Final Project!

 Final Project!

Hey blog readers. It is time. The project is finally done. 

This has been a heck of a journey but it has been an extremely rewarding one. I don't know when the next time I will see you is.... but hopefully I will continue to blog on future projects so, don't get too depressed yet 😘😘

Here is the google drive to all the project components (Social media, Magazine Article, Doc)

portfolio project A level

Bye guys. I honestly feel kind of sentimental writing this but it just shows me how much I have loved writing blogs, and how much I love you AICE. 

Yeah, I am talking straight to you. Hope you guys are doing good as well.💂

Okay bye now.. I will see you soon ;)

Final Feelings...

 RESOLUTION

It feels so weird writing this but this long journey is over. Here are a few takeaways I gathered from this whole experience. 

• Try something different/Don't be afraid when something different comes at you:

In the beginning of this whole process my sister and I were set on creating a short film. The vision seen and the feeling we felt towards doing a certain type of short film was extremely strong, and we thought nothing was going to take that away. Until then we realized we didn't really know exactly what we wanted to do as our short film, and then I got an epiphany. That one thought or idea in that one "in between moment" was what birthed this documentary series. So a big lesson learned has been to not be afraid to approach something I've never done before, and don't be afraid of change because it can lead to great things, maybe even greater things.

• Just Do It.

While I'm not actively promoting Nike and their tagline on my blogs,

 I do standby what advertise: the idea of just doing it. While this may sound like a vague and obvious saying, it has been something that I've been trying to overcome for a bit now. Even last year in AS Level I remember writing about this topic of procrastination and how it would get in the way of my project. And while there has definitely been procrastination in the midst of this project as well, the ending process of this project has genuinely awakened me. Specifically with Adobe, I realized that the idea of using Adobe intimidated me and I saw as something more for more "superior" and experienced filmmakers. But using Adobe Premiere this year with this project and learning about its technicalities showed me that this idolized vision I had of it is a false reality. This lesson will stick with me in many future projects and assignments to come.

• Finally, what is your intention as a filmmaker?

Especially in the beginning of this year with the digital identity bubble we created and seeing what we consume, it has been interesting to think about why we consume and create what we do. With this project, making it about a topic that isn't fictional (which I would normally do with a short film), but about one that resonates and connects to not only me and my sister (creators :) ), but with many of the people around us, has been really cool and eye-opening. I think that art and filmmaking can be for informational purposes, but it can also be to just have fun and fulfill a vision and feeling of yours. And this project has given me the freedom and permission from myself to do just that.

• You got to fight for what ya want!!

I couldn't imagine learning this to this extent with any other category of film. With a documentary especially, going out of one's way to be in "people's faces and get interviews" is essential to making the piece. That process was one that really proved to me that if you want something, you have to go out of your own way to get it, and ITS NOT HARD! It really isn't hard to just go up to someone and ask for an interview (obviously respectfully), but it seems and FEELS like a daunting thing to do. But just being courageous and going after what you want is essential to not just a Cambridge documentary series 5 minute excerpt, but in everyday life! Especially as a soon to be graduating senior... don't get me started on this. 

While I could write a few more, I think these are the main lessons I have learned with this project. I could've written some technical things like (I learned how to do cool animations in Adobe Premiere!), but I think these are ones that feel more personal and applicable to other parts of my life as well. This has been a wonderfully joyous and excruciating experience in some ways! But I wouldn't change a thing.

Final CCR

 Creative Critical Reflection:

The six-episode documentary series Intertwined takes a sociological approach to the Western world's current state of connection. Recognizing how part of today's society feels disconnected, Intertwined aims to shine a light on the other side of the story, the present communities and chances for connection that truly are all around. Intertwined takes a hopeful approach to how communities are interacting and what connection means, specifically in some of South Florida's distinct communities. By displaying the individual differences between those in each group, Intertwined ultimately shows how the universal yearning for connection and love binds us all.

Each episode focuses on some of the many ways through which people come together: hobbies, volunteer work, jobs, passion projects, etc.. Focusing on the first episode, we interviewed Las Gaviotas, an RC pilot group that meets at Markham Park, Sunrise. 

    Because Intertwined is a sociological documentary on communities in South Florida, research conducted began with exploring lesser-known but active subcultures across South Florida.Research consisted of online research in social media, word-of-mouth, and in-person discussions with their teacher. With all of this, plus familiarity of their own local communities, Victoria and Sofia Di Lauro were able to find five niche groups, one including the remote control (RC) airplane community that meets weekly at Markham Park. Learning about their long-standing rituals and the diversity of the group led to the focus on this unique slice of communal life. Traditional documentary conventions were followed, such as interviews, on-location shooting and B-roll use. Specific to the sociological aspect, conventions such as interviewing an expert (psychotherapist) for the social media and using observational footage of humans in real time were followed. On the other hand, other genre expectations were challenged by spotlighting a hobby not typically considered “sociologically significant”—and revealing the deep human connections behind it. Focusing on this group showed that even niche communities can reflect  themes and ideas like identity, belonging, and passion, bringing bonding.

Observational footage:

Psychotherapist interview:

 

     The episode uses personal stories, visual storytelling, and diversity amongst groups to connect to the target audience, 13-85 year olds of any gender and socioeconomic status. Intertwined, focusing on a variety of communities with different backgrounds and passions/activities, makes it easier to attract and preserve a broad range of audiences, the target audience. In addition, representing different things like a hobby/job/volunteer work/etc... on the social media page and documentary invites viewers into a world they already know (audiences can relate to the content) or into a world they don't know (in which they will be intrigued to learn about different parts of a community). Including personal interviews of varying community members on the documentary, spanning from different ages, cultural backgrounds, and professions, adds relatability and emotional pull to the episode.This documentary series centering around  fundamental human aspects (connection and various forms of community involvement) makes it so that practically anyone can already feel some relatability and attraction to the product. 

Through the beginning of the documentary's first episode, documenting the RC (remote control) pilot group attracts the target audience's age range. Younger audiences can relate to themes of passion and finding community through hobbies, while older viewers may connect with the nostalgia and craftsmanship involved. While this attracts the target audience, the use of social media was the key to direct engagement. While many posts were used to introduce the communities and define connection/community, they also had a just as important goal: to engage with the target audience. Taking inspiration from the Netflix documentary's Abstract social media page, many of the Intertwined Instagram posts include a caption that asks questions directly to the audience. Using pronouns like "you" and asking questions relating to the audience's personal lives creates an intimate connection to the audience that can't be done from only watching the documentary.

Abstract Instagram Captions:

 

Intertwined Instagram Captions:

    

    When developing the brand of the docuseries, making specific decisions in visual aesthetic and techniques that resonated with the target audience was necessary to orchestrate successful marketing and attraction to the product. Because the target audience is a wide spectrum of ages and backgrounds, creators Sofia and Victoria Di Lauro knew they wanted to include a mix of elements that would attract the younger sides of audiences and include an emotional identity that resonates with older audiences. 
To start off, including animation as the main source as branding makes the documentary recognizable and more attention-grabbing. The unique animation sequence is not only used as the docuseries's opening sequence, but is seen as a consistent element in the social media page and magazine article for Intertwined. Using animation assists in making the docuseries feel more approachable and lighthearted, connecting younger audiences to "bigger ideas" such as connection and community. This, along with the copyright-free song "Peace" by Roie Shpigler, which is paired in the opening sequence and several Instagram posts, creates distinctiveness to other docuseries. Distinctiveness and being memorable to the audience so Intertwined attracts more attention in an increasingly competitive environment with online advertising/marketing.
Although Intertwined manages to resonate emotionally with all types of audiences, visual and auditory techniques targeting older audiences could've been improved. In the documentary, choices such as including soothing features instead of loud, abrupt noises or utilizing slower pacing consistently would've targetted older audiences more.

Part of opening sequence displaying animation/reoccuring song:

Animation in magazine:

Animation seen to represent different communities:

Animation in how directors are introduced:

Animation/title in first posts/ introduction to the series on social media page:

     This documentary delves deeply into the representation of diverse communities in South Florida in order to highlight the various ways connection takes place. This documentary is partially different from other media products because it focuses on the diversity of social groups, centralizing representation to not just one main group but several. One way in which the differences in social groups are emphasized is through their representation through animation and symbols. The five groups are each represented with their own title for the group, colors, wardrobe, and symbols associated with their "activity". For example, in the RC pilot group, the community is titled "Las Gaviotas" and the animated men wear shades of yellow, grey, and dark blue. The backdrop is dark blue, and they are always associated with an animated yellow plane.

Focusing on this group, which is the docuseries' first episode, the representation of collaboration within a diverse social group is shown. The three interviewees come from very different walks of life, but all find common ground at the same field every Thursday. By avoiding focusing on conflict or controversy, this episode was able to emphasize unity through shared experience. A positive, often-overlooked narrative was represented about how a community can form organically in public spaces. This challenges the notion that people are becoming increasingly isolated and instead celebrates the quiet, consistent acts of connection that happen all around.

CCR

 CCR...

As this is my last blog post on here talking about the CCR, 

I should probably start by saying that this is really sad that this is my last blog post like this. I am still processing how this is the end of the process and it feels NOT REAL, but it is so I am trying to soak it all in, letter by letter 😍😍 .

As for the CCR, I have started to write it and have actually started in a different order of questions. As for the practice CCR we did in the beginning of the year, the order consisted of:

1) How did research inform your product and the way it uses or challenges conventions?

 followed by..

2) How does your product engage with audiences?

I personally actually am answering the second one first. I will see when I end up putting it all together if I keep the answer in that order too, or if I do it how I am writing it.

But overall, the CCR is going pretty good, I am more focused on finishing editing which has been good but A LOt!

Here is a sneak peek of a mini sneak peek I made for the hypothetical fifth episode of our series, titled "The Regulars" (about a home-run "jazz club/card game center"), inspired by my grandpa's card club he partakes in Argentina:

It is very film noir inspired in the video that is why there is a  smoke picture here

MUSIC

 Using Music

Live in real time:

NOTES-

How are we trying to make them feel?

Trying to figure out how to balance liveliness and sentimentality

- Nostalgic, "deep" not lightweight topic, somewhat sentimental (because this emotion is one that truly hits people and they are most taken aback by it, not as used to it)

- While also attending to fun, lively, "imperfect" approach of two 18 year old girls. Want the audience to have fun while watching

Structurely:

45 seconds of introduction (more chaotic, lively)--- Interview of us for 30 sec-1 mn  (breath of fresh air, more serious but hopeful STRINGS)---leads to animation introduction 30 sec (hopeful, sentimental)-- intro of place/hobbies 30/45 sec (more fun now)-- interviews 2 mn 30 sec

Hey guys! this is me after I was trying to find music (or after the "Live in real time" intervention when I was taking notes and trying to structure my intention with the music)

MUSIC FOR ANIMATION SEQUENCE:

I was specifically trying to find music for the animation sequence, and I am was using Artlist.IO, here are some songs I found:

Peace - Roie Shpigler

Ballerina- Yehezkel Raz

Lev 1- DaniHaDani

We were very convinced on sticking with Ballerina (song below) because of a couple of things.

This song was a good accompaniment because it didn't take away or distract from the animation or visuals on the screen. We wanted a song that was definitely instrumental and one that was melodic enough that it wouldn't distract or overwhelm the viewer. Here is how it looked with the animation below:

 But we realized after attaching the music to it that this was too melancholic for what we were going for. We didn't want to create a sad mood, more of a hopeful and longing one. So we went on the hunt for other instrumental songs. We then found Peace (listed above) which turned out to work with the feeling we were trying to create. This orhcestral piece with strings worked because it evokes hope and inspiration but also a cinematic and stylistic feel that we wanted. Here is the animation sequence below with the new music :)))

OVERVIEW:

I am very happy we got the music done for the animation sequence because that means its done! Also doing this breakdown of music helps my sister and I see the type of music we will use for other parts of our docuseries section 😁👀👀

Social Media!

 Social Media

UPDATE! POSTING ON SOCIAL MEDIA!

IN this blog I will be showing how my sister and I have started to post on Instagram.

Initial process:

- For planning social media the first thing we wanted to do was research and see what "vibe" we wanted to go for. This was also because we were still not fully done figuring out the "vibe" or aesthetic or our documentary. BUT after the animation portion of our episode got done (IT IS DONE AHHHH) we knew what to base our social media off of. We wanted to incorporate patterned backgrounds and use the animation consistently in posts. 

Some inspiration that we wanted in the posts came from the backgrounds in the animation sequence.

Structure: 

- After taking notes on what social media we should include, (picture  below), my sister and I made sure to keep this in mind when deciding how to structure how we want our social media to look like and how we want to tell the "story" of our documentary series. In a way, we are using our social media structure/order of posting to tell the audience what they should know in order for them to understand our messaging. For example, we aim to post different information that build the audience's knowledge of the topic of our doc: so posting messaging correlating to community and connection. 

POSTING!

SOoooo, for the actual posting now! We knew we wanted a big introduction to our docuseries by having the title take up big space as the first post. Using Canva and the "remove background" task to play around with posts, we ended up creating this:

We used Canva and made three different slides that all would match up to create this (when images posted alongside each other). We debated on whether or not making it colorful but we wanted to start our account with a "blank slate" and have the color be one shade so the title really stuck out and so that we could build color with the other posts. In addition, the color black is made up of all the rest of the colors, which also represents this initial post as a sum of all the doc episodes(in our eyes and color theory👀, just a tiny detail). 

INSPO:

Some inspiration that I've mentioned in my earlier social media post was the doc series's Instagram Abstract. This account posts quotes that some professionals or interviewees have said, along with an audio of them saying it, for example;

We thought this would be a great way to introduce our documentary series's main topics and also reveal some people involved in our episode. So, we decided to publish a post defining community and giving an enlightening quote from the psychotherapist I interviewed:

OVERALL:

Overall we are really happy with the aesthetic and types of posts we have done. I do think we need to keep posting and hurry up (I think we should've started earlier) but we are creating now so that's all that matters!!....

CCR pt. 2...

 CCR PLANNING

Lets move on from the social media/filming part of the project and move on to the ESSAY PART!

CCR: Regarding the CCR, it is influential to look at my previous CCR to see what I did good or could maybe work on.

Previously I had made a CCR on a documentary! So it will prove to be more compatible with what I am making now, as compared to a CCR on a short film. Here is the CCR from a couple months back:

 The documentary Impact focuses on sparking hope and initiative for positive change in its audience through the use of various technical elements. Honing in on the process of initiating an environmental school project, this documentary highlights the negative effects of plastic pollution and shows a team combating this issue with perseverance.

    When commencing this documentary, researching the central role of a documentary played a vital part in deciding what the documentary would focus. Initial research consisted of class notetaking on the definition of a documentary: "a slice of life". Familiarization with the key aspects of a documentary started the conversation about creating a documentary on environmental awareness. There was a final conversation about creating a documentary on the initiation of the Recycle Beyond the Bag project at Cypress Bay High School by Interact Club, which the initial research helped come to. (Notes on "slice of life" realization to right )

Attaining the topic of the documentary led to researching the genre conventions of a documentary. Class notetaking brought more knowledge in learning about indirect/direct interviews, B-roll, usage of archived footage, etc.. Much of this research is anecdoted in the Doc: Research blog post (https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/1230255472652070084/3199987192783195247) Extra research was done to get more comfortable with the conventions, such as interview styles and steps to conduct one. A repeatedly used source was: https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-conduct-a-documentary-interview-top-interview-techniques-and-tips-for-documentary-films-and-tv 

Choosing which conventions to include and utilize came after researching specific documentary examples and attaining a visual image of how the documentary would look like. Viewing examples of documentaries helped in seeing what conventions to include and which to abandon. The documentary Exit Through The Gift Shop was deemed helpful in showing how documentaries can be sequentially led through the use of interviews. In American Promise indirect and direct interviews show how personal interviews can contribute to a documentary's tone shift, and how B-roll can be integrated to form a story. Lastly, a documentary series on Netflix called Abstract: The Art of Design provides several examples of how staged B-roll can provide authentic exemplification of certain tasks getting done. Viewing examples assured which conventions would be used in Impact. Overall this documentary used the genre's conventions such as indirect and direct interviews, VO of interviews over cutaways of B-roll, staged B-roll, and music. Using traditional conventions in the documentary helped in progressing the story and making content reflective of as much as the truth as possible (with the staged B-roll). Research on what each genre convention does assist in its usage, for example, hand-held shots of B-roll creating realism and VO narration that helped progress the story of the process of the environmental project. This documentary doesn't challenge conventions due to the necessity of focusing on the information given. This film is supported by the understanding of logos given by certain interviewees and is meant to replicate reality in every aspect. If this film became too unconventional or surreal, then the message of environmentalism and plastic pollution would get lost within the piece.

While research was important to making Impact so was establishing a target audience to connect to. Impact's target audience is any person from 12-30 years old, who is interested in the environment and/or making a positive difference in their community. This documentary uses specific technical elements like music, B-roll, and indirect/direct interviews to facilitate connection and engagement to the target audience. Because this is a younger audience, different measures need to be taken to engage if targeting older audiences because of the narrower attention span of 12-30 year-olds. So, including music in the background of longer interview segments is something that not only creates a specific tone but adds something new to what is being watched, which helps engage individuals for longer. For example, when providing silence from a previously long clip with background music, a certain auditory continuity is broken which can reignite the audience's attention (shown in this video clip)

In addition, the addition of varying types of B-rolls worked to engage this audience and to resonate with environmental lovers/ project lovers. The B-roll shown varies from videos of plants and nature landscapes to videos of multiple people contributing to the project. These changing videos over the VO of the interviewees keep audiences engaged and allow for the individuals to actually SEE, not just hear, about the steps being taken to make this environmental project happen:

 

Lastly, indirect and direct interviews played a key part in engaging with audiences. Indirect interviews are utilized to make information more "bite-size" and easy to grasp because using just answers allows for the content to flow nicer and not be as dragged out. This is useful, especially for this younger audience. While most interviewee segments are indirect interviews, a critical interview towards the end is direct on purpose. From the above video clip shown (with the absence of music in one portion), the use of asking this question and inserting it to the documentary was to grasp as much attention as possible on this area of the documentary. As this is the "resolution" or "final thoughts" on the interviewees's views on the global plastic problem and the benefit of this project, there needed to be a big focus and understanding on this part. Also, the idea of vulnerability and emotive responses attracts audiences, especially younger audiences, as they can resonate more deeply with the documentary and become more attentive to the purpose. 

    The main social issues represented in this documentary are plastic pollution (explicit) and global health (more implicit). The main topic of discussion of this documentary is the creation of a recycling project to help combat plastic pollution and its effects. Plastic pollution is represented through two different POVs and facets that assist in showing the different scales in which it can be seen: day-to-day encounters with plastic pollution, and how it is created on a global scale. With Boswell and Margarita, examples of how plastic pollution is created on a bigger-scale are explained through interviews of both of them explaining how plastic spreads so easily, and with Margarita showing the different types of plastics that end up in landfills or spreading. On the other hand, the B-roll of plastic in the grass and in school surroundings shows what to many are the unnoticeable homes of plastic pollution. This was represented to give audiences a clear view that even if one doesn't see it, this pollution is all around at all scales. To add on, the other social issue represented was global health. This issue was mainly represented through logos given by Margarita in her interview, where she explained that plastic pollution isn't only an environmental issue, it is a big human health issue that effects everyone. This conversation also bleeds into the health effects this has on poorer communities who are more affected by this issue, alluding to social inequality.

Overall, Impact works towards engaging audiences through visual and auditory elements to inspire them to strive and work towards positive change in caring for the environment and overall health. By showing the initial process of starting a club's own project, this documentary shows how others can do the same.

Things that appeared good! 👍

• Multimedia Use: I remember a big emphasis on multimedia when my teacher was explaining what to include. Using not only things like videos, audios and pictures, but also using specific media that supports and reinforces what one is saying is significant.
• Directly answering questions: I think while length of the paragraphs and essay is important (especially because of the 1,000 word count), focusing on answering the questions directly is just as, maybe even more, important. In this practice CCR we only had to answer three questions as opposed to four, but answering the 4 questions must be the FOCUS!! Making sure to hit specific things like discussing genre and conventions in the first question and mentioning target audience of the docuseries in the second question is essential.
• Transitioning: I know this isn't an English class but transition words and transitioning between questions smoothly is important. 

Things that could be improved 👎

• Insightfulness/depth of info. I think that spending more time on the CCR is important so I am able to elaborate on information in depth as much as possible.

Animation!

ANIMATION Opening Sequence:

Now onto the opening sequence! If you are coming from my last blog post, hey ;) that was alot of information that I hope made sense!

But in this blog I am blogging about how we actually got the ANIMATION portion to be a possibility. I am so ecstatic. And thats not sarcasm.

SOOOOO....

I was casually scrolling on Instagram reels one day -as one without tik tok does because it makes her feel less guilty and addicted- when a video popped up (yes the universe was trying to get in contact with me😅😅) It was a reel about different animation sites that this animator used throughout her animation journey

I attempted to search some of these up, but most of them I had to pay. So, I headed to the comment section. And found rina.0fficial saying:

Hey me too Rina. This was enough for me to go to and download flipaclip to try it out. I watched a couple of the tutorial videos the app had to offer, leading me to create this cinematic masterpiece:

 

 which then led me to realize that I am not going to be able to animate this and make it look good!

So, while I did find an easy app to use, my sister and I now had to find someone that could assist us with this animation sequence. And thankfully we have our friend named Cecilia Bolanos.

Cecilia is one of our best friends, and she has a hidden talent of being able to draw really well, which is amazing because that was our main concern. We approached her with this idea and asked her for the favor

SHE SAID YES!

We spent the rest of the call giving her our vision, but we also trusted her to take her own creative liberty because we know hee type of drawings and like her creative inputs.  Here is a video of us on facetime

We wanted to have us animated (like said in the last blog post, this is going to be a 30 sec story of us going through a mob of antisocial, tech people and then us meeting the five groups we will be documenting), and this is what she came up with 😁 

OVERVIEW:

When thinking about the animation, we didn't just want to unintentionally make an animation sequence. We chose to make an animation sequence because of one, a stylistic choice, and second, we wanted to engage the younger age range of our target audience and we thought presenting the information in this unique way would assist in doing that. This way of presenting the information also helps reinforce the idea of looking at society and connection from a different perspective, by presenting the information in a different way too. Overall, we are very happy we are able to complete the animation sequence :)

W

Structure for 5 mns

Finalizing Structure of 5 mns ….

I know I know… I've said this before… 

STRUCTURE. STRUCTURE!

STRUCTURE!.. StRuCtUrE.

CONTEXT:

We’ve done this before! There have been different posts elaborating on what exactly we want our five minutes' structure to be. And it seems straight forward, but we have made it a bit harder on ourselves by making what we are creating. the beginning of the first episode of our whole docuseries. We decided to do this because we wanted to incorporate an intro that would elaborate on what our documentary is attempting to discuss (which would only be shown in the first episode, like in the docuseries “Ugly Delicious” where a skit- like introduction serves to give context to the rest of the series). But, there was the "in-between" clips that led into the main interviews that we didn't consider.

ROADTRIP

So I sat my sister and I down on our way to Orlando, and we finally condensed our splattered visions.

What we had to figure out:

-1: our opening sequence

-2:introduction to group

-3:time ratios for intro clips to interviews

1). Mrs Stoklosa had mentioned to us (thankfully) that our documentary episode had to include a title sequence. We knew this, but to be frank we weren't thinking about it when discussing our five minute segment. So the question rose up... WHAT THE FUDGE DO WE DO FOR OUR OPENING? - to keep it PG ;)

We had been sending each other some cool animation Instagram Reels that we knew we wanted to incorporate but didn't know how. So we realized this was the right place to do it. (Now we are currently in the process of deciphering how to actually animate, so I will get back to you with this for next blog). We know that we want this portion to be an animated sequence of us walking through an "antisocial" and "disconnected" crowd (with technology and without). Then we will be led to the five groups of people that we are documenting, and then the title will appear. Throughout, there will be credits, which we are taking inspiration from how the docuseries "The Mind Explained" does theirs. In this opening, we like how the credits are dispersed and how there is an aspect of animation to it. In addition, the docusieres "You Are What You Eat" has a cool animated logo that we are taking inspiration from. We estimate that this opening will be about 30 seconds.

2) Now... we also had to think about what needed to appear after this opening sequence, how we would transition this opening to our interviewees. We knew even from before that we wanted to have a montage type of video showing the location of where the RC pilots drove their airplanes. This would serve as an introduction to where the group met and what the group was really centered around. And, after watching the opening of the docuseries "The Mind Explained", we had an additional idea that the transition between the opening sequence and the interviews would be specialized to each episode. In this Netflix docuseries, each episode has a segment specific to the topic of that video. We thought that, like our montage of the airplane field, these are both good ways to introduce the topic and establish (context-wise) what will be seen shortly. So, after the opening animated sequence there will be a 30 second video introducing what the group is centered around (more destination centered). 

3) Lastly we had to establish how we would spread out the time we had with all we wanted to include. So we split up our different "segments" or parts onto a notes app and calculated how much time each section should be to have enough time for the interviewees:

OVERALL:

I feel very relieved to have done this because now we know EXACTLY what we need to still film and capture. I think we could've done this earlier in the process, but we have it done now!

Pilot Interview 2

Pilot #2 Filming:

HEllOOOOO EVERYONE! I hope you are all doing well. I just got back from a States drama trip, and we still managed to film today 👏 (kind of "we"). We got back at around 7:30 AM and we were scheduled to film for later that day around 6 PM.

INTERVIEWING SITUATION/CONFUSION:

So basically with the interviewees, we were confused on whether we wanted two or three. We didn't think we would have enough time in the five-minute documentary to cover three interviewees, especially due to the 1 min 30 sec introduction. But, we still needed three interviewees to have in the short montage introducing the interviewees. So, we filmed a full interview for the previous interviewee, Armando, as an extra one just in case we would need it, along with the short introduction that we did need. But the full interviews we wanted to get were Camillo's (this interview) and  Luis's (my dad's).

We had been planning to film Camillo for a while. The first time we scheduled it wouldn't give us enough time to film because we wanted to film in his airplane warehouse. This time around, we would have to film before 6 PM which Victoria ended up doing.... I didn't end up going to film this time because I was asleep and exhausted... BUT that doesn't mean I didn't contribute of course 😶😮. 

We had already generalized the types of questions we wanted to ask and what we wanted to film because of the previous interview to this. Filming Armando's interview (which we wouldn't be using fully) served as a test-run to what we should film and include on the next recordings.

So my sister headed out and got to filming! (Which I had done before by myself too so she better not be complaining on her blog 😑)

While there, she filmed a lot of shots of the warehouse and the tour Camillo gave, as well as the interview. This interview would be one of the two pilot ones that we would use in our 5 mn segment💪

Problems/Solutions:

- Victoria forgot to put a mic on the camera so the interview sounds like SH!T (also because the camera was very far from Camillo (interviewee) ). But she said that she did a voice memo of him speaking so I really hope she pulled through! If not..... lets just say twins will have a BIG problem.

-SOLUTION for future... so we can't really fix it now if it is a problem, but I would add the mic and record for a test trial to then see how it sounds.

CCR PLANNING

 FIRST CCR POST:

A momentous occasion indeed... my first CCR post. And being honest, the first time I've even thought about the CCR since this project began! 

I did create a CCR a couple months back on another project:

This was a practice. But now it is the real deal which means I got to start planning.

First step: GO OVER WHAT CCR CONSISTS OF 

These are my detailed notes from our class lesson on the critical reflection (i am so happy it is an essay now and not two videos 🙏🏻🙏🏻)

Second Step: APPLY CURRENT PROJECT TO QUESTIONS OF CCR

FIRST QUESTION- Apply genre and research. Here I would discuss my research on documentaries, specially episodic documentaries and specifically ones that have a psychological approach to them. I could talk about how we did research on different documentary series like Ugly Delicious and also a documentary series on Youtube be that is psychological (seen in research blogs before). In addition, I then discuss how this research and research on conventions informed my decisions in what I made or chose to not include and why. So doing things like how I got influenced auditory and visually are what is being looked for.

SECOND QUESTION:

How do products engage with audiences? Here I would NEED to mention target audience and what the target audience is for the documentary. In addition, mentioning how my product engages with the specific target audience is the key. So for example, on social media if I post a trailer or clips of the documentary, I could talk about how my target audience engages with my product digitally. 

PROBLEMS- CONCERNS:

- My only questions regarding the CCR have to do with the last questions. For branding and question three, I feel like branding is such a vague word and I am afraid I won’t answer the question if “branding” sufficiently and accurately.

- Finally, for the last question, I am not sure if we actually have to do it. I think we do but I am confused on how to answer the question. It asks how does my product represent social groups or issues. I think my documentary represents social groups well, when relating to different people coming to one markham group, my whole doc is about community and groups. But, I don’t know what them being represented means exactly. I think I just have to continue to develop the branding and from there move to the next questions. If not, I will continue to discuss this with my sister or ask a friend :) 

Shooting Pilot Interviews:

 Shooting Another Interview! #2

Dear blog stalkers and readers, 

today I am deciding to write in a letter format because I have realized I structure all my blogs the same way and it is really starting to trigger me. I don't want to sound too redundant, so I am narrating today's productive events through a letter (also imagine this is in a British accent). I want to make these interesting and why not have fun anecdoting ❔

Sitting in Aice Media A Level class at Cypress Bay, it was the second period. Senior students Sofia and Victoria Di Lauro organized their thoughts on what they wanted to get done later that day. That is when they came up with this:

What is that scribbled nonsense you may ask? HA! I may respond. It is notes, intellectual jotted-down ideas for title names (for each documentary episode), and documentary questions. During this AICE Media class, they started to do all the little things that needed to get done. As they discussed what they would want to film, it would soon turn to later that day..

INTERMISSION.

Normal Sofia again, I wanted to quickly explain what my sister and I were going to film later today. We had previously storyboarded that we wanted to get our interviewees to say their name, age, and occupation. We wanted to film a montage-type of sequence of all of them as an introduction to the interviewees. After that, we had just developed interviewee questions regarding the hobby of RC airplane flying, but we mainly wanted to focus on questions regarding the Markham Park group.

Now where was I... Oh yes! Filming! The two passionate, riled-up students arrived at Armando's house and got to filming! They had him set up a chair in front of his RC (which they later learned meant remote control) airplanes and started to film his interview! The twins debated on whether or not he should speak in Spanish (his native language) but Armando insisted on it being okay that he spoke English, so they did just that! 

After he answered questions, he gave a tour of his office and work area:

The interview was done and the twins went home. This is the equipment they used to film that day:

 Overall:

Normal Sofia again: Overall, this was a good first time filming the pilot interviewees. I would say we did a good job of planning the encounter and with asking a plentitude of questions. I also realized that we needed to ask more questions because he wasn't really giving us the full answers we were seeking. So as a lesson for interviewing it is about asking more questions or being able to improvise and come up with questions on the spot. Thankfully it is me and Victoria which makes this easier.