Get ahead with these tasks over the summer!

When you start the music video project next term, each group will be in charge of their own action plan. You will be advised to shoot and edit by certain dates and at certain times, but in the end it will be down to you to work at a pace that you have agreed. So if some people want to get cracking straight away - that is fine.

These tasks below are all about music, being inspired and using your imagination - not something you will want to rush through when you are trying to cope with lots of A2 work and doing your UCAS application! You will have to do the tasks below when you come back in September anyway, so use the summer as a good opportunity to get ahead with them if you want to. These tasks require, more than anything, time to think and browse and listen to music, and the holidays will be the perfect time for this.

1. In September, you will all be required to contribute to a lesson entitled 'What Music means to Me'.  As preparation, pick 3 tracks that mean something to you - in some way are a reflection on your life, and prepare to talk about your choices. One track should be from your childhood, one from your early teens and one that means a lot to you today. The purpose of this task is to get you to use music in an autobiographical way and to think about the significance of music personally, culturally and socially.

2. Think about who you would like to work with for your music video project. Pairs are a good idea at this stage, or threes; four is possible but it can be hard to work really closely as a team. Obviously bear in mind that the people you might want to work with may no longer be with us in September, so there are no guarantees at this stage, and all potential groupings must be approved first, so don't make any assumptions. Nobody must be left out - if this happens the teachers will have to organise the groups instead. Post your thoughts about this question on your blog, even if nothing is cast in stone at this stage.

3.  Start researching and thinking about potential tracks you could use for your music video. You need to apply the following when you are considering potential tracks:

- no mainstream chart hits of this decade
- the track must be identifiable by its genre/sub genre
- it must be something that will inspire the imaginations of all group members
- it must be something that will give you the scope to show off techniques expected at A2 Level 4
- copyright issues need to be considered
- the track must be suitable for a school-based project and must be suitable for mainstream broadcast
so do not consider tracks that contain drug references, swearing, sexually aggressive language etc

Narrow down your ideas, and post suitable tracks to your blog with a brief explanation of your choice

4. Pitching your track to the class
In September, each of you will need to pitch your own personal final track choice to the group. You can prepare for this in advance to save time in September. The pitch will involve playing your track to the class and explaining your proposed treatment - your ideas on how the music video will look and feel. Being able to bring your idea to life is important and can take time. Think about the visual references you may need to help you do this - references to other videos, films, books, adverts - anything that might help the rest of us visualise what is in your head. Prepare your treatment, links and visual references as a blog post - any written explanations should be no more than 100-200 words.

WORKSHOP EVALUATION

Well done everyone - the workshop appeared to be a great success! Please answer the following 5 questions on your blog to help you think about how it - and your lip sync activities - have impacted on your learning. You are expected to illustrate your evaluation with video clips and photos.

1. What do you think you learnt from Monday's workshop? You could discuss anything you like - technical, performance, production process, directing, the various roles, specific skills - anything you think is relevant.
2. For you, what was the best bit of the day and why?
3. Are you pleased with your edit? Is it how you expected it to look? Identify the successes and failures of your edited version. In hindsight, what would you do differently at the production stage?
4. Have the lip sync tasks benefitted you in any way?
5. How do you think the work you have completed for the preliminary tasks will impact on your real music video project?