Media Studies Blog

 Here is the link to our finished project titled Sophia https://youtu.be/JIim-qAsJjg?si=E5ed2IuBs69JiqQU 

 I feel it was difficult planning the film at first but it became very successful in the end. I feel the only main problem we had during the project was finding days that we could meet up together and collaborate with each other. We switched the first 6 and 6th through 10 scenes of our story because we felt it flowed in the story much better. Ive learned how difficult it is to actually film a story is and how many components go into it. Information such as lighting, angles, and types of edits are things from class that greatly helped us during this project. 

  In total it took about 3 hours to fully edit the entire film. You can see in these pictures how we are adjusting the lighting/color of the these shots. Since we were not able to take some of these shots in the morning we adjusted the colors to make it look like it was. They were adjusted to have a more yellow hue, to contrast the blue it had. The second photo showed Hannah fixing some of the audio levels. Since the characters have some dialogue it was edited so she could be heard.  Hannah had done majority of the editing while myself and Salvador helped making some decisions while editing. Such, as feedback, choosing songs, and helping with lighting. Hannah had to do some of the nighttime filming because we weren't able to meet at night. I did some of the breathing sounds that were added in later on in editing as well. 

We changed the entire first 6 scenes with the 6th through 10th scenes because we felt the filmed bowed much better that way when editing. Instead of showing the fake gun we also only showed the bullet because we could not find the prop that fit the theme we were going for. We also changed scene 5 because originally it was going to show the title behind the girl as she woke up but we decided on putting it in front of the window when she walked away. Some of the final corrections we made was we showed the bracelet with his hand down instead of up. 

 We used lighting to create a contrast and moods in specific scenes. The first scene used blue lights which show her distress in the scene. We had blue LED lights when filming and the lighting was good without needing to fix it up in the editing. For the second and third scene, we had to change the lighting in the editing. Since the room that we filmed it in didn't have much light and we were not able to meet up early enough to get the morning light, we had to fix the lighting in the editing. We made it have a more warm yellow, sunlight light to it. The blue light contributes to the somber and nighttime feel of the first scene. While the yellow light contributes to the more happy and morning time feel of the second and third scene. These colors are opposite, so it also works to show a great shift in the differences of the scenes. 

      It has been going well and everyone has been equally contributing to the film. I have  filmed, Salvador has acted,  and Hannah has done majority of the editing for the film and directed everything. I personally felt challenged with being able to meet up to collaborate with my group members on the same day because we all have conflicting schedules but we found a date and filmed. In my opinion there were little so no problems throughout this entire project besides small disputes about little things when editing. Overall, we have barely had nay problems and effectively produced and edited this film. 

 In the project, Salvador chose the first song that was shown in the film, which was Living Waters by Brock Hewitt. He chose this song because it fit the slow, quiet, sad theme of the first scene. It also made sense with the events that happen in the scene, as the character appears to be reflecting on events that had happened earlier in the day. Hannah chose the second song which was Ain't We Got Fun by Doris Day. She chose it because it has a very bright mood to it, which is similar to the first scene because it is set in the morning. The lyrics also make it seem like everyday is going to be happy and great, but we can clearly see that this is not the case considering the pervious scene.  Hannah did most of the editing on the software. She used recordings of footsteps through the grass for the first scene, heavy breathing, and alarm clock sounds in the video. These all were recorded either in the video itself or added after, such as the footsteps through the grand which was d...

  The editing so far has been going very well. In this first photo you can see the Davinci editing software were we worked on the first scene of the film. In the second photo you can see us looking for the song that Salvador picked out to add into the video. In effect terms, the second and third scene were both brighter and were given a warm tone to make it look like it was filmed earlier in the morning. The other effects that were added such as the text that displayed the credits. Other than these, we didn't use any other effects.  The video starts fading in from back which leads to the next transition which is an abrupt cut from the first to the second scene. The rest of the transitions are just plain that aren't meant to be as noticeable. One of the biggest problems when editing was the music in the first scene. We had all the sounds for the rest of the scenes but we needed to find a good royalty free song that we could use, but none of them felt right. Then Salvador helped...

 Throughout our film we used mainly bright natural lighting because our film is very happy and bright. As the film continues it slowly changes to much more darker light toward the end of the film. For one scene when the girl is laying on her bed half of her face is shown with blue light along the darkness of her room. We used the blue to represent her sadness and to give a depressed ambiance. We did this to add to her clear emotional distress onscreen during the scene.

  This was our first choice, which is the font Agency FB. We were looking at different fonts and colors and got to this. But we later decided against it because it looked too futuristic for our story and the color was too dark for the happy vibe we were going for. We settled on this font which was Britannica Bold. The font had a very minimalistic but is still bold enough to jump out at you. The color was very bright to match the ambiance went for. We made it in all caps  so it would very uniform and bold. The title "Sophia is named after the main character in the film. Hanna directed it, Salvador provided equipment, I filmed, and Bella & Salvador acted. Their names are the girl and the boy because our film has no dialogue so they are not named in the film.  We almost picked this one, Times New Roman in a much lighter color. We liked the color of this one a lot more than the others, however, we felt it didn't feel very right. The font is also quite basic so it made the...

 There were only two challenges in filming, the first one was having complications with myself not being able to act so she had taken my place. Another problem we ran into was the lighting for the darker inside scene but we solved that with Hannah holding a blanket over the window. We also had some difficultly finding a good spot outside to film. We handled these challenges very well. Everyone is pulling their weight by myself filming, Salvador acting, and Hannah directing. 

Our first day of filming went very smoothly. First we shot the first scene in his room. Then, we went outside to shoot the second scene. We only ran into a problem with the darker lighting in the inside scenes, which was solved with Hannah holding up a blanket as shown in the third picture above. The sound and video went well because we used Salvadors camera which also recorded the sound well. We only needed two reshoots because of some background noise in the beginning scenes but then we learned how to prevent it and the rest only took 1 take. 

 Our film is a very stereotypical mystery film with the characters and plot. The main character is a girl and the side character is a guy where the guy gets killed. I feel our characters need no changes because both of their props, personalities, and actions all add to the film in very important ways. The actors do not contribute to any type of diversity in the film because both are white Hispanics.

 The supporting character has short black hair, and wears dark clothes. Props associated with the character is a black bracelet that ties him and the main character together through her flashback. When walking past the main character he will have a very happy personality and mental state. But later he will have a worse mental state when he gets killed. Similar to the main character, he will also not physical speak but communicate through his actions.

The main character will be wearing darker clothes during the night and brighter clothes during the day. Their hair is curly, yellow-brown, and put up in all the scenes. She has a bubbly and bright personality. In the first scene she is clearly distressed and in a bad mental state, and be pictured crying. In the next scene her mental will become much happier and better. They will be communicating through their actions because none of the characters will speak throughout the entire film.

The first scene starts with a girl laying on her bed. The clothes shown above are comfortable sleeping clothes to match the scene. The colors are darker and have a more cool tone to match the dark, blue-light setting. The girl will also have a messy bun to add to the sleepy look. This will be the same outfit will be worn when the girl gets out of bed in the next scene.  The second outfit will also be worn by the girl, and is the outfit for the third scene. These are the clothes that the girl will wear to the event outside of her house that she is going to. The clothes above are presentable, but also casual clothes. They are a slight contrast to the dark and cool colors that were in the first two scenes. The light and warm clothes to go with the mood of the scene and show a difference in the character from the first two scenes. The third outfit will be worn by the guy that walks past the girl and also gets killed. The outfit is plain and casual worn by the boy going where he needs t...

 Actors: There will only be two actors in our film. Salvador will be the guy that was killed and Grace will be the main character that the camera is following. Costumes: The first scene will have the girl wearing comfortable clothes. When she goes outside she will dress in casual outside clothes. The guy will also have a similar style to the main girl. All of the costumes will be from our own closets. The guy will wear a bracelet, from Salvadors closet. Props: Our props will be toy gun, toy bullets, real bullets, headphones, phone, bracelet, clock, and other various objects. Many of our props will come from all of our homes.  Locations: We will use Salvador's house to film the beginning scenes, Hannahs backyard for the murder scenes, and a park for where the main character and the guy meets.  Dates and Times: We will film it at night and the second scene during the day. We haven't chosen a date to begin filing yet though.  Scripts: Hannah will be writing the scripts....

  In the first scene it begins in a dark room with a person crying on their bed, while the camera slowly zooms in on them. The second scene, shot 7 jumps to a smash cut to a loud alarm going off and the music in the preview ends. The second scene, shot 8 is when the character Sophia wakes up from the alarm and says "Oh!" while the name Sophia is shown in big letters behind her. The second scene, shot 9 is when the character gets out of bed for her first day of work. In the same font as the title the credits show infant of a static shot of the persons window. In scene three, shot 10 upbeat music starts to play while she steps outside to starts going to her new job. In scene three, shot 11 the character is walking down a path while following someone from afar. Continuing, the character passes by another subject while she keeps on walking down the path. In scene 3, shot 12 a mans arm is shown with the same bracelets as the person who was dead and suspenseful music plays. To end ...

  We are trying to go for a very dark eerie feeling with our film. Our main characters will be myself and Salvador. Our settings will be in a dark bedroom looking at a bed. Our other setting will be scenery of the woman's jobs building. While she is walking to her job the setting is very light and warm. Our costumes will include very dark colors at the beginning of the film and towards the end become lighter and then back to dark. We will have very little to no light in the beginning of the film. Towards the middle it becomes very bright because the woman is walking to her job in the outdoor. Toward the end it becomes dark again when she goes back to the same room that the film started in. Our props will bullet shells during the flash back she has. 

  Our final project is going to be thriller. The camera will start off having an overhead shot of someone resting in bed in a dimly lit room. Music plays in the background, and as the camera is moving closer and closer to the subject, flashes of clips of a murder appear over the screen. There is then an abrupt cut to the same bedroom and a person waking up for the morning, the mood in this scene is bubbly and bright. I am excited to bring my groups idea to life through our film. I am excited to work with my group members. I am worried that we might not be able to find the right place to film. Also that we might not have all the resources we need. I am worried we might disagree on some decisions.

1. Rise -Film Opening  The film started off as being very happy and cheerful but slowly you get the feeling that something ominous was going on. Every time they would turn to the guy the music would get weird and a creep mood would be created. 2. Dear Lover  The film has a solemn mood with is created through the sound and the bleak colors. It also ends the clip by starting the story, which I think is a nice idea. 3. Dare to Thrill The film started off by having an cheerful and happy mood. Then later on the film had a very upbeat and epic sense of thriller.  4. Always Watching The film had a sad and an angry mood during the beginning of the film. The mood then changed to a more aggressive and violent mood. 5. White Coat  The film shows a man, tied up and while he is escaping it shows another person in a white coat making mysterious mixtures which makes me think it was for the man. The film had a very mysterious and ominous tone through the dark rooms and only backgrou...

  My group members are Hannah Hugh-Sam who I've known since the 2nd grade, Salvador Clemente who I've known since 7th and myself Grace Martinez. I chose this group because we have been in a group before and we have worked well together in the past. Some ideas and genres we have thought of incorporating in our film is thriller. A idea we thought of was for a dramatic murder to happen and show why it happened.

I chose these pictures for my for my mood board because I wanted to have a very dark, and scary feeling when you look at these images. I tried to convey a sense of uneasiness and alarm as a sort of thrill with the images. I also tried to create a mysterious ambience through trying to create a story that the person looking at it can create their own story with suspense, plot twist, etc. I use darker images with a lot of shadows to create a idea of a moody or eerie story.  Horror interests me because I love the thrill and sensation of feeling scared when you watch a horror movie or see scary images. I also love the intrigue aspects of movies and all the different elements that create a chilling feeling. I am also interested in the plot twists that happen in the movies and how the characters react. I also love the suspense when a movie is dead quiet and not knowing what is going to happen next.  My mood board represents the dark and eerie feeling in horror films through the dark ...

  Why is sound or the lack of sound so important to a scene in a film? Sound is important to a scene in a film because it can give emphasis to what is happening on screen and silence can create different moods like shock or unnatural silence. Explain why it was or was not difficult to come up with sound ides for a story that would not have visuals for the audience to see. It was not difficult to come up with ideas for a story without sound because we just thought of a scene visually and got the sound so people can visually see the scene with just the sound in their head so the visual was necessary but it creates emphasis in other film with images. Explain weather you believe or do not believe that your group was able to create a sound story that the audience would be able to understand by just listening to the sounds that were chosen. I think our group was able to create a sound story that our audience would understand because the sound helped create a base for the audience to visu...

 https://hannahhsmediastudies.blogspot.com/ comment:  I think the shots clearly show the emotions its trying to convey and they made me feel specific emotions for example the low angle shot made me feel very intimidated. https://bellajarque14.blogspot.com/ comment: Amazing shots! The high angle shot made her look very vulnerable but the low angle shot made her seem more powerful.

  This is a low angle shot of myself and Salvador. This angle makes the subjects seem intimidating.  This is a close-up shot of the one and only Hannah. This shot shows all the features of the subjects face in greater detail. This is p.o.v shot of Salvador and one of Hannah's hands. This shot shows the world of the point of view from subject. This is a two person shot with Hannah and Salvador. This shot shows with subjects entire bodies form head to toe and some of their surroundings. Summary I thought this assignment was very interesting and fun because we got to interactively take the camera angles and shots and see what its like to actively take the shots ourselves. We did not run into any problems with this project. I think we did a relatively good job with the different kinds of shots with our experience and knowledge.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvOzI3oL5cc This scene has an extreme close-up. This scene shows extreme intense emotion and detail in the character's face. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBAeOTHtZVg These scenes are all establishing shots. The establishing shot shows the audience where everything is taking place and gives them an idea of what is going to happen later on. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBbOAVSBvpE This scene is a close-up shot. The close-up shot shows greater detail of something and shows the emotions and reactions of the character. It also helps the audience get into the characters mind. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgrM4_JMi9w This scene is a wide/full/long shot. The wide shot show the entire body and lets the audience read the characters body language.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBqqI6NMeaM This scene is over the shoulder. The over the shoulder scene shows the intimacy of the characters converstaion.

Hello, I am Grace Martinez, I'm in 9th grade and I go to  Charles W.  Flanagan  HS. I have a 8 year old dog named Ziti. My favorite colors are dark purple and dark green. I enjoy listening to music and coloring. Some of my hobbies are archery and color guard. And  I live in Pembroke Pines, Florida.   I am taking this class because I was interested in taking the other class English gen paper 1 and then I found out about this class and wanted to take it too. I hope to learn how different types of media communicate meanings. I would like to learn how to use different types of equipment to create media. I want to learn how to edit camera shots, sound, etc. to be able to make films. Finally I would like to be able to learn about the impact media can have on the viewers.