FriYAY filming!

It’s FriYAY!! Welcome back guys!! So yesterday I was talking to you guys about how my group meeting went and how they helped me figure some things out. So if you’re not up to date, I finally figured out the type of font and color I will be using for the credits with the help of my group members and I also figured out the location of where we will be filming. Now for the good stuff: filming!! Since we are going to do the establishing shots scene first.. I plan on driving around my community today and taking some shots of the palm trees and a big water fountain. I know it sounds weird but this is basically what I want it to look like:




Remember guys, all of these shots are going to go to the beat of the song that we will choose. So I just got back from filming these little parts and here’s how it came out:



Now these are just screenshots, but in the actual film it will be a video of the water moving in the fountain and the car moving through the trees. Also, C’mon.. This looks nothing like the “Sunshine state” so with my amazing editing skills, I made this:




*Editing technique = BeFunky* and here is a tutorial on how to use it!!
https://blog.befunky.com/exposure/





I’m actually so excited cause even though it was only a small part of the film that I filmed, I finally feel like i’m making progress and it’s turning out exactly how I want it!!


Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post, I have some news for you all!!


Peace and Love - Vale

Had some inspiration and found our location ;)

I’m baaaackkk!! Hey guys, I have some good news!! Today in class we had our second group meeting and like last time, it was really helpful. I feel like every time I have a problem that I can’t find a solution to I just wait for the group meetings and they’re somewhat resolved lol. The topic we discussed was the location!! So the members in my group find it very important for Santi and I to choose a location that represents “family” and in this case, we've officially chosen the suburbs.



Now since this film involves a family moving to another state, the house needs to be completely empty to represent that they’re moving in. How are we gonna do this you ask? Honestly, It’s called luck! Santi’s dad actually builds houses and he has two right now that are empty and represent family. Ahh I’m so excited, here is what his dad said, and here is a picture of one of the houses he has available.

Santi's conversation with his dad:







Now Santi’s dad says he has a bigger house, which is what we really want but doesn’t have pictures of it so this is just an example and some proof of what types of houses he has available. The townhouse is cute and is used in many films like Full House  but we want something like Modern Family's house. When I get the picture or when we visit the location I will let you guys know and show you guys!

Lastly, this is such good news for us because the house is located near the beach and it’s perfect for us to just go in one single day and film inside the house, and then film the establishing shots near the beach! Therefore, Location = check ☑️


Stay tuned for tomorrow (filming)!! Can’t wait to show you guys the filming process!


Peace and Love - Vale

Fonts, Fonts and more Fonts!

Happy Sunday guys!! Today has been great! Since I finished all of my homework yesterday.. I woke up at 9am to go for a jog, I ate a healthy breakfast, did some Yoga, spent some time with my family, and now i’m talking to you guys!... I feel amazing!



Now let’s get to work! Today, Santi and I will be going ahead and choosing/styling some fonts for the credits. I found this really cool website called Font Meme and it basically has a collection of fonts that you can choose from. For example, it starts off by categories so I chose Drama based on my film and then it gave me more categories like the type of style and theme. Once you choose everything you’re looking for, it gives you the types of sizes and colors for you to be able to see how it would look. It’s really cool and it gives you a wide variety of fonts rather than choosing from Wevideo, IMovie, or even from Google Docs or Word. At the same time, if you still can’t find that perfect font that you are looking for, on Font Meme you can also search up what you’re looking for (if you have something in particular) and it will give you many links to other websites that might have it!





After some research, Santi and I realized that we want a font that represents elegance with crisp edges and rounded forms. Now, it’s not that easy to just type that in and automatically find a font.. But, we did find a collection of movie fonts that Font Meme has, which is great.

We decided to go with something called Clearlight font:

Something similar would be called High Society:




We decided to go with these two specific fonts and decide between two colors:

Blue

Yellow

Living in Florida means lots of sunshine and lots of blue skies, so using colors like yellow and blue could really represent the joy and positivity that people have when living here. I know they look bad right now but I know that once all of our shots come together, it will look great!

If for some reason we can’t use these specific fonts, we have a backup, don’t worry!:

Playfair Display:
Santino Lupica-Tondo
Valeria Parra


Merriweather:
Santino lupica-Tondo
Valeria Parra

Comfortaa:
Santino lupica-Tondo
Valeria Parra

Now remember, I know it looks ugly here so please don't judge, it's just an idea of the colors we are set on using ahahaha. Which can all be found on Google Docs, IMovie, Word, and WeMovie! Overall, we might just use Merriweather since it is a combination between Comfortaa and Playfair Display.

Stay tuned for next week, big things are coming!

Peace and Love - Vale





“Fonts Collection.” Font Meme, fontmeme.com/fonts/.

Who woulda guessed, that I would be stressed?

Don’t freak out! Don’t freak out! Ughh Im freaking out! Guys, you won’t believe what’s been happening. So first of all, today is just not my day :( I took the SAT for the second time this week and it was soo hard! Like.. I just want to know my scores already. Where was I going with this? Oh yea, Santi and I have run into some issues. We need to switch our whole entire shooting schedule around and I have no idea what to do now. If you guys saw the shooting schedule, today was supposed to be the day to shoot our establishing shots in Miami AT ONE PM but I got caught up with taking the SAT from 8-12:45pm and Santi had practice from 11-1pm. This calls for a shooting schedule change! So after talking with Santi for about 30 min (ahahaha) we finally compromised a schedule we can both follow where we don’t have plans. Not to be extra buttt, we’ve even told our parents not to make plans these days so that we could dedicate our time to this project ;) Check it out!




Thank God! We came up with a solution and fixed our problem! I feel just like the girl below...relieved ahaha.




Now, it’s not in order but these are the dates we need to stay committed and actually follow. I need to explain some things just in case you guys don’t understand something. In my original schedule I said I would have started and completed the voice over but I’m not even gonna lie to you guys.. It’s hard. Santi and I need good dialogue that gives the audience a 2+2 and not a 4 but we’re struggling. Jeez, how do people actually do this. The point is to keep it clear and concise but we just want to say so many things, yet we have such little time, but I know we can do this. Therefore, I am going to be watching teen dramas or dramas that include establishing shots or voice overs and study their dialogue. At the same time, instead of just laying around and panicking, Santi and I decided to go from 5-6 driving around capturing shots of this suburban community we live in and it’s turning out great. We just we will be studying the movies now!!


Here are the movies/series I’m gonna study: 

The Duff

The kissing booth
Stranger than Fiction
My so-called life
Sex and the city
Monster in Law

Each one either starts off with establishing shots or voice overs and it’s important that santi and I study the dialogue so that we have a better idea of how to give the audience the 2+2 technique!

Tune in tomorrow!

Peace and Love - Vale

I've been stuck all along, why not pick a song?

Hi everyone!! Soooo I am conflicted right now and need your guys’ help asap! As of now, you guys know that Santi and I are doing a film opening and we need to create a voice over and an establishing shot scene. Yesterday’s post was all about the voice over and how we would create it. Today’s post is finally figuring out what type of song we would like to incorporate with the establishing shots when the film starts.



Remember, this is a movie about a family moving to Florida and two siblings going to their new school, so we don’t necessarily want a sad song, we want an upbeat song that demonstrates the benefits and the joyous life everyone lives here in Florida. Don’t get me wrong, life is HARD buttttt Florida is the sunshine state and due to the beautiful beaches, the bright sun, and the tall green palm trees, life here is like a movie! (at least for me ahahhah)

I’m beyond excited to see which songs you like best so here is a list of the songs we have in mind and if you click on the artist’s name it will automatically take you to the song just in case you guys haven’t heard it before! 

1. Rhianna : We found Love 

2. Starley: Call on me


3. Taio Cruz: Dynamite


4. Coldplay: Viva la Vida


5. Katrina and the waves: Walking on Sunshine


6.. Rascal Flats: Life is a Highway


Now I know the list is pretty long but we are seriously stuck on which one to choose so therefore, we will be contacting each of the owners of these songs to see if we can use them. With their permission, we will just incorporate the song with the shots and see the one we like best.

So far, we are leaning towards “Viva La Vida” by Coldplay due to the fact that the beat is not too fast but not too slow. This will allow us to incorporate the shots at the beat of the song so I will be showing you guys the email we will be sending to them. 

Ex:

 


If you guys can’t see what it says for some reason it basically says:

“ Hi!! my name is Valeria Parra and I have a question for you guys. I am currently taking an Aice media studies class and got the choice to create a film opening as my final exam. Towards April I would have to send this film opening to Cambridge (a college leveled program established in England) and I was wondering if my partner and I could use your song “Viva La Vida” as the opening for our film. Thank you guys for your time and please let me know as soon as possible!!”

-Valeria and Santino


I won’t be showing you all the emails because it’s too many examples, but we will be using the same exact email just changing the name of the song we would like to use.

So for example, if we were to email Rhianna, we would just say ………”I was wondering if my partner and I could use your song “We found Love” as the opening of our film………………” and then copy everything else in the email.


My biggest fear with this is that they don’t answer me or they reject me. I’m not too scared about them saying no, but I am scared they won’t answer me in time. But let’s be realistic, im guessing one of them at least have to answer me right? Either way, if for any possible reason they all say no or don’t answer… our plan B is to pick a song from killer tracks or email another artist.


Thank you guys for listening and please stay tuned for this weekend!! We will finally be starting to film!!


Peace and Love - Vale

Busy Bee

Welcome back guys!! I know it’s been a while since I posted but I have been super busy studying and just keeping up with school due to the fact that I took the SAT on Wednesday and have to take it again this Saturday, ughhh it’s so draining. Now I know you guys don’t want to hear about that so lets just get to the good stuff! Today I will be mentioning my production process for the film opening and how it’s going, which involves describing how I will be creating the voice over. If you guys remember, my shooting schedule states that I should be working on it Tomorrow (Friday) but why not start earlier just for the fun of it.






So this is how I would create the voice over:

First is Preparing my voice: If we choose to do the V.O technique, we would most likely use my voice since the story is in the perspective about the girl. We would do this by working together to make a script.

“A script is essential. You need to know how long you have to talk, and what you're going to say. This script may change when matched with the final video, but you can never go wrong with a little pre-planning.”

To get an idea, here is an example of a simple voice over that introduces the character.
Ex: “My name is…. And this is the story of…”

This is NOT what I will be using for my voice over so sit back and relaxxx, I have some better ideas.

Here is a link on how to write a script if you guys ever need help, advice, or examples.
http://theelearningcoach.com/elearning_design/the-art-of-writing-great-voice-over-scripts/


Next is getting a good microphone: After the script is made, we want to be able to make myself sound professional with good quality audio when we go to record. Therefore, we believe that either purchasing a USB microphone or downloading a program capable of recording on the computer is the best way to go.

“For beginners, download Audacity, which is free. If you plan on recording often, you should get a program like Logic or Pro Tools for complete customization of your voice.”
I have decided to download audacity on my computer and here is a picture of me testing it out ahahaha. I did this about 5 times cause I had fun saying “testing 123.” Anyways, if you want to start out by using a voice over, check audacity out!





Last is to Practice, practice, and…. Practice: Now, I know that while making a voice over you don’t need to memorize everything you are going to say, but practicing what you are going to say gets you comfortable with the dialogue so that you don’t mess up every 5 seconds. I have done one voice over before for a previous Aice Media Project and it went 100% perfect due to the fact that I practiced.

“The best way to practice is to record your voice and play it back, making notes about how to change things.”





I will be following all of these tips so that our voice over is not only good, but an attention grabber as well. See ya later alligators! Gonna go work on my Voice Over right now, wish me luck!





Stay Tuned!!

Peace and Love - Vale




“The Voice Over and Its Use in Film.” Meta Inquisition, ctlsites.uga.edu/nvgf/ethans-article/.

wikiHow. “How to Do a Voice Over.” WikiHow, WikiHow, 9 July 2017, www.wikihow.com/Do-a-Voice-Over.

Talk to the hand, my schedule's full ;)

Omg Omg Omg!! Hi guys!! Today’s blog is going to be different than what I have usually been talking about. My last few posts have been about group meetings, outlines, and storyboards and todayyyy I will be discussing Santi and I’s shooting schedule for our film opening. Now, this was a little tough since we needed to pick specific days where the both of us weren’t busy due to extra curricular activities. With Santi having practices and games for soccer every day of the week, and with me going to these camp training reunions, it’s somewhat hard to make our schedule the same.





Below is a checklist of the things we need to do in order to make either an establishing shot scene or a voice over scene so check that out!!


The establishing shot checklist:
Spend some time in Miami
Some shots in the car
Obtain a drone
Spend some time at our school shooting
Choose our opening song as the establishing shots play


The voice over checklist:
Spend some time in my house/Santi’s house
Lots of shots in the car
Go to thrift stores to purchase items for high school teenager representation
Create a voice over
Spend some time at school shooting

As you can see, we did A LOT of thinking so here is the final schedule!!



Day 1
March 8, 2019 (Fri)
Time
6pm-8pm
Location
@My house making V.O

Day 2
March 9, 2019 (Sat)
Time
1pm-6pm
Location
@ Miami capturing E.S

Day 3
March 15, 2019 (Fri)
Time
7pm-8pm
Location
Go to thrift store

Day 4
March 16, 2019 (Sat)
Time
9am-12pm
Location
Shots from car/drone

Day 5 
March 19, 2019 (Tues)
Time
School Hours
LocationChoose song/shoot in school

Now Let me explain some things:

V.O = Voice Over

E.S = Establishing shot

Going to thrift store = Finding/buying jock uniform for a group of jocks

Shots from car/drone = shots from car is for dialogue and using the drone to film football/soccer fields.

Choosing song/shoot in school = Choosing opening song in class and contacting producers to use it or picking from killer tracks and shooting shots of catwalk and bell ringing in school.


Here are some examples:








Now that you know what everything means, this is so exciting omg. Now Cmon, we’re humans, not robots.. we aren’t going to be spending every single day up until it is due, just shooting. In order to have extra time to attend specific commitments, do homework, study for exams, and participate in clubs, we made this schedule in order to meet up weekly to film the IMPORTANT parts of the film opening. Don’t get me wrong, everything we are doing is important, but there are some things that we can do alone or through face time, which doesn’t require spending hours together every day.

Hope you guys enjoyed and are super excited, just like us!! Sticking to this schedule will be tough but great!! I'll keep you updated so remember to stay tuned. 

Peace and Love - Vale