Britney Spears Evaluation

What research and planning did you complete when recreating the music video? (Think storyboarding/camera shots/ analysis of

narrative of the video/ researching locations to use/organisation skills/ arranging people to be a part of your ideas)

I broke down each shot transition in the original Britney Spears video and distinguished the type of camera shot that was present in each clip. As the original video was stationed in a school environment we were able to shoot our music video at our current location without any major concerns. Most props in the original (paper, pens, and clock) were available to us but we had to improvise with features such as the lockers and school bell as our location didn’t have them.

We were also able to induct other sixth form students into the video as extras and we had dancers available to us, that we were able to use for the dance routine. I researched the costumes of the original performers in the music video that the sixth formers replicated by wearing clothes similar to those seen in the original music video.

How did you organise yourself within the group? What role did you play? What benefits were there to working in a group? What were the

challenges?

As well as being an extra in the video I took on the role of filming, organising people into the positions that were similar to the original video and situating the camera into the right angle and focus to imitate the original Music Video. As I was working within a group I was able to ask for feedback on each take and then re do the take with any suggestions that may have been provided.

Working in a group also allowed us to take on fewer tasks, lowering the pressure on an individual, and each person had something to contribute to the music video. A huge challenge of filming was perfecting the timing as there was delay in the pressing of the button and the actual recording of the take. Also, laughing was a common occurrence when filming and it was difficult to prevent people from breaking out of character; eventually having to remove those who were not part of the take to make them feel comfortable.

How did you use new media technologies in the construction of your video? (Think Premiere Pro CS6 and how you had to use online tutorials to create specific

effects)

Most of my time on Premiere Pro was spent tinkering and figuring out how the software operates. Features such as reversing a clip, changing the clip’s pace I figured out individually but other features such as lighting and cutting a clip, I learnt through a tutorial. I also asked others for help on how to add specific effects such as adjusting the scale and position of the clip itself.

What difficulties/successes did you encounter and what have you learnt from this?

One of the most difficult aspects of creating the music video was syncing all the clips with the song perfectly (lip syncing in particular) and keeping the lighting consistent, not only throughout the song, but to also look similar to the original music video. Another problem was that people continually laughed through the filming and a lot of time was consumed editing out the laughing and joining various clips together to make one smooth clips (as some individual clips were full of laughing).

As I did not film multiple takes of one scene, when it came to the editing process it was difficult to find the right clip to use as there was always a mistake; being able to mash to clips together would have improved the quality of the video.

Due to the original video being set in school, we had no problem replicating the setting as we were already in a school environment. This saved a lot of time as we didn’t have to go searching for props that replicated the actual video. However, as we were in a school

environment takes were constantly being interrupted by students and the school bell.

Also, as we already had dancers available to us in and outside the group, it was easy coming up with a routine that fit the video, the only minor problem being the filming of it so that everything that was supposed to be in shot, was. I had to film the dance routine 4 times, all from different angles, and then edit certain parts of each clip so that they ran smoothly in the music video.

The next time I create my video I will make sure less people are involved to minimize the chances of laughing and people falling out of character. I will also make sure that when settings are used, it will be at a time when it is not busy so that takes will not be interrupted repeatedly and I will make sure to film multiple takes of each scene so that I have a choice of what to use when it comes to editing the clips and putting them together.