Creative Critical Reflective

Here is my Creative Critical Reflection! Thanks for joining me on my AICE Media Studies journey!

IT'S HERE!!

Here it is! We're finally done! We did it! Filed Away! Check it out NOW!

And the winner is.....

I’m actually surprised we made it this far without a title.  When looking at the blogs from last year and seeing how late some of them chose their title, I swore we would pick our’s early so we could work on incorporating it in other ways. I’m still laughing at my past self’s naivety, because our project is due in less than a week and we just picked our title today. 

When my group finally got to the conversation, about 45 ideas were thrown out before we settled on the final decision. We wanted our title to focus on the symbolism we worked to incorporate in the beginning of this project, but also hint as to what will happen later on in the film, beyond our opening. We discussed including the words “system” and “file” since we wanted to focus our film around the wrongful judgment of the judicial system and the way it often reduces a person down to their file and what they have done in the past. I suggested we name the film “Filed Away” and happily, my group agreed. I thought of “Filed Away” because our main character is getting prematurely judged on his file and pushed further into the system just because of his past transgressions, as opposed to listening to him and his plea that he did not commit the crime. 

I like the title we came up with and I think it represents our film well. Now, we have to add it to our video. While editing on Adobe Premiere Pro and using Adobe Photoshops are two of my strengths, utilizing the benefits of Adobe Aftereffects is defiantly not. However, I think it would be very cool to use that software to create our title, so I am going to spend the next couple of days messing around with it to see if I can create a look for our title that would fit our video. 

Seriously, I Love Editing

Editing has begun! 

Editing is my favorite part of making a video, because you get to put all the pieces together to really tell the story. I started by cutting up all our clips and laying down a rough edit. We had some challenges in the initial editing, because some of our shots were not completely stable and some were overexposed. However, I was able to fix most of this in editing by editing the colors, brightness, and contrast and stabilizing each frame of the shots we wanted to appear less shaky. 

Another problem we faced were some continuity errors. While some of our shots in the arrest scene we were able to fix, because we wanted to edit at a quicker pace with quick, hard cuts so we did not the actors to be in the same position each time, some shots in the interrogation were a problem because we didn’t have enough angles to cover up the continuity issues. We needed a few more shots, but two of our actors were away for the start of spring break and were not able to film. We, luckily, were able to refilm part of our video, even though all of our actors were unable to film. My partner, Kaelin, was, so we got some close ups of her to act as inserts. 

We broke the opening into two scenes, with the arrest being a shorter scene and the interrogation being the majority of the video. I’m currently trying to figure out a way to transition between the two, either using a hard cut or a fade. I think the fade might make the video look cheesy, but the hard cut may not signify enough of a transition so I’m going to try both and maybe a few other options and see what works best.

Overall, our video is starting to come together and I’m happy with the outcome, despite any problems we had! Our goal is to be finished with the video by Saturday so we can get it uploaded a day early! 

The CCR Process Has Begun

The CCR has been stressed by my teacher from day one, so I have decided to get started on it now so I can finish it a couple days before the project is due, just in case. I have decided to do a director’s commentary, but add in titles, behind the scenes pictures, and video screenshots of editing, our script, and other aspects of our production process. 

When starting my script, I began with research. I first explained how we came to the decision to do a drama. We conducted lots of research as to what type of dramas are typically the most successful and why. I then discussed how we did more research about the judicial system and crime dramas once we settled on our rough plot. Next, I discussed the problems we had when developing our plot, and why it took us so long to do. I also talked about storyboarding, creating our shot list, and finalizing our script, all extremely vital parts of our planning process. 

Even though I was gone for some of filming, I discussed the process of prepping to film and attempting to help while being on the other side of the country. With that, I discussed what I learned while in California and how I incorporated that into project.  I also discussed how editing became challenging when editing clips you were not there to see recorded.

I just need to add more on our editing process and a reflection on the overall project and I’m done! I plan to record in the middle of the week so I can edit during the beginning of the weekend and be done!

Stay tuned for my post with my CCR, coming early next week, along with the finished product! 

Putting the Pieces Together

So tomorrow we begin editing. Since I edit a lot in my television production class, I will be taking the lead on editing, but of course, my group members will be there every step of the way. I normally edit broadcast shows and news stories, so I wanted to look up different techniques for editing films and how to give our film the feel we wanted to. This article taught me some techniques to make our film more dramatic and impactful. The use of pacing and knowing when to cut will be extremely essential when editing this film opening. Another article showed me how slowing down clips can create tension.

 I use Adobe Premiere Pro CC so I also read/watched some tutorials on editing in that software just to see how to use some aspects that the software includes that I would not usually use but may want to in this case. Some great videos I watched taught me some techniques for adding effects, fixing audio, and enhancing my footage. Something I usually struggle with is audio so I made sure to take some extra notes about fixing audio in post-production. I also made sure my group recorded audio well on location because of course that helps when editing. I also made sure to focus on editing the voiceover to the story correctly, since that can a crucial part of our video. 

Editing is my favorite part of creating a video so I am extremely excited to start that tomorrow! Stay tuned to find out how it goes! 

Hardy, Robert. "How to Manipulate the Pace of Your Editing to Infuse Drama & Tension Into Any Scene." No Film School. N.p., 01 Dec. 2015. Web. 02 Apr. 2017.

Hardy, Robert. "This Simple Editing Technique Will Make Your Scenes More Dramatic & Powerful." No Film School. N.p., 18 June 2015. Web. 02 Apr. 2017.

"Change or Correct a Specific Color." Change or Correct a Specific Color | Adobe Premiere Pro CC Tutorials. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2017.

Be Prepared, Be Flexible

Yesterday, my friend Kayleigh and I went to a workshop at the convention we are at. The workshop was called "Be Prepared, Be Flexible" and while we went to it to learn techniques to use in our school show, I actually learned a lot that could be applied to this project. The presenter of the workshop was Carly Danek who is  a photographer for BTN11 (Break the News) from Channel 11 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The workshop discussed how to handle changing and unexpected situations and how to act in certain circumstances. 

The most applicable thing (to this project, at least) that I learned is about is having to change where you decided to film because of external factors. For example, I wanted to get a few shots while in Anaheim since I would be missing a filming day in Florida. I needed a shot outside of a few people fighting, but we weren’t able to leave the hotel on the one day we weren’t doing anything. Instead, the workshop taught me different ways to make a room look like something else when you need a back up plan, so I did that and it worked out extremely well. I can also take this back with me for the interrogation room my group would like to use.

I also learned a lot about where it is legal to film and what your rights are in regards to filming. Carly showed us a video of that her reporter took when he went to film at a house where there had just been a lightning strike in which a man’s grandmother was injured. The man was drunk and visibly upset and came after the reporter. However, legally, the reporter did nothing wrong.

So first, no one is allowed to speak on behalf of someone else's property. If the owner is not there, their neighbor is not allowed to tell you that you cannot film there. In the video, the man who is upset says that he knows the owner and that he cannot film there. First, he admitted he did not own the land and second, he legally can’t say that the reporter cannot film there because it is not his property. I also learned something extremely interesting (and very weird if you ask me.) There was not a no trespassing sign, therefore one cannot be arrested for trespassing will usually be let off with a warning for a first time offense. Once they get lawyers involved, the situation could change, of course, but the reporter technically did not break any laws. I could defiantly use this information in this project to know where it is legal to film, because I obviously wound’t want to get arrested for a school project.

One Step Forward

We finally finished our script. I really feel like I just ran a marathon because it took us long enough to get here. I attached it here in case anyone is interested in getting a little sneak peak into what our opening will entail.

I’m extremely happy we finished our planning, because it means we can finally get fully started with production. Our script is basically finalized, although there are a few things we might change when we see what our location looks like (with our actors, props, etc.) I’m also relieved to have this done while I’m in California, because I plan to get a few shots while I’m out here so I don’t waste my time being away from my group. 

I found a great article that was a basically a checklist of steps to take after finishing your script. While it was more for professionals with an actual budget, it still helped me to make sure we were all ready to go. It actually helped me to realize we needed to create a better schedule not just so we stayed on track, but so we could guarantee that our actors were able to commit as well. Also, as obvious as it sounds (well not that obvious, because we didn’t think of it) but we need to get someone to proof read our script. I actually had my dad do it, and we found a few errors that were easy to rectify, but could have been much worse if we didn’t realize until we got to filming. 

I also found a great article about things to include/not include in a script. While this would have probably been more helpful before we finished, it helped me to make sure we did include (or not include) these things in our script and helped me to ensure we included enough moments to keep our audience engaged. 

I’m happy we finished our planning and I did some research before we went onto our next step. Next stop on the race: filming. Stay tuned!

Macaulay, Scott. "15 Steps To Take After You Finish Your Script." Filmmaker Magazine. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2017.

"BREAKING IN: Following "The Five Minute Rule"." Script Magazine. N.p., 10 Mar. 2015. Web. 02 Apr. 2017.

Seriously, I'm Fine

So tomorrow, I am leaving to go to California for a week with my television production class to compete at a national competition. Now, I would be more excited, but leaving my group in the middle of our project is giving me more than a little anxiety.

While we have our shot list and script done, we haven’t started filming yet. I always assumed I would be the main camera person and director, but since I’m going to be gone for the first 2 days of filming, that’s a little bit difficult. We have our calendar done & we’ve stuck with it (for the most part) so this was inevitably always coming, but I’m still a little nervous about not being here. We have set up times for me to FaceTime and be a part of filming so I can see what is going on. I also have very reliable group members so that’s extremely reassuring. My main goal while I'm gone is to map out the remaining shots and start to finalize how we want to edit it. I also would like to work on my CCR since that is a single person activity that I do not need my group members to be able to start on. 

At least I’ll be back for the last 2 days of filming and all of editing, so that’s good! I’m good! No really, I’m fine.  

Actual Progress?

So we finally have the majority of our opening mapped out. We are going to start with an extreme long shot establishing shot of a bad neighborhood, then cutting one long shot and then to multiple angles of close ups of our main character, a male, getting put into a cop car. We are going to show shots of the handcuffs, his head going into the car, the door shutting to show him getting shut and locked into the system. 

We also decided we didn't want to show our main character’s face right away to symbolize that to the government and judicial system, he doesn’t matter and isn’t humanized, but rather just a name on paper and a file. The scene will continue with a cut right to an interrogation scene. We will have his thoughts be the narration, explaining both his past and current situation vaguely, but making it clear that he isn’t being judged fairly. We haven’t decided how we want to end it, as of course this would be crucial to the rest of the film (beyond the opening.) 

This is an idea we are still toying with, but somewhere in the scene and throughout the entire film opening, we want to keep returning to a shot of a file, and each time, the file size will incrementally increase. 

I hope to fully finish our plan by the end of the week because, to be honest, I’m a little stressed we don’t have it finalized. Progress, though!

Group Critiques are a Blast

We spent yesterday meeting with randomly chosen people from my class to discuss our projects, give feedback on theirs, and get feedback on ours.

I loved having a chance for other people in my class to give me feedback (and of course, being as opinionated as I am, I loved being able to give them my thoughts on their projects.) I explained my group’s idea and what we had so far. Even though we didn’t finalize our entire layout of what we wanted the opening to entail, it was good to be able to explain what we wanted to do to other people. Meeting with the group from class helped me to think of different ways we could reveal information and what we wanted to do.

One of my favorite idea’s that someone had for my group was starting with the present, having the middle (main part) focus on the past and how our main character got to where they are, and then having it flash back to the present. I think this is a great way to reveal information and go deeper in our character’s back story. 

I also got a lot of feedback on our character development and some comments on the way we want to shoot it, which of course was extremely useful.

Overall, I’m usually terrified of speaking in a group (especially sharing my ideas) but I actually had a lot of fun and everyone was super helpful. I’m excited to do this again when we have more of our project done!

I’m (voice)OVER Planning

Something my group felt extremely strongly about was starting off with a voiceover. I think it’s because when we watched a bunch of film openings to figure out what kind of film we wanted to do, the ones we liked best began like that. Also, we wanted our story to be very character driven and we felt that this was a great way to do that, since a voiceover often gives a deeper insight into a character. We researched movies that were successful with starting off with a voiceover. We found a list with effective uses of voice overs and one with how voice overs are often used, both I thought were extremely helpful. My favorite one was from the movie Raising Arizona. I really liked it because I think it gave the audience a better feel for the main character and a deeper look into who he really was. This is something I think we could utilize in our film and will help us to introduce our character’s background.

Reading these articles and learning about films that used voice overs also helped to show me what not to do. I definitely do not want to overuse the voiceover and as a whole, my group would have to choose up front if we wanted the narrator to be objective.

Hopefully, now knowing that this is what we want to do, we can write our script so we will be fully ready to film by next week, with the shot list basically done. 

The planning process is almost over and I could not be more excited. Check back for updates!

Long Live the Shot List

I love lists. I also can’t draw to save my life. Combining these two aspects, I love to make shots lists instead of storyboarding for my video projects (I put a picture of what I made as a template below.) I spent my day starting to make our shot list so that we could jump right into filming, because to be honest, I’m slightly worried about our pacing. Now, making a shot list seemed like it would be a good idea as something that would help us develop our story more, but it ended up being hard to make a shot list without a full plan. It did, however, get me thinking of different things we could do. Playing around with the list, I wrote out different ways we could start our video and ways we could go about revealing information. Writing down my ideas and the different angles and editing techniques we could use started to make me picture our film and what it would look like. I played around with how we could reveal flashbacks and make it known that is what we were doing and how we could show certain aspects of the judicial system without being able to go into a court. (Update: we called several courts. You can’t film in there. Honestly very rude of them if you ask me. Four girls’ grades kind of depended on it.) The shot list helped me to develop more ideas.

I ended up getting inspired because of the shot list and was able to compile the shots for the first half of our video, with a pretty clear vision of the second half. Finally, PROGRESS!

The Plot Thickens

Finally, my group thought of a plot!

I wouldn’t say we have our story fully developed, but we at least have a general direction we would like to go in, which I think will help us a lot. We decided we wanted our film to have a message and to criticize something within our society. Something we all felt passionate about was the judicial system and how a lot of cases reduce the defendant down to their past or their file. From this, we started to map out where we could go with our film opening. I discussed doing something with a person being declared guilty because of previous encounters as opposed to because of the facts of the current case. We all agreed we could work with that, but then came the challenge of figuring out how four high school girls who don’t have access to a court or a police car or anything like that could really make that happen. We then discussed the different ways we could reveal information and how maybe we could do that without a court room. We also found ways we could make rooms we did have access to look like a room we would need. I think our idea also works well because it gives us a chance to work with representation and symbols a lot! (More information to come as we delve further in.)

So first, I really wanted to do some more research on different cases and the way the judicial system works so we could do an accurate representation. I read a lot of different articles about why people are judged unfairly and reasons why different biases exist, all of which were extremely interesting and caused me to think a lot about what we could do with that. Some  articles touched on racial injustice in courts while others discussed a more general problem with sentences. I'm going to do some more research and see what else we could discuss in our film opening.

Overall, I like what we came up with so far and I’m really excited to get deeper into our project, story, and research. I guess it’s all TRIALS and errors from here.  (Here’s hoping our project goes better than that pun did.)

Research Time!

Today, I’ve been doing a lot of research about dramas to see what we should include in ours and hopefully get some inspiration. Doing an entire day of research has made me want to quit school. However, I know it will help us to develop what we want to do spefically and what will be successful, so I guess I won’t drop out (for now at least.)

My group decided on a drama for several reasons. For one, we all decided it was our favorite genre and thus we’d be passionate about what we’re creating. We also discovered that dramas are not only the most critically acclaimed, but they also make the most money. According to an article on the Business Insider, the top grossing movie of all time is a drama, along with several others in the top ten list.  According to IMDB, the Titanic is the top grossing drama of all time. We decided, despite it’s popularity, that we probably did not want to go a romantic route. Another article revealed that the top grossing movie of 2017 was a drama— Hidden Figures. Hidden Figures was not successful because it focused on love story but rather it told a inspirational true story of three women who broke down gender and race barriers to change the world. This proves that we could tell a story about a character and them doing something influential without having to have a romantic twist. This makes me even more excited to be able to develop our character(s).

I found a great website that gave me subgenres and examples for each one. I research the statistics for examples for each type of subgenre and found that most of them are pretty successful so I’m going to discuss the different options within my group!

I still have more research to do throughout the week and as the planning process truly begins, but I’m pretty happy with what I found today. Stay tuned for more research and to find out if we ever decide on a subgenre!

Citations:

Schrodt, Paul. "The 10 Biggest Blockbuster Movies of All Time, and How Much They Raked in." Business Insider. Business Insider, 28 Sept. 2016. Web. 12 Mar. 2017.

"Annual Movie Chart - 2017." The Numbers - Where Data and Movies Meet. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2017.

"Top-US-Grossing Drama Feature Films." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2017.

Beginning the Research Process

This whole week is all about researching and planning. So far, planning hasn’t gone very far so my group and I are hoping research will help us think of ideas or at least find out which types of stories are typically successful. I watched about 50 film openings over the course of this weekend hoping that at least one would inspire me.

I looked up “great film openings” which brought me to a bunch of different lists of people ranking their favorite film openings. (I’m linking my favorites here and here so you can check out them, too!)

One film that continuously appeared on the lists was the opening of The Social Network, an opening that my teacher also showed us in class. I’m not going to lie, I was initially drawn to this film opening because it didn’t seem that difficult to produce. I mean, you really just need to get a busy area and two actors to talk. The shots and editing didn’t seem too complicated and it focused heavily on the dialogue. However, after watching a lot (and I do mean a lot) of other film openings, I realized that the beginning of The Social Network required a great deal of effort. For one, it required a lot of thought to be put into developing the entire plot of the movie and needed a great deal of creativity to come up with the quick dialogue. I also realized that doing something like this interested me not because it seemed easy to produce but because, as I found out from previous projects, I like focusing on the creativity of developing the story and developing in depth characters. 

Overall, watching these film openings allowed me to come to the conclusion that I would like my film opening to focus on one or two characters and begin to delve into who they are. I think that is one of my strong suits (developing a character) and something I can bring to my group.

Let's Get Started

Hi! I’m Jenna Leval and I’m glad you found your way to my blog. Here I will be documenting the process of creating my 2 minute film opening with my partners Sofia Angulo, Kaelin Danieli, and Maria Martinez. I also apologize now for the horrible jokes that will no doubt be present in later postings.

So let’s just get started then. 

So far, we’ve decided to do a drama. We spent our first class period trying to come up with a subgenre and plot, but so far, nothing. My partner, Maria, suggested we create a film with a similar vibe to American Beauty, but the trailer kind of freaked out my other two partners, so that idea got shut down just as quickly as it was brought up. (Check out the trailer here and form your own opinion.) Our goal is to have our subgenre picked out by tomorrow and a rough draft of what we would like our plot to be. From there, hopefully we’ll be able to come up with characters and develop our plot more easily. I think we’re just having trouble coming up with our initial idea. I’m a little overwhelmed with how much we need to do for this project. However, hopefully having an idea of what we need to do will help.

The calendars to the left reflect our rough plan for when we would like to have aspects of our project done. All the tasks are listed the days we have class, but we plan to meet several times outside of class to get the necessary work done. Those dates will come up when needed.

Right now, I’m panicking a little that we don’t have a plot. It’s all okay though, because we still have 28 days until our project is due and I do intend to use those 28 days wisely. I have a feeling those days will go by fairly quickly however, so stay tuned to see more about how our project is going!