That's A Wrap

      Surprise!!! I am still here and I am back for one final post. As you may have already seen, the film opening is completed and now ready to stream. However, I have one final gift which is my creative critical reflection, detailing what the production process was like and how I have grown since the beginning of the project. I don't want to give too many spoilers away, considering I do my final reflection in the video, but I just want to say what an amazing ride it has been creating Unwritten. In terms of my own, personal future, it has convinced me that a future career in film is what I want to do. The most rewarding parts of the portfolio project were honestly the obstacles since they taught me how to adapt and be prepared for most situations. A special thank you to my partner Julia, who I could not have done this without. Disclaimer, the CCR does not have the music in the background I wanted it to have because every time I would upload the video to YouTube or Google Drive, the music would not play (trust me I tried different ways for six hours) So, you just get to hear my beautiful voice for nine minutes. Alright, enough blabbering, below is the link to the CCR.

Creative Critical Reflection Links:

(they don't have music because technology hates me)

- https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cZCSSWFxKwU8E6qOmjW9E__jwyPE93WN/view?usp=sharing

- https://youtu.be/nFjJV8faFBQ

Introducing: Unwritten

      Ladies and gentlemen. The time has arrived. After eight weeks of planning, suffering, innovating, and hard work, Unwritten is finally ready to be seen. I like to think of this blog post as our little movie premiere, in which I am currently walking the red carpet and being interviewed. While there were some tough times in this project, overall, it was a very rewarding experience since the hard work can be seen in the film opening itself. It is a great feeling knowing that the film opening for Unwritten was something Julia and I created from scratch. Before this project, I would watch many films but never truly appreciate them. After being on the other side of the screen, I know and notice all the hard work and quirks that go into the process. A movie is more then it’s plot, it’s the sound, the look, the composition. The portfolio project really made me aware of these characteristics and how they are used to create meaning. So grab your popcorn, find a comfortable seat, and click the link below to watch Unwritten.

Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pVBPziM_Ry_Xnn2Zqkq0endL8HUM6XVr/view?usp=drivesdk

The End is Near & Gen Z is Here

      The conclusion of this project is very bittersweet. I just wanted to update everyone on where I am at in the moment. I finished the script for my Creative Critical Reflection and I think it accurately shows what this portfolio project and the process to complete it. The good, the bad, and the ugly is all included in the script, but most importantly it reflects on how I have learned from the bad experiences. I'm very proud of all the pop culture references I made to famous types of interviews celebrities do, but I had to make sure to still be informative so I kept the Harry Styles references to a minimum. I plan to film in the afternoon, so I could focus on editing on Saturday, Sunday, and maybe (hopefully not) Monday. I will utilize two angles, one with my phone and one with my camera so I have more to choose from when editing.

    While I was creating my CCR, I realized that while I talked about targeting and representing teenagers, I never really looked at today's teenagers which are Gen Z. Since I am part of Gen Z, I mostly relied on what I knew and trends I have seen around people I have met which turned out being effective. Gen Z values inclusivity which we did by representing people their age and having the lead be a Latina. They also like when films are realistic and truthful, which we did by making Malia's character more vulnerable to humanize her. The film shows how being a teenager and having to make life-changing decisions impacts her relationships with her friends and family. In addition, we had a voiceover which reflects her internal struggle, even if she may look like she is doing ok. Being a coming-of-age film makes Unwritten bound to rely on dialogue, which is a factor Gen Z loves, since it shows more of the protagonist's personality and values. We made sure to give Malia an "undefined ID" by making her realize that she should not stress about this decision so much since it does not define who she is a person, she will always be a writer. Overall, our film's target audience should be Gen Z since the storyline and characters are more likely to be appealing at their age.

Citations:

Francis, Tracy, and Fernanda Hoefel. “'True Gen': Generation Z and Its Implications for Companies.” McKinsey & Company, McKinsey & Company, 4 Feb. 2022, https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/consumer-packaged-goods/our-insights/true-gen-generation-z-and-its-implications-for-companies.

Bless Your Soul Past Carolina

      My mind has immediately entered relaxing mode considering we finally finished the film opening. It's not like there is a whole other third of the project I have to complete 😭 😭  (I'm kind of sad I just discovered you can use emojis when there are only about four blogs left). To be quite frank, I actually learned what a CCR was about two days ago and have been living in blissful ignorance. But, it's time to get to work and write a script answering the questions provided. A great resource that helped me get a clearer sense of what I had to do was actually my teacher, Mrs. Stoklosa, who gave us notes on what we should include as well as examples of past CCRs. I am not extremely worried anymore because I now know what I am doing, and the questions have basically been answered in my blog as I researched (Thank you past Carolina for not being a slacker!!🙏🙏). While I am a little worried about the time crunch, I am kind of excited to actually make the eight-minute video interesting in my own ways.

     One of the things that stood out to me was my AICE Media teacher saying this video was a chance to show off our personalities. So I thought, what better way to do this than show a bunch of pop culture references that I love. For example, I could film my reflection in different styles that will be similar to VOGUE 73 Questions, Wired's Autocomplete Interviews, or even an Oscar acceptance speech when I am thanking all the people that helped make this a possibility. In terms of setting, I know I definitely want to film mainly in my room since it is where the film opening was shot, so I could switch where I am sitting to show more of the setting. As of right now, Julia and I have conversed and answered the questions on a Google Doc so we are on the same page. I am in the process of finishing my script so that within the next day I can film and edit it. Writing proves to be a challenge for me because I tend to ramble a lot, which would make this project eight hours instead of eight minutes. So I will be sure to answer the questions thoroughly, but not dwell on them for too long.

My notes on the Creative Critical Reflection

The Final Cut

      After many trials and tribulations, I have finally finished the editing process. Julia and I met up on Tuesday and dedicated the whole day to finish up editing. We combined the half I edited individually and the half she edited individually and worked to make them seamless. We were finally able to add key sound effects like typing, a car alarm, a text notification, and a message-sent sound effect. I am not going to lie, this was definitely the most stressful part of the project. We worked on editing for hours because every time we thought we were done, we would do something wrong in terms of saving the actual project, which would get rid of the credits or the sound. There were several times when Davinci would just shut down out of nowhere, and restarting my computer would take away time. 

     However, after many YouTube tutorials, online forums, and playing around with the settings, Julia and I were able to finish the final product. We utilized software such as Davinci and VideoStar for editing and animation, and Uppbeat and YouTube for sound effects and music. After some reflection, things I would have done differently include taking more time to finish the editing process so it did not feel as rushed, I also would have done more research beforehand on the basic functions of Davinci to save myself the stress. While it was no easy process, it was definitely rewarding considering the weeks of planning, research, and production we did finally came together and produced an impressive result. Our vision of the film opening was brought to life and notably shows how far we have come since the beginning of the year. 

P.S. I finally know what rendering is!!

The Editing Process (Part 2)

      The most anticipated part of the project has finally arrived: adding the typewriter effect to the opening credits. At first, I thought it was going to be extremely complicated to animate this effect, especially since we had to do it many times. However, by watching a YouTube video tutorial we were able to accomplish it. The effect really made the film opening come together since it matches so well with the plot of the film. The opening credits include the production company, cast, music composer (especially since we have to give credit to the artists of the song we are using), editor, production designer, producer, writer, and director. Considering we had numerous shots of objects around the room, we have plenty of time to show all these credits. We were also able to animate the title to look like it is being typed out on a computer.

     The only roadblock we faced was the font we chose not being available on Davinci Resolve, or at least the free version. We picked out the most similar font which turned out to be Devanagari Sangam MN. After comparing the opening credits with black and white text color, we decided to go with black since it stands out more and better represents a typewriter. The next step is to meet with Julia and spend time combining both our parts and adjusting the editing to not look choppy, but instead continuous. Below is the YouTube tutorial we used to learn how to make the typewriter effect as well as a screenshot of the film opening being edited to include text.

The Editing Process (Part 1)

      So, we finally started editing. As mentioned before, Julia and I have decided to split the editing in order to be more efficient. I have been tasked with editing the first half of the film opening. To be honest, this is probably the hardest part of the project since I barely know how to edit or use the software. We decided to use Davinci Resolve since we have used it in class before for another project, so at least we know how to complete basic functions. I have been watching tutorials on how to edit all day and found out I was editing in the wrong tab. After correcting my mistake, it was so much easier since I could see all the clips that I imported into the project and did not have to keep scrolling to see the clips.

     I went through all the camera footage and decided which clips we should use based on the quality, camera shakiness, and angle. I suspect that as the editing process continues, I may have to switch out some of the clips so they flow better. At first, I was very scared because my part alone took up six minutes; however, once I began cutting clips down and matching the pacing of the cuts to the music, the duration of the film opening went down. I am happy with our choice of Song #2 since the more upbeat vibe allowed for faster cuts. Below is a picture of the editing process and how much progress we have made so far. Using the professional camera turned out to be a great choice since the quality of the shots is much better than our last project where we shot with an iPhone.