Media Studies - COMP 3 Technical Skills Development

This blog post (written by me, Maxi) explains the technical skills that I have developed, both online and offline, and how I developed them, in the process of producing our component 3 Music Promotion Package.

Online Skills: 

Online skill that I have developed throughout this project include learning how to embed PDF's and Presentations into blogspot, which I have used in a few of my blogposts, primarily in the Statement of Intent blogpost, and in the Project Brief blogpost. I learnt these skills through YouTube, from these videos:

Embedding PDF's: 

Embedding Presentations: 

And this is how it ended up looking on said blogposts: 

Statement of Intent: 

Project Brief: 

Reflection: 

Initially, when our teacher explained how to embed these elements into blogger, I had found it quite intimidating as I had never done/used the feature before. The process appeared to require some coding skills, which I was not familiar with. However, after finding these videos on YouTube, the process was actually quite simple, and I was able to follow along and ended up getting satisfying results which looked great on my blog posts. After acquiring these newfound skills, I further applied them to other blogposts, (specifically for my Screenplay), and in the future, I hope to be able to continue applying these coding skills in more blogposts, to make them look increasingly elegant and professional.

Offline Skills: 

The offline skills I developed throughout this project include my improved skills in screenwriting, especially for music videos, skills in planning and management, as well as skills in directing. 

Directing Skills: 

My skills in directing actors I believe has improved greatly from when I first assisted Timo in the process of creating our Component 1 Film Opening over a year ago. In the creation of our music video, I took a larger role in ensuring our actors had the right facial expressions, body movements, and general emotions, all throughout the shooting of our video. My work doing so can be seen in the blog post detailing the production process of our music video. Additionally, here is a video taken from our 2nd day of filming, on February the 8th, shooting the pillow fight scenes. The video can also be seen at this link, in case it does not show on blogspot.

In the video, I can be seen standing in white, giving out directions to the actors as the pillow fight scene is being filmed. You can hear me directing them to keep their energy up, go crazy, and fight each other with passion. This was important because we wanted to capture the eccentric and chaotic energy of the pillow fight, to connote how much fun the girls are currently having in this portion of the video. I did this not only on this day, but throughout all days of shooting, ensuring the emotions that the actors displayed followed the vision that I had when writing the screenplay for the video.

Planning and Management: 

I believe my team and I's skills in planning and management of a project have increased greatly through working on this project together. This was shown through all the preparation that we made prior to the start of the filming of our music video, where I, with consultation from the rest of the team, created a detailed plan and run down of the days of filming, including the timeline/schedule of each day, along with all the props and equipment we and our cast members would need to bring on each day. Details of this plan can be seen in my Scheduling and Preparation blog post. Comparing this to what we did in our component 1 project, we were far more organized during this project, since we didn't have a schedule, or list of equipment or props that we needed to bring during that project. Thus by doing so in this component 3 project, I believe our planning and management skills have improved greatly, which will be useful for us in any future projects we embark on.

Screenwriting Skills: 

As the screenwriter for my group, I came up with a screenplay for our music video that explained the details of each scene, what shots would go over which part of the song, etc, which can be seen in my screenplay and storyboard development post. I had previously written the screenplay for our previous projects, such as for our mockumentary project, and component 1 project as well. I thus had built up my screenplay skills quite a bit from those projects, but had yet to ever write a screenplay for a music video. Thus, I conducted research into how to write screenplays that focus around musical elements, and thus found screenplays of musicals like Damien Chazelle's "La La Land",  Lin Manuel Miranda's "Tick Tick... Boom!" and Taylor Swifts "All Too Well (10 Minute Version)" Short film. From this, I was able to learn about the formatting of such screenplays, and was able to create an effective and understandable screenplay that we used all throughout the production process of our music video. I did all of this by using the screenplay writing website writer duet. Seen below is a screenshot from the website, which features the first page of Feather's screenplay.

Reflection: 

After finishing this project, I feel like I have developed valuable skills that I will be able to use in the future, especially in the field of directing, which I hope I will be able to use further in other projects I find myself taking part in. Initially, I was a bit worried and overwhelmed about the troubles and problems that I'd come across in this music video project, since it was something completely new that none of us had experience with. However, after everything has concluded, I believe I was able to adapt and overcome these problems with my team, and come out of this project with confidence in the ability to not only create music videos, but also other projects in which our newfound skills may apply to.

Media Studies - COMP 3 Shooting Location Development & Risk Assesment

This blogpost, written by me (Maxi), describes the development of the locations (including location scouting and risk assessment) that me and my team have discussed and deliberated on for the filming of our music video, along with any changes and reasons as to why we made those changes along the way. 

Locations:

For the locations we want to shoot our music video in, we have previously mentioned in our statement of intent how they should have specific characteristics. These include them having to be: fun, exuberant, and thrilling. Thus we first brainstormed a list of suitable places that match this criteria of having connotations of excitement and fun, where we could feasibly shoot our scenes at. These locations include:

• Beach - Gunung Payung Beach

• Villa (Bedroom, pool) - Hillstone Villas Resort Bali 

• Park - Nusa Dua - Peninsula Island

• Park - Renon - Lapangan Renon

• Car (Bali Mandara Toll Road)

• Car (Alam Raya Pecatu Road)

These initial choices were made as follows; first for our villa, since renting out a villa would be extremely cost inefficient, we decided to contact one of our actors who owns a chain of villa’s and resorts, and thus thought to film our villa scenes at Hillstone Villas & Resorts Bali. Next, since we wanted to have scenes in a car where our cast drives around and have a great time, we thought of the Bali Mandara Toll Road, due to its scenic blue skies and wide road. Another possible location would be Griya Alam Pecatu road, which is a residential road, filled with lush greenery on the sides and is also quite long, more importantly we would easily be able to pull over on the side of the road at any time to retake shots whenever we need. For our Parks and Beaches, we had done some research on the most picturesque and easily reachable beaches and parks in Bali, where we found the Peninsula Island Park in Nusa Dua, as well as Lapangan Renon, in Renon, a district of Denpasar, for our possible parks; both of which being scenic parks with large grassy fields, which would fit the fun aesthetic of our music video, since lush green fields are often associated with joyful activities like picnics and friends. For our beach we found the Gunung Payung Beach, in Uluwatu, a sort of hidden beach that is incredibly beautiful with clear light blue waters and golden shores. The proximity of the locations, notably the ones in Uluwatu and Nusa Dua will allow for the logistical planning of the shoot to be easier as well.

Scouting:

To confirm our expectations and ideas of the areas we want to shoot at, we also scouted the locations, and further discussed what we thought about them. Here are some photos we obtained from scouting out the locations, as well as a location and risk assessment about what could go wrong if we decide to shoot there:

Hillstone Villa: Link

Pictures taken by: Me, and the resorts website.

A large pool with a beautiful view provides an incredible location that conveys a sense of fun and freedom that we intend to represent in our music video

The sunset seen from the villa would be the perfect scene for us to end our music video on 

Driveway (outside of villa)

Lawn and villa front view

Wider side shot of pool

A Large and luxurious bedroom, which further allows us to build an even larger sense of excitement and pleasure throughout our music video

Location & Risk Assessment: 

Hillstone Villas is a villa complex in the Uluwatu region of Bali. It has scenic views and large spaces where shooting with equipment would be ideal. Some problems however may be the fact that the villa is on the side of a cliff, and since we want to shoot a lot of scenes by the pool (which is generally on the edges of the land), it may be a safety hazard for our actors to be standing and moving there for extended periods of time. Other than that, the villa's breathtaking location on the edges of Uluwatu's stunning cliffs provides a perfect aesthetic for the music video. 

Solutions: We will make sure to brief our actors about the risks of standing by the pool edge, and make sure to assist them in getting there, and that they be careful while they're there.

Gunung Payung Beach: Link

Pictures taken by: Sharon, Internet uploads

Clear waters, blue skies, and golden white sands provide Gunung Payung with a very picturesque and attractive landscape that would create beautiful shots.

Location & Risk Assessment: 

Gunung Payung Beach is a picturesque and almost 'hidden' beach by the south side of Bali, near Uluwatu. Its shores are clean and the water is blue, which we believe would look beautiful on camera. A problem would be that getting to the beach would require a decently long walk down a stairway, which may be very hard to bring equipment down. Additionally, actors during beach scenes will most likely be walking barefoot, which may lead to them accidentally stepping on harmful materials that may be present on the beach, like glass or sharp stones. Another problem may also be that since it is a public beach, people may end up being in our shoots or getting in the way, which we will not be able to control. The weather on the day of the shoot may also vary, as Bali may still be in its rainy season at the time, and we will not be able to shoot since it is an outdoor location.

Solutions: To keep out of the way of other people, we hope to pick a part of the beach that is a bit further away and more secluded, as to not run into any complications while shooting. Additionally, we hope to get as much help as possible from our actors when bringing down our equipment to the beach, to make sure nothing breaks. We will also remind our actors and try our best to keep them wearing sandals for the majority of the time we are at the beach other than when we need to shoot scenes, as to make sure they don't get injured or wounded.

Bali Mandara Toll Road: Link

Pictures taken by: Me

Location & Risk Assessment: The Bali Mandara Toll Road is the only toll road/highway in all of Bali. It connects locations such as Sanur, Nusa Dua, and Kuta and spans, from end to end, over 15 kilometers. The highway is located over the ocean and provides incredibly picturesque blue sky and ocean views when driving over it. However, various issues arise when it comes to ease of shooting and safety, as since it is a highway, we will be forced to drive at high speeds, which makes shooting far more difficult. This also means that we will not be able to pull over on the side of the road as stopping on a highway is illegal. This forces us to exit and reenter the toll road and pay a fee for every new take we want to shoot. This would make shooting here quite risky, as well as expensive.

Solutions: To be able to shoot on the toll road, we would have to have a meticulous plan on what shots we will shoot before we get on the road. This hopefully will allow us to get all the needed scenes in one take, meaning we'll only need 1 drive across the highway. This should hopefully downplay the risk massively. 

Griya Alam Pecatu Road: Link

Pictures taken by: Me 

Griya Alam Pecatu's wide roads, lush green scenery, and pretty blue skies make it an ideal location for us to shoot our car scenes in.

Loaction & Risk Assessment: Griya Alam Pecatu Road is a residential road situated in the Pecatu Graha residence in Pecatu, Bali. Despite being a residential road, it spans for over 3 kilometers and is fairly wide. It is surrounded by lush trees and scenic greenery and is a well maintained road. This makes it ideal for us to shoot here since it is not only far less busy compared to a highway (since its a residential road), and we will not be forced to drive at high speeds. Instead we'll be able to drive however fast or slow we need to get our shots, and will be able to pull over to the side of the road in the case anything goes wrong at any time. The lush greenery in the area will hopefully further push the connotations of how our characters are living in a paradise, and living their best lives. Some risks may be how again, since we are driving a car, there is always a possibility of something going wrong while in the car. 

Solutions: Hopefully by making sure we maintain a slow speed while shooting, and constantly reminding our actors of safety precautions and our driver's to focus on the road, we will be able to mitigate any chances at crashing or damaging our vehicles.

Peninsula Island Park: Link

Pictures taken by: Me

Peninsula Island's wide and open grass fields made it an ideal location for us to film our scenes at, as it effectively conveyed the conventions commonly associated with parks, picnics, and fun outdoor activities with friends.

Lapangan Renon: Link 

Pictures taken by: Me

Similar to Peninsula Island, Lapangan Renon's lush green fields make it an idyllic setting for picnic scenes to be filmed, as it follows the connotations of where picnics are held. Many shots of our cast frolicking and playing around in the area would convey the joyful emotions we aim to portray perfectly.

Final Decision: In conclusion, after weighing and analyzing all our locations, we decided that The Bali Mandara Toll Road would bring far too many uncontrollable variables, and thus prove to be a far too dangerous location to shoot our car scenes for the music video, as due to the reasons mentioned previously such as it being a fast moving highway where stopping is forbidden. The toll fees required if we want to enter the road will also hinder our shooting capabilities and make it far harder to retake shots over and over, which is a crucial aspect required when shooting music videos. Thus, the clear best option would be Griya Alam Pecatu Road, due to it being easily accessible, easy to shoot in, and a far safer option than the Bali Mandara Toll Road, while still maintaining important characteristics such as scenic as blue skies which can still be clearly seen, as well as having far more lush greenery in the area. For our park, we chose Peninsula Island Park, as since it is in the close proximity of our other locations, we could film multiple in one day and shorten our shooting time. It is also usually less busy, as well as looking more scenic as compared to Lapangan Renon. However, we could still consider these locations as back up's in the scenario that one of them do not become available. And so, our final shooting location list is as follows:

• Beach - Gunung Payung Beach

• Villa (Bedroom, pool) - Hillstone Villas Resort Bali 

• Park - Nusa Dua - Peninsula Island

• Car (Alam Raya Pecatu Road)

Reflection:

Discussing and brainstorming ideas about the locations we wanted to film in definitely assisted us in deciding how the shots we want to take will end up looking, and gave us a clearer idea of what our video's overall aesthetic will be like. Furthermore, I'd like to note how during our previous Component 1 project, we did not try to scout out locations for the filming of our film opening. This time though, to get a better idea of the locations themselves, we decided to scout the different beaches, parks, and villas that we wanted to shoot at, such that when we eventually shoot there we wont need to think of where each shot will be taken, as we'd have already decided those details through the scouting process. This process also allowed us to determine the safety issues and precautions we would needed to have taken, which enables us have as smooth and as safe of working environment for our team and actors as possible.

Additionally, since we ended up not being able to shoot at one of our originally chosen locations, Peninsula Island, scouting and planning other locations like Lapangan Renon ended up proving to be incredibly useful, as it provided us with a pre-existing back up plan, which meant we did not need to rush and hurry to quickly find another location, which saved us lots of time and smoothened our production process. However, one thing that proved to harm us once we started the filming process, was that we did not know some locations were off-limit for filming, since we didn't inquire about whether we'd be allowed to film or not, something that I will remember when scouting locations later on in projects outside of A-Level Media Studies. Overall though, I'm quite satisfied with the scouting process, and how it was able to help us throughout the production of our music video, and music promotion package overall. 

Media Studies - COMP 3 Screenplay and Storyboard Development

This blogpost, written by me (Maxi), contains the development of the timeline, screenplay, and storyboard of our Music Video, as well as the updates/changes and decisions we made regarding them. Additionally, it is also described how the final music video differs from what we planned in the screenplay and storyboard.

Timeline Development:

Before creating our storyboard and screenplay, in an attempt to have a smoother and more detailed creation process, we as a team worked together to create a short timeline of scenes we wanted to include in the music video, which we did by listing/highlighting the portion of the song (individual lines, verses, choruses, etc), and the specific scenes that will accompany each part of the song. This rough outline of scenes will make it easier to create a specific and well detailed storyboard of events, actions, etc, that our actors will easily be able to follow, as well as making it easier for us as producers to shoot individual scenes and organize shots effectively. 

Here is a picture of said timeline:

Timeline Reflection:

Creating this lyrics sheet together as a team definitely helped in getting us on the same page on the shots, and also helped give us ideas on what the scenes will look like specifically, as well as the planning and what equipment we're going to use. This gives us insight and allows us to make a better and more complete storyboard.

Screenplay Development:

This screenplay was written by me for this music video to help plan out the shot's we'll need to take, and how the actors should act in the video.

     

Screenplay Reflection:

Originally, we thought that we wouldn't need an extensive screenplay for our music video. However, to ease the production process, we decided that we should make one just in case, as it is always better to be more prepared once the production cycle comes around, rather than regretting that we didn't have a complete screenplay in the first place. Other than that, I had previously written screenplays for other projects including my team's Component 1 Film Opening, as well as an additional documentary project. However, I had never yet written a screenplay for a music video. Thus, I built up my existing knowledge on screenplay writing by researching and analysing the screenplays of musicals and movies that heavily employ music throughout, like Damien Chazelle's "La La Land", Lin-manuel Miranda's "Tick Tick... Boom!" and Taylor Swifts "All Too Well (Ten Minute Version)" short film. This aided me in the writing of this screenplay and gave me several ideas on what I should include and how to format it. Additionally, the timeline that we created as a team (seen previously) definitely helped a lot in the writing of this screenplay, as it painted a clear idea of what the scenes should look like.

Storyboard Development:

The storyboard for this music video was drawn by Sharon, while the other members of the team helped and guided her through the process, giving her feedback along the way on what we feel the shots should look like.

 

Storyboard Reflection:

By having this storyboard, we believe that shooting our music video will be much easier as we will have an outline of all the shots we'll need to take, and additionally will also give our actors an idea of how they  should perform and act throughout the video.

Changes to storyboard and screenplay: 

This section of the blog is written after the filming process had concluded, and the editing of the final video had been finished. As expected, there would be many scenes and shots that differ from the screenplay and storyboard slightly. Below I will describe the changes we made by showing what we intended do have in the scene, what we did instead, and why the change occurred, for some major changes that went against the storyboard and screenplay throughout the video.

Major Change 1: The establishing shot of the music video was originally meant to be a tracking shot of the girls from BEHIND, which then switches to a front view showing the villa. Although we did get shots of that during filming, Timo had said they did not look up to par with the quality we wanted them to have, with the lighting of the shots also not looking good. The shot seen above of the girls from the side was the best one we had gotten, and thus we decided to use it instead, since it still conveys the same emotion of the girls waking up excited in their villa.

Major Change 2: The scene in which KIARA's ex arrives at their villa was originally written in the screenplay and storyboard to start off with him parking and getting out of his car. We did get shots of him exiting his car, however in the editing process, it looked better starting the scene off with him walking instantly, as adding more shots would've made the pacing of the scene too fast, as there would've been too many cuts.

Major Change 3: The introduction of our beach scene was originally meant to be the girls arriving in their car. This was changed however due to there not being enough time in the 2nd chorus for the car scene to be included, since we wanted the line "send a pic" to sync up with KIARA and her friends taking a picture together.

Major Change 4: During the whip-pan montage sequence at the bridge of the song, the screenplay states how there  were meant to be whip-pan shots at ALL the locations of the music video. However, the shots that we filmed at the other locations ended up not looking how we wanted them to, as we had position KIARA too close to her friends, and the whip pan affected we wanted was not achieved in the other 2 locations. Thus we decided to only include the whip pan shots at the beach.

Major Change 5: The screenplay and storyboard outline how the ending of the music video would be the girls sitting by the pool of the villa, watching the sunset, after which we'd cut to black. This was intended as sunsets are often used to represent/connote the end, since it is the literal end of the day. Thus to represent the end of the music video, we wanted to follow this convention and use a sunset scene, from where the video originally began. Thus creating a storyline of how the video began in the morning at the villa, and proceeded to also end at the villa too. However, we were not able to capture the sunset scene during day 2 of filming, due to there not being a visible sunset as it was covered by clouds since Bali's weather at the time was very cloudy. We were then further unable to get the sunset at Peninsula Island, since we weren't allowed to film there. Finally, we decided to change the scene entirely to KIARA blowing a kiss towards the camera, and then proceeding to cut to black. Since blowing a kiss also has connotations of "saying goodbye", we used it as a way for KIARA to say goodbye to her audience at the end of the video, which is an idea that I came up with, which the team believed would work well too.

Reflection: 

Although we did not stick to our screenplay and storyboard exactly, my team and I were still able to create a successful music video. The decisions we made to adjust and stray from what we intended was definitely aided by having a proper screenplay and storyboard, since we still had an outline of what our scenes should look like, and make sure details that we change still fit into our overall video. 

Since I was the writer of the screenplay, the overall idea of what the music video would look like was already in my head, which gave me greater abilities when suggesting changes to the music video when we had faced problems that didn't allow us to follow the intended plan. Even though Timo was the one who had the final decision in what shots to include in the scenes, I made sure to give him my opinion on what I believed would look best, which had greatest impact when I had suggested my idea on what we should change the video's ending to.

Media Studies - Media Ecology and the Smartphone

Analyse the significance of the convergence of the smartphone with mass communication technology [30]

As time progresses, smartphones have consistently become more important in most aspects of peoples live, and have altered and adjusted the methods of how we spread, consume and receive information. Modes of mass communication, now conjoint with the smartphone, have led to a world where an unprecedented amount information is at the fingertips of a majority of people on the planet. There are many arguments for to what extent this has affected society as a whole, and this essay hopes to discuss how the smartphone has affected the events of our world through multiple ways including how it has allowed the instantaneous spread of messages across the world, which allow for people to come together and achieve common goals, how it has affected the specific forms of media that are consumed by newer generations, and how it has allowed for authorities to accurately determine and extract information from their citizens no matter where they are.

Ever since the dawn of smartphones and social media, the ability of people to come together and partake in activities that they all find important has been stratified tremendously. Through mere presses of buttons, people can rally at very specific times and dates to perform incredible conventions and meet ups. This is seen through social media apps like Twitter and messaging apps like WhatsApp, where groups of like-minded media consumers can view these announcements, and join in on the events that will happen. Although usually seen in positive light, events like this can also be used for harmful and dangerous gatherings that instead aim to spread violence. A prime example of which would be the riots that happened at the US Capitol Building, on January 6th 2021 after incumbent US President Donald Trump had encouraged his supporters to storm Congress due to the shared belief he had instilled into them that the election had been rigged and stolen. Trump had called his supporters to join him at a rally on the day through Twitter, specifically tweeting, "...Big Protest in D.C on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!". This led to over 140 thousand Americans gathering at Trump's rally, after which over 2 thousand protesters marched towards and stormed the capital building. The incidents of the storming of the capital building were heavily influenced by the usage of smartphones prior and during the riots where individuals came together to plan and control the events on the day. According to articles by the New York Times, right wing extremist groups such as "Proud Boys" and "Oath Keepers" utilized the social media apps Parler and 4Chan to extensively plan the raid into the capitol building. Furthermore, during the riots themselves, Trump had continued to post on his personal Twitter account about his thoughts on Mike Pence and how he was a "coward" for not stopping congress in the ratification of the election. This was then able to be instantaneously delivered and seen by the thousands of rioters who were inside of the white house, as their smartphones allowed them to do so incredibly easily. Afterwards, hundreds of rioters were on the hunt for Mike Pence, repeatedly chanting ""Hang Mike Pence!", which can be seen in various documentaries and videos published about the events of the January 6th Riots. The events that occurred in the capitol building can be largely attributed to the mobilization of large groups of like minded people through social platforms, which as a whole is supported by the ideas of Henry Jenkins' Theory of Fandom. Specifically, Jenkins mentions the concept of Viewer Activism, and how fans are usually powerless to enact change individually, but as a whole can come together in the aims of achieving a common goal, which in this case would be to keep Trump as president. This was done through the movements on social media like Trump's tweets and the Parler app, and enabled such a large rallying of supporters and believers of Trump. Although this is generally applied to events that happen in regards to media products, in this case, Trump's supporters can be said to be his fandom, and Trump in this case is the product they all adore. This builds directly upon how their shared common interest in Trump have led them to want to collectively do all they can to make sure their demands are reached.

Has led to social media platforms evolving to cater towards the needs of smartphone users (TikTok)

Allows for media corporations to extract data from all the activity that is performed on a smartphone, including searches conducted on search engines, activity on other social media sites, which all allow for companies to cater content towards specific audiences.