Last Thursday, we were supposed to film. I checked out the camera for the group, and held it for the day. Thursday afternoon we made a plan to meet up Saturday morning. This never worked because I ended up having to work. Sunday was also a bust. We never got to film because Jorge was busy and couldn't come to get all our shots with us. Monday, we cant film because Jorge and Alex have a soccer game, so we can't work. All this cancellation has started to cause problems for us. We have a lot of time, but the holidays are approaching. This creates problems because of traveling.
I am gone on the 27th, and they want to film that day. I come back on the second of December. These few days are the perfect time to film, but my absence is an issue. It is hard to film on these next couple of school days because we have little camera access. Also, another problem is getting together. We all live in the same city, but two of the three of us can not drive. This creates more problems than we have, except these are not easy to solve. I can drive, so I am willing to pick them up. This just takes communication and more time than we have. We think we are going to film Wednesday morning, the only time we have all together, we just need to make sure that we have weather cooperation to film outside.
The day before I leave would be an ideal day to film, but Alex cannot attend and he wants to be there. Our biggest issue is getting everyone together. We all have schedules that conflict and this leads to problems. We have set up 3 different times to film, and all have been shut out. Sunday was our biggest mistake. We wanted to film in Chic-Fil-A, but they are closed on Sunday. This meant that day was shut out, and now we have to wait for an opening. Going forward, we know we need to communicate well in advance. We have checked out a camera for today, and have to stick to schedule and get filming done before break. If all this comes together, our video will work out like we thought.
Monday, November 25, 2019
Thursday, November 21, 2019
Music Video Storyboard
Making the story board was a daunting task. We wanted to integrate the lyrics literally instead of metaphorically. This would add a little bit of fun to our project and keep the viewers involved. Our first 30 seconds of the song would be easy because there was no words. For the first couple seconds, we would have a moving shot of a Chic-Fil-A drive by to show our location. Then, we would have a close up of the Chic-Fil-A Sign. From here, getting closer to the words, we would take a pan of the inside of the restaurant. Then, we would transition to a pan of the inside to really characterize the restaurant. We also plan to give effects on these transitions and add flare to the shot. Also, we also need to add a fade in to start off the music video.
For the second half of the video, there is words so things are more tricky. We start to incorporate people and the use of fire. We start by showing a Chic-Fil-A burning to show it bing closed on Sunday. From here, we cut to showing a church to show what is open on Sunday. Our next shot was tricky because we did not know what we wanted people to wear. We went back and forth between people wearing all black and white to show uniformity. We have them taking a selfie and putting their phone in their back pocket. We toyed with the idea of using a gram cracker as an phone for the lyrics "put the gram away." We decided this was not a good idea as some people may not get the hidden reference. We wanted to leave this shot for a few extra seconds to really drive the point home of people not being on their phones on Sundays.
The last 15 seconds were the hardest. We started by having our whole group members praying to follow the lyrics. We still are undecided as to what we are going to wear. In the middle of our circle, the Chic-Fil-A bag will be burning to show the closed on Sunday aspect. Next, the song talks about a serpent, so we are going to have a Chic-Fil-A bag, then we will open it, and the snake will be inside. This is going to be a hard thing to do because incorporation of a live animal is always hard to do. We want to do a close up of this snake to show its detail and really sell the scene to the viewer. Next, we want the final ashes of the bag burning to show the end of the Chic-Fil-A. This would be a good way to close as we started with the bag fresh on fire. Then, we will fade out to complete the video.
For the second half of the video, there is words so things are more tricky. We start to incorporate people and the use of fire. We start by showing a Chic-Fil-A burning to show it bing closed on Sunday. From here, we cut to showing a church to show what is open on Sunday. Our next shot was tricky because we did not know what we wanted people to wear. We went back and forth between people wearing all black and white to show uniformity. We have them taking a selfie and putting their phone in their back pocket. We toyed with the idea of using a gram cracker as an phone for the lyrics "put the gram away." We decided this was not a good idea as some people may not get the hidden reference. We wanted to leave this shot for a few extra seconds to really drive the point home of people not being on their phones on Sundays.
The last 15 seconds were the hardest. We started by having our whole group members praying to follow the lyrics. We still are undecided as to what we are going to wear. In the middle of our circle, the Chic-Fil-A bag will be burning to show the closed on Sunday aspect. Next, the song talks about a serpent, so we are going to have a Chic-Fil-A bag, then we will open it, and the snake will be inside. This is going to be a hard thing to do because incorporation of a live animal is always hard to do. We want to do a close up of this snake to show its detail and really sell the scene to the viewer. Next, we want the final ashes of the bag burning to show the end of the Chic-Fil-A. This would be a good way to close as we started with the bag fresh on fire. Then, we will fade out to complete the video.
Tuesday, November 19, 2019
Music Video Planning
Location- Our location plans are very easy. We planned on taking shots of the beach, and local waterways for our first 30 seconds because there is no sound. Once the song starts talking about Chic-Fil-A, we will cut to a real Chic-Fil-A and film that part. Our backup plan if something goes wrong would be to film outside of the Chick-Fil-A to still get the same shot.
Health and Safety- At the beach, we would never go when it is raining to avoid lighting. Also, we would only go during the day to avoid running into bad people. When at Chic-Fil-A, we would make sure to be safe and film away from moving cars. Inside, we would be safe by asking to film before hand so we cant get into trouble.
Props- We would have little to no props. Maybe only a phone. There is not a lot of objects in the music video, so we may just have nothing in our hands.
Costumes- In many of Kanye West's Music Videos, he's wearing primarily casual clothing. So, our idea for costumes is to have the actors dressed up casual in accordance with the weather. For example, actors will wear T-shirts, short/pants, and sneakers.
Schedule-
11/19/19: Plan Music Video and Finish Planning Music Video Blog
11/21/19: Plan Music Video by Story boarding
11/23/19: Film Music Video
11/27/19: Finish filming by the 27th because one of our group member leaves town
11/28/19: Start to work on the editing
11/25/19: Finish Music Video Blog
12/2/19: Finish Music Video blog #2
12/6/19: Final Music Video needs to be turned into the teacher by this day
Health and Safety- At the beach, we would never go when it is raining to avoid lighting. Also, we would only go during the day to avoid running into bad people. When at Chic-Fil-A, we would make sure to be safe and film away from moving cars. Inside, we would be safe by asking to film before hand so we cant get into trouble.
Props- We would have little to no props. Maybe only a phone. There is not a lot of objects in the music video, so we may just have nothing in our hands.
Costumes- In many of Kanye West's Music Videos, he's wearing primarily casual clothing. So, our idea for costumes is to have the actors dressed up casual in accordance with the weather. For example, actors will wear T-shirts, short/pants, and sneakers.
Schedule-
11/19/19: Plan Music Video and Finish Planning Music Video Blog
11/21/19: Plan Music Video by Story boarding
11/23/19: Film Music Video
11/27/19: Finish filming by the 27th because one of our group member leaves town
11/28/19: Start to work on the editing
11/25/19: Finish Music Video Blog
12/2/19: Finish Music Video blog #2
12/6/19: Final Music Video needs to be turned into the teacher by this day
Friday, November 15, 2019
Music Video Research
Coming off our commercial, we were still in a rough patch. We didn't really train ourselves to be ready for this music video because of a lack proper computer instruction. Once we got through this, the biggest thing I learned was the importance of making sure you got a correct shot before leaving. This was a key because we had to re take several shoots to get a shot good because we only realized we had bad shots when we were in the editing process. Another thing we were still struggling with was editing on Pinnacle, we ended up using our home computers and this was ok because we all knew how to edit, but not being able to edit on Pinnacle may catch up to us. Moving forward, we were excited to move into the music video because me and my group were all very coherent on our song. Another thing we were ready for was our new group. We all like each other and all think along the same lines when it comes to music, so we think this process will go smother.
At first, we were having major issues with our groups. Another pair kept trying to steal our group members, and there was a whole argument over who got who. Eventually, I ended up with who I wanted, Alex and Jorge. We ran through several songs like "Start With Me" and "90210," but these songs were ruled out because they cursed and we wanted to stay away from this in our projects. We ended up picking "Closed on Sunday" by Kanye West, this song fits into the rap genre but it isn't typical, it is very slow and doesn't really embody that classical rap sound. We liked this song because we thought it would be slow enough to add all the effects we wanted, but fast enough to not bore the audience and lose their interest.
With the song "Closed on Sunday", the first 40 seconds of the song is a instrumental. Our group got the idea to shoot B-roll for this section of the song. The B-roll will contain: Low angles, High angles, Tracking shot, Pans, and Tilts. We were also thinking about having the Chic-Fil-A write"Closed on Sunday's" on their big sign. After the instrumental is done playing, Kayne West starts to sing about how Chic-Fil-A is closed on Sunday's. For this we thought it would be best to, have the actors in the music video, dress up casually. Kanye usually wear jeans, shorts, and T-shirts in his music videos, which gives him the simple sense of style. The actors will look depressed, once arriving at Chic-Fil-A and noticing that it's closed. This scene will be a tracking shot of the actors and close-ups of their facial expressions. For the editing portion of our Music video, we will align our transitions in footage, with the lyrics and beats of the song. We shall add effects to make the music video visuals more appealing.
At first, we were having major issues with our groups. Another pair kept trying to steal our group members, and there was a whole argument over who got who. Eventually, I ended up with who I wanted, Alex and Jorge. We ran through several songs like "Start With Me" and "90210," but these songs were ruled out because they cursed and we wanted to stay away from this in our projects. We ended up picking "Closed on Sunday" by Kanye West, this song fits into the rap genre but it isn't typical, it is very slow and doesn't really embody that classical rap sound. We liked this song because we thought it would be slow enough to add all the effects we wanted, but fast enough to not bore the audience and lose their interest.
With the song "Closed on Sunday", the first 40 seconds of the song is a instrumental. Our group got the idea to shoot B-roll for this section of the song. The B-roll will contain: Low angles, High angles, Tracking shot, Pans, and Tilts. We were also thinking about having the Chic-Fil-A write"Closed on Sunday's" on their big sign. After the instrumental is done playing, Kayne West starts to sing about how Chic-Fil-A is closed on Sunday's. For this we thought it would be best to, have the actors in the music video, dress up casually. Kanye usually wear jeans, shorts, and T-shirts in his music videos, which gives him the simple sense of style. The actors will look depressed, once arriving at Chic-Fil-A and noticing that it's closed. This scene will be a tracking shot of the actors and close-ups of their facial expressions. For the editing portion of our Music video, we will align our transitions in footage, with the lyrics and beats of the song. We shall add effects to make the music video visuals more appealing.
Wednesday, November 6, 2019
Final Blog for the Commercial!
Our Commercial is done! After a couple days we decided to just do it on me and Alex's computers. We never had luck with our desktops or computers the school brought us. We already had the files on my computer, so we moved them to Alex's computer to begin editing. Alex had no trouble on his computer. His editing software was Final Cut Pro X. We already knew the sequence of clips, and it was very simple to put them into place. The only issue we had was the length of clips. We did not know how long the commercial would be at first, so we added full length clips. We also had trouble picking what clips to use. We didn't know which ones to use when we were doing the jump cuts because there was so many different combinations of us throwing the backpack.
This set us back for a while because we wanted to try all the different combinations. Another thing that set us back was the song. At first, didn't know what song to use, so we played around with a couple different songs and tried to align them to the clips. In the end, this didn't work. We ended up just going with a consistent beat that kept the energy high and was good with the pace. However, our next issue was the fact that we didn't know when to start or end the beat. We ended up starting it 9 seconds in to build the pace. We ended up letting it play through the whole ending. This was one of our hardest places as a team because we all had different opinions and we couldn't come to an agreement. We all came to an agreement it would be best to start it later, and play it all the way through.
In the end, after our first editing process, our commercial was about an minute. This was a problem. We liked our commercial so much we had to start cutting out things we didn't want to. We got rid of the scene of walking onto the field. This took about 10 seconds off, and we still had more to go. to save more time, we started speeding up clips. The took about 7 more seconds off. To take the rest off we got rid of a pan to lose the last few seconds. This was the most crucial part because we still wanted to deliver our key message, but not lose anything. We ended up right at 30 seconds and were all satisfied with the whole commercial. We liked the Nike symbol and added a little flair by adding the colors.
This set us back for a while because we wanted to try all the different combinations. Another thing that set us back was the song. At first, didn't know what song to use, so we played around with a couple different songs and tried to align them to the clips. In the end, this didn't work. We ended up just going with a consistent beat that kept the energy high and was good with the pace. However, our next issue was the fact that we didn't know when to start or end the beat. We ended up starting it 9 seconds in to build the pace. We ended up letting it play through the whole ending. This was one of our hardest places as a team because we all had different opinions and we couldn't come to an agreement. We all came to an agreement it would be best to start it later, and play it all the way through.
In the end, after our first editing process, our commercial was about an minute. This was a problem. We liked our commercial so much we had to start cutting out things we didn't want to. We got rid of the scene of walking onto the field. This took about 10 seconds off, and we still had more to go. to save more time, we started speeding up clips. The took about 7 more seconds off. To take the rest off we got rid of a pan to lose the last few seconds. This was the most crucial part because we still wanted to deliver our key message, but not lose anything. We ended up right at 30 seconds and were all satisfied with the whole commercial. We liked the Nike symbol and added a little flair by adding the colors.
Tuesday, October 29, 2019
Editing Blog
Our editing process was complicated. We dropped all our files to our desktops and left class last time. Today, we were supposed to start editing but our computers were broken. We started by moving all our files on the computer back to the jump drive. This process alone was hard because the computers were so badly ruined they cant even function. It took us nearly 25 minuets just to move a few video clips. We are trying to think of the best way to edit now as we do not have a desktops to edit on. We are probably going to end up working on my personal computer, but this will be hard as my computer is old and not reliable. We have no other options and the due date is approaching. All our files are together, but it is just hard to get everything started.
The whole process has been annoying. The only part that has worked is our dumping. We luckily got to save our videos. Other than that, everything has been terrible. I can not even write a good blog. We need to hit sentence minimums and because today has been so unproductive, I cannot write anything. I feel like today was a wasted day. Pinnacle studios and the computers are broken, and the laptops constantly freeze.
We need to edit our blogs our we are going to be penalized. This is setting us all up for failure on the testing day. This cannot be the way it goes or else I will fail the class. Being a senior this cannot happen. I need this class and want to pass really bad, but at this rate I am not sure it will happen. I literally cannot even see the clips on these computers they are so bad. We are trying our best to get something to edit on, but until then, we are dead in the water. Our vision for our blog is still going to be complete, but we are stuck. It is not our teachers fault, it is our school for not providing us with technology to be able to complete the class. We are starting to get worried about our project. We are going to have to figure it out like we normally do which is ok. It will not be fun, but until we get our computers running, we have to do what we can.
The whole process has been annoying. The only part that has worked is our dumping. We luckily got to save our videos. Other than that, everything has been terrible. I can not even write a good blog. We need to hit sentence minimums and because today has been so unproductive, I cannot write anything. I feel like today was a wasted day. Pinnacle studios and the computers are broken, and the laptops constantly freeze.
We need to edit our blogs our we are going to be penalized. This is setting us all up for failure on the testing day. This cannot be the way it goes or else I will fail the class. Being a senior this cannot happen. I need this class and want to pass really bad, but at this rate I am not sure it will happen. I literally cannot even see the clips on these computers they are so bad. We are trying our best to get something to edit on, but until then, we are dead in the water. Our vision for our blog is still going to be complete, but we are stuck. It is not our teachers fault, it is our school for not providing us with technology to be able to complete the class. We are starting to get worried about our project. We are going to have to figure it out like we normally do which is ok. It will not be fun, but until we get our computers running, we have to do what we can.
Thursday, October 24, 2019
Filming the Commercial
Today, me and my commercial team filmed. At first, we were very confused as to what we needed to do because the steps to getting our cameras and gear were a process to get. There was so many moving parts and things we had to sign to be able to obtain. For example, we had to write out what number camera, SD card, and tripod we had before we could even leave the room. This took nearly 20 minuets to do, and dramatically cut our filming time down. Next me and my group mates changed into nike hear, me and Alex were prepared and fully dressed out, while Atian brought nothing and didn't really contribute. After leaving, we picked our first filming spot due to the good lighting, light foot traffic, and most importantly the fact that it showcased the idea that we were at a school. This was an important part because without the viewer knowing we were at a school, it would be hard for them to see the entire commercial develop. However, we had to reshoot the opening shot several times. There was always something screwing it up, noisy kids walking by, a lawn mower buzzing, or even faculty golf carts moving by. Eventually, we took three or four solid shots we would use. Getting the angle for this shot was hard, we wanted a fully body shot as Alex was getting closer, but we also wanted to show the Nike prevailing, but we got the best of both worlds with Atian filming, and me tossing him his nike bag.
Our next challenge was getting a cross cut shot of Alex walking to the field, catching the same bag as before. This was an issue because we couldn't get the right toss to mimic the toss of him walking in the hall. Another issue we were having with this shot was how far back Alex was when he caught the bag. We took multiple shots trying for the best one, and we think we on the right track, and with the magic of editing we will be fine. Next, we filmed a POV of Alex lacing up his cleats, this was hard because Atian needed to hold the Camera from Alex's eyes, making it hard for Alex to see the process of lacing up his cleats properly. Also, another issue was Atian had to awkwardly hold the camera, possibly ruining the integrity of the shot. Next, we shot a pan of Alex walking to the field. This was easy, even though there was kids filming in the back round. Then, we recorded him taking a shot to showcase his skills in the Nike gear.
Our hopes are to cut this shot, and jump to another shot of Alex in a game situation. This would show Nike working in all situations, which is the main goal of our commercial. From here, we moved to a close up of Alex scoring. This was a hard shot to get because we couldn't pick a good angle, but we got multiple shots so we will do with what we have. From here, we panned out and had Alex walking back towards the middle of the film. We started at a chest high shot of his back, and as he walked away, we got to see more and more of him with the Nike. This was our closing scene and we hoped to do a fade out and show the Nike logo and their logo, "Just Do It." Next, we had to dump our footage, this was a hard part that almost ruined our filming! We couldn't move the files from the SD to our school computer, so we eventually just moved them to my personal computer so we would have them. This was a hard step, as we didn't want to ruin all the footage we had just taken, but we didn't want to have to rely on me with my personal computer every single day. Overall, the day was productive, and I got to do multiple roles of the process, but I felt weird being on camera, as it was a first for me. Alex was a star, he had the majority of the screen time, and he acted very mature and was very meticulous.
Our next challenge was getting a cross cut shot of Alex walking to the field, catching the same bag as before. This was an issue because we couldn't get the right toss to mimic the toss of him walking in the hall. Another issue we were having with this shot was how far back Alex was when he caught the bag. We took multiple shots trying for the best one, and we think we on the right track, and with the magic of editing we will be fine. Next, we filmed a POV of Alex lacing up his cleats, this was hard because Atian needed to hold the Camera from Alex's eyes, making it hard for Alex to see the process of lacing up his cleats properly. Also, another issue was Atian had to awkwardly hold the camera, possibly ruining the integrity of the shot. Next, we shot a pan of Alex walking to the field. This was easy, even though there was kids filming in the back round. Then, we recorded him taking a shot to showcase his skills in the Nike gear.
Our hopes are to cut this shot, and jump to another shot of Alex in a game situation. This would show Nike working in all situations, which is the main goal of our commercial. From here, we moved to a close up of Alex scoring. This was a hard shot to get because we couldn't pick a good angle, but we got multiple shots so we will do with what we have. From here, we panned out and had Alex walking back towards the middle of the film. We started at a chest high shot of his back, and as he walked away, we got to see more and more of him with the Nike. This was our closing scene and we hoped to do a fade out and show the Nike logo and their logo, "Just Do It." Next, we had to dump our footage, this was a hard part that almost ruined our filming! We couldn't move the files from the SD to our school computer, so we eventually just moved them to my personal computer so we would have them. This was a hard step, as we didn't want to ruin all the footage we had just taken, but we didn't want to have to rely on me with my personal computer every single day. Overall, the day was productive, and I got to do multiple roles of the process, but I felt weird being on camera, as it was a first for me. Alex was a star, he had the majority of the screen time, and he acted very mature and was very meticulous.
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