Filming blog: still at home

These past couple days have been rough. I’ve been at home all week. All of south Florida is basically on lockdown. I lost power a couple times and my internet went out. I’ve been trying to pass the time by playing video games, basketball, and watching movies. Nothing seems to satisfy my interest. I haven’t had any word from my school. Only news I’ve got, is that we’ll be resuming classes online. I’m not sure when but I’m assuming after spring break. Online classes has to be one of the worst things that happen to me. Myself as a learner needs to be hands on. I don’t learn best through a computer screen. I need physically help from a teacher. I don’t even know how we are going to learn online. I’m contemplating on if we’re going to video chat our teachers. Another option is we start with brand new teachers all over again. That would be terrible. Hopefully this virus calms down and everything can resume normally. I hope they don’t take away time from our summer because of this problem. Anyways, I never really appreciated school until now. I hope everyone is safe and doing well. 

Editing blog: The virus

Well this whole project has been crazy for me. I’ve been through ups and down. There have been so many road bumps and things preventing me from progressing. In the latest news, a recent virus named the Corona Virus has had everyone scared. The whole world has been on alert. My family and I have been diligently watching the news to see what our government is telling us. This virus has everyone scared. I haven’t been going out to public places because of this virus. I’m currently sleeping over a family friends house. I want to be careful with who I interact with. Also lack of human interaction isn’t fun either. I’ve been really confused about how life is going to change. They’ve shut down school and other things as well. They even closed down my local gym. When I first heard the news I was shocked. It still feels surreal to me about everything that has occurred. My mom is a nurse so she’s on the front line of this epidemic. I fear for her, I don’t want anything to happen to her. Hopefully everything can come back to normal and we can live out everyday lives. Even if it doesn’t I hope everything works it self out.

Editing blog: Actually editing

Prior to my peer review I had the opportunity to edit my film. After filming I had multiple clips of my scenes. I choose the ones that I thought were the best. I also choose the ones that I thought meshed well together. Editing my movie was not as easy I thought it would be. There are many things you have to take into consideration. Transitions, effects, and sounds are some of these essential parts to editing your film. I wasn’t really familiar with editing, because this was my first time really doing it myself. I utilized the iMovie app to help me edit everything together. If I’m being honest I had to search up how to fully use the program to its full ability. I had to learn to shorten scenes and increase audio. I used multiple transitions, effects, etc. I used fade-in, fade-out, slide, wipe, and other transitions to change from scene to scene. The different transition also helps emphasize the change in time, and smooth change in scenes. I also used a black and white effect to help demonstrate time change. The difference in color resembles a flash back in time that the main character is having. I also increased the sound of most scenes, because of the diegetic sound affecting dialogue. You could barely hear the actors speak, because of all the wind and sound in our vicinity. All in all, editing was very challenging, but I eventually got the result I wanted. There is still more I have to add, but with my first result I’m happy with the outcome.

Filming blog: Actually filming

Days prior to my peer review assignment, I had the opportunity to film my movie. Everything went smoothly and efficiently. I got to the park and began setting everything up. I also found different places to my camera to capture different angles, shots, etc. I couldn’t have asked for a better day to film. The weather was perfect with lots of sun and clear skies. Another great thing was the basketball court was empty. We had a lot of time to get the film done and do everything. I began with my opening scene with a low angle of my feet walking. As I’m walking I begin to dribble the basketball between my legs. The next scene is of me walking on to the basketball court. I have multiple flashbacks with a passed loved one. After each flashback I would come to reality and mimic basketball moves. Keep in mind all of this is before a big basketball game. The main character is just reminiscing on past times. He feels a deep pain and sorrow for the person he loves that’s no longer alive. He’s comforted by his sister as she comes in a later scene. Him and her share a loving sibling moment. In retrospect, the film came together amazingly. There are some things I need to change here and there, but for my first shooting it went better than I expected.

Peer Review

On class this Monday I was ready to with my film to begin peer reviewing with classmates. As I walk in I realize there’s a list on the board to see our peer review partners. I walked to the list and found my partner which was Kayla. When I asked around for Kayla, to my surprise she wasn’t to be founded. She was absent and I had no film to review. Luckily, I was able to have someone review my film. For the most part I had all of the requirements. There are a few things I need to re-shoot and edit to enhance my film. This group of two watched my film for about 5 minutes. They played it over and over again. They did a deep analyze on my movie to give me the best advice. They loved my film, but told me I still needed to get some more work done. I took all of the things they said into consideration. I’ve made a list of things I need to add and improve. I’m trying to organize everything so I can add stuff to my film. It was great that I had the opportunity to get multiple opinions on my film. Without this advice I probably wouldn’t have as good as a film as I would like. This group really helped me and I’m thankful for them. Since I didn’t have any film to review I took a sneak peek at theirs. They had great qualities also that I would like to use.