Creative Critical Reflection for Music Video

 

Our Music Video!

This was such a fun project for my group. It was a big step up form the commercial but I knew we would handle it. While we started off with a totally different song and idea, but knew it had to be changed. When we thought of a Christmas song it was perfect. There were Christmas decorations all over town so filming was a breeze. There were many bumps along the way but it pulled together very well. There were no issues with my group and we all pulled our weight together so well. I had so much fun filming clips and editing the final project with them. Overall I am just very happy we completed it on time and I was able to work on it with them.

Editing Our Music Video

 Today I captured me accessorizing a Christmas tree with the supplies I purchased at Bed Bath & Beyond. When I arrived home I organized all ornaments that I bought and lit a Christmas candle. I shot the flames blazing from the candle at a tilt angle. Then I placed string lights onto the tree and filmed myself twisting the light cords together. I then fluffed the tree to make it look more full and started grabbing the ornaments from there boxes. I recorded myself grabbing them from there boxes so that my audience could view the patterns along the ball. Afterwards, I shot the ball at a close up to encapsulate even more of the amazing details on the ornament. Next, I filmed myself placing the ornaments onto the tree with the string lights on. Later, I wrapped the garland around my stairwell and began placing the stocking on it. I videoed the process of putting the stocking on and the result of it. For the final recording I placed the camera into the tree and dragged it out to create a zoomed out movement. With this I was able to show the final product of the finished Christmas tree. Since all of these scenes were during the day I then shot at night. Filming at night allowed for the glamorous beauties of the tree to be revealed. I was able to capture the lights and ornaments glistening because of this. This whole process was difficult because I did not have a lot assistance. As a result of this, I had to film with one hand on the camera while was the other was performing an action.  Although working alone on this portion of filming, coming together and combining the scenes will be very simple. The next step is to begin collaborating the clips. I am excited to utilize the skills I learned from the commercial and integrate them into the music video.

Editing

Today we began editing our music video using the IMovie application. We first gathered all of the clips we recorded and imported them to Riana's computer. The next obstacle was figuring out how to import and place the background music to IMovie. To accomplish this I first went to YouTube and sent the video to myself. I then saved it as a file onto the computer and dragged the musical piece into IMovie. From there I was able to cut the song to the time pieces we were focusing on. After doing this we began choosing which scenes we wanted to include and which ones we did not. I decided not to include the scenes of me shopping in the store as it did not go well with the theme. I also decided not to include the videos that came out dark and choppy. The overall theme we were reaching for was a night out during the holidays. While editing we collectively decided to add filters in order to make it more visually appealing. After placing multiple clips together we noticed the overall message of the video was not being portrayed. In order to fix this I decided to capture more clips outside my house. I first recorded me talking to an inflatable Santa so it could match the 'Santa Claus won't make me happy' lyric. Then I taped myself walking through the street exploring the neighborhood lights. For this clip I wanted it exhibit me exploring the town. This essential piece allowed for the rest of the scenes to come together and make sense. After this Riana was able to add the pieces and finalize the music video. Although these scenes as very last minute we were able to finish our video and make it understandable for our audience. This day we endured many obstacles but in the end we were able to create a wonderful video. 

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Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree!

Today I captured me accessorizing a Christmas tree with the supplies I purchased at Bed Bath & Beyond. When I arrived home I organized all ornaments that I bought and lit a Christmas candle. I shot the flames blazing from the candle at a tilt angle. Then I placed string lights onto the tree and filmed myself twisting the light cords together. I then fluffed the tree to make it look more full and started grabbing the ornaments from there boxes. I recorded myself grabbing them from there boxes so that my audience could view the patterns along the ball. Afterwards, I shot the ball at a close up to encapsulate even more of the amazing details on the ornament. Next, I filmed myself placing the ornaments onto the tree with the string lights on. Later, I wrapped the garland around my stairwell and began placing the stocking on it. I videoed the process of putting the stocking on and the result of it. For the final recording I placed the camera into the tree and dragged it out to create a zoomed out movement. With this I was able to show the final product of the finished Christmas tree. Since all of these scenes were during the day I then shot at night. Filming at night allowed for the glamorous beauties of the tree to be revealed. I was able to capture the lights and ornaments glistening because of this. This whole process was difficult because I did not have a lot assistance. As a result of this, I had to film with one hand on the camera while was the other was performing an action.  Although working alone on this portion of filming, coming together and combining the scenes will be very simple. The next step is to begin collaborating the clips. I am excited to utilize the skills I learned from the commercial and integrate them into the music video.

Purchasing Trip!

 Today I went to the Bed Bath and Beyond store to buy all of the supplies to decorate the Christmas tree for my project. The plan was to tape me around gathering essentials at a variety of angles. I first grabbed a shopping cart and had Riana record me gripping as well as pushing the cart around the store. I then went to the aisle with the Christmas decorations and I found the ones I needed. As Riana taped me taking the ornaments on the shelf I tilted it toward the camera so the beauties could be seen. We did this multiple times so that we could have many angles to choose from while editing. We then searched for other products to contribute to the tree but we were unsuccessful. The next step was to check out. At checkout we wanted to capture the process of the cashier checking us out. I first placed the supplies onto the countertop while Riana taped me and the cashier executing our tasks. I then bagged my items and I purchased them. While I walked with the bags Riana filmed me walking at a slow pace to capture me leaving the store. Lastly, I went out to a lighten holiday house and captured the bright candy canes with the Santa. I believe we had a productive day today as we got over a 50 scenes that we could choose from. The entire process took about 5 hours as we traveled to multiple places. Gathering all of these essentials will allow me to move onto the next stage of filming. I will be able to film the process of putting up a tree with all the things I bought. I am eager to see the bright Christmas lights glisten off of the tree. As well as our final production of the music video. On to the next stage!

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