1st Semester 2020 Film Reel

1st Semester Junior Film Reel

When making the film reel, I aimed to make it lighthearted and fun. That's the reason the background music for the duration of the video is upbeat. Of course I also had to choose shots that fit with the music, so most of the shots are either humorous or fun. The switch commercial showed two friends playing games together, so that easily fit with the music. Franklin's Cake is a comedy, so some of those shots worked as well; such as when Franklin throws an orange in the batter. When editing, I only used stable shots with good lighting and white balance. Many shots in Franklin's Cake were poorly white balanced, and some shots in the Switch commercial were poorly lit, so I didn't use those shots. I tried to make sure all my videos were evenly spread across the video, so one part didn't emphasize too much on one video.

In this reel, I wanted to show my main production roles as editor/cinematographer by using good shots, putting them together in a coherent way, and for good measure I put my production roles at the very end of the reel. Looking back on the reel now, I think I used the best clips I could've. Something I would've done differently, however, is the music. It fits the mood I was going for, but it's kind of bland and repetitive. Another mistake was exporting in 1080p instead of 720p. This reel was better than my previous one, but it still doesn't feel complete. Once I film more quality videos, I think I'll be able to add more substance to my film reels because as of now it feels generic.

Music Video Professional Review

Summary

The music video for Carried Away is about a dysfunctional relationship between two individuals. They try to make it work and even have some good times together, but there are some things that are said that can't be unsaid. When the male protagonist says "you make me sick," it highlights how their relationship will probably never work out.

Element to Apply to My Work

The editing was really clever. Although a lot of it isn't something I would be able to recreate, there's definitely a lot to take away from it. I like how the music video started and ended at the get-together where their relationship falls apart. In between is a mixture of happy memories and not so happy memories. The good and bad memories contrast each other and add a lot to the music video. At the climax of the music video where the guy says "you make me sick," it visibly shows the girl holding onto the words and when the guy says he's sorry, the sentence falls apart onto the floor. This shows how some things can't be unsaid. 

What the Creator Did Best

The creator of the music video did a really good job of storytelling. It's hard to convey a story in an interesting way, but this video really captured my interest. There was a really unique dynamic between the two characters and you can understand them as people. The guy says lots of things he regrets saying and the girl has trouble accepting his apologies. You can understand why they stay together even though their relationship is dysfunctional because the music video sprinkles in good moments in their relationship. 

How it Could've Improved

There's not a lot of bad things I have to say about the music video, but I will say that I prefer music videos that tell the story through visuals instead of subtitles. It's a little lazy, but I personally don't mind it too much for this video because of the climax where you see all the mean things the two have said to each other.