Prelim Edit

Audition Video

My Role

Describe your role, how do you feel about it?
My role is 'red girl' who is one of the pool girls. I feel alright about it as it doesn't involve any lipsynching and all the shots I'm in are with other people, which I think will help me feel more confident about performing.


These video clips show some of the scenes I will be in:











What does the performance actually consist of?
My role involves playing a snare drum, although not properly as she is characterised as an airhead model. It also involves doing actions in synch with the other pool girls, such as crossing legs. The character also needs to look confident and determined.


Is this a challenge for you, or something within your comfort zone?
Performing confidently will be a challenge for me but as I don't need to lipsynch I feel a bit more comfortable with it.

My Costume

Describe or list the specific costume/look you are aiming for.
My character is meant to be in red, beach type clothes, so I will be wearing red shorts, a red and white stripy vest and red heels, with a flower garland around my neck. In the original video the girls wear lingerie but our costumes will be less revealing.

These are the main parts of my costume

Do you have the items you need or are you planning to beg/borrow? Is there anything that may need to be bought?
The flower garland was bought but I have borrowed the shorts, vest and shoes from other people as I don't own any red clothes.

Personal Achievement

What do you personally want to get out of the whole A2 prelim experience?
I want to learn about the process of making a music video which will help for next year when we make our own original music videos, and to experience what a professional shoot is like.


Is it a challenge for you or within your comfort zone?
Performing in general is outside of my comfort zone as I have no experience of it, especially in front of a camera as it makes me quite self-conscious, so I think this will be a challenge.


Have you achieved/learnt anything so far?
We have been taught performance techniques and how to act confident and in character, which will make the process much easier. We also learned how to lipsynch effectively, which isn't needed for my character but may be a useful life skill. Another thing I've realised is how much work and planning goes in to shooting a music video and how many different roles are involved. When editing the audition videos we learned how to synch the audio and video using performance beds, which will be useful for editing the final video.

Evaluation Q1: Did you enjoy the workshop day? What were your best bits and why?

I thoroughly enjoyed the workshop day, despite how tiring it was, as it was a lot of fun and gave me a great insight in to how a professional shoot is run and how all the different parts come together successfully. There was a really positive atmosphere throughout the day which I think added to the experience and kept everyone going.

I was really interested in how much work went in to the make up and costumes side of the production to make the characters true to the original video while making sure everyone looked their best. One of my favourite parts of the day was watching everyone perform, as the make up, costumes and lighting made everyone look amazing on screen

I also enjoyed having the chance to use the clapperboard as helping the crew in this way made me feel more involved with producing the video than if I was just performing in it.

Evaluation Q2: What have you learnt from participating in each of the prelim tasks?

Task 1: Audition video

• I learned proper lip sync techniques which are: learning the lyrics, and actually singing so it looks convincing.
• I was forced to be in front of and perform to the camera so it forced me to be confident, which is something that I needed work on at the beginning of this project.
• While editing the video, I learned how to use performance beds to sync the audio and the video, which was a useful skill to use for the final video to save time.

Task 2: Learn and practice your performance

• We all took part in a performance workshop before rehearsals to get in to role and practice looking confident, which included playing drama games and practicing lipsynching.
• During the rehearsal, we practiced poses, actions and general confidence while performing to the camera, which greatly benefited my performance on the actual day.

Task 3: Help to plan and organise your costume

• I realised how easy it is to adapt the costumes while trying to keep them true to the characters in the original video, and I thought that the looks of most of the characters matched really well.

The girl band in the original  video

The girls band in our remake

• I also learned how important it is to sort out costumes well in advance, especially if relying on other people, as it can be stressful if you are still chasing people up at the last minute.

Task 4: The Shoot

• Throughout the project, but on the shoot day in particular, I built up my confidence in performing and was able to perform as best I could by being directed and encouraged by the crew. 

Tasha helping us to perform well

• On the shoot day I spent some time up in the lighting gallery learning how the lighting is set up and changed, which was not only interesting, but also a skill which I can use when we make our  own music videos next term.

Task 5: The Edit

• I also built on my teamwork skills as I was working in a three to start with, and later in a pair, so we had to delegate editing time equally and make decisions together.
• I think my grading improved during this task as I got used to what each of the settings did, and my judgement of what looked good definitely also improved.
• I learned how to create the flashes on the photography shots using contrast and brightness at key frames, which is shown in the gif below: