Film Blog

For our music video, we now have a planned idea from our storyboard as well as the additional planning my group did. We have not gotten around to filming yet, however we plan to follow the schedule that we made beforehand to ensure we have enough time to edit afterwards. My group has discussed our song of “I Gotta Feeling” by the Black Eyed Peas and how we can create a final product to our best ability. We want our scenes to match the mood of the song and we want to entertain our audience. Our current project has a much larger time limit, so we plan to spend more time filming rather than for an hour and thirty minutes. I have successfully completed the first major step of the process now which is the planning of the product. We made sure to use our time wisely during planning since this is a key component for our music video and can be a major help when we begin to film/edit our project. Our music video will include many different settings and props along with other accessories. Mis En Scene is important to make present in our film and we will attempt to make a detailed visually appealing music video for viewers. The storyboard that we made requires us to film our scenes off of campus at different locations, such as the shopping mall.

Due to our music video requiring us to film outside of school, we have not gotten a chance to begin the filming process. We chose a variety of locations for our project like a house, shopping mall, and party setting just to name a few. This made it difficult to film during school hours therefore longing the filming process more. However, I have no doubt that we will finish in time to edit our music video thoroughly. In our project, we plan on filming some locations multiple times at different moments in the film. This allows us to capture some of our shots quicker since it will be the same setting. We are still planning some to allow us to follow a precise plan that we can stick to later on. I have already started to gather some props that look useful for our music video. This is helpful to ensure when the time comes to film we will be ready to begin. We will start to film over the course of this week and some of the following week if needed.

Regarding our plan for filming, we have thought of many ways we can film our scenes. To start off, we will shoot an establishing shot of us at a house. This will then transition into a close up of our faces demonstrating our boredom. Our next scene will be located in the car as a medium close up showing us on our way to the shopping mall. We will also include a point of view shot walking into the store to show a variety of camera angles and to interest the audience. Once we are done buying our outfits and accessories we will then present a flash pan to show a glimpse of what we purchased and our bags. A long shot will be shown of us entering the house again after we finish leaving the last location. A majority of our scenes are in the car from us leaving and entering places. Many other scenes will be included as well in the middle of our product. Although we have not been able to film currently, we now have a detailed plan for our music video which will be very useful for the rest of our process.

Storyboard

The storyboarding aspect of the filming process is crucial. The planning of the whole music video is on the storyboard, which you need to complete the project. Each box is about 6 seconds, so my group planned to fill out twelve boxes. The reason we chose to do twelve boxes is because the limit is one minute and fifteen seconds. Also we did less boxes then the actual music video is we believe we might film a lot of footage. We will aim to follow the storyboard as closely as possible. Yet, we might go off track slightly because there is a lot to include. We will be including a variety of shots to enhance the quality of our music video. For example, POV shots and over the shoulder. The POV shot is to add variety to the film. Also to show clearly what that character is doing at that minute. These shots are to engage the viewer into the music video. Also we will be including various editing into this. For example we will have jump cuts to reduce the amount of time things take. The jump cuts will also keep the viewer intrigued. Also we will have cross cutting to show what one actress is doing while it is also focused on another. This is meant to show that the actresses are meeting up with people. This is important to know so when it occurs later in the music video it is not random. Our storyboard includes a lot of planning. For example, we planned out all of our shots and editing. One scene will have an extreme close up of someone putting their makeup on to go out. Also an important part of the music video is the scene of us going shopping because it shows we are getting ready for something. Establishing shot is also very important to the music video. The reason it is important is because it introduces characters. To add to this, it shows their setting to the viewers. The storyboard is very useful to the director or directors. This makes it abundantly easier for them to do things. This includes where to put the camera depending on the shots we chose. Also how to move the camera, and how to edit these clips. It is very important to know exactly what you want to include in your music video so filming can go smoothly.

Planning

      Our music video will take place in a variety of locations. In the beginning, we will start with scenes in a house getting ready to go somewhere. During these scenes we will change costumes and makeup to transition into a new location. The next location will have bright lights and other details representing a party environment for our final filming shot. We will include other locations such as the shopping mall in between those two scenes depending on which lyrics we use from the song “I Gotta Feeling” by the Black Eyed Peas.  Regarding health and safety, we intend to follow certain guidelines in order to ensure that our music video does not risk the lives of anyone. Our music video is not violent, and there will be no shots that include these types of scenes. The song we chose is upbeat and the music video has a similar tone. Not only will we attempt to create an exciting music video, we will also try to do our best with health and safety. This is a very important component in our music video since our health and safety comes first.
      We will include props in our music video to enhance our scenes and to give the audience a more detailed performance. To list a few, we will need makeup, red solo cups, party accessories, etc. Each shot will call for different materials for us to use and we have many to shoot. Since we are filming in a party setting we will need decorations or party-themed items. Without props, our music video would most likely lack excitement and the audience would be less interested. Another part of our music video that is highly important is our costumes. Initially, our costumes will be shown as regular clothes from just sitting around. Then our film will show us getting ready to go have fun and live life to the fullest in our new outfits that we dressed up in. Our costumes play a key role in our music video because it transitions the mood of the scenes and gives the audience an idea of what the purpose of us filming is. More specifically, our costumes will consist of dresses and other accessories that match our film setting and score.
      Starting with November 18th, in class we came up with the song that we all decided on and begun to brainstorm for our upcoming music video. We made a lot of progress and planned out all of our ideas to combine them and move ahead with the process. On the 21st, we plan to start organizing our storyboard to have a better idea for our final product, as well as working on the planning blogs to make sure we are ready to start filming. After we finish these tasks, we will film all of our scenes until they are complete and we are satisfied with the work that we have produced. My group will have to film outside of school since all of the locations we chose do not involve the school. This means that the filming process will take place during the weekend or after school on a week day. From here we will begin to edit our footage and revise whatever needs fixing. We will work on this part until the deadline on the 9th, because we will have finished everything else and from my last filming experience the editing took the longest to finish. Each day we will work to further the progress of our project and to create a product to our best ability. Currently, we are still planning our music video but very soon we will move into the next steps for the project.

Codes and Conventions

I learned many new things on the last project assigned to create a commercial. During the process, I learned how to edit correctly to produce a visually appealing final product. Creating a commercial allowed me to experience how directing behind the scenes truly is and how important it is to the production. I learned about a series of camera angles, shots, and movements that helped me succeed in making a commercial to persuade others to attend Fort Lauderdale High. Last project we did not prioritize our time right since we had to switch editing software mid way through the process. Instead of Pinnacle Studios we ended up using iMovie which was more accessible to us. This was a major setback because we did not have enough time to edit our commercial like we originally wanted to.

We decided to chose “I Gotta Feeling” by the Black Eyed Peas. We decided on this song since we all were familiar with it and we believe that it will be the best option to act out for a music video. The genre of our song is Pop and our song is very upbeat and exciting. This song is the best choice because the lyrics tell a story and this is perfect for us to make different scenes for. We also chose this song because not many people will most likely since it was released a while ago. My group wants to be unique and work on something that no one else will end up doing. Since the genre of our song is well known hopefully people will still follow along with the message in our music video.

1. Initially our costumes will consist of pajamas since our music video will start when we are chilling on the couch in the beginning. We will then change out of these clothes into dress up clothes to go out for a night.
2. The lighting for our music video will first be bright when we are in the house preparing to get ready. Towards the end the lights will be flashing and there will be a change in lighting.
3. We will be acting in the beginning like we are getting ready excited for a night out. Then we will be in a party setting that matches the song’s upbeat rhythm.
4. We will utilize makeup when we are getting ready during the first part of our music video. Our makeup will be shown during the last scenes as well when we have our full costumes on.
5. The props we will use include will correlate to the lyrics of the song we chose. We will include props such as red solo cups, makeup, and accessories.
6. First, our music video will take place in a house. Our next setting will have a resemblance to a club with bright lights etc.

Editing

      In class we worked on touching up our commercials with the use of editing on a software. For the start of class we initially attempted to import all of our footage into Pinnacle Studios. The software was not having any issues in particular other than that it was working at a much slower pace than we would’ve preferred. My group decided on using IMovie for our film since the software is easier to access and we all are more familiar with how to use it. We put all of our clips together and seeing all of our footage put together gave us a vision of what our final product will look like without all of the added on features. We will include transitions, a score, and text to enhance our commercial and to help persuade people to join our school Fort Lauderdale High. We trimmed our clips to cut them to the right amount and we tried to make our commercial exactly 30 seconds. Our music for our film must be upbeat and persuasive to get our message across to the audience. Not only do we need to measure and make sure that the film is not under 30 seconds, we also must make sure that it is not longer than the time requirement. We also had to determine which clips to include since some of our footage did not turn out how we expected.
      IMovie is the best choice for our commercial because we are able to fix our film in the easiest way possible but most effective. I have experience using IMovie when working on other commercials for different projects. Practice makes perfect and I’ve had my fair share of practice for film making using the software. During the filming process we took multiple takes of each scene to ensure that we would have options just in case something would come up and ruin our idea of the commercial. I utilized our storyboard to place our footage clips in the correct spots and then I made sure that the film flowed well and wasn’t choppy or hard to watch. Pinnacle studios is also very useful and simple because by simply dragging the clips, music, and titles you could put together a whole commercial that is put together. However, Pinnacle Studios was having trouble with speed and we figured that we would be better off using the app that we all can access on our cellphones, IMovie. Both softwares have about the same features and they both have the same purpose. Personally, I believe that IMovie was the best option because Pinnacle Studios would not even start up for my group. I chose to apply music throughout the commercial to maintain the mood for the whole film.
      Our final product was well put together and had many elements towards the end that we decided to include. The score we included really helped with creating an image for our commercial. After putting all of our clips into one we could see how all of our footage looked when brought together. Text/titles were additionally added as well for the audience to have a better understanding of what we were trying to communicate. The editing process has many components that everyone must include and we made sure that we were not missing anything that was a necessity for our final product of our commercial. When double-checking the footage we took we noticed that we got at least one good shot for each scene that we wanted to show. This was a major relief because we did not have the option to film again if any of our footage did not work. Another reason why the editing process was smooth was we reached the requirement for time for our final product. Although we came across a bump in the road with Pinnacle Studios, we were still able to create a better copy of our commercial in IMovie before our time limit was up. My group is proud of how our commercial turned out and we look forward to showing the final product that we worked to produce.