Friday, March 21, 2025

This is it

Links to my project:

Bibliography:

Barthes, R. (2025). Binary Opposition. Media Studies. https://media-studies.com/binary-opposition/

Beverly Boy. (2021, October 20). How is Binary Opposition in Film Used? Beverly Boy Productions. https://beverlyboy.com/filmmaking/how-is-binary-opposition-in-film-used/

Campion, S. (2023). LGBTQ+ Representation in Film and the Legacy of New Queer Cinema. Rethorikos. https://rhetorikos.blog.fordham.edu/?p=1903

Gardner, C. (2023, September 14). LGBTQ Representation in Film Hits Peak While GLAAD, Guilds Caution Strikes Risk Progress. The Hollywood Reporter. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/gay-representation-on-screen-film-glaad-study-1235590485/

Hellerman, J. (2024, May 3). The Core Elements of Romantic Comedy. Nofilmschool. https://nofilmschool.com/romantic-comedy-definition#

Music by DELOSound from Pixabay

Pieces I took inspiration from: 10 Things I Hate About You, Anyone But You, 500 Days of Summer, The Proposal, Just Go With It, Spanglish, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days

Final note:

Thank you Cambridge for this amazing opportunity I hope you enjoy!

Thursday, March 20, 2025

Final Touches

I DID IT!! My film opening is finalized! I am going to talk about all the editing I worked on from the last update about editing until now.

I edited the sound of all the clips so the conversation would sound more natural and not like separate clips, I put a filter over the entire thing so the coloring would look better and cohesive. I also added background sounds to make everything more realistic like traffic sounds, birds chirping, kids talking in the background for the school scenes, and a school bell, I found these on YouTube and they are all royalty-free. I love seeing all the progress I have made from day 1 and how far the project has come, I just love seeing everything come together.

I added all the credits and title graphic but I struggled with choosing which color to put them in because every color felt out of place, but I finally settled on purple with a thin black outline. I thought a bright color fit the teenage aspect of my film, and it also stood out enough not to blend with the background. I ended up choosing the font True Story, which was my second option when I was choosing between fonts because it did not blend with the background and it fits the juvenile aspect of the film.

I am so happy with the result and I cannot believe this journey is coming to an end. After working on this for almost 2 months, posting blogs almost became part of my routine, I am going to miss this. I am also proud of what I created, even if it is not the best or perfect in any way, I worked so hard on it and dedicated so much time and effort into it.

I cannot believe this is my second to last post, but see you tomorrow for the final post!

Tuesday, March 18, 2025

Filming Pt. 3

It finally happened! I am done recording the film opening. I know it was about time, but it is done. Both my CCRs are also done, so I can now solely focus on editing the film opening.

Yesterday I got together with Isabella and Zain who let me borrow the camera once more and we recorded the remaining scenes. We recorded inside the library but made it seem like we were inside a school with the angles and backgrounds I chose for each shot. We continued the story where I left off last time, with Jade walking away and Maia following her. Now she follows her inside and to her class and that is when they realize they are in the same class and are now stuck with each other for the rest of the school year.

We wore the same costumes and did the same makeup and hairstyles we did on the first recording day to keep everything consistent and I think we did a pretty good job with it. This time we got more footage than what I thought we needed just in case and I made us re-do each scene at least 4 times to have enough to choose from when I get to editing.

This recording day was probably one of the most stressful parts of this project not because filming was stressful but because planning for the extra recording day having so many inconveniences and not finding time to record until yesterday had me stressed out for the last two weeks. I am someone who likes to have everything done ahead of time and I can finally get everything finalized soon so that takes a huge weight off my chest. It is also a relief that I have everything that was previously recorded fully edited so the only thing that is missing is the new part.

Here are some pictures I took when we started recording:

Monday, March 17, 2025

Podcast production and editing

Almost there!

Hii! We are almost at the finish line! Today was a very productive day as I finished recording the film opening and editing my podcast for the CCR. I will talk about the filming in the next blog so for now podcast time!

I had so much fun with it, that I am now planning on starting a podcast hehe. I am a talker, I love to talk and I found it really cool that I got to be silly and talkative while still answering the questions for the CCR. The ad was just hilarious, I had to do so many takes because I could not hold in my laughter but it ended up great. I added background music too and I think it sounds pretty good. Here is a link to the royalty free music I used.

The editing was probably the easiest so far because I only had to focus on sound. The only "hard" part was matching up the clips whenever we made cuts so that it still flowed nicely, and changing the volume of the music so it would not overpower my voice. Here are some editing screenshots I took, once when I was starting and the other one near the end.

Saturday, March 15, 2025

CCR Podcast Script and Planning

Today I finalized my podcast script and I will record it and edit it over the weekend. I already have the intro sound and outro sounds picked out and I got my best friend Dani to help me by being the host. I got the sound off of Pixabay since it is royalty-free. I also included an ad in the middle of the podcast to make it as realistic as possible.

My script is very conversational and directly talks to the audience since it is a podcast and the host is asking me questions related to my project for me to reflect on the project I have created. I based my answers on the research that I conducted at the beginning of this project about genre conventions, representation, and media theory.

I was overthinking how to add sources of my research onto a podcast since it is only an audio file so I asked my teacher and she said it would be best to link all my sources on the blog next to the link to my podcast, so that is what I am doing.

Here is my script and a picture of me editing the intro and outro sounds to fade in and out, I just have to add the dialoge in between them.

Thursday, March 13, 2025

CCR Production

Questions 3 and 4

Yesterday my friends came over to my house and we recorded the lying detector interview. It was really fun and we thankfully got it done in about an hour, we had to divide the questions into various shots because we kept laughing and making fun of each other but it turned out great.

I just finished clipping and putting the clips together and tried to make the cuts as smooth as possible, I just have to add the resources page at the end.

Here is a picture of Dani and I getting the ankle weight on my arm:

(warning: a very frustrated and angry note from me)

Also on a very negative note, I had scheduled the recording for the last part of my opening today. However, my friends seem to have lost their memory and forgot the MULTIPLE conversations we had about recording today and did not bring the costume or camera to record after school so, now I have rescheduled it for Monday, which still gives enough time to edit and finalize it but it is still so frustrating. I double-checked with them yesterday, I really do not understand why they could not be more considerate and let me know ahead of time that they could not record today...

Sorry for the venting session but I am really frustrated :/

Now that the negativity is out, lets focus on the amazing bloopers from my CCR, enjoy. HERE please ignore the lighting I already tried to fix it 3 times and it looks fine on Premier Pro but when I download it it looks like that sorryyyyy.

Wednesday, March 12, 2025

Group Meeting 03/12

Today we met in groups to talk about our projects and give each other feedback. My group was Anastasia. Charlie, Diego, Dani, Mckenna and me.

I told them I had already planned out my CCRs and shared my ideas with them, and they all agreed they were good. Then, I told them about how I had to schedule one more filming day because I did not have enough footage and Anastacia told me this happened to her too, which made me feel better about it. They all also helped me brainstorm on what I should add to my opening. Dani suggested I add a scene inside of the school instead of more driving clips which I thought was a good idea and Anastasia told me I could also add a graphic with the title instead of putting it over the scenes I already have like I originally planned on doing. Their feedback was really helpful and I feel more confident about what to do when I record again now.

Mckenna told us about her idea for her CCR and I thought it was really good but Charlie said it might not be as creative since she wanted to recreate the interviews that Wired does with famous people. Then, Charlie told us how she wanted to do a "What is in my bag" video and show all the props and equipment she used to film while answering the CCR questions and we all thought it was an amazing idea.

Diego, Dani, and Anastasia all said they wanted to do a talk show type of video and I suggested they all add visuals to make their video more entertaining than a talking head. Charlie also suggested they got a friend or family member to help them and act as a host in their talk show.

It was overall a productive and helpful group meeting! We took a lot of pictures at the end because we wanted to be funny and make awkward pictures: