Film Reflection 🙌🏻

 Hello Blog!! 

I just finished some final touches to our film and the wait is over, it is done.  Now before I give you the link to my youtube I wanted to reflect on our film...

WOW!

What. A. Journey.

An entire month of research, planning, sketching, and brainstorming ways in which to fully express our feelings and creativity into a film introduction, now called "Escape."  We are super excited and this whole process has been interesting. 

It has been my first year filming ever for projects, grades, etc, and I never used to like editing or filming because it was always super hard for me.  But, now, this project has made me feel super accomplished because I am an amateur filmer compared to my classmates but I put in the work and made this film happen.  Reflecting back on this entire experience I am grateful for the knowledge that I now know, and the growth as a person throughout my AICE Media Studies journey and portfolio project journey.  I have adapted to accepting failure and hardship and I have grown to work with others in a healthy environment.

This film journey has not been easy.  I made many adjustments to my film as we went along.  Many shots did not go according to plan because some did not match the vibe of the film, the location of the shoot, and maybe the overall storyboard was too precise or not enough shots for a two-minute time frame.  Originally, we were going to have the first few shots take place in my car, however, we felt that this was unnecessary once we got to the track and field.  We started taking shots at different angles and realized we did not need the car clips.  As well, we switched up the end of our film.  We were originally going to close the film introduction with a scene with a text message from the main character's mother stating how angry she was that Amelia (the main character) was not home.  However, in a two-minute time frame, this was not possible.  So, we ended on a more relaxed note, yet with a classic introduction style. 

Partnering up with Sabrina for this project was one of the best decisions.  In order to get the precise shots that we got for this film, I needed a partner, and Sabrina and I have worked prior to this project together.  We have really great communication as we text, call, and chat with each other about our opinions and how we feel about the project.  I really appreciated our healthy partnership.  

As a whole, this process has been great.  Not only did we work on this project outside of school, but we also worked on this project in school effectively.  I appreciate our brainstorming and planning process.  I as well appreciate the healthy recording environment.  This film was a lot of fun.  I feel as though we reached our target audience of early teens to late 20s aged persons as well by creating a film that captures the genre of a sports drama. 

Thank you 

Hannah signing off✌🏻

Editing !!!

 Hello Blog!!!

Blog, long time no see.  Since spring break a lot has happened, especially yesterday.  We edited our film! It took a whopping three hours and we used the app iMovie.  iMovie is super easy to use and it is easy to input our videos and have them mesh together.  So let's go through a few things:

Editing took us three hours!! Crazy right?  This is because it is such a meticulous process.  For example, some of our long videos had to be cut down and we edited some of our videos to be jump cuts (in a way). There was one scene with my dad that I wanted to cut so you could see our argument in the kitchen, him throwing a paper on the counter, then him continuing arguing with me.  Instead, we actually had two separate clips that we had to split in order to get the closeup of the paper and then the continuation of the argument.  This was a great, smooth-flowing scene and we are very proud of our editing skills for this.  

Another thing, I bought a song online for 30 dollars.  Yep, you heard it here.  I could not resist.  It is a beautiful song and fits perfectly for our aesthetic in the film.  It is a blues, indie vibe and we could not love it more for this film.  It sets the tone of a dramatic, emotional, and intriguing film.  This is the song by Tre_Houston_Productions

Okay, one struggle that we are having to overcome is the music and how we edit it with the end of the film.  We are still trying to figure out how to lessen the volume of the song in the background towards the end of the film, so it is not an abrupt stop to the music towards the end of the film.  Here is where we need to fix the sound:

As you can tell, the film ends with a low-angle shot and then the name of our film is going to pop up.  It is called "Escape."  This is a moving scene because it shows that all the flashbacks, anger, and frustration felt by the athlete are being taken out on the track.  That is her motivation, and this final moment is when the music cuts and we finally hear for the first time what the surrounding sounds, environment, and breathing sound like.  In order to get this sound, I used a voice memo app on my phone and went outside to get atmospheric sounds, and sighed to the rhythm of the main character Amelia's body moving up and down in the video.  As she has finished her run and come back to reality and the now.  We had to use a voice memo over the actual footage of me breathing because, in the actual video, Sabrina is directing my movements and telling me what to do.  That is why we did a voiceover.  Sabrina said, "Hannah look up and turn to the left."  This was helpful but in the film process, we should have thought better and stayed quiet so only my hearing could be heard and the actual sounds of wind and the track could create atmospheric sounds.  However, our voiceover was pretty spot on.  

Another thing, Our flashback scenes came together great!! We are super excited about it.  By using dark grey/ blue filters on the actual film scenes, it came together great and really portrayed a sense of past tense all while creating a dark tone.  We decided to keep the volume on these flashback films but adjusted the volume to lower.  This is so the music in the back is still heard and the argumentation and sound of throwing books and trophies on the ground are soft and muffled.  It creates a darker mood and is just what we wanted.  I felt that the filter on these scenes really came together perfectly to create mood and time differentiation.  The colors were perfect.  

I also really appreciate my father's (Ryan) acting skills!  He was more serious than me and it helped to keep me on task with his marvelous help, we got these over-the-shoulder shots and images of our faces as we argued.  One little behind the scenes tidbit is that we were originally going to do a simple two-shot of the argumentation scene at the kitchen table, but I could not keep a straight face so Sabrina decided that we should do an over the shoulder shot so when my father did a yelling scene at me, my giggly face did not show... genius! Now, I understand why people use stunt doubles!   

Here is a silly picture I took of Sabrina as she laser focuses on the editing.  #Focused 

Soooo, Blog I am super excited about our movie intro.  Mainly because it has taken a lot of time and effort and I am excited to show the finished product, but also because as an athlete I think the message is really important. 

 I just recently applied for a scholarship at the Univ of Central FL and in that, I had to make a PowerPoint on being a leader/captain of my soccer team.  In this PowerPoint, I mentioned that one of the biggest leadership duties you have is to be there for your teammates.  I spoke about leading a heart and ear to my teammates who come to me about their mental health.  Soccer is their escape, their zen, their place to get away from toxic people and negativity in their life.  It is all that and more for me as well.  This movie intro proves that people do sports for more than a metal, trophy, chip on the shoulder.  It is much more.  It is a healthy "escape."

Thank you always.  

Hannah signing off✌🏻

Confession

 Hello Blog!

I have to admit.  I have been a little laid back with my project this week... any guess why? That is because it is spring break.  It is harder for me to focus due to distractions around me: family, friends, and trips.  I have been gone this past week to Colorado with my family.  I have been shredding up the slopes while some of the time could be used to edit.  However, life happens, things happen, so I am allowing myself this pass.  After today though, I am all hands on deck editing together my film project.  

Here are a few things I am going to focus on:

• Editing together clips through concise transitions
• Finding a blue filter to use over the "flashback" scenes in our film
• Finding an accurate font to use and editing in a correct format the names and titles of those who contributed to this film

I just really hope it all comes together nicely.  I am a little stressed about the editing, but after our class discussion, I am confident that if I need help I can ask my classmates or watch tutorials.  But more importantly, I have the extra help of my partner Sabrina!

Thanks, Blog.  Here is a funny pic of Sabrina and me on shooting day 2. 

Another one 👇🏼

BYEEE 

Hannah signing off✌🏻

Music Again ??

 Hello Blog!!

I need to get going on music.  I am still searching the web for a song but it has been the hardest thing to find.  This is what I need:

• A song that is free
• Copy right free song
• Indie vibe
• Blues vibe
• Has a beat drop or a progression in beat as the song goes along

Once I find a song that fits well with our vibe I need to edit it to match the exact time the beat drops as Amelia starts running.

Here is the scene where she starts running:

Thank you blog!

Hannah signing off✌🏻

Shoot Day 2

 Hello Blog!!

We completed all of our shooting scenes today! How exciting.

After school, Sabrina and I headed over to the track at school and we began filming certain scenes.  They turned out great and I realized during this process that you do not always have to film specifically and according to your storyboard.  When we went through our filming scenes we kind of went along with the motion of the film.  We found more objects to film such as hurdles and we also created more establishing shots of the stadium, bleachers, school name signs.  It was great and the little changes we made we feel are beneficial to our project.  As well, if we film our original scenes and they turn out to not make the exact two-minute mark, then we still have great scenes to incorporate into our film.  The next thing we must do is edit! 

Oh, also, the bugs were crazy while we filmed.  It was a hassle to take shots while sitting or standing still on the track because I was getting mauled by nats.  But in the end, we finished our scenes so it worked.  As well, the bad weather held off until we were done filming so that was a plus! 🤝

Here are some images of Sabrina and I filming. 

Shot of hurdle near the track with school in the background.

Amelia huffing and puffing after her run.

Amelia stretching before her run. 

I know you're excited to see the finished thing.  Soon! 

Hannah signing off✌🏻

Shoot Day📲

Hello Blog!!

Today, I begin filming with my partner after school.  We adjusted our project to afternoon shooting even though our original idea was to shoot before school.  I brought an outfit to wear for our shoot since I am the main actress and am going to be running around the track.  I brought a shirt, shorts, and running shoes.  I also brought a ponytail to pull my hair back as I run.  This is all to create the mise-en-scene of the film.  The genre is sports drama.  

As well, after lunch, I need to get the phone stabilizer again from my teacher's classroom in order to film the running scenes without a shaky hand.  This will be tricky to keep stable but the stabilizer tool will help immensely more than a handheld shot.  I am going to meet with Sabrina at the track at 3:00.  Super excited 😁

Here is my outfit: 

I will let you know how it goes blog!

Hannah signing off✌🏻

Class Discussion!!🗣

 Hello Blog!!

Today was a great day! In class, we split into groups to discuss our projects.  So far, I feel on track with my peers and am super excited and proud of the progress I have made in this project.  

With my classmates in groups, we discussed our challenges with this project as well as solutions.  It was such a relief to hear from others that music has been an issue as well.  It seems as though some companies do not get back with confirmation of usage of their music.  When I discussed this issue and how I have been searching for copy-right free music and came to an expensive website, my friend in the group said that he used a website called Epidemic Sounds.  He said that even though it says you need a membership to this website, there is actually a legal way around it to use music.  I am super thrilled at this knowledge and am going to be on the hunt again for music that fits our movie introduction vibe.  The vibe is indie, blues genre with a gradual upbeat tone as Amelia (main character) starts running.  

I felt really accomplished when I listened to my friend in groups' concerns about scheduling and filming with her partner, and I told her that for scheduling with her partner, it is nice to use the website Visme and create an entire graph of when and where you will be scheduled as well as images and time markers.  This helps Sabrina and me a lot and I hope it helps Gianna.  

In our group discussion, I discussed my concerns for editing my video as it is not my specialty.  The group members told me that Adobe Premier is the best place to edit and they have fonts and visual aids you can use to enhance your project.  One sound effect they told me to use over my flashback scenes was "reverb" and apparently it makes a mumbled or echoed sound effect which is perfect to use over our flashback scenes to really show the time difference.  

Anyways, I feel very good about my progress by being reassured and helped by my classmates.  Cannot wait to finish filming Wednesday!!

Thank you!

PS, here is my beautiful class group

Hannah signing off✌🏻

Date Difficulty 😟👩🏻‍💻

 Hello Blog!!

My partner Sabrina and I have run into some difficulty with scheduling.  It seems that that is the biggest issue we have come across in our project so far.  Instead of filming Monday, this morning, we could not because we need a special prop stabilizer to use for our project running scene.  This prop, I will be getting today in order to make sure that our shots are clean and not shaky.  

This is what a stabilizer prop looks like-

As well, one curveball thrown at us has been the time change.  My partner and I were not aware that we would be waking up for school when it is dark outside.  As such, we planned to film Wednesday morning before school because one of our shots is of the sun coming up behind the school and the closing scene has the bell ringing and Amelia (main character) running to the school to not be late for class.  Now since the time change, the sun rises right when school starts.  Thus, we cannot shoot the scenes before school, before actual school, because it will be too dark out. 

I have texted my partner to meet after school today and simply modify some changes to our storyboard and our overall idea of Amelia running around the track before school.  Instead, Amelia would be running for a long time after school.  My new idea for the closing scene would be Amelia receiving a text from her mother saying "Get home now!" and Amelia would runoff.  As she runs off the title can show and be called, "Escape."  

 I truly hope this works out, scheduling is not our specialty but we are working through it.  

Thank you blog. 

Hannah signing off✌🏻

Emotion Behind Shots!😁

 Hello Blog!!

    Hi Blog! This week my partner Sabrina and I have started filming for our portfolio project.  Finally getting to film part of our project has been a relief and we are super excited to see how it turns out.  On Wednesday, March 9th, we began filming although we did not film every scene possible.  This is because we were under a time crunch and we need to film scenes during the early morning before school.  So, sticking to the schedule we created, we are going to film Monday before school.  NOT SUNDAY, sadly.  I will be away for a soccer tournament. 

  In addition, one of our scenes is a flashback scene of the main character Amelia eating at lunch.  This means we needed to get a shot of me eating alone at lunch and looking unhappy about it.  So, during lunch yesterday, I sought out an empty table at lunch to go film by and my friend filmed me eating alone.  This will be used for a flashback scene, showing one of the reasons why Amelia runs to escape her mundane life. 

Here is an image from the clip: 

    In this image, it is clearly shown the emotion behind the character Amelia.  She is engrossed in a book escaping the outside world and people around her by sitting alone.  This is a huge character trait and this single shot shows the distinction and separation.  When we incorporate the video footage of Amelia sitting alone, we will put a blue filter on it.  

Thank you!

Hannah signing off✌🏻

Filming Day 1

 Hello Blog!!

    Yesterday, I had class time with my partner but my teacher taught a lesson so it was not much class time with Sabrina.  Although this was a struggle, we stuck to the schedule and Sabrina came to my house after school and we shot the "flashback" scenes.  

    One of the scenes required my father to be in it.  This scene was difficult on my acting skills because we were supposed to look like we were in a fight, however, that is hard to do when I am looking face to face with my father acting.  Here is me waiting for my acting face and skills to kick in:

My acting skills were a struggle at first, but then I figured it out.  

    While we were filming inside my room as well.  We took many shots from different angles to show the mise-en-scene of the room.  We decorated my dresser with trophies to give the idea of a student-athlete which is what Amelia (our main character) is.  As well, my dresser was decorated with photos, some being team soccer photos from my real soccer team.  We messed up my bed to make it look like I (Amelia) was in distress and not keeping a clean room because I had other home distractions and dilemmas.  Here are some photos of how we created mise-en-scene in my room:

Alright, blog! Talk to you later 🤓

Hannah signing off✌🏻

Class Time 😁

 Hello Blog!!

In class today, my partner Sabrina and I finished our storyboard! I feel so relieved about that aspect of our project.  We also made a planning schedule for this week and the next.  This schedule helps Sabrina and I stay on track with editing and filming.  Here is our schedule:

So, this Wednesday after school Sabrina will come over to my house and we will begin filming the flashback scenes for our project.  These scenes will be filmed inside my house.  I will need my dad or mom as a background character as he/she and I will be in an intense argument in the kitchen.  Then, Sunday we plan on waking up early around 6:00am, and we will go to school and start filming scenes around the track and in my car in the student parking lot.  We will bring props such as my backpack and a water bottle.  I will need to make fake sweat marks on my face as some of our shots are headshots. 

Sabrina's sister is going to help us with editing starting March 15th and we are planning on finalizing our project Wednesday, March 16th.  Our spring break is the following week, beginning on Thursday so we plan on completing our project before.  

Thank you blog! 

Here is our finalized storyboard: 

https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:9347da33-41ca-40d2-bff7-3884a39a61c4

Hannah signing off ✌🏻

DaVinci Resolve

 Hello Blog!

So, since my last blog post discussing getting back on track, I have yet to see my project partner because she is at DECA states.  Very proud of her but also her absence sets us back.  But that is okay! We will be fine.  

Today, I want to discuss editing.  Editing is CRUCIAL! Since we have an audio background, foley sounds, and video clips to put together, I need a reliable source to edit.  In the past, I have made videos and edited with IMovie and such but my favorite project I did was when I edited together a stream of sounds (including personal foley sounds) and made a project out of no images or videos just sound.  

The editing device I found super accessible and reliable on my MacBook is DaVinci Resolve.  Since I used it for my other project I found it easier to use.  Editing has been a little touch and go with me since this is my first year filming but I am confident I can capture and edit together our film Escape well.  

That is all! Thank you!

Hannah signing off ✌🏻

(DaVinci Resolve) 

Let's Get Back on Track!

 Hi Blog!

This week has been a busy week.  With SAT day and my partner not being at school for one of the school days, we need to split up in order to finish the storyboard.  That is the main goal this week... 

FINISH STORYBOARD!

For the rest of our story board we plan on getting mutliple close up shots of our main character Amelia running.  However, the flahback shots are crucial so here is what we are thinkning for flashback shots:

• Amelia sitting at a lunch table alone
• Amelia in her kitchen arguing with her father/ mother 
• Amelia breaking objects in her room 
• Amelia screaming in her car in distress
• Amelia crying in her room on her bed

These five flahbacks shots will represent the reason why Amelia runs in the mornings before school.

When we edit these shots into the video, we are going to use a mumbling affect so the audience can hear what is going on partly, but with our theme song in the background. We are going to use a foley sound to get the bell at the end of our film.  The school bell is going to get Amelia to sprint off the track into her first period. This school bell will play and the music in the background will cut off.  

After the bell plays, we are going to put the title of the movie in the middle of the shot.  The title will say 

Escape

For fonts we are thinking of going with the font:

This font came from the website: https://creativemarket.com/blog/movie-fonts

This font is large, bold, and easily readable.  The lines highlighting the word gives a sporty vibe. The letters are not amateur but rather less fancy and more realistic and that is the vibe we are going for for the film.  

Thank you

Hannah signing off ✌🏻

Main Character 🏃🏻‍♀️

 Hey Blog!

Background: 

So let's get down to business about the main character.

Our main character is a young, teenage, female.  I will be playing the main character.  She is a track athlete who runs before school in the morning.  Thus, we will be filming in school when the sun is coming up before the first period.  Our main focus is the life of our main character.  Her name is Amelia.

Through flashback shots, we will show the home life of Amelia.  Through many flashback scenes and short clips of argumentation between her and her father, sitting alone at lunch, and her throwing things around her room we are going to illustrate the frustration of her home life.  We hope the emotion speaks for itself.  

Since our main character is a young teen and the genre of our film opening is a sports drama and demonstrates to an extent a coming of age film, the target audience is young teens or mid to late 20s ages.  These ages allow for the audience to resonate with the main character and the film since they are around similar ages.  

Props:

As for props in our film, since we are filming at school on the track, we will be using hurdles that are under the bleachers.  We will also use my car to shoot the driving scene up to the field.  We will use a water bottle and keys.  In order to show that this is before school we are using a bell foley sound and then I will grab my school bag and run towards my first period.  

Others props include anything used in my room to show my anger as I wipe out stiff off my dresser in anger.  As well, when I sit alone at lunch at school.  

Thank You!!

Hannah signing off✌🏻