Human- Professional Project Review

   
        Humans is a song by YouTube personality and songwriter Dodie Clark with vocals sung by both Tom Walker and herself. The music video is a story about a girl creating the perfect partner and then realizing he isn't what she intended him to become. The story is told through lighting and art design as well as the lyrics.

     Dodie has a history of using vague, but meaningful concepts for her music videos; Intertwined, 6/10, In The Middle and You are are examples. The cinematography is always very interesting and very purposeful while following the rules.

       This shot is very appealing to me. Ciaran O'Brian, the cinematographer used the rule of thirds very well in this shot while offering a beautiful depth of field. The lighting also adds to the mood of the video. This song gives off a bittersweet feeling and the lighting helps with that by making Dodie's side of the screen darker with most of the light focused on the face on the wall who will eventually become her significant other. This represents hope for their relationship and how she expects him to brighten up her world.

      This shot also follows the rule of thirds very nicely. The lighting is s bit orange, but it adds a vintage feel to it. Acting plays a big role in this video; throughout the shots you see that the male shows very little emotion while Dodie is seen to be smiling and much more animated, adding to the idea that she is more human and that he is more mechanical.The male character is always looking in one spot with no emotion, enforcing the fact that the relationship is very one sided.

        This is the most impactful shot of the whole video in my opinion. It is one of the most bright shots of the piece lighting-wise and since it's towards the end of what seems to be a sad ending, it seems out of place but is actually very helpful because it illuminates the hope again. Dodie has left the love that doesn't show love towards her and is going to try again. The audience see that this is not her first attempt and because we can see hope, we know this will probably not be her last. This is also the first time we really see the make character move an look around on his own accord at the doppelgangers on the floor around him. It's quite chilling to look at.

       I really enjoy the use of light in this video and will definitely use it as a model for my own work. It allows the story to be broadened and more emotion to be show. The art direction is also wonderful. There is a lack of brighter colors with most colors being neutral beside the man's eyes and Dodie's outfit with her green overalls.

        Dodie has always impressed me with her work and I can't wait to see more as she releases her 3rd EP. She has a wonderful group of friends that helps her with her videos and it reminds me of my own relationship with my classmates and our work together. It's definitely a factor to a good music video.
 

Canon Commercial Project.

        My group went through quite the gauntlet in making this commercial. Our original product was a Polaroid Camera, but we had to change products about halfway throughout the process which I can explain later. The concept for our commercial was a road trip like montage. As seen below:

All rights to above video belong to Kyle Houck on Youtube. I had no part in it's production. 
This video played a big part in our polaroid commercial, but alas, it would not come to be.


        My group filmed for 2 or 3 days for our Polaroid commercial, but that Monday, I lost our SD card with all our footage on it. We then had to scramble to put together a commercial.  In the absence of time, we decided to forgo actors and use a Canon camera instead of a Polaroid.  Our commercial focused on good close ups and how Canon helps you capture life.

        At this point, everything is going every which way.  We had production roles in the beginning, but towards the end, they were all muddled. Piper was Director, Layla was Art Director, Kate was Editor and I was Cinematographer, but after I lost the SD card, we all just worked together on the separate jobs. Piper and I filmed footage, Layla helped as a slight actor and setting up shots and Kate did the editing. Everything was turning around, then the weekend came. Kate, wonderful Kate was editing over the weekend when her computer broke and she was gone from school on Tuesday, meaning Kate had only 24 hours to edit the entire commercial again. She got it done and it looks amazing, but she didn't have time to do much color correcting. She chose a wonderful song and edited all the shots Piper and I filmed to the music. 

          Overall, I think our commercial was a success. It was entertaining and positive, especially after all the struggle we went through. I would love to try the Polaroid commercial again though!