Take 3!

 

Hello everyone,

    I'm back again with another blog! As promised, this blog is about what we did for our 3rd meet-up. I'll be talking about our props we used in this one. In my next blog, I'll talk about the filming itself. So, enough talking, let's get into it!

    This meet-up was a hectic one. It was our climax scenes, so we had a lot to do, and we had to do it right. The biggest dilemma was the scene where I strangle Karina in the water. I wanted to do an under-water scene of me strangling her, the only problem was that we were filming with a phone. And it was not waterproof. So, there were a few choices we had.

    The first option is to use a plastic bag and put the phone in it. Or the second option is that Karina has a go-pro at her house, and we could use that to film the under-water scene. The second option was definitely what I favored; however, it was a little more difficult. To start off, I, nor the rest of my group know how to use a go-pro. Secondly, we would have to upload the footage to Karina's phone, which takes some extra steps. We decided to go with the go-pro however, because using a plastic bag just didn't seem safe enough.

    Well, that's it for this blog, come back again where I talk about the filming! There's a lot to go over. It will be tons of fun!

Time to film!

 

Hello again,

    It's time for what you've all been waiting for, the filming portion of this week's meet-up. In the last blog, we talked about what went on behind-the-scenes, but now, I'll talk about the scenes themselves. We filmed a lot, and now only need about the last 20 seconds of our video. Let's start from the beginning.

    The first scene we did was when I would see Makenna and Karina and ask Karina to hang out with just her. The idea behind this was that I couldn't believe she would cheat with my boyfriend, so I wanted to see how she'd act if we hung out. So, the next scene was us talking, and then getting ice-cream. I mentioned this in the last blog, but I had to ask permission first to film in the shop. In this scene, of me and Karina entering the shop, I wanted to capitalize on my disappointment towards her, so I tried my best to use facial expressions, like glaring, or looking down. 

    Our next scene was us getting towels and going to the beach. It was super windy, and kind of cloudy, which was good because it sort of set the scene for what was going to happen at the end. However, I was worried if this was going to look like we filmed on different days if when we went back for the next time we filmed, the weather was really different. But let's just hope that doesn't happen. Throughout all our scenes, we had to be a little more creative on how we filmed, like our angles, because there was construction all around our filming location. In order to make sure our watchers/audience didn't see that, we had to make sure it wasn't in the background. I think we did an okay job at that.

    Anyhow, that's about it for this blog. I had a lot of fun filming, and what I've ultimately gathered from this, is that it doesn't look like acting is in my future, at least, not any time soon. My next blog will talk about our next meet-up, where we film the climax scenes. I'm very excited, and I think you should be too! Can't wait to see you there. :)

The drama begins!

 

Hello everyone, 

    I hope you all are well. In the last blog, I talked about how me and my groupmates were planning to meet up to get ready to film again. Well, the day has finally come! Earlier this week, me and my group met up again at my house to film. We focused on the middle-portion of our video. There was a lot that went on, so I'll break it up into two blogs, one for how we planned, and made edits to our initial idea, and the second one will be about the actual filming.

    So without further adieu, lets get started. We had a slight drawback with our casting, because one of the people that I had planned to be in the group wasn't going to be able to come, and I didn't want to delay any longer, so we had to improvise. I noticed that some of the scenes had all three of us -- me, Makenna, and Karina -- in it, and no one was able to film, so I had the camera set up, so we could all be in the clip. Additionally, with a lot of the scenes we were going to film, we didn't have an exact idea for the location, and there was also a lot of construction going on in the area.

    This made us have to think harder about where exactly to film. After we had that out of the way, it was time to get permission to film inside the store we planned on going to. We wanted to go into an ice-cream store, Kilwins, so I asked one of the employees there if we could film. They agreed, and were quite nice. And not to mention, the ice-cream was delicious, I very much recommend. We forgot some props as well, like towels for a later scene, and that was a drag. Me and my group had to walk all the way back home to my house to get the towels, just to film one or two more scenes, but it was worth it in the end. 

    Finally, that leads me to my last topic, which is even more planning for our next meet-up. I had the idea to do it this Sunday, but it didn't work out for us. So, as of right now, nothings set in stone. But it has to be later in the day to film, because I think it would be more dramatic if the climax was near sunset. In any case, thats about it as far as planning goes for this week, but stay tuned for tomorrow where I talk about the filming!

Today and the future

 

Hello everyone!

I hope you are all doing well! In the last blog, I talked about our schedule, and what want on during our first get together. In this one, we’ll dive into went me and my group discussed, and our plans for the future. So, let’s get into it!

To start off, I met with my group mates to go into greater detail about when exactly we are going to meet up. This has been a very long awaited topic we needed to go over. So, I asked them what day they were available, and we have an early release on Monday, followed by no school on Tuesday. It’s the perfect time! So, we decided we would meet on one of those days to do our next few scenes. 

My group didn’t really have to get permission for our settings, because it is taking place outside, in public areas. So, for our next meet-up coming up, I am going to prepare for our next few scenes. Maybe even brush up on my acting skills! Anyhow, my group still does not have a plan for what exactly we are going to do, but I know we are only going to be able film, no editing just yet.

That’s all for this blog. I can’t wait to see you in the next one!

Schedule and First Film

 

Hello!

    Hope you all are well. This weekend was all about planning. Specifically, our schedule. No one was available this weekend, so we had to improvise. We all are very busy on the weekends, so it is hard to find times that work for all of us. However, last week we started our first 2 scenes. 

     Me and my group started filming recently at my house. I was sitting in the dining room, and we began planning. The plot must’ve changed 1,000 times before we finally came to a consensus. 

      The idea was, that there was going to be 3 main friends. One friend will cheat on the other with their boyfriend. The beef! I know. But it doesn’t end there. After stumbling upon the friend that cheated and the friend that got cheated on, they decide to hang out. By sun fall, the “cheated on” friend finally had enough of the other girl, and kills her! By strangling, of course. I thought it’d be the most dramatic and violent, at least for a teen. Finally, the third friend of the group sees the “cheated on” friend kill the other, and she immediately regrets killing her. 

        Scene 1 was filmed out door by the pool. I was in a lounge chair, with friend 2 and 3, aka Karina and Liv. The costume choice was not the best for me, because it was very hot out, but i was wearing sweat pants and a long sleeve shirt. But, nonetheless, it worked out fine. 

         Scene 2 was inside, thank god, with the A.C. This scene was made to develop the drama; Karina lends me her phone, and I see a text that my boyfriend cheated on me with her! Absurd. That was the only scenes we did for this week, and weren’t able to meet up again because of our schedules. That’s all for this blog, i cant wait to see you in the next one!

Storyboard

Hello everyone! Hope you are doing well, this is my outline, or storyboard for the music video. Not much else to say, it's not the most exciting of things, but he it is none-the-less!

Scene 1 - 3 friends sitting on a couch. Friend 2 is showing friend 3 a picture.

Scene 2 - Friend 2 gives friend 1 her phone to see the picture.

Scene 3 - Friend 1 sees a text message on friend 2's phone; her boyfriend cheated on her with friend 2.

Scene 4 - We see friend 1's reaction to the text, but the other 2 don't notice.

Scene 5 - Some days later, friend 1 sees friend 2 with her friends walking along beach.

Scene 6 - Friend 1 asks friend 2 to spend some time together, just the 2 of them.

Scene 7 - Friend 1 + 2 do activities together, they get ice cream.

Scene 8 - Continue to hang out. They go to the beach, around sunset.

Scene 9 - They get in the water. Friend 1 is angry at friend 2. It's now sunset.

Scene 10 - Friend 1 strangles friend 2.

Scene 11 - Underwater scene of friend 1 strangling friend 2

Scene 12 - Friend 3 looking at friend 1 after friend 2 is dead.

Scene 13 - Friend 1 notices friend 3 from water as they're getting out.

Scene 14 - Friend 1 looks down at her hands.

 

Research Blog

Hello again!

Welcome back. To learn how to do something you must see it first. So here we are. We are going to look at 3 different videos, so let's get into it.

 WUSYANAME by Tyler, The Creator:

The music video opens with an establishing shot of a blue car, with suitcases on the top, driving down a road towards mountains in the distance. From this shot it moves to a bird's eye view on the car to a wide shot of the same. The wide shot is then cut into a close of the back windshield and the suitcases.  The Actor (Tyler) was wearing an outfit that fit perfectly with the setting. All other background actor were in a similar style, though he was the only one in a hat. A female lead actor was introduced as Tyler was trying to talk to her as shown through a close up and two shot, cutting between the two. This continues until there is a close up on the dish is her hand as she is walking away from him. She then sits at a table with another man in a two shot, the two bring the only ones in all gray. It then freezes and text appear saying 'call me if you get lost' with colorful stars bordering it. Ending the music video.

3005 by Childish Gambino:

The establishing shot is slightly blur from view, then it pans to the ferris-wheel's carts. The actor (Gambino) is shown in a similar outfit to the teddy bear he his co-starring with, shown with a two shot. The actor is lip-syncing the lyrics to the song. The shot changes a close up and flows into a extreme close up, panning the camera slightly while the lights dim.  The camera pans more until it returns to the two shot, the lights dim and brighten. As the lights dim the camera goes into a close up and extreme close up again on the actor. All the while the bear goes from moving and being still. Panning again, the lights are getting dimer until they completely go out. The background is shown on fire as the camera continues to pan and it returns to the cart, where the bear is shown charred and alone in a medium close up. Then it fades to black with the song still playing until the video returns with a wide shot of the carnival.

SEE YOU AGAIN ft Kali Uchis by Tyler,  The Creator :

The video opens with a wide shot to a medium close up to a close up, actors in all white with white background. A cut to black to a split screen with a medium close up. Another fade to a wide shot then close up. Fades to black once again to a medium close up to a wide shot to an extreme long shot,  showing the setting of the submarine. The extreme long shot was more into a long shot of a new person, in a boat, wearing yellow. It fades to black returning in a different setting. The actor from earlier is seen in white while background actors were in red and white. He is seen walking in a different direction from the background actors, a close up shot. Then he is seen in dim lighting, a quarter of his face lit, in all black with a trumpet player in a two shot. Then to a high angle were he is seen walking on the others. A tracking shot is used to change location into a low angle. The low angle then turns into a wide shot, where a new setting is introduced another tracking shot is used. A prop of a tire set swings in the background. Then it's a close of on Tyler as a ghost turning to bees, which covers the camera fading to black. 

Planning Blog - diving in

 

Hey everyone!

Today I will be talking about how my group mates an I will be planning our Music video out. Our song choice was "Are We Still Friends" by Tyler The Creator. Get comfy, because this blog is one of my longer ones.

Props:  In our music video we will be using props. One of the props we will be using is a cellphone. The cellphone is one of the most important parts of this music video. In our music video the cellphone shows evidence for one of the characters. Another one of our props is a friendship bracelet. This item signifies the friendship the two friends had before the problem occurred. The item shows the friends second guessing their decisions

this is the beginning also change the ending of the other one cause it has my name

Location: Our music video will be shot in two main places. One of the locations is a Maddie's house. We will shoot about 2-3 scenes here. The other big location is downtown near the beach and the beach. The closing scene will be shot at the beach. These are most likely the scenes were the video gets interesting.
Schedule:  My group and I have decided to meet up at least twice a week. We first met up on our Professional study day. That we all agreed on our song and proceeded to brainstorm on our story. At the end we decided to meet up on the weekend and one weekday. When we need to get work done online we call each other and discuss everything we need.
Backup plan: Since our locations will vary both inside and outside we had to make plans about change of location. If we are not able to film at the beach due to certain events that happen we will record at a pool. If it is stormy and we are not able to do that either we decided to fill a tub with water and drown there. Most of the inside locations are at Maddie's house, if for some reason we are not able to film there we will relocate to another house or into a lounge inside of hotels and etc.
Costume: In our video we will not be using exact clothing. We will wear day to day clothing. In one of the scenes we go to the beach and we will be in the water wearing bathing suits. Most of the clothing we will be using is summer time clothes. Our video is mainly in an outside area, therefore we will not be wearing hot clothing for majority of the video.   
That's most of what we have planned for our music video to run smoothly. Till next time, Karina logging off


Location: Our music video will be shot in two main places. One of the locations is a Maddie's house. We will shoot about 2-3 scenes here. The other big location is downtown near the beach and the beach. The closing scene will be shot at the beach. These are most likely the scenes were the video gets interesting.
Schedule:  My group and I have decided to meet up at least twice a week. We first met up on our Professional study day. That we all agreed on our song and proceeded to brainstorm on our story. At the end we decided to meet up on the weekend and one weekday. When we need to get work done online we call each other and discuss everything we need.
Backup plan: Since our locations will vary both inside and outside we had to make plans about change of location. If we are not able to film at the beach due to certain events that happen we will record at a pool. If it is stormy and we are not able to do that either we decided to fill a tub with water and drown there. Most of the inside locations are at Maddie's house, if for some reason we are not able to film there we will relocate to another house or into a lounge inside of hotels and etc.
Costume: In our video we will not be using exact clothing. We will wear day to day clothing. In one of the scenes we go to the beach and we will be in the water wearing bathing suits. Most of the clothing we will be using is summer time clothes. Our video is mainly in an outside area, therefore we will not be wearing hot clothing for majority of the video.   
That's most of what we have planned for our music video to run smoothly. Till next time, madeleine logging off.

Group Blog

 

Hello!

    This is the very beginning of my music video project. I am working in a group of three. My group mates are Makenna Ricks and Karina Sanchez. I did not initially choose to be working with Karina, because she was the one who asked if I wanted to be in her group. However, I accepted working with her because I've known her for a very long time, and I know she's a good student. I think we'll have fun, which is important, and we also know how to communicate with each other. 

    I asked Makenna to be in our group for similar reasons. I've known her for a very long time because of school. So, I worked with her before quite a few times. We also decided that we wanted a few extra cast members, so there will be a few more people in the video, but they are strictly involved in only shot-taking. Because of that, I won't include their names or mention them very much from this point on.

    The song we chose to do is Are We Still Friends? by Tyler the Creator. We had a lot of trouble trying to pick a song, especially because we had no idea where to even start. So, instead of trying to pick a song first, we wanted to come up with our story. So we had a, sort of guideline for a song choice. Now, I want it to still be a suprise, so I won't tell you anything about the story just yet, but now that you know the song, you may have a general idea. I hope you're excited for this new journey! I know I am. It will be an interesting experience, and I think I'll learn a lot. Until Next time!

Intro blog for music video

 

Hello everyone!

    I'm back and ready to go for my next assignment. What is the next assignment you ask? It's... a music video! We'll see how it goes I guess. 

    For the newcomers, My name is Madeleine Merrick. I have a few hobbies, which include sailing, drawing, and soccer. I am somewhat serious about soccer, and I've been playing it ever since I can remember. I have been playing for the same club for about 7 years now. I only really sail over summer break, and I volunteer at a sailing camp in Martin County, getting about 200 hours' worth of service hours every summer. I've been going there for a few years, and it's one of the many things I look forward to when summer comes around. 

    

    I was born in Florida and have lived there all my life. I've never left the United States, but I really want to travel around Europe and visit Lithuania, because that is where my dad's side is from. My dad owns a business, and my mother works for outdoor education around the world, specifically for preschoolers. I don't know what I want to do when I'm older, but I've always loved science, math, and space.

    I don't draw anymore, but I miss when that was practically all I would do. In 8th grade, I participated in a statewide holocaust reflection contest and won 1st place, along with a $1,000 reward. It was such a great experience, and all the winners from every category were able to meet a holocaust survivor, and that was one of my favorite parts of the whole experience.