research research and more research

 I'm having a lot of fun with this research!

more research!!

 Continuing with the research,

Research! (NOT DONE)

 So today, I'm starting the research for my music video! I know Annie is a fan of Taylor Swift and Gracie Abrams and it is obvious in the type of music that she makes. So I decided to do research on some of Taylor Swift's music videos to get an idea of the type of videos created with the music. 

Everything Has Changed ft. Ed Sheeran.

As I watched some of Taylor's videos, I noticed that most of them are with her singing so I tried to find one that was pure storytelling and I found this! I honestly found it to be such a cute video that showed the innocence that love can have. 

ADDITIONALLY, one of my favorite songs is also a pure storytelling video that is truly amazing. Although, it is technicallyyy a short film, it captures the great storytelling power with the song. 

Swift, T. (2013, June 6). Taylor Swift - Everything Has Changed ft. Ed Sheeran [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1oM3kQpXRo

Swift, T. (Director). (2021, November 12). All too well: The short film [Film]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tollGa3S0o8

decisions have been made!

I finally got the yes from the artist that I really wanted to work with for this project and I am so beyond excited because her music is truly amazing and she is so talented. This artist is someone I had a class with in my freshman year, and she is also one of my friend's family friends. She has moved to Nashville to pursue her dream, which I'm so happy for, but it also sucks because we won't be able to record the video with her. Anyways, the artist we're going to work with is Annie LeMasters! Here she is!  

She is a pop singer, which is one my favorite genre of music. The genre of pop music typically has really catchy, structured songs, usually containing 2 verses, 3 choruses and a bridge. The choruses are strong and repetitive. Think like perfect songs to sing in the car with the windows down!

I'm gonna start deep diving into multiple examples of music videos from this genre so I can get a better picture of it.  

EnglishClub. (2025, February). What is pop music? https://www.englishclub.com/vocabulary/music-pop.php

time management

I really really want to work on my time management for this project because it will make my life soooooo much easier. Our goal is to finish a few days before to have space to get critiques and tweak anything we need. So we created a schedule to help keep us on track:

Week One (2/17-2/22)

• Choose project 

• Contact artist we’re interested in

• Create schedule

• Assign roles 

Week Two (2/23-3/1)

• Research on genre 

• Research examples of said genre

• Start developing ideas for video (talk with artist to choose song)

• Casting 

Week Three (3/2-3/8)

• Research social media pages of similar artists 

• Create social media page (choose between titktok or insta)

• Storyboard for video

• Create filming schedule

Week Four (3/9-3/15)

• Film film film

• Research print component

• Social mediaaaa posts

Week Five (3/16-3/22) – this is Spring break – plan accordingly

• Spring break, individual work

• Start developing digipak and work on social media

• Maybe possibly start editing but idk

Week Six(3/23-3/29)

• Editing editing and more editing

• Finalize digipak

• Social media postssss

• Research for critical reflection three  

Week Seven (3/30-4/5) 

• Finish editing

• Work on critical reflection

• Finalize social media page

Week Eight (4/6-4/10)

• Finish critical reflection 

• Get feedback/ critique on all components

• Fix/tweak anything if needed

• Final reflections 

I'm really excited for how this project is going to come out!

(me being excited to start)

Portfolio Project!!!!!!!

WE'RE SO BACK! I've been so excited to start this project since I hard about it in the beginning of the year. And from day one I always knew I wanted to do the music promotion package because music has always been one of my biggest passions.

I am so excited to finally start this project! I want to create something that I'm truly proud of, being my last project in high school. I'm going to try to put my alllllll into this project! (I'm honestly probably the most excited for designing the digipak)

(this is little me at the Grammy Museum)

Critical Reflection on Documentary Project

     The goal of my documentary Kids Helping KIDs was to explain what the organization is, what it does, and to show the real impact that a community can have. I think that I succeeded in accomplishing this goal by creating an informative and engaging piece. However, there is always room for improvement. 

    When it came to research, I didn't feel like my topic needed any facts or background because I wanted to focus on what we do as an organization and how we help, and I wanted it to focus on emotional impacts at the end. Therefore, watching different types of documentaries served as my research of the different techniques and conventions that are used in documentaries. Of all the documentaries I viewed I feel like Abstract and Exit Through the Gift Shop served as my major inspirations because of the way the b-roll was integrated and also to inspire me to include archived footage into my documentary. I like the way that Abstract showed its b-roll for context to what was being shown, and I took that as inspiration for my own documentary. I also really liked the branded introduction seen in Abstract, which served to engage people right from the start. This directly inspired my intro with the montage and title in it.

    

    The target audience for this documentary people looking to help in their community or want to specifically help foster kids. To keep my audience engaged, I included a lot of b-roll in my documentary, since it kept it visually interesting and appealing instead of just staring at a person talking all the time. It allowed for people watching it to have a visual representation of what is being described. Additionally, throughout the whole documentary, the direct interviews progresses the story, and I believe that cutting between interviews and intertwining them with each other also aided with the engagement of the audience because it wasn't the same person talking the same time and it added more. However, I do think that they interviews could have been framed a lot better and it would have been more engaging if they looked better visually with maybe a zoom or even a change in setting. However, the cutting between the interviewees also helped with the pacing of the documentary to make it more engaging and more easy to understand the information that was given. 

    We chose the structure of this to go from introducing the organization, to deep diving into the Thanksgiving Food Drive, to a more heartfelt conclusion, showing the emotional impacts that the people involved have. This allowed for the audience to get informed in an engaging and easily to follow structure. 

    Kids Helping KIDs is a documentary that represent two main groups: teenager and adults that are willing to help the community, and the foster kids who receive the help. One way that I chose to represent the teenagers and the adults is by incorporating them as interviewees in the documentary, as well as in the b-roll footage, showing their interactions with the kids. The documentary is all about the indirect way that we help these kids, such as raising money through drives. In this documentary, we represent the kids in the foster homes, that have been abused and neglected. This documentary highlight one of the many ways that someone may help contribute to the cause and the ways that teenagers and adults can help.

Overall, I'm extremely proud of what we were able to achieve with this documentary! Here's the link to watch it: Kids Helping KIDs