Character Descriptions part 2

 Main girl’s best friend (Danielle)- senior

Danielle and April met at the mall about a month ago and instantly clicked. Unfortunately, Danielle is April's only friend because she has not wanted to hang out with any of Danielle's friends but Danielle hopes that once school starts, she will be more outgoing and put herself out there. Danielle is very much a feminist and represents the company at the ballet school she has been dancing at since she was 6 years old. Additionally, Danielle is a singer and is president of the chorus, dance and the spirit club. Danielle has been crushing on Noah since her freshman year of high school but has always been to scared to tell him.

Main boy’s friend 1 (Will)- senior

Will is Ricky's childhood friend and is a 5'5 tan brunette with brown eyes. He has been playing varsity lacrosse since sophomore year but now needs to decide what he wants to do with his life. He has a very cold personality and does not treat girls very nicely.

Main boy’s friend 2 (Noah) - graduated High School

Noah has an interesting character. He moved to Newport Beach from Colorado back in middle school and randomly ghosts girls for purely for entertainment purposes. He is extremely popular and is on the basketball team. He is a 6'3 brunette with brown eyes and is a year older than Ricky. As all of this is occurring, he is enjoying his last summer before freshman year of college.

Main boy’s friend 3 (Jake)- Senior

Jake is the nicest of all three friends but is definitely a player. He is the typical blonde hair and blue eyes guy (5'11). He is a year older than Ricky but is still in the same grade as him as he repeated 3rd grade. In addition, he is always hungover and loves skipping school to go surfing on the beach.

Okay well that's it for today, write to you next time :)

                                      -Sabri

Character Descriptions and Mood Boards part 1

This Romcom takes place in Newport Beach, California and revolves around the two main characters  April and Ricky falling in love. This takes place summer before both of their senior year.

Main girl: (April)
April is a "goody two shoes" who just moved from San Francisco to Newport (where she is Ricky's neighbor). She is an uprising high school senior and is a sweet girl who loves reading books. April goes to the beach a lot (to read and go have fun with friends). She spends her Friday nights watching movies or going to arcade with friends. We still haven't decided whether she is an only child or has a sister but if she does she is definitely the older sister. At one point of the film she could get detention for being late to class and runs into Ricky. April is very artsy- she loves painting, playing the acoustic guitar, playing piano and going to a Queen concert. Additionally, she drives a 1978 volkswagen super beetle convertible. This is April's mood board...

                    

Main Boy: (Ricky)

Ricky is a senior at Newport High. He is a skateboarder who is originally from Newport California and enjoys Queen concerts and making films/movies. He gives off a bad boy vibe but is very sweet. He spends his Friday nights partying with friends and drives a 1986 Ferrari Testarossa. He is constantly drinking Mountain Dew and eating junk food. He has two little brothers and is always in detention. He has lived in Newport Beach his entire life and is always hanging out with his friends Will, Noah, and Jake. This is Ricky's mood board.

Okay well that's it for today, write to you next time :)

                                      -Sabri

80s Teen Bedroom Research and Planning

 Mise-en-scene

The boy could have the following in his room

• Stickers

• Converse

• Electric guitar?

• Video Games

• Skateboard (s)

• Comic books

• Concert tickets

• Same posters

• Jean jackets

• White tank tops

• Caps

• Clothes on the floor

• Trophies

                                                

                                               

While the girl could have  the following in her room

• Posters (Guns and Roses, Queen, The Bangles, etc) 

• Wired phone - Amazon wired phone 

• 80s filter

• Scrunchies on the bed on top of burrow or bookshelves

• Roller skates

• Rubix cubes

• Poloroid cameras

• Poloroid pictures

• Ring pops

• Fun glasses

• Pacman related

• Stuffed animals on bed

• Same concert tickets

• Typewriter

    

    

Okay well that's it for today, write to you next time :)

                                      -Sabri

80s Romcom!

 

My partner (Isa) and I decided to put a twist on the whole Romcom idea… we are going to make it take place in the 80’s! This may be challenging but I have confidence that we will find a way to make it work. We are thinking of starting off with a split screen to show the two characters getting ready to go to the beach. The split screen would be used in the beginning when the two characters are talking to their friends. They do not know each other yet but they have many things in common hinting at the fact that they would both get along. For instance, they have the same music taste which can be inferred from the same posters they have in their room along with concert tickets to the same band! 

Their rooms would each be decorated in relation to the time period and there would be 80s music playing in the background. The split screen would end after they both get off the phone with their friends and would focus on what is in their rooms. The two characters would get on their transportation (bike for the girl and skateboard for the boy). They could go to the beach to hang out with their friends (the girl could be reading while waiting for her friend and the boy could be going to the restaurant on the pier to meet his friends). 

Okay well that's it for today, write to you next time :)

                                      -Sabri

Movie Watching Research Results part 2: Scream (1996)

 I watched the beginning of the film opening for Scream (1996) and did some research on what made it so great. 

I read and gathered information from the following articles:

Scream 1996 opening scene analysis

Analysis of opening scene - Scream 1996

Why is the Scream opening still relevant nearly 25 years later

• Scream is a horror movie and comedy which appealed to viewers because it used unoriginal storytelling to make fun of the genre which seemed to please the audience
• The audience not seeing the killer
• It was a long opening scene
• The use of POV shots from both the girl and the killer
• The use of tracking shots to follow the girl around the house
• The use of symbolism (the tree and the popcorn rising as tension rises)
  
• Close ups
• Sound illusions
• Match cut

Here is the URL for the youtube video containing the first 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3lSvJ5RXKA

Okay well that's it for today, write to you next time :)

                                      -Sabri

Movie Watching Research Results part 1: Jaws & Saving Private Ryan

 The Jaws opening was incredible! It found a way to drag us in and then immediately shock us and entertain us at the same time. Because critics say that the Jaws opening was one of the best film openings in history, I did some research on what made it so great. According to

5 techniques that made the Jaws opening perfect

How Jaws audience manipulates the audience

​​The gruesome opening of Jaws

the major techniques that made the opening so great are:

• The establishing of the shark without the shark ever showing up on the screen

• It tricks the audience into believing that the girl is the main character and then instantly kills her off

• The use of an orchestra to manipulate the viewer’s emotions

• The use of dark lighting to hint to the fact that something is about to happen

• The use of silence as a sound to create a sense of uncertainty 

• The use of point of view shots from the shark (that we never actually see)

I also did some research on the Saving Private Ryan film opening (which was also directed by Spielberg) According to:

Saving Private Ryan Film opening techniques

The major techniques used were:

• Lighting: specifically the use of desaturated color  

• The use of a variety of camera shots including 

• Close ups

• Medium shots

• Long shots

• Wide-angle shots

• High-angle shots

• The use of a handheld camera

• The use of an underwater camera

• The shaking of the camera to add more chaos to the scene

• The use of sound to reinforce the fact that this movie is occurring in a war-torn period

Okay well that's it for today, write to you next time :)

                                      -Sabri

Movie Watching Research and Ideas

 I did some research on what movies have the best film openings and the following came up:

• Jaws (1975)

• The Lion King (1994)

• Saving Private Ryan

• Macbeth (2015)

• Spectre (2015)

• 28 Days Later (2002)

• Scream (1996)

• Inglourious Basterds (2009)

• The Dark Knight (2008)

•  Pulp Fiction (1994)

                                                                                                                 

Since today is Friday, I hope to be able to watch at least one of these movies (or the opening scenes from several) to get some inspiration for what to do for my film opening. 

Currently, what I am thinking of doing for my film opening is to make a romcom that takes place on the beach. We live 45 minutes away from Miami, and that could be a great asset to us as it is a very popular city with good views that are perfect for establishing shots! 

In addition, there could be a band performing at the beach... Maybe there is a concert at the beach or maybe it’s a small gig. For filming purposes, this could actually be a very effective use of our surroundings because you could have a singer/ musician performing and the public's reaction to the music would be genuine and authentic. Also, we could start off the film with the girl having a dramatic phone call with her friend who is trying to set her up with a guy she knows. The girl could give off an annoyed reaction and explain that she wants to meet somebody on her own and in person so that it is real. Right as she hangs up with her friend, a mysterious guy walks by and they both lock eyes, starting a spark. These are all obviously just ideas, but we can work from them in the future to help us decide on our storyline.

                                                

 Okay well that's it for today, write to you next time :)

                                      -Sabri

Brainstorming: Genre

 My partner and I have finally decided on the genre for our film opening! We want to do a romantic comedy (romcom). I love romcoms! My favorite romcoms are :

• Mamma Mia

• Never Been Kissed

• 13 Going On 30

• Me Before You

                                      

According to the Master Class website Romcoms (accessible by clicking on the link titled Romcoms), Romcoms tend to have the following steps:

• Introductions: Introduce each character separately

• “Meet Cute”: A memorable way the two characters meet where the notice a connection between them

• Chemistry: When the couple begins dating and everything is perfect (too perfect)

• Boom! Conflict: There is a dramatic fight that causes the relationship to end

• The Breakup: The dramatic breakup that lasts about 20 minutes

• The Happy ending: The characters realize the fight is stupid and it’s not worth it (their love is stronger)

                                                   Okay well that's it for today, write to you next time :)

                                                                                -Sabri

Starting Our Portfolio Project!

We are going to be starting our portfolio project now. The portfolio project counts as one of our AICE end of the year exams. We are supposed to create a 2 minute fiction film opening in which we show the movie credits. The film opening can be done in groups because the mis important part of the project is the CCR. I am going to be doing the project with Isa Novarini because I know we work well together and because it’s only one other person in the group, we each have enough creative freedom. The CCR will be a short presentation at the end of the project reflecting on the project and answering the following questions- 

• How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent   social groups or issues?
• How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text?
• How did your production skills develop throughout this project?
• How did you integrate technologies – software, hardware and online – in this project?

My partner and I haven’t had much of a chance to brainstorm ideas together but some ideas I have are to do a scene in Miami. This would be a great use of an establishing shot and a friend of mine actually has a drone he might let us use if we decide to follow through with that idea. We could also incorporate a girl running on the beach and use a tracking shot along with a point of view shot. Additionally, another idea I have is to have a child (about 6-8 years old) create some drawings. Eventually, the child would see the world he had created in his drawings in his “real life” or what he thinks is in his “real life” and would represent a child’s imagination. 

                                Okay well that's it for today, write to you next time :)

                                                                    -Sabri

Music Marketing Project

By Sabrina Staab

                                 

Research

The research helped our group decide on who the primary audience was based on the research we had done related to the genre. It did take our group longer than expected to work on the research portion of the project, which put us behind on the entire process. 

Indie pop is a broad term used to classify pop artists who are either under a minor label or are unsigned. I learned in my research that the genre "indie pop" was started in the US in the 1980s, and is very common among college students. This is because several college radio stations tend to play this type of music. Indie pop was created with the idea that anybody could start a band- typically college students. After starting the band, the band members would learn to play together, and then eventually release album(s) and/or tour the country. 

Brainstorm/Planning

The video planned itself out in a way. Our group had  initially decided on doing another idea in which somebody was looking back at their past right before taking another big step into their future. As we were creating the storyboard for that, it occurred to me to do something related to your "life flashing before your eyes." It was definitely hard to get everybody to find a time to work on the project together since everybody had a complex schedule. 

Production

For the production of the music video, we met up at my neighborhood park and two of my friends helped film and participate in the video. The main issue with this project as mentioned above was that everybody had events going on, and it was hard to plan a time in which everybody could work on it together. The weekend our group agreed to meet film the music video, two of the group members were out of town, which put a lot of pressure on me and the one other group member who was in town that weekend.  I was the main character in the music video, and she was able to show up and participate in the video in some scenes. 

Editing

The editing process did take some time but overall it was a lot less than what it was last time. Instead of it being a total of 6 hours to edit, it ended up being about 4 and a half. Next time, the amount of time required for editing time will be even less! This shows you that little by little, my editing skills are improving. Since the entire video was about "life flashing before your eyes" (to represent the uncertainties in life), there were shots meant to represent the past and then others to represent the possible future which it is still unclear whether or not it will occur. 

To represent the past (the memories) I lowered down the saturation (by 40%) so that it would not be as far to look "black and white" but still not have as much color present. In addition, the video was faded to represent the past. For the future, I increased the saturation levels to represent the possible brightness in the future. The increased saturation and use of fading are both used to convey that it is still unknown whether or not this future will occur. 

Presentation

The overall presentation was good but could have been better. I do believe it could have been better had it been rehearsed as a group, but there was too much conflict in our group members' schedules to come up with a time to rehearse. I brought flashcards to better help me stay focused and give me "something to lean on" because I am not good with public speaking. I am getting better at it, but it is still a struggle and brings me anxiety every time. Some of my classmates commented that me bringing my flashcards made the music marketing pitch seem less professional which although it does makes sense, I do believe it is still a high school project done by a bunch of 16 year olds and therefore does not need to be as professional. 

Reflection

This project got me more familiarized with the editing tools involved in creating a film which will make it a little bit easier to edit my portfolio project because I have had more experience with editing.  The overall plot of the music video was confusing to several of my peers so for my portfolio project, I need to make sure that I am not confusing any people viewing my video. I also noticed that I enjoy working on my own because I not only have more creative freedom, but I do not need to depend on others. As a result, I will probably work alone on the portfolio project or work with ONE partner so that I still have the creative freedom I want but can still get somebody else's advice and opinions.