Intro to New Project

  Last week, I successfully completed and submitted my commercial project. I was also able work efficiently on my creative critical reflection questions and turn them into my teacher. Throughout my commercial project I gained and learn many skills and things in relation to the filming world. I was able to integrate technologies and programs such as, Pinnacle studios, the Blogger app and website, Cannon cameras and filming stands. My favorite part of the filming process was the editing stage. I favor the editing stage because, I successfully learned how to enhance media through a computer program. I will now begin the next project, a music video.

  The song I chose for my music video project is: Old Town Road. Old Town Road was written by a male rapper, Lil Nas X. This song was performed by both Lil Nas and Billy Ray Cyrus. Lil Nax X's 'Old Town Road' hit is categorized as country music. One reason I chose this song is because it's not only popular and highly favored, but it is also energetic/upbeat, perfect for a music video. For this project I decided to part ways with my partner and work alone. This decision led to a lack of actors which I solved very quickly: I decided to film my music video starring three of my younger sisters; they love Old Town Road and dance to it almost everyday, this is another reason I chose the song for my music video.

  The genre of my song is country. There are countless conventions seen throughout country music videos. Country music videos include many tracking shots, establishing shots, closeups, and pan movements. Tracking shots make the audience feel as if they are moving with the actors as they ride on horses, close-ups often introduce the character, establishing shots highlight the scene of the music video, and pan movements are used to introduce a new scene or character. There are many sound effects including ambient sound , digetic sound, and non-digetic sounds. The ambient sounds include crickets and chirping birds. The digetic sounds include the thump of horse hooves and saddles, while the non-digetic sounds highlight different sound effects such as "BAM" or high-pitched effects to introduce shocking new actors. In the editing of country music videos, I see countless cut-aways, shots/reverse shots, graphic matches, action matches, jump cuts, and a few montages. One music video even included an iris in transition. Very common costumes in these videos were cowboy hats, button-down tees, boots, and clothing. Costumes also included gun holsters and sometimes dark shades. The props used were often horses, saddles, tooth-picks (held in the corner of their mouths), trucks, and sometimes guns. Little to no makeup was used in these music videos, they were often used to create identification tattoos on the actors. Settings included big grassy fields and empty roads. I will begin the planning for my music video within the next week.