AICE Media Studies

 Dearest Reader,  Below are some questions that helped me reflect on the process of my commercial creation. "What technology did you learn to use?" Throughout the process of doing this project I learned a lot about transferring audio. Although I had some experience with HitFilm Express prior to this project, I still ended up learning a lot about the software when actually using it. The biggest challenge was learning how to avoid copyright issues in my music selection. I needed to get the audio from someplace other than HitFilm, so I was required to transfer this audio in. This required me to use the technology of screen recording, google drive and putting audio into the timeline of my commercial. Additionally, I learned about the different sound transitions to make my commercial more cohesive. Audio transitions were not something I had ever used in the past so this technology was completely new to me.  "What did you learn about the process of putting a project together?&

Dearest Reader, Enjoy!

 Dearest Reader, Today I began the final stages of producing my commercial. My project was to put everything into the timeline. After I had finished this, I started working on transitions.  As aforementioned, I have an affinity for highly stylized pieces such as those done by Wes Anderson. Due to this, I am critical about making sure that everything has a colorful and clean look. In order to match the style of my commercial, I applied this aesthetic to my transitions as well.  I wanted to give an air of being inside a photo album for my commercial. This project is supposed to portray how I am as an individual. I figured that because of this, it is similar to showing the audience a piece of a photo album to my life. In order to achieve this affect, I overlaid all four pictures of myself. I also overlaid the first frame of the videos of myself. All of these picture were added onto one beginning background. Adding borders around each individual picture achieved the desired affect of film

 Dearest reader,  Today, I got the crazy idea to do homework all day and then save editing for the evening. That was a mistake. Despite my exhaustion, my computer was willing to work even if my brain wasn’t. I started by making sure I had all my pictures and video footage uploaded. Luckily everything was on my computer.  I began researching how to drop only certain parts of videos into HitFilm Express. This was quite difficult so I decided to crop the video content on my phone first. My method of editing partially on my phone first proved smart. Editing within the photos app made the process within HitFilm Express easier.  Looking back, using HitFilm Express was likely more of a mistake than a plus. The platform is amazing and provides a lot of tools to make films look really advanced. However, since I had scarcely worked with this before, it was a steep learning curve for a tight turn around. Despite the abundance of tools, my film is still not looking up to my standards. I am having

 Dearest reader, Today I started choosing the blocks of music I would use in my commercial. I struggled with this part because I couldn't get Apple Music to deliver audio to HitFilm Express. There were so many errors in the process. I figured out that this would be an issue in my trial run of adding music. This happened before I even chose which chunks of music to play. I later came to the realization that Apple Music does not export audio files to other apps. Even in a screen recording, the music mutes to ensure that copyright laws are being followed.  After the kerfuffle, I decided I should figure out first what parts of the music to use. It was fairly easy to choose a block of "Best of My Love" By The Emotions. I struggled more with choosing the music from "Oogum Boogum Song" By Brenton Wood.  Once I had selected the music itself, I went onto Youtube and started trying to accommodate my issue with the audio. Upon further research I found that it is illegal to

 Dearest Reader, Today I started editing my commercial. In the beginning, this process was fairly easy since I was color editing using VSCO. VSCO is my preferred photo editing software because it is easy to understand and has many features to increase the vibrancy, saturation, sharpness, etc. I am familiar with VSCO because I used it in previous years when it was very popular. I began by entering my four photos of choice. In the photo where I am taking a call on my bed I decided to make it black and white because the color scheme of my comforter was bringing down the bright and colorful feel. Although it may seem like making a photo black and white would bring down the theme even more than a white comforter, I decided that I could use this to convey the 60's feeling I was going for. To add symmetry I, in turn, made the photo of me on my front patio black and white as well. Once those two were rectified, I decided to brighten and increase the saturation on the picture of me at my de

 Dearest Reader, Today I started planning for my commercial. I knew from the beginning that I wanted to do a highly stylized piece for this commercial. I'm beginning by sorting out where I want to draw my inspirations from. Something that comes to my mind when thinking about style and eye catching details is Lilly Pulitzer. Lilly Pulitzer is a brand that was created around 1959. Lilly Pulitzer, wife of Herbert Pulitzer, started a juice stand in Palm Beach, Florida, with the intention of searching for her own purpose and happiness outside of being a socialite. Due to Lilly's status she was able to request her dress maker to create something specifically to camouflage juice stains. In doing this, her colorful prints quickly caught the eyes of her fellow socialites and friends. Lilly's signature style stole the attention, and not to mention the dollars, of the Palm Beach community rapidly and ultimately ended with her starting her own brand.  The style of Lilly Pulitzer is som

 Dearest Reader, I figured like all good friends, we should get to know one another, so here's some basics. My name is Sarah, this is my first year in film studies. In college, I want to study agricultural engineering. Currently, my dream schools are tied between the University of Alabama and the University of Florida.  My favorite movie is Wedding Crashers directed by David Dobkin. Others tied for favorites include Enola Holmes 2 directed by Harry Bradbeer and The Grand Budapest Hotel directed by Wes Anderson.  The majority of my inspiration is drawn from Wes Anderson. Wes Anderson is my favorite director. Features of Wes Anderson's style that I enjoy are his color pallettes and his humour.  The best development of a character in film in my opinion is Padme Amidala. I admire the way that George Lucas created a character that is strong and yet very feminine. Feminitity is something that is close to my heart because it helps me be myself. Throughout watching the Star Wars series