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 to dive deeper into my learning and focus on two examples of "coming of age" films I mentioned in my last blog post: Lady Bird and Perks of Being A Wallflower. Before we begin, I want to preface that I have seen these two films entirely and hope to use them as inspiration for my upcoming trailer creation.

Lady Bird

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

What are some genre conventions of a "coming of age film"?

-These films include dramatic elements and often inject elements such as comedy and music

-Most films include a degree of romance, often the protagonist's first romantic experience

-Most films highlight the awkwardness and uncertainty of youth

-Coming of age films lend themselves well to slice of life narratives and highly personal stories

What are some examples of coming of age films? (Will expand on these movies in later blog posts)

                             Lady Bird                                     Perks Of Being a Wallflower    

                                        

                                                                                                            

                       The Breakfast Club                                             Juno

                                       

Target Audience?

-12-18 (teenagers-young adults)

-Female and Male

-People who are learning to navigate the world

-People in the midst of their adolescence

-Older audiences who wish to reminisce on their youth

Other Info:

-Coming age film comes from a broader genre of "Teen Films"

-In the early twentieth century, coming of age films were usually adaptations of books like Little Women (1933) and The Wizard of Oz (1939)

-Teen dramas started becoming a popular in the 1980's due in part to the influence of John Hughes releasing a series of these films throughout the decade such as Sixteen Candles (1984), The Breakfast Club (1985), Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986), and Pretty in Pink (1986). These films became hits which likely affected the popularity of the genre

-A lot of films address issues that teens face today such as being open about your sexuality (Moonlight), teen pregnancy (Juno), or race(Boyz n the Hood).

After doing all of this research, I feel a lot more familiar with the genre and I think I have an idea of how I might want to approach this film. But we'll get into that later. See you soon.

Arguably the most important part...

Something that I did do very well last year was plan my blogging, filming, and editing. This year I aim to do the same, while also giving myself flexibility on what each blog post will be specifically about. Note that my blogging schedule is ideal and does not have to be followed day by day. Here is my schedule:

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:

-Don't overthink this process

-Don't get too stressed

-This is more for yourself than it is for the grade

-Prioritize the value of what you are making over the result

-Things happen all the time, how will you move on?

-Will you look back on this and be proud?

-Get out of your comfort zone

With that being said, this project feels like a fresh start and an opportunity for me to make something great. I am very excited. See you soon.

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.

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.

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.

Here is the note I made myself to remember which parts of the film I was editing (it was basically the first half): margarita what is the project why is it important with title name, Sofia how did you receive this project, what was the process like. get a team, talk to Boswell Zoom, publicize, girl making flyer, print flyers putting them up, get boxes, other boxes in the garage, build boxes montage, execute, going to teachers asking, b roll of built boxes I took.

I know that seemed like a whole lot of nothing but it worked for me. Initially, I was going to edit the beginning up until the end of the step-by-step explanation of the process. I ended up editing from the beginning up until the flyers were put up around the school because I was getting burned out and Sofia offered to take over. Above you can also see that originally we had a montage planned for the part with the box building because we had a ton of really funny and creative clips and we thought it would be a nice touch to the piece. During editing, we decided it was better to not include the montage because it did not fit with the tone of the film and would be too abrupt. Here are some clips we took that were going to be included in the montage. 

Before Sofia could start editing, she needed the completed first half of the film that I edited. There was a little problem though. When I tried to export the file from Capcut, it said that I had "Insufficient hard disk space." What does that even mean? 

After freaking out for a solid 5 minutes, I found a way to share the video through a shared cloud on Capcut and then she was able to access it on her phone and export it there. This did cause a delay in audio I think especially in the first half of the film which wasn't great, but since Sofia couldn't edit what I had already done, she couldn't really fix it when she realized.  

Overall, our editing process could've gone smoother if we had given ourselves more time. Maybe we could've had time to fix small things like abrupt cuts and minor delays. Besides the post-production process, our research, planning, and production went very smoothly, and I am happy with how our piece came out despite the obstacles we faced.

Documentary Production

The first step of the production process for Impact was getting environmental B-roll with plastic. Luckily, our school was full of plastic (it's a problem). During our Aice Media class period, Sofia and I  went around the school shooting videos of plastic in the grass, on the floor, in the garbage can, and anywhere else you can think of. We also got some aesthetic shots of trees, flowers, and butterflies to add to the ending sequence where Sofia explains how she feels successful (makes it emotional).

                                               

                                               

                                       

As I mentioned before, Sofia got a group together from the Interact Club and throughout the filming process, they would send us videos they took of Home Depot runs, discussions with teachers about the project, flyer creation, and more. We incorporated these videos into our film as B-roll and as footage to show the progress of the project. Sofia and Mr. Boswell also went on a Zoom call to discuss information about the collection of the bags and we included a part of it to explain what the collection would look like.

                                         

                                         

                                         

Next, we filmed Margarita's interview one day after school in the courtyard. She brought a bag of plastic with her to show how much plastic her family would consume in around two weeks, which worked great with our purpose. Her interview was very insightful and informational and we got a lot of great footage. One reason that Margarita's interview worked out so well with our documentary was that she served as a credible and trustworthy source for the information we wanted to present and she did it in a way that was engaging for the audience.

We then printed the flyer that was made for the project and put it around the school. We filmed some of the locations for the B-roll. We also built the Home Depot Boxes that people brought to put up in the classrooms of teachers who wanted to promote the project. 

                                           

                                           

                                           

That same day, we filmed Sofia and Mr. Boswell's interview in his classroom and that was the last of the content we had to film. 

                                       

                                      

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.

Next, we thought about what specifically we wanted to make our film about and how we would approach it. After brainstorming, we decided that since we had about a week and a half to make our documentary, it would be unrealistic to make it about the execution and completion of the project because that would take too long. We then figured we could make it about the initiation of a community-benefiting project and how the project can make a difference in the community. Here is our initial planning outline (was slightly tweaked later): 

-Indirect/ direct interview of Margarita introducing the project and explaining why it is important

-Indirect/ direct interview of Sofia explaining the origin of the project and process (in between all of the B-roll showing the process, there will be cutaways back to the interview with Sofia and extra b-roll of sticky note/whiteboard shots)

-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

- Direct interview with Sofia comes back fully where we hear someone ask do you feel accomplished? She explains her answer with B-roll engaging the audience

Additionally, we talked to the sponsor and teacher advisor of Interact Club at Cypress Bay, Mr. Boswell. We informed him about our idea and asked him if he would be interested in being interviewed for our film. He agreed. We then contacted the Environmental Specialist at the Rotary Club of Weston, Margarita, via text to see if she would be able to meet for an in-person interview. At first, we were only going to be able to do a Zoom call, but we figured out a day when we could all meet at Cypress Bay and film her interview. We then wrote the interview questions for Sofia, Mr. Boswell, and Margarita. Here are some of the questions we asked:

-How can these projects make a difference in these local communities (the environment and the people)? (Margarita)

-How has it been seeing your students take this project and transform it into a reality? (Mr.Boswell)

-What were some obstacles you faced? (Sofia)

After the questions were written and we completed the planning, Sofia put a group together from the board members of the Interact club and asked them to help her initiate the project. We decided on the name "Impact" for our piece, to symbolize the potential influence a project like this could have on our local community. We were now ready to start the production process.

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.

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.

CREATIVE CRITICAL REFLECTION

Here are the links to my two CCRS. Hope you enjoy!

CCR#1

CCR#2

FILM OPENING

Here is the link to my film opening! Hope you enjoy it!

FORESIGHT

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.

THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL

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.

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.

Here are some BTS:

The script-writing process took around 2 hours, which is not too bad, and the filming took around 30 minutes. I am going to edit this CCR tonight and hopefully film my second one tomorrow. I will update you when I finish editing!!

Hello, it is currently Saturday morning, I finished editing my CCR YAYAYAYAY. I was a little unsure about the credits and what I needed to do but I am going to ask my teacher just to make sure on Monday. I am going to start writing the script for the last CCR.

Hello! It is Sunday Morning. I finished writing my second CCR's script last night. Here is a picture (sorry for the scribbles):

And I just finished filming. I forgot to take BTS AGAIN! so here are some pictures from filming:

As you can see this is not carpool karaoke. This is because while I was writing my script I decided that I would much rather do a Talk show CCR.  Also, my dad pulled a muscle in his leg and I wasn't going to make him drive me with a hurt leg, and I didn't want to drive while talking because that's dangerous so yeah!! I also liked this idea more anyway so it worked out.

Now the only thing I have left is to edit my CCR and that's it.

Here are some pictures from editing:

AND THAT'S IT!!! MY NEXT BLOG POST WILL PROBABLY BE MY FILM OPENING YAY.

EDITING PT.IDK ANYMORE I JUST WANT TO FINISH

Hello, I've been editing the whole day (not really) I started at like 11, and now it's about to be 3 but still, it's a lot. I've made progress, I've started to color-correct my clips, and I'm close to finishing my first draft!

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:





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:



Here is the one I chose:


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!

FILMING PT.2

Hello!! So, yesterday I filmed the shots that I was missing which is good. I feel VERY relieved. Unfortunately, I forgot to take some behind-the-scenes pictures, but I got a total of 15 mosquito bites as a result of filming so that's always fun!

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.

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!!

So Capcut was super slow on my laptop, and I didn't want to download all of the clips and send them to my phone so I tried using Adobe. Surprisingly it worked. I thought it was going to be a lot scarier than it actually was, it was more confusing at first but then things started working out. Here are a few pictures of me trying my best to figure things out:

Here is me figuring out how to stabilize my clips because I'm an idiot and didn't use a tripod when I was filming some things!!

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!!