Oh Oh...

Hello ladies and gentlemen

Today was a rough day. Not many good things happened and I have a bunch of emotions flying around. Let me tell you all about it...

Vanessa and I had planned out to edit throughout the past week and finish recording the last part of the video BUT... that was not the case. As we went over the footage today in class, we realized what we filmed didn't make sense with the story and it just wasn't good. I was devastated after the terrible news and I had no idea what we were going to do. I still had hopes of maybe using some of the footage but honestly, it was horrible. 

I felt mad, frustrated and a bit annoyed because we hadn't planned exactly what shots we were going to shoot. The day that we were going to film, I wanted to have all the shots ready but then we decided to just wait until we got there. Big mistake. BIG MISTAKE. I had the feeling we were going to struggle a little with what exactly we should film and we did, but I guess I just ignored those feelings. Once again, BIG MISTAKE. I should have definitely told Vanessa how I felt before everything went downhill. 

After all the disappointment, we realized that what we had to do was keep going forward and come up with a new plan. There was nothing else that we could do. We began thinking and thinking about what is something else we could do on the same route of coming of age films. We came up with a different story that we think is more relatable for a young audience. It has to do with a teenager having to choose between following her dreams or following the path she's forced to take. 

I'll tell you all about it in my next post so stay tuned!

Ideas For What's Next - Brainstorming

Hi! I hope you are feeling great today!

I am excited but at the same time a little apprehensive about what's coming up. Vanessa and I would like to film at the beginning of the week so that we have everything ready to edit throughout the week. We still have to figure out exactly where we are filming so we will probably talk about it very soon. 

Since we plan on having the film opening with a bit of a before and after, for our after we want to portray a change in the character's personal growth. To do that I was thinking we could film at one of our houses in order to show the shift of what matters to the character. Before it was the stores and all that glamorous life and now it's her going to work and caring about her mom. For this part of the film we will probably need one of our moms to be in the film. Including another character means we have to think about costume and how we want the person to be displayed so I will talk to Vanessa about all of this. 

I will most definitely post next week about the 2nd filming session and I will show pictures and everything (you can see how much I regretted not taking any last time). I'll tell you about the costumes we use and then about the planning for the Creative Critical Reflection. I don't know why but I feel like everything's coming to an end. On one side, I'm very excited but on the other side I'm nervous. So far, I feel happy with what we have done. Let's keep our fingers crossed so that everything else coming up comes out how we want it.

Keep your eyes out for next week because there will new, never seen before content!!!

Byeee

Filming

Hello everyone!!

Welcome back...

Today I will be talking about everything we did for the filming process. I am so grateful that everything worked together and there weren't any major problems. 

Let's begin with what we did when we got to the Brickell City Centre:

First we scanned the area because we had never been there before and we looked for the ideal places where we wanted to film. Then, our actress Dani, got changed into the outfit we brought and it fit her perfectly. We added some accessories and shoes which completed the outfit. 

Here are some pictures of the outfit:

Then we were on our way to film! At the beginning we were a little stuck because we realized we were starting to film in a section of the mall that didn't make sense. We wasted a little bit of time on that but then we went on to a better direction. We decided to begin filming at a restaurant called "Santa Fe" and we thought it was the perfect place for our main character to be. It was a little embarrassing with the other people eating there and the people who worked at the restaurant but we just laughed at it and it was fine. 

After filming for some time in the restaurant, we went on to film at the stores. We took shots of Dani walking through the stores and also looking at clothes. During all these various shots, we filmed how the main character's personality was and it was mainly done with body language. I think it was great that we used body language because it's one of the best ways to display someone's personality. Then, we continued to film on the streets of Miami as well for a little while and then we went back home. 

Overall I think it was a great day of filming. The only thing I regret is that I didn't take pictures of the behind the scenes of anything. As I'm writing this post, I realize how awesome it would have looked with pictures of how Dani was dressed or of us filming Dani walking through the stores. Of course I could have taken some excerpts from the videos but it's not the same. Now I know that for the next time we film, I will be taking pictures of EVERYTHING. 

That's what I have for today, see you tomorrow!

Brickell City Centre | Style Has No Labels | Miami FL. (n.d.). Retrieved March 25, 2017, from http://brickellcitycentre.com/whats-here/directory/santa-fe

Costume Design

Hello and happy Wednesday!

I have some interesting information to share with you and it's about the costume design for our film opening. Although we are not making the clothes the actors will be wearing, I want to talk about the style of clothing that would work the best.

As I was looking for a TV show or a film in which people with a high socioeconomic status are featured, I remembered Gossip Girl. In this TV show, young adults who are born into a family with money, usually dress as if they were much older. Every time they leave their houses, they look very well dressed even if they're going to the supermarket (which I doubt they ever did).

Here are some examples of what I mean:

 The main character Serena Van Der Woodsen wearing an everyday casual attire. 

  Blair Waldorf wearing an everyday casual attire as well.  

Not all of us are used to wearing these kinds of clothing on a daily basis but since these people have the monetary capability, they are able to wear what they want. Everything I'm telling you right now is because I'm trying to look for the ideal representation of the high socioeconomic status. Maybe we will follow some of these aspects and maybe not.

Searching for advice on costume design, I found an article about the costume designer for Gossip Girl, Eric Daman. Throughout the article, he talks about how costume design has to do with finding the clothes that represent those characters. He mentions how portraying the personality traits through what they wear helps with the character development in the story. Also, looking at small details like accessories is important. The information I found can be very helpful because it can be useful to determine how we want our character to be and how we want to represent her. 

We will be filming very soon so I'm going to work on what the actors are wearing to have everything ready. 

See you soon! 

Rubin, J. (2012, December 19). Gossip Girl Style: Costume Designer Eric Daman Talks About Six Seasons Of Fashion. Retrieved March 22, 2017, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/19/gossip-girl-style-costume_n_2330500.html

Storyboard

Buona sera! (yes, I speak Italian)

Today I am very happy because a part of the storyboard is done!! Also, I've noticed that each time we meet there is something getting done and I love that. 

Let's start by showing you the beginning of the storyboard:

These are just examples of the shots we want to take and I think it is useful to have an idea of what we want to film. The first shot from left to right would be the establishing shot of the view of Miami, the setting of our story. Then, the second shot would be of an important building that would represent the city and we would most likely show the American Airlines Arena. By using these techniques we would be letting the audience know where the story takes place. On the third shot, either some clothing stores or the outside of a mall would be shown. This shot will help us with begin the plot of our story. 

The second part of the storyboard is:

Once again the first shot from left to right reiterates the idea of showing a mall or a clothing store. We don't want to show just one, we want to show various different types of expensive clothing stores. Then, the weird lady standing up there with her back looking at us would be the main character (lol). It might look a bit odd how she's placed in the middle of the sidewalk but in my mind, I see the shot that I want to shoot. Then, the last shot is supposed to be of the inside of a clothing store and that's the closest thing I could find that looked like it. This would be a point of view shot of the main character into the store. Obviously throughout the recording of the whole process, there will be different types of shot included but I'm just pointing some of the ones I want to definitely feature in the film opening. 

We've accomplished what I wanted to accomplish this weekend and I'm very glad. A part of the storyboard was completed and we've scheduled the date for the shooting of the film. 

Let's hope the next few days are full of good things as well! 

Ci vediamo :)

More Research...

Hi!

Welcome back to The Journey

Today I will be talking to you about research on Latino stereotypes. 

Throughout different movies, Latinos are represented in many ways and based on the research I found, those ways are not always good. The article "Five Common Latino Stereotypes in Television and Film", describes the main stereotypes of Latinos in movies and they are definitely not always true. 

The one stereotype that stood out to me for our project was about Latinos appearing as immigrants. Since our story might have to do with a Hispanic, immigrant woman, I thought it would be important to look up information on how those characteristics are shown. For most roles, directors want Latino actors to have strong, thick accents. In addition, they want people who have "darker features" and "tanner skin" which are characteristics that are not at all true for all Latinos. Examples of that are me and my partner, Vanessa because we were born in Venezuela and we don't have dark features and tan skin. While reading all of this articles I was just amazed at how stereotypical the film industry is and how it disregards cultural diversity between races. 

The information I found is useful for our project during the process of choosing our main character. Depending upon whether we want to follow these stereotypes or not, I think it's important that we make our decision based on what our audience would want. Since young adults and adults from the ages of 17-21 are usually more open minded and leaned towards new things, I think it would be a good idea to break some of the stereotypes. Obviously not all of them but portraying a different outlook on Latinos would be something unique and that it what I would like for this project. 

I feel like we're progressing over time and that's great! 

Next up will be the storyboard...TAN, TAN, TAN


Latino Portrayals In The Media. (n.d.). Retrieved March 18, 2017, from http://www.umich.edu/~ac213/student_projects07/latinoad/Latinomedia.html

Nittle, N. K. (n.d.). Five Common Latino Stereotypes in Television and Film. Retrieved March 18, 2017, from https://www.thoughtco.com/latino-stereotypes-in-television-and-film-2834654

Good News and Bad News

It's the weekend...finally!

Welcome back peeps!

Today I have some good news and some bad news...but let's start with the good news. 

Vanessa and I have talked about the kind of story we want to do and how we want to portray it. As we spoke about our ideas, we began building up a plot that we thought was very interesting. Moreover, we started thinking about the ideal place to film it and what kind of shots we would like to include. Tomorrow we will meet up to make the storyboard and settle the schedule for the recording of the film.

For the setting of our story, we were thinking of Brickell in Miami. Since we plan on doing a story related to a wealthy young woman, the best place relatively close-by that portrays that kind of lifestyle is definitely Miami. Vanessa shared with me her research on the movie From Prada to Nada and we concluded that Brickell would work perfectly with our story. The tall skyscrapers and malls with stores such as Chanel, Ellie Tahari, and Dior, would adequately represent a wealthy lifestyle. We are thinking of recording the first part of the film opening throughout Miami and then the rest here in Weston. Here are some pictures of how the city of Brickell looks like:

 City of Brickell.
 
Brickell City Centre was recently added to the innovative buildings of Brickell with various clothing stores and restaurants. 

Let's go on to the bad news. Even though they are not that bad, they cause me a little bit of anxiety because I want this project to come out beautifully and we need time to make it look perfect. Vanessa and I talked about who the characters for our film opening could be and we thought of people that have the characteristics we want. I texted them asking if they would be willing to do it. All of them said yes but on the date Vanessa and I wanted to do it, none of them could. We knew it wasn't going to be easy to set up a specific date that worked for everyone but still it worries me. Also, since we plan on doing it with three people, I think that in the end we will do it with only one person because it can be hard to get that many people to be available on a specific date. Hopefully tomorrow when I meet up with Vanessa, we'll figure out when to do it. 

On this weekend's upcoming posts, I will talk about research on how Latinos are represented in movies and whether we want to follow those representations or not. In addition, the storyboard will be posted with an explanation of the narrative and everything. 

That's it for today guys, see you tomorrow!

Coming of Age Sub-genre

Hello, hello once again!

On my last post, I talked about who our target audience is and also about some topics for the film opening. Now I will be telling you everything about the genre we have chosen. Vanessa and I exchanged information about which genres are the most common for us to watch and also she had found some information about Drama being a prominent genre for teens and young adults (17-21 year olds). We decided to go for a subgenre of Drama that is called the Coming of Age genre. 

I began my research by looking for the demographics of teens that go to the movies. By looking for such characteristics, I would ensure that our film opening would call the attention of our target audience and later be the reason why they would go to the movie theater and watch it. I encountered myself with an article that described the increase in attendance to movie theaters by teens aged 12-17. Even though our range of target audience is from 17-21 it is important to consider the fact that teens have the desire to go to the movies more and more often. The article mentions how in 2015 teens went to the movies 7.2 times on average in comparison to 6.5 times in 2013, which evidently shows how the movies created have become more appealing to them. Our plan is to make a unique film opening depicting various aspects that popular films have.

In relation to the subgenre "Coming of Age", I found that it is related to the personal growth of an individual in life through multiple situations. For the most part, those situations tend to be related to struggles or pain until they build up a self-awareness in the character. An important aspect to consider while making the film opening is the mood we want to create and how we want to make the audience feel. I think we should lean towards a theme of sadness that shifts into content and then reaches high levels of personal growth. 

While researching for movies that depicted characteristics of the Coming of Age genre, I found one that has succeeded at pleasing young audiences. The film, The Perks of Being a wallflower, was released in 2012 and it is a movie based on the novel by Stephen Chbosky. This movie entails the story of a young teenage boy who, after trying to overcome personal issues, he achieves happiness with the help of new friendships and new experiences. As I researched for teen opinions of it, I found an essay made by a 15 year old that I thought is important to include in this process. The essay shows how much a theme of personal growth can affect the life of a young person. 

After finding some information about the Coming of Age genre, I feel like with a little more research, Vanessa and I could create a story that would be successful in this genre. By the next few posts, I would like for the storyboard to be completed and for the plan of the recording of the film opening to be started. 

Bye, bye for now!

Characteristics. (n.d.). Retrieved March 12, 2017, from http://www2.nkfust.edu.tw/~emchen/CLit/Realistic_fiction_characteristics.htm

Hibawot, D. Q. (n.d.). Perks of Being a Wallflower. Retrieved March 12, 2017, from http://www.teenink.com/opinion/movies_music_tv/article/681665/Perks-of-Being-a-Wallflower/

McClintock, P. (2016, April 12). CinemaCon: Who Says Teenagers Don't Go to the Movies? Retrieved March 12, 2017, from http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/cinemacon-who-says-teenagers-dont-883240

Generation Z

Hello there again!

Today, for the most part, we’re talking about research and information that could be extremely worthy for our project. As Vanessa and I talked about which kind of audience we should choose, we decided we wanted to go with the one we know the most about, teenagers who are just like us.

The Generation Z ranges from the ages of 5 to 21 years old and it is an extremely diverse audience due to the varied environment they grew up in. Having such a assorted kind of audience could be a little challenging since there are many different ages and everyone doesn't have the same way of thinking. 

While researching more specific evidence, I found that Generation Z has one aspect that they all have in common and it's technology. It can be stated that "what really defines this generation is technology" and this is important to consider because now I know specifically one thing I shouldn't forget about while making the film opening. Through the past decades, technology has become a prominent aspect in society and the reliance of Generation Z on it, has proved to many how much has changed. 

Considering the facts stated, the use of social media as a way of dispersing social issues, chaos, and economic uncertainty has caused this generation to become more sentimental and open-minded. Because of this reason, they have goals to succeed and become independently stable which affects very much the topic we choose to portray in our film opening. Facing the economic decline through many aspects makes it difficult for this generation to decide what to do in the future. I think it would be a good idea to show this desperation because it would be appealing for our target audience.

After talking with Vanessa and taking into account the different kinds of research we found, we decided on specifying our audience to the ages of 17 to 21. We believe that this age range is ideal because it begins right when teens have to decide what to do and it ends when they are usually still looking for that one thing that will make them happy.

Now we have to keep on looking for more research. I'll tell you everything about it later, bye!

Anderssen, E. (2016, June 24). Class of 2016: Life through the eyes of the cool and collected Generation Z. Retrieved March 12, 2017, from http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/through-the-eyes-of-generation-z/article30571914/

Generations X,Y, Z and the Others. (n.d.). Retrieved March 12, 2017, from http://socialmarketing.org/archives/generations-xy-z-and-the-others/

Meet Generation Z: Forget Everything You Learned About Millennials. (2014, June 17). Retrieved March 12, 2017, from https://www.slideshare.net/sparksandhoney/generation-z-final-june-17

Let's Do This

Ladies and gentlemen, the time has come. Wow, I still can't believe it. Time went by incredibly quickly and to be honest I am a little bit scared. 

Hello everyone, my name is Mariana Ontiveros and this blog will feature all the exciting, nerve-racking, and troublesome moments that I will go through while creating the final project for my AICE Media Studies class. The project will be a film opening of a maximum of two minutes that I am exhilarated for. Working alongside my partner, Vanessa Chiquito, we feel that the best way to organize ourselves and have everything ready in time is by creating a plan that will work for both of us. From the research to the turning in of the project, I believe it is very important that we stick to the plan as much as we can. Of course, there will be problems that will cause us to change certain elements of the plan but I am completely fine with that.

The Plan

To begin with, I have learned that to succeed at making an interesting film opening, enormous amounts of research must be completed. Going from an extremely broad context and narrowing it down can sometimes be challenging but I should accustom myself to it. My plan for this part of the project is to research through different features of a film such as genre, target audience, and topic.

After searching for a specific genre and target audience, I will start to build up a story and begin to think about the how and where we would record it. This part of the project is extremely important because it’s the part where we must show what we have learned in the class and how much we know about it. I would like for this section of the project to be done truly well because I want to be proud of it.

The project would not be completed without my opinion and my explanation of all the process I went through. For this section of the project, I will most likely write a script to make a screencast because I think this is the best way for me to express what I feel about the final product and of everything that happened in its making. I will not be calm until the Creative Critical Reflection is completed because it is a prominent component of the whole project.

To be honest, I am truly excited for starting this project so let’s hope for the best!