AICE MEDIA STUDIES DS - 1

 

Here's my CCR 🦅 hope you enjoy !

  1.  How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?  My product challenges conventions due to the genre alone. Psychological thrillers  (which is the genre of my product) challenges the conventional narrative due to it subverting the audiences expectations. It contains misdirections and plots twists which create a sense of uncertainty and ambiguity.  While most genres are clear with traditional conventions such as humor, to make you laugh. And Horror to make you scared, my product explores complex psychological themes conveyed through trauma and memory loss. To break it down: Our film is overall about a young hispanic girl who was kidnapped at a young age, and put into an 80's sitcom production without any remembrance of her previous life.  80s sitcoms usually consist of a generic white family whereas in our film we included a very diverse cast having white parents, with black and hispanic children which insinuates they are ad

As seen in the last blog, I was able to apply the same preset applied to the image throughout the whole film to match colors of the takes. Now it was time to add the music. We had already established what song we were going to use during the running scene of the film and the jingle we we re going to put int the beginning but we still had a lot of grey areas full of dry silence. Our director came up with the notion to accentuate the more emotional scenes in the film introduction by using unique audio cues when it crescendos, but even so, there was still something missing. When the diegetic title appeared, there was a brief moment of silence which had to be filled.  The beginning was supposed to sound like a production set, but as we searched for audios, we couldn't find any that fit our idea. Therefore we made the decision to record our own sounds. In order to insert it in the first empty area at the beginning, I recorded a voice memo of the director and cinematographer discussing t

 In the final stages of editing, my team decided to get on a FaceTime call and check in to see how its going and help out with minor fixes. One of these fixes being color correcting. As we filmed our introduction, we tried our best to keep lighting consistent, but as time fluctuates and we moved around the house, the lighting had been thrown off. Certain clips had different shades and undertones than others so this was where I had to go in and color grade. Color Grading is the modifying the appearance of an image to be presented in various settings on various devices.  Me being slightly new to color grading, had to learn how to properly use it by trial and error. I soon learned how to properly maneuver the grey, white and black shades to color correct the image and then adjusted the warmness of it due to my team wanting to give it an old sitcom look. Example: After trying to replicate the look provided, this was the end product..... Before After I did pretty well if I do say so myself

 Before spring break, our teacher had told us to try and think of a production studio name and our class came up with the name CoCo Studios. With this being in the air, as I was editing and in need of a way to input time into our film, I considered the idea of adding a program introduction. This idea stemmed from Netflix, MARVEL and Pixar which are known for their famous programming introductions.  Netflix Introduction: Pixar Introduction: MARVEL INTRODUCTION: After studying how they infamously did their logo animations, the ones that had the most influence on our film was Netflix and Marvel.  Netflix had a short introduction which was necessary for our film due to us being a few seconds from the 2 minute benchmark. Marvel was influential due to the various glitches in it which correlated with my films niche. As a result, I took these different film introductions and made my own with their influence. This was the product... Throughout pre-production to the post production a resurfacing

 After editing what supposed to be the end of our film we ended up having over 20 seconds left over before hitting the 2 minute mark. This put us in a crisis where we thought we didn't film enough footage but as editor I had to go back through what we had and find a way to improvise.  As I began my search, I found many clips we shot that wouldn't fit into the ✨master piece ✨ of a film I created. This left us with only B roll left to select from. So that's what we used. We wanted to create a sense of an empty set due to the characters being seen leaving the scenes trying to catch the main character. So that is what we did. The shots that fit were clips of the couch, the monopoly game, the old door, and even a vibrant wall picture (which was randomly selected because it looked cool). Wall Picture:  After doing this and adding a timecode, which follows the one of the alternative themes of time, we were able to get 1 minute and 58 seconds which wasn't good enough for us so

 One of the things that re surfaced my brain while editing was the effect of clip length. Earlier in the year we learned how clip length can effect the audiences feelings. Longer clips were more prosperous and calm whereas shorter clips created a sense of anxiety.  After remembering this I ensured that the ending where the main character realizes her state of distress would have shorter clips combined into a montage of her trying to escape. I did this by using straight cuts and short clips with changes of perspective. As stated previously the scenes were shot repetitively in different angles for me to choose while editing. But rather than choosing I just incorporated almost all of them to create a state of anxiety within the audience. This was the end product.... Implementing the shot of the "Mother" tapping her fingers on the table and then a dutch angle view of the clock symbolizes that the main character is running out of time. This is shown in the clip right after when sh

After achieving the green screen look I had to find a way to put the audience in the actual viewpoint of the alternative reality that the film is portraying. This concept was hard to grasp due to the theme and plot of our film opening being complex. With this being said I had to find a way to make a glitch in the matrix to create a fiction in a fiction. Ironically a glitch effect is what I ended up using.  The glitch effect represents a change from reality to fiction and is later used to reverse back to reality. Glitching follows along with the films niche due to the plot taking place in an 80's reality tv show. Finding the right glitch took me several videos of YouTube searching due to the glitch having to have a green screen background for me to apply a keyer too. After a long search I stumbled across a set of glitches in one video and I was able to export it out of YouTube and into our film and trim out the excess glitching and keep ours at around a half of a second. The Glitch

 As stated previously in my "Production Day 4 Big Decision" blog, a green screen background was used alongside the diegetic title being written on a paper on a desk. This scene was supposed to represent a director reviewing a film which was on their monitor (The same monitor we had a green screen on). To demonstrate this, I went on Final Cut and placed a keyer on the green screen to make it transparent. After I took a video of the house where the sitcom takes place and framed it into the monitor. After doing that, the outcome came out like this... Editing this specific part only happened due to the failure of the TV while we were filming.The main character was intended to turn on the television in the scene, but the TV was malfunctioning, so we had to shoot it on the monitor. This maintains the setting that we wanted to convey while giving the sequence the appearance that the film is being edited and reviewed on site. This strategy was seen on YouTube by many different conten

 The first thing that I did during post production was place the clips in order in Final Cut Pro (my editing software). Doing this took a while due to us having hours of footage and having to intercut scenes such as when the main character is looking at the "film crew", exit sign and hidden camera. This particular scene was shot on 2 separate occasions. The way I accomplished this editing technique was by taking the close ups shots of the camera crew, main character, exit sign, and hidden camera and intercutting the contrasting shots to make one composite scene.  This idea was stemmed from an episode in Teen Titans Go where they had an alternative reality of shots showing them looking at their past selves through a TV and breaking the fourth wall. Even though in that clip they used cross fades rather than straight intercutting the concept stemmed from that due to us having the main character break the fourth wall similarly to them.  Inspiration: Our Re-Creation: While reviewi

Production Day 4 was by far our longest and most productive day shooting. With all of our characters there it made it easy to and have the script fall in line.  The one thing we noticed while shooting was that the angles put in the story board and shot list weren't the angles we ended up physically shooting.  Story Board: Our Shot Recreation: As this could form a possible problem in editing, it also helped give our film more vibrance, due to the shots on the storyboard being bland compared to the new innovative shots we physically created.  One of the most difficult shots to shoot during this day was the shot panning into our main characters face. Our goal was to hold the tripod extended with the camera on it, and physically glide it in the air towards her. This was difficult because the camera and tripod were not only heavy but there was a table in the way with the monopoly being played from the previous shot. We shot this probably over 5 times but eventually we finally achieved i

 Today was our last day recording and after all the preparation through the previous shooting days and and planning days it went the smoothest. The original plan given was to shoot for a few hours on Saturday, then come back on Sunday. The main issue with our production was scheduling days for ALL of our actors to arrive and making it productive. So splitting the production into 2 more different days would risk the fact an actor couldn't come and would make the first shoot more lax due to us feeling like we had more time. In addition to that it increased the risk of continuity errors due to our shoot being a house where an actual family lives in. Something as small as a stain or chip in wood could alter the consistency in the setting. Especially with them having a dog staying in their house. The Possible Continuity Error "Major the Menace":     After proposing this argument with the team we decided to shoot the rest of our film in one day. Sunday. March 5th, 2023. But to

 Overall, our 4th day of production was completed through us recording almost all of our scenes in chronological order of how they were presented on the storyboard. We expanded off the pre written ideas and innovated new shots with more meaning. While doing this we implemented the rule of thirds within each shot making sure they were all visually appealing. This was done by recording the shots with an in camera grid. Rule of Thirds in each shot: As we shot I also insisted that we shoot the same scene from different angles. This was so that while I edit I will be able to intercut each shot of the same scene and keep the audience attentive and have the film introduction be eye catching.  Lastly a part I didn't mention is the way we incorporated mise en scéne through the actors attire. I previously spoke on how the background helped give a 80's sitcom aesthetic but the clothes worn did as well. The garments worn were very vibrant in colors which created a high contrast from the ea

After recording a solid day of footage, our team didn't become indolent but continued to find ways to better the next day of shooting. One of the main ways to do this was revising the script. Our originally script was very broad and bland so a fter many discussions, we had agreed that our actors needed to memorize a script so we could get shots quicker on production days. This will inevitably help with our time management during recording.  In this new script we began to give our characters names and exact roles. Maya is the name of the main character. Aries is the name of her best friend, who is portrayed by our companion Anai'yah. Luna is the character that our friend Mikayla portrays as Maya's sibling. One of our friends, Brendan, will probably portray the father, and Melina will play the mother, Beth. Originally, Mikayla was supposed to play the other mother, making them a lesbian couple, but after some thought, we decided to go with the normal gender assignments that w

 Today was Thursday and it was finally time to execute the plan of recording. We planned to record 4th period today and also it was agreed that I should bring black t shirts just Incase we had to replace one of the camera crews attire and make them "fit the description". I also brought my camera which was a canon m50 ( what we used to shoot the b roll) so the new clips wouldn't change in quality.     I came in clutch and brought the shirts and the camera in and we also ended up renting out another camera , a tripod and a whole directors chair from our teacher to use as props in our shot. This was all done in first period. Now we had 3 periods left of class and they went by in a breeze due to us being eager to film in 4th period. As we arrived to our shooting set during 4th period, the teacher was sick and left us stranded to not record in his room.  We didn’t stop there and we went to the teacher next door to allow us to let us enter his room and record. She gave us the o

 After missing out on characters in the first production, we needed to find another date to record the family shots and set the date for shots of the camera crew so we don't have another day full of B roll. We decided to record the family shots the following Sunday to give our actors enough time to tell their parents and get their lives situated. This left us with the camera crew shots left to worry about. We decided that our camera crew shots was going to take place in a TV Production class in our school.  The TV Production classroom we are shooting in:  This means we were going to have to find a time where we can have our actors 1. All show up to school 2. Be able to leave class on that day  3. Get the teacher to allow us record with no students in his TV Production class 4. Get the students back to class without any issues with security So our Cinematographer and Director came together and made a schedule on which days we have specific classes on and which days we can film.The b

 Today I ended up getting busy with life and its daily challenges which ended up making me not be able to show up for one of the shooting days. This didn't stop my team from making the most out of my absence though.  They filmed off an I Phone and were able to recreate shots on the storyboard.  They used a chair and a tripod to record make a tracking shot of the main character running. They also tried using a skateboard for a better angle.  Having a reliable team has helped me through the project and has taught me to have more trust in others. Missing a whole day of production was crucial but they found a way to record and make the best of it without me.

After planning our first day of shooting for a week, we were still unable to get our primary shots on the first day of filming. This was due to the fact that the majority of our cast not being able to make it on Monday ( our planned day). The cast who actually showed up were supposed to play the main rolls in a large portion of the plot. So rather than taking that day as a failed production, we chose to shoot B roll.This allowed us to take several test videos at different angles to find out which shots worked and which ones needed to get replaced. The B roll is also important because it helps establish the setting so the audience can know where the characters are in the film. B Roll We Shot:  Even though we were unable to capture the full family shots because of the main character being missing, The day was overall productive because in addition to shooting B roll it allowed us to plan out the next day of production. It taught us to be able to counter unplanned days with alternative wa

With our foundation portfolio turned in to our teacher and approved, we had the green light to start shooting our film introduction. Prior to our first shoot, my team and I created a group chat including all of the actors to plan a day for everyone to come and play their roles. Due to most people not knowing each other, we broke the ice by having everyone send their names and have small conversation so the shoot day wouldn't be awkward.  After doing this ice breaker and establishing our shooting date, we were able to create a bond amongst the characters. Doing this was planned so when they would come to the shooting location they could act more comfortably around each other, leading them to play the role of a family better. This alone taught us that even the small things matter. Something as little as making a group chat with the actors allows us to bring them together and possibly increase our ability to film smoother and more organically.

As our foundation portfolio came to a conclusion and we turned it in to start shooting our film, our teacher told us we had to emphasize the fact that our film is actually a fiction in a fiction. Our original plan was to record our fake sitcom characters pass around a script on camera but due to that not being feasible, we had to come up with a new idea.  Now due to me having a YouTube channel, I'm used to doing a lot of green screen work. So as I went looking for another way to emphasize the fiction in fiction, using a green screen was my first thought. The idea I came up with was having us record a television with a remote control turning on the tv and then the first show to appear being our made up sitcom. The only way to properly conduct this would be to use a green screen.  Now I looked up on YouTube many green screen ideas that included Tv's and semi relatable content that pursued my vision and the ideas below are what I found. https://youtu.be/wBZAbhGZGNo https://youtu.b

 After conducting in depth research, producing sounds, and receiving custom made music by a friend, I finally came up with the sound design statement. While doing so I gained a better grasp of music creation which assisted my team in developing a better sound theme and design. Throughout my design statement I summarized my research findings and showed how it applied to my teams film and the effects each sound will give to the audience. I went over usage of ADR, the live dialogue audio, and even the awareness of dichotomies.  The picture below is the statement made.

The first two minutes of our film planned on having minimal dialogue so to make up for that lack of speech we plan on using fake laughing to be our ADR when a character says a joke to fill in for blank space. Doing this and adding background music during tense situations was our main layout so me being responsible for the sound design statement I had to find ways to acquire audio like this for our film. One day our cinematographer was scrolling on TikTok and found a song that was played by an orchestra and felt like it was needed in our film. Now to avoid copyright, i took it and placed the song in adobe audition and tampered with it and converted it into an mp3 file and after doing so my group fell in love with it.   The link to the TikTok is attached to this blog but the outcome of the mp3 will be saved for our film. While editing this sound I was able to put it into a online key finder which taught me that this song overall consisted of an E Flat Minor. I looked up what that meant a

 After completing the shot list the next thing I had to make for my team was the sound design statement. This was nay first time making one so to complete it I had to do research on the particular diction and terms to use within it. Due to my past in making music and months in my Media Studies class , most of the terminology I understood but I still went on a deep dive to gain a better understanding.  My team agreed that in the intro of our film we were going to use 80's sitcom music and that was a genre I've never looked into so I had to learn more about it. As I looked I found out that 80's sitcom music consisted of Soft Rock and Pop culture and in that form of music were 108 BPM and pinch harmonies. After doing this I started to gain an understanding of how the BPM of music can change the tempo in a song and give the audience a perceived reaction.  Now that this was understood, we asked one of our friends to created an intro soundtrack for our film and came out like this