Created an Instagram for "Sunshine"

So I finally gave in and made a social media page for the song's release, @sunshine.ftc on Instagram. As the project comes to a close, I realized the importance of being able to manage the band's social media outlets rather than relying on them to do the posting. Through this, I also have more control marketing-wise and I can post efficiently without having to wait on the band to do so which allows the band to run a more efficient campaign since posts are more consistent in frequency and style.

When deciding what I should post on the page, I decided on using memes to engage the target audience since the band is known for not taking things seriously as mentioned in one of my previous posts. However, there are also some posts showing short clips of the music video out of context to remind the audience that the release of this song is actually a serious endeavor and will not yield a mediocre release.

   

An important aspect to consider when making promos for the music vid is to make sure not to give away too much to the audience in order to maintain hype for the project. To to this, I make sure to only use footage clips rather than clips from the actual music video since they are in less context. I would also like to mention that since this project is not only for the sake of AICE Media, but for Friday Tiki Club as a band in general, I followed various people using the account to create exposure and have people follow back for updates regarding the song. Currently, there are 40 users following the account and hopefully more to come.

Editing

I've yet to receive the final version of the song, so in the meantime I have created a Premiere project file with all the clips and have started to sort/separate the footage into categories as well as marking the timing of each clip so it will be easier to insert the clips into the right part of the song (so the performance matches the song).

What I did to sync the videos with the song was to match the instrumental version of the song with the audio of the VHS clips using the waveform and by matching the beat of the drum in the background. This will ultimately help me to match up the new audio later when I get the final song so I know where the clips belong.

I hope to finish by sometime in the next two weeks, luckily we don't have to film the Creative Critical Reflection this time around, so I'll be able to take my time perfecting the piece stress-free. Considering the footage gathered, it doesn't seem like it should take too long to edit the piece, I'm estimating two days at most if I grinded it out. Hopefully this does not come back to haunt me.

Filming Day 3 — Band Performance Video (ft. The creepiest/ugliest mask you've ever seen)

 We were originally gonna film in the morning and the afternoon, but we eventually decided to just film in the afternoon since Seb could only film later in the day (and literally everyone forgot to wake up), so at around 5:00 PM we finalized the main performance scene at Sergio's house. 

One major issue we ended up facing was that our singer, Maxx Nunn, was not available to film since he had to go back to college in Boston, so we came up with the idea to bring a mask and have the various members of the band "sing" verses of the song throughout different parts of the video. The result was ultimately funny as hell were all laughing our asses off as each member put on the creepy ass grim reaper/skeleton mask, especially since we had the mask wear different accessories so you could differentiate between the members (you'll see what I mean in the pictures).

Main Performance Clips

The abomination mask

Filming Day 2 — Sergio's House (planning day and performance shots)

 I'll admit today was pretty convoluted, but we did get some work done. Mateo couldn't come, so we decided that today we would film individual shots of each of the band members playing as well as work on the song's vocals. Although I didn't storyboard anything, I also took the time to think about more in-depth what shots I wanted for tomorrow and synching it with the newly recorded vocals for the song. Overall, it was more of a planning day and we just chilled out at Sergio's house and had fun.

Stills of the band members playing (minus Mateo)

Bloopers from today

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Filming Day 1 — Markham Park (random vids and having fun)

 Filming went pretty well today, I forgot to plug in my camera to charge so I just brought the charging cable and used an AC outlet in one of the gazebos at the park. Everyone started arriving fairly soon, and within 30 minutes, everyone was ready to film. Today, we focused on filming funny clips to reflect the band's playful and lighthearted tone with clips such as the band members doing the "Sunshine dance" (I dunno, I just made it up), Mateo skateboarding, Jake and Sebastian rapping, and Sergio playing the drums on a garbage bin. For the performance aspect we did focus on today, I had the band stand in the middle of a small amphitheater and pretend to play their instruments as the song played on a speaker.

Today's Film Sesh

Sergio beating the shit out of a garbage can

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Filming Tomorrow

 Big day tomorrow, we're filming the Sunshine music video! Hopefully all goes well. I will be charging my VHS camera and bringing spare batteries in case one of them dies and I'll also bring a spare tape in case I run out of space on my main one. Recently, I've been having issues with the camera staying on during use, so hopefully in the middle of their performance the camera doesn't die because that would be very annoying. 

For tomorrow's shoot, we'll most likely be at Markham Park and get those shots out of the way, then we'll film at Sergio's house for the remaining two days we're filming. It should go pretty smoothly considering the amateurish look of music video, so filming shouldn't be too meticulous or convoluted.

Markham Park

We'll most likely film in one of these gazebos

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Shooting Locations?

 As I said in my previous post, the music video will mainly consist of performance and aesthetic/tone clips, so it doesn't exactly matter where we film everything. For simplicity, we are most likely going to film the "random clips" at Markham Park and I might include older videos from my VHS of the band members skating at the Tamarac and Lot 11 Skatepark. For the performance bits, we may also include some footage from Markham, but mainly we will film at Sergio's house since all the instruments are there and we can manipulate the lighting easily. In general, it's just more pleasant than transporting all their instruments to another location to film. 

Considering the band's brand identity of being lowkey and chill, I believe this low-budget amateur look will not effect the quality of the piece and will facilitate the filming process by loads.

Song Progress

 Okay...

So the band has yet to give me a final version of the song with vocals, so in the meantime Sergio made a draft version where he sings over the instrumental for reference when editing.

The plan for next week

 I usually suffer from Winging-It-Last-Second-itis (it's a chronic condition), so this time around I'll take the doctors recommendation and make at least somewhat of a plan before filming next week. Since the piece should be a very general performance/aesthetic video, little to no work needs to go to a storyboard so honestly I just need to organize the general idea of clips I need to collect and their sequence: 

(in order of chronological sequence)

• random shots establishing chill tone
• close-up of serg playing drums
• shot of whole band
• close-up, more personal handheld shots of members (guitar mostly)
• back to serg when drums are loud
• close-up of singer during line "what do you think..."
• shot back to guitar/drums again
• back to singer (until end of line)
• random shots establishing tone (maybe)
• back to band

^^^I think I can use this formula for most of the video

• when beat/tone changes, go back to band (focus on singer and use more long/medium shots)
• transition to random clips again
• when drums are loud, cut back to serg
• during bass line, focus on mateo
• during the rap section, focus on singer (dark room w/ harsh lighting)
• maybe get some full-body shots of the band
• wrap up video with random clips + band
• closing shot is the entire band full-frame (long shot)

Filming Soon

 As the band's singer Maxx Nunn stays in town for the next couple of weeks, we will most likely start filming sometime starting next week or during the beginning of spring break. Since I have work, I will more than likely have to take several days off from work, at least three, in order to focus on the project without any external factors. This being the case, filming will probably start around 3/21 and end on 3/23. I will ask the band members if they could do the same.

Vocals coming soon...

Still waiting for the vocals so I still don't have a good picture as to what the music video will look like, although I do know that the video will have very relaxed and beachy, nostalgic vibes. Most likely, the video may not even be about the singer and his lover, but perhaps something less serious such as a PlayStation like in the song, "sick feeling - boy pablo. My mind is not very good at putting together orchestral video sequences, so it will be incredibly easer to brainstorm the film when the time comes in which the band releases the draft version of the song.

So what's the music video about?

 Good question, we're not sure yet. I've talked to the band on multiple equations what they hope to see out of the music video, the most popular response being that we shoot a performance video intermingled with clips that add an aesthetic or tone to the song. They specifically said "no cheesy story line" which I can honestly respect, so they sent me a music video which they thought matched the description they were looking for.

Arctic Monkeys - Teddy Picker

(Genre - Indie Rock)

In this video specifically, it seems that most of the shots are about the band but use various camera angles to keep the video engaging. Additionally, the band members used various forms of expressive gestures to add to the performance of the piece while in some places random bits of video are injected to create tonality or "aesthetic"/"vibe."

Social Media Marketing and Remaining Casual

 One issue that remains the most pertinent with this project is how we're going to be able to to promote ourselves on social media without tarnishing the low-key nature of the band. I spoke with the band members for an extensive period of time, and they all agreed that posting too much or making highly professional corporate-looking posts would take away from their brand identity.

After discussing a while, however, we came up with some possible solutions to the issue for meeting the minimum twenty-post requirement for Cambridge all while seeming natural:

• story posts
• interactive polls
• "individual posts"

Story posts would be updates regarding the band and their progress with the song, allowing for a sense of frequent consumer engagement while being transient enough to not make the band seem like they're spamming. Interactive polls would be another form of story posting, where consumers would answer questions which would provide the band with insight on what their audience wants and increases engagement for their postings. Finally, "individual" posts would be the bulk of our page's posts. How it would work is each member (there are 6 of them) would all post on their story on the same day regarding an update for the band in a way which is creative and unique to them. Through this, not only can we spread their audience through their other social accounts, but it allows the band members to express opinions regarding the development of the project through their own words, once again meeting the requirement for Cambridge while remaining true to the band's brand identity.

Friday Tiki Club Brand (who are they?)

 Being a high school start-up band, Friday Tiki Club is full of vibrant adolescent energy inspired by modern rock and indie pop. The band consists of Mateo Escobar, their bassist, Jake Urrunaga, rhythm guitarist, Sergio Rodriguez, drummer, Sebastian Abril, lead guitarist, Maxx Nunn, singer, and Sebastian Rodriguez as interim singer while Maxx attends Berkeley in Boston.

Since it's start two years ago, the band has undergone change in the past couple of years, which has definitely been reflected in their music style, confidence, and motivation. In recent months, Friday Tiki Club has become more active, hosting house shows and events such as a house party in mid July and a Halloween concert in October. While regaining traction, the band has yet to expand to horizons of music streaming and social media presence, their last post before the Portfolio Project being in late 2020. Through this project, the band hopes to take advantage of the time they have left in high school to grow professionally and leave a mark in the music scene of Weston, Florida.

Friday Tiki Club also tends to not take itself seriously for the most part, developing itself as a lowkey/chill band with the main purpose of having fun and entertaining their friends. At most of their events, the band wears different types of costumes to give themselves character as they play onstage in addition to the Elmo figure propped by the amplifier as the band's unofficial mascot. While doing this however, the band still maintains its professionalism and quality and rigor onstage and is no form a satire of itself, it just likes to have fun is all.

That being said, through this project the band and I want to create a music video and social media presence which reflect these characteristics. Recent posts on their Instagram page have been created to establish a newfound presence within the Weston music scheme, revealing to their followers that while they have been inactive on their page for a while, more is to come in the future. Their most recent post expands this idea while taking on a more humorous tone to remind the audience of their humorous nature and creating hype surrounding the project.

Overall, the Friday Tiki Club brand intends to be light-hearted and fun, and we want to showcase this identity in our music video. 

What will the final song be like (and how will it affect planning)?

 When I first started this project, I was under the impression the song would be a lot more energetic so most of my ideas for the music video were based around parties and teenage energy, however it seems that the song has taken a much more gentle and relaxing tone. 

I think the direction of the piece is going to lead towards more day-time and beachy outdoor scenes rather than a late-night-sunset-drive feeling. The piece has not been finalized of course, but it makes it difficult to grasp at what type of music video I want to produce for them. For now, the general idea seems to be a story line surrounding a character yearning for someone or something (maybe the actual Sun) while inserting shots of the band playing the song live. If thats the case, I'm not sure whether we're filming the band scenes inside or outside since it will be difficult to transport instruments to, let's say, a beach. 

Overall, I'm thinking an MTV type of vibe but I'd have to hear the song with vocals to be fully sure what we're doing next and so I can produce the storyboard and screenplay.

Note: I might ask the band to do a poll on their Instagram asking their followers what their favorite indie-rock music video is for inspiration

Lens Filters and Effects + Conventions

 While Sunshine is not exactly indie rock, related genres such as Shoegaze exhibit feelings of dreaminess or etherealness through their music videos by using various lens-mounted filters to make the video look hazy or strange.

SG Lewis x Clairo - Better

(haze filter, fish-eye lens, VHS)

Fazerdaze - Lucky Girl

(film grain, haze filter, glow, static framing w/ optic zoom)

Crumb - Locket

(haze filter, 360 view)

If I wanted to go this route, I've done some research on some lens filters which could help me achieve these type of stylistic effects under $50. Cinepacks sells various types of lenses which can possibly do this, including a soft, rainbow, kaleidoscope, streak, and diffusion filter.

Full Crystal Filter

Soft Diffusion Filter

Circular Swirl Filter

Admittedly, most of the filters are pretty pricey, so a similar effect can be done using a Haze Filter or similar for After Effects if needed. Sapphire and Red Giant plugins for After Effects are especially good at stylizing your pieces to look as realistic and high-quality as possible.