Duet Evaluation

Whilst filming our practise music video I learnt a lot crucial aspects to ensure that the music video is successful. Whilst doing this I learnt the importance of singing the chosen song out loud rather than miming the lyrics. Originally I did not see the point of this but after watching a first draft of myself miming compared to another of myself singing I immediately noticed the difference in the quality and effectiveness of singing out loud. This is because it makes the lip syncing more accurate and realistic as more emotion is displayed.

Furthermore I have also learnt some excellent shot angles I can introduce to my group when doing our real music videos. Filming from different angles is important because it makes the video more interesting and engaging for viewers to watch, this was why we tried to vary our shots, I look to do the same thing when filming my music video. In order to make improvements to make the shots more effective we can do this by rotating the shots in time with the beat of the music. This will give some sort of rhythm in the video and will make it look more professional as there will be a continuity showing it has properly been thought about rather than random transitions in shots. In our practise music video we occasionally done this but we could have made it more continuous and accurate between in transition. This will be an adjustment I would make if we have the chance to make improvements. During our practise filming session I have also learnt the importance of the use of lighting. Whilst filming we originally had problems with the lighting as it was too dark, because of this we changed the positioning of the camera and the direction we were filming from in order to ensure that when singing we can be seen. This is a factor we will be sure to take into consideration when filming our real music video.

Some aspects when filming a duet can be proven to be different compared to a solo performance. Whilst undergoing this task I learnt how important it is to get good spacing and position is when performing. This is because during our first attempt me and my partners awareness wasn't too good, this resulted in the video not looking realistic and professional as one person drifted away from the microphone and was occasionally cut off the screen. We made amends to this as you can see in the final draft. We will also take this into consideration when filming our real music video if we decide to have a duet performance. Another thing I learnt about filming a duet is ensuring that both performers lip syncing is in tune with the music. This is also an aspect which contributes in making the video look more realistic, this can be hard to achieve as my partner in the duet struggled at times with remembering words, I couldn't do anything to make my partner remember the words she has to do it for herself, this highlights the teamwork and patience required when singing a duet. In certain areas in our final draft the lip syncing can be seen to be a bit off. This fault was due to a combination of forgetting certain words in the song and the editing not being as accurate as it should be.

After filming all our shots we used the programme Final Cut Express to edit our shots and make them into one video. In order to do this we had to place all of our shots onto the Final Cut timeline in layers and lock the sound in each of these videos so that it looks like all the lyrics were being mimed in the videos. After that we uploaded the Elton John and Kiki Dee duet and synchronised each of the layers to the music. By doing this each of the layers were completely synchronised throughout meaning we could edit to the music however we pleased. We cut out the shots we didn't like and switched from one to another depending on which ones we liked by using the editing tools. I originally found this editing process quiet difficult but after the second lesson of editing I got the hang of it and was able to have fun with the variety of editing tools. Whilst editing I was able to add a fade during a transition from a mid shot to a low angled shot. This show. If given the opportunity I would make improvement during this editing stage by adding more effects to make the video as a whole look more engaging. I would also make adjustments by moving one or two of the layers on the timeline slightly across in order to make the lip syncing more sharp as it was slightly off at times in our final piece.

Whilst editing I learnt how important it is to editing to the beat of the music. This is because it makes the process much easier in knowing when to switch between shots, it also makes the video look more professional as it looks as if we have actually thought about it rather than just switching between shots at random times. I have also learnt how to separate footages in Final Cut Express, layer them onto the timeline and also synchronise music so that the layers are also synchronised throughout. These editing skills that I have learnt will defiantly be useful for when editing my real music video.