Here Goes Nothing........Crushed Crush: The CCR

Joy! I have finally finished my project and am presenting in this blog post my Creative Critical Reflection. It is so relaxing to finally be finished with everything and to get to watch my production. It is also quite pleasing to know I have done the best I can.

Having had used my computer's Quicktime Player to record my screen to match the audio I recorded on my phone, this was an interesting experience I hope to have time to do again.

So, without further ado, my Creative Critical Reflection.

-EC

The Final Production.........Crushed Crush

AUHGA!!!!!!! Today is the day!!!! I have finally finished my AICE Media Studies AS Portfolio and I couldn't be more excited to show everyone as well as proud of my accomplishment! Thank you so much for everyone who has read this far and I hope everyone enjoys my video.

The following is the hyperlink to my film introduction: Crushed Crush.

-EC

State of Mind: Sane......In-Sane

Yowza! This project is much bigger than anticipated by anyone. I am so thankful for everyone who has given feedback and hope that people like what I offer at the end of the blog. 

Since I last blogged, I have finished editing my video, the visual part and most of the auditory part at least. I finally figured out the perfect combination between color grading and the filters provided by iMovie. I detached the sound each video had and played a low loop of the natural background noises that I took from my first film set with Laerke. I also began to write the narration and what it will say. What I have come up with so far is this: 

"There are few things in life that you never truly forget. Moments or feelings that linger with you until your last breath.

Your first crush is something you never forget. They are something that draws you and defines you. Your first crush is unexplainable, unreasonable, yet, completely sane. The way they make you feel; how you need to be close to them yet too close is scary.

Still, no matter how scary it is, you can’t help but draw nearer, closer. Look for more, search for more. You build up the strength to do it and then you go up and talk to her. You’re smooth, you’re charming, you’re funny, your brave. And things seem to be going well.

You even got her phone number. But, when you call, “Tu tu tuit……the number you have called is no longer available. Goodbye!” the whole world stops."

I'm aligning the audio with the film as soon as I finish composing it, but my only problem is that I don't think I have enough narration yet. I am going to finish writing the narration tonight and I will blog throughout the weekend about my final touches and about beginning my director's commentary. As I head off to a night of long, fun work and dedication, I wish everyone else a different kind of fun. Goodnight! 

-EC

Due Date Approaching.......Film: In Editing; Please Check Back Later

Jaja! So, editing is harder than usual for this project. I have run into some complications but I am working on them to fix them. Meanwhile, the only actual item left to do is to film a 15 second clip that I decided to replace from the previous video, the one I am currently editing, at school. This tiny clip will make my film much more interesting, while at the same time it will change the whole direction of the film. 

So the films official, non-changing name is "Crushed Crush". I'm going to add a break in the introduction, a break that will make clear that the wrong phone number was give to the guy and that he is quite upset, before narrating and visually making a cliffhanger ending that should hook for the remainder of a the film. The next thing I have to do is to insert it and record the narration. Since I am recording the final last essential clip, I am hoping to finish editing the cuts and transitions by tonight so that I can add the voice over tomorrow. 

The one major thing that is a huge challenge for me is the filters. Since I am colorblind and have protanopia, the color blindness prevents me from fully seeing the way that the film looks to others. While the scene looks great and marvelous for me, when I ask for opinions, people either tell me it's too yellow or too blue. This small detail has me rather lost on what to do because having less than a week to pick a filter, I have to find the perfect lense to show my film which is rather impossible with my little eye tweak. 

As I get ready to finish the actual project, I am terrified of the final outcome and am super worried about the color but I am fully confident in the film that I have produced. I'll blog again as soon as any updates happen but thank you so much for reading this roller coaster so far!

-EC

Panick Attacks Are Good.......Right?

Plop. So, yesterday I had a grand time filming, and, once I got home, beginnning to edit. Today, I had an even more fantastic time freaking out and going through some scary palpitations! 

I was sitting in my study hall earlier this morning, contemplating about how the project was turning out, when, all of a sudden, my idea, the new idea that I had already filmed, became less of a fulfilled dream and more of a dreadful nightmare. I began to worry about the video not really expressing any pure technique that we had  learned to use throughout the year. I excused myself to the bathroom, but I didn't actually go. I paced around. One. Two. Three. Four. Finally, I calmed down. Well, technically, I calmed down after I decided to throw away the whole video previously recorded and decided that I wanted to record a whole new video. I also realized I would have to record that very same afternoon. 

What I wanted to was the following: A guy, Franco, and a girl, Lyla, meet, and, although they find each other attractive, the girl is shy and decided to walk away. The main male character, decides to follow her and to try and make a move. As he sits opposite from her, he smoothly slides over across the bench and puts his arm around her, asking her out on a date. Lyla, agreeing to go get a bite to eat with Franco, walks with him and they leave after what an implied date is. I got inspiration from the dance cover video for the song Chivalry is Dead. The name of the film will be, "Follow Me, Love" and the genre will still be a realistic fiction. 

Immediately, I felt immense guilt for Laerke, who had spent the previous afternoon filming with me for a video that would never be officially showed to anyone. After apologizing to her, I decided that I needed to find two people who would make a good pair to film with. With Laerke working that day and me feeling guilty enough already about wasting one afternoon, I had to find other actors to fill the role. I immediately thought of two friends who would potentially be amazing for the part. Morgan has a background in acting and modeling and she know my other friend, Nico, who the playful, friendly relationship that they have would provide for a fun atmosphere that would make an appealing film. 

I texted both of them and Nico immediately replied that he could, the only thing is that he would need a ride. Morgan, on the other hand, had to pull a few strings with her mom, but, after a couple of nerve-wrecking hours, the final reply was "Yes". Leaving school together, Morgan and I headed to her house to drop off her car and over to pick up Nico who had left school early due to having Junior privilege. From Nico's house, we headed straight to Weston Town Center. I had them act everything, and, although the playful atmosphere definitely made things interesting and made concentration a bit more difficult to maintain, the final product looked rather well. The cuts were very clean and the setting was perfect for a voice over. So after we finished filming and got something to eat, I drove them both home and then went home myself. Now, as I sit here about to begin editing, I bid you farewell and hope that you wish me good luck!

-EC

References:

DJIcon. "Ian Eastwood Choreography Feat. Megan Batoon | "Chivalry Is Dead" - Trevor Wesley." YouTube. YouTube, 11 Feb. 2015. Web. 07 Apr. 2017.<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZfR7qc0WVs&t=139s>

Finally Filming.....I Guess

Ouch. You know when an idea looks so good and all of sudden it turns into a real life project and it sucks? Yeah. That was me today. As I started to film, everything went horribly wrong. The camera looked weird; my purposefully semi-disorganized room looked empty; the video was boring; the sound would;t be enough to save this footage. Below is the video recording of my failure:

So, as I sat down to think about what I was going to do to fix it, I decided that I need to change my film. Instead of having a one-take roll of my room followed by a tiny nightmare, most of the movie opening was going to be the dream. 

I made the dream so that the couple is having fun at the park and then, at the end, the guy collapses and the girl wakes up from her dream. Then, the boyfriend, alive, walks in and she requests that if instead they can go do something else; a car ride is suggested and the couple get in the car. Finally, the movie opening ends when a song that the guy sings his girlfriend a short little song composed by the dream boyfriend, a song that he shouldn't know, leaving you to wander if she witnessed the future or if it was just an actual dream.

The twist on the film, the factor that will make it different, is that the couple are famous bloggers who blog videos about each other and their daily lives. Most of the short movie introduction is taken from their perspectives and is seen as if one was reading a blog.

Now that I have all the footage, all I have left to do is edit. So, as I finish writing this blog post, I'm off to do that. Thank you for reading. Wish me luck!

-EC 

Count Down: T-Minus........2 Days.

Naaaaaaah. I'm terrified of Sunday, scared of how everything will turn out. Ideas are always so great in one's head but how they come out in reality is a scary thought that affects how the whole project goes down. I've been very excited about the new idea that I have had and how it will transform into something beautiful, yet there's always a chance that the film will be too short or that the idea wont play out well on film. 

I think my idea will turn out well. Last time I went to work, I left and directly went to A.C. Moore to look for something that could be used as a trolley. I finally found something but I wasn't convinced about the item. So, instead of buying the semi-useful "trolley", I decided that I would rather use the selfie stick I had already at home. 

I bought the pictures as well that very same day, the pictures that I decided would be layed out around the room and that would be used to write the credits. The pictures I picked out very carefully and I decided on ones that either had my whole group of friends, Laerke, my younger brother, and I, or Laerke and I, Laerke by herself, or me by myself. 

These are the selected pictures.

SO, having chosen the pictures, the only thing left to do is to actually film. As I get ready to press the red record button, I'm scared things wont go my way but hopeful that everything resolves itself.

Well......Change of Plans

Sike! During the planning of a project as big as this one, it requires a both going forward and backwards. Sometimes things go right; other times things just don't work out. What do you do when the latter happens? Well, you find a way around the problem and use the solution to the best of your advantage.

Having already offered the job to Megan, I soon realized that there was no vialble way that we could schedule around to filming. To keep on schedule with the timeline, I need to record by this weekend in order to have the first half of next week to record and edit while the second half to revise and make any small changes necessary. 

As it turns out, Megan had to work all the way up to Friday because she was taking the whole weekend off to go camping. Although I was excited for her to go camping, I was slightly disappointed to lose my main actress since she was going to be out of town and I have to film by Monday of next week. 

So, in order to move along with the schedule, I decided to ask my best friend, Laerke, if she would be willing to play the part. I was very relunctant from the very beginning to ask her to be in any part of my film because she is working on her own film with her group and I didn't want to take her attention away from her own production. Laerke was always a possibility for my actress. She is a very charismatic person who can show the emotion that has great control over her emotions, which is something I definitely need. Still, from the beginning of this project, she told me to not even consider her because she didn't think she would have enough time to do both. Although it was hard to keep my best friend out of mind for a chracter I knew she could play, once it was obvious that Megan would not be able to do the film, I just had to ask, even if the answer was no. 

I texted Laerke today to ask her if she would be willing to be in my film; I wanted to record on Sunday afternoon in order to have all footage by Monday. Surprisingly enough, when I texted Laerke, she told me that she would love to be in my film opening! She didn't have anything planned for Sunday afternoon and she would be able to come and record the video with me.

I'm glad that this change came so early in the filming process and not the night before or the day of. It's just so surreal to think that a mere few months ago, this project was an idea, a simple jumble of thoughts from which a film opening would've never actually sprouted from. In a week from now, I'm going to have all of the footage done; in a week from now, the collaborative part ends and the rest of the schedule and editing is on me. Up to this point, I'm still depending on friends and family to be ready to film and to allow me to film. Next week, how everything goes down is up to me and only me. Keeping this in mind, I'm terrified of what comes next, yet the fear is mixed with excitement.

-EC

Where Will I Film.........Where?

Oish! I have been thinking about where the perfect place to film is for the past couple of day. The most convinient place to film this, since it has to be a bedroom, would be my own room. 

My only problem with the filming occurring in my bedroom was that my walls are blue and blue is a very masculine-associated color. In my research, I found that blue is actually a feminine color in the mind but, since the 1800s in France, the color has become associated with the male gender. In my first invisionment of the setting the main actress was going to be in, the room had a girly feel to bring to attention that the main character was a female. However, I have thought long and hard about it and I found an explanation for the "boy colors". 

This is a picture of the design of my bedroom wall.

                                                                     
In my new explanation for why the room's walls are blue, I have 
decided that the charcater who Megan will be playing will not be in her room. Rather, she is laying in her deceased boyfriend's bed, having fallen asleep out of complete devastation and sorrow from the grief she feels. Also, this new approach of thoughts helps to uncover why the letter for her that she hasn't read before is there for her to find. This could also expain why she is having dreams about his death: She is in his bedroom. I am really glad my bedroom walls are blue. 

I have decided that this new adaptation to my original idea makes more sense rather than less and will allow my film opening to contain more meaning and layers, as well as make the filming simpler for me. Although it will be weird for everyone to see my bedroom in the final product, it is the best and simplest thing for me to do in order for my film opening to turn out as best as it can be. 

Now, sense I have to use my room and actually record in it, I have a lot of organizing to do. Until next time, thank you for reading this far. 

-EC

Refernces:

Galvin, Sarah. "Why Is Blue Considered a Masculine Color?" Quora. N.p., 10 Sept. 2016. Web. 24 Mar. 2017. <https://www.quora.com/Why-is-blue-considered-a-masculine-color>

Extra, Extra.......Actress. Found.

Yikes! It's really stressful to see how time passes so quickly and, although you get things done, it still seems like there's so much to do!

Since my last post where I discussed my schedule, I have asked my friend Megan to be my actress and she said yes! 
Over on the right is how it went:

While finding out Megan could be my actress for the film was a source of huge relief, it also arose a slight problem. With both of us going to school, working, and having family get-togethers in the following weeks, it's going to be really hard to schedule a time to film with her. 

The good news is that filming should not take more than one hour, maybe an hour and a half, if all goes according to plan. Then, finding one afternoon in which we can meet up and film will be easy, I hope. As I am writing this, I realize that one of our mutual best friend has their birthday on Thursday next week and her having a birthday dinner means that neither one of us work that day and that we will have the afteroon off before dinner to do whatever we want. I'm going to ask her if she thinks that she will have time to film then and, maybe, just maybe, we'll find it simple to film in that time slot.

So, after texting Megan, I decided that I need to have some music in the film. I want to add a light sound to the film to give the audio depth and importance in order to make the change between the voicemails very highlighted and outlined. 

A repetitive piano key will do the trick and I think I am going to ask my younger brother, who is madly in love with playing the keyboard, to let me record an audio of him playing the keyboard. Below is a video of him playing the keyboard: 

Today we will be going to talk to our peers about the project and the feedback we will receive will only help me succeed. I hope it helps me and allows things to work out for the best.

-EC

Materialistic......Literally

Bam! I have figured out the supplies I need for my project to succeed.I'm going to actually go out and get them next week but at least I know what I need to get and an estimate of how much everything will cost. 

I decided that I'm going to need, first of all, a type of trolley to move the camera without shaky hand movement. For this, I'm going to go to either A.C. Moore, which is the closest craft store, and buy a plank of wood and a set of four wheels to build a small car-like simple object to pull along with some string, or Toys R' Us, which is the biggest toy store around, and just buy an actual truck and place the camera there. 

I want a straight camera that doesn't shake because I don't think that this film would be well-made with a hand-held camera movement. Since the camera will be moving everywhere around a bedroom, I believe that the trolly movement is the best to portray the images I want. The trolley will allow for the audience to get a still image of what is meant to be portrayed, it will allow the pauses by each picture to be subtle and clean, and it will also give the desired progressive change from organized to messy.

Next, I'm going to print out pictures of Megan and I in order to make a sort of "opening credits" type of thing. The pictures are going to be laid out on the floor along with tissues to exemplify the sadness and also give faces to the people in the movie, as well as to infer to who the voice that is leaving the voicemails belongs to. I have chosen to do this because I think it is a great way to give names to the actors, display the faces before the actual reveal of the main character, and also provide with a fun sequence before the storyline is introduced.

I estimate that the whole project should cost around $15-$20 for all of the supplies. Now, as I am writing this, I realize I still have yet to formally offer the role to my friend Megan, so that's next on my to-do list. I will blog back after I do that, but, for now, thanks for reading! 

-EC

References: 

This is th link for my first image: <http://www.tpub.com/journalist/14130_files/image434.jpg>
This is the link for my second image: <https://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view;_ylt=AwrB8pTAVthY3wYAqwaJzbkF;_ylu=X3oDMTIydmttcGJiBHNlYwNzcgRzbGsDaW1nBG9pZAMzM2RkMzgyNjRlOGFhZWNhODkxMDk3ZDBlNThhYzk2NwRncG9zAzcEaXQDYmluZw--?.origin=&back=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fp%3Dhomemade%2Btoy%2Bwood%2Bcar%26n%3D60%26ei%3DUTF-8%26y%3DSearch%26fr%3Dtightropetb%26fr2%3Dsb-top-images.search.yahoo.com%26tab%3Dorganic%26ri%3D7&w=570&h=427&imgurl=www.blog.designsquish.com%2Fimages%2Fuploads%2Fdiy-car-toy-russia_thumb.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fkatoronozap.xbizhost.com%2Fwood-toy-car-designs-free.php&size=33.5KB&name=%3Cb%3Ewood%3C%2Fb%3E+%3Cb%3Etoy%3C%2Fb%3E+%3Cb%3Ecar%3C%2Fb%3E+designs+free&p=homemade+toy+wood+car&oid=33dd38264e8aaeca891097d0e58ac967&fr2=sb-top-images.search.yahoo.com&fr=tightropetb&tt=%3Cb%3Ewood%3C%2Fb%3E+%3Cb%3Etoy%3C%2Fb%3E+%3Cb%3Ecar%3C%2Fb%3E+designs+free&b=0&ni=96&no=7&ts=&tab=organic&sigr=11tuedq5n&sigb=14v7b484g&sigi=125sloovf&sigt=11eqn2id3&sign=11eqn2id3&.crumb=xm1sp85G1sD&fr=tightropetb&fr2=sb-top-images.search.Yeahhoo.com>

What's Next.....? Right: A Schedule.

Eek! I'm using this blog post as an organizational overview of production. As I begin to think about the weeks ahead, I am already gaining anxiety about the time contraints. In order to complete the film opening the way I want it to turn out, as well as have enough time to edit and cut as desired and to make a rough draft and a final cut, I need to organize myself. 

Why do I really need a schedule? I believe that a schedule will allow me to become more organized with my work. It will allow me to maintain a steady pace and to create the correct pacing guide in order to achieve success with enough time to analyze all aspects of the film. In order to get all of the work that is needed to be completed in such a short amount of time, this project will need me to dedicate each week to something very specific so that the project will be safely finished by the due date.

As I read the webpage MindTools, their section on how scheduling makes one's life easier, it all became clear to me: In order to be successfully on time and ready to have the project done how I want it done, I need to be specific on what I need to get done every week and try follow the schedule as closely as possible. 

After checking out that site, I moved on to WikiHow and decided to find out the best strategies to making and following a schedule. Interpreting the instructions and applying them the best I could to be best applicable to my film time budget, the following is the schecule I have created and hope to stick to: 

This is the schedule I have composed and will try and follow for the remainder of the filming, blogging, editing, and finalizing of the portfolio project.

Well, I really hope that this scehdule is something I can truly follow and that it helps me maintain myself organized and on time with everything. I will blog back again in a few days everyone, but, before I go, I just wanna thakn anyone who is reading this far. 

-EC

References: 

"Effective Scheduling: Planning to Make the Best Use of Your Time." Time Management Training From MindTools.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2017. <https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newHTE_07.htm>

WikiHow. "How to Make a Schedule and Stick to It." WikiHow. WikiHow, 19 Mar. 2017. Web. 19 Mar. 2017. <http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Schedule-and-Stick-to-It>

Finiding the Target.....Audience

Hmmmm! Knowing who your target audience is can be extremely beneficial for all aspects of the production process. Knowing who wants to watch your "stuff" will allow the executive decisions to be carried out flawlessly and they will only help your content flourish further and faster.

The first thing I watched in order to establish my ideas was the video linked here. Although not all tips were validly appiclable to my film opening and the objective of this project, due to the fact that there's no actual product being sold rather a film opening needing to appeal to people, I took most of what I could gather from the video. What I learned was that I cannot underestimate my audience and assume their response to the film opening. As a producer of the movie, I have to be willing to expect my audience to react in any way, and, therefore, I need to be ready for criticism and, if done right, praise. For this to go my way, I had to pick a worthy enough target audience that would appreciate my film opening for everything it has and not for what it could have had.

For the production of this project, my target audience will be young adults. Why did I pick young adults as my target audience? Well, firstly, the heartbreak that will be portrayed by the character's surroundings and the character herself is a vessel for the grief. The grief will only push the idea of the desperation for the reading of the letter and the helplessness to do anything that can heal the pain. The voicemails will appeal to the younger people because it highlights the way that dating has not only remained physical and in person, but it also has gained a technological and has expanded throughout the last few decades immensely. 

I believe that the people who would appreciate my film opening the most would be both girls and boy between the ages of 15-24. I believe that the people who will most likely enjoy watching this film opening will be middle to higher social class people in the pre-mentioned age range and this is because that is the kind of genre currently out right now for these age groups and they enjoy to watch those films so they will for sure enjoy this. 

The mystery in the film opening will encourage both sexes to gain interest in the film and the creative juices will allow for great depth of desire and awareness for the film.

The film opening I'm creating will be perfect for young adults because it will allow for the audience to experience young love. The film opening is great for young adults because it will allow for a mystery to be the closing of the film opening, a mystery that will entice the audience and leave them wanting more.

When thinking about what I wanted my target audience to be, I thought about who would be the ideal people to enjoy my production most. I doubted children would enjoy,  understand, a story opening this complex with underlying themes and foreshadowing mystery. Older adults might not necessarily find the movie drawing or interesting because it's a breaking a stereotype about starting the movie with a happy couple and then striking tragedy while my story will begin with thoughts about happiness and the idea of comfort while then stripping it away with one phone voicemail. This mere break from the norm, I believe, will push older audiences away rather than draw them nearer.

-EC

References:

EntrepreneurOnline. "10 Ways to Learn About Your Target Audience." YouTube. YouTube, 17 Mar. 2016. Web. 19 Mar. 2017. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSSEZw3Kepw&t=3s>

Genre Identity...... Get It?

Aw! This project is developing step by step, slowly but surely. It's quite surprising how much can get done in one mere week of research and thought process. It's also quite interesting to see the support and feedback that you get from yourself once you're set on one idea and you know you can develop it. 

In the past couple of days, I decided that I am going to push forward with my idea and develop it, for sure, into my film opening; I decided that my genre is going to be realistic fiction, as I mentioned at the end of my previous post, and now I am going to explain why.

What is realistic fiction, you may ask? Realistic fiction is a fictional story in which the characters or the subject of the production portrays an event that could occur in real life, yet it hasn't, and, therefore, is fiction. When researching about what realistic fiction truly is, I found a website meant for kids about realistic fiction, yet, no matter the target audience for that web page, it really did a great deal for me! The website describes all the types of things that the genre of realistic fiction should have and how to make it work efficiently and powerfully for the advantage of the producer to produce and the audience to identify. The elements described in this site helped me clear my main focus of the scene and how I want to approach my film opening and they were the following:

• The characters are engaging and believable. 
• The dialogue is believable. 
• The plot is fresh and original.
• The setting is true to life.
• The problems faced by the characters are honestly portrayed.
• The resolution makes sense.
• The theme grows naturally out of the action of the characters.

When I think about why I chose this to be the genre for my film opening, the answer is simple: the type of film opening that I'm producing is a story that could actually happen but it isn't someone's story that I'm retelling. I believe that the death of a loved one is an extremely defining event that affects all family and friends, as well as the surrounding people who live around them. Then, the calls to a girlfriend and the call from the police officer are both things that actually happen in real life. Finally, the dream and the letter represent the real-life events, like the actual dreaming that a person goes through and how powerful a dream can be that the imagination could recreate how we think something went down, as well as the letter just mirrors love letters that people send to one another. 

My inspiration for the letter, which I finally understood why the idea felt like it was sure to work, came from Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, both the opening scene and the ending scene inspired me to initiate my film because it really inspired me to show the kind of film that this would be. I really like this idea because it will express just enough mystery and show enough to play with the audience and leave them wanting more.

-EC

References: 

"Realistic Fiction." Realistic Fiction. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2017. <http://www2.nkfust.edu.tw/~emchen/CLit/Realistic_fiction.htm>

Lionxl5. "Guardians of the Galaxy Clip: Opening Scene (HD)." YouTube. YouTube, 06 June 2015. Web. 18 Mar. 2017. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMcnXlgc_eE>

"Guardians of the Galaxy Letter Scene." YouTube. YouTube, 28 Apr. 2015. Web. 18 Mar. 2017.<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAr1isS1M6A>