Evaluation (comparing shots and improvements)

EVALUATION

Storyboard of screen shots I created for us to film with, along side screenshots of our reconstruction

1 second into the video

This is the very first camera shot and the first second of the music video

Our version of the first second. I could've improved this by standing further away so more background was in the shot. I was unable to do this because the room was very restricted and I struggled with the small spaces I had to film it within.

Camera movement for the future 4 seconds: slightly to the left and downwards, then to the right slightly while it zooms towards the artist

4 seconds into the video

Official music video screenshot

Unfortunately I struggled to master this movement because of the fast zooming speed I struggled to control. I took a few takes and my final take was the best. I think it's okay compared to the original video

5-7 seconds into the video

The artist is filmed taking off a necklace chain 

Again by choice I would've rather filmed the shot further away from the artist, but since the space we were in was restricted and because  this was last minute filming, this wasn't to the best of my reconstructing ability. I have learnt to do more planning and preparation from this task and believe my team members may have as well.

8-11 seconds into the video

8 seconds

9-10 seconds

11 seconds

Our version

8-9 seconds

10-11 seconds

This scene shouldn't have been cut so short. I would change this feature if I had a second chance to re-edit the video.

11-12 seconds into the video

half way between 11 and 12 seconds into the official video 

Just over 12 seconds 

This scene only lasts roughly one second

We struggled to get the correct lighting and contrast throughout the video, this scene was shot within college on the first week of filming. I had the idea to blurr the shot by covering the video camera's lens with a sheet of thin plastic I had in my bag.

If I could retake this I wouldn't include the plastic cover because the original scene isn't as blurry as we made it.

13-14 seconds into the video

There's a snapshot of the artist taking off his blazer/jacket

Unfortunately the actor we used became restless at this point of filming and failed to take the jacket off for long enough, as you can see if you watch our reconstruction of the video, the scene isn't long enough and you can see him stop before he takes the jacket off fully. To avoid this, during editing it could of been cut shorter and then extended to make it in slow motion, this would have made that scene much more ideal in my opinion. We also didn't check which shoulder he slips his coat from (the left) instead ours is taken down the right shoulder. We missed this because of the rush we were in and should have paid more attention to details. 

 

 

 

15-17 seconds into the video

The artist seems to be walking down a corridor which has white walls towards a bright light.

 In our reconstruction we placed a torch in front of our actor as he walked towards it, unfortunately it doesn't show up very well. We couldn't find anywhere with pure white walls so decided to use my narrow kitchen. If the lights were brighter in front of the actor then perhaps the resolution would have been more similar. In relation to camera movement I can now see it would've been better if I had followed the actor as they walked, like in the original video, instead of the camera being still as the actor walks away from it.

 

 

18-19 seconds into the video

The duration of this shot is less than a second long. It is the artist checking/reading his phone as he sings the lyrics. It seems to be of a backstage location. The camera is placed so you can see the artist along the left side of the shot. The lighting is designed to highlight his face, his hand and his phone to draw the audience's attention to those areas.

To recreate this I held a light next to the camera as we filmed to highlight his face, his hand and his phone. The camera position could be improved by being further away and more behind our actor. There are shelves near the artist in the original scene so I chose the book case in my dining room to be in our reconstruction. There is no camera movement as this is a still shot. Our actor sang the lyrics which the artist sang in the scene which we then edited so the actor's lips synchronised with the song's lyrics.

 

20-21.5 seconds into the video

 In this shot the camera pans anti-clockwise as firstly one girl is walking along with two drum sticks then another walks into the shot along side the blonde girl with the drumsticks. The camera is positioned at quite a low level, so the main focus is the girls bodies instead of their faces, this may be because they are just backing staff and not the performer.

 To recreate this I carried on using the tripod supplied by my college. We chose to use the college's theatre so the background of the shot wouldn't distract the focus of the scene. Unfortunately we didn't achieve a very similar lighting environment for this scene as we lacked artificial lights e.g. flood lights or the show lights which are featured in the original snapshot. It would have been better if Paige (the blond girl) was the girl who started walking first, and then Javanna afterwards following alongside her. We made Javanna wear a striped jumper and Paige wear  black to match the costumes of the girls from the music video. 

 

 22-23.5 seconds into the video

In this scene the artist is singing on what I assume is a stage, I assume this because there are instruments behind him and he is singing into a microphone. The lighting is once again behind the artist, you cannot see the artists mouth moving to thew words but you can tell he is singing because of his body movement. It seems to have a misty effect, like the camera lense is slightly steamy.

We instructed our actor to pretend he is singing and showed him Labrinth's body movement so he could copy it. The camera should have been further away from the actor and slightly higher as if we are looking down on him, this was unachievable because our actor is 6ft5" tall and the tripod only extended to such a height. Perhaps we could have rested the tripod on some books to boost its height. The light we found which would be at the most similar position behind the artist ended up being my extractor fan in my kitchen. We weren't able to find a stage with drum kits in the background to recreate the scene more accurately. Labrinth uses the microphone as a prop so we used something of a similar shape as our prop (a thin drinking glass).
23.5-25 seconds into the video

 Camera movement: pivots anti clockwise. Artist remains still in the position of looking to his right at somthing in the distance. Lighting seems to be at a far distance away from him to his left

 find