Let’s Reflect!

 

Baby Baby Baby It’s Finally Over

And just like that, it is done! This project was definitely a lot harder than the commercial was. I think this was due to the fact that we didn’t film in school and had to organize the filming times and all the details on our own. It was also hard because we didn’t end up following the storyboard at all. The original storyboard idea was well thought out and would’ve been easier to film and edit. Due to issues coming up for my group mates, we had to scrap that idea because we wouldn’t have had enough time to do it. Still, I like the turnout of the video. It’s not at all what I expected but for something that had to be altered so many times, I think it turned out pretty good. I’m really happy my group mates didn’t give up on me through the entirety of the video. We definitely had a bumpy road but the payoff is amazing.

PS: No cats were harmed in the making of this video! 

Production Blog: The Fashion Distraction

 Admittedly, I didn’t get much done today. After school, I got home and had a bunch to do. It didn’t help that my grandma forced me to go shopping for clothes with her so I got home really late at night. I did re-film the Ludacris rap scene. It was definitely the most fun I’ve had all project. I got my sister to be the cameraman so that I could get better angles. Last time I had to resort to stocking my moms unopened Amazon packages to hold the phone up so I could record. I’m surprised my phone did not break from falling so many times. It took a lot of tries to get the scene right because we kept laughing but we got there in the end. We tried our best to get a full body shot that wasn’t blurry but also not too close up. I got the final audio clip from Ashleigh today. It turned out amazing! The second DJ transition sound towards the end does throw me off a little bit but as of now it’ll have to do. The video is beginning to come together now that we have all the clips and the audio. It’s also a lot easier to align the clips when you have the audio playing at the same time. Before adding the audio, I would look at the lyrics of the song and try to match each scene with the words despite not filming with this method in mind. There aren’t a lot of scenes that match up with the lyrics but it’s okay since we made the project to have a happy, reminiscing vibe. This music video definitely isn’t traditional but I can’t wait to see how it turns out. If it’s anything like the commercial then it’ll be fantastic. Above is a picture of a pair of adorable, Aloe infused Christmas socks I got on todays impromptu shopping trip. Aren’t they amazing?

Production Blog: Music Madness

 Today was solely focused on getting the music in order. After all, it’s not a music video without any music. In my group, each person has an assigned role. Eden’s role was to film, my role was to edit, and taking care of music fell to Ashleigh. Regardless, I still try to help out with the other roles whenever I can. For example, though filming is not primarily my job, I still took on the work of filming myself singing and dancing to Ludacris’ part. I filmed a lot of the scenes in portrait mode rather than landscape so I’ll have to redo it but if we don’t have time, there are a few that I actually filmed the correct way that can be used. The issue today was getting the audio to transition smoothly from one part to the next. We didn’t go in order of the original song. Instead, we took audio clips from the beginning, middle, and end, and moved them around to our liking. There was overlapping of sounds and the rhythm from Justin’s signing to immediately Ludacris’ rapping was just not going well at first. It kept coming out choppy sounded and it definitely wasn’t ready to attach to the video clips yet. The biggest issue was a specific part of the song during the “baby whoa” chorus. When placed over another part of the song, it made a muffled licking sound. Even after we isolated it, the muffled sound was still slightly there. We tried re-extracting all the audio, reorganizing the clips, and even doing it on a new project in CapCut. Still, you could hear the sound faintly in the background. Turns out the muffled sound was coming from the original video filmed by Justin Bieber himself. There was no way to get rid of it without getting Justin to remake the whole song. We wasted about an hour trying to figure this out and still continued to work on it after that. Now-hours later, we’re finally finished with the audio. We just need to attach the video clips and audio clips, add the music, and whatever filters or effect is needed. After that, it’ll be over. 

Production Blog: Putting The Pieces Together!

Before we could begin editing, there were some things that needed to change. Since there is a time limit on the video, I can’t use the full song so I chose the sections that I thought would go well. We ended up filming scenes that matched more with the parts of the song that we didn’t choose and so I had to rewatch the video and write down the time stamps of the new parts that we wanted. After this, I went into CapCut and began putting all the scenes together. Then I came across a problem. When you put the audio pieces together, the total time came to one minute and twenty-seven seconds. The time limit was one minute and fifteen seconds so we were twelve seconds over. I texted my group mates to inform them of our problem since we had each already went home. While I waited for them to respond, I decided to film the one scene we were missing. This past was a bit tricky as the lights in my house were mostly yellow and I needed a clear white lighting to film with. I decided to film the next day using natural lighting instead to see if I could get a shot that was more clear. I finally got a response from my group mates who said we could try cutting out some parts of the audio. We tried it and I personally didn’t like how it was going to sound. I was told to wait until the audio was finished and if it did not flow together properly then we could restart. In the meantime, I went back to CapCut to continue on the videos. Some of the scenes needed specifics effects to make them look like flashbacks so I scrolled through the effects on CapCut and found a VHS filter that changed the lighting and made the clips darker and more vintage looking. I tested it out on a couple of clips but ultimately decided to wait until the next day when I would see my group mates in person so that we could add the filters together. If the CapCut filters weren’t to everyone’s liking then we could try Instagram or Snapchat filters or even download another editing app if nothing was really eye catching. This video is a large portion of my grade and so I want it to be perfect. I’m glad that I can still have fun while doing it despite how embarrassing it was to film some of the solo scenes.

Production Blog: A Day On The Playground

As you already know, the song I’ve chosen to go with is ‘Baby’ by Justin Bieber featuring Ludacris. There is a verse in the song that says “At school on the playground but I really wanna see her on the weekend”. It’s only fitting that the video includes at least one scene on a playground, and so I made it happen. I gathered my group and a few other people we got to film with us and found a playground to get some good shots on. At first it was a little awkward as the people we asked to join us was a group mate’s brother and his girlfriend, both of which we hadn’t met before. There was also the matter of people enjoying the park with their kids. It was a public park after all. Eventually, things warmed up and I began to enjoy it. I got shots of us taking turns going down the slide and pushing each other on the swings. Ashleigh and Eden even tried to go on the monkey bars. It’s a lot harder when your feet touch the ground no matter how much you bend them. I even got shots of the couple holding hands and spinning in circles and taking turns spinning each other on the merry-go-round. They were so adorable. Originally, the story was supposed to be a little more sad with the couple breaking up, but we’ve changed it to a more fun, reminiscing, style storyline. I had an idea of mixing in pictures, videos, and  lip syncing, and editing them to be the final project. So far it is a bit messy and just looks like random clips put together but with a bit of editing and the music added, I think it’ll turn out great. We got some shots  in the street, at the docks and in the city. Eden also got sone footage of her at the arcade with her friends. I think we have more than enough footage. The next step is to edit! I’m so sorry excited!!!