Crying Over My Creative Critical Reflection

FADE IN:
INT. SANDRA's BEDROOM
Don't make this be the end.
---
And that's a wrap, folks.

Here is my CCR: https://voicethread.com/share/10702813/

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

FADE OUT.

Introducing Netflix's New Original Docu-Series: CLIQUE.

FADE IN:
INT. SANDRA'S BEDROOM
SANDRA logs into Blogger for the last time. It is finally over.
---
I finally present to you... CLIQUE.

Documentary Excerpt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmWDI89TK8w

Poster:

Website: https://cliquethedocumentary.wixsite.com/netflix

Next up, CCR.

Until then,
SLS

We Gon' Be Alright!

FADE IN:
INT. STUDY HALL - PORTABLE 43
After a refreshing night's sleep of five hours, SANDRA rubs the tiredness out of her eyes as she blasts Kendrick Lamar in her headphones to stay awake. The end is near.
--
Alas, the end is nigh.

It has been a journey to say the least. Working by myself had to have been the toughest choice I made this entire course. I very much underestimated the amount of work I would be responsible for, but we honestly pulled it off.

I am completely done with my website and poster (!!!) but admittedly, we still have to do some final tweaking on the documentary excerpt to get it completely to my liking. But it is all okay!! We got about...

37 hours,
21 minutes, 
and 01 seconds (and counting)

until CLIQUE is put out for the public to see (and enjoy, hopefully).

Throughout this project, I learned my strengths (website/graphic design, branding) and my weaknesses (solo-directing, producing and editing, oh God, the editing agony). I learned how to manage my time better and put in research into every step of the progress. Doing this process all by myself definitely helped me grow up as not only a media student, but as a person in general (cheesy, but true). I hope to take all of the skills I have learned from this Final Portfolio and from my previous work dating back to the beginning of my junior year taking AICE Media Studies AS Level beyond high school as I continue my education at the University of Florida as an Advertising major.

Prepare for my next two posts which will include all final components and my Creative Critical Reflection!

Until then,
SLS

Break It Down Now!

FADE IN:
INT. SANDRA's BEDROOM
SANDRA is currently in a conference call with three (3) of her best guy friends discussing prom plans. She is stressed, but what's new?
---
So we took a break from editing the documentary and started the website, and we're liking the idea so far!

The background is footage from an old documentary from my school's catwalk. I'm feeling pretty good about it. I also got an idea for a poster!! 

But that's for another blog post... sorry for being a tease! 

Until then,

SLS

Graphic Design is My Passion!

FADE IN:
INT. SANDRA's BEDROOM
With red eyes (from lack of sleep), SANDRA struggles to stay awake after a long night of crippling anxiety working hard.
---
Let's talk concept art.

So for my poster, I have decided to use the website Canva. I have previous experience with the program and find it to be very-user friendly, so it is perfect for a promotional poster for CLIQUE!

Here is some inspiration for the design:

On the real, I plan to create a brand for CLIQUE through the typewriter text font through the poster design and other promotional print material that will be used throughout social media/other marketing campaigns. This branding will remain consistent in the website, which will also employ this minimalistic vibe.

But the website is for another blog post...

Until then,
SLS

With A Little Help From My Friends

FADE IN:
INT. SCHOOL CAFETERIA
Among the noise, SANDRA carefully balances her laptop along with bouncing off in between conversations. She starts to type furiously before her thoughts escape her.
---
Fresh out of Media Studies class and I'm already blogging! Did somebody say dedication?

Today we had a group feedback session, which was considerably helpful since I would say I felt very stuck last night during editing. I wanted to have the bulk of my video edited by today so I could discuss any issues I felt I was having. Working by yourself means you got to be your own partner, which is kind of hard when you can also be your own worst critic, so feedback from others is extremely valuable.

We discussed that the organization of my episode should mostly focus on the people of the Creative Writing class, considering the name of my series CLIQUE suggests a focus on groups of people, and not necessarily the class they are all a part of. Additionally, if I were to theoretically make this into a series, not every "high school clique" is characterized by a class they all take together, so to focus the beginning of my episode of that seems sort of out-of-place. Therefore, here is the organization of the episode so far:

• WHO are these kids? (Sol's slam poem to introduce creative writing background)
• WHAT is a typical day like in creative writing? (To introduce to the class/hear the dynamic between the strange structure and its students)
• HOW are these kids perceived? (Stereotypes and crushing them)

So far, I have about 2 minutes and 30 seconds completely edited. I aim to finish it by Sunday night to work on my poster and website (which I don't anticipate will take me too long because I 'm usually the token person in group projects to handle the graphic design/website aspects). I'm feeling better about my progress! Are you guys ready??? Because I am!

Until then,

SLS

Cry For Me

FADE IN:
INT. SANDRA'S bedroom
Again, SANDRA is found on her laptop with iMovie open. No, she isn't crying, you're crying.
--
Ok, I have something to confess. I planned to finish editing over break and SPOILER ALERT I didn't finish.

That is not to say we did not make great progress! Time slips away when you're on break. One minute you're on the beach, the next moment you're home typing your blog post updating your eager audience, and the next thing you realize you're jumping off a concert stage crowd-surfing to one of your favorite indie bands (go check out HUNNY).

That being said, I do have to hunker down this week. I went through the majority of the footage throughout the break (it WAS over an hour of interviews, after all) and found I have sufficient footage to create my narrative. I have now gotten more used to iMovie (a lot of the time on my laptop was spent looking up how to use iMovie in the first place, which got me frustrated considering I was so busy trying to figure out how to edit rather than actually doing it.

But now, school starts again tomorrow, so you know what that means. No more messing around. We got exactly two weeks until everything is due. Website, poster, documentary, the whole she-bang. Get ready for it, folks. You're in for a treat.

Until then,
SLS

Make Some Noise!!

FADE IN:
INT. SANDRA'S BEDROOM

SANDRA is probably developing scoliosis by laying on her bed for too long.

---

Back to the editing grind.

So you know how I did that typewriter opening effect? Well, I felt like something was missing... of COURSE, the sound element!!

Sound is often quite overlooked in lots of work, even though it could be very simple. At first, I decided I want to go the sort of "folly" route by recording myself type on my own personal type writer.

Yes, this is my monstrous typewriter on my desk.

I decided to use the speakers Mrs. Stoklosa let me borrow over break to practice and get comfortable with, as she suggested that maybe I would want to use them for extra interview footage that is more informal when I come back from spring break. However, the quality still wasn't the best I was hoping for. That's when Plan B came in: royalty-free sound effects!

I knew that YouTube has a great Audio Library that is free to use, so I embarked on finding a keyboard sound effect that would work well with the pacing of the letters coming onto the screen. Thankfully, I found the one: "Keyboard Typing Fast".

Ah, the joys of editing. Let's keep it going.

Until then,

SLS

Open Up!

FADE IN:
INT. SANDRA'S BEDROOM

SANDRA is stressed. That is all.

---

Hello Blogger!! Let's talk EDITING.

Back in the beginning of the school year, we had a PSA project to direct towards a faction of Generation Z. My group decided to target the artsy Instagram kids who are obsessed with their feeds and typewritten-poetry and aesthetically-pleasing coffee flat-lays. Basically, think Orion Carloto:

IG: @orionvanessa

Taking inspiration from her feed, we decided to insert a typewriter effect for our message. Since I didn't edit for that specific project, I had to look up exact how to do it on iMovie (keep in mind, this is my first time using iMovie on my new laptop; it has way more features than the iPhone app does!!).

Luckily, I found one helpful tutorial that used the application Keynote to convert into a Quicktime video to upload directly to iMovie. Here is a sneak peak!

Until then,

SLS

Partner, Let Me Update U

FADE IN:
INT. SANDRA'S BEDROOM

Freshly tanned, SANDRA is enjoying the first few days into Spring Break. However, reality sets as she realizes the proximity of her due date—the project due date, that is.

Hi Mom. Thanks for supporting my Media Studies endeavors.

---

Hello Cambridge, coming to you now from her brand new laptop (thank you Mom & Dad)!!!!

Yes, as you can imagine, I am very excited for this laptop upgrade, especially considering I am now in the post-production phase of my documentary! 

Currently I am sifting through over an hour of footage, including interviews with such quality responses. It's kind of super intimidating trying to figure out how I'm going to organize all of footage... it's like a crazy, complex connect-the-dots. 

Well, at least now I won't have to edit using the iMovie app on my phone and instead do it on my laptop like a Professional Editor™.

I plan to finish editing before Spring Break ends so I can work on the website and poster.

Screencap of iMovie

Until then,

SLS

P.S. This blog post is a reference to an old Beyonce song, so please excuse the informal 'U'.

B-Rolling in the Deep

FADE IN:
INT. STOKLOSA'S CLASSROOM
Frazzled. SANDRA is frazzled. Spring break is coming, and she has lots of work to do. Let's do this.
---

It is Wednesday my dudes.

So, back on Monday, I conducted (I'm not a scientist what?)  did three interviews with Alexa, Sol, and Tabby! As for interview location, I decided to do it in the storage room in the back of the Creative Writing classroom where most of the books for Cypress Bay's English department is stored (Mrs. Seigel, the Creative Writing 3-5 teacher, is also the head of the English department at our school, so that's why we have access to the backroom). I decided to just record with my phone, which may have proved to be a little bit of an issue when it comes to stability and composition. I'm going to try and combat this issue through just quick cuts of each person talking to remind the audience of whose voice is speaking, but otherwise, most of the material used will just be the audio as the guiding narration (as I mentioned in my previous blog post).

Peep that little bit of B-roll & interview excerpts.

My next objective is to find B-roll I have been taking for the past couple of weeks that pair well with the interview responses. I'm feeling good about my progress with the video... today was the last day of the week where I would be in Creative Writing. I captured some good footage that I think would complement the audio, along with extra just in case I'm in a time crunch. It's never a bad idea to have extra footage!

Next up:

• Edit video (finish it by the end of Spring Break - if I need more B-roll, get that the first Monday back from break a.k.a. April 2nd) ((but don't push it))
• Come up with poster concept art
• Website!!

Everything is coming together!!!!!

Until then,

SLS

Question! Tell Me What You Think About Me-

FADE IN:
INT. STOKLOSA'S CLASSROOM
SANDRA is currently sitting next to a group of talented media kids. She is feeling inspired as h*ck.  Also the title is a reference to a Destiny's Child song.
---
Time to get down with interview questions.

So here is the overall outline for the questions/excerpt in itself:

• WHAT is Creative Writing class like?
• WHO are the Creative Writing kids?
• HOW are they perceived by others (according to them)?
• HOW do they perceive themselves?

I plan to organize the questions under these four overarching areas (WHAT, WHO, HOW²). Here is what I have thus far:

WHAT is Creative Writing class like? 

This would mark the second Lil Jon reference made on this blog.

• WHAT is a typical day like in Creative Writing class?
• WHAT is the general structure of the class like (quizzes, projects, workload, etc.)
• WHAT type of writing do you do in the class?
• HOW do you feel about the work you do in this class (given that most students who take Creative Writing usually do it because they are passionate about it)? 

WHO are the Creative Writing kids?

• HOW did you get involved in Creative Writing?
• WHAT made you want to take Creative Writing (and continue to do so)?
• WHAT do you want to do in the future?

HOW are Creative Writing kids perceived by other students?

• Can you give me a Creative Writing (or writer/poet) stereotype?
• Is it accurate?

HOW do Creative Writing kids perceive themselves?

• WHO exactly are the Creative Writing kids?

I may be asking an overload of questions, but you know, the more material, the better! I plan to interview three subjects: Alexa, Sol, and Tabby. 

Alright, let's get to interviewing.

Until then, 

SLS

SHOTS, SHOTS, SHOTS!

FADE IN:
INT. SANDRA'S BEDROOM
Headphones in, laptop plugged in, SANDRA is jamming to the Baby Driver soundtrack. However, she could not resist making a Lil Jon reference in her blog post title. 
---

SO...production is going well. Even though I haven't finalized all of the research I want to conduct (lighting, stop-motion, etc.), I'm just sort of winging it whenever I am in my creative writing class to capture some B-roll before I start conducting my interviews to tie in all of the footage together.

Shots by LMFAO ft. Lil Jon.
Let's pretend they were referencing cinematography.

I have found so far my process is sort of very organic and very direct cinema; I originally planned on bringing my camera and tripod, but found it would be too much work to take it on and off of the tripod during class whenever I wanted to capture certain things within the moment. I've mainly been using my phone and a (hopefully) steady hand. However, I know for some scenes I need a tripod for certain more artistic shots.

For instance, I know I want one specific shot of the covers of all of the Literary Magazine covers (that features Creative Writing students work) on a plain background that is laid out. I made a makeshift version of this idea I'm going for in the middle of class:

This is an extremely rough cut. Composition is terrible, I know, I know.

However, I kind of want to switch it around from just stacking on top of each other to make it right next to each other. I know these kinds of shots are very characteristic of Wes Anderson, such as in Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009).

Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

Now, I know it may seem a little backward to be doing B-roll and other footage instead of interviews at first, but I found that when I made an original full-length documentary back in November during our Documentary unit in class, we really lacked B-roll. Considering I am in Creative Writing every other day, I may as well start capturing footage while I can. I plan to conduct my interviews next week and plan to edit directly afterward. If I find in post-production I still need some filler footage, I can take it the week after spring break, but overall, it is never a bad idea to have a lot of footage. Never, ever, ever.

Until then,
SLS