CCR script

 Hi, Blog!

As I had said in my previous post, this week I focused on working on my CCR responses. While I couldn't film any of it because, for one of them, I need my school's auditorium, for the other one I need an interviewer to follow me around the house, and since I'm in Brazil, not a lot of people speak English, and I doubt I'd be allowed to film a CCR in Portuguese.

Nonetheless, I am totally done with my script for both products of the CCR. I am flying back to Florida at 6AM on Saturday, and then on Sunday, I will have my cousin come to my house after Easter lunch to film the 73 questions with Vogue-inspired CCR so that I can start editing that as soon as possible. I have to be honest I'm nervous about being on a time-crunch to edit the CCRs before April 2nd. If it was just filming it, that would be easy, but since I have to edit it and add images, it will be a bit more time-consuming.

It took me a good two hours to completely finish the scripts, and I have to say the last paragraph made me quite emotional. In the last paragraph of my script, I chose to do an overall reflection of the project as a whole, and it made me realize it's very close to the finish line, which is a bittersweet feeling. For one, I'm glad I won't have to stress about making three blog posts a week. even though I have never missed a blog post, sometimes it was hard to do three posts a week because there were weeks where I felt I didn't have much of an update to give, but I have to admit that worked for the best as it pushed me to do something to have what to talk about in the posts.

Here's that last paragraph for ya:

Sounds, editing, and title

 Hey, everyone!

As we get closer and closer to the due date for our film opening, all of us are working on different tasks to maximize efficiency, especially since every single one of us is currently traveling, so it's not like we can meet up. I have to be honest I actually kind of miss them. Throughout the entire filming process, we had a lot of fun and I feel like we've all become good friends. I don't want this project to be over just yet.

Okay, enough with the feelings. During the weekend we wrote down all the additional sounds we would need from Pixabay or Soundstripe and I told the girls I could take care of finding all the sounds since I couldn't be there when they met up to start editing. I added the link to all the sounds onto a Google doc and then uploaded that to our AICE Media Google Drive, which is where we're keeping all the footage, sounds, editing, literally everything. Here are all the sounds we are using:

There's two more sounds that aren't on the list, but that's because we want to use Foley to get them. 

When they met up to edit, I asked them to send some photos of the software so that I could share them with you guys here. To my understanding, Zain is doing not all but a good part of the editing, because she's the one who has the most experience with those things, but we are all attempting to edit as well.

Oh, also, since now I figured out how to put images on my blog posts again, I'll leave below the picture of the title slide of the film I had told you guys about. For the font, I used the Canva font "Antio" in the size 435. I am also trying to figure out how to animate the font so that it looks like it is somebody's writing.

Throughout this week, I plan on writing my script for the CCR, which I'm going to record as soon as I get back home. One of the things I'm doing for the CCR is inspired by the 73 questions with Vogue, and I already spoke to one of my friends for him to be the "interviewer" 

ZVCN productions

Hi, again blog!

I was FINALLY able to figure out how to put images on my blog posts again. Usually what I do is just upload or drag the file onto here, but every time I've tried to post whilst in Brazil that doesn't work. So, I resorted to writing the blog posts on my phone and then copying and pasting the image onto here, but, when I write the posts on my phone, they come out in a weird format, so I thought: If I can copy and paste the image on my phone, I could probably do that from my computer, too! This whole process took about 30 minutes to figure out, and a lot of frustration. But we are ready to go now!

Today, my group met up to get started on editing the footage and selecting which clips we should use and which ones we shouldn't. Even though I couldn't meet up with them because I'm not in town, they still made sure to include me in everything and let me know how things were going. Here's a photo they took and then photoshopped me in it.

While they worked on editing, I worked on creating our production company for the film. Vanessa suggested the name ZVCN, which is just our initials put together, but it sounds legit. I feel like it could be a real name for a production company. So, once that was settled I got started on creating the logo. To be honest I didn't really know where to start at first, so I searched production company logos to get some inspiration. I made ours based off of these examples:

I noticed most of them had some sort of camera element, such as camera film, video recorder, etc., and then, using Canva (which I am obsessed with and will be obsessed with til the day I die), I created this:

And then I sent it in our group chat and every one of my group members loved it, which is good because I spent a good 45 minutes on this and I really didn't want to have to do it again. Since I won't be in town all break, we all agreed that I should look for all the sounds/music we will use for the opening, so I've been navigating Soundstripe nonstop. I think we are pretty set on using the sound I told you guys about for the title screen (see last blog post), but I have yet to find the other sounds we will use.

This is pretty much all I got for you guys this week. Catch you next week!!

An ode to Soundstripe

 Hi guys!

I feel like I've been putting off this blog post ever since my last post, which was on Tuesday I think? And you guys deserve a proper apology. So, I'm sorry. The last couple of days have been hectic as I came to Brazil to visit my dad and that alone is a 12-hour trip, so honestly I've just been tired and putting this off for later. But I'm back now and I have really great news.

So, I was doing some digging on other websites for royalty-free music and sounds that aren't Pixabay and I found this website called "soundstripe" which I'm not sure was among the few websites Mrs. Stoklosa suggested we use to find the sounds and music we needed for the project, but I'll make sure to tell her about it so that she can recommend to her future classes because it was really really helpful.

Besides having thousands of audio that we can pick from, they give users the option to pick a list of sounds based on specific characteristics or genres that you can check off on their website. You can also find a sound by searching artists, specific instruments, and playlists. You can also layer multiple sounds within their website, which could be helpful in case my group and I need to do so. And of course, the best part, it's free

I found this one specific sound that I think could be perfect for when the title of the film comes on screen, especially since we are going for something super dramatic. On Canva, I created a document with the shot where the film title will be displayed, the one close-up from the protagonist's eyes, and then on top of that I added the title "Cycles." in the font my group and I agreed on, which I went over a couple blog posts ago, but for some reason, my computer isn't letting me upload any images onto Blogger, not even the screenshot I took of the soundstripe website. 

I'm going to try to figure out why I can't upload any images into my blog posts before my next one because I really want you guys to see what I'm picturing for the title screen. Maybe after I post this it will let me go back and edit it and add the pictures. Either way, I'll update you tomorrow or Sunday!

Creative Critical Reflection

 Hi, blog!

I am currently sitting in AICE Media after a quite productive period. Today it was just Vanessa and I in class as Zain is still at the TV production competition and Nadia had to leave school early. Either way, Vanessa and I went to look for the theater teacher during this period to ask her if we could potentially use the auditorium during 8th period to film the "TED Talk" CCR. We ended up agreeing on staying after school on Wednesday to film it since after spring break we will only have two days before the project is due. Here are the responses I have for my CCR so far:

We also spent another big portion of the class trying to figure out how we can pass the footage from my computer (which is an Apple computer) to Vanessa's flash drive, but the adapter cord wasn't working properly so I might just end up emailing it to her. We also helped our other classmate, Chloe, with her film opening about teen pregnancy. I'm excited to see how that'll turn out.

Either way, I'm still looking on Pixabay to find the sound for the title slide. I'll update you on the sound and editing soon!

film title- CYCLES.

 Hi guys!

So, this week Zain has been at STN, the TV production competition our school is a part of, and she won 1st place in the category for short films! We're all super proud.

But let's get down to business: last class, we decided on the title of our film, which is "Cycles." I want to make the film title screen very dramatic and kind of unsettling, and I have a vision for it: it's the scene where the protagonist picks up the phone and talks to her boss, the scene where it is an extreme close-up on her face and she has that "I F*cked up" look on her face, and then the image freezes and the title comes on top of her face, slightly transparent.

I sent in our group chat some options for potential fonts for the title. 

So far the winner seems to be #4, because it looks like it could be the woman's handwriting. I like that idea. I've also been looking into some royalty-free sound effects for the title screen, and since I want something dramatic, I found this sound effect on pixabay, and while it's not exactly what I want, its along those lines.

Anyway, for now, I have to dig deeper into pixabay till I find a sound that is exactly what I'm looking for. Catch you later!

         

CCR topics and ideas

 Hi, blog!

Today, both Zain and Nadia were absent from class. Thankfully, none of what we did today included recording or editing. Me and Vanessa got together at the beginning of the period to go through the clips we filmed and see which ones we will use and which ones we won't. Although we didn't delete any clips just in case we choose to use them later on, I renamed the ones I'm sure we are using. 

After we went through a few clips, we started working on our scripts and responses for the Creative Critical Reflection because Vanessa was really worried about getting that done before Spring Break. For my creative reflections, I plan on doing a TED Talk for the first two questions, but for that, I need to check with the theater class if I can use the auditorium during 8th period to film it. 

For the second critical reflection, I want to do an interview style like 73 questions with Vogue, but I'm not 100% sure about that one. For the most part, I started answering the questions first, because that comes before figuring out what the creative part of it will be.

I'll catch you later this week after I work more on my CCR responses!

Creative Critical Reflection introduction

 Hi guys!

My group and I had planned on going over all the footage we filmed during class time, however, we got a lesson on the Creative Critical Reflection and how to approach the four questions that go along with it. I'm excited to film them, and I plan on doing a talk show as if I'm being interviewed, similar to how celebrities go on Jimmy Fallon, for the other piece I plan on doing something inspired by the 73 questions with Vogue, with an interviewer following me around my house asking the questions.

Even though I already have plenty of ideas for the reflection, I have to act quickly on how I'm going to execute them, because I'm going to Brazil to visit my dad throughout the entire duration of spring break, which means we also have to edit the film opening before then because once we come back from spring break, the project is due really soon after. 

I'm going to start working on the script for the responses to the reflection this week, and on Thursday during class, we will go over the footage we have filmed since we couldn't get to it today. I also had a mini freak out about the footage from the first day of filming because I couldn't find it after I downloaded the material from the SD cards onto my computer, but luckily Zain found it.

Either way, I'll come back later this week (latest Thursday) with an update after we start going through the footage. See ya!

Filming- Last day

 Hi everyone!

Today we concluded our last day of filming. We spent pretty much every day this week filming. Most of the filming was done at Vanessa's house, with the last shots being filmed today at my house in my mom's office serving as the boss' office in the final series of shots. We actually had a really fun time while shooting these past few days! 

Of course, there was some trouble here and there, but mostly scheduling issues that we were able to get past without any issues. We had to rearrange my mom's entire office for today's shots but we quickly put everything back where it first was.

For the boss' character, a big inspiration came from Elton John. We dressed Logan (Zain's brother) up in "silly" clothing because partially we want the character to be "weird". We tried to make every character weird in some way. The protagonist, Tina, goes to sleep on her couch, she wears her pajamas underneath her office clothes. The boss looks like a corporate version of Elton John and has a typewriter on his desk in 2024.

These were all purposeful Mise-En-Scene elements because we wanted to show the audience these people think outside the box. Tina, for example, would've never discovered the patterns in the first place if she wasn't thinking outside the box.

For this upcoming week, we are planning on going through all the footage we filmed because we also got a lot of shots that weren't on the shot list just so we would have extra just in case. I already downloaded all the footage to my computer so enjoy some!

FILMING- DAY 2

 Hi everybody!

So, as I mentioned in yesterday's blog post, we spent a good part of the day at Vanessa's house, where we got half of the filming done. It took us about three hours to get most of the scenes inside the office setting done because we had to adjust things such as lighting, changing the camera lens, getting the mic to pick up the sounds, etc.

The office Vanessa has at her house turned out to be perfect for the shot; it was messy and full of different papers, pens, and everything we wanted. Vanessa's dad also does stocks and he had three different computer screens all turned on showing the stocks, which ended up being a perfect Mise-En-Scene element.

I had to lie down on the floor multiple times to hold the mic in a position where it would pick up the sounds of the chair moving and the sound of footsteps, which wasn't very pleasant taking into account that I almost got run over by the chair a couple times, but it's okay! We are also going to have to refilm the news broadcasting shot because for some reason the mic didn't pick up any audio, but it's not a major issue because we can just film it during. our next AICE Media class.

Today after school Zain and I are going to her mom's office (she's the office administrator for an elementary school nearby) so that we can film the scene in the boss' office. We also all agreed that on Friday night we would all go back to Vanessa's house so that we can finish filming everything before Zain leaves for her TV competition next Wednesday. After that, all that there is left to do is edit! I'll leave you with some pictures I took during filming yesterday:

Day 1 of filming

 Hi everyone!

So, as a little update, we started filming yesterday! It's going pretty well so far! We aren't filming in order simply because time doesn't always allow for it. Yesterday in AICE Media we didn't have much time to film but with the little time we did have we went to the CBTV studio, where they film the morning announcements to film the news story segment. We wanted to use the podium (see image below)

but, Mr. Cummings, the TV production teacher didn't let us use it because he said people kept going in there and messing it up, so, we ended up using one of the backdrops they have, but we are still going to try asking Mr. Cummings to let us use the podium on a day he's in a better mood. Here's what the backdrop was like:

We've also completed our entire shot list, and it goes as follows:

DESK (Vanessa) 

• 

  Slow zoom from table 

• 

  High angle of her writing  

• 

  Extreme close up of her eyes looking all over the place 

• 

  Over the shoulder shot of writing 

• 

  Close up of her finishing book

• 

  Medium of her her closing pen

• 

  Close up of her closing pen

WALKING TO COUCH AND GOING TO SLEEP (clara)

• 

  Close up of feet pushing chair out 

• 

  Wide of her getting up and walking 

• 

  Medium of coach (she sits down

• 

  Close up of her rubbing face

• 

  Close up of lamp shutting off

• 

  Wide of lamp shutting off

PHONE CALL AND NEWS STORY (Nadia)

• 

  Close up of face right when phone ringing (eyes shut)

• 

   Close up Phone ringing 

• 

  Wide of tina grabbing phone

• 

  Medium of discussion

• 

  Film 3 different angles of discussion 

• 

  Wide facing tv, tina walks towards tv

• 

  Medium of tv while she bends down to get a closer look

• 

  Tight close up of shocked face

LEAVING AND OFFICE (Zain)

• 

  Close up of grabbing keys

• 

  Wide walking out and slamming door (BLAZER AND PANTS ON SHOULDER)

• 

  Close up of tire pulling in

• 

  Establishing??

• 

  Close up of her getting out 

• 

  Tilt up fixing pants out car

• 

  Close up of boss angry

• 

  Over the shoulder of tina walking in 

• 

  Medium of boss “we are fucked”

• 
  

We got together today after the SAT and filmed some more scenes (we are currently at Vanessa's house doing the filming), so the scenes with a line crossing over it are scenes we have done so far. I've taken multiple pictures of the process but I'm saving them to go into detail of those shots in the next blog!

Now. I should probably go so we can finish these shots. See ya later!

Shot list

 Hi, blog!!!

It's been a little while! I was at DECA states and the last few days have been really rushed because of it. But I'm happy to report that my team qualified for the international competition! But enough about DECA, let's focus on what we're all here for: AICE Media!

Zain and I are planning on going to the office of this guy she knows from the Broward County School News Channel so that we can get the specific equipment we need to film. We will also create the paper for the book the protagonist is writing, which we want to make look like it is old, so we will dissolve some instant coffee, put it on a piece of paper, and put it in the oven for just a little bit so that the paper hardens and the aspect of it looks antique. 

We plan on starting to film next week on Wednesday since it's SAT day and I don't have to go to school. We are also working on creating our shot list and separating who is going to direct what shot. So far we separated the story into four main shots:

I know it doesn't make much sense reading it like this, but we will still develop it more. The DESK titled one is the scene where the protagonist is doing all the doodling of the patterns, finding the discovery. After that shot, she walks to the couch and eventually falls asleep with the TV on. She's woken up by the phone ringing and her boss on the other side of the line, and when she switches the TV channel, the News channel is covering the story about her findings. After that, she leaves and arrives at her boss's office. I'm thinking of doing a dolly shot for the walk to the couch, but I'm not too sure yet.

I'll check back in on Tuesday with an update!