CCR 3

The third question I need to answer in my CCR is "How did your production skills develop throughout this project?" 

As someone who has taken television production classes all throughout high school, competed at national levels for news production, and fostered a passion for video production from a young age, I definitely came into the project with previous knowledge. However, AICE Media Studies has taught me so much new information at a much deeper level than anything I've previously learned. Even though I had previous experience editing (and even certified in Premiere Pro) I now understand when and why I should employ certain editing techniques. Similarly, I've learned about mise-en-scene and its importance in film. Before this project I never thought about why certain scenes are lit or colored in specific ways. I've also become more mindful when framing shots and choosing angles, as they can change the way a scene is viewed. 

Mainly, this project has helped me slow down and consider WHY I'm making each decision in the production process. My usual production style is fast-paced, as I have to pump out a segment every week for my television production classes' weekly show. I never really thought too deeply about every step of the process, but rather just made the segment. Now, I pay closer attention to smaller details and always make sure to plan before starting something new. 

Additionally, this project taught me how to step out of my comfort zone. Before AICE media I've never actually ventured into making a film. Besides one mediocre project where I was assigned to create a chase scene, I've never made a film. As someone who everyone sees as just being the anchor girl, it was cool to try something new and embrace a more creative side. 

That's all for this blog, see you next time!

CCR 2

Hi blog! Today I'm going to be further discussing my CCR, and specifically answering the question:

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

Breaking it down, this question can be split into two basic questions,

-How does Ataraxia engage with audiences?

-How would we distribute it?

So how do we engage with audiences? First of all, Ataraxia's target audience consists of teenagers, as our film is centered around a teenage girl. Later, we will introduce a supporting cast consisting of other teenagers. Additionally, even though we have elements of sci-fi in our film, we characterize it as more of a drama, as our main character is struggling with depression. Halley is going through tough times and is often lonely and lost; this resonates with audiences as many teenagers struggle with similar feelings. 

Regarding distribution, our film will be available on streaming platforms like Amazon Prime, Netflix, YouTube Movies, and Apple TV. Besides online platforms, it will also be shown at film festivals. One example of this is the Cypress Bay Lightning Film Festival, which is hosted by our school. 

That's all for question 2! Stay tuned for my answers to questions 3 and 4. See you next time! 

Group Meeting 2!

 Today in class, we conducted our second group meeting. The purpose of the group meetings is to share ideas and develop them through advice and constructive criticism. My group consisted of 6 of my amazing classmates, and through the duration of our meeting, I learned so much. 

I was the first person to present to the group, and I showed them my line edit and some of my color grading and discussed possible CCR ideas. Everyone seemed to like my line edit and how I color graded it. When discussing CCR, I asked for help from the group since I missed the CCR lesson and had no standout ideas. My group members took turns telling me their ideas. One member, Max, had a whole short film planned, which seemed cool but tedious. Another idea I liked was doing a baking tutorial while answering the CCR questions. Hearing the creative approaches everyone was taking really opened my eyes to the boundless possibilities I could pursue for my CCR.

Back to film openings! My group members all seemed to be on the right track to great film openings. After watching everyone's line edit, I have to say my favorites were Nikita's and Dylan's. Nikita had a hilarious and incredibly creative idea for doing a film about Henry Flagler, an important figure in Floridian history. His line edit looked very good and he even added cool editing techniques like a match cut. When watching Dylan's film opening, it was clear to me how much time and effort he put into it; he organized an entire staged car meet for a few shots and even hired a police officer to act in his film. 

Our group didn't take a picture together, so here's an ancient photo of me (top left) and Dylan (top right)

I love group meetings because I always come out of them inspired and motivated! That's all for this blog, see you next time :)

CCR ideas yay!

 Hi blog! After weeks of hearing about the planning and production for my film opening here's something new for you: my CCR. Also known as the creative critical reflection the purpose of the CCR is for me to reflect on my portfolio project, and discuss the choices I made regarding planning, production, and post-production. The CCR is meant to be in a creative format so after some thinking I've decided I want to do a parody/recreation of some sort of YouTube series with celebrities. Think Hot Ones or Vogue Beauty Secrets. Some kind of unconventional interview style. 

The CCR script needs to answer certain questions, the first one being, "How does my product use or challenge conventions, and how does it represent social groups or issues?

Ataraxia represents the issue of depression in teenagers. Although there is no spoken dialogue by the main character in the film opening, we hope to portray this issue through facial expressions and body language. While developing the character I thoroughly researched depression and specifically depression in teenagers. Here is a list of depression symptoms and the specific symptoms/behaviors I want to show in Halley. 

However, one way we're challenging standard conventions is by making the film science fiction instead of a run of the mill drama. The element of the rogue planet serves more than one purpose, and if audiences look deeper, they see that it is a symbol for depression, and how Halley feels out of control and powerless. Something we're doing that is within standard conventions is introducing a supporting character that helps the main character overcome issues throughout the film. 

That's all for this blog, see you next time!

Sources:

Teen depression - Symptoms and causes - Mayo Clinic

Depression: What It Is, Symptoms, Causes, Treatment, and More

color grading god

 I love color grading. Am I the best at it? NO. But to me it's one of the few things about editing that I actually enjoy doing. My original color grading method was just playing around with the basic settings provided by lumetri color on Adobe Premiere Pro. But in the last few months I've learned so much from the people around me. Special shoutout to my close friends Emma and Zach for teaching me so much about the technicalities behind color grading. 

Me and Emma (one of my biggest role models)

Okay, now on to the actual color grading. Color grading is a crucial part of our film opening postproduction as we filmed most of it during dusk-nightfall when lightning changes rapidly. This caused some of our footage to look significantly different than other clips. Additionally, our film opening has scenes that take place both inside and outside, and we wanted to still keep a cohesive look throughout it all. 

To achieve all of this we utilized many different color grading tools. Firstly, we used the white balance tool to effectively white balance our footage, since much of it came out a bit blue/purple. We also played around with tint and saturation to get the stylized look we wanted. Additionally, we upped the warmth as some shots were very gray. 

To get a cohesive brightness we manually went through every shot and fixed the exposure and contrast to match the rest. I loved how our finished color graded result turned out. Here is another example of a before and after.

That's all for this blog. See you next time!

I am not an editor... (line edit time)

 Let me preface this post by saying that my premiere pro certification took me three tries to pass...so clearly, I'm not the strongest editor in the world. However, this year I do believe that I have majorly improved. Making bi-weekly segments for my tv clubs bi-weekly show has definitively taught me how to become a more efficient editor, especially for news stories (I'm a news girl at heart). But the worst part of editing for me is definitely the line edit. Going through all the footage and structuring a story is so tedious. However, what I've found with this project is that film is easier to line edit, with our shot list and storyboard on hand it's just a matter of putting shots in order. 

For the line edit I utilized Adobe Premiere Pro 2025, as it is the editing software I feel most comfortable using (three years of practice later). Later my team will use Adobe After Effects and Adobe Blender to do the planet VFX. 

(How life felt after finally passing premiere)

Getting started with the editing I first started by watching all the footage and name it to whatever is happening in the clip, then I sort it into different folders to make finding specific things easier. When I edit a news package, I usually sort footage into interviews, good Broll, and bad Broll. However, since this isn't a news package I instead named the folders after the different scenes in my opening. Then I also created folders for extra shots we got that were not included on our shot list, and meh looking takes of shots we needed. 

Then the next few steps are as follows

Open a project file:

Import in all the necessary footage: 

Begin line editing in the timeline:

Starting to edit this project has really expanded my views on editing and helped me step out of my comfort zone. As someone, who is seen as a "news girl" and often times confined to only doing news it was so cool doing something different. Don't get me wrong though I still loveee news :)))

That's all for this blog. Stay tuned for more of the editing process, see you next time!

MIA manager

 Blog, blog, blog I am so frustrated. First of all, the year is coming to an end so fast and all my friends are graduating, yes, I am being a crybaby about it. Secondly, gas stations in my town are crushing the dreams of teen aspiring filmmakers.

We've called so many places and keep getting rejected to film inside. The original gas station we filmed our outdoor scenes at wouldn't let us film inside due to their manager not being on location. However, they were very kind about it and told us to come back another day to talk to their manager, Katty. Being the responsible kids we are we made sure to ask for her contact information. Sadly, they couldn't provide anything leaving our only information about her down to her name. We've called multiple times since then but have strangely received widely mixed responses. Some employees said they don't know a Katty, and others said that she hasn't been at work. Katty if you exist, please come back. 

If it comes down to it, we plan on faking the gas station and filming the "market" part in a grocery store. Hopefully Katty comes back, also I hope she's okay (why hasn't she been at work?)

While we wait for the mystery of Katty to become unveiled it's time for me to put together a list of gas stations outside of Weston that we can ask. I will keep you updated!

That's all for this blog, see you next time!