Portfolio Project Components

Music Video

Cover Art

Social Media

Critical Reflection

 Critical Reflection 

How do your products represent social groups or issues?

    The song I chose focuses on a toxic relationship, expressed by the lyrics "user 603, he beats her down with nasty words." The song also mentions a theme of unrequited love, "user 139 will never know how much I love her." And my favorite part, the song includes a bit of postmodernism, "this is a simulation, this is a simulation..." Throughout the song the singer expresses how she's watching this User 139 via computer. The lyrics I mentioned above are what inspired the storyline in the video.  I chose to portray this toxic situationship and their breakup.

Portfolio Themes

      As someone who has gone through a similar situation, I wanted to express the process and decision making in a breakup. Specifically, how it looks to actively get over someone or to dwell on someone.  I portrayed this by showing user139 calling this user603 and even going all the way to his apartment, trying to get him back. And then user139 going out with friends having fun in the moment, trying not to think about him.  In the video, I also include flashbacks of 139's and 603's relationship, portraying both the good and bad aspects. Making sure to capture how he abused her to include the toxic situationship theme. After showing the video to a couple of my friends, I believe that I represented the toxicity and breakup process pretty well.

How do elements of your production work together to create a sense of "branding"?

    At first, I really had no idea on how I wanted to represent the artist. So I didn't. The artist doesn't want to show their face, so I decided to be the face of the her brand. Another artist that doesn't show their face and chooses to have someone else be the brand face is Sia, with Maddie Ziegler as her face. My artist's name is SeVEN, like the number, so I took what I could from that, posted her necklace of '777' on social media and ran with it. 

    

    In the video, I included a scene, where User139 is staring a screen of hearts, I didn't know it then, but that would become a major part of the artist's branding. The same hearts ended up on the cover art of the song. Later on, I decided that neon hearts would become part of her brand. The physicality of my brand is very clear despite my artist not having a face. With the combination of sevens, blue hearts, the color blue overall, and a cyber sort of aesthetic.  

    Looking at the personality aspect of the brand, the Instagram page we created, its very up close and personal without revealing the face of the artist. Posts are very random and do not follow a specific pattern or theme, kind of like Joji's Instagram page. The tone received from the music video and song is very melancholic and mesmerizing. The artist is faceless clearly representing a value of privacy to their own life. 

    

    Consumers can hope to find in our products, relatability to the artist and quality products from the artist. Due to the artist social media being random posts about her life, it tends to feel more personal instead of professional, allowing the consumers to view the artist as more of another human being instead of a idolized celebrity.  

How do your products engage with the audience?

    My target audience is females, ages ranging from 14-25, from a middle class background who enjoy artists such as Melanie Martinez, Fae, Poppy, and Sofia Isella. Though User139 is the artist's top song, it doesn't have the most plays. Overall, she has about 26,400 monthly listeners, who also listen to the artists I mentioned above. 

    

  There wasn't a lot of engagement coming from the social media I created as I couldn't promote my artist without a possible lawsuit from the real artist, however the viewers of the music video, understood the storyline and themes. They also enjoyed the cover art for the song, saying it complimented the music video and branding. 

    One of the key aspects of the music video is the parallel storylines indicated by different colored lighting in the clips sort of went over the viewers' head, if I hadn't explained it afterwards. It wasn't that they didn't notice the difference in the clips and what the lighting meant, but that they didn't realize it was two storylines going on at the same time. I believe if I had made the lighting more consistent throughout the later clips, it would've been clearer.  

How did your research inform your products and the way they use or challenge conventions?

    In my research for this project, I studied to main artists; Joji and Yeat. Though they are from entirely different genres, they have some of the most engaging music videos I've ever seen. I've previously mentioned the narrative structure of Joji's 'Gimme Love' music video and how it's just a bunch of mini clips put together to create a story.  I used the same structure in my video. 

Music Video Research

    

    The song I chose has a lyric, a lyric that allowed me to sprinkle some postmodernism in my project. Before the portfolio projects started, my teacher had taught a unit on postmodernism. We studied the film, Memento (2000) in class and I studied Inception(2010) by myself. After writing a paper on what I learned of postmodernism, I realized I had fallen in love. I knew the second I heard' "this is a simulation, this is a simulation...," in the song, I was going to include my little hints of postmodernism in the video. 

    The way I used postmodernism in my project was by not only having the Joji narrative structure, but scattering the clips over two storylines happening at the same time. For example: User139 is out with her friends getting over user603, that clip having red lighting. Followed by , User139 dwelling on her ex alone in her room, the clip having blue lighting. The two storylines are differentiated by the different colors, something I picked up from Memento. 

    Another little peak of postmodernism used in my video is how the narrator is watching User139. I portray the narrator as a female sat at a computer, where she's booting up a sort of simulation game from a website called CreateYourUser.  In the video, there's input from the narrator that 139 can see as a hologram. 139's understanding of the Narrator is that she's a god or angel that watches over her, not knowing that she, herself, is just a character in a simulation created by the narrator. 

Week Eight - Day One

 So little left...

A post today, a post tomorrow, a post the next! Cannot believe how something that existed purely in my head has come to life. I feel kind of powerful. 

The guidelines for the critincal reflection are to answer four questions in 1000 words, which as a writing student is that bad. Very do-able.  The four questions I have to answer are:

• How do your products represent social groups or issues?
• How do the elements of your production work together to create a sense of ‘branding’?
• How do your products engage with the audience?
• How did your research inform your products and the way they use or challenge conventions?

Just a little planning page to the real Critical Reflection post...

How do your products represent social groups or issues?

• the themes I chose were:
• situationships, or a romantic relationship that the on or both parties do not consider a commitment or labeled relationship, but they are more than friends. 
• breakups and/or process of getting over a breakup

How do the elements of your production work together to create a sense of "branding"?

• social media page, themes in the song, themes showing in the video, themes expressed in the cover art.

How do your products engage with the audience?

• go off of the real artist's fanbase and viewers of the video

How did your research inform your products and the way they use or challenge conventions?

• postmodernism research and how it introduced me to complex storylines and POVs
• narrative structure or who's telling the story in which the music video portrays the narrator in the beginning watching the story go on.

Week seven - day three

I wish I could say today was productive...

But, ultimately, it was not. The most I did concerning this project was post on social media. Now that I have the music video done, the cover art done, and the social media mostly done, I took a relaxing Sunday off.  All I have left to do now is the creative reflection and a few more posts on social media. 

Looking back, this year I was much more organized with my portfolio project; I stayed on schedule in both production and blogging. I still had the same amount of anxiety that it wasn't going to turn out well but I'm very content with this year's turnout. 

Looking back on this year's project alone, I could've done the social media aspect way better had I had a real artist to work with,  but I also could've done more with what I had and I didn't realize till it was too late. 

I feel very grateful towards this class,  I've never learned so much, better yet, enjoyed learning so much. Throughout the two years and two portfolio projects, I've gained so much experience with long-term projects and incorporated new skills such as planning, organization, and editing. 

I know this post doesn't include a lot of intel on how the project is doing, but I believe it needed to be said to express how impactful this project is to the students in this course. 

Week Seven - Day two

 Two parts done... Two more to go...

Today my sister and I finished editing. FINALLYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

the hard part is done. The music video is done. Life is good again. I can sleep peacefully now. We did the major part of editing such as the whole sequence of clips, transitions, blur effects, and lighting was all done on Premiere Pro. Special effects like title and credits, text message pop ups, and hologram pictures was done on After Effects.  It's jover. 

Today I also finished the cover art. I decided to go with a Vinyl sing release, thus theres only front and back covers. However, I included stickers and a lyric sheet. 

Week Seven - Day One

 Editing Continues...

Yesterday my sister and I edited some more, worked on some transitions. We're almost done before we move to After Effects.  We found ways to do certain things that we would've done in After Effects on Premiere, such as the blur transition and a crossfade transition.

I've been working on the Album Cover and so far, I like it. It matches the video and it gives the vibe I'm looking for. I made it in photoshop, I overlayed to photos then a red box that I ran the smudge tool over. It was relatively easy to do but time consuming as I didn't know what I wanted. 

 

Week Six - Day Three

 Today was a short editing day. We, my sister and I, edited the last transitions before exporting. We decided to add all the transitions in adobe premiere because the clips were still separated. After we export the project will be just a long clip, making it harder to sport the right timing for a transition. 

Nonetheless, the sequence and transitions are done. This week coming up will include the last bit of editing using after effects, album cover art, and more posts to social media. 

 So much to be done in such little time. 

Week Six - Day Two

 Editing will forever be my OP...

Today I opened the project and sat myself down until all the clips were in order.  After watching the sequence of clips without FX I noticed that it may turn out as well as I hope. I just have to trust the process of editing. I then review the video with my sister who is an editor as well. She specifies in after effects however, which I plan to use to add effects in my video. 

Today was a successful day, a productive day. I plan to finish editing by tomorrow. This upcoming week will be free to post on social media and complete the key art for the song cover. I'm excited but anxious as always. 

For those whom appreciate photogenic explanation of the editing process, this is it. Just a lot of contemplating and staring at a screen. 

Week Six - Day One

 Editing demons got hands...

Editing is when the projects either makes or brakes. At this point, I'm usually sitting like a nervous duck. I began the project file on adobe premiere pro and put some clips in before I realized that I hated it. This project wasn't turning out how I wanted it to and I'll forever be an idealist whom cannot create something that I'll actually like.  I actually wrote a short poem about it. 

red paint flows through my veins and on to my hands 

the traces left on the white canvas

words tip over my head and leave their mark on the paper

my own creations, I'm an avid hater.

the words of my soul, i pour them out

for me to never recite aloud

the blood on my hands, cut by the strings

a melody i created that makes my heart sting

and as i try to sing the words i have spilled

my confidence crumbles with embarrassment

for sharing my inventions are far too personal 

and i'm far from arrogant. 

At last I read over this creation

I am not proud, i could do better

i think this with every occasion

i guess, i'm just a creative beggar.  

 

Anyways at this point, I decided to give myself some space away from the project. The whole project felt really overwhelming and I couldn't handle it.  I gave it a few days before I thought about it again and opened the project. 

Portfolio Week Five - Day Three

 Last Filming Day...

This last day of production,  all I had left to do was very little. I woke up this morning and packed for the roadtrip. I drove three hours to Orlando, spent the day with my family and later as the sun came down, I began to film. 

I need two clips of myself in the car contemplating life. Which I used my brothers car and a tripod. Then I took some shots of myself going into the apartment complex, then knocking on the door and waiting outside it. I also took a sort of POV shot because it occurred to me the its always good to have extra shots if I need them. 

This conclude my filming process, until editing, if I notice I'm missing some clips, which is next week. 

Portfolio Week Five - Day Two

 Second to last filming day...

Today I filmed one of the last scenes I needed. It was more of a flashback scene that goes along with the music and gives context to the story. The scene included User139 and User603, originally supposed to filmed in my room but I had to switch it to my car as we had no other place to film at the time. 

I'm excited to be close to finishing the filming process, I have one tiny part left that I'll be filming in Orlando tomorrow. 

Portfolio week five - day one

 Filming Day Three - 

Today I filmed a lot. I filmed three entire scenes. I made a DIY club using strobe lights a speaker and two of my friends. It was fun but short lived as they were busy and needed to go. 

I also stuck my head out the car window which was also fun except for the slight rain coming down onto my face. Overall filming was fun, stressful but fun. I have very little left which I have planned for tomorrow and the next day. Come Monday, editing will by the pool will consume my days. 

Today I also posted on social media, quite a lot. because I realized I lacked posts.

Portfolio Week Four - Day Two

 Filming Day one Part two

As you can see I meant to post the last post yesterday, but alas life got in the way. I apologize for the late update so here's two on the same day! 

In my process of filming I have some non-G rated themes (as per Florida law requires) in my video; such as drinking, drug use, and nudity(shower scene), I had to find my way around including those themes without actually including them. So I implied them instead. 

In my video,  I have to portray a girl hung up on her ex, and how do humans usually deal with issues like that, getting f*cked up and sending the "u up?" message. In a scene where my character is supposedly drunk, she actually just has the bottle in hand. 

Another scene, my character is in the shower, I ended up putting on a bathing suit and filming the shot in shower, thinking of it as another costume. The shot mostly focuses on her putting her head down thus making it a close up of her side profile.  So in reality, though it may look like I'm doing all these things, I'm not. I'm just awesome at 'acting' hung up on someone. 

Portfolio Week Four - Day One

 So it begins...

Storyboarding is now finished. Filming begins today. I'm starting off with the set. I have my tripod, a stabilizer, led lights, and my costumes.

I'm filming the scenes I can do from my room by myself.  For the camera, I used my phone and a tripod and set it where I want the angle to be from. When it came to colored lighting, I had a four-hour youtube video of blue lighting playing on my tv, a blue neon sign, my led lamp, and led strobe lights. Because I wanted a little definition of subject in my clips I used a mini spotlight. I'm really happy with how the lighting came out. 

Due to my music video having two storylines, I have to use color to help the audience distinguish the two. After a while of debating on whether I should use light or editing color overlays, I chose lighting because I figured it would look better and/or more professional. I was going in blind slightly, I didn't have a clue on what I was going to do but I wanted to at least try.

In this scene, I couldn't exactly cry so I decided to use eyedrops. I ended up using half the bottle with how many takes I had to do.

Print Component Research

 We talkin vinyls right now...

I, myself, am a vinyl collector. I have many many albums and singles. I have the entire Arctic Monkeys discography in vinyl. However, I wont be talking about my personal collection. I reviewing some of my personal favorite album covers.  

First is Joji's Ballads 1 album his first LP. I actually have this one in my collection. I remember pre-ordering it back 2018 like it was yesterday. 

  

The front of the album is Joji himself. It was a good tactic to continue his humor from his previous career on youtube, many were not happy when he announced his retirement.  However, many of the same fans stuck around or came back after realizing that his personality is still the same. His content was always rather off-putting. Having such cover art justifies his brand even more. 

The art on the vinyl itself is probably only an exclusive or just for newer copies, as mine does not have it. Nonetheless, it goes well with the album as Joji's single, Slow Dancing In The Dark, released before the album also had blood on the cover art.

On the back there the title and the production credits. The small card was not included in my copy but most likely a little gift from Joji's distribution company. 

I absolutely adore this cover art because it captures Joji's brand and album theme. 

Next we have another of my all time favorites, Yeat's Aftërlyfe. 

I love this album cover sooooooooooooo much. On his instagram and on Spotify theres a slight animation of the smoke and him moving his head. Yeat's album covers have always been abstract. And I love it. On the back of the vinyl cover is the title, a slight picture of Yeat himself in the bottom left corner, a list of songs and the credits to them. 

There's not a special aspect of the digipack like a message or lyrics but the cover itself is unique and stands out. 

I am goingt to try my best to make my digipack unique to the artist but also with the theme of the song.

portfolio week three - day three

 Almost done with the story board...

From the heading, you can tell I'm almost done. I've run into a sort of directors block of sorts. I've watched so more music videos but none have given me inspiration. Nonetheless I'm not worried. I have class tomorrow so I can ask for help from others on what I should include in my video. 

For now I intend on posting something to my social media. @sevenmusic.of on Instagram...go check it out.;) 

portfolio week three - day two

 Storyboarding...

I like using notion to storyboard. It keeps it organized and i can go into much detail as I want and I don't have to draw. (blessup!) After writing the lyrics down and what shots I want, I travel the online site of Pinterest for inspo pics of what I want my shots to look like.

 

I also had to create my sort of online prop. It supposed to look like a website the the singer uses to check up on her "user." I used Canva to do this.

Portfolio Week Three - Day One

 Group Meeting - 

    In class, we were organized into groups and tasked with speaking of our projects. If I were asked before, I would've cowered away before sharing anything about my project. Now, however, I learned that it wasn't a bad experience, I started the activity with my very real comedic personality (I result to making jokes to keep people away, a bad habit I'm trying to break). I began the conversation by speaking about the process of picking my song and the challenges I had to face.  

    The conversation led on about their projects and plots. I ended up showing them notion, an organizing application and website I use to organize my thoughts and Ideas about the project. I also gave them advice with casting and plot issues. At the end When I told them my own plot, they didn't really give me pointers anything but I don't have an issue with that because I'm not having any plot issues. They understood my idea and that means more to me, because if they didn't I'd have to change it. 

Portfolio Week Two - Day Four

 I finally chose a song!!!!!!!!!! Yipppeeeee! The song is called User139. It's about how the singer is watching this girl, User 139, that she's in love with be hurt by a guy called User 603.  What I hope to do with the music video is to add a little postmodernism and start the story from the singers pov. The singer is watching User 139's life via a screen. And from the screen the camera can zoom in and the scene turns into what looks like the real world. (I'm having trouble to explain it, but trust the process and let me cook.) 

I hope to tell the story of User 139 instead of the singer's narration.   I'm super excited about using this song.  User139

my excitement - it looks menacing, but im harmless i swear.

Portfolio Week Two - Day Three

 Music Video Research

Two years ago, I was in the Film three honors course. In said course, I made a music video to one of my favorite artists, Joji.  After the video was done, I was upset, It didn't turn out how I wanted it. So I redid the storyline, went back to my research of camera angles and lighting. After that I went to re-film and I got pretty far into the production but I never finished it. 

Nonetheless, I also made a presentation for this class, analyzing Joji's music videos, what story are they telling and how they do it. Specifically, Gimme Love; due to the fact that I was speaking about it my technical notes aren't on the slides. Besides that, Gimme Love's music video follows a storyline portrayed in an editing technique of tiny snippets of clips that make no sense on their own but put together create a story. 

I really admire this technique and may use it my project. The video is embedded in the presentation for viewing. 

Joji