Storyboard for Music Video

Today,

Katie and I finalized our storyboard with Mise en Scene.  We know the order that we want it for the most part.  We have a few ideas on how we can end it.  It is just a matter of timing and our editing skills.

Starting with the costumes, we have decided to go in the path of wanting to bring three completely different outfits to portray three different events happening within our music video.  For our childhood scene we wanted to do bright soothing colors to express the youthfulness and joy.  The adult aspect we chose to have the actresses wear colors on a darker spectrum this to display maturity and the seriousness of the scene.  Lastly, for the scene where we dance it will be simple and movable.

Moving on towards the lighting, in the beginning scenes and scenes where we are adults the lights will give off a more realistic type of vibe.  In the dance scene the lighting that is desired should be dark and grayish.  This is to emphasize the dancers movements in the mirror and their reflections without being distracted by color.  The childhood scenes are one of animation and festive colors.

The actors/actresses starring in our production will be ourselves.  Katie and I will be acting and dancing in all the shots.  We believed that it was best for us to be the ones starring in, directing and producing the music video because not only would it be easier but also cleaner. This way the film can be executed the way we both envisioned it.

Make-up is pretty simple in this music video.  For the most part our faces will be completely naked and natural. We may wear a tab bit of make in the adult scenes to show age.

Props will consist of children toys and book bags for the flashback scenes of us being kids again.  The adult scene will consist of purses, little accessories that emulate to us looking older that we actually are. The dance scene truly only requires mirrors and lots of it.

Our scenes take place in three different locations.  The first beginning outside, somewhere nice with a sidewalk.  The next setting is on playground, for the children.  Lastly, the third location is in a dance room hopefully with mirrors.

We plan on checking out the camera tomorrow, the 22nd of this month (November), so that we may play it smart and have it for the weekend to film.  We will be doing a lot of pans, tilts, burn-ins and burn-outs, wide shots, possibly over the shoulder and some P.O.V.s.  This is so we capture the different moods, emotions,and scenery going on.  As far as editing goes, we have to do a lot of cutting, copying, pasting, and matching up to perfection or at least close to it.  This will be something really challenging for us since we are still learning the ins and outs of editing. For sound there will be the audio track.

Planning for The Music Video

Today, November 20th, 2019, my partner Katie and I were working on the vision for our commercial.  We started with the actual, visual for it.  We brainstormed on how exactly do we want to go about presenting the film.  We battled between if we were going to do an exact replica of the music video or if we wanted to do a spin-off.  We decided to do a spin-off.  To do this we began with finding the perfect place to reinvent and recapture the essence of a pop video, with our twist.

We wanted to keep the transition of time just as the original music video.  The twist would be its a friendship instead of a relationship between two females as adults reminiscing on their childhood.  The childhood scene would be filmed at a playground to capture the essence of purity and blissfulness. As for the chorus Katie and I felt the need to intertwine a dance choreography in so that we may differ from the rest.  The setting for this would be in a dance room that contains mirrors.  This is so that we play on the title of the song itself , “MIRRORS”. 

To prevent any incidents from happening, we thought of a safety plan to put in place.  We will be keeping track of the weather reports to find the perfect day to shoot the playground scene.  Katie will also be bringing along a first aid kit in case of emergencies.  Lastly, we will be taking the necessary precautions when dancing to insure we don’t injury the body.

As for props, starting with the childhood scene we will have book-bags as an indication we are coming home from school and meeting up at the park.  We will be using childhood everyday props: chalk, jump ropes, snacks, dolls, juice boxes etc. The dance props we have not quite decided how we would like to go about it.  Yet still, we do know that we are going to need and use a bunch of mirrors to add onto the vision we are trying to pursue.

As for finalizing a set schedule to stay on track for completion we’ve been matching up our personal lives.  On the 21st of this month (November), our storyboard is to be finalized.  By the 24th of this month we hope to begin filming as well as continue on the 27th.  We strive to begin the editing process by the 2nd of next month (December).  Listed above are dates we hope to meet but they may be tweaked here and there. This is all so that we finish by the 9th of December.

Into The New Project- Music Video

Katie and I finished our Dunkin Donut commercial project on the 12th of November. Today, Katie and I are transitioning into our music video project.  We are hoping to accomplish a better film recording, from using our prior knowledge as well as what we learned while filming for our commercial.  Our storyboard was one of the main aspects that helped me when filming for our commercial.  This helped me to stay on track and how to go about recording the takes.  One of the most difficult hardships that we faced was, the loss of our ending footage.  This set us back because we ended up having to re-shoot the whole ending again.  As we go into this new series we must decide on a few things so that our project runs smoothly.  We have to decide: genre of the song, song, location, costumes, and the timing of the song.  We have to make sure we do not go pass or under the time limit of 1:05 - 1:15.
We want a song that we can put a twist on and make it ours to film with.  Yet still, be able to grasp the important content of a music video as well as dance along to it.  After going through our Apple Music, YouTube, Spotify, and Amazon Music, we chose the song Mirrors by Justin Timberlake.  Katie and I wanted to be different and do something that no one would actually think of which is the use of mirrors.  When you look into the mirror you see your reflection and thus the song speaks on someone being your personal mirror, reflecting who you are.  Now that we know which song we are leaning towards, we can start brainstorming how to kick off our film beginning with planning.  We now have to go into the research part, which means finding out the Misc en Scene of Pop songs.

1. Typically in a pop song, the costumes are based off of the gender or the artist.  A male is normally put into one to two outfit choices and the colors vary depending on the mood of the song.  As for females, they are placed in three to four different costumes and are commonly flashy.  In the song Justin Timberlake is seen in black appeal as he sings and dances throughout the mirrors.  His choice of outfit is dramatically simple that it adds and not takes away from the song itself.
2. The lighting is most of Justin's pop sounds are portrayed through the mood of the song.  This song for example had colors to show the mood of time transitioning.  You see bright colors when the couple was young.  There were lots of festive colors and it was very vibrant.  When the couple reaches adulthood and are now in their prime you see that the colors have faded into a more pastel look and its not so bright.  When the couple is now old you mostly see one color and its very faded.  It shows the fading of the of mood, emotion, and time.
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End Filming Blog

The saying goes “all good things have to come to an end.” That is exactly what’s happening. Today, November 7th, 2019, Katie and myself finished the commercial.  Well the filming, voiceovers, and the soundtrack. Our main concern was the editing portion. Seeing as though we both are fairly new to filming and editing this was a new experience for the two of us. On the 5th of this month, Katie and I already had a rough copy of how we wanted our commercial to be. I kept going back and forth with other Dunkin Donut (DD) Commercials to make sure we were on the same path. We wanted to overall stay in the guidelines of the typically DD commercials but add a splash of our personalities. 

Sadly, Katie and I hit a bump in the road when our footage was misplaced. Thus lead to us having to re-record half of our commercial. This was a blessing and a curse all in one. A blessing because we got a second chance to match up the films of the first half to the second half. The score (music) was a big part in how we went about the re-film of the second half. We decided it would be pretty cool to play on the words of the song. At moments it was a curse due to the long process and our fear of not finishing. Katie and I figured that it was best to record numerous takes but with small changes and decide which is best to use. This played to our advantage. 

With the help of our instructor we care to an agreement that Google Drive was a safe place to dump our footage. This was helpful so that we both had a way to view and edit when needed be. In putting the film together, we lined the shots up in the order we thought suited best. Next we played around with the song and shots to see the time length we wanted to portray. With us slowing down, speeding up, trimming and readjusting the film to the song when now just need the voiceover placed. In class we finalized the voiceover and once again played on the arrangement of the film. Seeking out a quiet place I was able to record the script and email it, thus it can be sectioned into the proper places. This being Katie and I’s first commercial we are filled with anxiety and joy to have it completed.

Final Editing

It seems to be that the odds are finally in Katie and I's favor.  After the horrific tragedy of losing our ending portion of our commercial, Katie and I had to go back of re-film everything all our again.  This set us back due to us having to rerecord majority of our video.