Editing Time!

     In conclusion of filming yesterday I am going to be editing from here on forward on my movie. I am going to be posting tomorrow on my social media sites since I have finished editing all the photos which are ready to be uploaded. Today was a very relaxing day as I spent most of the time editing with music in my headphones as I found a quiet spot to do so in my balcony. I exported all of the recordings from yesterday's filming onto my sister's macbook so that I can continue editing on IMovie. IMovie so far has been very responsive and has been so far the best when I edit my film. Today I worked on organizing and trimming the newly imported shots and placing them in the correct order based on my storyboard. I am going to upload soon on a separate blog my screenplay so that you can follow along and understand what I was trying to show through my film. I worked on fixing the lighting's of some scenes in case it was too dark or too bright which there wasn't much to fix on that part. Lastly I worked on the sound and background sounds making sure that you can hear everyone clearly and muted or even lowered any diegetic background noises. I didn't work much on the cut scenes of each shot or scene as I am going to work on that over the weekend. 

    The main task I did today in editing was researching and finding different websites that provided copyright free music that I can easily download onto my computer to use for my film. I found a couple of websites but they turned out to be click-bait as in the end I had to sign up or download their app in order to use their sounds or music which I didn't want. I found two useful websites to use that I saved onto the bookmark of my laptop for easy access. I found a couple of free songs and sounds to use in my film but I am not too sure of which one to use. I also thought about using multiple different musics as the score in some of the scenes but I have to make sure it fits with what is going on with that specific part. When i finished editing for the day I got my sister to review or look over what I already had so far. She said that it still needed a lot of work to be completer but that so far it looked good taking away all that I still haven't finished. Looking back at it I do agree with Sabrina that there is a lot still needed to be done in order for it to be perfect. I am wishing everyone to have a Happy New Year and hopefully I will be done with editing soon enough and the film will be complete. 

Filming finale

     At last the day has come where I officially am done with filming for my short movie. I am so proud and grateful for my sister and friend Allison that has been on this journey with me and for helping me get this done. This is only the halfway mark as I still have to edit all of my footage in order to be completely done with my movie. I also still have to upload on my social media tomorrow I am going to post so keep a look out. I took a lot of new fun videos and picture for future uploads and soon I will be uploading the bloopers onto the YouTube channel I created for my short film. Today I decided to treat Sabrina and Allison to breakfast at Panera Bread as a thank you for being and helping me with the film. We were at Panera Bread from 10 to 11 and after we walked to my place as I live 2 minutes away from the shopping plaza. Once we got home we went straight to work and prepared ourselves for filming. We only had about 3 and a half pages of my screenplay to film. I was super ready to finish early and just spend the rest of the time hanging out before I leave at 5 to volunteer and before Allison leaves home at 5 as well. 

    I made sure to take multiple shots so that I have for when I start editing and so I don't have to re-shoot any scenes because it didn't turn out good. Filming was so much fun since it is new years eve we had a dance break in the middle of filming. Once we finished the last scene we all jumped in excitement to be done. When we finished we cleaned up and changed back into our normal attire and took off our make-up since we will be staying at home. As a reward I baked us a pizza for lunch and made my exclusive brownies for dessert. There was only a few times where we had to film outside in the parking lot for only one scene which is when Itai gets an unwelcoming phone call. I played Itai and I tried my best to get the look and act of the character I pictured in my head as much as possible through the filming. Out of all of days we filmed today was my favorite as we had no disagreements since we were all eager to be done. In the past filming days my sister would mainly complain about how long her lines were and kinda rushed us so we can be done early which kinda got on my nerves. In the end we are siblings and we will have disagreements but I made sure we got everything done based on how I wanted it to be filmed. I am wishing everyone a Happy New Year and stay safe.

Editing pictures for social media

     Today I worked on editing the pictures I took from the last three days of filming so that I can post this week. I also logged in all of my social media websites and accepted any requests and followed back any other person that I didn't form the list our teacher provided us. In my previous blog I said that I wouldn't start editing the film until I completely finish filming all the scenes. Today I worked on editing the pictures that I will be posting on all of my social media sites. I also came up with some captions that I will write underneath each post. I did start editing that I wrote about in the previous blogs but it was mainly trimming and organizing it to fit my storyboard. We are going to film this Thursday all the scenes we have left so I can be officially done with the filming process. This whole winter break I was super productive and working on my schoolwork, volunteering, and filming for my movie. In today's teen society it is very important to edit and appeal people and your audience with appealing posts. I want my social media sites to be aesthetically pleasing to the eyes and a page that will have the audience coming back for more. 

    I am trying out a bunch of different editing apps especially for pictures and videos so I can make my posts appealing. I even watched YouTube videos of how to edit posts and make it look all fancy and pretty. Today was mainly a fun break day from all the work I have left to finish my film, since social media for me is like a break for my mind from work. To be honest I don't really know how to work social media as much as most of my friends do since I only really use Instagram to check updates on my family, friends, and even news with celebrities. The second most social media app I use is Snapchat so I really don't know how to work Facebook since I never had one and not even Twitter. I am learning and always asking my friends how to work it especially Amy since she is like the queen of social media based on my friend group. I am going to do most of my updates and posts through my Chromebook as it is much easier to just login in through here than it is on my phone. I hope through this experience that I learn a lot more techniques and new features to use. I can't wait to other students from my class to post so it can really feel like our movies are real one's. Although this isn't much of an update I will be back with a filming blog in the next one. 

Filming on a Monday?

     This morning my sister and I headed off to the clubhouse near Allison's apartment to in hopes finish filming so that I can be officially done and that I can start editing my film. Once we got there we went straight to work and Sabrina was first to get ready as I quickly wanted to record her phone call scenes that were quick and short. Once we finished with her I went and got changed into my first outfit and we finished all my phone call speaking scenes that we needed to film. Throughout the time we were recording we did as many shots and re-shoots so that I have a variety to choose from when I actually start editing. The only major problem we started to have was that the camera battery was running low rather quickly and I had to put it to charge five times when we were getting ready. The camera's battery went from having 29 minutes to 5 minutes in 10 minutes so we tried to get as much done with the amount of battery left on the camera. After filming all of Ace's and Rish's talking scene we all changed into the outfits for the office break-in scene and got our hair done. While the camera was charging I took head-shots and selfie's so I can have for the social media sites which I will be updating this week. Allison and I also took multiple fun videos that I can use as well for the socials. After we started recording all of the scenes for the break-in and office clip and managed to have fun and finish it rather quickly, although Allison kept messing up her lines in a good and funny way. 

    Once we finished the office and break-in scene we changed back into our normal clothes because we decided to set another date to film which is this Thursday we agreed on. When I was looking over the screenplay that I printed out I realized that we only have 4 scenes left to film which is the last 3 and a half pages of the screenplay. Once we agreed on the hopefully last filming date of Thursday we started to clean up the huge mess of all the stuff scattered around that we brought whether it be clothes, makeup, and props. While me and Sabrina was waiting for our dad to pick us up we all sat down on the couch in the clubhouse and watched back all the shots we recorded whether they be bloopers or perfect one's. I would have liked to finish all the filming today but there was too much and plus Allison cousin was visiting her even though she said it was fine to record and be late I didn't want to hold her up. We also had to babysit kids that go to our synagogue so we also had to manage watching them and film. Behind the clubhouse there are multiple tennis courts so the kids were playing while we filmed. We had so much fun and I have a lot of content to give since I took pictures and videos throughout each filming day's so I can't wait to share them through social media. I am going to dump more footage onto my sister's mac book so I can have a clear SD card when I film on Thursday. I have decided that I am going to start fully editing once all the filming is done and I know for sure that we are done by re-watching all that I have so far. I can't wait to see my 5 minute film be completed once and for all. 

Editing for the first time this year!

     All day today I have been working on editing everything that I have so far for my short movie film. I also have been packing what I need to bring for tomorrow's filming since we will film at a clubhouse near Allison's apartment and won't have easy access to the things we need if I were to forget them. I had so much fun editing today especially when I started after going shopping with my mom as a little break. I have two different laptops one is my new one I got for the holidays for school since my old computer is really old and slow. I decided to edit on my sisters computer as my Chromebook doesn't feel equipped to edit in a way. I got permission from Sabrina to use her computer since she has a mac-book and has the app IMovie that I can use to edit my film. I already exported the shots from the SD card onto her computer and I already sorted out between the clips I will use and which one's I saved for the bloopers. On IMovie I played around with some of the features and messed around a little before I actually started working on editing my film. I have worked before with IMovie so for me it was very simple to get the handling of it rather quickly. I popped on my headphones and played some music while I was editing it because I just focused on cutting or trimming some shots that were too long or needed to be. I also focused on organizing the shots I already have so that when I import the new one's after filming tomorrow it will be easy to organize it like my storyboard.

    After an hour of just moving and organizing my scenes and trimming it I also focused on the lighting making sure that it was clean and visible. I also practiced making a split screen as there will be multiple split screens regarding the scenes where the three main female characters are talking on the phone. I really want to show how much I have improved on my editing skills as I never liked sitting and editing it as most software's were so confusing and hard to use. I want this movie for be perfect and really show case my potential and hard work. My sister Sabrina also has requested to give me critique's and ways that I can improve some scenes, but for now my goal is to finish filming completely and be done with that section so I don't to constantly think about getting it done. I am also working on the pictures for the social media links as I have been taking pictures every time we film so I can have updates for my followers. I have the pictures that I want to post in a separate folder on my phone so some time this week I will be uploading them. Once I finish filming I also will have the time to work on my social media pages and really make it lively and active since I haven't been on it recently because of filming. I can't wait to see how my followers will react and can't wait to full throttle ahead and edit completely my film. I am super excited for tomorrow and can't wait to finally finish filming and focus my mind on one thing which is to continue editing. 

Filming and Re-shooting

     Today me and my sister Sabrina did a lot of re-shooting and filming for our phone call scenes in the movie. We also recorded the scenes that required me to play Itai in the parking lot and confrontation scene of the film. I already had the outfit for Itai planned out as I was going to borrow my father's button down shirt and wear formal dress pants that I own. The only thing that was difficult for me was getting my hair done for Itai as I had no clue how to style it at first. Since Allison was not here for the filming I had to style my sister's hair and do the makeup for her look for the specific outfit and scene. As for my character Rish all I had to do was style my hair since Rish will be wearing sunglasses in the scene. we also filmed Ace's phone call scenes in the narrow alley which we recorded quickly so we don't get into the people's way that live in our apartment. We didn't record my scenes which require me to be outside because I wanted to save it for Monday when we will officially be done with filming. Today we had so much filming and even do we had to re-shoot some scenes they were very minor. When I was exporting the video from the SD card onto the computer I noticed that the celebration scene we recorded on Christmas Eve was missing a few lines and rushed in my opinion. 

    I decided after discussing with Allison and Sabrina that we will be re-shooting that scene on Monday as well since we will have all day to film. After reviewing the screenplay script that I printed out I realized that we were missing a chunk of our lines. I also realized after watching the clips on my laptop that the celebration scene was rushed and too short and didn't like how it turned out. On the bright side I did manage to get a lot of blooper reels that I saved on a separate file. Looking back on the bloopers they were so funny and lightened my mood after watching. For Monday filming we will need to bring lots of outfits, shoes, makeup, and props for filming. I honestly can't wait to completely be done with filming as I want to just focus on editing. I want to be done with all that outfits and makeup changes, even though we have fun I feel a lot of pressure to get it done but then again I waited to record over Christmas break. I already started packing everything I need for Monday into my big bag to bring with us and I have to see what to bring as props to make the clubhouse we will be filming to look more like an office. I also have to print out fake business papers has a prop to have. The office break-in scene is honestly my favorite scene and I actually am excited to film as Rish for the main action scene of my film.

Filming on Christmas Eve? 🎄

    Today is Christmas Eve but doesn't mean we can't film for my movie. My friend Allison arrived at 12:30 at our house to film the last scene of our movie which is the celebration scene. Allison doesn't celebrate Christmas so it was perfect for her to come,plus she didn't mind and neither did my parents. As my parents were preparing dinner for later in the evening we all went straight to work to finish filming and take pictures so I have for the blogs and social media sites. It took us a while to get ready and film as at first we talked and relaxed before actually getting to work but then we knew we had to get it out of the way and film before it gets too late. Allison was especially panicky as originally my mom told me that we will be having dinner on Christmas day but then plans changed and it ended up being on the day we wanted to film. The camera was already half way charged but I still plugged it into the outlet so that it can be fully charged. After getting dressed and having our makeup and hair done we went to my balcony as the lighting was the best in there. I then got the props ready which was just three glasses full of juice and one with water for my sister Sabrina. We had multiple outtakes which I will use in the bloopers reel but we ended up getting a perfect shot on the last recording.

    Once we finished shooting that scene I cleaned up the camera and tripod and went outside with them so we can take pictures in our outfits. We took group shots on Allison's phone and head-shots and selfie's on my phone. When we got back inside we quickly changed out of our clothes and into more comfortable casual clothing and we took off our makeup and cleaned up the mess that was in my room. Once order has been restored in my room we decided to send each other the photos through our group chat on Whats App. For our second filming day we basically only recorded one scene and decided that me and Sabrina are going to record the scenes with Itai on Sunday as it does not require Allison to be in the shot or even at our house on that day.  On Monday which will be our fourth filming day we will record all the other scenes from Rish and Ace talking scene and from the office scene will be recorded and complete on that day. I am going to try and start editing over the weekend so I can import all the recorded shots from the SD card onto my laptop so it can be fresh for Sunday and Monday filming. I also want to start editing so I can save the bloopers onto a separate folder so I can edit that as well and upload all the mistakes and fun we had behind the scenes. I feel like the biggest challenge for me will be to edit the film as I want everything to be perfect so far filming as been so much fun and I don't mind having to re-shoot any scenes again. We had so much filming and I am going to sign off now and enjoy Christmas with my family and everyone have a Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year!

Filming for short film 📸

    This winter break I needed to film for my short film as I wasn't able to during the Thanksgiving break. In my last blog I stated that I was going to have my friend Amy to play the Assistant and maybe ask Ben my other friend to play Itai in my movie. Plans changed and I decided that Sabrina is going to play the Assistant as she was begging me to cast her and I am going to play Itai based on my dads suggestion as he didn't want to be filmed.  On the first day of filming we filmed mainly the scenes that required us to be inside the apartment such as the meeting in one of the scenes and multiple mini phone call scenes. Allison came to our apartment around 3 in the afternoon and after eating lunch we right away went into my room to prepare our outfits and start doing hair and makeup. The first thing I did was put the camera to charge while we figured out the outfits for each scene and when we needed an outfit change. Allison brought a whole box full of different outfits, jewelry, makeup, and even a hand held steamer for the clothes. We went through each scene and tried on the outfits and labeled them and placed them in my closet so we know each outfit and who they belong to. Once we finished the whole clothing ordeal I sat everyone down and we did a run through of the script and made any changes along the way to make it more comfortable when speaking and acting. Once we finished the run through it was time to get everyone ready which I am thankful for Allison who I made makeup artist for our film for getting us looking good in less than an hour. I also was in charge of doing my sister's hair as she didn't know how to style it.

    We ended up finishing filming around 8 in the night which I was very proud of what we accomplished in the time we had to film. After we finished filming we quickly discussed what scenes we were going to film on the second day of filming. I want to get every other scene completed except for the office scene which we will film on Monday next week. Our filming location for the first day of filming was in my apartment and so is the second day of filming. The third day of filming will be at the location near Allison's apartment since they have a clubhouse that she believes will be perfect for the office break-in. In the outfits when you see I wanted them to be bold, fashionable, and completely different than what we normally would wear. Rish, Ice-T, and Ace all have a different style and personality that will be captured in the film. There is also an important message near the end of the film that I wanted to bring to light especially with empowering woman. I can't wait to edit the film and bring the film into light and actually make this into a 5 minute short movie. I also will be updating my social media sites which can be located on the film's website https://hiddenbehindawoman.wixsite.com/mysite

Music for the film

     Throughout my film I plan to have a lot of dialogue and score music. I also want to use as much diegetic sound as well to make the scenes and movie feel even more realistic and more movie like. Yesterday I was able to find a free download link converter that I placed in a bookmark of my laptop so I can convert any links. I plan to use copyright free instrumental music throughout my film as I find it easier than contacting the actual producer or singer for permission. I also find that some copyright free music are better than going through the hassle of getting a copyrighted song approved and then working it into your film. I still need to research safe websites that are legit that I can download non-copyrighted music for free. I also want to research and see if the editing software I am using have free music that I can use that comes with the software. For music I am not that specific or picky about because my movie revolves around a lot of dialogue from the characters. The main plot of the movie is conveyed through the dialogue. Originally I wanted to use a copyrighted song for my movie, but because I wasn't able to film this week and have been really busy this Thanksgiving I had to change my plans and now I will be using non-copyrighted music.

    My plan is to find an instrumental background music that can easily be amplified in scenes when there is no dialogue and played lightly in the background when characters are speaking. There will also be scenes when the score music will be cut out and diegetic sound will be heard in some shots. I want to improve on the sound of my film as last year for my introductory film project, wind and lots of background noises could be heard which is distracting from the actual dialogue. I want the dialogue to be clear and the main focus for the movie to progress in the plot. So far I have one website for music which I used last year but I wasn't a fan of how confusing it was to download the music so I am going to look for a new one. I want the music to start of calmly as we are first introduced to the characters. Once the movie progresses and the audience finds out what is going on in the movie I want to put music that will be suspenseful to create the mood. I do think it is important that the music conveys the mood throughout the film so that the audience knows how to feel in that certain situation. For me, music and sound is an important factor for a film and I want to be able to show that through my film. I will do lots of research and put in work to make it happen. 

Why we did not film

     Over the long Thanksgiving break I planned to have filmed at least half of the shots that I needed, but plans changed when I found out that one of the participants from my movie wasn't going to be back in Florida for Thanksgiving. I found this out right on that Friday when we started our week long break from school. It wasn't until Wednesday I found out she is actually going to come today from New York. Amy who was supposed to play the Assistant in the film will be added to the website under the cast as she will be able to be in the film now. I plan to finish filming before Christmas break as I want to use that time to edit my film and then do a peer review with my friends for any changes that need to be done. This week I have been talking with Allison one of the cast about costumes, makeup, and hair that needs to be done for each member. I also was reviewing to see if I needed to go and buy any props this week for the film so that we have once we start filming. I also have another friend I have to ask if he wants to play the role of Itai the main male role in the film. Once I get the chance to speak to him and hear his decision I will add him to the website as well if he says he wants to be in the movie. This week I also used the time to speak with my friends about their schedule so I know what dates specifically we can film on since most of them have a job or in college. In my mind I feel like I am behind and that I have a lot to do, but then again I can't control what life brings to me on a daily basis and I can only take one day at a time. I know that my friends and I are super excited to actually film as it feels like childhood when we would make skits when we were younger. 

    Starting Monday I am going to have everything planned out even though I had a rough sketch of how our schedule was going to be like earlier in November I have to make rearrangements. By December I will have the website updated of any new casts added and I will have a set date of when we will be filming. When we do start filming I had this plan of filming all day from morning until the evening and I also planned to order pizza for everyone for working hard filming the movie. I want the filming experience to be fun for all of us and something we can enjoy together. I don't want any of us to feel irritated and annoyed because the filming process can be long and sometimes tedious. I want to make this film something my friends and I can look back at and be proud of what we were a part of. The only person I am not set on for the movie is my guy best friend as I haven't spoken to him in a long time and don't know if he would agree to be in the movie. I hope he says yes because it is a short part he will be playing and probably will only take 1 hour or even 30 minutes to film his part. If he says no most likely one of us will try to play the male role. I can't wait to actually start filming and I will be using my storyboard as a guideline and I know we will have fun and content to share. 

Marketing campaign for short film

     A week ago before we started our Thanksgiving break we were told to create social media sites and a website for our short 5 minute film. I was super excited to go through the process of designing and editing my own personal website. I realized how much time and effort needs to be put on creating your website to make it appealing and creative to attract an audience. The hardest part of creating a website was understanding the tools that they provided on wix.com to edit and personalize the look and style of your site. The hardest part in creating a social media site was creating one for Facebook as I had to create under one of the characters name and couldn't do for the film itself. When I was creating my website I had so much fun making it, as I was playing music on my mini speaker and just taking the time to be creative and have fun with it. I also had many ideas rushing around in my head of what I wanted to post in the future on the social media accounts and how I wanted to market my movie. The rushing ideas that was enveloping my mind helped me narrow down how I want to handle and move the movie forward because of the social media ideas that are sure to attract an audience. I wrote all of them down as well so I wouldn't forget and even had a collective call with everyone that is going to be in the film to share them and gain feedback. Before I could even create my website I had to come up with a captivating name that would make people want to watch the movie just by hearing or reading the name, I decided on the name Hidden Behind a Woman as it was the most voted on name from my friends and family. 

    In the future when we start filming this December I want to post lots of fun and exciting posts about the movie such as behind the scene footages and bloopers while filming. I do believe that allowing the audience to see what goes on behind the scenes and off camera or in a different perspective attracts people because they see how real and close with the audience you are. I also would love to post bloopers because they can be super funny and something for the audience to enjoy. My sister who is playing Ace in my movie came up with the idea of each character having a takeover, this means that everyday a different character will have control of the social media for the day and can give the audience an insight on the actors and the characters in the film. When I heard that idea I was in shock of how good it was and can't wait to see it happen. I also want to post a get ready hair and makeup with the cast just like some movies have done with their casts. I remember watching a video like that and knew I had to do something similar but unique for social media. I plan to post consecutively once we start filming on all the social media sites I created which include: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. I also want to post and do a mini photoshoot with the whole cast and also to have to so I can create and edit the movie poster for the profile pictures on the social media sites. I have a lot planned before Christmas break and I can't wait to go through with them.

Storyboard for short film

         This whole weekend and including days from last week I was working on my storyboard as it has to be 10 to 15 pages long and understanding me, I know I would have waited to the last minute. I made sure to start ahead of time so that I can use these days to finalize and fix my storyboard in case I wanted to cut some scenes out as I had too many scenes that would be past 5 minutes long based on my screenplay. In my screenplay I had about 13 pages of dialogue and action for my movie, but my teachers said to add as much as we can because it will be easier in the end to cut scenes out than it is to add them. Once I finish storyboarding I hope we can start filming especially because Thanksgiving week is coming and I can use that time to get together and start filming. I am going to film all scenes from my screenplay including the one I already planned to cut out just so I can have in case. I wan to have everything organized so that this process can be easy on not just me but also the participants that are going to be in my film. My storyboard is a bit rough but I am far from an artist, I understand that my drawings are a little hard to look at but I tried my best to get the overall scene onto the paper. I do believe that on camera and on film it will look much better than that on my storyboard. I already have in mind how I want to film and direct each scene. I was super happy to see the email from my teachers stating that they have extended the due date for our storyboard because I was able to work and focus on it this weekend which I was happy about.

    Drawing the storyboard did take some hours out of my time and I even brought it with me when I went dog sitting yesterday at my family's friend house. This whole time I was storyboarding I made it a fun task by blasting music and just using the time to de-stress and just draw how I want it to be since it is my movie. I ended up having 10 pages because I plan to elaborate more in my film but I drew all the main scenes in my movie onto the paper. What I did first was label all the 10 paper I had and wrote over each box what I was going to draw. I then proceeded to draw everything out first before I wrote what type of camera shots, movements, angles, editing, and sound for each box or scene. Storyboarding for me is not my favorite part of the filming process mainly because I can barely draw so I find this part of the process boring. I can't wait to actually start filming because my mind is bursting with creativity and ideas that I want to bring to life for the movie. I hope you enjoy overall my storyboard presented through Google Slides as I worked super long and hard on it. I am actually happy that I am official done with my storyboard for my movie and that I can finally work on filming once my teacher gives us the okay. I am also excited that tomorrow we will start our social media for the movie, I can't wait to upload and promote my movie and give fun behind the scenes footage of the process. 

Planning for short film

     Two classes ago we worked on our screenplay assignment where we had to produce a script of our short film that had to be 6 pages long, that we can easily cut out scenes if needed too. We also did a peer review of other students screenplay assignment in which we had to read and give our feedback and send it back to them for changes. For today we had to start our planning progress for the short film, which I am super excited about because we can finally start filming after I finish planning and storyboarding. For my schedule for this movie I plan to use today and everyday up until November 13 to storyboard as it had to be 10 to 15 pages long. Once I finish storyboarding on November 13 and finish blogging about it, I can finally meet-up with the actresses that are gonna be in film and start recording. On November 16, I want to start recording and meeting up to film and since Thanksgiving break is coming up I plan to use that time to re-film any scenes we messed up or just needed to be re-filmed. Since it is corona time I limited the amount of people that can be in the film to ensure everyone's safety which is why we will have masks on when not filming. My parent's will be monitoring us and we will have a first-aid kit on hand in case of any accidents which hopefully won't happen. The main character Ace will be played by Sabrina, Rish will be played by Me (Stephanie), and Ice-T will be played by Allison. Itai the main antagonist and the secondary character the Assistant will be played by Amy. Those will be the only participants that will be seen the movie. 

    The location for most of my movie will be at my apartment because it is the closest location for all of us since Amy lives 2 minutes away,  Allison lives 5 minutes away, and Sabrina is my sister so she lives with me. The location will consist of my sister and I shared room, our backyard, the narrow alley that leads to the pool in our backyard, our balcony that consists of an office desk, the living room, the sidewalk in front of our apartment, our kitchen, our dining room table, and the parking lot. My parents wanted to keep the location at home mainly because of corona and to not interfere and get in other people's way especially since my neighborhood consists of elderly individuals that are at a higher risk. I wanted to respect my parent's decision and kept that in my when planning and all the participants in my film agree. Props will include all of the furniture that is stationary in the house the only real props that will be used throughout the film is a cell-phone, messenger bag, fake files and confidential papers, empty luggage's, iced coffee, and fake ID tags. Each of the participants that have a role in the movie are responsible for their own costumes so I don't have an exact answer of what each character will be wearing exactly. The only thing I know is the concept I want each of them to wear is such as Ace to be dressed in business casual most of the time, Rish to be dressed in crazy colors and baggy styles of clothing, and Ice-T to be dressed in outfits that are stylish, bold, and colorful. Itai will be dressed in a business outfit and the Assistant will be dressed professionally in a business outfit. As for Makeup Allison will be in charge of the makeup department and she will be doing everyone's makeup for the film. I am super excited to start filming so much is going to through my mind and I know my friends are also excited to be in the movie. I also can't wait to open up the social media sites for the movie so I can start promoting the film with fun content and behind the scenes footage. 

Short Film vs. Feature Length Film

     I just want to start off by saying that I totally recommend watching the short film and full length film of 9 because honestly it was really amazing. There were many differences of both films as one was 7 minutes long and had to have all the plot in a short amount of time. Whereas, you had the feature film which was an hour and 13 minutes long and had the same plot from the beginning to end but in depth with the characters in the film. After watching both you can obviously tell that there were improvements in the character development in the film. In the short film you were introduced to two rag-dolls, 5 and 9, but did not get much interaction between them and the fact that they did not talk. However, in the feature film you were introduced to a wide range of rag-doll characters that were able to talk and had different personalities from each other. In both of the films you can see how important the details and surrounding was important to the director and his team because they maintained that idea for both films. The overall mood and feel of the movie remained the same. I also felt like there was a difference in the special effects because in the short film it was very subtle while in the feature film they used as much lighting and sounds to create the special effect and make it more stronger than the short film. The hologram near the ending of the movie for me was the best special effect and helped me understand what was going on through the explanation of the scientist.

    For both of the films the consistent use of diegetic sounds remained which I don't mind. The only difference I felt was that more score music was used in the feature film than in the short film. The biggest difference for me was the endings because in the original short film I felt as if the ending was rushed and lacked emotion. In the feature film the ending was the same except it was extended and there was lots of emotions because there was character development and closeness that made you feel happy but sad when watching the ending. The feature film for me had a more clear and strong opening and ending of the film compared to the short film. Another thing I noticed was that the opening and ending credits of the feature film really set the mood and fit the movie perfectly where in the short film the opening with the director or creator really didn't fit for me. If I had to choose which was my favorite I have to choose the feature film, as I can see myself watching again over the short film. I believe that both of the films were beautifully done and made me curious, but came down to what I would watch again and that is the feature film. I am so happy that my teachers assigned this research assignment I really enjoyed watching the movie and I can't wait to watch it with my friends soon. If you haven't watched it, you should I promise you will love it.

This is Stephanie signing off!

Research 9, the feature film

     I was super excited to watch the feature film version of the short film 9 that I researched about in the last blog. I used my teachers suggestion and was able to access the film through Netflix. The movie was amazing and I fell in love with the style and concept of the film, it made me crave others similar to this. There was definitely an improvement and you can see that a lot of thought and depth went into the movie. The very first thing that I noticed throughout the movie was that they finally gave us character development and actually introduced to all the rag-dolls that was seen in the ending of the short film. Each character had a unique personality such as one was the inventor among the rag-dolls, one was the stubborn and angry rag-doll,  another was fearful but learned to be brave, and so much more. I loved seeing the characters grow from the beginning of the film to the end, it almost felt as if rag-doll represented a different personality of the same character. This was later proven correct as all the rag-dolls represented different parts or personality of the scientists professor from the beginning of the movie. The little details and setting of the film really popped out to me and made me appreciate all the work that the designers designed in the film. Although there was dialogue in the film it was a right balance and I loved how they kept the silence in the very beginning except for the scientists professor talking a little in the beginning of the film which made me want to watch it more and more. 

    The special effects in the movie such as the lighting and the sounds of the machines clanking and the monsters roaring was phenomenal and adds to a scary yet suspenseful mood. I felt that the dystopia created in the movie of machines and metals versus humans made it feel so real as technology is enhancing at such a accelerated speed in real time. There was a relief in the film as you got to meet new characters and when they had heart to heart conversations with each other that turned the movie form suspenseful to a theme of teamwork and unity of the rag-dolls. The plot of the film was spectacular honestly, where you have a concept that science is evil and turned against the human race as you see flashbacks of the creation of the machine and dead bodies throughout the film. The ending of the film was so sad and beautifully done I started to tear up. As you watch the film you learn to love each character and grow attach to them wanting them to succeed and defeat the machine. The special effects and length of the ending was perfectly done and was a sense of peace to see the rag-dolls souls be free and at peace. The entire movie had a futuristic but past vibe where the audience feels like this could happen one day but not entirely because our society is more advanced. The realism in the film and setting, draws the attention of the audience and opens up our eyes to the creative ideas the director and staff had for this film. You see a lot of creative freedom and factors that really made this film 10 times better than the short film. 

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Research 9, the short

     Today, I watched a short film called 9 as a part of my research for my class. As I was sitting there watching the short film from Shane Acker I jotted down some notes of how I felt throughout the short film and what I thought was really interesting for the director to use. This was definitely a short film style I never watched before, so it was really refreshing and interesting, it also made me really curious of other films and movies like this one. Throughout the short film I loved how there was no dialogue at all, I feel like it makes it even more unique and special as you have to focus on other details and background to understand what's going on. As I was first watching this short film I felt creeped out as if I was there, but the quality was low from my teachers uploading it onto canvas, so I tried to ignore that factor and just watch the short film for itself. On the topic of creepiness, the silence between the two rag-dolls, 5 and 9, in the film added to the creepy effect of the film. The special effects throughout the entire 7 minutes of the film were very subtle and straight to the point. I also felt like the special effects added to the plot of the movie which was a machine versus the rag-dolls. The constant use of diegetic sounds such as the wind, machines clanking, footsteps and the growl of the machine beast was something that I loved throughout the film. In the background you can also hear a low score in the background but overall the diegetic sounds overpowered the instrumental music in the background. 

    The fact that there was no dialogue and an abundant amount of diegetic sounds I truly felt as if the world in the film was wiped out of the human kind and just made it feel surreal. I wished that the short film had more character development of the two main rag-dolls in the film which were 5 and 9. We knew as the audience that they worked together because when rag-doll 5 passed away, rag-doll 9 was upset and shocked at what happened. In the end rag-doll 9 defeated the monster machine and brought justice to all the rag-dolls that were killed. Other than that we truly see the growth and development of the characters in a sense of personality and likeness. The only scene that I felt like truly made me see who they were was when rag-dolls 5 and 9 worked together to build a lightbulb or light source from sources around them. This made me see how resourceful they were of their surroundings. In the ending we are revealed to a whole bunch of rag-dolls other than the main rag-dolls 5 and 9 which the audience were introduced to. As one of the audience, I assumed they were other rag-dolls that were effected by the monster machines. The ending to me felt rushed and didn't really feel like an ending that I would want to re-watch. I wished there was more emotion and detail to make it really stand out from other short films. Overall I loved the short film and super excited to watch the actual movie based off of this short film. I hope everything is explained and in depth from the characters to the plot of the film.

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Genre Choice for Film

     It has finally come, the time after all my research and reflection to decide my genre. I have come to the conclusion that I will be producing a thriller movie. I am super excited and I really did give it a lot of thought, making sure I wasn't making a mistake or before it was too late to change my mind. I chose thriller out my three genres that I narrowed down to, was because it was the best fit for my movie idea and I feel like my movie and pitch will completely portray a thriller style movie. The main character in my movie that will be revealed soon, has that mindset and personality of most characters in a thriller film and also the story is very suspenseful just like a thriller movie would be. I stated in a previous blog post that thriller films are out of my comfort zone and I believe its the perfect time to take risks and explore different genres. Since we are slowly reopening and getting out of quarantine, I wanted my movie to be something that the audience can comfortably enjoy while at home but have that feeling as if they are at a film festival or the movies. I am going to make sure that my movie sticks to the thriller aspect and I will plan out the movie when it comes time to storyboard based off of the anticipation and suspense found in thriller movies. I made sure that when I was thinking about the genre I had my pitch next to me so the decision could come easily for me, so I made no tweaks to my pitch. I also hope you enjoyed the Google Slides of my genre research because I wanted to give you something fun to look and read other than paragraphs. I also included pictures throughout the slides for your entertainment and for the fun of it. 

    I was inspired by my friend to get out of my comfort zone and try new things even in media studies class. My friend is currently and college student in New York and her moving there made me realize to do as much as I can in life and even in school. When I was deciding on my genre that was going through my  mind and also my pitch. I pray that in the end it all works out for me and for you since my movie will be presented to you. Another thought that also inspired me was that this is my last year of high school, so why not do something that in the end might be memorable for me but also for you. My teachers always inspire me especially my media studies teacher because both of them gave me the push that I needed and look now I am taking A- Level Media Studies with the most amazing students and teachers. My movie for sure will surpass and be the most best thriller movie there can be, at least for me it will because I will put my hard work and sweat into this. I will be sure to add a thriller effect to my websites, social media sites, and post cards so that the audience can right away know the type of movie it will be. I will continue researching and discovering new information and I will try to get myself this weekend to watch some thriller movies to get me in the mindset so I can plan my own film. In the end I was swayed away from choosing the mystery genre and now stuck on a thrilling ride.

This is Stephanie signing off!

Genre Research: Mystery

Genre Research: Thriller

Genre Research- Action

Genres I Would Like to Research

     On October 5, 2020 our very first research assignment to do for our short film was to think about three different genres that would relate to our pitch or idea we wanted to convey through our film. I took the time to look at the pitch I wrote and sat myself down to actually think and write out what I wanted my film to be while being simple and concise. I decided on the genres: action, thriller, and mystery because, I truly felt that those were the only one's that my future short film would fall under if it were released. I wanted my short film to be based on a genre that I myself and others would prefer to watch. I wanted to do a similar genre that I did last year in AICE Media Studies because I want to improve from last time, but the only difference is that its based on my own personal creative idea. I want to show that I have grown and learned from my past filming and editing mistakes, and improve on the film's overall look and sound. I want to make sure that my film is perfect since we will also include social media sites, a website, and a post card. I want to make my short film suspenseful and intriguing to hook the audience and have them wanting more. Honestly the Thriller genre is out of my comfort zone, but I included it because why not give it a try and maybe in the end the short film might end up being on track under that genre. The assignment given to me from my teachers will rely on me to research all three genres and choose the best match for my short film. The best part about it is that, this time we are making a complete film with a beginning, middle, and end and we can choose whatever genre we would like.

    To introduce you to the genres I defined each of them and basically will give you an overview of each of the genre that I chose which is again; action, thriller, and mystery. An action film is a film genre that has a protagonist portrayed and is always placed in situations where violence, fights, chases, and physical abilities or assets are necessary. A thriller film is always fiction, and bases off of the mood of the audience by feeding them suspense, excitement, anticipation, and surprise. A mystery film is fiction and revolves around problem-solving, such as detecting a person's death or a crime to be solved. I will go in depth of each genre from research in my next blogs and I will have a Google slide prepared for each one. I did my best to research and try to look into each genre in the perspective of looking at the genres dynamic and consistent techniques of different movies. I am excited to do my research and discover a gem that will spark an interest in me to pick it. As of today, I am definitely leaning towards the mystery genre, however, I have to go back and really reflect and think over the planning of my film and afterwards make a valid decision. I can't believe that we are entering the planning process of the film making process and I can't wait to continue on my journey. I will return with my final answer and we will see which genre didn't make the cut.

This is Stephanie signing off!

Pitch for my Short Film

 A money hungry boss, will stop at nothing to make sure her empire is number one. 

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All Alone

     Hello everyone this is Stephanie and I have an update on who I will be working with this year on the short film. I decided, after reflecting and lots of coffee, I decided to work alone this year for my short film. I made a decision based on what's going on with the pandemic, understanding that my parents do not feel comfortable yet with me going and filming with group members. I mainly wanted to work by myself because of my hectic classes and I want to be able to focus on the task by following my schedule. Since this is my final year of high school, I want to take the time to improve my filming and editing skills at my own pace. This is going to be a fun assignment and I can not wait to start planning and actually produce this short film. I would like to take the time to learn about producing a postcard and website, since I never made one in my entire existence. Its not that I don't want to have group members or that I don't like my classmates, its just what I believe is safest and more comfortable for me. I understand the work and journey that I will be going though alone, but I am willing to put a lot of effort and creativity to pass this class and produce an amazing short film. My main goal this year is to be stress free and focus on my classes making sure everything is done and checked off. 

    Last year in AICE Media Studies, I was in a group, basically the entire year and I also feel like that is another contributing factor to why I want to work alone this year. I had a lot of problems with my group members in which we never followed a schedule or plan what we were going to work on, even though I always pushed for it. There was so many times where my group members were supposed to edit and finish the video before the deadline, but they would ask me to do it instead the night before it was due, and I would freak out. I am not trying to expose them because they are my friends, super creative, and smart, but, I don't want to fall behind schedule and be doomed later when its due. We also had problems where one group member would not be doing enough work, and I know that if I work alone, I can hold myself accountable for my own work. Last year we had multiple different projects which includes: a 30 second commercial, music video, and the final task which was to create a beginning of a movie. This year we have all year to work on our final task and this time we have to include all elements in the film  a beginning, middle, and end. This gives me plenty enough time to plan, produce, edit, and finalize the short film so that it can be amazing. I am going to make sure to have the guidance of my teachers and peer review my work with my friends and family along this journey. I will always help out my friends when they need me and I will always ask for help when I need as well. Just because I am working alone doesn't mean I can't ask my friends and classmates for help right? well here is a picture of me.

 

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Welcome Back!

     Hello everyone, its me Stephanie and i'm super excited to announce that I will be continuing my journey in A-Level Media Studies. I am super excited to start this year and I am looking forward to the films and ideas I have floating around in my head. I have so many things to look forward to this year such as creating my very own postcard and website which i'm so stoked to do. I am also looking forward to work on and improve my editing skills to be even better than it was last year. Today on our Teams meeting for the class we already started to learn about the final task of this class and I have so many stories and ideas that I want to share, so I already started narrowing down my movie idea. I can't wait to start working with my camera again and actually produce a longer film that has a beginning, middle, and end. I really want to learn in depth about the advertising and social media aspect of this class as it was so interesting to see all the examples from last year's class that my teachers provided. I want to be able to take what I learned from this class and hopefully use it for the future. To be honest, I am nervous for what this year has to bring due to the pandemic and everything being online, so I hope that there isn't much stress and problems that come out. Since this is my senior year of high school, I want to have fun in this class and focus on creating the best short film while having fun and enjoying the process to make it. 

    Reflecting back from last year I definitely am nervous about editing and filming the short film. I never really enjoyed editing my films because my group members last year would leave it to the last day and put it all on me to do, even though I would tell to start earlier. I want to plan ahead and use the time to edit to focus on myself and the film, I also want to edit earlier so I can gain feedback from friends and family and see where it needs to be fixed. I plan to do many research on different editing software's that are easy and manageable than the one I have been using. I am honestly nervous about the filming process as well because of the pandemic and I don't know whether it comes time to film will things get better or worse. I am going to make sure and discuss with my family about the people that I want to have in my film and ask  whether its okay with them if we can film together. If my parents do not agree, I will have to make use of my sister and family yo be in the film. I just have a feeling that this will be the best year and since everything is online I can use this time to learn more about technology and learn about a bunch of new apps and programs. This year will be a lot of work but it will be rewarding and fun. I am extremely excited and can't wait to share with you all that I have to offer this year in A-Level Media Studies.

This is Stephanie signing off! 

Audiences and Institutions Essay

1. Assess the importance of marketing in the media area you have studied.

In today’s society, we all had to adapt to the shift of physical entertainment such as going to the movies with family and friends to modifying this change by staying indoors and getting through as much movies and shows we can through online streaming platforms. Ever since the pandemic started and the whole act of staying home became very real, people needed a way to distract themselves, in which many online streaming platforms came to the rescue. Netflix, Quibi, Tubi, Disney Plus, Hulu, and many other streaming websites and apps were able to market to its audiences to spend family time through watching their favorite shows and movies and that during this pandemic they are here for us. I can recall countless of times I got notifications and commercials from Netflix, Sling, and Disney Plus in which they added new movies, seasons, and shows to keep the audience such as myself interested. I want to go I depth about Disney Plus since I have been pounded with multiple different commercials about new movies that are now available.

Disney Plus launched in November 19 and has been the non-stop talk of many, even from my friend who wouldn’t stop talking about the Star Wars movies. Although, personally I don’t have Disney Plus, even now, I still support the platform since Disney has always been a part of my childhood such as the Disney princesses and all the different stories told through each movie. Disney Plus in 3 months had over 29 million subscribers and made more than 100 million dollars from their subscribers. The most recent commercial I have seen was when I was watching a video on YouTube and a commercial for the Aladdin live action came on saying it was available on Disney Plus. I watched the Aladdin live action movie when it first came out on May 24, 2019 and I fell in love with it, it really made me feel like I was in the movie and the songs throughout the film gave me goosebumps. The fact that live action movies such as Aladdin and Lion King are being introduced into Disney Plus in contrast from Lady and the Tramp being showcased on Disney Plus shows that most films and movies through this quarantine will be will only be shown through that streaming app and not in theaters like most movies would. The fact that my all time favorite movie, Lady and the Tramp, was only on Disney Plus made really upset because I always believed that the movie was underrated and now that a live action movie was coming out, it only was on Disney Plus. This is a marketing strategy by the Walt Disney Company to make people subscribe to a monthly plan to watch unlimited Disney movies for 8 dollars a month to a plan that gives subscribers Hulu, ESPN, and Disney Plus for 12 dollars a month.

During this quarantine many streaming services are providing deals to accommodate people who are not making as much money and those who have lost their jobs because of Covid-19. Since I don’t have Disney Plus I have been relying on Netflix and Tubi to watch shows and movies and YouTube in case they don’t have the movie or show I want to watch. My sister and I have been using Tubi which allows you to watch free movies and shows in HD since they have more of a variety than Netflix and Tubi has older and newer shows and movies we are more familiar with. Marketing has definitely changed in which companies are learning to use digital programs in order to reach us especially during times like this, we have to fight and pull through together to make sure everyone can stay safe and healthy. As one of the audience I see the accommodations and sacrifices companies had to give up in order to keep us entertained and distracted from what is really happening outside. The fact that we still have films and shows being released or post-poned shows us how much money and time is lost for institutions that needed to film and finding other ways to reach out to us without the use of typical distribution sites like film festivals and movie theaters. With this pandemic institutions learn to rely more on technological advances and digital programs for future references because technology is really going to be our future.

Extract Essay: Game of Thrones

The director of the Game of Thrones extract that we were given seemed to convey a message of truth and power throughout the scenes we watched. With my prior knowledge of the show I understand that it is based off of kingdoms and characters in a fantasy almost like a mythical world where we learn through the show all about the powers and truth in each character. In the extract I noticed immediately the costumes each character wore. The two sailors that were on the boat sailing to the bank wore tunics and lots of leather from the boots, belts, and gloves. The bankers wore similar outfits and made me feel as if I was watching a show that revolved around the medieval era. After watching the extract I noticed that the scenes we watched showed the disagreement between the the main banker that was sitting in the middle chair and the sailors over the truth. The shot-reverse shot between the sailors and the bankers going back and forth with each other shows the tension between both of them which could be fueled later in future scenes. The overall location and set design of the boat and the meeting room in the bank and all the embroidery and details added to that fantasy theme I was feeling when watching, especially when the aerial shot showed us the large standing statue of the man in armor and all the green landscape and the building felt like a whole different place no one has ever seen.

I love the director’s vision so far even though I never watched the show. I am a huge fan of the medieval era especially in shows and movies and I was able to feel that through the location, set design, costume, and aerial shot. I can see that the director’s vision was to have all these different kingdoms that have different values in ruling over the people and their kingdom. We get to see the power of each of the kingdoms grow or fall and we get to experience how power can lead to prosperity or even corruption.

In the ending of the extract I noticed that the sailors have 32 ships filled with 4,000 loyal men that don’t have food since they don’t have the resources such as barley and wheat to sustain them, which is why the bank couldn’t give them the money knowing sooner or later those 4,000 men will turn against each other and the king for food and a better life. Overall the dialogue shows us this through their conversation when meeting up with the bankers. The two shot of the two sailors on the boat and the camera zooming in on them looking our in the distance creates suspense and shows us that this might be something private between them and the bank. The diegetic sound of the seagulls flying over the boat, the pacing of the footsteps, and the double gold doors opening makes the scene feel more real in contrast to the fantasy the director wanted us to feel in the scene.

The director’s vision for something so broad and generalized can be difficult to pinpoint but I watched a fair amount of shows and movies similar to grasp the idea and concept of kingdoms wanting to go against each other and the fight to figure out the truth and power. The fact that the banker in the extract believes in the story and not the truth said by the supposed “king” which is one of the sailors proves that this scene could be important in future scene. The extract ended with both of the sailors walking away and a close up of one of the other banker that looks guilty or against the fact that the main banker guy that was sitting in the middle chair refused to give them the money. It almost seemed like he wants to help them out and maybe in future scenes he turns against the bank. This goes to how that the two main characters on the boat introduced will be of importance in future scenes or episodes.

CCR

    For my CCR I wanted to do a deep reflection on myself from this project and from the beginning of the year reflecting on my progress for next year when I enter A level Media Studies class. I actually had an easy time recording my CCR even with having a longer time than any of our projects. We had to make sure our CCR was 12 to 15 minutes long and my CCR ended up being 23 minutes since I was so into the questions and I wanted to speak the truth on how I really felt about this journey and the film. After I edited my CCR it came out to be around 16 minutes which is one past the maximum time limit but its okay. I wanted to look back on myself during this quarantine to see if I can improve myself or even learn and teach myself for next year where we will be doing more longer films and projects. I am super proud of myself re-watching the CCR this was exactly how I wanted it to go. Living in an apartment with 3 other family members my mom, dad, and sister and a dog was challenging in trying to get the background sound to be quiet and to film alone. I was able to film this CCR in the morning around 11:30 and be done by 12 in the afternoon. Everything I wanted to say was said in my CCR, I wanted it to be pleasing and make my CCR video seem like I was talking directly to you like a group conversation. Although my eye contact was all over the place I still made sure to look directly at the camera fr eye contact throughout the video.
   When I was planning out my CCR and how I wanted it to be recorded I did not want it to be an interview since I feel like everyone would do that with a sibling or parent. I wanted to make it into a Q&A session because I was going to answer the CCR questions which I split it to come up with 6 questions. At first I was confused on how to film the CCR since I could not meet up with my group member to film. On Canvas my teacher she finally informed us that we could film the CCR individually and on our own time but making sure it was on our blog before the deadline. Today I edited my CCR mainly because I procrastinated and had three essays for AICE U.S history and AP English Comp. Editing my CCR was actually really easy and I was able to make it pleasing and fix the lighting and had title cards to make it seem like your watching a video. Although there was much more I wanted to say about the project I had to remember that I had a time limit. Honestly it was much easier to film my own CCR than to be a part of my sisters group, CCR video since we had to record it multiple times since they weren't reaching the time limit of 12 minutes. I had so much fun during this journey of opening my creativity and letting it show in the projects and I hope you all stay healthy and are staying safe. I hope you enjoy my CCR video presented below through Google Slides.

Final Movie

    The final movie project was assigned to us two months before everything started closing down even schools due to the virus. For this project I decided to work with Jeannie because we agreed to split all the work since it was a lot because the film had to be an opening sequence of your movie. When we were assigned multiple blogs requiring google slides to be embedded and our 10 page storyboard, my partner and I agreed that I would do the storyboard blog and the blog regarding the location of the film. I was actually happy that everything was going according to plan and that we did not once disagree. The only thing I wish went differently was our communication. During this month of March and April with schools closing she completely lost communication with me and I was at a lost because she told me she was going to edit the film so I trusted her. I'm not going to lie to you about the stress I have been lately in but on April 7th she texted me asking if I could start editing it and I got enraged because she waited and ignored all my other text messages for the last minute. Although I am not happy with that decision, I realized I shouldn't be angry and that things don't always go according to plan. So yesterday I spent all day editing the final movie and CCR. At least I finished editing it and was able to email her the final movie so she can embed it into her blog, along with the commercial.
    Our original structure of the movie I noticed didn't make sense and seemed all over the place so I had to completely start from the beginning rearranging all the scenes in a way for it to make sense. Once I finished trimming and placing everything in order I worked on the background music to level it to make sure scenes with audio can be heard, afterwards I focused on getting our titles in order and making sure that it could be seen. I changed the title design to be a simple white color to represent the innocence and goodness that was lost among one of the sisters. Our movie represent a sick- minded character who is wealthy and has a paranoia believing that her younger sister wants to take over her company and take her wealth away from her. The younger sister who is poor doesn't want any of her sisters money but only wants to fix the relationship that was based on jealousy and false delusions. The younger sister has a son, who ends up seeing his dead mother in the parking lot where she was killed. That is all the opening scene but the rest of the story of the movie follows our pitch in previous blogs. The older sister gains custody of her nephew which she never knew she had, and hides the fact that she murdered her sister by covering up and pretending to still have a sense of goodness. The son grows up wanting revenge on whoever killed his mother until he finds out that his aunt who he spent the majority of life with, killed his mom, killed her own sister. She becomes his next victim and kills her in the same spot to avenge his mothers name and both became blood sisters once again in the after life.

Music Video

    For the music video I was able to work alone, I was super excited to film and edit the music video because this was what I have been waiting to do since  the beginning of this class. I was super excited to film the music video because I had so much fun working with my friends and I was super happy to show it to my Rabbi's and my synagogue since I promised to show them when everything was done. For the music video I did two separate videos, I made a full length music video which is not shown below and a shortened version that falls under the time limit for the project in slide 1. I wanted to show you both of them because I worked so hard on both of them and I want to be able to bring a smile on people's face especially during this hard time. I want to uplift people to be positive and happy and since everything was recorded and saved onto my own SD card, I had a lot of freedom to film. When we first got this project I already told my past group members that I wanted to do this alone, so I can learn by myself how to plan, storyboard, film, edit, re-shoot if needed, and re-edit. When we got this project, it was assigned during the week before we had Thanksgiving break which was perfect because I was able to film and edit everything during my break. I was able to finish both the long and shortened versions of my music video before the actual deadline. When I was editing the music video it honestly was everything I imagined and envisioned it was going to be. My best friend Allison who was in the music video she fell in love with it and even asked to save it on a flash drive. This song and dance will always have a special place in my heart and I hope it will in your as well.
    Although the dancing is not as clean, we are not professionals and I wanted this to be a fun experience even if there were mistakes. My other best friend Rachel worked the camera and she was truly amazing, she kept the camera so stable and clean even when he was moving holding and moving it around on the tripod. Rachel made sure that we were always on screen and that when we moved she followed us so we did not have to spend more time outside re-shooting. She picked out the location and was super professional and I could not have asked for a better director and camera person. I remember spending 3 hours filming outside and once we finished we went inside the apartment and changed back to our regular clothes and played dominoes while eating pizza. I was so happy to have got all the scenes and shots needed because that was the only day where my friend Allison was working and Rachel could hang out with us. My sister Sabrina was also a shining star making sure we were on track and adding in a few details into the dance. All four of us, we were super excited to show our synagogue the final music video, they were super excited since they never knew me and Sabrina were taking a class where we learn about the filming process. In the end they loved it so much that they made me lead the dance and everyone followed in complete unity. I hope you truly enjoy the music video and not look at it with a heavy heart but with a light heart.

Commercial Video

    Due to the inconvenience of the virus and the trouble of filming and finishing our final task, I wanted to reflect on my progress from the beginning of last year up to now with my camera work and editing skills which I believe I have improved on. Our very first commercial for me wasn't up to our standards and I felt like we could have done better looking back on it. My group which consisted of Asia, Jeannie, and I did a Dunkin Donuts commercial. We wanted to show a high-school student life without Dunkin Donuts versus with it. Looking back on it the commercial was rushed and if we would have had more time to edit it we definitely would have made it so much better then how it was. Since this was our very first project in which we had to go through the whole process of filming it and getting it uploaded for our teacher, it was difficult. It was also our first introduction into blogging about our whole process and what we did each day. The project was not as hard as I imagined but the hardest part of this project was getting in complete agreement with my team members since both continuously fought over about the amount of work each was doing. Editing for me was so stressful since I had no idea how to use it even if our teacher went over it. In the end we had little time to edit before we had to turn in our commercial for grading.
    My partners and I were always on each other making sure we all did our blogs and that we all did our fair share of the work so no one had to argue about it. Re-watching our commercial I noticed mistakes in the camera work and obviously editing mistakes. Some of the scenes in the commercial were blurry or very shaky and was not stable when the shot was hand-held. Near the ending of the commercial the video gets cut off in an awkward way but we didn't have time to fix that since we had to turn it. I also thought that we could have had a better story-line for the commercial while keeping the same concept. Looking back we could have made it more interesting and realistic to that of a Dunkin Donuts commercial. However, I am pretty happy with how it turned out especially for our first time making a commercial but, this project also made me very stressed out from my group members which is why I decided for our next project to be alone. During the weeks working on this project I found myself being the leader of the group making sure we got everything done we needed to get a passing grade. I also found myself doing most of the work but for me it wasn't a big problem because the commercial was only supposed to be 30 seconds. Overall, I am grateful or my group members who were a part of this commercial with me.

Re-editing Journey

   This past week has been a real chaos for me since everything I planned and scheduled got moved around or even canceled. For me it is extremely hard since I didn't get a text or even a call from my partner but I will still inform her of what is going to happen with our project. For now I plan to edit our film with a new software I found and downloaded for free with no watermarks because I don't know if my partner will even edit at all. Even though I have Pinnacle Studios I still downloaded this new software, ever since using this new software it has been extremely easy to edit meaning I feel like I am in control because it is really easy to use and get started and isn't complicated like Pinnacle Studios. The first thing I did was test out the software and get it scanned to ensure it wasn't a virus or a scam since it was for free to download. I was able to insert the files from our recordings and start editing. I tested all the different features it had to offer so I can see and get a feel of how it works. Once I knew how everything worked I started by adding all the scenes together and just edit each one at a time. I trimmed each scene and fixed the sound whether it needed to be muted or amplified. So far I got half of it done since I had to redo it since my partner Jeannie did not edit.
    By tomorrow I wanna have all the scenes trimmed and the sound fixed so I can do my magic and add in any inserts or transitions to make the flow of the film seem clean and not choppy. I also plan to add the music in the background after I do some searching for a non-copyrighted song on Google. I want to leave the titles for last and once I finish what I have planned for tomorrow I am going to text my partner again to inform her of what I have been doing. I am also going to tell her the announcements our teacher made on canvas regarding school and the project. For the most part everything is still on track for the final project to be due on April 9th and even though I do not have the teachers to remind me physically to focus and work on my blogs I make sure I do them on time. Once I finish editing the opening I am going to start recording my CCR and start editing it since we need inserts or a split screen showing our process from before up until now. What I want to do is once I finish all my 12 blogs that we needed to do by April 9th I also want to include separate blogs that have the video or link to my projects from the beginning of the year up until now to show my true progress and so you can all enjoy. I am mainly doing this because I don't know whats going to happen after April 15th whether we are gonna go all online for our classes and I don't know what is going to happen with our Cambridge exams for not just for our AICE Media Studies class but for our other AICE classes.I have been reading all the announcements and updates my teachers texts whether it is through Canvas, Email, Remind, or Social Media and so far all I know is that we have to continue working on this project which I am 100 percent going to do.