AICE Media Studies

 Dearest reader, Today, we continued editing our short film. We met via FaceTime once all members were home from school. There was a bit of back and forth between which editing platform to use. I made a case for ClipChamp mentioning the ability to use many tools for free. I found ClipChamp to be a saving grace on my last project.  Ultimately, the group settled on CapCut. I had made it abundantly clear to my group that my editing skills are subpar. While I made sure to enthusiastically emphasize my willingness to edit the footage should they want me to, I can not promise much skill for the group. It was agreed that the editing work would be split fairly evenly amongst members. First, we needed to import the clips off of the drive and onto CapCut.  Finding the cropped clips I had worked on yesterday was easy for my teammates. The clips were moved onto one teammates’ laptop and the editing began. Clips were organized into sequential order on the timeline. Filters were then added to bring

 Dearest reader, Today I began editing our short film. Filming wrapped yesterday. We filmed the scene we needed of everyone getting in the car. After finishing at Alexandra’s house I did have to get ready for a birthday dinner immediately. This meant that there was no discussion of editing yesterday. This morning I woke up and had birthday brunch with my grandparents who live in West Palm Beach. This was about an hour drive up and another hour back plus the time spent there. With all this to say, I got to editing later in the day. First, I reached out to my group. I checked in to see how we wanted to divide up the work amongst the group.  We decided we would meet via FaceTime to discuss what editing platform to use tomorrow. With a call scheduled for after school tomorrow, I checked in to see if there was anything else I could do for the group. The group needed the clips we took Friday and Saturday to undergo some slight pre-editing. We collected the clips from the various phones we fi

 Dearest reader, Today was the second day of filming. Since today was not a  school day, we started filming earlier. Due to the fact that we are meeting at Alexandra's house, l woke up at 8:30. I live out west, about 40 minutes from the school. Alexandra lives out east about 20 minutes from the school.  Last night when I got home from filming and finished all my homework, I went straight to bed. This meant that on top of my usual morning routine, I had to shower. I hopped in the shower as soon as I woke up and got my day going. After eating breakfast, I did my hair and got in my costume. Almost late, I ran out the door to head to Alexandra’s house. When I arrived, we were waiting on one teammate. Something family related came up and there was a delay. Similar to yesterday’s filming, those of us who were there made sure we were looking ready to film and had the cameras set up. Once everyone was present, we got cracking on the scene where we are driving off to start the trip. There w

 Dearest reader, Today was the first day of filming. If you read the previous blog, you know that yesterday was a race to memorize my lines thoroughly. Our teammates checked in on each other to see how the line studying was progressing. All of us seemed to have spent last night the same way: cooped up rereading and reciting lines till we were dizzy. Knowing this made me excited to film today because there was a chance we might have been able to finish all the footage. Upon arrival, we had about ten minutes to re-read our lines. During this time, various members stepped out to prepare for filming. Some of us set up cameras and check our phone storage. We discussed who may end up editing the footage when it was all said and done. We also contacted our parents to let them know we would be leaving for the first filming location in a few minutes.  Then, there was a great flurry of getting dressed and ready. I had to change clothes, change my hairstyle and do my makeup. I added hair accessor

 Dearest reader,  Today was all about memorizing my lines. We officially have a filming date set for tomorrow after school! After all the chaos it feels so so good to have secured a filming date and have it be so soon. Originally this weekend was too conflicted to film, but plans changed for my vacation so I am able to work on the project. We are meeting at one of my teammates house after school.  The sudden schedule change, while positive, is stressful. One luxury of a distant far off filming date was not rushing to get my lines memorized. I know from AICE drama that memorizing lines can be difficult even an as a straight A student. Line memorization requires reliance on other people saying their lines first. If someone misses their line it throws off the mental que for me to say my line.  To fix this issue in a live performance, you would just memorize more of the lines leading up to yours. You could also try to practice improv to help the scene along. However, in a film we need all

 Dearest reader, Today was another day of delays. My group has had back to back obligations with extracurriculars. Many of us are also taking several advanced courses with project deadlines coming up.  In lieu of this issue, I decided to attempt another task I could execute alone. The delays in the filming process are stressing me out like crazy and I need to be actively working on something to stave off the anxiety. Additionally, a friend of mine who is also in media studies but in a different group has asked me to be in his project. The first day I showed up no actual filming got done. I was under the belief that everything we needed filmed would get done. Trying to coordinate dates for that while also prioritizing my own group's grade is an added layer of chaos.  The solution to these frustrations? Fashion.  Costumes are an essential part of conveying the character within a film. Since my character is the first one to get kidnapped, I want to convey a sense of naivety. I underst

 Dearest reader, In our delays me and my teammates have decided to work on tasks we can do independently.  Music is a key part of any film. Especially in an opening sequence, music is almost always present. Since music also affects the tone of the opening sequence, we decided it would be best to pay some attention to this sooner rather than later.  I decided to search for music we could use and propose it to the group. Hopefully, a few other teammates will also have found music. If there are multiple options we can give them all a listen and cast a vote.  In the music I am looking for something that gives an adventurous road trip feeling. In order to portray the feeling of eeriness, something that is adventurous with a slight off key feeling would likely achieve this. Finding this type of music will be hard because it must be copyright free. This means that we are likely working with instrumental music only.  Some key words I tried in searching for royalty free music included eerie, my

 Dearest reader, What do you get when you combine four students with extracurriculars? Schedule issues.  We have been trying to figure out a good time to film our final task. First we began by looking for weekends that are available. With a debater in the group, that is none. Then, we decided we will likely not get to film the whole opening sequence in one day. With this in mind, we considered after school. One member of the group is on the tennis team so she has practice every day after school except Fridays. Fridays were looking good for the group except for the fact that the next few Fridays were booked for everyone. I had a date this past Friday and I will be travelling out of town the next.  Trying to align schedules has proven to be a hurculean task. February is coming to a swift end and we really want to film before March. If do not film until March, we will be running it right up to the due date with the editing. I am not sure about the editing abilities of my teammates yet, ho