Music Video Prelim Evaluation - Little Mix: Wings

Did you enjoy the workshop day? What were your best bits and why?

I did enjoy the workshop day and value it as a unique experience that not just anybody gets to benefit from. Most of all there was a fun atmosphere generated by everyone, including the cast who created a vision of exactly what it is like to work in the media.

There were 3 main things I enjoyed particularly:


1. Doing the actual performance
It was very exhilarating to get up and dance and even when we weren't on camera, everyone was singing along to the lip sync as encouragement. As a result, the whole day carried a performance element that was undoubtedly the most enjoyable part. We had also spent so much time practicing the dance, that the final performance paid of.

2. Observing the crew
There were times that we got to sit back and observe what the crew was doing. This gave us an exclusive insight to how music video shoots actually work professionally, and to relate this to what we see as the finished product. This allowed us to grasp the different roles by seeing them in action for ourselves.

3. Joining the crew
When we weren't doing the performance we spent time filling in the roles of the technical staff and runners. For example, we all contributed into doing each others hair and make-up, becoming the role of the stylist. I also had an opportunity to go up to the top of the studio and see how we were lighting the room and how live television works. I also filmed one of the pink grunge shots, being pushed on the dolly by Zenia and Alice. However something happened and I fell off, showing how things can also go wrong.




What have you learnt from participating in each of the prelim tasks?

• The audition video taught us that to lipsync properly you have to exagerate how you move your mouth otherwise it looks like you aren't putting any effort in when you watch it back. While editing the lip sync we also realised that timing the lip sync to the music can be very challenging, but worked out the method of timing the lip sync to the music first and then cropping it.
• Learning the performance was a great learning experience for me as I found the importance of time keeping and how easy it is to get fired. I also learnt that giving it my all is the best factor to looking good when dancing, and not being scared to embarrass myself.
• Planning and organizing costumes was a success for me. However, the biggest learning point here was to communicate your problems if they arose and to take advantage of whatever the group can offer. 
• The one day work shop was the most rewarding experience for the reasons I mentioned above.
• The workshop edit enabled me to manage my time efficiently and get it done by the deadline. I also came across different difficulties to when I was editing the film opening, for example timing the lip sync and dance moves. In some cases we had to compromise for the closest shots to the original. We also learnt how to function in groups bigger than usual.

Are you pleased with the footage and your edit? Is it how you expected it to look?

Yes I am very pleased with the footage as we have done a very good job in replicating the original. In this way, for the majority it has turned out the way I expected. I am also happy with the few compromises we had to made and feel these work well. 

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

• Confidence - If we didn't have this prelim experience, we would have not had a chance to gain our confidence with the making of a music video. That would've impacted very badly on our real thing.
• Planning - This was a key aspect of the process throughout. Everything was in order and scheduled, with strict deadlines planned far in advance. This is how things get done most efficiently, and we will recognize this in the making of own our music video.
• Editing - We now have two experiences of editing a lip sync, which will prove to be a benefit when we edit our real thing.
• Dancing - As we have been forced to dance, we have started to enjoy it and will not be as embarrassed if dancing becomes a part of our music video.