CR planning

Because most of the production work is now completed, I am now in a deep-dive planning stage to ensure that the real essay writing becomes a lot easier. I will structure my ideas into four different pillars and the first one will be how our visual style was shaped by the confessional pop of Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, and Gracie Abrams. I would like to examine how we consciously shunned the common-place performer cliche of singing to the camera, instead using a cinematic, narrative-dense approach that relies on close-ups to add emotional emphasis to a heartbreak story.

Then, I will dwell upon how we constructed a bridge to our teenage audience, how the feel of the small world of the album is manifested in the selection of relatable props and settings. I will also consider the branding of the project, which is how the repetitive motifs of beach and sunset are used as a visual cue that links the music video and the digipak. Lastly, I shall talk about the social representation in our work, to be precise, the arc of a young girl reclaiming her identity. By sketching out these points now I will be able to show that my CR clearly shows how all the creative choices, such as the color grading, or the logistical transportation of our equipment, was a calculated move on the way to a professional and unified final product.

Changes during editing

 When we were making the bridge part of our music video, we had a different idea in our mind. We had intended to layer previous memories on the scene of her driving to the beach almost as though the relationship were being flashed in her mind. This was aimed at ensuring that the moment was more emotional and thought-provoking.

That is the version that my partner put together but after watching it, it was not what we wanted. The overlapping clips were too active and somehow distracting, and, rather than contributing to the feeling, it complicated the scene to follow. It also deprived the driving shots of their simplicity which were already powerful in themselves.

I proposed to use jump cuts instead of that. I believed that a less elaborate style would be more useful to the rhythm of the bridge itself and provide the emphasis on her without making the images too elaborate. My partner then re-edited the scene using jump cuts.

Such a change was a big difference. The jump cuts were smoother and much closer to the tempo of the music. It enhanced the scene and made it more watchable. In retrospect this was a lesson that it is necessary to re-evaluate your ideas when editing. Although something might sound good, it does not necessarily translate into a good picture and simplification of a picture can give the end result a significant boost, in some cases.

Last Day Filming

 We began by completing the remaining few clips we required, which were the bridge and the opening scene. We were moving along at a rather swift pace and we were able to complete the work within less than an hour, so it felt extremely gratifying to be finished shooting.

The car scene was actually one of the best of the day to film. It was a bit hectic but, at the same time, very entertaining as one of us had to remain out of frame all the time. We continued to test angles in such a small space and it even compelled us to be more creative with our shots. I believe that when all the editing is put together it will come out really good.

We were also much better equipped with props this time around and this helped to get the idea going. The point was to demonstrate how she was tearing everything to pieces and forgetting the negativity of the relationships of the past. I printed a bucket list, a vision board and some festival tickets, and my partner came with a box of things such as cards, bracelets and pictures. All this really worked well on camera and made the scenes appear more meaningful.

CR Planning

 My brainstorming on my CR has begun, and it has been effective to review my music video project. As I had a partner, we shared some parts of the project and it was easier to concentrate on very specific areas and actually consider our creative decisions.

So far, I've been reflecting on:

The impact of research on our project - When we were planning our scenes, we used editing techniques, camera angles, and storytelling examples that we looked at during our research. Every section, whether it was the camera work, the editing or costumes, was informed by that research, and made everything look smooth and deliberate.

Engagement of the audience - We tried to make the video touch and feel real. Choosing small details such as costumes, props, and setting of the scenes were used to reach out to the audience. We had editing and planning scenes and costumes, which was why my partner specialized in editing, and we both took part in the planning.

Elements operating as a team - Costume, props, editing, sound, and all elements needed to come up with a coherent style and feel. Collaborating as a team also implied that we could work on our areas of strength and it becomes easier to see the manner in which all the pieces fall into place.

Representation and themes - In our video we tried to make the story realistic and depict the daily life. I will discuss the ways our decisions acted as characters and situations in my CR essay.

I have also begun to draft the way my essay will go: an introduction on our project and objectives, body paragraphs answering each of the CR questions and providing examples on my own work and that of my partner and a conclusion on what we have learnt and how our collaboration influenced the process.

Although we are in the initial stages of the project, critical thinking about the project and our decisions is enabling me to realize the rationale behind each choice we have made. I am eager to continue working on those ideas and make them a solid CR essay.

This is a little funny picture of transporting some of our props from location to another.

Mis-En-Scene Costumes

In this project, there were a total of six outfits since the video occurs over a time span, and not a single day. We had a great idea of what each costume had to be in the story but we gave our actress full creative freedom to make them come to life-and she hit it out of the park.

We decided to have a range of outfits that suited every setting; a cute date outfit, a skating outfit, a baking outfit, a cozy outfit to knit in, and a comfortable everyday outfit. Every dress not only fitted the picture but also her character and made the scenes natural.

The most prominent thing I liked was that the outfits provided a visual story-telling. Though there is no dialogue, you can tell what the mood and what sort of activity is going on just by the way she is dressed. The date outfit is flirtatious, the skating outfit is playful and the knitting outfit is comfortable and relaxed. It actually gave her character more depth and made the video more lively and life-like.

One of the most suitable choices was to give her freedom in her creativity, as now every glance looked only one way or another in her eyes, and the outfits became a real part of the story and not a necessity to be worn by her. Costume design can be considered a minor issue, but in this project, costumes became one of the most important aspects of our time, mood, and personality expression during the video.

Looking back we must of forgot to take a picture of the date outfit but you will see it in the music video!

Filming

Our music video is really doing well in filming. We have already recorded both the verses and all the three choruses that was also a big portion of the project. The coordination of those scenes was extensive, however, everything worked out to our favor.

My partner has also already begun editing and this has assisted us in the visualization of how things are building up. Watching the clips in action makes the video seem more realistic and demonstrates what is yet to be done.

Among the best behind-the-scene moments occurred when we were shooting a scene in which our actress was sad in the shower. We were about to switch on the water so it could look more natural, but we were not entirely confident about how it would look like. Eventually, only her legs were wet, which actually relieved me and my partner somewhat because we did not fully wet her in the project. Nonetheless, the scene turned out quite well and contributed to a greater amount of emotion that we were hoping to create. 

We only have to shoot the bridge at this stage. The larger portion of the video is complete, and as a result, we know very well what we would like in that last part. After shooting the bridge we will be able to concentrate completely on editing and assembling everything.

All in all, we have accomplished a lot and the project is in good shape.

 

Mis-En-Scene Part 2

Now the thoughts we had for the use of the journal, we wanted this journal to be used to write songs within it. My partner and I had the idea to write a song that Annie has written in the same album, as it would be a little easter egg. Once we actually had the journal in our hands we thought that we couldn't start writing in the first page of the journal and we couldn't just skip over those pages cause it would then just be weird. So we talked on the ride home on what exactly did we want the prior use of this journal to be. She thought maybe like a diary where she used to write her thoughts but stopped. And I was thinking more of like poetry so it would make a little more sense on how she knew how to write songs.

While talking about what to write in it we had to think how much we were going to need to write and we settled on a place where it seemed good. We settled that we would do a mix of both diary and poetry, so it would be a brief explanation of her day and then make it into a poem. Which seemed like a nice and simple idea. Now since my partner was leaving over break, we decided that I would take it and write in it. So I went through the days and wrote some nice nonsense. I made sure to write dates, and titles, basically making sure I was using all the correct rules to write these things. Here is an example: