First Day Editing Vans Commercial

Today was hectic. Lesly, Jazmin, and I continued to film for our commercial today because Lesly wasn't there on our first film day. That took up the majority of my class time but I made sure to use every single second effectively, not wasting time. This threw us behind and delayed our editing process. Another problem, was when I attempted to open Pinnacle Studios it was not working. I received a message stating that it was not working. Therefore, This made our editing process unsuccessful. We were only able to dumb our new footage into my Google Drive. Unfortunately, we have to wait until the next class to edit our footage. My group members and I were devastated.

The good news was that I was able to use my friend's computer to dump and edit. I decided to have my friends use it for dumping and editing our commercial. As I started doing this blog, those who were finished would help them. I was typing the blog as Lesly started dumping the footage. Then, Jazmin and Lesly started their editing blog. This made the process of getting the commercial done, better. I and my group didn’t really start editing yet but we will get to that soon. The editing part is when we have the time to sit down and think about how the film should go. Today was mainly about filming and dumping just like what we did last class and have been learning for weeks. Nevertheless, we have to wait until the next class to edit our footage.

I'm planning ahead about editing techniques I plan to use in my Vans commercial. Some include adding title and Vans logo, cropping footage, and fade out. Hopefully next class, when we begin editing that I'll see a vision along with my group members of our commercial coming to life. I hope that editing will be successful. It may be hard at first, but Lesly and Jazmin seem to be experienced and ready to edit our footage. The type of sounds I plan to use in my Vans commercial include voiceover, diegetic sound, and special effect sounds. The camera movements and angles we used were: Tilt shot, pan shot, long shot, medium close up shot, and over the shoulder, point of view, and zoom in/out. All of these editing techniques and sounds will be used while editing our Vans commercial. We will try to edit so it comes in between 15 seconds and 30 seconds. Ultimately, I will create a fun and typical story-based Vans commercial.

Filming for Vans Commercial

On our first filming day, my group and I started filming for our Vans commercial. Before we left the classroom, I signed out our camera, sim card, tripod, and fixed our Van outfits. Once we left the classroom to film, we went to get the prop(skateboard). Then, went straight to our locations in order of our storyboard. Jazmin and I had to start filming our scenes that didn't include Lesly because he was not there, so it was a bit difficult for us. We just decided to film those scenes on the next filming day. Eventually, we needed a third person to move the camera in a certain direction for our specific shots. So, while trying to film a zoom-in shot we asked a friend (Brit) to do it for us. During the filming of the scenes, we did mess up while we were filming, which resulted in having to shoot them multiple times. The following paragraphs will explain the process of the scenes we were able to film.

In the first scenes, we filmed using one of our friends (Nick) as an extra. He played a skateboarder since that is one of the audiences "Vans" appeals to. I made sure that Nick and all the people in the commercial dressed in Vans. And, I specifically told him to wear a Vans logo shirt so you could clearly see the brand name while doing the zoom-in shot. Jazmin's idea made our commercial look even better. All because it lets the viewers know what the commercial is supporting and convincing them to buy the product. At first, we were going to pan the camera, but then we decided to not move the camera at all and just keep it in the position it was on the tripod. Another thing we changed was instead of doing a wide shot we decided to do a long shot. Nick skated from far away, then towards the camera. He picked up the skateboard after riding it, so it would look like he just came from somewhere else. This scene was filmed many times because we weren't completely sure how we wanted to capture it, but we finally got it.

The next scene was shot next to the stairs leading to the media center. Jazmin played as a "Vans model". In this scene, she was taking pictures of herself in her Vans outfit looking happy. It was hard for all of us to be serious because we've never done this before. We also didn't want the commercial to seem as if we were disturbed, but I figured it out. Moving on, we did our next scene where the skater, model, and runner all meet. This was the hardest scene because we weren't sure what to do when we met in the middle. This is when we came up with the idea of zooming into the vans logo and just walking towards the camera from far away. This did not only show the brand's logo, but it also implied that everyone was walking towards something. This follows another scene of where we will be meeting with Lesly's character the next time we film.

Storyboard for Vans Commercial

The storyboard below starts off with a wide shot of a boy who is walking and then falls down the stairs. Then, there is a shot of the boy declaring "I can't do anything in these!" with a tilt occurring from his gloomy face to his worn-out shoes. All of a sudden, there will be someone running past the boy, which attracts his attention. During that, there will be a voiceover saying "Run" and background music. Next will be someone skating (Voiceover: Skate), and the skater meets up with the model in the Vans outfit (Voiceover: Be yourself in Vans over the background music). All three people representing Vans will meet up and face the boy. They all snap their fingers and a jump cut occurs from his worn-out shoes that appear to Vans shoes. Finally, he exclaims "Vans Off The Wall!" as the scene fades out.

Editing Lesson

In class today, I learned the procedure of checking in and out a camera bag. To check-in and out a camera bag, one of the people in my group (Jazmin and Lesly) must get an equipment agreement every time. A camera bag includes a camera, SD card, and a tripod if necessary. It is mandatory to return it back to the teacher in the next class period. I also learned many new definitions of key terms. One being, that import is when footage is placed from the desktop to another source. Dumping is when footage is moved from a camera to a computer. Exporting is when footage is removed from desktop to another source. The following paragraphs will be my explanation of what I learned in class, regarding the procedure of recording, dumping, and editing. Furthermore, I learned was the process of recording and dumping footage. The first step is to turn the camera on, by clicking the button and opening it. Then, inserting the SD card and starting your footage. After you have enough or all the footage needed, you can dump it into the editing software. Pinnacle Studios is the editing software that we will be using. The process of dumping is getting the SD card and inserting it into the SD card reader. Putting it into the USB port. Making a folder for all the footage. Next, I must highlight everything and move to the folder. Afterward, I can remove the SD card and put it back into the camera bag. AVCHD is in privacy if the footage is not found, which the stream will have everything in the SD card. I must remember to remove all the footage that I've created into the SD into the computer. After it is put into the computer, then I will import the data into the program we are using to edit our commercial. Lastly, I learned how to edit the footage. I click on import and look for my folder after clicking it. Then, I'll highlight the footage and click "Start Import" to make sure they are all imported. From there, I start the editing process by editing the raw footage. We are building it on AV track 2 because each track is a different layer of the commercial. To build the film, I must drag footage down to the tracks. When I edit, there are certain icons such as the razor blade which splits scenes in half. This can allow you to add a transition, by right-clicking and searching it on the effect’s editor. Another icon is the "T" icon, which adds texts anywhere onto the footage. Overall, the lesson taught to me today in media studies was interesting and very useful.

Planning for Vans Commercial

For our Vans commercial, we will be filming at the school's bus loop area. We will have a person walking and falling down the stairs, declaring "I can't do anything in these!"(a tilt shot occurs from his gloomy face to his worn-out shoes). Then, the boy looks over and sees three people: someone who is running, someone who is skating, and someone who is walking(dressing in a Vans outfit). A voice-over occurs for every person (" Run, skate, and be yourself in Vans" respectively). After this, they will all meet up in a general area and walk towards the boy. Finally, there will be an over the shoulder shot of the Vans model snapping her fingers, causing the boy to appear in Vans shoes. Then, the boy will happily say, "Vans Off The Wall!" with a fade-out from that scene to a Vans logo. 

• Props: Vans skateboard.
• Costumes: Van shoes, Vans socks, Vans shirts, Vans hoodie, Vans pants, and Vans beanie. 
• Schedule: 

- Day 1: Planning our Vans commercial.

- Day 2: Script and storyboarding.

- Day 3: Filming.

- Day 4: Editing.

- Day 5: Submitting commercial.

- Day 6: Reflecting on commercial.

• Location List: We will be filming at the school's bus loop area.
• Back-up Plan: We will be filming at the school's car loop or student parking lot. It will be the same plan where a person walks and falls, declaring, "I can't do anything in these!"(pointing at his worn-out shoes). Then, the boy looks over and sees three people: someone who is running, someone who is skating, and someone who is walking(stylish in a Vans outfit). A voice-over occurs for every person (" Run, skate, and be yourself in Vans" respectively). After this, they will all meet up in a general area and walk towards the boy. Finally, there will be an over the shoulder shot of the Vans model snapping her fingers, causing the boy to appear in Vans shoes. Then, the boy will happily say, "Vans Off The Wall!" with a fade-out from that scene to a Vans logo. 

Research: Commercial Conventions

Today, my group and I researched on what conventions and codes are usually in the commercial of a product. We found that conventions and codes are used by many different companies as a marketing strategy in order to grab the attention of consumers and make their product seem more interesting. Conventions are habits of doing things. In short, what people have come to expect. Examples of conventions are camera angles and shots, editing, lighting, sound, music, computer graphics, and special effects. A code is a system of signs, put together (usually in a sequence) to create meaning. An example of a code is a technical code which is camera techniques, framing, lighting, exposure, etc. Another example of a code is a symbolic code which is a code that consists of objects, setting, body language, clothing, and color.

Vans uses codes and conventions in their commercials to make their shoes appear more appealing and pop out more to audiences. One example of this is one of their commercials that use a boy skateboarding at a skate park with vans on. In this commerces different conventions. For example, in the commercial, the boy is skateboarding and the shot changes to a wide-angle shot of the boy skating. Another convention that was used in this commercial is when there is a tracking shot that tracked the boy skating to give the audience a better understanding of the boy's point of view. This use of convention make audiences see the shoes as more appealing and "cool"

We chose to use Vans as our product. This is because we have an interest in this brand of shoe. Nowadays this type of shoe is very popular and has caught the eyes of others in the skateboard industry. We all love skateboarding and vans provide the perfect shoes to ride and do tricks. The company sponsors surf, snowboarding, BMX, and motocross teams. The company also has a Vans Warped Tour traveling rock festival that we all enjoy watching.

Introductory

Hello, my name is Anyeska. I am a Junior currently attending Fort Lauderdale High School. During this year, I have chosen to take a wide range of courses in order to prepare myself for my future. These courses have included social sciences such as AICE US History and AICE Sociology, AP English Language, Analysis of Functions/Trig., AICE Marine Science, Comm Tech 1 Honors, and AICE Media Studies. Out of all those classes, I look most forward to Media Studies. I want to develop a critical understanding of the media. My purpose for this blog is to provide a detailed timeline and the journey of my assignments and projects.

Moving on to about me, I was born towards the end of August in Manhattan, New York. Meanwhile, my parents and half-sister are from the Dominican Republic. I would say that I'm genuine in everything I do. I love to laugh and be silly but also know when to be serious. I adore animals. Photography is a passion of mine. And, I tend to spend my free time listening to music, playing video games, or watching YouTube.

On the other hand, I dislike that I take on way too many responsibilities even if it stresses me out because I can't say no for fear of letting someone down. I would rather stress myself out than say no to someone and have them feel stressed. I am shy. I am a huge perfectionist. (Fun fact) I despise bananas.