This weekend I did not film because I already had plans that I could not back out of. This weekend I secured my actors. This was a challenge because originally I was supposed to film during thanksgiving break as that would be easiest for me due to my busy schedule. However, most people are traveling during the break so I had to plan for earlier. This also changed the actors I would be using. The male actor I was originally supposed to film is no longer available so now I have to find a new male actor. While I have many male friends I wasn’t to use someone that is a sufficient actor and this is turning out to be a challenge. The number of female actors I need is flexible. Although I think three is a sufficient number to work with. I think too many people could get complicated and mess up the plan I have laid out.
In addition to securing my actors, I provides them will information about the costume and makeup that I had in mind. Due to that fact that I am a singular Highschool student I do not have the resources to purchase new clothing for my actors to wear. Nor do I have the time to do their makeup myself. The makeup for this music video is pretty basic and my actors already have the skills to apply their own makeup. I also acquired the props needed for my music video. As stated in my other blogs I will be using cherry cola for the music video. At first I was a little concerned we would not be able to find them in store last since I have never heard of cherry flavored Coca Cola. Fortunately, I found them and was able to purchase a 6 pack. A few more than I needed but I figured I would be able to give the extra to the actors as a “thank you”. I already have towel that I can use to film so I did not need to go out and purchase one.
Finally, I scheduled out my filming time. Ideally I would like to film at golden hour and somewhat during sunset. To ensure I get this footage I researched when golden hour was and what time the sun would set in my city. After completing my research I discovered that golden hour begins at 4:55 p.m. and sunset begins at 5:56 p.m.. With this in mind I will tell my actors to meet me at the beach at 3:00. I chose this time because it gives me time to film extra footage in case we do not film everything within the limited time. I also know that my friends most likely will not arrive on time. Therefore I have some time to set up and film extra shots to ensure most of not all of my filming is completed. I have also set aside some time on Sunday for me to film anything extra that I could not get done on Saturday. With the extra time on Sunday I will retake some shots to make sure I get the perfect shot for the music video.
Sunday, November 24, 2019
Friday, November 22, 2019
Storyboard for Music Video
The story I am trying to convey in this music video is a teen love story. After initially choosing this song I wanted to change it to another song. I felt that this other song would provide more of a storyline. However, after some consideration, I decided to stick with my original choice
Mis en scene
Costume - It is difficult to tell from the storyboard because I am not that skilled of an artist. However, my actors will be wearing casual beach clothing.
Lighting - I would like to film my commercial near sunset so the lighting is very soft and warm.
Actors - My actors will all be teenagers. This will portray the teen live story I want to film.
Makeup - The Make-up for this music video will be very basic. I want the music video to look like real life.
Props - The title of the song my music video is of is Cherry Cola. Because of this, I thought it was fitting to include cherry Coca Cola in my video. Additionally, I will bring a towel for my actors to sit on to make the video more realistic.
Setting - The music video will be filmed at my local beach. I chose to film at the beach because it will fit the aesthetic I am looking for while still being accessible.
Wednesday, November 20, 2019
Planning for music video
Location - The location of my music video will primarily be the beach. I will be using the Fort Lauderdale beach which is a public beach therefore I do not need to ask for permission before hand. However, I might include a clip from a cafe along the beach. In this case I will call up the cafe and ask for permission to film before doing so.
Health & safety - To ensure that we are prepared in case of an accident I will be bringing a first aid kit along with me. Additionally I know that Fort Lauderdale beach provides ocean rescue that will be able to perform emergency procedures if the situation arises. On the way to the beach I will be sure to wear my seat belt in the car. Finally, I will make sure that all my actors and I are wearing sunscreen to protect us from the sun’s UV rays while we are on the beach. Even though the plan is to film in the morning the sun is very powerful and can still affect us.
Props - For this music video I am going to need a bottle or can of coke. The name of the song is cherry cola and while I am unsure where I can find cherry flavored Coca Cola I know that I will be able to find regular Coca Cola. I would preferably like to have a glass bottle to fit with the aesthetic of the music video but a can will serve the same purpose of tying in the title of the song to the music video. Additionally, I came up with the idea of adding star glitter makeup on the main actress. I feel this would make the music video seem more dreamy and aesthetically pleasing to the viewers.
Costumes - For the costumes I will have the actors wear casual clothes and beach attire. I don’t want my actors to wear extravagant costumes because that would throw off the vibe that the song gives. In addition, because the music video is filmed at the beach it is fitting that the actors wear beach attire. If any of the actors were to were a “special” costume it would be the main actress.
Schedule - My plan is to complete my story board by 11/21
Following the completion of my storyboard I will begin the filming process. This weekend I will acquire all of the props needed and secure the availability of all my actors. Starting Monday I will make the calls needed to gain permission to film in certain areas. The following weekend I will start to film.
Health & safety - To ensure that we are prepared in case of an accident I will be bringing a first aid kit along with me. Additionally I know that Fort Lauderdale beach provides ocean rescue that will be able to perform emergency procedures if the situation arises. On the way to the beach I will be sure to wear my seat belt in the car. Finally, I will make sure that all my actors and I are wearing sunscreen to protect us from the sun’s UV rays while we are on the beach. Even though the plan is to film in the morning the sun is very powerful and can still affect us.
Props - For this music video I am going to need a bottle or can of coke. The name of the song is cherry cola and while I am unsure where I can find cherry flavored Coca Cola I know that I will be able to find regular Coca Cola. I would preferably like to have a glass bottle to fit with the aesthetic of the music video but a can will serve the same purpose of tying in the title of the song to the music video. Additionally, I came up with the idea of adding star glitter makeup on the main actress. I feel this would make the music video seem more dreamy and aesthetically pleasing to the viewers.
Costumes - For the costumes I will have the actors wear casual clothes and beach attire. I don’t want my actors to wear extravagant costumes because that would throw off the vibe that the song gives. In addition, because the music video is filmed at the beach it is fitting that the actors wear beach attire. If any of the actors were to were a “special” costume it would be the main actress.
Schedule - My plan is to complete my story board by 11/21
Following the completion of my storyboard I will begin the filming process. This weekend I will acquire all of the props needed and secure the availability of all my actors. Starting Monday I will make the calls needed to gain permission to film in certain areas. The following weekend I will start to film.
Thursday, November 14, 2019
Intro to Music Video
We have finally completed our commercial and it is time to start our next project. We will be creating a music video for a song of our choice. This time I have made the decision to work by myself to save myself the trouble of group mates that do not complete their work. While it may seem more stressful I feel like I would enjoy working by myself. This is because when I have a vision of something specific it is hard for me to communicate that vision with others often resulting in my frustration. I am very excited for another opportunity to create an amazing video. Now that I have a better understanding of how to use the equipment and editing software I believe my product will be a lot better this time around.
The song that I chose to use was Cherry Cola by Jon Kuwada. I chose this song because I’ve enjoyed this song for a while and I thought it would be very exciting to make a music video to this song. My friends and I vibe to this song a lot and have a lot of fun doing so. This leads me to believe that making a music video to this song would not be challenging. This is one of the songs added to my “Road Trip” playlist and often times I dream up music videos in my head to these songs. This song in particular was one of my favorites to dream up a music video for because of the relaxing melody and catchy lyrics. It has a very dreamy feeling to it and I know that it would be a very fun experience filming a music video for this song.
1. The costumes I would use for the music video are very casual clothing and beach clothing. This song gives off a very relaxing vibe and very beachy.
2 The lighting for this commercial would be very soft and subtle. The song is not a pop song or a very upbeat song therefore the lighting should match the soft and subtle beat.
3. The actors I will use for this music video will be a large group of my friends. By using my friends it will make the music video flow and be less awkward than with my classmates.
4. I will use very little makeup for this commercial. I want the actors in the music video to appear casual and as of they are just having fun with their friends.
5. I think I will use floaties in this music video. This will add to the casual “Having fun with your friends” feeling I want to achieve.
6. The setting of my music video will be the beach and a pool. By filming at a beach I will achieve a casual chill feeling to portray the actors having fun.
I have a good feeling of the outcome of the commercial. I believe that my doing the project by myself I will have more creative direction of the commercial.
The song that I chose to use was Cherry Cola by Jon Kuwada. I chose this song because I’ve enjoyed this song for a while and I thought it would be very exciting to make a music video to this song. My friends and I vibe to this song a lot and have a lot of fun doing so. This leads me to believe that making a music video to this song would not be challenging. This is one of the songs added to my “Road Trip” playlist and often times I dream up music videos in my head to these songs. This song in particular was one of my favorites to dream up a music video for because of the relaxing melody and catchy lyrics. It has a very dreamy feeling to it and I know that it would be a very fun experience filming a music video for this song.
1. The costumes I would use for the music video are very casual clothing and beach clothing. This song gives off a very relaxing vibe and very beachy.
2 The lighting for this commercial would be very soft and subtle. The song is not a pop song or a very upbeat song therefore the lighting should match the soft and subtle beat.
3. The actors I will use for this music video will be a large group of my friends. By using my friends it will make the music video flow and be less awkward than with my classmates.
4. I will use very little makeup for this commercial. I want the actors in the music video to appear casual and as of they are just having fun with their friends.
5. I think I will use floaties in this music video. This will add to the casual “Having fun with your friends” feeling I want to achieve.
6. The setting of my music video will be the beach and a pool. By filming at a beach I will achieve a casual chill feeling to portray the actors having fun.
I have a good feeling of the outcome of the commercial. I believe that my doing the project by myself I will have more creative direction of the commercial.
Thursday, November 7, 2019
Editing Process
Today we actually began our editing process. My teacher ordered for our classroom to be supplied with laptops that had the editing software uploaded on to them. However, another problem surfaced, only 14 laptops had the editing software downloaded and in a class of roughly 70 students there would not be enough laptops supplied for every group to edit. Luckily, my group was one of the first groups to obtain a laptop so we got to start editing right away. Since we had originally dumped our footage on one of the desktop computers we had to re-dump our footage on the laptop. Fortunately, the laptops were more up to date and got up and running in a fraction of the time it took the desktops to load up. Once the footage was dumped I went through the same folder-making process as before. From there I opened up the software and began to import. Regardless of the advanced technology of the laptops it still took a considerable amount of time to import. This made my group mates and I slightly impatient because we only had a limited amount of time to edit.
When all the footage was uploaded I had to decide which takes to use in the final product. We filmed multiple takes of each scene to ensure that we would have adequate options to choose from. From there I cut out any un-needed awkward silences or errors in the footage. Once all the footage was selected and cut I noticed that our footage exceeded the time limit and I had to adjust the duration of the film. To do this I sped up some of our scenes. For example, in our commercial, we included a pan of the football field that was awkwardly long. To fix this I cut some of it and sped up the pan. By doing so we reached a time that was comfortably within the limit. I added fading effects in between the shots to make the transition flow more smoothly. Furthermore, I decided we needed more editing so I added a title at the beginning of the commercial and later in the commercial a list of all the sports our schools offered.
It was not until this moment that we remembered we had filmed extra footage on an iPhone after our camera died. Thankfully I had the correct cord needed to upload the footage. However, when I began to import the footage the laptop froze up. I tried a couple more times and received the same result. It was at this point one of my groupmates suggested that we email the footage to ourselves and access the email on the laptop and download it from there. This plan was a success. We decided that this was the finishing touch of our commercial so we watched the commercial from the beginning. To our surprise, the footage filmed on the iPhone was extremely blurry. We were extremely disappointed by this however at this time the bell rang and we had to return the computers. The next time we meet my groupmates and I will decide whether we should keep this footage or remove it altogether.
When all the footage was uploaded I had to decide which takes to use in the final product. We filmed multiple takes of each scene to ensure that we would have adequate options to choose from. From there I cut out any un-needed awkward silences or errors in the footage. Once all the footage was selected and cut I noticed that our footage exceeded the time limit and I had to adjust the duration of the film. To do this I sped up some of our scenes. For example, in our commercial, we included a pan of the football field that was awkwardly long. To fix this I cut some of it and sped up the pan. By doing so we reached a time that was comfortably within the limit. I added fading effects in between the shots to make the transition flow more smoothly. Furthermore, I decided we needed more editing so I added a title at the beginning of the commercial and later in the commercial a list of all the sports our schools offered.
It was not until this moment that we remembered we had filmed extra footage on an iPhone after our camera died. Thankfully I had the correct cord needed to upload the footage. However, when I began to import the footage the laptop froze up. I tried a couple more times and received the same result. It was at this point one of my groupmates suggested that we email the footage to ourselves and access the email on the laptop and download it from there. This plan was a success. We decided that this was the finishing touch of our commercial so we watched the commercial from the beginning. To our surprise, the footage filmed on the iPhone was extremely blurry. We were extremely disappointed by this however at this time the bell rang and we had to return the computers. The next time we meet my groupmates and I will decide whether we should keep this footage or remove it altogether.
Monday, October 28, 2019
Editing Complications
Today we were supposed to begin our editing process. I logged on to the computer that I previously used to dump the footage. First, the computer would not turn on. I tried to click the on and off button, but this was not the problem. Eventually, the computer turned on, however it was logged into another account. So I logged into my account and then proceeded to wait for my computer to load. This took a long time which ate into the editing time. Once the computer finally loaded, I discovered that the editing software was not downloaded onto this computer. By this time all of the computers that had the editing software on them were taken. Due to these circumstances we were not able to edit today.
If I were to start the editing process I would take all of the footage that we already dumped onto the computer and edit it all together. My commercial is pretty simple to edit because I don’t think any fancy transitions are needed. I had the idea of editing in a voice-over, although I don’t think this would be practical because we already filmed the sound with the footage. I would add graphics to the commercial. For example, a list of the sports and clubs that our school offers. Additionally, I would cut out parts of the footage that I don’t want to include. For instance, many times I started the camera too soon and there is an awkward silence before the scene begins. Finally, I feel it would appeal to our audience more of we added music to the commercial. Although I am not sure where I would edit this in. Overall, I think the only editing necessary is sound editing.
This is a frustrating experience because we have a limited time period to complete this project in order to begin our final task. The final task is a major component of the class requirements. I know that I will need all of the time I can get to ensure that that film is worthy of a passing grade. My teachers have informed me that they have contacted Cambridge which somewhat eases my nerves. Furthermore, the school is working on supplying us with a laptop cart. My group and I were pretty discouraged because we were very excited to edit and view our footage that we worked on. To look on the bright side, however, this situation allows us to have more time to collect our thought and plan out our editing process. With this extra time I will research the effects that Pinnacle Studios offers. This will speed up the process and make it easier to incorporate transitions. Overall, this situation was pretty disappointing. Hopefully next class the circumstances will be better.
If I were to start the editing process I would take all of the footage that we already dumped onto the computer and edit it all together. My commercial is pretty simple to edit because I don’t think any fancy transitions are needed. I had the idea of editing in a voice-over, although I don’t think this would be practical because we already filmed the sound with the footage. I would add graphics to the commercial. For example, a list of the sports and clubs that our school offers. Additionally, I would cut out parts of the footage that I don’t want to include. For instance, many times I started the camera too soon and there is an awkward silence before the scene begins. Finally, I feel it would appeal to our audience more of we added music to the commercial. Although I am not sure where I would edit this in. Overall, I think the only editing necessary is sound editing.
This is a frustrating experience because we have a limited time period to complete this project in order to begin our final task. The final task is a major component of the class requirements. I know that I will need all of the time I can get to ensure that that film is worthy of a passing grade. My teachers have informed me that they have contacted Cambridge which somewhat eases my nerves. Furthermore, the school is working on supplying us with a laptop cart. My group and I were pretty discouraged because we were very excited to edit and view our footage that we worked on. To look on the bright side, however, this situation allows us to have more time to collect our thought and plan out our editing process. With this extra time I will research the effects that Pinnacle Studios offers. This will speed up the process and make it easier to incorporate transitions. Overall, this situation was pretty disappointing. Hopefully next class the circumstances will be better.
Friday, October 25, 2019
Filming Process
I believe I played multiple parts in the filming process, director and camera man to be specific. For our commercial we decided to deviate from our original story board plan and use a different idea. The new idea entailed following a FLHS student for the day while they show all of our schools features. I played a big role in coming up with the idea due to the fact that my group mates were not very cooperative. When we first started filming it was hard to get everyone to take things seriously. This posed as an obstacle in the filming process. Additionally, the actor we were going to film last minute backed out so we had to switch actors. Since the idea we ended up filming was not our original idea we often had to come up with scenes on the spot. This was difficult because we had a limited amount of time to film. To add on, I was taking over two jobs during filming while some of my group mates did not even perform theirs.
As “director” of the group my main job was to keep my group mates focused on the task at hand. They tended to lose focus and begin to fool around. That’s when I came in to reel them back in. Another, responsibility as director is to provide direction for the actor. I did this by showing examples of what the final shot should look like and helping the actor become more enthusiastic. At first this was difficult because the actor is a quiet spoken person, so to get him to project was a challenge. In addition, I made the filming plan. For example, I planned out how much time we were allotted and based on that information how much time we had to film in each spot. By doing this it kept my group moving so we wouldn’t waste too much time filming in one spot. I enjoyed my role as director because it gave me a way to ensure our final product is presentable.
Finally, I acted as “camera man” of our group. This means that I filmed all the footage for our commercial. While this may seem like an easy job there were many obstacles to overcome. For example, one of our scenes would be shot from the second floor of a building to display our school logo. However, because we filmed in the morning, the sun was shining so bright that the camera could not focus on the subject. This delayed our filming process causing us to lose some of our allotted time. Furthermore, as we were nearing the end of our commercial our camera died so we had to scramble for a solution. The result is that the ending of our commercial is filmed on an iPhone. I have not had the chance to look at the footage yet, although I am worried that it could cause a problem in the overall presentation of our commercial. All in all, while there were obstacles to overcome I enjoyed getting the experience for these roles so I can improve them in the future.
As “director” of the group my main job was to keep my group mates focused on the task at hand. They tended to lose focus and begin to fool around. That’s when I came in to reel them back in. Another, responsibility as director is to provide direction for the actor. I did this by showing examples of what the final shot should look like and helping the actor become more enthusiastic. At first this was difficult because the actor is a quiet spoken person, so to get him to project was a challenge. In addition, I made the filming plan. For example, I planned out how much time we were allotted and based on that information how much time we had to film in each spot. By doing this it kept my group moving so we wouldn’t waste too much time filming in one spot. I enjoyed my role as director because it gave me a way to ensure our final product is presentable.
Finally, I acted as “camera man” of our group. This means that I filmed all the footage for our commercial. While this may seem like an easy job there were many obstacles to overcome. For example, one of our scenes would be shot from the second floor of a building to display our school logo. However, because we filmed in the morning, the sun was shining so bright that the camera could not focus on the subject. This delayed our filming process causing us to lose some of our allotted time. Furthermore, as we were nearing the end of our commercial our camera died so we had to scramble for a solution. The result is that the ending of our commercial is filmed on an iPhone. I have not had the chance to look at the footage yet, although I am worried that it could cause a problem in the overall presentation of our commercial. All in all, while there were obstacles to overcome I enjoyed getting the experience for these roles so I can improve them in the future.
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