Genre Research: Choosing Our Genre

     The genre we decided to do was a coming-of-age movie. We like the concept of the character growing mentally and/or physically. We also decided to do this genre so we can implement political issues in the movie. We couldn't find a way to put that into a romance movie. We wanted the movie to be relatable to the audience. This genre is easier to film than a romance movie. We need fewer props and actors in the coming-of-age movie than the romance movie. 

Genre Research: Coming-of-age and Romance

     We researched the conventions of the genres coming-of-age and romance. Firstly, we researched coming-of-age. The camera angles generally used in this genre are close ups, eye level shots, medium shots and point of view shots. The camera movements used are mostly tracking shots and zooms. The shots used are establishing shots, wide shots, two-shots, and three-shots. Costumes are everyday clothing and something a teen or young adult would usually wear. Lighting is usually natural or bright for the happier scenes while dark and neon for the sadder ones. Action in this genre can vary from fight scenes to kissing scenes. There is normally minimal to no makeup used on the characters. Props are mostly personal items like a phone, skateboard, notebook, etc. Settings are predominately high schools or homes. Editing in these movies consists of cut aways, shot reverse shots, eye line matches, reactions shots, and jump cuts. The sound mainly used is diegetic, non-diegetic, dialogue, voice overs, ambient sound, and a soundtrack of happy upbeat songs and slow sad ones. Elements we found in coming-of-age movies are big party scenes, romance, them being about teens or young adults, and moral lessons. We liked that coming-of-age movies are ones that everyone especially teens can relate with. We didn't like that some of the characters problems seemed vain and that these movies are not diverse; usually only having one person of color or one gay person throughout the whole movie.
     There's a two-shot, over the shoulder shot and mid-shots are the main shots used in romance movies. The camera would track the subject when they walk or run away or to their love interest. The camera is normally angled the same as the subject, there isn't really a high or low angle used. Most actors in romance movies would normally wear everyday clothes as costumes, or dress for the occasion they're attending. The lighting depends on the scene if there's a dance it would have darker lighting than if it was a brunch date. The actors could vary to anyone, but the main actors in most films are caucasian. Makeup is normally used for special occasions the actors attend to. Common props could be anything from keys or a phone to a cake or a car. The setting also depends on the scene, it can be anything from a castle to a sketchy ally way. There are a lot of shot-reverse shots and an eyeline match to capture the characters' dialogue and some cross-cutting to show what events are about to happen. The main sound in romance is the dialogue but there's also ambient sound and score. We like the drama in movie because it's funny and appeals to our age groups since we have similar drama that goes on in our own friend group. We dislike the exaggeration used in conflicts because it's not necessary.

Genre Research: Musical

     Our assignment was to write about the genre that was given to us. We had to research about common things in musicals. We had 10 topics to research about so we split them up among the group. One person had the responsibility of lighting, mis en scene, and sound. Another person had the responsibility of camera angles, elements of a musical, and songs in musicals. Another person had the responsibility of camera movement, examples, and found the pictures used in the presentation. We all worked together on the last two slides. We decided on the different elements we like and dislike about musicals. This project really helped us with learning about genres and the different elements that go into film making.

Choosing a Final Pitch

Out of all of our ideas, we liked rom-com the least. We would require more actors to film. This could cause problems in scheduling. It would have to line up with everyone's schedule. We would be forced to film at school for the background people needed. Specifically when everyone switches classes. This wouldn't be good with the audio or time because we have to find all of our actors. The other ideas focus on global issues happening. We want our video to have a deeper meaning. Overall, the rom-com did not compare.

     The dramatic movie was one of the top favorites. However, the elements needed would be a finance issue. We were picturing a drone shot of the sunset and highway. We obviously don't have $500 to buy a drone to get the aerial shot. We would also need to close off the highway since the plot is an apocalyptic wasteland. The background of the scene has to be changed differently too. We would need a green screen to edit the background but since we're new to editing, we don't want the scene to look bad or choppy. The lighting wouldn't look well or match since we would have to change it during editing. We were thinking about doing a glitch effect that showed a fantasy world to the reality of the wasteland. We don't know how to do this during editing. This pitch just requires too much money and technique that we don't have.

     Our final choice for the movie was the coming of age movie about the influence of social media. We really liked this idea because we can incorporate global issues into the movie. We wanted to focus on important topics that are still relevant. It would also be the easiest to film out of all of our ideas since we have a limited time to film. We were thinking about a POV shot of the phone and the teen using it and see how their emotions change. We wouldn't need as many people during the production of the film. This can relate to others out there when they receive daily news from the internet. We feels teens especially could relate to this through the use of social media. We put a lot of thought into our pitches and how to find time creating them.

Introducing Myself Again

     Hi my name is Alicia. I am a freshman in high school. I currently take eight classes, three of which are college level classes. At my school we have four classes each day named white days and blue days. On white days I have biology honors, study hall, algebra two honors, and theater. Biology and algebra two are my some of my hardest classes. On blue days I have criminal justice one, AICE media studies, AICE general paper, and AICE global perspectives. The classes with AICE before them are my college level classes and I think I'm handling the workload pretty well.
     For my newest project I am working in a pair with someone I have worked with in previous projects. Her name is Audrey and she is also a freshman.
     Over the past months I have learned a great deal about filming and editing. I got hands on experience with a camera. I learned where the SD card goes and how to turn it on. I also learned how to go back and look at footage just shot. I learned that the filming process takes a long time. I learned that sometimes you have to reshoot something or plans don't work out. I also learned what storyboarding was and how important it is. I also learned that the environment you are filming in is important like a busy mall would not be a good place for a quiet scene. Editing is a main thing I learned about as I had no previous experience. I learned that you had to dump your footage onto a computer first. I also learned you need an SD card reader to get the footage in the first place. I learned the separate places for audio, video, and titles. I also learned how to split videos and delete specific parts. I also learned how to add and remove sound. Overall I have learned so much in first semester I have been in this class.
     Our new project is about making the opening of a movie and we have three pitches.

1. A dramatic story about the effects of global warming turning the world into an apocalyptic wasteland and an isolated mentally disturbed teen.

2. A rom-com of 2 guys fighting over a girl realizing she was already taken and they eventually fall in love with each other.

3. A coming of age movie of how social media impacts a teen's life. It highlights the global issues happening in the modern-day world.

Editing the Music Video

     Now that we were done filming our music video it was time to edit it. We use Pinnacle Studios to edit our video just like we did with the commercial. We had a lot of footage to edit. We estimated about three minutes of footage. The video can only but to a minute and fifteen seconds so we knew we would have to cut a lot out. First we downloaded the footage onto our group members flash drive. Then we downloaded that into Pinnacle Studios. While we waited for that to load we downloaded the song of our music video onto the flash drive. I took out my notes to make sure we had to convert it to an mp3. Then we got the song off of YouTube and converted it.
     After we downloaded the song onto the flash drive we had to upload that into Pinnacle Studios. We waited for that to load and realized our footage was finished loading. We decided what clip we wanted first and were going to insert it into the correct track. Then we realized we did not have said clip. We counted the clips we had and realized we were missing two of them. I sent the clips to my group member and she tried to email them to the computer. Unfortunately, the email was not sending. Fortunately though, our one group member already had the clip in her email logged into the comouter. This clip was our opening clip and we downloaded it onto Pinnacle Studios. The email containing the other missing clip finally went through. Then we downloaded it onto Pinnacle Studios as well.
     We now had all of our clips downloaded onto Pinnacle Studios. We first put the audio in the third track. We decided the intro was too long since the video was only a minute and fifteen seconds. We decided what time to start the video from. Then we inserted our opening clip there. This clip was too long and we only needed a part of it. We discussed where in the clip to start it. I suggested right before we open the doors to the mall. My group mate said after we get past a pole that was in the mall we would end the clip. Then we decided to come back the next day during study hall to finish filming.

Filming The Music Video: Our Experience

    Filming went smoothly. Even though there were complications I feel that we were more efficient this time. This could be because it wasn't our first time filming. It could also have been easier because there was no speaking. In our commercial we had to speak and have a somewhat believable dialogue. In our music video we have no dialogue. Also, there is less acting in our music video. In our commercial we had to play characters and act a little. In our music video though, we rely more on being natural. We did this since our video is based around friends having a good time.
Since me and my group partner were friends we didn't necessarily have to act to show friends having fun.
     Since we had more skill in filming, it was more enjoyable. Being in a good mood was helpful for filming. This is because the mood for the video was happy and relaxed. Not being hungry definitely helped morale. Personally, I get irritated easily when I'm hungry which wouldn't be good for filming. Fortunetely, my group mate had brought muffins. The muffins tasted very good. We hung out a little before a little so we were in a relaxed mood. This made filming run smoothly putting aside the mishaps that happened. Overall there was a good morale for filming the music video.
     While filming we had a lot of communication with each other. Communication is important because this is a group project and everyone should be able to voice their opinion. Communication helps to make the group project truly a group effort. I asked others what they felt about what we just shot and if they would like to reshoot. I also asked about what they wanted to do next, where, and what angle. My other group members asked me questions. They also gave me their opinions on what we should do. This made everyone easily agree on what we would film. Everyone was happy with the footage we had. Also, everyone had a say and their opinions listened to.