Music Video Project | Critical Creative Reflection

    If someone would ask me how hard it was to work on this project, I would be talking for hours about this might've been my most advanced project yet. I like to edit videos as a past time and I will usually spend about a good 2-3 hours editing and making final changes. But this project is the motherload of all the projects I have ever done and might be the most fun I had in a while.

    To start, color correction and color grading, the most useful and amazing thing to ever exist. The ability to fix the colors of the clip to what you recorded instead of the original desaturated version of the recording. To frank, mine and Constantine's phones were able to record without desaturation, but we didn't have the summer colors we wanted. So I hoped onto my editing software and started the coloring process. Being fully honest, I did not know what to do. I knew what plug-ins were necessary for the job but I didn't know how to begin, so I decided to watch a few tutorials on YouTube came across some interesting tutorials on there.

    One useful one comes from one of my favorite cinematography YouTube channels "Cinecom", who are extremely skilled and very helpful for beginners.

    Secondly, we kept on getting off task and it was hilarious. In one of the scenes where the camera is focusing on the phone, we can see Constantine laughing up a storm on the phones reflection, which we found extremely funny. In order for us to get scenes where we all were laughing, I just made random jokes and started saying random stuff to see if they would laugh out of confusion, which worked.

    Thirdly, managing everything technology based. Since I am the most tech-savvy person in the group, I had to manage majority of the filming, editing, shots and clips, etc. I basically knew how to do everything and what is needed to get it done. Sadly though, deep down and even if I said that this might've been the most fun project I've done in a while, it still didn't feel accomplished. I honestly wanted to do something that was going to test my limits of what I know and can do but we ended up doing that was simple and easy for a quick grade. I was able to get the color correcting done and I am accomplished of that feat, I still feel a bit empty inside when I comes to confidence of my ability of video editing as a whole. Again, I am not saying I didn't have fun or it wasn't worth my time, as mentioned before, I just feel like this was like this is what some millionaire country might do for a quick cash grab. It's not my groupmates fault, but there is something about the whole project that didn't sit well with me when I finished, which left me disappointed.

    To end it off on a good note, I still love what my group and I made and it was fun doing it and it really has inspire me to do more things like this at home with my family and friends. I did learn some new things during this project and I hope I learn more in the next and final project.

Music Video Final Project | My Final Thoughts and Feelings

    During the time project, I've learn how to color balance, color grade and color correct and I also learned that Sony Vegas is actually more than capable enough for making professional looking videos. The whole time I am here doubting the limitations of my main editing software until I figure out how to fully do it myself in the same editing software I use to make the final result.

    I first added an auto-balance to set the highlights and shadows to be somewhat clear and easier to see. I then changed the temperature of the video into a warm orange color. I also lowered the tint from the green area since the cold colors would be clashing with the warm summer look.

    I added another auto-balance and a color finisher to fix the shadows and highlights once again. The finisher plug-in was able to saturate the colors and give some contrast to the shadows. It also raised the exposure of the video to make it more bright and visible. I then added my favorite plug-in, Ignite Cine, to give the cinematic look of an actual music video. I remove the color adjustment effects since it clashed with the original colors and left the vignette filter and letter box overlay.

    At the end of the day, I am proud of the final result and I hope I can get a chance to make even greater projects in the future.

There was an attempt at color correcting...

    I've decided to redownload Adobe After Effects since this editing software is able to give more professional look. Sony Vegas, as mentioned before, has the option to use color correcting, but it won't come out at least decent looking. I opened a new composition and immediately started to work.

    I dragged and drop the video files onto the timeline and opened the effect library. I created an adjustment layer and applied an sharpen effect. I've later added a color balance onto the adjustment layer. I've raised the red shadows and midtones to make it look more warmer. I've noticed that the blues and greens were clashing with the colors so I've lowered their shadows and midtones.

    I added a glow effect and already there is an issue. The threshold was too high and so was the brightness intensity. I lowered both which made it blend in. I then re-added a vignette filter. I adjust the filter's size and strength of opacity. 

    As the title said, there was an attempt at color correcting. Not surprisingly, After Effects crashed. I wasn't upset about the work being possibly lost since it wasn't looking good at all to begin with with, but I was hoping the software was going to last longer than it should've. I am thinking of re-downloading DaVinci Resolve to color corrector see how well it would look. Premiere Pro has the options to but it is truly more preferable to use After Effects instead. I am going to have to do some research to see which one of the software would be better to use. Hopefully I will be able to get everything done, especially the color correcting, before the deadline.

How the final product would look like and the work process

    My main goal for the final product is the giving the emotional feeling the music video is trying to covey. Most music videos are extremely successful on doing just that due to post processing process. 

    Firstly, this music video shouldn't have any technical/advanced special effects since this is meant to be something that is realistic. I am going to continue use a vignette and a black and white filter like Hadar requested in the flashback scenes. I could use transitions to shift between scenes and flashbacks and make it look "flashy", no pun intended.

    I have to get the color correcting perfectly in order for me to covey the full emotion of the music video. The main issue though is that Sony Vegas isn't "professional level" when it comes to color correction. Sony Vegas has the options to use color correction plugins, but they aren't really good at all. I have either 3 alternative software for me to use instead. I could use DaVinci Resolve, a free editing software that is Adobe Premiere Pro level professional, and use the built in color grader in the software. I could use Premiere Pro itself but I have to watch a lot of tutorials for me to fully color correct in the software. I could also use After Effects as well but I would have to watch way more videos on how to fully do it, but it would be worth it and would be the cleanest option.

    Being honest, I believe using warmer colors would fit the mood when color correcting. The original song used warmer colors to covey its similar emotions and got their point across. The flashbacks would be in black and white but there would be more contrast and saturation, making the shadows darker and blend more.

    I also thought of adding overlays over some scenes like a vinyl crack overlay or rain overlays. Giving a nostalgic feeling might give an emotion send-off and using overlays like those could work.

    At the end of the day, this final process will be the hardest and longest part of this project but I am prepared for what I got to do. I have so many ideas of what I can do but having to execute those ideas will be extremely time consuming. I was able to fully edit my commercial project and do effects that I didn't know I could even accomplish at the moment, so I feel more prepared and confident on working on this project. I will have to try and give Hadar and Constantine a bigger role in the editing process but I will have to wait and see until then.

Editing Blog: Making the Draft

    I came home, open my laptop, and immediately got to work on working on the draft. I opened OBS studio to record myself so I can send what I did to my group what I did. I opened the original project file from the day we recorded and started to drag clips into the timeline.

    Not even 5 minutes in, I am already having issues. One of the clips won't transfer from my phone for some reason so  the only way for us to know what the clip would be like, is when we make the final product. Another issue, Sony Vegas has a history of unsuspecting crashes, so of course when I least expect it, the software would crash. Luckily, the auto-save back-up actually usually saved right before the software crashed.

    I've listened and taken note to Hadar's advice about the black and white and vignette filters and I've applied them some scenes. I've also added a vhs effect to give a feeling of sadness and nostalgia. I've also included transitions into different clips with flashbacks. When it's fading into a flashback, a vhs camera rill transition would play. When coming out of a flashback, a flash of light would burst out like if you are waking up from a dream.

    I had to time stretch some clips to fit with the flow of the music and the flow of the video in general. A good flow in a video is what is key to help get a message across in a video. To get the emotional drive, everything has to be in a near perfect flow. Timing is key when it comes to a video like this, especially when the video is fully story driven. Music videos have to be in flow and near perfect timing in order for it to be a good music video. Since the song is slow and smooth, the video flow has to be slow and smooth as well.

    I've managed to finish editing and making the draft and send the recording to my groupmates. The only thing left now is to make the final music video and ask my group for their input.

Filming and Recording at a Park

    My group met at my house for us to prepare to walk to the park near my house. My sister decided she wanted to join in and watch us work as she plays in the playground. Hadar's mom joined us as well to make sure we al stay safe and offered us some pizza to eat.

    We reached the park and immediately started to work. Constantine and I took a quick sidebar for me to show him how to 'dap' someone up and he seem to have finally got it after the fourth time. Hadar was able to use the window of the building in the park as a way to hold the phone to record in the second scene.

    I had to improv making a disgusted face and got it on the second try. We had to go down on the slides in one shot but not only the sun was shining directly on the slides, making the slides pretty hot, but I was wearing shorts, so I burned my leg and back down the slide.

    I decided to let my sister help with the recording of some of the scenes where my group and I are all acting. I had to sit and explain to my sister what to do for a good five minutes until she finally understood what to do and she did extremely well. The crazy thing about this is that she expecting to be paid about 15 dollars for all of her hard work.

    We decided to take a break after a while and before we did, we made a flashback scene of 2 of the characters eating and having fun. After that, we actually took a short break and chill. After that we did 2 more scenes and went back to my house to talk about and final changes/plans.

    Hadar started to type her blog and made sure we did everything correctly. Constantine and I uploaded the shots we recorded onto google drive so I can download them on my laptop. I managed to download all the clips on my laptop but I completely forgot that my editing software doesn't accept iPhone video files so I had to convert it into a mp4 file. I was able to convert most of the videos into a mp4 but I had to make an account to make more conversions. I managed to finally get all files converted and all I have to do for now is make a rough draft for the group to see what the final product might look like. I have to record myself editing and send it to my groupmates to review over.