Editing for Music Video

   For editing the music video we used Pinnacle Studios like last time. After we dumped the raw footage to the computer we started to synchronize the video with the audio, 'Thrift Shop' by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. We wanted to tell the story we imaged in pre-production. To emulate the original Thrift shop video, we made sure to have the right costumes and setting to fit the theme of the video. We took the rough footage and transferred it into the editing software. It took a while to load and process, we thought the program had crashed initially, but eventually, it prevailed. On this shoot we filmed with 1080p quality on my own camcorder instead of the schools since the battery on the school's camera was wonky. Our first scene was the one with Joe, the owner of the Little Thrift Store, pushing my partner Preace on a shopping cart across the establishment; this acted as the establishing shot. We followed up with a cut to the Goodwill where we started the fist verse of the song. I found that syncing up the external audio with the movement of our mouths took a lot of work and attention. I constantly found myself tinkering and slightly adjusting the audio to match the sound in the film. One of the shots that we thought we needed to edit a lot was a transitional shot from me to my partner to display different parts of the lyrics. Instead, on filming day we just decided to use a flash pan as the transition from me to my partner. We then added all the other remaining parts of the video and concluded by adding a fade out and title card at the beginning. We thought about adding extra filters and lenses on the footage but ended up not doing so as we thought it would cheapen the video. the video ended up being a little over a minute and ten seconds. We followed all conventional music video stereotypes and felt that our video conveyed the same feeling as other multi-million dollar music videos. 

Filming of Music Video

   We had already established where we were filming (a local thrift store and a Goodwill) prior and started the day by going to my partner Preace's house. We enlisted his brother to help do some shots that the two us alone couldn't do, like the tracking shot in a part of the video. Our gear consisted of the school's camcorder, a tripod, my own personal camcorder, and two SD cards (one personal and one from the school). Since my friend lives in Miramar, we decided to find a local thrift there and ended up stumbling across The Little Thrift Store. The owner, Joe seemed cool a ecstatic that we were filming a music video, let alone it being the song Thrift Shop, which popularized the notion of thrift stores to kids my age. Joe also helped us in one shot with a shopping cart shown below: 

   A lot of ideas were floating around to how the cinematography would work in this project. Some shot ideas were scrapped and others were improved upon. During a shot at the Little Thrift Store, we planned to shift the camera while it was on me to Preace which ended up looking choppy. Instead, we used a flash pan to create a smooth transition from character A to character B; it ended up pretty nice. I almost forgot to mention that without Preace's brothers help filming that sequence and the project in general, it wouldn't have turned out as well as it did. The next location we filmed at was a Goodwill. The look of a Goodwill is different from the aesthetic of a local, small thrift shop. Racks of clothing lined the store and is useful as the shots that required us to rummage through and examine the clothing required a lot of space and clothes. Not to mention that that particular Goodwill had a giant clock that we could play our pun to. Before I forget, costumes played an important part in our project since we wanted our video to embody the flashy and individualistic nature of thrift store fashion. The chains, the pink hat and robe all echo the confidence attitude shown in the original music video. Overall, our filming was great. It only took us a day to film and in that day we had accomplished a lot and learned a lot about camera and angle composition, whether one scene could gel well with the other and how to tell a story with film.

Us at the Goodwill

"Dressed in pink..."

Storyboard for Music Video

   

 Our storyboard starts off with the introduction of the song with an establishing shot that has the melody play as we walk with swagger. We are all wearing eccentric pieces of clothing to establish the mood and aesthetic of the video. The shot shows the thrift store to set the location. A shot that I had wanted to do was take a tricycle and ride it towards the camera and as the tire eclipsed the shot, that would be our transition. The next shot is of us entering the shop. We then cut to me and my partner in flashy clothing walking down the isles of clothing racks as we mouth the lyrics to the song. We then walk to center hallway as we do our dance number and performance. There's an upcoming scene where we replace an expletive with showing the audience us holding a clock to add comedic effect. A problem I can foresee us having is the write our way around the expletive words in funny and creative ways. The use of props that sound like the expletive is how we are going to attempt this change. The next few shots are of us just rummaging around the thrift store finding pieces we like. Another shot I would like to do is top-down shot where one of us throws a clothing item and the camera is at an above high
angle so that the shirt and fly into the camera; this
could also act as transition. The final scenes are of us
trying on outfits and vibing to the music as the video
fades to black.

Planning & Procedure for Music Video

Theme and organization: Our music video will revolve around the euphoria from shopping at the thrift store. The original music video by Macklemore shows the protagonist wearing eccentric clothes at a local thrift center whilst rapping about the benefits of buying quality goods at a cheap price. Our aim is to replicate the same tone and establish an environment the mimics the original video.

Setting: We plan to film in a local thrift store, with permission of course, and a Goodwill. In the original video, they show two sets, one that is reminiscent of the classic, local thrift. While the other looks like a regular chain thrift store, like Goodwill. I want a certain aesthetic for our first scene. Choosing a  local thrift with a certain retro aesthetic is essential for the tone of the video.


Example of the location aesthetic

Actors and Props: The main characters in this video will be myself and Preace. We will be wearing flashy, eccentric, 80's themed clothing with chains and coats to parallel the look of the original video. Our props will mainly include the different outfits we'll wear throughout the video and the accessories we'll wear. In one part of the song and expletive is used to describe a penis, so we'll replace that with a clock, a play on the rhyme of the two words that add a comedic effect. For background and extras, we'll try to enlist some of our friends to act as extras.

Production and Set: Obviously, to film this project we need some help since we are only a two man team. Preace offered the help of his brother, who is an amateur film maker to help film our in project. We plan the shoot to happen over two days, but if not we an make due with one. I will be directing and choreographing the sequences. Yes, there will be certain, small dance numbers that will have to be reviewed and practices, but we a considerable amount of time to go over it.

Music and Interpretation: As stated before, we will be closely following the themes present in the original music video. Our outfits and cadence will imitate what was shown in the video. We will be playing the music as we go over our shots to keep track and pace and get the cadence of the song. In post is where we'll actually incorporate the music as well as edit down certain parts of the music as we have to meet time constraints. 

PreMusic Video

  Today we are starting our journey of making a music video. We had previously done our Gatorade Commercial and learned a lot about filming and editing of a film project. There were some difficulties with editing but hopefully the new laptops will relieve that struggle. We will be using the song “Thrift Shop” by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis. Obviously, we will be using the PG edited version of the song since the original has profanity in it. The theme of the song is “ball’in on a budget” which is making the most out of a limit amount of money in a thrift store. The premise is quiet entertaining since the mis en scene of the video give off fun and quirky vibes.

Some conventions in the Thrift Store music video is the use of old, flashy clothing styles. Fur coats, button ups, baggy jeans, and assorted shoes are common place in this video. The use of pre owned and somewhat worn out clothing has a certain charm to it. The idea of “retro” clothing is trendy and can give the video a sense of character. The actors in the video will include myself and my partner Preace and maybe some extras. The attitude of the video is one of confidence and self expression. Wearing these clothes requires confidence to pull it off.

Placing the music video in a thrift shop and goodwill will be appropriate since those are classically thrifty places. Filming in a thrift store provides that added realism to the film and give it tone of joy and youthfulness. We will not be exactly copying the video, but we’ll be providing our own twist on the video. Some of the same themes and calling cards will be present in the video, but it will creatively different.

Gatorade Commercial Finale

   Doing this Gatorade commercial, I learned the many intricacies of film making. The process of filming was a long journey. Trial and error was prevalent throughout the process. Me and my partner had no prior experience in film making and it was learning curve to produce and edit the film. We knew that the premise of a Gatorade commercial revolves around the refreshing quality of Gatorade and how it rejuvenates athletes to keep on training. It’s obvious that the aim of a sports drink commercial is to convince the audience to buy the product. In our commercial we attempt to show the effects Gatorade has an how it give athletes an edge and continue their training.
   Filing of the commercial took place over 2 days and consisted of me and my partner, Preace. We had to use school equipment to film, so there were some draw backs in the process of shooting. First of all, the equipment we had was out off date and slightly broken. In fact, on our first day of shooting, our camera had died because it was not fully charged prior to our filming time. We did have access to tools like tripods and an SD card reader to dump our footage into the desktops. Speaking of desktops, the whole rooms' desktops were slow and simply did not work. We literally could not start the editing process until the next class period. The next class period, we had gotten a hold of some laptops to use as our editing device. The laptops were much more usable than the desktops but they still had some issues with processing power.
   Even though we experienced all these pitfalls, I had learned many valuable lessons in the process of film making. I learned that one has to be persistent in getting the right shot and that can mean staying gout in the filed for an extra couple of minutes to make sure the you get the shot you want. This process also drove out the more creative side of myself. Formulating interesting shots and transitions had really open my mind to the numerous possibilities of expression through film.     
 

Editing of Gatorade Commercial

   Today in class, me and my partner, Preace finished our final shots for our Gatorade commercial. Our teacher had allocated us a few minutes of shooting due to our camera dying our previous shoot. We only had one specific scene to film and it was quite easy. Coincidentally, today was prep day for spirit week and I had dressed up as an ivy league student. I worn a dress shirt with khaki shorts and boat shoes,very formal. I had brought an extra change of gym clothes because my friend Orayn didn't bring his shorts, the ones we used for our prior shoot. It was a hassle changing. Per usual, Florida weather is extremely hot and humid so changing back into my dress shirt was no fun. We ended up getting the camera equipment and headed to the track to film.
   On the track,we filmed our final shot which was of me running past the camera as it was on a wide angle. We saw others from our class on the field as well, presuming that they needed last-minute shots as well. We filmed our shot and had an argument about how the shot should be choreographed. I wanted to do a wide shot and in post have it slow-moed and my partner respectfully rejected the idea. Another problem that occurred when filming was our tripod. Like last time our tripod was broken. After that ordeal, we headed back to the classroom to dump our footage and edit.
   When we walked back into our classroom ready to edit, the computers were not working. Most computers didn't even have the Pinnacle editor installed. Our teacher told us that we won't edit today but instead consolidate your footage and complete your blog on editing today. The thing is that you cannot do a blog on editing if you haven't edited. Instead, I will now describe how I would've edited if I could edit today. Most of the transitions would have been quick cuts to the next shot. One shot in particular would consist of a still shot of me looking up with amazement as I insert a video of Usain Bolt winning a race. This shot is reminiscent of a dream or fantasy shot where the character is daydreaming about the victory they're about to receive. Welp, at this point I seem to have reached my target word length; for further information, stay tuned for the next blog... 

Filming of the Commercial

   On Thursday me and my partner Preace filmed our scenes for our Gatorade commercial. On that day I had forgotten to bring shorts to wear for the filming and me and Preace were both wearing jeans, outfits that do not really match the aesthetic of exercise. Anyways, I had to go borrow my friend Orayn's shorts as he was on the football team. I had to admit we were somewhat unprepared for this filming as we only bought the Gatorade bottle the day of from one of our school's vending machines. But we quickly picked up our surroundings and seriously came up and executed great filming ideas as the day went on.
   We checked into our classroom and got our camera, tripod, and SD card. We then headed out to our track field to film our shots as the setting would be an athlete training on a track. As we arrived to the track, many of our other classmates had the same idea to film at the filed which lead to quiet a lot of commotion. Based on our storyboard, we followed most of the drawn out scenes to the teeth. Our first shot was the establishing shot which pictured me sprinting at full speed as the camera tracked my movement. We initially wanted to do a tracking shot, however, we realized that it incredibly hard to do without the proper equipment and a conventional use of a skateboard wouldn't work as it wouldn't go fast enough. We took multiple takes of each shot to make sure we have a variety before we dumped it into the computers. The second shot we took was a close up of me running and the camera would zoom into my face to show my expression. This shot took a while. Yes, we had tripods, but getting the zooming to be smooth took a lot of trial and error. We finally got our shot to as close as perfection and continued on with our shoot. Fun fact, the Gatorade bottle we bought had a huge dent on one side of the bottle. Therefore, for every shot we had to carefully make sure that the pristine side was showing. On the bright side the humid Floridan weather gave the bottle a nice watery tint to it as water droplets formed around the bottle. The shot with the camera parallel to the bottle lying on the ground was done by me laying flat down on the hot track angling the camera angle; not to mention that day was a solid 98 degrees outside full sunshine. I can now officially appreciated the trouble filmmakers go through.
   During our filming of our last few scenes, our camera died halfway through a shot. Frustratingly, we had to run back to our classroom to tell our teacher we needed extra time as class had ended by then. They allowed us a couple of minutes to continues filming the next Monday and we quickly dumped our footage into the computer and went on to our next class.
 
   

Gatorade Commercial Storyboard Blog

Today we finished our first draft of the storyboard. Our commercial is attempting to sell sports drinks, therefore, exercise is essential to the theme of the product. We start off with a fade in to an athlete running on a track with the hot sun beating on him. The athlete is clearly fatigued and in the next shot it shows the athlete leaned over, drenched in sweat and a look of exhaustion on his face. The next shot shows the athlete daydreaming about his victory at the incoming race. To achieve this shot, we will insert a separate shot of the athlete crossing a finish line ribbon with and ecstatic face amidst his victory. Scene cuts to a close up of a the model Gatorade bottle visibly glistening with water droplets to simulate coldness. A hand reaches out to grab the Gatorade and the next wide angle shot shows the athlete drinking from the bottle. The end shot goes back to a tracking shot of the athlete continuing his ruining and the title  "Go Harder, Gatorade" appears as the screen fades to black. 

Editing Lessons Blog

   Today in class we learned camera procedures and editing processes for our future films. Firstly we learned about Pinnacle Studios, a Broward County based editing software that is honestly extremely buggy. Before diving in to the intricacies of Pinnacle Studios, we learned about camera procedures and SD card procedures. I learned that many of the chords are old equipment and to take care of the camera since it’s expensive. The SD card reader is apparently a rare commodity since it’s under lock and key and often “disappears”.  An item that I found extremely interesting and useful is the tripod. From the stability and range of motion, the tripod can allow the user to film a wide range of shots.

   Further along lecture, we went into detail the complexities of Pinnacle Studio and how to dump (export) video from our cameras to the computer and importing that into the editing software. I then learned how to properly edit the footage and use the AV lines correctly. AV 2 is used for the footage, while AV 1 is for the title since it will be on top of the footage, and AV 3 will be reserved for music or sound effects. I learned many new terms like Raw Footage: the unedited footage directly from the camera and Render: to take the footage and smoothing out the video, cutting out the bugs and stutters.  Most importantly, I learned how to properly export footage, which before I had some knowledge but never had extensive knowledge on what type of file should be exported. MP4 and full-size SD best quality should be used to export the final product.

   All in all, in today’s lesson, I learned the process of editing which is essential to produced a finished, well made project. Editing also allows the filmmaker to properly express their films message and add subtly through transitions, score, and titles in their product. Although this lesson was focused on editing, the bureaucracy of checking out and checking cameras clarified the process of filming. 

The ancient technology 

Gatorade Commercial Planning Blog

Gatorade Commercial Script

• Premise of the commercial is to show the revitalizing effects of Gatorade.
• Scene must contain a clear shot of product and the athletes in the midst of exercising.
• Overcoming a challenge is a common theme in commercial.
• Clear shot of athlete drinking the Gatorade.
• Needs to show the competitive attitude of the athlete. 

Version #1 advert: Opens to athlete in intense exercise. Visibly exhausted and sweaty. In the midst of training, athlete contemplates giving up due to exhaustion. However, gets up and takes a gulp of Gatorade. (note the product must have water vapor to show the refreshing and cool taste of Gatorade.

1. Setting: Location in some sort of field, court, gym, or recreational complex. Primary locations include: school football field, indoor basketball courts, and if need be, the senior courtyard. Preferred clear weather conditions to emphasize heat.
2. Characters: Main athlete training either with or without other backgrounds, however, solitary training paints a more serious nature.
3. Costumes: gym shorts and tank top or dry-fit shirt, any athletic wear is applicable. 
4. Props: A cold bottle of Gatorade is needed and extras in case of re shoots.
5. Score: Initially somber and serious music to depict the degrading nature of exercise. Up-beat instrumentals then enter when Gatorade is drunk, used to show the revitalization of Gatorade. 

Establishing the Shot:
Opening shot shows the athlete running in athletic gear and sweating profusely. Tracking shot to show the progress of the run. Cut to a profile view of the athlete sweating with a tired expression on his face. Cut to another athlete, possibly the rival doing the same workout. Split screen of both athletes tired but one goes for a Gatorade. Moves to athlete drinking Gatorade with an edit of the words "Never give up". Switch cut athlete #1 continuing to training as screen fades to black.

Sample advert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jK6M8BIwrc4
   

Commercials and conventions

Commercials and Conventions

Gatorade

   Gatorade is a sport drink made to revitalize someone after a workout. Athletes are the main consumers of Gatorade so it would make sense that they would advertise with athletes, towards athletes. However, the average person can and does drink Gatorade. Corporations rely on consumers to purchase their goods and the best way to do it is to advertise using athletes and psychological measure.

   Generally, ads tend to show off their product in flashy and desirable ways. The lighting used in beverage ads convey the the sense of  refreshing taste and quality that will automatically make one feel rejuvenated. A key part in the advertising of Gatorade is the use of professional athletes to sponsor their products. Influential athletes like LeBron James and Vanessa Williams appear in ads drinking Gatorade. This shows that audience “ Hey, professional athletes drink Gatorade. Therefore if I drink Gatorade, I can be as good as those athletes” or at least support the athlete by drinking Gatorade. 

   In many Gatorade ads a physical activity is performed. Intense music and quick cutting angles are used to depict the intensity of athletics. Athletes in motion and the post activity of exercise are the scenes sports drinks focus on. Many a times it’s LeBron James doing an intense workout and shows James drinking a Gatorade afterwards, and returning to exercise. The use of low camera angles and zoom to show the details of the products is frequently used. 

   The primary message that sport drinks companies present is the ability of their product to refresh oneself. The product acts like an end all and be all for fatigue during and after exercise. The use of famous athletes to endorse Gatorade gives the product more credibility in its use.

Introductory

 Just started new blog!

 

   Hi, my name is Anjun Wu and I’m a 12th grader taking media studies at Fort Lauderdale High School and I’ll be logging my film making process. Along with blogging my film making process, I’ll be detailing my everyday trials and thoughts towards the completion of the various film projects given to me. Whether it be set locations, scripts, costumes, editing process, or whatsoever, this blog will compile my process to becoming a media studies expert.
   This year is my final year at Fort Lauderdale and senior year has been stressful. Not only does
senior activities cost scrupulous amounts of money, but balancing schoolwork, a social life, and work has been difficult. Senior year has many activities like HOCO, prom, gradbash and etc. Our class knows everyone else and we’re like a tight knit family. The problems arise, well for me personally, when academic and social pressures pushes one in between a rock and hard place. Meeting expectations and proving you can contribute to society has forever haunted to adolescent psyche. Another pressure is the application process to colleges. Making the right choice is essential since that dictates one’s adult life.
 Moving on from the hair-tearing difficulties of young adulthood, I do quite enjoy films and T.V. I had always had an interested in movies since I was a little kid watching films like Lion King on VCR. Movies had always been a part of my childhood and gradually became more important as I matured. Films always interested me; whether it be a gripping story like those of Tarantino flicks or the action-adventure blockbusters directed by Spielberg. I believe that movies are the the ultimate way of human expression. The images, themes, and scores paint a world that the audience can relate to or at least deem believable. Television has evolved to the pint where everything is streamed. Sites like Netflix and Hulu has undoubtedly held hostage my free time to the pint where my procrastination has never been greater.
   In my opinion, there’s just so much media content to be consumed in the modern age. From advertisements to indie films, the world revolves around media. The mass amounts of money being made from TV and film is mind blowing and the trend of consumer media dominance dosent seem to subside.