To be able to critically analyse, through the making of film and reflection on that, traditional and industrial production methods.

I would like to discuss for my initiative post a few music videos I’ve seen lately. I’m trying to come into the practice of editing and shooting things in my own time to get in the habit of staying productive. Last week while I was hanging with some friends I thought it might be a good idea to bust out my camera and try to take some shots while we got a little winter sun and everyone was in good spirits. I shot a sort-of impromptu music video which I’ve embedded below:

a nice afternoon with my friends from rosie pavlovic on Vimeo.

This got me thinking of the production of creating a music video is based off the notion of creative prompts, which this studio uses. A song is another person’s artwork, and as a filmmaker you take lyrics, words, themes and ideas from this prompt to create something relevant, or totally irrelevant but still hopefully inspired. The video I made doesn’t relate to the lyrics my friend Shannon was singing, but rather the singing itself prompted me to go get my camera and shoot something beautiful.
Two weeks later and reflecting on this video after four BOX classes, I can already reflect on technical aspects. The export quality and encoding is not at the quality I can now create. After the first two weeks having a focus on post-production techniques I can now change the aspect ratio, correctly export and encode a video file.

I was really inspired by Julia Jacklin’s music video for her song ‘Eastwick’. It’s shot in a familiar setting to where I grew up, which is a theme I want to approach through filmmaking soon. When editing the film I shot at home, I realised I had a really jumpy hand on my zoom lens, and I couldnt keep a shot static for more than 3 seconds before changing angle or tightening the shot. This film clip mixes those quick shots I love but also balances with long shots of things I never shoot – landscapes, trees, scenery. I feel like in my photography I only focus on people and actions.
I rewatched the clip while writing this post and noticed it features an eyeline sequence including an establishing shot and two dirty over the shoulders.

Paul said not to shoot anything before the set is perfect. I haven’t shot anything constructed in a long time, but I am entertaining the thought that before I roll camera, everything would be lined up in my shot as if I were taking a photograph. That the shot construction would have rules (such as the rule of thirds), the colour would be correct and a single frame from one of these shots would be able to stand alone photographically, such as the first image above.

Also I hope this is relevant but growing up in a “go to the RSL on Wednesday night then put a $20 in the pokies” family, this whole music video is really inspiring in it’s composition.  I love this video so much I think I consciously positioned myself to mimic shot in this video for Louise’s class exercise where I tie my hair up.