Thrift Shop Remake & Evalutation

In this preliminary task the class was each given a 45 second section of the song Thrift Shop by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis (video below). Each group were asked to recreate the 45 second period each in a different style of music video. The style our group chose was a shot by shot recreation of the first 45 seconds of the music video, which meant the shots had to be exactly / or as close to, as the original. The use of props such as Mackelmore's thrift shop bargain coat was a crucial prop in making the video, as it plays an important part. Also the girls drinking slushies and Macklemore's bike were important props too. 

original video

The purpose of this task was to help the class get to grips with editing with the Final Cut software, and this was our first time getting to use it first hand. 

• Firstly we took our SD card out of the camera and put it into the SD card reader which allowed us to import all of our footage into the clip bank. Through the filming process we did various takes of each shot, to make sure we had enough / and good enough footage to edit and play around with. We had a bit of a crisis due to missing footage, which was easily re-scheduled to be shot.
• Then we had to choose the clips we wanted and we placed them on the timeline. Using the razor and select tool, we chose how long we wanted to clip to be, and we chose where the clip started and ended, to then place it on the timeline in the frame and sequence we wanted.
• After inserting each clip we watched the progress so far, to make sure the cutting to the beat was on point, and made sense. We also used this time to perfect the lengths of the clips and changed things around if we needed to, to make the video flow.

our remake of thrift shop.
my groups section is from 00:00 - 00:59

Research & Planning

Our research and planning was rather simple, we had to watch down the video, and take apart each shot, noting down the camera angles, duration, what was happening in the scene, what props were needed, to make sure we could get the shot by shot remake absolutely perfect. To plan the making of out 1 minute section we created a Shooting Script, containing location e.g. Tesco Car park, Actors we needed: Simran & Paman, and the props we needed, such as the infamous fur coat, and of course a camera to film it all. I think that Shooting Scripts are wonderful now as they help you plan exactly what you're doing and you can't forget to do a shot because it's all there in-front of you. In year 12 I though they were long and boring to make, but they are useful and help you to not make silly mistakes, allowing production to go more smoothly, with barely any faults or problems. I feel like using shooting script, and watching the original video a few times has allowed me to perfect my work, so when i was shooting the footage for the video, i could easily see it coming together in my head, as i pictured the original and what it looked like. Also having a phone present and allowing the camera crew and actors to see the original video, helped us re-create the opening as best as we could.

original video

our remake

Conventions

We created a post on the conventions and styles of music videos, which helped me created the Thrift Shop remake to the best of my ability. By researching the different styles of different videos, it allowed us to see every music video was different, but every video still cut to the beat, they all have some kind of a narrative; be it small and unnoticeable or play a large part into what the artist is singing about in the song. With the BSR we did the same, by watching different films and finding different conventions, but in the BSR genre its a lot more free reign, due to there are lots of themes to explore and pick apart until you end up with an idea you like and is actually feasible, whereas with Music Video, the video has to appeal to the audience and stick to cutting on the beat and being easy to follow as you only have a 3/4 minutes to establish a storyline.  We tried to keep the Mise En Scene the same in our video by trying to use the same lighting: high key and natural. 

Creativity

We were chosen to make a shot by shot remake of the video, which we were prepared to do. Then we heard the ''Hey Macklemore.... Can we go thrift shopping...?'' and decided to play on the idea of that, creating a cold opening, and then the instrumental beat of the song finally kicks in. The cold opening was set in a living room where Macklemore and Ryan Lewis are playing a game of cards. Ryan Lewis proceeds to ask if the pair can go thrift shopping, and Macklemore nods. This created a nice introduction to the two characters, and then establishes where Macklemore's obsession with his big furry coat comes from. I feel like in BSR we were not allowed to be as creative, due to BSR films being much more serious and hard-hitting. We were allowed to create our own twist on the original video and I think we pulled it off.

Post-Production & Digital Technologies

During the making of this music video, I finally got to edit using the Final Cut Pro editing software. This allowed me to gain experience using it for year 13, so importing footage, using the razor tool to crop footage, and just basically getting to grips with the software and knowing where everything goes like the timeline and finding the tips and tricks to using it. In year 12 we edited with iMovie, which was good for making a rough and ready BSR film, but Final Cut is a more professional program which people use, for more clean editing, and non-amateurs. I feel the constant use of using a camera during year 12 allowed me to just kind of know what i was doing this year more than last year, and I definitely feel that I've practised a lot with the camera so my directing and camera work is up to scratch.