BFI Trip Review

BFI Trip:

On the 25^th November, my class and I went to a media trip at British Film Institute (BFI) to gain more knowledge about music videos. I found the event very helpful especially because it was specifically targeted for Media A2 students whose project is to create a music video. It was also helpful because we had learnt things that were unlikely to be taught in class; for example, how many shots there are in 21 seconds of a music video by Whitney Houston called “I wanna dance with somebody”. This made me think about how I could help my group compose our own video.

At the very beginning of the event, the main speaker, Tom Woodcock presented to us some popular music videos trends throughout decades and I noticed that changes made to music videos have significant development that is supported by advanced technology. These music videos range from 1935 to 2015 and they were all different in terms of genre, which was interesting to have witnessed the vast difference between how music videos were made before to how it can be made now. From this, we have also learnt that to make your vision and aim for the music video to life, the consideration process will have to occur because the success of a music video all depends on budget and the facility availability such a high-quality camera.

We also learnt about Andrew Goodwin's theory in which he identified these key features:

1) Thought through beat (seeing what the lyrics mean or represent in your head)

2) Relation between the music and visuals

3)Relation  between the music and lyrics

4)Narrative and performance of the song

5)Star image (protagonist) - plenty of camera shots making him/her the centre of attention.

6)Technical aspects of a music video

Throughout this, Mr Woodcock showed videos to demonstrate these key features, and for us to understand better about what they really mean.

We also received some crucial tips about how to create a music video and the considerations that have to be taken into place, for example, budget.

Before we head out of the theatre for lunch, Mr Woodcock announced a task in which required us to analyse a song lyrics titled "Good to be alive" and come up with ideas of the types of scenes we would shoot based on this song. At first is was quite challenging because we only had the lyrics in hand, but with the help of technology; one of my classmate searched online on YouTube for the song. By having the lyrics to the side whilst listening to the audio has made it much easier for my group and me to distinguish the types of scenes that would be suitable. considering the lyrics (what the singer is actually saying) and the music that would match the scenery (supporting Andrew Goodwin's theory: relation between the music and visuals + lyrics).