Creative Critical Reflection

 Introduction

Hello and welcome back to my blog, today I'm so excited to share my CCR's with you. This has taken long in the making and also required lots of effort and thought since I wanted them to be unique in their own way. So I hope you enjoy my CCR's.

CCR #1- 

How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issue?

Here is the  YouTube video for my CCR

For my first CCR I wanted to do something creative but also. connects me to the film opening and myself. This is why I picked a get ready with me but with a twist of me adding my gymnastic competition getting ready with me routine. This has a direct correlation with the film since it's a gymnastic film and also is informational since I'm a competitive gymnast and I know exactly how to do a competition makeup and hair routine. This also allowed me to connect myself better with the film especially sine the films message has a special place in my heart.

CCR #2- Magazine

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

For my second CCR I wanted to try to do something out of my comfort zone which is a magazine, although I did do a magazine cover at the beginning of the year I wasn't't the best at it and there was a bit of struggle. But on the other had I wanted to be as creative as possible and try something new instead of my original idea of doing a presentation with a voice over. Overall I am really proud of my self especially since I tried my best and put a lot of time and effort into this magazine. Enjoy my response to CCR question # 2!

CCR #3- 

How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

Here is link to the Youtube Short since it won't upload as a video since it's less than 3 minutes long.

For this question I wanted to do something that required a voice over so I can be clear while I talk, and it would also allow the  information/ my response to be cohesive. But on the other hand still wanted to do something useful and nice visually, that also had some relation to the film's theme. Thus this led me to making a tutorial of how to make a protein breakfast shake that I usual make before early morning gymnastic practices or competition. And this directly relates to the main character f our film since she is a gymnast and trains a lot for competition.

CCR #4- Podcast

How did you integrate technologies - software, hardware and online -in this project ?

For my last CCR I wanted to do something different where there wasn't a lot going on throughout the video, but I still wanted to show some small visuals. That led me to either an interview or a podcast. And I choose a podcast since I was familiar with the conventions of one and also it allowed me to just talk instead of reading off slides. This was one of the easier ones to edit together sine there wasn't a lot going on but I did put a lot of effort into making my script and memorizing it.

Conclusion

Overall, these CCR's have allowed me to reflect on my film opening and also allowed me to be creative when coming up with ideas for my CCR's in all these CCR's were a lot of work and a bit frustrating at times but in the end I am proud of what I made. In addition I can't believe that I have officially finished my portfolio, it took a long time in the making and was difficult at times but I really appreciated the experience since I learned a bunch of new things that I plan to use in the future someway or somehow. I hope you have enjoyed my journey of creating my portfolio.

Final Product - Film Opening

Introduction

Finally, I am so glad to present my partner and I finished product. My partner and I are very happy  and proud of our project. It been a long time in the making with research, planning, and production. In addition my partner and I faced so many challenges  during production, hence we couldn't be prouder that we adapted on the spot and was able to edit and create something we are proud of. Further a do I hope you enjoy, OFF BALANCE - Film Opening.

OFF BALANCE

by Noemy Buenaventura, and Melanie Justo-Choing

 

Editing Part 4

 Introduction

Hello and welcome back, today my partner and I will be adding all the extra details to our film opening. Such as the songs that are supposed to be in the begging and ed of our film opening, and also trying to make transitions smoother so they look more seamless, and more. This may be one of our longer editing posts since did take us a while to do, especially since we started using new features on adobe premiere pro.

Editing Part 4

So the first thing me and my partner did at school when we had 30 minutes together was add the songs. There was a total of two songs both from YouTube's non copyrighted music. This did take us some time to find but we are very glad with our song choices. We also had a ringing sound that would be used for the transition but that one was easy to find.

Here is a link to the song that we used at the end as our radio song. Click here for radio song

Here is a link of the song we used at the beginning for our nostalgic scene. Click here to see nostalgic song

Here is the link to the ringing sound we used for the transition. Click here to see ringing sound effect

After this we both continued with our day until after school where ewe continued editing together. But before we left to our next classes, we decided that I would ask one on my TV production for advice on what needs cleaning up. My TV production friends name is Jessica Laufman-Valdez, and she has been in TV production for 3 years and she uses the same software we are using for our film opening. Hence, her opinion was very helpful, and what she told me was that overall it was edited very well the only thing she commented was that to get a more seem less transition in audio from young Emily to present Emily is to have it fade in. She showed me an example on how to that on her computer. 

She also commented about the part of dialogue in scene 2 that was super low, and she said the best way to fix that is by recording a voice over and adding the voice over into the clip. Sh also showed me how to increase the volume of the radio song at a certain part so that we ca get the effect we wanted of the music becoming louder than the dialogue. After this I was able to relay everything that Jessica had said to my partner Melanie so we can start working on those parts.

Here is a clip of the transition where my partner and I were able to fade out the song and fade in the ringing. This made that whole part more fluid and dynamic.

Here is a clip of the second scene without the audio fixed, and without the voiceovers to enhance the audio.

Here is a clip of the second scene now with the audio fixed, by adding in the voiceovers which enhanced the audio.

Here is an image of what the voice over looks like on the time line. The voice over is the little green audio box. And to make sure that the original audio and the voiceover audio didn't mix, my partner and I just muted the original audio.

Here is the clip of the car scene where we were able to enhance the audio gradually. 

Now moving on the next thing we did which was adding  the opening credits in the scene this part was where Melanie took over and did most of it since she was more efficient at this part then me, but I did contribute by telling her what credit or name came next so she wouldn't have to be looking at two things at the same time. This did take us some time to do since we wanted each credit to fee in and fade out. But overall it was worth it and here are some photos of the process.

Conclusion

In all, Melanie and I are so glad and proud to be done editing now that we finished all the fine details such as the opening credits. We are also very thankful for my friend Jessica o giving us some constructive criticism on our piece as it allowed us to make it better. And I can't wait to show you guys the finish film opening. Stay tuned and see you on the next one.

Editing Part 3

 Introduction 

Welcome back and today my partner and I will be editing scene 3 of our film opening. This will be a short post since my partner and I have gotten familiar with the software and since this scene includes 3 long takes which means there won't be a lot of clips we have to edit together.

To start my partner and I joined a call together an we both told each other that we would have very little time to work on this scene since we both have prior commitments and we had to leave to go to them soon.

This made us glad that this scene was easy  to sine it only included 1 short clip and 3 long take clips. 

I first started with the car clip since it set the next setting and also since it was the nest clip that takes place following our script. After that I included the car clip conversation which was just 1 long take and that was easy to do since they were straight cuts, plus I didn't have to adjust the length of the clip since it was the perfect size. After that I added the clip of Emily looking out the widow and the clip of Emily's face while looking out of the window. 

These were both the other 2 long take clips and the only thing I had to do was drag and drop them next to each other into the timeline like I did with scene 2. Then all I had to do was fix the length of them and make sure I only dragged the video and not the audio since the audio is unnecessary since the radio song will be covering it. My partner and I will be adding the radio song in another day- right now we were focused on getting all the clips in and adding in all the details in later. Here is an image of the 4 clips together on the time line.

Here you can see the white arrow that shows the audio stop right after the conversation scene.

Here is a clip of all the clips of scene 3 put together but with the last 2 clips without audio since my partner and I will add it later.

Conclusion

My partner and I were able to finish scene 3 in record time and now next time that we will meet and that time in person, we will be adding all the final details such as the songs in the begging and end, also the opening credits and title, and w will be making it as cohesive as possible by getting more professional opinion on it. See you in the next post.

Editing Part 2

 Introduction 

Hello and welcome back, today my partner and I started editing day 2 by focusing on finishing editing on the entirety of scene 2. Even though this is our longest my partner  and I know that we are going to be able to finish quickly since all the clips are in chronological order from the bin, which means we won't need to go searching in the bin for the next clip. We also know it won't take us long since all the scenes are back to back and are perfect length so we don't need to be cutting and redoing the length of the clips.

Editing Part 2 

So I first started off by calling my partner since we were in different locations for spring break. Once I had her on the phone we started working. I opened up adobe premiere pro and clicked back into the project to continue working. Once there I started at the beginning of scene 2 where there is the change from young Emily to present Emily. Hence the first clip was off the jump of where the feet transitioned, this took the most time out of all the editing that day since we wanted the feet to align perfectly so the transition would be on time and cohesive. Here is an image of me dragging the first clip from the editing box to the timeline.

Here is the feet clip in the editing box.

And here is it now on the timeline ( it is the blue box in the middle of the timeline)

Next my partner and I moved on to adding the next following clips before the over the shoulder shots. These shots were of the flip, and the clip where Laura the coach told Emily to come here.

Then we moved on to the over the shoulder shots which were fairly easy to edit together as one came right after the other. The only thing that took time was making the shots cohesive by enlarging some of the clips if they felt to fa away on camera. But even then this only took like 10 seconds max to fix. there were also some volume issues during the conversation which we didn't pick up before, so we enhanced the audio on those clips, although, there is one clip that even with the volume max Melanies lines as Laura still sound low but we will figure out how to fix that later since we were both running out of time to work together.

Here is a clip of all of the over the shoulder shots put together until the end of scene 2.

Conclusion

My partner and I finished scene 2 just in time before we both had to leave for the day. We are happy we were able to finish scene 2 and can't wait to move onto scene 3. Until the next one where we will be editing scene 3 together.

Editing Part 1

 Introduction

Today, I will be talking about the editing process of my first editing day. This will be a very straight forward post about the editing process and what went behind every decision. In addition, I focused on just editing scene 1 for my first editing day.

Editing Scene 1

So to start off, since me and my partner Melanie weren't going to be together to edit due to travel purposes. We still made sure to be on call while editing, and we decided that I would edit it on my laptop.  Hence, I had to first download Adobe Premiere Pro onto my laptop since I didn't already had it downloaded. Then after that I was able to create a project by clicking the new project. After that Melanie told me how to add in the all the clips and audios from filming into our adobe project.

Here is an image that shows my mouse hovering over the button that says import which is how I was able to add all the clips into my bin.

                                                     

Here is an image of the clips now placed in the bin for use

Now that that was done I was able to drag in clips to edit, and 

once there I could edit the clip then drag it directly into the timeline. The best part is that we had a choice to drag in only audio, only video, or both.

Therefore we started editing scene 1 together, so we first started by grading our first clip from the first scene where Gaby is playing with a ball. And we fixed the timeline on that because it was extremely long and we only needed a few seconds.

And then we kept doing that for the following clips of Gaby/ young Emily's scene. Until the part where we have the change from young Emily to present Emily. We also followed the starboard and script for these clips and remembered to only use the video portion of the clip since we will be adding a nostalgic song in at the end once all the scenes are put together. In all my partner and I were only able to edit the first scene without the audio, this took my partner and I a while to do since we were still getting familiar with the software, we also had limited time that day to call because of our prior commitments.

Conclusion

In all, editing day one went great and my partner and I are hoping to schedule 3 more days to edit and focus on editing 1 scene per day and then 1 day for all the effects. Until next time where I will be posting about editing day 2

Production Day

Introduction

Hello, and welcome back today I will be giving a short post about how production day went including the successes and the struggles.

 

Production day Run down

To start off, I started the day by texting all the actors an telling them that they have to at the gym before 12 am, and that's when the worst news possible struck my partner and I. First my coach who was goin to play Laura decided that she only wanted to stay behind the screen because of some personal issues which was fine because Melanie is able to step in for her. But then I got a text from Zara our lead that she was really sick and won't be able to come to the shoot. 

This news was harsh because we couldn't reschedule the day because we would fall behind on our posts, there wouldn't be enough time to edit, and the gym wouldn't be able to give us any other days due to their competition season and non one being at the gym to supervise us. 

Now this posed a problem for me and Melanie because now we were booth playing characters that were in the same scene and one of us had to be behind the camera  at all times this led us to finding the quickest solution possible- Body doubles

Since Melanies mom already plays Veronica and she is similar height to me and my partner we decided to use her as a body double so when doing the over the shoulder shots Melanies mom posed as me or Melanie depending on the shot. Now this wasn't ideal but there was nothing else we could do.

As shown here where Melanie is playing both me and Melanie for the over the shoulder shots.

This led us to running ten minutes behind schedule, but we were able to compensate for time by being professional and focusing on scenes.

Hence, we first shot the second scene, then the first ad finally once or time ran out at the gym we shot the third scene. There were a lot of quick changes but we were able to get enough shots and my partner and I are proud of what we did with all the set backs we faced.

Gaby was very professional when it came to her scenes she was very focused so we didn't;t have to spend too much time with her scene which was great. And we were able to use the time we saved from that scene in our third scene since the park we had to drive by was a bit farther than awe thought.

Conclusion

In all our shot day did not go as plan but we were able to adapt under pressure and still produce something that we are proud off. Now all my partner and I have to do is edit all the scenes together to finish our film opening.

Practice for Production Day

Introduction 

Hello, and today I will be showing you what my partner and I did to test out all the equipment and also test out different shots and how we will be taking them, now that all of our equipment has arrived.

Lights 

So first off we tested out the different lighting setting the light we bought had to offer. The 2 light types w tried was the warm orange lighting and the bright white lighting.

 - This is a photo of my cat with no lighting from the tool.

 - This is a photo of my cat with the warm lighting and the intensity is at 100%

- This is a photo of my cat with the warm lighting but with an intensity of 50%

- This is a photo of my cat with the white light and the intensity is at 50%

These are the lighting settings we will use to create the vibe we are looking for .

Phone Stabilizer/ Camera Shots 

Now the next thing we did was try out the phone stabilizer and different shots we will be including in different scenes.

This video is where we used the phone stabilizer and tried zooming in and out since we use that in various scenes. The stabilizer made it efficient and easier to zoom in and out.

These 2 shots were the jumping transition shots which were an essential part of the film since that is when young Emily transitions to present Emily. As shown in the video the phone is static and this was done by using the phone stabilizer which proved to be a great help because we could adjust the height of the phone to the ground.

Here is a photo of how the stabilizer looks with the microphone and the light attachment.

Microphones

We wanted to try out the microphones by practicing the over the shoulder shots as there is the most back to back dialogue in those scenes. For these practice scenes we used Laura, and Emily's understudies.

 

This video is of an over the shoulder shot which we used the phone stabilizer for where we also were able to put the light attachment on too. This video has no microphone use, so the audio sounds muffled.

Now this is the same shot as the other video, but on the other hand the microphone is used in this shot and the audio sounds much better and clearer.

Conclusion

This practice was needed because now my partner and I know what to do and what not to do on shoot day. If we didn't plan this day we would have wasted more time day of shoot figuring out all the material and re watching shots to get everything right, hence my partner and I are glad we were able to do this. Until the next blog.

Production Day Timeline

 Introduction

Hello and welcome back to my blog. Today I will be talking about the estimated timeline for my partner and I production shoot day, since it is taking place Friday. This will help stay organize and keep us on track so we can work as efficiently as possible.

Timeline

So to start off, we were only able to book the gym space from 12:00 am to 3:00 pm. This means our gym scenes need to be a priority when it comes to filming.

12:00-12:30 

During this time we will just set up everything and leave time in case our actors are a tiny bit late. Also during this time we will make sure that the cast has the right clothes, makeup, and hairstyle so that we a start filming.  

12:30- 1:50

During this time we will be filming the entirety of the second scene as it is the most technical scene and requires the most time to get everything right. We may go over time with this scene because there are so many different components, such as the flip the spacing, and more.

1:50- 2:10

During this time we will have a 20 minute break for lunch this is important especially for the cast since most of our cast had to leave early from work or school and weren't able to get anything to eat. Our actors health is number 1 to us so we scheduled this time for them to eat and drink and it also serves as extra time for my partner and I in case of any mishaps to where we will need a few minutes to regroup.

2:10- 2:40

During this time we will be filming the opening scene/ the first scene. This scene will require. some time but not much since her is no dialogue. But in may take some tries to get all the movements as dynamic as possible.

2:40- 3:00

During this time we will be looking over all the footage to see if there are any shots that need to be redone before we have to leave the gym.

3:00- 3:45

This time will be for the last scene. Because the last scene takes place in the car we will be no longer using the gym, but the car scene will take some time because we will need to film while the car is moving and we will be going to different locations as the park so we have to take in account travel time.

Conclusion

Overall, my partner and I will be trying to stick to this timeline as much as possible. It also keeps us on track because if we go over time we know that we will need to wrap it up and move on, so by creating the timeline we will be well organized for shoot day. 

Items we will be buying for Day of Shoot

 Introduction

Hello, and today we will be going through the products my partner and I will be buying for shoot day to help us create the best film opening we can. We will be using Amazon to purchase our products and we will be making sure that the products we order will arrive a few days earlier before the day of shoot so we can be able to test them out. My partner and I will be splitting the money evenly and hopefully returning the items after we use them. We will be buying a total of 3 items, a phone stabilizer, mini microphones, and a light attachment.

Small Microphones

This product was one of the first things my partner and I knew we were going to need to purchase  ignorer to get great audio. So once on amazon we searched up small microphones and we picked one of the first ones that popped up.

This product is one of amazons best sellers and has amazing reviews and is also cheaper compared to other models making. it affordable for my partner and I. Also the microphones are small making them perfect to hide in the outfits so they don't appear on camera.

These microphones come in pairs which is very helpful since both scene 2 and 3 have 2 people talking meaning by having 2 microphones we are able to move faster and get all the audio as clear as possible. These microphones are bluetooth connected by plugging in a black small box to the phone which makes this very beginner friendly to use as the set up is easy to do. Now these microphones are the most expensive out of the 3  items costing a total of $24.99 which is still affordable for being our most expensive item.

Phone Stabilizer

This product was a little harder to find as it required a bit more scrolling to find it, but this product looks like a great a match for my partner and I

This product allows us to hold our phone, and attach the light plus the microphones without causing any issue. It also stabilizes the phone rather than if we were holding the phone the light and the microphone the video could become shaky causing unnecessary blurriness.

The frame also has a button on one of the handles where you can connect to your phone and be able to take pictures while pressing the button. This feature is very cool. but my partner and I are probably not going to be using it much since we are recording a video.

This stabilizer has good reviews and only costs $19.98 making it affordable and a great find as other similar products cost way more.

Light Attachment

The last thing out of our 3 items is the light attachment. This was pretty easy to find but did take some comparing to find the best one for our film opening.

This product had a bunch of different setting including a white and warm light and a Buch of different colors, they also have a flashing setting which is used for dramatic effect. There was also a button to where you can change the setting of intensity of the light.

We plan to use this in the first 2 scenes to show the difference from the warm lighting to the cool monotone lighting. This product costed $18.95 being our cheapest item but still a good deal since it has gray reviews and its a best seller.

Conclusion

The prices of the three items added together will be $63.92 plus taxes and shipping cost will give us a total of $57 for the three pieces of equipment so we will split this between the two of us and each pay $28.50.

Me and my partner are so exited to use our equipment ant test them out.  We used my amazon account since I have prime so it can arrive as fast as possible. 

Script Share

 Introduction

Hello, and today I will be sharing script our script to our cast members while also getting feedback from each actor on my partner and I'd script.

Script Sharing

My partner and I were only able to get photos of Isima and Shannon with the script because Gaby and Zara were too busy to meet with us or there was never a right time give it to them. Hence, instead we shared the script digitally to Zara and Gaby.

I personally shared a printed script with Shannon after one of my practices at the gym. Once she had the script we allowed her to read it and she shared her thoughts. She liked the script a lot which was great for my partner and I, then she helped us by telling us where we should shoot each scene that takes place in the gym and where we could get the best lighting. She also helped ease the concern my partner and I had about the air conditioning sound affecting the audio to which she replied "we can turn it off while filming." This proved to be a great help and we were so happy to take in her advice.

Isima was given the script from my partner Melanie at her house. Since my partner Melanie had the script on her I pad she let her mother read off of it to reduce paper waste. Melanie's mother liked the script the only thing she had to say about it is that she "yaps to much" but otherwise she liked the script and thought that her lines were written well. Also we reminded her that she would need the defender for the day of shoot which she agreed to tell her husband that she would be using the vehicle that day.

Now Zara was given the script digitally to which after reading over it she gave us a thumbs up on the script and had no feedback which was great because she will be playing the main character so her liking the script was crucial. After she gave us the thumbs up we reminded her of her costume and answered her questions about filming day.

Since Gaby is young we gave the script to her mother who was able to explain to her what she was doing and it was easy to get feedback fast since Gaby's scene didn't have any lines. In all, her mother and Gaby approved the script and told us that they would be doing gaby's hair at her house sine she likes the way her mom does her hair, in which we responded that of course she could do her hair at her house.

Conclusion

My partner and I are so happy our main cast loved the script because that means we won't have to make any changes to our scripts. Melanie and I will be staying in contact with our cast to make sure we are ready for shoot day. 

Cast List

 Introduction

Introduction

Hello and welcome back to my blog. Starting this post I have officially started the production period of my portfolio project. To start off the production period I thought that the best thing to post about first is the cast list for my partner and I film opening. A cast list is important to any film because having the right actors helps bring your character to life. Therefore here is the cast list in order of appearance

Young Emily- Gabriella Diaz

  

• Gabriella but preferred name Gaby is 8 years old and is a Xcel Silver gymnast at Alpha Gymnastics ( which is where I also practice)

• She has brown eyes and brown hair with a fair skin tone.  She is also 4'3 making her a perfect height for a young Emily. These  features will come in handy as they align with who we were planning to cast as her older version.

• She is a very talented and dedicated gymnast as she has scored 2 perfect 10's in previous competitions.

• Her instagram account is gaby_dgymnastics and her account is manly run by her mom due to her age. Her mom is super sweet and supportive of her daughter. We were able to talk to her mom since we needed permission to film her daughter and we were also able to address any concerns she had.

• Gaby also owns various different leotards so she is able to dress how we envisioned and her mom will be doing her hair therefore we won't have to worry about those details.

Young Emily Understudy- Bianca Buenaventura

• Bianca is a Xcel Platinum gymnast who has also scored a perfect 10, meaning she is all very talented. She is 4'10' has brown eyes and Brown hair but tan skin meaning she is a good but not perfect match for our character but  still a great actor and gymnast therefore she is young Emily's understudy.

Emily- Zara Gonzalez Puig

   

• Zara is 12 years old and an Xcel Platinum Gymnast at Alpha gymnastics where I also practice.

•  She has brown eyes, brown hair, and fair skin. She is 5'1 in height which is great because there is a gap between her height and gaby's showing the age difference.

• She is also very skilled as she is a 3 time state champion and has scored a perfect 10 at a previous competition. 

• She is also very comfortable in front of a camera as she is a Florida athlete ambassador for Clay Morgan Productions meaning she is regularly photographed and knows her way around a camera.

•  Her instagram is gymnastics.with.zara where she posts about training, competitions, and other accomplishments. Her instagram is also mainly run by her mom which we met in order to use Zara in our film opening.

• Just like Gaby, Zara owns various different leotards including the color leotard we want meaning we won't have to worry about costume. or hair since her mom will be doing her hair.

Emily Understudy- Noemy Buenaventura 

• I will be the understudy for Emily since I am also a Platinum level gymnast and I have received 2 perfect 10's at previous competitions. I am 5'1, I have brown eyes and hair, just like Zara meaning if anything were to happen I would fit right in.

Laura- Shannon Kennedy  

   

• Shannon Kennedy is 30 years old and a xcel coach at alpha Gymnastics. She has also been a Level 8 gymnast, an all star Cheerleader, has had a degree in cosmetology, and has been coaching gymnastics since she was 16 years old.

• Because she is a xcel coach at Alpha gymnastics she coaches Gaby, Zara, and me meaning we all are comfortable around her and she is easy to get in touch nice I see her almost everyday.

• And because of her degree in cosmetology she is can also help  in case of any hair or makeup mishaps.

• She is 5'6 inches tall which is perfect for our over the shoulder shots because there will be a change in angle which will be great because it will make he shots more dynamic and really show the dominance stance we wanted for the scene. 

• Her instagram is Shannon_77 which is where my partner and I were able to contact her for any follow ups.

Laura Understudy- Melanie-Justo-Chong

• My partner Melanie is the under study for Laura she is 17 years old, but is mature for her age and is the same height as Shannon meaning the over shoulder shots would still work in case of anything.

Veronica/ Emily's Mom- Ismia Chiong Diaz

  

• She is 43 years old which is a perfect age to be a mother of a teenager, and she is also 5'2 meaning she is still taller than Zara so there will be no problem there height wise.

• This is my partners mother so its easy for my partner and I to contact her and talk to her about any of our filming plans.

• She has had 20 years of driving experience in Florida plus 5 extra years in Cuba where she used to live. This means that the driving scene will be easy for her to do.

• She is her own boss at her company meaning she creates her own schedule and will be able to make time for our film opening. In addition she already has the costume we need since the clothes are normal everyday clothes.

Veronica Understudy- Noemy Barberan

• Noemy Barbarian is my mom, she is 5'2, 45 years old, and is also her own boss meaning there will be no  issue when it comes to scheduling. Additionally she has 20 years of driving experience in Florida plus an extra 6 years in Ecuador where she used to live, so the driving scene will be easy for her to do if any thing were to happen.

Safety Adviser- Shannon Kennedy 

•  Shannon Kennedy who is playing the coach will also be the safety adviser making sure that no one get's hurt. She is qualified for this since she is a certified coach. This helps us also feel more comfortable while shooting and helps us get a professional advise on different gymnastics skills we will include. 

Conclusion

In all, this is the cast list. And my partner and I made sure to have understudies in case of anything- this makes us better prepared for anything. Now on my next blog post I will be script sharing to everyone on the cast list.

Story Board & Script Writing

Introduction

Hello and welcome back, today my partner and I did our story board and our script for our film opening. This was. the next step since doing. a storyboard is essential to having a good rough visual layout of what you what to happen and see. This also makes it easier to script write since you follow your storyboard.

Story Board

When it came to storyboarding it was rough trying to find time to do its because my partner and I couldn't found enough time to do it.. But eventually we were able to set a date after school for us both to meet up at our local coffee shop.

This first photo was our first scene, and this was easy to layout because my partner and I had already  decided how much time and what we want in the beginning for credits before the title. And because we had already done a loose plot from one of the previous blog posts.

The next picture are in order and they are from scene's 2 to 3 and these also followed our loose plots but they were a little harder to do because my partner and I wanted everything to look cohesive together and this did lead to differences in opinions but overall my partner and I are proud of our story board.

The story board paper also made it great for when we start writing the script because under each drawing we were able to include camera focuses, shots, and movements that will be in that take while also including any gestures as well or loose script as well.

 

Script Writing

Now when it came to script writing we did have to do a little bit of research to know how to format a script correctly, but then after that we were able to start writing our script. We met up at my partner's house to write the script a few days later after we did the story board. Writing our script was easy because all we needed to do was follow our story board, the only thing we needed to add were the full lines that the character's were going to say for each scene but in all it was pretty easy to do. Here is a copy of the script.

Click here to open PDF of Script

Conclusion

Overall me and my partner were able to create a storyboard and a script that we like. In addition, I learned why storyboards are important when it comes to film making, its because they set the ground work for the film and make script writing a million times easier.  Since this was my partners and I's last week of planning, next week we are moving on to production. And the first thing I will be posting about next week is the cast list for our film, so stay tuned.

Title & Font Types

Introduction

Today I will be discussing what our film title will be, also what font we will be using for the title, and finally the estimated time for when all the opening credits will be coming out. This will help us be better prepared for our editing week because we will have this already layout.

Title with Font & color

So when it came to picking a title for our film we wanted to demonstrate a correlation with the sport gymnastics, while also including a dramatic theme to implore a struggle- especially since this is a sport-drama. This led us to creating two titles we thought would fit our concept. The first title we created was called Stuck in the Air and the second title we came up with was called Off Balance. Now both of these titles were good choices because they both had the concept we were looking for, but in the end we decided on the name Off Balance because it presided with us more than Stuck in the Air.

Next thing we needed to pick were Font types and color. So first off when it came to picking a font type wanted to pick something that showed control and was bold/ serious while also choosing a font that showed struggle and coming of age.  This led us to picking the font " Clarendon Condensed" as shown in the photo below. And then for the color of the font my partner and I decided on white as the color white shows vulnerability and the chance to grow.

Timing for text

So, throughout the beginning scene there will be some credits popping up on the screen such as director, writers, producers, and actors that are from the film and also once that is done the title of the movie will pop up on the screen. We decided that we will want the credits to pop up first before the title, and we want the title to pop up after the nostalgic scene before the transition of young Emily to present Emily. This meant we would have the first 15 -20 seconds for credits. 

In addition, the credits will pop up in different corners of the screen throughout the 15 seconds, and my partner and I decided that the size of the text should be small enough so the audience could see what is happening on the screen, as that is what we want the audience to focus on. But we still want them big enough so that the audience docent have a hard time reading them. Now each credit will stay on screen for 2-3 seconds and then they will just cut out and the next one would appear 1 second later in a different corner of the screen. 

Furthermore, for the final piece of text that will show up in our film opening is the title. And the title will take up most of the screen, plus it will be in the middle, and this will help show the importance of the text to the audience. Additionally, the title will be on the screen for 5 seconds max. 

Conclusion

In all this blog post helped my partner and I be better prepared for once we start editing our film opening and start including the text's. Now, all of this is subject to change depending on what will look more ideal on screen once we start editing but this created a great layout and out my partner. Well, see you in the next post when my partner and I start storyboarding and script writing.

Production Timeline

 Introduction

Hello, today I will be talking about the production timeline that me and my partner have set to keep us on track and to keep our thoughts more organized. This production timeline turned out to be essential when it came to being prepared for the future. Additionally it did require me and my partner to meet up and have a good talk to make sure we were agreed on our production timeline- this did take us some time.

Week of 2/16-2/20

That week is a planning week and it was also a short week which meant me and my partner had very limited time together to do our blog posts, therefore we decided we will be doing 2 blog posts that week. Furthermore that week is our last planning week and there were still things we still needed to post about, and that's how we chose what are blog posts will be about.

• Title & Font + Color Type 

          - This post was necessary as we we wanted to show the planning process of picking our tile, what     font and color it should be, while also talking about the timeframe all the text will be coming out.

• Story Board and Script writing

         - Since both of these posts go together and both of them are short posts, the logical ting to do was just put them together especially since they are a crucial part of planning and we hadn't had posted about them yet.

Week of 2/23- 2/27

This week was the first production week we would be doing, hence these posts would be shorter and talk more about the process of production. My partner and I knew that we would be posting 3  new posts, and since this was the week before we started filming we wanted to make sure that we would have all the essentials down.

• Cast List

         - This post would be about the cast me and my partner chose for our film opening and a brief reason for why we chose them for our characters.

• Script Share

         - This post would be about us sharing our script to our actors and seeing the reactions to our script. And it will also allow us to hear the comments our actors will have on our script.

• Items were buying

         - Now this post would be about the items we will be buying to use to film our film opening such as the equipment we will be using and why we chose to buy it.

Week of 3/2-3/6

This is the second week of production and it's the week that we film meaning that these 3 blog posts will be about the preparation for production day.

• Timeline for Production Day

         -  This post will be about the timeline we will have for Production day. Like from what time to what time we will be filming each scene, example from 12:30 - :30 we will be filming scene #1.

• Practice for Production Day

         - this post will be about my partner and I practice for shoot day, an example is where we try some of the shots prior to day of shooting to be prepared and to be more efficient when it comes to day of shoot. 

• How Film day went

         - This post will be about the day of shoot and how it went, whether it went well or whether it went bad.

Week of 3/9- 3/13

• Editing Scene #1

         - This post will be about the editing process of scene # 1 

• Editing Scene #1 Part 2

         - This post will be a continuation of the editing process of scene #1

• Editing Scene #2

          - This post will be about the editing process of scene #2

•  Editing Scene #2 Part 2

          -  This post will be a continuation of the editing process of scene #1

• Editing Scene # 3

          -  This post will be about the editing process of scene #3

•  Editing Scene #3 Part 2

          - This post will be a continuation of the editing process of scene #1

Week of 3/16- 3/20

This week  is the week of spring break, and my partner and I both won't be in contact as much during this week especially since we will both be enjoying our break. There fore we will only be one major that week.

• Final Product: Our film Opening - OFF BALANCE

         - This post will be our Final Product.

Week of 3/23- 3/27

This week will be mostly about working on the CCR's for this project which means this might take me some time to do.

•  CCR posts 1-4

Week of 3/30- 4/3

This week is the last week before submitting my portfolio meaning I will probably spend some time fixing and correcting any mistakes I made throughout all my blogs before submission.

Conclusion

Now these blog posts are subject to change based on any factors that might present themselves in the future but overall this Production timeline was helpful to keep my thoughts organized and have a structured plan for the future.

Costumes

 Introduction

Today I will be planning what costumes and props we will using the day of the shoot. This is crucial as costumes and props add an extra depth to a movie or show. In addition, this is valuable because it provides a good layout for me and my partner ideas, as  it allows us to organize our thoughts clearly.

Emily's costume 

To start, the character Emily will have two different outfits. The first outfit will be from the very first scene where young Emily is playing and having fun learning gymnastics. And for this outfit me and my partner envisioned the she would be wearing a fun and colorful leotard with colorful shorts to emphasize the child like sense of wonder where there are no responsibilities or pressure.  Examples are shown in the images below.

 

Now, the second part of young Emily's costume is her hair and makeup. Hence, me and my partner wanted to show a progression in Emily's character from a carefree little girl to a young teen filled with pressure and expectations. The best way to do this was to give Young Emily a hairstyle that had a greater meaning behind it. Therefore we decided that young Emily's hair would be in a high but messy ponytail in that scene, this signifies that since she is young her life is carefree like the ponytail and it's messy because she isn'y taking anything seriously yet. To add on, since she is a little girl she will be wearing no makeup what's so ever. This just helps amplify that she is young, especially since most young kids don't wear any makeup. Examples of this are shown in the image below.

Hair

   

Next we can continue to present Emily, who will also be waving a leotard as t is the uniform for gymnasts. But we wanted the color of the leotard and shorts to have a meaning behind that led us to pick the color Dark blue as it signifies seriousness and loneliness but also signifies control which is a key skill for gymnastics because if you have no control then you risk injuring yourself. 

Finally, we can discuss Emily's hair and makeup. Now like I. said before, we wanted to see some progression in Emil's hair from before to now. So, before when Emily was young her hair was carefree like her but now that she is serious about gymnastics and has a lot of pressure on her , her hairstyle will now be more tight and restricted. An example is a slick back tight braid or a slick back bun. This shows that she is no longer free spirited instead she is tense and tight like her hairstyle. Now, moving on from hair, Emily's makeup will be very natural since she is going to practice and having make up on while you are sweating is not ideal. And it's a natural convention for her to have some makeup on as girls her age are starting to be introduced to makeup. Examples are shown in the images below.

Hair                                          Hair                                    

      

Makeup

Laura's Costume

Lauras costume will also be very simple since it will be athletic comfy clothing. This is because Laura is a coach, and since she is a coach she will have to be showing her athletes how to do drills or skills correctly, plus she will be spotting and moving around to help her students meaning she has to be comfortable while doing this. Hence her outfit will be leggings, socks with comfortable sneakers, and a hoodie since most gyms are cold to keep their students from overheating and having heat strokes. Now just like how Emily's costume colors have meaning so will Laura. My partner and I discussed which colors would best contribute to Laura's character, and as I said in one of my previous blog post, Laura is Emily's coach who expects more from Emily especially since she knows Emily has more potential than she thinks she has. This makes her serious and demanding at times, so me and my partner choose the color black since black shows those characteristics the best compared to other colors. Examples of outfit shown below.

Now, moving on to Lauras hair and makeup will also be very simple.  Especially since she is working at a gym and possibly sweating, she will be wearing everyday natural makeup. And then for her hair me and my partner imagined it being in a low pony tail or a messy bun. This is crucial in coaching because if you have your hair in your face it can blindside you to any mishaps that night be happening and or anything that may cause an injury. Images of examples shown below.

Makeup                                                Hair 

      

Hair

Veronica

Now our last character will be Veronica, Veronica is the mom of Emily and we envisioned her to be in some stay at home clothes as she is driving Emily to and from gymnastics. That means she will probably be wearing some comfy jeans or some sweat pants, and a comfy shirts with some sneakers. Now since the mom is the antagonist she needs to be wearing some colors that portray that but that also still show some vulnerability because she still loves her child but she just doesn't know that she is hurting her daughter. The best color to portray that is the color red, because the color red shows antagonist energy, and a deep red shows vulnerability. Hence, we will be using a deep red as we don't want to introduce her as an antagonist right at the start instead if we were making a film we would like her to have an arc of where the audience can realize she is the antagonist. plus another color we can add is black as it shows seriousness since Veronica is serious about her daughters career in gymnastics. Below are some images of what the outfit could look like.

  

Veronica's makeup and hair are just like Lauras makeup and heir. It's going to be very simple and natural makeup look like Lauras, especially since she is just wearing the makeup she wears daily or less since she is just driving Emily back and forth from places. And then for veronica's hair  we imagined it  in a tight low to mid pony tail to show how uptight she can be, plus it also shows how serious she is. Examples shown below.

    Makeup                                                    Hair