SCHOOLED

Or, you can watch it on Google Drive!

CREATIVE CRITICAL REFLECTION

Click here to view my CCR!

A Month in Review

So here it is! My very last blog post before I submit my videos.

My CCR has been filmed and edited slightly - it falls short of the time I would like it to be, but I'm oddly comfortable with it. I feel like I really expressed what I needed to and how I've grown because of this project.

So, what went wrong this month?

1. I'm a procrastinator. It happens. But my week in California, oddly enough, didn't influence that. In fact, I spent my past week actually doing things in a diligent manner.

2. Still somewhat unhappy with some of my shot choices - however, I feel like my film has its shining star moments.

Honestly, if only two things went wrong this month for me, then I could not be more proud of my product. I'll be honest, it's amateur, but I haven't worked this hard on a long-term video project in a while, and for that, kudos to me.

Final video and CCR coming later tonight!

Until next time (or I guess not anymore!),
Corina

Corina Aguilera, the Speed-Editor

I cannot tell you how much I love to edit.

I love it SO much, in fact, that even though I've never edited a film together before, I managed to have a rough cut done within an hour of importing my clips.

As I've mentioned before, I am using Adobe Premiere Pro CS.6 to edit my project on, due to my experience and love for the software.

So I finish my rough cut, export it, and send it to practically everyone I know who could give me some solid advice, because I was having a few issues:

1. Music. I used Epidemic Sound to find the song I end up using, but initially I had NO idea what to put for music.

2. Audio. While natural sound isn't necessarily important for my film opening (except my favorite part in the beginning!!), Carolina's voiceover sounded echo-y to me at times.

3. General editing. Remember, I'm new to film-editing, so I wanted to make sure everything was as good as it could be!

I got some great advice from my friends - while some of my shots are not filmed fantastically, I was able to at least make my editing smart! I also chose what I believe to be a great song for this opening, and I know it was great because my friends talked about how annoying it was, and I thought "GREAT! These films are SUPPOSED to mildly annoy you!"

The film opening is currently slated for just under 1:35, which I actually think is great timing considering I originally thought this was going to be too long. My video is OFFICIALLY exported and ready to be turned in, and I could not be more happy!

I have so much to talk about in my CCR about how I've grown with this project. You can guess what my next blog post is going to be about!

Until next time,
Corina

Last Minute Revisions

SO. I have news.

I was filming this scene with Carolina yesterday that I thought would be great in the beginning of my film. My intention was to film that scene and use the footage I gathered in California, but after we filmed that and I realized it was still only 4:30, I thought... "well, why don't I also film this scene that I originally wanted?"

So, we moved into the bedroom where I filmed Carolina some more.

THEN, after realizing "hey, it's Tuesday, why don't I film at school tomorrow and do the film opening I originally wanted to do?"

So today, I filmed scenes at school with Carolina and recorded her voiceover. And I realized - this footage I gathered over the past two days makes me much happier than what I filmed in California. Is the original footage useable? Yes, of course! But I realized that if I have the time to fix what I want to fix, I shouldn't compromise the quality of my film. So, filming has OFFICIALLY wrapped up as of earlier today - tomorrow is my editing day, and this weekend is dedicated to my Creative Critical Reflection.

It's kind of funny to believe that this is the last week of my project before it's due. Just a few weeks ago, I genuinely didn't believe I was capable of making a film opening. Now, here I am, not only done filming, but I managed to stay on my schedule for the last month. 

It's been quite a ride!

Until next time,
Corina

Issues and How to Fix Them (basically my life story)

I have come across issues.

Issue #1: I am deathly ill and I have been since I flew home Friday night. I spent all of Saturday sleeping and I still feel like my ears haven't popped since the flight home.

Issue #2: I think I have undershot my opening.

But the good news is: BOTH of these problems can be easily resolved!

I've been drinking tea religiously to fix my sore throat and taking Mucinex like it's candy.

As for the undershooting, let me explain my issue a bit more thoroughly: I got two scenes with Carolina, both of which came out okay, but what I didn't film was a way to connect the two portions, and it would look unnatural for the two to come after one another. So, I'm going to film tomorrow (Monday) to resolve this issue. Plus, why would I film a movie about school if I didn't include any scenes from school??

This is the final week for projects, and I'm really excited to see everything come together!! More updates soon!

Until next time,
Corina

Production Rapp-Up

With my trip to California nearly over, I spent today (my off day) filming with Carolina some more. This was difficult because today was NOT her off day!! She was filming for her movie trailer contest for six hours, but she finished in time for me to get some more shots of her! I believe I have enough for my film opening now, so I can officially say THAT'S A RAPP!!! (Get it? Because her last name is Rapp!! I'm hilarious.)

Yesterday, I really realized how much I love the post-production process. For Karla's and my contest, "Spot Feature," we had 2 hours to film and 3 hours to edit a feature story based on the prompt "Artistic Type." When we filmed, we took up the ENTIRE two hours, but when it came to editing, we finished the ENTIRE project to perfection before we even hit the 2 hour mark. Editing is 100% my happy place, and this just reaffirmed for me that editing, whether it's a news package or a film opening, doesn't take me very long when I sit and just focus. This has definitely relieved a lot of stress for me!! (And if you'd like to view our entry, you can watch it below!)

While on the topic of editing, now might be a good time to explain what I plan to use for editing. I am an Adobe Certified Associate in Video Communication Using Adobe Premiere Pro CS5, CS6, and CC, so naturally using this software will be what is most efficient and easy for me. Many people prefer iMovie or even Final Cut Pro (and I didn't even realize how many people used Final Cut until I came to this convention!), but personally I like having total and complete control over the final product to a T, so Premiere is my true editing love.

As soon as I'm home, this editing will commence!

Until next time,

Corina

*cue every California song you've ever heard*

Hello pals! I am currently in Anaheim, California for a television production convention! Today, we competed in our Crazy 8 Broadcast News Magazine, where our team had 8 hours to create a news show based on the prompt "Social Justice." NOBODY was expecting that prompt, but I think we came up with a pretty good show!

Yesterday while at the airport, I filmed Carolina a bit by my script. I haven't been able to look at the shots yet, but I figure they're pretty good!! This week I'm going to film a bit more of her just outside and at the exhibit booths at the conference, where there are about 20 different colleges here promoting their media schools! This will help me to tell my story more effectively.
Once the filming is done, next week is all about editing and wrapping up!!

Also, if you're looking for a good laugh, I went shopping with Karla last week and I took this picture.

Irony is hilarious.

Until next time,
Corina

READY TO FLY

ALRIIIIIIIIGHT. Operation "Make a Comedy and Have It Actually Be Okay" is a go!

I talked to Carolina about the script, and we revised it to make it something okay! We'll be filming some in FLL and some in LAX, but if we don't gather enough footage, we have a backup plan to still make it work. I could not be more excited for this trip, because I'm going to be so productive and accomplish so much!

I have to consider some mise-en-scene elements for this opening. I already have Carolina's costume ready - our friend Taylor has a UCLA sweater she's letting us borrow, and Carolina has PERFECT hair for tying up and looking really smart and sophisticated. I'm also thinking that color correcting will be essential to this piece - not any drastic, but making the scene bright and happy will contribute to the overall tone of the opening!

As for my life in general, it's 5:20 pm on Sunday and I fly to Anaheim early tomorrow morning. I haven't packed yet, and I have an essay due for my online English class by 11:59 tonight. This is pretty indicative of how my life is going. But, I could not be more happy with how all of my projects are going so far, so here's to a happy, successful week!

Until next time,

Corina

Scripting or Crying? I can't tell anymore

FINALLY. I AM SCRIPTING.

Most of my peers have decided to storyboard their films, but for me personally, scripting is more beneficial. I would much rather write out my script and know exactly what I mean than spend hours trying to draw in boxes when I am a terrible, terrible artist.

For the scripting process, I am using Adobe Story. I've had an account since my freshman year, but since I'm no filmmaker, I haven't used it too often. I'm glad I can finally put it to some use!

Now, for my first major conflict:

Writing a comedy is impossible.

I am showing you the beginning portion of my script. A rough draft is completed, but I doubt anybody will want to see this film after reading the rest of it.

The protagonists name is Caroline, as you can see. (Yes, the actress's name is Carolina, yes I know I'm not creative.) For this beginning portion, I think I did a really good job of portraying what I want visually; however, the writing is a little weak. I'm hoping and praying that once I get a few people to read it, they'll give me the tips I need to ensure my film isn't too cringeworthy.

I also think this is the perfect amount of airport footage I need in the morning. Since we won't be waiting for an insane amount of time, I can't film an outrageous amount at the airport. So, I'm hoping to break it up between FLL, LAX, and our hotel location, the Hilton Anaheim.

As frustrating as this is, I'm so glad I finally have a major conflict to overcome. I'm really excited to make this opening something worth watching!

Stay tuned, because this next week could either go really well or really poorly (as do most of the events in my life).

Until next time,

Corina

Back to the Drawing Board...only not really

Hello pals! First of all, I'm too excited NOT to talk about how my friend Karla Recio and I have placed statewide for a news package we did on the Cypress Bay Basketball team!

We were given the All-Florida rating, which is the highest rating a segment can get individually. In addition, the top three are considered "Best of the Best" nominees, and at the state convention in April, we'll find out if we had the top score in the state! This is 100% irrelevant to my film opening, but I was so proud of the package we made that I couldn't help but share. (Not to mention the other contenders were on a team of 4 and a whole staff, and Karla and I pulled it off with just two people and it was just as good, hopefully better!!!)

Today, I talked to Mrs. Stoklosa about my scheduling for the rest of this project, and she was concerned that I was putting a lot on myself in the last week before the project was due. I hadn't thought about it like that before, since I thought it was possible to film and edit in the same week, but then I realized a few things:

1. I'm going to Anaheim next week, and I'll basically be putting off my project for an entire 7 days, and

2. With my film opening idea, it wouldn't even make sense to film in Anaheim or at any time, really.

With this in mind, I've decided to rethink my film opening, but not my entire plot. It's very possible for me to have the same or similar plot while just changing the opening; in fact, I think I could film what I need at the airport. I can change the plot to make it "Girl doesn't get into college, so she goes to the college to make them change their mind" rather than "Girl doesn't get into college and has to figure her life out." With this in mind, I can still create everything I want to, just in a different setting!

So my plan:

- Carolina will be coming to Anaheim, so I can still use her as my actress.

- We have to be at FLL at 7 am sharp for a flight that leaves at 9 am. I believe this should be enough time to get what I need, especially knowing it won't all be at FLL.

- If the airport doesn't go as planned, I have a whole week in Anaheim to fix my problem!

Now, onto scripting!

Until next time,

Corina

10/10 Organization

I FEEL SO ORGANIZED.

Not only have I planned out the next 3 weeks, I’ve also found my lead actress and decided how exactly I’m going to do my film opening.

The schedule you see here is my plan for the rest of this project period. (You'll also see it was my mom's birthday two weeks ago, happy birthday Christie!) The next week will be SOLELY developing my film opening in detail, followed by two weeks of filming and editing (and of course, my creative critical reflection). What I have neglected to put in this chart is that I will be traveling to Anaheim, California from March 27th to April 1st. Hopefully, I can sneak in a few shots that would make sense and do some kind of filming while I’m there! Finally, that last week will be dedicated to finishing with my filming and editing my project together. Now that I have a solid plan, I feel so much better about completing this project and doing it well.

Speaking of things done well, my lead actress is none other than one of my closest friends, Carolina Rapp. Cali is a fellow TV production student and one who is much more film-based than I am, so not only will she be good on camera, but her outlook and film background will help me make my opening that much better! She is very bright and bubbly, but also very scatter-brained, so she already embodies much of what I want my main protagonist to be like! (I could have chosen a much more professional picture, but I had just shaped Cali's eyebrows for the first time and she was so happy I had to take pics of her!)

Finally, my film opening. I am going to be breaking the fourth wall in my opening. The main character will be talking the audience through her life up until her senior year - how she’s always had a plan, she’s always been focused and determined, and she would never let anything stand in the way of her goals. Because of this, she hasn’t made many friends or gone out much or done anything that wasn’t a part of her plan, but it’s not important to her. What’s important is she follows her plan...that is, until she gets denied early decision. The title will pop up as she gets denied, and (as you may or may not have noticed in my last blog post) I’ve decided that my film will be titled SCHOOLED.

These are the ideas that I’ll be taking with me to our first peer review meeting on Tuesday. I’m hoping that my ideas are good, but I’m also hoping that I can make it better with some help!

Until next time,

Corina

SCHOOLED

After a long, long thought process, I have developed a synopsis for my entire film. And I must say, I’m pretty happy with it!

So there’s this girl. She’s unnamed as of right now, but she’s definitely a girl! This girl has spent her ENTIRE time growing up a control freak, she’s planned everything out for her entire life, including getting into the school of her dreams, [unnamed school but most likely an Ivy League]. In her senior year of high school, she applies early decision to said school, only to be denied - so, she has to spend the remainder of her senior year going off of her plan and frantically trying to figure out what she’s going to do with her life.

I think that, while a bit cliche, this plot line is extremely relatable and I could make it really funny. I’m imagining the film opening to explain her situation and allude to conflict, where she will be explaining (either in voiceover or on camera, breaking the fourth wall) her situation and how she plans everything out, and then the last shot will be her receiving her rejection letter.

Since the beginning of this project, I imagined myself acting in it, since I am deathly afraid of something not coming out right; however, I’ve decided that I can’t play it safe with this project and I’ll need to venture out and find someone that I know could help me and this project to be the best that it can be.

Before the weekend ends, I will be posting my schedule for the remainder of this project period. Hopefully I’ll also have some actors lined up!

Until next time,

Corina

Plans Composing

I have decided that I am going to make a high school film. Yes, it’s cliche, yes, I know I’m not very creative in doing so. Just hear me out.

What do I know better than high school? What do I know better than the place where I spend 90% of my time? If I’m going to create a film, it should be about what I know.

Even though typical high school coming-of-age films don’t seem very creative, they actually perform pretty well commercially. The Perks of Being a Wallflower grossed a total of $33,384,127 worldwide, and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off has grossed approximately  $70,136,369 since its release in 1986 (proving that a comedy film is the best route). Furthermore, Easy A (2010) has grossed $74,952,305, Napoleon Dynamite (2004) grossed  $46,118,097 (which is impressive, given their $400,000 budget), and Mean Girls (2004) has grossed a crazy $129,042,871 worldwide. So, even if I’m a bit uncreative in my setting, at least I’d be making money.

Regardless, I still want to make my film somewhat unique. I’ve taken the week to really think about what my film should be, and I think I’ve come up with a pretty good plot.

It’s my senior year, and while I’ve known where I wanted to go to college since September, everyone else is freaking out right now. Decision Day is in a month and a half and there are still several of my friends who haven’t chosen a school yet. I want to do a film about someone who’s really had their entire life planned out since they were very young, and then once senior year comes around, they don’t get into the school they want, so they have to spend their senior year reevaluating how they’re going to move forward with their life.

Still think I’m being cliche? Maybe I am. But this is something I know I can accomplish well! Why not go for it?

I’m going to take the weekend and start scripting and storyboarding. Hopefully I can develop more of a concrete storyline before our first peer meeting on Tuesday!

Until next time,

Corina

The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012). (n.d.). Retrieved March 17, 2017, from http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=perksofbeingawallflower.htm

Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986). (n.d.). Retrieved March 17, 2017, from http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=ferrisbuellersdayoff.htm

Easy A (2010). (n.d.). Retrieved March 17, 2017, from http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=easya.htm

Napoleon Dynamite (2004). (n.d.). Retrieved March 17, 2017, from http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=napoleondynamite.htm

Mean Girls (2004). (n.d.). Retrieved March 17, 2017, from http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=meangirls.htm

Corina Aguilera Takes No Days Off

Over the weekend, I decided to look deeper into my two chosen films and check out their film openings. The film opening for Ferris Bueller’s Day Off alludes to conflict, and while it works perfectly for that film, I don’t know if this is the exact style I want.

The film opening the The Perks of Being a Wallflower works more to create mystery & establish the tone of the film. With this, I realized that I want to do a similar style of creating tone, but also allude to conflict, like in the prior film opening.

After much more research, I became more interested in the opening monologue of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Breaking the fourth wall is something straightforward that I want to accomplish, and it sets a much brighter tone for the film by making the character connect with the audience in a very powerful and confident way. I don’t necessarily want to do the entire film opening breaking the fourth wall, but I think a combination of this and voiceover will do my opening justice.

I am going to spend the next week developing my plot for the movie, so I can understand better how to create my opening!

Until next time,

Corina

Why So Serious?

I’ve spent the majority of my free time looking through the film openings from Mrs. Stoklosa’s class from the last two years. One thing I noticed after looking through about half of them is that nobody really did a lighthearted film. Many of them are dark thrillers or super-serious dramas, and I’m not sure that’s something I want to bandwagon on.

From the beginning, I thought doing a comedy would be a lot of fun. The thing is, I don’t really consider myself a comedian, and I’m worried that once I start scripting, it’s going to be extremely difficult for me to write creative content that will amuse people and make them want to keep watching; however, I figure I can solve that with having multiple people just read through my stuff to make sure it’s not too terribly cringe-worthy.

I’m not necessarily against creating a drama, and if comedy doesn’t work out for me, I’ll probably default to a drama, since they’re very similar to create, and one doesn’t require my incredible(ly bad) sense of humor. I really want to put myself up to the challenge of creating a comedy because, from what I’ve watched, it’s not commonly done and I feel I’m better suited for it, and again, I never wanted to create something dark in the first place!

I had an idea to do a coming-of-age film, since I’m at a time in my life where everything is about to change - I’m 3/4ths done with my senior year and I’ll be going to UCF in June so I think that doing a classic high school dramedy film would be best suited for me. It’s something that’s in my comfort zone plot-wise, but not-so in my comfort zone when it comes to the genre. Or even making the film at all, really.

In realizing I wanted to do a coming-of-age film, I looked into two kinds - one (the Perks of Being a Wallflower) is the kind of high school film I want to create, but not so incredibly serious; the other (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off)
is an incredible film for comedy, but it’s not an extreme I want to go with. I’m thinking if I can combine the two in my plot, I’ll have the film I want - the simplistic, yet realistic view of high school that the prior portrays, but also the lighthearted, feel-good comedy the latter has.

Looking into target audience, I went as far as to search “comedy film target audience” in Google. (Yes, I am that pathetic.) I obviously didn’t find anything on the first page of Google that would answer my question, I did find a really interesting website that instructs you on how to construct your target audience. So it made me think, who do I want to reach with my film? Since it’s coming-of-age, it only makes sense that I target teenagers, and even a little younger, because I know when I was a kid, high school seemed like the PLACE to BE. (I quickly realized I was mistaken.) From the moment I started considering my plot, I knew I wanted a girl to play the lead role. This also makes it easier on me because if I need to, I can act in my film as well. So, to conclude, I don’t really have a set-in-stone target audience yet, but it’s safe to assume it will be somewhere close to 12-18 year old middle-class girls and boys.

As fun as this research has been, I have to say I really enjoy blogging. This may or may not become my favorite part of the project.

Until next time

Corina

Brubaker, J. (2016, July 19). How To Uncover the Proper Target Audience For Your Film. Retrieved March 10, 2017, from http://www.filmmakingstuff.com/define-your-movies-target-audience/

Here We Go

My name is Corina Aguilera, and I have no clue what I'm doing.

I love making videos, and I love telling a story. I have since I started in TV Production. I realized very early on that I am best when I am working in broadcast journalism. The idea is right there for you; all you have to do is tell it ethically and love the story you're telling.

I'll be honest, I knew going in to AICE Media Studies that there was a chance I wouldn't be very good at it. Never have I been able to successfully create a good, beautiful video that wasn't a news package. It was something out of my comfort zone as a video producer, and don't get me wrong, the class is amazing and I have no regrets in taking it.

It's just that I'm sitting here, and I want to have ideas, I want to create something great, and I want to be able to do it as effortlessly as others...yet here I am.

I repeat: I have no idea what I'm doing.

I'm excited to do this, though. I really want to create something that I'm proud of, and something that I can look back on and be happy that I'm capable of making something that's not my norm.

So hold on, folks, because this could either be a fantastic success, or a hilarious failure. I guess we'll find out.