Editing the Music Video

     Now that we were done filming our music video it was time to edit it. We use Pinnacle Studios to edit our video just like we did with the commercial. We had a lot of footage to edit. We estimated about three minutes of footage. The video can only but to a minute and fifteen seconds so we knew we would have to cut a lot out. First we downloaded the footage onto our group members flash drive. Then we downloaded that into Pinnacle Studios. While we waited for that to load we downloaded the song of our music video onto the flash drive. I took out my notes to make sure we had to convert it to an mp3. Then we got the song off of YouTube and converted it.
     After we downloaded the song onto the flash drive we had to upload that into Pinnacle Studios. We waited for that to load and realized our footage was finished loading. We decided what clip we wanted first and were going to insert it into the correct track. Then we realized we did not have said clip. We counted the clips we had and realized we were missing two of them. I sent the clips to my group member and she tried to email them to the computer. Unfortunately, the email was not sending. Fortunately though, our one group member already had the clip in her email logged into the comouter. This clip was our opening clip and we downloaded it onto Pinnacle Studios. The email containing the other missing clip finally went through. Then we downloaded it onto Pinnacle Studios as well.
     We now had all of our clips downloaded onto Pinnacle Studios. We first put the audio in the third track. We decided the intro was too long since the video was only a minute and fifteen seconds. We decided what time to start the video from. Then we inserted our opening clip there. This clip was too long and we only needed a part of it. We discussed where in the clip to start it. I suggested right before we open the doors to the mall. My group mate said after we get past a pole that was in the mall we would end the clip. Then we decided to come back the next day during study hall to finish filming.

Filming The Music Video: Our Experience

    Filming went smoothly. Even though there were complications I feel that we were more efficient this time. This could be because it wasn't our first time filming. It could also have been easier because there was no speaking. In our commercial we had to speak and have a somewhat believable dialogue. In our music video we have no dialogue. Also, there is less acting in our music video. In our commercial we had to play characters and act a little. In our music video though, we rely more on being natural. We did this since our video is based around friends having a good time.
Since me and my group partner were friends we didn't necessarily have to act to show friends having fun.
     Since we had more skill in filming, it was more enjoyable. Being in a good mood was helpful for filming. This is because the mood for the video was happy and relaxed. Not being hungry definitely helped morale. Personally, I get irritated easily when I'm hungry which wouldn't be good for filming. Fortunetely, my group mate had brought muffins. The muffins tasted very good. We hung out a little before a little so we were in a relaxed mood. This made filming run smoothly putting aside the mishaps that happened. Overall there was a good morale for filming the music video.
     While filming we had a lot of communication with each other. Communication is important because this is a group project and everyone should be able to voice their opinion. Communication helps to make the group project truly a group effort. I asked others what they felt about what we just shot and if they would like to reshoot. I also asked about what they wanted to do next, where, and what angle. My other group members asked me questions. They also gave me their opinions on what we should do. This made everyone easily agree on what we would film. Everyone was happy with the footage we had. Also, everyone had a say and their opinions listened to.

Filming the Music Video

     Once we arrived at our location, the mall, we scoped out places to film. Since we did not want to get kicked out we looked for places that were mostly vacant. Unfortunately, one of the best places to film in the mall, since it was so empty, was holding a talent show. Then, I had the idea to film a little further ahead away from the talent show and still empty. We collectively decided this is where we would start filming. The group member who had the camera pulled it out only for us to realize there was no SD card. There was no way to get it from her house to the mall so we couldn't film with the camera. I had the idea to film with our phones instead so this wouldn't be a wasted trip. We decided to use my phone to film. Then, we decided to go to another filming location since the phone was more discreet.
     We tried to follow the story board and planning blog but many things had to be changed. It was too hot for hoodies and onsies so we had to stick to a fall outfit. We also decided not to go to the park or Mayapapya Juicery. The first location we filmed at was by the giant Christmas tree in the middle of the mall. For the music video I was one of the main actresses along with my other group mate. Our other group mate filmed as we shuffled our music to the beat of the song. I had an idea that when we filmed on the escalator we could have a pan to the tree since it was very pretty. We filmed some shots of us doing random poses on the escalator. Then we decided to film some outside scenes since the exit was nearby. We did some random dances and jumps for the action match. Throughout the filming process we mostly let ideas come to us.
     We filmed another shot from the storyboard of us running through the doors of the mall. Then we went to the back of the mall and filmed some more shots there. We danced by the columns near the escalator. After, we were at a lost of where else to film. I suggested we go to this upper hallway across from the escalator. We then filmed a shot where it looked like me and my group member were talking and then we turn to look at the huge Christmas tree. When we looked the group member holding the camera would come closer like a zoom in. Then we used the seats under the tree too. We filmed a jumping shot for the action match on the bench. We also filmed me in a little ornament chair doing random things. Filming went smoothly and we have more than enough footage.

Storyboard for Music Video

Part 1

The first box shows a group of three teens walking while the intro plays. The second box shows the camera tilting up to the sun. The third box shows the group of teens walking into the store when the beat drops in the song. The fourth box shoes the teens shuffling their feet to the beat. The fifth box shows the teens doing random poses on the escalator in the mall. The sixth box shows the teens just laughing and having fun.

                                                                           Part 2
The first box in the second part shows an action match of the teens jumping and then landing in a different location. The second box shows the teens playing classic hand games in the park. The third box shows the teens on the swings in the park. The fourth box shows the camera panning to a juicery the teens are about to go in. The fifth box shows the teens making funny faces at the camera while drinking their juices. The sixth box shows the teens sitting outside and the camera tilting to the night sky.

Planning Blog

We were planning to originally film at Galleria Mall. They have their Christmas decorations up and a big space to run around. That’s also where a lot of kids hang out. We were also planning to film at George English park. We were planning to film there anyways if we can't film at Galleria Mall. If the weather is bad and raining, we can film at Myapapaya Juicery that's right next to the park. If we don't have enough footage for the one minute and 5-15 second commercial, we're going to go to Party City. Each member of the group can get dropped off and picked up by their parents. If we do go to our backup filming places, we're going to use the pedestrian signals and the cross walk to stay safe. 

        We were thinking of using bubbles, balloons, confetti for props. We're trying to have a fun scene so we're going to make it feel like it's a party. We're trying to make it match the beat and theme of the song. We can get the props from the Dollar Store. We don't want dot waste too much money for just a few scenes. For the costumes we're were thinking about Christmas onesies, fall colored clothes and hoodies. We were going to wear our onesies in the mall to match with the Christmas decorations. The fall clothes and hoodies are going to be worn at the park since it's going to be cold out that day. The clothes will match the fall theme. We weren't planning on any specific type of shoe. We were trying to match the fall aesthetic.  

        For our schedule, we were planning to film all our footage on Saturday, November 23rd. Since our footage is already all filmed, we'll dump all the footage and delete the unnecessary ones on Tuesday, November 26th. If we have the time, we can edit some scenes and put them all together to have more time to edit. If we do need extra footage then we'll go film at Party City on Wednesday, November 27th. We'll start editing the week after Thanksgiving since we can't check out computers during the break. If we don't finish it in the 2 days, we must edit then one of us can check out a computer for the weekend. We'll be on a call to figure out what to do with each scene. Overall we have a pretty good plan that works for all of us

Research For Music Video Project

     Today on November 14th we started a new project. This project is a music video that we are filming ourselves based off of a song of our choosing. Our last project taught me a lot about the production process. It taught me about filming and that it is important to be silent and keep a straight face. I also learned about how to hold the camera and attach it to the tripod. I also learned about the different transitions available on the editing program we use. Now that I have experience in production I think this project will be even better.
     The song we chose is Buttercup by Jack Stauber, We chose this because we found it on the app TikTok and it sound like a fun, upbeat song. The usual conventions for pop music is wide shots, close up shots and pan shots. The sound is mainly upbeat and there's a lot of cut aways. Common costumes in pop music videos are mainly normal everyday clothes. Early 2010 pop music was basic clothes but over the years artists wear more costumes or more unique looks. The theme of these videos play a huge part in the video. The lighting in pop music videos that are more energetic and happy songs have more bright lighting in it while calm and mellow songs have dimmer lighting. The actors in pop videos are mainly the singer themselves, they may have a few extras but its mainly focused on them. The makeup for music videos vary. Some might have very bold makeup looks while some go for a more natural look. There's not really much props in the music videos, there may be a radio or a chair but nothing abnormal. The setting for music videos also vary as well. Most joyful songs are in common, public places while gloomy songs are in buildings or private areas.

Editing

     We finally got the computers working. We were able to edit our blog. We had a little trouble with it at first. Getting the footage in Pinnacle Studios was a but confusing. In the end we were able to get the footage on. There was a lot if times where we had to wait for things to load completely. In that time we mostly discussed what we wanted to do in terms of editing. I heavily pushed for Avril Lavigne to play in the background. We weren't too mad about waiting since we were happy just to be able to edit. After waiting we finally got Pinnacle Studios up and running. 
     We looked at the footage together.  Individually we assessed which clips we wanted to keep in. We also decided on which ones we would take out. There were scenes we shot a couple of times so we had to decide which one was better and chose that for the commercial. We mostly had an agreement on which clips we liked so picking which ones to go was easy. Then we put the footage in a folder to prepare for editing. Then one of our group members put the footage in order. Next, we started trimming the clips. We reviewed it again to see how good it looked. We then started editing each clip such as slowing it down or speeding it up when we needed to.
     Our commercial ended up being a minute long. We had to cut it down some more since it can only be 25-30 seconds. As a group we had to come to another agreement about which clips to keep in. Finally, it was short enough. After my great push the group agreed to put Sk8ter Boi in the background of the video to coincide with the theme. On the last day of editing all we had to do was add in the Vans logo. There were some issues here since it made the commercial too long. We got through and eventually finished. We reviewed it for the last time before all coming to the consensus that it was good. Our commercial is finally done and it looks amazing.
   

Editing Our Commercial

     We finished filming today. There were many things we had to change from our story board once we got on site. We had to reshoot some parts since our clothes changed. We also had to reshoot because fortunately the library let us barrow a table for our “Vans Store”.  We then filmed the parts where my character finally gets a pair of Vans. When we were about to film the last scene of me coming down the stairs, we saw one of our friends in a pair of Vans. I helped persuade him into being in our last group shot. We almost got another Vans wearer in our group but our persuasion didn’t work. Then we headed back to the classroom to put away our props to pick up later. That was the end of filming.

     We were supposed to start editing but our computers aren’t working today. I thought of an idea for when i open the shoebox an Avril Lavigne song is playing in the background. I first thought i could sing a voice over but the group decided we should just play a short clip straight from the song. Along with Avril I thought there could be a bright light shining from the shoebox when I opened it. This didn't work though because it was too bright outside. We also didn't know how to edit the light in. I also had an idea that would make our change of clothes look natural. This was to make it seem like it was a different day. One way was to add some text saying the next day or something of that nature. I don't think our commercial will be heavily edited because I feel the shots we got were good raw.

     A lot of our shots are handheld so the footage looks a little shaky. One shot had a zoom in which reminded me of a scene from The Office. I think our commercial is unique since there were many unplanned things that made it better. I think we might add in bloopers so the audience finds It funny and can relate. Although, it might take away from the fact that it is a commercial so it is still undecided. The raw footage looks unprofessional and shaky like teens made it, which they did. I think we can use editing to help make it look like it was on purpose so they audience gets the feeling of a group of friends made this. I think there are many things we can do with editing to get the affect we are going for. All of our footage is dumped on our flash drive so we are ready to get started. I have a good feeling the commercial will come out fantastic. 

Filming the Commercial

     We started filming our Vans commercial this week. We had a lot to set up since we brought props for our commercial . First we had to bring the props to our location of filming. Some props i brought were Halloween decorations since our commercial was Halloween themed. I brought a fake jack-o-lantern, a pumpkin that had branches coming out of it with ghosts and bats hanging from it, and a light up pumpkin. A non Halloween themed prop was a coupon from a Vans store. The most important prop, though, was my pair of Vans. My shoes were very important since we were filming a shoe commercial. After the props we had to sign out our equipment needed for filming. The equipment we used was a tripod, camera, and SD card.

      In the actual filming I was a main actress. Our first scene was filmed at the Senior Patio outside. Since it was very sunny and hot outside we found a table with an open umbrella. After the establishing shot of the patio was my scene. I put on my converse and sat down at the bench. I talk about how I need new shoes. Then a coupon is slowly shoved in my direction. Next, we switched to a POV shot of "me" noticing the coupon. Then it is back to filming me in confusion of who left the coupon there. That was all we had to film at the Senior Patio and we moved onto our next location.

     Our next location was the bottom of the library still outside. I helped carry the props over to the top of the library since that was where the scene after that was being filmed. This scene was of me going to the store the coupon advertised. This was a shot of my shoes to make sure the audience knows my brand of shoes are not Vans. Next, now at the top of the stairs, is the scene of me arriving at the front of the "Vans Store". We originally tried to put our sign labeled "VANS" on the window but that didn't work. We set up the other props and decided to just have someone from our group hold the sign. The scene is an over the shoulder shot of the doors, that open to the library, to a big Vans sign. Then we had to pack it all up and and finish filming Monday. We then dumped all of our footage on a flash drive.  

Storyboard

-Establishing shot

-Two Shot

-POV Shot

-Reaction Shot

-Cutaway

-Jumpcut

-Tracking Shot

-Over the Shoulder Shot

-Pan

-Medium Shot

-High Angle

-Medium Close Up Shot

-Long Shot

-Close-Up Shot

-Eye-Line Match

-Wide Angle

-Tracking Shot

-Dutch

-Burn out

-Title

Editing Lesson Blog

     We will be editing on pinnacle studios for our commercial. We must use the same computer and same account since our footage will be saved on the desktop itself. First we put the SD card with our footage in the SD card reader. Then we plug it into the computer. After the reader is plugged in a screen will pop up. In this screen we will look for our footage in DCIM. The date and the time on the camera must be correct in order for us to find our footage. If our footage is not on DCIM then we can go to private, then AVCHD, and then stream. In stream is everything on the SD card. We then highlight however many videos we have and put it on the folder we have on our desktop. What we just did was called dumping.
     Then we import all our footage from our computer to pinnacle studios. We have to make sure everything is loaded completely or the system might crash on us. In pinnacle studios instead of clicking the words themselves we have to click the small plus sign beside them. Every time we film we will be inputting all of our footage onto pinnacle studios. If we don't want a certain clip we can just uncheck it. Before we edit we have raw footage. Raw footage is everything we have filmed unenhanced and unedited. There are three tracks we see in pinnacle studios. One is the AV track 1 the top track where the title goes. The second is AV track 2 the middle track where the footage goes. The last one is AV track 3 where the sound goes.
     When we drag our footage down to AV track 3 we will see an orange bar which means it is loading. We have to wait for that bar to become clear to start because that means it has finished loading. We can use the read play bar to play through our footage. We can also you the play button or the space bar to play it. We can double click on the picture of our footage in the corner to make it full screen. To cut our footage we click on the razorblade one which will cut or previously one scene into two. Then we highlight the part we don't want and press delete. If we want to undo something we can always press the back button. We detach the sound by going to NBIO72 and making sure the orange box is around that clip. We then right click and press detach audio. If we want to delete it we make sure the orange, yellow box is around what we want to delete and delete it. To get transitions we right click and press open effects editor. If we want words we hit the T and type what we want. When we are completely done with our project we will export it and make sure it is an mpeg 4.

Planning Blog For Vans Commercial

1) Props

The props that we will use in this commercial will be Vans shoe boxes, a skateboard, a Vans coupon, and Halloween decorations.

2) Costumes

The costumes that we use in this commercial will include Vans apparel. Specifically, Vans shirts, Vans hoodie, Vans shoes, a beanie, and chains for the actors playing on the Vans side. We will also include Converse shoes and shirt for the Converse-side actor.

3)Schedule

First, we will make the storyboard and the script for the commercial. After everyone learns their lines and places, we will begin filming our commercial in the senior patio. Continuing with the commercial on the next day, we will shoot extra takes of skateboard tricks for our commercial which will be featured at the end of the commercial. When we finish filming at the first location, we will then move onto our next location: the Media Center.On the last day of this assignment, we will edit our commercial and put every shot in the order of our storyboard.

4) Location

The locations that will be used for our commercial will be the senior patio, specifically the steps and the tables. We will also film by the Media Center steps, which is where our "Vans store" set will be.

5) Back Up Plan

So if it's raining,we will have to film inside the Media Studies classroom instead of the senior patio. Additionally, we will have to film our skateboard shots near the media center instead because we can still get outside shots, however we will still have a roof over us to not get wet. Also, if one of us who is acting is absent, we will have to change roles in the commercial and one of us would have to play someone else's part. Additionally, if our camera man is absent, we will have one of our actors film, while another actor takes their part.

Convention and Codes of Our Commercial

Our commercial is about Vans products. Some common conventions and codes in Vans commercials include skaters as actors. The target demographic for Vans include teens and young adults, which is why the actors in these commercials are also generally young adults or teens. These actors are typically athletic and often run or do skateboard tricks in the commercials. They also wear Vans shoes and Vans shirts or socks in the commercials. Vans commercials may also feature famous athletes or skaters to talk about the products. The actors are normally within a group of friends; however, some commercials include skaters by themselves.

Additionally, the location of these commercials are usually outside in skate parks or on the street. Typically, the lighting of these commercials are very bright due to the sunny weather of being outside. However, commercials that feature more close ups of the shoes tend to have darker lighting. 

Lastly, common music found in Vans commercials include Rock or Upbeat music. Popular artists that make this type of music for Vans commercials are Avril Lavigne, Sik-K, and DJ, Mia Carucci.

Introductory

     Hi, my name is Alicia and I'm a freshman in high school. I currently take eight classes, three of which are college level classes. At my school we have four classes each day named white days and blue days. On white days I have biology honors, study hall, algebra two honors, and theater. Biology and algebra two are my some of my hardest classes. On blue days I have criminal justice one, AICE media studies, AICE general paper, and AICE global perspectives. The classes with AICE before them are my college level classes and I think I'm handling the workload pretty well.

     Currently I am involved in two clubs; GSA and Interactive club. I like these two clubs a lot because you get to be involved and meet others with similar interests. I have noticed that high school pushes you to do things by yourself such as talk to your teacher about the assignment you missed or sign up for an event that gives you service hours. Besides clubs I like to do other things outside of school. One of these things is watch television. Many think teens spend too much time watching TV, but I think television can be very informative. I have learned many things from watching all types of shows like new words or what different cultures are like. TV and cinema are also very fascinating with the way they come up with captivating stories and how they tell them.

     There are also things I dislike such as mangoes, clear shoes, and bigotry. One thing I really don't like is when people who have an abundance of wealth just hoard it when they could donate it to charities. They would be more than okay financially and would have helped thousands of people but instead they just sit on this money. If I were rich I would just give more than half of my money to charity. This is sometimes what motivates me to do well in school, so I can become a successful rich person and help all those people. That's all for my very first blog.