Week 7 in AICE Media Studies

 Introduction

    This week we reviewed all the films that were submitted for our first project. We then discussed and started our second project, which will be a documentary on the film industry.

 What I Did

    The first thing we did on Monday was review all the films submitted in our class from our first project. We offered constructive criticism to all the groups. We used the sandwich method of positive, constructive, then positive again for the criticsm. 

    Then, our teacher went over what our next project will be. We have to make a documentary on the film industry. My group went with a documentary on the history of film marketing, specifically the transition from print press to digital media marketing. 

    After we decided on a topic, we started researching it and writing down important details. We also created a timeline that included the four major milestones during this time period. By this point, class was going to end soon, so we got ready to leave. 

    On Wednesday, we continued to do research on our topic. However, we changed our topic from the history of film marketing to a deep dive on our favorite move, The Lego Movie. We kept the same groups from our first projects. So, Vivienne and I finished most of the research while Piper worked on the storyboard. She got about half way through the storyboarding. We spent all of class on this. 

    Friday we continued our research, finishing it. Then, I made a coming soon poster on Canva for our marketing campaign and our crew sheet. Our team also finished the storyboard. Next class we will start filming the documentary.

What I Learned

    During the research I learned quite a bit about the Lego Movie itself such as, who created it and when. I learned about how they filmed the movie. They used a computer-generated animation of real LEGO® elements, achieved in a photoreal stop-motion style. We researched all the directors, producers, and writers. I even learned some fun facts like, Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill made cameos and the movie grossed over $468 million dollars. That was all, I cannot wait until next week when we start filming.

    

Week 6 in AICE Media Studies

Introduction

    This was a short week due to Tuesday being a school-wide testing day. So, I was only in class once. We used this day to finish a discussion board and catch up on blogs. 

What I Did

    I started class by sitting down at a computer and going to Canvas. Then my teacher, Ms. Pistocchi, explained the assignment, and we started. It was a simple discussion board where we reflected on our film project and its process. 

    After finishing all the questions and posting them, I had to reply to two other classmates. By the time I finished posting my replies, there were only a few minutes left in class. With that in mind, I decided to just make the title for a post and packed up.  

What Did I Learn?

    I learned that my classmates and I had similar struggles, dislikes, and likes when it came to the project. Nearly all the discussion board replies I read mentioned that my peers disliked editing but loved acting and writing. I too disliked editing and enjoyed writing; however, my favorite part was filming. I love being right behind the camera. 

    Additionally, just about everyone in the class had part of their work deleted at some point because the computers do not save your work. Several people in my class, including myself, did not realize our work would not save, which caused us to lose our progress. Thankfully, I had a backup file and only had to remake the very end of the film. So, I may not have learned a lot this week, but I surely learned something important. 

Week 5 in AICE Media Studies

 Introduction

    My team and I spent all of this week focused on editing and marketing. We were finally able to access and use Premiere Pro. I learned so much about editing, and cannot wait to tell you all about it.

 

What I Did

    I started off with having my team review the footage we already had edited to see what we should change or add. Everything seemed good, so I started editing while my group mates started brainstorming how they were going to market the film.

    I decided to add more background sounds to the suspenseful clips, roll the end credits, make smoother sound transitions, and add a black screen with text right before the credits rolled.

    The last thing I did was the end credits. During this time my group members were working on the marketing for the film. They ended up making two posters and a trailer.

    All I completed this week was editing because it is a very timely task.

 

What I learned

    This week I learned how to add background sounds, remove background noise, isolate and raise vocals, make transitions on Premiere Pro, and roll end credits. 

    Firstly, I wanted to add more background noise while removing some, and since I switched platforms from Express to Premiere Pro, I was not sure how to do this. To add background music, I found out through a short Google search that you can use sounds built into Premiere Pro, which is what I used first. However, for another scene, I could not find a sound that fit the scene, so I downloaded one from a royalty-free website. Then, I uploaded it to Premiere Pro.

    Secondly, I wanted the audio to sound clearer. So, I used a YouTube tutorial on how to isolate vocals. This helped me make the "nat" sounds higher for the outdoor clips. 

    Next, I needed the scenes to transition smoothly. I was just clicking around when I discovered you can right-click in between clips, and it will open a drop-down menu where you can press "Add Transition." Given that I had a strict time limit, I just used that rather than making my own transition.

    Then, I got to the end and wanted to create a black screen with text on it. I decided that I should try to figure this part out without a tutorial. I spent a minute looking through the drop-down menus at the top of the screen before founding the "Graphic" drop-down. In this drop-down, I found an "Add Text" selection and used that to create a text box. Then, centered the text and added another black screen with text. 

    Subsequently, I used the new text box I created to add all the end credits. I wanted to have them roll down the screen, but I did not know how to do this. I tried to do it on my own, but struggled for about ten minutes. So, I decided to just look for a tutorial on YouTube. It turned out that I just needed to type everything into a text box, center the text, center the box, deselect the text box, go to text graphics, and click roll. Then the credits rolled down the screen, and I simply made the clip longer so it would scroll a little slower.

    Lastly, I reviewed the footage with my group mates. Once we all agreed it was complete, I exported the film. After exporting it, I saved the final film to my OneDrive and submitted it for a grade. My teacher, Ms. Pistocchi, graded it the next day, and we got a 100%. 

  

Week 4 in AICE Media Studies

 Introduction

   Week three was focused on filming and editing what would be our first films for the class. We broke up into groups, and mine was made up of Vivienne Horvath and Piper Wilson. We storyboarded our film, then got together and started filming. Lastly, we started editing the film.

What I Did

    Firstly, we made a storyboard, detailing the dialogue and camera shots. This was our first project, so it was a bit scrappy at first and had a lot of erasing, but we eventually found our way and everything came together. Thankfully, all of us already knew how to storyboard. So, we managed to get ahead of the rest of the class. 

    Next, we started filming. We had limited time this class period, so we only got two scenes finished. We decided to pick where we left off, and next class we finish filming everything. 

    Then, we attempted to upload the videos to the computer, but it never worked. Our Google Drives couldn't even open because of the poor school Wi-Fi, and every time we uploaded the files using any other method, they would download as CR files. CR files are not compatible with Premiere Pro or Adobe Express. We spent all class attempting to fix this, but eventually ran out of time.

    Next, after giving up, we decided to just do the work on our computers at home. So, we uploaded everything to Adobe Express and started editing over the weekend. We completed most of the editing this way. This concluded week three of AICE Media Studies.

What Did I Learn?

    Most of what I learned this week had to do with editing. This being my first time using Premier Pro and Adobe Express, I learned quite a lot. 

    Due to technical difficulties, my group had to use Adobe Express before eventually switching over to Premiere Pro. I started by learning how to upload clips to Express and then rearrange them. Once I finished that, I wanted to find out how to make the transitions smoother. After a few minutes of trial and error, I figured out that you just have to right-click between the two clips. Then, you press add transition and select the transition type you want. After the selection menu opened, it showed that I could adjust the transition duration and speed. 

      Now that I knew how to make transitions, I wanted to learn how to add blank screens where I could type out the end credits. I figured it out pretty quickly; all I had to do was click the plus icon at the end of clips and add a text box. This is all I learned on Adobe Express.

   The first thing I learned on Premier Pro was how to upload media, then drag and drop it into the timeline. I then figured out you can rearrange all the clips. 

   Since, I had limited time this week, I had to end my Premiere Pro journey there. So, I saved what we had completed to my OneDrive account by exporting the media—another new thing for me. We will pick up where we left off next week.