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Filming Day 1 - Taking pictures for polaroid & shooting park scene
3 September 2023 - Today is the first day of filming. We planned to meet up at Caylee's house at 1pm to start taking the polaroid pictures of Caylee and Angelo. However, Allyson, Nixon and I had last minute plans to send off our friend at the airport as he was leaving for college so we changed the meeting time to 2pm. At around 1.30pm we started driving to Caylee's house when we were unexpectedly stuck in traffic from what was suppose to be a 30 minute drive turned into an hour and a half so Charlize, Angelo and Caylee started preparing some clothes and taking the pictures first. Once I arrived, I assisted Charlize in choosing which clothes for them to match together in different parts of Caylee's house.
We finished all the photo taking by 4 then went off to the park. But unfortunately there was some issues with the car where Nixon had to take a look at the engine and thankfully got the car starting in 30 minutes.
To our surprise, the golden hour lighting made the scene more beautiful which was perfect for Angelo and Allyson's date scene. Since it was their first time meeting where for the music video they are playing a couple, it was quite awkward at the start but eventually they got more comfortable and the videos we took were going great. I helped with the camera angles to take the films of (when Caylee was driving and Allyson and Angelo sitting in the park) Just as we started filming a few scenes of their date and Caylee driving around the park, turns out it was already 5pm and apparently the park doesn't accept any visitors at this time. We tried to beg the security to let us film for 5 more minutes which he declined so because of the lack of footage where most of them were trials, we decided to find another date to reshoot.
Filming Day 2 - Reshoot park scene
16 September 2023 - After 2 weeks, we finally found a time where we were all free to film. Learning from the past, we decided to meet directly at the park at 3pm so that we could film as much as we could whilst visiting hours were open. With Allyson and Angelo being comfortable already with each other and already knowing how to film the scene, by a little over 4pm we got all the footage we needed. In the scene, I helped out with filming Caylee from the rear view mirror to get her reaction of seeing her ex-boyfriend out with a new girl.
Since we had extra time as well, we decided to take more photographs of Caylee and Angelo so that we had more polaroid pictures. To make it seem as if they had gone on multiple different dates, we chose to take these pictures in Allyson's house instead since it was nearby the park and borrowed her and her brother's clothes. Charlize, Nixon, Jeanie and I all took pictures and videos of the two together from different angles just to get as much variety as possible.
Filming Day 3 - Bedroom scene
17 October 2023 - After finishing our Summative Tests, Caylee, Charlize and I filmed the bedroom scene since Nixon and Jeanie were unavailable that day. I took charge of setting up the props (pasting the polaroid pictures on the wall) as well as leading Caylee's actions such as how she should take her clothes and what to do after. Charlize acted as the cameraman especially when filming from inside the closet since she was taller so she could get a better angle hence I help directed this scene a bit. However, as I was feeling unwell that day in the middle of shooting, I had to leave first and didn't end up filming all the bedroom scenes.
Filming Day 4 - Bedroom scene pt 2
13 January 2024 - Being busy with university applications, mid term exams and going on holidays, we finally found a date where we all could meet up. Since Caylee was going to leave for university soon, we decided to film more bedroom scenes to have an abundance of footages. This scene was to show Caylee gathering all the stuff related to her ex-boyfriend from the polaroid photos to the teddy bear and the love letter filled note book which she wanted to get rid off. As the production designer, I set up these props and placed them on the couch for Caylee to quickly put these items in the bag as well as help out with filming the scenes with another phone to have many different angles.
Changes in costume design
14 January 2024 - While we initially wanted to use a dress we each already own, we thought it be best to just buy a new dress since it was going to get soaking wet for the bathroom scene so I helped search for the dress online. I found one in Shopee, an online shopping platform, that could arrive in a day which was perfect since we wanted to film on the 16th. Charlize and I also agreed that it be best the dress would be black since we were worried a white dress would turn clear or transparent and make the color of the dress look weird. Not to mention we planned to dye the water red which may stain the dress. Though we still kept the idea of having a flowy dress since it would look better in water.
Filming Day 5 - Bathroom scene & street scene & professional photographs
16 January 2024 - Since we were given time to film during our media class, we decided to do the bathroom scene at "Country Heritage Hotel". We chose to meet at 1pm in the hotel since we thought the bathroom scene would be the most complicated to do since it required the most props and changes for this one location. As Charlize and I were excited for filming this scene, our hopes were immediately crushed when we arrived at the hotel and seeing how horrid the place actually was. The pictures advertised promised a clean and brightly lit room but it was anything but that. The bathtub was so dirty that our attempt to clean the bathtub repeatedly was pointless. The water was constantly yellow no matter how many times we tried to run it and the room was very dim. Even the mirror on the sink was extremely filthy to the point our reflections can barely be seen.
Instead of mellowing in the hotel room we certainly could not film in, we decided to go to the west side of Surabaya (near Caylee's house) and film the what we planned to be the parking lot scene. Having no permission to film at a parking lot, we decided that filming in the streets of a closed neighborhood would be best since the open area emphasizes her letting go of the past, but as we were on the way to the west side from central Surabaya, it started raining heavily so we went to a nearby cafe instead. Here we took an hour to plan what we wanted to do for the scene then decided to head towards our filming location. We prayed for the rain to stop and just as we were about to lose hope, when we arrived at the area our prayers were answered. The skies cleared up and the rain stopped instantly so we quickly filmed the outdoor scene. Nixon and Jeanie had to go home earlier so it left me and Charlize to film the scenes. I became the camera director since I also had some transitions in mind that I thought would look cool for the music video such as hitting the bear to the camera and Caylee "swiping" the camera for the next scene. I also took out some paper from my notebook to create small fires since the polaroid had a layer of plastic making it inflammable.
By around 5pm we were finished filming everything so we decided to go to Pakuwon Mall to take some professional pictures in a self-photo studio since we already brought the black dress and roses. Charlize and I guided Caylee in doing the poses and I controlled the lighting by moving it around to experiment slight different looks. After 30 minutes of the photoshoot, we carefully picked the pictures we liked that showed some variety then asked the owner to send us these pictures digitally through email. I was very pleased with how the photos turned out and thought it would be perfect for the social media posts and photocards to give to the fans.
Filming Day 6 - Bathroom scene pt 2
18 January 2024 - Last filming day! This was the scene we were all most excited to do and thankfully Artotel had a beautiful bathroom with clean water and furniture. We met up 10am to do the filming since we were given the media studies class time to do so. Again, I was in charge of doing the lighting (in which we dyed the water in the bottle red and I used my flashlight placing it underneath the bottle), preparing the set (filling the bathtub, adding in the roses and candles and food coloring to dye the water), as well as take extra pictures of Caylee for our digipak and social media page. I also took some close up shots of Caylee and the props to use as inserts for the music video and behind the scene pictures. In a matter of 2 hours, we quickly wrapped up the entire shoot and were done with filming the entire music video
Organizing the footage
Since we had lots of different scenes filmed in 4 various locations, I concluded it would be easier to make a google drive file consisting of folders to represent the different locations to make it easier to find footages for each part. I made folders for each set (bathroom, bedroom, park, parking lot (streets) and made extra folders that could also be used in the other media products like the digipak and social media (BTS, photoshoot)
It took me a few weeks to gather up and filter the footages since my teammates and myself had to upload all the videos and images. Dare I say there were over 300 images and videos needed to be uploaded.
Editing MV (trial)
8 February 2024 - I decided to practice editing a small part of the music video just to get a feel on how to edit the whole MV. Since I previously used VN to make edits, I decided to try and edit the bathroom scene as this was the part I was most excited for. While it was just a trial, I found that it was exactly how I envisioned it to be in the end and decided I was going to keep this scene, however, since my friends and teacher all used capcut, I chose to do the same and realized it had more complete features.
Editing the digipak
11 February 2024 - with having to make 3 media products for our coursework including the music video, digipak and social media, Charlize and I decided to divide the task in which I chose to do digipak since I think it is simpler and more technical while Charlize did social media as she is a better designer especially in terms of making things aesthetic. I did a few different attempts in making the digipaks using different photos and fonts to which I was satisfied in the end. I used canva premium to edit the digipak since it offers many features that can make our product look more professional. Due to the lack of photos we took, I decided to find a different way to find a photo that still matches the theme of the digipak and MV to create the branding aspect in which I used the “magic grab” effect to remove Caylee from the picture and keep the background. I thought it looked nice since it was plain and empty which was perfect for adding the copyright texts and making it unique looking and not boring so I decided to keep this image.
Dividing the task
13 February 2024 - After seeing Charlize’s progress in making the social media, which was more eye catching in my opinion as well as the music video itself being unfinished yet, we both agreed that I should focus on editing the music video since there are more elements to edit whilst Charlize will be editing the digipak and social media. However, we both made sure to constantly update each of our progress and to ask for opinions on each part we edit which I think made things a lot easier for the both of us. We also thought of adding photo cards and lyric booklet since it was usually done for kpop groups with our target demographic being around the same age, it seemed perfect to add.
Editing Day 3 (MV)
14 February 2024 - I began to start editing the entire music video using capcut. I tried to do it on my laptop but with it being quite old and slow, it made it difficult to import the files and to test out the editing so I figured I would do it on my phone.
my 7th gen ASUS laptop not being able to handle CapCut
As I was able to use my fingers to pause and cut exactly on the beats I wanted, it made things more convenient and quick to find the perfect timing. I first added the "good 4 u" song onto capcut then added each clips along the way. I had to continuously alter between the volume of the song and audio from the video to match up the lip sync with the song which took so much time especially in the bathroom scene in the mirror alternating between the red light white light and the bathtub part since Caylee was lip syncing to the same lyrics for both clips and to make it alternate (by cutaway) whilst ensuring Caylee has mouthed the lyrics at the same time as the song was quite challenging. Because of this time consuming task, it took me around 5 days to almost finish compiling all the videos and images for the music video. For the instrumental parts in between the song which I had not done yet, I temporarily placed a random image as a place holder to remind myself later to do this part.
Editing Day 4 (MV)
19 February 2024 - By this time, I still lacked footage for the instrumental bridges of the song which occurs 3 times. Since I already had plans for this part to implement multiple images and speed them up according to the beats of the songs, I decided to do this for the first and last instrumental bridge. When I tried to do this part in Capcut, it was very troublesome since it could only go as fast as 0.1 seconds per image which was too slow for the cymbal beats hence why I resorted to using VN to assist me. Here, I compiled the images I wanted to alternate between and placed each image at 0.2 seconds speed. Then I would export this file and place it into Capcut where I then speed up this footage to make it 5 times quicker and duplicated this clip multiple times until the instrumental part has ended. I was able to match the speed of the beats which gave a flicker like effect I thought fit well with the music video since it catches the audiences' attention and makes them excited for the next parts.
For the second instrumental bridge, I thought to do something different since if I kept repeating the sped up images part, it would look too boring for the audience so instead I used this part to cutaway between Caylee in her bedroom with the polaroids that once were on her wall and Caylee on the streets ripping these polaroids. I also alternated between adding some slo-mo parts to give a more dramatic effect of Caylee being very sullen but at the end gradually sped things up (act as build up) since we were about to reach the last stage of grief (depression in the bathtub)
I think the contrast in the bridges from fast to slow to fast keeps the audiences engaged in our music video, which is ultimately the goal of any MV. Though I faced an obstacle, I was able to overcome this in a day which I was very proud of.
Editing Day 4 (MV)
20 February 2024 - The music video was close to being complete but I still needed to add the inserts for the bass and drum beats in the bath tub scene. Nixon suggested that for each insert I place, it would show some pictures for the upcoming part (ie use orange inserts for the clear bathtub and red inserts for the orange bathtub) to act as a preview for what is to come. The difficult part of this was timing the inserts correctly to the beat as well as it having to be very short and quick especially in the drum beats where there could be 3 or 4 beats playing in a row meaning I had to insert 3 or 4 images as well. Each insert was played for less than 0.1 seconds where I had to manually crop down the time of each insert. In addition, they all had to be different pictures where luckily I remembered to take extra close up shots of the props and Caylee during our shooting. I had to insert a total of 24 images which took quite a while but I was very pleased with how it turned out, making this scene my most favorite in the entire music video. This was due to a unique catch since most music videos are generally very slow paced showing the same footage again and again allowing us to observe the surrounding as a whole but with ours, this part makes the audience wanting to repeating it over and over since a blink of an eye will lead to them not seeing a small part (image) in the MV.
Editing Day 5 (MV)
21 February 2024 - Today I added the title card and end credits for the music video. I followed the convention of adding the title card of our song (Good 4 U) and our artist (CayV) and the start of the song, usually in the instrumental parts before the artist actually begins to sing.
Capcut did not have the fonts I wanted so I used Canva to create the title card. I used the same fonts as the ones in the digipak called "Drunken Hours" and "Majesty" with the same two colors of black and red as a form of branding. I used the transparent background and the overlay feature on Capcut to place this image at the start of our music video. With the intro starting from Caylee's wall, which was generally empty, it was perfect to put the title card since it allows our audience to focus on the song name and artist to know what they are watching. I then added a white smoke transition effect to give it a dreamy like feel since the MV starts with Caylee waking up, thus correlating between the title card and the start of the video.
As for the end credits, I again used Capcut for the same reason of better fonts in which I made slightly different ways to credit ourselves like how to arranged our roles and names accordingly that looks pleasing to the eye. I made sure to not forget the key elements including crediting each person who helped create the music video, the company logo as well as the copyright claim. I added a transition called 'Mix' and added a blank page with the production house logo instead before transitioning to the next creditors to make the texts appear more smoothly which looked better than an abrupt change.
Editing Day 6 (MV)
22 February 2024 - The last thing I needed to do before finishing the music video is to add a filter. I searched for a green filter as it is the complementary color of red and with red being our branding color, we wanted this color to pop, making it easily recognizable to the audience. This allows them to think of our artist CayV when they see the color red thus creating a brand for herself. The color red symbolizes anger, fury and heartbroken which deepens throughout the music video since we wanted to show the stages of grief so having a green filter would truly make the red outfits and props shine.
I used the filter "green lake" but placed it on half concentrated so that the green would not overpower the entire video since our main focus is the red. For the bedroom scenes with the wallpaper of Caylee's room being somewhat yellow, I lowered the yellow saturation (around -63 to -67) to give the clips more of a green complex. Filtering was I would argue the second hardest task after lip syncing since finding the balance of colors was quite challenging and I needed to constantly experiments with different filters.
Personal thoughts
24 February 2024 - After Charlize finished posting in the social media account, I edited her posts from Instagram and PhotoNote to make the social media page look more realistic since PhotoNote doesn't offer some features that could normally be found in Instagram such as highlights and links, but I took the verified image and follower count from PhotoNote.
Personal thoughts
Being an editor certainly wasn't as easy as it looks. Though it looks like an editor's job is to compile videos and add filters, the role itself is much more complex than that especially if the footage given isn't on par to what we imagined. This is why I had to also come on set and give inputs in some scenes especially when it comes to transitions since you can only do so much with editing. Timing the lip syncs and adding extra elements as well as finding filters all seem like an easy task until we actually get to do it. It is really interesting how a small mishap like accidentally cutting the music down by 0.1 seconds or a slight different color as the filter can quickly change how the audiences feel and understand our music video.
Production designer on the other hand was quite an easy breeze, especially after being the director during my AS times. In terms of getting the props, I was already familiar on where to obtain them but as for location I would agree that it is somewhat difficult especially when filming outdoors due to unforeseen circumstances.
Overall I think being an editor and production designer was definitely a difficult task, however, I gained many new skills in terms of the media aspect but also important life skills like patience, paying attention to details and time management which I believe are valuable for my future. Surprisingly, after repeating the song continuously to the point I can hear it in my sleep and constantly seeing Caylee's face both in real life and on my gadgets, this experience was truly fun and I would certainly not mind editing or even directing a music video again. Not to mention the huge satisfaction I felt once it was over and I could show the final music video to my friends and most importantly my teammates and actors.
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