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) 

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  Slow zoom from table 

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  High angle of her writing  

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  Extreme close up of her eyes looking all over the place 

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  Over the shoulder shot of writing 

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  Close up of her finishing book

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  Medium of her her closing pen

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  Close up of her closing pen

WALKING TO COUCH AND GOING TO SLEEP (clara)

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  Close up of feet pushing chair out 

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  Wide of her getting up and walking 

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  Medium of coach (she sits down

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  Close up of her rubbing face

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  Close up of lamp shutting off

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  Wide of lamp shutting off

PHONE CALL AND NEWS STORY (Nadia)

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

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   Close up Phone ringing 

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  Wide of tina grabbing phone

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  Medium of discussion

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  Film 3 different angles of discussion 

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  Wide facing tv, tina walks towards tv

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

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  Tight close up of shocked face

LEAVING AND OFFICE (Zain)

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  Close up of grabbing keys

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

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  Close up of tire pulling in

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  Establishing??

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  Close up of her getting out 

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  Tilt up fixing pants out car

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  Close up of boss angry

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  Over the shoulder of tina walking in 

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  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!