Editing blog for music video

        We had our storyboard done. We made it through filming. The only thing keeping us from finishing our video was editing. Today we had it all laid out in front of us. We knew that as soon as we got to class, we would whip out our computers and start editing the videos. Technically we told Peter last night to convert the videos so we can start editing. We thought we had it all planned out. We couldn't have been so wrong. This blog is going to be constant bad news because that's basically all we had today in media. It started when Peter told us that he forgot to convert our videos. This couldn't have been any worse to start because we knew we would never be able to convert the videos now with these dinosaur computers. Besides that though, we went through 5 computers before finally finding one that actually opened pinnacle studios. The entire class consisted of us either waiting for something to load, or standing at Ms. cats desk for help.
        Luckily, we weren't the first ones to have this problem. Well besides the fact that they didn't forget to convert their videos. Paige and Roscoe had the same amount of trouble with slow computers and lagging pinnacle studios. They came up with a solution in the end that helped them and gave us an idea. Because they already converted all their videos, they were able to steer away from pinnacle studios entirely and rely on a new editing software. From their phones, they constructed their entire music video on IMOVIE. We could have do the same thing if not put into these circumstances. We left that class with nothing done but between us three, we were able to come up with some ideas that would still ensure we get the project in on time. Right out of class with thought different alternatives. We knew we were limited to doing it at home and getting to Ms. Cats room. Peter stepped up when it came to this. He planned to go home, convert the videos, and download a different software on his computer that we can then use tomorrow. Tomorrow, our idea is to go to Ms. cats room during our second period and hopefully finish the editing that class in order to email it to her Monday. The only con side of this is that there will be another call in there at that time so they come first. All we have to do though is some cutting and move some videos around so we reach the desired video time. Hopefully our plan works for tomorrow because if not, our grade could possibly drop to a point of no saving. None of us can afford that right now. Physically, or mentally.

Filming Blog 2

   We can officially say that we are completely done with filming. Tonight we worked to finish off all of our filming and fix any scenes that may have been rocky. We didn't finish last weekend with all of our filming so we did the rest tonight. We made sure to keep everything the same as our last scenes like clothes, actors, and lighting. Our actor for Delilah, Sydney, came through and was only a little  annoyed that we needed her again. She knew however that the project was very important so she did it for us. I made sure to remind her to wear the same clothes as last time, and any makeup or hair style the same. She did just that with no issues. I on the other hand had a problem finding my True Religion jacket that I wore last time but I eventually found it in the bottom of my laundry which of course didn't to the jacket justice smell wise. I got over it though in the end. We all came together at sundown. Sydney was a little late but it didn't have a huge effect. An effect we did run into was that at Young Circle, some sort of festival was going on so the place was packed. At first we were scared we wouldn't be able to film but we realized that this just makes the New York theme even better. The car noises, the people, all were key factors. Rather than fearing it, we embraced it.
    We started from where we left exactly. We took out our story boards and saw which scene we did and went off. A really big problem we had was the fact that this time we could not use the camera equipment because we rode our bikes there. AT first we though our phones would be just fine but as soon as we got there we looked at our phones and saw how low of a percent they were at. This is when it kicked in that we needed to hurry. We only had a few scenes left and we were on the clock. We breezed right through them and finished just in time. It was pretty late and we were all anxious to get home but we couldn't leave until we reviewed the film. We found a Publix nearby and crowded together to charge my phone. We all sat there and went over the film to see if we messed up anything. Everything looked good so we called it a night. At least now we don't have to worry about filming anymore and now its on to editing.

filming blog

    Last night was a very eventful step towards the completion of the music video for our group. We started our filming process with the help of some friends. Before I start I, I want to say that my group and I did not completely finish all the filming. That was due to our friends needing to leave and the camera battery dying. We still however got a large portion of it done and next time we see our friends we shouldn't have a problem filming it rather quickly.
    Throughout filming, we constantly referred back to our story board as we followed mostly everything on it. To stick with our New York theme, we did use Young Circle as our setting. We all waited till sun down before starting. The lights surrounded young circle so it was perfect. The Christmas season also added a nice touch with a large Christmas tree that we incorporated. Our original idea was to put a wig on Elijahs head to represent Delilah but our friend Sydney came through and she was more than willing to help us. It also worked out very well because Sydney happens to be an experienced actor. We went scene by scene throughout the time we had. I personally was the singer which meant  I had to hold the guitar and lip sing to the music which I fell I did pretty well in if I do say so myself. Peter and Elijah both worked on the camera and any other things to help develop or video. In one case, the singer was supposed to climb into a tree and continue his music. The only problem was I couldn't get up on the tree. So, I stepped on Eli's back which he loved.
      While everything in the end may have worked out, we did run into a few issues, some more serious then others. For starters, we had trouble shooting the tree scene because by the tree was very dark. The camera didn't do the darkness any justice so we used our phones flash. It didn't look as good as the camera would have but it worked fine. Another serious problem we had was Elijah kept on getting bad headaches during the filming. He plays key roles in helping to develop the overall movie and we needed him. We new he was hurting though so we tried filming more quickly so we can get him home. Other than that, we didn't have may other problems and any that we did, we worked out easily. The music video is turning out well and we can't way to see the end product.

Story Board

     For our second blog, we are finishing our story board and writing about what we drew and did. The story board was no different then our last project. We planned out between us what we wanted our commercial to look like and what scenes we wanted to include. It took us a while to agree on how we wanted to film our scene but in the end we came through. The only difference is that because this video is considerably longer, so  is our story board. Instead of 6 slides, we made 12. We began by watching the original video to get some ideas. The whole video revolves around the idea of a distance relationship and the love they share. Our video complements this in the idea that when Delilah thinks hard enough about her true love, he will appear. That's exactly what goes on in our story board.
      For our first slide, it shows a man singing on his guitar sitting on a stool. The back ground is blank and he's alone with the lyrics of his song. The second slide brings us the park, or "New York." The dark sky, with the many lights lighting it up. Just like New York. This is when Delilah appears on our third slide. She's walking on the path as she thinks of of her true love some where far away. She passes a tree and the sound of her true loves voice fills the air. She turns towards the tree and see's nothing but a normal tree. It was in her head she assumes in this 6th slide. We get a medium close up of her confused expression on the 6th slide as well. It happens again in the 7th slide. His voice fills the air except this time it sounds closer. Almost real. She turns around again just to see nothing but air again in the 8th slide. She sits on a nearby bench and cries. She regrets leaving him and misses him with everything she has. She lifts her head and there he stands. He flew all the way to her and surprised her. The other times she thought she heard him may have been in her head but this time it was real. Their love brought each other together again. They hug and set down the path of lights holding hands while humming the song he made for her together.

Planning

   Coming into our next project, we have a lot of new variables to consider. These variables include location, health and safety, props, costumes, and finally our schedule. Being that our music video will have a dark kind of gloomy feel, we plan to have our variables work along with this tone. For the location, we know that we want it somewhere dark with a lot of little and pretty lights. This is as close we will get to a New York feel. A place where we know we can get this is Young Circle. Young Circle has a lot of different environment types and we plan to use all of them. From the park, to the little restaurants that surround the circle. We will be filming in a public place and people will surround us adding to the effect of a big city. With this said, some health and safety precautions must be in play while filming. For starters there will be a lot of people potentially with intentions to steal camera equipment or harm us. We will make sure our parents come and supervise while we our filming. A First aid kit will also be on site because we plan to perform a few small stunts by our actor/singer. This may include climbing a tree or sitting on a high wall. We obviously aren't gonna have our actor/singer playing the air guitar so we will be bringing a guitar. That's pretty much it for props. That brings us to costumes. We will be dressing our girl actor with regular modern clothing and our male singer/actor in modern clothing. The clothing will be the same as always. The song was made recently so the singers and actors should match the time period.
      Being that this is a time sensitive project, we have to follow very strict timelines on certain due dates throughout the two week period. We started on 11/14. Song choice, and genre convention. This was not a problem because we as a group easily picked a song. 11/20 is our planning blog. Well because i'm doing it right now and not having a problem with it, it will be turned in as planned. 11/25 will be the time to turn in our filming blog. I felt this was one of the easier blogs on our last project so turning this one in on time I think will be the easiest. We'll simply do our filming and right the processes. 12/6 is the final due date. This I know will be turned in on time because if not it will have an extreme impact on my grade. As a group, the need to finish this project and turn it in on time is a responsibility that we feel the need to fulfill. All the other turn in dates after are straight forward. You do what you have to do and turn it in on time. Should be no problem. If we do run into the possibility that we can't turn in a project on time we will pass the responsibility to one of our three group members. Either way, we will not accept a failing grade on one of our due dates and will exercise any way to make sure we do well.     

Intro to music video and research

       Today, we start the process of composing a brand new project and a new type of project. Ms. Cats explained to us that we will be working to make a music video of our final project. Beside the obvious reasons why the project is different, we also have a far less amount of time and this time we don't have to worry about the process of film. The regulations were simple. We must pick a song as a group that of course is appropriate and film the video off campus. Our new group includes Elijah Sherman, and Peter Stroe. We began by first figuring out what song would be best.
         As a group, we decided to go with the song "Hey There Delilah" by The Plain White T's. We are all very familiar with the song so that will give us a good start. We also have multiple ideas already thought of that include easy accessible actors and setting. The Music Video that's already made with the song shows a singer singing to his love far away. The video includes multiple transitions showing where the girl is and the singer singing from home. The pictures also show relevance to the lyrics in the song like a lyric about New York. The picture switches then to New York lights. We don't plan to follow this exactly but we like the idea of the girl being somewhere far way and the singer even further.
        We identified the song as being a part of the genre "Pop-Rock". We've looked through different pop-rock music videos and gathered information on some common conventions. We've noticed that a lot of the pop-rock songs include singers singing to different people. With this said, some angles we see are close-ups, tracking shots, establishing shots, eye level, and dutch. These are only the common ones but the music videos do include other shots. The common movement is so common we didn't see any other forms. We saw a pan as well as flash pan, zoom, and tracking. The sound was pretty straight forward because the song was the music implemented into the video. For editing we saw multiple forms. Jump Cuts, split screens, cross cutting, cutaway, dissolve, and action matches were all common. We also looked towards identifying the CLAMPS of the music video.
1.) Costumes were whatever the singer usually wears so jackets, pants, or sometimes vibrant colors.
2.)The lighting for some videos was very colorful with artificial light or for other very dark.
3.)For actors, the video really depended on them. If singing to someone, there was an actor to represent that someone. Or for other videos, backup dancers were used and people in the background enjoying the song.
4.)The music of course was the actual song implemented into the video.
5.)Dependent on the setting of the video, props changed from guitars, stools, or if at the beach they used things like beach balls, and hoses. All extremely dependent on the setting.
6.)The rhythm of the song commonly decided the setting. The setting changed based on the speed or meaning of the song. Some setting included, New York scene, Beach, and a stage.

Actual editing bog

     Our class before this class was supposed to be our editing day but based on everything I said in my last blog, it didn't work out that way. Our pinnacle studios was down but fortunately, we fixed the issue. Well not exactly, instead of our dinosaur desktops we used some laptops that Ms. Cats got. They clearly were not the same but at least they worked. We made the best of what we got and return we got a good product. Well almost.
     We started by importing all of our videos on to the app where we can begin editing That was the easy part. The hard part was trying to remember what all the buttons do. We then looked through all the videos and deleted the ones with mistakes and the ones we definitely weren't going to use in the commercial. After that we put all the videos we were using onto the bar and cut the videos to our liking. We added some transitions and we got a really nice view of what our commercial will turn out like in the end. It was home stretch until we faced another issue.
      We tried to add some audio to our video but for some reason every time we added it to the bar it said our video was corrupted. For starters all we know about that is that it's bad so we knew we had an issue. That wasn't even the biggest problem though. The worst was that today was the day that Ms. cats wasn't here so we were in big trouble. The commercial was due and we had no help. We went to emailing her and hoped for the best. Hopefully she understood.

editing blog

     Today was the supposed to be the day where we would start wrapping up our commercial with editing it. We had all of our videos and it was just a matter of putting the SD card into the computer. Unfortunately it didn't turn out this way. Ms. Katz had some alarming news for us today. The computers that the school has been using for years finally died on us. The editing app stopped working and we are left with no other option.
     We could have been done. Instead our dinosaur computers decided to stop working the day we needed them the most. At first I thought, "there's no way i'm going to pass this class." I'm not completely out of luck though. Our teacher said that we don't have to worry about editing. She said she would never grade us if her computers don't work. Still as soon as these computers kick on, we are all game for editing.
      We had some set backs but that didn't stop us from having a productive day. Today we finished up our filming. We had to put some final touched on our style slide. We had much more shoes this time so the shot we took came out better. I even got to help my friend Peter finalize his shots that I acted in as well. No big deal, just jogged in front of the camera. Hopefully some other time he will return the favor. So in the end the day started out not so good but we finished good.

Filming

      Yesterday was a very important day for my group and I. We can't make a commercial without filming so that's exactly what we did. The beginning of the filming process. The class started just like how our teacher explained it would. We got the paper to check out the equipment. filled it out, and gave it to her. She exchanged us a small handheld camera in a case, a tripod, and sent us on our way. As soon as we left the class, we quickly referred back to our story board to review our ideas. We needed our first setting idea.
      It started at the track. Our plan was to take a shot of someone running with Nike shoes on and get a close up of the shoes. I personally was the runner. I wore a pair of Nike Air Max 270's and continued on a slow jog so our camera girl, Paige, could follow me easily with a pan. Our first shot was complete and it came out nicely. Next we needed a close up of the shoe so Roscoe laid on the ground with camera in hand to get a view of the show as I run by. This also came out to we expected.
       We were running low on time so we had to do our next shot fast. We turned to the main stairs for this scene. The idea was we would be modeling the shoes as we sat on the stair case. Unfortunately we didn't have enough shoes to film this. So we had an idea that I would slide down the railing and jump off next to Paige who was wearing a pair of Vans. To symbolize that Nike's are better than Vans, I pretended to show her away and finished with a close up of my shoes.
        Time was up so we returned back to class. We didn't complete all of our shots but thankfully we have another day. We returned the equipment back to our teacher and she gave us an SD card reader to dump. We put the SD card into the reader and inserted the reader into the computer. We then dumped all of our best shots of today into a folder that we will save till the end. In the end it was a successful and productive day.

Story board

Our commercial will include:

• Long Shots
• Close-ups
• A two-shot
• A three-shot
• A Pan
• A zoom
• Ambient sound
• A score
• A fade in
• A fade out
• A low angle
• A wide shot
• Voice overs
• Text box

Editing Lesson Blog

       We are at the point in our commercial where we need to learn the process of using the cameras and editing our footage. Before we can even think about filming, we need to check out the camera that we have been provided. It's pretty easy to check out a camera from the call but it's also easy not to listen and mess up. We start the process by filling out the checkout form that we will find at the cabinet. We fill out everything except the item number that we will get later. We bring the from to the teachers desk and hand her the form. This is when she will hand us the camera and or tripod which will have the item number that we now fill out. T the camera is completely our responsibility that comes with a simple rule. We break it we buy it. Also the camera must come back the following school day.
        This is only the start of the filming process. As a group, we will be fiming multiple takes and videos for our commercial. All these takes will go on the SD card that was provided to us. Instead of keeping all the footage on the camera, we want to export onto a file on our computer. In order to do this, we will take the SD card out of the camera and insert it into an SD card reader that we will insert into the computer. A screen will pop up and from there we should look for the letters DCIM. This should have all of our footage on it. We then highlight the videos and add them into a new folder that we should have already made. Now that we have all of our videos in one place, we can start to edit the raw footage.
         This editing process is more complicated than the rest. It takes a lot of trial and error before we may perfect it. We begin by locating an icon titled Pinnacle Studios. We will be using this application for all of our editing needs. Press import to bring all of our footage on to the app. Click desktop then folder and finally a media will pop up. From here, we now have all of our videos in the editing app and we check the footage and add to the app. Now we need to learn how to edit and what kind of tools we can us in the app. The first thing we learned was what the different grey bars on the bottom meant. They were each tracks that has a role. The first was title, the second is footage, and the third is sound. In the footage bar, we can cut footage, add voice overs in the sound track, or even do transitions. To finish off we simply press export to MP4 and continue when needed.
     

Planing Blog

Props- Some of the props we are going to use for our commercial are sports apparel, specifically Nike shoes. The actors in our commercial will have something that relates to sports, like a water bottle, basketball or they may be wearing headphones. The main subject of the commercial, the shoes, will be our main props. The exact shoes we will be using are Nike Air Force 1's, Nike Roshes, Nike Air Max's, Nike Jordan's, and Nike Slides.

Costumes- The actors will be dressed in clothes that go with the shoe that the actor is wearing. For example, when the actors are running they will be dressed in athletic clothes (as much Nike clothes as possible). The costumes play an important role when it comes to the commercial because we want the shoes to look the best they can so people will be provoked to buy them.

Schedule- Our next blog will be a storyboard of our commercial. the story boarding will be on October 14. The next objective is filming. the filming will be taking place on October 17 witch is a early release and the next following blue day, October 22. After filming we will edit our footage. the editing will be on October 23.

Location List-  We are filming in many different places. For our athletic shoes we are going to film at the track field to do a running scene. For our comfort shoes we are going to use the couch in the media studies classroom. For our stylish shoes we will be filming at the building 5 stairs, we will use the stairs by filming the actors walking.

Back-up plan- In case of an unfortunate scenario while filming, we have ideas ready to counter the situation. It is not unlikely that while filming rain will be present. That's why our idea to embrace the rain rather than hide from it will be beneficial. In case of rain, we plan to use puddles and rain to show how well our shoes hold up against any environment. Rain is not the only factor, we also have to bring into consideration the possibility of our team mate being absent. Thankfully, our commercial does not need 4 actors. We will work to play the part our teammate was supposed to.

Research Conventions and Codes

                                                  Research Conventions and Codes

Before even thinking about the production of our Nike shoe commercial, many aspects that must go into play include:

·         Setting

·         Lighting

·         Products

·         Actors

·         Props

·         Music

·         Voice overs and other editing

·         Camera angles

Setting takes much consideration as it starts us on our way to our commercial. In our commercial, we think an outdoor environment would convey the idea that Nike shoes can be worn in many different environments and will hold up. We will also use an indoor setting to shoe other uses for Nike shoes, such as comfort.

Lighting for our commercial would mostly be natural outdoor lighting. When being filmed indoors a spotlight may be used to highlight the shoes and make them look better.

Products are the shoes that are being used in the film. We will use many different types of shoes like Nike Roche’s for running, Nike Slides for comfort and Air Force One’s for style.

Actors are the people who wear and highlight the shoes abilities.

Props are all the other items we will use in our commercial. For example, a runner might be holding a water bottle or someone playing basketball might be wearing headphones.

Music in the commercial gives the viewer a better understanding of what the shoe is made and designed for. We wouldn’t use a laid back and chill song when trying to show off some Air Jordan’s. In our commercial, we will be using a hyped song when showing off sports shoes, a chill song when showing slides, and laid back when showing comfort shoes.

Voice overs and other editing is important to our commercial so it’s not only up to viewer interpretation when seeing the shoe in action. A voice over will be able to explain the shoe or even some back round. Our commercial will have voice overs throughout to make it easier for our viewers. The tone of the voice over will change according to the purpose of each shoe.

Camera Angles will be seen changing multiple times throughout the commercial. Depending on the scene, a different camera angle will be implemented into the commercial. We will use angles such as close-ups of the shoes, and tracking shots of our actors in the shoe.

Introductory

      Hi, my name is zeke. Well if we're being technical, my names Ezekiel and everyone calls me zeke. Im 14 years old and I live with my mom, dad, and sister. My mother is a jewish brooklyn girl and my dad is a Puerto Rican from new york who converted to judaism. So that makes me a Puerto jew which I guess is different. I was born and raised in Hollywood Florida in a small house on a quiet street. Quiet, exactly how I like it. I could never live in the city or somewhere with a lot of people. If it was up to me, I'd be living in the woods with the bears already. I'm a freshman in Fort Lauderdale High school which I enjoy a lot so far.

      During my freetime i'm pretty diverse. On Some days i'll be on my boat fishing, shooting iguanas, or riding my bike with a group of kids. On other days, you can catch me binge watching something on Netflix, maybe some video games, or hanging out with my sister. Either way I can't just sit around and do absolutely nothing. I'd rather do anything before I sit on my bed staring at the ceiling. When it comes to my outdoor side, I don't know where it came from because my mom is a girly girl and my dad is always working on something so it's always me and the backyard. In the end I go with the flow with whatever i'm feeling or my friend is feeling. Something I really dislike is when my friend and I can't agree on something to do. That and cats. I hate cats with a passion. We can't be friends if you have a mean, nasty cat.

      So like I said, I go to Fort Lauderdale High which I came to with a few of my friends from Beachside Montessori Village. Adjusting really wasn't difficult because i've known the kids i came with for many years. I really like the kids in Fort Lauderdale and my classes. I take Chemistry honors, Geometry honors, debate, Aice General Paper, Aice Media Studies, Aice Global Perspectives and Spanish two. I'm doing pretty well but definitely not how I want to finish. So that about sums it up. As you can see I'm not very interesting. Just a normal 14 year old boy.