CCR!!

 Last but not least, CCRs!

Here is my first CCR, a director's commentary focusing on these three questions:

• How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?
• How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text?
• How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

Director's commentary CCR, questions 1-3

And here is my second, a purposely cheesy infomercial focusing on this question:

• How did you integrate technologies – software, hardware and online – in this project?

Infomercial CCR, question 4

Film Opening

 It's finally here!

This is my film opening, My Sweet Melody. Hope you enjoy! 

Infomercial CCR Production

 Filming

    For my infomercial CCR, I want to have a base line of just me talking to the camera, in a very animated way. Basically I filming it using the most annoying customer service voice I could manage. I planned to film it standing up and moving around, however no one in my house was available to assist me in this. So instead, I opted for filming the whole thing sitting down with a neutral gray wall as my background.

Editing

    However...that's just so boring. That's why I tried to make the video as cheesy and cringe as possible, purely to make it more creative and for comedic affect since it goes with the idea of an annoying infomercial. I took much of my inspiration when editing from the 2010s' YouTube editing style. Tight close up zooms, grayscale, basically anything you would see in an old Emma Chamberlain video. I screen recorded myself scrolling through YouTube, and Blogger, and used it as b-roll.  I'm pretty happy with the outcome!

Editing My Sweet Melody

        Editing, my sweet melody has proven to be a huge pain. But by far my least favorite part is having to sort through all the footage from the camera SD card on my computer. Looking through all the footage on the card, some videos dating back to 2013, finding all of my footage, naming it, and sorting it into its own folder, was a whole task on its own, and probably took me an entire day. Thankfully, after that got done, I was able to create my project and start organizing my footage. 

         I first started by just cropping and laying down my shots in the correct sequence of events. After that, I realized I had to cut a lot of footage or my film opening would end up being four minutes long… This was gonna be hard. I felt like every shot had its purpose for being there and I had extreme difficulty in cutting shots because of this. Eventually, I was able to shorten my film to two minutes and 30 seconds however, this is still too long I needed to take off at least another 15 seconds, but taking out an entire shot, would mess up the sequence of events and the continuity of the film. So I decided just to cut off bits and pieces from the shots already laid down so that they were much shorter shots with more frequent cuts. And it worked!

        Using the website, YouTube studios,I found this copyright free song Snow Peaks part 1 by Chris Haugen, and thought it perfect for my film. So I laid down the MP3, after the clip of Kai, closing his eyes, and inserted a Crossfade in order to transition into the memory. Between each memory sequence, I used a tip to black dissolve to transition from memory to memory.

Final day of filming

 Wrap on My Sweet Melody

    Day 2 was the final day of filming and it was a huge success. Both of my actors and crew arrived on Sunday around 1pm. We started with filming the tight close up of Fabiana playing the piano, and the guitar. These shots were very hard to get, but also prompted many laughs since Fabiana does not know how to play either instruments, and because her acrylic nails were too long. Since I myself play the piano, I gave her a brief rundown on how a pianist's hands move on the keys. For example, how you sometimes hold a chord down with your left hand while playing with your right, and correct wrist position. The shot came out beautifully despite the unrealistic playing. 

On the left is a picture of myself, Andrea, Santiago, and Fabiana (from left to right).

    After getting these shots, I decided to finish all of the flashback scenes. I have a total of 4 scenes to show. Melody playing the piano, playing the guitar, Kai and melody talking while she plays the guitar, and the two interacting on the couch. These four flashback scenes show the connection Melody had with Kai, and the two's relationship.

 

 

  One struggle during filming I faced was the height of my tripod. While it is by no means short, I wanted to get a high angle for once of the scenes in the memory montage due to lighting issues outside. So here was my solution...using Andrea as a tripod. While she definitely was not the most steady stand since she kept laughing, the shot came out pretty good so it worked out. The photo was taken by Santiago as I focused my lens.

   I then had to finish the shots I wasn't able to get of Kai during day 1, where he packs the picnic. Once this was done, we packed up all our gear including camera, tripod, picnic basket, blanket, and guitar into Andrea's car and drove over to the park. The rest of the filming went smoothly, however it was a bit rushed out of fear of losing daylight. 

But that is a WRAP on filming My Sweet Melody! Below is a little video I took with the cast and crew as were leaving the park after packing up.

More complications with shooting schedule

     Day 2 of filming was marked for 4 pm on Thursday the 23rd. Surprise! Something came up at Fabiana's school and she had to stay much longer than planned in order to finish a group project due that same night. I completely understand her situation, however I would not be able to film without her. So Thursday's shoot was canceled. Day 2 was then re-scheduled for Friday 24th instead. This was the perfect day, because Fabiana did not have school on this day, so we could meet early in the morning finish all filming. 

    Once Thursday night came around, Santiago send me a message telling me he would be traveling to an amusement park on Friday morning.

Consequently, we regretfully had to hold day two off until Sunday the 16th at 1pm. I was really hoping we'd get all the footage necessary. I also contacted my friend Andrea Marcano who would be helping me film and giving me creative advise regarding the visual aspect of my film.

Day one of filming

 Day 1 of filming 

  

    Day one of the filming did not go great. Here’s the story; arrival on set (my house) was scheduled for 2:30pm on March twenty-first. Santiago, who is playing Kai, planned to arrive at 2:30pm. However, Fabiana, who is playing Melody, planned to arrive at 4:30pm because of school. The problem lies in the lack of communication. Santiago did not tell me that he would have to leave at 4pm due to other plans, and I did not find this out until he arrived. As a result, I was able to get very few shots: Kai waking up, Kai washing his face and doing his hair. Since there are very few shots of just melody, I ended up telling Fabiana to simply not come. Despite my filming schedule being delayed, I'm glad we were at least able to get the beginning shots. Day two is scheduled for Thursday March 23, at 4 pm.