(Not) Editing the Commercial

(Not) Editing the Commercial

          On Friday, after we shot all the takes of the day, we entered the classroom. In it, was pandemonium. The students were running around looking for working computers. The teacher was trying to settle the class down. The computer cursors had the "spinning blue wheel of death" (loading wheel). It was absolute chaos. The computer, all of them, did not have the editing software. When I went to my computer, I loaded it up. It took about 10 minutes just to see the windows home screen. And to confirm to all of the panic of my peers, there was no Pinnacle Studios application on the top right of the home screen. Thankfully, the teacher claimed that today none of the class will be failed because of a technical difficulty. I was relieved because this situation was literally out of our hands. We couldn't do anything. All we could do was stare at the Windows logo and wait for a miracle to happen. I, for one, started to work on my Filming Blog. It was the last one I posted. I, like always, waited till last minute to turn it in. It was assigned on Monday and it was due Friday night. So since the computers did not have the editing software, I did the only reasonable thing. I think I was the last one to blog. On Tuesday, I walked into class ready to edit. Since I already know how to edit I was pumped. I use an editing software at home called Sony Vegas Pro. I use it to make funny videos of my friends like Jimmy who has AICE Media Studies 5th period (I have it 2nd). Anyways I walked into class and felt stagnate air in the room. It felt foreboding and I immediately anticipated bad news incoming. And to my surprise, the teacher told us the bad news. The computers still do not have Pinnacle Studios. The teacher said that we will soon get a laptop cart that will allow us to edit. And that for now, just blog about how we did not edit at all currently. So that is why this blog is called (Not) Editing the Commercial. Also since no one was editing, it allowed our group to go back out into the campus and re-shoot some failed shots without being behind the other groups. I always try to look at the bright side. Every gray cloud has a silver lining.

Filming my Anti-Vaping PSA

          So I was an actor for our Anti-Vaping PSA that we filmed on Wednesday and Friday. I played the part of Boy 1, a proud person who vapes. In the commercial, I peer pressured one of my friends into vaping, a common occurrence among the high school demographic. One of our actors, the Principal, was unavailable on Wednesday. Only me, Boy 1, and Angelo, Boy 2, were the ones there that were being in the film. Emily was our camera-women are was very much against being in the commercial. So I decided to shoot all of the shots that did not require him. I also came up with the idea to film all the shots of one actor at once in the conversation. That means I say my lines all at once without Boy 2 responding once. Then afterward, Boy 2 will say all his lines. When I edit it, I will cut the scenes side-by-side so that it will flow nicely. 

          On Wednesday, we got to filming a little late. First of all, the upstairs boys bathroom by the media center (the one we decided to film in ) was taken by another group. So we decided to use Plan B, the downstairs boys bathroom. Then when we got down there, the bathroom was being used by the people who actually needed to go, so we waited for them to leave. Then when we finally got the camera out, the screw connecting the camera to the tripod was stuck. Emily and I went back to the classroom and got Ms. Cats to help us get it unstuck. When we finally got into the bathroom to start filming, I had some trouble remembering the lines. It took me at least 3 tries to get my lines right. Which is kind of funny, since I was the one who made the script the day before. I believe though that I did an alright job on the acting front.

          On Friday, we filmed all the scenes that we were not able to film on Wednesday. That meant, however, I had to wear the same clothes on Friday that I did on Wednesday. It would be pretty weird for our clothes to change mid-scene. For one of the takes, Boy 1 was to be forcefully kicked out of the boys bathroom and knocked to the ground. It was hard to fall over convincingly because of the fear factor. But after a couple of tries and dustings off, I think I did a pretty good job. After all the filming was done, I was the one to dump all of our footage on the school computers both days. While I was dumping though, I noticed some alarming things. The shots on Friday, Angelo had Airpods in and I had my hairstyled a different way. So we may have to retake those shots again later.

Storyboard

Angles

• Over the shoulder
• High 
• Low 
• Eye-level

Shots

• Establishing Shot
• Medium Shot
• Extreme Close up
• Two Shot
• Three Shot
• Medium Close up
• Medium Long Shot

Movements 

• Pan
• Tilt

Editing

• Eye-line Match
• Reaction Shot
• Voice Over
• Jump Cut
• Cut Away                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Editing Lesson Blog

Editing Lesson Blog

          So today the whole class learned how to edit footage using an editing software called Pinnacle Studios. I already know how to edit since I have Sony Vegas Pro 17 at home, but I am unable to use it for this project. In this blog I'm going to talk about what our teacher taught us. First our teacher taught us how to 'dump' our footage onto our computers. We have to make a personal folder dedicated to this project on our school desktop. Then we plug in our SD card reader in to the computer. The SD card reader already has our SD card and footage in it. We then highlight all of our footage and drag it on to our folder in the desktop. This whole process is dumping. The definition our teacher taught us for dumping is, "transferring footage from our SD card or camera onto the computer via a personal folder."

          Now we finally get into the actual editing software. Our computers don't have it right now, but the will eventually have an icon for Pinnacle Studios, the software we are using. I have never heard of it before, but we our teacher opened it up it looked very similar to Sony Vegas Pro 17. It only had more lag and less features the Vegas, but I guess I will have to make do. Anyways, back on topic. Once we open up Pinnacle Studios, we have to make sure we are on the 'Edit' tab. There also may be a sample or preview video loaded in Pinnacle Studios. Our teacher said that it was there to attempt to teach new users the various ways to edit videos. If the preview is there, we simply just have to hit 'File' and 'New Movie' in order to get a fresh, clean slate. The first then we have to do to start editing is to import the footage from the folder into the editing software. Click the check-mark next to desktop, find the folder and the footage, then click start import.

          When that is done, we can see our raw footage in the top right of the software. Raw footage is the actual takes taken by the camera. Raw footage has no editing done to it. That includes any cuts, speed ups, slow mo, and etc.... Then we highlight the raw footage to put into track 2 in the order we want. The tracks have specific things that will go into them. Track 1 will have the titles. Track 2 will have the footage. Track 3 will have the music. And Track 4 will have the voice overs. After that we can edit all we want. We can add special effects, transitions, cut our footage, reverse our footage, and so much more. I will go more into detail in my next blog when I do the actual editing. When we are done editing we will save the project onto our folder. When we are done with all the editing, we will export it as a MPEG4 file under SD best quality settings. When we export a project, it renders it so all flows nicely as a coherent movie.

Planning Blog for Anti-Vaping Commercial

Planning Blog

          This is the planning blog for the anti-vaping commercial. We picked anti-vaping because it sounds like something our group is capable of making spectacular. We decided to make this commercial as light hearted as possible. We know that teenagers are also being bombarded by various different commercials warning them about the dangers of vaping, so we are trying to make it entertaining and educational. An 'Edutainment' if you would. We want to be funny and kind of make fun of people who vaping using modern lingo to be hip with the kids, dawg.      

Props

• Cardboard cut-out of the vaping devices
• Cotton for fake smoke/vapors
• USB 
• Skateboard/ picture of one
• Backpack

Costumes

• Hoodies
• Popular clothing brands
• Headphones/Air pods
• Towel/Shirt Hair
• Chain
• Baseball Cap
• Earrings

Schedule

• 10/11 Planning Blog
• 10/15 Storyboard Blog
• 10/22 Filming Blog
• 10/24 Editing Blog

Location

• Mural in between Senior Patio and Office
• Media Center Boy's Bathroom
• Building 17 Boy's Bathroom
• Stairs by the Senior Patio
• Under the Building 5 stairs
• Outside hallway in front of the band room 

Back Up Plan

• If those bathrooms are closed, we will try Building 21, 5, 8, and etc.
• If raining, we will film inside the Buildings' hallway
• If Emily is absent is absent, Rafael will film solo shots of Angelo and vice versa.
• If Angelo or Rafael is absent, Emily will (against her wishes) be in the commercial.
• If both Angelo and Rafael are absent, Darwin will sub in for both of them.

Research Conventions & Codes

Our AICE Media Studies group decided on the Anti-Vaping PSA commercial

Some negative health consequences from using e-cigarettes and vaping devices listed in the article "THE BIG REVEAL 10 Surprising Facts About E-Cigarettes"  https://www.centeronaddiction.org/e-cigarettes/about-e-cigarettes/10-surprising-facts-about-e-cigarettes include

Damage to the brain, heart and lung

Cancerous tumor development

Preterm deliveries and stillbirths in pregnant women

Harmful effects on brain and lung development, when use occurs during fetal development or adolescence

Here is an example of an anti-vaping poster used to dissuade high school students

• The poster uses the color RED to emphasis numbers and subjects that require special attention.
• The poster also uses different SIZE TEXT to also draw the readers attention to certain words
• The poster uses figurative language like the oxymoron "A Big Problem... A Small Device" to keep the reader thinking of that saying throughout the day.

An infomercial called, "Vaping is an Epidemic | The Real Cost" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYuyS1Oq8gY uses many film techniques that goes as follows:

• They use CGI to exaggerate the effects of vaping on teenagers.
• They use Action Match and Dissolves to make the video flow better.
• They Voice Overs to explain the actual chemicals like 'formaldehyde' that go into your body when you vape.
• They use Graphic Match on the teenagers faces to show how vaping can affect anyone.

My First Blog!

      Hey, this is A Feral’s first blog! Yip Yip Hooray! Obviously, my name is not a Feral, but I would like to keep my identity anonymous. Anyways I am a high school sophomore currently taking AICE Media Studies and making this Blog is a required assignment, which is kinda tough. I’m not very comfortable writing about myself and the events that happen in my daily life. So, this whole thing is a learning experience, which is a good and bad thing. Good because … learning duh, but bad because I might make mistakes along the way. That’s okay though since making mistakes is a part of learning.

     Speaking of learning, I am currently attempting to obtain the Cambridge AICE Diploma this year. I have completed 3 AICE classes last year: AICE Marine Science, AICE Global Perspectives, and AICE General Paper. This year I am taking 4 AICE classes: AICE Thinking Skills, AICE English, AICE European History, and obviously AICE Media Studies. In all honesty, I am only taking Media Studies for the AICE credit, not the actual material. I have little interest in film and photography, but maybe this class will change me. The things I have learned so far in the course are basic stuff that I already noticed while watching movies but did not know the exact vocabulary words for; like ‘Dutch Shot’ and ‘Diegetic Sounds’.

     Anyways, enough about the boring stuff and more about me. Like I said before, I am a high school sophomore and currently 15 years young. I identify as male, I am an Asian-American, and both my parents were born in the Philippines. My birthday is on July 28, 2004 so that means I have a summer birthday! My sign is a Leo for anyone who cares about that stuff (I have friends that do). My favorite color is red, and my favorite subject is Math. I plan to go to the University of Florida and become a Microbiologist in the future. That’s pretty much it, and hopefully, this blog is the beginning of a somewhat medium peak into my life! This is a Feral, signing out.

BTW, A Feral is an anagram for my actual first name.