Music Video CCR

Critical Reflection

In this genre of music and music videos, you usually only see the actors in the videos portray one kind of relationship. The relationship is usually a romantic one between a man and woman, traditionally. There isn't much interpretation on family relationships, acquainted relationships, or friend relationships. In media in general you don't get to see much discussion of these different relationships nor unusual relationships for that matter. My music video challenges that convention by choosing to tell a story of two best friends that enjoys each others' time and presence on a strictly friend basis. That is also what I love the most about the song I chose. I doesn't specify what kind of relationship is being referred but it is very clear, that it is about two people who have an unconditional love for one another. In media, black entertainment usually sticks to common storylines that misrepresents black people or POCs. There are so many music videos where they portray black women in a limelight of either fetishization or unflattering point-of-views. Though, they don't intend to mislead an audience, those music videos can build negative stigmas towards POCs for society to generalize amongst communities. For example, I have seen so many videos where they use a limited amount of black women to show a love for the community but the unfortunate part is: they are only praised if they fit standardized body types, facial features and skin complexions. Black women and women in general, are often exploited in these music videos for promotionally purposes. A lot of the time there is no real message behind these videos, its just an artist using looks and cliche songs to gain the attention of mainstream listeners. My music video paints a positive picture of two black young girls with a healthy friendship. Though the race of these ladies are not significant to the storyline, it is not very common to see people like them playing a role as such. As a POC like myself, I believe creating content like this would be refreshing in black communities, black entertainment, inclusive representation and mainstream video viewers. 

 Almost everyone has a best friend or someone they are super close with. Everyone has a person they wish they could spend every minute of the day with and that is the storyline I had intentions on conveying. Though my music video does not included the realistic downside of friendships, it does paint a picture of two people that cant get enough of each other. I think there's an audience of people that would enjoy and relate to this music video. Along with the point I brought in the previous paragraph, it would be refreshing to many people to see women and POCs in a different set of lights. With everything we have gone through and all the limitations we're experiencing as a nation, the audience will collectively feel the pain of not being able to see and hug their loved ones or simply not being able to enjoy the outside like they used to. This video intertwines the both of these missing interactions. Allowing the audience to think of better days or look forward to a future where quarantine isn't such a dismantling part of our lives. I would have the audiences watch this media on wide platforms like YouTube and music television channels such as MTV Hits and VH1 Top 20 Countdown. Youtube is places where many artists post their music and music videos and with the help of YouTube recommendations you now have a way to reach people who  may have no idea who the artist is, but share the same music taste. I personally, watch music TV channels and though they don't crater to your specific music taste, they display a plethora of music videos that you can watch hours at a time.

Production wise, I tried a new technique that I think I did pretty good at. I tried cutting scene for the first time and I'm really happy with the product. The practice I'm getting right now will help in the future when I begin the process of creating an actual film. In my last CCR, I talked about better the quality of my videos which I did not achieve in this project. I thought it was the resolution of my footage or the editing apps I would used. I did attempt to fix this by using an editing software rather than a mobile app, but I had very horrible luck in getting this software to install and work. So I tried to switch the app I used on my iPhone but that had no luck on bettering the videos quality. By the next project, I have hopes to find a different editing application that doesn't corrupt my quality once again. I did a little better on my transitions and editing, I made them less choppy but I would like them progress in complexity now. I also think I've progressed in storytelling, during this project I had a clearer idea on what I wanted, I just need to specify exactly how I wanted to send out the message. 

 I integrated technologies by using the internet to research and inspire my entire music video. If it were not for Google, YouTube and Blogger I would not have completed this project nor would I have been able to track my progress. Google being the most essential out of the three, they were the main source of the first half of my project. I used Google to understand conventions of R&B/Soul/Jazz. They helped me replicate bits and piece of music that I've also loved but did know much about. Along Google came YouTube as the right-hand man. YouTube helped me with analyzing techniques and elements in R&B/Soul/Jazz that I never paid attention to. I was able to binge a plethora of videos under the same genre and pick out what important elements I could include in my music video. YouTube was the main source of inspiration, especially when I would have difficulty thinking of ideas. It even helped me when I had difficulty production wise, I was able to watch videos that helped with camera and lighting tips. Blogger was not only a folder to store my proof of work but it has helped in organizing, planning, and tracking my progress through descriptive blogging. I enjoy blogging about my processes, it allows me retrace everything I've done and reflect the pros and cons. I get to look back at previous blogs for direction if I'm not feeling the creative or I get to look at the mistakes, making sure I don't make them again.

* POC = People Of Color

Project Blog: Music Video Project

Project Blog

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This my music video directed, filmed and edited by me. This video uses the song "Just the Two of Us" by Grover Washington Jr. This is my second film in this class and so far I do see minor improvements in my production progress. Creative wise, I've up'd my film complexity and editing skills. I included shots that helped carry my storyline and bring interest to the video. I'm referring to the scenes that required more than one camera angle. Not the mention, I am really proud of those specific shots. Another technique I included in this video are light manipulations. I needed to giving off the idea of an earlier morning without intense brightness. To achieve this I went with natural lighting from the windows you could catch a glimpse of in some clips. In my last project blog, I expressed how much I hated the location of my filming. The change I made for this filming process was making  majority of my scenes inside of a house. I did not have to hassle with leaves or random objects in the background this time around. For the clips that require being outside I made sure to film in a very "grassy" areas. These areas did not have too many unnecessary cars and dirt roads that would distract the audience. I followed the conventions that I documented in my previous planning blogs and I am satisfied with the outcome. The only thing I am apprehensive about is the storyline. I hope it is as understandable and explanatory as I intended it to be. I am proud of how I relied the message of two bestfriends that overwhelming enjoy the company of each other. 

I hope you all enjoy my music video <3

Editing Blog: Staying Under A Minute

Editing Blog

All the editing was done on my iPhone using Video Leap. Video Leap video editor and maker, it is a trusted app that I've used for nearly a year. In this portion of my of my editing, I used the app to align my clips, add the music and complete my music videos. The first thing I did was lay out my videos, one by one, trimming them to fit the music. I also had to trim my music down to a minute and decide on where I wanted to start and end the video. Once that was done, I began to add transitions and align more my clips to the of the music.One crucial change, was the order of my scenes. I no longer followed the intensive layout of my storyboard. I decided to switch the order of the scenes because some of the clips did not fit well next to others. I do not think my music video would have conveyed a proper message if I followed the initial order. For instance, I took scene five and nine out and added the additional scene I spontaneously filmed on set. A minor challenge I faced during editing, was meeting staying under one minute. I had so much footage and some scenes took longer than others. I wanted to include everything in my music video but obviously that is unrealistic. I did not have this probably on my commercial project and I think it was because I actually planned how long each scene would be. I did not do this on my storyboard because I was not completely sure how well the music would match. Also, considering this project was two times as long I cannot be completely surprised at the obstacles. My last part of editing was deciding whether or not I wanted to add some transitions. I choose not to do any extraordinary transitions. When I finished editing, I replayed my final product, searching for mistakes to fix. I only ended up doing some extra trimming on clips. By now, I was fully satisfied with my music videos as much as I could be.

Editing Blog: Pre-editing before Aligning and Cutting

Editing Blog

For my music video, I wanted to use a different editing software to fix the quality of my film. Previously, when I did the commercial project I wasn't satifisied with the quality and I was advised to use a software on my computer rather than my phone. I attempted to do so but none of the applications I installed would work. They were extremely difficult to manuveur through and I simply did not want to spend majority of my time training myself to use a new software, when I could work faster on my phone and just work on fixing the quality. I'll try multiple ways to fix my quality by increasing the videos resolution and/or uploading my videos to YouTube with high quality. I did a little research on how to make sure my videos uploaded with high quality and a couple websites told me to change my uploading quality. That'll be the first thing I try and if that works I will continue to do so. 

Before I could start my actual editing, I looked over all the videos I recorded and took note of what shots were usable. I went ahead and trimmed some of the videos so I could find them easier in my editing app. I also cropped some videos that had unwanted spaces that I didnt like. You'll see in my mirror scene, I cropped and zoomed in on the faces of my actors to capture the expressions that were significant to the scene. Another adjustment I made was with one of the walking scenes. I was unaware that the tripod I used to record was not balanced. I had to manually tilt the video until it was straight, I used a three by three grid to assure the balance. Also, I decided to do minor editing on the videos, prior. I did this by brightening the videos and increasing highlights and contrast. This technique was only for the videos that lost daylight. Remember when I mentioned some of videos had darker lighting than others because the sun had set by the time I got around to recording the scene? Well this was my attempt to fix this that issue. I would say it worked to a good amount but not very aunthentic looking. I think I will work on fixing the lighting for future projects and to challenge myself as an editor. In the future, I will stick to recording earlier in the day.