Genre Research 'I am Mother' (2019)

1. Common CAMS in the movie
-Beginning: Close-ups of the robot's face, medium close-ups, establishing shots.
-Middle: Tracking shots, Over the shoulder shots, Two shots, Three shots.
-End: Two shots, Three shots, Over the shoulder shots, Close ups.

2. Common CLAMPS in the movie
-Beginning: Robot, simple baby clothes and child clothes as the little girl grows up; Dim lighting, no makeup, baby toys as props, stuffed animals. Takes place in what looks like a secure bunker-like area. Little girl and robot only actors.
-Middle: New character, daughter has to operate on her, changes into surgical attire, still dim light but also some artificial white light. New actor, no makeup, surgery tools, book with faces, still in bunker.
-End: New actor as brother, more baby clothes, dim light, no makeup, shotgun and shells and axe as props, still in bunker but also outside of it.

3. Common Sounds in the movie
-Beginning: Diegetic sounds of metal and machines whirring as robot is assembled. Non-Diegetic sounds of the robot playing music for the child.
-Middle: Diegetic sounds of surgical equipment and non-diegetic sounds of talking.
-End: Diegetic sounds of the shotgun, bullet dropping, axe falling with non-diegetic sounds of dialogue.

4. Common Editing in the movie
-Beginning: quite a few Jump cuts.
-Middle: still Jump cuts.
-End: Jump cuts as well as Reverse cuts.

5. Elements of the genre in the movie
-Plot twists
-Action
-Suspense
-Dramatic

6. What elements of the genre did the movie have that you like?
-The plot twist at the end
-The action and suspense

7. What elements of the genre did the movie have that did not appeal to you?
-Very dramatic at times
-Plot a little difficult to follow
-End dialogue was a bit confusing

Final Pitch Ideas Blog

One pitch we decided to go with was the action horror pitch. In this pitch, a girl's father goes missing, and as she's searching for him, strange things start to happen in her small town. The other pitch idea that we decided on was the action pitch. In this pitch, being able to genetically modify humans has emerged and a girl tries to survive in a world where she is not viewed as normal. We decided not to go with the idea of  a movie where a girl goes to meet her online friend, but it turns out her friend isn't who they seem. We narrowed this list down by making a pros and cons list. The second pitch has the most cons and didn't seem specific enough to turn into a two minute movie clip. We found that the idea would involve a lot of texts being shown, causing the viewer to have to read a lot more than should be necessary. Although it would be easy to film, it wouldn't be creative enough. The other two pitches had more we could do with them and gave us more creative freedom.

The first pitch we decided on would be the horror pick. This would be a good idea for multiple reasons. We had a lot of ideas of what to do with the filming of it. We also found that it would be a lot of fun to film because we enjoyed the concept. It also wouldn't be too complicated to film because a lot of the settings we would be use would be accessible and ideal to film in. It would be easy to show the plot through the movie clip unlike the pitch we decided not to do. The ending of the clip would also be definite but could also seem like there is more to it. It would leave the viewers wondering what else could happen after and make them intrigued and want to see more. The only con we had about this pitch would be that it would be a lot to explain in two minutes. This is because there is a lot of plot to explain, though overall it wouldn't be too hard to explain.

The second pitch we decided on was the action pitch. This film, like the first one we decided to go with, would be fun to film. This idea is also unique. This film would also have an easy "ending", or one where it would be able to be added on to. This film would also be easy to understand what's going on. A con of this film would be the amount of special effects. this would be a problem, because we couldn't edit them in, so we would have to make physical ones during the film. There also isn't a lot that would be going on and a hard to understand backstory. Out of all the pitches, we decided to go with the one about the father going missing. This had the least amount of cons and is very developed by my partner and I.

Start of Final Task Blog

Hi, my name is Julia. I am taking AICE Media Studies this year. I am a high school student attempting to complete my AICE degree and get the credits this year. We have to make a 2 minute movie clip for our final task. We're allowed to work in groups of up to four. I am working in a group of two. This includes myself and another girl. We worked on all the other group projects together. I think we work well together. I am excited to be able to be creative with this project.

Throughout this year, I've learned many things in this class. I've learned how to edit on Pinnacle Studios. This will be very helpful because we have to edit this movie clip. I've also learned how to film with a filmmaking camera and technical things such angles and shots. This will help with the filming process. We will be able to easily and smoothly film, hopefully making our movie look fairly professional and good. I have also learned about C.L.A.M.P.S. This stands for costumes, lighting, acting, makeup, props, and setting. This will help us to make the clip more technical and appealing. Overall, I am excited to use these techniques and more during the production process.

A pitch is a Hollywood term used to describe an idea for a film in 25 words or less (usually one sentence). To start off, we had to create at least 3 pitches that we would possibly use. Our first pitch was, "A girl's father goes missing, and as she's trying to find him, strange things start happening in her small town." For the second one, "A girl goes to meet her online friend, but it turns out her friend isn't who they seem." For the third and final one, "In a world where genetically modifying humans has emerged, a girl tries to survive in a world where she is not viewed as normal." I think all of these pitches are solid ideas, and I am excited to choose one and start working on it.

Editing Blog

Last class and the class before that, my partner and I edited our music video. First, we used an SD card reader and plugged it into the computer. We then dumped all of our footage onto the computer. I made sure to also put the footage on Google Drive just in case something happened. After that, we tried to open Pinnacle Studios. We waited for it to load, and it wasn't responding. This had happened before, and last time we had to restart the computer. We tried that, and Pinnacle studios still didn't respond. Because of this, we decided to get another computer. We started it and tried to open Pinnacle Studios again.

Thankfully, it worked on this computer. The only problem was that because it was a different computer, the footage we dumped on the desktop wasn't there. In this scenario, I was very glad that I had decided to upload the footage onto Google Drive. Because of this, we were able to move the footage back onto the desktop. We also were able to get our song (the audio) ready to put into Pinnacle Studios. Unfortunately, by this time it was time to switch classes so we had to stop editing for now. We came back the next class and had to repeat the same footage transferring process because we used a different computer. Once that was done, we were able to import our footage and audio into Pinnacle studios. We had to go through all of our takes and find the right ones we wanted to use because each scene had multiple takes. We referred to our storyboard and began putting the clips in order.

After we put all the clips in order, we put in the audio. We had to trim it because our videos had to be 1:05-1:15 minutes long instead of the full song. With the full clips of all of our footage, we had more footage then audio amount. Because of this, we had to trim a few scenes. This was fine because we were planning on trimming things anyways. After we trimmed all of our footage, it was time for things like effects and transitions. Our music video had a lot of POV shots so we used the fade in or fade out transition in between those scenes. This was to simulate blinking, or flashing through memories. We also decided to fade the audio out at the end of the video. Overall, I am very content with how the video turned out as well as the editing process.

Music Video Filming Blog Part 2

Over our thanksgiving break, my partner and I got to film the remainder of our music video. I went to my partner's house in the evening. When i got there, she had already kindly set up everything we needed. I brought with me my different costumes (clothes and shoes), SD card, and storyboards. I changed into a dress, and we started filming. The first scene we filmed was a scene of me eating a fancy dinner. This scene took about three takes to film. This is because we were experimenting and trying to make the scene look as natural as possible. We tried different lengths of time and movement because we didn't want it to look awkward. I ended up looking down at my plate until the camera panned towards me. I then looked up and smiled.

After we finished filming the first scene we needed, it was on to the second. I was still in the same costume for now, and we had to go outside. This was a scene of me opening the door to go into the dining room. In the music video, it will come before the actual dining scene. This scene took about five takes to get right. This was because I had to make it look like I was pulling the camera or person who's perspective it's from into the dining room. We also had to experiment with timing and movements to make it not look awkward. Just after we finished filming that scene, the camera died. We went inside to plug it in for a little while and once the camera turned on we had to check if that scene had saved. It did and we were relieved and able to move on.

We were now ready to film the final scene. Before this happened, there was some preparation that needed to be done. First, I had to change into another costume which consisted of sweatpants, a large t-shirt, and a messy bun. After this, we had to microwave the meal we were using and pour a glass of water to put on the table. We were now ready to film and were able to plug the camera in while filming. My partner had to sit on the couch because it was a POV. In this scene, I had to turn on the TV and start to eat the microwaveable meal. This scene took three tries to get how we wanted it. This was simply because of accidents occurring while filming. In one take I dropped the napkin and a noodle fell off of the fork as I was trying to eat the food. Overall, the filming process went very well and took about an hour for these three scenes.

Music Video Filming Blog

Over the weekend, I was able to film nearly all of my music video. A little before the sun set, I had my groupmate and another person come over to be in the video. First, the trampoline scene was filmed, which required me to jump on my trampoline. It required near ten takes to get right. We wanted to make sure that it looked nice and were experimenting with different angles and shots. Next, the sunset scene was filmed. This didn't take as many takes, but still took a few. Again, I had to experiment with the length my back was towards the camera before I turned around. After this, the camera was starting to die because it had not been charged beforehand, so everybody had to sit down for a little and wait for the camera to charge some. I actually enjoyed this because everyone got to take a little break and talk and relax.

After the camera was charged a bit, the scene of me arguing towards the camera (like a POV) was shot. Instead of my groupmember shooting this, someone I got to act in the video held the camera so it looked like it was from his point of view because he is very tall. I had to act angry which is fairly hard for me to do so that took a couple takes to figure out how long I should argue for and how long I should walk away for. Next, the camera was starting to die again so we had to plug it in and wait for a bit. After it was charged a little, we were able to film the two shot with me and the person I asked to act in our music video (not part of the group). In this scene, he was chasing after me and turned me around to face him. This scene took multiple takes as well because my groupmate had to make sure that both of us were able to be seen in the shot. We also had to figure out how he should turn me around without it looking unnatural. After this the camera was getting low once again so we had to go charge it. It was also beginning to rain, so we went where we were covered in my backyard by one of my backdoors.

After the camera was charged a little, we were able to film the sunflower scene. My groupmate had bought and brought over a bouquet of sunflowers for this scene. It was a close up of the sunflowers by my face and me moving them and smiling. This scene took aboput two takes to film. The reason was that I had to adjust the amount of time the sunflowers were in front of my face for. After this we had to charge the camera for a bit, then were able to film the last scene we shot that day. It was with fairy lights and the sunflowers, and me sitting down on a couch outside. Then our actor walked in with the bouquet of sunflowers and handed them to me, then sat down. This took two or three takes and was like the "happy ending" to the music video. Overall, filmimg was a very enjoyable experience and I can't wait to finish filming and then edit.

Commercial Storyboard Blog

This our storyboard for our music video. It consists of 11 scenes so about 10 seconds for each. For the first scene, the character is wearing every day but loose-fitting clothes so movement will be shown when she jumps. This starts out as a medium close up then transitions to a medium long shot. It is shot at eye level with bright lighting and is in slow motion. For the second scene, the character is wearing a semiformal dress while looking out into the sunset. It is a medium long shot and midway through the scene the character turns around so you can see her face. It is shot at eye level as well and will be shot in golden hour/sunset lighting. The third scene is the character still in a semiformal dress opening the door to a "restaurant". This is a POV shot that is a medium shot and has darker lighting. The fourth scene is inside the "restaurant" with the character sitting down at a table eating. It is a POV shot from her love interest's perspective and will have dim lighting. To transition from the fourth scene to the fifth, an action match of passing something like salt basically from one scene to the other. This scene contrasts with the previous one, as the character is now in sweats and a t-shirt with a messy bun. She is eating fast/microwaveable food in this shot and it is shot in bright lighting. The sixth scene starts off as a POV showing the female character angry then transitions to a two shot midway through the scene. In this scene, the audience finally sees who the male character is with a long shot of both characters dressed in normal/casual attire. In the seventh shot, it transitions back to a tracking, long shot of just the female character walking away, still dressed the same. In the eighth scene, the female character is still walking away (dressed casually) but it is a POV shot showing the male character reaching his hand out to make up with her. It is a long shot as well and will have fairly light lighting to be able to see everything that is going on. The ninth scene depicts the female character turned around grabbing the male character's hand. This is a POV shot that is a medium close up and is shot in fairly bright lighting with casual clothing. The tenth scene is a close up of a sunflower just below the character's eyes. She is wearing the same semiformal dress and it will be done in fairly bright lighting. The eleventh and final scene is an aerial shot of the character laying on the trampoline. She is dressed in the semiformal dress surrounded by fairy lights and sunflowers. This will be done in fairly dim lighting. For the sound, the whole time the song "Sunflower" by Post Malone will be playing in the background. The music video will be around 1 minute and 10 seconds long. Overall for editing, we are going to experiment with it and most likely try to make the cuts between scenes the least choppy as possible by using camera movement and "tricks".