Agustin's AICE Media Studies Blog

      Previously, we thought Justin had access to the editing software 'Adobe Premiere Pro' at home, but after trying to install it on his home computer, he realized his laptop could no longer run the software. Although this is an inconvenience, it is only minor because Justin still has a class in which he could access Premiere Pro every other day in school. He said he gets roughly half the class for free time since he finishes his assignment early, so the editing won't even take as long as we first anticipated when this inconvenience arose. Hopefully we will be done with the film editing this weekend or the next so we can begin on our CCR's.

      The editing will be mostly done by Justin as he already has great experience with Adobe Premiere Pro and is the only one with access to it from home so the work can be done more efficiently. He will be updating us on everything he does but we all have also suggested ideas and thoughts on how the editing should be done and what should and shouldn't be included. After every edit we will also review it as a group and agree/disagree on it for a change or if it is a great addition.

    We received  answers from our teacher on our editing questions from last class. For the editing software question, we were recommended to use programs such as iMovie, Adobe Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, or any other highly rated apps. We were also told that the YouTube Audio Library is also great for extracting and and finding great copy right free sounds and effects to use for our editing. As for the editing itself, we were told to familiarize ourselves with one of the programs or whichever we found the most user-friendly so when it came to the time to edit we didn't have to start learning then and lose time. Fortunately, we already have a group member familiarized with Adobe Premiere Pro because he is a part of Film class which teaches you how to use the editing software. Despite of Justin already knowing to edit, I myself also learned and familiarized with one of the editing software's, Adobe Premiere Pro, so I can have input and add recommendations...

      In class on Monday, my group and I were called up to receive an evaluation of where we are, where we should be, how are we doing, and things like that; a review. We went over the simple things like in saying how we recently completed our filming, and how we're now on the process of editing. We talked about the opening itself, showed the rough cut, our inspiration, and more. We did have and asked a question about editing. We requested recommendations for editing, everything from software to sound and more. Hopefully, by next class or sooner we will have everything we need to know about editing answered and our process for it can speed it up, as the due dates are closing in on us real fast. Other than that, we understood we were on track and doing things well and right.

      As I said previously, the filming itself went by way easier and more fun than expected. We were not really stressed out by any of the problems we ran into as we had to make do with what we had and decided we couldn't do much about it. Overall, I think it all ended up going really well and I'm happy with how it turned out. The only real problem which we were bummed out about was about the length limit of the film opening. It is required to be around 2 minutes as a maximum which we thought was a lot until we started filming. We then realized it is a really short amount of time and that's still to do without cutting, editing, and more. We filmed over 5 minutes of raw footage and had to scrap 2-3 of our scenes bringing our total time up to 2:28 but we also still had to cut some in the editing process which will bring it down to the two minutes. Now all that is left is to edit and refine all the footage and then start working on our CCR.

    The filming went by pretty smoothly and easier than we expected. We ended up finishing it all in about 3.5 hours, with some adjustments to the script and mise-en-scene like background, character placement, prop position, and more. The day itself was way more enjoyable than we had imagined. We initially thought it would be stressful to manage the filming and also hard to execute our thought process, but since our choice of style for the film opening was comedic and satirical, our inexperienced filming and slight mistakes fit in perfectly and if anything added to the overall feel. Here are some pictures taken on the day: My favorite scene taken:

      Today is the day we have been highly anticipating and struggling to organize for, filming day. I woke up to a feeling of relief that we were finally going to be able to film today. Although it wouldn't be until 2:00 PM in which we would meet at Justin's home to film. Before getting ready to go, everyone made sure they were bringing everything they were assigned: the props, costumes, filming equipment, and more. I myself thought I would bring an extra piece of equipment that we may of ended up using, my dad's GoPro. Although I forgot I had this while making the list of supplies we had to bring, I thought I would bring it anyways and we might be able to improvise some cool shots with it like P.O.V., handheld, etc. Other than all of that we all spent the start of our days waiting and preparing for the filming to commence.

      Over spring break, I went on a mini-vacation to both Orlando and Naples, and I thought I wasn't going to be able to work on my portfolio in ways other than developing more ideas and refinements for our filming which was coming soon. However, the hotel I was staying at in Orlando had a library, with computers free of access to everyone staying there. So, I thought I may as well spend some of the time I had free in the library working towards learning how to use some editing software. Over my 6 day stay, I spent anywhere from 10-30 minutes at least each day familiarizing myself with Adobe Premiere Pro and even practicing by making short 5 seconds clips.     I found this YouTube tutorial from "Justin Brown - Primal Video" really helpful and beginner friendly in introducing and teaching the basic and necessities of Premiere Pro:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cdpBq5EYFI

      With all of our vacations coming to an end this upcoming weekend, along with spring break, we didn't have much time left to accomplish our goal of filming during spring break. So it was all left up to the last day of spring break, Sunday, March 26th. We decided this was our best and only option left because we would all be home the day before school started again. One thing we weren't sure about was if we were going to finish filming that day, because previously we planned to have two separate days to film so we wouldn't overwork ourselves and we would get ample time to get the filming right. So even though the one day might not of been enough, we decided on it because we at least wanted to get started on the filming before spring break so we had some sort of progress and evidence to present

      We have run into troubles with filming on two separate occasions now. One of them was unexpected and unavoidable as it was due to sickness, but the second we had nobody to blame but ourselves. Either we didn't clear our schedules enough or we just weren't clear and transparent enough towards  each other. So, for the meantime with 3/4's of our group out and abroad over spring break we had time to reflect and wait until our schedules open up and align with one another. Since I was one of the 3 on vacation, I didn't have much time to work on my portfolio or much at all. All I could do was reflect and plan on everything we were going to work and look over things like filming location, props, scripts, etc. to make sure everything was going to be great and refined once we actually got to filming.

      Previously, we had planned to film on the first Friday/Saturday of spring break. Unfortunately, we have encountered another problem. One of our group members thought he had cleared or had no plans for this upcoming weekend but was met to his surprise with an early vacation he thought he was leaving for on Sunday morning. We thought about filming without one of our group members but then we came to realize another problems. While some of us cleared our time for the mornings of Friday/Saturday others cleared their afternoons, so everything ended up being disastrous mistake with none of our time adding up to film on the day we had though to of cleared up for the second time.     As of right now we are figuring out the perfect date for filming this time. With clear and transparent communication this time of when and all the specificities so another mismatch in our filming date doesn't occur again.

    With spring break coming up, this gives our group a sufficient amount of time to work on the actual filming of the movie opening. At first, our original filming day was interrupted by one of our group members being sick. So the date was postponed to the first Friday and Saturday of that spring break week. We don't know if we will need both days but we emptied our schedules ahead of time just so no interruptions get in the way this time. After we finish filming we will most definitely start the editing process as soon as we can to perfect and make our visions a reality. We probably wont finish the editing process because of it being spring break and most of us having plans during spring break to spend time with the family and things like that. Hopefully though, everything will end up working out in the end one way or another.

      We had been developing the storyboards and scripts, and also purchasing and acquiring the much needed props and costumes for our upcoming filming day we had scheduled. Then, as our much anticipated filming day was about to take place, illness struck. Luckily it only affected one of us, but this not only ruined our means of filming with all group members present, but it affected the house and location in which our set for the filming was going to take place.     There are always rough patches and bumps on the road, but you can never finish something if you don't learn from it and continue striding on. For the meantime our filming was postponed, but this gave us ample amounts of time to be more than ready for when we are ready to film.

      As for our filming equipment, none of us had anything on the professional side or were willing enough to spend lots of money on something we didn't know if we would use more than a handful of times. So we decided like most other groups, that we were going to use our phones to film the movie opening. We would probably end up using whoever had the best phone which we found out it was Justin who had the latest phone out of all of us, which was the iPhone X. This would guarantee us the best quality out of everybody's phone. I also had a GoPro which wasn't so new so we tested the quality and it ended up being worse than the phone but I thought I might bring it anyways to see if we could make some nice shots happen like Point of View and along those lines.

    With the storyboard being completed we moved on to purchasing and collecting the props and costumes that were necessary for our filming. Some of us already had some of the basic props and costumes, whether it be everyday utensils and objects or even specific clothing for particular situations like a suit, army uniform, etc. Our schedule was tight because we already selected our first day for filming, so we didn't have time to purchase the best of costumes through the use of online shopping. Instead we had to make do with what we had access to. We managed to acquire most of the costumes and props we needed and they looked appropriate enough for what we thought it would of been. Below are some pictures of the costumes and props we purchased: