Pre-Production Preliminary Research

This is our preliminary research into music videos. 

Weekly Progress

 This is the Weekly Progress.

Week 1 : 

For this week, we did preliminary research on music videos where we discussed about different genres which we would do on the upcoming project. My previous group for the other project has been changed so, I would be working with different people that have different skills that would come to use in this upcoming project. Which in the end, we picked out RnB as our genre for the music video project. 

Week 2 : 

For this week, we continued with our genre research. In this research, it helped us understand further about what conventions should be in the music video to appeal to our audience as an RnB genre aswell as that it gave us broad ideas on what to subvert in our music video to make it unique and entertaining. The deadline to submit this research is at this week's Thursday so I have to hurry it up.

Week 3 : 

For this week, we finished with our genre research homework. We also learned about a new topic about media ecology which there are 5 main key points on the topic which are :

- Every technological advancement = trade-off 

- We shape technology, technology shapes us

- Technology becomes mythic or irreplaceable 

- New technology competes with old technology 

- Advantages or disadvantages never spread evenly

After that, we continued to have project lessons to progress with our blogs for the music video project. Which I am tasked to do the moodboard for now.

Week 4 : 

For this week, we went in more depth explanation on the theories by Judith Butler, Van Zoonen, and Laura Mulvey about feminism in media. By that we were also discussing about how that audience values would change overtime as they are exposed to media and we would also discuss about the articles on the male gaze. 

Week 5 : 

For this week, we started to pick up our pace to finish our current blogs that we need to finish as our objectives set by our teacher which is the moodboard, storyboard, lyrics sheet, location scout with risk assessment. We also learnt more on media ecology which contained a theory by Marshall McLuhan about global village. This theory would mainly be used in the exam on the media ecology section which would be very important for me to get even more points and improve my writing and understanding on media ecology.

Week 6 : 

For this last week on this semester, we have to complete everything in our blogs that is from the goal that the teacher set up for us as a deadline. Although, in the middle of this week I had to go to Japan for the school immersion which I missed on a few lessons which there are tasks I had to catch up on such as the persona classwork. Which I picked Lil Tecca as my persona artist pick, this classwork that I had to catch up on showed me on how off-screen and on-screen persona works and what persona is in general and how it works. After this week ends, it would be a semester break in where in the break we would have to start filming for the music video.

Reflection : I felt like the pre-production stage for this project is that it was very fun learning new things about creating a persona of the artist which is going to be our teammate Panji. We also watched different music videos from each classmate throughout the semester which we got several ideas that we would use from those music videos and implement it to our project. Overall, it wasn't that tedious as my teammates have a good music taste which made it simpler to pick a song quicker and decide the locations, costumes, props we would use for the recording. 

My Team

This is my team for our music video project. 

Panji : Actor

Maha : Cameraman

Bams : Editor

Alex : Editor 

Reflection : This is my team for this new music video project as they would help throughout the process of making this project and also get to know other skills that I might develop from them. In this case would further develop our understanding in each other well as a team and our key skills to use for our music video.

Brief

 This is the brief for our music video project

Final Documentary and Thumbnail

This is the Final Documentary video and Thumbnail...

Video

Incase the YouTube link doesn't work, this is the google drive link for backup :

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aU-i3o8TXUGLjQnmotvmHeNrg6tikqnH/view?usp=sharing

Thumbnail

Critical Reflection

This is my Critical Reflection based off these questions.

CR 1 - How do your products represent social groups or issues?

CR 2 - How do the elements of your production work together to create a sense of  'branding'?

CR 3 - How do your products engage with the audience?

CR 4 - How did your research inform your products and the way they use or challenge conventions?

Me and my team researched on crime documentaries on Netflix, which then we developed a crime documentary which surrounds on students that are fighting to be the top of the school through wealth and sacrifice. The name of this documentary is 'Valedictorian'. 

Our product is to have a branding that is associated with the dark side of the academic and psychological drama. The serif font on the thumbnail (fig 1) would give off that prestigious and formal which ties to the idea of the valedictorian plot, thus connotating 'academic struggles through sacrifices'. The color palette between the red overlay and the bright overlay which would add the contrast in theory of Roland Barthes's hermeneutic code to create suspense and mystery, as the audience would then be curious on why 'valedictorian' is so important to the both of the actors. The documentary itself that shows, the floating effect at the end of the documentary shows where Hazel looks at Rain giving off a stern look (fig 2) which could indicate he is suspecting something like a conflict or something suspicious from the smile that Rain is giving off. The audience would be able to decode the meaning by the Reception Theory by Stuart Hall either by preferred reading, negotiated reading or oppositional reading. 

My research into the crime documentaries such as 'American Vandal', 'What Jennifer Did'. These are the typical crime documentaries and the conventions of it are always the gloomy environment, there is that CCTV footage camera shot as well as closeups of the crime scene, the sounds of police sirens or the 911 call, and the edit would be jump cuts for fast paced moments. We mostly conformed to the CCTV footage, and J cut because the CCTV footage (fig 3) camera angle gives off that tension and mystery as the footage in our documentary is grainy, black and white this connotates that uncertainty and fear because the footage isn't always clear, thus the audience would seem like their detectives by piecing these unclear clues together. We subverted our actors to be Indonesian actors although they are talking English which makes them those international students which relates to the representation theory on stereotypes where they are usually represented as rich students, this could appeal to the young audience who idealize wealth. The biggest influence on our research is watching the multiple crime documentaries to get an idea on what are the typical conventions.

Our target audience is towards young teenagers and students as the thumbnail. For the demographic, people that are usually middle-class, aged between 16-30 which means they are Gen-Z people. Psychographic is for people that relate to the struggles. The young students and the school would appeal to our target audience as they are about the academic lessons and grades which they may watch as it relates to their daily lives. Relating to the Uses and Gratifications theory, personal identity as young students watching may compare their own struggles from the video. The trophies and the title valedictorian could attract the audience as it connotates success, intelligence and also competitive. The 'torn paper' effect would suggest either conflict or hidden secrets that would be revealed in the documentary. The red filter would give off that mystery in like what danger or struggle does this represent which could make the audience question about the darkness going on. 

The social groups that are in our documentary would mostly be international students, teachers, and high-achieving students. The dominant reading suggests that the achievement is not cost-free and would need sacrifices which would relate to our documentary and success especially academic comes with emotional, and mental costs. The closeups of the two actors as Rain shows happy emotions while as Hazel shows that serious in studying emotions. The issues that are in this documentary would be competition and academic pressures relating with stress. The dominant reading of this issue usually shows that competition is usually not friendly but toxic and harmful and the academic pressure is that the pursuit to becoming the best would easily lead to burnouts and stress. As the nerd is often portrayed intelligent, workaholic, isolated although their skills are unrecognized while as the rich kid is shown rich, smart, popular and their skills are recognized. The closeup and longshot in the empty classroom which shows him that he is very focused in his academics. Our documentary uses stereotypes such as the nerd and he is using glasses which implies he is a nerd. 

(fig 1)

(fig 2)

(fig 3)

Classwork

 This is the classwork blog to show all the work we have done in class with the teacher.

Classwork by bams

Filming Schedule

This is the Filming schedule for our crime documentary project and this was done by our team member Kim and Eileen.

scene	day/time	location	people	props	equipment
Interview	Wednesday, 20th August 2025	School, classroom	Group + Interviewees	Chair, desk	Phone
Interview	Friday, 22nd August 2025	School classroom	Group + interviewees	Chair, desk	Phone
School vlog	Monday, 25th August 2025	School, classroom, library	Group + rich student + rich student’s friends + nerd	Chair, desk, laptop, paper, worksheets, books, pen, calculator, glasses.	Phone
Interviews	Tuesday, 26th August 2025	School, classroom & library	Interviewees (Misch, Vanya, Reyner)	Chair, desk	Phone
Interviews + vlogs	Wednesday, 27th August 2025	School parking lot	Interviewees (Cavin)	Chair, desk, laptop, paper, worksheets, books, pen, calculator, glasses. Car	Phone
Thumbnail photo	Wednesday, 27th August 2025	Classroom	Rain and Hazel	Blue background, checkered uniform, glasses	Phone
Interview	Thursday, 28th August 2025	School (teachers desk)	Interviewee (Ms. Nina)	Chair, table	Phone
Interview	Monday, 8th September 2025	School (teachers desk)	Interviewee (Ms. Nina)	Chair, table	Phone
Interview	Thursday, 11th September 2025	School parking lot	Interviewee (Bams)	Car	Phone
Vlogs	Friday, 13th September 2025	Basketball court	Rain’s friend group	Basket ball	Phone
Interview	Monday, 15th September 2025	School lounge	Interviewee (Greg)	Table, chair	phone
Thumbnail photo	Monday, 15th September 2025	School lobby (in front of the trophies)	Rain	Jacket	Phone

=> The scheduled filming for the interviews on the 20th and 22nd were cancelled because most of the cast weren't able to film and is rescheduled to monday 25th august.

=> The person that was supposed to play the role of the ‘rich student’ wasn't able to attend the filming for monday. So instead we just filmed the vlog with his friends only. We are planning to reschedule the shoot somewhere this week. 

=> On monday 25th august, we were supposedly only filming the vlog, but we tried to film one of the interviews which surprisingly was a good result so we would consider using that as one of the used scenes. 

=> On Wednesday 27th of August, we filmed Cavin outside at the school parking lot. We didn't have a microphone, so the audio quality turned out really bad since it was very windy that day.  

So on the 11th of September we filmed it again with Bams, because Cavin didn’t want to re-film. We placed his phone in his pocket while it was voice recording, then we put the voice recording to the video so the audio is clear. 

=> On the 27th of August we also took photos for the thumbnail. Both the characters we taking picture behind a blue background while using the same uniform, we then got feedback from Mr. Nick and he suggested having a different background and outfit for Rain.

So on the 15th of September, we reshot the photo of Rain. We did it in the school lobby in front of the trophies. Since this was a day before the deadline and it was a Monday, Rain was wearing the checkered uniform which was the same as the previous picture, to fix this we borrowed someone's jacket to cover his uniform. 

=> On the 28th of August, we shot Ms.Nina’s interview in the counselor's office, however it was very loud because it was during dismissal time and we also forgot to shoot a video of Ms.Nina sitting down. So on the 8th of September, we reshooted her again inside a classroom in the teachers table. It was shot in the preschool building after dismissal time so there was less crowds. 

This is the actor filming schedule made by Eileen

Location Scout & Risk Assessment

 This is our Location Scout & Risk Assessment for our documentary project.

1st Location

(School)
Location Link:	https://share.google/IxOvrdJ7bj9meDGOz
Events in scene:	What will happen? Interviews Silly vlogs / videos from students
Pros of location:	Accessible  Familiar environment => easy to film + can engage audience (adds realism) Free  Controlled environment (can manage or adust the setting of props like table/chairs) Convenient (all casts and group members will be available to film with during school             days)
Cons of location:	We would need permission to film in different areas in the school, we would also need             to ask some teachers whether they are okay or want to be a part of the documentary Noise control, some locations like the canteen can be noisy during lunch time or break             time which can affect the quality of the sound Time limits, we might have to film outside school hours to get darker scene, we would             need to ask permission first on whether we could film during those hours.
Alternatives:	What other locations can you shoot at if there are issues here? Someones house
Risk Assessment
Potential hazards:	What dangers are there? Crowds of students Slips / trips while filming Harm of privacy
Evaluate risks:	What bad things could happen? It will be noisy => making the sound quality of the scenes bad / damage of filming             equipment          2. Cast / videographer can slip or trip over bags or object on the floor         3. Other students may be caught on camera without consent
Control measures:	How will you prevent these from happening? Avoid filming during break/lunch times  Keep the floor/area clear Only film with cast members who already gave permission
Responsibility:	Who will be in charge of the control measures? Group members Group members Group members
Time frame:	When will you have the control measure in place by? Before filming  Before and during filming  Before and during filming
Other notes:

2nd Location

(Cafe)
Location Link:	https://share.google/jB9Atf6R7WcENtwrs
Events in scene:	What will happen? Interviews
Pros of location:	More flexible filming hours, we can film during any time of the week, if there are any             mistakes we can easily go there and reshoot as the cafe is open everyday.
Cons of location:	There may be a lot of background noise which can affect the noise quality of the scene.  We might need permission from the staff or owner of the cafe The cafe may be crowded which can affect the accessibility to film and it may also             disturb customers We would have to buy drinks or food to film
Alternatives:	What other locations can you shoot at if there are issues here? Someones house
Risk Assessment
Potential hazards:	What dangers are there? Spillage of hot drinks Privacy issues
Evaluate risks:	What bad things could happen? It could burn casts or damage filming equipment  Customers may appear without consent
Control measures:	How will you prevent these from happening? Keep drinks away from equipments / filming  Film with permission / avoid getting customers/staff in frame
Responsibility:	Who will be in charge of the control measures? Group members Group members
Time frame:	When will you have the control measures in place by? Before filming  Before and during filming
Other notes: