Copyright clearance

This is the paper form of my request for copyright permission to use a song. Unfortunately, the record label did not respond back to me.

Technical skills

Technical skills I developed during AS Media

• Use of the camera
• Editing through Final Cut Pro
• Match cutting
• Jump cuts
• 180 degree rule
• The rule of third

Lip Sync Evaluation

The most common shots used in an ordinary music video includes; Close ups, Extreme Close-ups, Mid Shots, Long Shots, Establishing Shots but mainly Close-ups are used so that the audience feels close to the star in the music video. My group and myself therefore did attempt to follow these key features. We used various Close-up Shots in our Lip Sync Tutorial however  we could have used a variety of other shots such as; Mid Shots, Long Shots etc. other than just Close-Up Shots bearing in mind that this isn't what a real music video would look like. However, the main reason for this I believe is the fact that we unfortunately had limited time available, so we ran out of time which lead us to filming in one location only with a narrowed down use of camera work.

Camera work: Carol Vernallis states that Establishing Shots are Definitely one of the key camera features of a music video and are used frequently in a music video including Close-Up shots. The style of framing of the video is quite distinctive to the video and also the camera may move in time with the lyrics. For editing aspects Vernallis believes in; breaking the 4th wall, Close ups, Jump-cuts and slow motion. Carol Vernallis believes that a convention of music editing is that the video may break conventions of continuity editing. The editing may also becomes visible to the invisible style of continuity editing. In other words, the video will have a style of editing running throughout that is distinction to that the video. The audience will be able to see these editing features. My group and myself have tried follwing this but we weren't successful enough as we were out of time and couldn't use a variety of shots other than Close-up and Mid-shots. In our real music video, we would take this in to consideration and hope to improve.

Base tracks are extremely important for our real music video especially because this way, we will be able to emphasize with the protagonist/ main singer. Base tracks are also a way of entertaining the audience and drawing them into the music video. Unfortunately, we have not been able to convey this through our Lip Sync video as we were out of time. Surely, in our music video we should at least have four base tracks to meet the criteria.

We used Markers on Final Cut Pro very effectively. We instantly improved the 'feel' to our Prelim music video by cutting to the beat at the correct time. This made everything appear and sound much more professional.

Considering aspects of weaknesses, I could've lip synced better than what I performed however, this was my first attempt in lip syncing in a music video therefore I will be able to improve and successfully perform the lip syncing role in our real music video as I am aware of what I need to improve on. Next time, I will play out loud, the song so that I'm able to move my lips in time with the singer. Overall this first task went well for myself and group although I was embarrassed to perform next to my peers, I will work on this also and make sure I do the best as I can. 

Research: Lip sync evaluation

Re-cap of music videos

Back in June, I learned that music videos create a visual pleasure for the audience for the artist's promotional purposes. I learnt that music videos cost a lot of money to produce and the artist makes no profit from it, it is made for the sole purpose of being able to connect to their fans. 

I also learnt that every genre has its own conventional features within a music video. For example, in a rock video you'll see a group shot of the band and each individual member performing their role in the song. They may be performing on a stage and some footage of their concerts may be showed in the video, especially if they're a mainstream band. However, in a rap video you'll most likely see a lot of jewellery, a lot of half naked women being represented in a very sexual way and flash cars and a big house or sunny scenery.

Costume, Setting And Prop Use

Whilst filming the Lip sync Tutorial, we decided to mainly film outside as the music we were lip syncing was suitable for this particular environment. The song was quite relaxed and sounded as though the singers were 'speaking'. We chose to film at the back of our College building, behind a brick wall. Even though we hoped to film in three other locations, we didn't have time. This enabled us to understand that we will have to use our filming time for our real video accordingly and thoughtfully.

The costumes were also suitable, we were dressed casually and didn't go over board wearing a fancy dress as it wouldn't' have been suitable. Kane had to follow this rule also by dressing casually as he was also the main pop star in the video with Gizem.

For the prop, we were meant to use a phone as a prop however, we forgot and didn't find that there was any need for this although, in the real music video we will definitely have to consider using a prop to strengthen our music video.

Research: Lip sync activity