AICEMediaStudies

 Filming Recap Blog: Joseph C. Carter Park  All the filming for my music video was completed on November 21st, 2020. I played the role of director and actor in my music video, though I was not the sole actor within the video. I picked up my second actor and we went to the filming locale. The filming was done at Joseph C. Carter park, on the track. I brought my costume in a separate bag and we chose the part of the track we would begin filming. As the director, I instructed my actor on how to express his lines, tone, and the mood that I was trying to create in the video. I also had to direct my camera woman on which camera angles and movements to use. I directed her on how to move the camera, where to stand to get the proper shots, and when to start and stop filming. The video is shot in one take, so I made sure to check the quality of the footage after each take. Luckily, we got the footage we needed in under 5 solid takes. Majority of the retakes had to be done because of mis...

  1st Scene The video will start off with a black screen. I will accomplish this through editing in post.  2nd Scene This scene will fade in along with the music. I'll be telling my friend the first line, "I hear Brenda's got a baby...." 3rd Scene The camera will slightly shift the focus to my friend who says his line, "that's not our problem...", in response to mine. 4th Scene The shift will shift back to myself and I will rebut his statement with my own, "Well, let me show you..." 5th Scene From this point, we will start to walk towards the camera as I begin to tell Brenda's story.  6th Scene Once we get to a certain point, the camera will also being moving backwards slightly to keep both myself, and my friend, in frame. My line here will be, "its sad 'cause I bet Brenda doesn't even know...", and I will have a slightly disappointed look on my phase.  7th Scene In this scene, I will switch to a medium shot to capture mor...

  Planning For My Music Video Song Title:  The title of the song I intend to use is Brenda's Got a Baby. It was made by Tupac Shakur in 1991. The song, which features R&B singer Dave Hollister singing background vocals with Roniece Levias, is about a 12-year-old girl named Brenda who lives in a ghetto and has a baby she can't support. Props: I do not intend to use any props within my music video. The music video will only involve actors and a particular setting.  Costumes: I intend to dress in a style that is reminiscent of 90s rap attire. I will be wearing some form of baggy pants as well as a baggy shirt. I will either be wearing a pair of Nike Airforce 1s or a pair of Timberland Boots, which were common choices for footwear in the 90s. I plan having another person within the video as an actor and he will be wearing similar attire.  Location: The location of the video will an empty street. I will be walking down a street within my video so any empty street in a...

  Research Blog: I have chosen to do the song Brenda's Got a Baby by Tupac Shakur for my music video. The song is a Hip-Hop or Rap track that was made in the 90s and therefore the music video follows certain conventions from that era. There is already a music video for the song, however I do not want to merely recreate it step for step. Rap music videos in the 90s vary in theme, but they did follow certain conventions. I must make sure to follow these conventions so my music video seems realistic as possible. - Costumes of 90s rap videos typically consisted of outfits that were popular at the time within the rap community. Football jerseys, baggy pants, large shirts, and large coats were popular during this time. Jewelry and other luxurious items were also worn or showed in order to boost the reputation of the artist.  - Props include anything that is relevant to the story being told by the song. Based on the culture of rap in this time period, common props included firearms, ...

  Intro: Music Video Project In this upcoming project, I am choosing to work alone in the sense that I won't be grouping up with anyone else within my class. My reasoning for this is that I am not familiar with anyone in my class to the point where I am willing to meet up with them and film the music video. Normally, I wouldn't have an issue meeting up with someone I am not too familiar with if it is to complete a project, but due to the persisting Covid-19 epidemic, I think it is best that I fly solo for now. I am sure that doing this project individually is the best option to maintain my health and I am confident that I will still enjoy completing this project. As far as which song I chose, I selected Brenda's Got a Baby by Tupac Shakur. The song is about a 12-year-old girl named Brenda who lives in the ghetto and is struggling to raise a baby she doesn't have the means to support. The song explores the issue of teen pregnancy, among others, and the effects of it on t...

  Creative Critical Reflection 1.   How does your product use or challenge conventions AND how does it represent social groups or issues? My commercial challenged conventions by not including a voiceover or dialogue within my commercial. One typical convention within Smartwater commercials is that there is dialogue or there is a voiceover. The dialogue or voiceovers are typically brief and consist of saying something along the lines of, "the refreshing taste of Smartwater" or "Smartwater, filled with minerals and electrolytes." However, in my commercial I let the attributes of the water be implied through the story and theme of the commercial. In terms of how my commercial represents social groups or issues, as an African-American male I  represented that demographic within my commercial. I was the director, producer, editor, and sole actor within the commercial which is a rarity among minority groups. If my commercial were to be distributed nationally, it may serve...

My Commercial  The commercial was completely finalized on the 1st of November. This was my first time working on any type of real life video production and I really enjoyed the experience. As I rewatch the finished project, I cant help but notice things that could've been better. Looking back, there are a lot of things which could have been improved on. For starters, I obviously wish that I could've had access to a more powerful camera. My phone's camera certainly did its job, but the quality could have been much better than it was. Having an actual camera with a tripod would have made it easier to do certain things as well as made the shots steadier. I also noticed that the zoom-in in the the fourth scene could have been a lot smoother. I knew that it was a bit choppy and sped it up in post, but I can still notice it slightly. I'm not sure if that could have been worked around because my camerawoman struggled with zooming in on a cell-phone without making the footage a...

  Editing Blog: Smartwater Commercial  The editing process began with myself identifying what footage was the best among the footage that I had recorded. Once I had determined which scenes were superior, I put them in the correct order. Now the issue at hand was shortening the commercial down to thirty seconds. Initially, without any editing being done, the commercial was about fifty-six seconds long. The first scene only needed to be cut down slightly; I removed the excess footage of me running away from the camera. The second scene, luckily did not have to be shortened at all. The cut between the first and second scene created perfect continuity in regards to my movement within the scenes. The third scene had to have the beginning and ending shortened. The beginning consisted of my camerawoman telling me she began recording and the ending went on a bit longer than it needed to. The fourth scene had to be reworked the most. I had to cut the fourth scene down from ten seconds ...

Filming Blog: Mickel Park  All the filming for my commercial was completed on Saturday, October 31st. I played the role of both director and actor in the filming process. The filming was done at Mickel Park, a park near my house. I made sure to bring my costume which was just some athletic clothing, as well as the prop, a Smartwater bottle. I ran a bit before filming began to gain the sweaty and athletic aesthetic. As the director, I made sure that my camerawoman was aware of how the commercial was meant to be filmed. I directed her on how to move the camera, where to stand to get the proper shots, and when to start and stop filming. I looked at the footage after recording each scene and made adjustments where necessary. I recorded each scene a minimum of two times, regardless of whether or not the first take went well, to ensure that they came out as good as possible and I would have options to choose from when editing. As an actor, I made sure that I accurately portrayed my role ...