Meeting the director

On Friday 24th June we met Jake Wynne, the director of our 5ive music video. His talk about the process of shooting and editing a music video revealed more about the world of music than I'd ever known.

The main points of his talk:

• When shooting from different set ups, you should shoot a full take, even if you only need a verse or chorus, because there may be an actor who does something that just fits right in the music video that you would have missed if only recording each section individually
• Beauty shots are very important in music videos. They show the singer in a 'perfect' light, it is almost impossible to look bad in these shots. In order to eliminate major shadows, strong backlights must be used in combination with main lights to illuminate the singer.

• When performing, one must actually sing, otherwise ones vocal chords will not vibrate and this is easily seen on camera and it just looks wrong. This ruins the authenticity of the video and viewers will be able to tell almost instantly.
• Trying to do too much at once (e.g. Jake's Nojahoda video) often generates a confusing narrative with conflicting values, so keeping it simple makes things easier for everyone, both viewers and directors.
• The standard music video shoot is 12 hours long, sometimes longer. This will obviously take a lot out of your actors so it's extremely important to keep everyone peppy and well rested, not to mention the crew.
• Complications may arise on the day that cause significant delays. It is the job of the director to pick out the right shots to save time and the job of the assistant director to put their foot down and make sure the director moves on from a shot.

Most importantly, I saw proof that media can be a real path to success if you play your cards right. Jake is an ex-Latymerian, going from making short films in Epping Forest to directing music videos for Geri Halliwell and Mark Ronson, which shows that perseverence and dedication is key.