Lip Synch - If you wanna be my lover

This is our lipsynching video that we did to the Spice Girls, ‘If you wanna be my lover.’ This was good to do as it was useful to see what was needed to make lipsynching in a music video successful. We had fun but we also learnt a lot from it and we could see what it would be like for our actors in the video, as well as experiencing some directing skills.

From this I learnt that the actors must know the lyrics of the song really well in order to make it look realistic and believable. They also have to actually sing the song; otherwise it will look like they are actually miming to the lyrics. If there is more than one actor then they must all sing the whole song through and we will film this, as well as taking a couple of takes, so that we have variety and can choose what parts we want from the footage. From our video we can also see that we need a lot of close-up shots of the people, as our video doesn’t have much variety and we tended to stay at medium shots, which makes us seem more distant and less engaging. Editing and shot types are really important for a music video. We learnt that the editing looks good when it’s choppy and not neat, ie. cutting shots before a line of the song finishes and cutting to the beat of the music. Variation of shots is also important and there should be a range of angles and distances, as well as movement so as for it not to look too static.

Teenage Dirtbag Workshop

Here’s our final version of Teenage Dirtbag by Wheatus:


And here’s our final version with the original in the corner:


1. What do you think you learnt from Friday's workshop? It could be specific things about making a music video OR general things about the production process.
The workshop really helped me with the directing and shooting aspects of making a music video. However it also showed me how important the pre-production stage is. Planning is vital as it allows the director, cast and crew to understand how long it will take and to organise certain shots. The director should also make key choices early on as time is a key issue and it is often inevitable that their will be some changes made on the day and a music video often takes longer to shoot than planned. Organisation is extremely important. Actors, props, locations and equipment must be prepared beforehand.

Our director Jake Wynne showed us that the director must know exactly what they want and have a clear vision of how they want the music video to look. The director must get involved in the process of making the music video, and this was demonstrated by things such as having clear communication with your camera crew. They must also communicate to the actors exactly what they want, and this was done by actually demonstrating it to them and informing them of what they’re doing right/wrong. Our director was always busy, constantly checking what is being filmed, and the actors, location and just that the overall look that they are achieving is correct.

The workshop also taught me things about the technical side of shooting a music video. It helped show me how a real music video shoot would take place. The tracks and the camera were the key pieces of filming equipment and it showed just how important it is to get varied shots and lots of movement. Lighting was also important and often had to be controlled. Tracing paper was used to filter some of the light and then artificial lights were used to highlight certain areas.

I also learnt important issues about actors and their performance. Confidence is key with acting and performance, as well as the lip synching which must be accurate. They must also be reliable and it is therefore preferred if someone from your own group is involved in the performance side, as well as the fact that they will understand the groups vision clearly and will therefore know what to do.

2. For you, what was the best bit?
I enjoyed the whole workshop but I think the best bit for me was being in the shot behind the band and dancing and jumping around in the background. Although it did get really hot we still had fun. I also liked watching the actual filming as it gave us a bit of an idea of how a real music video shoot works.

3. How do you think the work we have done will impact on your group project?
It’s showed me just how vital planning is. We must know exactly what shots we are going to shoot and in what order. Discipline on the shoot is also essential. People must follow instructions and listen, ensuring that we don’t overrun or take too long on specific shots, as well as having fun at the same time.

I also think I’ll approach the performance and acting differently for our group project as I now think it will be much easier for the people in our group to act in the video as we will be willing to give up the time and we will know exactly what we want the final look to be.

Also the fact that camera movement is extremely important in a music video and after seeing the filming for the workshop, has made me more willing to try more complicated shot types and be more experimental with the camera.