Final Reflection

In the beginning of the year I got my first views of film making. I learned the importance of story writing and how important it is to plan the film. I realized that without doing that, the filming could turn into a mess. Not only that but I learned how to write a good script that would follow along with all the technical terms that need to be included in the script in order to make a film. In our first project, the Cyber bullying Video, we applied the usage of CORRECTLY managing our time and coordinating ourselves with the usage of a storyboard. After that I learned how to use the transition effects on Premiere Pro and I learned all the editing tools available for me to make clean cuts ion the films and videos and really add a smooth flow to my videos. During this project I also learned how to effectively apply titles and slides to the video to give information and really emphasize the message that I was trying to portray. On the second projects of the green screen, I learned how a grew screen works and how you can apply that to any video. Furthermore, I learned techniques on how to make a greenscreen look realistic and not just something computerized. This was demonstrated on the commercials we did for New Years and we also included music. Music was a huge thing that I learned to become really good at. I learned how to mix, transition, and fade music so that it could apply certain effects to the video and therefore further emphasize the welcoming and good tidings message I wanted to give in the commercial greetings video. After these videos, we started doing little workshops where I learned how to effectively manipulate an over the shoulder shot. I learned that this shot can add a sense of casualness to a conversation depending on how well this shot is carried out. Not only that but if exited out correctly I learned that I can make a conversation really flow between two people. In the video of Reaching Out, I know that we had a very diverse usage of angle shots. Although I learned about these the whole year I feel that it was in this video that I learned how to express them even more. For example, there is a low angle shot that demonstrates and portrays our antagonist, Estefania, as a huge dominate person. This shot makes her appear much bigger than she actually is emphasizing her dominance and giving her, her bad girl attitude. Also, I well remember the usage of different shots portrayed on Denise, the victim of the whole quarrel. I particularly was really proud of this because it showed how well I had mastered the usage of using different camera shots in one particular scene. This expanded my vision on how certain scenes could be shot and thus what feel; each scene and shot could give to the whole movie or video as a whole. Next, I was able to present a motivating video of the STAR test where I used elements such as music to engage the audience into my film, and therefore get them to do better on the STAR test. Here I effectively used again music and I was able to blend to different genres effectively to help and covey the theme of my video. Some things that I feel I also really was able to put into practice were that of sound and recording. I learned how to use Sound booth and do recording that I could later incorporate in my film. Not only that but the special effects that I learned in the making of jabberwocky really taught me how to use them and make the audience get an eerie feeling. In the end, the thing where I know imp altered and improved on was that of editing and sound making as well as camera man and directing. Also, I learned the importance of working with others and how we all can come together to bring ideas to the table through brainstorming to make our films amazing. Something that I learned just by watching other peoples films and observing how they made me feel by having these particular elements in their film was that of having a still frame. I learned this specifically from Ryan because he showed me and I liked how it looked on the video. Because of this, I was able to incorporate it into one of my videos. Another thing was the usage of certain scenes. I liked the scenes that people did to express feelings of solitude and loneliness like when Cody is walking down the hallway of the locker rooms. This made me understand their video more and the theme they were showing us. Now, I can go ahead and make a film having this in mind and paying particular attention on how to set up establishing shots that will Gove a certain sensation to the audience. I really learned how to work with others in the class. Before I was more of a single person always doping things on my own. However with this class I was able to value my pastries more and learn how to cooperate to make a final product. Not only that but I learned the important and unique contributions that another person can make while working together. I was amazed at the variety of ideas that my partners contributed to make my entire films not just mine, but ours. One thing though, that I would have liked a lot, was to have more time to do our big projects. I would like to have the security of having enough time to make the videos the best that they could be.

Final Project

This video is based on this class and the four members of group 3, which consist of Estefania, Cynthia, Denise, and I. Its purpose is to outline all the memories we have of working together like videos and pictures, so that in the future we may look back and see what we did and how we changed etc.

Music Video

1. The story that we were trying to evoke was that of a father's departure to the war. In the beginning he is thinking of what is going to happen to his family that he is leaving behind. His heart is filled with remorse and sadness just thinking that he wont be there next to them supporting them. While these thoughts penetrate and engulf his mind, he starts saying his goodbyes to his family one by one, pausing during the intervals of the music as he goes up to every person. Then when, the music reaches short jolts this symbolizes when he goes to war and is fighting. However, the importance of the scene is that he can potentially die, and then when the music stops and soothes out, this is when he is injured and is in a life or death situation. His critical situation makes the mood of the entire story desperate and agonizing. Then the doctors come in and reveal the news to the family that he will be ok but not after some short suspenseful moments. In the end the family is reunited and together again. 2. 44 seconds to 1 minute 15 seconds. The first image that we selected was that that resembled a rock or something hard, showing how the father was trying to keep his feelings together but it was hard. Then the usage of the images of spheres almost looked like tears and then with the usage of one of the effects it looked like running water indicating a tone that of sadness and crying for his children and family. After another effect that made it seem like running water also makes it seem like crying and the flow of emotions across the fathers mind. All of a sudden an image of a lot of colors and just kind of a mesh of color comes up which show the mixed emotions and how the father is feeling. All of this underlines the hardness of the father to leave to the army while leaving his family behind. The images and the colors chosen show the distress that not only the dad feels but the children feel too. One of the colors is a blend of lines and streaks which show how the little kids do not understand why their dad is leaving and since purple is a color of emotion, thus outlines the disparity and impotence felt by the whole family at the current situation. 3. Actually 100% of our film is consisted of abstract images except for the little exerts of video we incorporated as well. We tried to pick colors that would go with the mood and that would give a certain feel which we wanted to portray. Also some abstract sensations were created through the usage of effects on Premiere Pro that distorted the images to give them a feel that would be parallel to the story behind the song. 4. I discovered that although at a first glance these images look weird and bizarre, they can actually serve to represent and demonstrate certain images, tones, attitudes, and themes. Not only that but i learned that a lot of the times abstract can actually show more than a typical image that shows an actual object. Also, abstract images can vary in interpretations which leads to multiple interpretations of just one abstract which can serve to add diversity to a specific theme. 5. I learned that both elements are parallel in their combination to interpret and deliver a message. I discovered that if one element is off in this combination, the whole message of the story can be thrown off if they are not matched. In other words, the images should go along with the tone of music whether it be relaxed and soothing or jolt-like and sudden. Furthermore, i was able to understand that one off colored or oddly placed image in the song could throw the whole message apart, seeing as how we initially did that, but decided to change it with another picture so it would not look as weird and awkward. Actually, it ended up fitting better than expected. 6. The most important contribution i feel that my partner made was the fact that she helped me come up with the story line and she pulled through in the project when i was gone for AP testing. Not only that but she did a good job at putting together the first couple of images and slides together so it would set up an establishing feel just like an establishing shot would serve as an introduction or a way to establish the setting of a place. 7. I felt that my original idea was unique to the storyline and i was able to distort the images in a way that almost reflected and mirrored how the message was put together. I also finished the video in the end and made it flow together so that it would have a much more smoother connection and consistency through out the whole story and song.

Extra Credit Special Effects

Jabberwocky

The effect that i really liked the best and was the one that I most enjoyed doing was the Wave Warp. I thought that it worked well because it really distorted the image and kind of gave off a weird and shapeless vibe that therefore would be a good fit for the picture because the wave warp gives off a vibe of weirdness and exoticness. I was trying to portray a mood of eeriness and strangeness and nothing definite, on the contrary something that was abstract and without a concrete meaning. Overall, i wanted to show the flexibility of this poem and how there’s not one really meaning to the poem, but instead a whole bunch of possible meanings all jumbled in one, which is what makes this poem abstract.

Effects Video

Instructions: For the first effect we inserted the clip into the timeline. Then we went under Video Effects and then opened the Distort folder. Once opened, we grabbed the Wave Warp effect and dragged it onto the first clip. Once done with that, we double clicked the clip and the went to the Source Panel and clicked on effects. There we set key frames for the wave type at 1 seconds and then the next at 4 seconds. After we set Pinning and set 3 more key franes at 1, 2, and 3 secind key frames. Then we moved on to the next clip. For this one we went under Video Effects and opened the Styleze folder. Then we dragged the Strobe Light effect onto the second clip. After we went to the source panel and clicked on effects. Once done with that, we changed the strobe color to red. Also, we changed the Blend With to 47% and did a Random Strobe at 46%. We also set 3 keyframes under the Strobe option at 8, 9, and 10 seconds. Finally we went under Strobe Operation and set 2 keyframes under 8 and 9 seconds.

Director's Cut

Honestly i think that this shows how well we worked together and each and everyone's strengths. Also we all had time to experiment new positions which we weren't too comfortable with at first to see which areas we were better at and thus be able to give out an amazing product to our video. for example, Estefania got the chance to take the camera as opposed to me because i am the one that usually does it. This way she got to learn how to manipulate it and got to try something new. Me on the other hand, i got a chance to try script writing and drawing, none of them being one of my great strengths but i tried either way. I think this showed how well we were able to work together and exemplified our communication because we were a;ways on task and got things done even after things weren't exactly on our favor. One other thing i really noticed was that even when we were absent or had something going on, we managed to pull through. One of the things that we left out was all the obstacles we faced for the production of this video. Also i think that this video does not show all the thought and time we took to really make this video the best it could be, obviously because of time constraints and the lack of always having a camera. However, on the other hand i think it highlights really well our working together.