Filming Blog (Music Video)

This past weekend my group and I had plans to meet together and film some scenes for our video. Unfortunately, our plans were changed because multiple things came up that did not allow us to meet. My group member Jada was not feeling well at all. My group member Derek was not able to be driven to the locations that we were going to film at. I was not able to film because some of my family members came to visit from California unexpectedly for Thanksgiving.

 My group and I set the date to film on Sunday in the afternoon. We were planning to film at multiple different locations that the scenes would take place at. These included a coffee shop, Jada’s home, inside of a car, and the beach. We chose many different locations because we want to have a variety in our music video.

On Thursday afternoon my aunt and cousin flew in from California to visit my family and I for the Thanksgiving holiday. When I made plans with my group members to film this past weekend I was not aware that my family was visiting because it was a surprise. On Friday I contacted my group members to tell them what has come up. I could not film as planned on Sunday because since my family members were visiting, we wanted to have the weekend to show them around South Florida. Luckily, I was not the only person in the group who had something come up that made me unable to attend our scheduled filming. The past week Jada, one of my group members, was really sick and not feeling well. Towards the end of the week she began to feel a little better, but on Saturday she let my other group member and I know that she was feeling bad once again. Thus, she said she could not film in Sunday either. Also, Derek unfortunately could not find anyone who would give him a ride to the locations that we were planning to film at. So, since all three of us were not able to film on our scheduled day, we rescheduled. We all agreed that this Thanksgiving break would be the best opportunity to get lots of our filming done. So, we plan to film on two days of this break coming up.

When we meet to film on the first day, we plan to film the first and last scenes of our video. The locations of these scenes will be a coffee shop and Jada’s house. On the other day we plan to film, we are going to film the second, third, and sixth scene. These scenes will be easy to film because there is only one actor involved in them. These scenes will take place at Jada’s house, the beach, and inside of a car.

Although we were not able to film our scenes this past weekend because of upcoming events that each one of us had, it all turned out for the better. Now, we have planned our filming meet up many days ahead, which will ensure efficiency. Hopefully nothing comes up that will alter our schedules filming meet up once again. Either way, however, our filming will get done and our music video will be great. Should anything go wrong, we will reschedule again. But since we have planned so ahead of time, all should be well.

Storyboard

Our storyboard (shown) portrays twelve scenes of our music video. These scenes are subject to change; we may add more or take some out. Each scene takes place in a different location, has different makeup, costumes, props, etc. As far as camera angles, movements, and shots, there will be similar ones throughout the whole video. Some of these will include tracking shots, tilts, close ups, wide shots, two shots, and many more. During the editing of our video, we will include many jump cuts to go from one scene to the next. Since this is a music video, the song will be the sound of the video. We have decided as a group that we will not have any dialogue at the beginning or throughout our video.

Planning Blog

Before beginning the process of making our music video, my group and I have planned out the different aspects of the video. These aspects include the location(s), costumes that will be worn, props that will be used, the schedule we will follow, and how we will remain healthy and safe throughout every step.  this plan will give us a clear guide that will guide us and ensure we work efficiently.

Our music video will have multiple scenes, and multiple different settings. The main locations of our scenes will be a coffee shop, the beach, a gym, and a car, a night hang out area (that will be finalized shortly), and a home. Each scene will correspond with the location it is filmed at and will develop the plot and create diversity among the scenes of our music video. My group and I may add or change locations as we move forward and begin the filming process.

The costumes our actor(s) will wear will correspond with the location and message of each scene. For the gym scene, the actor will be wearing a costume of workout attire, such as leggings and running shoes. The actors in the night out scene will be wearing fun night out clothes as their costumes. In one of the scenes, the actor will be portrayed going to work and returning from work, so her costume will be professional business clothing. Lastly, there may be a scene or two where the costumes worn will be casual clothing. 

We will incorporate a good amount of props into our video. These props include, but are not limited to, a Phone, laptop, make up items, gym equipment, and coffee cups. Each prop will be significant to the scenes they are in. For instance, the phone will be used in a scene where the actor will be talking on the phone. The laptop will be used in the business scene, and the gym equipment in the gym scene. The props will enhance the scenes and make them more interesting to watch. 

Throughout the entire production of our video, my group and I will strive to be as healthy and safe as possible. There are multiple ways we will do this. We will maintain our safety in the car scene by keeping the car parked during the scene. For each location we film at, we will ask permission prior to filming in case there are safety precautions that need to be taken. my group members and I will be sure to film only under safe weather conditions. Should it be warm and sunny out, we will be sure to maintain proper hydration.

Our schedule for filming is subject to change, but we have establish some dates. We plan to film about three scenes this weekend on Sunday, the 24th. The rest of our filming will take place the following weekend and/or the weekend after next. Once we complete filming, we will move on to editing. The dates we plan to edit or not yet finalized, but we imagine them to be December 2nd through the 6th.

Intro to New Project (RESEARCH) : Music Video

Finishing up our commercial, we turned it in. From the commercial project I handed many skills that I will apply to all of my future projects, starting with this one. I would say that the storyboard really helped outline our overall idea for the project, and it made it very easy to work by. It gave a clear guide of what steps needed to be taken in order to follow through with the idea. Editing was a bit difficult during the project because it was my first time dealing with such program and software. However, the practice I got while editing the commercial helped me get experience to edit quicker and more efficiently for this project. With this music video I hope to apply all the skills I learned from the commercial project, being filming and editing skills. I plan to work collaboratively and effectively with my group members to create a unique and interesting music video.

The song my group and I have decided to make a music video to is “Nice For What” by Drake. Being a song from the pop/rap genre, it is upbeat and catchy. While this played a part in why my group members and I chose the song, the main reason is because it has a wonderful meaning behind it. If the song is really analyzed, it empowers women. Drake is essentially speaking to all women giving them the message that they are valuable and do not need to waste their valuable time on men who will not treat them the way they should be treated. He speaks about how beautiful women are, how valuable they are, and how much they have going for them. In the chorus, the main line is “gotta be nice for what?” When he says this, he is telling women that they need not be nice any longer to men who will take advantage of them and treat them less than their worth. When you look at the song in this light, it is actually really women empowering and inspiring. So, while we chose this song because it is super catchy and gives a fun vibe, we really chose this song because the message is really strong and empowering for women everywhere, and we aim to portray this message in the music video we create so that we can spread it to everyone who would benefit from hearing/ seeing it. 

The song “Nice For What” fits into the genre of pop/rap. So for the aspects of everything that goes into the scenes of the music video, we will follow what is generally used in pop/rap music videos. General things that apply to this genre’s music video are uplifting concepts and an all around fun time. The “costumes” in pop/rap music videos vary from casual clothing to dressy clothing. Artists often dress to match the aesthetic/artistry of their specific song, so there is not one single costume used. The lighting used in these videos may also vary to fit the purpose of the song. For example, if the song is about a day on the beach, the lighting will most likely be bright and natural, but if it is about a fun night party, it might be strobe and dim lighting. The acting also pertains to the purpose of the song. Whatever message the artist is trying to get across will be portrayed through the acting. The make-up for these videos is generally just a nice face of make up. Meaning, one may be having a full face of makeup for the purpose of enhancing their features. The props used in this genre are also specific to the purpose of the song. The video will have props that will efficiently get the them across.  For the setting, it will depend on the song and the message of it.

The conventions of this music video are those of a pop or rap video. The lighting that would be in the video are very bright colors that stand out. The setting of a pop video can vary some may include
places like California, LA, New York, London or Paris. These places are well know for the city lights and atmosphere. or party scenes. Some camera angle and shots can be a Eye level angle, High angle shot, Low angle shot, close up shots, Medium shots, and Wide shots. The Editing that is done for a music video can be addind tints and filters to boost coluors. Another edit is to photoshop the artist so they look as close to perfect as possible.

Final Editing Blog

     Today my group members and I got much done. We worked towards completing the last and final steps of the process of making our commercial. One of these steps included filming the last few scenes. We also edited some of the footage. Since we used one of my group member’s camera and computer, we had to discuss how we were going to edit outside of school. We sat down in class today as a group and created a plan for the last parts of editing of our commercial. We discussed the type of edits we will have, such as jump cuts and fade outs. I write them all down so that the group member with the computer can go home and finish the editing we did not get to. I created a group chat that will allow us to communicate over the weekend about the final steps being taken to finish up our commercial. Should anything go wrong, we will be able to communicate about it and resolve the problem prior to turning it in.

     My group and I filmed our last scene today. I carried the camera as we walked out of the room to the location that our first scene of the day was going to take place. This first scene was of the Nike Flystepper shoes. This scene showed how much of a seasonal shoe the Flystepper is. We created a tilt from the shoes up to the head of the actor. The scene includes a close up, a long shot, and zoom in and out. The second sevens we filmed today was of four actors all wearing Nike shoes walking into the same area to show union. We had some difficulties today during our filming. First, one of my group members forgot to bring the Nike Air Forces that were going to be part of one the the scenes. So, we had to ask someone in our class who was wearing them if they didn’t mind being in our commercial. The main obstacle we faced was the fact that we could not use a tripod. Our teacher was gone today so we could not check one out. This meant that our group had to work especially hard to keep the camera steady during the filing of the scenes.

     Once we finished filming we headed back to class and got to editing. We started off by dumping the footage we had just filmed on to the laptop. Once we dumped the footage onto the laptop we moved it to iMovie and dragged the footage into "my media". We then had all the raw footage there. We went through and selected the best footage and placed it into the section to be edited. Then we muted all of the footage because we will be doing voice overs for each scene. After that we cut down the footage to the length we wanted it to be. Now that we had all the clips in there we measured it out so would add up to 30 second. We then started to test out transitions, but stuck with the original transition with no added effect. We then took the rest of the class to decide what we want done so that I know what to edit at home.