Deconstruction and Reconstruction of a Media Text Evaluation

For our reconstruction of a media text we chose the music video for 'Countdown' by Beyonce. In a group of five we started planning the filming and editing schedule and allocating different roles within the group. Laken seemed most confident and suited for the role of Beyonce therefore she volunteered herself, so once we had chosen our performer we distributed the other roles such as camera operator, editor and director. I took the role of camera operator. Laken and I discovered we have a study period together on a Monday therefore we planned to meet up then and begin filming. We planned to have three filming sessions and four editing sessions, this was due to the high amount of edits within the original music video. However once we started filming we quickly discovered we needed more time for filming and therefore sacrificed a editing session for more filming. This was the right decision as we finished a day early of the deadline.

Before we started to film the music video we sat down and discussed suitable locations. In the original video Beyonce is in front of a bright white background such as a studio, therefore we planned to shoot our video in the photography studio in college. Unfortunately we didn't realise we had to book this and therefore on the day ended up using a white wall in a corridor which later in editing we put an effect over to brighten. I however think the corridor wall was a success.

The second location was the colleges "Green Room", this was so we could easily add on the desired pattern
featured in the original music video. We found a stripy image for the backdrop on Google Images and then used the Chroma key to place the image behind the footage of Laken dancing. On the same scene we had to speed up the pace of the footage to make Laken's hands tick like a clocks hands, just like Beyonce's. Although I found learning how to use the green room and chroma key very useful, I don't think I would use it in my own music video due to the 'fuzzyness' surrounding Laken in the final reconstruction. In editing we discovered that this was a result of not using the correct lighting in the green room, the subject requires 3 point lighting which we didn't use.

Using the same white back drop we shot footage of Laken doing dance hand movements and then used layers upon layers on Adobe Premiere to place multiple shots of Laken in the same scene. This took quite a while to figure out, however the end product looked great and although flashed up for only 1second was worth it. The skill of layering footage that I learned in this reconstruction is something I will use in my own music video. The fast paced rhythm of the song required us to speed up several scenes that we used in the final piece.