The student analyzed the original Britney Spears music video by breaking down each shot and camera angle. They recreated the video at their school to match the original setting. They organized classmates as extras and dancers. The student took on the role of filming and organizing shots to match the original. Working in a group allowed for feedback between takes but caused challenges with timing shots and preventing laughter. When editing in Premiere Pro, the student learned skills like reversing clips and changing pace through online tutorials. Creating the video was difficult due to syncing clips and maintaining consistent lighting. Multiple retakes and editing multiple clips together would have improved the final product.

1. Britney Spears
Evaluation

2. What research and planning did you complete when recreating the music video?
(Think storyboarding/camera shots/ analysis of narrative of the video/ researching
locations to use/organisation skills/ arranging people to be a part of your ideas)
I broke down each shot transition in the original Britney Spears video and
distinguished the type of camera shot that was present in each clip. As the original
video was stationed in a school environment we were able to shoot our music
video at our current location without any major concerns. Most props in the
original (paper, pens, and clock) were available to us but we had to improvise with
features such as the lockers and school bell as our location didn’t have them.
We were also able to induct other sixth form students into the video as extras and
we had dancers available to us, that we were able to use for the dance routine. I
researched the costumes of the original performers in the music video that the
sixth formers replicated by wearing clothes similar to those seen in the original
music video.

3. How did you organise yourself within the group? What role did you play?
What benefits were there to working in a group? What were the
challenges?
As well as being an extra in the video I took on the role of filming, organising
people into the positions that were similar to the original video and situating the
camera into the right angle and focus to imitate the original Music Video. As I was
working within a group I was able to ask for feedback on each take and then re do
the take with any suggestions that may have been provided. Working in a group
also allowed us to take on fewer tasks, lowering the pressure on an individual, and
each person had something to contribute to the music video. A huge challenge of
filming was perfecting the timing as there was delay in the pressing of the button
and the actual recording of the take. Also, laughing was a common occurrence
when filming and it was difficult to prevent people from breaking out of character;
eventually having to remove those who were not part of the take to make them
feel comfortable.

4. How did you use new media technologies in the construction of your video?
(Think Premiere Pro CS6 and how you had to use online tutorials to create
specific effects)
Most of my time on Premiere Pro was spent tinkering and figuring out how
the software operates. Features such as reversing a clip, changing the clip’s
pace I figured out individually but other features such as lighting and cutting
a clip, I learnt through a tutorial. I also asked others for help on how to add
specific effects.

5. What difficulties/successes did you encounter and what have you learnt from this? (Consider
organisation skills- could you rely on people?/timing of shoots/ filming/ location/editing- was
it more time consuming than you had imagined? what will you do next time you create your
own music video?)
One of the most difficult aspects of creating the music video was syncing all the clips with the song perfectly (lip
syncing in particular) and keeping the lighting consistent, not only throughout the song, but to also look similar
to the original music video. Another problem was that people continually laughed through the filming and a lot
of time was consumed editing out the laughing and joining various clips together to make one smooth clips (as
some individual clips were full of laughing).
As I did not film multiple takes of one scene, when it came to the editing process it was difficult to find the right
clip to use as there was always a mistake; being able to mash to clips together would have improved the quality
of the video.
Due to the original video being set in school, we had no problem replicating the setting as we were already in a
school environment. This saved a lot of time as we didn’t have to go searching for props that replicated the
actual video. However, as we were in a school environment takes were constantly being interrupted by students
and the school bell.
Also, as we already had dancers available to us in and outside the group, it was easy coming up with a routine
that fit the video, the only minor problem being the filming of it so that everything that was supposed to be in
shot, was. I had to film the dance routine 4 times, all from different angles, and then edit certain parts of each
clip so that they ran smoothly in the music video.
The next time I create my video I will make sure less people are involved to minimize the chances of laughing and
people falling out of character. I will also make sure that when settings are used, it will be at a time when it is not
busy so that takes will not be interrupted repeatedly and I will make sure to film multiple takes of each scene so
that I have a choice of what to use when it comes to editing the clips and putting them together.