LEAH WELLMAN: September 2018

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Music Video Review

8:04 PM

Taylor Swift - Look What You Made Me Do Music Video Reflection

For this project, we are analyzing the elements of video production in industry professional music videos. For my music video, I chose Taylor Swifts Look What You Made Me Do video because of the unique elements that make it different from Taylor Swifts usual music videos. In her music video, I really enjoyed the cinematography and lighting that made the video unique. The colors and lighting in each scene made every shot look very beautiful and cinematic. The shots all flowed really well together as well and transitions were added naturally in certain shots.

This music video focuses on the ideas expressed in her song as well as her new Reputation album. This album focused on the hate she has received recently as a musician and she used her image as the focus of her video. Throughout the video, it visually shows her in acts of aggression, surrounded by snakes, as well as interacting with the "old Taylor". These images tell her story of how she has changed and how peoples views of her has affected the way she acts.

After watching this work I would definitely want to add the lighting into my own work. Creating good quality lighting is always a challenge on small sets and I want to learn more on how to better light a scene and how the way a light is positioned affects the shots mood.

In this video, there are a lot of transitions that are used which is something I have already learned and want to continue using in my own work. Transitions really help make a simple story line look more professional and interesting and I want to continue to use them more frequently in my work.

I believe the creators did a great job at showing Taylor Swift in a new light in this video. Lots of Taylor Swifts videos have a very lighthearted vibe to them and they contain lots of light colors. However, this video focuses on showing how Taylors reputation has affected her and by using a dark teal and red color grade, that message is shown more.

I think this work could only improve one thing, and that would be Taylor Swifts acting. Taylor Swift was supposed to be overreacting her emotions in the video, but I believe some of it seemed really cheesy and could defiantly have been improved.

Overall, I absolutely love this music video and the way the songs ideas are expressed. The video shows so many different locations and moods that come together as a whole to show Taylor Swift in a completely new way which works really well. The cinematography of the video also really helps in getting her message across and the beautiful dark color grade makes the video seem super professional.

Glide Floss Commercial

6:07 PM

Product

My group decided to advertise Glide Floss Picks as our product for our commercial. We chose this product because it is through a company that isn't always advertised or expected to have commercials for. For our commercial, we wanted to begin by showing a couple having a cute date in a park. As the couple strolls through the park, they casually interact with each other and laugh as they make their way to a park bench. After the couple sits on the bench, we wanted to show a perfect moment that was eventually ruined by the boy having food in his teeth. Once the girl realizes something is in his teeth, she pushes the boy away and gives him a glide floss pick so that the "perfect moment" could continue.

Process

The process of this video began with brainstorming a product and creating a story line with a beginning, middle, and end. Once we had a concept, we went straight into storyboarding to help further concept the video. After we finished storyboarding, we assigned production roles and began typing and finalizing our script. Our concept only required 2 actors and we all quickly agreed that Austin and Amanda would be perfect actors for our video and they both were really open to acting with us. After all our pre-production was finished, we began filming. We were only able to film one day due to how busy my groups schedules were, but we managed a filming day after school. On set we began by blocking through the scenes and choosing the specific locations in the park we wanted to use. We finalized on a park bench along the trail and began shooting. We followed our story boards in the sequencing of filming and were able to finish all filming within 3 hours. After we had all our footage, our editor began arranging clips in premier pro and creating a rough edit of the video. After a rough edit was completed, my group was able to collaboratively give feedback on small adjustments and we all helped choose the final audio to be used in the video. After around 3 full days of editing, our project was complete.

Production Role

For this project, I was my groups cinematographer. I usually do cinematography for most class projects and working on this commercial helped me become better at shooting closeups as well as creating a smooth tracking shot. On set I also had the opportunity to teach the two juniors in my group a little about DSLRs since haven't gotten to work with them too frequently.

Professional Guarantees

On this project, I was able to develop my technical skills by shooting a different style of video. I have never truly shot a commercial and it was interesting to learn about a new cinematic style. This project also took a lot of focus on communication and collaboration. This project was the first time I worked with Erin, Cade, or Dominic and it was interesting to get to understand everyone's different perspectives on making videos and their experience. By working with two juniors, I was also able to advance my leadership abilities by teaching them about set and how to run a production so that it is time efficient and successful.

Changes

If I was to do this project again, I would probably have spent more time on set and in choosing what music to use. When my group filmed this project, we were extremely rushed because a huge rain storm was about to come when we were shooting. We had to finish abruptly because it started to rain, and I wish my group had more time to develop the ending. I also would have liked to spend more time choosing the sound effects for the video. We weren't able to find any tell the day the video was used. Although, i'm happy with the sound effects, I wish we could have found some that fit the overall tone better.

Successes

If I were to do this project again, I would definitely keep the group I was working in. Every member in my group had a very unique video talent and it was super interesting to get to work with juniors and other seniors who had a different artistic vision than me.

Principles of a Commercial and Filmmaking

I believe my group successfully met the objectives of a commercial by our use of emotional connection. When we initially planned the video, we didn't want the commercial to obviously start as a floss commercial. We chose to use emotional appeal to draw the viewers into an interaction on a romantic and cute date. I believe our climax came as a surprise and successfully marked a product in a unique way. I also believe our group successfully use the principles of filmmaking specifically in our cinematography and lighting. Even though it was stormy when we shot, the lighting looked really good in our location and I believe our cinematography helped develop the emotional storyline. I also believe our editing really helped develop the concept by the use of the pause effect and the graphics at the end.

Conclusion

Overall, I'm really happy with the video my group produced and I'm excited to have the opportunity to continue to work with more juniors throughout the year.