Unit Question: What are the different aspects of creating a good video clip?

For this unit it was required that we create a short, one-minute video clip including choreography to investigate what makes an interesting music video. Group members had to think about things like theme, transition, direction, speed, and level when creating their choreography and were judged on these things by their peers. Firstly the students had to be open minded because when creating a dance, everyone has different ideas, opinions, and comfort levels so it was important that I am my team members worked together to find the right fit for all of us in terms of music and moves. It was also important for us to be communicators because we needed to communicate to express our ideas and opinions, especially since our end result would require energy and commitment from all members. We had to create a chat that would allow us to talk about when and where we would rehearse/film after school hours. This proved to be difficult because all of us have many activities that we are committed to, but we pulled through. In class we looked at some famous viral videos like What does the Fox Say and Gangnam Style to see what made their videos special. We found that special effects and costumes were really eye catching. According to my other research a music video has to be entertaining, unique, and memorable to be good (Cressida. "What Makes A Great Music Video?" 2012. Web. 01 Dec. 2013.). I think that one of things that made our video memorable was the publicity of the video. Other could have filmed in one room in the privacy of their own home, but we chose to dazzle unsuspecting civilians with our dance moves in Kaiserswerth, and along the Heinrichheine Alle. Fanpop also says that a well-received video should be well constructed, and that the music should really work with the dance moves. Many of our peers commented that the dance really fit to the to the tempo and rhythm, which helped it look clean-cut. Another website says that the video has to be different from typical videos thave hav e50 people doing absolutely nothing (Jaye, Femi. "What Makes A Good Music Video? Feb. 2013. Web. 01 Dec. 2013.). I think our music video was able to differ from that because we have only four people in the video and we are all concentrated on the choreography, which keeps the energy level of the video up. Any other people walking through the video add to the interest, which makes it special. Here are some of the stars that my peers commented on my video: Great movement and levels Full of energy Fun to watch Fit with tempo and rhythm Use of locations was fun Dress code gave an organized look Public location was funny Creative Very synchronized Variety of cool and interesting steps I appreciate the things that my classmates wrote about our dance and I am glad that our hard work was noticed. Here are some of the questions that my video received along with their answers: How did you get the dance moves to fit so well to the tempo? When we created the dance moves we paid special attention the song because after all, it is supposed to be a music video. The song was probably our hardest choice because we wanted one that we could dance to, and that every member liked. After choosing a song that we though was really fun we made sure that every dance move was chosen after listening to the part that we would be dancing to. This let us think in our minds what move would look best with each piece of music. We would then play around with various ideas and practice it

multiple times. If the move wasnt working, or was too difficult to execute then we would go with another idea. Did your group focus on a certain theme? We had some difficulty choosing a theme at the beginning because it was slightly overwhelming trying to choose a song and a theme at the same time, and thinking of ways they could connect. Ultimately we realized that one of our ideas for how the music video should be could work as a theme. We wanted to film the dance in various locations, and we thought that moving from place to place could be our theme. How long did it take to film the video? It took a lot of concentration to film the video. We finally decided to film a Friday after school, and we set to work on teaching the rest of the dance to members who had been away on sporting events. Unluckily the winter weather made the sky dark only half an hour after school ended and even though we tried to film for at least two hours, most of the video turned out much to dark, or with some of us cut off from the camera. The camera we used also ran out of battery and we were not able to check the footage until that night when I realized we could use very little of it. Very early the next day we were able to contact everyone and run to KWerth to film again in -1C weather, while wearing only white T-shirts to film the rest of the video carefully and successfully. So ultimately, it took 4 hours over two days of filming and maybe an hour and a half of editing. Did you create the steps together? Some of the members were away on trips for some of the video, so there were times where we would have to make up the moves on our own. Also not everyone is very comfortable or knowledgeable with dancing so there would be times when only one or two people would feed ideas that we could all work on together. Some people had more creativity than others when it came the making of the steps, but we all came together to refine it. Here are our wishes: To use more movements in unity than in variation. This idea is really interesting and maybe would could have added a few more moves that we would do all together to increase the effect of synchronization, however I think that the alternated dance moves kept the video interesting, and that is actually one of the things I like best about it. I believe that in our video, and in the process of creating our video we applied all of targeted Learner Profiles and used the Area of Interaction: Human Ingenuity. We thought outside the box by moving our video around, and becoming comfortable with performing in public. Which not many (if any) other groups decided to do. We were also very original with our ideas about dance moves, maybe unlike other groups who could have copied some of their moves from existing dances or dancing games. Ultimately I believe that to create a good video clip you need a strong team, creativity, and a message. The strong team is necessary to make sure that everyone can work together and bring their best to the table. Without all members participating, the video can be at its best. A creative video is what will make others remember it and show it to others, so it is needed to set it apart from other videos. The message/theme helps the video make sense; to much randomness can cause a video to be crazy and undesirable. In terms of relating those tips to our video, we could have improved it given more time. Our time was great, but there are always times when shy people need to come out of their shell and make sure that they can offer up more ideas and participate a little more, but that is expected and I think my group was really brave for working so hard. Our videos theme could definitely have developed more; maybe we could make the location thing into dancing into various countries or something, with related costumes (maybe in the green screen room at ISD?). That would have made our video even better and it would have increased our creativity as well. In conclusion, I have really learnt all the steps that must be taken to create a wow-ing music video, as well as teamwork in new and outgoing ideas.

Cited Sources:
Cressida. "What Makes A Great Music Video?" Fanpop. Fanpop Inc., 2012. Web. 01 Dec. 2013. Jaye, Femi. "What Makes A Good Music Video?" Rap Genius. Genius Media Group Inc., Feb. 2013. Web. 01 Dec. 2013. Kaboomtribe. "Gangnam Style Official Music Video." YouTube. YouTube, 12 Dec. 2012. Web. 1 Dec. 2013. TV Norge. "Ylvis - The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?)." YouTube. YouTube, 03 Sept. 2013. Web. 01 Dec. 2013.