Reflections finished!

     Hey blog! I finished my second (or first) creative critical reflection!! I know the way I word it is complicated, but I'm planning on posting both of my CCR's along with my final project in one blog to make it less complicated soon.

Creative Critical Reflection #1

    This video was much more challenging to make compared to the other one. Making a podcast is surprisingly harder than I thought. I needed to make a proper setup that doesn't have too much of a distracting background. That's why while Nicole and Andreina are in front of the same background, I had to find a location that didn't expose my entire house to film my parts. Hopefully the white walls make it seem like we're all in the same part of the house.

Original background

Trying to change the angle

Different location, less distracting

    The audio was also a huge challenge for me. The microphones didn't actually work, they were just props. I thought it wasn't going to be much of a problem, but since I'm facing away from the camera (podcast hosts typically don't look at the camera while they're talking), the explanation is a lot harder to understand. This is especially because of the air conditioning and other background noises my family was making. Luckily, I found an effect on Adobe Premiere Pro called "denoise" that helped isolate my voice A LOT. I'm really grateful I found it. However, even with this effect, it's pretty hard to understand since I'm not facing the camera. If I added music, it would be almost impossible to comprehend what I'm saying. Mrs. Stoklosa emphasized adding sound when we were introduced to the creative critical reflections, but based on podcasts I've listened to, they typically don't have any sound effects or background music, unlike a talk show or a behind-the-scenes video. I've really been thinking of ways to make the audio more interesting, but I feel like with it, it would just make the video feel more like a mess.

    I also expected for it to be longer than the other one, since these two questions are supposed to be the ones that are more detailed and in depth. However, I feel like I also explained a lot in the behind-the-scenes video that could be used to answer the first two questions. Also, the videos shouldn't collectively be over 10 minutes, which is great, because in total mine is 9 minutes.

    On a more positive note, my two ideas were finished according to plan! This means soon I can reflect on my project with a bit more freedom and what I feel most proud of with the project (along with my obstacles and learning opportunities of course). Along with that, once Lucia feels good with the audio editing, I can show our final production!

Planning for CCR #1

     Hi blog! Luckily I was able to finish filming AND editing my reflection yesterday. So, now I have more time to plan for my "podcast". I actually began making the script on Monday before I found out I couldn't film it on Tuesday, so luckily I had a foundation already of what to do. 

    Two hosts on the podcast will ask me about how my film follows genre conventions and how it stands out, how it represents teenagers or issues, how it engages with my audience, and how it will be distributed. I made up the scenario that I just posted the trailer and will be posting my full film very soon. Since it's only a clip of a podcast, I decided to not include much of an introduction and a simple fade out at the end. 

    I also linked the websites that I directly mentioned in my script, and will mention more examples during editing. I mentioned my favorite video of all time (Breaking down the opening sequence of The Half of It), and I also mentioned a website named Gruvi (linked here) that helped me come up with distribution methods.

My script is linked here.

    I'll be filming tomorrow with my two fellow podcast hosts. I'll update then!

Creative Critical Reflection #2

It took me almost the entire day to make, but here is one of my creative critical reflection videos!! The other one (technically the first one) will be made later in the week.

Creative Critical Reflection #2

Preparing for CCR #2?

     Now that it's spring break, I wanted to use this week to work on my creative critical reflections and have them done before this weekend. This was my overall schedule:

    Monday: Plan for CCR #1

    Tuesday: Film CCR #1

    Wednesday: Edit CCR #1, Plan for CCR #2

    Thursday: Film CCR #2

    Friday: Edit CCR#2

    The CCR #1 was the podcast I was originally planning on doing. I wanted to make up a casual podcast with two film creators as hosts discussing overall movies. However, I wanted my video do be an "extraction" of the podcast from where the other director asks me questions about my recent film, Dear Mara. This is where I ask two questions where I go more in depth, and will most likely be longer. I wanted my friends Andreina and Nicole to be featured in this, since they are also working on their film opening, making it a little bit more realistic. However, due to scheduling conflicts, we can't film together on Tuesday. So, what I decided to do is swap the schedule. This means that I'll plan for the CCR #2 today, and film it on my own tomorrow.

    What I came up with for my second CCR was to make a behind-the-scenes video of the film. While I am being interviewed and discussing parts of the film, there will be clips of "behind the scenes" in the background. I still have every blooper on my phone, so getting the footage won't be hard. This idea is mostly inspired by the BTS videos that Marvel movies typically have. An example is shown here:

In this video, I'll be answering these two questions:

    How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

    How did you integrate technologies - software, hardware, and online - in this project?

I created a script for the video, linked here. I'm not sure if I wrote too much or too little, but this will be figured out and modified once I film. I'm planning for the producer to be called Alexandra, and the video editor to be called Alex, who will have a beard (creative, right?). I'll update my filming process tomorrow!

More Editing - Messages + Extra

     After coming back from a very nice vacation, it's time to get right back to work! I still have some video fixing to do before moving onto my CCRs. 

    First, I needed to create the messages onscreen. This part originally worried me because I didn't know where to start or what to say. Luckily, after talking with Andrea, she created a conversation between an unknown person and Mara for me to add.

    From there, I created a conversation on Messages by texting myself and deleting the extra messages. I imported the picture into Adobe After Effects to animate them.

    Along with this screenshot, I also imported the video so I can add it right away to the animation of the messages. This lets me place the texts in the right position a lot easier. From there, I removed the background of each message and used keyframes for the messages to move up and fade in. I also added a drop shadow so it matched the rest of the credits in the film.

Here is the final video I exported to add to my project in Premiere Pro:

    With Lucia's recommendation, I also extended the clip with the title. This way, it makes the title stand out more compared to the rest of the credits.

    We also fixed the "Blanks" and the "Actress name" problem. Using generators online, including a business name generator (found here), we were able to create a distribution company, production company, and three actresses.

Distribution company: Reel Magic Entertainment

Production company: Silver Screen

Starring: Aurora Sterling, Luna Everly, Nova Monroe

    I also wanted to add that our shower problem is fixed!! We originally couldn't film anything until I went to Andrea's house and did it because Andrea had her nails painted. However, her nail polish is off now, so there's barely a difference between our hands. She was able to record this on her own and send it to me for editing, making it a lot easier and giving us more time for the rest of editing.

    The final part of the video I changed is the font of the credits. Lucia also recommended to make the font look more bold, which would make it look more professional and nice. We tried the one she originally found, but it seemed too unserious for the mood we are going for. So, I found a font that was also bold, but more professional. It's called "Alternate Gothic No2 D", and I found it in Premiere Pro. After trying it for our credits, we believe it's a good fit. However, this took some effort to change, including needing to remake the idea I had with Mara closing the door. However, I think this effort was worth it to make our video look good, and for everyone to feel happy with it.

I won't show a preview, because once the audio is finished, we're done with the opening! From here, it's time for me to move on to my creative critical reflections, while also making sure everything in the film opening is doing well!

Planning sound

     Since yesterday, I've been working a while on editing the video. I added the rest of the text in the right order, along with the animation of the title. The only clip we're missing is the clip of Mara turning on the shower, which we'll be filming on Sunday. This weekend, Andrea, Lucia, and I will see what looks off or messy. Here is what we have so far:

    With this video, we could see what audios we could add and when. I made notes which watching the video to see exactly what sound effects we need, besides the music. This way we can completely understand what we're doing before we start editing the audio, just like the storyboard for the video. I included a timestamp for each sound, and from there listed which sounds we need overall. We can either find them through a sound library, or record it ourselves.

    As we're nearing the end of the "due date" for our video (Sunday), we might be a bit behind. However, we agreed to come up with a production and distribution company. This way, it'll look more professional compared to the "IDK" and blank space we have now. We're also filming the shower video on Sunday. After the feedback, company replacement, replacing the clip, AND adding the audio, we'll be finishing off our video and beginning our CCRs!

More Editing - Title

     Throughout this project, obviously the schedule has been pretty messy. Even though we're on track, we haven't been following the strict schedule. Speaking of, the editing was supposed to be due today (even though I've pretty much only combined the clips together). However, even with these messy "due dates", I think we'll still be finished before this weekend. I won't be able to work from Thursday to Sunday (vacation!! yay!) so I should pick up the pace and finish editing by then.

    Today I focused on text again. Specifically, I picked out my font for the credits and animated the title!! I originally tried it on Adobe Premiere Pro, but got frustrated easily. So, I switched to After Effects, a platform I'm more comfortable with when it comes to animation. Luckily, on After Effects, I didn't need a tutorial or anything because of prior knowledge. Here's how I did it:

1. Write out the text on a text layer. Then, trace the letters by adding masks (lines) over the text.

2. Add the "stroke" effect

• check all masks
• change the brush thickness (to make it look like the original font)
• set the paint style to "reveal original image"

3. Keyframe the "end" from 0% in the beginning to 100% where you want it to stop writing

4. (optional) Change the graph of the transition to make it flow more smoothly. In my case, I shifted it a little bit to the left so it goes faster in the beginning and slows down around the end.

5. Render it and add it to the video!! This is the animation I got after exporting it from After Effects.

    I also wanted to update more about the video and the problems I was facing. I chose a very basic font for the credits, Plantagenet Cherokee, which I found on Premiere Pro. I'm using different sizes within the text so they all fit within the same family yet have some variation. We decided on making the "denial" font also very simple, as a stage of grief doesn't have as much as an emotional connection compared to writing a letter to your sister. Instead, the text is more like a divider or a timestamp, meaning it should be simple, clear, and bold.

    We were also trying to film the additional clips that we forgot to originally film. We also wanted to include a scene of the shower running, and keep the shower running throughout the end of the video (until it gets to denial). I gave Andrea the original papers we originally used for the medium shot of the letter so she could rearrange them just the way we did before. She was able to do this and filmed a close-up that could fit well for in between Mara staring at the mirror and being on the floor. We also asked her to film a scene of her hand turning on the shower, but we didn't realize how complex it would be. Andrea's hand simply looks different than mine, including her painted nails. We tried to film a scene without her nails showing, but it was almost impossible. The lighting in my shower is also much different than hers, so me filming at my house wouldn't work either. We decided that, even though it isn't ideal, we could record that final scene on Sunday. This hopefully won't delay us much.