Filming Blog for the Music Video Project

     I began the filming process and ended it on the same day on 19 November. My brother and I spent four hours recording the short shots that I needed for this music video. I did not expect that it would take very long for recording. Every shot that we would take I would ask to retake as it didn't fit the concept that I was looking for. We were also goofing off a little bit as well, so there are many shots that were unusable. After recording and discarding shots, I ended up with seven plausible ones to use.

    My brother did not want to help set up; he strictly wanted to be the cameraman. I began by scattering work I had done in former years all over the floor, as well as a binder, a folder, a bullet journal, and a small laptop. I put my guitar next to me as it was meant to be a symbol of taking time to do something that I wanted to do. I sat surrounded by the many papers. I debated between looking bored and having my head down, so I decided to do both in different outfits, as I needed one for the shot where it is all three of us. The shots are around 1-2 minutes long as I wanted to throw in different positions for the shot and crop out the one I wanted to use.

    I then needed a shot of myself grabbing my guitar to indicate me doing what I want instead of work for once. I proceeded to go through this shot in 3 different ways. The first one was where I would close my computer, put it down, grab my guitar, and start strumming. The second one would have me closing the folder, binder, and bullet journal and proceed to grab my guitar and start strumming. The last one I would dismiss papers and again, grab my guitar and start strumming. I will decide with my group during our editing process when which one we will choose.

    The last shot I needed was me going through my phone. In these sequences, it is now nighttime and we wanted to show that our boring day has continued. I didn't have to wait for sundown as it was good timing that the sun was setting when we finished filming, I realized I didn't need my brother to be a cameraman for these shots so he left and did his homework as I could prop my phone up with some pillows. It was difficult as it was dark and I didn't want to turn on a light. I ended up with two plausible shots.

Storyboard for the Music Video Project

     This music video takes up 17 boxes with 1 being a backup in case our member could not perform one of the scenes. We first planned what part of the song and what lyrics we wanted to use for this project. We chose 0:03-1:03 to have the guitar in for the beginning, and 1:03 seemed like a good spot to end it naturally. We labeled the boxes with corresponding numbers to make recording more efficient. My scenes are highlighted in purple, Nikaliyah's are highlighted in blue, and Perla's are highlighted in pink.

    Boxes 1-4

These first four scenes will introduce our music video. In these scenes, we are wearily doing tasks we do every day. I am surrounded by piles of work, Nikaliyah is going through online school being exhausted, and Perla is eating her food with disinterest. Playing my guitar is a transition between what happens in the day and then at the night.

    Boxes 5-8

Continuing from the morning, the routine continues at night. I am bored and scrolling through my phone, Nikaliyah is getting herself ready for bed without interest, and Perla is having a difficult time sleeping due to the stress she is going through. We are trying to capture what someone might go through when they're exhausted going through a repetitive routine that doesn't change. Box 8 shows us doing what we did in boxes 1-3, indicating that a new day has started with the same routine.

    Boxes 9-12

These boxes are capturing what the lyrics "I washed my tired body, And turned on the boring TV again, The dull news is going on and on, About something again today". Nikaliyah is personifying and acting out these lyrics. She is first showering with clothes on, or if she chooses to use the alternate scene where she will turn on the shower. Then she will turn on the TV, look at the dull news, and will lay down on her side. A view of her backside and her phone will show, and her phone will have a reassuring text message shown.

    Boxes 14-16

Following the reassuring text message shot, this will begin the process where the characters find a time for peace in what seems like overwhelming chaos. I will be writing down an affirmation saying "I will have time for myself" over and over again to embody our message of finding a time of peace. I will then push away an object representing time and gravitate towards something I want to do, indicating that I would rather do something I want to do then keep worrying that I have no time for anything. Perla will hold something precious to her, which will remind her that there is more than just the stress and routine she is going through currently. Alluding to box 7 where Perla is distressfully sleeping, Perla in box 16 is now sleeping peacefully, something she hasn't done in a long time.

    Box 17

The last box is different than box 8. In box 8 we are repeating the same repetitive routine, but in this one, we are doing something different, which means we're breaking the routine. This last shot emphasizes our video's message, which was in short, finding a time of peace in the midst of burnout and stress. 

Planning for the Music Video Project

We planned this all together. We have a OneNote notebook with the planning schedule and roles so that everyone knows what to do. We felt that it would be important if we had it written down for recording as well as efficiency purposes. As a group, we collectively want this video to turn out as good as we can possibly make it, however, that all starts with a structured plan. This plan, I feel and I hope my members feel, was a good plan as nobody would feel overwhelmed due to a strict schedule and the work is equally distributed.

    Props

In our music video, the props we decided to use were everyday household items. This would work to our advantage best because we are all social distancing due to Covid-19. Items would be cellphones, notebooks, plates, television, books, etc. These props would go along with our storyline to make our music video's message as fluent as possible.

    Costumes 

For our costumes, we would be in everyday casual attire. 

    Location

We have three members in our group and will be filming in the comfort of our own homes. Each location for our video will correlate with the scene but there will be nothing too formal. Each scene will have to do with a lyric in the song, and will either be a bedroom, study, or dining room. 

    Schedule

Our plan is to break our schedule up within a span of 5 weeks for efficiency and to not overwork our members, because we know that we are overwhelmed with other assignments and activities. 

Week 1; 8-14 November 2020 -This week was planning the initial stages of our music video. This is the time when we chose the song, did our intro blogs, and researched different music videos and concepts.

Week 2; 15-21 November 2020 -This is when we focused more on our blogs than anything else. We all researched different concepts to know a common goal for our video. We had a call and discussed the best and most time-efficient way to film and blog our process. From research, we formulated our storyboard. We each were responsible for one group blog so the work was done collectively on time. One of our filming days was set for this week, which is on the 20th.

Week 3; 22-28 November 2020 - This week is our Thanksgiving break. We didn't want to have a rough week as one of our member's birthdays will be during this week. We set our final day for filming the rest of the shots on the 25th. We will begin the editing process on the 28th.

Week 4; 29-30 November & 1-5 December 2020 - We all had dates on when to have our filming completed which was the 20th and the 28th. We will finish our editing process this week. 

Week 5; 6-12 December 2020 - We will review our music video constantly to make sure it is perfected to our liking. It is due on the 8th so that gives time for all members to review and correct any mistakes.

    Backup Plan

Although we do not forsee any need for a backup plan as this will be done in the comfort of our homes, if for any reason a member cannot complete their assigned shots and editing another member will fill in for their roles.

Research for the Music Video Project

    For our Music Video, the genre we chose was K-Pop. K-Pop has been receiving attention in western media and we have recently taken an interest in it. The choreography and the intense training that goes into these diligent, crafted idols are interesting. Our music video and concept were to go after a more harrowing side of music in general. It does not just capture what different music genres envelope, but rather the thoughts of what humans, especially teens like us, go through.

    Beginning on the research process, the conventions in our music video would be a story that follows teenagers suffering from burn-out, exhaustion, loneliness, and finding time for themselves to be at peace. Written codes would include affirmations saying "You can do this" and other sorts to further induce the urge of finding peace. Symbolic codes in this Music Video would be Mise en Scene, with the following; 

→Costume: normal attire

→Lighting: high and low key lighting

→Acting: performing everyday tasks

→Makeup: no makeup, just our natural looks

→Props: piles of work, computer, and things one would normally see at home

→Setting: at home

    Additional research for this music video was searching for stock photos on the internet, to find an image similar to the scenes we envisioned. We will look back to the selected images in case we have difficulties when starting to film. We also searched for music videos related to the video we envisioned. To observe and create ideas inspired by the videos we searched. The videos we used to research for our music video were related to the type of vibe we wanted to capture and Stray Kids since Another Day was written by Stray Kids. The music video "Ex" by Stray Kids had the same vibe we wanted for our music video and they include a "Making MV" video that shows some aspects on how they did it. The other videos include Stray Kids "19" Video and one of their mixtape "Making MV" videos. The link to that playlist can be clicked on using this link. Since we chose a song in the K-Pop genre, the music contained Korean lines. The lyrics were needed to be translated, so we could understand the meaning in English. We looked for many translations and interpretations of the song that we could then develop a story in our music video based on the lyrics.

Introduction to the Music Video Project

    For this music video project, I decided to work with Perla Caceres and Nikaliyah Barnett. These two are one of my closest friends, and I have worked with these two before. I worked with Perla for the Genre Project and I have worked with Nikaliyah for our criminal justice assignments. These two have a great work ethic and I know we can create a wonderful project with great visuals. I am very excited to work with these two. We took a long time deciding what song to choose. Scrolling through the group chat we made a day prior, you can see many messages asking "if you were in a music video, what music video would it be?" sent from me. They would joke around and send replies that I hoped wasn't serious - and thankfully they aren't - which would often delay our brainstorming. We were stuck on debating different songs that didn't fit our different personalities, and different concepts were introduced. We all agreed on one thing, which was we wanted a calm song that was not too upbeat.

    After much debate, we decided on "Another Day" by the Kpop boy group Stray Kids. I am a fan of Stray Kids, I even put a GIF of them on my first blog. I was glad that I could convince them to go with this song. I convinced them by introducing the promise of in-depth but straightforward shots that could go perfectly with this song. I envisioned many scenes that I thought could elucidate the meaning of the song and our message. Another Day's meaning is deep, from interpreting the lyrics and looking at many comments, I learned that the lyrics written by HAN meant feeling anxiety, loneliness, emptiness caused by burnout, and the inability to rest without worrying. We three have felt these before, especially these days when we are more focused on completing nonstop assignments and never have time for ourselves. It's difficult particularly when you don't know when you'll stop feeling this way or when everything will just conclude; it's distressful to think that there's no end and no one is there to help you. I'm sure that a large majority of people have experienced extreme burnout. Using this song, we wanted to convey a message that even though you are going through a stressful time or a continuous tedious routine with no change, that there is a moment where you will be at peace and find time for yourself. We hope that through our music video, our message will be communicated. 

CCR Blog

1. How does your product use or challenge conventions AND how does it represent social groups or issues?

    I looked for many commercials relating to Crayola Air-Dry clay. Commercials featuring air-dry clay are not as common as I thought they would be, so I had to search up relating products and relating themes I wanted to recreate. 

2. How does your product engage with audiences AND how would it be distributed as a real media text?

    My product engages with audiences that enjoy a creepy vibe to what they watch. Granted it was sort of funny with the doll animating while the person in the background talking, but it also had a creepy vibe to it due to the lightning and the scenes leading up do the doll animation. My product would most likely be distributed through Television on a kids' program during the Halloween season. Crayola is a brand that is easily recognizable and it would be more suited towards children. Halloween would be an adequate season to air this since the advertisement's coloring and scenes warrant an ominous vibe.

3. How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

    My production skills developed a little bit more than the last project. For this commercial, I added something I did not add before, which was coloring. I had much fun editing the coloring to where I saw fit. During planning and filming, I added aspects that I had not tried before. The flickering light which I saw common in creepy films was something I wanted to recreate and for a brief moment in the introduction scene, you could see a flickering light. As stated in the previous blogs, claymation or stop-motion animation was something I had not tried before either. It was a very tedious yet entertaining task, and I would love to have had the chance to remake it and make it look smoother. I did not know how to do it and had watched a few tutorials beforehand, and I felt my first claymation attempt was successful.

4. How did you integrate technologies - software, hardware, and online - in this project? 

    As mentioned previously, I added coloring to this project. I used VideoStar to add coloring, which is a mobile app. I would have liked to have found a software able to add color on my desktop, but since I already paid for the pass on VideoStar, it was the most practical way to do it. I used my phone for recording this commercial, and I played around with the video settings until I found what suited the commercial. I used OpenShot once again to edit this project, and every time I use it I am amazed as this free software has so many features.

Commercial Blog

 Looking at my commercial now... 

    I could change some things. I could have made the first shot a bit longer as it did not fully showcase many aspects of the desk. The flickering light was not shown properly, and the Crayola label on the Air-Dry clay container can not be shown well either; it was barely visible. We were in a rush to make sure that the clip could be no longer than 5 seconds that we couldn't even reach 5 seconds. The towel in the claymation was placed incorrectly, so I wish I had watched the clip beforehand so I could have placed the towel correctly. I also wish that I had taken more time on the claymation, as it looks a bit choppy. I would like to have used better transitions for this commercial as well. The shot between the doll being placed down and before it animates looks rough, and I could have done it differently. I should have kept the angle the same, but since I was holding the camera up, it would have tired my arms quickly. It would have been uneven as I would have to keep it up while repositioning the doll and I did not have a tripod. I used many things to keep my phone up.

    I think I improved my editing skills, even if it is just a little bit. I did not know how to edit before I took this class and I knew nothing about production, however, creating this commercial has given me more knowledge. Looking at my commercial now, I see a plethora of opportunities to continue improving on my production and editing skills. I feel this project demonstrates my ability to progress in my production. It demonstrates that as a beginner, there is potential for refining my skills. This project was not only fun to create, but a good learning experience. I underwent the tedious tasks and found a way to enjoy myself while doing it. 

    If the video is not able to be viewed here, this link should be able to take you straight to the unlisted video.