AICE MEDIA
Tuesday, February 18, 2025
more learning
Friday, February 14, 2025
learning.
Hello! Today I am doing something that is integral to the development of my project... research on my genre! If you've been paying attention you would know that I am leaning towards doing a coming-of-age film, and therefore I am going to research that. Let's get into it!!
What is a "coming of age" film?
This genre refers to any work of literature, film, or other media forms that focuses on the personal growth and transition of the protagonist from childhood to adulthood. This genre often highlights the emotional and social changes that the protagonist experiences during the process of maturing.
What are some characteristics of a "coming of age" film?
-Usually emphasizes the internal thoughts of the characters as opposed to just focusing on external action
-Centered around teenagers
-Centered around major life changes and milestones
Wednesday, February 12, 2025
Arguably the most important part...
Something that I did last year that helped me stay motivated was add a checklist next to each blog/task that I had to complete that week, giving me something to look forward to when I complete a task. As you can see on some weeks I don't provide specific information for what each blog will contain I put "Production process" or "Critical Reflection" because right now I really don't know what my project will grow into, so the most I can do is just plan generally. Something that I want to include in this post (for me to look back on) are some reminders. Here they are:
Monday, February 10, 2025
IM BACKKK
Did you miss me? Because I missed you. Hello and welcome back to my blog!! It's a new project with a new range of possibilities, which is super exciting to me. Before we get into the specifics I just want to do a short reflection on last year's project choice. In hindsight, I felt that the idea I chose to make my film opening about was very superficial and not important to me which is a mistake I want to avoid making this year. The story that I told last year, was not one that I wanted to tell, rather it was a story I thought others would enjoy seeing, and I craved that validation. This year, I want to create something meaningful and important to me and not some random thriller about cults. That being said, here is a little ramble I went on this weekend before being presented with the instructions for the project (Please ignore my grammar, my brain was going a thousand miles an hour)
I think this gives you an idea of where I am in terms of genre and general ideas about this project. I am aiming to create something I am truly proud of, not because I want it to look cool, but because I want this story to be told. I am still brainstorming the perfect way to translate my vision into film, but I have time. See you soon.
Thursday, December 12, 2024
Creative Critical Reflection
In the Documentary Impact, the initiation of a community-benefiting project is described and reflected on to inspire others to take similar initiatives. The documentary highlights the issue of plastic consumption and waste in the United States and explains how a student-led project aims to address this issue.
The idea for the film arose with the initiation of the project Recycle Beyond the Bag (RBB) at the Interact Club at Cypress Bay. The concept of bringing awareness to plastic waste while also inspiring others to initiate projects similar to RBB made the idea compelling. Before the idea arose, several documentaries were viewed in class which prompted choices made later in the production process. The films all had parts of them that stood out, and that served as inspiration for the production of Impact. The film “The American Promise” uses a mix of direct and indirect interviews and natural feeling B-roll to tell the story of two African American kids that attend a majority-white private school in New York. The documentary “Exit through the Gift Shop” uses interviews as a narration to describe the events leading up to the opening of Thierry Guetta’s art gallery. The documentary series “Abstract: The Art of Design” uses a staged B-roll to create an artistic feel to the piece and does a great job of editing interviews together smoothly to create an episode catered to one specific type of art. After viewing the documentaries, and coming up with an idea for the film, the genre conventions had to be decided.
For the most part, Impact followed the genre conventions of a documentary. These conventions were inspired by choices made in the films researched prior. They include Indirect Interviews on either the left or the right third (not the middle), music in the background, using interviews as voiceovers at times, inserting B-roll during interviews, using some staged B-roll, and some not. Following genre conventions helped the piece feel educational and informative as it felt like the film was presenting facts about plastic and RBB, which aligned with the piece’s purpose to inspire others to initiate beneficial projects. Sticking to the genre conventions was also good because it would most likely attract the target audience of the film which is high school, males and females, who are passionate about sustainability and who want to make a difference in their community. Deviating from conventions could’ve made the piece overly artistic and distracting which could cause the target audience to lose sight of the purpose. For example, originally there was supposed to be an upbeat montage in the film which showed the box construction process and had a playful energy to it, but because that choice did not follow genre conventions and it did not match the tone of the rest of the film, it was decided that it was best to exclude it from the film.
Impact includes many interviews, videos of nature, staged B-roll, and music (when fitting) to engage and connect with the audience, in hopes of making an “impact” on them and their communities. Making the film engaging was essential to achieving the purpose of the piece, and the production choices that were made reflect this idea. For example, during the interview with the Environmental Specialist Margarita from Rotary At Weston, the subject takes out a bag full of plastic that she collected in the past few weeks from her house. This demonstration is not only visually engaging but also makes the viewer think about how much plastic they are consuming weekly. Another example of this is at the end of the film where Sofia discusses her passion for the environment and the success of the project while videos of plastic in wildlife and videos of pretty landscapes are shown. This part of the film is supposed to evoke an emotional reaction in the audience, furthering their connection and empathy towards the cause, leading them to get involved and foster change.
Making a documentary about plastic recycling helps highlight social issues related to the environment. Plastic waste doesn’t only harm nature, it also affects people, especially people who live in poorer communities who live near landfills or other polluted areas. Plastic consumption is tied to bigger problems like inequality and injustice. The film focuses on how the initiation of a project like Recycle beyond the bag which might seem like a small action, can lead to big changes. The company in charge of the project, NexTrex, makes outdoor furniture out of the plastic it collects meaning that future generations will witness the lasting effects of this project. This highlights the idea that anyone, no matter their age, can make a difference in their community. By showing how something so simple as recycling can be a part of a big movement for a cleaner and healthier future, this documentary can inspire viewers to take action and think about their role in building a more sustainable world.
Wednesday, December 11, 2024
Documentary Post-Production
The production process took up a lot of our time because not only were we filming a documentary, but we were also initiating the Recycle Beyond the Bag project. This meant that we had one day to edit... which was not the best idea, I know! but you gotta do what you gotta do sometimes. The day before we began to edit, Sofia and I were trying to figure out how we were going to edit the project. We tried using Adobe Premiere Pro and making a shared project but that didn't work out, and then we tried to make a shared project on CapCut, but that only gave us 1.0 GB of footage that we could upload which didn't work out either. We decided that what would be best is to divide the film into smaller parts so that we could edit specific sections of the piece and then put it together using Capcut.
Tuesday, December 10, 2024
Documentary Production
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Monday, December 9, 2024
Documentary Research/Planning
After viewing the documentaries, it was time to research the company sponsoring the project, NexTrex, and its purpose. Nextrex is a recycling company that collects plastic and converts it into environmentally responsible outdoor furniture. They have several drop-off locations around the U.S. and have partnered with other organizations such as The Rotary Club of Weston to get more plastic collection. Recycle Beyond the Bag is a project that helps NexTrex collect more plastic by having cardboard boxes in schools where kids can throw away their uncontaminated plastic trash. This project makes the plastic recycling process significantly easier for the younger generation because instead of going to a drop-off location, they can just throw it out on their way out of class, eventually increasing the amount of plastic collected by NexTrex.
-Get a team together
-Ask Boswell
-Publicize flyer montage (creation, execution)
-Build Home Depot buying boxes, creating boxes
-3rd step is asking teachers, to put boxes in different classrooms
-Interviews with Margarita and Boswell come back to go in-depth further about the project
Tuesday, December 3, 2024
Documentary Research (Viewings)
For my documentary assignment, I chose to work with my friend Sofia and create a documentary about a recycling project called "Recycle Beyond The Bag" that she was initiating through an Environmental Club called Interact. We chose to make the documentary specifically about the initiation of a community-benefiting project and how although the igniting of a big project can be daunting, it is completely possible and very rewarding.
Before diving into the production of the film, a lot of research had to be done. In class, we watched a few documentaries that inspired us. The Documentaries "American Promise" and "Exit Through the Gift Shop" influenced some of the choices we made later on in the production process, such as the types of interviews and the structure of our piece. They also were helpful because they exemplified documentary conventions and went against them simultaneously, which helped us understand what a documentary was supposed to look like.
Besides watching these two films in class, we were also instructed to view the documentary series on Netflix called: "Abstract: The Art of Design." This piece felt less organic than the other two films because the film used a lot of staged and artistic shots to create the show's aesthetic. We used this as inspiration for some of our B-roll as we used a mixture of staged and organic B-roll in our documentary. This series helped us understand how to incorporate a staged B-roll without making the film feel fake or unnatural. These episodes also had a lot of interviews and did a great job of editing different interviews together to fit the purpose of the piece, which was helpful for us in the post-production process.
Once we became familiar with a few documentaries, and decided what we liked from each, we were ready to start researching recycling beyond the bag and plan our film.
Monday, December 2, 2024
ITS A NEW YEAR!!!
IM BACKK!! I am very excited to get back on here as an A-Level student and start working on new stuff!! This year I'm hoping to learn and grow from the mistakes I made last year, and hopefully be proud of the work I create. It feels good to be back blogger.
Tuesday, April 2, 2024
Monday, April 1, 2024
REFLECTION
I lied. My next blog post was not my film opening. But, Hello. I never thought this day would come. I FINISHED (OFICIALLY). I am very very happy with how everything turned out and this project has taught me so much about filmmaking, equipment, editing, time management, directing, producing and so much more. Although I had a lot of fun, lets just say I'm glad it's over. A few things that I would've done differently are one I would've written less people in my script so I didn't have to rely on so many people (I didn't listen when people told me it was a lot of people), two, I would've filmed all of my opening in one day instead of two (which wasn't my choice but still), and three, I would've started editing earlier because the last 5 days of spring break were just me editing in my room and writing scripts for my CCR's and filming and yeah I wished I would've started earlier so I could've enjoyed my time off more. Besides those things, this project went pretty smooth for me and I am very glad I got the opportunity to do it.
Sunday, March 31, 2024
THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL
I filmed the Vouge makeup routine CCR here is my script:
Question 1:
Hello! It’s Julia and I was asked by Vogue to tell you a little bit about my recent project “Foresight” while I show you my makeup routine. Here are some of the products that I am going to use, and I am going to be answering some questions that Vouge sent me. Without further ado let's begin. So the first thing that Vouge wants to know is how does Foresight use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues? That is a great question. So Foresight is a Thriller about a guy named Asher who goes on a camping trip with his friends and begins to feel and see weird things. Thrillers according to research done by North Dakota South University (that I referenced when creating my film) “tend to want to be small. It's like putting your hero in a box and squeezing. One of the advantages of this narrowing of focus is that thrillers maximize emotion.” Now I think that this is something that Foresight definitely does. Within the first 30 seconds of the film, Asher (the protagonist) is put in a very uncomfortable situation where he finds a photo of his mom who passed away when he was young. Not only does this maximize emotion but it also represents a social issue which is being motherless while growing up. Foresight also attempts to represent teenagers through costume design, music choice, and casting. One thing I was very keen about when writing Foresight was that I wanted Asher’s friends to fill the void of Asher not having a full family. In other words, I wanted Asher’s friends to be his family, which is something that I see a lot with teenagers, especially those with bad living situations, or problems with their parents or siblings, those kids tend to rely on their friends and their friends rely on them and they form this sense of community which is something I wanted to represent with this project. Another thing that is usually found with thrillers that I wanted to include in mine, was the use of pacing. Most thriller films, start happy or normal and then a few minutes into the film, conflict is introduced. This is something that I wanted to use to tell my story because I thought it would be a good way to balance the representation and introduction of my characters while also sticking to the typical genre conventions of a thriller. So yeah, hopefully, that answered that question for you Vouge and now let's go on to the next one.
Question 2:
Vogue wants to know how Foresight engages with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text. Wow, that is a wonderful question. I love it. So, (re-read question under breath) okay. I think it’s important to mention my project’s target audience first, which is young adults (ages 17-25) both female and male, people who enjoy thrillers, intense movies, friendship, people who don’t mind mature content, and overall people who enjoy anxiety-inducing films. One way that Foresight engages with the audience is having a pretty good balance of boys and girls in the cast. While the main character is a boy, there are three girls and two boys in the friend group which in my opinion balances it out. The ages of the characters are 16-18 years old which means most of the target audience is either that age or just was that age. Having a character be around the same age as you, allows you to understand, relate, and therefore engage with the character more so than if they were let’s say twice your age. This is because you are both likely facing the same social pressures and experiencing similar problems. Moving on, like I said before, Foresight is targeted at people who enjoy thrillers, and by following the genre conventions of a typical thriller, by nature those people are going to be engaged with the film. In other words, using genre conventions is a great way to engage target audiences. As for distribution, I plan on uploading Foresight on YouTube, and possibly other social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok. This is because my target audience is particularly active on these platforms and realistically, I cannot release my opening in theaters. With that being said, I hope you all have a fantastic night, thank you so much Vouge for having me, oh my god I almost forgot, I got carried away blabbing about opening, I almost forgot to show you my makeup, here it is, this is my everyday look, obviously I wouldn’t wear this on my red carpet but again thank you so much Vouge, and have an amazing night, morning, afternoon whatever. Blow kiss.
I was too lazy to write an actual script so I just wrote down what I wanted to say on Google Docs.
Friday, March 29, 2024
EDITING PT.IDK ANYMORE I JUST WANT TO FINISH
Today I want to write my script for my CCR and film my first CCR. I know I've been saying that for too long but I need to do it. This is driving me insane I just want to finish. Here are some pics from my editing process:
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Right now I am trying to insert my credits and title and see where I am going to put them within my opening. Here are the possible title fonts that I created before:
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Here is the one I chose:
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I like it a lot. It's what I pictured in my head.
I have plans tonight so I am going to continue editing tomorrow, but I got a lot done today and I am happy. See you soon!
Thursday, March 28, 2024
FILMING PT.2
One thing that was not fun about yesterday was that I forgot to bring the white glove that I needed for filming, but luckily my dad was able to give it to me when he came to pick me up so I just filmed the shots I needed with the glove at the end. I also decided to change the tracking shot (29th: Tracking shot of him running) to a pan because the tracking shot was very shaky and hard to do because of the uneven terrain inside the forest.
Today I plan on writing the script for my first CCR (the Vouge Makeup one) and hopefully film it, and also edit my opening because, since my dad updated the memory on my computer, Premiere Pro should work a lot smoother now.
UPDATE!
I hate Premiere Pro.
So I'm using CapCut. Before you judge me I tried but it just wasn't working out and I got more done using CapCut for an hour than using Premier Pro for TWO DAYS. So I think it was a good decision. Right now I am about halfway done editing my opening which is a HUGE accomplishment and I am about to go back to my sound project that we did in the second quarter (I think) to find some websites that I can find good sound effects, to incorporate into my opening. I will update when I find a website.
Here are two of the websites
Freesound
Pixabay
I got a lot done today and I am very happy with the way my opening is turning out. I'll update you tomorrow.
Sunday, March 24, 2024
EDITING (attempt)
Hey! So I actually lied to you when I said I was going to edit my opening in Capcut, because I started editing in Premier Pro!! It is a pain trying to learn how to use it without any help but I'm getting there.
Why didn't you use CapCut?
Well, turns out my computer only has 4 GB of storage!!
I've spent around an hour "editing" and I've been on the first two clips, color-correcting them, stabilizing them, and changing the duration of them. I love life!
Oh also I completely forgot to say my dad bought me something that's supposed to increase my RAM (whatever that means) and it comes later today so hopefully Adobe won't be as glitchy as it is now and my editing will be easier. Here is a picture of the thing my dad bought:
Since Adobe is making me mad and I am getting little to no progress done, I am going to continue editing once my storage thing comes in and Adobe decides to work! At least I got an idea of how to use Premier today and I have all of my clips uploaded to the editor. See you soon!!
more learning
Hello! So in my last blog post, we explored the genre of "coming of age" and I learned a lot throughout my research. Today I want ...
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Now that I have my idea, I want to focus on how I am going to make it happen. One thing that will help me picture my idea is a mood board. I...
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Here is the link to my film opening! Hope you enjoy it! FORESIGHT
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Hello!! I am very proud of myself because one I FINISHED MY FILM OPENING TODAY YAYAYAYYAYA, and two I FILMED MY FIRST CCR TODAY YAYAYAYAYAY....