CCR

And it's a wrap :)

CCR: https://www.wevideo.com/view/1667005803

Final Project

After hours of countless sweating and back cramps, we finally reached the finish line. I still can't believe it is over so fast. It has been a month since quarantine began and I can't believe I had my last day of school without knowing. I really took for granted the times my teacher would look at me weird for the stuff I said (I miss you Mrs.T). I hope I make you and Cambridge proud with this project. I want to thank you for all the headaches you gave me and for the opportunity to express myself in your class. I will be publishing my CCR next week and that will be my final post. 

ERASED Final movie

Website 

Postcard:

Front

Back

Postcard and Website

I am in charge of the website and postcard so while Pearse films this week I was making our digital components.

Postcard: The post was actually a lot more simple than I imagined it was going to be like. The process itself took a long time because I had made a poster for our movie and then we decided to make a postcard. I wanted to make a postcard with the poster in the front (I really like the poster I made) and a simple yet aesthetic message in the back inviting people to rsvp to the screening of our movie. I used a site called spark.adobe.com which gave me all the tools to make this. I first began by playing around with some pictures but decided on the image with the photos burning (looks super cool). After I went on YouTube and watched a couple of videos on how to use this site to its max. When I went back I finalized our poster and then I began the back. For the back part, I googled “movie invitations” and came across an invitation made for screening for the movie Les Misérables. I really liked the concept which was exactly what I was looking for so I wanted to recreate the poster on one side and information on the other. So far so good!





Website: For the website, I used wix.com which was super user friendly and actually helped me with the whole process. I made the mistake to use a fake email so I wouldn’t get notifications from Wix every day for the rest of my life. Why was this a mistake when it’s super brilliant? Wiz decided to use my fake email’s name as the website name. Besides that, the process of making the website was simple and so much fun. I mapped out on paper everything I wanted to include. For example, I wanted to show the poster and share a little bit about the movie. I talked about our cast and crew on a separate page. I tried including as many images as possible to give the website a legit look. So far it is coming together super well. I just need the final movie so I can put it on our website.

Song Permission

Since we decided to switch our storyline up there were some changes we needed to make. One of the most important changes was sound. We never really got permission to use “We Are Young” however it was super cool one of the previous band members, Andrew Dost, answered my Instagram DMs. The reason I love Instagram DMs so much is that people are constantly using social media and checking their feed. That’s why when Pearse asked me to get permission for the song Chapels by Giant Rooks I immediately sent a DM to their Instagram page. A few days had gone by and I actually forgot I had sent that message. Pearse texted me later Tuesday asking me if I had received an answer back (which I didn’t) so I felt bad and sent the same message again. I wasn’t too lazy to send an email. It was just a matter of time and I knew that Instagram would not let me down. However, Pearse had sent them an email the same day he asked me to get permission and they had already got back to him saying he had access to use the song as long as we didn’t make money (sad). But later that day I also received a DM getting permission to use the song so I was so happy that my methods worked. We are on track baby let’s goooooooo!!!!!

Bob the Builder

As Pearse continues to film the rest of our movie I decided to start our digital components with some of the images I received yesterday. For our website, I will be using wix.com which is a website builder that is super simple and user friendly. I have already used this website in the past and I really like it because:

1. it’s free
2. It comes with templates that I can use to build my website
3. Adding images and videos is super simple
4. I can share my password and Pearse can log on and edit as well

I’m sure there are plenty of website builders out there that I could use but I like the one I choose. I built a rough draft website and noticed that I needed more images of the movie and the characters so I could add sections about them on our website. I texted Pearse so hopefully, those images get sent over soon so I can continue with our masterpiece. I will also be starting on our postcard ad but I have not started it yet. I will after I post this so I’ll update you on the next blog.

Say Cheese

After yesterday’s filming, I texted Pearse earlier this morning to see if he could send me some photos I could start working with for our digital components. I will include below three of my favorite photos he sent over which I want to work with the most. The reason I like these photos a lot is because they don’t look like happy images but give off more of a sad mood. The photos that are on fire also foreshadow one of the major components of our film. However, some photos have more space to include the title of the movie (we are working on coming up with one) and credits. So although I like the photos with the fire more I believe I should use the one with more room to edit which would be the third photo I attached. Hope you like them!

My favorite one out of all the photos. I just love how the fire looks I think it came out so good.

This is my least favorite out of the three. However, I do like the combination of all the photos and magnets with a simple background.

This image gives me space to add our title and any other wording. 

Filming!!!!!!

Today was a big day for us. As you may already know from my previous blogs Pearse will be filming the project at his house. The reason we decided he will be filming is that he has a Canon camera and did not like the idea of me plainly filming with an iPhone. No discrimination to anyone out there filming with an iPhone it’s just that this is a really important project and we want to use the best resources we can.

Pearse began filming the beginning scenes today. The beginning shits of our movie will be where the credits are rolling so we wanted to capture some eye-catching shots that leave room for credit. Since I was not visibly there Pearse showed me later in the day through FaceTime how some of the scenes came out and I must say he is a really good filmmaker. Our beginning scenes also consist of many shots with picture frames because we want to foreshadow how important photographs are in this piece. So far so good!

A sample of what the shots look like

After Pearse was done filming the beginning scenes he moved on to film with his family. He filmed our largest dialogue scenes in order to get an idea if we should have cut down the scene or not. The scene came out good for nonprofessional actors which is extremely surprising given our pay experience having to have people in our movies. Today was a good day :)

Did Someone Say Progress?

So since we had already made a screenplay before this time we decided to make a quick outline of what we thought the shot sequence and timeline of our movie should be. This took us a couple of hours because we kept editing from our google docs but here we have the final draft that we hope is good enough for you guys to get an idea of what we plan on filming.

Scene 1 (opening credits)- close-ups shots of family photos
Scene 2 (MC room)-Establish the main character
-Close-up of calendar establishing the year
-Gets called in by Dad to the kitchen
Scene 3 (Kitchen)- Father reads notice from the government to family
Scene 4 (Parent's Room)-Initial reactions
-Father plans on hiding some important things in a lockbox
Scene 5 (Kitchen)-An alarm starts going off, loudspeaker starts playing instructing that any attempts to lock away any

materials will result in immediate arrest.
-The family is frightened by the invasion of privacy and begin freaking out
Scene 6 (Numerous locations)-Montage of family erasing all traces of themselves (throwing stuff away)
-Scene in slow motion
-Soundtrack playing in the background
Scene 7 (Living room)

-Next morning
-Whole family sitting in the living room waiting nervously for the inspection
Scene 8 (Front Door)

-A single inspection worker comes to the door
-Door closes behind the worker showing the front house
-The camera slowly drags away from the house as you can hear the conversation of the inspection worker and the father.
-A gasp is heard and you can hear the agent call for reinforcements.

We discussed having filming done by Friday of next week. Pearse will be asking his family and Irina to participate and help us with our movie so it will take a lot of time management for everyone to be available at the same time. Wish us good luck!

New Plot Part Five Thousand

We can up with a new plot quickly given that we had already talked about different things we could do from our house. So a few months ago we had been learning about postmodern theories and movies. We decided it would be a great idea to use our situation right now to our advantage. Since Pearse’s family is all home we came up with a way to create a plot about a family that lives in a unique society that has extreme rules for its citizens. Here’s our new plot:


So the movie is set in the year 2040, a year after a radical form of government rapidly gained control in the United States with a totalitarian focus on community and dismantling any sense of individuality. Normal Americans are forced to give up their sense of self and quickly adapt to the government's radical new rules in order to stay safe and avoid government eye.

The movie follows a middle-class South Florida family as they get an inspection notice from the government. Being only a year since these insane government rules have been put in place, talk of inspection has mostly just been a rumor. The inspection notice gives the family 24 hours to adequately remove all markers of individuality from their house or else they will face the full consequences of the national government. Over the course of 24 hours, life becomes a living hell for this family as they go through a soul-crushing journey to erase any trace of themselves. Photographs, art, and everything in between have to be trashed. Will they make it through the inspection?

Comment below what you think! We will be posting a “screenplay” later this week so stay tuned.

Woops!....

Given the special circumstances, I can't physically help Pearse with finding old footage to use for our film. However, we have been communicating regularly letting each other know what is going on and how to keep moving forward. For example, we have to talk over and over about the sequence of our movie since it is 5 minutes long and we want to have a good plot development throughout. I also shared my ideas of having his sister being the main character and we discussed it over and we agreed upon deciding when he found footage of his family. That way we could see who has more footage between him and his sister. He told me he would be looking for footage later on in the week since he has homework and work from home. We discussed it would be smart to get the filming done a little more than a week before April 19th in order to get started on the CCR, which if I remember correctly was a challenge last year. From my side, I will be waiting to hear updates and answer back as soon as possible if we need to talk anything over.

Update: Pearse went through his family footage and he didn’t find anything useful to us so we are back to square one. However, we had already talked about the possibility of not finding useful footage so we are not as lost but still this is getting really bad with our timing. I don’t remember last years project being so hard LOL

Progress on Our New Plot

I shared my ideas and concerns with Pearse and he seemed to understand where I was coming from (what a great person!) so we have developed a basic plot adaptation to our original idea. We plan on maintaining the idea that the main character is leaving for college. As they leave for college they reflect on their pay as memories begin to pop up when they are packing up.

Our new character: Pearse!!!! (I still believe it should be his sister but we’ll see if he makes it work)

Our new setting: Pearse’s home!!! We will be shooting fresh footage and use mise en scene elements to elevate the idea that he is officially leaving for college.

Plot: A little different. The main character is packing up when he goes to his garage and picks up a box he thought was filled with his stuff and he finds something different. Inside the box there are a ton of CDs and discs filled with hours of footage from his childhood which is now ending. The flashbacks will be focused on showing the type of person that makes him who he is today and he gets emotional, a bittersweet moment.

I hope you guys like it!

New Plot

Since Pearse and I haven’t seen each other in about 2 weeks and we probably won’t see each other for another few more weeks the options to film are limited. When we were talking with our peers in the online meeting one of them gave me a great idea. We can make the film about either Pearse or I and just film in our house. And then for the flashback footage, we can refer back to old tapes or film that we have that our parents took of us. However, there is a huge problem with that. Pearse and I would not be filming our scenes so we would have to ask help from other members of our family to film us and hope they get it right. I’m the past I have already tried before and they either get too tired or mad that I make them refilm the same scenes over and over. What they don’t understand is that filming is long and tough progress. I don’t particularly believe that it will be in our best interest to ask other people to film for us.

As for Pearse, I don’t know what he is thinking but he does have a twin sister he could film and make the project about. However, I would have to find a way to make him come to this conclusion so he’s more willing to do it rather than think I want to pin this whole project on him. It is just frustrating the fact that one of us has to do the whole project and the other can’t help out until filming is over. But as the deadline approaches, we are still running out of time and this lockdown does not seem like it will end anytime soon.

Frustrated is an understatement.

Happy thoughts, happy thoughts...

Online Meeting

Earlier today we had an online meeting and her teacher made sure to address our concerns. Filming is still going to take place however we need to find a way to adapt our piece due to our circumstances. Due to the increased spread of the virus, Pearse and I are unable to work with our original cast at this time. However, during the online meeting, our teacher and classmates were able to give us some ideas which I wrote down and will be sharing on my next blog post since it is rather important. But in this blog post, I want to announce our original piece will not be further continued.

Cambridge announced AICE exams are canceled so as for that portion I don’t know whether or not they will view our project. But our teacher is still encouraging us to continue working and pushing through the current obstacles in our life. Unlike other teachers, Mrs.Stoklosa does not care about our grades rather what we learn from her class. She wants us to understand life is unpredictable not everything goes the way you want it.

So filming must go on!

Questioning Our Project

After a while of trying to learn how to photoshop, I think it is time Pearse and I accept the fact that we might have to change our story and adapt it to our situation. Thankfully our teacher is having a video conference the 24th were we are able to discuss with her and maybe get an idea on how we can adapt at this point. Although I know she won't be happy with the fact we have no film we still have to find a way to get this done. I will be brainstorming ideas in order to build a narrative from our houses without having to risk our safety or the safety of our families.

I talked with Pearse and he also agreed and we will also be emailing our teacher on our problem and how we can overcome it.

Cast Update and More

I have bad news which I think was foreshadowed in yesterday's blog post. As of today Pearse and I have officially been told that none of our cast members are available to continue working on this project. Right away I tried to contact more people to see who could work on our project and none of them are allowed to go out. It is looking pretty empty in the streets of Weston (my mom told me went she went to the grocery store) with stores continuously shutting down. However, after much thinking in my living room, I found a way to stay productive. I will be working on our 

(drum roll please)

Digital Component!!!

There are a few problems I have to work with but anything is progress (right?). First, the fact that we have no pictures to work with or edit in order to make and the official poster. However, I have good news. Pearse and Irina have been friends for a long time and have done many photoshoots together so I texted him with the possibility he might have a photo to work with even if it is just as a reference (fingers crossed). So I will be waiting to hear back to see if he finds anything but in the meantime, it will give me some time to learn how to create digital components specific to this project. A poster does not seem to complicate however it must fit the genre of our film and must include key components that attract our target audience.  

I took a screenshot of a large variety of posters that are considered 'coming of age films' which is what we also aim to create. When analyzing the posters as individuals and a group a lot of things stood out. First, the main cast members are in the poster but if it's more of a romantic movie only the couple is in the poster. The background is kept extremely simple in order to keep all the attention on the characters. And last but not least, the font needs to fit the aesthetic of the picture, movie, and cast. I will continue my progress on my next blog post.

Funny Story, Maybe?

Filming update:

1. After a major panic attack, we (Pearse and I) had yesterday due to the fact that I can't go out and everything is becoming stricter we decided to try and get some filming done while we can. We really have no clue what is going to happen in the next few weeks so we are trying with this whole situation.
2. Pearse and Irina talked and agreed to go film earlier today so they could get some footage in, or at least some photos for our digital component. Anything at this point is progress, and yes I am aware that film is doing a lot of the work right now but I will find a way to become more helpful. So off they go!
3. Here's the funny part: most if not all city parks are closed, and beaches too! So, after trying to get some progress with our shooting we can't even shoot in the locations we planned on. Even the volleyball and basketball courts are closed so it is not like we could improvise. Not looking so great for us.
4. After many stressful phone calls, Irina's mom asked her to please return home. As of now all of our actors are officially not allowed to leave their houses. We understand these are safety precautions we must take (given that I am also taking them), but we don't know how to get our filming done now. As of now, our project is endangered, and so is our grade.

Updates:

Ok, so the change to online school has really messed me up. Apparently, a classmate messaged me that we had an online meeting (which I did not know about so I missed) were my teacher announced some major changes. Our portfolio project is due a week later than it was originally due. As of now, the project has been moved back to the 19th instead of the 12th of April. We are still being expected to get our project done by that time but I have no idea how to do this since I am not allowed out. Our filming dates have been postponed indefinitely. A lot of our actors are unavailable due to the fact that they are also taking various safety precautions recommended by the CDC. It is a pretty unusual situation we are in and a lot of things are going to be impacted by this pandemic but there is not much we can do about it but try and follow the right steps to stay healthy. I can't take any irresponsible risks because I have various family members who suffer from asthma and cancer. If they were to be exposed to the virus it would be life-threatening. In other words, I am stressed and confused, I feel powerless since there is nothing I can do.

Covid-19

As of today, schools have been canceled in our area. Covid-19 has had a huge impact around the globe and it has begun to make its way into the US. People infected with the virus continue to increase every day and it has become a real problem everywhere. Mr.Trump has even declared a travel ban on many European countries. The Ymca which I work at has been closed till late March. This will really impact our project since many places have begun to shut down and lock up, which they should. The point is to stay isolated as long as possible to control the virus spreading to many places.

As for me, I am not allowed to leave the house and I will not be able to attend Pearse's birthday party. I feel insanely terrible for not being there for my friend since we have grown very close but it is a precaution I must take. I hope this clears up soon so we can get back on track with our projects but for now, I won't be able to film anything till this problem clears up.

Wash your hands!

Filming Dates

In order to meet up and start filming, we needed to know when everyone was available so I created a group chat on iMessage to text everyone at the same time. Then Pearse sent a google doc questionnaire that asked everyone when they would be available to film. After many hours of pressuring everyone to answer and make sure they replied we finally got our results which are down below.

We got good results, out of all the 7 options 5 of them got 80%. This is pretty good cause we don't need everyone to attend every single day and we can map out what scenes to film each day. With that said we will be filming March 22nd and the 23rd. After we will look at our footage and review if we need to reshoot or anything else.

Cast

For choosing our cast we decided it would be best to give our actors easy roles that they could learn and portray with no problem. So we actually came up with the idea to let them play themselves. Now their lines will be scripted but what they are saying would more or less be what they say in real life. I will be acting and Pearse decided that he will be filming so he won't. So here is our cast: 

Stevie- Irina Blanco (She wanted a name change)

Raul- Raul Passarini (me)

Diego- Diego Machado

Sara- Sara Briones