WS - Lessons learnt from the practice video

As a class, we were already aware of the challenges that would face us in filming a music video, but the chance to create our own video and edit it too reinforced the idea and has given us a great insight into the level of preparation that will have to go into the final product, as well as allowing us to make mistakes that we will hopefully learn from and not repeat.

Although I have already posted the video, I will post it on this blog post again so that you can refer to it with ease if you so wish when I reference something in the video.

Below is a list of things that I have learnt from making the Practice Video:

• The importance of preparation: Although as a practice video it seems to be quite successful and reasonably well thought out (for a practice vid!!), the footage was actually shot in a real rush to get it completed on time. This was down to how unorganised we were as a group; this was actually meant to be shot over 2/3 days but due to us not having the correct costumes/props we had to film on the single day.
• Make notes on what we are planning to do: When filming we did not have any really clear, concise ideas as to what we wanted to film, we had a basic idea in mind but no specific shot list. This would have been really helpful to ensure that we didn't miss any shots we wanted and would have also saved time on planning what shots to take next. However, the shot at "0.24" in the video was a result of attempted time saving by keeping the camera running between shots.
• Framing shots: "0.18" is an example of where we have framed a shot really well, with the shot looking through the net. Throughout the task, we learnt more about thinking everything through that is in a shot and not just about the subject of the shot.
• Ensure the background for the shot is correct: In fairness, a lot of this was down to the speed at which we were trying to film, and wasn't too important as this was only a practice vid. However, if this was a real piece of coursework, we would have been seriously marked down for it. I am talking about objects/people in the background of shots who shouldn't be in the shot. An example of this is at "0.17" where there are people and objects in the shot that aren't supposed to be there. We will have to avoid this in the coursework piece.
• Realistic ambitions: This piece of work was only a practice, but posed many problems in the idea to portray it like the actual video. When we are going to plan our real coursework videos, we must ensure the idea is feasible. 
• Editing: This task has been very good for giving us a chance to edit. We have played about with the video in certain parts and looked at a variety of effects. Examples of this are at the start with the colour effects, and later on at "1.50". This has been really good and will benefit us in the future editing activities.

Overall the task has been really helpful for the coursework task, and I will refer back to it when doing the work, hopefully remembering the lessons that this task has taught us.