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.