Sooooo I genuinely cannot believe that the portfolio project has come to an end. I think that it is such a bittersweet feeling. It feels like just yesterday I was picking my group members, and we were discussing what genre we were interested in pursuing, but no. It has been a total of eight whole weeks. This has definitely been my most favorite project that I have worked on. Not only in this class, but in all of my classes. I don't necessarily know why, but it is just something about creating things that I love. It is the feeling of watching back something that I know I put so much effort in.
Most interesting part:
I would say the most interesting part in this project was probably the research itself. I really enjoyed going through the film openings within my specific genre and picking apart pieces that I was interested in including in my film opening.
Hardest part:
The hardest part for me was probably the creative critical reflections. I think that this is because I am not the most creative person out there, but I do think that this project has helped me come out of my shell a bit. I struggled a little with coming up with ideas for the video itself and then I also struggled a little with the editing portion, but I hope to expand my creativity in the future, and I hope to enhance my skills in editing.
Most fun part:
This part is a little hard to answer because I feel that there were many fun parts of this project, but I think that filming the crime scene was just a ton of fun. I really enjoyed setting it up and just hanging around in a hazmat suit. That was my first and hopefully last time in one of those, but I enjoyed it while it lasted.
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The postproduction of my CCRs consisted of editing all of the footage together, adding a voiceover when it's needed, music, and effects.
Joining the footage:
This was probably the most difficult part for me just because when I filmed the "What's in my bag?" video, I filmed it in about 5 small videos and 1 very large video. It was about 35 minutes long so just imagine going through that picking which clips are done the best... yeah not so fun.
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Voiceover:
The only thing tough about doing this voiceover was having to talk for five minutes straight without any breaks. The reason why it wasn't as hard as it could have been because I created a script before actually recording my voice, so I just read off of it.
Music:
I wanted to include some background music just to add to the video, so it won't be as bland. When showing the bloopers at the end of CCR #1, I decided to not include the music. You can hear such a difference, and I feel like if I did not include music in it then it would just feel like the video is lacking something.
Effects:
Last but not least, the effects. I did not use many, but I feel that when I did, they made such a difference. I used a camera-like effect in the introduction of CCR #1, and then I used a blooper screen for the end of CCR #1.
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Wow, I can't believe it, the day has come. It is the last week of the portfolio project. As much as this journey has been fun and eventful, it had also been A LOT. I am honestly really happy with my work, and I'm excited to share it.
Like I talked about in my group meeting #2 blog post, I filmed a "what's in my bag?" video for my first CCR. As the due date was getting closer, I still had no ideas for what I wanted my second CCR to be. I randomly was looking around my room and saw a long mirror. I don't know why, but the first thing to come to mind was that I wanted to draw on it. I have always loved doing little doodles and so I thought that it would work out. It may not be the best idea, but I think it worked out.
CCR #1
Because I do not own a tripod, I had my friend film me as I took the items out of my bag. Thanks Alana!! I didn't really know of any good spots where I could film so I ended up going with a spot in my backyard. Because we were filming outside, there were so many interruptions, but I think for the most part I was able to work around them. Something that would NOT let me have peace was the birds. Omg they just kept on squawking, and chirping. You can honestly hear them in most of the clips but let's just try and ignore that, thanks! I actually took a voice recording of them because why the heck not. *birds*
CCR #2
This was the CCR I kind of thought of last minute because I was really struggling to come up with any ideas. I was set on doing the doodling idea, but the only thing was, I don't own a tripod. I really had to use my creativity to the max and come up with some sort of concoction. Take a look:
We had another group meeting, but this time we focused on the topic of CCRs! To start off, I am going to tell you guys my idea for one of the CCR videos just so you actually know what I'm talking about when I describe my group meeting.
One of my ideas for the CCR is to do one of those, "What's in my bag?" videos. I thought that this would be a fun, creative way to bring up the answers to the CCR questions. I would simply have a bag or purse shown while taking a few things out of it. I would have a few things of my own, like lip gloss and a camera, as well as maybe a few things from the film, like the envelope Ben used for the note, and caution tape.
I found a "What's in my bag?" video that had some characteristics I would like to include in mine.
I liked how there were two different cameras used because it makes the video feel more professional and it adds some depth so that the whole video is not just filmed from one perspective. I also liked how she talked about a few of the movies that she was in or is planning for because I am thinking about doing something similar where I talk about my film opening and the certain genre conventions I had to plan for as well as what I executed.
CCR question #1 is:
"How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?"
Because my genre is mystery/crime, I will talk about how I included the genre conventions; a detective, low-point lighting, clues, etc. To incorporate this question into the "What's in my bag?" video, I can pull out caution tape, or something else that is a genre convention of mystery/crime. I can then mention how that item as well as other stuff was purposely used to convey that mysterious feeling in the film opening.
Moving onto the actual group meeting itself....
It went well!! We each discussed our ideas for what we are thinking about doing for our CCRs, and then we gave some suggestions.
Introducing... my group!!
So, starting from left to right, Mckenna, Anastasia, Nicole, me, Diego, and Dani. yay
We tried to do one of those awkward, funny, photo shoot pictures, soooo if you don't find it funny maybe just give it a little fake chuckle. Thanks!!! <3
I told them about my idea, (what's in my bag) and they thought it was such a good idea!! This gives me some hope... lol. The thing I was struggling with, is making the video creative, because I have seen many "what's in my bag?" videos before. Nicole suggested that I should include props that were included in my film. *Thanks Nicole I really liked that suggestion!!* I know that this isn't part of the group meeting, but I was speaking to Omer, and she gave me the suggestion that I should use the bag that Ben carried out of his house. I thought that was a really good idea that helps tie the film opening to the creative critical reflection even more!
So, Nicole was the only one out of my entire group who has already completed the filming portion of her CCRs (I think). She said that she pursued a podcast, and a lie detector test. I really liked both of those ideas, but especially the lie detector one. I thought that was a fun and creative way to answer the questions. Dani mentioned that she originally wanted to create a "get ready with me/beauty secrets," but then was told not to do that because it is very overdone. Dani, as well as Mckenna and Diego had mentioned that they were thinking about doing a talk-show-like video. I thought this was a good idea and I suggested that they could have their family members or friends be the ones to interview them. Diego had also mentioned doing a monopoly/board game video. I believe that it was either Nicole or Anastasia that mentioned putting the CCR question on one of the cards. I thought it was a unique idea that could be executed well.
Overall, I found this group meeting to be very helpful because I left it with so many ideas, and a lot of feedback!!
Okay... this is the last and final CCR question, and it is one that is a little hard for me to answer just because my answer is really simple.
The question is:
"How did you integrate technologies – software, hardware and online – in this project?"
The third question that I will be researching is:
"How did your production skills develop throughout this project?"
I think that this is the question that will be easiest for me to answer for many reasons.
Here are some:
Time Management:
Because I am the world's biggest procrastinator, managing my time has always been something that I struggle with. Throughout the entirety of this project, I have had to think out every move I make. Whether it is choosing to wait a day to do my blog post or doing everything BUT editing my film opening (which is something I am still struggling with). I am 100% still having trouble managing my time for certain things, but it has without a doubt gotten better within the process of this project. When we first began working on the portfolio project, I had made a schedule. *CLICK HERE TO VIEW SCHEDULE* I believe that this genuinely has helped me in the process because if I ever feel that I am behind on something, I just take a look at the schedule to make sure I stay on task. Also, working in a group means finding days that work for everyone. Unfortunately, Camila had gotten sick when we were supposed to film so we delayed our filming by a few days. After waiting a few days, hoping she would get better, she had gotten worse, leaving us no choice but to start the filming process because we had to stay on schedule. This experience has taught me that not everything goes to plan and that's okay!
Hiccups:
Going off of what I said in the "time management" section, it is perfectly fine to have "hiccups," or things go wrong. Yes, it is stressful in the process, but you learn from them. I made a blog post talking about a few things that went wrong in the process of filming. *CLICK HERE TO VIEW* What I had listed on that post is only half the things that went wrong. As you can see, it is perfectly normal for things to go not exactly to plan, and that is okay! This project has definitely taught me that.
I found this website that discusses what to do when something goes wrong when working on a project. After doing all 11 of those things, my group and I were able to solve all of our problems, and it gives me hope that we will succeed!!
When a project goes wrong, do these 11 things.
Pre-Production
The last and final thing I will be discussing is what occurred pre-production. I found creating a storyboard is one of the most helpful things when developing any sort of production. It's just something about already having the outline of your project and only needing to make that outline/plan come to life. This has definitely given me ideas for future school projects, as well as in real life projects.
The storyboard:
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