Speech

AICE Media Component 2, Question 2 Extract

My previous post focused on question one of component two and this post will focus on question two; for this essay, I had the option of choosing one of six questions. The question I chose was to "Assess the importance of marketing in the media area you have studied." The media area I had put was filming; so, I mentioned different techniques and their benefits and losses. This question really gained my interest as I am also in a business class that focuses on marketing and advertisement toward specific consumers, in this case, audiences.

AICE Media Component 2, Question 1 Extract

I was told by my teacher that I had to do a practice exact for the class to show my knowledge I had gained even through our current special circumstances; in the lesson, I was given two choices of extracts which were either 24 or Game of Thrones and I decided Game of Thrones. The video provided a loop 4 times to present the real version of what the test scenario would have been. I was instructed to not take notes during the first session and after was allowed to take notes through sessions two to four; I had very useful templates, however, my printer does not currently work at this moment so most of them I had to write out. I'm glad I was able to do this practice assignment as I believe this is a systematic way to show my knowledge developed through the course.

Final Project: My Movie

As I mentioned this was my most anticipated project from the beginning of the year. It has truly taught me what production is like and I felt that I have learned so much through just its editing. All those things were hard at first and still technically our it does amuse me to do such work. I have always been interested in filming and production and this class just proves how much I anticipate it. From my commercial to my music video and now to my movie; everything has helped shaped me and my skills on a more personal level. In honor of what this class has taught me I would like to do more in the future specifically College. It is very time-consuming to start filming and to get creative ideas however once you're in the process it's practically unstoppable. So many people and so many companies have influenced me and my ideas; although I don't think it's just me I hope that others also reflect on what it's like to have media in the real world. With such a connected economy now people have so much access to media and can be easily influenced by films.  Additionally, I did not film my movie as planned but I'm still glad that I could go through with it; plus, I could compromise a new schedule in such a manner of days. This does not feel like the end but only a new beginning; now I would like to take the skills with me to ensure that I can succeed with them in the real world. It's very interesting to me how we have such communication although it seems like new films barely get any recognition.

Final Project: My Portfolio

All of these items formulate my portfolio for AICE Media. The first is my commercial, which I started filming at the beginning of the year. This is my shortest and first project so, I believe it reflects my skills and knowledge before actually being informed in the class; although at this point I was taught about angles, movements, and transitions, I did not actually have the experience of implementing them into a project which makes this even more special. So far, out of all of my projects, it was the easiest one to produce; this is mainly is due to is the duration and quantity of scenes that had to be edited as it was only around 30 seconds long. I used basic transitions per scene mainly because the way it flowed was visually smooth and I did not have much experience with other types of transitions. Additionally, there was no music in the background as I was told not to add any sound other than dialogue or background sounds; it also makes sense since most commercials do not have music as there could be a problem of Copyright infringement. In the end, it would open up my mind for new creativity and acknowledging the number of resources I have to my availability.

Additionally, I have my music video; this project was much longer than the commercial and gave me more pressure for the editing process as I had around 20 scenes of raw footage that needed to be edited individually. I believe my hardest task was having enough opportunities for all the actors to be present for their scenes when needed; all the actors knew each other so, they had felt comfortable to film with each other. My music video is supposed to be an inspiring summer-like upbeat video that represents beauty as an attraction in everyone no matter their different looks outside. "Objective" beauty usually follows by standards in society as what is seen as beautiful and because of those values, forces others to try changing themselves when they do not want to. This is presented by my scenes that include bullying; these scenes are enforcing the message that people should not bully because it's morally wrong and mentally degrading- people should not feel bad for the looks they were born with. The background music is Who Says by Selena Gomez and The Scene; copyrighted music was allowed for this project. Editing was the hardest part because now I had to structure the scenes so that they went with the right verse/ lines and to be as on point as I possibly could.

Reedit Blog: Slowly But Surely

The pandemic known as the coronavirus, or COVID-19, has altered our schedules completely; with much fewer people leaving their homes now, it feels as if our new schedule is just to stay home. For me, personally, I am not bothered by online learning as I've taken, and still am taking online courses; the only difference I see is a very great quarantine break until April 15th, which quite worries me.

At Fort Lauderdale High School, we allow students to challenge themselves by taking high-assessed academic courses that grant college credit. However, we only have approximately half a month or so to review the content in most challenging classes such as AICE. Reviews mainly happen during the school day or after school, even sometimes during the weekends when reviewing with a peer or a peer group. Although, I find it relatively hard to focus on my academics as I'm more concerned about the virus; trying to sustain my health as possible and also my family's health. With this in mind, less of my attention is drawn to what is happening academically rather than what is happening globally. 

I believe it's not just my attention drawn; daily, I see more articles written about COVID-19, how it affects people, how many people were already affected and etc. This pandemic, although much lower here in the United States, is still a humongous issue that needs to settle down before anyone can go back to their "normal routine." However, it seems hard to do so as many events people were looking to are now postponed or canceled altogether. As much can also be said about Hollywood's films and how they've postponed or stopped the process in total. This negatively influences the production process; if filming is postponed then it will obviously have to start at a later date which may conflict with dates the actors already had planned. This may delay the process even further as the conflicts have to be solved in order to continue the already postponed filming.

Relatively, the opposite concept is happening for me; as I only need to finish editing, and I'm content with the editing applications I have at my disposal, this quarantine session is helping me rather than hurting.

Reshoot Blog: The Next Step

I finally have the current schedule for reshooting; it takes into consideration other schedule conflicts, approximately duration per scene, and issues that are occurring or may occur. As I mentioned the first time I filmed for the movie, we used the alternative place (the house) to film as there was a difficult connection to physically meet each other to film; however, since I have to reshoot, I find this an opportunity to film at the places we had before. The main problem is overall scheduling; since this film involves many actors and people, they all need to be available for their selective scenes at the specific time of day. Also, I realized that filming takes so long personally due to mistakes that occurred during the take and had to be reshot during that time or equipment malfunctions; so, in advance to avoid these situations, I will check over the equipment (i.e. the camera is charged, the tripod functions, etc.) and also reduce the number of mistakes by making it officially clear filming is happening, going over parts with actors, and etc. I am quite pleased with this schedule as it seems more elaborate since the amount of time we have is greater due to the number of days that school is closed; which means, the greater likelihood of the schedule following as there are no distractions other than academics.

Recently, the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has been catching everyone's attention and many organizations have postponed or completely canceled events such as Coachella, and Calle Ocho. In simplicity, no one should obtain this virus and should avoid it at any cost. With this being said, extra measures will be taken to ensure the highest probability of safety and health; for example, the parts of the reshooting scene for the house will be disinfected or clean such as windows, hand objects we will carry, and etc. Although I cannot control how other people act during our outdoor scenes, I will film in a secluded environment and clean the objects around us and objects we will be using. Furthermore, every actor will be wearing a surgical face mask and if they do not have one in their possession, I will supply them with one. Of course, during the scenes we will have to take off the mask and maintain it in a concealed bag; there will be extra masks and other supplies as we film if it is deemed needed. Conclusively, we will ask the organizations or owners of the establishment we are filming at whether we are still allowed to film due to this pandemic; if the given response is a no or similar, then we will schedule a new place. 

Reshoot Blog: Postponed

The information gathered from my peer reviews really guide me into the direction I need and highlight my weakened skills; with full accuracy, I believe this peer review is one of the best ways to understand my progression through the course and reflect on what skills need to be demonstrated better. The main problems identified in my peer reviews is the lighting in the last scene and the sound combinations in the background; for the scene with the lighting, the camera's battery had died, so we had to wait until it was charged enough for the scene- now reflecting on that situation, I will cautiously charge the camera more efficiently before I film. Next, the problem with the sounds was that they were overlapping and caused confusion; this is due to the music being approximately equalized to the same volume as the dialogue in the background- this is a simple fix as I can adjust the music in the background in the video with an app on my laptop. Other than that, most of the details given in the peer reviews match closely or exactly to its requirements; with this idea in mind, as I start reshooting, I will focus on lighting changes and sound quality to ensure I do not repeat any mistakes. Overall, these peer reviews helped me to focus on specific elements of the video that I would not notice that is bad/ low quality; this perspective enforces the idea of audiences and what they want to see when viewing a film.
Although, I did not film any new scenes as it had to be rescheduled due to conflicts with other actors' schedules; with many constraints on filming, I believe that scheduling is always one of the most demanding and time-consuming. This is because peoples' schedules will not always line up and then compromises have to be formed in order to continue with the progress of filming; this is also a part of the reason why it's time-consuming as I personally had to find free time to reschedule and plan how the filming would proceed, which takes much more time with the more actors and people I have involved. Furthermore, scheduling also has to deal with factors that I cannot influence such as weather, events (happening at the said location), and personal emergencies with actors; these factors are the hardest to deal with as there is really little to no compromise. At least there could be a degree of compromise for actors' schedules, however, when it comes to indeterminable variables, it is very risky to make a late compromise.
The place we want to reshoot first is at the house; during the scenes that have overlapping and loud noises in the background, we hope to influence clarity among background sound. I may also take into consideration filming in new alternative places due to personal conflicts with the currently scheduled areas.

Peer Review: Pick a Movie, Any Movie

Last class, we were given a group to peer review their finished product. My group was group six and overall had a decent movie except with a few minor problems. The features I liked most about the movie was the clearness in quality, sharp cuts, great focus on the subject, proper lighting, and efficient backgrounds. The quality throughout the whole movie was contained meaning there were no glitches nor mistakes in the editing; which also reflects the sharp cuts, I love how it flows one scene to the next without hesitation and it looks very organized. In the movie, there is an intense focus on the subject meaning the viewers can easily pick out what/who is the main focus. Also, there was decent lighting in the majority of the film, whether it was indoors with artificial lightings such as lamps or outdoor lighting with the natural glow of the Sun. Lastly, the backgrounds were very efficient and elegant as they weren't very crowded nor messy or confusing; all of the backgrounds were very clear and contributed great quality to the film. However, as I mentioned there are several problems with the film as well.
Films may never be seen as truly perfect because they are all viewed through different perspectives of its viewers and it's up to that viewer to decide on what to think about a certain feature in a film. This does not mean that the film is bad- it just means that there are features incorporated into it which not everyone agrees upon. Some of these features are dim lighting (in a few scenes), story clarity, and missing angles/ shots. In the scenes that occur with the subject getting up from the bed, the camera is pointed down toward the face and shows the casted shadow of one part of the face darker; although the subject can be seen, it could be hard to distinguish what her actual facial features look like; so, the use of a dim light should help see the subject's face without contrasting the darkness too much. Furthermore, the story's plotline is very confusing, as a first-time viewer, I did not know what was happening nor what was the background context to the story; this should be elaborated on, however, through the technique the director sees fit such as whether to add a voice-over or simply arrange the scenes to influence clarity on the goals on the main subject. Lastly, there are various shots and angles missing from the footage as mentioned on the review paper; with those including establishing shot, long shot, over the shoulder shot, pan, tilt, shot reverse shot, eye-line match, and action match; although, these do not pertain as such a problem as they can be quickly implemented in scenes by just changing the angles and shots for scenes that are quite repetitive.

Editing Blog: Fire Alarm Fierce

I have fallen behind schedule due to any negative circumstances. I was editing my film at school on my own personal laptop, I was editing in the morning before school started and lunchtime; however, then the fire alarm was triggered because apparently there was a fire from a teacher's lunch and so then I had to evacuate the building, closing my laptop and doing so erased the edited film I already had on my computer. I still had the film but now nothing was edited; in shock, I tried getting as much done with the leftover battery on my laptop and restarted. Although, I could not do much as my laptop battery died and I had to wait to get home to finish. This taught me a very important lesson to always save my work even when I'm almost finished. It was upsetting to lose all that progress and possibly even more upsetting to restart it all again. It was harsh to have to redo all of my setups, yet I was glad to learn this lesson for future personal projects I may do. This project is probably by far the hardest one that was assigned in the class, yet I do not regret taking it because as I mentioned it always teaches me a lesson. Now the video is mainly edited; yet, I still have quite a few edits to do. I am constantly looking for ways to communicate my ideas; personally, I believe a lot of producers do this. Mainly because it doesn't hurt looking at other people's perspectives; as competitive as it sounds directors drive off of each other's ideas.

Editing Blog: Work at Home

I have finally moved onto the editing phase of my movie. This means I have selected my footage, dumped my raw footage, and organized it by scene. Although my editing process differs from others, I regularly edit individual scenes then edit the film entirely; as in, during this phase, I edited the lighting, background sound level, and overall visual details for the scenes. I do not want to compile so much editing; this is because if an accident occurs. Although not much editing takes place during this phase. Much of my film already has good lighting and decent background so I do not completely edit it. I ensured that most scenes with sound had a clear background and that lighting was bright but not too much. I believe the background music is intense for the action genre; however, not to an extent where it's too loud. I believe the hardest part of this editing process is the sound as it can get very conflicting.

Filming Blog: Hectic Heights

So far, I have postponed my editing and extended my filming phase; although I am almost complete with capturing my raw footage, I would like to have all the footage at hand before editing certain parts and making it seem non-cohesive. The last parts I need to film will be captured this weekend; these parts include the airport and the sleepover. As the airport needs a distinctive time, which does not work with my weekly schedule, and the sleepover is a two-day process, both of these events seemed perfect to hold during the weekend. The process of sequential order was not necessarily the problem but rather which one would take more time. The airport is further away to drive toward yet has a small scene time; although, the house for the sleepover is a closer drive but will take more time to film. So, for the order, it was based on the way our schedules were set and which scenes could be shot. Furthermore, I also had an event planned this weekend so I was not completely available for the selected scenes. Conclusively, I decided to film the sleepover scenes first then the airport scenes; although that is going in sequential order, which I do not particularly favor, it made the most amount of sense. With all of this in mind, editing will occur at the beginning of the weekend; although this process may take a bit longer than the weekend itself, it will be ready in time for peer reviews. Since more scenes need editing than others, I will edit the scenes that need more progress than ones that take shorter times; not only is this process time-efficient but, it gets the bigger parts out of the way leaving smaller work for the rest of the week. Parts that need more editing, for example, include the introduction house where the college girl is first seen; not only does that part include various scenes, however, it includes music, dialogue, and the main titles. So, more time is needed to focus on higher amounts of edits rather than the specific edit itself; even so, I will edit the majority of my film with my own equipped software.

Filming Blog: Go Big or Go Home

Unfortunately, I could not film as much as I wanted to during February 21st-23rd because I attended an academic field trip to Orlando, FL for Business Professionals of America (BPA) and would not return until that afternoon. With the long duration of the trip as well as preparing and actively executing my work, I overestimated the amount of "free" time available during the weekend. By the time I returned back home, which is approximately 4 hours, there was very limited time to set up and film all the scenes that I desired; so, I had only filmed scenes that had little duration and were easy to direct. The scenes I filmed were quickly shot and a fraction of the raw footage may need to be re-shot; however, at this moment I will only be filming what is required and then reshoot any scenes that lack quality. As I filmed, I did achieve to get a variety of scenes such as the car and mall. I had filmed the car first then the mall; the development behind this is to follow the storyboard. Since the mall scenes succeed in the car scenes, that means, rationally, it should be later in the day for the mall scenes. Although, there was just enough bright lighting to still see the subject and the surrounding area. At this moment, I am viewing and judging my own performances so I have a general idea of what should happen. For the next week and weekend approaching, I hope to finish all of my filmings and start editing my already collected raw footage; for the editing, I want to specifically edit visually than audibly. In this aspect, it is very easy for me as I can edit visuals faster rather than audio; this is due to having the audio in the correct duration and positions so it is perfectly sound with the film. For the rest of my filming that still remains to be complete, I hope to film the house and sleepover during the same day then edit succeeding. Of course, following the same thought process as the already collected footage, the house will be filmed first than the sleepover.

Filming Blog: Delayed Schedule

In this blog, I will discuss the schedule change of my storyboard for my movie. For the past weekend or so, I have been editing my storyboard with replacing the park or shopping scenes; after further analysis, the number of places I have does not necessarily correlate to my genre; in fact, it made my schedule much more complicated and the story less complete. With the story constantly jumping from area to area, it discourages the consistency of the idea behind my movie; my story can still be an action genre when applied in a different way. I found out that my genre is applicable in the stance of movement and dynamics from a specific location rather than jumping from multiple locations which force fast developments between characters rather than developing a full relationship. I want my story to flow smoothly while also holding the original plot in mind; this is specifically hard to do in that situation of introducing many new and different topics. Conclusively, I have decided to fix the part of the storyboard with the park scenes; those scenes are very repetitive of what already happened (as in people questioning the college girl) and lead in a bunch of supporting characters that do not add much to the storyline itself. Whether we admit it or not, every character in a book has some degree of significance; it does not make any significance when multiple people all represent the same idea.
I decided to replace the park scenes with an extended version of the shopping mall situation; the twist is that more of her friends coincidentally meet the college girl before she leaves. This allows my story to remain consistent with the scenery and with the characters' relationships; it specifically focuses on the contrast of relationships between the college girl with her close friend versus her other friends. Although this may seem like a difference in personality and "fake" identity, people tend to do this gesture all the time; where people act in different ways around different people. Overall, I believe adjusting the park scenes were the greatest decision as it allows flexibility, consistency, and a formally complete movie introduction.

Planning Blog: Storyboard

 The above PowerPoint is my Storyboard for my movie; although I wanted to color it for finishing touches, I realized my storyboard may change in the future which would cause conflict and more time-consuming work; so, for now, my storyboard is in pencil and will be colored when it is actually finished/ when the filming is complete. Also, I was notified that our class will have peer reviews soon and so I kept that in mind for my storyboard as well. My storyboard just reflects the combination of both the visuals and sounds; however, in the description box, there is more listed for visuals rather than sound as the sound is a simpler element. One thing to note is that the actors and objects that are more contrasted are usually more important; for example, the college girl is more bolded than compared to her other friends that show up later. Should any additional complications show up, there are backed up locations and back up actors; with any future changes should be noted in the later blogs along with my commentary on how it was resolved.

Planning Blog: Title Design

The above PowerPoint is my crafted titles implemented in my movie; their form and characteristics reflect those of example action movies with their titles. I mention the font, contrast, color, size, duration, credits, and titles to ensure clarity to the highest maximum. Most factors for the titles usually work together in cohesiveness such as the font with the contrast and size with duration. This design is formed very custom due to personal interests and likes, however, all specific characteristics are supported. The font will be very animated to show a school/ childish perspective to reflect the young beginnings of the college girl; the contrast is represented in the title to give greater emphasis and catch the attention of the audience; the color varies between the working title and the crew and also is consistently light; the size of the people is bigger than the jobs and the size of the working title is bigger than the people; the duration will not be long, only long enough to read the title presented and continue; the overall credits will be presented in places convenient for the audience (i.e. on a billboard, piece of paper, etc); and lastly the Working Title, Escapist, will be presented in the open and have a very "popped" perspective.

Planning Blog: Schedule, Location, Participants, Health & Safety

The above PowerPoint is my crafted plan and factors implemented in my movie; all of these factors are significant in some way, although, some are more significant than others. The schedule may be the most intense plan as well as fluctuated as we could encounter errors that schedule back the whole process. Most of the schedule occurs through February and to the middle/ late March. The locations will remain the same, especially with permission granted by the owners and/ or security. All consistent participants will have consent whether to be filmed or not; however, this is harder to apply to strangers/ pedestrians in the background. Health and Safety are both great issues; more so safety for this movie introduction rather than health. Both are regulated by parental/ adult guidance so, no participant should get injured.

Planning Blog: Sound Script

The above PowerPoint is my crafted sound script for my movie; specifically what the actors will be saying and what sounds will be heard in the background. Although some slight audio changes may occur, the majority of it will remain the same and the mood will be preserved. Additionally, I will only be observing royalty-free music unless given permission to use royalty music; of course, permission needs to be received before the due date of my project. The elements incorporated into music such as beat, flow, tone, pitch, and more establish the mood for the scene; this is why most of my music used will give a traveling or inspired vibe, to ensure the audience's engagement. Although, the bulk of the introduction includes dialogue between actors- especially in the middle of the introduction. Some audio will overlap such as the background music and dialogue which develops the intensity and gives a basic example of how audio is incorporated into films to engage attention; conclusively, audio is necessary for my film and helps to better convey the reaction and emotions of the audience.

Planning Blog: Shooting Script

The above PowerPoint is my crafted shooting script for my movie; specifically what the actors will be doing, how they will be doing it, and in what surroundings they will be doing those actions in. Although some actions or angles may change, the majority of it will remain the same and the concepts will be preserved. In addition, I incorporated my favorite aspects of the action genre into the script mainly by the use of location changes; with the constant changes occurring roughly every 15- 30 seconds, it gives a swift mindset and captures the audience's attention by adding more motion and interaction. Other elements such as lighting and actor/ character development emphasize action by having the introduction and adjustment to a chaotic lifestyle. Lighting specifically focuses on the greater subject and what the audience should be signifying their attention to; both light and dark lighting are used in this matter, however, light tends to emphasize good and dark tends to emphasize badly. Personally, I believe it will be harder to film given such various amount of locations and timing that will be given to it; although, since most locations are in the same general area it should not be as difficult as I anticipate.

Title Research: This Means War

How many titles are displayed during the opening sequences to the film? There are exactly 22 titles in total. What images are prioritized in the opening sequence? The opening image starts with a dark screen with the words emphasized for the title "This Means War." The showing of the titles seems to be in match with the beat/non-diegetic sound in the background, which makes it more appealing to the audience. What connotations do the images carry? Well, after the movie title is displayed, the background is covered with moving images and lights which create a graphic match to a person's body/ body parts. Which, conveys how humans are closer to robots/ technology than we think as the background images seem to be filled with code. How is genre reinforced through symbolic and technical codes from the outset? The constant use of the movement of pictures to display the movement of a human body builds up the feeling of action as whenever a human moves their body it always has a personal application. Also, the color red tends to make people more psychologically angry/ upset, so the use of red and colors related to that, builds up the mood for the audience that the producers anticipate. How does the film establish an enigma from the outset? Well, considering the transition goes straight from the movie title to the body movements, some people may wonder is that an actual actor and if who, also, why are body movements so emphasized in the beginning and why does it end with a woman holding a blowtorch, etc. What strategies are used to ensure the film appeals to its target audience? The transitions between the image movement and body movement convey a connection and flow to which the audience pays attention as it is visually appealing. Another technique is editing, as in the background it shows a visual sound bar moving to the rhythm of the music while also establishing visual appeal when mixed with the imagery motion, pulling the audiences' attention closer.

https://www.watchthetitles.com/titlesequence/this-means-war/