AICE Media Studies

 Before spring break, our group met together at Raquel's house to film the proper scenes that took place in the beginning and end of our sequence. I brought extra lights and camera equipment in a black bag, which Raquel would be using as her character is walking out of the house. Since I was the first person there, along with Raquel, we filmed the first 2 scenes of the sequence that only had Raquel in them. This way we did not have to waste time when the others got there and it would be more efficient. We also tried to film the establishing shot at the beginning of our sequence, but I realized that we needed a taller car to stand on to get a high angle shot. When the other members arrived, we used their SUV, which was taller than the other cars, to get the high angle shot. Moving forward, as the other members got dressed and prepared their lines, Raquel and I filmed the outside scenes after the interaction with the mother since we were already outside. Once we finish...

Today, 2 group members and I began filming for our opening sequence. I made sure to tell my group members to review their lines and scripts before coming to the park. This would help us to get things done faster and quicker. I also made sure to bring a selfie stick to hold the camera steady and keep it horizontal. Since the park has an uneven trail with lots of bumps and leaves, a steady camera was crucial for filming. We began to shoot the scenes right when we got there since the lighting from the sun was affecting the scenes. We got to park early so that children would not be on the playground and be wondering around or talking. However, they were a part of the background behind the actors. The first scenes we shot we at the playground on different structures so that we had a variety of choices to choose from. The next scene we filmed was a new scene added. When I got to the park, I noticed the perfect shot that had a floating dock where people could walk back and forth. Thi...

This is my last blog before starting the filming portion of the opening sequence with my group. I am prepping and planning with my group to make sure what we need to get done, gets done. Our initial problem was finalizing who was playing each role. Seeing that there are 3 characters, but 4 of us in a group, one person was not going to physically be in the group; this person was me. We needed to finalize the actors and who was playing each role in our film. I was going to be the director and main person filming the acting scenes throughout the film. Raquel Lopez is going to be the main character who is a saddened teenage helping her mother. Along with this, Judith Reyes will be acting as the mother and Jocelyn Colon will be acting as the new internet friend. We then moved on to the outfit and costume portion of our film. I wanted the mother to be either be wearing a long skirt or dress with perfect hair. This would show that the mother does not see evil in what she is doin...

     When prepping for this film, we needed to make sure the setting and locations were the same as we pictured in our heads. Seeing that the park that we chose to film at is walking distance from my house, I made sure to check the location out. I went everyday after school, a little over a week, to make note of what times of the day and days people were there. I found that majority of kids and their parents show up on the weekends. I also found that teenagers like to come to the basketball court on Tuesdays. The most busiest days were on weekends and Fridays since everyone was coming off of work or hand no work at all that day. This information that I gathered was crucial for our project seeing that we did not want to be at a public park with a lot of people who were not wearing any masks or social distancing. I also made note of the different times the sun set since daylight savings time is coming. This way we could correctly use our time management skills and plan our ...

     With this project having four group members, it will be difficult for everyone to edit one opening sequence. We will need to either split the scenes up into portions where we can all edit a series of scenes or come together a couple days and edit while sitting at a computer. This will take many days to decide this big decision. When thinking of the musical choices for our film, we came across 2 uses of nondiegetic sound. First, since this is a thriller based film, eerie music will be played towards the end of the film. My group and I still need to conduct research on what specific eerie sound we will be using. Seeing that there is such a huge variety, this will be a very time consuming task. The second choice was of modern, everyday music with lyrics. We researched different music choices that we could use. However, we decided to not use modern, everyday music in our piece because of the difficulty with copyright claims. It would be difficult to try an...

     This upcoming project of an original movie opening scene will be the most time consuming Media Studies project that I have encountered during this school year. Seeing that this will also be my first time working with a group of people, it will be a new experience with many challenges. The final product of this project is not due until a month from now. Therefore, my group and I will be able to take our time with filming and editing the opening scene of our movie. We have decided to not start filming, but rather wait until all of us can set dates for filming. We will be able to plan out our filming days so that everyone can show up and get the job done. Also, since we are in a pandemic, it is harder to plan accordingly for a large group of people. Making sure everyone can show up at the same time will be a great challenge that we will face. However, I do have hope that we will overcome this by taking less time in reshooting any scenes we mess up. We will also be ...

       A major step in our filming process was the storyboard aspect. In order to make sure every scene went smoothly to the next, this was a crucial step. This is a very big task which required numerous scenes that needed to be detailed. Majority of our scenes were taken in a mid shot or close up angle. This way we will be able to see the character’s faces more clearly, along with their expressions.

     For the opening of our film, planning the title sequence has been an essential part of our work.  My team and I are planning for some of the opening credits of our film to have a normal contemporary font.  We envision most of the titles to be placed on different parts of the screen (not the center). We wanted the titles to give the audience a feeling of unpredictability, as the titles could appear anywhere on the screen.  The fonts will be in the color white and black depending on the background. The space between the lines will also have some place in between if necessary, so the words will be easy to see. For example, if there are two lines, the title could look like this: We plan on making the letters of the names of the people a bit larger than their occupation. We plan to put spaces in between each letter of the words that show up on the screen if necessary. However, when the movie title appears on the screen, it will have a more dramatic font and...

Schedule: 03/12/21 - 03/14/21: Our group will begin filming for our project. 03/19/21: We will spend the day editing and placing our project together. With doing this, we are able to know what scenes, clips, or audio we are missing. This way we can be prepared for our future filming days. 03/20/21 - 03/21/21: We will finish our filming and shoot any retakes or mistakes that we have made.  03/27/21 - 03/28/21: Our group will finalize our project with the editing portion. This will leave us enough time to focus on our reflection as a group as well as make any comments on what was enjoyable and what we need to change in the editing portion. Location:       Our group will be filming and shooting our project at various locations. Our first location will be the inside and outside of one of the member’s houses. Another location will be a community park, where we will film the middle portion of our film. Participants:      Actors:     ...

Shooting Script Scene 1 A wide, establishing shot of the front of house, including the driveway and sidewalk. Lighting: sunshine Scene 2 Pan of Jane laying in bed with a phone in her hand. Close up of the phone showing a text message and Jane’s fingers typing. Diegetic sound: phone notification sound and keyboard clicks Wide shot of Jane getting up from her bed and walking towards her bedroom door. Lighting: sunshine with slight shade from curtains Scene 3 Wide shot of Mom cleaning the kitchen. Jane comes down the hallway.  Diegetic sound: Mom speaks to Jane as Jane walks in the kitchen, Jane responds, Mom responds back.  Mom gets a backpack from the side table in the kitchen.  Lighting: bright lights from kitchen and sunshine from windows Scene 4 Diegetic sound: door opening Medium shot of Jane walking out, following is Mom. Diegetic sound: Mom speaks to Jane. Jane turns around to face her in front of the doorway. Mom steps back and closes the door as Jane turns back a...