Question 1: Did you enjoy the main workshop shoot day? What roles did you take and what did you learn? What were the best bits and why?

The music video remake shoot day was the most impactful and enjoyable day of my media a-level. The exciting, yet still very productive and educational nature of the day meant I was able to learn huge amount about the ways in which a professional shoot works, without any tedious moments. I was able to expand my knowledge in directing and the more creative aspects, whilst also gaining a better understanding of the technical and organizational areas. Moreover, the challenges I faced, such as acting confidently, gave me wider awareness of the acting thought process.  Lastly, it was great bonding experience for me to connect and work effectively with my peers.

Working with Tash (our performance coach)
 in rehearsal. 

My band warming up for rehearsal.

Over the course of the day I learnt many skills and roles. Firstly, I was performing as the Lead Vocalist; Hayley Williams. This meant I had to take on her character as well as performing the correct movement and lip-syncing convincingly.

Practising the specific movements.

At first I found it quite difficult to convey the emotions just using gestures and expression, however with help from the performance coaches I was taught how to envisage what I was singing about and using that imagination to light up my eyes and inspire my movements. Leading on from this, I also learnt that embodying the character is more important than copying the physical actions step-by-step and that actually singing is crucial to a good lip-synch.

Our clapper-board

In addition, I also did some roles off camera, such as cable-bashing and using a clapper-board. Cable bashing; which entailed pushing the dolly smoothly and moving cables, was a very interesting role as I was able to analyze the spacial relationship between the actors and the camera as well as working alongside and understanding the job of a professional director of photography. The further practice using the clapperboard also meant that I could become more proficient at it and meant that the editing process was must quicker and easier.

Another performance being
streamed to the monitor

Watching the footage on the monitor was also very informative as I was able to adapt and improve my performances throughout the day as well as learning and gaining inspiration from the other groups.

The morning briefing was a great moment as I was filled with anticipation and butterflies about what the day would bring. However, overall I think the best part was the final take of the day. This is because it was my group performing and with all my peers dancing around me there was an amazing uplifting atmosphere which I could feed into my acting, whilst also implementing and reflecting on my learning curve of that day.

This is a short behind the scenes video which shows the process we followed and how the fun nature lead to effective proactive learning.