The Beginning of the Final Task!

Hi there, I'm Shania! I am an 11th grade student at Fort Lauderdale High. Ever since my sophmore year, I've been enrolled in the Cambridge Program. In my previous year, I took Aice English General Paper, Aice Psychology, and Aice Global Perspectives. Currently, I am taking Aice Thinking Skills, Aice English Literature, Aice U.S History, and Aice Media Studies. I am extremely grateful to be apart of this program because I have the opportunity to graduate with two diplomas. For my social life, I am the head Captain of the cheerleading team. I've been cheering for about 11 years. I love the sport because it's a great way to deal with my stress and to meet new people. It's been a great year being able to lead the team while creating a sisterhood. Currently, we are cheering for basketball season. This season is less hectic than football season. It makes it way easier for me to balance both school and cheerleading. Speaking of school, we recently got assigned to create a film for a movie. My groupmates are Kaliyah, Chad, and Karin.

So far, I am enjoying this class. It's pretty unique compared to other classes. For example, we have the freedom to create our own commercials, music videos, movies and etc. We also learned how to blog about our experiences while producing these projects. After completing one semester of the Aice media class, I've developed many skills. For starters, I learned how to edit videos using an editing software. I also learned the different terms for camera angles, shots, and movements. This allowed for me to explain the angles and shots I took with the camera. I also learned how to set up a tripod and how to import and export footage onto a computer. A talent that I think i've learned about myself is taking good videos and being able to direct.

A pitch is a hollywood term to describe an idea where a film is enscapulated in 25 words or less. Usually, pitches are one sentence. My group and I came up with three pitches.
1. Michael and Naomi feel in love on their first date .The love was short lived once Naomi fell for Steven and Michael wanted nothing  but Steven dead .
2.He met this girl thinking he was going to fall in love , the whole time she was plotting something sinister, something he might not survive.
3. Someone follows three teenage girls while getting ready to have fun at their first college party. One goes missing and now they can’t find her.

Let's EDIT!

After filming our music video thanksgiving break we finally were able to edit. On the first B day we had back, Kaliyah got the computers from the cart to start dumping the raw footage. We used Kaliyah's  USB to create a folder to dump the footage. The organization made it easier for us to locate where our raw footage is. I dragged all of the raw footage into the Music Video folder on the USB. It took me almost the whole class period to dump all of the footage. The computer would glitch from time to time which made the process slower. While dumping, I didn't realize the amount of footage we recorded. I knew it was going to take us awhile to import the footage into pinnacle studios as well. About five minutes before the bell, I finished dumping all the footage.

Next class, we imported the footage into pinnacle studios. Surprisingly, it didn't take long to put the footage into pinnacle studios. After all of the raw footage was imported, we finally started editing! The first thing that we did was drag the footage into the order that we want them to be in. Let' s just say, these computers are not the best.  While we were organizing the footage, the computer started to move slow. The school computers are the worst! However, we had to work with what we got. As we were looking over our footage, we realized how much fun we had while creating the music video. It is by far one of our favorite assignments we had to do for this class.

When we finished organizing the footage into the correct order, we realized that the video was over 2 minutes. So, we started to cut unnecessary parts so that the music video can be under 2 minutes long. Again, the computers were not on our side and started lagging. Also, the computer's battery was running low. We had to quickly charge the computer before we lost all the work we did in pinnacle studios. Due to the inconveniences, we were only able to edit the beginning of the music video. Before the class period was over we watched the beginning and lets just say we were really proud of the outcome. It brings the chill vibe that we wanted for the video. However, we only have until Monday to complete the entire video! This means that we have to work on the video during our study hall and lunch.

Filming Day!!! For real this time!

After completing a storyboard for the music video, we planned what days we can film. After debating on which day to film, we finally were able to set a date. We decided to film our music video during thanksgiving break. Kaliyah checked out a camera and tripod. We didn’t check out a SD card because we bought one personally. During Thanksgiving Break, we met up on saturday to film. We met up at galleria mall at 2:30p.m. I was the first person to arrive at the mall, so I waited for my other group members to come. One of the members in my group were running late and it delayed us. Therefore, we started to film without them. We used my phone to play the song throughout the filming process. 

When we started to film, we experienced technical difficulties. We realized that the camera would not turn on. When Kaliyah charged the camera, it turned on for about ten minutes and then shut off. We tried to charge it some more to see if it will turn on. Unfortunately, the camera did not turn on. This led us to using our phones to film the music video. The phone that we used was an IPhone XS Max. The camera quality was brilliant! Also, it was much easier for us to record because we were familiar with the IPhone.

In my opinion, I enjoyed filming the music video. I thought it was cool that we were filming outside of school which gave us way more freedom. Also, in the video we were shopping which is one of my favorite things to do. As a whole, we all brought creative ideas to the table and had fun creating the video. Luckily, we were able to record at the mall quickly because we planned ahead. Once we finished filming at the mall, we headed to the beach to finish. The weather at the beach was great and we found a spot that had great lighting. Again, we were able to film the last few shots quickly because we followed the plan. We all took turns filming at the beach. I recorded the establishing shot. All in all, the filming process was great and we worked great together !

Its Filming Day!!!!!! SIKE

As a group, we came up with a storyline to use in our music video. We all agreed that the song ,skywalker, sets a laid back mood. Creating the storyboard was fun to do because we all really like the song. Once we completed the storyboard, we were ready to film. However, one of our biggest problems was trying to figure out when we will be able to film. Within the group, we all have very busy schedules. Kaliyah, was unable to film on monday, tuesday’s and wednesday’s because of her work schedule. Chad was unable to film because he was required to work from 2:30pm-9pm. Karin was unable to film because of her 6 o’clock class on wednesday. As for myself, I was unable to film because of cheer practice.

Unfortunately, we were not able to film. Our busy schedules made it impossible for us to film this week. This was a minor setback because we wanted to It took us a while to figure out a day to meet up so we can film the music video. Luckily, we were able to come up with a day to film. We scheduled to film saturday from 2p.m-6pm. We are planned to meet up at Galleria Mall. 

Storyboard

1. 1.Our customs will be casual everyday clothing. However, the lightening during this time period will be bright being that it’s the peak of the day. During all our scenes we won't wear makeup. Although we will use props such as our phone to play the music.  we will use a wide shot being that we want the mall scenery to be seen. Angles during this shot is a high angle to emphasize us making memories together. We probably a use a pan shot to create us in like an establishing shot of our scene. 

2. 2.They’re no custom change and the same lightening will be used. During this shot we will create a high shot because were dancing to the music. The dancing will be our acting. The setting of this will still be in the parking lot of galleria mall. 

3. 3.We are still in the casual clothing. We will use a point of view shot and it will be hand held being that I am encouraging them to come to the mall. We won't have any props during this scene. The setting will be us walking into galleria mall. This will also have a tracking shot because theyre walking up. 

4. 4.In this scene, our costume will be casual clothing. Lighting will be bright as this scene will be shot during the day. We will be walking towards the mall entrance so our backs will be turned. We will not be wearing makeup as in this scene our faces are not shown. There are no props in this scene. The setting will be us walking from the parking lot towards the mall entrance door. For this scene we will be using tracking shot and wide shot. 

5. 5.For this scene, there is no costume change. Lighting will be dim since we are inside the mall. Our acting, is us dancing as we’re looking through the store. There is no makeup used in this scene. Props are clothing in the store. Setting will be inside a store. We will be using medium shots, two people shot, and pan. 

6. 6. This scene has no costume change. Lighting will be dim. Our acting will be socializing amongst each other. We will not be using makeup in this scene. Our props will be shopping bags. Setting will be the escalators of the mall. We will use low angle. 

7. 7.In this scene, the costume will be casual, every day, clothing. We will be sitting in the car heading to the beach. The lighting in the scene will be natural daylight.  The scene will be taken on the tripod where the camera is stationary. The actors will be singing along and enjoying the featured song in the music video. No make-up will be used in this scene. 

8. 8. In this scene, the costume will still be casual everyday clothing. We will still be in the car driving to the beach. The movement of this scene will be a tracking shot of the City of Fort Lauderdale outside of the car window. There will be no acting in this scene. Because the actors will still be in the car there will be no props as well. The actors will also wear no make-up. The lighting in this scene will be natural daylight. 

9. 9. For this scene, the friends arrive at the beach. An establishing shot will be taken to show the setting. The actors are not shown in this scene therefore, there will be no make-up used on the actors or any costume changes. The lighting in the scene will be natural daylight. 

10. 10.This scene is going to have us going into the bathroom or fitting rooms with our regular clothes and then leave the fitting room with beach clothes on. This shows that we are changing to go chill at the beach. This goes correspondingly with the vibes we want for our video. We won’t be acting in this shot and will use a wide shot. 

11. 11. In this scene we will be seen having fun at the beach. We won’t have any sound in this film except the song. We will make some of the lyrics concerning the beach match up to us at the beach. The props we will have are a beach towel, speaker, beach umbrella, cups, coolers, and food. We will have on the beach attire and just be seen having fun; laughter, smiling, and dancing included. This portrays the chill vibe of the song that we want to capture and we will use a wide shot. 

12. 12.In this shot we will be seen parting ways. After a long day of fun and creating memories with each other by just chilling with each other. We will be putting away the same props from last time. We will have the music fading out as we are leaving. This hints at the song ending and the day will be over. The sun should be setting around that time as well. We will use a wide shot for this. 

Planning a Music Video!

My group mates and I chose three different locations to film at. Our music video begins at galleria which is a shopping mall close by. We'll start in the parking lot blasting Skywalker by Miguel, but not very loud because we don’t want to disturb any mall securities. We will then transition to inside the mail to buying beach wear which is our attire for the beach. After purchasing our beach wear, we will transition to the beach to have a little party amongst each other. However, we will ask permission from the store we go to film. If it rains or galleria ask us to leave, we will try a different mall and if it rains, we’ll just choose another day to do the beach scene. 

For our health and safety, we will make sure to wear seat belts while driving. We will do this because there are many consequences of driving without a seatbelt such as getting in an accident and flying through the windshield and getting a ticket. We will also look both ways before crossing any streets to avoid getting hit by a car and we will also make sure the driver will not text and drive. We will also not leave our belongings in the car because robbers would be able to see that and they might try to break into the car in order to get the items. These safety precautions will make sure to keep us safe during our filming process. 

We will have a good number of props. Our props will vary during our mall scenes we will have vary shopping bags filled with beach clothing to prepare us for our transition to the beach. At the beach we will have numerous of props to create the scene of having a party. Some of these props will include cups, a beach umbrella, beach towel, cooler and a speaker. Each group member would have to provide at least one prop. 

The costumes that we will wear are casual clothes. We are going to wear causal clothes in order to convey the chill vibes theme that we have throughout our video. We want to make sure that we don’t wear anything inappropriate as well, which is why we will make sure to keep the clothes we wear appropriate for school. We are going to switch clothes into our beach clothes for the beach. We are going to make sure that our beach clothes are not showing too much skin. For the girls, if they have a two-piece, they are going to wear something over that to cover it up. For me I will wear a t-shirt and some swimming trunks in order to convey the beach theme and be appropriate. These costumes are the most efficient way to keep our theme and to keep it school appropriate. 

We have a set schedule for the rest of our filming process. Today and tomorrow we have to finish our planning and storyboarding process. Then we have to create a filming blog on whether we decide to film this weekend or not.  Which we decided to film on 11/30 during the thanksgiving break. This gives us 3 class periods to edit because our music video is due 12/09  

Final Blog

Originally, we were supposed to start editing our commercials last week. However, we experienced technical difficulties with the desktop computers that were given to the class. Pinnacle studios was not working when we tried to open it. So, Mrs.Marchione told us that we were unable to edit our commercials. Unfortunately, these were the computers that we dumped all of our footage on after we finished filming our commercial. This was a setback because we were required to restart the whole dumping process. Luckily, a couple days went by and we were given newer laptops. This made dumping way faster. Once we saved our footage on a USB from the old desktop, we created a new folder on the new laptop and moved all of our raw footage onto the folder. I was relieved that we could finally get back to finishing our commercial.

Once we finished dumping our footage and imported it to pinnacle studios we finally started to edit. Luckily, we already planned out what order we want the clips to be in and which shot should be in the beginning of the commercial. At first, we had to get familiar with the software because it was our first hands-on experience on pinnacle studios. Although, we utilized the notes that we took from the day we learned about the tools. I must say, the notes were beneficial to the editing process. We started off by editing the establishing shot. Before, the establishing shot was nearly 30 seconds. This was a problem because the entire commercial had to be 30 seconds long. So, we ended up cutting the shot so that it can be shorter. After editing the establishing shot, everything after came easy to us. We started to get used to the software.

On the last day of editing the commercial, Kaliyah and I came up with an idea to add ambient sound. I searched on YouTube sounds of school bell ringing in the hallway. I thought it would be cool to add ambient sound with the establishing shot so that viewers can understand the setting. After I found the sound, I downloaded it as mp3 so that I can import it into pinnacle studios. Then, I searched the web again for sounds of students talking. I followed the same steps as before and downloaded it as mp3. When we were done editing the commercial, we watched it to see if we wanted to make any additional changes. We watched the commercial about 3 times before saving it and exporting it. After the trials and tribulations we faced for the production of the commercial, I am pleased to say I am proud of the end result!