Creative Critical Refletion

InJoy commercials all follow a similar trend. You can almost always expect upbeat/happy music. I did not want to stray too far from this trend and so, I incorporated this type of music into my commercial as well. This process involved searching through dozens of non-copyrighted music on YouTube until I found the perfect one. I actually ended up going with the first song that I found but I wasn’t sure of it at the time so I went through several videos anyway. I also noticed that there is always something written and then wiped in an InkJoy commercial. This is to show that the pen “dries 3 times faster than the leading competitors”. That’s something that is said in every commercial. I wanted my commercial to be unique the plot was very different from the typical plots. I didn’t just whip out a piece of paper and start scribbling on it. I created a story in which the pen gets lost and is found in different locations until it is returned to the owner who then begins to write. My product represents social groups because it is directed towards teachers and students and the set of the commercial is a school. The pen was showcased in an environment where it is most likely to be used. 

The general audience is school attendees and workers. This product engages with the audience because it features a teacher and several students, real people from the audience,  in a school environment. Most people who would buy the pen are either students or teachers and so showcasing it in such an environment gives the audience something to relate to. The product would most likely be shown in a commercial for back-to-school sales. Back to school season is usually the only time you see stationary commercials on the television.

 Before this project, I had absolutely no production skills It’s easy to take a picture or film a video on your phone and then post it. It’s another thing to make sure that piece of media is properly edited before you do. Though I have social media, I don’t post so it’s safe to say that I was a complete newbie when it came to production. Since then, I’ve learned how to crop videos to the perfect length so that it transitions into the next video smoothly. I’ve also learned how to add transitions in between clips to create cool effects such as the spinning pens at the end of the commercial. I’ve also pretty much learned to navigate all of CapCut. From where to find transitions and animations, to extracting audio and adding text. I’ve even figured out how to overlay clips and change the formatting size. I feel like a pro now!

I used Google to find information on my product and images of it to use. I also used it to research the best editing software. If it wasn’t for YouTube, I would not have known how to do any of the editings. YouTube is where I got tips on how to add videos and crop them in iMovie. It’s also where I learned how to use transitions on CapCut. YouTube is the place where I found the non-copyrighted music to use in my commercial. Without iMovie and CapCut, the scenes would not have been put together. CapCut is also how I added the music into the video. I used my iPhone XR  to film since I didn’t have access to the fancy, expensive equipment that real directors use. I still think my phone did a good job of producing good-quality films. Overall, technology played a huge role in producing my first commercial. 

 

The Finale

 It is finally production day! While these past few days have been a bit stressful, I've had so much fun making this commercial with my groupmates. Before this, I never even considered producing a commercial. When I heard the assignment, my head started spiraling with ideas. I realized it would be a lot of work but I couldn't help being excited nonetheless. Despite not knowing how to edit, that became my main role in the end. I had to do a lot of research to figure out how to start, but I have a lot of funny bloopers as a result. This was a great learning experience and I'm glad I got to do it. I had an amazing team to work with. We had fun distractions like the time we stopped to look at the iguana or the impromptu dance battle. In the end, we still submitted our work on time and that's all that matters. 

Editing Blog (B)

  

Today was a weird day. I had to take the PSAT and that went from 8am-11:45am. By the time I got to 8^th period, it felt like my brain had melted. I stayed up all night studying and so I didn’t get much sleep. Still, I know that the commercial is due on Friday, so I had to continue editing. I went back into iMovie and played the test video I made last class. It included all the scenes, but it was still not cropped or synced. I cropped what I could and lined up the videos to the best of my abilities. This narrowed the time down from 1 minute and 41 seconds to just 37 seconds. My brother recommended that I get CapCut to edit with. I’ve downloaded it, and so far, it’s perfect. I can add text and music directly onto the video and it does not add a watermark. Not only is it easy to use, but it also comes with effects and filters so I can make the commercial more appealing. I have started to play around with the app to find a way to make the transitions smoother. Right now, they don’t blend that well. The video was filmed in several locations so the transitions between the scenes look a little rough. There’s an overlay feature on CapCut so I’m sure it will be an easy fix. I am excited to see how the commercial turns out. With all the work that my groupmates and I have put in, I know it’s going to be amazing. For first-timers, that is. 

Editing Blog

 Today I had the opportunity to edit my blog. Sadly, Wi-Fi connectivity issues kept me from starting right away. Since I could not go directly into editing, I took the time to really analyze the clips. I narrowed it down to 14 out of 87 clips. I put these clips into iMovie and together it added up to 1 minute and 41 seconds. The commercial should only be 30 seconds, but I was not too worried. By looking at the clips, I can see that most of the clips filmed in slow motion can be cropped as it shows a lot of the background which is not necessarily needed. Some of the other clips could also be cropped since they are a little drawn out. I spent some of the class in a discussion with my groupmates. I have no experience editing videos and I found out that they are just as clueless as I am. Regardless, we spent most of the class searching for editing software to use. The editing software must do a good job in terms of video quality and syncing the clips, it must be free, and it, must not leave a watermark. Some of the programs looked at include: KineMaster, Lighworks, and YouCut. Nothing was finalized and so I am continuing to work with iMovie, but a decision must be made between tonight and tomorrow as the commercial is due on Friday and it takes time to edit. I have been watching editing videos on Youtube so that I can learn from the tips. I have also been looking for non-copyright, upbeat, dramatic music to add to the intensity of the commercial. There’s not a lot to be done before the production of the commercial. By putting all the clips together in iMovie, I was able to see how well they flow together. Now I just need to crop the videos, synch them, possibly adjust lighting, add the words and music, and voila. Simple, right?  

         

Filming Blog: Upperclassmen Patio

 Today I had a shorter class period due to it being a professional study day. This meant that the group had less time to film the final scenes. I thought it would be an easy day since most of what was needed was already filmed but unfortunately, this was not the case. Looking through the clips, I noticed that one of the clips was rushed last class and would not line up well with everything else. I had to re-film it but there was one small problem. I did not bring the grey jacket that I wore when we originally filmed it. I could not film without the jacket as it would appear inconsistent in the scene. One of my group mates were wearing a grey jack that could be used to replicate the first scene. She, however, did not want to give up her jacket. Not even for the mere three seconds that the scene would have taken. That scene had to be redone because Eden was wearing a head scarf in the last scene and not in this one. The scene where the pen was exchanged could not be redone because there was not enough time to do it. It also could not be redone because the sweet potato fries on the ground that we used as a prop had been cleaned up already. In the end, the scene was re-filmed successfully. Ashleigh remembered she had a grey jacket in her car and begged the security guard to let her go get it. During this whole ordeal, the dismissal bell also went off at the wrong time causing people to leave class and move into the scene while it was being filmed. Needless to say, it was a very chaotic day. Though it would have saved a lot of time if my first groupmate had just momentarily lent us her jacket, at the end of the day it was her property, so she had all rights not to. I just hope her not cooperating both today and the last time that we filmed doesn’t drive a wedge between the group. It’s hard to make a commercial when your group mates are fighting.

  

Filming Blog: Auditorium Stairs

 Today, October 5^th, was the first official day of filming for our class. For my group, however, it was day two. We had already filmed the beginning of our commercial on September 29^th. While we had a relatively easy concept, the execution was harder than we thought. We chose to film by the auditorium stairs because it was a perfect fit for our plot. This limited our pen color choices because we needed a bright color that wouldn’t blend into the background. Our school is mostly painted in blue and unfortunately for us, the pen pack mostly had blue pens. In the end, we settled on green, yellow, orange, and one of the brighter blues. Our first scene involved a pen being knocked out of Eden’s hand and falling down the stairs. This scene was a bit tricky to film as we needed to film her getting bumped into and the pen falling in slow motion down the stairs. We kept laughing during the running scene where Eden was to be bumped, the pen kept getting thrown in the wrong direction, and we were panning too slowly to get the pen falling in slow motion. Somewhere in the middle of filming these two scenes, we spotted an iguana in an awkward position on the roof. I was less than impressed as we commonly see iguanas in Florida. My groupmates, on the other hand, got completely distracted and started taking pictures. It took a while to get them back on track but when we did, we filmed a little bit more before the bell rung. Today, we picked up where we left off on the stairs. We now had to film the transition of the pen turning into a different color when it was picked up off the ground. We did a few takes with Ashleigh but the outcome wasn’t as perfect as we wanted it to be. Seeing as we were outside, it didn’t take long for an administrator to inquire about us being out of class. He took an interest in what we were doing and so we asked if he wanted to be a part of our commercial. He agreed and we did the pickup scene with him instead. It turned out perfectly and he even gave us suggestions on how to improve the next scene. We filmed some more until he had to go. One of our last scenes for the day involved the pen falling next to some sweet potato fries we found on the ground. It was perfect as were looking for a way to transition to another pen color and the orange went well with the fries. In the last scene, I picked up the pen which transitioned back to its original color, and handed it back to Eden. We have two more scenes to film next class before the editing process begins. Below is a picture of a scene from our commercial.