EVALUATION

LITTLE MIX- WINGS REMAKE!

On Friday 12th July 2013, the year 12 Media students took part in a remake workshop, where we remade the video for Wings, by Little Mix. For the main band roles we auditioned with lipsynch videos, and I was given the role of Jesy. Jesy has a lot of attitude, and is very sassy, with a distinctly Essex urban style, I found getting into this character very exciting.

 

Olivia Downes (who I did my lipsynch with)played Perrie, Arianna Tipper played Jade and Anjana Stephens played Leigh-Anne. Each band member also had a dance double, who assisted us in learning the moves specific to our individual characters prior to the shoot, and on the day they watched as we performed, and directed us in perfecting our moves, and informing us of anything missed out. The rest of the year 12 media students took part in the dance scene, wearing all black costumes, some close ups of a few students can be seen within our music video remake.

 

 

DID YOU ENJOY THE WORKSHOP DAY? WHAT WERE YOUR BEST BITS AND WHY?
Yes, I found the whole day really fun, and really enjoyed playing a lead role, espeically a character as fun as Jesy, dressing and performing in character. I loved seeing how costumes and sets were used, especially during a remake style music video, as we were able to really accurately liken our video to the real thing. The day was very long, with me being up for my solo performance first at 8.30AM, which was very nerve-wracking, but everyone else on set was very energetic and enthusiastic, and they cheered me on as I performed, and this made me feel much more at ease. I had so much fun, that I actually felt sad when my part was over. My least favourite part was the dance, as I cannot dance, and was not used to performing at the front.

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT FROM PARTICIPATING IN EACH OF THE PRELIM TASKS?
In my analysis task, I learnt about music videos, especially performance style music videos. Here we looked at things such as style, genre, shot types and presentation of artist and setting, and learnt how crucial each individual part is in creating a music video. With the lipsynch, I realised how hard it was to link up the sound to the video, and how to create the most effective lipsynch possible. When watching video back, it was clear that the more energetic and enthusiastic you were, the better it came across, and a music video shoot was no place to be shy. Prior to our workshop day I learnt how much planning is involved in each stage of the shoot, and how many aspects need to be thought of and pre-planned to ensure a successful shoot, and eventually a successful and accurate remake music video. On the day I saw how each section of the team worked together and interacted to ensure that every shot was achieved, and when editing, I learnt about the editing of music videos, for example; discontinuous editing, which was especially helpful as I think the music video I create next year will be of a similar genre and style.

ARE YOU PLEASED WITH THE FOOTAGE AND YOUR EDIT? IS IT HOW YOU EXPECTED IT TO LOOK?
I am pleased with the footage as it looks really professional and authentic, with the relation to the original video being clear. However, some specific shots were not achieved, as certain moves had been forgotten or missed out, during the edit we needed to find substitutes for these shots. In spite of this, I thought our edit was very accurate, as we were able to include replacement shots, usually of the same character, and although the actions were not exacty the I felt the similarity in costumes and sets played a huge part in creating a likeness. I did not expect our remake to look as similar as it did, and was pleasantly surprised by the overall quality of footage, though some shots were incorrectly framed or not focused. In cases where these shots needed to be used, cutting was very fast, and anything that did not appear perfect would not be so stirkingly obvious.

HOW DO YOU THINK YOUR PRELIM EXPERIENCES WILL IMPACT YOUR APPROACH TO NEXT TERM'S MUSIC VIDEO COURSEWORK?

After experiencing the entire process I realised how important planning is, when mapping out the entire video, and the shots that needed to be taken. When I come to plan my own, I will definitely make sure that every aspect is planned as thoroughly as it was for our Little Mix remake. I feel I would like to create a music video with a similarly bright and girly style, probably of the same Pop genre, and I felt the impressive and detailed sets were something I would really like to experiment with if possible. I would not like to work with a large group of performers, as I think this would be very difficult to organise, and some people would be hard to rely on. I liked the fast paced editing style, with lots of similar shots used together, and different sets and costume styles throughout.