician at college for around £2 or at Maplins, a camera store, in Brighton.
The next things that we looked at were two things that we would end up using during the filming of this video as well as when we make our own music video. The first piece of equipment is the clapper board, this would be placed in front of the camera, and the clapper would then be closed, with the director/person in the directer's role would read the information on the clapper board, signalling the start of filming. The clapper board should contain information about what the camera is actually filming: things like the shot number as well as what take you are on, of filming the shot.
The other piece of equipment that we looked at was the shooting script. This again would mainly be used by the person/people that are directing the shot. This is there to document and help with the progress of filming the shots in the video. The shooting script can hold some of the same information that the storyboards did (shot number and type, description of the action, camera movement and direction). However, the shooting script will also have a space for you/the director to write down some notes about the shot, whether it looked good or what, if anything needs to changed when you shoot the next take.
We then actually looked at how to handle and use the camera itself. Firstly looking at the tripod, and how to set this up. You can adjust the legs on the tripod to different height settings, you can change the same way in which you set up the legs, in the first place. There are some clips towards the top of the legs, you then simply unclip them, let the leg extend and then close the clip. As said before you can change the height by which you can extend another part of the leg, by using the same clip mechanism, that is found nearer the end of the first leg.
Once you have set up the tripod, if you are using one, you can then get out the camera and get ready to place it onto the tripod. You first need to take the plate off of the tripod and place this onto the bottom of the camera and then fasten the plate. You then need to place the camera and the plate onto the tripod, matching up the holes and 'nipples' on the plate. Once you have gotten the camera into positions you then should tighten the little leaver type clip on the back of the tripod, which is what you had undone to get the plate off, until it will not move/shut anymore. Now you camera should be held securely by and on top of the tripod, and it will now be ready for you to start filming.
You then need to get your tape ready, so that you have something to film onto. This is where the D.V. tape comes in. Before you put your tape into the camera, it is a good idea to make sure that you write onto the tape what film is going to be stored on it. After you have done this it would also be a good idea to write onto the little note page that is on the inside of the tape case, this will be useful when it comes to looking back and editing the tapes as then you will know what film is on them so that your therefore don't have to search for them etc. Once everything is labelled you can then open the tape slot on the camera and then push the tape into it, now it might then close (the slot) on its own, if not you only need to gently push the silver holder towards the camera, just gently helping the mechanism close. Now you are ready to film.
We were then given a shooting script for the first three/four shots within the music video. This mainly consisted of the viewer seeing the main character looking at the girl, his 'love interest' thoughout the video as she arrives at the school and then walks past him, along with other students in the background. We then, as a class/one big group, went out on location, just around the college, so that we could then films these shots, to start off our music video. We had a couple of actors for the two main characters and then also three other 'extras' so that they were other students, in the background of the shot. The rest of us kind of observed so that we could kind of see how to approach the situations and possible problems that could occur when we are shooting shots in our smaller groups. Once we had shot a scene we then had to write on our shooting scripts, in the note section for each take, what we thought of what we just captured. For example on the first shot if the girl walking past our main character, with extras in the background the first take came out 'not good' whereas, according to our notes the second take of the shot had a good flow to it. You can then therefore see, actually how helpful these shooting scripts are, when it comes to filming a music video, as when you look back at what you have filmed, you will immediately know which take/shot you want use as you can refer back to your script, rather than having sit watching the whole of what you have filmed.
During the next session we had, we were given some sheets, like a shooting script, showing use the shots and with spaces so that we could decide what we were going to do in order to re-create the shot. To complete this task we were spilt into small groups, in our group there were 5 people. We were given the shots in which the main character is walking down the halls of the school, and also the shot in which another student walks in to the main character. For these shots we used the camera handheld, as the shots we were shooting needed to be tracking the character, moving backwards, and the tripods would be able to move backwards smoothly enough for us to get a good enough shot.
Then for our next part we had the car scene, when he is on his way to school, during this the main character is walking through/outside the school grounds and then whilst this happens a car drives through the shot, after which we cut to a mid shot of the main character again walking towards the camera.
This actually went really well as one of the members in our group could drive and had his car with him, so he went round to get and we filmed him driving through the college campus whilst the main character was also walking through the shot. The end result of this shot turned really quite good and timing of it was done really well.
Overall I think that this little mini project of recreating a music video helped us all learn some of the basic skills that we would need to produce our own music video. I think one of the main things that I learnt about being on set/location was that communication is key and that you must be able to communicate with each other well otherwise you wont get a good shot, and this proved to be true when we were shooting the car scene as we had multiple actors (of which I was one) that had to be moving in the scene.
I also learned the skills on how to operate the camera, and in some sessions when others would be filming I would kinda of sit back and watch what they were doing so that I could really understand how the process of filming a shot/scene works. These skills only developed when it came to shooting our own music video.
The links the final outcomes of this project are below, as I could actually save and upload the video to blogger myself as for some reason it wouldn't work on my computer. Thankfully one of my group members let me link her blog below, as she as successfully uploaded the video onto her blog, so that I could then have the video on my blog, even if it is unfortunately in link format.
http://a2mediacourseworkrebeccapolling.blogspot.com/2010/11/copying-existing-video.html
I have included the link to one of my group members' blogs just in case the above link don't work properly
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