Planning part two (story board)

 So today is actually my 18th Birthday. I planned to post this post during the weekend but though it would be better to just do it today and get it over with. For this post I wanted to develop my social media but was not able to because I was not able to connect with the artist. I wanted to receive some inspiration and Information from him and ask him for pictures so that I can make the Instagram better but since its not possible currently I decided to do the story board for the video.

I came up with a genetic idea last time during the outline and this just an addition to that showcasing some of the type o shots and the general idea that I came up with here is what I ended up doing.

1. Opening Scene: Wide shot of the forest at dawn; slow zoom into the singer’s face as he walks. Make the singer seem alone and in distress about him being lonely. Make him seem to be singing with pain about the topic.

2. Judgement Flashbacks: Quick cuts of the judgmental people and then lead back to the singer. Mai point of this scene will be to showcase the pain that the judgement has and then showcase how it now reflects on the artist.

3. Invitation Scene: Close-up of the singer’s reaching hands as a symbol of invitation. This will be used to transition into showcasing the people. Main point of this scene will be to show that they singer wants to be inclusive and show companionship to others.

4. Gathering Together: Shots of diverse individuals’ emotional expressions while walking. This will be done to also show the emotions that others feel when being judged or not included in a group. This scene should cause the feeling of needing companionship.

5. Singer in the forest: Show singer alone and the people slowly get to him and show them that there is people out there who are inclusive with the true word of god. Main point of this is to show that these individuals are not alone and that there is a healthy environment in religion.

6. Celebration Scene: Wide shot of everyone together and close ups of people being happy about finding each other. Showcase the unity of the religion and show that everyone should be supportive and inclusive to make everyone feel better and come together as a group.

I know its very similar to the outline but the main point of this was to help me develop a better idea of the story part of the music video because my main intention is to make the singers point be heard. But I think this was a good part of the process might need to do some changes as we go but for now this should help me. But time to go enjoy my birthday now hopefully I am able to connect with the singer and make the social media!

1. 
   

2. Emerging from the Forest: Final shot of the group walking out, bright light ahead symbolizing hope and unity.

Planning part one (outline)

 Ok so this is the beginning of the planning process. If I am able to plan this properly then the project should come out as the way I hope. For the first part of planning I went along and created a general outline for the project. This outline is something that I hope to follow that will help develop the meaning of the project and overall just help me have a guide to make sure that this comes out as expected. The outline is gonna be for how I want the music video to go and what things should be implemented to help me reach the meaning that the artist wants to reach. This might change after I talk with the artist again and if it does I will show you guys the changes but to conclude here is the outline I came out with.

1. Opening Scene

• Visuals: Shots of forest with singer in the background. Music starts playing.
• Action: Camera showcasing a different part of set forest which then reveals tranquil a stream. Singer walks slowly through the woods, looking contemplative.
• Themes: Nature as a place of connection with one self.

2. Verse 1: Highlighting Toxic Christianity

• Visuals: The singer recalls memories of seeing people be judgmental of their peers (flashback sequences).
• Action: Scenes of people standing in judgment, waving religious texts, and pointing fingers at others who don't fit their ideals.
• Themes: The harm toxic religion can have.

3. Chorus: Call for others

• Visuals: Closeups of the singer’s face to showcase the emotion and sincerity. (make him seem lonely)
• Action: The singer surrounded by trees sings ( I will try to edit the trees to seem to be joining each other)
• Themes: Connection.

4. Verse 2: Gathering Together

• Visuals: Transition to different individual walking through the forest, drawn by the music.
• Action: Each character reflects on their experiences.
• Themes: Different perspectives.

5. Bridge: The Turning Point

• Visuals: The camera focuses on the singer standing by himself
• Action: Singer continues to sing and try to deliver the message
• Themes: Seeking those similar

6. Chorus: Collective Strength

• Visuals: Everyone meets and stays with the singer. The forest is vibrant and the people connect. 
• Action: The group joins hands and hangs out together showing the unity.
• Themes: The power of community.

7. Outro: Leaving the Forest

• Visuals: The camera shows the group leaving forest with singer
• Action: They walk happy together and show that unity is important
• Themes: Being inclusive and understanding makes a group stronger.

example of possible setting.

Researching similar social medias

  Hi everyone we are back, today I will be doing research to develop a better social media page by using inspiration from other artists whom also have the same idea as the artist I am working with. 

To start of the first social media of someone who I wanted to research is the artists Hozier. Hozier is known for his very specific music intake. He was also mentioned on my research on artists who are similar to the artist I am working with. To summarize his music usually tends to have some religious themes and he confronts the toxic political and religious problems in the world. 

The first thing that I researched from Hozier's social media was his Instagram page.   

The first thing I noticed from his social media page was that he uses very similar colors and ideas for his posts and keeps a certain look. Most of his posts conceded of things such as photos of him performing with his guitar or announcements about places where he would be performing in. Overall his page had a very simple look to it and kept a similar vibe throughout most of its posts. 

in addition to some of the things I found to be useful about the type of posts Hozier makes is that they all seem very inspiring and fit the theme of that gospel aesthetic. The posts seem to showcase him very vibrantly and showcase him inspirationally. I want to be able to reach this similar vibe that Hozier gives while working with the artist to make the point of the music video more prominent. 

The next artist I did research on was the artist Noah Kahan the American song writer is known for his countryfolk style similar to that of Hozier's. 

Noah Kahan has been an inspirational artist for many and has continued to make various hits that showcase his true meaning when making music. The music he makes is known for its pop culture style with a  twist of sounds of banjos and mandolins. Overall both him and Hozier are similar since they both explore similar themes such as love and connecting with nature. They also both are very good at having emotional delivery and display meaning in their music which is exactly what we want to do with the music video. 

Noah Kahan's post were similar to Hozier's they both has that earthy vibe and used the same colors most of the time. Another thing they had in similar was that they both had the same inspirational gospel like posts where they show themselves singing amongst a crowd and showcase an inspirational atmosphere. Overall it was clear that to make the social media page good I have to try and reach this same inspirational aspect of both the artist's post.

Overall researching has helped me understand what I will need to develop to make the meaning of the music video more impactful and to make the social media more engaging. Hopefully I can reach this intended idea. 

Project scheduling

 Hi guys today I will be planning the schedule me and the artist I am working with will be using. Hopefully this schedule goes well and if we follow it we should be able to properly create the music video and make it a success!

Week 1:

• Blog #1- Introduction to project blog
• Blog #2 -the current blog 
• Blog #3 -choose genre research

First week Goals

-Meet up with artist and introduce the project to him to help develop a general idea of what we want to do.

-Research Various individuals who are similar to the artist I am working with to help develop a general idea

-Take the general idea gained from both of the past goals and form a well initial construct.

Week 2: 

• Blog #1 and Blog #2- Do more research on similar artists 
• Blog #3- Research music videos

Second week goals

-Research artists who have similar interests, ideas, and genre so that I can develop a even better idea as to who I am working with and what we are working with.

-Research Music videos from these similar artists to help develop a common ground and get inspiration to make the music video better.

Week 3: 

• Blog #1- research similar social media pages 
• Blog #2- Planning part one (outline) 
• Blog #3- Planning part two (storyboard)

Third week goals

-Connect with artists to develop the general outline

-Plan the general outline and come up with a final outline of the music video

-Develop a story board which will be used to create the meaningful impact of the video

-Connect with artist to show outline and story board

Week 4: 

• Blog #1- Planning part three (shooting schedule and shot list)
• Blog #2- Planning part four (editing schedule) 
• Blog #3- Group meeting blog

Fourth week goals

-Develop the editing schedule to help make editing simple and easy

-Develop the shot list with locations so that when it comes to the time of shooting the process is simple and overall non complicated

-Take inspiration from group meeting and potentially make changes

Week 5:

• Blog #1- Production process part one (Location scouting)
• Blog #2- Production process part two (filming part one) 
• Blog  #3- Research of print components

Fifth week goals

- Find good locations for the music video that will make it stand out and emphasize the meaning

-Film first parts of music video and take shots to see if changes need to be made

-Research the print component of the project to develop a general idea as to what could be done.

Week 6: 

• Blog #1 and Blog #2- Production part three and four (filming part two and three)
• Blog #3- research for critical reflection

Sixth week goals

-Have successful filming days and come out with intended shots

- Research for critical reflection to help make the process easier and just capture an understanding of what could be done to make this efficient

Week 7:

• Blog #1- Production part five (changes made)
• Blog #2- Production part six (filming part four)
• Blog #3- Planning for critical reflection part one

Seventh week Goals

-Make good changes and analyze decisions to improve project

-Same as last week

Week 8:

• Blog #1 and Blog #2- Production part seven and eight (editing part one and two)
• Blog #3- Planning for critical reflection part two

Eighth week goals

-Perform good editing strategies to build a stable idea as to how the video should come out in the end process

-Plan for critical reflection to have ease when doing it

Week 9: 

• Blog #1- Final comments
• Blog #2- Links to project
• Blog #3- Critical reflection

Ninth week goals

-Submit an amazing well done project

-Submit a successful critical reflection

Intro to project

Hi guys I seriously can not belive that we are already starting to work on our A level Portfolio project. We had discussed the various different options that we could choose as to what we want to do for the project and I chose to do the music video. This was honestly a very hard choice because I don't know how good it will come out but I've been wanting to get more involved into the music world and so therefor choce to do the music video.

As to what my project will be it will be like I said a music video for my friend's song "Woe to You!!" my friend currently goes by the title Martin Benoit on spotify and all social medias and we have been talking about his music for a while with him even showing me samples and even full songs before he releases them. Overall he is a great friend of mine and I like what he stands for and so I decided he would be a perfect cadidate for the project and would be fun to work with so I can get that experience I want in music.

For now there are really no ideas as to what we are going to do for the project but all I know is that we are going to be using that song and that he will be in the video. The blogs will update you and honesly me as more ideas are created but for now that is all. I can not wait for this journey and I really hope it all goes well.

Critical Reflection

The main intentions of “A keynote of life” is to represent the impact music has on teenagers and to display the emotional impact and day-to-day impact that music has on teenagers. There are various ways in which the piece formulates this with the most prominent one being interviews.

The development of "A keynote of life" focused initially on representing individuals that consider music an important part of their life. The documentary mostly focused on being able to represent the teenage part of these individuals by focusing on a teenage subject. The way this social group is represented is by focusing on the perspective of younger individuals. Initially the piece was going to focus on interviewing various individuals of different ages but after critical thinking and reflecting on the planning process the decision on focusing on the certain age group made more sense. Representing the music fanatics of the teenage years seemed like the perfect choice and to properly execute this there were various steps necessary. One of the key steps to being able to do this properly was to focus on the perspective of these groups. Interviewing the subjects seen in the piece was a process that helped show this perspective by asking open ended questions to provide the piece with answers in which they would provide nonbiased targeted answers to provide a sense of reality to the viewer and successfully represent their social group. The interview process also represents these social groups by displaying the common answers seen throughout the piece. The product created included various interviews in the beginning that offered similar responses that tie up the ideas of the social group, this helped represent the social group by allowing the subjects to speak openly about their views on the topic without being limited allowing them to represent themselves and the social group of young music fanatics through mentioning how they truly feel. Overall, the main way in which "A keynote of life" helped represent this social group was by allowing them to represent themselves and give their personal view on the topic.

This also ties to how the product engages with audiences. By interviewing various subjects that relate to the targeted audience the product engages the audience. This was intentionally done as mentioned in the last part and was a key concept throughout the documentary production. Another way in which the product engaged with the audience was by using a simple piece with an assortment of colors and different shots. From the middle to the end of the product it was intended to use various shots that would bring color, vibrance, and lighting to the piece to better engage with the audience. The use of these different filming strategies allowed the piece to be built in a way in which the target audience would be entertained and be able to watch with ease. The last way the product engaged with the audience was by following the main subject's story. This was used to try and find someone that would be like the intended audience and would represent them by stating similar interests. The use of the main subject engages the audience by giving them a sense of relation and connection with the subject and provides a friendly aspect to the product. So, by using shot techniques and creating a sense of relation to the subjects the piece properly engages with the audience.

This target audience also required research that informed the product and challenged conventions. The main convention challenged was that teenagers use music as a form of rebellion and identity. Although music can be used as identity this convention was challenged by instead representing music for teenagers as something that helps them improve mental health and overall is a good thing instead of just a distraction. This was done by displaying the main subject’s feeling towards music as he speaks about how important music has been to his day-to-day and overall life. The product also challenges the convention that teenagers do not have a powerful sense of emotion towards things since they are not fully developed. The way this is challenged is by displaying various emotions in the piece. In the piece's beginning, the interviews with the teenagers reflected this idea that they can feel strongly about things by displaying how they truly feel. The way they spoke about music represents this idea and highlights that their emotions and feelings towards music are strong and allow them to improve in their life. To develop these ideas research had to be done. By studying common demographic spheres such as the emotional connections to music the product was more successful. This research was done by interviewing individuals not seen in the piece. These individuals all gave similar answers stating that music has a connection to their emotions since the several types of music reflect how they feel and play a key role in the management of their emotions. This was also then researched leading to a conclusion in which music truly does affect the brain; by stimulating the brain and the limbic system the brain feels different emotions from music and is opened to various feelings. To conclude this the research put into the piece allowed the piece to challenge stereotypical conventions when regarding to teenagers and music by demonstrating the importance that music has not only on the mental health and feelings of teenagers but also their emotional intellect.

Overall, the product is used to represent the audience through the use of a “simplistic” production style through which the target audience can relate to the main subject and reflect on the impact that music has to them all while challenging conventions and representing the target social group.

Documentary production part 2

 Hi guys were back. This is the last part of the documentary process and it was the shortest part but it came with various diificulty. 

Editing error

So during editing I was initially going to be editing with the app davinci resolve. But mid way through editing in the platform my computer ran into an error AGAIN and I lost the progress I had before and could not find nor had time for finding a solution. This then lead to me having to use a basic editing app and edit through my phone. I would have liked to edit through DaVinci Resolve but since this was not possible we worked with what he had and began editing. 

The editing process

So the first part of editing was putting all the clips together. This was interesting since like I mentioned on the last post (last post link) I filmed the parts seperatly without having a certain way of editing it all togther. I think this was a smart choice in the end since it allowed me to put all the pieces together in an interesting way and In the end I feel like it came out pretty well.

The second part of the editing process was to add the B-roll and white screens seen throughout the piece. This was also pretty easy since all it took was adding various screens in places where the cuts from shot to shot seemed too spontaneous and changed topics. Something I do think I did wrong was adding the sequence at the end since it made it feel more like a normal video than a documentary. I think I should have just added the title and credits and removed that part for a better outcome.

The next part of the editing was to add the various text seen throughout the documentary. This was also simple since all that was required was the addition of a text entry box and finding a fitting font with a color I though would match the white and the precentation nicely. Most of the text seen was done in red but I did end up making the change of using white colored font as well to better fit scenes in which the red was not prominent. Overall this was the easiest part of the documentary. 

                                                                                          

The last parts of the editing process were for me to fix audio and shot coloring. The way this was done for the audio was by changing volume in various scenes by either lowering or making it higher. I also used various applications to try and remove some of the background noise that was left behind. This was a bit lenghty to do and I  even had to shift some of the scenes to make the audio transition better. Now as for the visual aspect I did do some color correcting here and there to make the shots look nicer I even added filters to one or two of the shots previously to add some detail to the piece and mae it more vibrant.

Overall this part of the documentary was simple after the dfficulties I faced and it was super fun to do being able to edit the piece all together and form the documentary to how I wanted was something that in the end came out exactly how I wanted. There could have been some better choices made to imrpove the documentary which I reflected on after finishing the production I think better time management and planning would have built the documentary better and would have made me even more statisfied with the finished product. But yea this is now the end of this blog about the process of the documentary "A key note of life". I hope you guys enjoyed and understand clearly how the piece was produced. See you guuys next time!