Filming Blog

  At the time of writing this, school has been closed until April 15th. Due to the pandemic, COVID-19, schools in my district were closed. Though that was the best decision for the safety of us students, that also created quite a few issues with our final project. Since we weren’t aware of school closing, we weren’t able to check out the SD card that held our footage and movie. Thankfully, I had saved a small portion of it the my One Drive when we first started the project. However, it was only the first few scenes. My group mates and I would also be unable to meet up at all and film anything else. This was because each of our parents wouldn’t allow us to meet up as they didn’t want any chances of any of us getting the virus. I’m hoping that we will at least be able to meet up for one day so we can use our phones to at least film something. With this though, my entire planned out schedule was ruined. As a result, I'll be forced to improvise and take any possible opportunity to film.

On top on that, my group and I would have to begin editing all over again. This was quite discouraging as I had worked a long time on editing before. However, I had no other option so I moved on and started over. I was lucky to have access to editing software on my computer, so I got to work on beginning as soon as possible to make up for lost time. I chose to use iMovie to edit as I had a rough idea of how to use it. Currently my internet shuts off every once in a while so I have to save pretty often but it will be worth it in the end. I plan to work as hard as I can and do as much as I possibly am able to while schools closed. My group and I will take any chance to film. Albeit, that chance is incredibly small as we all will be trying to stay healthy and free from any virus. I refuse to have no product as a result of all this work I’ve done so I will continue to do the best of my ability.

Editing Blog

  While in my AICE Media Studies class on March 11, I continued to work on my project with my group. I got the laptop we had been using and signed into it. I attempted to open Pinnacle Studio multiple times, waiting for it to finish loading and finally open. However, it would not open each time I tried. After trying a few different things, I restarted the laptop which had worked in the past. It took awhile to start but thankfully the editing software opened. First thing I did when I was on was write down each scene that needed to be reshot as I had planned to film with my group mates over the weekend. That way I would ensure that no scene was missed wile reshooting. I also took note of what else needed to be done. After finishing that, I opened Paint on the computer and one of my group mates and I created a few text boxes that resembled those of text messages. Then I moved them into Pinnacle Studio to use. We had decided on making the titles look like text messages since the film was called socially trapped and involved social media and phones.

  I then asked my teacher for help with adding the message boxes to the titles. I had previously had issues with the titles and seemed to be having more problems with adding the titles. My teacher began to show me how to add them but one of the important parts of the section to add titles was missing. Therefore, I was unable to add the titles. I decided to try on a different computer but soon ran into another issue. My second group mate had the camera and SD card so I was unable to transfer the movie to another computer. I called her and made sure she would have it for the next class. Thankfully though, I was able to work on editing other things in the meantime.

Editing Blog

  While in my AICE Media Studies class on March 9th, I continued to work on editing. One of my group mates was absent so that left the two only us to work. This actually made it easier as there weren’t as many people gathered around one little laptop. Therefore, we were able to get more done.  I had filmed a few of the scenes that did not require our actors, such as establishing shot, so I planned to put them into the film. I used the SD card and SD card reader to transfer the footage over and got to work. I moved the new footage from the file to the editing software. I then cut it down until it fit within the spaces I had left for each shot. With it together, I watched it through to make sure it flowed nicely. Then I worked on editing the lighting, sound and titles till class ended.

  Later that day, while at home, I decided to work on editing more as I had time. I have an SD card reader at home so I was able to transfer the work I had done on the movie onto my computer. I put it in iMovie and continued to work. I wanted to finish the majority of the titles so that I would have time to work on finishing it in class. I soon noticed that the way I had originally planned to make the titles was not working. The original idea involved making my own message boxes and placing the text in them. However, the text would not go over the box I had made. I came up with a new idea in which the titles would show up as if they were being typed. That would still keep the desired effect of having the titles look like messages, but would actually work. It turned out nicely and I was able to add most of the titles.

Peer Review

  During my AICE Media Studies class on March 2nd, I had the chance to review a different teams project. Our teacher had told us in advance and told us to be ready to peer review. She had us peer review to help one another. We would be constructive and help them to make their project better. I felt this was a good way to get opinions on what we had done and give opinions to help other groups. We were given a guideline in the form of a worksheet with different things to check off. This included whether the film was the correct length and whether it had the correct order of titles. The paper asked how the lighting and sound in the film was. Also, it made sure that each type of shots, angles, or movements was included. At the end, it also asked what we liked about the film, and what we would suggest to the group who made it.

  We gave our flash drive with our film to the person who was reviewing us and went to get the flash drive from the group that I’d be reviewing. However, they didn’t have any work at all to give me. They told me that they had been having problems with filming and editing. They also said that they couldn’t work since the person with the SD card with all their footage was absent. So, I went back to my group and we began checking ‘no’ on each requirement that they did not have. I also wrote a sentence or two about how the group had nothing for us to review. As for what they could improve on, they definitely need to work on their time management. They could have started filming sooner and had more time to edit. With better time management, they would have had a lot more completed. Which would have helped since they would have had a peer review to help give advice on what needs to be fixed.

Editing Blog

  Over the weekend, February 29 to March 1, I continued to work on editing the footage. I had checked out the SD card that I had used during filming in order to work on the project at home. I knew that I would most likely try to work on it at home, so I wanted to be ready to do so if needed. I was able to use IMovie as I did not have access to Pinnacle Studio. I had checked with my teacher in advance to ensure that doing so was allowed. I was worried about our time management due to issues with the editing software in class so I felt that it would be a good idea to work on it at home. I didn't want to fall too far behind considering we were already straying from our schedule that I had made. I was unfamiliar with using IMovie so I spent some time figuring out all the settings and options. I was able to figure out how to upload my footage and could begin working.

  I started by putting all my footage in the correct order while checking the order with my storyboard. I had also made sure I had that with me at all times, just in case it was needed. Then I began editing the footage down. The footage was well over two minutes so I had to cut a few shots. After it fit within the time, I worked on adding the titles, making sure to have them in the correct order. Using references to earlier blogs about the titles, I was able to make the titles look cohesive. I made sure that the title for who directed the project came last as I knew that it was important that that was the final title. I edited the lighting in certain scenes that were dark. Finally, I added the music and moved it till I liked where it began and stopped. I saved the film to the SD card so I could move it onto the school computers. With a bit of extra work at home, I was able to get back on my schedule.