Week 10-11 in AICE Media Studies

Introduction

    This week we continued working on our documentary.  

What I Did

    Today, we started class with a mock exam to prepare us for our final. We watched a 15-minute short film called Melons and wrote down all the shot types, editing variations, and anything else we could spot, like when they used cross-cutting or a medium shot. Afterward, we discussed the notes we took as a class. I wrote down most of the different techniques used, only missing a few.

    Then, we broke off into groups to continue working on our documentaries. Today we added to our script and filmed an interview. 

    Sadly, another hurricane hit Florida, and we missed another day of school, so there was no progress made Wednesday. However, on Friday we managed to film an interview. I will turn this into another two-week blog as we missed school one day and have a short week coming up.

    Wednesday was a school-wide testing day, so we were not in class and could not complete any work.

    Friday, we could not bring our backpacks because there was a pep rally. Due to this, we were only able to film a small amount. There are only three more scenes before we are done filming. 

What I Learned

    During these two weeks, I learned how to analyze a film. Ms. Pistocchi taught the class how you would analyze the meaning of a film by breaking it down, frame by frame. Then, you would explain how each frame furthers the plot, affects the tone or mood, or creates an effect on the film or audience. This will be very helpful for the AICE exam at the end of the year.

Week 8-9 in AICE Media Studies

Introduction

    This week in class we continued working on our documentaries. My group finished scripting and moved on to filming. Most groups are still working on their scripts and storyboards, so it is pleasant to be ahead. We are definitely putting way more effort into this project now that we know our way around the basics of everything. 

What I Did

    On Tuesday, September 24, my group started off with some scripting. We finalized some fine details and formulated our interview questions. We did a final review of the script, and everyone in the group sat down to read over it silently. We fixed a few mistakes and moved on to the next step.

    Next, we started the filming process. We filmed our introduction and one interview. That was all we were able to get done for this class period. Thursday we will pick up where we left off. 

    Sadly, due to living in Florida, school was canceled Thursday, so I was not able to work on my project. I decided to turn this into a two-week blog as I did not get a chance to learn anything new this week. 

    Monday, at the beginning of class, Ms. Pistocchi showed everyone a video on the basics of film cutting. The video was by The Shot List covering the main seven film cutting techniques. Once the video finished, we discussed the notes we took as a class.

    Then, we broke off into our groups to continue working on our documentaries. Afterwards we worked on voiceovers and uploading the film clips we have to our Google Drive. 

    Wednesday, we continued working on our voiceovers, but we could not do anything else because we had a substitute. Due to this we were not allowed to go into any of the other rooms, like our green room. This meant we could not film any interviews or in-person clips.

    Lastly, we started searching for clips to add to the documentary. We were not able to find all of our needed clips. We will continue next week.

What I Learned

    This week I learned about various types of cutting in film. The video we watched went over the main types of film cutting: eyeline match, point of view shot, cross cutting, split edit, intellectual montage, and cut-on action. 

 

    Then we went into further detail on the different types. An eyeline match cuts to what the character sees. A point-of-view shot cuts to what the editor sees. Cross-cutting is where the editors cut between two scenes that are happening at the same time. A split edit can either be a J cut or an L cut, where the audio or visual changes before one or the other. An intellectual montage puts "random" shots together to create a certain atmosphere for the viewers. A cut on action is a cut on a character's action, creating a smoother scene. 

    After the video, our class discussed a very important fact, which is that eyes motivate the cut. This was all I learnt last week and this week in AICE Media Studies.