Practice

This section provides a display of several practices that needed to be in place before executing the digital, physical and technological aspect of the project. Prior to initialising any efforts towards generating files I came with a series of skills, however these skills needed to be retuned for the purpose of this project:

The skills I posses:

Improvising

Self portrait camera recording 

Basic editing

Writing 

Basic sound recording

Minor acting capabilities

Basic ICT

Basic knowledge of cameras and computer software 

The ambition to create a project at first would have not required much more than these skills, on the other hand once a series of supervision meetings were established the bars were raised higher and a challenge had to be set in place to complete the project.  

One of the first initial tasks that I had to do was learning how to lip sync. My skills in editing on premiere pro were minimal. Although I understood editing and post production process, my experience in building together a movie file was minimal. In this vide you will see how I am learning the process of synchronising audio with image. 

Directing & Recording a Mock up Music Video 

Although I have had minor experiences in the past with recording music videos I have not been in a situation where I have had to record one myself. I therefore set it up as a part of my proposal to record a mock up video that was recorded with no script, no writing and no storyboard. The purpose for this would have served in developing and understanding obvious the downfalls caused by poor pre production, then making those precautions in the near future. The soundtracks in this video were already recorded, however casting actors, providing locations and working with a production team that consists of only yourself proved to be difficult. After a series of exercises only a few camera shots could be recorded. 

Part i

Using the skills I have in improvising and creating a scene, I used my hand held camera to test the camera shots that I had in mind. With a significant level understanding in media studies I knew I had to consider camera shots, lighting, mise-en-scene and editing prior to filming anything or being on set. As mentioned earlier I deliberately established this set up to learn a hands on experience of having no preparation prior to a video shoot. This increased my ability in improvising and dealing with issues that occur when no planning was established prior to the shoot. 

Part ii 

Part iii 

Part iiii

An element in music video production that I have grasped from my analysis and observations of existing projects, is the difference between narrative / B roll footage, and abstract or performance footage. In this video I attempted to guide and direct a camera motion to give a fluid look and feel to the subject in the shot. The performance shots are more than often not stagnant, they continue to move around the scene in a dynamic fashion to match the energy of the subject and the music that plays in the background. I used a tripod on a dolly to direct the shot in question, an issue that could not be anticipated due to lack of planning was the floor in which the dolly was rolling on. The carpet rendered the camera footage shaky and although such an issue may be repairable in post production, it would still be noticeable to most of the viewers and listeners. With issues like this occurring through the production process, most of the yielded footage suffered technically unrepairable flaws. 

Sample One

Sample Two 

It is evident in these sample footage pieces that the errors during production would be too difficult to repair in post, the video as a result was scrapped. On the other hand this first hand experience with directing a music video did not go to a complete waste, the lighting that was established created a the type of setting that I imagined for the narrative of the project video. Furthermore, the mise-en-scene was improvised well considering the lack of planning. One of the skills I focused on during this process, was building a narrative using the appropriate camera shots, angling and mise-en-scene, because I have read that these elements are crucial towards creating an impactful video.

The dinner table scene for the mock up video shoot was primary for the purpose of narrative shots, ones that contain minimal movement and focus on a more personal aspect of the subject. Shooting for the performance recording however required more action and pacing style photography, which was planned to be executed with the use of a ronin stabiliser, unfortunately the weather conditions were too adverse for this plan to take action, however the video above explains the detail that was placed into the process of this execution. 

Project Sound Track Recording

Due to the nature of my project output, the production process of the aversion to Fragile by Tech N9ne underwent a series of stages. The first stage was breaking down the instrumental of the track and numbering the instruments that can be heard in the mix. The tempo also needed to be identified, alongside the pace in which the drum kit is beating. After all of these elements were established on paper the track was reconstructed from scratch, firstly starting with the drum kit which was replaced by a heart beat. The steadiness of the heartbeat replacement represents a physical, calm and general state of being which remains consistent in the track. The cymbal sound in the original track is replaced with a faster heart beat, one which beats around the pace that is double that of the drum kick. This is to represent a mental state of stress and anxiety. The snare in the track was replaced with a natural crack like sound that was created with the use of finger tips staggeringly tapping unto a wooden surface, almost to represent a breaking bone. The rest of the instruments with filled with lyrical voice overs and back up instruments such as strings and choirs. 

Project Sound Track Recording i 

Project Sound Recording ii 

Project Sound Recording 3

Project Sound Recording 4

Project Sound Recording 5

Project Sound Recording 6 

Project Sound Recording 7 

Project Sound Recording 8 

Project Sound Recording 9 

Project Sound Recording 10

Project Sound Recording 11 

Project Sound Recording 12 

Project Sound Recording 13

Producing an Intro / Outro Narrative 

& Recording 

Project Music Video 

The pre-production process for the project video, as oppose to the mock up video was far more detailed in planning. The most important aspect of this was ensuring that all the elements that are recorded within the shot match the scene and overall message that the sound track is projecting. As mentioned earlier, during the sound production process the aim was to create a representation of personal atychiphobia (Fear of failure or defeat), which is matched with the colour of clothing that the subjects are wearing, alongside the mannerism in which the subject is moving, walking and talking in the video. This idea developed an extensive thought process that needed to be rehearsed on the day of recording, however due to circumstances bigger than my control, the planning and practice that I wished to establish in the video could not be followed through. A treatment, script and storyboard was to be produced in order to communicate with the co-director and production assistants, however a lack of skill in time management rendered this process not possible. In the demise of this however, the video was not halted from success, as the previous experience in recording a non planned video, gave me access to experience that proved itself useful in the process of recording the project video. The project did not proceed without planning, several mental photographs, scripts and storyboards were designed far before the production process of the video, for this project to seize functioning. 

At the beginning of this section I mentioned the skills that I used to aid my way towards the final delivery of this project, these skills were as follows

Improvising

Self portrait camera recording 

Basic editing

Writing 

Basic sound recording

Minor acting capabilities

Basic ICT

Basic knowledge of cameras and computer software

After the process of self lead research and practice, I have managed to increase the perspective and extent within which my knowledge and experience goes, when placed in the context of digital media production. Asides from the skills above I also feel that I have been able to gain some knowledge and experience in sound and video production, as well as acting, performing, directing, camera operating and editing in post production. Finally, the concerns that I expressed initially about the inability of overcoming a challenge when it is introduced in the context of a project, were diminished by the confidence that I gained, once I could improve my hands on experience in the field of digital media production.