Filming the music video

          Filming our music video was a hassle for everyone because it was hard finding an ideal day for everyone to meet up. We all agreed to Saturday but I had a personal emergency I had to handle so I wasn't able to attend. I felt really guilty for letting my team down, but there was nothing I could do I had to handle some personal situations. Despite the fact that I wasn't able to come, my group still filmed parts of the music video. They got together at a friends house because she had the perfect setting for our song. Her house had a bar and a place for a fire. Since I wasn't there they had to act and film our scenes. They went back and forth between the camera and acting. The main characters were two lovers, a male and a female. They met at a bar and immediately things go great. After a couple scenes things quickly escalate and fall apart. After filming the scenes they quickly realized that the camera quality was not the way we wanted it. We plan on re-shooting the scenes. It was a coincidence that the scenes didn't come out well and that I couldn't act in them. We had to improvise and come up with a solution. So we decided to have a day to re-shoot. It all works out because we get to re-shoot with me in the music video. I still have to discuss with my group what part they want me to play in the film. We previously discussed me being the main male actor in our video. I would play the lead role and act out all the song lyrics. This would be a challenge for me though because I wasn't there when they originally filmed. I would also to have rehearse and learn everything I need to do. We were trying to figure out a planned day to re-film but we are still indecisive. Our new filming day will most likely be Tuesday though. We will all go after school to our friends house and record our video. We want to make sure everything is perfect and just the way we want it. Since we have thanksgiving break coming up, the opportunity to meet up together again is very unlikely. We all live fairly far from each other. None of us drive either so we have to ask our parents for a ride. This makes it even worse because not everyone's schedule is the same. Although everything may not be in our favor we will try out best to make things work and produce the best video we can.

Music commercial storyboard

          My group and I are filming our music video on the song “We Are Young” by Fun. We wanted to relate the lyrics of the song to our video. The costumes our characters will be using are generally dark colors such as black, dark blue, etc. Our costumes are completely dependent on our setting which is at a bar. The apparel matches the location and time of day. We will use both bright and dark lights to focus on our characters, but to also give off the feeling of a bar. Additionally, we’re using naturally lighting because we plan on having an area for a fire in our music video. The actors will be strangers and suddenly stumble upon each other. They start off good but quickly the cookie crumbles. Our characters won’t be using makeup for the most part except the girl. She might wear minimal makeup, but this is still not guaranteed. Some of the props we will be using are sunglasses, shot glasses, and bar stools. The setting we will be filming at is for the most part at the bar, but we will also film certain scenes in the bathroom, and outside where the fire is. Our set is the biggest factor in our film because it affects so many of the aspects we need to cover. For instance, it affects our apparel, lighting, acting, and camera shots.
            The equipment we are using to record is fairly standard. We are using a camera, tripod, etc. that is provided by the school. We are going to use a variety of angles to get the perfect scene. Examples of the angles we will be using are high angle and low angle. My group and I are also trying incorporate a multitude of different camera movements. The main movements we would like to use are tilt, pan, and zoom. We think the different movements will help elevate our video to the next level. We will also capture various different shots. Our video will consist of close ups, long, medium, and wide shots. These are the main ones we utilize, but we will incorporate more.
              The editing will be similar to my groups last project. Rafael is the best with computers and programs so he leads us in editing. We will assist with what he needs help with like sounds, cutting the film, and choosing scenes. Although the main sound will be the song, we are going to attempt to include other sound effects to enhance our video. We plan to finish this project efficiently and as a team. We are working together everyday and learning new techniques and skills to help us become better film makers.

Planning the music video

1) Location
          We had a variety of locations to choose from: the park, the beach, and etc. Our friend offered to let her house be used as a filming setting, primarily her backyard. We plan to film at night time since the song emphasizes a dark setting. The location and time of day will be essential since we are going to utilize a bonfire. We will also film in her dining room for bar scenes.
2) Health & Safety
          We will carpool to the location so kidnappings is not an issue. We will be very careful with the bonfire. Our friend's dad will ignite the fire and we will have a fire extinguisher on standby. We will also have first aid kit ready to be used in case of any accidents. We will also make sure to use the fireworks appropriately and effectively.
3) Props
          We may use fireworks, the small kind. It will be a cool subject to film in slow motion. We may also use drinking glasses and/or solo cups to create a night-time party atmosphere. We will also use our phones in the music video as a way for the characters to communicate. The bartender will have a cloth rag to clean up the bar.
4) Costumes
          The characters will be dressed up for a party. One of the characters will have sun glasses on because it will fit with the lyrics in the song. The 'lover' will have subtle make up on. The man will have jeans and a button up. The sun glasses character will wear all black.
5) Schedule
          This blog and the storyboard blog will be due on Thursday 11/21. We will film on Saturday, 11/23 at our friends house. The first filming blog will be due on Monday, 11/25. It will have our experience of filming for the first time off campus. If we need to re-shoot, we may film again over Thanksgiving Break. Then our second filming blog will be due Monday, 12/2.

Researching the music video

In our AICE Media Studies class we recently just finished our commercial. I’ve learned a numerous amount of skills and techniques. For instance, I learned how to work together as a team and improvise no matter the circumstances. I also improved my acting skills and learned how to effectively manage my time. Not everything went my way, but I still had to go on and complete our project. All the things I’ve learned from the commercial I’ll be able to use for the music video. This time my group and I will perform even better than last time. 
We picked the song We Are Young by “Fun.” We discussed what song we were going to choose for about an hour. We all liked this song over the others we talked about. Hey ya! by Outkast was also a prominent candidate. We honestly just liked We Are Young more. We liked the upbeat music and decided not to do Hey Ya! because We are Young is more descriptive and we had better ideas for it. We Are Young is a son that was popular when we were about 6 years ago and felt nice to reminisce on that time so we chose it for our music video.
Conventions in pop music videos are very similar to each other. They all use identical strategies to convey their message. Most camera angles were eye level to fully capture the face of the singer. There were numerous close-up shots of the singer's mouth while they were mouthing the lyrics. Lots of sound effects of that emphasize what is going on in the music video, like glass breaking. Handheld shots where the camera is a bit shaky to immerse viewers into the video. A great deal of pop music videos used slow motion to make more actions more dramatic.  
The apparel worn in the majority of pop music videos is modern and trendy. They wear outfits that match the scene and the lyrics of the song. Also, lighting is a big factor in all music videos. The lighting used is similar to a spotlight pointing out the performers. The lights are bright and used to enhance the scenes quality. The acting done in the videos are generally just the artists singing, and dancing. Sometimes directors hire actors if the song represents a story or actions. Almost all people used in a music video wear makeup to hide imperfections or to enhance their role. They also match makeup and lighting so the two compliment each other. Props utilized consist of instruments,  mic stands, and items that connect to the song; props should also relate to the character that’s is acting. The setting used is completely dependent on what the director thinks is best. Some songs assist deciding the setting because they have an upbeat or sad vibe to it.

Actually editing the commercial

So my group and I finally got to start editing our commercial on Monday. After all the frustration and built up anger we we’re relieved. Especially me I was probably the most emotional about the whole situation. So Rafael was the main person in charge of editing our film. Emily helped Rafael by cutting down the length of our film. She also suggested the footage we used. The original time length of our commercial was about a minute and thirty seconds. The final cut needed to be about 30 seconds. So when they finished cutting everything down I began to edit. I contributed by doing most of the audio and sound effects. We used pinnacle studios as our program to edit. Our acting was not good as professionals, but I think we did the best we could. It was some what cheesy and embarrassing for me to watch, because of the typical movie actors I’m used to watching. Although our commercial was an informational and serious film, a lot of the acting was quite funny. I added audio that I thought matched each scene well. For instance, I retrieved the background music that played during the conversation between the boys. The name of the song is called ‘Dansez — Fashion’. The music lightened up the mood in a sense. The beat was also very catchy making you want to bounce with it. Another piece of audio I obtained was the sound effect for when boy 1 pulls out the vape. The effect made it seem like the vape was special and unique. That’s why boy 2 responds with a confused tone. Another sound effect I retrieved was the audio used when the principal looks at the vape in the boys hand. It made the viewers feel like boy 2 was in serious trouble. It’s an iconic effect used in a lot of videos and movies. A lot of content creators use this sound effect. Most  of the sound effects and audio I found was hard to mesh together though. So instead of me putting together choppy audio I let Rafael put the audio together. He smoothened everything out and made it flow. That’s how my ground and I formed our final cut for the commercial.

Kind of editing the Commercial

Class on Friday we dumped all our footage onto a computer expecting to begin filming. To my surprise our technology was not working. The editing program we utilize wasn’t working for anyone in the class. It was a complete disaster and chaos. We tried all we could, but there was little to nothing we could do. Because of the lack of ability to edit our commercials my group and I all had to set back our schedules. Dumping our scenes on the class computers was pointless. We transferred all the files to an usb drive and took it home for the weekend. Rafael wanted to begin the film process at home over the weekend, but we ran into another problem. We lost some of our scenes from transferring files.

Tuesday when I arrived in class Rafael broke the news to the group. We had yet another problem added to our list. The amount of frustration I was feeling was unimaginable. All the work we had put in had been going to waste. We filmed scenes that we weren’t able to use. We had to reshoot different scenes and take time out of our editing process. My group and I checked the equipment out and got straight to filming the missing scenes. We then realized I was missing props such as my backpack. I had to improvise and keep shooting the scenes. We changed things that we were able to and left things that we couldn’t alone.

We also had to film without a tripod because the one we received was missing a piece. Even though it was tedious to reshoot everything we got the job done. I had to act out extra scenes to help the flow of the commercial and help everything mesh together. Our group went back to class and began using a computer. Running into another problem that the editing program was never fixed over the weekend. So we weren’t able to edit our footage at all. Also, we still don’t know when we are going to be able to edit. Even though we couldn’t edit in class Rafael suggested that he will try and edit some of the scenes at home. At this point my whole group including me was beyond infuriated with the lack of ability to complete our assignment. Hopefully next class we’ll get an opportunity to finish working on our commercial.

Filming the Commercial

          When filming our commercial I performed a multitude of different actions. My part in our commercial was to be an actor and to help brainstorm ideas. I would suggest different scenes, angles, and shots to my group members. We obtained our equipment and ventured to the upstairs media bathroom. The bathroom was crowded with to many people so we had to resort to our back up plan. We decided to film at the downstairs bathroom where it was more convenient. I began setting up the camera and tripod, but soon realized that a piece of our equipment was broken. Nothing seemed to be going my way. I had to go back to my class and replace the broken parts. After I finally had the proper equipment we began filming.
            My group members and I initiated filming our scenes. I started off reciting my lines from the script, but the lines didn’t seem realistic. I decided to improvise and alter my lines from the script. We previously created a storyboard, but we added various little details to help improve our commercial. My teammate recorded me multiple times, because we wanted each scene to be perfect. I went back and forth speaking to my cast member during the film. The basis of our commercial was a conversation between me and my group member about vaping. The filming was tedious, because of the constant amount of people going in and out of the restroom. I had to do every scene quickly, while doing it to the best of my abilities.We'd have to re-shoot an abundance of scenes, because of the different sounds and people getting in the camera's view.
               We planned on filming all of our scenes in one day, but because of all the minor setbacks we were not able to finish. We split our filming into two days. Wednesday we filmed the majority of our commercial, while Friday we finished everything up. I played one of the two boys in the film. My character was a young teen who was influenced by a peer to try vaping. I was peer pressured to vape and eventually had to pay the consequences for it. I was caught vaping by my peer who was the principle in our commercial. I thought I did an exceptional job acting, and buying into my character. After reviewing all the scenes at the end I was happy with my performance, how I acted everything out. Although the filming process didn't go as smoothed as I liked my group members and I were able to complete our commercial. We were pleased with the final result, and proud of each other.