Thursday, December 5, 2019

Editing blog

Hi! My group and I are so ecstatic that we got to work on this music video project. After filming and editing it I don’t think we could’ve been more proud of how it turned out. In the first filming project we did we used our school’s camera and editing program, Pinnacle studios but this time we decided to try out something different.  We all agreed that it would be more convenient to shoot all of our footage on our phones.  Additionally, we decided to use iMovie on our phone to put together all of our footage and edit.  We all have much experience using this tool and thought it would be to our advantage to use this instead.  Which in the end we feel was a very smart decision.  Not only did we save time by not having to dump or risk losing footage we also were able to edit at any time not only when in class.  So after we filmed everything we needed we began to edit.
  To begin our editing process  I started by opening up the app iMovie and clicking on the import application.  My group and I collectively watched through all of our footage and favorited the ones we wanted to use and put it into a separate folder so that they would be easier to find. After that we went to YouTube and searched up the clean version of Hollaback girl by Gwen Stefani. Then I screen recorded and saved the audio so that we could input it into the background of our video.  I added in all of our clips and watch them all the way through to see how they looked together.  One of the most important parts of us editing was making sure the audio and lyrics from the song was aligned with our actors lip-synching.  So we cut , shortened,or stretched  all of our clips to make sure it matched up perfectly.  Along with that it was important that we kept track of the time of our footage and edited them to make sure it fit our limit and overall aligned.  Another aspect that we had to take into consideration what is our transitions.  Now, overall I don’t believe that our clips look choppy with how they are put together and we did not want to go over our time limit so we decided to leave it how it was without any special transitions.
   Prior to begin editing I thought that this process was going to be more of a hassle and at times stressful than it was, which I was very pleasantly surprised by . I think the fact that we used iMovie was a big part of this. I was comfortable with using it because of all of my past experience which helps for my group and I to bring our editing ideas to life.  I did have a good time editing this project I find editing very fun and a great way to make our footage really something special.  There wasn’t anything that really went wrong during editing which was good.  I’m excited to edit in the future and learn different techniques two edits above and beyond an average video. My whole group worked very well together not only in the editing stage but in planning and filming as well. There wasn’t much editing that need to be done in all honesty. However with what we ended with I feel definitely gets the job done. I cant wait to edit more and get better and better.

Monday, December 2, 2019

Filming process

It's been almost a week since we last talked about where my group is on our music video project. The last time I talked about what we did for the beginning of our music video. Just to recap we went to our tack field at our high school and filmed the beginning shots for the project. While we were filming before the break we forgot to film a little dancing scene for the end of our music video. This time my group and I made sure not to forget any crucial filming part of the project. On Tuesday, the day before Thanksgiving break, my group and I really wanted to make sure we could get the montage/dancing part of the film over with. So once more my group and I stayed after school to film the end of the music video. This task wasn't very hard because all my group needed to do was film us dancing. While dancing we had to make sure that we wouldn't get in the way of the people who had practice on the field. My group and I proved to be successful in getting the last shot that we needed on the track.
The next step in our filming process was filming some shots in a grocery store. To my group and I it didn't really matter what type of grocery store it was, all that mattered was that they allowed us to film in their store.We were able to film in our local grocery store. The shots that we needed was some shots of the protagonist (Ava) and the antagonist (Alex). These shots are some extreme close ups and close ups of the two main characters. These shots are going to show the rivalry the two main characters have. The scene will have two shots of a close up of the protagonist. Then a close up of the antagonist. This gives the scene a sense of seriousness and make the viewers feel how tense the scene is. We also shot some more shots of us dancing for the final montage for the ending.
The last place that we went and filmed was at our local park. this setting would be where the ending scenes would take place. The scenes that we plained on filming was of the protagonist sing the music. these scenes are to create a sense of empowerment. We created this feeling by making the protagonist move and act in a manner that created a sense of empowerment. Not only in the way she acted but also the lyrics in the song has a way of giving off the sense of empowerment. In the park scenes the protagonist will be shown walking down a field sing the lyrics. We also made sure to film us dancing for our final big montage at the end of our video. The dancing part was the easiest to film. This is because we didn't have to use any certain camera angles and movements. That's the beauty of montages. I'm very excited to see the end result.

Monday, November 25, 2019

Filming process

Last Friday marked to first day of filming for my group and I. To recap, my group and I are doing a music video for Hollaback by Gwen Stefani. We have a total of three locations for our music video. Our school, a grocery store and a park. My group and I figured that we could get some of the filming out of the way by staying after school on friday to film. I felt a little nervous to film after school. This is because we needed to have the track field in the back of the shots that we needed. Usually this is ok but this time in the season there are a lot of sports on the field. We have track practice, wrestling, and soccer practice all out on the same field. Nevertheless we were still able to film most of what we needed.
When we first of to the field there was only the wrestling team on the field. Since they were the only ones there my group and I asked their coach if we could film on the field. To our surprise the coach said that we could. We proceed to film but very fast so we weren't in anyone's way. Our shots that we need to film were the opening shots and a shot of all of us dancing for the compilation that we want to make for the end of the music video. The shots might sound easy but it turns out we had to take a lot of time on just the first opening shot. For the first shot we wanted to film the main protagonist getting back at the bully  then walking away with the music playing in the background. The difficult part was trying not to laugh. Whenever anyone films with friends there are bound to be a couple of laughs. We had a lot more laughs than we wanted.
The other difficulty we came across was all of the sports that were happening around us. Since  we were on the track, the track team was practicing. Every time we were filming a part of the music video the track team would run in between us and we would have to reshot the scene. Instead of stopping we decided to time the runners so when ever they would go past us we could go back to filming. We are still amateurs at film. We can see this because we needed to film a clip of all of our group dancing for our music video. We were so rushed to go that we totally forgot to film that scene. Now we have to go back to the same spot to film that scene on Tuesday. Nevertheless we got what we mainly needed to do done. Not only that but the video that we got was really good. I'm really excited to see the end result of our project.

Friday, November 22, 2019

Storyboard blog

Hello! Today my group and I’s next step into making our music video was to create our storyboard. We utilized the storyboards in our last project and it ended up being extremely helpful. With a clear and percise storyboard to reference when we film it tell us exactly how we want our vision to be brought to life. In the first box which represents about 4 seconds of the song we will be shooting on a soccer feild and we will use a tracking shot to film the main girl (Ava) walking up to the villain (Alex) bad talking her. Then the next box is the next 4 seconds and Ava goes to slap Alex and the beat drops and the beginning of the lyrics begin. Then the next box is representing when the chorus starts which is 9 seconds long and it’s a tracking two shot. Then the next 9 seconds is the chorus again and it will be Ava still walking on the track lip syncing to the chorus. Then as you can see in the 5th box it jumps to a grocery store where we will film us dancing in the aisle for 17 seconds. The next box jumps to us in bayview park where we will continue to use a tracking shot while the next verse plays. Box 7 will be a flashback to show how the problem/ fight in the video had begun. Then the next box is back in bayview. We will continue to sing the next part of the song before it jumps back to the chorus. So far we had filmed in 3 different locations the feild, the grocery store, and the park and for our last two boxes we decided it would be cool if we shot us dancing in a combination of all locations. We will sing to the chorus again until the end finish time switching back and forth between all locations. And that is our set storyboard plan for filming our music video of Hollaback girl by Gwen Stefani. I am so excited to begin filming especially with such a detailed storyboard to help guide our vision.

Planning blog for music video

Hello ! My team and I are in the beginning process of planning for our music video project which is for the song Hollaback Girl by Gwen Stefani. We were all estastic when we realized we were going to be able to create or own style video for this song. We got into class and sat together we had a little bit of a vision of what we wanted the project to look like we didn’t have it scene by scene played out. We were excited to sit down and put our ideas together and on paper to bring our video to life. We all individually brainstormed for a few minutes thinking of just where to start. We knew that the planning stage was very vital to creating a successful end product. With being very organized we knew it would make the whole filming process much easier. It for sure did with our commercial project. So then we began.
  The first thing that we did was watch the music video and pick which minute and 15 seconds we wanted to use for our video. We all agreed to use the first minute and 15 seconds which we thought was a good idea becuase the beginning sets the tone and includes the chorus twice. Then we googled the lyrics to section them off in different parts for how we wanted to film for each lyric line. So on a paper we wrote down each line and figured out how much time it took up. It ended up being a total of one minute and 13 seconds. As we went through we shared some good ideas of what we can act out for the lyrics. In the beginning we decided that we wanted to start off with a fight type scene becuase we felt as though the song was about a fight so we thought it was appropriate. During that time we also thought it would be a good idea to insert a flashback of why a fight was breaking out. And then it was time to think about our Mis en scene.
 We needed to pick our locations next. So we thought it would be a good idea to shoot the first shot on our school’s soccer feild and then the next couple of ones of on our track. Then we came up with shooting in a grocery store as well to add some diversity and also in a park and then for the last 17 seconds which is the chorus to shoot a combination of us in all of our locations. Then we were expressed the importance of health and safety, so we will be having a first aid kit with us at all times and whenever we are driving to any location all of us will be wearing a seat belt. Our lighting will be bright. We will have props such as grocery carts, a ball, backpacks, and food. Our costumes will be as close to the original video as possible to give off the same vibes and follow that convention such as straight hair, chains, hoops, crop tank tops, jeans, and beanies. Overall we are very excited to start filming becuase our planning makes it seem like it’s going to be very fun to film.

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Intro to the Music video

Today marks a new project. We are saying goodbye to the commercial project and introducing the Music video project, but before we really say goodbye I'm going to reflect on what we did. In the first project we had a lot of things that worked for us  and turn out really good in our commercial. One thing that really worked was the storyboarding process and the filming process. The storyboarding process went super well because we had some really good ideas that really translated well onto the paper and while filming. I also drew the storyboard and got everyone onboard with the ideas before we had to film. This made the filming process very smooth.  Talking about the filming process, I was very fortunate to have such a great group to film with. Everyone in my group pulled their own weight and came together to make the commercial great. Some things that we can work on are the editing process. For our group the editing process didn't go as well as we hoped it would. We had a lot of bumps in the road but at the end we pulled through and got our project done.
   The song that we chose is "Hollaback Girl" by Gwen Stefani. This song was released in 2005 and the music video was released in 2009. This song did very well ever since it hit the charts. We as a group love this song and are really excited to make a music video for this song. We as a group chose this song because we all remember jamming out to this song in the back of the car. This song peaked at the number one on the Billboard  Top 100 for eight weeks when it first came out. As soon as we talked about doing this song a lot of ideas piped into my head for what we can do for this song.
   The conversation for this music video can be summed up in the abbreviations "CLAMPS".
1. C- the costumes for this music video would be early 2000's attire. This includes tank tops, low rise jeans, beanies, and California inspired cloths.
2. L- is for lighting, the lighting in this particular music video took place in the middle of the day and at night. This means the lighting for most of the music video was bright.
3. A- the actors in their video had a lot of young adults. The actors were seen to have a good time.
4. M- the makeup for this video had a lot of makeup looks from the early 2000's. This includes caked on makeup, thin eyebrows and dark eyeshadow.
5. P- the props used in the music video are very random but they also connect to the locations. The props include Pom poms that cheerleaders use, a car, signs, etc.
6. S- the setting for this music video was in a grocery store, school campus, and the street. All of these locations connects to the props that is used in the music video.

Thursday, November 7, 2019

Editing blog

    Finally the day has come to start actually editing our commercial. We have two days to edit our final commercial. The first day of editing was on Tuesday, 11/5/19. This day didn't go as we planed. instead of getting the full class to do our work, we had complications with the technology that we were using. First of all we forgot to transfer the downloaded shots that we took for our commercial onto our google accounts. This was a very important step to do but we forgot to do it. This created complications for us because we needed to get into the computers that was said to not work. We tried and failed for what seemed like hours but finally for some reason that's unknown the computer turned on and started working! Before all of this happened we attempted to put all of our shots onto a flash drive. Unfortunately this certain flash drive did not work. This is why we were in this certain predicament.
    Once we were into the computer I took out another flash drive that I knew worked because I always use it for anything that I do. After we fixed the problem we had to get the footage in the app that is used for our editing.  This app was known to be a little slow but after what we just went through all we wanted to do is get this commercial completed. Im not sure if it was just our computer but it was acting kinda slow but, nevertheless we got onto the app and chose which shots were going into our final cut. Once we had them we laid them all out and watched all of the cuts together. We were really impressed at what we had. We were contemplating on what sound we should put in our commercial. At first we were trying to put the McDonalds jingle in the background as our music. there was just one problem we have never tried to make a sound into an MP3. We tried to turn the music into an MP3 but all of the sites that we tried to use did not work. Then, the bell rang and we had to leave.
     Which takes us to today Thursday, 11/7/19. Today my group and I knew that we had to get our butts in gear so we could turn in our commercial on time. Today we only had 45 minutes to work on our commercials. This is because it was a PSD day. Once we entered the class room my group scattered. We knew what we needed to do, I was on computer job. I got the computer and put in the flash drive to start working on our commercial. We decided to instead of putting in the McDonalds music in the background. We wanted to add a school bell sound effect to make the scene more realistic. Once again we came across the same problem with trying to turn the sound into an MP3. This time we got some help from a fellow student. He showed out a site that actually worked. We added our sound to the first part of our commercial and finished editing. And by the end of the period we were done with our project and turned it in.

Monday, October 28, 2019

Editing blog

Today is 10/28/19. We were supposed to edit today. When I say supposed I mean the app that we were going to use was down and most of the computers in the class didn't even have the editing app. I walked into class thinking that today I was going to work my butt off while editing. I was surprised when I learned that the editing app called pinnacle studios was not working.Pinacle studios is the app that we edit on. My group and I got on to our computer that we dumped on and started to sign in. We got on to the computer finally after a little while after we signed in. We were already nervous that our shots that we took would not save. So after a long time of waiting we were able to open the file that has all of our footage and were ready to edit, but sadly our computers didn't have pinnacle studios. We were given a choice to either try to keep logging into computers to use pinnacle studios (only three of the computers had a working pinnacle studios) or start a blog on our little fender bender.
   My teacher also suggested to my group and I to go to one of the computers that had a working pinnacle studios. All of the members of our group had a unanimous vote to go to a working computer.   Everyone got up from the previous computer to go to one of the open working computers. The room was so cramped that I had to squeeze through the chairs to reach the second computer. We got to the second computer and sat down with hope in our hearts that this computer would work. My fellow member Jake sat down to sign in to the computer to edit. We logged in and was over joyed to see the app Pinnacle studios. Previous to moving computers I got out my flash drive and put all of our footage onto my flash drive. I got out my flash drive and plugged it into the computer to start our editing process. To my surprise the pinnacle studios didn't work. After our last attempt we had on last unanimous vote to stop and to start our blog.
   While this fender bender was happening my group and I were thinking about some ways to enhance our commercial. Weather it be in the transitions or what we were already planning to do we were thinking about it. Some consepts we came up with was what we were going to insert a picture of the McDonalds logo in the last shot of the commercial. This shot has two of the members of the group holding up McDonalds saying the classic phrase "I'm loving it". This would be the perfect shot to add an insert of the logo from McDonald. We also talked about the transitions that we are going to add in our commercial. We were talking about add a transition of the fade into a circle transition for the last shot. Honestly I really like the way the circle fade transition for our commercial. It would elevate the commercial so it would look even better than before. I really hope that next class we get to start the editing process for our commercial.

Friday, October 25, 2019

Filming Blog

Yesterday was an exciting day for my group and I! We started filming for our McDonals commercial! The day before we stared filming I was told by my friend that the filing process was not going to be a very enjoyable time. Contrary to what my friend told me my group and I had a very enjoyable time while filming. Im not sure if it's because one of the members dressed up as Ronald McDonald or if it was because of the good corporation in the group. All of the members of the group where very determined to make the commercial as fun and as well made as we could.  Our group consisted of four people. We had two co-directors/film "crew", and two actors. Filming a commercial comes with a lot of responsibilities. These responsibilities include carrying the equipment, obtaining the props that where needed in the commercial, making sure we stay true the our storyboard, of course the filming part, and dumping the shots onto a computer.
While filming, my group had to split up our responsibilities between the four of us. The responsibility I got was to be a co-director with my other group member Jake. By being co-director I had to look at the storyboard we made so we could make our shots end up looking like what we put on the paper. Speaking about the storyboard, I was the one that sketched out what was on the storyboard. I also carried some of the equipment to the location we were filming at. Another responsibility I had was filming the commercial. My co-director and I worked on filming all of the shots needed to create cohesive commercial.We choose McDonalds as our commercial so we of course had to get McDonalds for the props! The night before we filmed I ran down to my local McDonalds to retrieve a happy meal to use in our commercial. Now I know what you're thinking "ew old McDonalds", I thought the same thing. We didn't actually eat it though, it was there to be our props.
After we where all done with filming my group and I watched all of the takes that we took to make sure we where really done with filming. After seeing the takes I think we did a pretty good job. Even though we were a little silly and we played around a little we got it done. To be honest I was a little scared about the whole filming part. I wasn't sure how well we were going to do and if the takes were going to come out right. All of my worries went away when I saw all the takes. What is even scarier than the filming is the editing part. on Monday we are starting the editing portion part of the commercial.Anyways I really enjoyed filming and being co-director. When I started to film and start directing I really became comfortable with the whole process. I'm not sure what I'm going to do later in life but I really enjoyed this

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Storyboard



Hello! This is my group and I’s storyboard for our Mcdoanlds commercial. Each box represents a plan of 6 seconds of our commercial. In the first box we plan to shoot using a tilt up shot to introduce Alex into the frame and she will be sitting alone with a sad expression on her face with sad tone music playing in the background. The next box we plan to zoom in and have a close up on Alex and she will say that she is having the worst day and then reach into her lunch box/backpack to get some food and realize that she doesn’t have any. Then in the next box it will be a medium shot where Avalon as Ronald McDonald comes in holding a Mcdoanlds happy meal and saids to Alex “I know what you need.. a Mcdoanlds happy meal!” Then in the 4th box Alex will have a happy smiley expression on her face and has the Mcdoanlds in front of her and saids “Oh my gosh, this is just what I needed” and during this time we will also being using an over the shoulder shot that goes into an eye level two person shot. Then the last box and last 6 seconds will be a long shot with an insert of the Mcodnalds logo Alex smiling with her Mcodnalds walking up to camera and the Mcdoanlds tune will be playing in the background and she will say the slogan “I’m loving it!”

Monday, October 14, 2019

Editing Lesson Blog

          Hello the day is October 14,2019 today in our Media studies class we were taught a very important lesson on film making. The lesson was on Editing our footage to create the finished product which would be our commercial. The first part of the lesson we were taught was on how to use the components of our camera. I learned how to use an SD card and what it is used for. The SD card is where all the footage goes when we are filming . Without the SD card we cannot dump. Speaking about dumping, dumping is when we take the footage from our SD cards and transfer to a computer. This particular procedure is very important. This step determines whether or not you have footage to edit when making our final project. Along with the camera procedures we were taught how to use a tripod. When using a tripod we must sign it out along with the camera that we are using. By using tripods the user can make different types of shots and movements to help with the quality of the film.
         The next part of the lesson was on dumping and and importing. When I hear the word "dumping" my mind doesn't immediately go to transferring footage from a camera to a computer.But as it turns out, that's exactly what it is.We use dumping when we move footage to a computer so the film makers can do the last step which is editing all of the raw footage to become a cohesive film. One specific thing to remember about dumping is that we need to dump everything into a folder that is on the computer desk top. This is because you need to put your original raw footage onto the computer so the app that we are going to be using can get the footage. Without having your footage on the computer the app would not let you edit your footage. Along with dumping we also learned about Importing. When we import footage we send the footage into an app. We usually import when we are done with the film that was worked on. For importing we must open an app called "pinnacle studios" (which is something I will be talking about in my next paragraph). Once in the app, and we are all done with the film, we will click on a button titled "import". Once clicked on, a box will pop up that makes you select a folder from the desk top.click the plus sign on the top left and click the folder you want, and import everything. After that the computer will say " start importing " and then boom you have just imported a film.
          The last and final part of the lesson was on editing the raw footage. When editing the footage we have to dump the footage on to a file then open the app "pinnacle studios" where the editing will be done. The fist thing you see when you open the app is your raw footage on the top left box and on the bottom is where you put the footage. You put the footage on "Av track 2". The if needed you can add music on the track below and add titles on the track above the footage. Adding transitions includes cutting the take, adding transitions, etc. To add translation we must right click on the computer then click on effects editor. once clicked on we can edit our little hearts out. We can also add titles onto the film. To do so we must move to the track above the take and click on it then we can add what ever title we want. Same as the title, adding music is when we add music to a folder the we must import it to the film. When saving the film we must save it to the desk top. And then we must export it and click "mp4".The we must click the option "best quality " and save it to the folder.

Thursday, October 10, 2019

Planning Blog for McDonald commercial

Hello it is October 10th and today my group and I are starting our planning for our commercial! In the planning process we are going to be looking at and discussing what locations to film at and why, any back up locations incase  the ones we originally picked out won’t be available, the costumes we will be wearing, and the props that will be included in the scene. It’s important to us that we have all of this information planned out prior to filming that way when it is time for us to film we know exactly what needs to get done and we can efficiently create our commercial.
   Props
•McDonald’s McNuggets, fries, and drink
•Backpack with notebooks and pencils
•Balloons
  Costumes
•Clown costume for McDonald’s mascot: red nose , face paint, Afro wig. Regular school clothes for other subject in scene.
  Schedule
• 10/10 - Planning
• 10/14 - Storyboard blog
• 10/21 Filming blog
• 10/23 Editing Blog
We will probably film on the 18th of October but we aren’t positive yet and once we are done filming  we will immediately begin editing.
  Location list
• Senior patio (This will be our main location, we think it would be wise to film all in one location to limit confusion to viewer, Alex, will be  sitting down at one of the tables at the senior patio acting sad and then the clown will come into the shot giving me the Mcdoanlds meal)
  Back up plans
• Location back up will be our school’s crop circle, it will be a good enough resemblance to a table/ sitting area, if it’s raining we will film by the media center staircase where it is covered but we can still use the steps to sit and set our props.

Monday, October 7, 2019

Research blog: Commercial Conventions

      Hey everyone ! We are starting our first big project in media today, we have to create a commercial about a company from a list given to us, and we chose McDonald’s. We chose Mcdoanlds becuase we thought that it would be a fun commercial to make and we had many great ideas of what we could do and were immediately inspired. We’ve already started doing some brain storming on different scene ideas we can do and act out.
  Some conventional or common codes that would be in a McDonald’s commercial would be a very positive connotation towards the audience. The symbolic codes is usually set in a McDonald’s restaurant with bright coloring and there is typically kids involved and the mascot for Mcdoanlds, Ronald McDonald. For technical codes, the lighting is bright with cheerful audio and their signature tune and the editing is used to appeal to the projected audience to persuade them to buy their products. Some written codes in a Mcondalds commercial is their slogan : I’m loving it!
  Our group consists of 4 people, Jake, Avalon, Alexandra, and myself. We all plan on equally contributing into this project to make it the best it possibly can and using effective communion skills to communicate our differing ideas and thoughts about the project. We’re so excited to be starting up our first film on the year and we all think it’s going to be super entertaining to make, edit, and watch.
     

Sunday, October 6, 2019

Introductory

        Hello my name is Morgan. This is my first ever blog! Im not really sure what to say so I'm going to talk about myself for a little bit. To start off this blog I'm going to tell everyone about me! I'm a pretty chill person if I do say so myself. I like to spend my weekends with my little friend group and when I feel stressed I like to sit down and paint a landscape or doodle in my art book. I could have my own art show with all of my art work I've made. That's how much I love to paint and draw. When i'm not with my friend group or drawing I like to play volleyball. For the most part i'm chill but when it comes to sports I am extremely competitive!
        I have kinda a weird personality most people like to say that i'm goofy and I would agree, I like being a people person I love to talk and make new friends whenever I can! You know when someone says that you have a personality for school and one for out of school? I feel like I have that. when i'm in school Im a little quiet because I like to focus on my work but when i'm out of school I like to have a lot of fun and i'm outgoing. I would also say that I am a creative person. I love to draw and I love to sing and watch movies.
       This weekend was a pretty eventful weekend! On Friday after school, I worked on some of my homework. Then I went to my volleyball practice. I love volleyball practice, it gives me motivation and makes me want to get better at the sport. On Saturday morning, I had a volleyball game. Sadly we didn't win but I can say that I tried my best and I learned what I have to work on to better myself in the future. Later that evening I had a party to go to. This party was a lot of fun, my friends and I danced all night! Which bring us to Sunday! On  Sunday I'm going to go shopping after I finish my homework of course and have a relaxing day.