Journal #11: Last Blog of the Year?? What???

Well, the 5 people who read this, I'm afraid it's the end of the journey. The last blog of the year has arrived. It's nearly impossible to wrap my head around the fact that my junior year is almost over. This is just too crazy.

On a less hard-to-believe note, our class has been organizing the morning show that airs this Friday. I, as TD, have made the opening, closing, and screen graphic of the school's finals schedule. We film our "press conference" show tomorrow. I think we work very cohesively as a group. I can tell that most, if not all, of the people in the class are dedicated to bringing Kennedy a show they will never forget (like KMZ appears to be to most, I wouldn't know since I've never seen it). We have the ability to make a memorable show, and I know that is what we are prepared to do. Hopefully, I will fulfill my role as TD to the best of my ability. I am excited for what is to come with film.

Well, blog, I'm officially signing off. It's been a great year!

Journal #10: Mishaps

So our How-To video did not go as smoothly as planned. I feel that we could have prepared much better than we did. I think that we needed to go through a run-through with our talent and crew before the actual date. I think we procrastinated our work to the point where it was detrimental to our success.

I was pleased that everyone showed up to help with the lighting on Wednesday. Our group was extremely dedicated to the project, despite the procrastination. I think that, given a second chance, our final product would be much smoother and more organized. Now that we have the experience of failing under our belts, we will try much harder on the morning show, which is seen by the entire school.

I think that communication was also confused during our filming session today. It was hard for our director to keep track of everything and everyone (as it should be, I don't blame her at all because I would have done the same things she did). Also, I screwed up a few times while we were recording. I probably should have gotten more sleep the two nights before...but what's done can't be undone.

All in all, I think that a lack of organization and preparation caused our group's downfall today. I know that after feeling the way I did after we were unsuccessful, I will never make the same mistakes again. I'm positive  my group-mates will agree.

Journal #9: Sick Leave

I feel like this week hasn't happened yet. This is due to the fact that I was sick on Monday and Tuesday, and only came to school on Monday to complete my AP Biology exam. Today actually feels like a Wednesday to me. So far, Jachelle and Patricia have revised our "How-To" Script, and Jachelle has come up with a shotlist for the camera operators. I am glad that film has been very non-stressful this week because I am swamped with prep for the Industrial Management class next year and with History, Math, and English classwork/homework I fell behind in due to my illness. I still have strong confidence in my group, and I know our how-to scrapbook video will be as awesome as humanly possible. We still have to work on the set design, but other than that, we are prepared. I cannot wait to do a trial run tomorrow during class.

Also film-related, I am going to the South Bay Student Video Festival tomorrow at 7 at my previous high school, Mira Costa. Although there is no Kennedy work (which makes me cry inside), I cannot wait to see the wonderful masterpieces that other schools have created and, in doing so, find out what standards I have to meet in order to get something of mine (or of Kennedy's) placed in a film festival next year.

Journal #8: A New Page

This week, we began a brand new project: the "how to" video, which is to be shot with a 3 camera setup. This is something completely new to me, for I left Mira Costa behind before I learned how to set up the Mustang Morning News equipment. So far in this class, I have basically been reviewing previous knowledge (minus the film noir unit), so I find learning something so different from what I've previously done to be refreshing.

During the week, we had to write a one page pitch and a script for our how-to idea. I found this extremely challenging since I wanted something that no one else would do. I trashed myriad ideas and eventually settled on how to survive Mr. Lemos' class for my pitch. However, I was still dissatisfied with my choice. Because of this, I decided to change my idea for the script. In the script, I chose to do a how to on setting up a Facebook account for senior citizens. I felt that this was unique and that it could be easily done. Despite this, I still am not very happy with it. I feel like my creativity was staunched this week, and I don't quite know the reason why. Perhaps because I was so worried about my AP Spanish exam and results, or my upcoming AP Biology exam next Monday. Whatever it was, I am not exactly ecstatic about my ideas this week, and I would be completely ok if we used anyone else's idea for our video.

I am excited about the group I have been placed in. I feel that most, if not all, of my group will put in the effort and time needed to make this project as good as it can be, despite any obstacles the group may face. I hope that my expectations of our group are met, and we make a fantastic how-to. Now, I just have to find someone in my group who has a better script than I do!

Journal #7: I Can See the Finish Line

This week was much more demanding and tiring than I had planned it to be. Except for Monday, I spent every day after school editing. On Wednesday, I stayed until 8 and still wasn't near being done. On Thursday, I skipped 4th, 5th, and part of 6th period along with using homeroom time, before school time, 3rd period, and after school time to work on the project. Last night, I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't go back to sleep because I was worrying about my film project. I feel drained of energy from the past two weeks, and I am ready to cross the finish line tomorrow at the beginning of 3rd period despite the numerous (yet tiny) flaws in the film.

While editing, there have been different problems that have come up. In one scene, the camera angle of Bryan is vividly colored, but the camera angle of Marlin is flat and lacks color which causes the shots to look inconsistent once edited side by side. Also, in our climax scene, some of the shots are underexposed. This is because our actress Rebecca had to leave, so we rushed the most important scene so that we could get it done in time. Now, this inevitable lack of time is biting us in the ass.

I am so proud of Laura Macias for all the editing work she has accomplished. She is truly an angel from heaven, and I love her to pieces for her dedication to this project. Tonight, she was the only one in my group who stayed with me and helped me edit the rest of the film. I just want to thank her for everything she's done in the name of this project. She is truly a hard worker who never gives up, which is something I prize above almost everything else.

Tomorrow, we shall see how our hard work turns out. Hopefully, it will not be too horrible, but I have some confidence that everything will go well. We shall see tomorrow!

Journal #6: Too Exhausted to Come Up with a Title

This week of filming was...exhausting, stressful, and challenging in multiple ways. At the beginning of the week, we had decided to film Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. However, this carefully organized plan soon fell apart due to flaky actors. On Monday, Marlin showed up to the shoot late. Piero also forgot we were shooting that day, so he did not bring his camera. Because Amber thought Piero was going to bring his camera, she did not bother to charge her own. While we were trying to get everything done on Amber's camera, it died. Therefore, we did not finish the scene and had to postpone it to the next day. However, on Tuesday, 20 minutes before the end of 6th period, RJ, one of our actors, texted me and told me he could not make it due to "deadlines." This ruined our plan for finishing the shoot and we had to push back the scene until Thursday. On Wednesday, Bryan, our other male actor, told us after school he could not film at Petit Park until the next day (Thursday), so we had to push together the Menchie's scene from Monday and the Petit Park scenes from Wednesday on Thursday. On Wednesday, we reshot scene 3 and filmed our fight scene. On Thursday, nothing went horribly awry. We filmed at Menchie's first, then we drove to Petit and filmed there. After we were done, Piero brought the footage to Laura Macias, our editor, so that she could start putting the pieces together. Tomorrow (Friday), we will need to reshoot some scenes at Laura Macias' home in Sylmar. I hope that these will go well. I am excited beyond belief that we are done with all of RJ's scenes. Out of all our 4 actors, he was by far the flakiest. Also, Friday at lunch, we will need to ADR some dialogue from the first scene. I will be in charge of helping Laura Menchaca and Jeanette. Hopefully, we will be all done with filming on Friday (we better be done), and all the stress I feel while writing this post will evaporate into nothingness.

Journal #5: Things Have Gotten...Complicated

This week of filming was rather shaky. While I could not be there on Saturday due to my plans out of town, I was told as soon as I got to school on Monday that we had to reshoot. I immediately scheduled this for the 27th of April. On Tuesday, our shoot went well despite the fact that Piero forgot his tripod. Laura Menchaca and I were "human tripods" so Piero could film. On Wednesday, however, I was severely disappointed. We were supposed to shoot our fight scene that day. Our main actors were there along with our main crew members. However, Laura Menchaca and her boyfriend, who was playing the bully, did not show. We tried to contact her, but she did not answer phone calls or texts. She never apologized for not showing up, which bothers me even more. I know now not to rely on her. The bright side is that I've found that Laura Macias is a very trustworthy person. I am happy she is our editor. I'm excited to continue shooting and to see the final product when Laura is done with it!