We arrived in the studio on Monday morning to find the set built and the band waiting to begin the shoot. Each group was given 25 minutes in which to shoot a minimum of 4 shots. Our group was up filming first and we took it in turns to play the part of the director, assistant, playback and cameraman.
To cover our bases we shot wide, mid, close up and instrument shots, which didn't leave us much time to get our specific ideas. I think in the real project we will have to be more realistic with timings. However we managed a good few to work with and after our 25 minutes were up we headed up to the editing suite to compile them all together.
Directing the lead singer
We found that when editing music videos there are certain things you need to consider which aren’t so important with the thrillers. For example editing on the beat creates a much more flowing video and makes the cuts much less obvious.
During this process, we have to go through the video over and over again to ensure that there is fluidity and we realise that we have to edit the video according to the beat so we have to re edit some parts of the videos by chopping some parts and making them into quick cuts in order to give a connection with the beat of the music.
OVerall, I was pleased with the process escpecially the shooting process where we each tried different roles and it helped understand how each works. One thing I would be very careful about shooting process is the timing because we did not have enough time to shoot close up shots of all the group members therefore giving us some difficulty in editing where we could use quick cuts of their eack individual shots of their close up. So in future, we will have to manage time wisely. this is the set which has an element of grungy rock design. I used the screen connected to the video camera to help me see if the shots are good.
In preparation, we were told to shoot and edit the first 30sesconds of an unsigned boy band found from Myspace and they are called Acres of :Life.
Since this was our first time shooting for a music video, we as group did some research through Youtube searching for music videos about bands that would help give us some ideas about what kind of shots would be suitable for the bands. Then we have to plan about what kind of shots do we want and how fast or slow do we want the cuts to be during the editing process.
We realise that rock bands tend to have quick cuts in editing and they often have more close up shots of the lead singer.By looking at the music videos like How You Love Me Now by Hey Monday inspired us to have pull focus in our shooting. We drew up the timeline, a rough sketch of different shots which we would like to have in our first but of the video.
Through textual analysis of the music video, how the star is sold to the target audience?
Name of artists : Black Eyed Peas
Name oftracks: Where is the love?
Throughout the whole sequence of the music video, there was a black paper with a red question mark on it to signified that the nation asking question their government about peace as this video revolved around the issues concerning the injustice treated to the minority, violence of war/terrorist and hope and unity.There were two similar props: steering wheel andd the cassette turning which they used to reinforce the idea of the world cycling as they are repeating its history. The singers were all in black costume putting up the posters in the video and they represented themselves to the media as heroes/part of the nation who is brave enough to stand up for the nation against the government. SO the star is sold to the target audience as them being courageous and they are the peacemakers for the country, America.
They use camera shots such as the wide shot of the two singers who were in van like they were the radio djs who were broadcasting the news. They used a low angle shot ofAmerica buildings with American flags on top and then having high angle shots people of people in the shop, the crop land and the people in the scene symbolising that the government and the higher authorities are surely aware of what is happening to the nation through news, TV, radio, etc but why are they not taking any action to it. The singers are questioning the government about their usage of the power for the right reason. We also have many close up shots of young kids from different minority races and lip singing the chorus part of “Where is the Love” to show their expressions and emotions to the situation. Through this, the singers are asking not only the target audience to sympathise with the poor children who are innocent but have to sufferand be supportive of the campaign they are proposing, but also making an awareness to other older audience about this song and them. This would bring them a good image aboutagain. The beginning of this sequence is shot in a handheld camera to show how terrified or chaotic to be living in this country as a minority. So they are shooting some part from the children’s point of view and also the reporters’ point of view.
Towards the end of the song, they used several individual close up shots of the children, a black older woman and an old man who was holding the bible looking up representing the image of longing for hope.
There were a quick montage sequence of the samequestion mark posters at different places to make the audience to think about issues being raised in the country such as justice, war and poverty and if there is hope. There were continuity editing of the group dressed up as a secret agent holding the question mark business suitcase as they were crossing the road to signify that they would not stop and they will keep on trying until there is an action taken. Then there was a freeze frame of them crossing the road with the suitcase and this makes the audience to keep our focus on the question mark sign again.Although there were many quick cuts during the sequence to reinforce the idea of chaos, there were some long shot as well. One of them was the road sign not being covered by the question mark to show that the country is lost without a guide and that they need the government to help the nation and mean what they say about making improvements.
In this video, The Black Eyed Peas used paradoxes adapted from Richard Dyer: ordinary and extraordinary, present and absent. This group were ordinary in a sense that they were just like the nation living in fear being chased by the police, being watched, therefore they are emotionally connected with the target audience however they extraordinary and absent at the same time because this is not their world as they are singers and they are more fortunate. This is positive as the target audience are now looking up to the group. And this is the method they used to sell the target audience.
this is the set which has an element of grungy rock design. 
I used the screen connected to the video camera to help me see if the shots are good.