Lip-sync practise

As part of our research into music videos, we tried out lip-syncing for ourselves. Charlotte and I did "Sound of the Underground" by Girls Aloud. We filmed and edited it in about an hour and a half on the spur of the moment, and I think it's not too bad!

One thing I noticed was that the parts which people find the funniest are often the parts which we perform the most seriously; as in, really in character and going all out. This will help me in my actual music video, and I think this was a great test run.

I learnt that to make it believable that a person is singing and not miming, they have to actually sing it. We turned the music up really loud so you couldn't hear us (we sounded a little bit screechy) and we took off the microphone. This meant we could go wild and not be TOO embarrassed about it.

We tried to vary the shot types, and kept the camera moving to match the grungy rock style of the song. We also moved around a lot; dancing, swirling etc to make the visuals interesting, since the background and costumes were quite monochrome (which we hadn't planned!)

All in all, I think it was a successful preliminary task, since the video is engaging to look at, and yet doesn't overpower the song.

Workshop evaluation

1. What do you think you learnt from Friday's workshop? It could be specific things about making a music video OR general things about the production process.

I think Friday's workshop was a great insight into how music videos are produced, and it was also a lot of fun. I learnt the value of pre-production, making choices early on so that on the shoot you have the ability to be able to deviate from the schedule, but you need something to deviate from. It became obvious that organisation was key in a successful shoot. They had organised the actors, props, locations and equipment in advance with back-ups for everything, which was invaluable. We used tracks for the movement shots, but if they didn't arrive, we had a wheelchair as a back up.

I saw the communication between Jake the director and his camera crew and actors. They were all disciplined and focused, and yet still managed to have fun. Jake was very hands on with his directing, and he made everyone feel safe while giving constructive criticism.

I also saw how difficult it was to control lighting in certain locations. They used tracing paper to diffuse some of the light from windows and artificial lights, which was clever as it worked and was economical. They also used filters and gels to change the quality and colour of the light.

There was a lot of lip-syncing, and I learnt that the actors don't just mouth the words, but they actually sing it. Since the music from the track is playing so loud in the background, no-one can hear the actor singing, which is great because they might not have great voices and it could be embarrassing. I am going to try out lip-syncing on camera soon as a practice for my music video.


2. For you, what was the best bit?

I really enjoyed the backstage banter, which we were able to capture in photos and film. There was a great atmosphere as everyone was excited and focused, and eager to learn and do their best. It was also great to watch the monitor that was put in the green room. This allowed us to see what the cameraman was seeing, which made us feel included in a professional environment.

I also loved acting in the video. My role was as a "loser girl" where I walked towards the camera (point of view of the geek) in a corridor with my fingers in an "L" shape on my forehead. We only had to do about 5 takes, and the other "loser girl" swapped with someone else after the 4th take, so all in all it was pretty quick, especially in comparison to the other scenes which took ages.

My other role was in the background of the performance scene in the gym. We had to dance behind the band, and this was great fun, and also good exercise. My teacher came over to me after a few takes and said "THANKYOU. I could notice your dancing from all the way over here! Great energy!" so that was nice.


3. How do you think the work we have done will impact on your group project?

This day has definitely influenced me into being more organised in my project. I also realised that the shots that look the best are often the movement shots, which, although difficult, are do-able. The technical set-up is very important, and this workshop has taught me to be ambitious in my shots in my project. In previous projects we have had to be safe to get it technically correct, but now is the time to experiment and take a chance, and I am very excited to do that.

Thanks to Jake, the media teachers and the crew for making it a great day.