Finished Product

Film Opening:

https://youtu.be/sB5BYh7Qf1Q?si=amYKjkcTBYyzTTNx

CCR #1:

https://youtu.be/8vhvh5iwGb4?si=Vfj-F76Wo6Wpib-u

CCR #2:

https://youtu.be/t1-8ZrEqp0s?si=ph5vkd9RINvIey_t

 Cambridge! We did it! We finally did it! After 2 long months I can finally say this project is over. What seemed to be the impossible ended up being very much possible. After much stress I can finally say I'm done and now have much to reflect on.

Let's start with the film opening. The film opening was probably my favorite part of all. Looking back, I feel as if it's what I was probably best at. Creating an interesting storyline with an unexpected plot and being able to bring it alive into an actual piece. We used different shooting tools and played around with different settings and exposures to try and get the perfect lightning for the scene. We included many different mise-en-scene techniques which I never even thought would be as useful and important to a film to capture those small details and bring out the true story. Everything showed was thought out precisely and all has a meaning towards it and a reasoning to why it is how it is. It truly shows how much hard work is put into these sorts of projects. Theres so much behind the production world even with basic stuff such as asking for permission that people don't even put a thought into their brain about but are truly necessary when shooting. If so much though and time was put into a 2-minute film opening, I can't imagine how long and how much dedication is put into 2-hour long films. I'm truly so proud of how everything came out and how much effort was put in by every single one of these girls.

The CCR was definitely my bigger fight. Not only was I super stressed on the thought of having to make 2 pieces of media, but with spring break around the corner time just felt like a crunch. It truly did teach me time management and avoiding procrastination even though it might feel impossible with break here. It motivated me to want to get everything done as soon as possible and get it over with. The CCR's made me think on a deeper level on my answer choices as well as my production choices. Factors such as lightning and pacing play a tremendous roll in situations as such and truly helped develop the overall piece. I was able to bring out my creative skills and accomplish a creative CCR where when i was first instructed to do so my mind went completely blank. I definitely feel very accomplished with that train of thought and think they truly came out as expected.

This project as taught me so much not only in the media sphere as well as in the normal day life such as procrastination that is a skill that is applicable for now and always. It showed me some strengths and weaknesses, for example how editing it not my thin and should be held far away from me. Besides that, even though these have been 8 stressful weeks I can finally consider this all done. Well Cambridge, I hope you enjoyed this journey more than I did, see you on the next one.

 Post CCR Production

Hey blog!! Once my CCR's had been shot, my enemy was up, editing. We all know my strong feelings towards editing however it is unavoidable and needs to be done for one last time. Thankfully editing my CCR's was nothing compared to the film opening since no transitions needed to be included. 

I began by adjusting and picking out the different clips that were going to be used. This was especially annoying for the talk show since the clips were just 5 videos but each last a minimum of around 2 minutes and maximum of 15. It was just very repetitive to watch and felt extremely long. However, with the Wizard of Oz one, the videos were each shorter due to each of them being different takes making it choose out process much easier. Organizing these clips and deleting the ones that weren't useful due to laughing or stumbled words did make me worry at points I'm not going to lie but mostly for being scared of not having good enough clips.

I then proceeded to cut the clips and adjust them into the order they belonged in. I had to make sure the answers aligned with the order of the questions and they weren't just getting all mixed up.  I made sure to cut unnecessary moments for each or awkward pauses in the talk show. Aligning reactions was also 

extremely important to make reactions were in sync and didn't look choppy at the end.

Audio wasn't necessary for the 2nd CCR but for the talk show let me tell you it definitely was. When creating a talk show background sounds are necessary such as clapping and laughing. I went on to find these sounds and started layering each of them. I include audio such as laughing, clapping, cheering, a talk show intro, and talk show outro. These are all basic sounds that are included in a normal talk show and are just small s=details that break that boring awkward feeling to the media piece. This definitely was time consuming since I wanted to add those sounds in the correct times without making it seem too much and just get repetitive. 

I lastly made sure to include visuals throughout both pieces. I did this so both would feel more dynamic and whatever was being said was reinforced as well with images. I chose this technique to keep the audience engaged and at full understanding of what was being said and not end up distracted and uninterested to keep watching. This also helped to illustrate key points being said.

I overall am super proud of how both came out even from the simple idea of a talk show to the creative way to include the Wizard of Oz. I'm happy with the results and personally think I had good responses to the questions while keeping it relevant to the project.

 CCR Production

Its week 8 blog!! This week is a very exciting week because we are officially on our last week meaning these will be the last 4 blogs for this project. I hope you've all had an amazing weekend however its time to get back on track with my CCR's. 

This week I have filmed my CCR's and are pretty happy with how the results are coming out. When filming the first CCR for questions 1 and 2, the talk show, I had my friend Simona Baluk help me out by being the host. When she arrived, we changed into our costumes which were just formal dresswear and headed to make the actual setting. We found a part of my house where there wasn't an overwhelming background that could take away from the actual show. For this we needed to move around the chairs that you see and play around with different plants and portraits for the background. I do have to say that the hardest part about shooting this was remembering each of our lines. Specially for her, the host, since i had already been practicing preparing myself. That definitely took us the longest time, but we were able to get it done. For filming we used an iPhone 15 and due to the lighting coming from behind us from a window we also had to turn on a few lights. With a bunch of takes we were able to get it all perfect and finish filming. Here are some bloopers to when I would forget my lines:

For my 2nd CCR I decided to make it my creative piece of media. I based it off of the film of the Wizard Of Oz. I dressed up as the protagonist, Dorthy, and had my dog play the role of Toto, Dorthys dog in the film. The piece follows the storyline that the Wizard of Oz has stolen my project, and I need to get it back by following "the yellow brick road". I then introduce my different partners in this project and go answering the indicated questions. All the questions and all that walking then leads us to my project. Definitely one of the biggest struggles was when creating the yellow brick road, we didn't realize how unrealistic it would be the create a yellow brick road and how little chalk paint we had to do the job. This was when we had to get creative and think of a solution. We came up with making the film have some comedy and have the yellow brick road turn into a white road also known as the sidewalk. For the costume, since I didn't have Dorthys actual costume we had to improvise and used a light blue top with a white skirt since it was somewhat similar to what she had on. I tied my hair into 2 braids and then came her red shoes which was when we had to get really creative. Since I didn't have red low top shoes as she does in the movie, I just used some black sandals and used knee high red socks that are actually the ones I use when playing field hockey. I do have to say this one did take much less than the talk show partially because the questions were simpler and broader and partially because I knew my answers better and the overall topic rather than for the talk show where I attempted to learn what I had to say line by line. Overall I am happy with the results and are eager the see the final product.

 CCR #4

Hey Cambridgeee, its the last post for week 7 and were finishing it up with the last CCR question. "How did your production skills develop throughout this project?". When wandering this question I will be breaking the question into 2 parts. One being production skills and the other being the actual development. 

Walking into this class I was completely blinded and without a clue of what I was getting myself into. I had no past experience with editing and production. I had never taken any sort o film class making this a completely new experience and an opportunity for growth and experiencing. Although I was excited I was also nervous for what was to come and if it was something I would end up enjoying. After a school year in this class I have learned a virus of different techniques and even how to edit which is something I felt was impossible.However I also learned its something I wouldn't want to do. I wouldn't call it a waste of a class because it has taught me that's something I don't want to do in then later future. 

Something that was extremely new to me and had never truly thought about when creating pieces of media was mine-en-scene, specially props. Although this might seem like a simple factor in production I never realized the difference it truly makes. In this film we mostly included props such as medals, a calendar, and images. We did this to illustrate her obsession, hence the name, and for the audience to be able to relate to her character. 

Another major improvement in this project would be procrastination. When beginning this project I set up a schedule on my calendar to stay on track. I was able to move throughout smoothly and finish everything on time. We scheduled our production days and were able to get it done in advance as well as with blogs. There was one week were I was procrastinating blogs but was able to get it done. Besides that, surprisingly, I had been on my blog game and have been setting weekly schedules to when I should do them all. It ended up working and that's coming from someone who hates having everything set up to when to do things. This just goes to show that planning in advance does truly work and will continue to do it on everyday life. 

 CCR #3

Happy Friday bloogggg!! The best time of the week has come, the weekenddd! For todays blog we will be breaking down and answering question 3 of the CCR. "How do you integrate technologies - software, hardware, and online - in this project?" This question is pretty straight forward and based off technology used throughout the whole project. This questions is asking how we included different technology techniques into our project as a whole and in our actual experience filming this project. Its asking to cover topics such as hardware (physical tools), software (programs), and online (resources).

In my film technology played a huge roll from filming to editing. It was involved when pre planning such as audio and is still involved finishing up editing. I used a mix of different resources and equipment to produce the final product.

Hardware:

For hardware we used an iPhone 14 for part of the filming and for the other half a Nikon d3100 camera. Although that camera is better for photography rather than videography we needed it for clear extreme close ups such as the text message notification coming up. I'm very glad we ended up deciding to use it because without it, being in a yellow lightning room, the clip would've come out pixelated and wouldn't be as clear to read. However the iPhone 14 did do a relatively better job when filming in brighter lightning in the  gym. They both truly did a great job.

Software:

For software I used Adobe Premier Pro. I have a friend that takes the class Cypress Bay Television and she had taught me at the beginning of the year how to edit and had been guiding me to reahc my best self. Due to this when we got assigned the project I asked her what she felt would be best when editing.   She recommended to use Premier Pro due to all the different abilities it has and how simple it is to manage around it. So that's exactly what we did. It ended up coming out perfectly has hoped and worked great when managing pacing to keep the hyper beat up and keep that strong dedicated tone relevant to the film. 

Audio:

For audio we found all our sounds including the background music from Pixabay. We used it due to it being copyright free and being super accessible to us. We were able to find all our diegetic sounds and music. With some layering it all ended up working out and turned our great. It also allowed us to avoid the doubt of if the sounds were copyright free or not.

Online:

Lastly I used online resources like YouTube. I used YouTube not only through out the whole process for research and learning on factors such as audio, different techniques etc. But also for editing sport dramas. It truly has guided me all throughout these past 7 weeks. I've used it for most research blogs and its impressive how much you can find and how useful resources like these can be. It truly has played a huge part when pre planning and editing this project.

Overall, through out this whole film we were able to integrate technology to every stage of the production. With much decision making and working as a group we were able not only us technology but use it effectively to reach the production we hoped to have and have all the elements we wanted to be illustrated.

 Group Meeting #2

Good morning Cambridgeee!! Today March 13 and the due date keeps getting closer and closer. Scary. Today we will be taking a break from all the CCR and editing blogs. We just had our 2nd group meeting! In this meeting we were able to share how were doing, ask for others oinion, and advice. With CCR's coming up thats what the conversation tended to be most about. Lets break it down.

In my group we were a group of 5. Rehan Khan, Sofia Brown, Lucia Trinidad, Alexis Lee, and me, obviously. All of my group members shared that they're all working alone except Rehan whos working with another partner. In the group, I was the first one to speak. Out of all of us I was the one with most done. This truly did comfort me knowing I wasn't falling behind and getting everything sent by the due date was possible. With most of my editing done, I began by showing them my film opening. They loved it. Hearing those words come out of someone's mouth when showing somethings that's such a big deal to me and have truly it so much time into feels extremely reliving. Although I did ask for feedback none of them had anything to provide me with. We did all  agree on the fact I should change the font of  the credit sequence since the background is pretty chaotic and colorful it gets sort of hard to read. They really liked all the inserts and how everything falls on beat, specially for the gymnastics part. I them proceeded to tell them on my idea for one of my CCR's. I explained how I would dress up as Dorthy and walk down a yellow brick road while explaining my project I will run into challenges as in the movie and have characters such as the tinfoil man represent my team members. Once all is done, that yellow brick road, will lead me to my Wizard of Oz, my project. I plan to end it by doing  focus pull to a usb drive when saying those words. As well as the film opening they thought it was a great idea. This made me extremely happy since I also am super excited about my idea and think it could work for that creative factor. Once I told them my idea I explained my worry on the other CCR. As I would love to do another creative piece however I can't tell if it will end up being too much work to do both well and in time. They recommended me to do a talk show and just add a lot of sounds to make the talk show funny. I will definitely be taking it into consideration.

Rehan Khan was then next to tell about his project. Rehan is in the filming and editing part of his project. He still needs to film some clips but ha recently learned to edit and has been putting it into practice. He showed us the makeup they needed to do for the film and wow it turned out amazing, super realistic. Rehan seemed to be on board and  everything to be going smoothly. He didn't say much for his CCR as he isn't really thinking on that and focusing on finishing his film opening which I agree to be the correct decision. He didn't really ask for advice as he did give a lot of it. I was really surprised to hear that he said h usually hates editing and found it impossible however he has recently been receiving classes from a friend and is now able to edit his own piece well and feels it isn't as complicated as he had set it to be. Overall, Rehan seems to be doing well and  doesn't look to worried on what's to come.

We then moved on to Sofia Brown. Sofia is in the editing and filming section. What she explained to have been doing is while filming her scenes she goes adding them together to avoid making it feel too overwhelming. She explained to us that she did have some struggles filming as her story wasn't coming together as he expected but has been working around that issue and it's working out. For CCRs she just knows she's planning on doing one from her characters point of view. I think this was a really cool idea especially since her character is more of an investigator I feel as if it can end up turning out really cool. She asked for advice for the clip to use when the title of the film goes on. We all agreed on one which I believe helped her out confirm her decision. She explained to us the process it took for her to use the lettering she used and I have to say it really payed off because it genuinely looks so good an fits the film so well. Sofia seems to be rolling good and her projects seems to be going smoothly even after those few bumps she's had along the way. 

Alexis Lee and Lucia Trinidad both are in the filming and editing stages of their film. I don't have much to say since they didn't mention much. Lucia hasn't thought out of her idea well enough to explain anything to us for her CCR while Alexis has thought on doing a documentary but isn't too sure either. Alexis was able to reflect on our projects and our progress to this day makin her realize how's she's under filmed and is needing more clips. I'm glad by even just explaining our project she was able to use it to her own benefit and  apply it to her own. There wasn't much said from their part I just advised them to try to get filming done as quick as possie to give themselves time to edit and do their CCR's. 

I personally think group meetings are a great idea and resource and help reflect on your project through others while having the opportunity to feel comfortable to speak your mind.