Developing Project Schedule

 Hello Blog! Today I will be discussing further planning for my portfolio project. As this is a huge project, it is imperative to use our time accordingly and plan ahead. Something I have always struggled with is time management, so it is very important that for this project I have everything prepared ahead of time. 

I will plan at least three days a week where I can set apart at least an hour a day just to work on this project. This past week, my major focus was on the research aspect of this project. Now, that I have most of my research done, my focus for this week will be developing the story outline. On Wednesday and Friday, I will be working with my partner Helio to create a story outline and then hopefully we can get started on our script.

After we have our storyline set, it will be imperative to create a shot list and get started on our storyboard. We will then have to get together to discuss possible filming locations and a filming schedule. 

By week 5, the first week of March, it will be in our best interest to get started on filming in which we would have already developed our mise-en-scene elements. I think it will also be smart to edit as we go and not leave the editing process for last minute.

By week 7, we should have most of the editing done, so that by week 8 and 9 we can focus on creating our Creative Critical Reflection projects.

We have a pretty busy couple of weeks ahead of us, but I am super excited to put a lot of our time and effort into this to be able to be super proud of our final project!!

Choosing a genre

 Welcome back blog! Last blog post I mentioned how I was considering choosing action as the genre for my portfolio project. After deliberately researching different genres, the idea that action films have a powerful opening sequence that not only teases the plot and introduces you to the key characters, but also keeps you hooked to the screen from the very beginning, makes me feel more comfortable in choosing action. 

An amazing example of an action film opening is The Dark Knight (2008). This film opens up by introducing the villain which allows the audience to capture how intelligent the protagonist is and what he is a capable of. The film starts with a bank robbery scene by the Joker. The duality of the scene and the way that the other robbers mentioned the head robber, Joker, allows the audience to fully understand who the bad guy is in the first five minutes of the film. Viewers comprehend that he is cunning, vicious, and intelligent, and that he is in complete control of everything that occurs—he even has the ability to predict when the school bus will arrive and murder the final robber. This opens the film with a thrilling and startling tone demonstrating the Joker's caliber. 

Another amazing example of an action film opening is Deadpool (2016). This film uses the approach of introducing the film's tone by its strange dialogue with Dopinder, its humorous titles, and most importantly, a unique battle sequence that teases the remainder of the film which contains slow motion editing to an emotional song. The director uses the technique of breaking the fourth wall to help the audience make a connection to the protagonist. With the combination of violence, funny comments, and countless punches; the audience is aware of what the movie will be like and is hooked to the sarcastic tone that this movie offers.

Using these openings as inspiration, I plan to open up my action project portfolio by introducing a chaotic and entertaining tone as well as introducing a key character. I want my audience to feel the same blood pumping sensations and excitement that I get when watching action films. I really hope to hook my audience and bring an element of suspense to make the piece more enjoyable. 

Until next time!

Opening Techniques

 Hello blog, welcome back! I am beyond excited to say that I have started the research process for my portfolio project! Before starting my research, I was very lost on what I wanted to do for this project, especially choosing what genre to do. However, these past couple of days I have researched countless openings from a variety of different films and I found that some of the most iconic openings come from action films. Videos on Youtube really helped push me in the right direction and gain more knowledge on openings. 

These two videos really taught me more about what approach to take when creating a film opening. Choosing the action genre for my portfolio project will allow me to open with an action sequence to really hook my audience and grab their undivided attention. These videos mentioned different techniques to open a film such as introducing a character. In a film there is always a protagonist and an antagonist. Opening the film with the villain can sneak the audience into their mind and show us what they are capable of. However, opening the film with the hero allows the audience to make an emotional connection with the protagonist. 

Another technique could be strictly following the genre and opening the film by introducing the tone. The opening to the film La La Land is a great example of this. It starts off the film with a musical number which features the power of a crowd, the lyrics, excitement, vibrant outfits, and then throws the audience back to reality by showing what daily life in the traffic of LA is like. After the amazing musical number, the audience is introduced to the two main characters, which allows for the juxtaposition of fantasy and reality to connect the audience to the amazing genre of musicals. 

I am still not sure which technique to use for my opening as there are so many amazing techniques. I hope that with more research and the help of my group members we will be able to make a decision and agree on which technique to use. 

Stay tuned for more blog posts coming, to keep you guys in the loop throughout my research process!

Transition to Portfolio Project

 Hello Blog!

I am super excited to share the news that for the next nine weeks, I will be working on one of the biggest projects ever! For my AICE Media Studies class, we have been given the assignment to make a final portfolio project. This project will be focused on the titles and opening of a new fiction film. In a group, I will need to create a storyline and effectively bring it to life with all the media practices we have learned throughout the year. 

The past projects all helped guide us to where we needed to be to successfully complete this project. The first project we did was to help us get comfortable with all the camera shots and angles. We have done foley projects to help us gain knowledge on the sound elements in a film. Also, we have done other projects which helped us learn how to navigate editing softwares like Adobe Premiere. 

Additionally, for all the projects we have done this past year, planning was a major component. We have learned how to effectively plan ahead mainly using storyboards. The next two weeks are going to mainly focused on planning; choosing a genre, outlines, and developing the characters and the plot.

I can not wait to share my journey throughout this project here on my blog! I will be taking you guys with me on a rollercoaster of my creative process, through all my ups and downs, reflecting on my mistakes and talking through them to help me create the best possible production!

Music Marketing Blog

     As a group of four, we were given the task of making an artist with an entirely new brand. One of the first questions I had when facing this task was, what is a brand. After some research and discussions with my group members we learned that a brand is name, design, product, or service that has unique qualities and can be identified and distinguished from others in its' industry. 

    The music genre we were given was hiphop/funk with the song "Me and Your Mama" by Childish Gambino. Hip Hop/ funk is a genre that I listen to frequently, so I was very glad with our assignment. Childish Gambino is a part of RCA Records as well as Steve Lacy. I was given the task find research about RCA's history and Childish Gambino's marketing strategies, distribution practices, and audience interaction tools and methods. My partner also did research on Steve Lacy. As the second part of our case study, we had to research another record label company that shared the same genre. My group members did research on the company Aftermath Entertainment which was founded by Dr. Dre. We focused our research on two very well known artists, Kendrick Lamar and Anderson Paak. 

    The second part of our project was to make a music marketing campaign. In this task we had to create a brand new artist for the hip hop/ funk part of the music industry and create marketing and distribution methods with unique and innovative qualities. As our target audience is young adults ages ranging from 18-34, unisex, and avid hip hop/ funk listeners, we decided that having a strong social media presence would help us reach more people. We plan on having accounts on various platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, and Youtube where we can post song teasers, behind the scenes footage, and clips of performances. We also plan to hire famous influencers to use our songs for their posts to help us promote or new artist. Additionally, we plan to take part in countless concerts and music festivals to help our artist make connections and hopefully meet new artists for future collaborations. We have a very active website baby funk website where you will be able to find our brand's mission statement, overview of what it is we do (make music, sell apparel, host music events), as well as our tour dates and tickets. 

    The third part of our project was to make a music video to launch our artist to the music industry. We created a storyboard of 20 slides to describe the love story of two individuals who come together in love, face some relationship troubles, and finally breaking up which leaves our artist Baby Funk in a funk as he is hung up on his ex. This story was inspired by the song used, "Me and Your Mama." My group worked together on creating the story board and then worked after school to film the clips. As I was the group member who is most comfortable using Adobe Premiere, I was given the large task and responsibility of editing the entire video. My strategy for editing was to just do the best I could with the clips provided and play around with video effects, audio effects, and video transitions. I made sure to include many transitions when moving from clip to clip to integrate a certain level of fluidity to our video. I played with the coloring of our clips to add to the 'funk' aspect of our genre. Editing was overall very fun and the final project was something we were all very proud of. 

    All in all, I learned so much from this project. Being able to look at distribution and marketing practices as a creator instead of student opened my mind to a world of possibility. I truly felt like I was working in the music industry world and creating a real brand. I learned how essential it is to plan ahead, creating a campaign, and a plan for distribution and marketing. Being able to practice more on Adobe Premiere will be something that will definitely be beneficial for future projects as well as really expanding my knowledge on the marketing and distribution side of media industries.

Representation in Media!

 

   

 One of my favorite TV shows is One Tree Hill because they touch on many serious topics and social issues. The show is known for the quantity of emotional rollercoasters, heartbreaks, grief, and strong personal conflicts. Although all the characters have powerful stories, one that sticks out to me is Haley James'. She got married, toured the country as a famous singer, and even gave birth all during high school. Even though she left her parents' house at a very young age, she was still very close to her mom. Her mom passed away on Season 7 due to cancer, this broke Haley and led her towards a bad path. She became severely depressed, shut out her entire family, and even lost her love for music. In the past music had always been her outlet, but during this depressive episode she was totally and completely numb. These events led to a suicide attempt. After spending some quality time with family and in therapy, she finally started to get better and even volunteered at a Crisis Hotline to help others that were also struggling. 

    Another heartfelt story shared on One Tree Hill is Brooke Davis'. Brooke is a beautiful, talented, successful, and selfless character who struggled a lot growing up. During her time in high school, her parents abandoned her, left her alone in their big house and only showed their love with their credit cards. She constantly felt unworthy of love and therefore searched for love by messing around with countless guys. She was very misunderstood and had amazing character development. Once she joined the big friend group with all the main characters, she was finally valued as a person and not just her body. She started a multi million dollar clothing company and reconnected with her mom. Brooke faced many obstacles and never let them change her. She was attacked one night in her store, robbed, and got bruises all over her body. She struggled silently to help support her friends and their problems. She always put others first and defended them endlessly. 

    Speaking of Brooke Davis, she was portrayed as your classic popular high school cheerleader in the first seasons. As the most popular girl in school, she was friends with everybody and was every boy's crush. When she wasn't in a Ravens cheerleading uniform, she was always in bright colors, tight clothing, and even a little bit revealing at times. She always had her brunette hair done just right and wore refreshing makeup. On the other hand, her best friend Peyton Sawyer was illustrated to be the complete opposite. Peyton wore darker colors and had messy golden curls. Peyton typically completed her looks with her iconic black leather jacket. Along with her grungy style, Peyton was seen as more of a loner who expressed herself through music and drawing. 

        This show follows many stereotypical views in regards to the character design. The popular girl wore sexy, bright, attention grabbing clothing while the loner best friend wore darker, grungy, timeless clothing. The show also reaches audiences who can relate to the character's struggles and heartfelt stories. Releasing relatable story lines fosters a connection between the creators, characters, and audience as well as enhances the authenticity of the film. Relatable content also allows for the audience to truly tap into their emotions and intensifies the overall entertainment value of the content. 

Sound Blog Post

 During the first weeks of October, we got assigned a sound project for my AICE Media Studies class. The instructions said to display a story through only sound effects and apply the use of at least 4 DIY foley sounds. 

This is the outline of my project:

Scene: Walking to fishing spot 

1. Crunching of leaves when walking to the river. (foley) 

1. Slight wind 

1. Tress rustling in the wind 

1. Birds chirping  

Scene: Arrive at Fishing Spot 

1. noise of river running (background) 

1. Drop of backpack (foley)  

1. Fishing rod cast sound 
2. Splash of cast hitting the water (

1. Moment of silence (Nature- river) 

1. Splashing of water (fish) 

1. Fishing rod reel in sound 

1. Pulling of the fishing rod 

1. Splash of water (fish) 

1.   More rod reel in sound 

1. Fish flopping around on land  foley) 

1. Hands touching the slimy fish  
 

1. Dripping of water(background) 

1. Sound of picture being taken 

1. Splash of water (releasing the fish)  foley) 

1. Fish swimming away(sound fades) 
 

    In my project, the story was about a man walking through the forest, stopping at a lake, and fishing. In the beginning, the protagonist is heard walking through the footsteps. To display this specific sound, my partner recorded the sound of a plastic bag to demonstrate the footsteps. When editing, I added prerecorded sounds of nature like wind and birds chirping to add to the realism of this project. Also when editing, I made sure to adjust the volume of the river sounds as the protagonist gets closer and closer.  I added his foley sound of the backpack dropping and then used prerecorded sounds of most of the other sounds like the fishing rod and some water sounds. The next foley sound, was the slimy fish flapping on the dock and this sound was made by soft clapping with an excess amount of cream on the hands. The last foley sound was the splash of the fish returning to the water. 

    Editing this project was time consuming, but super fun and entertaining. It was interesting to play around with the layering and volume of all of the sounds. The use of nature sounds and being able to use pre recorded sound effects really added to the realism and made the story clearer. Using our own sounds ,however, was in a sense more rewarding as they were direct products from us. All in all, I was really proud of out final product and satisfied as all the hard working was worth it.