Weekly Progress

Here is my weekly progress blog for the music video project.

Time Table⋆.˚ ☾⭒.˚

Music Video Project
Stage	Week	Blogpost No.	Blopost Name	Description of Blogpost
Pre-Production	W1	1	Brief	Description of the brief, embed powerpoint
		2	Plan & Weekly Progress	A weekly journal that is updated at the end pf each week. Contains a list of what you do, problems, solutions, and a to-do list
		3	Team	Your team + Links ot their blogs
	W2	4	Classwork	Can be carried over from last project
		5	Preliminary Research	Research into variety of music genres
		6	Genre Research	Research into relevant music videos within your genre
	W3		Genre Research (cont)
				Deadline for Research (end of Week 3)
	W4	8	Statement of Intent	Proposal for the details of your project. Final product, target audience, Star Persona etc
		9	Storyboard	Scene by scene storyboard
	W5	10	Location Scout & Risk Assessment	Possible shooting locations, risk assessment table
		11	Filming Schedule	Schedule of when you will film, what locations, and what you need to prepare
	W6		Finish Pre-Production
Production	BreaK	Term Break Use your Term Break to Film 12 Behind the scenes What did you do on shooting days, your roles
Post-Production	W1	13	Thumbnail (Research & Development)	Research into similar thumbnails. Development of own ideas.
		14	Social Media (Research & Development)	Research into similar Social Media Accouts. Development of own ideas.
		15	Editing Process	How did you edit? Challenges, solutions
	W2	16	Research: Production Company	Who is a big producer of your genre. Who is an independent distributor of your genre
		17	Test Screening	Audinece Feedback
	W3		Continue Work
	W4
		20	Production Deadline	Final Music Video, Thumbnail, Social Media Account
	W5	18	Movie analysis	Text analysis of your film opening
		19	Critical Reflection	Self Reflection Essay
	W6		Continue Critical Reflection
	W7		Continue Critical Reflection
			Final (Submission)	Full Blog

Week 1

This week, we started researching into different types of genres as well as our own preferred genre. We faced complications with the groups originally assigned by Mr. Nick and took a long time discussing with each other to finalize our desired teammates. After a week of compromising and considering pros and cons, my original group decided to split into two and form another group instead. I have already completed my Preliminary Research and would have to finalize my genre research. Overall, despite the challenges we faced this week, my research seems to be going well. 

Week 2

This week, we did more genre research on specific music videos of our choice. We were told to complete six researches by 23rd of October. A difficulty I faced was time management because in the same week, I had to fly to Surabaya for a family event. On top of that, our grade also had to do photoshoot which made me even busier. Thankfully, before all that, I had quite a few researches done, so after all the photoshoot sessions ended I just had to continue where I left off during my free time (now I have 3 researches done). I plan on finishing and finalizing my research as fast as possible so I could spare time to check for errors before the deadline. Overall, despite the challenges I faced this week with time management, my progress is doing very well. 

Week 3

This week, we didn't do much except continuing our genre research. We were told that the deadline for our genre research was due at the end of the week, so I really had to speed up my process. A difficulty I faced was, again, time management. Although I started my research earlier than the others, I still sort of rushed in the end because I gradually got busier with other things, hence halting my research process. Additionally, another difficulty I faced was trying to be as specific as possible with all the section details (target audience, binary opposites, etc.) because there was so many and it was impossible for me to cover all of them. Figuring them out in the first place was already difficult. However, with the help of Google and some websites (who discusses deeper about hidden meanings/metaphors), I was able to complete my research. Overall, despite the challenges, I still enjoyed the process a lot because I got to learn more about the songs and MVs I truly enjoy. 

Week 4

This week, we finally started our storyboard and statement of intent. These two are pretty challenging to do. We took a lot of time completing the statement of intent because we couldn't decide on a song. After a few more discussions with my teammates and Mr. Nick, we finally settled on a song we all liked. Another problem we faced with the statement of intent was describing our artist persona. We didn't really have a vision of what our artist would be like, so that section was empty for a while. After we had a lesson on persona, we finally understood the meaning of persona and we were able to fill in our artist persona.

Additionally, we also faced some challenges with the storyboard. We took a long time figuring out the visuals, technical elements, durations, etc. However, doing the storyboard with the whole group present really helped us focus on the storyboard, because being together allowed us to share many different ideas and inputs. Overall, despite the challenges we faced, we were able to overcome it through group discussions and communication. 

Week 5

This week, we started our location scout & risk assessment. This task was relatively easy, because we settled on a couple locations already. However, if I were to describe a difficulty, it would be figuring out whether we have permission to film in said locations or not. For example, we planned on filming at a dark parking lot for our band performance scene. First of all, we don't know if we would be able to film there in the first place, and second of all, we have not figured out how to bring all the instruments needed (drums especially) into the parking lot. We hope to figure this out as soon as possible so we can get to filming. Overall, we were able to complete our location scout & risk assessment successfully, we just have to figure a few things out. 

Week 6

This week, all our lessons were focused on our project. Because we finished our Unit Assessment, we were able to use the whole week to finalize our pre-production. I used the time to finish our mood board, and I have successfully sent it to my group and inputted it into my blog. Additionally, I also tried continuing our persona classwork. So far, I already have our mood board, location scout & risk assessment along with all the reflections needed completed. Overall, we are almost done with our pre-production and will use the remaining time wisely to finalize them. 

Reflection๋࣭⭑𖥔‧₊˚  ⊹

Completing my weekly progress was actually quite simple. It doesn't take up much time and I pretty much knew what to say because Mr. Nick had provided us with the template and a time table to keep us on track. However, the only problem would be coming back to it itself. Due to how busy I got with pre-production, I often forgot to update the weekly progress, so I ended up completing it near the deadline and not weekly (as ideally suggested). Next time, I would have to come back to the weekly progress regularly to prevent forgetting our past activities/agendas. Overall, I still managed to complete it just fine with the help of the time table.  

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Semester 2 

Week 1

This week, we continued our project by making a mind map about the branding and persona of our artist. This was a class task given by Mr. Nick. I (Mai) was mainly in charge of creating the mind map, while my teammates helped by answering Mr. Nick’s guiding questions, which I wrote down on the mind map. I did not face any problems while making it, and I actually enjoyed decorating it. In my opinion, the mind map helps our team stay focused and reminds us of the purpose and image we want to show to our listeners and audience. 

We also learned a new concept called the “Theory of Stardom,” which Mr. Nick taught in class to help us with our project. I enjoyed learning about this theory because it helped me understand idols, including my favorites, on a better level. Furthermore, we were given a classwork on this theory by Mr. Nick. We had to choose our own artist and apply the theory on them. Overall, my team is making good progress.

Week 2

This week we continued editing the footages we have collected so far in class. However, we weren't able to do much because we don't have many clips yet. Hopefully we could record outdoor scenes in the next few days with good weather conditions.

Additionally, Mr. Nick introduced us to a new screen test task. We were told to make a few questions to give out to our non-media studies friends, asking for inputs and feedbacks to help us improve our music video. Max managed to finish the questions in class while me (Mai), Sagara and Gusde worked together to finalize our branding + persona mind map. I feel a little anxious about our music video, worried we won't have enough time to complete it before the deadline. Overall, I think our team is going a little too slow, but our progress on the blogs is going pretty good. 

Week 3

This week we spent most of our time continuing our work. I started on our social media research and development blog. To me, social media research is so much fun. Even though a lot of work, it's an opportunity for me to study bands of one of my favorite music genres. Additionally, Sagara started on branding research and Gusde started on digipak research. We're juggling blogwork alongside shooting. It feels very busy and overwhelming, but we still had fun during shooting sessions.

We also finalized our screen test blog this week. After collecting answers, we compiled all three different responses into our own respective blogs. i had our questionnaire printed on papers before giving them out to people during my free time in the school library. A problem I faced was when our msuic video draft wouldn't open. There was an error with the file, hence it could only play several seconds of the draft. In the end, I told my friends to answer the questions based on the few second clips I was only able to show. 

Max continued editing with the new clips we got from our previous shooting sessions. We're still not done filming, so I get a little worried sometimes. Overall, our blogposts are progressing really well, but I think we really need to speed up our filming process.

Week 4

This week, all our media classes are dedicated to project work. I managed to finish my social media research blog and I am almost done with my social media development. I'm proud of my progress so far. Additionally, I started an Instagram account for our band, and I have posted some content to help me complete my social media development blog. 

 

This Wednesday, we'll finally finish filming, allowing Max to finally finalize our music video. Hopefully, we'll get to finish all our blogworks and music video on time. 

Brief

This is my brief for the music video project.

Final Documentary & Thumbnail

This is my group's final documentary along with the thumbnail.  

Thumbnail˚˖°.⊹ ࣪ ˖

Add a subheading by cassandra dominica

Final Documentary⊹ ࣪⋆.°✧ ࣪ ˖

Google Drive Link₊ ⊹.𖥔 ݁ ˖

Here is a Google Drive link to our documentary just in case the YouTube video doesn't work:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1f1uqSrZlVwtlnKEWchSf6AXg4qUHUYAP/view?usp=drivesdk

Critical Reflection

This is a blog where I put my final critical reflection of our crime documentary project. 

Final Critical Reflection‧₊˚ ⋅.𖥔 ˖    

The documentary project required students to produce a 3-5 minute opening sequence for a crime documentary. Our group developed “Fatal Fixation”, a documentary focusing on a stalking and kidnapping case involving two teenagers.

Branding is how audiences recognize and differentiate a product from its competitors. It’s important because it makes the product more unique and appealing. In our crime documentary, the thumbnail and the documentary itself collaborates to create this sense of branding through dark color grading. This element carefully sets the tone and mood of our documentary. The thumbnail’s purpose is to grab attention and make people curious, pushing them to click on the documentary to find out more. In this case, our documentary itself is the main product that audiences watch for entertainment or information. Hermeneutic codes are used to create mystery. For instance, the stalker’s hidden identity and dark clothing. When these two are combined together, they raise questions that keep the audiences engaged and wanting to know more. According to Stuart Hall’s Reception Theory, most audiences are expected to take the dominant reading: stalking is wrong. The audiences should easily come to this conclusion because we tried our best to represent the victim (Angel) as an innocent and fragile young lady, meanwhile the stalker as someone threatening and dangerous. However, some viewers may negotiate or disagree with this reading after taking notice of other possible meanings in the text. Discordant music when the stalker appears builds fear and unease, a classic move when it comes to crime documentaries. This guides audiences toward the preferred meaning, which is something we strive to achieve. 

  

My research on Netflix’s “Lover Stalker Killer” and “Can I Tell You a Secret” helped me understand how our documentary used or challenged crime documentary conventions. These documentaries also gave me ideas for shots. According to Steve Neale, media texts tend to repeat the same conventions to make it recognizable, but also stir things up to make it interesting. Crime documentaries often use dutch angles, close-ups, establishing shots, long shots, over the shoulder shots and CCTV footage. They also show blood, photos of the victim, dark clothes (criminals) and typically female victims. For audios, they usually implement chilling music, creepy sounds and phone calls. Our documentary followed most of these and created a sense of realism through them. We subverted conventions by making the kidnapping victim male (Steven) instead of female. This challenges the stereotype that women are weaker. Additionally, using a bizarre pinboard instead of a criminal’s face as a thumbnail is also a subversion as it is unique and different. 

Our documentary connects with the audience by focusing on late teens and young adults (16-25) who like mystery, crime stories and investigations. By using teenage actors as victims and criminals, our documentary interests our target audience and makes it easier for them to relate to. It also adds drama in the relationships, which happens often to young people. The thumbnail attracts viewers by showing a pinboard with torn pictures followed by messy handwriting and a creepy, obsessive collection of the victim’s belongings. This makes the crime feel personal and raises questions about why and who made the board. According to the Uses and Gratifications Theory, our documentary can act as a diversion (entertainment for the audience), surveillance (expanding knowledge about crimes) and personal identity (relating to characters).

Our documentary shows a detective, a male teenager as a kidnapping victim, a female teenager as a stalking victim and the kidnapper. The issues being covered are stalking and kidnapping of young people, implying that this stuff doesn’t just happen to adults. The dominant reading is that these crimes are forbidden. The detective (Candra) is smart and professional, which can be seen from his glasses, his short hair and the jacket. Steven wears casual clothes as he acts careless when walking alone at night while on a phone call, making him look powerless. Angel wears proper, feminine clothes as well as her school uniform that shows purity. Additionally, her messy bedroom makes her feel real and relatable, especially after going through a rough time. The kidnapper wears a black jacket and mask which adds to the mystery. The contrast between the stalker and the victim was done on purpose to make the viewers feel sorry for Angel, who did not deserve to go through such a terrible crime. It was also done to make the viewers resent the stalker for hurting the victim and her boyfriend. Overall, we made sure to balance stereotypes and subversion to maintain variety.

 

Storyboard

Here is my storyboard blog showing my group's final storyboards. I was in charge of drawing while Sagara helped with connotations and important details such as implied meaning, camera angles and editing.

Storyboards˖ ݁♬⋆.˚𝄞.

These were the two storyboards that I drew, then annotated by Sagara. The first one was a nicer, more detailed one. The drawing process itself wasn't too time consuming, but writing the annotations took time. However, for the second one, both the drawing and annotation process took up a short amount of time since it is less detailed.  

Video˚ ༘ ೀ⋆｡˚

We watched this video together and used it as a reference to make a good storyboard. As the drawer, I felt like this video really guided me well. 

Changes˚₊⊹ᰔ

This part of the blog was made by Cassie:

1. In the first shots, we decided to use a tracking shot in the dark of the stalker, instead of the girl. We want to make it clear from the start that this is a stalking documentary, and it might be hard to make that connection if it’s the girl walking first.

2. We ditched the narration and phone call. We decided a voice mail/phone call inspired dialogue of the stalker is a better fit, and made the atmosphere very uneasy. 

3. Instead of random visuals/establishing shots, we decided to use the tracking shot of the girl walking. We used it to create a connection between the girl and the stalker.

4. We used alot of the scenes in the next storyboard, however just later on in the documentary. After this, we kept the detective’s interview scene so he can introduce the case.

Editing

Here is my editing blog. We used Canva for this as well, explaining the editing steps and all the improvements made from feedbacks. The first half of this presentation was made by me (Mai), and the other half by Candra.

Presentation.𖥔 ݁ ˖꩜

Media Studies Editing Process by Maisie Halomoan

Thumbnail Research & Development

Here is my thumbnail + typeface research & development blog. We used a Canva presentation for this research, and it was done by Sagara and Cassie.  

Presentation𝜗𝜚 ⊹ ࣪ ˖

Thumbnail by cassandra dominica

Behind The Scenes

Here is my group's behind the scenes blog made by me (Mai) on Canva, with the help of Cassie and Sagara for ideas. 

Presentation. ݁₊ ⊹

Crime Documentary Behind The Scenes by cassandra dominica