Silent Film Reflection |
Short Film Journal |
When our group got the topic we all pitched in ideas on what the story would be like. For example, we came up with different ideas on how our story would look and what each person was going to do. We assigned each person to a role in our silent video. Also, we told each other what exactly was it that we had to do, in what order it had to be done and how it had to be done. Basically our conversation had to do with us brainstorming about every little detail, the story, the shots and props that were going to be used in the silent video. Our group collaborated with each other and were able to be honest to one another when it came to something we felt didn’t really fit in. We all respected each other’s opinions and worked on a way to create something we all felt good about. My role during the shots was to write it on paper and type it since no one else wanted to do it. We pretty much came up with the shots together. Every single person said at least one or two things when it came to the shots. Certain things we didn’t agree on are; the location, who was going to be in what part of the film, who was going to bring the props and minor disagreements and certain shots that our group members came up with. I feel like it was good to have these disagreements because we were able to listen to and really understand everyone else’s opinion and there thoughts on everything. We might have disagreed on a few things but we maintained to respect each other and our thoughts. When we first came up with the story we came up with so many different things that weren’t really necessary. As we went on and started creating the shots we realized there were a lot of things that weren’t useful to our silent film. We started with this enormous idea on how everything was going to look and how everything was going to be planned out.. Things were very different once we had our final piece. I feel like it was good though because we ended up having an even better film. My goal for my next story is to make sure everyone is on the same page.
Film Invitational Reflection We were provided with a packet during the summer where we had to choose a prompt. I remember going into school the first day and since we didn’t really know each other we were all kind of quiet but as the days went by Joshua was able to come up with and idea that we all liked. Our main goal at that point was to come up with a story and build from his idea. I personally didn't have any part in coming up with the story due to the fact that i was working on the documentary with Mileycha and Maria. Once we finished the documentary and were reunited with the group the rest had already come up with a story. I would read it over with Mileycha and we were so confused about the story itself. For example, the names in the treatment, the fact that Jordin was going to be a female, when exactly does the dream begin and when does it end?, what diner are we going to use? And the big question that we all had was how is she going to kill herself? I know we had made a group chat that same day and after school we were all putting in ideas on how we think she should kill herself. I know some people said she should cut herself but that's when the rest of us said it would take a while for her to die because she had to slowly bleed out, someone did say overdosing and that's one that we all agreed on so we stood with that. We later on assigned jobs and I couldn't really do much at first because since i was the production designer i had to wait for pictures of the apartment in order to do my job. So to be productive i worked with Mileycha on going over the screenplay to see where we needed to have additional sounds. For example, the music overall, the doorknob when Mariah goes into the room, footsteps, crying, laptop slamming, text message ringtone etc. I also helped out with the location since i usually go to new york i was able to check out a diner that everyone else agreed on choosing. Before going over there the manager on the phone agreed on having us film over there but when i went into the diner it was a bad experience due to the fact that i went in there and once he approached me i started explaining why i was there and he cut me off as soon as i said film and he just walked away. Immediately i texted our group chat and i emailed wilson so we can figure out what to do. Our options were, either cut the diner scene out or find another diner at last minute. Thankfully, we didn’t have to cut it out because we were able to find a diner at last minute. Things we were missing like two days before leaving were the pill bottle and the waiters booklet. I was able to bring in the booklet and Manny brought the pill bottle the day of. When it came to me packing my suitcase I literally didn’t know what clothes to bring, what shoes to pack, nothing. That Wednesday morning around 6:30 was when it all began. It was still dark outside, everyone was tired due to the fact that we had to get up really early. That day I left the school with a team.. We headed onto the bus after we placed all of our things below the bus. When we got on, I remember thinking like why in the world do we have such a big bus for only 12 people. On our way there i couldn’t even fall asleep but i was so tired. When we arrived at the hotel we had to park the bus across the street and unload our things. We then were able to get into the hotel and we waited a little for the man at the front desk to help us set our things down in the front of the lobby. At that moment all i wanted to do was sleep because I woke up so early. After placing our things where they go we went to what looked like a little dance room or something but outdoors. There we took our first group picture and we got our first “pass.” We had some time to waste before we started filming so we just took a walk in times square near the hotel. I remember walking pass on of the morning shows and there were people crowding around them. Right by there was a strange man going all out with his dance moves. It was creepy at first but kind of just got use to it. Some of the girls wanted to go to the stairs and it was funny because once we were near it I’m guessing this lady on a long line thought we were all going to get on one of the buses and she was saying, “the line goes by quick.” We were all confused like “Why do we have to get on the line to take pictures on the stairs where there’s barely any people.” Some of the crew went around the line and when they came back around they told the rest of us that it’s a line for something else. So once we got on the stairs we were just taking a bunch of pictures and videos of each other. As we started walking the streets of times square we passed by a disney store and the girls wanted to go in and there was a lady there who greeted us and she noticed our passes that we all had on and said that upstairs they had little films and songs we could choose from to get inspired so we were all like why not? After being there for a while and singing along to the disney songs we headed to the diner. At that point i was just telling myself “I need some sleep asap.” After eating at the diner it was time for us to go shoot one of the scenes in central park. We headed to the hotel, got our equipment out the storage room and started walking to central park. On our way there i thought my legs were just gonna give up on me. I did notice i passed my dad’s job so i took a picture to send it to him. When we got to central park we took so long to begin because the girls had to go over there lines and the movements that they were going to be doing. The boys were talking about the movements that they’ll be doing with the camera and how it should be shot and who’s going to be shooting it. When we were finally set our other problem was the people walking through and around us. We didn’t want any unnecessary noises in the background so we had to either stop people while we were shooting or tell them to go around. After shooting that they wanted to add a part where mariah sees a group of girls and it reminds her of Jordin so then that was time that was used to go over Mariah's movements and the group of girls. The film invitational and the film festival overall was the best experience ever. I met so many knew people and I learned so much that I was able to use for my stories this year.
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2/2/16
When we first got the prompt we each pitched in ideas to hear what the others thought about it. I actually went home that day and started writing multiple ideas on what the film should be about. Out of the few that I made, the group really liked my Idea of the teachers pet. From there we started sharing our ideas, our likes & dislikes and mainly the structure of the story. Later on the producers and me (director) worked together to create the screenplay while the others worked on their individual jobs. We re-read it and told the others how we basically formatted everything. The rest of the group basically kept finishing their own jobs. I’d say we had minor challenges on where it would be and how we would film everything, the details of the story and how certain characters were going to be positioned. Regardless the little challenges we were able to figure it out and agree on one specific thing. If we see each other tomorrow I will meet individually with each person in the group to see if their progress and ask if they need any help and basically just work on a little of everything with the group. 2/4/16 My job in this film is the director. When it came to choosing jobs no one really wanted a specific job so it was just randomly given out. My role in this film is to basically motivate the others, have a creative aspect when it comes to the story and producing the film, and to also work with the rest of the team in order to make this film a success. 2/11/16 This week I have been working with Maria & Joshua to create the shots for our film. I plan on finishing the shot list today and then work on the sounds for our film with Marleni since she’s been having trouble choosing sounds. 2/19/16 This week we pretty much got real close to getting things done. Our group had a production meeting yesterday and we realized there were certain things we were missing such as the fake test, the equipment for the sound in the film and the box. I took notes of everything we needed to fix in order to make a change. We figured out what the box is going to be, Mikael is working on the fake test and the other members are working on multiple things. Our group is working individually on specific things that we needed to fix in order to be ready to begin filming on Monday. 2/26/16 I’d say this week we went through so many complicated things.. The rest of the group felt like we were ready to film on Monday but I kept insisting that we should push it back a couple days because of the fact that we were missing the test, the grade sheet, the box, certain members didn’t know their lines. This entire week we have been working on getting those things done. Mikael worked on creating the test and the grade sheet. I rehearsed scene 2 with the group so they can know exactly how they are suppose to act and everything. We only had one screenplay so i asked for copies for the rest of the group in order for them to practice their lines and get into character at home. As for the box, my dad gave my mom a watch for valentine’s day so I asked them if I can use the box that it came in and they both said yes. Yesterday we talked about getting together with the group and the teacher so we can kind of get a feel of how we would use the equipment but apparently I was the only one who showed up. 3/11/16 We’ve been working on filming a couple scenes such as; scene 1 and 2. Scene 1 I actually wasn’t there for that because the day our group decided to shoot I was moving to another home. I didn’t want them to have to push the shooting schedule back another day because of me. I knew they were capable of shooting that scene and making it as good as possible. Which they did, for that scene they got some extra people to fill in the classroom and they were able to follow through with everything which made me really happy. When Scene 2 was being shot we actually had some trouble getting the camera to record. I asked and finally got it to work. We’ve went through some pretty tough obstacles which was having certain people remember their lines and not being able to shoot certain days because some group members just weren’t available. I gets its tough working with each others schedule. 4/4/16 We finished filming our story and it turned out pretty good. We made some minor changes such as where Sam would be when he has to go home. Besides that things were good. We started editing it and adding in certain sounds in order to make it realistic. 4/13/16 As of today our film is some what kind of done, we have to add little things to put it all together. I’m planning on staying after school with Mikael tomorrow to finish editing the rest of the film and to be able to see the final piece. My goal for the next story is the secure locations and communicate better with the team. Teen Pep Reflection Mileycha was the one who originally came up with the idea to make a story on teen pep. All we knew was that is was going to be about teen pep but we didn't know exactly what we were going to focus on. At first we came up with focusing on what teen pep is but then realized that a video on teen pep in general was made last year so everyone is aware of what teen pep is already. That's when I remembered that they had their retreat and i know a lot of them go out as a group so we decided to focus on the bond that was built and how close they have all gotten. We wanted to focus on the students themselves instead of teen pep itself. So that's when we had to brainstorm and come up with questions. After having our questions done we spoke with Mrs. Anderson to see if she wouldn't mind that we did this and she didn't. We chose to also speak with Mrs. Adler and we were lucky enough to go down while they were practicing for their outreach. Since she agreed as well, we got some b-roll of their skits and them practicing backstage and some posters on the floor that had to do with their skits. The next day we went to shoot the first 4 peoples interview and we realized we were running out of time so instead of having each of them answer every single question we chose to have certain members answer certain questions. Since we ran out of time that day we had to interview the last student the next day. That day we got footage for the last student we also got Mrs. Anderson's interview and a display about teen pep in the first floor. During all the shootage time was really our main problem due to the fact that we had a class period to do it. Editing I would say went pretty well and was less stressful than the first time I edited a short story. Sound was really my main concern once it was all put together because certain clips were louder than the others. Finally yesterday I got done with it and i was actually satisfied with what we got done. My goal for the next story is to not take so much time on pre-production.
Alumni Wrestling Reflection We originally planned on doing a story based on the community dinner but as I got in contact with the person in charge it turned out that their date for it passed. We then had to find another story to do. Our options were the GSA forum and the Alumni Wrestling event. I spoke to Jacob and we decided that the Alumni Wrestling would be better due to the fact that we would have a little bit more time. I spoke to current wrestlers to get more information on the event itself and spoke to Coach Giordano who referred me to the other two coaches involved. We still didn’t know exactly who we were going to interview. On the 21st I emailed both Coach Roman and Coach Terrell to see if they would be interested in getting interviewed for our morning show. Gabriel Roman was definitely up for it and he also helped by letting me know that all the wrestlers will be in school November 26 @4PM. He also told me that i could meet them at that time and that we would have the option to choose whichever two alumni’s we wanted to interview. During the event we got lots of B-Roll of all types of things they had going on. I seen Coach Roman and asked when he would want to get interviewed and he said after the match. We figured why not just interview Coach Giordano who’s been here way longer and could actually tells us more about how wrestling has changed and how this event brings everyone together. We asked him if he was up for it and he was so we got his interview out the way. All we needed were two other wrestlers to interview and we just asked around and got that out the way as well. One shot I wanted to get was their group picture when it was over but towards the end of the match the memory card said it was full. So I had to end it there but then again I was satisfied with the shots we already had. In the future i’m planning on being two steps ahead just because things get done much better that way. Also, when it comes to interviews I’m going to plan on getting reliable people because it seems like everyone is up for it but the day of something comes up. My goal on the next one is for me to maintain a secure location and story itself.
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Band & Choir Reflection I found that this topic was so easy to talk about out loud but very difficult to pull apart in the outline. I asked a few other students to see if they had any ideas. I was able to figure out what I was looking for which ended up making things easier for us as for the story itself. At one point they wanted me to come in at the same time on the same day which was impossible since i can’t be in two places at once. Eventually we were able to schedule a time and day for both the band and choir that wouldn’t interfere with the other. For their dress rehearsals it ended being on the same day that everyone else in the class was working on their story. We ended up having a good laugh because Josh and I were using the same carry so we ran back and forth to share it with each other. Someone didn’t have batteries so we had to get that to them asap. Once everything was shot editing wasn’t a problem because things just fell into place. Lori and I had talked about the final visual look of the story so we knew exactly where things should go. My goal for the next story is to schedule interviews and lock them down.
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Tito's 100th Win Reflection For this story it was based on a student at Perth Amboy High School who needed to win one more match to beat the school's record. This story I would say was rushed just because when it was assigned we had to record a couple days after. I had to make an outline and basically assume what this person's answers would be like to put into the outline. The recording itself I wasn't able to be apart of due to work but I'm proud of what my classmate was able to shoot for me. We figured we should interview Tito some other day because on the day of the match there would be too much noise in the gym. When we did, I had a certain amount of questions and had to come up with a few more questions as we went along. Editing became difficult at one point because Manny and I didn't know where to put certain shots. We eventually figured it out and were satisfied with what we created.
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1st Annual Cheerleading Competition
This story was about how the cheerleaders in our school prepared and hosted the 1st annual cheerleading competition at pahs. Selena filmed the entire event and got more than enough b-roll which was great because when it came to editing we didn’t have to run around to shoot more b-roll. Editing was more entertaining during this story than any other due to the fact that we were able to see the different cheerleading dances and outfits. Once the video was somewhat put together we decided to get an interview from the cheerleading coach just to have her summarize the event and the process it took. I would say the visuals was one thing that definitely became so much better from all the other stories I’ve done. From the first few stories i realized it truly is boring to see people on the screen just talking on and on. Which made me want to summarize the event with b-roll. For my last story I’m going to make it something interesting for people to watch.