Why we didn't film 😣

    This weekend I was not able to check out a camera and start filming for my music video. This weekend I was overwhelmed with lots of homework, personal events, and having to do assignments for online class. I wanted to start filming the beginning scenes of my music video so I could have had a little bit of filming to do over Thanksgiving break. However, when I texted my friend about filming this weekend she was busy with work and homework so even if I wanted to start filming I couldn't film without the two actresses. My goal for filming over Thanksgiving break is to film for the entire song so that when I am editing on Pinnacle Studios I will have all the scenes and I can choose which one I think is best and then choose the section of the song that will go with the scenes chosen. But I believe that the cooler weather over Thanksgiving Break will allow us to film outside for a longer duration and the sun won't be hitting us as hard. I'm trying to convince my parents to download Pinnacle Studios at home so that over break once I finished filming I can start immediately on editing and be finished hopefully before the deadline. I want to film the trees and flowers tomorrow after school since I will have the camera. I plan on doing a choreographed simple dance in my music video so I also plan tomorrow to record a video of the dance and send it out to my friend and give to my sister to practice and perfect. I too will be practicing the dance so that everything will be perfect when it comes time to record.
       My music video will be extremely similar to the storyboard however, when making the storyboard I wasn't sure of the dance and only knew how I wanted the beginning of the song to go. On the storyboard I tried my best to draw a replica of us dancing and how I wanted it to kinda go throughout the music video. But I do plan to keep the structure of my storyboard and filming the same and making sure I use all of the camera angles, shots, and movements I listed under each scene of my storyboard. My sister, friend and I this weekend at least discussed on our costumes and how we will dress up for the music video. I will be wearing a light blue dress with puffed sleeves that are laced and appropriate with a thick black belt and black slip on Bob shoes. My friend Allison will be wearing a lace long sleeve top under her light blue dress that will match the color of my dress but stand out differently due to the pink color. My sister will be wearing a floral black blouse with flowers that are the color pink, yellow-brown, and white. My friend Allison and I also discussed on the props that will be used such as the scarves and possibly the scene with my sister playing the flute. We decided that she will be responsible for bringing the props on the day of filming and choosing which scarf will be best for each of us. For makeup we decided that all of us will have a soft natural makeup because we want the audience to focus on the dance and scenery rather than on us individually.
     I plan to do the filming on Thursday while everyone is getting ready for Thanksgiving and cooking away. I will have plenty of time just to film and be finished with actual filming and can start writing the second filming blog that is due after the break. On Thursday I believe its the only day my friend Allison will be able to film since Friday, Saturday, and Sunday she will not be available. I want my music video to be cohesive, graceful and smooth since I want to improve from the commercial project and so that the final movie project will be easy and epic. I plan to start filming at 12 in the afternoon or around 1 in the afternoon but first I have to see with my sister and friend if that timing is good for them. Most of the time the filming will be done by the camera being on the tripod since I will not  be directing but in the music video as well. I do plan to have at least my mom be with us to make sure we are on frame and that the tilts and movements are met such as that of my storyboard. I know that the filming process will be extremely fun and challenging since there is a memorized dance being involved and close people to me that could cause as a distraction or laughter to happen a lot. I will make sure to get all the scene I need before we stop filming and check before we leave so I can re-film any scenes I need to. I can't wait to start filming over the break and have fun with the process.

Storyboard For Music Video

      The first scene will be a low angle shot of the tree in my backyard and will be in the camera movement zoom and hand-held, the song will be playing in the background and the editing style will be a cutaway. The next scene is a low angle shot of the flowers with the transition from the flowers to the dancers/actresses. The soundtrack of the song will be playing in the background and will be zoomed in while hand-held. The editing style will be a Insert. The next scene is when the three dancers are seen. The scene will be a wide shot of the three girls and the camera will be placed on the tripod. The camera movement will be a tilt and the song will be playing in the background. The editing style will be a fade in and will also be a three- shot. The next scene is when the three scarves will be in the air going down. I will be hand holding the shot at a low angle while the song is playing in the background. The editing styles of this scene will be a fade in and will also be a wide shot. The next scene is back on the dancers but this time we are starting our dance. The scene will be a wide shot and three shot. The music will be playing as we dance and the camera will be placed on the tripod at eye level. The next scene consists of the dancers going the other way and will be again a wide shot and three shot. The music will be playing in the background and the camera will be on the tripod at eye level. The editing style of this scene will be a cutaway. The rest of the scenes are exactly the same except the editing style is completely different other than that everything is the same. The rest of the scenes consist of a wide shot and three shot and the camera is placed on the tripod at eye level. The music will be in the background throughout the scenes and the editing styles consist of a cutaway, fade in, and the last ending scene will be a fade out.

Music Video Planning

      The location of my music video will filmed outside in my apartment backyard. In case of rain I wi try to ask the president of the building to approve us to film in the clubhouse. If we are not able to film in the clubhouse I will film inside on my balcony. I will take health and safety extremely serious since we are filming outside and because I tend to be exceptionally clumsy and so are my friends that will be in the msuic video. I will make sure to have a first-aid kit with us outside. I will also make sure that when we are dancing in the music video there will not be anything slippery or hazardous nearby. 

     The props that will be used in the music video will be scarves since it will be used as a part of the dance to express joy, happiness and bring brightness to nature. The scarves will also provide a sense of flow and connection with the song. My sister Sabrina in the music video will use her flute for some scenes since some parts of the song a flute can be heard in the background. The two actresses in my music video will consist of my best friend Allison and my sister. The three of us will be dressed up in either bright colored dresses or bright skirts, blouses, and plain shirts. My costume will be a long caual blue dress with lace puffed sleeves and a black belt, with my hair up and light makeup. I will wear slip on sneakers. As for the two other actresses in my music video they decided that they wanted to base off their costume off of my color and outfit. 

  Schedule

11/18/2019: Planning the Music video by writing everything down and informing the people that will be in the music video.

11/19/2019: Draw out Storyboard and write everything down so when it comes time to filming the music video everything will be easy.

11/20/2019: Write and publish the planning blog and storyboard blog.

11/21/2019, 11/22/2019, 11/23/2019, 11/24/2019: Start choreographing the dance and get props and costumes ready and inform the actresses. 

11/25/2019: Filming blog is due by the end of class. Check out a camera to film during Thanksgiving break.

11/26/2019 until 12/1/2019: Get all filming done. 

12/2/2019: Filming blog #2 is due at the end of class. 

12/3/2019 until 12/8/2019: Editing the music video.

12/9/2019: Music video is due at the end of class.

12/10/2019: Start writing the CCR questions.

12/11/2019: CCR is due by sending it through the class email.

Music Video Conventions Research

Last class we were able to finish up and submit our commercial on time at the end of class. Looking back I realized how following our storyboard really allowed us to film with a structure in our mind, so when I work on my music video I want to follow the same strategy. During the editing process for our commercial I saw and felt how much we struggled just for a 25 to 30 second commercial. I hope to become one with Pinnacle Studios and work on editing in a different approach that will not take much time. For the music video I decided to separate from my group but I will be willing to help them when they need it. I separated my group because working alone settles my mind on an idea that I already was thinking about during the commercial project. I also wanted the music video to express my deep love and interest that makes up who I am as a person. The song that I choose for my music video is called None Like You and is by Joshua Aaron and fetaures Aaron Shust. I choose this song because I wanted to express my pride in being a Messianic Jew. In the past years I always felt that I wasn't myself and was wearing a mask that never allowed me to show my true self. Even though I opened up my heart and religion to being Jewish there is still many aspects of myself and life that I need to work on. I want my music video to show my true self through dance because, truly there is no one like him. I also was able to receive this song through my synagogue and I instantly knew I had to do this song.

    The genre of my song falls under Contemporary Worship Music. The camera shots I noticed that is present throughout the genre include: Two-Shot, Three-Shot, God eye view, Medium Shot, and Long Shot. There is more camera shots but I narrowed it down to what I've seen in most music videos under that genre. The camera movements present in the genre would be a Pan, Tilt, and Hand- Held. The camera angles present include: Wide shot and Eye level. The editing techniques I've researched that are used in contemporary worship music genre include: Reaction shots, Eye line match, cutaway, Split-screen. The sounds used in the genre include: Non-Diegetic sounds such as shofars most of the time used in the background but not scene on screen. Diegetic sound such as guitars, violins, keyboards, clarinets, trumpets or a chorus can be seen in most music videos under Contemporary Worship Music genre. 

1. Costume: Most of the men are usually dressed in a formal attire with dress pants and shoes, button down shirt and ties. Most women are dressed formally in bright, colorful blouses, skirts and dresses.

2. Lighting: The lighting of most of the music videos are natural outdoor lighting to show happiness and joy or a very dark and dim room and on stage the bright yellow-white light shines on the singer for a performance.

3. Actors/Actresses: The music videos consist of middle aged women and men dancing or singing while playing many instruments. Sometimes teens and young children will be in the music video singing along with the adults. 

4. Makeup: Men are usually not wearing any makeup and the women are shown to have light and natural makeup.

5. Props: There are not many props used but when there is most of the props include scarves, flags, instruments such as the keyboard, violin, and guitars mainly and sometimes shofars. 

6. Setting: The locations and setting of most contemporary worship music genres take place anywhere outdoors, in the city or town, and on stage for a performance. Sometimes the setting can be at home showing their family depending on the meaning of the song and story behind it.  

Final Editing Blog

On November 5, 2019 we finay started editing our commercial. We ended up having to edit on laptops since most the desktops either don't have internet connection, won't let you sign in or turn on in general. Last week Friday we couldn't edit since all of the laptops were being updated and needed Pinnacle Studios to be downloaded. There are some computers that still don't have Pinnacle Studios but we have a perfect amount for all my class to be able to edit. On the laptops I noticed that Pinnacle Studios sometimes lag but works like a charm. Last class we were able to at least start our editing process but took my group members and I some time. We transferred all of our 48 footages onto Jeannie Google drive but took us time to make them a file then import into Pinnacle Studios. While our footage was importing into Pinnacle Studios our teacher told us that the due for the commercial has been moved to next week Monday. However, today we got a remind message that informed us that the due date for the commerical is at the end of class on Tuesday but the blog is still due today and that the CCR questions are due at midnight on Monday. The commercial and CCR questions are supposed to be sent through email and the blog has to be published by midnight today. 

 Last class once all our footage was imported to Pinnacle Studios we automatically started organizing the structure of the commercial. As we were structuring our commercial we were able to trim some footage so that the commercial can be at least 25 to 30 seconds long. Pinnacle studios was a struggle since it was lagging the whole time but we managed to at least get some done. My group member Asia who wanted to be the editor was very helpful in setting up the footage the way Jeannie and I wanted them to be. Some footage are being shown in the final product even though we never dragged it down to the AV Track 2 box in Pinnacle Studios. We tried to fix the problem with multiple tools provided but it wouldn't disappear. We ended up redoing the entire thing. Once we finished structuring our commercial for the second time we were good to go. Asia the rest of class was looking at transitions and split screen options for us to use. The split screen in our commercial is the most important aspect of our commercial. 

   Today we had a substitute teacher but the laptops were available for us to use. Since today was a PSD day we had limited time to edit our commercial, me and my group members went to work straight away. Everything from last class was saved and what Asia and I worked on was trying to add a split screen into our commercial. We didn't add the split screen and decided to wait until Tuesday to ask our teacher about it. I ended up adding multiple fades into our commercial to reduce the amount of choppiness we had due to cutting and trimming soem footages. While Asia was trying to look for a split screen, I was on YouTube watching videos on how to add a split screen but when I went to add one it didn't allow me to click on the option. We ended up discussing who would do the voiceover and we ended up choosing Asia to do the voiceover for the commercial. We were not able to finish due to limited time but we will be able to finish on Tuesday since we already have the structure down on Pinnacle Studios. All we have to finish on Tuesday is add the split screen, add background music, and transitions. Then we have to make sure we have the exact time of 25 to 30 seconds and we wi be done with the commercial project.