Filming Blog

 On the 21st, in my AICE Media Studies class, I filled out the form to check out a camera. After school I took a camera, tripod, and SD card home to film the next day. On the 22nd, only one of our actors was available to film on our planned date since the other had gotten sick. I decided that we would still film and just do the scenes that involved the actor that was available. After school, I met up with my group and we headed to my group mates house to film. On the way there, I made a plan for filming. I decided on what order of scenes would be most effective and efficient to film in and when we would shoot each scene. I also made sure I had all the required props for the scenes we had chosen to film. Finally, I made sure the actor had her costume all set and ready so we could film as soon as possible. This ensured that we would be ready to film when we arrived.
 Once at my group mates house I started to get the camera ready for filming. After putting the SD card in the camera, I set up the tripod where I planned to film the first shot. As I was setting it up I noticed that the piece that mounts the camera to the tripod was not in the bag for the tripod. After checking the camera bag and tripod bag multiple times I realized that it was not there at all. This was the first of two issues that we ran into that day during filming. I quickly came up with the idea to use duct tape to secure the camera to the tripod. Thankfully, this worked well and the issue was resolved pretty quickly. Then I started filming the first few scenes of the music video. We were able to film for around an hour before I noticed the camera had low battery. It soon died during a scene and we couldn't film any more. I immediately pulled out the charger and plugged the camera in. However, I then remembered my AICE Media Studies teacher saying that the cameras charged extremely slowly.
 By then, I had started to stress out a lot over whether we would have enough time to finish filming. I soon decided I would plan out more dates to film and come up with a plan to ensure we would not have the same issues again. I was able to confirm two more dates to film over the next week. I then made sure that everyone was available and that we would have access to a camera. Once that was done, I came up with a plan to ensure I would have a charged camera to use. I decided to check out a camera two days before we would need it and charged it overnight. I then planned to check out the same camera the following day so I would know that we had a fully charged camera. Overall, the first day of filming the music video was frustrating and stressful, but informative. Now, I'm able to make sure that I never have the same issue and have learned from the mistake.

Storyboard Blog

  Today, in our AICE Media Studies class, we made our storyboard. We also planned out our whole music video sequence and more of the props and other various things. We finalized our costumes and locations and made sure our actors were free on our selected dates. We also checked out a camera so we could film over the weekend. Finally, we made plans to go buy sparklers before we film on the weekend.
  As for the storyboard, our first panel is a high angle showing one of our actors texting on a phone about meeting up to go to the movies. This is during the line in the song, 'I'll see you at the movies.' After they get a response to the message, the camera pans up to the actors face. The actors face is cut off at the nose so their eyes cannot be seen but they're smiling. The actor is wearing red lipstick as the song says the line, 'I'll see you with your lipstick on.' On the next panel, the same actor is shown in her costume looking in a mirror at herself. She'll be adjusting her clothes and making sure she's ready. As she does this the song will say the lines, 'I'm looking out for cosmos. I'm hoping that we'll get along.' It's a low angle as well as a medium shot so you can only see from her knees to her collar since we're choosing to not show their faces till the end of the music video. This is because the song is about change and new beginnings so we decided it would be cool to not show their faces till the end. On the next panel, our other actor is depicted getting in a car and placing sparklers on the passenger seat. The shot is a low angle that's inspired by a trunk shot, since we got the idea when trying to include a trunk shot. However, we moved the camera to the passenger seat as we felt it made more sense. The lines during the shot is 'It's time for renovation. It's time for us to make a change.' The next panel shows scenery through the passenger side window of a car. During the scene the song will be saying, 'It's time for a Chinese new year.' This will be a wide shot. The next panel depicts our first actor waiting at the movie theater and it will be a close up on a pair of red shoes she is wearing. She will be rocking back and forth on her heels as if she's waiting. This will be on the line, 'It's time for me to make a way.'
 After that the following panel shows our actors on a couch moving positions with jump cuts in between. It will be a two shot and full body. The actors will switch positions with each line and be in different positions after each cut. The next panel would be an establishing shot of the movie theater as the actors leave the theater. It will be a two shot and wide shot. Also, the camera will slowly zoom in on the two actors. This will be on the line, 'I'll see you at the movies.' The panel after that shows the two actors walking down the street to the park. It will be a two shot and full body except for their heads. It will also be a tracking shot so the camera will follow them for a while. This is during the line, 'I'll see you with your lipstick on.' The next panel is the two actors looking up at the stars on a blanket with the sparklers laid off to the side. The scene will be a low angle and two shot that shows both the sky and grass where the actors are sitting. This is on the line, 'I'm looking out for cosmos.' On the next panel, the second actor hands the first actor a sparkler and they both light them. The shot is a medium close up and eye level. This scene is during the lines, 'I'm hoping that we'll get along. It's time for renovation.' The last panel depicts an over the shoulder shot of the the actors playing with sparklers and smiling. It will the cut to an over the shoulder shot of the other actor doing the same. Also, it will be a medium shot and will show the actors faces for the first time in the music video. This will be on the line, 'It's time for us to make a change. It's time for a Chinese new year.' Overall, we're really excited to start filming over the weekend and get to work on the project.

Planning Blog

1. Location- The locations we will use are in a bathroom, at a park, outside a movie theater and inside one of the theaters in said movie theater. The bathroom and park are secured because they are in public and in our house. For the movie theater, we will have to confirm if we can film or not. If that fails, we can use our backyard and a projector.
2. Health and Safety- Since we plan on using sparklers we will make sure there is a first aid kit and fire extinguisher nearby. Also, since we plan to film in a car, we need to drive safely, with seat belts on.
3. Props- The props we will use are a red lipstick, and sparklers. We also plan to print out a movie ticket to use as a prop. There will also be bouquets of flowers that we use throughout the music video.
4. Costumes- For the costumes we were thinking of doing red themed outfits. One of the actors will will be wearing jean overalls with a red shirt of some sort. She will also wear red or black shoes. The other actor will wear a leather jacket, a black shirt and red pants. For shoes they'll wear black boots. 
5. Schedule- On the 19th, we are planing out our music video, securing locations and setting outfits. On the 21st, we will write out our storyboard for our music video and finalize each scene. We will also be signing out cameras for the weekend so we can film. On the 23rd/24th, we will be filming parts of the video that do not include both of our actors, since one cannot make it those days. On the 25th, we plan to write our progression of filming on a blog. We will also be checking out a camera again to film over the break. On the 27th - 1st, there is the holiday break in which we will finish all our filming. And finally on the 2nd, 4th and 6th, we will edit in class, and submit it on the 6th. 

Research Blog

 Now that the commercial project is completely finished and I've had a chance to reflect on it, I've realized that it was an amazing learning experience. It was our first big assignment where we had to film and edit and I learned a ton along the way. I learned how to film and use the class cameras and how tedious it is as an actor to shoot all the scenes multiple times. I learned how to edit the footage and add music and sound throughout the process. It was extremely fun and we put our best effort into every step of the filming and editing process. Even though it was stressful at times with the short deadlines, we just stayed focused, planned everything out, and it all worked out in the end. Overall, it was a very informative and enjoyable experience. That being said, we have now moved on from the commercial and have started a new project. The project is a music video in which we have to film and edit 90 seconds of a music video that we came up with for the song.

 The song we chose is called Chinese New Year. This song is by the band SALES. Chinese New Year is in the genre of pop. They released this song in 2014 but it didn’t get popular until recently. SALES is an American band from Florida. The members are Lauren Morgan and Jordan Shih. They are joined on tour by Malcolm Martin, who is the live drummer and percussionist for when they go on tour. Some other songs they play are Vow and Thurs 6-25.

 With the genre of our song being pop, there was a lot of music videos of songs in the same genre to look at for reference and ideas for our music video. The camera angles are often eye level, high angles, and over the shoulder. The shots typically are single, two, or three shot, and medium shots. The editing consists of sharp and sudden cuts and lots of different angles.

1. The costumes usually consist of odd or eccentric designs. They often dress in dresses and suits with bright pops of color or the entire thing is colorful.
2. The lighting is bright and colorful to mix with the bright costumes. The lights are usually flashing and or sparking so it catches the audience’s attention. 
3. They usually act happy or joyful depending on the music, like if the song is more upbeat and peppy, then they might be smiling. If the music has a more sad tone then they might be frowning and slouching.
4. The makeup usually goes with the costumes like if they have a colorful dress then they might have colorful makeup. It ranges from being extravagant to stand out or very light and subtle depending on the surrounding colors.
5. The props tend to be comically large and not proportional compared to the surroundings and characters. They also tend to have bright colors to match with the costumes and lights. 
6. The setting is usually in a bright room with some sort of color in it. The setting also is often outside on a sunny day.

Editing Blog

 Today in my AICE Media Studies class, my group and I finished the majority of our editing process. Having not had working laptops for two days, I began to worry about whether we would have enough time to edit our commercial. Thankfully the new laptops were ready to use when we came into class on November 4th. Finally, we were able to begin editing our footage. We were told during the class that we would have two days to finish editing the 30 second commercial. While that may seem like more than enough time, it was actually really stressful to finish on time. The new laptops still had the issue of taking a long time to load which wasted quite a lot of time for editing. However, I was just glad that we had working laptops to use, so we just had to be patient. Also a few disagreements arose on certain editing choices, such as which footage would be best to use. Another disagreement involved the split screen that we had included in our commercial. After a bit of careful consideration and comprise we were able to resolve the issues. Even with the obstacles we ran into we were able to almost entirely finish our commercial over the two days. Now that the commercial is almost complete, I’m a lot less stressed and am very appreciative of the experience.

 During class on November 4th, we finally began editing our footage for our commercial. After two classes of delay, I was anxious to start editing and we got to work right away. Leila got up to sign out one of the new laptops while Hannah, Hailey, and I discussed our process for editing the commercial efficiently. Once we had a laptop, we logged into the laptop which took around 15 minutes as it was the first time the laptops had been logged into in a while. After the laptop finished loading we dumped our footage from a flash drive onto the laptop. We had decided that for the first day, Hannah and Leila would do most of the editing. Meanwhile, Hailey and I would look for music to use for the commercial. I started by looking at music used in other Gatorade commercials to get an idea of the type of music to use. Once I had an idea of what I wanted to use for music, I began searching words for music to use. After quite a while of Hailey and I looking through different songs, we found one that we agreed would work and checked with the rest of our group to get their opinions. We decided that the song fit well and since we had a while left in class, I helped with editing till the bell.

 On November 6th, we were able to almost finish editing. We had decided when class started that Hannah and Leila would take less control so that Hailey and I could work on editing. After I uploaded the music we had chosen onto the laptop, I was able to add it into the commercial. I spent a short time messing around with different options while I got the hang of editing with some help from Leila and Hannah, since they had already spent time learning how to use the software. I quickly got the hang of it and began to really enjoy editing the commercial. Our commercial at the beginning of class was still about a minute over so I had to spend quite a while editing the footage down. After editing the footage down I spent the rest of class working on timing the music and voiceovers with the newly adjusted footage and by the end of class the commercial was almost entirely completed. Overall, editing the commercial was actually extremely fun and I learned a lot about the software and editing along the way. Even though it was stressful at times, I had a good time overall when editing.