FINAL PROJECT SUBMISSION

"EVANESCENT" Film Opening: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lN6mJ01xHdAp-BJ6TYTI_VregcFZ-ciT/view?usp=sharing 

CCR #1 (Q1, 2): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lwLb7SGiGFo-Lmdvkb6N9UiKaclacKC6/view?usp=sharing

CCR #2 (Q3, 4): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UBRcymH5wWQmOgKCVlzd5F1tKV1Y_aPn/view?usp=sharing 

Folder with all three productions (for easy access): https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1brvrXf4-vInpKue2UVoh2NWLN4MeO84w?usp=sharing

Reflection

 Hey guys! We've come such a long way since the beginning of this project. I'm so grateful for the way everything has turned out. These past 8 weeks have been very chaotic, but I wouldn't change a single thing about how I ended things. 

To be frank, I didn't enjoy this project as much as I thought I would. I was very stressed out and anxious, but that was only because of my poor time management. Not only has this project taught me about the media sphere, I also learned a lot about how to plan and manage my time so that things run smoothly. 

I worked alone on this project because I prefer to make my own choices. Although the filming process and creation of the film opening might seem more challenging, the support that I received from friends and family made it so much easier. 

Through this project, my production skills and knowledge in the media sphere has grown so much. I'm especially proud of my editing abilities. Personally, I love learning new things by myself in my own free time. I like this a lot more than having someone teach it to me because I feel a sense of accomplishment after teaching myself a skill and applying it successfully. This was what made editing my favourite part of the entire process. Although it was very time consuming, I'm super proud of the progress I made. 

This project has also taught me so much about filming. Before taking this class, I didn't know there's so much thought that's being put into the process of making a film. Now, I know that everything from shots and composition to sound elements to editing choices all influence how audiences perceive a film. 

My research and planning skills have also improved tremendously. I never realised how important research is to your planning stage until I actually started this project. I took researching a lot more seriously than I did before. I also learned to save all my links so I don't lose any of them. 

Although I'm not planning to pursue a career in the media sphere in the future, this project has taught me so much about patience, organisation, and time management. Thank you for journeying with me. <3

Editing CCRs!

Right after we filmed, I began editing the clips together to make sure everything looked good so that we wouldn't need to re-film anything. After I clipped everything together I made sure to do some colour correction and some video transition edits. This process was a breeze compared to editing Evanescent. The editing skills I learned during that time have proven to be incredibly helpful in this process. I filmed the podcast by first filming my dad saying all of his lines (so that the camera placement would be consistent) and then filming all of my lines separately. I had to make a lot of cuts and pair the shots taken of me with the shots taken of my dad. But other than that, I didn't make many edits since everything was filmed so smoothly. The most drastic changes I made were to the saturation, because the lighting of his office made our faces look bland and colourless. So, I brought some life into the footages and BOOM! It's done. 

When my podcast was finished I went to finish up the rest of my presentation (CCR question #2). The process went well since I already had most of my information written down on my blogs. However, the format that my blogs were written in do not fit into my presentation. So, I had to copy and paste the information, then rewrite it so that it fits my presentation. 

After I finished writing my script, all I had to do was record a voiceover. I could've done this in so many different ways. At first, I wanted to screenshot all of my pages and put them into an editing software, then recording my voice so that I would be able to make changes in volume or pitch (if necessary) easily. However, I discarded this idea after I remembered I wanted to add transitions into my presentation. Canva offers an array of slide transitions, so I decided to not use an editing software. I wasn't sure how I should've recorded my voiceover, but then remembered the music marketing project I did earlier in the year. In this project, we used a voiceover on our Canva slides too. Using the same method of adding a video, then lowering the opacity, I was able to make a video with voiceovers. 

I only ran into one slight problem, when I exported my video, I checked the audio and the slides and one of the texts were out of place. This was so annoying and I had to change the sizing of the text. Luckily, everything went well. 

I can't believe this is the end of my project. Stay tuned for my reflection! 

CCRs PRODUCTION!!

 I started working on the first two questions for my CCRs!! So exciting. I took a screen recording of my work to show my progress. I began by constructing the graphics and aesthetic of my presentation. I chose a beach vibe to fit the setting of Evanescent. I constructed my pages in the the order of how I'm answering my questions. I stopped recording half way through CCR question #1, but I finished answer the first question and I'll be working on the second one later. 

To answer questions 3 and 4 for the CCR, I'm filming a podcast to answer the last two questions. At first, I was conflicted between doing an interview and filming a podcast. However, after discussing this with my dad, he told he that he has podcast equipments (for some odd reason) at his office space! He had the mics, the headsets, and even a sound control board. This was just perfect. We got to work on the next day and everything went so smoothly. 

CCR Production Ideas!

 PLANNING TIMEEE!! I hated the planning and brainstorming stage for the film opening, but I'm actually excited to plan my CCRs. This is probably because we actually have a list (kind of?) of productions that we can choose from but we're also allowed to integrate our own creative ideas which makes this very exciting. 

So my first idea is going to an interview-type production. What I mean by "interview-type" is a two-man production where one asks the questions, while the other answers. I was thinking maybe a talkshow or a job interview or an audition. I think the best would be a job interview. My dad's office space is perfect for that, so it's very realistic! My planning for this CCR would be to answer the questions through job interview-like questions. For example, to indirectly answer question #1, the interviewer might ask "Tell me about a time you created a product that represented social groups." This is just an idea though, I might make a few changes as I go. 

The second idea is a bit more basic. A presentation with a voiceover. I'm not choosing this JUST because its easy, but because I wanted to show off my Canva visual presentation skills. I love using Canva and even though this might be boring, I'm going to find a way to add my own twist to it, so that it's not THAT boring. My current idea is to make a video (instead of a voiceover) of myself walking around the presentation and actively pointing at pictures and other things to explain question 3 and 4. But I'll have to do a bit more research on if it even possible to do that on Canva. 

I haven't started producing my CCRs, but I'll make sure to post an update once I do. That's all from me! 

ENDING OF CCR RESEARCH! (#4)

 I thought I would hate this CCR process, but to be honest, it was pretty fun sharing my research and experience. Last but definitely not least, we have our CCR Question #4: How did you integrate technologies – software, hardware and online – in this project? This is another fun one, probably because it's also quite personal about the choices I made about props, setting, editing, equipment, etc. 

There were so many aspects of technology that I had to integrate in this project. I literally could NOT have done this project at all without it. Let's start with software. Blogger!! I have SO much to say about this website. At first, I hated it. I didn't like how it wasn't very customisable and it was just so bland and boring. But after our group meetings, I realised that a lot of people changed the fonts and the backgrounds of their blogs. So, I did a thorough search of the setting section and found out how to customise my blog. This was so fun, even though the aesthetic of the blog isn't relevant to my project at all. I used Canva to help me design my production logo. I have a lot of experience working with Canva, starting from middle school. I was so pleased to find out that I have Canva Pro (from my previous school account) and used that to my full advantage. I used a font I really liked as well as some premium graphics to create the production logo animation. I'm also planning on using Canva for one of my CCR creations (stay tuned for that blog!!)! The most important software application I used was Adobe Premiere Pro. I used this app to edit all my clips together, made edits on the sound and visual elements, and created effects to create my final film opening. I implemented effects and techniques like colour grading, warp stabilising, and cross-fade transitions. 

Moving on to hardware and online technology. I used my own iPhone 17 to film, and I was very surprised at the quality. I needed something to help stabilise my hands, so I borrowed my grandma's tripod (fun fact! She's a professional dancer, so she uses tripods to film her dance practices) so that the clips wouldn't be shaky. I used the new MacBook Pro (M5) to edit, since the MacBook Air that I write my blogs on doesn't have enough storage or memory to install Adobe Creative Cloud. For online technology, I used Epidemic Sound to find music and sound effects. I also used YouTube to search up tutorials for Adobe Premiere Pro. 

I learned so much, especially on how to use different software applications. I ran into a lot of issues when editing with Premiere Pro, since I was completely new to it and I had to self-teach a lot of techniques. 

NUMBER 3!!!

 CCR Question #3: How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

First off, can I just say how EXCITED I am to answer this question. The first two were very technical and asked a lot about the film itself, but this question is asking about something personal. I'm also usually a very enthusiastic learner, which makes answering this question even more fun! Let's get into it. 

I'm going to be very honest, this project was very stressful. But, I did have some fun! The first step of the project was to research and plan our opening. I did NOT enjoy this process because I was so stress out, not knowing what I wanted my end goal to look like. There was so much freedom, and even though that might seem ideal for some people, I like to have guidelines that I can follow. Without any prompts, I had to do a lot of research on genres and different films. So, my research skills definitely improved from when I started. I was very anxious because I was afraid that I would be behind on planning. But after our first group meeting, I realised a lot of my classmates were in the same boat as me. Not only did the meeting calm my anxieties, my classmates gave many thoughtful and useful ideas I could use for my film. This was when I started to change my attitude towards this project. I became excited to begin because I just adored the idea of Evanescent. However, things seemed to just went downhill from there. 

Screenshot of my original actor
cancelling filming plans last minute

So many things went wrong after finalising my idea and script. First off, my original actor cancelled on me on our very first day of filming. This meant I not only had to find a replacement (within an hour!), but also that I had to change my script so that it only incorporated one character. I had to change my entire film design and character, since Mila's personality was heavily based on being a serious caretaker. There were just so many problems and I was under an overwhelming amount of stress. However, I got my act together and decided to go on with my idea anyways. I tried using all the shots that we learned during our One Word Film Project to create a diversity of shots. I really appreciate the past projects, since it helped a lot with filming. After two days of successful filming, I got to editing my project. My editing skills have definitely improved a lot from when I first started. I didn't have any editing experiences at all before this taking this class. Our One Word Film project and our Sound Project did not need as advanced editing as this project did. It was my first time using Adobe Premiere Pro and I was overwhelmed by how many sections and buttons there were. I've never been so grateful that I live in the 21st century and that YouTube exists. I noticed how my editing techniques got better and that I started noticing details that needed to be tweaked. 

I'm super proud of my progress, even though I REALLY need to improve my time management skills. I'm a procrastinator, which is probably what made this project so stressful for me. I also despise when things don't go my way, it makes me itch in a really bad way. One of the biggest things I learned from this project was how to adapt, since I ran into so many problems, a lot of things had to change. I'm usually not the best at adapting, but this project helped me realise that not everything is going to go smoothly, and that knowing the best way to proceed is an important skill that I will need to know,