And last but not least...

MY CCR!!!! It has been a long journey, but I am glad it is coming to an end. Peace out AICE Media Studies AS 2021-2022, or until our exam at least - or class tomorrow....

Anyhow, my CCR wouldn't upload here so here is the YouTube link: https://youtu.be/hVEpU7dxvd4

FINAL BIRTHDAY BLUES

 Wow. Here it is. The end.

These last few months of preparation, learning, working, planning, editing, and filming are finally over.

Honestly, I am so proud of my group and myself. We have worked so hard and I am amazed at what we have accomplished in these last few weeks. From creating a whole new film idea from scratch to fully executing it, we did it.

So, without further ado, here it is: our baby.

https://youtu.be/N1NLhQW-R5U

CCR Script

 Well, after 2,051 words. I finished my script. Wow. Now, to record and edit. But that's a problem for me in about an hour. Without further ado, here is my beautiful baby ... I mean script.

I am worried about the length but I had so much to say!! Hopefully filming and editing go smoothly and I will update you all with my finished CCR and opening!! Bye!

Almost there!!

    I am so excited about my CCR idea. I was working on my intro today (maybe to procrastinate writing the script...) and it is even better than I could have imagined. Also, it allowed me to learn how to use Adobe Photoshop which I never even considered using before which was interesting. And well, a lot of YouTube tutorials and Google searches later, I made my introduction. It is supposed to be based on the WatchMojo introduction except instead, it is WatchMorris. The color scheme is really pretty and I am very satisfied with how it came out.

    However, time is quickly running out. I plan on filming my entire project tomorrow (Saturday, April 2nd) but time is of the essence. I am attending an AICE review from 8:30-12:45 but luckily it is offered online so I will do it from home and possibly multitask to finish other homework if necessary. Then, from 2:00-3:30 I have practice. And then at 5:00 we are going to Miami to celebrate my grandma's 80th birthday. So, my day is packed. As they would say in Good Luck Charlie, well, good luck, Charlie. 

Also, the title was a Princess and the Frog reference if you didn't catch that.

Oh, one last thing. If you have no idea what I am referring to when I say WatchMojo, please check out these links:

WatchMojo Intro

WatchMojo Sample Video

CCR idea??

    I love the first idea with my entire heart. But due to the time constraint, I don't think it is realistic. I am still really excited about the WatchMojo-inspired one and I have a pretty clear image of my goal for this one as well. I want to recreate the WatchMojo logo (shown below) but make it apply to my project and myself. 

    Over quarantine, I was really obsessed with watching those types of videos out of extreme boredom. Also, I think one of the sounds was a TikTok trend. Yes, it was. Here is a link to a video. The sound is their iconic introduction sound which I also want to recreate. 

My only fear is that people will not understand what I am trying to recreate. I just have to do it really well and make it very clear what I am trying to do. 

Here is my schedule:

Wednesday-brainstorm ideas

Thursday-choose idea

Friday-write script

Saturday-film

Sunday-edit

I hope this is realistic enough and I can finish on time but in the worst case scenario, I could: 

A. Begin editing the same day I film

OR

B. Use Monday to finish editing

Planning 2.0

    Oh my gosh. This whole entire production will be over on Monday. MONDAY. We finally finished editing and I am so incredibly proud of us. After two months of creating this entire thing from scratch, we have worked our butts off to finish.

    But of course, you are never really done with anything ever. Okay, that may be a slight exaggeration however I still have to make my creative critical reflection or CCR. It is so important that my video is creative because not only is that a very large part of the score, but personally, I pride myself on creativity in all aspects of my life - including my schoolwork. I have watched a few examples of past CCRs but I want my idea to be totally unique. I have two main ideas.

    1. An awards interview-type video. It would begin with our film winning an Oscar which is unique to my experience because, at the very beginning of this whole process, I joked with my group and Ms. Stoklosa (our teacher) about how amazing our project will be. I told them we are already nominated for an Oscar and we haven't even begun filming because it is just that perfect. Anyways, back to the idea. So it would begin with a clip of me winning an award for the film and standing up to give a speech but I am choking back tears when I say, this is okay as I have a video prepared instead. I go through and answer all the questions using visual elements on Canva, except the question about distribution. I would wake up and realize it was all a dream and this was my small film instead. After this, I would discuss the distribution in a realistic sense. 

I really love this idea and I think it depicts my personality and who I am really well.

    2. This option is a little more basic but would be a lot easier for me to do. I would do a YouTube video. I would imitate the WatchMojo introduction and talk with references like they do in their videos. I really like this style as it is really effective for getting information across. It also is funny and interesting so I would enjoy doing that option as well.

I am unsure which one I should do and need to decide ASAP because the clock is ticking. Well, that is all for today, stay tuned for which option I end up choosing!!

Editing

    Since all three of us are not in the same location due to spring break, we have divided up the film into three parts and each group member is responsible for editing their assigned piece. I was assigned the first third which includes the various establishing shots of the main character, Berkley's, room, her sleeping, and her birthday alarm going off. 

    In order to edit this in the best way I can and use my resources most efficiently, I will be using Adobe Premiere Pro 2022. I am very familiar with this program as I have been using it since 2018 for projects in film 1 and 2 in middle school. I did not use this program last year because I was not in any film-related classes and did not have access to it so I had to watch some YouTube tutorials and look up some instructions but I am back and better than ever. Down below you can see a screenshot of my screen while I was editing the clip. I have done the audio and cut the clips together but I want to mess around with the colors a little and possibly include that as well.

That's all for now, stay tuned!!

The moment of truth

    Now, the moment you have all been waiting for. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, it is finally here. The process of animating our title for our film. 

1. Previously, we decided on the title, font, and overall idea of how we want our title to look. 

2. After about a million revisions and changes, here is the series of progressions leading up to our final animation. 

(Also, you will notice we added a sound effect of someone blowing out candles as the title fades off to add to the birthday candle effect.)

3. The final version will be revealed in our final edited film so be sure to keep your eyes peeled!!

4. Here is a look at just how many individual slides it took to make this short animation:

Choices choices choices...

    Who ever would have thought something that seems so unimportant would give us this much grief?? Now I am sure you are wondering, what could she possibly be talking about and I will tell you. The credit fonts! We have four pages of fonts we are considering using, and honestly, each are nice. We want a font that looks like a fancier, upgraded version of a 16-year-old girl's handwriting from 2005. 

    The only accurate description for this humongous list is a visual headache. So many options where do we even begin? They all technically fit the criteria so we decided to each put our 2 favorites on another page to narrow it down more and ended up with this:

    Now, I am sure you are wondering if there are 3 people in our group and we each put our two favorites, how are there only four options. Great question. Paulina and I did our favorites first and then when Daniela went to do it she said we had already included her favorites, making this decision a little easier. Now, we talked via iMessage (our savior during Spring Break due to differences in location) and narrowed it down further. We decided in order to do that we need to truly see how it will look on screen so we added a part on the bottom for the name as well. We changed the font for that to make it stand out and more clear to look at as well. 

    This was a lot more realistic and made our decision a little easier. We talked and talked and talked and finally narrowed it down to options 2 and 4. But now we really have a problem - we love both. 

    So, to combat this, we made the picture above and asked various friends and family members to vote for their favorite. As the votes rolled in, it was so close to even that we were worried it would end up a split vote, however, in the end, we got 5 votes for option 1 and 7 votes for option 2 - resulting in a victory for option 2. Honestly, I am very happy with this choice and I can not wait to see it in our film. Stay tuned for some insight about the editing process and more!

Outstanding Outfit Ogling

    This is what we had "Berkley" AKA Daniela wear when filming. I am going to break it down piece by piece but before I get into that I want to add a disclaimer. In my post regarding props I stated how we were going to use butterfly clips to really reach that 2000s-esque vibe we trying to create, however, I forgot them at home when we were filming! But I think the outfit was still really good overall.

    First: makeup. We went with a basic but pretty makeup look with eyeliner, mascara, and lipstick. The thought behind this light but effective look gives the impression that she really thought about her appearance and makes it clear her image is important to her. 

    The low-rise jeans are a staple from the early 2000s and every teen owned a wardrobe full of them. Paired with Uggs which were also a fan favorite in this time period. Plus, her shirt is pink which subtly hints towards Berkley's favorite color and her vibe. She also is wearing a beaded necklace as jewelry which is a common activity teenagers did with their friends. It also ties the outfit together and shows every aspect of the personality of the character. Overall we were very pleased with how the outfit depicted our character and we feel it captured the essence of Berkley successfully. Thanks for reading! I will update you all this week when we start (and finish) editing!!

What's next??

     So a few things have changed since the last time my group established a schedule so it is time for a new plan. Today is the last day we have in class before Spring break and Paulina will not be coming back before our project is due. I made this cute little calendar on Canva to visualize what we have to get done and when.

    First, I made a to-do list to see just how much we need to finish this week. Then, I took a break because we have a ton to get done over break. Subtract the CCR since we will begin that after the break but that is everything we have to do over break. It really is not too much because we stayed on a good schedule from the beginning of our project, luckily. 

    Next, I made this editing schedule that we do not have to follow too strictly as long as it all gets done by March 29th. 

    I think overall as long as we stick to the schedules, work together, and really focus on communication since we won't see each other in school every other day like we used to, then we will be successful in completing our project by the deadline. We will be editing using Adobe Premiere Pro because we all have access to it and the features on it can be really beneficial to our project. Although we cannot share one project on Premiere, we will divide the clips into three and each group member will be responsible for one section to make sure it is fairly divided. Also, Daniela has been working on the title animation for the last few days which I will show in an upcoming post once it is finalized. Okay, that is all for now, talk later!!