Wednesday, December 4, 2019

Let's EDIT!

After filming our music video thanksgiving break we finally were able to edit. On the first B day we had back, Kaliyah got the computers from the cart to start dumping the raw footage. We used Kaliyah's  USB to create a folder to dump the footage. The organization made it easier for us to locate where our raw footage is. I dragged all of the raw footage into the Music Video folder on the USB. It took me almost the whole class period to dump all of the footage. The computer would glitch from time to time which made the process slower. While dumping, I didn't realize the amount of footage we recorded. I knew it was going to take us awhile to import the footage into pinnacle studios as well. About five minutes before the bell, I finished dumping all the footage.

Next class, we imported the footage into pinnacle studios. Surprisingly, it didn't take long to put the footage into pinnacle studios. After all of the raw footage was imported, we finally started editing! The first thing that we did was drag the footage into the order that we want them to be in. Let' s just say, these computers are not the best.  While we were organizing the footage, the computer started to move slow. The school computers are the worst! However, we had to work with what we got. As we were looking over our footage, we realized how much fun we had while creating the music video. It is by far one of our favorite assignments we had to do for this class.

When we finished organizing the footage into the correct order, we realized that the video was over 2 minutes. So, we started to cut unnecessary parts so that the music video can be under 2 minutes long. Again, the computers were not on our side and started lagging. Also, the computer's battery was running low. We had to quickly charge the computer before we lost all the work we did in pinnacle studios. Due to the inconveniences, we were only able to edit the beginning of the music video. Before the class period was over we watched the beginning and lets just say we were really proud of the outcome. It brings the chill vibe that we wanted for the video. However, we only have until Monday to complete the entire video! This means that we have to work on the video during our study hall and lunch.

Monday, December 2, 2019

Filming Day!!! For real this time!

After completing a storyboard for the music video, we planned what days we can film. After debating on which day to film, we finally were able to set a date. We decided to film our music video during thanksgiving break. Kaliyah checked out a camera and tripod. We didn’t check out a SD card because we bought one personally. During Thanksgiving Break, we met up on saturday to film. We met up at galleria mall at 2:30p.m. I was the first person to arrive at the mall, so I waited for my other group members to come. One of the members in my group were running late and it delayed us. Therefore, we started to film without them. We used my phone to play the song throughout the filming process. 

When we started to film, we experienced technical difficulties. We realized that the camera would not turn on. When Kaliyah charged the camera, it turned on for about ten minutes and then shut off. We tried to charge it some more to see if it will turn on. Unfortunately, the camera did not turn on. This led us to using our phones to film the music video. The phone that we used was an IPhone XS Max. The camera quality was brilliant! Also, it was much easier for us to record because we were familiar with the IPhone.

In my opinion, I enjoyed filming the music video. I thought it was cool that we were filming outside of school which gave us way more freedom. Also, in the video we were shopping which is one of my favorite things to do. As a whole, we all brought creative ideas to the table and had fun creating the video. Luckily, we were able to record at the mall quickly because we planned ahead. Once we finished filming at the mall, we headed to the beach to finish. The weather at the beach was great and we found a spot that had great lighting. Again, we were able to film the last few shots quickly because we followed the plan. We all took turns filming at the beach. I recorded the establishing shot. All in all, the filming process was great and we worked great together !

Monday, November 25, 2019

Its Filming Day!!!!!! SIKE

As a group, we came up with a storyline to use in our music video. We all agreed that the song ,skywalker, sets a laid back mood. Creating the storyboard was fun to do because we all really like the song. Once we completed the storyboard, we were ready to film. However, one of our biggest problems was trying to figure out when we will be able to film. Within the group, we all have very busy schedules. Kaliyah, was unable to film on monday, tuesday’s and wednesday’s because of her work schedule. Chad was unable to film because he was required to work from 2:30pm-9pm. Karin was unable to film because of her 6 o’clock class on wednesday. As for myself, I was unable to film because of cheer practice.

Unfortunately, we were not able to film. Our busy schedules made it impossible for us to film this week. This was a minor setback because we wanted to It took us a while to figure out a day to meet up so we can film the music video. Luckily, we were able to come up with a day to film. We scheduled to film saturday from 2p.m-6pm. We are planned to meet up at Galleria Mall. 

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Storyboard

  1. 1.Our customs will be casual everyday clothing. However, the lightening during this time period will be bright being that it’s the peak of the day. During all our scenes we won't wear makeup. Although we will use props such as our phone to play the music.  we will use a wide shot being that we want the mall scenery to be seen. Angles during this shot is a high angle to emphasize us making memories together. We probably a use a pan shot to create us in like an establishing shot of our scene. 
  1. 2.They’re no custom change and the same lightening will be used. During this shot we will create a high shot because were dancing to the music. The dancing will be our acting. The setting of this will still be in the parking lot of galleria mall. 
  1. 3.We are still in the casual clothing. We will use a point of view shot and it will be hand held being that I am encouraging them to come to the mall. We won't have any props during this scene. The setting will be us walking into galleria mall. This will also have a tracking shot because theyre walking up. 
  1. 4.In this scene, our costume will be casual clothing. Lighting will be bright as this scene will be shot during the day. We will be walking towards the mall entrance so our backs will be turned. We will not be wearing makeup as in this scene our faces are not shown. There are no props in this scene. The setting will be us walking from the parking lot towards the mall entrance door. For this scene we will be using tracking shot and wide shot. 
  1. 5.For this scene, there is no costume change. Lighting will be dim since we are inside the mall. Our acting, is us dancing as we’re looking through the store. There is no makeup used in this scene. Props are clothing in the store. Setting will be inside a store. We will be using medium shots, two people shot, and pan. 
  1. 6. This scene has no costume change. Lighting will be dim. Our acting will be socializing amongst each other. We will not be using makeup in this scene. Our props will be shopping bags. Setting will be the escalators of the mall. We will use low angle. 
  1. 7.In this scene, the costume will be casual, every day, clothing. We will be sitting in the car heading to the beach. The lighting in the scene will be natural daylight.  The scene will be taken on the tripod where the camera is stationary. The actors will be singing along and enjoying the featured song in the music video. No make-up will be used in this scene. 
  1. 8. In this scene, the costume will still be casual everyday clothing. We will still be in the car driving to the beach. The movement of this scene will be a tracking shot of the City of Fort Lauderdale outside of the car window. There will be no acting in this scene. Because the actors will still be in the car there will be no props as well. The actors will also wear no make-up. The lighting in this scene will be natural daylight. 
  1. 9. For this scene, the friends arrive at the beach. An establishing shot will be taken to show the setting. The actors are not shown in this scene therefore, there will be no make-up used on the actors or any costume changes. The lighting in the scene will be natural daylight. 
  1. 10.This scene is going to have us going into the bathroom or fitting rooms with our regular clothes and then leave the fitting room with beach clothes on. This shows that we are changing to go chill at the beach. This goes correspondingly with the vibes we want for our video. We won’t be acting in this shot and will use a wide shot. 
  1. 11. In this scene we will be seen having fun at the beach. We won’t have any sound in this film except the song. We will make some of the lyrics concerning the beach match up to us at the beach. The props we will have are a beach towel, speaker, beach umbrella, cups, coolers, and food. We will have on the beach attire and just be seen having fun; laughter, smiling, and dancing included. This portrays the chill vibe of the song that we want to capture and we will use a wide shot. 
  1. 12.In this shot we will be seen parting ways. After a long day of fun and creating memories with each other by just chilling with each other. We will be putting away the same props from last time. We will have the music fading out as we are leaving. This hints at the song ending and the day will be over. The sun should be setting around that time as well. We will use a wide shot for this. 

Monday, November 18, 2019

Planning a Music Video!

My group mates and I chose three different locations to film at. Our music video begins at galleria which is a shopping mall close by. We'll start in the parking lot blasting Skywalker by Miguel, but not very loud because we don’t want to disturb any mall securities. We will then transition to inside the mail to buying beach wear which is our attire for the beach. After purchasing our beach wear, we will transition to the beach to have a little party amongst each other. However, we will ask permission from the store we go to film. If it rains or galleria ask us to leave, we will try a different mall and if it rains, we’ll just choose another day to do the beach scene. 
For our health and safety, we will make sure to wear seat belts while driving. We will do this because there are many consequences of driving without a seatbelt such as getting in an accident and flying through the windshield and getting a ticket. We will also look both ways before crossing any streets to avoid getting hit by a car and we will also make sure the driver will not text and drive. We will also not leave our belongings in the car because robbers would be able to see that and they might try to break into the car in order to get the items. These safety precautions will make sure to keep us safe during our filming process. 
We will have a good number of props. Our props will vary during our mall scenes we will have vary shopping bags filled with beach clothing to prepare us for our transition to the beach. At the beach we will have numerous of props to create the scene of having a party. Some of these props will include cups, a beach umbrella, beach towel, cooler and a speaker. Each group member would have to provide at least one prop. 
The costumes that we will wear are casual clothes. We are going to wear causal clothes in order to convey the chill vibes theme that we have throughout our video. We want to make sure that we don’t wear anything inappropriate as well, which is why we will make sure to keep the clothes we wear appropriate for school. We are going to switch clothes into our beach clothes for the beach. We are going to make sure that our beach clothes are not showing too much skin. For the girls, if they have a two-piece, they are going to wear something over that to cover it up. For me I will wear a t-shirt and some swimming trunks in order to convey the beach theme and be appropriate. These costumes are the most efficient way to keep our theme and to keep it school appropriate. 
We have a set schedule for the rest of our filming process. Today and tomorrow we have to finish our planning and storyboarding process. Then we have to create a filming blog on whether we decide to film this weekend or not.  Which we decided to film on 11/30 during the thanksgiving break. This gives us 3 class periods to edit because our music video is due 12/09  

Thursday, November 7, 2019

Final Blog

Originally, we were supposed to start editing our commercials last week. However, we experienced technical difficulties with the desktop computers that were given to the class. Pinnacle studios was not working when we tried to open it. So, Mrs.Marchione told us that we were unable to edit our commercials. Unfortunately, these were the computers that we dumped all of our footage on after we finished filming our commercial. This was a setback because we were required to restart the whole dumping process. Luckily, a couple days went by and we were given newer laptops. This made dumping way faster. Once we saved our footage on a USB from the old desktop, we created a new folder on the new laptop and moved all of our raw footage onto the folder. I was relieved that we could finally get back to finishing our commercial.

Once we finished dumping our footage and imported it to pinnacle studios we finally started to edit. Luckily, we already planned out what order we want the clips to be in and which shot should be in the beginning of the commercial. At first, we had to get familiar with the software because it was our first hands-on experience on pinnacle studios. Although, we utilized the notes that we took from the day we learned about the tools. I must say, the notes were beneficial to the editing process. We started off by editing the establishing shot. Before, the establishing shot was nearly 30 seconds. This was a problem because the entire commercial had to be 30 seconds long. So, we ended up cutting the shot so that it can be shorter. After editing the establishing shot, everything after came easy to us. We started to get used to the software.

On the last day of editing the commercial, Kaliyah and I came up with an idea to add ambient sound. I searched on YouTube sounds of school bell ringing in the hallway. I thought it would be cool to add ambient sound with the establishing shot so that viewers can understand the setting. After I found the sound, I downloaded it as mp3 so that I can import it into pinnacle studios. Then, I searched the web again for sounds of students talking. I followed the same steps as before and downloaded it as mp3. When we were done editing the commercial, we watched it to see if we wanted to make any additional changes. We watched the commercial about 3 times before saving it and exporting it. After the trials and tribulations we faced for the production of the commercial, I am pleased to say I am proud of the end result!

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Editing the Commerical

Prior to last class, we were given the opportunity to start filming our commercials. It was our first time using the equipment required to make our project. Personally, the filming process was pretty fun and I really enjoyed it. Once we finished getting all of our footage, we can’t back inside and turned back in the camera and tripod. I kept the SD card so that I can start dumping the footage onto the desktop. The computers that I was working on was an older computer so it didn’t work as fast. It took nearly 30 minutes to upload some of our footage onto the computer. However, I was able to finish putting the footage we took that day on the desktop. 

Today, my group members and I were able to finish recording all of our footage to complete the filming process of our commercial. I acted in majority of the scenes which was a different experience for me. In addition, I also helped record some footage that we needed for the commercial. When we were completed with the all of the footage and was ready to move on to the editing process, we experienced some technical difficulties. When we came back into the classroom, I was prepared to finish dumping the footage we took today onto the computer. However, the computer that we used last
class was in use because not all of the computers were working. Therefore, we were unable to dump the footage onto the computer. Luckily, we had our own personal SD card which allows us to dump the footage onto the computer next class. 
Although, we were planning on at least editing our footage that we already dumped. However, we were informed that the editing software was down.

Our teacher had scheduled for our class to start the editing process of our commercials today. Due to the inconvenience, the class and I was unable to edit our raw footage. The editing software that we were supposed to be using today is Pinnacle Studios. We were taught a couple weeks ago, how to use the software when we edit our videos. I was hoping to get an hands on experience of the software but it was shut down. The combination of the old desktops and the software being down did not benefit my group whatsoever. Even though we couldn’t edit, I planned out what we may want to include in the background of our commercial. For example, I thought that it would be a cool idea to add background music in the commercial. Also, Kaliyah and I thought it would be a good idea to include the Nestle logo at the end. The last minute ideas enhanced the project!



Friday, October 25, 2019

Filming Process

In duration of the filming process, I helped carry out our props, camera, and tripod to the different shots. I also helped assist attaching the camera to the tripod. In our first scene, I took the establishing shot. For the establishing shot, I made the decision on taking the establishing shot in the senior patio. I decided to take the establishing shot in slow motion. I thought it would be a cool effect to the commercial. When I finished shooting establishing shot, I contributed an idea of taking a high shot of the flying L mural on the ground, with nestle pure life water splashing on it. I thought it would be a good idea to incorporate this shot into our commercial because it introduces how Nestle Pure life brings life to Fort Lauderdale High School. I recorded both of the shots. The tripod helped me get a higher angle for the high shot .


In addition, I played a role in the commercial. Because I am a cheerleader at my high school, we decided that I should play a role as the athlete in the commercial. During the filming process, I was dressed in my cheerleading uniform. I was directed to do cheer related things in the video as if I’m cheering at a event. Then, I would take a sip of the Nestle Pure Life water to hydrate myself. After, I would pass a bottle of nestle water to a student who seems dehydrated and needs to be refreshed. I was included in the two-shot when the student was trying the water. Lastly, I took another bottle of the water and shared it with an administrator. We used the administration to have someone represent the staff at fort lauderdale high. I would say I enjoyed playing one of the main actors in the commercial. In the end scene, I held the water expressing why you should buy Nestle Pure Life.

Finally, during the filming process I kept track of time . I had to make sure we were managing our time wisely so that we can get enough of our filming done. We were told to be back at the classroom by 10:35. So, I set a timer on my phone so that we can be back on time. Once the timer went off, I helped detach the camera to the tripod. Then, I folded the tripod down and placed it back into the bag. When we got back into the classroom, I went to a computer and turned it on so that we can start dumping. We uploaded all of our footage into the desktop so that we can edit them next class. When we were done, I checked in the camera, tripod, Sd card, and SD card reader.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Storyboard

My group has decided for the commercial to start off with an FLHS, Fort Lauderdale High, cheer leader. The cheer leader will look sad, “dead”, and will then drink the pure life water and be “brought back to life”. This cheer leader will then give the water to an FLHS student looking “dead” and will take a sip of the pure life water and be “brought back to life” as well. This process will be repeated two more times with the cheer leader giving the water bottle to a “dead” looking FLHS guidance counselor and administrator. When they get the pure life water bottle they will the be “brought back to life as well. For the final scene we will splash the Flying L sign on our senior patio with pure life water and say “Pure life brings life to Fort Lauderdale High”. For the first scene with the cheer leader drinking the water we will use a hand held and medium shot. For the second, third and fourth scene we will use a hand-held shot, wide shot and a two-shot. For the last scene we will use a high angle and a wide shot to show the whole Flying L symbol and the water being thrown. All scenes except for the last one will have a score sound track to enhance the commercial and engage the audience, while the last scene will have dialogue.


Monday, October 14, 2019

Editing Lesson Blog

In today's class, we learned about how to control the cameras and the tripod. Additionally, we learned how to edit our commercials. We started off learning how to handle the camera and tripod with care. I learned how to set up a tripod and how to move the handle up and down for tilt and left to right for a pan shot. To use a camera, we must check it out. Each camera comes with an SD card and SD card reader that will hold all of our footage. To film our commercials outside the class, we must have our student I.D on at all times along with a filming pass. The tripod can instead longer so that we can get different angles with the camera being stationary. I also learned that it was important to disconnect the camera from the tripod and then close the tripod carefully so that we can prevent any damages. This is important because many usually trip or stumble upon something as they are moving.

Furthermore, after we learned about how to record and use the tripod, we were introduced to the editing process. When we are ready to edit our commercials, we go to an app called Pinnacle Studios. Pinnacle studios is the editing processor that we will be using to edit raw-footage. Raw-footage is the original recording without any editing done to it. Once we open the app, we open up a folder. Then, we put the SD card into the reader and save our work onto the desktop. To locate our footage, we would look in the DCIM. This should be based on times and dates. If you are unable to locate your footage you go to private, go to AVCHD, go to the next folder, then go to stream. To ensure that you don’t lose all of your footage, you and your group must use the same computer to edit every time.

Also, we learned new vocabulary words. We because familiar with the words dumping and import. Dumping is a term that means getting the footage that you took and transferring it to the computer. Import is footage from the computer to pinnacle studios. To import footage on pinnacle studios, we click on “t” instead of word desktop. We must make sure our footage was imported entirely. To edit we click on “edit”. We were told to leave track 1 for titles, track 2 for footage, and track three for sound. We also learned how to split our footage by using the razor blade icon. Lastly, we learned how to export our footage when we are done with the project and to make sure it's in mpeg.4 and in full size, best quality.

Thursday, October 10, 2019

Planning Blog for Pure Life Water Commercial

Props 
  • Pure life water because it is the brand of water for the commercial. That is the only prop that we need for this commercial to work. 
Costumes 
  • One of my team mates, Shania, will wear their cheer uniform because they are going to be apart of the commercial. 
  • Me and the other team mate, Kaliyah, will wear Fort Lauderdale High School gear in order to represent the school in the commercial. 
  • While the other people in the video will wear their typical school clothes. That will create a more realistic scene than having everyone wearing the same clothes, making it look rehearsed.
Schedule
  • This class was a period to create our plans such as: costumes, props and the ideas of what we are going to do for the commercial. 
  • Next class period we make storyboards
  • After that we go through the filming process
  • Then Finally we go through the editing phase
Location 
  • Start:  the senior patio to display the water on the Flying L
  • next: the hall way which is the exchange of water from students 
  • next : the guidance office the exchange of water to a guidance counselor 
  • next : the class room which is the exchange of water between teacher and student
Back up plan 
  • if it begins  raining we will move the picture of the water to the stairway in front of the media center 
  • if the guidance arent willing to participate well ask other administration 
  • if students are missing well just replace them with other students 

Monday, October 7, 2019

Research Blog: Commercial Conventions

My group and I have decided to do a commercial on pure life water . we began research by searching up similarities in water commercials . We noticed that every commercial included water and mostly people. However most commercials only featured the condensation from the water bottle or even just a display of the water bottle. An example would be the fiji commercial . The fiji commercial only included the bottle with features of the fiji island. Instead of fiji we decided on pure life because we wanted to create a main idea that water brings life to Fort Lauderdale highschool
We also noticed that many commercials included people quenching their thirst . In many videos Water is used as a source of energy to people working out or even just normal day to day life . In some videos water is just represented as droplets . However water is mostly thought to be thirst quencher that satisfies people thirst.

Introductory

Hi, my name is Shania. I am a Junior also a student-athlete at Fort Lauderdale High School located in Fort Lauderdale Florida. Currently, I am enrolled in the Cambridge Program. The Cambridge program includes a variety of courses that are very interesting. This is my second year in the program. Even though it can be hard, I still find ways to manage both cheer and school.

If someone where to ask me how I would describe myself I would say this, I am passionate, outgoing,  friendly, caring, and intelligent. Believe it or not, I always look forward to the first day of school because I have the opportunity to make new friends. I feel like it’s important to keep a diverse group of people around you because you can learn more about people. In middle school, I took a peer counseling class in 7th and 8th grade. In duration of the class I met a lot of people who had different personalities, beliefs, and interests. This made conversations much more interesting because we all were different.

Outside of school, I like to travel, go shopping, and spending time with my family. A few of the places that I went too are Bahamas, Colombia, Jamaica, Costa Rica, Belize and etc. I have a desire for traveling because it’s almost like an  escape from the things that i’m used to. I get to see and learn about different cultures and interact with people of different nationalities. In addition, shopping is also something I like to enjoy. Clothes is another way for me to express myself without talking. It is way easier rather than expressing the type of person I am and my style.