"The Making Of [Insert Movie Here]"

This iconic title became a common DVD bonus feature for movies in the 90s. Blockbusters like Twister, Titanic, Star Wars, Jurassic Park, and even the 1995 re-release of Jaws presented audiences with fun and detailed documentaries on the production of the film in their DVDs. These documentaries would also make their way into television with a limited release to promote the movies’ DVD launch, rerelease, or sequel. As a child, I enjoyed reading books about cinema, film making, and special effect giants like Industrial Light & Magic; when I discovered these “The making of…” features they became a way to truly immerse myself in the production process and learn more about the filmmakers behind cult-classics. 

Given that we have to record our production process for our blog and for later use in our Critical Creative Reflection (CCR), I thought it would be a great idea to go back to my childhood and rewatch these documentary-style features to see how filmmaking role models like Gorge Lucas, James Cameron, and Stephen Spielberg. Usually, my research consists of me sitting in front of my computer screen surfing the internet for informative and reliable resources, rarely turning to a book for help; this time my research was a little different. My first step was to go through a few boxes in my garage to find my DVDs, then I realized I needed a DVD player to actually use them. Thankfully, my room’s TV has a built-in DVD because it has a few years on it, so I cleared a few hours of my schedule, grabbed a notebook, made some popcorn, and watched these features with a similar child-like wonder to that I feel when I walk into a theme park (I’m a huge theme park geek. As in, I know the maps of parks I haven’t even visited off the top of my mind. I have a Mickey ear hat and pins collection, I have Harry Potter wands and robes for when I visit Hogwarts, I… You get the idea). 


While watching the features I noticed a lot of similarities between them. They were composed mostly of raw hand-held or no movement footage of the filmmakers going through the production process. At times, there was little to no audio from the actual raw footage and instead, the movie’s score or a filmmaker’s interview would play over it. Interspaced interviews with cast and crew (including executive producers and directors) were common in all the features. Some features juxtaposed the raw footage of filmmakers composing a shot to the final shots used in the film. I never thought of these features with such importance, but they give us an insight into the production and creative process of some of the most iconic movies of all time and some of the most influential filmmakers of all time. I’ve taken lots of notes about ways to improve the documentation of our production, and I’ll definitely be acting on these notes! I think it will be extremely valuable to both Jake and me to look back in a few years to this project and to our production documentation and see how we accomplished certain things; it’ll help us identify how we will have grown as media creators. Until then, there’s still quite a lot to get done in the present like writing our script (which we plan to start ASAP!).

Stealing A Play Right Out Of Pixar's Book

Some time ago I had a random burst of inspiration for the website component of our portfolio project. I constantly regard the Monsters University marketing campaign by Disney’s PIXAR as one of the best creative film advertising campaigns the industry has seen, especially in their digital media components; so I thought we could take a few notes from it and make our site a fully functioning Stok High School website. You see, for the 2013 Monsters University film, Disney created an interactive website that mimicked the common tropes of college websites; going as far as to present it as hacked by MU’s rival school on April fool’s day. The website was effective because it allowed the audience to truly be immersed in the universe that the movie was portraying and gave viewers the opportunity to become personally invested in the story by letting them feel like they too could be part of Monsters University, just based on its website.

I texted Jake to tell him about my idea, and before I could even finish explaining my idea and where I was inspired for it Jake became excited about it because he knew exactly where my train of thought was heading. Like I mentioned before, there are many benefits to making our website the school’s website (with a link/page to the short film of course). We believe our decision will help immerse the audience into the world we're presenting, help develop the story through specific details/Easter eggs, and it will provide an opportunity for viewers to become personally invested in the story and its characters. But making a website means creating virtual content for it as well, and the first piece of the puzzle we needed was to figure out what the aesthetic of Stok High School is like, for that we made its logo. We decided to go with a modern design style because even when the school is set in a non-specific place in time, we want to be able to assign it a modern aesthetic that is representative of what we believe Stok High School would be like. Purple is a symbol for mysticism and royalty, representing the elitist nature of the school; and the gold is traditionally used to indicate first place winners (like in the competition for valedictorian) and it also represents the “gold standard” that students are expected to be at academically in order to truly succeed. I can’t wait to get started on this site! The critical path analysis gives Jake and me time to work this as we do other tasks which are really helpful because building the website with the vision I have could be problematic if we just procrastinate on it until the end.

Tomorrow is senior skip day at my school, which I’m really looking forward to, but it’s also the start of a weekend of work and productivity towards the project! Until then!

Hey Google Read Me My Calendar

“Ok, finding the nearest salad bar”

One of the time management tools that I find amazing is Google Calendar (shameless promo). As a Google user, I love that all my calendar is linked on all my devices and that I have the ability to create and edit events even when I can’t access my calendar myself by using my Google assistant. This is starting to read like a Google commercial [Insert Narrator: “Google Assistant: safe, secure, and in your control”]. Anyways, back in early December, I encouraged Jake to start using Google Calendar to help plan out his schedule and so far it appears he’s embraced it! We made a shared calendar some time ago and it has come in handy when scheduling our past brainstorming sessions. This software will be really helpful to keep Jake and me on the same page when it comes to scheduling; for example, we can input the critical path activities as events on Google Calendar.


Like I mentioned in my last blog post, we are heavily focusing on meticulously planning and scheduling the production in order to prevent placing a time-consuming burden on our schedule later on. I’ve come to notice that there are a few things about this year’s scheduling that are different from my scheduling last year, which means my approach also has to be different. Last year I was working alone on my portfolio project and I had about the same availability on my personal calendar with the exception of a few new personal projects I’ve added this year. Unlike last year, I’ve worked in a group so scheduling doesn’t revolve around one person’s schedule but rather it’s about adjusting to each other's schedule and flexibility.

My Scheduling Conflicts 

From here until the estimated production deadline there are quite a few things happening on my schedule but instead of just listing my problems, I want to map out solutions. So here’s my attempt at planning to overcome my scheduling conflicts:

Spamalot 

My school is putting on the Tony-winning musical Spamalot based on the Monty Python film “Monty Python & The Holy Grail”. As a first-year theater kid on a second level class, I’m very thankful for having been entrusted with the lead male character (King Arthur). However, this is a time commitment especially as we get closer to April when rehearsals will be happening after school and when I have to spend time memorizing lines, etc. To overcome this conflict I’ve requested that my AMT (American Musical Theater) teacher gives me the rehearsal dates in advance so that I can plan appropriately. In addition, I plan on being very communicative with Jake about this particular activity because he’s been in multiple productions and has more experience in managing his time around shows so he can give me pointers on how to approach my schedule.

NDA/Cypress Bay NDA

This one is a big one. I work on NDA (The National Dreamers Association) year around, not only for my school’s chapter but for the national entity. My work usually amounts to 15 hours a week and can certainly be time-consuming, but it’s for a great cause. Cypress Bay NDA is a motivational club focused on empowering CBHS students to pursue their dreams (or future career aspirations) through events that present inspiring stories from successful members of our community-focused around

important personal development themes. There’s a lot happening in the National team as we prepare for one of the most radical changes to our structure in recent history. And in the chapter level, there’s an event, a workshop, and multiple activities in between that are happening. These activities and changes take energy and time to plan and execute, and they’re happening simultaneously to the portfolio project. Jake and I are both in the leadership for the school’s chapter which means we both share this conflict, it also means we can both schedule things for the club around our project schedule vs it being the other way around (which is a huge advantage).

Spring Break

Surf surf! Surf surf crazy! (yes, that WAS a teen beach movie reference). Spring break is a bittersweet time of year. On one hand, it is a time to relax and lose some of the stress that I constancy carry with me through the year. On the other hand, it is the PERFECT opportunity to advance in personal projects and in the portfolio project, working to get some steps ahead while everyone sits back and sips non-alcoholic Pina Coladas. Jake and I have talked a little about working through the break, but we’re not sure on what and how because he is on a trip and my plans aren’t made yet. This is one is a conflict I’m gonna have to wait out to see how it unfolds.

Weston U 
Apart from my extracurricular activities, I also participate in a program called Weston University. I miss a whole day of school every month to participate in this program and even though it doesn’t feel like its time consuming, it IS one full day of work that could be possibly spent working on the portfolio project in class. Thankfully, I am aware of all the program dates ahead of time and we can just move something we HAVE to do together to the afternoon vs at school.

 Project X3
Yes, this is exactly what it sounds like. I was recruited by the CIA for a secret mission in an undisclosed location where I will meet my English point person. And then I woke up! But in all seriousness, I wish I could speak to Project X3 in more detail; what I can say is that it is a HUGE time-consuming commitment that is taking up more and more time in my schedule and its intensive work period is likely to come while we’re working on the production and post-production aspects of our portfolio project. I don’t really know how I’ll balance this work yet, but I’m confident that I’ll figure it out with some guidance from my media teacher.

Other Commitments 
Besides the conflicts I’ve listed above, there are smaller conflicts like eventual mentorship calls and other school projects that may come up in the near future. There’s always the possibility that I get called away to Walt Disney World in March for a weekend to participate in a motivational program as an Alumni leader. By “other commitments” I’m referring to the unexpected, the commitments that can or will occur that I can try to anticipate and prepare for by using the time allocated to working on the project properly and reduce my senioritis (which is undoubtedly real even when I don’t want it to be).

AICE Synergy

Today we had what I would usually call a brainstorming session, but there was no brainstorming, there was action! Today, Jake and I sat down for a planning session where we figured out all the basic tasks we needed to complete for the remainder of the portfolio project and discussed our schedules. I saw a perfect opportunity to put the knowledge I acquired in my AICE Business A level class last year to good use; by implementing a project management tool known as a “critical path analysis”.

What is a Critical Path Analysis?
Critical path analysis can be done by analyzing a critical path map, which is a diagram commonly used in project management to plan out a project. The diagram allows you to identify the “critical path” of activities you have to complete for the project to remain on track to meet a timeline goal. Analyzing the diagram also allows you to identify which activities have “float”, meaning they have some “wiggle room” per se which can help you better allocate time to each activity. This is a project management tool that is used to ensure that businesses are able to complete projects in an efficient and productive manner that lower costs by reducing the waste of time and resources. Sorry! I’m sort of a business nerd :)

Making Our Critical Path Analysis Diagram
So now that I might have bored you out of your mind (or not!), I’m sure the question on everyone’s mind is “That’s cool and all but how can you apply it to your project?”. This

diagram is a perfect planning tool because it pretty much gives a day by day breakdown of the possible activities one should work on and for how long in terms of days, which is great especially for Jake and I. You see, we both are in American Musical Theater at school, but in different shows which means when one is done practicing the other one will be in intensive rehearsal mode. Besides this, we both run a club at school and have our own personal time commitments so it’s hard to balance everything out, the critical path that the diagram identifies allows us to be clear on how to prioritize our tasks project-wise. After introducing Jake to the concept of Critical Path, he was thrilled to be able to use it for our project! This was great and all but a diagram doesn’t magically appear, it has to be calculated and drawn out and revised, not to mention it is a HARD business concept to grasp, even for our AICE teachers. So that was my next task, making our critical path!


I started by putting what Jake and I had identified earlier today into a graph that allowed me to see the estimated duration of each activity and assigned it a letter and number to be able to track it later in the diagram. Then I went to my old AICE business teacher’s room, grabbed an AICE book, and locked myself in the closet to figure it all out again. It had been a year since I last saw anything related to the critical path, so I had to start back at the basics looking at the book’s examples, researching online materials, and drawing it all out by hand from scratch. After about an hour and a half of calculations, two pencils, and maybe 10 scrapped papers, I finally finished making our critical path. As if I had found a four-leafed clover, I got a lucky surprise! My fellow AICE Business classmate who was visiting my teacher had a version of Microsoft Project downloaded onto his personal computer which he gracefully offered me to use for the purposes of digitizing the critical path diagram! So my cheerful ass typed away, making a detailed digital critical path diagram! Of course, then I realized I’d wasted about two hours of life figuring it all out for nothing and I wasn’t so happy, but then I realized it was very valuable to remember how to do something as beneficial as this project management tool! Anyways, this map will help Jake and I plan out the rest of the production and hopefully facilitate us staying on schedule for the rest of the project! 

Gen Z Cheeeeekkkkkkkk

What's good homies?!

When it comes to representation, don't be shy, put some more! Ok, I'm done with the cringe-worthy TikTok references; but really, a more accurate representation of certain groups in the media is extremely important. Proper representation of a collective in the media is important

as it shapes society's views on a group and helps develop a sense of collective identity. As you all know, Jake and I have focused a great deal on accurately representing our fellow Gen Z high schoolers in our short film, that's why doing this case study was so important to me. I wanted to make sure we're being as accurate as possible when depicting a group we naturally have a bias towards in terms of representation (because we are a part of it); this case study also helped me dimensionalize the impact/ consequences of inaccurate representation and the changes underway to the way representation is mediated. I hope you find this as fascinating and interesting as I did when putting it together for my research!

Media & Collective Identity

Essential Question - How Gen Z (specifically Gen Z high school students) have been represented in the media and how that representation serves to create a collective identity of the group as a whole. 

Case Studies

In 2019, HBO premiered an ambitious teen drama by the name of “Euphoria” starring Gen Z pop culture icon Zendaya. The series follows the troubled life of 17-year-old Rue, a drug addict fresh from rehab with no plans to stay clean. The show depicts Gen Z as a bipolar, immoral, lonely, confused, and yet empathetic generation. The heavy depiction of teens easily accessing and consuming illegal substances helps strengthen the unfounded stereotype that many Boomers and GenX believe about Gen Z consuming more drugs than their previous counterparts. In reality, studies by the Centers Of Disease Control & Prevention and the  American Addiction Centers have found that Gen Z has the lowest consumption of drugs such as Marijuana and Cocaine than previous generations. In addition, similar studies have found that Alcohol is also losing its appeal for Gen Z, along with sex and driving. Euphoria’s inaccurate and isolated representation of Gen Z in these activities creates false expectations for parents and fuels common negative stereotypes. 

However, Euphoria also heavily represented the role of sexuality in the Gen Z age and the mental health struggles associated with Gen Z high school students. Supporting characters int he shows include: Jules, a transgender girl searching for where she belongs; Nate, a jock whose anger issues mask sexual insecurities; Cassie, whose sexual history continues to haunt her; and Kat, a body-conscious teen exploring her sexuality. Since Gen Z high school students are growing up and being shaped by a world that understands gender and sexuality as a fluid concept, more teens are bound to question and explore their sexuality, something which is clearly represented in the show. Similarly, it is reported that Gen Z has the highest levels of mental health disorders and feelings of “loneliness” from any other generation, features which are extremely prominent at a high school level. Euphoria presents this generational struggle through its character development and plot, tackling the anxiety-ridden day-to-day life of a Gen Z high schooler with empathy and candor. There is an immense amount of representation, both accurate and taken right form John Hughes’ playbook of stereotypes, in this show but its efforts to represent Gen Z in a “raw” fashion are admirable and a step in the right direction for more accurate and holistic representation. 

The 2019 show “Sex Education” by Netflix depicts the everyday lives and crazy adventures of a set of horny teens in a modern high school in England. As with Gen Z and every single generation before them, sex is an appealing activity that may be constantly pricing teenagers’ minds. Sex Education does not strive to represent Gen Z as “hornier” than the adults in the show (which would be inaccurate as previously stated), in fact, the show does a good job at proportionally representing multiple age groups’ sex appeal; it is groundbreaking in its representation of non-traditional coupling in Gen Z high school students, showing traditional couples, interracial couples, and LGB couples. The show also celebrates the ethnic diversity found within Gen Z. It is widely accepted that Gen Z is the most diverse generation to date, however, that diversity isn’t always represented in media productions. The show is set in a small diverse town where their differences in race and ethnicity don’t seem to even be intently acknowledged. This doesn’t deter the different backgrounds on-screen to celebrate the richness of their cultural identity, it just enhances the detailed representation of Gen Z. 

Though generational drug use is decreasing, Gen Z high school students are undergoing a vaping epidemic. The number of Gen Z high school students who have vaped has alarmingly doubled every year for the past 3 years. In response, the US Food & Drug Administration created launched a campaign titled The Real Cost, targeting adolescents aged 12 to 17 years to prevent and reduce tobacco use by describing the true impact of smoking. In recent years, that campaign has shifted to include vaping. The FDA releases PSAs that depict Gen Z high schoolers vaping and becoming alien-like and brainwashed; addicted machines who escape their friend group and studies to vape. The intent of the PSA is good and the message is certainly important for Gen Z to hear. However, strictly using negative representation to cause concern in teens can also mislead parents and communities. 

This is one of the largest protests in American history. It took place on March 24, 2018, when approximate 1.5-2 million students descended on Washington DC to protest in support of legislation to prevent gun violence in the United States. The March For Our Lives demonstrations took the world by storm, drawing the attention from all sorts of news outlets. With the exception of the typical bias and outrageous claims by Fox News, the news media presented this protest as an awe-inspiring demonstration of courage and strength from Gen Z high school students. Late-night show personality Stephen Colbert remarked the protest by jokingly stating, “I was just reading on twitter how all teenagers are lazy and entitled” while presenting news clips covering the event. The news coverage was international as well, as millions of students from across the globe walked out in unison. The overall representation of Gen Z from this event painted modern teens in a positive light as activists, change-makers, and defied “undriven/lazy” teen stereotypes that were handed down from the Millenials. 

Typical representation tropes associated with Gen Z

The media representation of Gen Z high school students seem to embrace at least one of the following stereotypes:

•The Druggie– consumes and may abuse illegal substances (or vaping) that stump their energy and ambition. Often the douchebags or the overly relaxed characters. May stem from family complications. Sometimes presented as being sexually promiscuous.



•The Unmotivated– Lazy and uninterested in putting in much work to their academics or life. Prefers the easy way out.

•The Emotionally Unstable– Struggling with some sort of mental illness or suffers from high anxiety/stress.
 

•The Activist– Independent, courageous, speaks out for what they believe, influential among their peers, inspiring.
 

• Tech Addicted– Unable to detach from technology. Agil with tech solutions but unlikely to socialize in their physical environment even with their own family.  


•The Entitled –seen as desperate for attention, an attitude of supremacy (especially to adult authority figures). Sometimes presented as being sexually promiscuous.

The social implication of representation

The representation of a collective in the media can have a profound and lasting impact on consumers and, thus, on society.

The representation of a collective can create stereotypes that shape and influence the public’s perception of the represented group. These stereotypes may be inaccurate or founded without evidence which means they might place a burned on the people they convey. For example, Gen Z high schoolers are often represented as “druggies”, consumes and sometimes abusers illegal substances (or vaping) that stump their energy and ambition. These characters are often douchebags or overly relaxed characters, even sometimes being presented as being sexually promiscuous. In the 2019 HBO show Euphoria, the heavy depiction of teens easily accessing and consuming illegal substances helps strengthen the unfounded stereotype that many Boomers and GenX believe about Gen Z consuming more drugs than their previous counterparts. In reality, studies by the Centers Of Disease Control & Prevention and the  American Addiction Centers have found that Gen Z has the lowest consumption of drugs such as Marijuana and Cocaine than previous generations. But the inaccurate representation of the show helps to reinforce a pre-existing notion that transcends Gen Z but that is no longer true.  

This type of reinforcement can lead to people creating a hostile feeling towards the stereotype, which can lead to discrimination. For example, it could lead to future age discrimination against Gen Z for opportunities as they enter the workforce. Some people feel uncomfortable giving responsibility to Gen Z high schoolers because of their preconceived notion that they are unmotivated and involved in drugs or vaping, a notion that is reinforced by representation like the one found in Euphoria. As more Gen Z enter the workforce, they’ll have fewer opportunities available to set themselves up for success, which can have a set of social and economic repercussions itself.  

The media’s representation of a collective also helps develop a sense of collective identity within the represented group. In 2018, international media turned their attention to the March For Our Lives march on Washington D.C. and around the world, where millions of students protested gun violence in the United States. The overall representation of Gen Z from this event painted modern teens in a positive light as activists, change-makers, and defied “undriven/lazy” teen stereotypes that were handed down from the Millennials. Positive representation from the march for our lives coverage created more student interest in teen-activism.  Shortly after, millions of students more organized climate change strikes around the world to protest global warming and the lack of policy to address it. These events and those to come, fight unfair stereotypes and create a collective identity of activism for the whole generation. This collective identity helps people find themselves in the context of a larger body of individuals and how they fit into or stand out from the whole.  

A sense of collective identity that isn’t all-encompassing in its representation can have a toll on individuals' mental health or on the group’s morale. If someone feels like they do not fit into a group they feel they are supposed to, they might experience higher levels of anxiety. Shows like the Netflix Original “Sex Education” are helping promote a more complete representation by representing non-traditional coupling in Gen Z high school students; showing traditional couples, interracial couples, and LGB couples. The show also celebrates the ethnic diversity found within Gen Z, helping enhance the representation of Gen Z in the media landscape through inclusion. 

 Lastly, a developed sense of identity has an impact on the future of the represented group. If people see themselves represented, they are more likely to believe that they can do or accomplish what the character that resembles them is portrayed as doing. This helps shape the representation of future groups and of the collective identity of those who are already represented. The very point of media representation is to achieve a more accurate depiction of society in the media we consume and empower underrepresented minorities. 

Overall analysis

The collective identity of Gen Z and Gen Z high schoolers is mediated by the media. The representation of a group dictates how society should view the group and what role the group should play within society. 

Historically, every generation has common stereotypes and tropes associated with them during their youth. Most of those stereotypes are shared between generations and seem to be reinforced by the media created by generation previous to them. However, in the digital age, we are creating more content and consuming more media than ever before, which provides abundant opportunities for those stereotypes to be solidified through inaccurate representation or defied through the ease of content creation and distribution available to teens now. Gen Z is unlike any generation before it; they are the first digital natives, the most diverse generation in history, and the most progressively thinking generation since the Beat Generation. The common tropes for teenagers simply do not fit Gen Z as it did their past counterparts, Gen Z high schoolers are defying the teen stereotypes that they have inherited, but it is accurate representation of this defiance that will truly impact the future of society and help establish and develop a clear and precise collective identity for Gen Z. 

How that accurate representation is achieved is slowly but surely being revealed. Millennials are creating more honest representation in the content they’re producing, specifically in that which involves Gen Z. News outlets have had to report on incredible stories involving Gen Z’s collective effort towards a goal or mindless pursuit of an online challenge, which is undeniably providing a more precise yet perhaps confusing representation of Gen Z as a whole. Collective identity, specifically that of Gen Z, isn’t black and white, it’s a complex and intricate representation of a group. This is why it is highly likely that the media produced by that same group to explore their collective identity will be the ultimate mediator of the latter. After all, online distribution has made it easier to disseminate information faster and to more people effectively. For example, TikTok is a platform where videos can be shot, edited, and shared effortlessly and it's Gen Z’s current preference for sharing videos that help develop their collective identity. The opinion of groups and generations that are opposed to this new model of representation are soon to be irrelevant as they, for lack of better words, die off. Gen Z is taking advantage of the technology they have available to dictate their own representation and thus create their own collective identity through the media. 

In a world...

Last week, I did a project for my AICE Media class in which we were slipt into random

groups and worked on creating a trailer (among other components) for stories written by the creative writing students at school. Throughout the project, a vast majority of us complained about the minute details and problems that we encountered, but our hard work paid off because it presented an important experience from which I could draw a ton of lessons! What I learned not only from my own project but from watching everyone’s trailers is very valuable and I can't wait to apply it to my portfolio project! Here are some take ways! (CLICK THE PICTURE TO SEE THE TRAILER!)

The Importance of Genre Research
Early into the project, my project partner Arianna and I researched our genre; dystopias. Luckily, I had done previous research on the overall genre for the portfolio project, which came in handy. Regardless of my previous research, we both did a case study on a trailer that we thought had similar elements to what we were striving to include in our trailer. I studied the trailer for HBO's 2018 adaptation of Fahrenheit 451. Looking at the Fahrenheit 451 trailer and other dystopian movie trailers helped us identify genre conventions that we could use for our trailer project. The lesson from my research for this project was how researching what's already been done helped me determine what to imitate and what conventions to challenge, something I'll keep in mind when doing research for my portfolio project.  

Location Is Key

The setting of a film helps develop the context of the production and sometimes even progress the storyline, like in "The Maze Runner" were the maze is a storytelling element. The story Arianna and I got was set in the very distant future, so my mind immediately went to movies like Divergent and The Hunger Games where society is modernly futuristic, not Starwars level future. I knew reading the original story that in order to sell the trailer as a dystopian society we couldn’t film in Weston, so I hopped to my computer to find architecture and landscapes that fit what we envisioned as a futuristic society. In my location research, I found a hotel in Hollywood Beach that was shaped like an H and immediately knew we HAD to shoot there because of how different from the local architecture it was. My location scouting research for this project reminded me about the importance of location scouting to increase the realism of the pice. 

Arianna and I -along with 2 volunteer actors- drove for 45 minutes to Hollywood Beach for a full day of shooting. After a long and very tiring day of shooting at the beach, we still went to a second location to continue the shoot. When we arrived at the second location, we realized it wasn't what we wanted, so we went to my house and used my garage to create the mood we wanted. This highlighted the importance of being flexible and being able to adapt a space to serve the purposes we need it to. This was even more clear on our second day of shooting. We shot

some scenes in Weston but at very specific places that were framed properly to never appear as our local town. Sometimes that meant getting permission to shoot at places marked as private property, other times it meant paying close attention to our framing so that we had full control over the mise-en-scene. Either way, this aspect of the production was super important because my portfolio project is heavy on its use of location to progress the story.

Great Actors Can Make or Break a Piece
This lesson was evident when we were watching the projects as a class. Some projects had good actors, which made the delivery of the lines much more impactful for the audience, it was visible in the reaction of the creative writing class as they watched the trailers. For example, Jake's trailer had two great actors, so they truly made the audience believe that they were in love and the reaction was exactly what you want to hear from a teen rom-com, "I lowkey ship them now". Besides remarking good acting, watching it as a class also helped emphasize the importance of having a good dialogue. Jake and I are creating the characters for our portfolio project to be not only seemingly complex but relatable (because they are human after all). After this project, I know were going to have to go out and search for people who will be able to properly play the characters we write. 

The integration of technology 

Lastly, this project reminded me about the benefits of using technology to assist the production project as much as possible. We used a stabilizer to shoot and create smooth and flowing shots and I bought a new Yeti Microphone (just in time for the project!) that provided amazing sound for the voice over I did at the beginning of the trailer. We also used canva.com to create our key art for the project. The technology we used helped make better production and more accurately represent 21st-century film-making. 


This project was really fun and I got to work with some pretty cool people including Arianna who I had never gotten to work with before! I appreciate the lessons I got from it and I can't wait to apply them to my portfolio project! Speaking of the portfolio project, Jake and I plan on beginning planning out a timeline next week and starting the script! YOU CAN WATCH THE TRAILER HERE. 

Long time no post!

It’s been about a month since I last posted and quite a lot has happened since then! Jake and I have worked on the project a little bit on and off during this past month; thankfully, we're back on track and we’re ready to dive in again! 

In my last blog post, I talked about the third brainstorming session, when Jake and I worked on developing a more detailed storyline (which can be found in this post below). When we were laying out our storyline we decided it would be easiest to separate it into the various challenges of the competition we’re depicting and what occurs during those challenges. 

Here it is!

1. Challenge #1 (Mental) - Scavenger Hunt
1. The film opens in the middle of this challenge
2. The participants are split into groups
3. This challenge takes place in a virtual house (inside of the VR simulation), the goal of the challenge is for each team to find the item hidden in the house. 

• The scene opens in a panic as Garrett suddenly is shown being kicked out of the simulation after touching the water.
• An ominous voice alerts the students that the simulation can not replicate the touch of water and that if they were to engage in touching it, the system would crash and kick them out.  
• As the scene progresses, Courtney and Riley are also kicked out respectively. (we haven’t figured out exactly how yet)
• The remaining participants suddenly appear at a park and with sports clothing on

2. Challenge #2 (Physical) - Obstacle Course 

1. The participants work on this challenge independently
2. This challenge takes place in a virtual park (inside of the VR simulation), the goal of the challenge is for all the participants to test their physical endurance to prove they are superior to their fellow classmates even in this area.

• The scene opens with the participants recently appearing at the park
• The same ominous voice briefly explains the challenge 
• The participants being the obstacle course 
• The participants all run from the start line except Z, who appears to be extremely clueless as to what was going on. Shot counter shot of the participants in the challenge and Z chilling out in the starting line (with reggae music accompanying his shots) is shown. Eventually, the first participant to be eliminated is Z. 
• Charlie is also shown being eliminated, as they struggle with one of the physical challenges and fall out of the game. 
• The remaining participants suddenly appear at the beach during sundown. 

3. Challenge #2 (Emotional) - Moral Challenge 

1. The participants work on this challenge independently
2. This challenge takes place on a beach. The participants are presented with a screen that has their names a timer running and the instructions to “Press one to eliminate”. This is a moral challenge. 

• The participants appear around a table where there is an iPad that has their names on it. The iPad reads “Press one to eliminate” with a timer and the participants look to each other as they become aware of what they must do. 
• Bryce is the first to speak up, who suggests they eliminate Andrew
• Miles stands up for Andrew and tells Bryce to back off
• Isabella tells them all to stop arguing, they have to “figure it out together”
• Bryce tells Isabella to drop the team captain act, that “there is only one valedictorian and that’s me [him]”. 
• Isabella confronts Bryce revealing that he is “fake” and that his achievements are empty. Getting worked up as Bryce attempts to calm Isabella down with petty arguments, she blows up and presses his name. 
• Nothing happens
• Isabella is then eliminated. (Because the challenge was a moral challenge meaning the only way they all moved onto the next challenge was to let the timer run out). 

       3b. Emotional - Social Vote (2 Finalists) 

a.This challenge is taking place in the same location as the last challenge. 

b. The participants work on this challenge independently

• Angry that Bryce pushed Isabella to the limit, Andrew charges at Bryce.
• Miles holds Andrew back but he is also visually angry and slowly they both begin to back Bryce up into the edge of a small cliff that has water at the bottom. 
• Bryce falls off the cliff and into the water, getting eliminated by the system.
• Bryce can be seen pissed off taking off his VR glasses back at the real school and angrily walking past the rest of the eliminated participants who appear to be watching the competition on a screen (or projection). 
• Back in the simulation, the ominous voice explains that the final challenge is a vote of the student population. 
• Students inside a classroom are seen watching the competition, shots of their phones show them voting between Andrew and Miles
• Back in the simulation, Andrew and Miles are talking.
• Shots of the students voting on their phone show that Andrew has a significant advantage over Miles.
• The scene ends with a two-shot close up of Andrew and Miles as the ominous voice says “The next Stok High valedictorian is…” then the screen goes black. And the title appears.