Classwork: Shooting + Performance Practice

 This is the shooting and performance practice blog for component 3 discussing our process and how this helped us. Cassie performed and edited, Tisha and I (Kimora) filmed. This blog was written by 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

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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 first project blog* (put ur blog link)). 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.

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THE PROJECT

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.

Cassie 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:

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.

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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 Kimora can familiarize themselves with our dance and positions. Finally, we decided to film it.

Here is the link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Fmp-a6e69vc8ERCU476xOGe8scL9_uQv/view?usp=drivesdk

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ADVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGES

Benefits	Limitations
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	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
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	If we decide to not have many performance scenes, especially dancing, our practice will not be as useful as anticipated
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	Minimal editing was used for this one-take video, meaning we didn’t get to practice too many editing techniques

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REFLECTION: Even though I did not write this blog post, I was still involved in the filming process, which helped me understand how important shooting and performance are in a music video. By filming the dance performance, I was able to practice using different camera movements to make the visuals more engaging. It also helped me see how performance, such as lip-syncing and body language, can create meaning and connect with the audience. This experience made me more confident in filming performance scenes and will help me apply these techniques to make our final music video more engaging.