The Curse of the Portrait TikTok Dance
Having just watched the first batch of Year 11 music videos, I have identified a new enemy of GCSE Media Studies: the portrait TikTok dance.
You know the footage. A student stands vertically in the middle of a phone screen performing an inexplicable sequence of hand gestures while somebody else waves the camera around. This is followed by seven seconds of a friend walking through a park, a shaky shot of somebody's trainers and, for reasons nobody can adequately explain, a sunset.
None of this was in the brief.
The original task asks students to create something recognisable as a music video. That means constructing a fictional artist, combining performance with narrative, filming across multiple locations, deliberately selecting shots and angles, creating representations and, importantly, editing to the beat and rhythm of the track.
The problem isn't TikTok itself. TikTok can be extraordinarily creative. The problem is what I call portrait mentality: point the phone at something, press record and assume that what happens in front of the camera constitutes media production.
It doesn't.
A two-minute music video cannot be rescued in the edit if nobody planned what they were going to film. If your entire rushes folder consists of six portrait clips recorded while wandering around with your friends, Premiere Pro is not going to perform a miracle.
Planning creates possibilities.
We have a green screen. Use it. We have cameras. Use them. We have tripods. Use them. Find locations. Think about costume. Create an artist with an identity. Storyboard shots. Film close-ups, extreme close-ups, low angles, tracking shots and unusual compositions. Film the same performance repeatedly from different positions so that you actually have something to cut between.
And please—listen to the music.
Cuts should respond to drums, changes of tempo, musical phrases and significant lyrics. The images and music should feel as though they belong together rather than appearing to have met accidentally on the timeline.
The difference between basic and accomplished work isn't an expensive camera.
It's intention.
So, Year 11: turn the phone sideways, retire the TikTok dance and start making a music video.
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