Music Video: Filming at Garage

     Over the weekend, I began filming my music video. Originally, the plan was to film at my grandparent's garage on Saturday and film at the arcade on Sunday. However, because of work schedules that were out of my control, I couldn't film on Saturday at all. Once Sunday came, I decided that I would film at the arcade at a later date. Through research online, I found out that filming is allowed at the arcade, as long as certain conditions are met. I can't film employees or other guests without their explicit permission, long chunks of game play, or use a tripod. I will remember this information for when I do film at that location. Ultimately, I decided to film at the garage on Sunday because it was more easily accessible.

    When I arrived to the garage, I realized that my tripod didn't come with a plate. Luckily, my grandfather had a handheld monopod with a plate I could borrow. I leaned the monopod against the tripod so it would stand on it's own. It didn't allow for much camera movement, but it had to do. Another piece of tech I had to prepare was the blue lighting. I had brought blue gel paper to layer over my phone's flashlight to create a blue lighting effect. However, the garage I was filming in happened to have a lantern-type light that I could place the gel paper into (picture below), which would be easier to move around compared to my phone. This was very beneficial to the filming process.

    With the technical aspects finished, it was time to film. The main shots I had to film at the garage were a pan of the tools, a medium shot of me sitting at the workbench, and a closeup of the blueprints. The clip attached above is one of the shots I got of the pan. I like this the most one out of all the takes. However, this is a cropped version because the light could be seen for a few seconds on the left midway through. I may also slow the clip down a little bit.

    This was the best take of the medium shot. I think the only issue with it is the fact that the paper I'm looking at can't be seen. I don't think I captured it in any of the takes, though, which is my mistake.

 

    These two shots are of the blueprint closeup. I wasn't able to find any fake blood, so I used makeup with a blood consistency instead. Because of this, I had to act fast because I wasn't sure if the makeup would stain or get sticky after a while. I didn't want to experiment because I didn't feel like ruining someone else's property. I will need to slow these clips down and try to make them less shaky.

Music Video Storyboard Blog

   This is the first page of my storyboard for the music video. The sound in the music video will be primarily "Cabinet Man" by Lemon Demon. Throughout the music video, the character will be wearing a long, silver coat. 

   In the first shot, there is a wide shot of the character standing in an arcade. The camera pans up from their legs to their head. I will try to use the lighting already existing at the arcade, which will mean faint purple lighting.

    From there, it cuts to the person standing in front of an arcade machine with their hand gripped onto the side. There's a slow zoom on the hand. In the next shot, the hand is the main focus. The person's grip tightens on the machine immediately before lyrics begin. Cut to black.

   In the black screen, you can faintly see an arcade machine. At this point, the lyrics begin. There's a wipe to the left, which leads to the camera panning right across a wall of tools. The person is in a garage at a workbench. They're looking intently at a blueprint. The lighting in this shot will be a blue light, since I think this will set the mood well.

    On the storyboard, these two events are in opposite order; this was because after I had drawn out the ideas, I realized it'd flow better to have them in the way I have described in the blog.

   In the following shot, you see the person's reflection on the screen of an arcade machine. The next shot shows the workbench from earlier empty and dripping with some blood. If possible, I would like to use a glitch-like transition between these two shots. However, if it isn't possible or looks bad in the final product, I will just use a straight cut away. 

    At the bottom of the table near the floor is the blueprint from earlier in a puddle of blood. The camera tilts and zooms into it. 

   The close up of the blueprint depicts a man and an arcade cabinet with various organs in it. There's lines connecting the man to the machine.

   The next two shots may be cut out because of time restraints. However, I will still film them, as they are simple things to get footage of. There is a close up of a coin being slid into a coin slot, with the sound of the coin syncing up to the end of the lyrics "with two lungs collecting change". The following shot is an ekg monitor showing a heart rate. 

    In the first shot of my third and final storyboard sheet, three arcade cabinets slide in from the top of the shot, showing "Game over" screens. There's a cut to a person clenching an arcade machine, similar to the third shot of the music video, but with some blood on his hands. 

    A fast camera movement to the right will transition to a "Dark Escape" game cabinet. This game depicts a ghost-like girl against a screen. Another fast camera movement right. The person is standing in front of an arcade machine. The camera revolves around him and turns to reveal an arcade machine. 

Music Video Planning Blog

Location- There are two main locations in my music video: an arcade and a garage. 

   Ideally, the arcade I film at would be Dave and Busters. This is because I know the layout of the building, which would allow for a faster filming process. Additionally, the lighting and general vibes of Dave and Busters matches what I want in my music video. I will have to call and ask to see if it's ok to film there. If I am told no, I will research other arcades nearby that I could film at. As a backup, there's a place in Fort Lauderdale that is a lot bigger and may be more lenient in allowing me to film.

   The garage will be easier to film at. My grandparents have a garage with a workbench that has the tools I need. It also has a dirty and worn look that I am looking for. The lighting may be an issue at this location, but I can work around it. Because the location is owned by my family, I won't need to ask for any special permissions to film.

Health and Safety- While driving to and from the locations, I will use a seatbelt. I will be under supervision while using the tools in the garage and won't utilize the power tools. While at the arcade, I will film in a secluded area to protect nearby people's safety and respect their privacy.

Props- An arcade cabinet is an integral prop that I will use in my music video. This is why it's important that I film in an arcade. I will also need an assortment of tools, like wrenches and screwdrivers. I will also need fake blood or red food dye. While not exactly a prop that will be seen on screen, I will need bright colored lights to make the lighting interesting and colorful.

Costumes- I have a silver trenchcoat that will work well in conveying a futuristic aesthetic. I also have some jewelry that will also help with selling the aesthetic. There is a shot that is a close up on my hand, so I will put on silver nail polish. Because my head won't be in a lot of shots, I won't be wearing any makeup or glasses. 

Schedule- Because I am leaving the country on 12/6, I will not be working on the music video on that day and after that. My music video must be done on 12/5, as opposed to the original 12/9 due date.

11/18: Planning and storyboarding

11/19: Finish storyboarding and write a blog about the process.

11/20: Turn in plan and storyboard to teachers and check out a camera.

11/21 - 11/22: Call the managers of the locations I am planning to film at to see if I am allowed to record. Because of my parents' work schedules, I will not be able to go out to film on these days.

11/23: If I am allowed to, I will film at Dave and Busters on this day. If not, I will use this day to find other arcades that will allow filming.

11/24: If I was unable to film at Dave and Busters the prior day, I will film at a different arcade today. If I was able to film on the 23rd, I will take this day to make plans to film at my grandparent's garage.

11/25: Assuming both filming days were successful, all my footage would have been recorded. I won't have anything to do on this day, because I don't have my media studies class then.

11/26: Return the camera and begin editing.

11/27 - 12/2: This week is Thanksgiving Break. Because I don't have access to Pinnacle Studios outside of school, I will use this week to plan out exactly how I want to edit the video so I will be prepared for when I am back in school.

12/3: Finish editing.

12/4: Begin to work on CCR questions.

12/5: Turn in finished music video and CCR.

Intro to Music Video Project

      The commercial has been finished. Overall, I found the experience fun and very interesting. I found that storyboarding and filming were my strong suits. Storyboarding helped me visualize and narrow down my ideas on what to do for my commercial, which was extremely helpful to me. However, I found that actually appearing in the video and editing didn't work well for me. I will focus more on improving those skills while working on the upcoming project: the music video project. We have been assigned to make a short music video using a song of our choice.

      The song I chose is Cabinet Man by Neil Cicierega, who releases music under the name Lemon Demon. The genre of music Cicierega makes varies greatly, but many of his songs fall under synthpop. Synthpop is a form of new-wave pop music that heavily utilizes the synthisizer. Because of the genre fading into obscurity, there isn't a lot of music videos to go off of. At first glance, this may seem like a bad thing; however, I believe the lack of standards will give me a lot of creative freedom in how I film my music video. This was a big factor in why I chose Cabinet Man. The other reason was I have a clear idea of the story the song is telling and I think it'd be fun to try to express it through a visual medium.

     As previously explained, the synthpop music genre isn't one that usually appears in music videos, especially today. But, with the music videos that do exist, I was able to get a grasp on what basic elements need to be implemented into my video.

1) Costumes

    Many synthpop songs have a futuristic and techno feel to them. Because of this, most of the costumes are futuristic looking, relying on clothes with metallic color schemes. However, older synthpop music videos use more abstract and costumey outfits that have no relation to technology. I will rely more on the futuristic approach, though, because of the story of Cabinet Man.

2) Lighting

    Synthpop music videos use intense lighting. The video is visually very dark and is only lit with bright, vivid colors, like purples or reds. 

3) Actors

     The actors are often in character in synthpop music videos. However, their roles are often stoic characters that don't express much on their face, but express emotion through their movements.

4) Makeup

     The makeup is similar to the costumes, in a sense that most actors are given overblown and abstract looks. Although, some synthpop music videos are subtle with their makeup and only use eyeliner or eyeshadow.

5) Props

       Because of the technology theme present in synthpop, most music videos include computers or other forms of technology. Besides that, though, the stories told by synthpop music videos vary greatly, so there isn't really a set theme of props that are used. 

6) Setting

        The settings of synthpop music videos are a mixed bag, more so than any other aspect of the genre's mise en scene. Settings can include abandoned cityscapes, empty fields, cluttered rooms, or even just plain white backgrounds. This gives me a lot of creative liberties in where I can set my music video.

Editing the Commercial (2)

     We overcame the previous technical difficulties and were able to fully edit today. I had to re-dump my raw footage onto the new laptop and import it into Pinnacle studios. During the first import, though, the program crashed. The second import was successful. I began to look through my footage and select which takes were the best. This process was made difficult because of how slow Pinnacle Studios was. The clips lagged and often cut off before the whole clip could play. However, eventually I got used to the lag and adapted to it. I found the takes I thought were the best and dragged them onto the timeline. I ensured there were no gaps in between the clips by right clicking a blank area of the timeline and selecting "Close All Gaps".

     My clips all had extra footage at the beginning and end that needed to be cut off and deleted. At first, I didn't know how to do this. However, I found a "Split" option above the timeline. I placed the triangle slider where I wanted to cut and clicked the split button. I deleted the extra parts I didn't need. I did this for each clip. For the part of my commercial where I show a close-up of the coffee cup, I needed transitions. I right clicked on one of the clips and found the "Transitions" option. However, upon seeing that the default transition was a cross dissolve, I found the transition library next to the sound effect library. From there, I selected the fade transition and dragged it onto the clips that needed it.

    The visual aspects of my commercial were complete after a few final adjustments. I needed to work on the audio next. While selecting clips and placing them into the timeline earlier on, I detached the audio of each of them. I selected the clips and clicked the "Detach Audio" option that was next to the split option. The audio entered a different track and I deleted it. I had recorded a narration seperately with my phone, due to my lack of a microphone. I imported the audio and chose the best takes of each line. I matched up the narration to the corresponding clips. I noticed that the audio sounded slightly muffled, but I couldn't figure out how to make it clearer without completely redoing the recordings. The voice over was finished and added. 

     After noticing some jarring silence throughout the commercial, I decided to add some ambient noise. I found a royalty free urban ambiance track from Youtube, downloaded it, and imported it. The audio was loud, so I turned the volume down using the audio mixer located on the left of the audio track. With the ambiance added, the commercial was finally complete.