Filming part 1

         Much to our group's dismay, our group was incapable of filming over this weekend. There was a big event over the weekends known as classics. Classics is a football game that is extremely significant in Florida. This is because it is a competition between two very important schools musically: Bethune Cookman University and Florida A&M University. This event is so significant that our school held a field trip just so that the students could have a shot at viewing this spectacular phenomenon. Being band kids, this event was greatly intriguing and all though I did not attend, I could completely understand when one of our group members decided to travel there with her family over the weekend. However, this would mean that our group would be incapable of filming over the weekend. As seen in the storyboard, all four of us are required in order for us to shoot the scenes. Should Aaliyah be excluded, the impact and overall vision intended to be created through the song would be tarnished. Additionally, my responsibilities at home with my mother also contributed to our not filming the project over the weekend. 

           Despite this setback, we still intend to film as planned. We will still meet up at Lauren's house, and though it's unofficial, I believe on of her parents will be picking us up. The filming process will begin at around 3 or 4 o' clock. Our goal is to shoot the scenes required at the meeting location and be at Sawgrass Mall by golden hour. This is so that we can get the perfect lighting for our film, as lighting was a major issue when we were doing the commercial. We will arrive in our casual clothes, after which we will change into something more outgoing. The theme was supposed to be "trendy and casual", but I wasn't sure how to apply that, especially considering my group's contrast of interest. Unfortunately, the images shown to me for reference were majority pants and crop top themed outfits, which would be an issue for me, considering my religious beliefs. My beliefs may also go against the scene in which we're getting ready, applying makeup and other things, as I do not engage in such practices as well. Nevertheless, I will think of a method of compromise in order to ensure that the film is according to the desire of the entire group. 

              After we enter the mall, we intend to ask for the consent to film from the mmall in order to ensure that everything we do is within the guidelines of the law. After this, we intend to go into the stores and film. Whether Lauren's parents will be participating in the film whether to serve as an adult supervisor, assistance to film, or merely to watch us is undisclosed to me. This iis not the only thing I am uncertain of. We do not know when filming will end, meaning I do not know if food will be provided. Because of this, I would appreciate to know if it will be necessary to bring money to et. I also do not know at what time I would have the opportunity to do so. I also do not know the time at which I will be returning home, nor by what method. However, I have assurance the all the intricacies of the project will be sorted out by tomorrow, the filming day. Our goal is for our project to be more successful than the previous one. Hopefully we will be able to achieve it!

Planning: Storyboarding

My group and I made sure to create a good storyboard. Our blog fills up three pages of boxes with six boxes on each page. Each box represents six seconds, and we come up to one minute and 18 seconds total. The purpose of this blog is to thoroughly describe these boxes to have a clear understanding before we record. The video will begins with an establishing shot of all four members sitting together happily while the music plays softly in the background, allowing the music to emphasize the bass of the music. The second shot will contain the two other girls (Aaliyah and I) will comment on how good the song is. After this, there will be a shot of Lauren and Jahrvia singing the lyrics to a small part of the song found in the intro. This will be a two shot. A swipe transition will occur and the next scene is the transition from the introduction to the song. The shot will start in the sky where the title of the film will be displayed as well as our names in the bottom right corner.

It is at this point that the song begins, and the sky will begin to tilt down and then cut to a split screen in fours as opposed to two. This scene will have the four of us getting ready, and then a tracking shot of the four girls together walking to go into the car. There will be a point of view shot that will show either Lauren or Jahrvia driving to the location, after which we will have a ride shot of the girls dancing across the cross walk entering the Sawgrass Mills Mall, which will be a wide shot. The next scene will be a hand-held shot of the girls walking into the mall, and then another of us(the girls) in a cart, touring the mall. The first store we will film in will be hot topic. When in hot topic, there will be shots of us dancing and lip syncing the lyrics to the song. After this, we will enter Zumies, checking out the skateboards and shoes. We will rely heavily on pan movements for this scene. We will do a similar, less pan heavy shot of us in Foot Locker, after which we’ll do either a hand held or tracking hot in the food court browsing for food. The final scene will be of us playing video games in an arcade— there will be a full body shot of one person playing games, perhaps flipped, after which the screen will cut to black, quickly show us all playing video games again, and then conclude the video.

Planning Blog

For our music video, there are five important considerations to take into account: location, health and safety, props, costumes and schedule. We intend to use various locations for our music video, the primary settings being Lauren's (a group member's) house and Sawgrass Mall. At Lauren's house, we intend to shoot the introduction to the film. The rest of the entire film will be at Sawgrass. We intend to use different sections and enter stores such as Hot Topic and Zumies. We will also be going to the food court and the outside outlet. In order to ensure that everything is legal and to have full access to the things we need in the mall, we will make sure to ask consent at the front to see if we can record. Health and safety isn't much of a concern, we don't intend to do anything dangerous of health endangering. Because of this, we will not be bringing much to ensure our health or safety. However, there are so many ways to get injured, maybe a pack of band-aids would come in handy. Additionally, should we drive we will be careful to abide by the rules of the road, including seat belts. Props will be whatever we have access to-- the clothes in the stores, the items in the background, etc. However, we intend to have makeup and a car in our film. Our clothes, like the location, will change with the placement in the song. We intend to wear casual clothes to Lauren's house, and as the music moves from the intro to the song, we will change from casual to something more extravagant. We will be doing this to compliment the theme of our music video. The last consideration is the schedule. Filming of the blog will begin on Tuesday; we’ll sign out the camera during 7th period to record after school. When school is over, everyone will travel to Lauren’s house where we will shoot the introduction. Should the weather go as intended, we will travel to Sawgrass where we will shoot the outside scenes, and then go inside to shoot the inside scenes. The time for eating as well as the time we intend to return to our homes has not been established, but it’s almost guaranteed to be before night fall. I am positive, especially considering our previous experience, that this filming process will be a tremendous success!

Intro to new project: Music video

I enjoyed and learned many things doing the McDonald's commercial. Working with my peers was a very entertaining, we were efficient and worked with a positive outlook for the entirety of the project. The filming of the commercial was definitely the most eventful process-- I learned a lot about the camera and the angles. I had retained the knowledge from the lectures in class, but I wasn't actually able to apply it when we began the process until gaining some experience during the filming process. Editing, contrary to the film, was a boring and strenuous process. I have learned much about editing, however my group had also learned that it is much easier to simply use iMovie as opposed to Pinnacle Studios. I have also learned to save an extra copy of our takes should something happen and remain faithful to the storyboard.

The song we selected was "Catch Me Outside" by rapper Ski Mask the Slump God. It's a well known song and is enjoyed by my groupmates, so we decided to do it. The song sets an exciting and liberating mood, a theme that we intend to highlight and emphasize in our music video.

I personally do not take pleasure in listening to rap music, but I know that the music typically follows a heavy base line and a repeated chord progression. As for the videos, I know that the lighting is rarely, if ever vibrant and pans are frequently utilized alongside your typical cut or jump cut.

1. Costume: We will start the film in casual clothing, after which we will change into more exciting attire. We're chnaging to head on the road, meaning we're dressing in hopes of clear weather.
2. Lighting: Though our music video will start in a bright and positive atmosphere, we will be following the typical rap theme and change to a darker mood. This will be to represent our "night of the town" theme and not stray too far from the popular rap atmosphere.
3. Actor: We're positive that we will all be performing in our film. However, there is a chance that we will be using outside individuals to help give us a free, party-like atmosphere.
4. Make-up: I am religiously restrained from wearing makeup, but my group members might take pleasure in wearing it.
5. Props: Any objects found in our environment are a potential prop. Specifically, we intend to go to the mall and use the sports car display. 
6. Scenery: Our scenery will be at the mall and the house where we all gather in the film. However, this is not concrete as yet.

Final Blog

Today was the the start of the last step of our commercial making process. We had looked at the films last class to find the shots. There was a lot of extra and unnecessary footage, so we had to crop a lot of it out. Lauren did most of the computer work. We both transferred the files to the computer, but she decided to do the editing. While we were doing this, we faced some problems that hindered the process. For instance, our computer died multiple times when we were finding our shots. The computers do not have individual chargers, so when it died we couldn’t use it anymore. We told the teacher and did some planning for today when we would be combining the shots. Even though it was a PSD (professional study day), we figured that we would be able to complete at least the combination of scenes by today.

Things did not exactly go as planned today, however. We had limited time with the PSD, but still a substantial amount of challenges. We had chosen our shots for each scene, but when we combined them it ended up being too long. The commercial was reaching the filming limit by the second or third scene. This means that we had to crop, cut, pick, and choose even more. One of our ideas for concision was to make a split screen when the children open their happy meals. It was a brilliant idea in our minds. To add, it would make our video more concise. As great as the idea was, however, we quickly faced an issue in accomplishing it after we realized that the shots weren’t the same length. As if that weren’t bad, we also didn’t know how to do a split screen. Both of the teachers were absent today, so we resorted to the internet. However, the internet was not concise and was difficult to understand. We decided to put that part off for when the teachers come back next class. To put the icing on the cake, our computer was yet again short on battery. As a result of this, our computer yet again died in the middle of our working process. The video saved, but time was wasted as we could not continue working. This means that we will have to add effects, audio and finish today’s work by next class. Unfortunately, we cannot work on this at home because we chose pinnacle studios and not iMovie. Should we get the opportunity to work together again, l will hope to have my group use a different software, preferably one we can use at home.

Next class will hopefully be better. I have selected an image of the McDonald’s logo that we will use when the scene fades. We will also be adding audio as well as some effects if possible. I look forward to class and have learned from today’s experiences!