This is the 2nd lesson we started creating our music video. In the previous lesson, we chose a song that we all agreed on. However, we left out a factor that was quit important, the time. "Life is a Highway" is 5 minutes long, and to put an interesting story with different varieties might be hard, and end up plain and boring. Therefore, We chose a new song that was shorter, and more concise. This process was done in a short time, since we decided that the lyrics and the overall sound of the song wasn't the most important. The chosen song was "Someday - Nickelback)
Then we started to think of ideas, also developing on previously ideas. I tried to take more control in this lesson, and rather took charge. I tried to ask my teammates for ideas, and combining them with my own. Slowly, a storyline seemed to develop.
We tried to connect the story to a theme - the environment. We focused on the environments specifically in Hong Kong, since there has a huge variety of places that is interesting. We wrote down the different places and tried to think of a transition, or how to connect them together.
Throughout the lesson, I tried to be motivated, and keep moving on. However, there were times when we were stuck, and lacking ideas. We asked the teacher for help, and we got lots of tips and ideas.
We had an idea of what we were doing. We also went on the internet to find more inspiration, and it helped a lot. We also starting writing our script.
I was glad that we made some considerable progress this lesson. I tried to lead the group, and we tried to work efficiently.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Monday, April 26, 2010
26th April Reflection
In the last lesson, I learnt a lot more about music videos. Our ideas were shared among the class, and I also tried to contribute my ideas. I learnt even more from the others and added them to my list of requirements in a music videos. The others' opinions were very useful, as I understood more about music videos from another perspective.
Then we were divided into groups, and started to work on creating our own music video.
The first task was to pick a song. I figured that this wasn't very important, as there were lost of songs, and one wouldn't be much different from another, and it all depends on how the music is created into a music video.
However, I still tried to look for songs with a larger variety, or a subject that was relatively easier to portray. With different paces in a song, a variety of clips could be created, and thus making the video more interesting.
We figured that the best way was to divide ourselves up, and pick our own song, then we could pick them more easily. With only 4 songs at the end to choose from, we came to a conclusion easily, with agreements from the group.
After that, we immediately started brainstorming our ideas. Lots of ideas came up, and I tried to be organized, and wrote down all of them, so that we could review them later on.
Then we were divided into groups, and started to work on creating our own music video.
The first task was to pick a song. I figured that this wasn't very important, as there were lost of songs, and one wouldn't be much different from another, and it all depends on how the music is created into a music video.
However, I still tried to look for songs with a larger variety, or a subject that was relatively easier to portray. With different paces in a song, a variety of clips could be created, and thus making the video more interesting.
We figured that the best way was to divide ourselves up, and pick our own song, then we could pick them more easily. With only 4 songs at the end to choose from, we came to a conclusion easily, with agreements from the group.
After that, we immediately started brainstorming our ideas. Lots of ideas came up, and I tried to be organized, and wrote down all of them, so that we could review them later on.
23rd April Reflection
Today, we were given the task to research about music videos. The teacher wasn't here, and we didn't have a lot of guidelines.
I thought of the different elements of a music video, and according to cinematography. I immediately thought of the structure of it, how it would be narrative. Then I thought what music videos were attractive to me, then I realized it was more than basic cinematography, but rather a creative idea.
I went online and searched for different music videos. Most of the them were quite similar. It was just singers dressed in "fashionable" clothes, and dancing around singing. I wanted to look for different and creative ideas to do them. Then I found some that seemed very interesting to me. For example, some used stop-motion, and another one used a pop-up book style animation.
Then I started to realize some relations from the videos to the music, or rather, the lyrics.
The content of the video doesn't necessarily have to match the lyrics or the music, but the pace of it should be in close relation. Also, the introduction of the music video holds the key to attractiveness. The introductions the critical to grasp the audience's attention, and attracting them to be interested to see the music video.
The idea of the music video also has to be relatively creative. If it is similar to another video, it would seem boring to the audience.
However, even if the song is slow paced, the video clip shouldn't be too slow, or the video might simply seem uninteresting. A story has to be told in the short few minutes, and more content should be packed into it. Also, the basic rules of cinematography has to be obeyed, e.g. rule of thirds.
I thought of the different elements of a music video, and according to cinematography. I immediately thought of the structure of it, how it would be narrative. Then I thought what music videos were attractive to me, then I realized it was more than basic cinematography, but rather a creative idea.
I went online and searched for different music videos. Most of the them were quite similar. It was just singers dressed in "fashionable" clothes, and dancing around singing. I wanted to look for different and creative ideas to do them. Then I found some that seemed very interesting to me. For example, some used stop-motion, and another one used a pop-up book style animation.
Then I started to realize some relations from the videos to the music, or rather, the lyrics.
The content of the video doesn't necessarily have to match the lyrics or the music, but the pace of it should be in close relation. Also, the introduction of the music video holds the key to attractiveness. The introductions the critical to grasp the audience's attention, and attracting them to be interested to see the music video.
The idea of the music video also has to be relatively creative. If it is similar to another video, it would seem boring to the audience.
However, even if the song is slow paced, the video clip shouldn't be too slow, or the video might simply seem uninteresting. A story has to be told in the short few minutes, and more content should be packed into it. Also, the basic rules of cinematography has to be obeyed, e.g. rule of thirds.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
23rd March Reflection
We encountered a problem the previous lesson, and we went to solve it right at the start of the lesson.
Through different tries from the teacher, we finally found a way to convert the file, and make it suitable and efficient for editing in Final Cut Pro.
I observed how the teacher did it closely, so I could repeat the steps afterwards. The file conversion took us some time, so the other half of the group continued on finding more footage online. They also reviewed the footage we already had, and mark down which areas we had to cut, change etc.
After the file conversion, we could finally start adding the clips into the interviews. It seemed a simple task, and I tried Final Cut Pro around myself, and I could find ways of accomplishing it myself. I understood how the program works much more, and thus allowing me to be more efficient in editing.
However, there were some problems with he video sizes, and I asked some classmates about it. Luckily, a group mate has had previously experience of this, and he taught me how to do it.
This was my first time of editing film clips, and it was very interesting to me. I have observed how the others does it previously, and so I could learnt from them, and do them myself.
I have learnt a lot about Final Cut Pro and its functions this lesson. I learnt them through asked teachers, asking classmates and by trying to figure them out myself. I have gained an interest for editing, and I enjoy the process of doing it.
The editing is almost complete and we will soon have a finalized footage.
Through different tries from the teacher, we finally found a way to convert the file, and make it suitable and efficient for editing in Final Cut Pro.
I observed how the teacher did it closely, so I could repeat the steps afterwards. The file conversion took us some time, so the other half of the group continued on finding more footage online. They also reviewed the footage we already had, and mark down which areas we had to cut, change etc.
After the file conversion, we could finally start adding the clips into the interviews. It seemed a simple task, and I tried Final Cut Pro around myself, and I could find ways of accomplishing it myself. I understood how the program works much more, and thus allowing me to be more efficient in editing.
However, there were some problems with he video sizes, and I asked some classmates about it. Luckily, a group mate has had previously experience of this, and he taught me how to do it.
This was my first time of editing film clips, and it was very interesting to me. I have observed how the others does it previously, and so I could learnt from them, and do them myself.
I have learnt a lot about Final Cut Pro and its functions this lesson. I learnt them through asked teachers, asking classmates and by trying to figure them out myself. I have gained an interest for editing, and I enjoy the process of doing it.
The editing is almost complete and we will soon have a finalized footage.
22nd March Reflection
Our editing of the interviews were completed, only a few minor details needed to be adjusted.
Now we had to add in and edit out clips we captured previously. They were related to the context of the interview, and specifically to what the interviewees are saying.
We made a list the previous lesson of what footage we needed to capture. Even though we didn't capture all of them, we managed to complete the most important ones. I was sure and clear of what we had filmed, so the footage should be easy to edit.
However, we couldn't borrow a school film camera to record the clips. Instead, we used my own digital camera to film them. This presented a problem in converting and editing. The files that recorded the film were not meant to be edited, but more of a playback footage. I realized that a lot of the settings were different, and I didn't realize that there even were such things. I thought the matter was simple previously and everything would work normally, but it didn't.
The problem was hard to solve, as the file type wasn't suitable for editing. Through multiple tries of different methods, we still failed. Therefore, we asked the teacher for help.
While this was all going on, I realized that we didn't need all 4 group members to help solve this problem, so I asked 2 of the group members to find more footage online, edit the footage, and also find some background music. These were important things that could be done, and we could be much more efficient by splitting up the work.
The problem persisted, and we had to solve it the next lesson.
Now we had to add in and edit out clips we captured previously. They were related to the context of the interview, and specifically to what the interviewees are saying.
We made a list the previous lesson of what footage we needed to capture. Even though we didn't capture all of them, we managed to complete the most important ones. I was sure and clear of what we had filmed, so the footage should be easy to edit.
However, we couldn't borrow a school film camera to record the clips. Instead, we used my own digital camera to film them. This presented a problem in converting and editing. The files that recorded the film were not meant to be edited, but more of a playback footage. I realized that a lot of the settings were different, and I didn't realize that there even were such things. I thought the matter was simple previously and everything would work normally, but it didn't.
The problem was hard to solve, as the file type wasn't suitable for editing. Through multiple tries of different methods, we still failed. Therefore, we asked the teacher for help.
While this was all going on, I realized that we didn't need all 4 group members to help solve this problem, so I asked 2 of the group members to find more footage online, edit the footage, and also find some background music. These were important things that could be done, and we could be much more efficient by splitting up the work.
The problem persisted, and we had to solve it the next lesson.
Monday, March 8, 2010
8th March Reflection
Half of the editing was completed the last lesson, and so we could do more than just editing this lesson. Also, our whole group was present, and we could divide the workload to work more efficiently.
I was in charge of thinking of ideas to interpret the film and make it more interesting. I started by searching for related photographs to the interviews. However, Ms. Wong suggested that photos wouldn't provide the same effect as film clips. And so I changed my search to film clips.
Sifting through countless numbers of clips, there were a few parts that really caught my attention. I related the clip into how I could use it for our interviews, and downloaded the clip.
By doing this activity, it further improved my ability to spot key images or clips that is related to a topic. It helped me to be more critical and alert of images and video clips.
I was in charge of thinking of ideas to interpret the film and make it more interesting. I started by searching for related photographs to the interviews. However, Ms. Wong suggested that photos wouldn't provide the same effect as film clips. And so I changed my search to film clips.
Sifting through countless numbers of clips, there were a few parts that really caught my attention. I related the clip into how I could use it for our interviews, and downloaded the clip.
By doing this activity, it further improved my ability to spot key images or clips that is related to a topic. It helped me to be more critical and alert of images and video clips.
5th March Reflection
We have captured 4 individual interviews, 2 on the colonization of Hong Kong, and 2 on the environment of Hong Kong.
The last lesson, we had lots of troubles considering Final Cut Pro and the capture feature. I learnt a lot from the problems we encountered, and I was much more familiar with the interface of Final Cut Pro. My workflow was much more fluent.
I could also capture the film easily, not many problems occurred, and the process was done quickly.
Since I already had the footage on the computer, I could start editing. This was my first try at editing on Final Cut Pro, and I had a lot to learn.
I asked my group mate to teach me the basics, and I got the hang of it quickly. It was relatively easy to do, since the filming and the interviews were done well.
One of the techniques of filming was to leave a 5 second gap at the beginning and at the end of each clip. I didn't fully understand the use of it before. However, once I had to edit them, I really saw the convenience of it.
The last lesson, we had lots of troubles considering Final Cut Pro and the capture feature. I learnt a lot from the problems we encountered, and I was much more familiar with the interface of Final Cut Pro. My workflow was much more fluent.
I could also capture the film easily, not many problems occurred, and the process was done quickly.
Since I already had the footage on the computer, I could start editing. This was my first try at editing on Final Cut Pro, and I had a lot to learn.
I asked my group mate to teach me the basics, and I got the hang of it quickly. It was relatively easy to do, since the filming and the interviews were done well.
One of the techniques of filming was to leave a 5 second gap at the beginning and at the end of each clip. I didn't fully understand the use of it before. However, once I had to edit them, I really saw the convenience of it.
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