This is the shooting and performance practice blog for component 3 discussing our process and how this helped us. I (Cassie) performed and edited, Tisha and Kimora filmed. This blog was written by me (Cassie).
*:･ Shooting + Performance Practice ⋆.ೃ࿔
Cassie’s Media Dictionary 📖 𓂃🪶
Definition by Oxford Languages
SHOOTING
/ˈʃuːtɪŋ/
noun | TRADEMARK
the process of filming a film
PERFORMANCE
/pərˈfɔːrməns/
noun | TRADEMARK
the act of performing a play, concert or some other form of entertainment
⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔ ꒰ ᧔ෆ᧓ ꒱ ⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔
My group and I decided to practice our shooting and filming, specifically during performances since we had practiced how to film narrative scenes before in our first project (find out more on our summary of last project blog). Through our research on RNB songs such as Folded by Kehlani and Good Days by SZA, we found out that a large portion of RNB music uses performances in the majority of their music videos, whether that is lip-syncing or dancing. In order to create a music video that is dynamic and balances how much it conforms and subverts from RNB conventions, we felt as if practicing how to shoot and perform a music video or performance video would be beneficial. Music videos must hook the audience and keep them engaged throughout the whole song, and by doing this practice, we can learn how to create engaging shots to make our final video more interesting. Additionally, this can help us become more comfortable with filming and performing/acting throughout our process.
⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔ ꒰ ᧔ෆ᧓ ꒱ ⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔
THE PROJECT
Me (Cassie) and some friends have been preparing a dance performance for a school event. I thought it would be a good opportunity to learn how to shoot this kind of dancing performance just in case we decided to have a performance-heavy video, especially in dancing since we had already memorized the choreography and blocking.
Me and my friends performed to Boy With Luv by BTS. Even though it is a K-Pop song and not RNB, I thought that the dance and performance styles are not drastically different (from a dancer's view). From a media view, I had to make sure that filming techniques between the two genres aren't too different. So, I decided to briefly research and compare the two, by watching the Boy With Luv music video, Boy With Luv performance video, and also the Folded Music Video. These videos are linked below:
Boy With Luv - BTS MV
Boy With Luv - BTS Performance Video
Folded - Kehlani MV
The main difference I found was that the Boy With Luv music videos had many different scenes and outfits which made the music videos more dynamic in general, and they included other performances such as lip-syncing and acting, meaning the choreography was not especially highlighted. They also had more narrative/story scenes.
The Boy With Luv performance video shows an actual performance by BTS to a crowd, meaning they focused more on the choreography and vocals of the performance. It's often shot in one take (or with minimal cuts), using different camera movements and angles to make it more dynamic. This is similar to one take style music videos like Justin Bieber's "Beauty and a Beat" or Ravyn Lenae's "Love Me Not".
Lastly, the Folded music video had little narrative and showed more of the dance, using multiple angles and a mix of lip-syncing to make the video more engaging. I ultimately determined the differences were not too significant and decided to continue with this shooting practice.
⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔ ꒰ ᧔ෆ᧓ ꒱ ⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔
OUR PROCESS
Personally, I (Cassie) have experience in dancing as a dancer, along with facial expressions usually used in dancing. Kellie usually posts lip-syncing videos onto her TikTok, so she had some experience in that sense. Tisha and Kimora are more familiar with filming itself, since they often shot scenes for past projects. So, we decided to split our roles.
❀ Cassie - Dancer/Performer along with her friends
❀ Tisha/Kim - Cameramen
❀ Kellie - Unfortunately she was unable to join due to conflicting schedules
First, we all watched the 3 videos together to get an idea of what to expect and how to film performances. I also took note on how the dancers lip-synced and made facial expressions to enhance their performance. Then, my friends and I decided to practice the choreography a few times, so we can make sure we remember it and so Tisha and Kim can familiarize themselves with our dance and positions. Finally, we decided to film it.
First, we all watched the 3 videos together to get an idea of what to expect and how to film performances. I also took note on how the dancers lip-synced and made facial expressions to enhance their performance. Then, my friends and I decided to practice the choreography a few times, so we can make sure we remember it and so Tisha and Kim can familiarize themselves with our dance and positions. Finally, we decided to film it.
⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔ ꒰ ᧔ෆ᧓ ꒱ ⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔
ADVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGES
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Benefits
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Limitations
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Allowed us to practice filming performance scenes with many different camera movements/angles which can help improve performance filming in our music video if there is any
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We did not have access to multiple cameras as we only had one phone with sufficient storage for filming, meaning we did not take videos from multiple angles to make a more dynamic video, and could only do a one-take continuous video as it’s hard to dance with many cuts
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Helps us become more comfortable performing, and allows us to gain more knowledge on how to do a dance performance to create specific meaning if needed in our music video
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If we decide to not have many performance scenes, especially dancing, our practice will not be as useful as anticipated
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Allows us to create a good RNB style dance scene if needed, which can help us conform to conventions and make our video more recognizably RNB
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Minimal editing was used for this one-take video, meaning we didn’t get to practice too many editing techniques
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⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔ ꒰ ᧔ෆ᧓ ꒱ ⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔⏔
REFLECTION:
For this mini project, my role was to perform as a dancer, edit the video with basic techniques and of course researching the videos, as well as writing this blog for my teammates. I feel like I understood how I wanted the video to be like the most, as it was my idea and I did most of the detailed research. That was why I was originally planning to film the video. This is where our main problem comes from: one of the dancers suddenly couldn’t make it, which forced me to substitute for him as I was one of the people teaching them the dance. However, this was difficult for me as I had to memorize his positions in a short span of time as the studio we rented was about to close. So, I wasn’t able to work as a camera man. While dancing, I had too much on my mind such as thinking about where my next position is, which caused me to make some mistakes and not focus too much on facial expressions and stage presence. However, to solve this, I quickly watched a video of the group performing and memorized my positions immediately. Since I’m quite used to learning and memorizing dances/positions in my fast paced practices, I was able to adapt and pick up everything quickly. To solve the other problem, I told Tisha and Kimora exactly how I wanted the video to be and showed them the examples above. While I did make some tiny mistakes in the positioning and choreography due to overstimulation, I was able to carry out the performance quite well and I was also very satisfied with Tisha’s and Kimora’s camerawork. Next time, I would use multiple angles (have two cameras recording) for a more dynamic video including more cuts to really make use of our opportunity and practice cross-cutting and continuity editing.
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