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Showing posts from October, 2023

Production blog: Editing (part 1)

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 We went back to my house after recording and got to work editing! My dad insisted on airdropping all the footage from his phone to my computer. But it didn't work! No matter how many times I told him something wasn't working, he didn't listen and continued his failed attempts. He tried to send an "iCloud link" of one of the longest videos, but it was not downloading fast enough. The trouble with our transfering of videos was that they were way too long. We had fully recorded through the song multiple times. Eventually, my dad brought in a USB drive full of all the footage. I plugged it into my computer. It finally worked! I uploaded all the videos to iMovie, the editing software I feel most comfortable using. Amelie and Lilly helped cut down all the footage. We used the videos we took in my house at the beginning. We slowly incorporated the videos we later took. We made sure to put everything into chronological order pertaining to the plot. After we lined up ever

Production Blog: Finishing up filming!

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 We finished up filming at the second location on Sunday. This time, at my dad's recording studio. It has a nice drum set, multiple guitars and basses, and audio equipment. As it happens, 3/4 of our group members are practicing musicians. We each spent time learning the song on our instruments.  To make sure everything synced up with the lyrics and specific parts of the song, we played our song in the background, over a loudspeaker. Then we played along to the song, and my dad helped us out by holding my phone camera at different angles. We were very descriptive when telling him our desired angles. We even gave him the storyboard for reference. That way, he could see the vision along with us.  We played through the song with the backing track a total of 3 1/2 times. (One time, we made it halfway through and everyone stopped after deafening mic feedback screeched through the air.) We filmed for the first time with the fish-eye lens on my phone. Then, for the rest of the takes, we fo

Production Blog: Starting to film!

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 Hey! We filmed all of our footage this past Saturday and Sunday.  On Saturday, Amelie, Lilly, and Isaac all came over to my house. I was dressed in my pajamas for the waking up shot. Isaac arrived first of everyone, so we scanned through my record collection in search of the most heartbreaking album. It had a purpose, the main character in our music video is experiencing a terrible heartbreak. So, we wanted to imply that she was listening to sad music.  Then, Amelie and Lilly arrived. Isaac and I staged pictures of our "relationship" so I would be able to delete them in a later shot. Then, we got to filming, so I got into bed. It was so funny to be in my room doing something so ordinary, but surrounded by people and cameras.  We took a few takes for each shot we needed, referring closely to our storyboard. For one shot, the main character (me) had to dunk their head in a bowl of cereal. I did not want to mess up my makeup, so we used dry cereal. In the first shot, I put my h

Production Blog: Getting Ready!

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Hi again! We don't film until this Saturday, but I've been doing things in preparation. As I will be contributing to the editing process for this video, I deemed it necessary to practice using different softwares. My dad brought home s microphone from his studio a few weeks ago. In all honesty, its sat on my desk for a while. But finally, a few nights ago, I took it out, and hooked it up to my interface, and then to my desktop. I used that interface as my input on Garage Band. It was so interesting to record with something so professional, compared to my phone's microphone. I tweaked the features of the controls. I raised the value of the compressor and raised the high levels on the EQ. It is so cool what a difference the click of a mouse can make for sound. I am very interested in this field. I plan on editing our track in Garage Band. I will then drop the track into what we will use for editing, which will most likely be iMovie.  The features of the controls I tried out!

Production Blog: Getting things going!!

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 Hi! When we were making plans for when to film our music video,  Amelie, Isaac, Lilly and I decided on the date, October 28. When I was doing homework yesterday, my grandpa called our house. I answered, and he explained to me that there is a Halloween party planned for the same day! I realized that did not want to sacrifice time with my grandpa. So, I asked my group if we could reschedule. I gave them a few date options: November 4, and October 21. We are confined to Saturdays because of prior engagements. We settled on October 21. It will give us more time to edit and refine details, as the due date is in November. It will also give us a chance to re-record if anything goes wrong. I am so grateful that my group was so flexible and understanding.  We realized that "Say It Ain't So" is an extremely long song. It takes over our allowed time slot to get to the bridge. So we decided that I am going to work on trimming and editing the song. This way it will fit better with th

Music Video Storyboard

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Music Video - Planning Blog

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  Props: Instruments:  Guitar Bass Drums Microphone Bicycles Cereal bowl Spoon Location: Recording studio George English Park Samantha's room Schedule: October 28th- 11am-4pm Record all day in different locations. Backup Plan: Record in house of us playing instruments Backyard footage Record around neighborhood Costumes: Ripped jeans Bucket hat Flip down shade sunglasses Nirvana shirt Ramones shirt We FaceTimed to nail down all the details.

Music Video Research Blog

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Teenage Dirtbag - Wheatus Camera angles, movement, and shots Zoom Tracking shot Eye level Pan Medium close-up   Medium shot Low angle Ariel shot Low angle Close-up Wide shot Point-of-view shot Editing Fade-in Dissolve Shot-reverse-shot Fade-out Sound Entirely non-diegetic sound, only the song   Mis-En-Scene Youthful clothes, bucket hat, trapper hat,   Bike Car Music equipment: drums, guitars, bass, microphone, keyboard Textbooks and backpacks, for school On staircase At school, in hallway At prom In school gymnasium   The main character is a “loser.” He is picked on by other students. In the end, his crush, a girl, dances with him at prom and brings him concert tickets. However, it is suggested that that was all a dream, with a dissolve to the main character back where he was in the opening scene on the stairs Natural lighting throughout the video. Scene at the end is dark, but has sparkly lights Can’t Stop - Red Hot Chili Peppers Camera angles, movement, and shots Tracking shot Over t

My group for the Music Video

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For the music video, I am working with Amelie De Kegel, Isaac Gafanovich, and Lilly Gonzalez. Last year, I worked with both Lilly and Isaac for Component III of Global Perspectives. Since then, we have grown closer. I trust their work ethic and productivity. I've also know Amelie for years. Each of us are addicted to listening to music. We sum up hundreds of thousands of streaming minutes on Spotify each year. We religiously listen to our favorite artists, and share new releases and discoveries with each other. Our group! Because of this shared passion, deciding the perfect song for our video took some time. Lilly first suggested we use a song by Phoebe Bridgers, my favorite artist. While I love the song, I didn't want to get sick of it after the inevitable repetition of filming and editing. We then considered a song by The Beatles because there are four of us in our group. Well, that's definitely not the only reason. The Beatles were so influential to the evolution of musi

Introduction to the Music Video

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 Hey! I'm back! I finished my all about me commercial and I am now ready to start my music video! I am a sophomore at Fort Lauderdale High School, and I am close to turning 16. I am extremely excited to get my driver's license in November. In these past few months, I have grown close to both old and new friends. Driving them around and having the privilege and freedom of leaving my house with friends is very appealing. Another big part of my identity is music. My dad is a guitarist and I started learning from a young age. Now, I go to School of Rock, a local music school for teenagers, twice a week and I am constantly trying my best to improve my guitar skills. I have also been talking to my friend about starting a band of our own! Listening-wise, my taste has drastically changed over the past year. Recently, I have gotten into indie music such as Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus, and Julien Baker. I recently saw all of them in concert! I collect vinyls and I am a feen for sound qua