Music Video Editing Blog

    Just getting back from break. The class completed the filming process as did I during the break. Now it’s time to move into the editing process but we have a lot less time to do it. We have a total of 2 classes. Which is a set back because I need lots of time to edit. Most of my video comes to flourish from editing and making it fit perfect. A big problem I ran into was that on the first day of editing my entire editing time was wasted. I was trying to import all my footage into the editing software but it kept giving issues. It would connect to the reader and as it was downloading it'd stop and say it lost connection. I even reached out to help from others but it didn’t work. In all I only got a few of the videos and film I needed. However I just dealt with it and moved forward with what I had.

    Moving past the problem I now only had one day to do the best with what I had. I had most of the necessary shots and all the general things like a shot of a takedown or an escape. Though it was the exact ones I wanted but still good enough. The song for the video had a change I decided to change it to the Jungle by the Reason ep. I decided it because the last song didn’t really match the energy of the video. I used a YouTube to mp3 converter to use the song. I didn’t have all the warm up shots I had half but I made up for it but doubling up on the takedown shots. I incorporated some slow- motion effects on a few of the takedowns in the shots. I used blackouts transitioning from the warm up to wrestling takedowns. I also had a shot of a one on one with the actor to change up the dynamic also used a blackout for the transition. I tried to time big moments in the footage with main verses in the music. After the half point of the video I started changing transitions to fades. Also I put in another one on one dynamic with the actor. I was also thinking of inserting a piece of spoken word at the end as like a closing title but it didn’t really work well with the video. I decided to drop the idea and try to keep everything with the same theme. In all I think it came out good

Music Video filming blog over break

    Over thanksgiving break we were given another blog based on filming. Again we had to option to grab equipment or not. I chose to grab the equipment because during the break I had three tournaments. All with the available to give me ample amount of takes for my video. I also saw thought I can do all the side takes as well. Saying that I had almost a full week with the camera and could do what I chose with it. As stated in my last blog these tournaments are the reason I didn’t film during the first blog. I thought I can use all the film I gather from the matches and film from set up situations at this tournament. Then edit what I want to be in the music video based on my storyboard. In all I think my film process was a success.
     So I have all of my filming completed. I have several takes of me as the actor gaining takedowns. Several situations of the actor gaining position and reversal. Many situations of control which will be seen as “riding” my opponent. There were some situations that I could not manifest in a real match like the certain type of takedown I preferred. I just filmed these situations I couldn’t get with a teammate on an open mat. I also made sure to have the beginning of every match (like the warm up to be filmed). Many of them will be shots in the beginning of the video and at intervals of music. Lastly I filmed hand raises of the winner by the referee to so victory in conflict, it will play along with the song. I tried to make sure everything filmed was realistic and thought out clearly so the officialness of the wrestling stays secured.
      I also filmed more than just wrestling. If I only filmed wrestling it wouldn’t have been much of a music video right. So I filmed a few takes of the actor in open conflict with himself. Conflict that I hope to have seen as self doubt but we’ll see if it passes as something else. I also have visual of the actor singing the lyrics of the song. There will be two shots in the final product that resemble this. Though they will still be in a wrestler environment ( a weight room). All wrestling film was taken at 3 tournaments at Cypress Bay High all inside the wrestling gym. Lastly I do have one fear of my film and that’s the variety of camera shots. To film wrestling you need to see the whole picture so most shots are long shots but I think the other situations will make up for it, I did mix up the closeness during the lip singing.

Music video filming blog the weekend

   We were assigned a blog over the weekend due Monday. We had an option to film or not. We couldn’t signed out all the filming equipment or not. I chose not to but for a good reason. My music video is based around wrestling. Meaning all my film needs to be on wrestling. For that I need to film at a tournament. I need to have the perfect tournament environment. However I had no tournaments on this weekend. So I just didn’t check out any equipment it would’ve been pointless. I just decided to make up more mind on how everything was gonna end.

   What I decided on was that I’m gonna film all of my matches and film a few fake matches. Fake meaning I’m making up the whole situation. In this I can make sure I have film of all the moved and situations I want. So I can edit real wrestling film into the made up situations. Like this I can make the song co exist with the film. Especially with the fake filmed situations I can represent any emotional fight during a match. Were as in a real match nothing is certain and I can’t force anything. I think it’s a good idea to include real matches into the film though. It makes everything more realistic and it gives it a special touch. 

    After all the filming of real matches and fake filmed situations I wanna make sure I have what I need to begin editing though. I want to have plenty of film of takedowns. I can chose a few of the best ones to use. I want situations of victory. Showing multiple hand raises which will be co existed to the song. I want to have situations of fatigue and tiredness. It will put realism in the video and opposition. Also want as many visuals of me as the actor in a close up mental situation. It will show emotion and it will also co exist with the song. After all this I feel my film process will be complete and can move on to editing

Music Video StoryBoard Blog

Just to make sure of the order the middle picture is the start of the video the first picture is the second page of the storyboard and the last one is the ending shot.

1.
C- singlets, wrestling shoes and headgear
L- Natural environment lighting
A- High school wrestlers
M- none
P- Leg straps and ref whistle
S- Somerset High School wrestling mat at tournament
This is the intro of the music video where the actor is walking up getting ready for a match and the song is just starting. It’s a eye level long shot of the actor using a pan to follow movement. Fades to next shot
2.
C- singlets, wrestling shoes and headgear
L- Natural environment lighting
A- High school wrestlers
M- none
P- Leg straps and ref whistle
S- Nova High school wrestling mats
This is the actor also preparing for another match letting the song intro before it truly starts. This shot has a high angle with an establishing shot (establishing its a tournament). Hand held camera movement. Blackouts to next shot
3.
C- singlet
L- Natural environment lighting
A- Me
M- none
P- bench
S- weight room
This is a moment to show worry in the actor creates story that he wants to achieve. Correlates with song as it is still building. Shot is low angle medium- long shot, stationary. Jumpcuts to next shot
4.
C- singlets, wrestling shoes and headgear
L- Natural environment lighting
A- High school wrestlers
M- none
P- Leg straps and ref whistle
S- Cardinal Gibbons High School mats (tournament)
This is the actor during a match situation getting a takedown. The song is picking up tempo in relation to actual acting.Eye level long shot with pan movement. There will be a slo mo of the takedown and it will jumpcut to the next shot.
5.
C- singlets, wrestling shoes and headgear
L- Natural environment lighting
A- High school wrestlers
M- none
P- Leg straps and ref whistle
S- Nova High school mats (tournament)
Actor wins a match by pin. Starts song main verse and plays with it. Shot is a high angle long shot with handheld movement. Jumpcuts to next shot.
6.

C- singlets, wrestling shoes and headgear
L- Natural environment lighting
A- High school wrestlers
M- none
P- Leg straps and ref whistle
S- Stranahan High School mats (tournament)
Actor wins match by pins. Continues song main verse. Shot is a high angle wide shot, with handheld movement. Has Diegetic cheering with no transition.
7.

C- singlets, wrestling shoes and headgear
L- Natural environment lighting
A- High school wrestlers
M- none
P- Leg straps and ref whistle
S- Stranahan High School mats (tournament)
Rolls off from last shot shows actor standing in victory. Song is hitting rest. Shot is a high angle long shot with pan movement. Has diegetic cheering and a jumpcut to the next shot.
8.

C- singlets, wrestling shoes and headgear
L- Natural environment lighting
A- High school wrestlers
M- none
P- Leg straps and ref whistle
S- Cardinal Gibbons High school mats ( tournament)
Actor is shown tired through period change in a match. Main verse stated again. Shot is eye level long shot handheld movement. Blackouts to next shot
9.

C- singlet
L- Natural environment lighting
A- Me
M-none
P- none
S- weight room
Shot a one on one mindset of the actor showing severity of the sport in his eyes. Self flection with song verses. Shot is an eye level medium to close up with a tilt and zoom close up. Jumpcuts to next shot
10.

C- singlets, wrestling shoes and headgear
L- Natural environment lighting
A- High school wrestlers
M- none
P- Leg straps and ref whistle
S- Cardinal Gibbons High School mats (tournament)
This is another moment of reset in a match actor changing positions. Song talking of conflict. Shot is an eye level long shot with handheld movement. Showing diegetic sound and a fade to next shot.
11.

C- singlets, wrestling shoes and headgear
L- Natural environment lighting
A- High school wrestlers
M- none
P- Leg straps and ref whistle
S- Cardinal Gibbons mats (tournament)
This showing a fight for position with actors and main actor coming on top from a roll through. Song still speaks of conflict and fight. Shot is a eye level long shot with handheld movement. Blackouts to next shot.
12.

C- singlets, wrestling shoes and headgear
L- Natural environment lighting
A- High school wrestlers
M- none
P- Leg straps and ref whistle
S- Nova High mats (tournament)
Showing actor having hand raised after winning a match. Song is coming down in rest. Shot is high angle long shot. Blacks out to next shot.
13.
The last shot is really a speech in a blacked out screen. It is to show a motivational mindset one the the actor shows in the video and one the song hints to in a informal way.

Planning Blog Music video

Location:
My music video has many locations which in my opinion shows variety. Filming will be at Cardinal Gibbons High School, Coral Springs High School, McArthur High School, Nova High School, and my Home, also Fort Lauderdale High School. All are inside a wrestling room or wrestling tournament environment. These are high schools I will be at in upcoming tournaments before project editing. All in which I have permission to film.
Health and Safety:
For one all athletic actors are trained wrestlers. Trained enough for self harm prevention and opponent protection in this given environment. I have permission from all head coaches of these schools wrestling teams to film matches and I am allowed to film specific situations when a match isn’t taking place. As for professional safety there will be a minimum of 2 school board athletic coordinators (physical therapist/ doctors) at each event. Since filming will take place at a tournament it is the law that they will be there.
Props:
Main actor and wrestler props will be headgear because it is optional some wrestlers acting will where it some may not. Acting wrestlers may also be wearing a strap either (green or red) to show team. The majority of props will be with the ref or scoreboard. Refs are holding coins for posting change and a whistle. I will also incorporate some tables with a scoreboard. I wanna have different situations in every shot
Costumes:
Acting wrestlers are all wearing singlets and some knee pads and headgear. Refs are wearing standard black and white strip shirts. All wrestlers will wear the same design singlets but with different team colors. Singlet are a leotard looking uniform, it is tight material similar to spandex. It is one piece starting high thighs going close to the neck and under the armpit.
Schedule:
I have Cardinal Gibbons 11/21, Coral springs 11/23, McArthur 11/25, Nova 11/27. Also on 12/5 there is a lot of teams at a tournament and try filming there. Also the home filming can occur whenever. Also with the filming in my school wrestling room.

Intro to New Music Video Project

  The class is transitioning from the completed commercial to our new project a Music Video. From my completed commercial I learned a lot that I think I can help with the music video now. Things I did good on my commercial was the editing, for my commercial it was the make it or break it. I gained lots of knowledge on the editing from Mrs Merchonie and Mr katz but I have a very comfortable grasp on it and I feel I can use it on the music video. However, something I didn’t do well was the fact I chose to be alone for the project. It made it considerably difficult to film what I needed and get all the variations in the the angles while also being the actor. I’ve learned from that because now I’m in a group and so far it’s going relatively good. So I am confident the music video will go smoothly now that I understand how things work.
   My group chose the do a song by the artist J. Cole the song is “Lost Ones” which is about a relationship breaking due to not taking responsibility of actions and changing what you promised because of an event. The genre is love rap or storytelling. The conventions of this type of song is the aspect of set up usually has a male and female actor in a relatable setting. The the aspect of sound the music can vary in tone but usually plays the story of the actors and explains there relationship. The aspect of common angles are usually either low or level angles, I see common use if tracking and pans and sometimes POV.
1. C- Common costumes are usual modern attire. The popular clothing of the time kinda giving of the actors living a normal life.
2. L- Common natural or three-point lighting. I don’t see lots of over lighting or bright lighting unless it is a transition shot.
3. A- Actors are commonly celebrities and the artist themselves. Used this way to make the song stand  out more and make them more popular to the viewer
4. M- Make-up is more blemishing to make actors stand out on camera but nothing out of the ordinary. The make-up shouldn’t deprive the fact of them being “common people”
5. P- Props aren’t very common it is usually just a random object to make sense in the setting. So if they are outside they would be with a purse or in the kitchen a knife or cup.
6. S- Scenes range as well but the most common is inside a home or home facility. Also area someone would be on a date like dinner or a movie theater 

Actually Editing the Commercial

   Today we actually started editing in class. The computer situation was fixed. We had two class periods to finish all editing. After which we will submit to the teacher. So to start I had to import my takes into the new computer. I had everything in a flash drive so it was pretty simple. After importing I took my time to pick out the takes I liked. Then I decided which were gonna be shots in my final product of the commercial. I ended up with six- five second shots. To get my criteria of 30 seconds.

    After deciding what I was gonna use I decided I wanted a soundtrack throughout the song. I chose the song “hard work”. I then went to youtube found the song. Looked up a youtube to mp3 converter, and converted the song into a mp3. I just imported it like I imported my takes after that. The song was about 1 min and 30 second so I just cut the song to the first 30 seconds for my commercial. I matched it when the existing shots and it worked out. I also muted all the audio in the shots so it would just be the song. Well except for the voiceover. I had one shot I was using and then a take of me saying the slogan. So I split the audio from that take and deleted the visual and just matched the audio into my last shot. 

    In all honesty those were my main attention grabbers. When I played the commercial it was good. However there were no transition it just seemed like the whole thing had a million jump cuts. I didn’t like that but I don’t like transitions as well. They are too flashy and eye soaring. I went back and added them though cause I’m sure it’s part of the criteria. So I added all transition outs to keep it simple. I used mostly wipes and fades. I did wanna distract from the actual commercial. I put in vertical and horizontal wipes, an Iris out, a fade out, and a sort of dissolve wipe at the very end. I wanted simple but for the end I wanted something cool. I think it came out good as a final product and I enjoyed making this commercial 

Editing The Commercial

Editing day

  Today was supposed to be the first day of editing in class. However all our computers are down. Half have problems with the editing software. The others just straight out don’t let people log in.

So instead of having a full editing day, some people are gonna be re-filming today. The others are going be moving the dumped footage so we won’t lose everything. I have done everything myself since I don’t have a group. However I don’t think I need to reshoot anything so I just dumped all my footage onto a flash drive. I had a little trouble because I couldn’t find the computer I dumped everything on, but I found it. I just dumped it and but my flash drive in a safe place

  Our teacher told us that we should still plan the editing though we can’t actually edit. So I went over all my footage to see what would work, so my commercial would be good. I want to make up for whatever film errors I made. Since I was by myself things weren’t amazing throughout and some footage isn’t the best. Like I couldn’t do some of the camera movements because I was the actor and camera man. Also some footage I didn’t see how it looked after I filmed. However, I think it’s still good though. Best part is most of the footage I looked at was good and I did find a helper for the camera angles. I just wanna make up for any mistakes by having amazing editing throughout the commercial. I plan on using a few unique items in my commercial to set mine apart from others. 

  What I plan to do for editing is simple but with a few items that catch the eye. So it flows perfectly and then has a few attempts grabbers. For one Imma do jump cuts and try to put an action match if I can figure out how to match it. I wanna just have mostly simple things that are effective. Because my main attention grabber will be for one a really good soundtrack “ hard word” is the song I will use. My ace though is gonna be a slo- mo on the water bottle. I’ll also mix it with a shot/ reverse shot, this is gonna be my main grabber paired with the bottle slo- mo. I’m gonna have dissolves of me drinking the bottle and running a stair case. The second thing I’m gonna use for the ending to solidify the water brand is a voiceover. I wanna send it with the slogan “ Essentia Quality H2O”

Filming Commercial Blog

My Individuality Experience 

   Today my class started filming the first complete project on a commercial. First thing off is that I didn’t have a group. So I did my entire commercial almost completely by myself I’ll explain the almost later. So I got in class and got all the equipment I needed  the camera, SD card, and tripod. Then after doing all the class procedures I grabbed all my stuff and headed to the first water fountain I saw. I settled down and set up the camera and tripod it was probably easy and self explanatory. I had a lot of fun playing around with the tripod and trying to figure out things that could work. Next thing I wanna mention is that doing everything alone is really hard in all honesty. It’s hard to film specific movements and angles on a subject when you are the subject. So future reference I should find a group for the next project.

   First place I went to was the water fountain. My commercial was for a water bottle company (Essentia) so the water fountain was the first to mind when I was planning everything. I did a few stationary takes on the bottle to start. I mainly did this to figure out how the camera should be set up to get the exact shots I wanted. After figuring it out I had the bottle propped up on the fountain and I took several pans and tilts of it. I filmed some of those at a low angle, some at eye-level, and a key few at a high angle. I repeated this but this time I had the water fountain water running. So the bottle was being hit with water. The only main difference between these is that for the with water I only shot at a high angle because I needed to hide my hand while I was turning the water on. All these takes will made up for about 3 of the 6 boxes or 15 of the 30 seconds of the commercial.

   The next location was the media center staircase. This is where I had most of my problems in filming. I need to take a few takes of me and I got a few one but they were all stationary and I needed a take of me drinking the water and incorporate a tilt with a low angle in it. I just needed someone to move the camera up and down for a few seconds. Luckily a friend of mine passed by and he helped me out with that take and another of me pouring the water on myself to give the impression that it ”cools” me off. Honestly wasn’t my best decision and obviously I needed to do it like 3 times to make sure I had variety if needed and basically just soaked myself. I only needed to shoot one more scene and it was just a simple stair run. So I propped the camera on the top of the stair case and run up and down a few times in different take. My only worry is I never really saw how much the camera actually got so I might get messed up I say the thumbnail when I was dumping the film and I saw myself clear. My last last thing to do was record myself saying the slogan on the water company so that I can make it a voiceover in the final product through editing. Which will be next up.

Storyboard

The angles I plan to use in my water bottle commercial (Essentia) are low, high, eye-level and oblique as depicted in my storyboard. The camera movements that will be used in the commercial will be pans, tilts, and tracking shots. The types of shots I plan on using in my commercial will be long shots, close-ups, zoomed close-ups. As for the editing I want to have a song play from beginning to end “hard work” and I want a very clear and statement ending voiceover stating the slogan of the water bottle. I will have one transition, a slow- mo, fades, black ins, and a few jump cuts. All are stated or depicted in my storyboard that show how my final product should resemble

Editing Lesson Blog

What did I learned today?

  I learned about the camera and tripod first in this lesson. The camera is small but “mighty” it has flip screen on the side and the camera turns on when the flap is open, and off when it is closed. There is a simple start and stop button that starts filming when pressed and stops when pressed again, it films a take and saves it to the SD card that is placed inside. Next is the tripod this piece of equipment can be attached to the camera through a plate. The plate can be tightened and untightened to the bottom of the camera through a screw. This plate with camera attached to it can now be snapped into place on top of the tripod and now keeping camera film level. The tripod can extend its legs in which it has three (tri-pod) triple it’s length allow all angles of film. It also has an extendable neck which is right below the attached plate and camera. The tripod also has all types of articular movement in its neck allowing all camera movements and shot types. The tripod is a vital part of filming anything in all honesty.

  Second I learned how to dump footage. I would need my SD card inside a SD card reader and have it plugged into a computer. I must also be signed in with my 060 number and must continue to sign in with mine only through project. I then need to create a folder on the desktop and name it. I must download my footage. Then I need to go into my computer files and find the DCIM file and find my footage and move it into my created folder. However if I don’t find my footage in DCIM, I shouldn’t worry because it doesn’t mean my footage is lost. I would go the the PRIVATE file. There should be another file labeled AVCHD. Inside of it I’d search Stream and I should find my footage somewhere and then I can just drag them into my created folder from there.

  Lastly import and export along with some editing. To import I go into the pinnacle studio software and move to the edit section and click import. After the pop up of files go to desktop and find the folder I created. Then check all of my film and import the footage and let it load. From there I have three tracks AV1 for titles, AV2 for the main building of film, and AV3 for any music or sound. I would move my imported footage into the AV2 track because all my film development/editing is to be done there. I would then put any transitions, cuts, voiceovers, etc. from that point on. I learned to do a cut I would use the red play bar and put it where I want a cut and press the razor button. When I’m done or content with the footage, I’d then export it. I’d do this by hitting the export button and making sure I have MPEG_4 selected in settings and the clicking render and let the film finish rendering (process of film being smoothed out and gaps in footage being removed). After all this the end product should be my completed commercial or film

Planning Blog

Commercial Project 

This is my first project for aice media. The project to to make a 25-30 original content commercial on a selected company or product in which I chose the water brand Essentia. This project is to give a taste into the class and the final Cambridge exam movie. I will be filming my own original content with provided cameras and I plan out the entire project myself: Props, costumes, schedules, locations, and even a back-up plan. I also edit and make the pieces I film into the actual commercial.

Planning 

Props

I am using a bottle of essentia water as the main prop and a water fountain for use of water flow

Costumes 

Athletic wrestling clothing: either rolling shorts and a tank top

Schedule 

I think to start I’m going to have the bottle set up on a water fountain and film that with fountain water running, then head to the track film drinking water after a lap and zoom on condensation 

Locations

Building 5 water fountains, football field/ track, and track shed area

Back-up Plan

In case of rain I will still use the bottle prop and get water fountain film and location but instead of football/track field or track shed... I will film at media center staircase building 5 and film running stairs, and drinking of water after

Filmed Commercial 

How I want the commercial to go is intro to a bottle standing tall on a fountain (will use low camera angle on a close-up to give the impression), with the fountain water flowing behind. I will edit voiceovers into the piece while water is flowing saying something along the lines “nothing is better than Essentia Quality H2O”. Then jump cut to a runner on track or stairs(back-up) then jump cut to them drinking the bottle that is dripping from condensation. Ending with another promotional voiceover.

Research Convention and Research

I’m choosing Essentia the water brand as my commercial subject. I’m choosing this, because I think water is a more board category to make there are a lot more examples to follow. Also I reuse a essentia water bottle everyday and I made up a bunch of jokes and gags from it. I hope to use a few in the commercial just need to decide how I’ll make the commercial follow with them.

Standards in commercials for water are kinda just like using beautiful environments with flowing water. I’ve seen many using ocean resorts, ocean areas or like waterfalls. They also film in a way that  makes the water look more refreshing like scenes where they show the bottle it will be dripping from cool condensation. Also filming an athlete drinking it, usually a runner or someone finishing a workout oppose to like a football player.

Norms for editing are lots of inserts, jump shots or cutaways, and dissolves. A Fuji commercial used a insert of a vibrant river following while having the bottle phase in. In commercials with essentia they cut from athletes to the bottle as it’s main edit. All commercials usually have a soft persuasive tone in the dialogue it’s never something extreme or super exciting and usually ends or includes a slogan like fuji’s purest water slogan. Most sound is non-diegetic with the main speaker being a voiceover

These are all the standards I should follow in my commercial

Introduction

Intro to Jeo

My name is Jeovany but most call me Jeo. I’m a 16 year old sophomore at Fort Lauderdale High. For school life I’m a Cambridge student and I do very well in school with a 5.0 gpa and if things go well I will have my Cambridge diploma by this years end and go on to AP Capstone. Apart from that I’m on the varsity wrestling team. I’m starting my second year this year I first started as a freshman but I advanced very quickly last year I placed at districts and this year I’m the captain and projected to place and win states.

My Home environment is good I have a full family with a complete heritage from Cuba, so I’m latin-american. My parents also let me be me as I grew and I turned out to be a very independent and driven person. All things I succeeded in at school and sports was all from myself I never had them to push me but they did support me. I’m am very stubborn from this though, I work hard and I do things my way and always get things done

Lastly I have a job. So I balance College classes, being a leader of a team, and being a team leader at a place of work. My job is something that helped me realize things in the world and honestly helps me keep myself at hard work and I appreciate it. I worked 40 hours weekly during summer and I work as much as I can now but cut back because of wrestling. From my job I got myself a car and payed for everything and put it all under my name, which in my opinion is a huge accomplishment for a 16 year old.

Hopefully you have an Idea of the type of person I am