Blog with Riyyah

  In our media studies class, we reviewed our film pitch with our classmates. I enjoyed this process because it is interesting to hear about suggestions from our peers that we could use to improve our film. A suggestion that stood out to me is to make a relatable character with everyday problems to allow the audience to understand our plot more. I took this feedback and implemented it into our film! In the beginning of the opening scene, the protagonist Ramona narrates her thoughts. The line "why have friends when you'll just be mistreated and replaced?" will stand out to antisocial introverts who watch our film. This line can even be relatable to people who have once surrounded themselves with bad friends!

  Catalyst First Draft  When planning for our opening scene, my group and I thought that our ideas for our storyline would be finalized. However, we ended up making several changes and additions. We realized that our opening scene did not contain a strong enough hook to engage our audience. After feedback from Ms. Vinent, we realized we could change many aspects to our film for improvements.  For example, in our final film we added credits and our company logo to the beginning of our film which our first draft did not include! Our first draft also did not contain background music to set the mood of each scene. However, in our final draft we utilized background music by putting sad music during bullying flashback scenes to change the tone of the scene to match the protagonist's emotion.  We also replaced numerous scenes containing dialogue and opted for clips with voiceover to narrate the protagonist's thoughts throughout the film. Lastly, we changed the end...

The audio was the last element added to the film. Background music was added first to set the mood of the film. For example, the film immediately starts with a dark screen and mischievous music playing in the background. This matches the horror/mystery genre of our film. As the film progresses into the bullying flashback scenes, sad music plays in the background to change the tone of the story and match the protagonist's emotion. Once the film reaches its hook, once again mischievous music is played to alert the audience that a sketchy act will be committed.  Lastly, the protagonist's voiceover was added to the film. Various clips include voiceover to provide the audience with subtext information and narrate Ramona's thoughts. I believe the voiceover was a great addition to our film! It highlights the protagonist's point of view and explains why she is that way. The voiceover also gives the audience background information about her previous relationshi...

  Post-production is the final phase of filmmaking. During this phase you add music, sound effects, and editing. After my group and I finished recording all our scenes I created the first and last components you will see during the film. First is the logo and title poster. During the opening image of any film, the company who created the film includes their production logo and sometimes the names of the main characters before the action actually begins. After I created our production logo and poster, I added them to the beginning of our film. My teammate Ashley than added transitions in between them to separate the opening image title scenes from the action scenes. I created a credit page to include at the end of our opening scene. The credit page contains the names of our entire film crew and their roles that the played in the production of our film! At the end of our film the screen goes black. Immediately following the darkness, the credit page will be displayed!

Blooper Example During production week my group and I had so many bloopers! There were times where we forgot our roles, lines, or just couldn't stop laughing to even start recording! It became frustrating at times; however, it was important that we had patience with one another. Once we clearly communicated our thoughts and ideas filming became easier! It was also crucial that we took breaks in between filming. We realized that working under stress did not lead to good results. It in fact just made the filming process longer due to many unusable takes.                                       I believe this experience has improved my peer collaboration skills! I learned to take constructive criticism and use it to improve many aspects in our film. Although our tasks have been challenging, I managed to get through it with the help of my teammates!

  The antagonist scene is the second scene of our film which introduces Aaliyah (the antagonist) a popular girl in school. In this scene, a group of high school students are shown engaging in a conversation with Aaliyah. The two supporting characters talk about her good academics and achievements in athletics.  Catalyst is about bullying that is sometimes unrecognized by the people around you. Behind closed doors, Aaliyah is not what she seems to be! She is actually a bully to her childhood friend Ramona. However, Aaliyah's popularity hides the bad side of her. As a result, people in school fail to recognize her cruel behavior.

In our film we decided we wanted to include flashback scenes to convey past events in a present narrative. The bullying flashback scenes were used in our film to showcase moments that triggered the protagonists' breaking point. Alongside the flashback, sad background music and a black and white filter was used to shift the mood of the film to match Ramona's emotions.  Our opening scene contains a total of three flashback scenes. The first flashback scene shows Aaliyah (the antagonist) walking past Ramona (the protagonist) who is sitting on a bench. The second flashback scene shows Aaliyah shoving Ramona into a staircase wall. The last flashback scene shows Ramona sitting alone at a lunch table completing homework. She is then rudely interrupted by Aaliyah who takes her paper and crumbles it.

Opening Image Scene     The opening-image was a medium-close up shot introducing the main character in the film by using the panning and tracking movement. Ramona is seen walking through an empty hallway to let the audience know where the main action of the film will be occurring. Ramona walking alone in an empty hallway indicates that she is a loner in school. A voiceover will be present during this scene to provide the audience with information about the protagonist's thoughts. This will give the audience subtext as to why Ramona prefers to be by alone, and also how the hallways are not crowded in this public high school. This was a very simple scene to portray. My only role as the protagonist was to keep my head straight and walk at a normal pace. T here is also an action match which will show the main character walking from two different views that will make the motion seem uninterrupted.   Before starting this scene, my group and I wanted to make sure we utilize...

A film pitch is like the first draft of the film. It includes a brief summary of the plot and other aspects of the film (such as mise-en-scene) in order to present an idea of the film so people can give their thoughts on it.  It is important to pitch a movie to an audience before producing the film because feedback from different people can give crucial advice that can lead to improvements to the draft.  Film producers engage audiences by allowing the audience to make basic decisions that help them feel included in the production of the film. For example, social media posts from directors and actors regarding the film are often posted to excite the audience and hear about their thoughts.  You can recognize the conventions of a film opening by the visual elements such as the production logo, title card, and credits.

  Before recording our film, planning was crucial for our group! We created our own storyboard containing drawn images and action lines to give us a general idea of how each scene should be played out. After creating our storyboard, we discussed extra things that should be added to improve our film. For example, music and voiceovers. We also discussed the best angles/ shot sizes that we should use to film our scenes in. It took us multiple takes to decide which angles fit our storyline better.  Experimenting with different aspects helped us tremendously. Each shot size and angle gave the scene a different connotation and tone. Our group picked the shot sizes that best fit our horror-mystery genre. 

  Our film script includes every line that was said in our opening scene. It was crucial to have our script so that we could rehearse and have our lines memorized before actually filming. The script includes dialogue from the protagonist, antagonist, and the supporting characters! Not only does the script include dialogue, but it also contains the descriptions of what is happening in each scene.  There is also voiceover from the protagonist that narrates her thoughts out loud. The script was useful because as the main character in the film I was able to use the script to read my lines at home during the voiceover scenes! 

       Throughout our film, many exposition techniques were used to give the audience background information. For example, by listening to Ramona's voiceovers. the audience can find out about her previous history with the antagonist Aaliyah. Another sound technique that we included was background music. A shift in tone was indicated by the sad background music during the flashback scenes.  Another exposition technique we used was mise-en-scene. During the flashback scenes, the lighting became dimmer to show bad moments that Ramona has experienced. The protagonist wore all black attire to give the audience a mischievous feeling and alert them that something sketchy is going to happen. The prop used was a knife to warn the audience that a dangerous act will be committed. The color change from normal to black and white will indicate that Ramona is experiencing flashbacks. 

  In our script, we used the Save the Cat beat sheet to organize our storyline. For the first beat, we discussed the opening image. After the opening credits, our film will feature the main character walking through an empty hallway by using the tracking and panning movement.   The second beat talks about the theme of our story! The themes are "bullying", "betrayal", and "rivalry." Our story is about bullying that can be unrecognized by the people around you. Even the people that seem perfect can have hidden personalities.  The third beat is set-up. The main character Ramona wants revenge because Aaliyah, the antagonist has made her high school experience miserable. However, proving that Aaliyah isn't what she seems to be is challenging since she is known for being the perfect, popular student-athlete. The fourth beat is the hook. Ramona takes matters into her own hands since people have a hard time believing that Aaliyah can cause any harm. The end of...