Highway 19--Almost Done! EEEK

Sneak Peek: The cutest actor in our production-- Hayley!

Highway 19 is in the final stages of production, and it will be completed by next week! Come out to watch the CAP 10 short films on May 29th at 7pm in the MBHS Auditorium! 

Our short film finally has a complete soundtrack, and it is very good (if I do say so myself). We have a country-rock vibe and even some Buddy Holly. Now I know you're dying to see it!

SPOILER ALERT: We need a gun for one very crucial scene in our film, but we are not allowed to bring guns (even fake ones) to school. So this predicament has required some serious thought and innovation. We are going to experiment with the green screen. Let's hope it doesn't turn out to be too cheesy.

On Monday, our editing time was cut seriously short, as the Blair computers were not available for login until 20 minutes before the end of the class. This required me to go in at lunch to accomplish what I needed to get done on Monday. The class time that we lost due to the network errors weren't wasted though. Many of us got in some much-needed review for the Government AP test :) During lunch on Monday I FINALLY fixed the color correction to be perfect in the flashback scene; however, it was changed yet again--to what I hope will be the final-- by Isaiah, our story author and director.

Today, I started to balance the audio levels. It's harder than it sounds. I have to find a good balance for the music that plays in the diner. It has to sound like it is playing in the diner; not like the other parts of the soundtrack that play over the movie.

Next week I hope to finalize the sound levels and fix the credits. I just realized that I forgot to include that our film is based on the short story "Melting Snow" by Isaiah Silvers. OOOPS! Can't forget to give Isaiah his well-deserved credit.

I'm really excited for this event, and I hope we win a lot of awards :) If we don't get best soundtrack, I will be convinced that it was rigged (just kidding... maybe :) )

So please come to CAP Hollywood!!!!

UPDATE--5/18/13

**SEE BELOW FOR MORE SNEAK PEAKS**

A lot has happened with our film in 3 days. I spent about 3 hours on Thursday and Friday each. On Friday, we finally got to shoot (get it?shoot?) with our fake gun. That alone has improved our film by A LOT!!! I am planning to color correct the entire film, and add in a shot of a jukebox. If we have time, I am also going to make fancy opening credits, buuuut we'll see. I am not quite sure how that will turn out. And, oh yeah, I finally found the last addition to our soundtrack. It's another Buddy Holly song :)

Sneak Peek: This one gets no explanation. You'll have to come to CAP Hollywood to find out what it means!

Perfection is Unity: The Persuation of Propaganda

My group's film is set in 2032 in a world where grades are everything. Everyone in the film is convinced that in order to have a "perfect" life, they must get above a 5.0 GPA. Our propaganda poster is a picture of Julia, the figurehead of the school, is the epitome of of perfection. The slogan "Perfection is Unity" is included on the poster to make students feel equal and encourage them to get good grades.

5x5 Video: Girls Having Fun at Camp!

Clips
1. Girl smiling
2. Girl kicking soccer ball
3. Girl kicking soccer ball
4. Girl singing
5. High five!

To create my 5x5, I used the camera on my iPhone. It was difficult to capture the clips because I wanted to film two of the girls that I babysit, and they move around... a lot. I edited my video using WeVideo. I encountered problems while editing because the editor would not allow me to cut my clips down to exactly 5 seconds. 

I am not completely satisfied with my 5x5. I could have thought more about the shot angles, but I did manage to portray the joy of the little girls in my video.

For our next independent video challenge, I think that it would be fun to film an experiment in our science classes. It would also be fun to film someone during a class and create a commentary using voice overs of what they are thinking. This could be a fun and whimsical project!

Learning in a personal way

 I read the article Preparing Students to Learn Without Us which discusses new methods of learning for enjoyment, while also covering the school curriculum. I think that this is a great innovative idea! I like the author's differentiation between personalized and personal. Personal learning sounds amazing because it is "self-directed and self-selected according to the learner's own needs, preferences, and learning arrangements." I was surprised to find out that so few schools actually use this because it is so easily accessible. I hope to use the blog and social bookmarking in order to help me with my AP Biology and Honors Precalculus homework because I find those classes challenging. I can also use this new connected learning to explore my favorite part of Media/ Film Production-- acting!!!

How to Write Our Movie Reviews

I believe that we should write movie reviews that include at least two of the three aspects of film. In the movie review that I annotated, the author discussed all three, but put less emphasis on the cinematography. This is because she was writing a review for families. She emphasized the aspects that children would be more appreciative of. I think that this is very important when writing. We have to consider the audience in order to determine which of the three aspects we need to emphasize.

Introduction

Hi! My name is Christina, and I am a student in the Communication Arts Program. I am very excited to take Film this year. I would have to say that my favorite aspect of filmmaking is acting. I aspire to be a Broadway actress. Maybe after taking this course I will want to act in movies or TV shows. Some of my favorite projects in Studio last year include the project about the Technical Director called The Studio. I also enjoyed making a show open for Infoflow. I hope to use this blog to reflect on work in CAP and even for homework help.  

This little girl is excited about filmmaking, but she doesn't know how to approach it. This image is representative of me. I found the creative commons licensed image above on flickr.