Class Remake of the Busted Music Video - Thats What I Go To School For

Together with the class we did a re-make of the Busted music video thats what i go to school for. We then edited the video individually in final cut express. Filming the video had it's difficulties as we had such a small class and making sure vital roles was important. Those that had to lip synch didn't always know the words, and certain parts of the original video was missed out, so we had to compensate it as much as possible. The ending of the video when it shows performance of the band, was the hardest to achieve exactly like it was in the original video. However the main ideas there, and you could say it was our own twist on things- at least it was similar and you get the same idea, and we had a lot of fun remaking the video. During editing was when we realised we had certain clips missing however we interpreted the original music video into my edit so that certain gaps could be covered. The filming of the  pen dropping was also not covered properly, however at least the footage was there. In the clips that show the screen flickering as they focus on charlie singing, i included colour edits so that the room was made darker and it was similar to the effect. Unfortunately within the music video the lip synching is really out of place, which could have done with a bit more time and focus, however at the time i didn't think it was as bad as it was.

Re making the Busted music video really brings the things we need to consider during the making of our own music video into perspective. I need to make sure that the people lip synching know the words well, and i also need to make sure that i have a strong storyboard so that i know what scene needs to be shot and none are missed out, and that everything is done to a professional standard so the music video can be successful. When editing i also need to make sure the lip synching is securely at the right time with the mouthing of the words. Proper organisation of the music video is important. 

Reflection of Lip-Synch exercise.

What choice of song did you use for the lip-synch video- and why?

The song that we chose to do was 'don't mug yourself' by The Streets. We chose this because for a first time experience of practicing lip synching, we though the speed, style, and inspiration from the music video would be easy to create within our own production. The genre of the streets is based on a British, rap/garage band, from the local city of Birmingham.

How easy or hard did you find lip-synching to the music?
I generally found it quite hard because i was unfamiliar to the song and lyrics, which meant i quickly had to learn them. In the end the only way i could do it, is if Scott held the lyrics up and i said the words out loud, in order to get it done within a certain standard. Because i was concentrating so much on the words it's also hard to carry out facial expressions and emotions into the video, so this is something else i will have to work on in the future, which will possibly be made easier if i chose a song i actually knew. Scott did fairly well with the lip-synching because he was familiar with the song. I was also unfamiliar to the style of music as it's not something i really listen to, however throughout the course i want to look at a range of genres and styles to create a broad knowledge and ideas.


How did your choice of shots- close up/mid/long shot - reflect real life music videos you've looked at?


The choice of shots that was used was a mixture of close ups, medium shots, and long shots, i believe that this reflects all music videos to a certain extent as the camera shots range throughout music videos. I also think that these range of camera shots were inspired by the original video with the camera changing; focussing on the frontman face on, and then to the side.


Was your use of camera angles similar to real music videos?


There was a range of angles in the video in order to create interest, rather than one camera angle throughout which i don't believe would be found in any music video due to the fact that videos are meant to sell a song and bring visualization beyond the words and show what the artists want to portray. Therefore i believe the range and mixture of camera angles are similar to real music videos with cameras being direct on, focussing on the side of the singer, or being creative with a downward camera angle.


Was your sequence typical of music videos in any other way? 


Our sequence was typical of many rap videos with the focus on the main frontman of the band or actual singer, there were also a lot of hand movements related and found in that specific genre of music videos.


What would you do differently next time, including lip synching? 


What i would do differently next time is to consider a location a bit better, as a graveyard may not be the ideal location for the representation of the video, although i do think it fits to a certain extent. Our original idea was to film this in a canteria of cafe where the original music video is set. This is because the lyrics are ideal and fit securely into a cafe setting, however at the time the college canteria was closed, and it was hard to find permission in an actual cafe.