Weekly Analysis Logs

Weekly Analysis:

week beginning 4/3/19:

This is the beginning of my unit 8 project. At the start of the week, I was briefed on what types of media I could create and what themes I had to include in my work. the themes that were presented to me were; radical, welcome to the forest, makers, and fellowship. the type of media we could make was a music video, a short film, a documentary or some sort of magazine cover or article.

after this briefing, this got me thinking about what I could create. my first idea was to create a short film based on how young teens are easily roped into gangs and how it can affect them mentally as they feel as though there is no escape. Even though I thought this was a good idea I soon came to the realization that to do a short film you would need lots of actors that I know would be up for it, however, I only know 2 actual actors and I felt that wasn't good enough. my second idea was to make a rap music video and I really wanted to do this as I haven't done this before and I have a very keen interest in rap music and popular music video directors like cole bennet, Kaylum Dennis and Myles suave for example. so, my final decision was to make a rap music video but I have not chosen the song yet. now that I had my idea, all that was left to do was to create my proposal that I was due to present in the week beginning 11/3/19.

Week Beginning 11/3/19:

this week, I had presented my proposal in a Pecha-kutcha style to my peers and in this, I included what I plan on making, my inspirations, a vague plan of how I will tackle the planning side of things. after this, I now began to do research into music videos, historical research in particular.  in my research I delve deep into the basics or what a music video is and why they are so important. I also looked at what the first ever music video was and the discussion of what makes a music video a music video. from this research, I learned how much goes into music videos and the 3 different types of music videos there are. music videos are meant to visually depict the words of the song and bring the song to life. it is also a way to further promote the artist and song as they can further get their personality across and create a fanbase. I also looked at how music videos are shot and what camera movements are used in music videos.

I then did some contextual research on what is current and how this "new wave" of music and music sharing has heavily impacted the production of music videos and how they're shared. I watched lots of different rap music videos so I could get inspiration and one video that really piqued my interest was A$AP Rocky's Yamborghini High as they used this crazy effect called Datamoshing and I want to use this in my music video.

Week Beginning 18/3/19:

As I was doing my research, I was also thinking about what song I should pick to make my music video on and who I want to be in my music video. the song I wanted to make a music video for was SahBabii - Army as I felt that I could do a lot of edits and effects as the song follows this trend of the new wave of rap and these new music videos have lots of cool and unique effects. after I had picked the song, I now began to look for who I wanted to be in my music video. I only needed one person to perform the song but I wanted some extras to pose as my performer's friends/entourage so, I got one of my friends - Jamal - to be the main performer as his schedule is similar to mine and I feel that the song will suit him. As for my extras, I asked a few of my friends to be a part of my video and I got 5 of them in total to be involved.

Week Beginning 25/3/19:

this week, I had begun my production research, so I was looking at possible locations online and doing my research on them. One of the locations I had found online was Kyoto Gardens in Kensington's Holland Park. This part of the park is Japanese filmed and is a very popular attraction for tourists and is known for its waterfall and exotic birds, like the peacock that lives in the garden. I was also able to get into contact with a person who lives by the college who owns a Range Rover and they had given me permission to actually shoot parts of my music video inside of their car whenever I wish so, so far I had two locations. I also wanted to shoot inside of a restaurant so I am going to have to get into contact with my local restaurants to see if I can film inside of their establishment. I want to shoot at these locations as they promote the theme of wealth and success. for example, Kensington is known for being an area densely populated with wealthy people and Kyoto gardens gives this sense of class and elegance that is usually promoted in rap music videos.

As I was pitching my idea to one of my teachers, they had brought up the point that the song I had chosen was very graphic in terms of what the rapper is talking about and she had also told me that she felt that the best music videos are the ones that link to the song itself so, she advised that I maybe think of changing the song and I took her advice on board. the song I was now making my music video for was Kodak Black's "If I'm Lyin' I'm Flyin'". I felt this song fitted more with the locations and themes I wanted to promote in my music video, compared to my previously chosen song.      

Week beginning 1/4/19:

I began to plan the costume for my performer and extras and I had come to the decision that I wanted him to wear a designer jumper some jeans and some trainers. I chose this because I wanted him to look like a typical rapper and also fit the style of the song. as for my extras, they were going to wear similar outfits but not as loud clothing as my performer. this is because I don't want to draw attention away from my performer and I want Jamal to stay the main focus at every given moment.

I was also looking at hiring equipment to shoot my music video. I want my music video to be at a very high quality and I am willing to put my own money into this project to ultimately have the best possible music video I can make. I began researching cameras to rent at an affordable cost on a website called FatLlama and I came across a Sony A6300 with a wide angle lens and a gimbal; zhiyun crane 2. I wanted to use a gimbal to get really smooth and cinematic shots of my performer and b-roll. these two pieces of equipment are what i want to use to create my music video.


Easter Break:

I called up the restaurants and all of the ones I had contacted told me that they don't allow any sort of filming in their restaurants and this was a major setback as I had really wanted to shoot in a restaurant. this left me with only two locations to shoot at and this wasn't what I wanted.

I had begun to create my shooting script listing shots and the b roll I plan on a recording like, for example, I wanted an establishing shot of the entire park and b roll of the waterfall and Jamal walking. I had made a table for what shot will go alongside each lyric and how long the shots will be. this was to help me with when shooting and editing. i also practiced some camera movements and effects on premiere pro and after effects so I'm more familiar when recording and editing my final. one effect I practices was a cloning effect

Week beginning 22/4/19:

this week, i was meant to shoot my music video with the camera i am trying to rent out but im having complications with renting as fat llama are asking for lots of legal documents so this caused me to postpone my shooting day. this carried on throughout the week as they kept on asking for more verification. i continued to practice my editing and effects on premiere pro and after effects. one of the things i practiced was a cloning effect and i did this on premiere pro. i also practiced and effect that i found on youtube called a burn though effect.

Week beginning 29/4/19:

this week didn't start of too well as i still continued to have camera issues until thursday, fatllama finally sorted out the issue and i was able to record my video. i was able to pick up my camera at the end of the week so during this time i was looking over my research and gathering more information from the internet. we were coming up to mock exam season and my extras had exams on the day i wanted to record my music video. i had not choice but to now have a music video with no extras. this was a problem but there was nothing i could do as all my friends were busy with mocks and revision lessons.


week beginning 6/5/19:

this week, i recorded my music video in kyoto gardens and in the range rover. i was able to shoot my entire music video in one day but the only problem was that the sky was cloudy so my footage is a bit dark. lucky i knew how to use the camera so i was able to change the settings so it doesn't appear too dark. but because i recorded late, the lighting isn't consistent.

week beginning 13/5/19:

this week i begun editing my music video on the mac. because i knew how to use a mac and the editing software, i didn't find it too hard to lay out my work and begin editing. i began to download all the effects i was going to ue and the transitions i wanted to use and watching tutorials on how to create some other effects as i was working along.

week beginning 20/5/19:

this week i continued editing and finally finished editing my music video. i wasn't able to add the atamosh effect as the mac couldn't handle the plugin that creates this effect. there were alternatives to creating the effect but i was running short on time so i just left it out. i now used after effects to add my effects and transitions to my music video and them attempted to colour correct my video. i had never done colour correction but i was watching a tutorial as i was doing it and i think it looks good. i exported my music video and posted it onto my youtube channel. now all is left is to do my review.