Evaluation of Preliminary task.

To get the A2 Media group an experience of editing, camera work and general videography. The 2 day workshop was less focused on the quality and standard of the music video, it was focused on developing our skills with camera work and editing. Before making a top music video the basic technical elements must have been adhered. We were given a song (Annie Lennox - A Whiter Shade Of Pale). We were taught some of the codes and conventions of a music video. We were first aught about Goodwin's analysis:

• a link between the lyrics and visuals
• a link between the music and visuals
• genre specific iconography
• close ups of the artist(s)
• voyeurism
• intertextuality

The first day of the workshop was more focused on planning and researching aspects for our music video. Our group; brainstormed ideas, listed the props and  people we needed, created a storyboard and began filming near the end of the day. The second day was mainly focused of filming and editing our footage. Again we received the basic knowledge on editing, it was also valuable experience for editing. 

One of the things that i gained from the 2 days is the ability to work well in a group. I realized that to complete this coursework of producing a music video, the work your group puts in is invaluable. If i were to complete this coursework on my own then the work load would be too much of struggle to apprehend. Therefore working as a part of a group will make our work more creative and technical, also we could get more work done in less time. 


As well as learning about all the basics of videography, i also learnt about the technical side of it. i.e framing and taking a shot, contrasting the lighting etc. I also learnt from a part of the pre-liminary task, to label all tapes that have recorded footage on, otherwise they may get recorded over. 


We also had a substantial editing lesson. I edited part of our video on Final Cut Express. As imagined, the editing software was hard to get used to, but after learning the main shortcuts and getting a general feel to the editing software, i managed to edit the video quite well. It was helpful to learn the basics of Final Cut Express as this is the software we will use to edit our A2 music video. 


To conclude, i feel that taking part in the Preliminary task benefitted me in many different ways. I grasped some basic but vital knowledge on how to shoot and edit a music video. These are all skills that i aim to take in to produce my A2 music video. Although i still have room to improve, i can say that the skills i have with editing and videography at this moment in time are substantially good. 


Our final Preliminary task video: