Entry #25 Week Six Post Two

Hi again! This week has been so busy. It is spring break and Shelby is still terribly sick and Reem and I both have some family plans throughout the week. Finding times where we can both meet up was challenging, but we honestly just sacrificed a lot of plans. It is not about time management, but rather just being extra sure about the way we execute.

Anyways, today we had shot a lot of scenes. We shot scene #1, half of #3, and then #2.
Scene number one is Emerald cutting the fruits and eventually receiving an email from Weston City about her upcoming date. Scene number two is Zoe receiving her email for her date while she is out for a run. Scene number three is Emerald talking to her best friend, Mercy, about the date and how she does not want to go.

The other half of scene three was shot another day. My friend Sumaiyya was playing Mercy and we had gone over her house to film that. Because Mercy and Emerald are having a conversation over the phone, it was okay that we filmed on two separate days.

We had some last minute blips (I'm not sure if that is a word but I imagine it to mean minor bumps on the road). The formatting of the emailed invite took a very long time to fix but here is how it turned out. This is a screen recording on how it looked on the phone:

As you can see, we created an email header. The background is of some trees with the logo on the right side. We also have a light border on the image. After that is the body that Reem and I wrote together with the images of the people who are set up together and information about their date.

Until next time...

Entry #24 Week Six Post One

Hey guys!

Shelby has been so sick ever since she came back from drama states, but she has still been talking to us about the project in the group chat. Reem and I have been meeting up together and planning out the day and then going out to film.

The first scene we had filmed, other than the previous establishing shots and cooking video we had filmed in the past, was one of the most important ones. It was the last scene of the film opening and it was everyone meeting their date that was set up by the system. Many of the people who came from drama states were sick, so they all had to cancel. Thankfully, we had a lot of volunteers that were willing to help us out!

The shoot took about four hours!

There were many actors:

Sebastian: playing Swain, the guy who was supposed to be set up with Emerald
Andres: playing Niall, the guy who was supposed to be set up with Zoe
Julie: playing the waitress that had mistakenly taken Swain and Zoe to the wrong table
Reem: playing Zoe, the girl who ends up being set up with Emerald
Sofia: playing Emerald, the main character

For us to find actors that were all available at the same exact time on a Friday night was very challenging! It had taught us a lot about the planning process. I was personally nervous going into the shoot even though we had all the main shots we wanted storyboarded. This was because we had to change the location of scene five since the restaurant we planned on filming at had given us a 45 limit to film. The one we ended up filming at, Primetime, had reserved the whole back of the restaurant for us to use, so a HUGE shout out to them!

Anyways, the shoot went well! I learned a lot about thinking on my feet for solving last minute problems and things we did not think about. I aim to be more efficient in such a shoot.

Entry #23 Week Five Post Four

What's up guys?

I was talking to Reem and I gained some inspiration to start working on my CCR.

Here are the compulsory questions:

-How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?

-How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text?

-How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

-How did you integrate technologies – software, hardware and online – in this project?

I can only really fully answer the first two questions. This post will include some bullets on what will be in my answers. I personally have more elaborate responses but I have included a couple of words to capture some of my messages. 

1. -cover dystopian society concept

-sexuality, representation of homosexual relationships

-compatibility

2. -film festivals

-local college events

-social media accounts

Entry #22 Week Five Post Three

Hey guys!

This is a tiny update! My group and I had talked a lot in our group chat. Reem had sent her draft for the dystopian society's logo.

Shelby told us that she has states for Drama so we will not be doing much as a group but we have planned out and adjusted our work and film schedule. We will be meeting up at a cafe on Tuesday during our spring break and finish up some in depth planning for the film. Additionally, we will start filming a bit. This is very much needed to just update Shelby a bit even though she has been with our group chat. It will be nice to catch up on everything. 

Anyways, back to the logo. I had touched on an earlier post that our teacher recommended that we started dividing up roles. Obviously, some changes were made since Reem made the logo instead of Shelby because of her commitments. Here is a summary of that:

NAWAL:
- creating templates for U-Weston Videos
- figure out cliparts for the characters
REEM:
- props for U-Weston Videos (Chef Hat)
- work on Emails for characters
- get the henna
SHELBY:

-create logo for the city council

-miscene elements

Entry #21 Week Five Post Two

Hey fam!

This post part two of the Early Release Day class. We had covered a lot of material, so I wanted to split it up into two posts! I will still cover everything we have done this weeks in the upcoming posts.

We had planned the exact shots of scene one which I had covered in very light detail in the past. We had finished it up the first scene buy #1 looking at the laptop screen and showing her reaction. It then it cuts to a montage of #2 out for a run. We thought it would be humorous to do a montage to capture the vibe that #2 had felt while running and to show that #2 was in her zone. We would start with a close up of their feet running on the sidewalk, a close up of their face, and more close ups. We would show a long shot of #2 centered in the middle third running towards the camera. Simultaneously, there would be music playing in the background which is actually the song that #2 is listening through #2's headphones.

When #2 is waiting at the stoplight running in place before #2's headphones are pulled out, we wanted to include a long shot of #2 in the right third with the volume of the song much lower than the shot before this one because we thought it would be pretty funny to show.
When #2 is waiting at a stoplight to cross the road, running in place, and hears a ding notifying #2 of an incoming email. #2 pulls out their phone and headphones, one at a time. For each headphone, the volume reduces by a quarter for each one. You can still hear the music but you can tell that it is coming from the headphones.



Random things I have been loving:
Google maps with the tiny person that you can put on the road. It has been FANTASTIC for planning out shots, such as above.
The other one I forgot because my parents just surprised me at the cafe and I lost my train of thought.

Entry #20 Week Five Post One

Eyyoo!

Today, my group members met up in class today, but Shelby wasn't here because of something for Drama. Reem and I worked on the storyboard in this time. We only had about thirty minutes, more or less, because it was early release.

I emphasized that we really dedicate sufficient time to the planning stage so that we can get some details down and also, it mays the production stage all the more efficient. We have divided the film opening into a couple of scenes. We loosely summarized what each scene would be about for ourselves when looking back at it. We then continued drawing out shots that we wanted for the first scene. After that, we moved on to scene two.

We really spent some time debating about how we wanted this film opening to work and to do that we had drawn out each character and named them for reference. Here is an example. There is the #1, the girl in the kitchen who is preparing the breakfast, #2 who is the individual she ends up being paired up with at dinner who is also a girl (not compatible in sign), and #3 who is the character she was supposed to be set up with at dinner (compatible in sign) but #4, the waitress, had messed up the seating. #5 who is #1's best friend (compatible in sign).

The predicament we faced was how we would show that #1 and #2 were set up with different people and how they ended up together. We also wanted to show that homosexual relationships were not approved up in the dystopian society.

This class covered a very dense amount of material so I shall continue covering this information in the next blog!

Entry #19 Week Four Post Four

Today is Shelby's birthday! We decided to give her the day off so she could spend that time with her family! Instead, Reem and I met up alone to start filming!

Today we did many establishing shots in a shopping center called Town Center. We chose this location for its very well-kept, colorful look. We took some video clips of the water fountain, the bell tower with the clock, some individuals walking, and a long shot down the aisle.

We also planned on getting some shots of the front of my neighborhood to pretend it was the neighborhood of one of my peers.

Other than that, Reem and I went to my neighborhood clubhouse to film the video that the main character would be watching to follow along and make her breakfast. I had brought some hand towels and an apron so that Reem could put-on on her shoulder and the apron folded around her waste. She had brought some fruits that she could cut up in the video.

I took a variety of shots as she cooked. Some include high angle shots with an aerial view of what she is grabbing for. Other include just mid-shots where Reem filled the middle third with room over her head.

While on site, we had gone through a couple rehearsals to make sure Reem could master the outro of the video that would play in the kitchen of the opening scene. After we did so, we recorded it. I also took some plain shot of the fruit bowl to include as some cutaways.

Entry #18 Week Four Post Three

Today, my group split up into different groups with members of other groups working on the AICE Media film opening/magazine.

My teacher had organized this so that we could get a wealth of peer review on our project to help us further the plot and workout certain details of the project.

Some of the members discussed problems they had with location, timeline of the film, editing techniques and plot/character development. I had helped out some of my members by recommending certain locations that I have shot at before and certain episodes and movies that may inspire my peer to advance with their current product.

My group had approximately 6-7 people including me to provide commentary on everything we had done so far.

When I went, I briefly discussed a summary of our plot and they had all enjoyed the idea but thought it missed some important links and transitions between scenes. They gave us some input on the shots that we had storyboarded, which you will se in effect next post!

Entry #17 Week Four Post Two

Reem, Shelby, and I all took our teacher's advice on dividing some roles so that we can come to class with some work done. When Reem and I were in class together (in the last post) we started to storyboard our film opening so that we could recognize which details we are missing in our plot outline.

We had identified a couple of details that we need to work on:
1. Designing an email which is what the two individuals dating each other would receive as their invitation for later that week.
2. A social media platform for video distribution, similar to YouTube. We want our main character in the opening scene to be in her kitchen making breakfast, following a cooking show video. We want it to be on a tablet of some sort that is a very critical element of each citizen's life in the society. The tablet would have everything they would need.

With my experience in graphic design/editing/photoshop, I will be working on the template and layout of these items while Reem will be creating the content of the work that go into each. Shelby will also help Reem write things, like the email.

3. We also have to figure out if we are going to have an icon of the zodiac sign floating above the citizens of the dystopian society. If the icon is too cartoon-ish it would not fit well with the vibe of the film, since the actual film is more realistic. We have to find a way of presenting the icon in a realistic way where it does not look like it is layered on the video, but actually present.

4. We also came up with different types of establishing shots we wanted to include.

Entry #16 Week Four Post One

Welcome back! It has been a tough couple weeks at school. We are in the longest quarter of the year and it ends next week, so it a lot of teachers have given dense workloads and I am pushing through.

Today, our groups met with the teacher today to just inform her about where we are at with our project and where we should be. One of my peers was absent today, but Reem and I had very helpful discussion with out AICE Media teacher. We told her a little bit about where we are at with the project and what our film was about. She had read all of our blogs so she already knew about it, but she did ask some guiding questions to push us in the right direction.

By the end of the discussion, we agreed on including another scene before the end of the film opening to help develop the plot further. Reem and I want to talk about it with Shelby and agree on what we need to do. Aside from that, we did talk about dividing up some roles. We all collaborate well with each other, but to make sure we are being as efficient as possible, we are planning on dividing up the workload with our future deadline!

Entry #15 Week Three Post Four

Ayoooo!

I just came back home from a weekend-long tournament in Gainesville, Florida and I am absolutely exhausted. This did not stop my group. We had a group call during my 5-hour trip back to continue working at the script of the film. We also worked out a filming schedule to make sure we could see which slots of time were all available to make sure to book shoots for filming.

For the first, we created all of this:

Opening Scene

• Establishing shots
• Weston Town Center Long Shot
• Golf Course
• Isles at Weston Neighborhood Sign
• House (clubhouse or house)
• Long shots
• House Ideas
• Isles of weston common area
• Nawals House
• Shelby?

Scene #1

• Sound bridge of alarm (for leaving the house)
• Character needing to leave
• As she is cutting fruits: close up of hand and tattoo
• Taurus
• Ding for email
• Invite for date

We decided to add some more detail to different aspects of the first scene and opening. For example, in the first scene, while the taurus is cutting up her fruits, we would show her zodiac sign which is tattooed (with henna) on the character's wrist. This close-up hints at the idea of this film. It also raises curiosity in the audience, especially when they see not only does she have it, but everyone else. It foreshadows the rigid structure that the system holds. We wanted the tattoo to be similar to being branded. We my include a number below it as well.

As for creating a schedule, Shelby worked on finding a platform in which we can all share our calendars and when we are busy. This included any trips and tests that we had so that we could accurately visualize where we could not meet up and film. Rather, for those parts, we decided to go group calls to make up for it to at the very least. We are still learning about this platform, but I will tell you how it goes in the next blog!

Entry #14 Week Three Post Three

Welcome back!

We discussed the first scene a bit further. We decided what specific types of establishing shots we wanted to include.

Establishing Shot Places

• Weston Hills Golf Course
• Isles at Weston Clubhouse
• Isles at Weston Neighborhood Entry
• Town center
• Weston Commons Cold Stone + Panera Side

For the opening scene, it transitions from the establishing shots to the Taurus character in her house preparing some breakfast and eventually receiving an email about her monthly schedule from the system. Think of this transition as a sequence of shots that show the location on a bigger scale and eventually to a much smaller one. For example, the first shot would be of a neighborhood sign, the middle would be the inside of the neighborhood and then the house. The last would be of the main character and performing a domestic task, like making herself breakfast.

The email is of a date invitation for her and another individual (male) that she is compatible with in terms of the astrology from the system. We all decided that at the date itself, the individuals were mismatched by accident and rather paired with a sign that is not compatible with the taurus. Then, the taurus would actually like their date.

Entry #13 Week Three Post Two

Welcome back!

In class, we used our plot outline from earlier and notes that we had taken on the details of the film to start creating the script. For the first step of this process, we went through each scene of the plot outline and discussed it. This was so that we could give each other immediate feedback on each other's ideas and expand and develop each of them. In an earlier post, I included the plot outline. Here is that again for reference to show what we used to start creating the script draft:

Characters:

Vianna (taurus)

Taylor (gemini)

Friend (pisces)

Opening scene:

• Various shots of community
• Establishing setting and way of life
• Credits rolling
• 
  

Scene #1:

• Main girl in her room waking up (doing a daily task)
• Get an email about monthly schedule includings dates to meet compatible person
• Various shots of her room to show zodiac

(Purpose: showing a normal life of a citizen in society, and introducing character and their zodiac).

Scene #2:

• Introduce partner, doing similar thing to the main character
• Very similar shots (parallel editing)
• Also gets an email about date, and monthly schedule
• (Purpose: further emphasis of society, and introducing character and zodiac.)

Scene #3:

• Go back to main, complaining to friend
• Friend is compatible
• Getting ready for date
• Looking out window

Scene #4:

• Back to friend also getting ready, but slight shift in routine
• Looking at different scenery, further establishing setting

Last scene:

viewing of main characters, at a restaurant in a booth (on a date)

- Camera then pans to a crane shot to show a full restaurant of different people on dates

(have little bubbles of each zodiac and compatibility level on top of each person’s head-like sims)

• Camera pans out to a black/constellation and title “How The Stars Align”

We only got as far as quarter of the first scene since it was our first couple seconds and we wanted to make sure we were all on the same page and agreed on what we came up with. One key point was that we wanted to do for the first scene was to include a sound bridge from establishing shots to the inside of the main character's house and it would be of an alarm sound. Generally in the first scene, we just imagined her in the kitchen in the morning about to leave the house. She would receive the new about her scheduled date from the system by some mean.

We have made many changes. For example, instead of her complaining about the date in the third scene, she will in the first. We want her to talk about the scheduled date with her best friend, and how she does not want to go.


Come back and read the next blog for more!

Entry #12 Week Three Post One

Welcome back to the blog!!

I was having a discussion with my group and we realized we had a minor logistical issue in our plot! The whole idea is for the two main characters that are dating to not be compatible for each other in terms of astrology. However, they rebel against those societal standards anyways and challenge the ideas of the leading body. Additionally we changed the signs of the characters to our own signs so that we can our own tendencies to help create different personas. 

The main character and her friend are actually going to be compatible for each other in terms of friendships. This works out perfectly as our signs align with this outline. 

Previously, those who were dating were Pisces and Virgo, who are actually compatible, which does not fit the plot we intended. Instead, the main character will be a Taurus. Her partner will be a Gemini and her best friend will be a Pisces. 

In my next blog, look out for how this change impacted the script! 

Entry #11 Week Two Post Four

Eyoooo!

Yesterday and today consisted of many voice memos exchanged in the group chat between Shelby, Reem, and I further developing our plot and roughly organizing our shooting schedule. 

Shelby had recommended that we all make the main female character receive a letter in the mail saying that she has been scheduled for a date, as if one received there duty to be apart of a court's jury. She also said that we can show her using a burner phone to contact her best friend that she is apparently incompatible with. This can contribute to the stigma behind having relationships outside of one's signs compatibility. 

Reem and I were a bit unsure of the idea, but we did love the idea of incorporating signs of future conflict which would be developed later in the film, but foreshadowed from now. 

With this, we drafted the plot outline of our film opening, although it is TBD. We also verbally agreed on dates and times we are generally available for to enter the production process. 

Opening scene:

• Various shots of community
• Establishing setting and way of life
• Credits rolling

Scene #1:

• (V)-Main girl in her room waking up (doing a daily task)
• Get an email about monthly schedule includings dates to meet compatible person
• Various shots of her room to show zodiac

(Purpose: showing a normal life of a citizen in society, and introducing character and their zodiac.)

Scene #2:

• (T)-Introduce partner, doing similar thing to the main character
• Very similar shots (parallel editing)
• Also gets an email about date, and monthly schedule
• (Purpose: further emphasis of society, and introducing character and zodiac.)

Scene #3:

• Go back to V, complaining to friend
• Friend is compatible
• Getting ready for date
• Looking out window

Scene #4:

• Back to T also getting ready, but slight shift in routine
• Looking at different scenery, further establishing setting

Last scene:

viewing of main characters, at a restaurant in a booth (on a date)

- Camera then pans to a crane shot to show a full restaurant of different people on dates

(have little bubbles of each zodiac and compatibility level on top of each person’s head-like sims)

• Camera pans out to a black/constellation and title “How The Stars Align”

Entry #10 Week Two Post Three

Welcome back!

Shelby, Reem, and I had all discussed what we learned from our group meets with our classmates and we also tried to build upon our idea.

Shelby had recommended that we capture how dated our society is by changing the main characters that are dating to a lesbian couple. Her idea was that we create this stigma around same-sex relationships in the people's ideology to show that they are that much more rebellious.

She also told us what they discussed in her group. Another peer of ours had taught Shelby how we can animate the zodiac signs into our short film. She also told us that the main characters that are friends can also not be compatible in terms of the government's rule.

Additionally, we began to discuss some scene ideas. One that I really liked was to show the main girl out with her friend at bar or restaurant on a Friday night to mingle. There would be a guy showing characteristics of a very stereotypical sign that was one that her sign opposed. The guy would approach the girl and try to flirt, but because of his actions earlier, she knew they were naturally incompatible and looks over at his wrist.

Shelby and Reem both approved of the bar scene because we believed it would help capture the mindset of the characters in our film.

Shelby added on to that with a recommendation she received from her group from Friday in which our opening or closing scene in the film opening could zoom out slowly showing multiple tables at a restaurant of couples on a date that were set up with the system and the title appearing on top of that.