How This Intro Clip Came to Be Via Journals:
Journal 1: Title idea 11/10/23
The title screen is going to be found towards the end of our intro clip. This is going to be done as a cliffhanger to further highlight the point that it’s the intro clip and the movie has just finished its “introductory act” and the end of my clip. Additionally, the title will reflect the character’s mood, more specifically the color. As my group and I went through the pre-production process we chose colors such as blue and purple to give it a more depressing or intellectual tone to it, however, these colors were mostly scrapped due to our main message. Ultimately, we decided the primary color of the title card will have a yellow tone to it, this will contribute specifically to the character’s mental health or supposed “insanity”. This title enforces the overall theme of my movie as the character is struggling with his two side’s focusing on the mental struggle of the individual. The reason the title color is so important is because it reflects my style as a filmmaker as well. My favorite movie which can be found here is a major inspiration for not only this movie but the color of the title as well as The Shining uses such colors to invoke its intended themes like my title. Additionally, my secondary color for the title is most likely going to be red, this is also an influence that The Shining has played on my movie as its main color is red. Moreover, in this context, I am using the color red for the same context as The Shining did which is to bring attention to the object also known as the title, and to invoke a feeling of terror or anxiety. This is because terror and anxiety are heavily linked to mental states and the intro clips' intended purpose is to bring attention to the mental state of the character. Lastly, this title's main purpose would be to set the tone to the “rest of the movie” and what better way to do it than reflecting the overall theme of the clip that was just watched.
Journal 2: Locations 11/12/23
A big part of the film pre-production process relates to the finding of our location. It took a while to figure out due to my group's busy schedules and we were ultimately planning to use a large range of locations. However, this conflicted with not only our schedules but was hard considering only one of us had transportation so we came to the conclusion that we should stick to only one location and maybe have two or three extra ones close by. This ultimately worked and we chose the house in between my other group members to make the commute easier. Ultimately, I believe this was successful because our idea in mind was to make an independent looking film rather than a conglomerate based one. This is evident in my Conglomerate Vs. Independent assignment where I believed that having an independent film is more creative and less copy and pasted which is the intended vibe of our movie in order to stick out more. Additionally, it is more homemade looking which is our literal intention as the movie is one hundred if not eighty percent shot in the vicinity of a house or in a house. This is a characteristic that almost no Conglomerate film will have and this contributes to the reason we decided on a house or streets as the locations for my group’s clip. With the location chosen my group does encounter one error however, and that is the weather. This makes it harder to film as some portions of our clip must be sunny or brighter and if it rains or if it decides to be cloudy this could effectively ruin our composition of shots especially if done outside and our movie could turn out the way we don’t envision it. However, with that being said, the location could be susceptible to change depending on the weather. Alternatively, if my group has enough time to get certain outside shots out of the way first there would be no problem. However, the use of lighting equipment may play a key role in certain scenes in order to bring the clip up to standards.
Journal 3: Film Texture 11/14/23
One of the most important discussions that my group talked about was the importance of film texture. Since it is hard to execute or make noticeable in some way that meant something, my group and I focused on ideas such as making the world black and white in certain shots to contribute to his falling out of the world or social world. However, this was ultimately scrapped due to our inexperience with editing and the way it would make the clip look weird or unpolished at certain points. Ultimately, after going through a couple of ideas we planned to make the film one of two options which are yet to be decided at this time. The first, is to shoot with the natural saturated look of the iPhone to give it a newer, independent film look. The second, is to shoot with a possible yellow filter or hue over the iPhone to the setting to contribute to the yellow theming that will be prevalent throughout the movie and to make it appear more saturated or desaturated at certain points. Both ideas were good and this was a dividing point among my group as we were unsure which to add. I personally believed that the yellow hue would be better; however, my decision was met with backlash. This is mainly in part because of the inexperience of my group and the difficulties it would cause to film or edit. Currently as of November 16th, 2023, our decision is undecided and will need further discussion to decide. Conversely, my group and I did make the decision to film on an iPhone rather than an actual camera as my group members not only don’t have a camera but, we only have access to an older camera which doesn’t fit with the intended theme of our clip at all. Moreover, this means my group will not be using any special kinds of Infrared film or anything of that sort and definitely not black and white as discussed earlier due to the film texture not fitting. In conclusion, since it was captured on Iphone the quality is going to be 4k but, despite the agreement on which device to use, it will take further time to discuss the final film texture that will be used in actual production.
Journal 4: Costume Design 11/14/23
When coming up with the movie my group and I automatically started to consider the costume design. Since the movie would center around and pretty much only have one character that was split into two different people it was imperative that the clothes fit and his accessories reflected his character. Since the characterization of our character was going to reflect his inner persona and his outer persona we needed to choose clothes that somewhat opposed and contradicted each other while also fitting the characters personality. This was especially challenging considering the fact that I was the actor and didn't have too many different clothes other than Metal band shirts and hoodies. Additionally, I also don’t want to spend money so ultimately we decided to focus on hair and makeup along with a more casual look since the character and setting is a more intimate and casual space. I feel as though this will enhance the character more than actually buying an outfit because it feels more realistic and the inner self having a messier feel with casual clothing such as baggy and long pants and shirts with darker tones. This along with the messier hair and make up made eyebags the character will have will make the character seem more fleshed out and will further highlight the themes we are portraying with that persona in the film. Contrastly, the outer persona will have a more lively look with shorts, sports shoes, and a possibly daring shirt saying a funny, outgoing statement to bring out his extraverted nature. This along with the use of brighter tones such as yellow and orange would make the character seem more lively and outwards which is the intended purpose. Additionally, the color yellow could also be used to tie into the fact that despite the characters outer persona keeping it together, it is still leaking out its inner emotions or feelings of insanity which is one of the messages the clip will be conveying. Despite the idea, the difficulty of separating the two characters is confusing at first and if not done right and noticeably it could make the clip seem often confusing however, this is something my group and I would have to consider for the script and not necessarily the costume design. In conclusion, I believe the costume design along with the hair and makeup will play a key role in the movie we are making. Furthermore, this is one of the ideas my group and I collectively agreed on and the importance of considering these choices during the pre-production process really benefited my team in not only what the movie is about but also gave us realistic standards to compare the movie to.
Journal 5: Group Members, The pre-production teamwork 11/16/23
So far, I believe that my team and I have worked well and diligently together in order to come up with our ideas. This is especially prevalent as of now in our pre-production processes. My group members; let’s call them A. and S. have not only helped me but as a group we have helped each other. My group is mainly built upon us doing our own strengths while also working together collectively. Despite the fact that it may seem like divide and conquer work it is quite the opposite as my group members and I often ask each other for input and help on certain assignments while also acting on their own and doing activities far ahead of schedule. For example: my friend S. decided to make a script about a month in advance and it worked out perfectly for me and my friend A. as we were able to focus on our projects such as costume picking and location scouting. It also gave me an ample amount of time to memorize lines as I play the leading role with most of the lines being me. The script not only helped me memorize lines but it also helped contribute to our projects as A. and I are now capable of finding locations and costumes based on what we perceive the script as and if we needed any fill ins then we would ask S. for his interpretation so we could come to a collective decision. This teamwork made the pre-production process super simple and has provided us with time to improve and edit certain ideas that don’t seem to fit and it worked in everyone’s favor as S. loves to write scripts and giving him creative freedom while also giving instruction on what we think is going to greatly benefit us in our production and filmmaking processes. For example, when S. wrote the script there were some things we couldn’t interpret such as certain lines and the way things would be said and S. clarifying this for us allowed us to make edits into a script that fit what we all wanted to have while also limiting us to a manageable standpoint. This mindfulness has also greatly benefitted the preproduction process and made my group very manageable to work with and I believe this will give us the tools to succeed. Lastly, I believe that since we are all friends and have a passion or skill in one area of filmmaking it has allowed us to set goals for each other and improve them. This also allows us to have a proficient understanding of what to do and the activities we will need to do later ultimately benefiting our time management and cooperation during production and pre production.
Journal 6: Theme Music, 12/10/23
The song we have chosen for our movie is going to be two versions of the same song. These being Strawberry Wine by Deana Carter and the cover by The John Steel Singers. The intended purpose of this is to add a two-sided story to the singular character as his inner self and outer self are completely different almost like the song along with the lyrics. The theme music plays a key part in the movie as it reflects the characters actions and feelings of struggle and accepting himself. It also is the name of our intro clip and in my Reasons Behind The Song Choice I discuss why it is the title along with the reason being that my teammates and I are into rock music and that's why we specifically chose a rock cover. In this link I also discussed the purpose and reasoning behind the music as I say that “the lyrics also fit with the overall tone we wish to convey. With the John Steel song having an ”almost romantic [tone] about two people in peace together directly opposing the actual plot of the intro clip with the character’s two personas” in an argumentative state with each other. This is further contributed by the original version of the song as it is more relaxing and slower paced than the cover and since it swaps between the two it goes from more relaxed to tense. The song Strawberry Wine - John Steel is an upbeat song that directly contrasts to Strawberry Wine - Deana Carter version as does the characters and these motifs are going to be used throughout the intro clip to show the contrast between the characters two personas. The John Steel is a more hopeful tone with sadder lyrics while the Deana Carter version is more softer, sadder but optimistic lyrics which also contradict each other. This reflects the mood of the character and his change in mood throughout the movie as he will betray himself, wholly contradicting himself just like the songs. Moreover, In order to better understand the motif the lyrics are essential to pay attention to with the characters actions almost being narrated by certain words. This was another reason that we chose these songs as certain moments in the movie will be represented through the lyrics adding deeper meaning to what is actually happening which is why I feel these two songs were the perfect motifs we could have used in order to make our movie.
Journal 7: Actual Title, 12/13/23
As my team and I are in the late stages of the pre-production process we have thought it necessary to make a title card. This being the one I linked: Title Card - Strawberry Wine. The title card seen is most likely going to be the one used for our movie and my first journal entry has some problems with it that we adjusted in order to make it what you see. As you can see we scrapped the idea of using a yellow tone for insanity as we felt that the more we developed the script and character, the less insane he felt and more just conflicted which is why we chose pink. Going back to my Reasons Behind The Song Choice, it goes hand in hand with the music as the title was made that way on purpose, with me stating why we named it after the song as I stated in Journal 1 but now I have a more developed idea of the reason found in the link above. Focusing on the literal strawberry and spilled wine in the title was not added for the literal purpose but for theming. As discussed in my link, Reasons Behind The Song Choice, I explained that “the strawberry is to add [a symbol] … of purity and innocence which directly contradicts the character’s dilemma as he is clearly not pure and innocent, the character in itself is also a contradiction as he is split between his two “appearances””. The lack of innocence in his character is made apparent by the clip as there is a reason he has his two appearances which is for now, left up to interpretation and could be a possible future journal entry. The spilled wine as I stated was to represent the contradiction of “wisdom and knowledge” which is what wine represents along with maturity. The reason it was spilled was supposed to suggest that he is losing his wisdom to himself due to a lack of maturity representing the wine itself, “spilling out symbolizing the lack of control”. Lastly, the colors were changed as stated from yellow to pink; while the red was kept, we made it lighter due to the design looking weird as a regular red. The color pink we used as explained once again in Reasons Behind The Song Choice, was in part due to their contradictions of each other. The pink and red are fundamentally similar in looks just like the two different versions of the character being part of the same body but also they mean different things. The pink was supposed to represent “intimacy and hope/love” while the red represents “intensity or frustration” which are the main emotions of the two personalities throughout the clip with the intimacy being represented by the closeness the viewer is to the character as they hear his thoughts and his inner feelings. Personally, I believe the title we made was largely important for the symbolism of the movie and it will provide a good way to summarize what the viewer watched through it’s symbolic meaning, further emphasizing the movie's message.
Journal 8: Writing the Script (Inspirations, Ideas, Discussions), 12/15
One of the early stages of our pre-production included writing our script which at this point in time I believe we have perfected. The script found here: Script - Strawberry Wine marks the completion of our groundwork in pre-production in terms of the plot. This process allowed my group and I to search for what exactly we wanted in the movie and what we hoped to convey. My next journal (9) will highlight the specific tropes we used and hoped to use while this one will highlight the way it was written and why. The main idea we wanted to convey as I explained in a previous journal (journal 1) was the use of psychology in our movies as stated in my Favorite Movie - Inspiration. The topic of psychology is evident in my Script - Strawberry Wine as it draws on the inspiration of The Shining and the character of Jack Torrence battling his mind piqued my interest which ultimately turned into the main focus of the intro clip with the character of Jacob/Jake also fighting his mind in a different way. The guidance of my teammates also helped determine the writing as well; as stated in journal 6, we wanted the music to almost guide the characters and the script was written a certain way to make sure of this such as certain stage directions or actions being added at certain points to mirror the song. Additionally, the script has some slang used, which was suggested by one of my teammates to add a certain layer to the character as he is only a teen. We wanted it to seem more modern and not formal tones of speaking. We used words such as “your boy” and “man” in our Script - Strawberry Wine, to make the character feel more fleshed out but also used the idea of filmmaking or youtubing as millions of kids around the world in Gen Z (The characters Generation), create videos making him feel younger. However, not everything was smooth sailing, while writing the script there were some problems and arguments being made, namely the overall direction of the movie. My friend S wanted to make it a more self finding journey while I hoped to make it a darker toned movie and A wanted to make it a mix so we decided to go with a mix in order to balance out our respective styles together. The added cliffhanger of a mysterious video was an important decision we were very hesitant to make as we weren’t sure which way we wanted the audience to interpret the clip and how they would predict an ending if it were to be made in the future. I believe that the mix and video was a good way to go however, there were probably better ways to go about it if given more time to discuss as we were on a time crunch due to outside interference, All in all, I believe we explored our intended themes throughout the clip with a balance of what all three of us wanted and wished to be included with the character of the mom being an example as we wanted to add a bit of “worldbuilding” to the character before solely focusing on him. Other examples such as Jake smacking Jacob on the back and him feeling it despite the fact that they are the same person was an idea that I had that was also something I felt needed to be included as it was supposed to feel real to Jacob and the use of physicality shows how much of a hold his mind is in over his current situation.
Journal 9: Tropes! 12/15
As mentioned in the previous Journal, tropes are an important part of filmmaking and my team and I went through many discussions deciding what to do as it played an important role in our script and our movie as a whole. In my class we were given a guided worksheet of a list of tropes which is linked to here: Tropes Guideline, which we then had to do an assignment doing research on tropes of our choosing. The tropes I used is linked here Trope Powerpoint, while not very beneficial to the current journal it allowed for me to start brainstorming on ideas early and using the Tropes Guideline my group and I were able to tweak and use some tropes in order to form the script into its final draft. The Script - Strawberry Wine, has costume design details about Jake vs. Jacobs style which was a trope that we used. While not explicitly in the Tropes Guideline, it highlights the “split personality” trope or even the “opposites” trope of two characters being interconnected but complete opposites, this is usually shown in romance but with some tweaking we were able to do it with a combination of the “split personalities” trope to give us our main conflict. Additionally, we used a trope directly out of the Tropes Guideline, called the MacGuffin, however, we also tweaked this as it is not meaningless to the main character but meaningless to everyone else in the clip. Jake is a MacGuffin and a “foil character” to Jacob that drives the plot forward as he is not the real personality but still an antagonistic force to Jacob in a way. These tropes were our main ones used and my group and I had to discuss multiple times on tying these tropes together with the songs and title card to make sure we could get the most effective use out of symbolism. Moreover, While we were discussing the tropes there were also some we wanted to avoid as well. This caused some arguments among my group as some wanted to use specific tropes to lean towards their own style of film but ultimately we decided to absolutely not use certain ones. One such example being the “it was all a dream trope”, this trope was one that one of my group members wanted to use as it made it seem like it was all a nightmare but it ended up being real which would be hinted at by the final second of our clip. Me and my other group member, S believed this would make it too confusing or too forced as it was a dream but it was also real and made it seem lazy which we didn’t want. This was hard to convince my other group members of but eventually we did and we all agreed to not use it due to the lack of originality it gave us. There were other such tropes that we didn’t want to use but ultimately they were pretty obvious not to use such as making Jake a ghost or anything supernatural as it would turn our psychological based mystery into a horror movie of sorts which, although my style, would ruin the intended purpose of stuff such as the title and the song choices of Strawberry Wine - John Steel and Strawberry Wine - Deana Carter. Ultimately, I believe we were able to work together and make the tropes work with our movie and although it took a while, it was a necessary step in order to develop our script and begin our final touches on the pre-production process in order for us to finally start making the clip.
Journal 10: Hypothetical: Working for a Conglomerate Vs. Indie , pre-production process. 12/17/23
As we end up the pre-production process there are many things that I feel would be done differently if it was done as an independent studio or even a conglomerate that we just were not able or couldn’t do. In this journal I feel it is important to explain and focus on the Conglomerate industry model as a whole in order to compare what I would do differently in the pre-production process if I were in one myself. I believe if, hypothetically, my team and I were a part of a conglomerate studio our movie would change drastically. For one, we do not exactly have any budget while Conglomerates do. This is evident in my case study of conglomerates as it states that according to Conglomerate Study 1 - 1917, the film movie made by the Conglomerate Universal got 90-100 million dollars in budget. With this money I would be able to put more attention not only into the special effects such as having the same person on screen at the same time, but also we would be able to spend more detail on the script and have it structured better as it would be made by professionals rather than high school students. I believe the Conglomerate model would fit better than an indie film studio or a no-budget group of students mainly because of the large growing interest in psychological based movies and with the disposal of the Conglomerates power such as Disney or Universal Studios we would be able to advertise it and make it more than just a two minute clip. However, one negative aspect of the Conglomerate model is the restriction of creativity as evident in my Conglomerate Study 2 - GOTG Vol 3, I did research on the director, James Gunn and found his restriction of creativity in the latest Guardians of the Galaxy Film and saw that despite the fact that he was able to do most of the essentials, a lot was cut and he was earlier fired from Marvel. This challenge means that the film would also not be entirely in my hands which is also why I feel my movie would do a little better in the Indie company model in that category. Switching gears to the Indie company, although there was not as much research done on it I was able to understand that it is almost an inverse of sorts of a conglomerate. As I do not have all the Synergetic or Convergence techniques of a Conglomerate I do have more freedom. This, with a certain amount of money (less than conglomerate but still good) would provide me with making my movie probably just as good with my ability to have the freedom I need on the most part. Unlike James Gunn with my Conglomerate Study 2 - GOTG Vol 3, I would be able to stay true to my original plot idea. However, despite the lack of freedom I do still believe that the Conglomerate model would ultimately suit my film better because the Conglomerate Study 1 - 1917, while still a conglomerate, the director of 1917 had freedom as I researched and was able to turn out one of the best movies of all time. Ultimately, I believe that both models would work for my movie better than what I have now without any budget but the Conglomerate would suit me better due to the abundance of funding, the ideas of convergence and synergy, and the possibility of mega franchise ideas which would allow me to produce a lot of money if my movies were to be exhibitioned.
Journal 11: Promotion 1/08/24
As my group and I enter the production process it is important to consider the use of promotion that usually comes around this time of filming and post production as well to promote our work. I feel the best way to study promotion is from Conglomerates and their uses of Ancillary Revenue, 360 degree promotion, and cross media. This is backed up by my case studies on Conglomerates, and if I had the ability to promote my film I would do it in these specific ways. As marketing has improved greatly following the 21st century there are many ways to promote the movies and I believe the most important and beneficial one is 360 degree promotion. This is done in many conglomerate works and this is evident in my Conglomerate Case Study of Guardians of the Galaxy. For this movie the promotion team uploaded several trailers on websites, disney plus, theaters etc, along with merchandise in stores and even spotify playlists for people that tend to use that everyday which even helps the older audiences as many of the songs were from the 1980’s. However, this is not all they did; they also used the additional push of doing actor interviews and voicing their opinions on their time at Marvel along with hyping the movie up. This use of promotion is something I would like to use as it provides hype and notice for my project on all fronts of media. This would also be beneficial for movies such as Indie one’s (like my groups) if we had the money as it would be a higher chance that more people would be interested as it is an Indie movie rather than a conglomerate and most of the movies that do this promotion even Indie companies, make more. For example, in an article I have used a lot to help learn about film, specifically promotion the first paragraph states that promotion has helped promote movies; using examples such as A24, an Indie studio that has become insanely successful due to their good quality and marketing of their movies. Other helpful promotions are Ancillary revenue which could also be lumped in with 360 degree promotion but are also important to discuss in its own right. Items such as posters, toys, outfits, accessories etc could be lumped into Ancillary Revenue and this was done not only in my Conglomerate Case Study of Guardians of the Galaxy, but also in my Conglomerate Case Study of 1917 where the sound track produced a large amount of sales, which is a form of Ancillary revenue as well. Overall, I believe I would pay more attention to the 360 degree promotion in order to promote my movie as I feel it is important to get as much attention as possible everywhere which is why my vision would mainly involve 360 degree promotion and Ancillary Revenue.
Journal 12: My Role in my groups movie (The struggles on my roles) 1/10/24
As we started the production process this month my group and I have assigned ourselves roles that will be paramount in determining the workload and our requirements and responsibilities in this task. For example, today our filming was completed and I was the main actor, this is evident in such clips that will be added here later. Throughout the process, my partner, S, has been mostly the director and this was evident in the creation of the Script as mentioned in my earlier journals where it was mainly his idea and him writing the script with me and my other partner, A adjusting it. However, as he was given the head, my partner, A, and I were given equally as important roles. As I am the only one with acting experience I not only am the main actor as I mentioned earlier but to be specific, I play the two main characters, the same person but different, almost polar opposite personalities which I had to use my previous knowledge in acting from my summer film school (New York Film Academy) to the test. In this scene it was particularly hard for me to act as I am not known to be good at depressing roles and ones that require me to stick to the exact script as I often like to adlib. This made it hard and required many takes to get the scene to how we wanted. Additionally, my beginning of the year resolution for this course was to better my cinematography skills which I have been allowed to do with my group as I am also the cinematographer and look over the shots after shooting so I can not only discuss with my group what to change but also bend my acting to a way that will suit my composition to the best of its ability with the influence of my partners. Additionally going back to my role as cinematographer in our first day of filming I did face some difficulties that will be mentioned a bit later in my journal. One minor one to mention now is the adjusting to weather as I did have to wear a jacket in 80 degree weather where it was very humid which definitely limited me as I did have a headache from it, so one thing my group and I may need to work on is proper health like drinking water or trying to work with the weather. Lastly, my partner, A was a big help as she has many roles but not any major ones, however, this was suitable as my partner S, and I are both experienced in film while she is not which is why we worked together with A to make her get a hands on experience while also playing a backseat role. For example, she got a bit of acting experience even if it was just a line or two and this was evident if you look back at the Script as she plays the “mom”, and she was also useful as she helped us with lighting along with the fact that S and I tried to show her how to compose shots and direct as we at one point allowed her to direct. All in all, I believe that my role in the group is sufficient along with my partners and I believe that we worked well together considering it was our first time filming and the first time will always be messy. I also believe that the shots turned out well and as I go throughout my production process I will most likely add to this journal.
Journal 13: Original Vs. Reboots (A discussion on Film as a whole and the impact it has on my movie): 1/12/24
When it comes to the reboots vs originals; it is an age-old discussion that many film critics and experts discuss and I believe it is important to compare and contrast in order to provide context to my movie as some inspirations have come from the differences between specific reboots and original films. For example, one movie that I believe influenced my work as mentioned in My first set of journal entries was that of The Shining which has not only influenced my group's choice in color palette but also the plot as I wanted it to be more psychological as one of my critiques for the film's script. This movie has had a remake or reboot of sorts known as Doctor Sleep which is a sequel to the famous Shining, and although received half decently as according to Rotten Tomatoes, it has impacted the movie. The use of camera work and color theming is that which is influenced heavily by the original Shining and has shown me that although a genius, Stanley Kubrick's work could be somewhat replicated. This was a big motivation booster for me as I aspire to create a movie as good as The Shining. This brings me to my next point which is mainly a concept as a whole but this movie also shows me that although some reboots could be better than the original such as It OG vs Remake as this guy concludes, it is often the Original that is better and it influenced me to come up with original ideas. Originally our script was supposed to be very similar in concept to movies like Split with the aspect of multiple personalities. However, we didn’t exactly want to copy or remake a movie with the same idea as we knew it would be nowhere near as good and copying an idea would just result in a lack of creativity. This realization made us experiment more with the idea and come up with a more modern version which would not have been done if we didn’t look at the details and cost of freedom of remaking the same idea. Additionally, this influenced my acting as well as I didn’t want to rely on the influence of other actors who played similar characters such as James McAvoy, in Split as mentioned above. This made me want to play my own character and I believe added motivation to my acting skills and made me want to act as well as I could. Overall, I believe that it is important to consider the effects of remakes vs. Original ideas in order to not only compare and contrast but to make new ideas as remakes are a prime example of what happens with a lack of creativity. Moreover, after evaluating the movies such as The Shining and Doctor Sleep I believe it has allowed me to motivate myself to always be original while also having a little bit of inspiration from those who I admire such as Stanley Kubrick.
Journal 14: The Film Industries Effect On My Flim 1/13/24
The film industry has played a huge role in the production of movies coming out every year and plays a big role even in small films such as my groups. The film industry nowadays focuses on inclusion and wokeness which has greatly upset many while making others happy. This is evident in not only critic reviews but also in the movies and opinions of others around the industry especially in Hollywood and even starting around the world. This has also had an effect on my movie as some criticism from movies has impacted the way we shot it, wish to shoot it, and certain themes we wanted to convey or remove. For example one of my previous Journals had me talking about film texture specifically the color yellow which was supposed to play a big part in theming. However as time went on we mostly scrapped it as we didn’t want to falsely identify the characters conflict as him being legitimately insane and we didn’t want to misidentify a possibly triggering issue. This was mainly due to the fact that these days many people will criticize you for this and the fear of that and it being poorly received made us refrain from using yellow hues. Additionally, none of my group members are psychologists therefore the misinterpretation of insanity could also make the movie feel a little wonky at times. This could also put an expectation that we didn’t want when comparing our idea to that of similar movies such as Split which was mentioned earlier. This movie is a prime example of an actual mental problem and has received some backlash when it was first released as stated by this NYU Case Study of Sorts where they mention the boycotting of such movies, and that was back when Hollywood first started becoming more aware of inclusions and correct representations and now it's even worse. Now not only was that made by Blumhouse, which is now a big company and distributed by a Conglomerate, Universal Studios as evident by this page, but also controversy faced on a Conglomerate vs a Indie company is far different. This is further proven especially if an Indie company makes a controversy on it’s debut movie such as my group, it could create a lot of problems and ultimately either become a double edged sword, allowing us attention but also creating a lot of haters. This is bad but good publicity but ultimately not a risk worth taking and me and my group came to this conclusion which is why we ultimately decided to scrap this inclusion of the yellowish theming although some could still be found it mostly took a backseat.
Journal 15: Genre Issues 1/15/24
This is mostly an addition to another journal and the previous journal however, in my opinion it is a huge point especially as we started production and made some final changes. One such worry was our genre which I mentioned earlier in a journal. In the earlier journal (Specifically Journal 8) while writing the script I previously talked about the inspirations and ideas behind the making of our script and now that it has been finally completed and is in the process of being realized we have changed certain things. One such change is the overreliance of the psychological genre. While I am a big fan of it as a whole we toned it down just like the insanity part through the yellow color hue as mentioned previously however, this wasn’t mainly because of the Hollywood or critic responses. This was instead in part due to the issue of the genre and its common relation to horror as a lot of psychological movies tend to fall into this category along with some being thrillers which was another scrapped idea I talked about early in another Journal entry. As much as I’d like my movie to be labeled as this, as discussed earlier I don’t want my group to face the backlash of this and instead play it more safely. This is why we tended to float more to genres such as teen drama or mystery as we decided to make it a bit more convoluted as a whole while also making some of our stuff more dramatic like the movements. For example, in this unedited clip of an important part of the film, we added a dramatic, superhero-like mockery of the character about to switch personalities of sorts. This would not only convey our theme but was added in the final touches of pre-production in order to make it more lighthearted and to also prod fun at superhero movies. Moreover, we changed other parts of the movie such as my favorite part of the movie which in my opinion made it a bit better, that in my opinion helped solve our genre issues and make it more dramatic. Furthermore, another dramatic part was the moment the switch happened which we weren’t able to finish unfortunately on the first day of filming but we did do an outline which is shown here. This part, which will be discussed more in depth in a later journal was supposed to represent the dramatic switch in tone and originally was supposed to be done through a dutch angle and eerie smile, we changed the plan to make it have a eye level to low angle shot to show the change in power of the two different personalities. This will be further explained later as stated above but is a key point in my group's movie that will be added to later and will be a far different version than what i previously described.
Journal 16: The New Member!!! A Blessing?! 1/17/24
After a successful filming session with my group of 3, including me we came back to school with quite a shock! As the title of this journal clearly expresses, it appears that we have a new group member, Let’s call her Zay or Z for short. She is a friend of S and I as she is in our same TV production 3 class and has an abundance of skills that we can use. She also has skills that can make up for our weaknesses and can highlight our strengths which makes it really helpful to have her. I won’t get too much into the drama but apparently there was a falling out with her group's scheduling so they decided to split due to Z taking on a bunch of the work and not being able to film due to working around her difficult teammates schedules. This result in the split up ultimately made her ask to join us due to our familiarity and ability to adapt the fastest out of the other groups in my opinion. While awesome it does come with the unbalance of certain ideas, however, I believe it could also prove somewhat useful as she mostly specializes in Editing and Cinematography. Editing is something that A, S, and I have no exact experience with and even if we do; we ultimately dislike it and Z is able to make up for that thankfully. Additionally, I, as stated In one of these past journals, during the filming process, I took up the role as the groups cinematographer as that is one of my passions, however with Z in the picture not only doing we have a designated one, but, we can bounce off ideas with each other as we both have worked together in our TV Production class and have good chemistry with ideas and cooperation without having our egos get in the way of our work. This could also allow me to focus more on acting and possibly produce better results and get more input specifically in some shots I dislike so we are possibly able to reshoot them with this shot being a prime example. Additionally, since I have the most experience with actual credit in film schools (NYFA), and actually work on film sets locally and in New York, I can now focus on also teaching our more inexperienced partner, A what to do and how to do it without having to worry about codirecting, cinematographer, actor, and editing assistant, along with helper of my partner. However, one negative thing I do have to say is the worrisome ego fighting. Although I mentioned earlier we work well together, both my partner S and her could be bossy at times and although that’s okay, it could cause some foreseen arguments or disagreements creatively to which I may have to split it up with my partner A. In contrast to that one negative, I do ultimately believe that all will work well and we all will find some common ground as she is a pretty understanding person so overall I believe this new addition to our already good working team could actually be an even greater blessing rather than baggage or a curse!
Journal 17: If I were to have my video on a streaming channel what would I choose? 1/18/24
Another hypothetical yet important question to answer if I were to continue my intro clip would be as the title states, “If I were to have my video on a streaming channel what would I choose?”. In this Journal I believe it is important to consider the possibilities of all the studios, specifically a few of the Conglomerates’ streaming channels as those stand the biggest chance of viewership with the addition of Netflix. First up is Max, formerly known as HBO Max and owned by Warner Bros, my personal favorite conglomerate. This streaming service houses many amazing series such as Game of Thrones, Rick and Morty, and many more along with Live TV including sports like Hulu and Prime. This streaming service would personally be my top pick if my movie was expanded and was put on a streaming service not only because of the bias, but the sheer fact that according to many people and research, it is considered the best streaming service for premium content. This includes, as mentioned earlier, Game of Thrones, Euphoria, Lord of the Rings, and a massive library that, according to critics, has the best movie choices. This in itself would mean that if my movie were to be added to Max, it would not only mean it was good enough to be with these “premium content movies and shows” but would also give me access to the most amount of people that are interested in better quality content which is perfect for feedback especially in the film industry as I know what to do wrong and right based on critic choices. The next, and most obvious choice is Netflix, this company while not a conglomerate owned company, is the most popular and well known service. This, while considered The best streaming service of all, is not my first choice but definitely my second as it is the most well known, its quality in projects are not exactly the best. It is in my opinion, the Hallmark of the streaming services and values quantity over quality which I do not exactly want my movie to be put in. Additionally, people who just don’t appreciate quality could give the wrong feedback and I would prefer to get the best quality feedback possible. The third place for me would have to go to Hulu. It is owned by NBCUniversal (the conglomerate for universal studios) and majority Disney, and this in itself is the main reason I would prefer the other two streaming services. Universal studios, while my dream studio to work for, is overshadowed by Disney and I am not fond of Disney at all. Not only due to the almost near Monopoly they have on everything but also its family friendly ideals and its sheer ability to buy almost anyone out makes it difficult to want to have an Indie Movie on, especially one that is not family friendly which is why on a side note Disney+, is my least favorite due to its inconsistency, bad library, and ownership by Disney.
Journal 18: My Vision vs My Result Part 1 1/19/24
This journal will most likely be a multi-part work or will be edited later but it is an important step in the imaging process. This is a prime example of an expectation vs reality scenario where my expectations will most likely be far different from the outcome and it is an important thing to look back on not only for the comparison, but also for new ideas as some ideas that were not executed in this movie could be done in future projects of mine. To get into the thick of it, I obviously think that the movie will go awesomely and it will be perfect however, I know that is not all true. For example, my acting vision involves me playing a very numb but also somewhat emotional/emotionless character. This is somewhat hard to do as they literally contradict and although I'm trying my best and I will be perfect according to my vision, the results contradict this. I do have some good parts such as This raw footage, but I also believe I could do better and I believe I may ask to reshoot the scene. Furthermore, this is why it’s important to mention this stuff as I believe it allows me to reflect and aspire to do things differently and more inline to what I want. The raw footage while not great, has allowed me to get a grasp for what I have to do and is one thing I will need to talk to S, the original script writer about as mentioned in a previous Journal. However, while difficult and a bit annoying, I believe now with the addition of our new group member, Z, she could help give me some possible direction better than S has which will allow me to grasp the character a little better and give a more consistent performance because at times it feels flat. For example, this scene, while shot a bit of times, and was mentioned in a previous Journal, is still not the best. The vision I described earlier was one that I believe we could have done if we had more time, but due to time constraints will most likely not be included. Moreover, I believe if we do want to do something short it may have to be something a bit better as this doesn’t feel like a good way to convey the change in character that the movie plays a huge role in. While this journal is cut short It will be added to down the line with a part two and I believe this, while abrupt is overall necessary to consider as a person, or a director, or a cinematographer, or even an actors vision could change from the pre-production, to the production process and it is highly important to consider this.
Journal 19: My Resources 1/20/24
As the production process goes on there are a couple of materials that we have acquired from our TV production teacher who is also teaching AICE Media Studies. I feel that it is important to discuss them not only because they are an important part of the production process, but also to encourage people to not worry about the fancy, one thousand dollar equipment to show that films could be made even with minimal equipment. To begin, one of the most important parts of our equipment is the tripod. The tripod, a pretty self explanatory piece of equipment is also equipped with not only wheels but a phone holder instead of a camera holder as our film was shot using an Iphone 12. The almost exact tripod was found here and it is a very useful tool that we have so far used in all of our shots and will definitely need later to carry out certain shots. Following the tripod, we have the mics, with us specifically acquiring a dynamic microphone, which almost looks exactly like the one linked. This microphone works as one may imagine through either a ribbon or a moving coil, while not getting into the nitty gritty details of what the different microphones are, This mic was helpful when using it as a boom or to blend into the environment and pick stuff up, although not used too much yet by us, it most certainly will later. The second type of microphone we have acquired is a set of two and they are lavalier or lav mics. These mics, self explanatory enough attach to the talent's clothes and are often invisible to the audience if hidden correctly, and to make things better, they are wireless meaning there is no need to even bother trying to hide the wire which saves a lot of time and trouble. However, one problem we faced is that these will be put to better use later, as our teacher gave us one that we unfortunately cannot use due to the different ports required to record it not being suitable for the Iphone 12 to use. Moving on, lastly we have the light that we used. As of now we only have one and it is an LED however, we have acquired a couple of gels that are useful for adjusting the overall Kelvin of the lights allowing us to have white light, yellow light, and some darker, purplish light. This LED Light which is quite tiny, is misleading by appearance as it is quite bright and could be adjusted. Although not the exact product, the link provided shows a near replica of it that was given to us and this light specifically helped us in this scene as the environment was originally too dark. Overall, I believe our equipment is promising and capable of carrying out the task given to us while also allowing us to be wise with how we use the resources. This, I feel is an important step in the process of filmmaking as you cannot take resources for granted and must use every little bit of money and resources to your advantage to fully realize your goal and I feel like this is the first of many steps my group will have to take in order to fully make our film and continue the production process.
Journal 20: If I were to continue my film what scenes would I add? 1/22/24
After our first half of the film has been completed and we now have experience with meeting up to film and a clear understanding of our talents we have decided on what exactly to do. However, with this footage that we have acquired we have decided to ultimately cut scenes which I wish we didn’t. Additionally, if we had more time there are some scenes I would love to add but due to time constraints, we weren’t able to. One such scene is going to be in the final draft as of now but I wish we added more to it, the clip is shown here. This was originally going to be a more drawn out scene with a more rapid change, specifically in the face. My face was originally going to shift and there was also going to be a compression of time as well of my face with more time focusing on my facial expression shifts. This was ultimately cut due to the time limit but if I were to continue filming without a time limit and finishing my movie, I would most definitely have included that. Additionally, one scene that’s up for debate even still is the inclusion of my partner, A’s scene as even though it is short it fleshed out the main character, Jacob/Jake’s Mom. The Video shown here is one that we are currently in debate about, and although useful one of my members, S, argues its waste of time in the already short time we have for the movie. However, I believe this is more of a thing we will have to see once we have fully started the post-production process, I do think it is important to talk about as of now as if we go back to my original topic of “if I had an opportunity to expand it what would i do?”, I believe this scene would need to be included as the mom would ultimately play a secondary role in the movie. Following this idea, I also think that if I did continue my film and had some scenes I would ultimately expand the feeling of loneliness the main character is feeling. This is shown in this link, and although it's just a rough copy, it was a primary example of his loneliness that we are also debating on including. But going even further onto this point, I believe that the more time would allow us to further highlight the feeling of loneliness through more definite means. For example, One scene i would like to have would be him talking to himself around a crowd of people and as they notice the strange phenomena, they would walk away and you would just see Jacob talking to himself, going down the street and everyone just scattering away from him, further conveying his loneliness and the “wall” that he is enclosed in. All in all, this is mostly purely hypothetical stuff but I feel it is important to write about as it is always important to be mindful of the future and if anything were to change, we could always fall back on my ideas expressed to add more and make our intro clip the best version it could possibly be!
Journal 21: Production Problems While Filming for the First Session 1/27/24
Journals 22: Delays for Filming! 1/26/24
As mentioned earlier, one of our earlier issues when it came to filming during our first session was the lack of a useful mic. The mic mentioned was a Lav Mic we used according to Journal 19, my resources journal. This mic, while useful for our film, was not the one we were looking for. To specify, it was supposed to be plugged into the recording device (an Iphone 12) and through a signal, record the audio. However, this was ultimately unsuccessful as the Lav Mic given to us was useless due to the connector for the phone being a 1/4 Inch headphone jack. This cable, as shown here, which shows the port of an iPhone 12, obviously shows that there is no headphone jack, meaning that our Lav Mic is obsolete. The article also elaborates on a future model possibly erasing charging ports as a whole as well which is a problem for possible future users of this Lav Mic. However, focusing back on the main point, you may ask: “well why don’t you tell your teacher?”. This question is answered by the fact that my teacher has been out for almost half this week due to personal issues. This results in our inability to film due to us being unable to acquire alternate microphone equipment. Additionally, my teacher, and the tech guy at our school are the only two people with the key to the backroom my teacher has for the film equipment. Which, once again unluckily enough, the tech guy wasn’t here either. This unfortunate circumstance. This means that this weekend of the 26th-28th of January, we are unable to film because we are missing our important piece of the puzzle known as a dongle. Journal 23: The Struggles of Working in TV Production and AICE Media 1/27/24
As mentioned previously in one of my earlier journals; I myself have experience with filming along with 2 of my other group members, the new one Z, and the scriptwriter/director S (mentioned previously). We are not only in AICE Media but also taking a class run by the same teacher, TV Production. This class has about 30 kids and we specifically are in a class known as TV Production 3, meaning we have taken TV 1, and TV 2. This in itself, means that we have about 3 years of film experience with our teacher currently teaching AICE Media. However, I am the one exception to this rule as last year I took TV 1 for half a year and TV 2 for the other half as my teacher saw potential and my skill far surpassing his TV 1 kids and put me in the TV 2-5 class with all the kids in TV 2 and above with skills comparable to my own. Now while explaining this is good and all, what does this mean for me? Well, in this class we are expected to have our own groups and film a short film, interview, or news video almost every week or two. This means a lot of work especially coming up with the ideas, creating storyboards etc. For example, despite the fact that we didn’t film in AICE Media this week due to the previously mentioned issue in the previous journal. I had to head my group's project for filming. Not only did I have to do the storyboard, I had to direct it and directly help with the editing process and while time consuming this was the result. While not exactly professional, I hope this also helps gauge my level of knowledge on film especially with the fact this was filmed in about an hour and a half due to me being on a time crunch. The reason this is a challenge is also due to me having two groups to work with as well. I have my AICE Media group of 4, and my TV Production group of 5. Additionally, to add challenge to this, they are all different people meaning I have to schedule myself around the time that all of them are available which means I have to monitor 7 peoples schedules. This adds to my frustration as a high school Junior who is currently studying for an ACT along with taking 3 AP (AP Chem, AP US History, and AP Pre Calculus) classes and 2 more AICE Classes (AICE Spanish and AICE Literature). These arduous classes make it difficult to manage my time especially in a class like TV Production along with the additional filming to make this AICE Media project along with the work of doing Journals and making my own Blog etc.Journal 24: The Benefits of Working in TV Production Before AICE Media
As this is the antithesis of my previous journal, I am mostly going to be specifically talking about the positives as given which have actually allowed me to become one of the best in my AICE Media test. As mentioned above, I have about 3 years or equal to about 3 years of TV Production experience under my belt along with the previous mention of me going to a film school (NYFA). This along with the active deadlines we have in TV Production along with my other class make me a busy person; however, I still have my passions especially for Film. This is apparent in the film I mentioned above (the result). This film was shot by myself and in the span of about an hour and a half and took about two hours at most to edit with my friend. This while seeming like a lot to an ordinary person is really not that much in terms of making films, especially feature length however, this skill of being able to turn out pretty decent quality footage and making a film out of it in the span of about a day is a skill that TV Production has allowed me to do. If it wasn’t for the scheduling and amount of prep time compared to a TV Production project I most likely would have been able to finish the filming process already. Despite my cockiness in the previous sentence, I am deeply thankful and glad I have my group, but it was just a statement. This also helps my AICE Media group as well because my friends S and Z are also part of this program and each have some of their strengths as well that allow them to do pretty much the same level quality as I had based on my result. Additionally, our skills, especially that of mine and Z’s have improved drastically throughout the span of this year. While we rushed we did put together a video from TV Production and this was an informative video about a local issue that we face in our current location. This Video is obviously rushed, and while not a good comparison to my most recent video in TV Production, it is pretty evident how far we have come, especially in just about 5 or 6 months of school at this point. All in all I believe there are some clear benefits to working in my teachers TV Production class and while I wish to pursue a career in film, some of my fellow classmates in TV Production and AICE Media may wish something else; but all in all as of present day concerns, it helps in this class a lot and ultimately drives forward my motivation to work in a Media based industry.
Journal 25: What It would be like to work on my own???? 1/29/24
As quite a bit of my journals discuss the teamwork of my group; I believe that a question should arise at this point which is why I have chosen to address it now. What would it be like to work on my own? This question not only makes me consider how useful it is to have teammates following the production process but also how rigorous the production process is in general. To begin, as mentioned many times before, I have experience filming but despite this experience and how pleased I was practically making my own movie, It was still stressful. This has allowed me to realize that working on movies is difficult and I am thankful to have my partners by my side to help me. This is especially important as I previously mentioned that I am not good at editing however, I do know how to edit as evident in my movie, I am not as proficient as others. This has given me appreciation for editors and their work that would most likely take me twice as long at least than the average professional editor. Now when it comes to the actual production process I believe that my skills are good but once again I can’t do everything on my own. For example, Acting. This could be done but it is a very hard solo endeavor and even when I did the production on my own in my movie, there was an actor and not just me. Although I believe I am more than capable of doing the directing and cinematography by myself, the lack of being able to verify what looks good with another person's point of view is a rookie mistake in any form of art, especially film that I am not willing to risk. All in all I believe that the film production process is a fun and experimental one that could very well be done on your own however, the work and time it takes to get to that level is not worth the effort and this is shown in a video I have created away at NYFA that took me over 6 hours to make.Journal 26: Insubordinate Classmate: Social troubles 1/31/24
This journal, while seeming a little off topic, I promise has had an effect on our movie and our social tensions in the classroom. Following our teacher's personal absence some classroom drama was stirred while the substitute teacher we had took over. Now not to name any names but let’s call him G. G is known to be a troublemaker and stir up some drama in the past as I heard from last year and as I’ve seen this year. This has caused us much trouble as one day he decided to interrupt one of my buddies S, and disregard his boundaries and his friends boundaries of being sensitive to specific smells as they have asthma. Now, in my teacher's absence we were told to do work that relates to not only our film such as a film analysis essay but also work on journals. Our plan was to collaborate as a group to give each other ideas or share certain topics for our movie and our ideas. However, this did not go according to plan due to G’s nuisance. This not only made my friend S mad and turned into a 20-30 minute falling out but also made it incredibly difficult for other groups to pay attention and with the dismissiveness of our sub, nobody standing up to do anything, and a lack of order in the class, we were unable to carry out our journal planning. This not only is trouble for teammates but for me too as I have a large workload due to balancing a bunch of difficult classes plus jobs, etc. Additionally, (Will be explained further in a future journal entry) I have insomnia and it makes it very hard in certain conditions to focus or maintain concentration in terms of staying awake and after not sleeping for multiple days, I ultimately took a nap to ignore the argument. All in all, this distraction provided a major problem for not only my group as we weren’t able to accomplish anything other than me finally getting sleep, but it distracted their group and others around us which ultimately resulted in a mega waste of time. This was not helped by the fact that my class is already pretty rowdy and very vocal about certain topics, in which case my friend S is vocal about boundaries to which this kid G, is vocal about manipulating and stepping on said boundaries as I’ve seen this year and in the past.
Journal 27: BlogSpot Troubles 2/1/24
Journal 28: Weather Issues: An important Factor of Film 2/4/24
When it came down to our second filming session we were almost met with a disaster. This force of nature is one that affects every filmmaker and it is rain. We have certain deadlines we must meet when it comes to this class specifically on filming and since my group and I have been busy we ultimately saved it till the last day. This day was today, February 4th. During our afternoon we encountered a heavy downpour of rain as shown in this graph (if you scroll down to the precipitation part). We decided to wait it out and moved our filming time back to 3pm which still had a bit of rain. This was still problematic though as the sky was not as blue as it was the first day, and since we filmed outside this became a huge problem to consider. We came to the conclusion that we should be okay but we cut it close because as soon as we stopped filming it did in fact start raining yet again. This while not shown on the graph shown earlier is a side effect of Florida weather. As we are located in Florida, filming is increasingly harder for us as the weather is extremely bipolar. This is even shown in a random article. One moment it may be rainy, the next sunny, the next it could only be raining in the front of your house but not the back. This has happened a lot and it makes it especially hard as teenagers with other school responsibilities to plan. However, luckily this was our final shoot of filming as we were able to quickly, but efficiently carry out our shots.
Journal 29: Second Filming Vs. First filming 2/5/24
In my humble opinion, I believed a lot changed between our first and second filming day. When it came to the spontaneous lack of knowing what we were doing on the first day compared to the second there was a lot to consider. Not only did the addition of a new member make it a lot easier to do certain things, but it also made it more fun. We all are pretty decent friends and it just made the chemistry a lot more synergetic in a way. Although this picture is shown during the post-production process, even while editing our film we still had fun. This focus on making it fun made it so we not only worked faster but we enjoyed our filmmaking journey a lot more than just rushing to go home. One such scene that was a failed take also shows us having fun as well. In this scene we were trying to use two shots and layer them over one another and we needed one of our teammates, A to stand in a specific spot so I can stay there. This was difficult and took many takes but I feel as though it was still successful. Additionally, It shows us joking around and having fun and being, at times, sarcastic instead of serious as you can even hear it in the tone of my voice. This was completely not true for my first filming session as it was very awkward at first as, despite the fact my friend S was in my TV class; I’ve never worked with him. This was evident in such shots like these where although there was some lightheartedness at the end it was still very dry. This, I feel, shows how we were able to grow as a team and despite the fact it was our second time, we were able to quickly work together a lot better than in the first. This marks the end of our production process and the start into our most niche process, Post-Production.
Journal 30: Personal Troubles with Filming/Journal Making 2/6/24
At this point my group and I are currently working in Post production, specifically doing soft edits. This, I feel, makes it an important time to talk about personal issues I have had which has played a huge part in not only filming but also making these Blogs or Journals. During the terrible years that were COVID-19, specifically 2020, I developed a personal issue which was mentioned earlier. This was known as insomnia. This as defined in the article is the inability to sleep, and it has directly affected me throughout my years of 8th grade and now high school. The relevance of this issue is mainly in the fact that I, myself, have the “gift” of staying up for days upon days without rest or with very little rest if possible. This, then affects my ability to not only partake in school but also to do AICE Media as a whole. As I mentioned previously, some problems arise with school work and scheduling, this, while a negative effect on my health, is a positive in terms of school work as I am capable of doing it overnight. However, the days I typically am unable to sleep are also the weekdays, my group's busiest days. This means that come time for the weekend I am especially burnt out bringing me to a major problem. During our second filming session I was at my limit and did in fact almost pass out from exhaustion. When this certain event occurs I typically sleep a whole day and this would mean the failure to meet a deadline which is a huge problem especially since we would have to wait a week for another chance. While a sensitive topic, I am not afraid to hide one of my biggest strengths but weaknesses as I feel this also makes me productive while also a liability at times. Overall, I feel it is useful to discuss a major roadblock that could have been trouble for my group if I ultimately couldn’t film. However, due to my ability to last a little longer we have now, as mentioned, made our way to the Post Production process once and for all!
Journal 31: Voiceovers 2/10/24
Following the process of post production there were many ideas that we had to experiment with and one of these were the voiceovers! My friend, S, had an original idea that my character should have a soliloquy at one point in order to clarify what exactly is going on before stuff happens. This idea was proposed originally by my teacher but S decided to adopt this idea and turn it into a more elaborate soliloquy. This was found in the script where it states “soliloquy” over my dialogue and so we decided to take to this process today! We went into my teacher's back room and used the microphone equipment. Additionally, this room had some sound proof walls and pop filters so we could make the audio as best as possible. During our free time my friend, S and I recorded half of my voiceovers. It was very productive and interesting as he gave me direction on what exactly to do with them. This experience felt very reminiscent of what I imagine a director would do to his actors who are voice acting in some type of anime or animated series or possibly just an ordinary TV Show and was very useful as we were both able to get experience out of this. He instructed my tones while I was recording and this was whether I was too dry or I needed to sound more depressed and this also made me ad lib a bit and do it the way I wanted to. Overall, I believe the process was successful and it was fun. Not only did I never do voice overs before in this manner with an actual setup but it was just an overall good experience to try and it helped not only me, but my friend, S as well because we were wholly unfamiliar with what exactly we were going to do. We did encounter some problems however, my teammate, Z was able to figure it out as her friend, who taught her, wishes to specialize in sound.
Journal 32: Last Minute Troubles: Bad Editing Job 2/11/24
When it comes to the editing process, out of my group I believe I am without a doubt the worst one of the group. Despite the fact I have been exposed to editing multiple times and have been taught pretty proficiently to use Premiere Pro, DaVinci, or even CapCut, I always fall short. Additionally, I always get no joy out of it because I just despise editing as a whole. This was mainly stated as a way to say: I am in no part of the editing process and that was left up to my other three group members. However, with the general dislike of the execution of Z and A’s editing job for our first 30 seconds of our film, My friend S has decided to wholeheartedly take it over and allow them to back him up instead of giving them complete control. As mentioned previously, my friend is quite a controlling director but that’s sometimes how it has to be. I personally saw it and it was alright but if my friend, who is the director, thinks there could be a better execution I agree and will see what he does. All in all, I believe this sort of conflict, albeit not an actual conflict, was very useful as we could see a “director” take charge and go so far as to take matters into their own hands. This shows responsibility and I feel has allowed me to observe how competitive the film industry could be. For example, my friend basically put them in the back seat of the process. They were supposed to know more and from what I’ve seen so far, do a better job however, this was not the case and they were forced to play second fiddle. Although not a huge deal it is something to note as I am pretty clueless on this process as a whole and this tiny conflict in perspectives has enlightened me to always try my hardest and further learn during my duration in AICE Media Studies.
Journal 33: How has this movie inspired me for future projects? 2/12/24
Despite the fact that this isn’t my first film I have made, this movie left a lot of room for me to ponder on what to improve on in my future projects or in general, what type of films I like to make. As a writer and avid reader who has recently been interested in poetry and made a few works such as this one most recently. I believe it is imperative that I should continue my passion of dedicating myself to ideas I am interested in. This has changed as I’ve noticed throughout this year as I was at first interested in psychology and horror but as a broad topic. However, throughout this year I feel it has been narrowed down. I am more interested in concepts such as the human experience, specifically those that deal with suffering (I know it’s dark but there’s so much that is not known about suffering and ideas such as philosophical ones). For example: depression, mania, insanity, nihilism, narcissism, existentialism, god complexes, insomnia, and the very idea that to have knowledge is to suffer. These ideas which have been introduced to me via reading works such as Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s ‘The Idiot’ or ‘Crime and Punishment’ followed by Osamu Dazai’s ‘The Setting Sun’ and ‘No Longer Human’ tie into part of the themes I wanted to explore if I had the chance to expand my film. These works also contributed to the script writing process as mentioned earlier as well. These works of art have made me think great not only about my worldview but also my film view as this project, I feel in a way despite the fact that it was not capable of reflecting the ideas I wanted to explore, If I did it myself it would have been more deeply into these topics. This brings me to my next point. I believe this project has encouraged me to get more into script writing and I wish to explore this as I myself want to be an author, someone capable of fabricating my views into art and for others to witness. I believe that coupled with the books that influenced my movie along with my movie influencing me to read certain books, this project has expanded my artistic palette and completely changed my view of certain things.
Journal 34: If I had creative freedom to do anything, what movie would I make? 2/13/24
As the previous journal was talking about what this project has inspired me to do, I feel it would make a more effective point to talk about what I would now do or what would be one of my ideas If I had the plethora of resources at my disposal to make this “pipe dream” happen. Going back to literature, as I believe it is the most important form of art, the line said by Osamu Dazai at the very first page of my favorite book of his, ‘No Longer Human’ states: “Mine has been a life of much shame. I can’t even guess what it must be to live the life of a human being”. This line was first read while researching the topic of my movie and later themes I would like to expand on such as isolation and detachment. This line itself is a powerful piece of work that I would wish to expand a movie on. Not just the feeling of shame but the overwhelming intensity of dehumanization a person feels towards themselves as they are isolated from the norms of reality and slowly slipping into deep despair. I, in a way, resonate with this book as I myself feel isolated from others and I would like to create a story about that. Especially a project that highlights the constant growing seed of despair one feels at the desperation for understanding humans and trying to find the answer in everything driving them to break. This film clip first allowed me to see these interests of mine and also helped me understand myself better which is why I find it so important to create a movie like this. I know I’m not the only one who feels this way and I want to express this fact and show the dark side of humanity as it is not with just metaphors or personifications but as a whole story in itself. I also believe that this is the artistry I want to adapt and the idea of blurred lines and absurdism is something that makes people think because we as humans are infinite and there are infinite possibilities for us and someone out there one person who has these ideas who feels alone may find comfort in such terror. I believe that this project and the readings it has inspired me to research have allowed me to find what I want to do with my filmmaking and that is show humanity the side that people believe is better left ignored and alienated.
Journal 35: What have I learned? 2/14/24
Reaching Journal 35 marks the end of my teachers required journal amount and this technically is my last required journal. While I will be adding more I feel as my last required one it is important to talk about “What i’ve learned” in this class or how has it allowed me to improve as a whole. To begin, it has allowed me to manage my time better. This was mentioned in my amount of rigorous classes like TV production earlier in my Journal 23 and 24. As someone with standardized college assessments and some of the harder AP and AICE classes, this class and its workload has allowed me to be more open with my work and rely on other people to a degree while allowing independence. This is something that I can say TV production also helped me with; however, I was in it last year and only in AICE since August and since then I’ve noticed a lot more of a capability to work together. This is a helpful trait in life that I feel I can thank AICE as a whole for as classes such as AICE Media, AICE Global, and AICE Lit have allowed me to see this. Additionally, this project specifically has improved my overall opinions on my future as well. NYFA has allowed me to realize the fact that I want to be a cinematographer and this course has allowed me to broaden my horizons and the material my teacher taught me made me want to go into learning more about the history of film. This worksheet helped me realize that and allowed me to be more interested in the business world as well. All in all, I conclude that this class has not only allowed me to further decide on my future career paths. It has allowed me to improve myself more socially as well and work through issues of mine and get a more relaxed approach on film making contrary to NYFA with their forcing a deadline and lack of time. This class has allowed me to grow as a person and filmmaker and learn a lot of interesting topics that I wish to explore further on in life and possibly in college.
