Carry On

Further Research

As we continued with our research for our music marketing project, we felt it would be best to develop a better context on the genre we were studying, pop. We researched a general history of the pop genre and where it had stemmed from in addition to its typical conventions often used in its music. We studied pieces of information such as other sub-genres that fit within the pop genre along with its general target audience and of course other popular pop singers in addition to the ones we included within our research charts. Besides the genre itself, we dove deeper and also analyzed the original music video of the song "Carry On" by Fun before we created our own. We payed attention to the type of music video it was, the wardrobe used, the setting, and of course, camera angles and mise-en-scene. 

We studied the overall theme of the music video and what message was intended on getting across to the audience. By obtaining this information, the brainstorming process was made simpler since we had provided ourselves with some samples we were able to study. We noticed the overall tone of the video and focused on how we can replicate the theme while making it our own.  As for research, there wasn't much more that we did at this time since we really needed to further our brainstorming and start production. 

Pre-Production

As for the planning portion of our music video, we storyboarded around the first 120 seconds of our video which was shown in my previous blog post. Upon doing so, we created a strong concept with a moving message that we wanted to portray within our video. As for the remainder of the music video that we didn't storyboard, we discussed as a group what we intended on accomplishing over the course of filming it. We developed the idea of the main subject, who is played by me, who loses her best friend, who is played by one of our group members, Isabella Gonzalez. Although it isn't explicitly stated, we made it as clear as possible with the budget we had that the main character's best friend had died, specifically in a car accident. The main subject is in mourning as she recalls the memories she has of her dead friend and tries to find a way to carry on. Throughout the course of our music video, the main subject meets up with another one of her friends, played by anther group member, Clara De Luca. The main subject and her friend that is still alive recall the time they shared together with their friend who has passed and make the decision to look on the bright side, celebrating the time they shared with their friend rather than grieving it. We wanted the remainder of the video to consist of the main subject and her friend to enjoy the good times they have together and move on from the bad. We decided it would be in our best interest to come up with any other necessary filler scenes while we were filming since we realistically did not have as much time as the writing team of a real full length music video would have. 

Production

We started production in the evening of January 28th, 2022. For the most part, we shot scenes chronologically so, since we planned that the beginning of the music video would have more of a depressing tone, we decided to shoot from just before sunset to shortly after dusk. On the first day we shot basically everything we had storyboarded during our brainstorming process. As the director, I instructed our cinematographer, who was Clara De Luca, how I wanted specific scenes from each shot to be done. This included its composition, angle, and its overall proximity. Being the person who wrote the concept of the music video, directed it, and acted in it was somewhat of a challenge however, I feel that it was truly rewarding because I was able to accomplish exactly what I wanted during production. Producing the music video was actually a really fun process! I really liked working with people who I know cared as much as I did yet also gave me free rein at times to be able to make decisions on what I thought would be best. It was important that we kept in mind the style and aesthetic of our band, Senior Trip, in addition to common conventions of a pop genre music video. Because of this, we wanted to keep our video very entertaining not only with the concept and strategies used, but with every other aspect as well. For our location, we wanted to use a setting that would be relatable to our target audience so our viewers could easily spot parallels between our story and their own lives. Because of this, we filmed shots inside a teenage bedroom, various locations around a neighborhood, the inside of a car, and a couple restaurants such as Raw Juice and Starbucks. As for wardrobe, we once again took into consideration our target audience and what would match best with our storyline. Considering both the pop genre and our demographic, we were able to dress pretty much in our truest form with not much manipulation to our style as we figured this would be the most genuine to Senior Trips ambiance. 

We worse basic teenage clothing consisting of t-shirts, sweaters, and leggings, making ourselves as "human" as possible in contrast to over-the-top costuming that our audience wouldn't be able to relate to. In total, it took two days to film the entirety of our music video. As previously stated, we did shoot at multiple locations so transportation did take up some time as we moved from place to place. However, I directed Clara to film even in moments when we weren't planning on filming in order to capture some really organic shots. This also gave Clara more footage to work with in post-production since she was the one that would be editing our video. For the majority of the time, used natural lighting since we didn't want our band to come off as artificial. Natural lighting also conveniently fit with the mood we wanted to achieve. During times when we needed to film indoors such as when the main character was messing up her bedroom out of frustration for the loss of her friend, we used a ring light for the scene to be properly lit. Or during times when we wouldn't use artificial lighting, we would make sure the shot would be a close up or medium shot to fully include every aspect of the main subjects face. We wanted to put emphasis on the facial expressions and emotions being communicated. Since no dialogue was included, we wanted to make the message as clear as possible whenever the characters were feeling something, whether that be shock, denial, regret, anger, sadness, and joy.

We got a lot of filler shots as well to move the plot along and to be used if we ever faced a gap within our editing if we wouldn't know what to include. We really wanted to focus on not only being appealing to our demographic, but also acting as such within our video. This will make our content as relatable as possible, building a stronger connection with our viewers. Producing the music video in general was a really fun experience! I love being able to come up with ideas, direct them, and also act in them because it really gives me the opportunity to create my vision exactly how I would like it in the finished product. 

Post-Production

This was a really exciting process because this is when everything that we had worked on within our music video was able to come together. During the filming process, we really wanted to create strong examples of parallelism. This would have been either from before the best friend had died to after or from while the main subject was still mourning to her moving on with her other good friend. All of these shots were really able to be put together nicely through the editing process.

For starters, our opening shot was the main subject walking down the sidewalk with her best friend. In post-production, this was edited to jump-cut to the main subject walking in the same place but alone. This shows some aspects of juxtaposition through our precisely chosen editing techniques in order to keep our viewers intrigued the entirety of the time. We continued this jump-cut editing technique throughout the majority of our music video, using it in multiple places wherever we thought it would be have an impactful effect.  Another example of this would be after the main subject met up with her other friend and went to Starbucks. We wanted to jump-cut from them hanging out during present day to it being cut to the past when the three of them would hang out in the same spot together. In the present shot, the viewers are able to see the space in the center third empty as this was our friends seat she used while she was still with her friends. Seeing the space flash between being filled and left emptied really catches the viewers eyes. 

Here are the two shots of the coffee shop scene. We kept the camera in the exact same place so the only change in the shot would be the presence of the main subject's best friend. In editing we also decided to make any flashback shots a cooler tone to represent the sorrow that the main subject feels as she mourns her friend in contrast to the warmer present day tones to signify that the main subject is finally able to carry on with her life, looking at things more positively. We also really wanted the editing to precisely fall within the teenage gaze, slightly inspired by Olivia Rodrigo since she has been successful in that. We added cool retro filters over some scenes to make it look as if they were recorded on a an old camcorder which perfectly matches the current teenage vibe along with Senior Trip's overall vibe as well. 

There was a point in our editing when we hit a slight bump in the road and decided to rearrange some scenes. As scene within

our storyboard, we shot and intended to include various flashback scenes of the main subject playing with her friend at a playground and then returning to the playground after she has passed. However, while editing Clara ran into a problem on deciding where it would look best and how it would transition to the rest of the video smoothly. With not having much time left to work on our project and having already wrapped filming, we quickly rethought of a solution to fix the plot while still maintaining a continuity in our initial idea. We cut out the beginning intended scene and Clara edited the clips together so everything would seamlessly fall together, making a smooth outcome. With remainder footage, we filled out any awkward gaps in order to keep the plot moving. Sometimes within the industry, not everything works out the way we want to or plan on but the show must go on!

Presentation

Once our music video was edited, we finished up the remaining slides of our powerpoint that we hadn't already done. This really just included the creation of our website and social media accounts for Senior Trip in addition to more promotional marketing ideas that we thought would be necessary to include. Given our target audience, we decided our best marketing options would be through brand deal, promotional stunts, collaborations with other popular figures among our generation, and guerrilla marketing. Since there were four of us in a group and we around twelve different topics to cover, we each assigned ourselves three slides to present to our class so we wouldn't have to worry about who was going to do what. We all memorized important pieces of information that we wanted to address, and smoothly pitched our band, Senior Trip, to our class. In our presentation, we included: a history of the pop genre, introduction to Senior Trip, a discussion regarding our target audience, our distribution outlets, marketing techniques, promotional tactics, artists that inspired us, and our final selling points. Once we finished presenting all of our content, I was happy to answer a plethora of questions some students had asked and proceeded to make our final conclusions. You can click here to watch our finished music video as well!

That's a Wrap!

Taking everything from this project in, I really had learned so much about writing, directing, producing, marketing, and other aspects of the music industry in general. I am a very film-oriented person as it is my favorite form of media however, it was very refreshing to step into new territory with a group to come together to make something beautiful. I learned the importance not only of film composition, camera angles, and editing techniques, but also how to work with others (who you may not know), how to face problems head out without missing a beat, and truly how to stream creativity from situations in which we are already familiar with.  Although I do believe self-expansion is vital, I feel that in our upcoming Cambridge portfolio project, I think it is helpful to keep in mind how important it is to create things that you know and how veering off into new territory in attempt to create "next the best thing" will not always be the wisest option.