Lip Sync Practice

In a group we created a music video with proper camera equipment and combined the clips with a editing software, premier pro. With this we tried to lip sync the video to the music through editing and get a feel of how we are going to make a music video in A2 Media.

 

Setting up a Camera

In our next lesson we had a technician come in to explain how to set up a digital camera, including settings to adapt the camera to its surroundings as it can be filmed during the night, day or with artificial lighting which need to be configured through the camera for best video quality. We also learnt how to set up the camera onto a tripod, so that we can get a still moving image unlike handheld, where it's usually prone to wobble, resulting in the unsteady video recording.

• Firstly, to have optimum video quality we went to main settings, located on top of the camera it gave us a variety of options; scrolling through them on the touchscreen with the arrow buttons until we found quality settings. Set to 1080p, 25 fps 'Frames Per Second' at a resolution of '1920 by 1080'.

• Exposure control: This determines how light or dark the video will be recorded at. The Shutter Speed is set to 50, this changes how fast or slow the shutter closes, being how long the lens is exposed to light; the faster the speed the less light goes in, and the slower it is the more light goes in. This usually depends on the subject, as the brighter it is the faster the shutter speed needs to be.

• Aperture: Located in the middle of the lens is a hole for light to pass through into the camera. A low aperture increases the opening of the lens and vice-versa. It is measured in 'F-Stops', so given that the F-Stop is set to f/1.4, the aperture, being the opening of the lens, becomes wide. This brings everything into focus as it is able to take more light in,

• ISO: Controls the sensitivity of the light sensor, this should be set on a low setting of 100 and not above 1600 if used in well-lit areas as it does not need to detect too much light as this will grain the image, giving it a static look. The sensitivity will need to be raised if used in dark areas so it can sense more light to brighten the image, however this will add grain, also known as 'noise'.

• Colour: The Q on the top corner of the camera screen gives us more settings based on colour settings. We set the picture style to Neutral and set the white balance to 'AWB'; the white balance adapts to the light in its surroundings, as if the video/picture is shot under a light bulb, it will reduce the amount of orange in the colour and add more blue to make it seem more neutral

• AF/MF Slider: Located at the front of the camera, this determines weather the focus is adjusted automatically or manually, this must be set to manual as we are able to rotate the front part of the lens to give more focus or blur out the image.

Why create Music Videos?

We find that many music Artists include videos with their work, this is done to promote their songs or albums visually, through music videos to get themselves noticed. Also if they have a partnership they would most likely include them in the video, e.g: Beats by Dr.Dre which is often seen in these types of videos. It attracts attention as they are able to reveal their new album or song through adverts as they are able to show it in a form of a video, rather than sound on websites and/or TV.

Apart from visual music, artists also tend to have merchandise of their own which usually include clothing, footwear, headphones etc. A majority of artists have been featured in shows on TV, radio and in many other places to talk about themselves and their songs, usually discussing of their upcoming album which they promote all on the show as a form of getting themselves noticed.

Analysis Practice of Music Videos

For our first task for A2 Media, we analysed a music video by rapper Jay-Z, 'On to the Next One'. We picked up many motifs from the music video which relate to its genre of rap, as many videos in this genre have a similar theme. The main ones were of cars, money and also women who dance in some parts of the video. The rapper, Jay-Z has also shown himself throughout the video, singing or in editing terms, 'lip-syncing'.

This is because their audio is recorded through a booth in a music studio, with proper equipment such as a microphone, whereas in the actual footage of the video, the singer is usually miming the lyrics. This is because audio isn't recorded during the film as it would sound unprofessional, as opposed to adding the audio to the video in post production.