AICE Media Studies

 I have finally finished my short film! Today I will be discussing my experience with my short film. The short film ended up being more challenging than I expected. Luckily for me, I had good partners to help cover me while I was busy at times. The difficult part came from scheduling our group meetings and transportation. This isn't surprising but has been a struggle this year more than before. I gained experience during the short film production such as improved writing ability for scripts and improvising. This time, I acted in the short film. Everyone had roles in the short film. This was to balance workloads to the best of our abilities. Unfortunately, not everything went according to plan, so some people got different workloads at a time. This was mainly due to people being busy unexpectedly and others having to cover for them. I also helped come up with some ideas for the film. At the start I considered myself to manage/schedule the group as I believed the group needed a sense...

Today I will be discussing the editing methods used in the short film. Editing is often an underappreciated topic. The most well-known edit is a simple yet crucial one. This edit is known as cropping. Cropping is the trimming of clips and adjusting them accordingly to the project. This can include making scenes shorter that had extra fluff in them. Another important edit was stitching the scenes together. While this is another simple edit, it is required as the scenes need to flow together smoothly into one another. In addition to this, an important edit is the inclusion of music. Music can often set the tone/atmosphere really well. Music can also help spice the film up rather than dead silence with occasional dialogue. Some films may require silence for tone, but I find that boring most times. Audio mixing is also a job done by the editor(s). This means balancing the audio in the film such as bringing out or lowering someone's voice. As previously mentioned, music can be included ...

 Today we will be starting editing for the short film. Editing begins with software to make changes to the scenes we shot. While I am not experienced in editing, I can still give advice and recommendations on edits. Also, I can discuss what I want to see being edited in the film. Besides that, my group did the editing itself. Due to this, I will be discussing what they did and how I am involved. First of all, my groupmates who edited have experience in editing. This was the reason why they edited the film rather than me. Also, they have experience in different software for editing. Despite this, we ended up staying primarily with iMovie. I suggested iMovie for many reasons. The main reason to use iMovie is that it's free, allowing it to be an affordable option for all. It's also accessible on all devices. iMovie can be found on laptops, phones, and tablets. This makes iMovie the obvious choice for editing the short film. iPhone also has good editing tools in itself, allowing a ...

We decided to refilm based on the critics my group received last time. This was a complex arrangement but it was necessary. I wanted this done as the criticism we received was big enough to warrant some significant changes. My group met back up at the mall to begin filming. This time I was more prepared to film. I had a clearer vision of what I wanted to be done. I also knew what I needed to do in order for the shots to make sense. Firstly, I wanted the dialogue to be cleaner. The scenes we had included poor audio quality that made it hard to follow along. This was an easy change to correct by speaking louder with cleaner articulation. Nextly, I wanted to have smoother transitions for the scenes. As I wasn't the cameraman, I just informed my groupmate to be steady and follow again smoother while we walk. Luckily, this was another simple fix. Lastly, I wanted to add a bit more substance to the film. I decided on improving/correcting some lines that sounded a bit off in the film. My ...

Today I will be continuing from where I left off last time. To recap, I asked my sister to review my short film production. This was done to gather criticism to improve any mistakes or flaws in the film. We already discussed the potential audio issues. I relayed this to my teammates and am finding a fix for this. Another issue my sister brought up was the transitions. A lot of the cuts could've been more smoothly put together and shot. Often it looked very choppy during the final result. This can make it disorienting to watch and hard to keep up with. One way to fix this is in post-production editing. I can make the scenes more smooth by using a transition for example. Another way to make it connect better is to find better places to split clips up. Refilming is the last option we can do. It will be hard to gather everyone again but if it's necessary I'm going to need to set it up. If my group were to refilm we could correct all the issues at once. The audio and smoothness ...

My group decided to ask people for criticism on our short film today. We all agreed to ask someone. I decided to ask my sister to review my short film. I choose her as she has prior experience with media studies so I know she has some expertise on the subject. Additionally, I asked her to review some of my projects in media studies last year while I was in AS level. I was nervous to show her my film still as I wanted it to be good. I was also excited as an improvement for the film is a crucial aspect of this project. I showed her and she seemed pleased with the result in general. Of course, there needed to be some tweaks to make it better. One thing she said could use some work was the audio. I agree with this and acknowledged that it was an issue before. The issue is the mix between ambiance noises in the background and the character's dialogue. The dialogue needed to be heard and prioritized over all the other noise. However, this issue was a bit of a complex one. Voiceover was t...

We finally finished filming. Unfortunately, we had many delays before but now that is out of the way. One main issue was transportation to the location. Another issue was scheduling a day we were all free to film. Lastly, the mall times were important so we had enough time to get all the scenes we wanted. We came to the mall a bit earlier than normal. This was to ensure we had enough time to film properly. To my surprise, a lot of the scenes needed more effort put into them than I thought. We carried on though despite this. Some scenes needed to be changed on the spot and replaced with different ones. This was to fit the theme better as some ideas were a bit too distracting. Another reason for this was to make it easier for us to film successfully. While filming, the mall was very loud so the audio was a challenge. The first idea was to speak louder and project more. This came off odd after rewatching so we came up with another backup idea. A voiceover could be used in some scenes wher...

 Today I will go further into the production of my short film. The focus will be discussing roles in the film. As with every film, different roles are given to everyone for different purposes. The main and most common role is the actor. An actor's goal is to portray a message using emotions and words. For the short film, I will likely continue acting in it along with my group mates. Another role that often gets overlooked is the editor. For this film, Jeni will be editing the scenes once we finished filming. The app to edit will likely be iMovie as it has been used in past projects of ours and is free. Editing means stitching, adding music, cutting clips, etc, which helps in making the short film transition smoother and adds flavor to the scenes. One other role not mentioned yet is the camera holder. While this seems like an easy job at first, being steady yet quick with camera movements can be difficult to get down. Additionally, if the camera person messes up, everyone will have ...

I'm back to filming! This time we continued filming in the mall. It was the same location as last time as we were familiar with it already. We needed to be more careful with the scheduling of our filming this time. The filming location was a mall but unfortunately, it closed before we could get further into production. This filming day was different as we got to continue and further develop our short film. Before leaving my house, I checked the hours of the mall closing time to ensure the same mistake would not be repeated twice. I set a specific time for everyone to arrive at the location to film but we all arrived a bit later than intended. Luckily, this was barely a setback for us and we started right away. Because we chose to film on a weekday after school, the mall didn't have as many people as it would've on another day. While filming, I said my lines and acted out the scenes to the best of my ability. I messed up a few times and we needed to redo a few scenes until I...

Another day of production was upon us and today was a special one! Production doesn't just mean filming your shots or editing the takes. One key aspect of production is revising and changing things that logistically wouldn't fit within the context of the film. For example, writing a scene where the cast visits a haunted mansion would be considered unrealistic. I personally enjoy revising ideas and correcting any problems that may be encountered in the production process. Some ideas don't make sense until you try them in person rather than on a storyboard. Because of all this, the script needed to be adjusted accordingly to make a story that is not only entertaining but can be done without issues. As students, our production budget isn't high whatsoever and our film likely will reflect that. To prevent any unexpected costs or inconveniences, a part that was seen as too much work had to be scrapped and will likely be replaced with a more cost-friendly and feasible option....

Finally, my group was ready to film! We all cleared our schedules and arrived at the mall at the same time. I came in expecting to get all the scenes done in one day. Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, filming had to be paused midway. On the bright side, some progress is better than none, and filming did finally begin. We barely got through the parts that were filmed during the limited time we had but now my group has an idea of what we want to film to look like. I want to film again without further interruptions but it's more difficult than I imagined. Getting everyone in one place is a challenge due to transportation but it's not the only concern I have. Since we're filming in a public location, we can't film at any time and any place as the mall can close at any point. I will make sure to be as vigilant of these potential issues as I can in the future. With the footage we did get, editing will begin too. While it's only a small amount of film, we can...

The group was supposed to film last week for our short film but due to busy schedules and limited access to transportation, filming had to be canceled and pushed back. Since the group contains 4 people, getting everyone in one place is difficult, especially with after-school activities and parents having to work. While this inconvenience slowed production down, it was predictable and we will have to adapt to it instead. The current plan is to film this week instead. Because the production was delayed, filming must occur in a day to knock it out simultaneously, rather than scene by scene.  Despite the delay, the group was still productive in time management and discussed ideas for future filming. Another issue for the production that came up is the location. In some places, filming isn't allowed which isn't a situation we can do much about. In case this does occur we have planned to film in an alternate store or parking lot and improvise with the environment. When filming does o...

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