Music Video

This was my least favorite project because I didn't like that song that much, I wanted to something upbeat but my group members wanted slow so we compromised. I definitely don't hate it because this song was my childhood, it brings back a lot of memories from middle school. This was kind fun to do but the beach water was cold and the tides were rough so we had a lot of issues trying to execute this video. People were being knocked over almost every shot and there was sand everywhere. 

Nike Commercial CCR

Creative Critical Reflection

1. How does your product use or challenge conventions AND how does it represent social groups or issues?

To start off our Nike commercial, we had to do research. We looked at commercials from brands like Nike and other sporting apparel brands. Doing this unlocked a whole new meaning to what a commercial was for me. I saw that commercials usually have a meaning behind what they say and what they do. This made us want to have a meaning in our commercial. We saw it as a way to motivate others and that’s exactly what we wanted our commercial to represent. So we searched harder and we decided that our secret message should be to motivate people to start pushing for what they want. We wanted to influence people to work harder so  it made us a bit more excited to start filming. In order to capture this you have to figure out the Mise en scene, shots, angles, sounds, and the actors expressions. All of these parts come together to help demonstrate what the commercial wants you to take away from it. Mise en scene is used as a way to illustrate the person's location and what they’re doping. The shots and angles are used as a way to capture what they want you to see, or capture important moments in the film. The actors facial expressions and body expressions bring feeling and emotion to the film, it allows the audience to feel what you want them to feel. Without these parts my group and I wouldn’t have been able to convey our message. We used most of the conventions used in other commercials because we wanted it to be as realistic as possible. The commercial represents athletic individuals because it shows all the hard work and practice they go through to follow their goals and become the best they can be at what they do.


2. How does your product engage with audiences AND how would it be distributed as a real media text?

     The Nike product engages with the audience because it appeals to what athletes want. For my Nike commercial the aim was for generation Z athletes.  In the sports industry, it’s main focus is usually on the youth, mainly teens and young adults, so I thought that the commercial should focus on what attracts them and what they would want to know about the product. This generation is mostly obsessed with music so we chose a well-known song that fit our target group perfectly, to grab their attention of course.That was one of the best ideas to come forth because generation Z is all  about ‘turning up to lit songs” so of course we had to choose a song that would automatically make them want to watch the commercial.We couldn’t only depend on the song because eventually they’d get bored or just jam to the song and tune out the commercial so we had to make the commercial itself interesting. Usually athletes want shoes that have a comfortable grip and helps with their flexibility, while pushing them to their best abilities. We set up the commercial to show that the  product was built with all the necessities an athlete would need and want. We showed that it would help them perform better, which would automatically grab our target groups attention, because that’s one of their main wants. It specifically shows someone their age group going for a workout and [pushing himself to the best of his abilities, so we thought that would be a great way to engage with the audience, because it shows that he’s just like them. This was also a way to show his dedication and that Nike helped him fulfill his goal, so they would want to fulfill their goal too and what better way to do it than wearing some Nike shoes or apparel

3. How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

Honestly, at the beginning of this project I had total confidence, I was always interested in film making and creating scenarios so I truly wasn’t too stressed  about. I thought I would go through kit with a breeze, and that the commercial would just be a fun activity but I was wrong. Reality hit me hard on the first day when we had to film. It was so complicated trying to figure out how to set up the camera, get the angles perfectly, and execute everything in the time frame. At first I was sloppy and slow, yes I wanted to get the commercial done, and yes I wanted it to look professional but I didn’t think I’d have  to work so hard on it. I can truly say that my production skills have improved dramatically, I went from not knowing how to film at all to shooting a  wide angle, establishing, over the shoulder, pan, close up, and zoom. IF that isn’t progress I don’t know what is. I also matured a bit, I learnt that this class isn’t just an easy credit but that you have to put in work to receive the results you want. I had to realize that this wasn’t just my grade but also my group members grade, so I wanted to pull through for them and myself. It amazes me because now I know how to edit and add music to a film, which can honestly help me so much in my outside life, so reflecting now I am happy about how far I’ve come in such a short time. I’m also grateful for the people who helped me learn and mature. In the beginning I was just a clueless girl, and now I'm on my way to success. This film has truly taught me a lot, now I know about all the different features to editing, and how much work editors actually put in to create the perfect craft. This project also pushed me to practice my shots and my angles, and sounds. It showed me that communication really is key, and that you can’t win unless you work together as a group. I learnt to contribute and illustrate everyone’s idea. I honestly appreciate this project, it’s helping me move one step closer to my dream.

4. How did you integrate technologies – software, hardware and online – in this project?

When starting this project, I had no clue what pinnacle studios was, or how to shoot something on an actual camera. So this project was a  way for me to get familiar with all the technology and equipment needed to film a project. I used Pinnacle Studios and iMovie as a way to edit, without them I would’ve been in deep trouble. At first I had a lot of technology problems. If I’m being completely honest the whole class had technical problems but ours were somewhat superior. The computer wasn’t saving our commercial, and we couldn’t find it when we did save it. That problem ended up holding us back for a good 2 to 3 weeks. It started to shatter our confidence and we were  starting to get stressed about our grades. But eventually the computers started to cooperate and we were able to get it done.Pinnacle Studios did give a lot of trouble also but without it I wouldn’t have been able to combine the music and the film. I wouldn’t have been able to add a title without it either, so for that app I am thankful. iMovie really came through for me and my team when we weren’t able to finish editing in class. If it wasn’t for iMovie we wouldn’t have been able to edit anything because we couldn’t figure out how to operate Pinnacle Studios if our life depended on it. We used iMovie as a way to cut the film, it came in handy when we needed to get our commercial down to 30 seconds. The video cameras were also cool additions to our project. We wouldn’t have been able to film half the stuff we did without having the camera. The effects made it easy to zoom and tilt, and it gave us a steady stand while shooting. The camera was also a more realistic interpretation of what AICE Media studies actually is , and it helped us get into the working zone. The camera allowed us to have hands-on experience on what it’s actually like to direct a film.

Nike Commercial

This is the commercial for my first ever AICE Media project. I think I like this one the most out of all the ones we did, maybe because I didn't get to see the finale draft of the movie. I love the music and the outcome. I hope the music does not get copyrighted because at the time we we were told that it was ok to add any type of music. I feel like this is actually kind of what a Nike commercial would look like. Their commercials are really energetic and upbeat and they often feature someone participating in an sports activity. I feel like this commercial includes all those aspects. 

re-edit blog

My group and I were extremely happy to get apart of the editing process out of the way. But we had to re-film the beginning of the film due to us having to switch actors. So because of this we had to re-edit everything we edited the first time. We now had to switch out all the old scenes with the new ones that we filmed. We were definitely bothered by this because we worked hard on editing the first time and now we had to do it all over again. I wan't the best at editing so I honestly didn't do much, but I did help pick which scenes to use, and adjust the sounds. We wanted to do a shot-reverse-shot so the majority of the time we were trying to figure out exactly when to cut the scene and go back to it. We wanted that part to be perfect because we thought it'd make it look cool. So we had a shot of the kidnapper watching the sister walk through the parking lot, through his rear-view mirrors. This was a point of view shot and we wanted to combine it and the shot-reverse-shot. We wanted it to switch from the shot of him watching them to a two shot of the sisters walking, and then back to him watching them walk through the lot. After we completed that part of the editing we moved on to the sound part. We wanted a sound of him breathing, in a creepy way. Another part that we had to edit was the girls walking into the store. We edited that and the girls walking through the store isles. Editing it was a big step forward for us because we always procrastinate with editing, every time we try to do it, we kind of fail. We had to put our insecurities aside because we had to get everything done because we also had to edit the rest of it. Overall we got the beginning done just in time for the bell to ring. We felt as if a weight was lifted off our shoulder because we can now continue with the rest of the film instead of focusing only on the beginning. We are now one step closer to finishing the overall project.

Re-filming Blog

Original it was me and another girl from my group doing the main scenes. But she was no longer able to come film with use due to issues at home. This made everything really complicated because we had already filmed the majority of her parts. On top of that it was only going to be me and another one of my group member filming for here on out, so everything fell back on us. We were stressed because it was only two of us and we would both have parts together. The original shots we were planning to do wouldn't work out, due to the fact that there was nobody holding the camera. We made peace with the fact that me and her would have to re-shoot everything that me and the other girl sot. So basically the whole first part of the film. We didn't really have a choice, it had to get done. This honestly set us back because we were only able to film for a good 2-3 hours a day, and the deadline was coming up. Also if we had to re-film the whole beginning that means we had to re-edit the whole beginning of the film. The whole issue just had me, scared, because we really had to get it done. everybody else in our group were counting on us. Plus adding on to the stress, we didn't even finish filming the whole thing yet. So we had to re-film the whole beginning and try to film the end. We got it together and as soon as we got to the filming location, we got started. It took us a few tries to get the beginning perfect. We had to adjust the tripod a lot, because it was kind of hard to get both of us in the frame. Also we had to really push our acting skills because the camera was directly in our faces, we wanted the audience to be able to recognize what we're saying, so it was kinda hard not to look at the camera at times. It wasn't so bad though, we got further than we thought we would. We actually got to where we wanted top be, so we basically completed all the parts from outside the store to walking through the isles.

Editing Blog, first attempt

This week me and my group attempted to start jumpstart our editing for our film. We had already edited once before but it was just a raw cut of what we wanted our film to look like. The editing process is always difficult for us. We never really got familiar with the Pinnacle Studios app because we always depended on iMovie. Well, we can’t use iMovie this time around because it messes up our films in the end, so we had no choice but to familiarize ourselves we the resource that was given to us in the first place. It’s not our first time using the app yet we still have no idea what we’re doing. We had to watch YouTube videos in order to figure out the simple tasks. Nevertheless we kinda got some things down and were doing just fine. We managed to put all the scenes we need together. All we had to do is replace a couple scenes and fix some transitions. We also had to add the titles to the beginning of our film. Truth be told we were kind of behind, but not too behind. I especially, had no idea how to cut the scenes, I tried my hardest to figure it out but nothing. I think we’ll be fine though because we always figure it out, plus there’s always YouTube. Anyways, so far we’ve just edited the beginning, like the very beginning, that’s it. We have a cool concept of what we want it to be though, and we found the perfect sound for the beginning, so it’ll come through eventually. We think it’s look pretty cool if it’s a p.o.v shot of the someone watching the two main characters and then it’ll be a reverse shot of them walking. From what we’ve put together so far it looks like it could have potential. My goal throughout editing is to make the beginning of the film as creepy and mysterious as possible. I guess we’ll see how it turns out in the end.

Peer Review Blog

One thing I really liked when I watched my peers film was idea of it. It was really really suspenseful. It really felt like something that could be entered in a short film festival. I also really liked the lighting in it. It helped the film a lot, it was a dim sunset type of lightening. Without it the film would’ve felt incomplete. The lighting of the film made me super anxious, it felt like something was about to go down. Something else about the film that I really liked was the voiceover, especially when the person was walking on the beach. It made me feel like I was getting a run through of what was about to happen. Also, the placement of the titles fit perfectly into the theme.

The only suggestion I would make to their group is to work on the sound of the voiceover. It wasn’t really concise and it was really hard to hear what was happening. Without the sound the it wouldn’t make sense so I think just need to work on speaking louder into the microphone or rising the volume on the film a bit higher. That’s really the only thing that needs to be improved. Other than the sound the film was really good. I was interested and impressed. Everything else about the film was beautifully executed. It was nice to see someone else’s work. It gave me and my group and idea of how we should better our film and that we need to work harder.