Film Opening

 

Link to Film Opening : The Residency

Creative Critical Reflections

 CCR #1

This CCR answers:

• How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?

• How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text?

Link : CCR 1 - Q 1-2

CCR #2

This CCR answers:

• How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

• How did you integrate technologies – software, hardware and online – in this project?

Link : CCR 2 - Q 3-4

My Reflection on Portfolio Project!

     This project has been such a journey and a wonderful experience. I'm so glad it's finally over and I can stop worrying about this. When I first talked about this project you can practically sense the fear and nervousness off my writing. It was a lengthy process that made me realize that you can overcome any challenge and to STOP PROCRASTINATING!!! Procrastination has been my biggest enemy for most of my school life and this project has helped me tackle that by being split up into small parts. This project deadline date seemed so far away and now it's finally here, it's very surreal. 

    Going into this project I knew very little about editing and I have never done a long-term project before that took a lot of research and planning. This is the prime high school project that I have done where I've been working 8 long weeks to finish. When I was first talking about making a 2 minute production I was terrified and worried that I wasn't capable of doing everything by myself. The editing, filming, researching, and planning. I was then told that everything I've been doing throughout the school year has prepared me for this project.

Starting Out...

    I first wanted to make a schedule about how I will approach this project and I was keeping a baseline because my creativity went dry. Most I could come up with was a horror genre that was in the 1990's but I had no plot, no characters, and I was unsure of what exactly what to focus on. I kept looking at different horror movies and their openings and my ideas were still dry. I went into a group meeting and talked about my ideas and they gave me some critical feedback on what my plot should be and I finalized on a plot and storyboard. My classmates Maria and Jacey recommended that I did something in the medical aspect and I had a dental office available to me therefore I went with a horror dental film. 

Group Meeting #1

    Once I started to research and plan the stress was coming off of me slowly but surely. I felt more confident on what I would film and include in my project. After I got my actor I felt really secured on finishing my project in time without any problems. However, this proved me wrong. My filming got interrupted many times by scheduling issues and hours available to film at the office. I got to overcome these issues by effectively communicating with my actor and I got to finish filming before finishing my CCRs. 

    Editing was a huge task for me in terms of how to add transitions into videos and text as well as the sound overlay. I started my editing with caution due to me not having extended knowledge on how to use Premiere or most editing apps. I chose Premiere due to us being introduced to it at the beginning of the year for this class and I used Youtube tutorials to learn how to edit specific things and include transitions into my film opening. I also included many behind the scenes to fully document everything on this blog and share my experience with you all!

CCRs

    Starting my Creative Critical Reflections, I wanted to approach by making one very different and exceed the creativity levels from the second one. I decided to do a Day in the Life as a dental assitant and I wasn't sure on what to do for my second CCR. I then got into a group meeting and got the advice to do either a podcast or a presentation and since they were both good ideas I just outlined what I would talk about and decide when I film. This probably wasn't a good approach but I ended up on a presentation using voiceovers and images to answer the second set of questions.

Group Meeting #2

    When editing my CCRs I finished my first one and added the link before publishing it in order to have everything finished and then I continued my second CCR and finished the entire presentation in one day and then add and edit voiceovers into the presentation.

CCR - Presentation

CCR - Day in the Life 

Overall, I really enjoyed this project and although it was a bit challenging and asked for my timing to be generous, I got to exceed my own expectations and produce something that I really liked. My final submission is coming very soon and I'm very excited to show off my final film opening as well as my creative critical reflections. I personally believe that all these elements that I acquired throughout my film represent my personality throughout my portfolio project. I enjoyed the journey and the destination. Thank you Cambridge I hope you enjoy my final products see you again very soon (hint). 

    

    

   

Editing my CCRs!

     Hello everyone! I have edited my CCRs and I'm polishing them up right now! I just wanted to share my process of how everything is coming together in terms of both of my CCRs. If you recall, my previous blog post mentioned that my first CCR is a day in the life as a dental assistant and I, as the director, am being interviewed throughout my day about my new production film The Residency. My second CCR is a presentation talking about how my production skills have developed throughout my filming, planning, and overall process as well as the technology that I was utilizing throughout my project finalizing with a reflection. 

CCR #1 - Day in the Life as a Dental Assistant

    Im editing my first CCR with Adobe Premiere due to it having video and having to do voiceover a few images. When I started editing, I realized when I filmed it was just a talking head and I needed to divert from that with images and voiceover. I first started off with viewing my footage and seeing where I could add pictures next to my dialogue and the first opportunity is when Stephanie mentioned the studio she is from. I then thought to make a company logo and put it next to my head to visually show that this is a real company that interviews upcoming artists.

Using Canva to make logo

Editing the logo into Premiere

    

    I also decided to add in visual examples of what I was talking about then go into more detail with images and voiceover. I would talk about why I made The Residency and then bring up examples of the inspiration that I took and then later on I would highlight on the genre conventions from these examples in voiceover. I also directly used the microphone in Adobe and didn't need to use myvoice memos 

    Over here I was talking about the different types of lighting and shot types that are commonly used in horror films as well as including it after the dialogue but cutting up a whole scene so it's not a run on. 

CCR #2 - Presentation

    My second CCR is done through Canva and my editing is adding my Voiceovers over the slides as well as the transition because I will be exporting it as a mp4 for my final submission. A few transitions that I used was pan and bounce for the text and baseline for the pictures. For the filming slide I had a cool idea to use a Old TV graphic since my film is based off the 1990's it would be a nice easter egg to add into my powerpoint when showing examples of my film production scenes. 

Visual

    In terms of voiceover, Canva has the option to import audio and let you play it when it's a presentation. However, since I am exporting this as an mp4, I decided it's better to record myself and leave it as an option to play automatically. There is an issue with this recording and that is the gmail profile picture that anyone uses to log into Canva will show up in the recording. I will have to remove it so it shows as the default and not a "C' because it throws off the presentation and may confuse viewers or listeners. 

Producing My CCRs!

     Hello everyone! Last time you heard of me I was planning for my CCRS and getting ready to film them! Today I have come together to bring all my materials to the table and talk about my CCR production process. 

CCR #1 - Day in the Life as a Dental Assistant

    My first CCR was a day in the life as a dentist. This was a CCR where I, as the director, am working as a dental assistant and get interviewed about my movie while I take care of a few things around the office. I have already finished filming and making my script for this CCR. This was a CCR where I had to talk about the genre conventions of my film and how I challenged them as well as the distribution process of my film and target audience intentions. 

    I had my mom be the interviewer and I gave her a script and highlighted her parts and for the big paragraphs I highlighted my own and had my dad behind the camera use them as a transcript for me to read or remember what I was just talking about in order to avoid repeats of information. 

Script used for the filming

    Due to the script being a big part of the filming I also had to leave out the parts that I would voiceover such as my distribution, plot, and genre conventions. These are just general examples there are many times I had to incorporate voiceover with multimedia and while I was filming I had to make sure no sound was heard in order to avoid the conflict of having to voiceover the scenes along with the extra information that is needed to be added later when in post production.

    I answered Question #1 and Question #2 in this CCR. First, I discussed genre conventions and how I challenged as well as utilized the conventions in my film opening. I also had to discuss social groups such and in mine I discussed young women who seek validation from others. This was a very niche social group and I thought it pinpoint exactly what my main character's theme was. Considering the second question, I mentioned target audience being young adults and late teenagers due to the film being gorey and being Pg 14. I decided to mention that my way to engage with the audience is using gore as a convention in my film as well as pertain to the psychological horror aspect. I finally discussed my distribution plan to get my film production outside in the media sphere for audiences to see. 

CCR #2 - Presentation

    My second CCR I have finally decided to do a presentation due to it being a choice that I could particularly show my technology and production process better with pictures and voiceover rather than a day in the life like my first CCR. I went with the approach of having a real setting and scenes for one of my CCRs then one which was mostly pictures and audios. 

    For my presentation I used Canva and I was adding in audios to have me speak and I figured out I can export the audio from voice memos on my I phone app. I will be going into more detail in my post production CCR posts. I had to take pictures from my recent blog posts and put them onto my CCR presentation such as my hardware materials, software screenshots, and actual production examples. 

    For Question #3, I discussed my actual production process along with my skills developing such as being able to coordinate my schedule better and film more effectively as well as learn how to be a director while being in control of all the shots. In terms of Question #4, I discussed the hardware, software, and online material I utilized throughout the making of my production and how they helped me make my film opening the way it is now. I discussed examples of me utilizing each software program, how I used each hardware material as well as how I used YouTube as a online resource to find tutorials on how to properly use the previous two components. 

The link to my Presentation on Canva: CCR #2 Q: 3-4

CCR Prep - Question #4

     Hello everyone! Welcome to the last CCR prep post for all the questions! I'm so nervous yet so ready for this portfolio project to be wrapped up. I'm simultaneously filming my CCR and will have a post production post about editing before we wrap everything before my due date! It's a good thing I planned for a buffer week incase of issues because timing is really on my side today. Like I said in my last blog post my CCR for the second set of question (3 and 4) isn't finalized due to my ideas dying out on me last minute. 

The 4th question I will be answering will be:

• How did you integrate technologies - software, hardware and online - in this project?

Hardware

    In terms of hardware for this project, I used different cameras from the company Canon which was my digital camera and a professional camera someone had lended me. This digital camera was very essential in getting that grainy texture in my film opening. I also used my Iphone 11 pro to film the scenes in the beginning but re did them when I had the idea of using a different camera and I would have it as a backup in case the SD Card got corrupted. I'd also use a SD Card converter for me to put these videos in my computer which I used to edit. 

Canon Digital Camera

SD Card Converter

SD Card

Canon Professional Camera

    Now, I also had to use a different method to include the red lighting in my film which was not colored gels like I saw some people use in YouTube tutorials. I had top put red sharpie on tape and cover a phone flashlight in order to give off the effect of red lighting in the room which I thought turned out really great.

Software

    When using software throughout my production and planning I utilized Adobe Premiere for editing the actual film opening. I did this because I have more experience from the beginning of this school year using Adobe in previous projects. I got to learn how to use Adobe coloring effects, transitions, and use keyframes in order to edit my title sequences on the screen. Moreover, I also used Canva for my planning process such as creating mood-boards for the characters and get a better idea of their character development. I also used Pixibay and Bensound for free copyright audios in order to make it easier for myself when editing so I abide to copyright laws. With this, I also used word documents in order to make my screenplays and figure out what fonts and colors I could use for my title sequences. This helped me know exactly what I wanted to say during any dialogue sequences I was going to have until I cut it out.

Using Key Frames in Adobe

Creating title sequences/transitions in Adobe

Making Mood-Boards in Canva

Editing Title Sequences Fonts in Word

Unrevised Screenplay

Online

    There was times I had to search up YouTube tutorials when I didn't know how to edit something or figure out how to sound overlay and it was a very nice tool for me to use during editing. I searched up how to do horror movie lighting on a budget as well as some popular camera shots and composition to have in my film opening in order to have that same horror movie feeling that I was going for. This helped my project become authentic and professional in the longrun. 

CCR Prep - Question #3

     Hello everyone! Welcome back to my blog! Today we are answering Question #3 and what my second CCR will consist of. Now, I have mentioned in my previous blog posts that my first CCR was a Director commentary/interview between my interviewer and myself as the director. Now, my second CCR isn't set in stone but I do know what I will say in order to answer this question along with graphics.

The 3rd question I will be answering will be :

• How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

This is it, I'm finally done with portfolio project and we are on week #7. This entire project was a process that was both experimental and exciting! With this, lets reflect on what I learned and how I advanced in terms of a producer. 

My Overall Process

    When I started this project, everything seemed so overwhelming, the planning, the editing, filming a whole 2 minute production all by myself. I can admit it was quite intimidating. I started with making a schedule out for myself on where I should be each week and noting it down and repeating the process for the past 7 weeks. Throughout this production I have learned it's okay to mess up, my production skills have improved, as well as my planning process before filming as well as editing everything all together. Figuring out what I was going to focus my opening on was challanging but it forced me to step out of my comfort zone and realize that it really isn't hard to make something creative and original if you have an open mind. I picked a horror film to make and it is pretty in character for me because a lot of my posts before this project was focused on horror. It is easily my favorite film genre and I really did enjoy producing a film project based on the mystery behind killings. These skills will not only help me in this class but in many more instances moving forward such as overcoming obstacles, planning and researching, and making my own analysis for the things I create. I'm very proud of myself on how far I have gotten. 

Sound Research

Storyboard

Rsearch and Planning Process

    The research process was very ejoyable for me. I got to research some movies that I loved watching in the free time, their openings, the movie credits, and overall the types of themes they gravitate towards. For my time period I also had to establish what kind of mise en scene props I had to integrate and I researched on two films (The Black Phone and Scream) in order to get the proper inspiration from the 1990's. Researching the genre conventions was the most important step to take because I had to first learn about my genre before starting to produce it. This explains why it was one of my very first blog posts concerning my portfolio project. I developed my plot online, drew a storyboard, created mood boards, as well as research about the types of dentist offices there were available in the 1990's. This all brought me towards the end of my portfolio project where I got to start planning for my actual production. I had to plan what music I wanted to incorporate and adapt my shots to my storyboard and tweak things here and there before I started the actual production. 

Production

    I spent a very long time filming. It was a major obstacle for me in terms of scheduling due to me having an outside actor that was busy alot. This led to me filming for 5 days in the span of 2-3 weeks and I still had to reshoot while editing and finalizing my project.  It was very hard to do everything in 2 hours or less every single day because those were the only hours my actor was available to film. I realized I had to schedule more effectively and communicate the hours that are needed before agreeing therefore, time won't be lost in the future. But, lesson learned and everything was figured out in time thankfully. I took a long time figuring out what shots were better for each scene and sometimes I ended up not following the storyboard and going based off a general idea that I had outlined due to my mind changing mid production and I'm glad it did because the overall product came out really well! I had to bring out many people to help me with filming that wasn't my actor such as my other friend and my parents that help lights and camera. When I didnt have that help I was moving alot in order to get the perfect angle with the perfect lighting and everything worked out in the end once I started editing. 

                                                                        Production Shots:

Obstacles:

Reflection

    It started with learning how to edit and get used to the Adobe program with a One Word Project. This project helped me transition into editing and mess around with a few techniques but not really being a master at it and having to search up tutorials but not having to do anything complex but putting together a few scenes and add music. We were tasked with a tone word and we had to make up a story without any dialogue and give off a sense of appreciative throughout the film. Me and my partner decided to make a story about a girl sitting alone at lunch and someone else coming over to give her some company which made her appreciative of that girl. This project helped us know how to plan with storyboards, think about shots and movement, and overall edit it into a sequenece which was a great transition into this class. 

Link to My One Word Film Here: OWF_Romero.mp4

    My next big project was learning how edit only audios with our very own foley sound creations as well as audios from online copyright free music websites. Me and my partner were tasked to make a soundscape with no video at all and only sound overlay. We decided to make our setting a medical clinic and overlay sounds as if the subject was walking through a pediatric clinic. This project gave us a lot of issues because it was very challenging to make a well enough sound scape without sounding too artificial. It did help transition me into learning how to overlay sounds and prepare me for this project. 

Link to My Soundscape Here: RomeroSeoane_soundscape_per7.mp4

    Our final big project was cosidered as our midterm and everyone was tasked to be in a group of 4-5 people and create a music marketing campaign as well as a music video that goes together with that campaign. This project gave me the most experience necessary to effectively complete my portfolio project. This process included the research and planning the editing as well as the filming all together put into one. Our group made a music marketing research chart to gather some background information on the genre just as I did for this project. We also completed a storyboard, props, and decided on the variety of shots that will be used. This project was very demanding but we finished in time and I found it a very nice experience

Link to Our Music Research Chart: Music Research Chart.docx 

Link to Our Timeline: Music Marketing Project Development.docx

As I'm typing this blog up, I can very proudly say I loved every aspect of this process even though it was challenging. It forced me out of my comfort zone to be creative and plan accordingly. I learned many skills that I will be utilizing in the near future. The editing was the hardest challenge by far and my favorite part was the actual production process and the planning that goes behind it. It is very tiring but I am overall pleased with myself on my final product!