Birdcage Opening

Here it is! The long-awaited (hopefully) opening of Birdcage, our new coming-of-age fiction film. 

Thank you to everyone who has tuned in. On behalf of both me and Jaxson, we hope you enjoy!

Here is a link as well: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1i36Nu553qMlJIy1LkGUZ0XkP8RiF22yx/view?usp=sharing 

Reflecting

Sadly, this project is coming to an end. I'm currently editing my CCR after I spent all weekend/end of last week creating the script and filming. The CCR creation process wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be, but I wished I had more time to make it amazing. Anyways, now that my journey is coming to an end, it's time for some reflecting on the entire process as a whole, because I've already done some reflecting after certain stages, like researching and production.

One of the key moments of this project was definitely choosing our plot/topic. At first, we were stuck on what to do. We tampered with the idea of making a horror film or even dystopian social-critique film. But, we wanted to create media that we both enjoyed, and we were inspired by our own personal interests. We both love coming-of-age films and, since we are teenagers after all, thought doing so would make the process a lot more enjoyable than doing a genre we had relatively no interest in. Coming up with the actual idea was less difficult from here, as we found something unique we both had in common: our appreciation and knowledge of the deaf community. Our decision to make our opening centered around a deaf character was definitely a key moment in the project, because we knew from then that there was a lot at stake. We needed to portray the character in an appropriate manner, keep the genre conventions, and maintain accurate representation all while creating an entertaining and technically great film. It was a lot to take on, but looking back, I am glad we took on this challenge, because it taught us how to problem-solve.

Moreover, another key moment in the project was the ending of our actual production. Researching and planning was a breeze for us, but completing production was another story. The production process was harder than we anticipated: it was a lot longer than we expected, and our budget definitely hindered some of our visions. It was easy to get discouraged when shots were not turning out like they were envisioned to be, but we were able to persevere and continue filming. In retrospect, these obstacles taught us not only the importance of planning (so next time we can plan to rent out better technology that met our desires), but they also taught us how to maintain confidence in our work. We regained confidence in post-production, where we were able to put everything together with certain effects to make it more professional-looking. Editing was a defining moment in our project because, through trial and error, we were able to make our opening aesthetically and technically pleasing to the best of our abilities. 

Change is inevitable, and although we tried not to make too many changes to our project outside of the planning period, it was necessary in some instances. For instance, we changed a large portion of our plot line after planning and researching. We changed Sydney to be more alternative and grunge rather than Ava; so now, Ava (her sister) was the brainy/perfect cheerleader while Sydney (the protagonist) was the alternative one. We did this because we felt our first idea was too cliche, and even though the second trope is pretty cliche as well, it is less common in coming of age movies, or at least the ones that we researched and were inspired by. We also wanted to add an extra bit of uniqueness to Sydney's character to make her stand out even more, so we chose to challenge those specific genre conventions. In addition, We changed the order of some clips and omitted some from the final product mostly because of time constraints. We wanted to end on a scene of their car pulling away, but the length of the scene would have sent us eight seconds over time, which is too much. We also rearranged some clips to make the opening flow better and match more to the beat of the music. This was mostly a stylistic choice, and we did so to make the overall product more visually appealing to watch.

Overall, I am extremely proud of everything my partner and I have accomplished. I truly learned the importance of shared collaboration and communication, and I'm glad I had a partner that put in as much effort into this project as I did. Like I said in a previous post, this project has kinda of become my child because of all the time and effort I have put into it. But, I am thrilled to be able to show the world (or my class of 20 kids) Birdcage and hope the love it as much as I do!!

Almost to the finish line

We're almost there! I finished my script and now I will start filming my CCR. I plan to film my face using the webcam built into my MacBook, because I don't think I'll have enough time to film with my camera, plus I like the comfort of being able to see myself. But I don't plan to show myself THAT much (mostly because I don't want to), because I want there to be more graphics like photos and videos than my face. I'm doing everyone a favor really.

Creating the script was relatively easily. But, I'm not sure this is considered a full script, more like a script-outline hybrid of some sorts. I wrote down inserts and dialogue to transition from each topic to the other, but I didn't write down every single word I plan to say. I figure I'm a well-enough speaker that I can improvise if I get stuck, so why waste the time creating something I wasn't going to use. Because of this, the script looks similar to the outline, but I promise they're not exactly the same. It actually took a while to figure out a segway from one topic to another, because I don't want it to appear as if I took the questions, answered them, and am just reading off what I wrote. I want this CCR to be fun and original. Moreover, I've included glosses of what I plan to sign. Glossing is a term used in ASL where we "translate" English into written ASL structure. It's not that complicated to explain, but this is a media class, so I'll leave this link here explaining it if anyone is interested in learning!

One component necessary in our CCR is the citation of our sources. I plan to list my sources all at the end of my video and have them scroll out of the screen like the beginning of the Star Wars movies. I plan to cite specific websites that we used in genre research and deaf research. I also plan to cite my blog (of course) and show our important documents, like our script, storyboard, schedule, and anything I reference while I'm talking. So, here's the script, and I plan to start filming tomorrow and edit tomorrow and Monday. We're cutting it close, but we WILL be done!

Making an outline

Now that I've learned what I need to answer in my CCR, I actually need to plan on how to answer it. So, I thought it would be best to create a script of what I am going to say. I am not the best speaker there is, so I think creating a script is best, because it eliminates most room for error (which I need right now), and makes the entire process just that much simpler. But, before creating the script, I think it is necessary to make on outline of what I will say in response to the questions. The outline will focus on answering each question to the fullest, and only that. The script, on the other hand, will focus on using the information from the outline and contorting it so it flows together and doesn't seem choppy and robotic when I'm reading it. I also want to showcase a little bit of my personality in the script, rather than just reading in a monotone voice. Granted I'm not the best at public speaking, but I think if I treat this like I'm making a YouTube video (for a board of educational superiors), then I can talk easily.

Here is my outline. I decided to be as concise as I could while also answering every aspect of the questions. There is a time limit, or at least a limit until the grader loses interest, so I want to make sure I relay my information in the most effective manner I possibly can. Moreover, I plan to use my graphic editing past to add in some graphics and make it more entertaining. I also plan to use clips from our film itself when explaining, and photos from our research and planning to make it more engaging with the audience. Lastly, I wanted to add something that would make my CCR more personal and similar to our opening. So, I will actually sign my introduction using American Sign Language, and possibly sign the questions too. This will introduce the representation evident in our film from the start of my CCR, and add a fun, personal touch to my video.

Beginning the CCR

Now that we finished the actual opening, there is still one more component of the portfolio left: the Creative Critical Reflection. In class, we learned about the CCR, what we need to include and what we should accomplish. We also saw some student samples, which really helped me envision what I needed to do. There are three main goals we should attain in a CCR:

• reflection on the production
• responding to the questions
• expression of your personality

The CCR should be no more than 8 minutes; we learned, that it is better for this component to be short and concise rather than prolonged and overly-detailed. Our teacher gave us notes on the four main questions we should answer in our video:

1. How does your product use/challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups/issues?

For this component, we should discuss genre conventions of both our production and other movies of the same genre (in general). We should discuss which conventions we chose to use and which we chose to establish. Then, we should end with a discussion on representation established in our opening. For us, we will delve into representation of the Deaf community, but we can also talk about representation of teenage girls, suburbia, etc.

2. How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text?

This portion should begin with a discussion on target audience (age range + gender + overall interests of group). Then, we should discuss how production choices, content, etc work to engage with our intended audience. Lastly, we should address how we plan to make the film accessible; we must do so REALISTICALLY (not by international movie theaters).

3. How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

We should reflect on how the process evolved throughout production: how we began with research and planning, and how we approached production. This portion should include specific details about the processes, and show how we adapted/changes aspects. Lastly, it should end with an overall reflection on where we started and ended.

4. How did you integrate technologies- software, hardware, and online- in this project?

The last portion should discuss any technologies used while producing the project. For instance, we should discuss hardware: camera, lighting, etc, and software: Blogger, editing tools, and Google Docs. We should also discuss HOW we used these technologies: obstacles, learning components.

The last part of the CCR is the ending with a final statement, discussion on what we learned and what we would do different/improve next time. 

Overall, I am excited to start the CCR, even though I feel like I don't have a lot of time for what I want to achieve. I plan to use my experience of graphics editing on After Effects to make an appealing video, and I plan to make the script tomorrow!

Finishing touches

You read that right, we finished!! It's very anticlimactic because there's nowhere for us to submit it until its due date, but nonetheless, this has still felt monumental. I have been editing this all throughout my trip, so it feels surreal to be finally done. I think both my partner and I can agree that this project has been/is kind of like our baby. But overall, we are content with our opening and proud of all that we have accomplished. We feel the opening truly encompasses the coming-of-age feel. Considering our budget (literally nothing) and our experience in film-making (little to nothing), we created the best opening that we could create.

We had to make some changes while we were editing. First, we were a little over time after putting all the clips together, so we had to either get rid of some or shorten some clips in order for us to meet the 2 minute requirement. We also had to download our title font from a different website (freebestfonts.com), because--we didn't realize this before-- the other website required us to pay to download the fonts. Moreover, we recorded the audio separately (as mentioned before) but it sounded a little bad at times when I went back and listened to it. So, I kept some of the original audio in certain clips. If it was truly necessary, then I inserted the recorded audio, which was a little time-consuming but worthwhile in the end. 

Here's the last screenshot of our opening. I plan to export it tomorrow, since it's late tonight, but we are done!

Editing

We are finally editing! But, we have had a few changes. I tried editing on Adobe Premiere Pro, but it was too confusing for me since I had not used it in so long. I figured since I didn't have the time to re-learn the software, I might as well use After Effects instead. So, I switched softwares yesterday. My partner can still help me while I use this program, and I can edit quicker because I'm more comfortable with the control panel and other effects. 

Editing so far has been smooth and problem-less (not to jinx myself). The only problem is that I am editing on the road or in hotels, so I have to edit with worse quality because the service is not great. This won't affect the end result, but it makes editing a little harder because I can't see the full quality of the clips until I render the finished product. Moreover, I was able to download the audios from uppbeat.com without having to pay for them, which is great! Overall, I plan to edit tonight and tomorrow night (during my flight) and finish by tomorrow. That way, my partner and I will start the last portion of this project: the CCR. Here is a screenshot of the editing process: