Filming Blog: Music Video

My filming process began Saturday, November 21. This was the first day of the Thanksgiving break and the day that my family and I began our road trip to North Carolina. I chose to film during this time because of the timing of my prior blogs and due to practicality. I was hesitant at first with this process because the footage I had filmed was so wildly different from the contents of M.I.A.'s Paper Plane music video. I was concerned that the difference would cause some issues in how the song was intended to be portrayed. I showed a very different side of the Paper Plane's message by contrasting the lyrics with the images to add emphasis which I hope showed a more personal representation and interpretation. Still, my concerns remain and I may change my song choice in the editing part to fit my scenes better. My footage has scenes from the beginning of my journey all the way to the end. Clips of packing the car, time spent on the road, stops along the way, and detours were all included. The eight-hour drive up to our first stop, Charlestown, South Carolina helped me get a grasp on my film style for this project and what its contents may look like. We continued the next day and arrived in Flat Rock, North Carolina were we spent the next five days, including Thanksgiving, before heading out on Friday. We then drove our way down to Florida, stopping in Gainesville for a night and checking out the local university. Then on Saturday we made it back home. My footage has scenes from the entirely of the journey and is important to my personal influence in this video. Because of my travels, I choose not to work with any classmates and form a group. I did, however, have my family become actors in my music video. My filming was largely unplanned and impulsive. Whenever an interesting scene came up or inspiration struck I tried to record it in a way that could highlight my inspiration with M.I.A's message. Scenes like the recording from the top of a cliff were filmed out of convenience. They provided footage with relevant content. Other clips, like the several short scenes I took of the road while we drove were planned. I hope to use this footage to create a transition and move the story along. [11/26/20]