Introduction

My name is Monica Aghadiuno and my candidate number is 9365. I am in Group 3 with Godgift Emesi (9044), Angela Chen (9025) and Thakshana Yogeswaran (9179). To see my work please use the following three labels on the right: 'A2 Research and Planning,' 'A2 Construction' and 'A2 Evaluation.'

Group 3 - Music Video

Group 3 - Digipak

Group 3 - Digipak
Our Digipack, top left - back, top right - front, bottom left - inside panel, bottom right - inside panel (CD)
This is a link to our website, click the image above to enter our site

Tuesday 14 July 2015

1) Did you enjoy the main workshop shoot day? What roles did you take and what did you learn?


I thought the main workshop day was a fantastic and valuable experience that will stay with me. I thoroughly enjoyed it for the following reasons:
  • Despite it being a 12 hour day, there was an exciting atmosphere throughout. Everyone was happy and positive, which helped everybody to get through the day. If felt like a big team!
  • I was able to work with professionals and produce something of high standard, which was a great opportunity to get some experience and advice. I may have some future contacts.
  • It was my first experience of working on a studio set up.
  • I got treated as a VIP - my make-up and hair was done for me, and it was nice to see the rock-star transformation. It was also surprisingly relaxing.
  • I am more used to being behind the camera and so it made a pleasant change to perform. It was great fun, especially as we were all cheering for each other and dancing to other groups performances. 
Here is a behind the scenes video demonstrating how fun the day was:




My role as drummer 
My Roles
  • I was the drummer of Band 2. I loved the role. I play the drums, so in a way, it was nothing new. However, the main task was to perform, which was something I had to work on. Moreover, I was not used to people watching me when I drum. I have learned that there is much more to the role than drumming to the song. In particular, the facial expressions are important, which I hopefully improved over the course of the 5 days. I also also realised that the number of people watching (the production crew, the open day visitors etc) was an advantage as it gave me an adrenaline rush. I wanted people to enjoy watching me and so I wanted to perform well. Finally, drumming for so long due to doing several shots and takes actually helped me get into character! I was really tired which helped me achieve that intense look! 
  • Me practicing pushing the dolly
  • I helped to push the director of photography, Jack on the dolly. I had practiced this throughout rehearsal week, so I was more confident in what I was doing. Jack was clear and said whether we needed to go faster/slower and how close to the end to go to. It was interesting seeing how the footage turned out too. I also helped to set up the dolly. It was big responsibility as I needed to make sure to slow down at the edges or it could have spoiled a shot. Physical strength was required and so I learned that it was not a job for people with back and knee problems.
  • I helped to talk to parents and children who were visiting for the open day. I also encouraged the young children to dance!
  • Guests for the open day
  • I also used the clapper board. This was fairly simple as I had done it in previous media projects, although it still required organisation for me to be attentive. It was interesting doing it on a set though and experiencing the role that a second assistant camera would have.
  • Myself, Shayam and Alistair in our roles for the shoot 
  • I did some cable bashing, a term I had not previously heard. It was sometimes difficult as I had to make sure that the wire did not get in the way of the dolly pusher or anyone standing around. It was essential to do this correctly or something could happen to the camera. 
  • I made sure that I found out some information about the professionals whom I was working with. Essentially I wanted to learn things from them, get some advice and potentially network. I found out that Dom studied English and Film at university and that Mackensie was working on the new King Arthur film. It was particularly interesting to speak to Mackensie (the make up artist) as it was a previously unknown area of the industry to me. I learned about camera lenses and their differences from Jack e.g. the ones with larger maximum apertures ( the ones with lower numbers) are capable of gathering more light. 
Myself and Iggy in our roles for the shoot

2) What have you learnt from participating in each prelim tasks 1, 2, 3 and 5?

Task 1: Audition Video

  • I learned that it was important to let loose whilst filming this and be confident. It did not matter how silly we all thought we looked, we should just enjoy it!
  • The best way to lip sync is to actually sing. Consequently, learning the words is essential.
  • Syncing the video to the music track for all the shots is the first and most important thing to do in the edit.
  • It is important to say which role you want and sell yourself!

Task 2: Learn and practice your performance
  • It was useful to study and analyse the performance of the drummer with Jasmine and Dom but also independently, on my own. It was important to master the drummer's main actions: the angry, painful facial expressions, the hopping up and down on the seat and the looking up to the ceiling. The mirror was essential for helping me to improve my facial expressions.
  • I learnt a large part of the actual song, which is good for the edit as it looks realistic. I also found it easier to play to the beat rather than randomly!
  • I realised how important warming up prior to performance was. Stretching muscles helped as I was constantly using them (often with a lot of pressure as we had to hit the drums hard.) Surprisingly , the screaming helped me to get into character.
                       
                             Myself on the drums in rehearsal
My band warming up

Task 3: Help to plan and organise your costume:
  • I discovered that we should bring whatever we can, as something could end up being useful for someone else's costume. There was lots of choice, due to everyone's generosity.
  • Sometimes you can match a costume almost identically (which was the case for everyone in my group) but it can still look slightly plain. Therefore, accessories and hair and make up are important for adding that extra touch.
  • Never say no before you try something, especially the make up. I do not usually experiment with my make-up and hair and so I loved my transformation. I've discovered that dark lipstick and pink tipped hair extensions suit me....



Olivia doing my hair

With make-up and outfit 



Task 5:
  • I learned how much more time consuming and challenging that editing a music video was to a short footage of plain film.
  • How useful it was to each edit parts we particularly wanted to do as well as doing general sections e.g. I was the drummer in the video and so I edited all the drummer parts. 
  • The quickest and most efficient way to approach this was to to sync up all the set ups and then select the parts of each one that we wanted. 
  • Grading involved a lot of experimenting but there was also lots of aspects of it to be considered for this video e.g. the flashes, the contrast/brightness and saturation.
Gift, Shay and I at our edit suite 


3) Are you pleased with the footage and your finished edit? Is it how you expected it to look? What works really well and what would you change?


    Shayam, Gift and I at the edit suite

  • Overall, I am very pleased with the footage and proud of it. It has surpassed my expectations. Although we had to compromise for certain shots, as not all of them were the same as in the real music video, the majority were similar.
  • Our costumes are very similar which improves the accuracy of the remake.
  • The horizontal flips look really good, and I did not think we could achieve exactly the same effect, but we were able to. 
  • I would have liked to have the shot where the drummer kicks the drums at the end but our solution works well. 
  • Grading was done very quickly and I'm very pleased with how accurate many of the shots look. If we had more time, I would have liked to find out how to specifically fine tune particular parts of the shot e.g. make the guitarists' jeans redder.



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

As I have learned so much by doing this task, I will be in a better position next term to do this for myself. This project served as an extremely helpful introduction to making music videos and so I will feel more confident with making my own as would have done parts of the process before.

Pre-Production
  • Through learning more about Chris, the First AD's role on the shoot, I have understood the level of organisation and preparation that is required. I think that I will enjoy helping to come up with important documents such as the shot list and the schedule.
  • Talking about the shoot in advance was exciting and it was a chance for everyone to discuss their thoughts. Enthusiasm is perhaps even more important for my own music video, as we need this in order to come up with good ideas.
  • I have realised from the prelim that this stage is so important in order for the shoot to run smoothly. We must plan everything in advance and ensure that the schedule is followed for everything including: rehearsals/practices, costumes, call times and the shoot day. 
  • A large choice of costume is really useful and so once again we will ask each other to bring as much as we can.
Our call sheet for the shoot

Production
  • Punctuality is extremely important for the shoot day, as we will need to start as early as possible. We cannot afford to let the rest of the team down. For our shoot, everyone was on time and so we got off to a good start.
  • There are lots of different roles on set (director, DOP, hair and make up etc) which are very important in achieving the whole visual look of the video. However, I learned that helping these people out when we were free was greatly appreciated and so this is what I plan to do for my video.
    Jack, the DOP
  • When performing, the encouragement and support by the crew and my fellow classmates was incredible. I hope this positive, kind atmosphere can be taken into the shoot for the video I make. 
    My band 

Post-Production
  • Next time I will try to make it a top priority to come in to school early and stay after school late everyday for the edit week because for the prelim task, we only did this some days and so we did not get through things as quickly as we would have liked.
Overall, I have had an incredible experience which I will never forget. Below is a short time-lapse video outlining the amazing project: