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The Final Final Reflection, y'all. It's been real... shooooots!

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Breakdown Series Complete!

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My breakdown series concludes with me connecting everything I talked about back to my music video. I speak swiftly about the premises of orientation, time, production value, and the algorithm and how it relates back to my passion project.

As I kept making the episodes, I would say I got better and better at making quick, creative decisions so that I could get the videos out in a timely manner. After I wrote the script and collected the reference material to other, more established creators, I entirely made up the flow and locations of recording as I went. I think each video in itself represents a challenge I overcame.

Episode 1:

This episode was me dipping my toes into the game. A bit nervous about what people would think, a little desperate to make everything look good, and overall a strong start. The production feels professional, the jokes are there, and the references are smooth. This episode took me the longest to start because it was the foundation of my series.

Episode 2:

I came into episode 2 thinking, "I need to get out of my room or this series is going to get stale quick." I was most excited for this episode because orientation was something I felt I had the most to say. I had to not only feel comfortable recording in public but also alone. My job has slowly made me more comfortable shooting video in public, but I've always had a team or another to make it feel like we were official. For these videos, it was just me, a luggage bag of equipment, and a dream. I think this talking head was probably the most engaging out of them all due to the cohesive transition that flowed with each word.

Episode 3: [Third favorite]

This episode introduced a tedious process that I ended up adding to each subsequent video: captions. I always wanted my content to be consumable to a wide range of viewers, including those who may be hard of hearing. Plus, I have to talk so quickly that I may start slurring my words. I enjoyed my integration of content from other creators, and I made it a mission to make sure that each piece of content was credited to the original creator -- admittedly, I could have done more. I think this video might be the most important for understanding the format of the videos. The techniques I talk about are the very ones I utilize in the episode edits to make the vertical content engaging. I believe this may have been the best episode in regard to exploring other people's content and how that relates to the concepts I was mentioning.

Episode 4: [Second Favorite]

The best version of my talking head. I believe the talking head shots have a swagger and flow to it that makes it appealing. I looked good, I edited the phrases in an intriguing manner, and the location was absolutely beautiful. I wish I shot more talking head shots, but I was battling the nerves that came with recording in public. I was near a busy road and I wanted to climb this tall sign but was too afraid. Now that I watch the video too, I never gave credit to how impressive the height was in my closing shot. I admire the creativity I had in locations for my talking head. The areas I chose were truly mundane but also not expected for someone to glorify in a video about time. The explanation of what can be done with time too is decent.

Episode 5:

This episode felt the most fast paced due to my use of cutaways, movement, and reference material. The episode jumps from reference material to reference material with fluidity and suave. However, for that reason, this episode was the least effective at describing multiple methodologies to control time. Part of the problem was my lack of research, but the irony is, I used my time poorly. I didn't cut the video in an effective manner to discuss everything I wanted to at length. The final methods are tossed in a closing line. Even still, this episode has a flow I'll need to remember.

Episode 6: [My favorite]

At this point, I was getting tired of talking in front of a camera and my nerves deterred a public shooting day. So, instead of completely derailing my project's timeline and forcing something out of me, I used my resources and took this as an opportunity to practice some skills. I green screened the entire shoot; put myself in fun and funky locations for an extra layer of visual interest. This video was me having fun; however, I should mention, the editing for this was not fun. Every visual detail had to be fabricated because I decided not to record IRL. There was an extra challenge of integrating my talking head into the environment in a not-so-bad-I-wont-watch way -- there's a delicate line in intentionally bad and obviously bad. The production value of this video was some of my best work. Everything feels professional as if I have been doing this a long time, and there's a visual style that exudes my personality.

Episode 7:

I just need to be done kind of vibe. I told myself that this will be the easiest video to edit because I wouldn't overdo it. I put in a little more effort than I anticipated, yet the edit was a breeze. The vibe is obviously relaxed because I didn't worry about the glam, lighting a bit low, audio was a bit off, and I recorded it at 2 am -- where I am so evidently raunchy. I think it was the perfect end off for the impromptu series.

A series like this was extremely challenging because it tested my ability to apply myself over and over again. Forced me to quell my paralyzing perfectionism and showed me what I was made of. It makes me excited to see what I create in the future because I would have never expected everything that has transpired throughout my two semesters doing my capstone. Till my final reflection, shooooots!

[tfunai-acmwo-capstone]

Breakdown Series Episodes 2-5

I wanted to update the tumblr with each episode, but the production alone for each episode swamped me with more work than I initially expected. While I admit my production process isn't the most intelligent, there are some surprising results with each new episode I produce. In some ways, I am happy I decided to record and edit each episode as I go. For one, I've noticed that I am starting to develop my own style. After experimenting with some editing conventions, I have finally chosen the ones that I feel best reflect me. Episodes 4 and 5 are particularly impressive due to the production value that went into it. Episode four, or the introduction about time, I tested myself by choosing mundane areas and recording in a style that accentuated the structures that surrounded where I grew up. I have long loved the CORP's park, but using the signage as part of my series, allows me to pay homage to my upbringing whilst incorporating it into my experiential journey going forward. Episode 5 feels professional to me. I am a little upset with the lack of substance, but the visual flow is something I have felt from career professionals I have long admired. In the past 2-3 weeks, my grind consists of refining the script, shooting my talking heads, and then editing till 3 am so that I can post the next day. As far as hiccups goes, the production schedule leads me to an extremely inconsistent posting schedule. I initially planned for three posts a week, but the best I can manage is twice because I'm a slow worker -- probably because I am still developing my style. Besides the posting schedule, I am unsatisfied with the educational matter of my series. Episode 5, while visually stunning, is a lot of talking without much to take away. This is an error I will correct in episode 6. I am working to correct that in this script I am working on right now. I expect two more episodes for sure with a possibility of a third if this script is unsatisfactory.

EPISODE 4

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EPISODE 5

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Breakdown Series Episode One and Progress Report

The first installment of my series is up. A week before this, I posted my music video, which is the longest I've held something I created. Progress is occurring, but after finishing this one episode, I know that further episodes will require a great deal of effort to make interesting and informative. The biggest struggle I am having is finding the time to record all my talking heads, and moreover, the courage to edit them into something useable. In the editing process for this past episode, I was disappointed in the pace. I felt like I was sluggish in getting the information out, and for short-form content, audience retention is key, especially if the primary subject matter is information. Therefore, in the next two weeks, I want to record my talking heads in a more dynamic matter -- meaning I'll likely cut to another shot after every idea or phrase. The balancing act is then to make sure it's not too turbulent such that viewers get queasy. I believe this approach is preferrable because the viewer becomes tied down to the words I am talking about rather than the motion graphics in post-production. I think it will save a lot of time too. I want the posting schedule from now on to be Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. With that frequency for about two and a half weeks, it'll likely put me into a constant panic to meet my posting dates. Even still, the suffering is temporary and finite. This is a growing opportunity regardless the outcome. Wish me luck!

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This is the entirety of the TIKTOK portion of my video, which I tried my best to make it look like a TikTok experience. There is no consistent technique, and it used a lot of the trends of the time with the only throughline being me and my girlfriend as actors. I want to adjust this video to always flash the TikTok interface with each swipe.

In my upcoming series, my goal is to explain the differences between the ways music videos are portrayed on these two different platforms: YouTube and TikTok. Professor Hanaoka wants me to put a strong emphasis on the sacrifices made with deciding to post on one platform over the other, but in this new age, there's been an increase of techniques to have one piece of content live on different platforms, and I want to create a series that looks to describe how that is being done.

[tfunai-acmwo-capstone]

This is one small adjustment that really elevated an already ghetto scene -- first time with green screen and a lot of fake running. When creating this transition, I knew I wanted to continue the speed lines naturally generated by the in-camera movement, but when it is side by side with a static camera movement, the transition falls apart. Therefore, with the use of a blurring effect -- continuing the speed lines and mimics blurred vision -- the movement of the camera as well as the blur continues the motion of the initial camera movement. Don't get me wrong, I know this is still so ghetto, but I'd like to think there's something loveable about it!

Wish it looked like I was running faster and maybe covered my dogs for the shoot

[tfunai-acmwo-capstone]

The End of Post-Production??

Howzit, the past two weeks have not been as productive as I had hoped, but I have been making steady progress on finishing post-production. I'd like to say it's at a crisp 90% because I have been smoothing out all the little kinks throughout the video. The next ten percent feels like another 100% though because it is about addressing the largest weakness in my video: the dialogue. When I initially did record, there were audio issues that made my side of the dialogue completely unusable, so I ended up re-recording it within my studio; however, I never learned how to dirty up the audio, so it doesn't sound like it was recorded within the pristine chapel of post-production -- I'd much rather prefer the earthly whispers that came from the resonant forest. Despite this hiccup, I will be finishing post-production this week like my life depends on it. I wholeheartedly want to move onto my breakdown series. The week after this one will involve research for my breakdown series, collecting relevant examples, and showing them to Professor Hanaoka so that we are on the same page. The week after that will be my official pre-production where I write the scripts and draft the first concept I want to talk about in the series.

I'll showcase some of what I was working on in the past week.

[tfunai-acmwo-capstone]

Side by Side: Foley Experimentation

Now this time around, I spent the first two weeks of the semester tweaking the music video I created last semester. Truthfully, I should be focusing on how to showcase the process, the research, and the sacrifices between each music video platform – as requested by Professor Hanaoka. However, one aspect would be a breakdown of my music video, and I would feel quite embarrassed to showcase something I wasn’t at least 75% confident about. I am working on integrating diegetic sounds and cleaning up the dialogue audio, and I have the first two minutes completed, which I’ll showcase side by side once I edit them for comparison. Moreover, I am learning DaVinci Resolve to potentially take my color to another level because I think it is lacking in that department so the next two weeks will be experimentation in a software separate from the Adobe products. By the end of week four, I expect to have the final version of sound and color to share. From there, I’ll be working closely with the professor to finalize my deliverable for this semester. The actual production of this semester is my biggest hiccup because I am still researching potential solutions that’ll satisfy the professor and I. I have been studying other TikTok content creators who teach techniques, breakdown scenes, and produce educational content in the short-form format. On my timeline, I’d say I am right where I want to be, but I do believe I could be doing better. I’ll need to reflect on my adjustments in the next few days to offer another perspective for my second reflection.

I’ll have the side by side comparison uploaded by end of day tomorrow!

A small sample that still needs improvement, but I think the foley emphasizes the detail shots, specifically in the beginning of the "Her" section.

[tfunai-acmwo-capstone]

Final Due Date Reflection

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Reflections of a sleep deprived student!

[tfunai-acmwo-capstone]

A Month of Progress Recapped!

There has been a significant amount of movement in the last month, and I partially ignored some of my duties in the progress report so that I could focus on what needed to be done. However, despite all the progress, there is still some hesitation due to the lack of progress on the B and C side of my video.

Just a recap, the first half of my video is built like a YouTube video, which means a landscape orientation and more of a narrative element built in. The longer format of video has two sides: the A side is a picnic scene where two friends are admitting their feelings, and the B side is the metaphorical representation of his feelings for her. The C side is the second half of the video (around 45 seconds) that is built like a TikTok video, shorter segments, improvised, and a portrait orientation. Admittedly, the A side is the most difficult part because it involves additional visual content that departs from the song, so there is still hope -- no matter how concerned I am!

I'll share everything I have edited down so far but be warned there are still audio and color issues that I have not fully addressed. The audio issue being especially concerning.

With the YouTube portion, because I have more time to flesh out ideas, you'll see an emphasis on details and even an interlude with a completely different song; a technique done to showcase other songs on the album.

While my video gets longer, I'm thinking that I'll exclude the "SETUP" portion of my video because the picnic can be a surprise!

I still have a lot more content to cut down for the picnic stuff but I need to start considering where the B side fits in... like at transition points where he looks at her kind of thing. So the sequences might be very different in about a few days -- I still need to do the recording for the B side and C side, but they should be much faster...... I hope!!!!!!

My next steps are to build a cardboard rocket ship, rig my room up with stars, shoot my miniature moon and Earth, and then look at the picnic footage to mimic actions, facial expressions, or cuts to intertwine the B side. C side is as hard or as easy as I want it, so I will make that determination if I am struggling in a weeks time! I plan to spend three full days working on the B side and shoot the whole C side in one day.

I'll update more frequently again with that process.

[tfunai-acmwo-capstone]

October 17-18th

I spent these two days focusing on preparation for the upcoming shoot on Friday and future space, scenes.

Most importantly, I finally found a picnic blanket for my picnic scene. As this scene is the closest to being shot, I'm relieved to have had the opportunity to find something I am satisfied with.

While I do have concerns about it being too distracting, I think it may benefit the tighter shots of plates, especially because the plates themselves are blank, white spaces.

I also think it'll help other colors on it, like the fruits and our clothes pop out more due to the juxtaposition.

Moreover, on top of the blanket, I made some space elements that I can easily put onto cardboard and spray paint. It's a small step, but I think in the larger context of the project, it will significantly reduce the production of the space assets. Besides all that, I spent time with my scene partner to work on memorizing and delivering the lines that was satisfactory for the tone of my video. We noticed that when it came to actually saying the lines, there were several sentences that didn't feel natural or flow, so we worked on rewriting it too.

Anyway, I anticipate making a lot of progress tomorrow, until then! Shoooooooooooooooooots

[tfunai-acmwo-capstone]

October 16th

Significant progress has been made!

Not only did I make some breakthroughs with my conceptualization, I did a lot of the prep work to initiate further progress. My foundation has been established and I will only make more progress from here.

First off, my idealized end date of the entire project is by the end of October because I will be making beyond daily efforts to complete this project, furthermore, I have cut back on other responsibilities to get rolling.

If this idealized date is not true, I intend to be done a little less than a month from now on November 12th, which leaves two weeks and some change from the deadline of my capstone.

Anyway, now for the progress I made: I spent a lot of time today focusing on how to tie all these shot ideas together, so I went to other, popular music videos for inspiration. I compiled a list of music video inspirations and mainly focused on how they communicated ideas in time with the beats. There was a combination of edits timed to the beats or movement within the frame to accomplish this. What's more, I recognized that many shots were just filler, so I don't need to think of every scene and every word. The one artist whose videos I studied the most was Childish Gambino, this video in particular was profoundly influential.

Next, I made two big purchases that are important for my project.

Number 1: Cardboard Boxes

These cardboard boxes are essential because all of my "higher production" props will be made out of cardboard, principally, my rocket ship. I think one day solely dedicated to crafts should be enough, but it likely will not be. I bought eight fresh boxes for the bigger props and I've been collecting other boxes for much smaller props.

Number 2: Spray Paint

The spray paint is important for coloring the cardboard, but more important for the backdrops. I still need to create a backdrop of space for my project, so I am still trying to source large back drop paper, or anything big enough to hold. In the back, you can also see template material so that I can quickly create shapes without spending hours and hours handcrafting it. After I establish a base, I should be able to quickly deploy art without hassle.

_____

I've also made progress with my scene partner. We are preparing our lines, and I've been discussing her the appropriate wardrobe for the picnic scene.

I've been doing whatever I can so I'm a bit all over, but I've been keeping lists to make sure all of this is directed toward something.

[tfunai-acmwo-capstone]

October 15th

The narrative element is complete. While the whole thing ended up being eight lines of dialogue shared among the two characters, it had to be that much more recognizable. If there's only eight lines, then the eight lines better express the personality, the dynamic, and the goal. Although this is not a masterpiece of writing, it is enough of me and cliche that anyone can understand what's happening. What I ended up with is corny enough to be cute but not enough to be embarrassing... I think

Draft 1:

Titan: I’m sorry I changed the spot last minute, the sun… uh, just seemed to hit a little better here… and I thought you’d like it

Patricia: Awe, you always put so much thought into everything. Yenno, I was a bit nervous coming today 

Titan: Wait, why, are you okay? I thought you were cool with doing a friends picnic thing every month 

Patricia: Nonono, we’re all good… it’s just that, the more I see you, the more nervous you make me feel

Titan: Oh, am I giving off a bad vibe… I’m so sorry I’m just a little nervous too. I’ve been meaning to…

Patricia: Bro, no it’s a good thing. When I look at you, I just feel safe… I want us to be more than friends

Titan: Wait forreal?, I’ve been nervous because I’ve been meaning to tell you something since I last saw you. 

Patricia: What?

These eight lines, maybe more in the second break of the song is supposed to communicate this idea:

Two best friends, who roughly knew each other for six months, feel that their relationship might be blossoming into something bigger than they both originally thought. They planned for a picnic date, which is not out of the ordinary because they do a lot of these small things together, but today both come with an uneasiness. The guy is over complicating the spot for the picnic, and the girl is nervous because she has something she wants to tell him. 

Any additional lines would probably be improv because I don't want to be in a vacuum of thoughts. I will ask for input from other collaborators I am working with in the video!

I'm still working on conceptualization for tonight but it's pretty late right now so I don't think I'll make too much effort to share it later on.

Shoooooooooooooots!

[tfunai-acmwo-capstone]

October 11, 12, 13, & 14

Although I have not been doing a good job of daily tracking, I have been doing a lot of the pre-production on the side. I've been doing a combination of location scouting and goodwill hunting for necessary props to make the picnic scene feel lively. Unfortunately, what I really want to make progress on is the storyboard, and if I continue to push this off, I will ultimately fail. If I do not have the storyboard by Tuesday, I will need to consider the possibility of graduating next semester as opposed to this semester. While it is a tragic truth, I prioritized many different things throughout the semester that I have no regrets about, but this is still a goal I have so I will be putting in time to get it done! There's no mistake about that.

Fun, light-hearted plates to give off a feel-good vibe. These plates in combination with fresh fruits, veggies, and a charcuterie board; the picnic aesthetic will be in full effect.

In addition, I went to my local park to scout out some trees that match the vibe and the shots (thus far) I have planned.

There are more photos, but Tumblr cannot process them

From here, everything is locked into completing the planning of the video. If I can't do that by Tuesday, then I will end any expectation of having this video completed in time, and I will delay my graduation one semester. I accept this reality but my heart and soul will go into preventing it.

Shooooooooooooooooots

[tfunai-acmwo-capstone]

Funai's Week 8 Progress Report

At the week eight point, I would say I am about 25% done with pre-production because I have been putting a lot of time into thinking. I want to say I'm further, but I have so many thoughts out of order that it makes me hesitant about my next steps. I believe I will need to do some real soul searching to get my thoughts to a place where I can begin writing it down for approval. Realistically, I could start on some aspects of the TikTok side of the video because it requires significantly less planning, so I may start test-shooting several things. I think doing this will instill some confidence to confront the problem of my raveled ball of thoughts. My next steps are to complete the narrative portion of my video as well as finding a place in the song to slide in the small dialogue portion.

My video so far is composed like this,

Intro instrumental, first act, dialogue, montage, second act / chorus, (potentially a resolution), switch up, TikTok #1, TikTok #2, TikTok #3, TikTok #4, and end.

It's a bit confusing so I was heavily considering some graphic cues I could use so that everything had more structure. At face value, the sections of my video feel confusing, so post-production help is essential.

October 9-10 UPDATE:

Mostly locating picnic props, I found three backup fabrics to use for my picnic cloth, and setting up the criteria for the perfect park location. In my head, I have several shots I'd like to do, thus, I need a park that can accommodate that. After an hour or two of thinking, I'm going to do some location scouting.

Shooooooooooooooooooooooots