Editing

  My editing skills are only strong in Photoshop and Illustrator so, I am leaving the majority of the editing for Eva. I can however edit the audio so, that is what I will most likely be doing. Eva created a new project in Premiere. I then imported it. The first thing Eva did was line up the clips. This took much longer than I thought it would. Last year it was much quicker. This was because they were only two minutes for the film last year. The hardest part, according o Eva, was lining up the conversation shots. This is because they all look the same. So, she had to watch all of the clips multiple times just to get the order. Currently looking at the footage I fear that we don’t have enough to get to five minutes. I am currently at 2 and a half minutes. I already used a bit over half of the footage.

Update: I finished lining up all of the footage. With place holders for the main titles, it made it to exactly five minutes. This is exactly where it needs to be. This was a great start to the editing process. Now that everything is lined up I have to add transitions, effects, and finish the titles.

The Day After Filming

  This blog is a continuation of yesterday's blog. Looking back at the filming process it went very well and smoothly. A few things we did differently from last year is the amount of planning we did and the quantity of dialogue. The planning helped make sure everything went smoothly. I think my favorite scene was when Eddie scared Sean. I think it was a nice funny scene that lightened the original mood of the movie. That offered a drastic contrast to the ending. One thing I was not a fan of was filming under the scenes under the house. It was fine when we checked when we were scouting where we filmed. I did not anticipate how uncomfortable crouching the entire time we were filming would be. Eva seemed to be slightly bothered by the amount of bugs under the house. I on the oher hand was expecting this.

I haven’t thoroughly reviewed all of the footage yet. I will be doing that tomorrow.  But, from what I can see the lighting was good throughout. One thing I am now worried about is making sure it is not choppy. A lot of the scenes were filmed separately and we have not done a film with heavy dialogue. But, I am confident that it will turn out well. I can’t wait for editing because I feel like our acting had much to be desired.

A Cancelled Event

 Today we had to cancel our filming plans. Not all of our actors were able to make it. There must have been a communication error because our actor stated that he was unable to make the time he previously agreed to. There is nothing we can do about it now, however. We will just schedule our filming for a future date. This may have been a blessing in disguise since I have recently come to discover we are lacking the majority of our props. Hopefully we will be more prepared. To mitigate the threat of having to reschedule for a second time, I made sure we would have extras in case someone doesn't show up. Two actors outside of the class have been contacted along with three extras who will be contacted. When we do schedule our filming, it will likely be some time next week, this will be when everyone is on winter break and everyone is available. We will now have to ask everyone which days they will be available. Then we will be able to schedule a day.

Another Chance?

  We have officially rescheduled filming for Monday, the 21st. Everyone has confirmed they will be available on that day. We chose this day for multiple reasons. One, it is close to the beginning o winter break so many people might not have plans yet (which no one had.) A second reason is because we wanted an ample amount of time to edit since we weren't confident in the componence of some of our actors. Although, it is ironic I say this since my acting skills aren't that strong in and of itself. One of my biggest fears are that we might have to do some refilming since we may have some unsuccessful takes. Unfortunately, we d not have this commodity since a handful of our extras are only in Florida for winter break and will leave state soon after the da filming. To compensate, we will try to get as many takes as possible on the day of filming. We can only try our best to ensure that we will have enough time to capture enough takes and that all of the audio will come out crisp. If not we might have to resort to having actors do complete voice- over over their own voices.

Editing

 My editing skills are only strong in Photoshop and Illustrator so, I am leaving the majority of the editing for Eva. I can however edit the audio so, that is what I will most likely be doing. Eva created a new project in Premiere. I then imported it. The first thing Eva did was line up the clips. This took much longer than I thought it would. Last year it was much quicker. This was because they were only two minutes for the film last year. The hardest part, according o Eva, was lining up the conversation shots. This is because they all look the same. So, she had to watch all of the clips multiple times just to get the order. Currently looking at the footage I fear that we don’t have enough to get to five minutes. I am currently at 2 and a half minutes. I already used a bit over half of the footage.

Update: I finished lining up all of the footage. With place holders for the main titles, it made it to exactly five minutes. This is exactly where it needs to be. This was a great start to the editing process. Now that everything is lined up I have to add transitions, effects, and finish the titles.

Music and Soundtrack Decisions

 

Today we searched for the music we are going to use for our film. We need at least two songs. One is going to sound spooky and the other is going to have a cheerful, upbeat vibe. Our best bet would be to find a small artist and ask for their permission to use their OST. An alternative however would be to simply find a royalty- free track so we don't have to ask for permission. This will most likely be what we do. Each track will have to be at least two and a half minutes. Preferably, the tracks will go over two and a half minutes so they can be altered if needed.

Eva has found a happy song which is royalty free. This could act as the song that is played in the exposition. Although the song is only two minutes long, our short film is five minutes. This song seems like it could work, given it is unlikely that is will be played through the whole first half of the movie. If this song doesn't work however, I'll attempt to find another song we can use ( but it most likely will.)

The Filming Decision

 During Thanksgiving Break, my group and I decided not to film. we came to this conclusion due to a number of factors. The first and most important factor is the ongoing pandemic with covid-19. The pandemic meant that we could not safely film in any public places and could not be in rooms that were congested. Considering that our movie takes place in a suburban home and our need for extras, choosing to film would be a risky move for all parties involved. The second was a lack of time. None of our group could properly set a date and time to meet for filming even if we wanted to film over the break. While it did come as a disappointment that we could not film so soon, our group instead looked at it as a positive. the longer we wait to film, the more time we will have to plan and prepare and make our film as close to the original vision it can be. while it may be multiple weeks until we film, we will be confident in our abilities both as a group and as a filming crew. While with enough planning and rushed preparation we could have completed the film over the break. However, the irritation and the pain from planning a date and the unnecessary danger that the crew would be put into far outweighed the potential benefit coming from filming the movie earlier. in fact, filming so soon could have been rise to much more irritating issues like more retakes than necessary. We, as a group are glad we chose not to film this past week and are excited for filming to the best of our ability in the upcoming weeks. Our film will be much better for it.

Permissions

   As a reminder, our pitch is a group of teenagers who hear a strange noise coming from under the house when they investigate suddenly they start to go missing one by one. We debated upon the three genres for a bit. We ended up deciding on horror. I think it fits the best. Also, it is the one I would like the best. The pace fit the best for the pitch. Horror is fast-paced. This will allow for a very cool action sequence. The action sequences are my favorite to edit. Another thing that I liked about the horror genre is the angles and movements. There is a lot of room for creativity. One of my favorite shots is the over the shoulder shot. It is optimized a lot in horror films. Due to the location we are filming, the common lighting being dim is perfect.  I think this is a great fit for this pitch. There is a lot of wiggle room which, I like. Some of my favorite movies are in the horror genre. I look forward to making this project with my group.  Considering that our movie takes place in a suburban home and our need for extras, choosing to film would be a risky move for all parties involved. The second was a lack of time. None of our group could properly set a date and time to meet for filming even if we wanted to film over the break. While it did come as a disappointment that we could not film so soon, our group instead looked at it as a positive. the longer we wait to film, the more time we will have to plan and prepare and make our film as close to the original vision it can be. while it may be multiple weeks until we film, we will be confident in our abilities both as a group and as a filming crew. While with enough planning and rushed preparation we could have completed the film over the break. However, the irritation and the pain from planning a date and the unnecessary danger that the crew would be put into far outweighed the potential benefit coming from filming the movie earlier. in fact, filming so soon could have been rise to much more irritating issues like more retakes than necessary. We, as a group are glad we chose not to film this past week and are excited for filming to the best of our ability in the upcoming weeks. Our film will be much better for it.

The Marketing of Vacant

We wanted our marketing campaign to be as Wide-reaching as possible. We achieved this by putting our movie on a number of different social media sites. all of the accounts on these sites share the same name so that we benefit from brand recognition. The name of our movie is short and sweet and is a normal word from the English dictionary to increase the chances that we are remembered by people simply visiting our pages. We want the name to stick out and be memorable without being a mouthful. we use many sites such as Facebook and Instagram. reaching out to this many platforms does nothing else but give us more exposure. For the specific form of marketing, we figured that most people will have an account in at least one of these places. The website is simplistic and easy to use. All of the necessary information that one would need to gather a sufficient amount of information on this movie is easy to access by simply visiting this website. The wide reach of our platforms, the accessible site, and the short chipper title are memorable and easy to use. We feel that this social media site will do a great job advertising our movie to anyone who would be interested. we are planning on expanding each site to include more information about the movie. While the number of platforms will most likely stay the same, the information will update with the production of the movie. Hopefully, our platforms are all-encompassing and informational for anyone who would like to see our movie.

https://vacantthemovie.wixsite.com/vacancy

Storyboaring

 My team decided to storyboard our movie make it easier to imagine the movie in motion. The storyboarding process is essential to the flow and the creative process of creating a movie. It allows the people creating the movie to put the movie on a physical medium, without committing to the manhours needed to film a movie. A supremely important part of the movie creating process is the storyboard. This is shown by realizing that almost every movie made in the past decade had at least one storyboard. For the storyboard, we decided to split up the work between us. this made it easier for everyone so that no one person had the task of creating 90 individual storyboard panels. For the storyboards, we did not focus on the quality of the art of the storyboards. we instead tried to focus on the type of camera angle we would use for a certain second of the movie. using this, the day of filming would be made easier on all of us and we could change things quickly if needed. we do not have to write dialogue either, as the script is on a separate document. while it may be inconvenient to have separate documents for these critical aspects of filmmaking, but this allows the separate documents to be as detailed as possible. While art is not my strong suit, I still tried to make the positioning of the characters as visually pleasing as possible. this works around my poor art skills and simply acts as a skeleton of what we should do when the day of filming rolls around. all in all, I am glad we decided to make a storyboard.

Planning Blog

  This blog is the planning blog. That means it will have the following information: schedule, location, participants, health and safety, props, and costumes. To start of is the schedule. By the 13th of this month we will have the storyboard done. For filming we will allot a two week period from filming for the 14th through the twenty-third. The next step is editing which I will be doing for my group. Editing will take place from the twenty-third to the seventh of December. we will then reflect on our video and re-film and re edit for the remainder of December. The location of all of our filming will be at my house. We have a basement which will be perfect for our short film. The participants we have gathered so far are:

Homeless person: Robert

Ally:Me

James: Sean

Connor: Not Determined

Eddie: Trent

The actor for Conor has not yet to be determined but should be easy to find because it has the shortest amount of screen time. For filming we will all take turns because there is not one scene were all the characters are together. Health and Safety is very important to us as a group. There is no big safety issues. We have a scene were we use a knife. For precaution we will either use a fake knife or put tape on the edge so no one will get hurt. We also will be filming in a basement so we will bring flashlights so we don't hit our heads. Overall we will just be extremely careful. For props we will have a knife, random, food and fake blood. The fake blood will be very similar to what we used last year for our end of year video. It will just be water, food coloring, and cornstarch. The costume for Ally, James, Connor, and Eddie are all just clothes you would wear to a party. For example, jeans, a t-shirt, and converse. The homeless person will be wearing dirty clothes that are covered in dirt and ripped. 

this is the fake blood we will be using.

Research 9 the Short

 "9" is an animated short made by Shane Acker for a UCLA animation workshop. The plot is shown to the viewer in a very unconventional manner, with no dialogue or narration to inform the viewer of the plot. Every plot detail in this movie is shown through a purely visual manner. The main character, 9, of which this movie is named after, has his name never specifically given. the only way we can figure out who the protagonist is is through the number on his back. this is true for the other character in this movie, 5. while this may seem simple, it is an effective piece of storytelling and says a lot with a little. within the first few minutes, our mentor character is struck down and the rising action is shown. the passage of time is shown with our hero 9 as the lightbulb given to him by 5 is now a staff, showing he is more experienced. this combined with the zoom out transition gives the viewer a good idea of how 9 is faring without a mentor. The main antagonist is given a bright green eye, contrasting him from the drab colors of the background. the setting is a post-apocalyptic earth. this is implied through human artifacts such as lamps and tin cans. The use of visual storytelling is the most compelling part of this short film. Instead of defeating the monster in a show of strength, the hero's journey concludes with 9 outsmarting the monster instead. this is the perfect end to our villain, as he has been shown to be unstoppable but the more experienced 9 is able to use the tools at his disposal to defeat his foe. overall, a great short.

Short Film vs. Feature Length Film

 In my opinion, the short film was better than the feature-length film. the short film does a number of things better than the movie. for one, the short film does not have any dialogue. while one may see this as a negative, I think it helps the setting. between the two movies, both have similar settings but I believe the short is much more vicious in the presentation. for example, 9 is living in the wild and collecting things to survive on his own, but in the feature-length film, there is a dangerous encounter in the beginning but 9 is then taken to a save haven among the dolls. I think this removes some of the danger that the word had that was implied by immediately giving 9 a resting point. he does leave shortly after, but I still think the damage has been done. I also prefer the character of 5 as a mentor figure rather than how he is presented in the film. in the short, the feeling of a mentor is given through the character's interactions when much is said with simple movements and 5 directing him how to take off a lightbulb. however, a newly born 9 is expected to direct a 5 that has obviously been alive for much longer (workshop, friends, etc.) and 5 is supposed to find solace when 9 tells him to do things. newly born 9. The short gives more of a connection to the viewer in 2 minutes that the movie does in 30. 5s sacrifice in the movie is supposed to be comparable to 2s, but I feel that 2s ignorance in taking the piece with him made me angry with him in his stupidity. all in all, I think the addition of dialogue in the film is a minor detriment but makes me prefer the short film much more.

Shane Acker, Director

Research 9: Feature Film

 The feature film adaptation of the short movie 9 is much more on the nose. The movie starts out with a narration. this narration is a a vague introduction to the word that is being presented to us. The plot is shown to the viewer in a very unconventional manner, with no dialogue or narration to inform the viewer of the plot. Every plot detail in this movie is shown through a purely visual manner. The main character, 9, of which this movie is named after, has his name never specifically given. the only way we can figure out who the protagonist is is through the number on his back. this is true for the other character in this movie, 5. while this may seem simple, it is an effective piece of storytelling and says a lot with a little. within the first few minutes, our mentor character is struck down and the rising action is shown. the passage of time is shown with our hero 9 as the lightbulb given to him by 5 is now a staff, showing he is more experienced. this combined with the zoom out transition gives the viewer a good idea of how 9 is faring without a mentor. The main antagonist is given a bright green eye, contrasting him from the drab colors of the background. the setting is a post-apocalyptic earth. this is implied through human artifacts such as lamps and tin cans. The use of visual storytelling is the most compelling part of this short film. Instead of defeating the monster in a show of strength, the hero's journey concludes with 9 outsmarting the monster instead. this is the perfect end to our villain, as he has been shown to be unstoppable but the more experienced 9 is able to use the tools at his disposal to defeat his foe. overall, a great short.

Horror

Drama

Thriller

Genre I Chose

  As a reminder, our pitch is a group of teenagers who hear a strange noise coming from under the house when they investigate suddenly they start to go missing one by one. We debated upon the three genres for a bit. We ended up deciding on horror. I think it fits the best. Also, it is the one I would like the best. The pace fit the best for the pitch. Horror is fast-paced. This will allow for a very cool action sequence. The action sequences are my favorite to edit. Another thing that I liked about the horror genre is the angles and movements. There is a lot of room for creativity. One of my favorite shots is the over the shoulder shot. It is optimized a lot in horror films. Due to the location we are filming, the common lighting being dim is perfect.  I think this is a great fit for this pitch. There is a lot of wiggle room which, I like. Some of my favorite movies are in the horror genre. I look forward to making this project with my group.

Genres I Would Like to Research

 In our previous blog, we decided on our pitch. The pitch we decided on is a group of teenagers hears a strange noise coming from under the house when they investigate suddenly they start to go missing one by one. There are three genres this pitch could go under; horror, drama, and thriller. For horror, we can focus more on scaring the audience. This would go well with this pitch because it would allow for cool camera angles and action shots. It is also a faster pace. I like to make faster-paced movies. Another option is drama. This would shift focus more on the relationship between characters. This would be something new for me and an interesting take on the pitch. It would also be a slower pace film in comparison to horror and thriller. Our final option is a thriller. Thriller is a great option because it gives viewers feelings of suspense, excitement, surprise, and anticipation. The pitch should naturally give these feelings. Pace wise, it is in between the two previous genres. It is not as fast-paced as horror nor, as slow as drama.  It would also allow for a faster pace movie which I prefer making. The next three blogs will be a breakdown of each of the genres. This research will allow us to make a better decision on what genre will be best. I think they are all good options.

The Big Pitch

 The pitch we decided on was in the horror/suspense genre. We were interested in 4 genres; crime, horror, suspense, and mystery. Then we started to brainstorm ideas for each of the categories. We then selected our top three ideas. Our first idea was a guy planning a heist due to a financial fallout. The night before the heist he dreams about it going wrong and decides not to do it. Our second idea was a group of teenagers hears a strange noise coming from under the house when they investigate suddenly they start to go missing one by one. Our third pitch was about a serial killer planning their next kill told form the. murderer's perspective. We decided that the third pitch was not our style for a short film. We narrowed down the decisions by eliminating what we did last year which was a crime. This left us with our second pitch. Which was in the horror suspense genre. A group of teenagers hears a strange noise coming from under the house when they investigate suddenly they start to go missing one by one. I think this topic will be very fun to film and edit. There is a large number of scenes and effects we can do.

Group Blog

For my first project in A level media, we have to film a five minute short film. For partners, I chose Eva and Trent. I chose Eva because of her excellent editing skills. I chose trent because of his excellent acting skills. I have worked with Eva multiple times so I know what kind of quality content we can produce. Although I haven't worked with Trent, I have seen some of the films and videos he has acted and produced. We are also well acquainted outside of AICE media. Eva is not only a skillful editor, she is also great at cinematography and acting. I am unfamiliar with trent's skills outside of acting but knowing him, I am sure those skills are vast. I have seen trent's acting and I can truly say, it is something special. 

Overall, our group seems pretty solid. What we lack in numbers, we certainly make up for in skill.

Audience and Institution Essay

Trent Jacklich

Audience and Institution Essay

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

The Concept of marketing has been around much longer than the first commercially sold movie was made available to the masses. Before people reserved movie tickets in an online application with credit cards, film distribution can be first traced back to 1894, where the Holland brothers made a business by selling kinetoscopes and their short loops of film. Only the rich and businesses could afford to own these large floor bound boxes, but the first kinetoscope storefront that opened up in Manhattan amazed the public with this new innovation. However, while these first “movies” could be sold on the wonder alone, the present market is much more saturated and distributor companies do much more to make people see want to see their movie. Without marketing, people would not even know movies such as Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Black Panther, and Ugly Dolls.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2 was the highly anticipated sequel to its predecessor, Guardians of the Galaxy. As a sequel to an already extremely high grossing movie, Vol. 2 was set up for success, however, this did not stop Disney from using cross platform promotion to advertise the film. Disney put in place many cross promotions, such as main characters on bags of Doritos, Action figures, and even Lego sets. A total of 15 companies were signed on a Disney advertisement campaign a large number even for 2017, the release date of Vol.2 . Even though the film had a large possible returning audience, Disney had a particularly vigorous marketing strategy, which lead to Vol. 2 having an international total box office outing of $863 million according to Variety, around $100 million more than its predecessor. This success shows the importance of marketing as Disney had much stronger and prominent advertisement with much stronger financial turnouts. I even remember looking down at some coke I was drinking and seeing the main characters face staring right back at me!

Black Panther released to theaters in 2018. While black panther did not have nearly as much physical promotions (although it still retained toys and collectables) Disney decided to promote Black Panther in a much less physical way: Music and events. Popular singer-songwriter Kendrick Lamar preformed a Song from the movie’s soundtrack at the College Football Playoff National Championship Game, this event was televised, showing this relatively niche superhero from the avengers comics series to a whole new audience. Even after the movie was released, the mixtape of soundtrack that was made available a month before the DVD release came to critical acclaim. This wide appeal could not and did not rely on past viewers of a predecessor movie; instead opting for a much wider appeal. This much wider appeal allowed black panther to transform from a once relatively niche superhero from the ever-dwindling medium of comic books to a household name.

On the opposite side of the spectrum of success the movie UglyDolls made less money than it cost to produce. UglyDolls, by comparison to the two previous movies discussed, had much less marketing and much less outreach. For one, UglyDolls had a horrible release time fighting with the always exciting new Avengers title (the finale no less!) and Detective Pikachu, both box-office hits. However, that factor is not the only or even the most contributing factor to UglyDolls Demise. A lack of major marketing without main children appeals such as toys or clothing made UglyDolls not stand out to its competition. The farthest Alibaba (The distributor) goes in reaching out to children Is An ice cream flavor at Coldstone creamery with exciting toppings and other food related Cross-promotions, strangely. While the cast is nothing short of star studded, with singers such as Kelly Clarkson and Blake Shelton, even this could not save the destined flop, as fans of these artist are above the age group that UglyDolls is obviously trying to appeal to. Without the Backbone of strong marketing and with an unsavory release time, UglyDolls was doomed from the start. Personally, I remember seeing the children’s menu at my local burger place and wondering what those multicolored blobs were. After looking it up, I realized that the movie had already flopped!

Marketing is such a prominent part of any product a company could sell. Without marketing, these movies could be the best piece of cinema that had ever existed, and no one would ever see them. But alas, a distributor must take care in its marketing strategy, as a horrible market strategy can make a once promising movie flop. Marketing will, and most likely always will be important to the general populaces enjoyment of cinema.

Aice Practice Exam

I believe the director was trying to convey the idea that these two were fighting for dominance. At first, the woman seems calm, glancing at the clock nonchalantly and talking to the man who entered the room in a calm tone. But after the man becomes more intense eventually becoming physical, the woman begins to seem more panicked but not before retorting, still believing that she had the upper hand with the document on the table. An example of this is how the man tosses the table, and the woman shrivels backwards, realizing that this man is unhinged.

                The first part of this scene is we immediately watch the man walk through the door with a very miffed expression. We get a shot-reverse shot of the woman and the man, the woman seeming confident while the man glances at the camera. This shows the audience that he is aware that they are not having a conversation in private, which make his actions later in the scene very unexpected. After a short stare down with no words exchanged, the man places a piece of paper on the desk. The woman glances down, and then looks up with a slight grin. This shows both the audience and the man that she is cocky, and believes that her plan is coming to fruition or rather things are going her way. The man then turns away and there is a jump cut to two people, a man and a woman looking at the room with concerned facial expressions. After the woman is done looking at the paper, she sits back in her chair and glances at the ticking clock. Finally, the silence is broken by the woman’s stern demands for a plane which is met by a retort which she ignores. Her ignoring his statements angers the man for one and frames the scene as her making demands, not an interrogation as the room would lead one to believe. After more verbal debate, the man says something that the woman thinks is an empty threat. Completely disregarding her situation, she tells him to “stop wasting time”. All of this is framed with shot reverse shots with each character making a retort to the last spoken statement much like a debate. The woman, not believing the man is making such rash decisions again responds in disbelief. This leads the man to walk closer to where the woman is sitting. Suddenly, his voice explodes, and he throws the table across the room. The woman, obviously not expecting this, tenses up. The power dynamic of the room shifts from the woman to the man, and the scene jump cuts to the people outside also tense, knowing that the safety of the woman is now much more unclear. The woman stays calm, and makes another threat. The camera zooms in to the man’s face, giving the feeling that he is holding back or thinking on what to do next. He also visibly begins to shake. After gathering his bearings, he sits down. Feeling safe again, the woman makes another snide remark and then smiles, causing the man to explode again, with a pan shot of him pushing the chair against the wall. A split screen is present here, showing the man’s coworkers rushing to the room and a close-up of the woman’s face. This is the first instance in this clip of the woman having any other obvious expression. Both the running and the intense music make the audience tense as well. Finally, the dynamic switches and the man is finally in control. The scene concludes with the main character being brought back to reality, by the coworkers voice.

                Every aspect of this scene lends to the idea that there was a power struggle in the interrogation. The actions of both the characters, the emotions, and the mans outbursts make an interesting and visually appealing scene.

               

CCR

I had lots of very good ideas for my CCR. The one I went with was the wackiest I had.  I knew I wanted it in a Talk show format, but I knew I wanted to do something different as well. I decided to shake up the normal by having the host as my dog. weird for sure, but it allowed me to only deal with one human actor, that being myself. I decided to have no visual aide because I feel like I do a very good job describing the programs we used. also, the sudden cuts to the dog sitting looking silly while the subtitles are showing that she is asking a very thoughtful question. I also thought to add laugh tracks when I said something funny, but I did not add too many, for two reasons. One, I did not want to overuse laugh tracks in a largely informative interview. Second, I was really not that funny. I spoke to a theoretical audience to further prove my point and failed to crack jokes. I added applause in the beginning to establish an audience. I had fun just talking about the film. before writing my script I was unsure that I could talk about it for so long. Now, I realize just how much I know about that movie! I could have removed some of my pauses, but I wanted the ecstatic character I was playing to have to stop and think, to give the impression that he was not rash and thinks before he speaks. After cutting out lots of footage, the final time was just over 10 minutes. I feel that this CCR Does its job adequately. I am going to miss editing. I really enjoyed this class. It opened my eyes and I met some new friends. I had ups and downs, but in the end, I really had fun.

Music Video

This is our second project of the year in our AICE Media Studies class. We first had trouble deciding a song that we could make a competent or at least funny video out of, but we found a very suitable one. Again, our storyboard artist did a great job of giving our whole group a great feeling on what we would do when we arrived at the beach. sadly, due to family circumstances, I was not able to attend the filming stage of our project. I felt bad about this, so I volunteered to edit. This was my first real dive into editing, and I enjoyed every second. I had a blast stringing videos together. Making the final cut perfect gave me lots of joy. The time given to complete the project was short, but my team made the most of it and we are overall very happy with this project. looking back, however, I wish I added many more visual effects to spice up the viewer's experience. maybe adding some artificial sun glare on the first viewing of the lobster, or a sound effect or two. The acting may have not been our best work, but we were inexperienced with non-dialog acting. Both of them do their best, and they serve their purpose. My favorite part about this film is the backdrop. the beaches are beautiful and make a superb atmosphere for this wacky beach story. The playground was also a happy accident, as my groupmates made the most of the slides. The props also were very important. instead of opting for a real lobster stuffed animal, we wanted the viewer to revel in the ridiculousness of the situation and instead opted for a crab with a lobster label. Even past some regrets, I am sure both I and my group are happy.

Commercial

This is the groups first project of our AICE Media course. despite it being our first, I am more than satisfied with the final product. there were lots of things working against us while filming this. First, we only had a total of 1 hour 45 minutes to film. that's it. along with being under the stress of time, we had our first exposure to the new camera, meaning we had to fiddle with the buttons to finally get our desired effect. another roadblock was the school computers. our school computers were simply ill-equipped to handle the software of choice. I remember it taking a substantial amount of time just to get the program up and running! not to mention the horrible lag that plagued our editing, further slowing down the process. I think what carries this commercial is the comedy and the acting. If one was to pause, they would notice the child farthest to the left is eating only a branch! the absurdist nature of this commercial makes it my second favorite project. I went all in, bringing costumes and props for the comedy. Our storyboard artist is very talented. He was able to give the whole group a great idea of how the final project would look. I would be willing to say that he was the foundation. This project served as a great intro to what we would be doing in the later stages of the class. Overall, this project both brought us closer as a group and established who is good with what job. Funny, too!

Original Movie

I had lots of fun through this whole project. This video is the last one we will make this year. Looking back on it, I am glad I took this class. I am also extremely happy with my group. at first, I was not sure how everything, and I mean "EVERYTHING" was going to go. I was pretty scared of acting and I was unsure that our group could make anything really special. But the state of this video should speak volumes on how we did. Everything has improved. The editing, the camerawork, the acting (if I do say so myself) has such a difference in the commercial we first filmed all those months ago. Our whole group was close at the beginning of this journey, but now we are even closer. we all had a hand in every aspect of this project. I now know how to edit competently. Editing competently has actually opened up a career in my eyes. It was tough, due to the looming threat of the coronavirus. Due to the virus, we could not meet physically for a long time. but thanks to technology we were able to fight through. I am happy about almost every aspect of the film. The music fits the scenes perfectly, thanks to my groupmates giving me good examples of tense music. The font strikes the eyes, Giving the viewer whiplash between that and the soft white background in the beginning. The visual editing gives the whole latter half of the movie a dark feel. Overall, I am extremely happy with the final project and would not have it any other way.

Editing The Best Movie in the World

We had two in class days to work on editing our video. The first day we couldn’t work on it because we forgot the cord. We recorded with our phones instead of the camera for a couple of reasons. First, one of my teammates had to leave on vacation and had the camera with him. We also realized that our phones had good resolution them selves so we thought it would be easier with multiple cameras to use. We also thought it would be better to dump with them because of iCloud and a wire which we forgot at home. My teammate even tested it at home to see if it worked. As he was checking however, he left the cord in the computer. There wasn’t too much editing anyway in our video though. All we had to do was add the shots together and put music over it.

The second day of editing however went a lot better. We brought the wire and dumped our footage. When we dumped, we saw that the video was too long so we cut some stuff. We we cut each shot individually to make it a bit shorter. We also cut an entire shot out of it. It was a shot that was planning over the ocean. It didn’t really work with the video because there was no room for it. It was at the beginning but we already had a time lapse of the ocean and it made it look over used. After that it was the right time but then we realized that it was missing a scene because our teammate was going film their own clip at home. So we trimmed some other stuff leaving room for it. Finally we were done and all we need was to add the music.

Unfortunately, the class was over and we didn’t have time to finish. One of my teammates volunteered to edit over the weekend. He said he could do it all by himself but we offered to come over and help. So during the weekend we will add music over the video. We decided to put the music over the lobster when it’s first introduced. The music will be quite at first and then be the normal music when it gets closer. Then we were going to put the music lowers when the lobster in the pot. The music will be completely off when the pot closes over it. After that we won’t need to put anything else in our video. The editing will be over and we will have our final product.

Peer review

Today in class, we did a peer review on our final project/video.

Before the peer review, our group filmed, re shot, and edited. The video that we produced was not the final product, however. We plan on making more changes editing wise, as well as adding more titles to the film. I do not think a re shoot is needed.

The group that we graded had a great film. It was about a girl that wakes up in a simulation. She comes home and passes out, and then it switches to her in a training ground. The group was able to fill almost all of the criteria. I hope that our group can learn some things from the group that we peer reviewed, and implement it into our own film.

As well as peer reviewing another group, we had our video peer reviewed. Most of the comments were positive, but some were not. I have learned what we need to change and put into our film. One of the things being titles. Things such as "edited by" and "filmed by" were missing in our film. Our group will definitely be able to put these things into our film by the time it is due.

I am glad we had the ability to experience peer reviewing. It has helped me see what our group is doing good in, and what we are lacking in. I plan on going home and changing the video transitions. I will also add the title slides, and some eerie music.

Filming Blog: Idle Hands

Today, we decided as a group not to film on the weekend, as a result of two of the most critical members having a lab report due in another class and having to spend the whole dang weekend working on it, not having the infinite foresight to do less important work earlier. This is fine though, as the other members of our team can take the time to be much more prepared and ready for next weekend, making the filming process much simpler and cleaner. we do not want to spend a ridiculous amount of time filming at night. we just want to get the scenes done and go home to edit quickly for the peer review that is coming up soon. the filming will be done at one of my team members houses, so even if all of our group members are ready to film and he is not, we would not film or have to change our plan. our movie involves a car and one of our members can drive so that problem has solved itself. The spooky-looking graveyard makes for a perfect backdrop for a spooky-scary story. our whole group is very excited to get to filming and just wants to get this video edited to perfection before the turn of the month.

Filming Blog: The Uber Big Day

Today our group began filming our project. We all decided that instead of meeting in a public place that we would all meet in one of our team members homes. The house that we chose was quite convenient in the way that it was in very close proximity to a graveyard, which is a very big part of the scenic shots of our movie, it being dark and gritty. a public park would not have contributed to the tone of the movie very well! Our group opted to not check out a camera the previous day of class, becuase we took a vote and decided to take the video with our phone cameras instead of the standard issue cameras that our teachers allowed us to check out. we had to get to our group members house late for the perfect scenery as a backdrop for a fake high school party. it was a long day of waiting but we were all excited to get started. we had a problem getting lights for the party in the background, but that was solved with flashing phone flashlights through colored glass. we had to get real high-lumen flashlights becuase our lowly phone flashlights were too weak to make a noticeable "party light" streaming through the window. the car scenes were relativley easy to film, as the audience can not see the background in the movie so that is not a detail we need to get perfectly right. overall, it was a great day of filming.

Uber Driver MADNESS: Title Design

Title designs may not seem like the most important factor of a film, however they are probably one of the most important parts of the film. If written and edited right, they can really set the standard for your film from the very beginning. Having a boring and poorly edited title design/designs will make the expectations of the rest of your film very low and will discourage the viewers from watching more. The most important parts of media are satisfying your viewers, which will in turn make money for you and your industry. That is why the title designs are such an important factor. We will have a multitude of different types of title design, while also following the order of titles. Our film will consist of middle screen titles. This will mainly just be the actual title of our film. We will add effects to this to make it less boring and more engaging. We will also have foreground titles which relate with the theme of the film. Finally we will implement titles that are blended in the background. These are meant to be the "less important" titles that the viewers are supposed to try to catch. These will help engage the audience as well.

Shooting Script

This script describes everything that will be in our final project not including the dialogue and sound. Our shooting script consists of 11 different and unique scenes, each scene having a variety of different camera angles, and lighting effects. This is especially important in our film because our film is a thriller/horror film. One of the most important elements of a thriller is its use of mystery and suspense. The different camera angles will help build suspense. For example, the over-the-shoulder shots will build suspense by concealing the killers identity. The lighting effects will also build suspense. Low key lighting will also help conceal the killers identity, showing him only as a silhouette. This will build tension which should make the viewer scared and tense. This will be backed up by eery sound effects and dialogue to create even more suspense.

Sound Script

For our sound script, we wrote down all of our noises that we will use for our movie. thankfully, the noises are all during the scene while we film, so we do not have to add any noises post editing process. any transitions that we would have to use thankfully only would be jump cuts, further lowering the time it would take to edit. All in all, we will have a very brief and quick editing process so we can focus on filming and making our acting the best it can be. the sounds take very little meaning in this film portion, but it is made up for by the acting. the majority of our film is focused on the angles of the camera and how the characters react to the crazy situation that both of these lovable scamps get into. the driver is silent for most of the film but this adds to his mysterious aura. Tyler and Stevie obviously have a past history and the dialog shows as much. there is lots of dietetic and non-digetic sound. This dialogue will add suspense to the film.

Title Research: The Game

Here is an opening sequence from the movie "The Game" (1997) that I found on
https://www.artofthetitle.com/title/the-game/ . It is a mystery/drama film.

1. Only 4 titles are displayed during this opening sequence. There are
no actors, directors, or any person's name in the introduction. This is
because the director states that he doesn't believe in decorative titles.

2. Images that are prioritized are a man that is wearing a white suit, and
young children, and more specifically, a young boy, who we can assume
to be the protagonist.

3. These images give a sense of nostalgia as well as a feeling of discomfort
and uneasiness due to the effects on the film.

4. The genre is reinforced through this because of the puzzle pieces at the
very beginning for the
4 titles, which represent a mystery that needs to be solved. The other thing
is that we don't know about anyone or anything yet, or why those people
are gathered, so that's also very mysterious.

5. It establishes an enigma because we don't know these characters at all,
and then at the very end, it cuts to what seems like present day, and he has
just splashed his face with water, so we can assume he is having some sort
of flashback or dream. It makes as want to know about this character.

6. Some strategies the intro uses is to keep mysterious to not give too much
away to the audience, and the use of music to make it even more mysterious.

7. A very cool effect is used  in this opening sequence. They edited the film to make
it look like very old footage. It makes it very mysterious. They also used kind of a
graphic match in that at the end, they were showing a little boy, and then they quickly
cut to a man who is now in present day, and it allows to assume he is the boy.

Watch the Titles Website Research

Today, My AICE media teacher assigned us to research two different media
websites, one being watchthetitles.com. When I first opened the website,
I was greeted with a page that looked like this: 

I was not sure what to expect, but after further research on the website, this is what I found:

This website is "A project dedicated to the art of title design." Instead of
enjoying the design of the actual movie, this website wants you to
appreciate the design and thought that goes into the title. You see
some examples of movie titles at the main website screen. 

After I research and saw the basics of the home page, I started to
explore the website a little more. I started by clicking on the tab
that says "title sequences." Once I clicked this, I saw a number
of different title scenes from popular movies, some of which I
recognized. From this page, you can click on a title sequence
from a movie that you want to watch. This helped me understand
the actual meaning of a "title sequence." After going through the
title sequence tab, I clicked on the next one, which is "Designers".
I already knew what to expect when clicking on this slide. This tab
shows you a list of title designers. Once you click on one of their names,
it tells you about what movie titles they have designed, what company they
work for, and a quote from them. Finally, the last tab says "studios."
This slide shows a list of studios. Once you click on one of the studio
names, it tells you which title was made at that studio. It also tells you
a brief description of the studio and what happens there.

Title Research: The Laws of Attraction

How many titles are displayed during the opening sequences to the film?

17

What images are prioritized in the opening sequence?

images of a city scape and letters fading in and out in a stylish manner.

What connotations do the images carry?

these images show the viewer that the movie will have to do majorly with the city and that the main character is a female due to the voice over

How is genre  reinforced through symbolic and technical codes from the outset?

the light and fluffy music and bright colors give the viewer an impression of romance. this is solidified through the main characters voice over

How does the film establish an enigma from the outset?

the film leaves major plot points in mystery, like the main love interest and the characters face to hopefully keep the viewer guessing and wanting more, profiting.

What strategies are used to ensure the film appeals to its target audience?

most viewers of a romance movie are not expecting a hard rock song over blood red visuals, so light colors and soft music are perfect for most everyone wanting a lighthearted romance.

How has technology been used effectively?

2d animation was used to captivate and smoothly transition title cards

Title Research:Austin Powers

How many titles are displayed during the opening sequences to the film?

-19 titles are shown in the first 4 minutes of the movie.

What images are prioritized in the opening sequence?

-Images that are prioritized in the opening sequence would be Austin Powers and freeze
frames of him
jumping up and dancing and stuff.

What connotations do the images carry?

-Connotations of him would be everyone loving him and you are supposed to think that it is
pretty dumb
of everyone for thinking that because there isn’t that much thats special about him.

How is genre reinforced through symbolic and technical codes from the outset?

-The genre of this movie is humorous and the way they reinforce this is by using technical
and
symbolic codes like having over the top cliches, funny bits, and funny freeze frames.

How does the film establish an enigma from the outset?

-The film uses enigmas in the outset with subtle jokes and the font of the titles.

What strategies are used to ensure the film appeals to its target audience?

-In the outset, strategies the film uses to ensure that it appeals to the target audience is by
having hilarity going on constantly through the beginning.

How has technology been used effectively?

Technology that has been used were camera angles like wide shots, medium shots,
long shots, and establishing shots to help convey the jokes they are putting in; transitions
like running from people, funny disguises, and leading a parade for comedic timing; editing like
cross cuts, freeze frames, and a sound track to fit everything together.