Critical Reflection Essay

Saving Herald is a teenage alternative-pop band based in Broward, Florida. They're well known around South Florida and have gained popularity through Spotify, Youtube, and Facebook, as well as through live band performances around the County. Their newest song "Breathe" is the primary focus of our music promotional package. 

My partner and I decided that we would go with a mixture of a performance and narrative story in the music video for Breathe. We felt this was the best route because the performance aspect would help to introduce each artist and give insight into their styles and skills. With the added narrative story, it would add an extra flair to the production. Saving Herald urged us to include a conceptual story instead to lighten the mood of the song due to its deeper meaning. Typical genre conventions of an alternative band's music videos consist of a mixture between narrative and performance, which keeps the video entertaining and enjoyable to watch. Due to their insistence on a conceptual story instead of a narrative, we decided it would be more appropriate to stick with a strictly performative plotline; we didn't want to stray too far from the typical alternative/indie genre conventions. To further introduce each band member, we filmed each artist individually performing the song as well as all together. By focusing on them alone as they're performing throughout the song, there's a more personal air that highlights their talents. By using a variety of shot types and camera movements amongst the band's performance, they're given a chance to show off their distinct personalities. For instance, Nick's hair is a visible part of his branding, which is evident throughout the video as it's shown swaying about while he plays. Kenzie is also given opportunities to show off her drumming skills and in several instances looks to the camera, creating an intimate connection with the viewer. I made sure to include some photos that I took behind the scenes on the Twitter we created, which also gives insight into their personalities further than what was depicted in the music video. 

There wasn't much to do as far as the representation of different genders, races, ethnicities, etc. in our music video. The band members are who they are: a white, teenage band. However, there are slight strides in representation as to the meaning of their song. When we'd first begun talking about the project and I asked what the song was about, they informed Dean and me that the song's about mental health struggles. Later into the project, I'd asked them to elaborate on the deeper meaning behind Breathe. Maxx (the guitarist) who wrote the song told me that there was nothing more behind the lyrics other than that "it sounded good together." This was disappointing, to put it lightly. It’s part of the reason why we omitted the narrative/conceptual storyline that was originally going to be part of the music video. If there were more meaning behind the song, I would have liked to include metaphorical, conceptual shots in the production, but I love the outcome regardless. I believe we did a great job at creating their first music video and putting them out there. It’s new, and a nice change from the videos that they have on their Youtube showing them performing live. We chose our location for the video based on what was available, but simultaneously we were fortunate enough to have found an abandoned house that was run down and vandalized before my partner and I investigated it for the first time. This set for our music video depicts a grungy, worn down, deteriorated appearance, and when paired with the look of the band members and the upbeat tone of the song, is balanced perfectly in this alternative-pop blend. Not only was the location convenient, but it supports the deeper behind the song Breathe in a metaphorical sense.

It's common in pop music videos that the lighting is artificial, natural, or colorful. For alternative-style videos, it's best to use darker, higher contrast lighting (often using filters or overlays). We incorporated a bit of both. Through editing, my partner Dean balanced and colorized the shots to appear consistent with these characteristics. In instances where the main singer was performing on her own, the dark, blue hue of the room functions symbolically to represent sadness and provides the filter-like look that we wanted. At the same time, the natural lighting from outside in several of the shots provides the upbeat, pop-like aspect necessary to achieve a proper blend of the genres. Saving Herald had the vision to wear coordinated outfits, so they wore all black, which contrasts with the set as well as acting as a stylistic element that connects the band on a deeper level. Other aspects of mise-en-scene included in our video work to create a sense of unity, such as Kenzie's drum set; the Saving Herald logo they'd created is displayed proudly on the main drum, which is consistent with their other videos posted on Youtube and continues to support their band's branding. 

The target audience for alternative artists range from students aged 14 to people in their late 50's, originating from when the alternative rock scene got popular in the mid to late 1900s. "Alternative" is an umbrella term, and a lot of subgenres exist within it, one being alternative pop. The age of this target audience is people aged 14-21. The gender of this audience is generally 50/50, both taking influence from their favorite bands and artists of the genre. They may use these bands and lyrics to influence their identities, or as a form of escapism from reality. 

For the cover art component of our project, Dean and I settled on making a vinyl cover. Vinyl is more popular amongst people in our target audience range, as CDs/digipaks have been practically forgotten. For the content of the cover art, I'd discussed with Madison (the lead singer) what should be the subject; I showed her images I could use for reference that I felt were connected to the word, and ideas surrounding the word "Breathe." She felt that the image of someone smoking a cigarette while half-submerged in water worked best. This sort of grungy cover art is consistent with the preferences of our youthful, heavily influenced target audience. By providing subtle connections between the elements of the project, my partner and I were able to maintain this sense of edgy branding. In retrospect, I believe that to be more on brand, we could have made the font color on the cover art yellow instead of red, to stay consistent with their original yellow logo. It would have been closer to alternative-pop while remaining edgy due to the content on the cover. However, Kenzie's drums are red, and red is often associated with edgy music groups, so it's not too far off. Alternative groups tend to tease their audiences often on their online platforms. They release teasers, behind-the-scenes footage, and exclusive videos and images to get their fanbase excited about new, upcoming products. It maintains their audience, engages them, and keeps them excited and interested in their content. So Dean and I did precisely that: dropping teasers and exclusive photos on the Twitter account we created to induce hype for the release of Breathe's official music video as we finalized the production.

Overall I’m incredibly satisfied with what we created for the music promotional package. My partner and I were excited from the get-go to work on this project. Saving Herald is a charming group, and we created a professional-looking video of them performing their favorite song to date, a Vinyl cover, and a Twitter page to advertise the various elements of our project. My only regret is that the band members were not nearly as engaged with the production process as we’d hoped. They were difficult to work with, and oftentimes Dean and I were frustrated with their lack of help and enthusiasm. Through it all, we’d still made a great production. Admittedly I will say that this is primarily due to Dean and his natural talents with cinematography and filming, but I put in hard work where it was applicable through the creation of the cover art and posting to our social media page.

The End of An Era

Well. It's been great. I really enjoyed working on this project. Last year, working on my own, I struggled a lot. But working with Dean was a tremendous help. He's so highly motivated, talented, and hard-working. We were able to aid each other in several aspects of our project, which eliminated a lot of stress caused by our workloads, on top of the frustrations caused by the band itself. I can say proudly that what we accomplished for this music video is a great feat. And I'm sad to say that this is probably my last posting like this on this blog. It's my senior year. I'll be moving up to Orlando, attending college, and truly become an adult. It's the end of an era, in every sense. It's been nice. I'd like to think that I'll look back on these postings someday fondly, perhaps even happy with the improvement between this year's project and last year's. But I probably won't. Lol. Thanks for reading. Here is my collective project.

Music Video

Social Media

Our Video is up On Youtube :)

Breathe - Saving Herald (Official Music Video)

Last Twitter Posts

Music Video Post

Cover Art Post

Updates!

Dean and I have been finalizing the music video over the past week, and we finally think it's ready. It looks great! I always expect the best out of Dean because he's such a hard worker and doesn't stop until he feels that his finished work is exceptional. 

The last few days we posted teasers and behind-the-scenes videos, and we're planning on posting our final Twitter post tomorrow when the music video goes public on Youtube. After this, it's all (semi) smooth sailing as we do our Critical Reflection essays. Everything else is taken care of. We'd planned on starting our essays by now, but neither of us has got to it yet. According to my teacher, no one else in our class has finished their first draft yet either. 

My best guess is that quarantine and senioritis have really taken a toll on everyone right now. I know for Dean and me that this is true at least. We can't wait to be over with this year and move on to college- the next big phase of our lives. I wanna get it over with so that I know all my hard work's paid off, this class included. I'm really glad to have taken this course. 

Story Elements?

Dean and I have been wondering a lot lately whether our original idea to include a story aspect to the music video would be practical. Since we first filmed and came back to edit and review our content, I'd suggested it wouldn't be necessary. I figured we could go without it, and just leave the video as is. It took a lot of brainstorming to finally get to that conclusion, but we feel that it's the best route to go with our project. 

Not only do we feel that Breathe is (no offense) too bland of a song to have aesthetic, cinematography like shots added to the video, but Saving Herald did not give us much to work with in terms of advice, inspirations, or even just plain visions for what these story element shots would be. I'd tried really hard to brainstorm ideas and ask the band members for advice, but I was met with a whole lot of nothing. At best, I'd got Maxx to admit that there's no real concrete meaning or inspiration behind the song; it just sounds good, like a catchy song that gets stuck in your head even though it makes no sense. And let's admit it, the lyrics really don't make much sense. At times, the lyrics are contradicting and dare I say cheesy. But I can't sh*t on them too hard. It's a catchy song, I'll give them that. It does indeed sound good. 

Because of our lack of resources and ideas, we decided to omit the story aspect of the music video. In my opinion, it's a very strong video on its own as is. The shots are beautiful, the band looks amazing, everything just works very well together. Now, all we have left to do is finalize our video. 

As We Near the End of This Project

Dean and I have been finalizing the video we progress towards our due date for this project. It seems to be that, after speaking with classmates in Teams group meetings, Dean and I are far ahead of the other groups in our class. From who I've spoken with, only a couple individuals working alone have begun filming besides us. It's relieving to know that Dean and I are properly on task. 

Due to the lack of progress from other groups, my teacher changed the due date of our project to the 18th, six days later than what it previously was. This extended due date gives Dean and me extra time to perfect our music video, and copious amounts of time to post to our Twitter and do good things with our project. Thankfully this also gives us time to write our Critical Reflection essay. We plan on finishing the essay early so that Stoklosa can proofread it for us and give us advice on how to better it. 

Back from Spring Break

Last class, Dean had a discussion with my teacher about what we have for the music video so far. After reviewing, she pointed out stylistic film elements in our video such as intro/outro credits, like a film or movie would have. But we've been tasked to make a music video, not a movie. She said we could keep those elements in there, but we'd have to explain why we chose to stray from typical music video conventions.

She told us that she thought the video was very aesthetically put together, and that she was impressed by what we have so far. She said that our set ended up working perfectly with the band's look, and suggested that we switch out the shot we have for the intro with literally anything else. According to her, the rest of our shots are so interesting and dynamic that the first shot we have is boring. I don't recall her saying so, but Dean said that she "hated" it because it's so poor in contrast to our other shots.

I'm glad that Dean asked to review the video with Stoklosa. It's always refreshing, albiet scary to get her advice, as she knows Cambridge and what they'd like. She's truly wise beyond her years, so getting praise and criticism alike feels great. It gave Dean and I a lot to work with as well as a renewed confidence moving forward.

Posted On Twitter

I still plan to post a short video clip as a teaser, but I also want to space out these tweets. It'll look more authentic that way. Dean sent me the clip we're going to be using, so for now I'm just sitting on it.

Twitter Account

Due to Saving Herald neglecting to send us their Twitter info, I took the initiative to make a whole new account. Most likely, their account is under the name "@savingherald" so I had to opt for "@saving_herald" instead. Ideally, the band would be aiding us in figuring out their branding and how they want this account to look, but they aren't. I chose to include the same bio as the one they have for their Instagram, at least for now until I figure out what else would work to make the account look cool and on par with their band. 

Nothing's been posted yet, but I'm considering posting pictures that ultimately are promoting their song Breathe, and the music video's release. These teasers seem great to promote the upcoming video, however, when Dean had asked the band members to post teasers before, they hadn't. Which is fine in the end, because it appears we'll be doing it for them. We'll be posting teaser clips of the music video so far, and some of the photos that I took of them during the performance.

Twitter Account

Photos from the Set

Filming, Day 1

Dean and I went to film today. We picked up Angelo and Rodrigo, prepped gear and props, and got to moving. We were probably fifteen minutes late to the set, so the band got there before us and checked out the house we would be filming at. We met up and began bringing all of the band's instruments inside the house, along with all of our camera gear and equipment. Setting up everything probably took about an hour. Setting up cameras on tripods, having the band set up drums, their amps, and lastly, setting up balloons onto the walls of our set. We'd also gotten a broom, so we were able to sweep up a lot of debris to clear room for us to move around, and effectively reduce the chance of one of us getting hurt.

Maxx couldn't find any place that sold letter-shaped helium balloons, so Dean and I ventured out to buy some that spelled out "Breathe" and just blew them up before coming to the set. Because they weren't filled out with helium, we thought that attaching them to the ceiling would be cool, but when we got there and tried placing them we realized there were multiple issues with this idea: the ceiling was too high, the wind in the house would push the balloons around, and they wouldn't be in view of the camera. We figured out that we could just tape them to the wall instead, which worked spectacularly. I taped the letters strategically so that it was hidden behind the lettering and looked more seamless.

The filming went great. We got two takes of them performing the song altogether, and then a few of them individually: Madisyn singing in a bathroom in front of a mirror; Kenzie drumming; Maxx and Nick playing together; and then one with Nick and Maxx playing separately. 

Seeing them perform the song for the first time, and see how into it they got was refreshing like they really care about what they do. It just sucks that they don't care that much about helping us, since this is for a school project. They can very conveniently use it as a music video for their branding, etc. although we're the ones being graded on it, amongst other things. It's a lot more of our time and money at risk than theirs.

While prepping equipment, and while filming, I was the photographer, taking pictures of the band members. We don't know exactly what we're going to use the pictures for at this point, but it's still good to have. We could probably use some for their Twitter social media page. I don't know, but I really like some of the pictures that I took. I have quite a few of the band members messing around behind the scenes, and nice shots of them during their performance. I believe I got around 100 photos taken in total.

There was also some cute stuff that went down during the time we spent working. A praying mantis had gotten on one of Kenzie's drum pieces when we'd first brought everything into the house, and after double-checking on google that praying mantises aren't poisonous (just to be safe, because admittedly I've never seen one in real life), I nudged it onto my hand and held it a little. It jumped off pretty quickly and hid underneath some rubble in the house, however, I went back to retrieve it after prepping some more equipment. It was much calmer about climbing onto my hand, and this time was extremely still. Just straight chillin'. I ended up bringing it outside onto a tree, where it proceeded to stay on the bark and look at me all funny. 

I thought it was really cute. Instead of climbing or crawling away when I put it down, it just turned its head and looked directly at me. So I gave it a little pat or two. It let me pet it without a problem, and after fawning over it for a minute and taking pictures, I went on my way to help everyone finish setting up for the performance.

After we finished filming and were making the trek back to our cars with equipment, we had a little bit of another, albeit very cute, problem. There are cows in the field where this abandoned house is. They were far off when Dean, Claire, and I had gone to scope out the place for the first time. Today was no exception, except for when we were ready to go and realized that the cows had migrated towards the property due to the noise we were making. All that music playing through speakers and Kenzie's drumming definitely attracted them, as they're very curious creatures. The herd walked over and were staring at us. 

We were scared at first that some of the cows with horns would charge at us. Particularly Angelo believed that the bulls may be aggressive toward us, chase us, or whatever else. Cows aren't necessarily violent or aggressive, but they're hundreds of pounds and could kill us without even trying, really. 

They seemed to be really sweet and I like cows, so I ventured over. There was a flimsy fence separating us and the house from the cows, so I wasn't too afraid that they'd trample me or anything like that. I walked up, much to the dismay of Dean and Angelo, but to my surprise, I scared them off. Upon my greeting them they all flocked away from us and back to where they were before. So we were able to bring our belongings back to our cars and get home for the day. 

Regardless, we spent a while filming and working on the performance aspect of the music video. Overall I think we spent a good four hours at the set, working together and getting everything we need to make this project look great. Undoubtedly, myself, Dean, the crew, and probably the band as well were very tired, and in need of some water and rest by the end of it. That was a whole lot of working, filming, and spending prolonged amounts of time standing up with no end in sight nor air conditioning, but we got it done. And pretty well I believe. Dean and I are excited to see what we got. He's particularly excited about getting down to editing it all.

Vinyl Cover

We finished the Vinyl cover/digipak portion of the project! I'd finished the art a long time ago, but we let the cover art sit around in photoshop for a while so that Dean and I could perfect it. We'd sent it to Madisyn and she didn't like the font, so we had to change things around a few times, but nevertheless, we got it done. 

We still need to film the story aspect to the music video this weekend and finish editing the music video, and other than that we're waiting on Saving Herald to give us their Twitter info for an account that they don't use. We've been asking for ages but they have failed to do so. 

Dean and I are thinking of making a new Twitter for them entirely because although we could make them a Band Camp account, it would require their music to be downloaded onto the site. It's too much work, and they wouldn't want to put in that effort anyways.

Frustrations

Saving Herald hasn't been as enthusiastic about helping us with the project as they are about performing for the video. It's been really stressful.

We noticed this early on when Madisyn said she'd help me with making the vinyl cover and it took about three days of asking/pushing for her to send me any inspiration, or ideas that she had for the cover. Since then, even the crew (Angelo, Rodrigo, and Isa, who at this point won't be able to help us film due to visiting family for spring break) started noticing how dry the band has been; not answering our messages, saying they'll send us stuff for inspirations or ideas, or things like info for their Twitter so that we can remodel it for the project, and then barely pulling through for us. It's gotten really tiring because we need to depend on their input for certain things, but we keep coming up empty. It's pushed us back on our schedule quite a bit.

Dean and I are still pretty much stuck when it comes to what the story aspect should be. The band wants us to do something that isn't your traditional storyline. They want randomness and chaos, in an artistic way of course. But that isn't as easy as it sounds, especially when they aren't giving us any ideas about what these clips should be. To try to get a better grasp on a good storyline, or anything else we could incorporate that would inspire us to come up with cool ideas that link to their band, I've been pushing them to send me audio messages about their individual experiences with mental health struggles. This is because they pointed out that Breathe is about mental health, although they don't want that to be too heavy a topic in the music video nor cliche in some way.

I found out that Maxx wrote the song lyrics, so I asked if he could give me some insight into his own experiences. No audio messages were sent to me despite my asking, multiple times, as well as in the group chat to the whole band. I ended up calling him, and unfortunately, he told me that there wasn't any profound experience that led him to write Breathe. It just came to him naturally and sounded good. To be fair, I do understand where he's coming from. I write poetry sometimes and have had moments such as these, as rare as they are. However, that doesn't coddle my disappointment. 

Dean and I need to come up with a cool concept for our storyline, ASAP. I don't know where to turn for ideas. I'm thinking of talking to friends of mine about the situation and see what kind of input or advice they could give. I would talk to my Aice Media teacher, but it's spring break, and I have no sure way to contact her and get her sage advice. Fingers crossed.

Story Elements

Dean and I are planning to have the story be intermittent between the band’s performance in the music video. The main character will be Madisyn, and the other characters are Kenzie, Maxx, Nick, and possibly Angelo, Rodrigo, and Claire; since Saving Herald has been super flakey, we're hesitant to work with them further on the story. Dean suggested we use some of the crew who's helping us out as the main character instead. We're not sure what to do yet.

So far, we have that the storyline is centered around the deteriorated house being a metaphor for the main character’s poor mental health. Saving Herald wants it to be more random and artistic than a linear storyline, so we're gonna try implying the plot visually through cool scenes.

Possible Ideas To Use:

- Include symbolic props?

- Costume design for the main character, red, or white (although it could get dirty) in contrast to the all-black clothes during the performance

- Candles, several candles around the house in rooms with no windows, possibly at night time

- Black balloons and at the end, colorful balloons

- Start video with someone submerged underwater, ends with them emerging out of the water (to play with the whole "breathe" idea)

- Maxx recommended buying balloons that spell out the word Breathe to include in the video. He said he was going to do it before we start filming Wednesday, so we'll see where that goes. Dean and I really like the idea. If he can't buy them, Dean and I will be looking into it. 

Second Teams Group Meeting

This second Teams Group meeting was helpful. Because Saving Herald has been kind of flakey when it comes to responding to our messages and inquiries about the music video, and not responding to us in general, Dean and I need a lot of help with ideas.

Talking to some of the classmates in my group, I narrowed down the ideas that we had in place so far: Half of the video is the band performing the song, "Breathe." The other half is the story, which takes place in the abandoned home we're filming the performance in. So far we're thinking that Madison, the vocalist in the band, will play the main character.

Off of that idea, they suggested that we ask the band members if they have personal experiences with mental health struggles and incorporate them into the storyline. I really like this idea, but I doubt that the band will give much input.

They also suggested that the house is symbolic of the main character's mental state: broken down and decayed. One classmate said we could really emphasize this point through visuals, such as showing destructive behaviors to make it obvious that the house represents their mental state, like the character breaking objects in there, or perhaps that they're trapped in the house, and wrecking it shows how (symbolically) they are breaking free from it. Or, on the other hand, the rest of the band members come together to free her from her trapped state of mind, and as a group, they leave the home at the end.

The set we're working with is in a field, where a herd of cows lives far away from the house. I'm thinking that maybe if there’s a friendly cow around, we could film one of the band members or Madison petting it; or laying down in the field, showing their free state of mind, finally at peace.

Another classmate also gave some examples of music videos that she believed reminded her of our idea, or what we could get inspiration from:

Paramore - Ain't It Fun

and

Foo Fighters - Everlong

While I like these videos, and the latter in particular is a great example of a half performance/half story music video, we don't have access to these elaborate sets and props shown. Saving Herald also has their own visions in mind for the music video and doing as ambitious an idea as Paramore's music video doesn't align with what the band is looking for.

Filming Location

Dean and I had a hard time trying to decide where we would be filming at. There aren't a lot of places around to film a music video that are cool, and that work with our target audience, etc. We looked up cool abandoned places to film at during the start of this project, but when Dean reached out to any owners for permission, he came up empty as they didn't respond. 

Thankfully, he's been around quite a bit and spotted this abandoned home area in our county. Angelo, a friend who's also a filmer and is helping us with our project, went to this same location a while ago to do a project. He let us know that the place is blocked off with a gate, but other than that, there are no "No Trespassing" signs or anything else of that nature. The location doesn't even show up on maps with any information about what the structure was supposed to be. It can only be found through specific map coordinates. However, it's not totally secluded. 

Dean and a friend and I visited the location today and went inside. It was my first time seeing the structure up close, let alone setting a foot inside it. The place is entirely run down and abandoned, and there's a wasp problem in the back where there are overgrown bushes, but as long as we didn't go through the backyard they didn't bother us. 

The structure has several rooms, all broken down or deteriorated in some manner, but these are the largest (and cleanest?) rooms available. We're considering that these rooms are where most of the main story and band performance will take place. 

Couple of Vinyl Covers

We plan on using one of these old vinyls that Dean and I picked up from Goodwill to glue/tape our finished vinyl cover art onto so that our Saving Herald vinyl looks more legit.

Vinyl Artwork

After sending the reference photos that I collected to Madisyn, she ended up choosing this image as her favorite. It took me at least two hours straight of working so that we can get back on schedule, seeing as we're a little behind, but I finished it. 

What's left now is the logo, which I still have to design, and then Dean and I gotta photoshop it all together. Afterward, we're going to go to Office Depot to print out a laminated sheet of our cover art to put onto some vinyl cases that Dean and I bought at Goodwill. We bought a few in case we mess up and need to redo our Saving Herald vinyl. 

Getting Started

Admittedly, the band has been a tad bit unreliable when it comes to keeping in contact with Dean and me. We planned on starting the artwork for the digipak portion of this project Monday of last week, and I was supposed to talk with Madison via phone call or text to discuss her views on what they want the album cover to look like. I'd sent a text in a group chat with Saving Herald and the production crew asking for the band's opinions on digipak covers, however, it took a few days for anyone to reach out to me, let alone Madison. 

Eventually, sent me some photos that she envisioned the album cover to look like. Then I got to work.

To keep up this whole minimalist concept that she had in mind, I decided to use pencils as my material of choice. I was torn between this and using digital art, but sometimes the process of saving or downloading digital art will lower the quality, and I didn't want this to interfere with the quality of our digipak cover. Besides, I'm hoping that the vintage, traditional, black and white look to the artwork will be fitting after Dean and I edit it around in photoshop and add a background and logos, etc.

After Madison reached out, I began collecting reference photos that I could possibly use. Here's what I have so far.

Music Video Genre Conventions

There's a lot of combined elements that go into music videos.

Firstly, we'll start with techniques. Technical techniques cover camera angles, shots and movement, diegetic and non-diegetic sound, pace, style of editing, and music genre. Symbolic techniques cover facial expressions, gestures, poses, and mise en scene. 

There are three types of music videos: Performance, Narrative, and Concept. 

Performance music videos focus on the artist or band plainly performing with no storyline, showing a collection of camera angles and movements of the band members continuously throughout the video. This is popular amongst rock artists or pop artists. 

Beyonce - Love On Top

Narrative music videos follow a storyline, but there are two types: linear and fragmented. Linear narratives follow the standard storyline structure with a beginning, middle, and end. A fragmented narrative story doesn't necessarily need to depict lyrics from the song and is told throughout the duration of the video.

Alicia Keys - Un-thinkable

Conceptual music videos are unusual, obscure, and surreal, based around a single idea. They use abstract imagery and narratives to maintain engagement with their audience and can be used to suggest a metaphorical meaning behind the song. 

Sia - Chandelier

Mixture music videos show a combination between performance and narrative. The artists are featured in the performance style of music video while the story elements act as a B-roll of sorts. 

Weezer - Buddy Holly

Camera equipment and the way the camera is used are also incredibly important for the making of a music video. Different angles, shots, and movements create different effects such as moods and are reflective of different genres to emphasize elements of the video. Music videos use mostly long, mid, and close-up shots, but also utilize other kinds (medium, extreme close-ups, over-the-shoulder, wide shots). As far as camera angles go, there are several different kinds that can be used: eye-level, high angle, low angle, bird's eye, slanted, etc. Camera movements include panning and tracking and help to follow the focus of the video or are used artistically to transition between shots.

Editing includes cutting scenes down, adding special effects, stylizing or colorizing the video, sound editing, etc. These forms of editing help to finalize music videos and add an extra flair or specific mood to the video. 

Sound consists of diegetic (already present in the film) and non-diegetic sound (which can be edited in).

Mise en scene elements focus on lighting (how the scene is lit, artificial light, sidelights), props (performance equipment, band merchandise), costume design (clothes and costumes that tell the story), hair and makeup (style of the artist), location, and color (specific colors that represent a mood, which can be done during filming or colorized during editing). Mise en scene helps to make the style and genre of music more concrete. 

Artificial lighting, strobe or colored lights would most likely be seen in dance, hip hop, or pop music videos. Natural lighting is often associated with country-type music videos. Grunge or alternative style videos use darker, higher contrast lighting often using a filter or overlay. 

Props can be used for entertainment value or to show inherent symbolism, as well as costumes, although costumes are also used for representative reasons. 

Representation in music videos includes the way that events, issues, individuals, and social groups are represented through processes of selection and combination. 

Planning, Planning, Planning

Dean's the real cinematographer between the two of us. I can make art and help around as best as I can, but as far as filming and camera equipment goes, I'm a rookie. He's made project after project and has had years of experience under his belt whereas I've only been into cinematography for the last couple of years due to this course. Other than that, I haven't taken any film classes. Art is my forte. 

Dean's Youtube Channel :)

That being said, Dean's organized a schedule/to-do list so that we're as organized as can be as we move along in this project. 

From now to the 18th, Dean and I will be in the pre-production stages. Working on storyboards, scripts, etc. I will be working with Maddie on the CD cover art from the 8th to the 13th. Dean's brainstormed that we make the cover art collage-like, as this is an area of art that I really enjoy- and not to stroke my own ego, but I believe I'm pretty good at it too. 

I have my own ideas about what to do, but Dean suggested we make it similar to the Weeknd's style of artwork. All artsy and cool looking. Or we could take individual photos of each of the band members and photoshop them together, and I make an artsy logo to put on top of that as well. 

My partner and I will be going to Georgia the first few days of spring break, where Dean's going to order all of the gear that we'll need to produce the music video. Dean's already got his fair share of equipment, but he'll be renting other equipment that he doesn't already have. We'll prep for shooting the 23rd and pick up our equipment, shoot the performance on the 24th, and then the story from the 25th to the 28th. 

After that, it's editing and finalizing all aspects of our project so that it's ready to turn in by the 12th of April. Dean's also got some filmmaker friends who are willing to be a part of our camera crew, Angelo, Isa, and Rodrigo. Dean's made our schedule into a Google Doc, so all crew members and Saving Herald have access to it. 

Talk with the Band

Dean and I had a facetime call with Saving Herald to get things cleared up for our project. They decided that the song they'd want a music video for is their song Breathe. 

Maxx and Kenzie discussed how its message is about mental health. They suggested that they'd want the video to be of random stuff, so that it could be interpretable in any way, however they don't want the video to be taking away from the message of the song. Mental health struggles are important to them, and they also don't want the premise of the music video to romanticize or glorify mental health issues, nor be too edgy or serious, as this is an overused depiction of mental health struggles in the media and they don't want it to look cheesy. 

Dean suggested that we go the hybrid video route, with its premise following half-story, half-band performance. To make things as easy and put together as possible, we're going to record the band "performing" the song, and put the studio recorded audio over the video. 

As far as places to film go, we have a few ideas: abandoned areas around Florida such as the Miami Marine stadium, UFO homes, and some bike trails behind regional park that lead to an open area (which is our last resort, because it'd be hard to bike/carry our equipment over there). 

After prompting them a little bit, the band let us know about some of their own specific visions for the music video, such as having coordinated outfits, and a saturated and bright aesthetic look to the video. Maxx gave us an example, the song These Days by Wallows. 

We told them about what's required of us for the project, so we also discussed how we're going to make them a digipak and new website to promote their band. They said they'd be fine with us taking over and remodeling one of their accounts, such as Instagram and Twitter, or making them an account on a different platform where they don't already have an account set up, such as Tiktok. As far as this goes, we're still waiting on the band to send us their Twitter login info, because none of them know it by heart or have it saved in their Twitter app other than Maddie. 

Target Audience Research

Determining the target audience for music videos is too broad a subject, so I'm going to determine the target audience for grungy, indie-rock, alternative band videos (such as Saving Herald). Alternative rock is a broad term that consists of music that differs considerably, in both terms of sound and social context. This genre covers a wide demographic and may attract a large audience that may originate from the emergence of alternative rock from the late 1900s.

For indie-rock bands, their audience is primarily younger, taking influence from their favorite bands and artists of the genre. They use their favorite bands and lyrics to influence their personal identity or as a form of escapism from their regular routines. 

The age and gender of their audience would range from students aged 14 and above to adults aged up to their late 50's (because the genre originates from the post-punk scene in the 1980s). Students aged 14-21 would most likely listen to alternative rock or indie rock. It is generally a 50/50 split between female to male listeners of this genre. 

Roadblocks?

Dean's been trying to contact Saving Herald, unsuccessfully. He's been messaging them through their Instagram page, which's run by Mackenzi. Our plan, for now, is to contact one of the band members, specifically Maxx, asking if the band is still interested in working with us.

I don't want to jump to conclusions- but in the case that they're not interested or available to work with us anymore, Dean and I are going to come up with back-up plans for project ideas. We're contemplating doing a film promo or short film promo package if we can't do the music promo package for this project. I'll be including brainstorming ideas that we came up with in my next blog posting, but hopefully, we won't be resorted to changing our project entirely. 

Update: Maxx confirmed that we can call the group Wednesday. I still want to brainstorm ideas in the case that we must change the premise of our project. I'll have my next blog post entail any ideas that Dean and I come up with. 

Teams Group Meeting

In class today, our teacher assigned us in groups to discuss and get advice on our projects so far. I discovered that none of us have started the actual production process yet (as we're only two weeks into the project so far). However, we were able to help each other figure out more concrete ideas about the looks and premises of our productions, gave advice to each other, brainstorming our projects to make our ideas more solidified.

Annika is doing a music promo as well. She's starring a Peruvian artist (the song the music video will be on is called zoo lion). She knows the artist from when she lived in Peru. She plans on doing an artsy look for the video, including animation and collage elements (which she'll make through Procreate). She showed us a snippet of the song, which will work perfectly with an artsy vibe in my opinion. His music sounds like Glass Animals; I feel like if I start listening seriously to his music, I'd be hooked. 

Shreya (and her partner Colin who was not in the meeting with us) are doing a documentary about the deprivation of culture of kids who are born in the US, and in what ways they're connected to their culture. We suggested that Shreya can unify the idea of the project and be inclusive of different cultures by having the font in the documentary switch between different languages, country flags, etc.

Ryan is doing a short film. He wants it to be postmodernist and dream-like. He had no idea for what he wanted to make the premise about other than knowing the vibe he wants. We suggested that he does something that warps with time, and the presence of self, which he ate up. I had no ideas to give him really, but it was nice to see the members of the group help each other out with really innovative ideas.

Janey is doing a documentary about a dance group at UM, where she's in connections with the people there who are part of the group. She's waiting to hear from the group's coach if they'd have the time or be willing to be a part of the process. 

I was able to find some inspiration by talking with Annika, considering she's also going the music promotional route. Animating through Procreate sounds like something I want to get into. I've always been into the idea of animating, the issue is that I'm fairly new at it, and art (especially when getting used to a new art form) takes a lot of time, effort, and energy that I'm not sure I will have when going farther into this production process. But I'll talk to Dean about it when the time comes, and see what happens with that. Regardless of whether or not I animate, I could always use Procreate to draw cover art for the digipak amongst other things.

Game Plan

My partner and I talked to our teacher in a Teams meeting together about what course of action we should choose. She recommended that we either see if they'll allow us to "take over" and re-construct one of their established social media pages, or create a new website for them. 

One platform that she suggested we make for them is bandcamp.com. It appears that they don't have a profile on this site, which is fortunate for us; it seems that creating a whole new site altogether would be more complex than making them a Bandcamp profile. 

Dean and I established that this week is going to be our planning stage. Storyboarding, script-writing, talking with Maxx and the band in order to gauge their visions for a website, a digipak/cd, and music video. 

I'm an artist, and Dean is a filmer/cinematographer, so he suggested that I create cover art for the digipak. I'll need to discuss this with Saving Herald of course. I'll need to get a grasp on their vibe, listen to their music, take note of their favorite tracks and the meaning behind such songs. I'm hoping that this will inspire me to create something really cool for them. Whether it's simply an art piece or I end up drawing on top of a photo of the band, or whatever else. I want to make something that they're happy with. 

Contemplating

For the music promotional package, my group is required to make a music video (our major task), a social media page, and a digipak for the album's release (our minor tasks).

However, as outlined in my last blog post, Saving Herald already has several social media accounts- so Dean and I are unsure of what to do. We don't know if we're required to make them another social media account for the sake of our project.

I'm writing this post over the course of the weekend, but next class I plan to ask our teacher about our current circumstances. I would send her a message via inbox over Canvas, but teachers tend to not reply on weekends- and for good reason, because they have lives too. I don't blame them.

Once I'm sure of our next course of action, I'll make a new post discussing what my teacher recommended we do. This will probably be around Tuesday (the next B-day) when I have Aice Media Studies.

Band Research

The band member that my partner is friends with is Maxx (the bassist). I've yet to meet them, but the other members are Madisyn (the lead singer), Mackenzi (the drummer), and Nick (the guitarist). They're an alternative/grunge band based in Broward County FL, formed in 2018. I'm pretty excited to get to know them and their band as we progress in this portfolio project. 

The band has made quite a name for themselves despite still being in high school, and they have a verified Spotify, Youtube, and Facebook account with a sizeable and growing fanbase. They even have an article discussing them in a Voyage MIA article, uncovering the hidden gems of South Florida. 

http://voyagemia.com/interview/meet-maxx-nunn-saving-herald-fort-lauderdale/

https://open.spotify.com/artist/7aEsOSEsqdnyoBNHoQdmhT

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMrcvBxtmixJVCoRQtsWhnQ

https://www.facebook.com/SoFLRockBands/

I'm back, baby!

Hey there! It's me again. A lot has changed since I last posted on this blog. We're nearly a year into the pandemic, and senior year is almost over. Finally, it's time for our end-of-the-year Aice Media project. 

My partner, Dean (who's also my significant other), and I decided we're going to go the music promotional route. I wanted to do the short film package, however, my partner has a friend who's in a band called Saving Herald. This is convenient for both of us and hopefully, that means it will be less stressful- but I'm not counting on it. 

Dean talked to his friend who's in the band and he confirmed that he'd be down to be a part of our production. I'm sure he's happy to be included. Free promos and all these band members have to do is sit there and look pretty while we film them. Sounds like a good deal if there ever was one.