Critical Reflection

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Final Project

Almost done...

      Wow, time went by so fast and the project is almost done. I learned so much throughout this process and I am really glad that the final product came out as I thought it would.

     I really enjoyed doing this project, I had my ups and downs but overall I felt confortable with all the tools that my instructor, Mrs. Stoklosa, taught us. Doing this project helped me learn cool things. For example, the second time I went to re-do some shots, one of the employers of my dad knew how to use a professional camera, so he told me a couple of tips to take better shots.

     I want to take the time to thank all my family and friends that had help through this project. I want to give a special thanks to my dad, who was my main actor. He followed my bossy commands and helped me with good ideas to put in my film. Also, I wanted to thank all of the employers of the company that help me in a couple of scenes.

     I wanted to also thank you guys for reading my posts and following me through this journey.

Countdown

 This week I am going to be pretty busy finishing all my editing and doing my critical reflection. For that I plan to be very organized and use the time wisely. I am planning to finish all my editing tomorrow and start my critical reflection as soon as possible. I had difficulties finding a good song for my opening; I want a suspense song that fits perfectly with my opening scene.

For my overall editing I am using and iPad, it has been a little difficult to do it there but that's what I have. 

Yesterday, I re-do some shots for example one where the people were buying the newspaper to showcase that the company was gaining money and popularity. 

One of the struggles that I had yesterday was that my main character (my dad)  was really busy with work so I waited until he wasn't busy to do all of my retakes but in that time I enjoyed taking pictures and doing so filming for fun.

The title "The Uncover"

Hi!!!!

I am really excited to tell you guys how I came up with the title of my film. Here it is!! I thought that reviling this big news of the government help the people to see how corrupt the government is. Because of this problem I came up with the title of "The Uncover". The title represents the whole idea of the film, of telling the people a secret of the government. This news helps the newspaper company to gain success and to get out of the financial difficulties. For the picture of the cover I took a couple of pictures but at the end I like this one that represents how the people are buying the newspaper and how they are gaining popularity. 

Storyboard

Here I am going to present my storyboard for my film opening, I didn't post it earlier because I wanted that all the scene were very clear.

Here I am going to give you a brief idea of what each scene is going to be about and explain it in more details.

1. I am going to start with a pan movement of a window in my dads office, in this shot I am going to insert the title that is "the uncover". 

2. the second scene is going to be a black screen with a suspense music.

3. this scene is going to present the character. I will use a mid shot of the main character. 

4. black screen again where I am going to start introducing my credits 

5. close up of main character talking on the phone

6.black screen with suspense music 

7. long shot of the office, employers typing 

8. black screen with suspense song 

9.high angle of the main character doing some paper work 

10. black screen suspense music 

11. close up of the news title. I was thinking of adding my credits to the newspaper.

  

All about the story

Hey!

I am really excited to tell you all about my story.

The story will begin at a newspaper office in which the main character, Aquiles, will be introduced.  Aquiles is a tall and very organized man. He always dresses in suits and the one thing that makes him standout is his white hair. He is in charge of the economics department of the company. The company is having financial difficulties, so it decides to publish profitable, breaking news about the government.

My idea is to show the negative side of the government, corruption. I'm still thinking about the best way to express this idea, so the viewers can understand it. One of my classmates gave me a really good idea. He suggested making a newspaper in which I would display the breaking news on the front page.

The big news that is going to be released is information about “Area 51", as the newspaper company knows that the government is hiding something there. By presenting this secret information to the public, the newspaper company will be able to overcome its financial difficulties.

Furthermore, I was thinking to put my credits in a newspaper as I think it is a very creative way to present them.

1,2, 3 camera action

This week I started filming my film opening.  The setting I choose is a my dad's office. My dad is going to be the main character in my opening film. I started following the storyboard that I did, doing the shots that I had in mind. After that I got inspired and I started taking different shots that I thought it will work pretty good for my opening. I really like this shot doing a pan movement from left to right and finishing in an over the shoulder of the main character typing. I am thinking to incorporate this shot at the begging of the film opening.

 

Ideas about shots and angles

Choosing what type of shots and angle I'm going to implement its very important. Shots and angles help the viewers to understand the message.

One of these days I was looking for tips and easy ways to make a dolly and for different ways to use what I had home and make cool shots. In my research I found these girls in YouTube that uses different kind of objects that she have at home. This video helps me to make really cool shots with things that I had at home. 

Inspiration

         The film opening has to catch the viewers’ attention so they can stay and see the whole movie. For inspiration I watch the opening of the movie ¨Killing them softly¨. This opening really catches the eye of the viewers. They use various techniques of shots and angles to engage the viewers. The thing that I like the most and it’s something I will add in my opening film, is the black image and then a color image zooming in. 

This technique creates tension and suspense in the audience. I think this is a good way to start my opening film because it can help me present the idea and present the main character in a unique way. 

Press vs. Government

        I want to give you a brief idea about the story that I am going to make. Thinking about a recent conflict between the government and a company is the apple issue. That the government was trying to convince apple to unlock the criminal iPhone. The company stud firm on their decision to not unlocking the iPhone. This issue help me to get inspire to make my film based on the theme, government vs. private company.  

      I was thinking on a press company that has a very important news about the government. I am thinking about the news of the government that the press wants to release. The press company want to release this news because they are struggling with money so if they released this news they are going to gain popularity again. In the other hand the government will be effected by this news and the people will starts rumoring about this topic. The company wants the people to start  talking about this and get people to follow again their news. 

Setting: For the setting of my opening film I wanted to be in an office setting. I want the protagonist to be in a desk, giving orders to the other employers. In the setting their going to be a lot of people. All the people in the office are working together  to release the big news. 

Character: In the opening scene is going to appear only the protagonist. In this opening scene, the audience is going to get to know the protagonist and his characteristics. He is going to be a tall men with white hair, dressed in a suit. He is the boss of the press company, he likes that everything is in the correct order, he is very meticulous. He is always  telling his employers what to do.  

Eletu, Olu. "Business Newspaper Reading Free Stock Photo - StockSnap.io."Business Newspaper Reading Free Stock Photo - StockSnap.io. 14 Oct. 2015. Web. 22 Mar. 2016.
Kuleszca, Michal. "Suit Tie Blazer Free Stock Photo - StockSnap.io." Suit Tie Blazer Free Stock Photo - StockSnap.io. 28 Sept. 2015. Web. 22 Mar. 2016.
Eletu, Olu. "Suit Jacket Smart Free Stock Photo - StockSnap.io." Suit Jacket Smart Free Stock Photo - StockSnap.io. 17 Mar. 2015. Web. 22 Mar. 2016.

Friday activity

Having this huge project in our hands, our teacher decided to put us in groups to present the ideas of what we were thinking about doing. In our case we decided to see each blog and give feedback to each other. Also we presented our ideas to the members of the group. In my case I presented the ideas of doing thriller or drama but I didn’t have a clear idea of what I was going to do. After I told them two of the ideas of what I was thinking of doing, they told me an example of movies that I should watch for inspiration. These activities help me see different perspective of my idea. They gave me good ideas about what kind of shots and angles I could do with this type of genres.

My plan for this week is to have a clear idea of what I am making for my film. Also I will be watching other movies of the same genre to see what type of shots and angles they use. 

Nepriakia, Daria. "Table Chair Markers Free Stock Photo - StockSnap.io." Table Chair Markers Free Stock Photo - StockSnap.io. 7 Mar. 2016. Web. 22 Mar. 2016.

Thriller or Drama

During this week I have been trying to decide between these two genres. I have question myself why thriller? Or why drama? 

• Thriller

The genre of thriller is known for having the audience in the edge of their seats, building the plot towards the climax. These films are characterized for presenting danger on the main characters. The characters for this type of movies are criminals, stalkers, prison inmates, and characters with a dark past, terrorist, cops, escape cops and more. A sub-genre of thriller is crime thriller this sub-genre incorporates the suspense aspects of the thriller but with a crime film plot. The characters for these types of films are serial killer, murderer, robbery or others. In difference of the thriller this focus in both the criminal and the protagonist. What I like from the thriller films is that every time something is going on, and that keeps the audience engage in the film.

This two examples ¨The Purge¨ and ¨The Gift¨ are a good example of a thriller movie and how they keep the audience engage at all time.

• Drama

The drama films are presented as a serious story portraying realistic characters that have a problem either with themselves or others. The drama films show humans from different perspective being at their best, their worst and in the middle of this two. Drama fills often include current issues, problems, injustices, drug addition, poverty and many others. These type of film aims to tell an honest story of human struggles.

Wacthing this excerpt some ideas came up to my mind of what to make for my film opening.  I had two ideas, the first one is about a pair of twins that got adopted to different families. One of the twins has the dream live but the other twin didn't get very lucky and her parents are poor and they treat her bad. The second idea I thought of is about media and the press. I was thinking of a press company that have a important information about the government and they released because of money. I will elaborate more on this ideas and present the one I like the most in a couple of weeks. 

                                          

"Drama Films." Drama Films. Web. 12 Mar. 2016.
"Thriller and Suspense Films." Thriller and Suspense Films. Web. 12 Mar. 2016. 

"The Gift Official Trailer #1 (2015) - Jason Bateman Psychological Thriller HD."YouTube. Movieclip Trailers, 1 Apr. 2015. Web. 12 Mar. 2016.
"The Purge Official Trailer #1 (2013) - Ethan Hawke, Lena Headey Thriller HD."YouTube. Movieclips Trailer, 3 Apr. 2013. Web. 12 Mar. 2016.

Welcome to my journey...

      I would like to introduce you to this new journey that I'm about to start. Here I’m going to share my ideas and research about my project.

First, I will like to introduce myself and give you a brief explanation of why I am creating this blog.

 To start off I am Arianna Presilla, currently a senior at Cypress Bay. I was born in Venezuela and moved to the United States when I was 14 years old. Moving to the United States helped me mature and see the world from a different perspective. I am creating this blog for an Aice project. Here I will be documenting all the process of my film opening. 

      Thinking about the genres have been very difficult.  I have two in mind thriller and drama that I think it could work with the idea  I have in mind. To start the process of deciding between the two genres I will do a research on both genres.  This week I will watch some drama and thriller films. For the drama films I am going to watch "Spotlight" and "Women in gold" and for thriller genre I will watch ¨Spectre¨. Seeing this films I hope to get inspired and get a clear idea of each genre. 

Schneider, Speider. "Design Shack - Web Design Gallery, Articles & Community."Design Dilemma: What to Do When Your Ideas Aren’t Credited to You. 9 Jan. 2014. Web. 12 Mar. 2016.

http://designshack.net/articles/design-dilemma-articles/design-dilemma-what-to-do-when-your-ideas-arent-credited-to-you/