CR Preparation

         Entry 34: 3/30/22

     So in class, Stoklosa gave us another lesson on the CR and I am so glad she did. Isa and I are definitely on the right track but there is much more we could be doing to make this project perfect. I am just going to quickly recap everything she said and how I want to improve from this week to next week. We still have enough time to fix any last minute errors and add anything so this is going to be really helpful. 

    QUESTION 1:

    For the first question of the CR, Stoklosa said to make sure to check if we had research about what documentaries we watched as inspiration, what inspired us to make the documentary, any production research, genre research and how we challenged the genre, and basically why did we do everything that we did do. If we were stuck on any research blogs, she said to check out her blog topic list which I have been checking.. a lot.. for sure. Next week, I am certainly going to try and do any last minute research necessary. This includes anything with the social media, magazine, and documentary! 

    QUESTION 2:

    This question was one that I definitely think we got some catching up to do. The thing is that we know how to answer this question and we have been basing our decisions off of them but we have not been really writing about them. Sorry I have no shame I can admit this. I am going to fix that next week tho, I really do want to have everything and show you guys how we did think everything through but sometimes stuff just slips our mind and we forget to write about it. No one said it is easy creating a documentary as a high school student and doing class, work, caring for family, etc. One of the research post I need to write to you guys is the target audience one and their age range, gender, common interest, etc. 

    I also can not wait to show you guys the magazine! I should be done with the magazine very soon and it is going to slay. 

    QUESTION 3:

    The last question is the most important so I got to make sure this is all checked off. First the whole point of this AICE media project is to create three products and create a brand that links them all together and allows them to work alongside one another. We have to make sure everything we do links together and gives off the same aura and I really feel like we are hitting the mark so far. Creating a brand that allows everything to work together and being able to explain it is really important so that is the goal for next week while we finalize everything.

Post Production is About to Commence

         Entry 33: 3/29/22

     So now the final run begins. It is currently Tuesday the 29th of March and the project is due April 10th. Boy oh boy.

     One thing completed today was that Isa went and dropped off the equipment back with BECON. Maya came along with Isa as well as they both had equipment. Isa used the blue cart again and had a quick interaction with Jim so I do not have any pictures but it was a relief to have all of that out of our hands and we were not missing anything. Phew. One last time, thanking Jim for being the best man in the world and having equipment for students.

     Something else was that Isa picked up the hard drive from Wade and had to delete some stuff off of it to fit all the documentary footage. There is so much footage + it is 4k so you can imagine how long this is all going to take. Isa was going this whole process and updating me but basically she put everything on the CBTV hard drive onto her's so that we can put all the documentary files onto it. Here is what Isa sent me while we were texting. It was going to take some time.

     That is all for today unfortunately. Extremely thankful that we have Monster #2 and the hard drive but this is all we can do today. Isa is going to send the stills soon from the documentary so I will be able to upload some things again onto the social media so I can't wait for that. Tomorrow is Lightning Oscars rehearsal AH and Isa is going to start doing transcriptions of the interviews. Hopefully that does not take too long so we can jump into editing. 

Filming is Officially Over

        Entry 32: 3/28/22

     Last day of Spring Break :C. This is very sad news but the good news is we got a whole week ahead of us to do documentary editing and the other 2 components. The only issue is that we still have so much to do and so little time. This week is (I use this word a lot) but JAM PACKED. Today is Monday but on Wednesday Isa and I have Lightning Oscars rehearsal. Lightning Oscars is our school version of the oscars where SGA (student government) plans a whole event with some funny awards for students and give them fake oscars. For example some categories are President of the Bay, student most likely to be president, Couple that Never was, etc. Isa is on the CBTV live event crew where they are live streaming to Youtube so parents and students who can not come could see, and I am a presenter for the category The Couple that Never Was with my best friend Alex. After rehearsal on Wednesday, which will probably last until 7pm, the actual Lightning Oscars is on THURSDAY! This gives us zero time to edit on those days without staying up extremely late because the event starts right after school and goes on until 10PM. Oh but at least we have Friday to edit.. wrong. Friday is GRADBASH! Gradbash is where all the seniors go up to Universal and spend the night (7pm-2am). The park will be closed off to only seniors. So while on top of everything Isa and I sign up ourselves for, we also need to complete this doc. 

     Next, Isa and I needed to make sure we could use the powerful computer our advisor had, Monster #2. Isa kept reminding me to text him everyday but I already had once earlier during Spring Break and he left me on read for a bit because it was break and he was traveling. A bit after he did answer and give us the all good. The computer is honestly what is going to allow us to finish on time. 

     After our advisor gave us the thumbs up, Isa asked Wade if we could borrow the hard drive he had that was formatted to Windows. Isa was going to originally use hers but it is formatted to Mac computers. Wade said yes so Isa was going to pick it up. At the same time, we also need to return all the props to school so Isa put those in her trunk so we could return them after school.

     Alright now that that is out of the way, we still got one big issue, we still do not have the name! Which is super annoying because to start the whole branding process on social media we need a name but we just can not find a good enough one. It is so difficult to find a name that checks off all the boxes we want it to. We are honestly extremely stuck so we asked around again and here is some other suggestions since last time:

-Are You Still Watching?: You normally see this in streaming services like Netflix after you watch several episodes without clicking anything. I really like this one and I think it is one of our best options at the moment.

-Panopticon: One of our interviewee's suggested this name and Isa really likes it but I'm okay with it. The definition is really cool when you connect it to the male gaze and how cameras or perceptions are all around us but we can't see it. If we were to use it, Isa and I said we would 100% would need to put a definition somewhere. But we also need a docu-series name. sigh.

     Hopefully we have the name soon, I really want to use that around the social media but we will have to see. Anyways, that is all for today so I will update you guys soon! I hope I can memorize my lines for the rehearsal in time as well.

Filming Day 4

       Entry 31: 3/26/22

     FOURTH DAY OF FILMING!!! Alright so today was pretty short. I babysat in the morning and then headed off to film Sabrina's b-roll. Reshooting went super smoothly since we had already done it about 3 times. The crew showed up early to move Isa's living room again so that was super fun. Also Isa's mom made some sandwiches with Nutella and I ate like 4, sorry Isa. Again, Sabrina does an amazing job and is extremely easy to work with. She also helps us with camera stuff if we need it. For a bit the lighting was a bit wonky but we just had to turn on the ceiling lights (that we forget) and move around the stands. Once it was done, wrapping up was so relieving. It was like eating Isa's moms Nutella sandwich. 

     We also made the wonderful decision of filming in 4K which is going to be awesome in the end, but for editing we need a strong computer. My MacBook Air can not even handle Chrome and Zoom being open at the same time so we can not use that. Isa's computer is messed up. So we resorted to asking our TV teacher for a powerful computer we call Monster. So there should be some editing updates soon!

     Below I have uploaded.. you get the drill here are some pictures.

     We only have a few days left until the deadline so now it is grind time. Next week is also jam packed so that is going to be fun. My friend Alex and I are presenting for our school's Lighting Oscars and it is also Grad Bash where all the seniors go to a closed off Universal at night! That is going to be super fun, I can not wait.

Social Media Update

     Entry 30: 3/22/22

     Now that filming is basically, almost done. I have updated the Instagram and posted more of Counter Conformity, which is considered EP 1 of the docu-series, and I uploaded some content of the new documentary. There are a lot of post on the story right now for the current documentary. This includes camcorder pictures of the interviewees. The collection of pictures is used to symbolize how women are just looked at. There is very little context and many people might not recognize it but that is how I was considering it. The rest is just boomerangs of filming. Once Isa sends me the stills for this current documentary, I will start posting more. She has all the footage right now so I am just waiting for that. 

 

   I am going to post one more thing about Counter Conformity, then I am going to create a divider in the page. This will allow for the transition between EP 1 and EP 2 in the docu-series to be clear and easy to see. I also uploaded a video of how the highlights on Instagram work, not sure if it video itself works.

Filming Day 3

      Entry 29: 3/23/22

     THIRD DAY OF FILMING!!! Alright so today was hectic. Tess came early in the morning and of course, Wednesday is the day our city collects trash and mows lawns. Why not any other day? That was a problem, we had to keep stopping and taking breaks because the audio was terrible. Also, the AC was also just being so lovely. The interview was LONG, but a good long. Tess had a lot to say on the topic. Not only did Tess have a few personal experiences, but Tess had articles, books, and essays to note back on while talking. The way she formatted everything that she said was wonderful. I would 100% say it was worth it. It was a little awkward at times because we are not super close with Tess, but it was a very comforting environment. 

     For b-roll, unfortunately, I had to go babysit. It was a prior commitment and I could not change it a day before. I talked to the crew after and they said it was awkward at first since Tess was not very comfortable posing but once they got through some sets, Tess was much more used to it. Tess also brought several props that they used in the b-roll that related to the pieces of media she dated back to in her talking. I thought that was super cool. Maya also apparently stopped by and helped. Thanks Maya :D. Something we realized that was very interesting was how each interviewee was able to bring something different to the table. They all had a new perspective on the topic and presented their personal self differently throughout the b-roll. I can not wait to see how the end turns out and how they will all be tied together. 

     Below, I have uploaded some pictures, videos, and boomerangs that Wade took since I was not there. 

     Anyways, that was day 3 of filming! Since we want to refilm Sabrina's b-roll this is not the last day but, no more interviews at least and having to worry about the AC turning on. I will start posting more on social media likely soon once we are able to get some stills and teasers. See you soon!

Filming Day 2

     Entry 28: 3/22/22

     SECOND DAY OF FILMING!!! Before I talk about Maya, our second interviewee, Isa and I did decide to schedule all of the interviewees early in the morning and then change b-roll time to later in the day when the sun was basically down. Because of this, we had to reschedule Sabrina's b-roll for Saturday and ask Jim if we could have the equipment for longer. Isa and I were able to learn from our mistakes and make the best choice for the matter and I am glad everyone was able to work with us. ALSO let me shoutout to Wade for CHANGING HIS DRIVER LICENSE LESSONS just to help us. What an absolute legend. 

     Let's talk about Maya now. Maya arrived around 10AM and we were able to finish the interview in 2 hours / 2 and a half hours. Not exactly sure the days are blurs now. Walking into the interviewees, Isa and I already had in mind who would "carry" the doc or basically, who's answers would aid us the most. But after Maya's interview, we realized that Maya was our golden ticket. Sometimes after Maya would say a sentence I would look at Isa and we would both just telepathically agree that that was going in the doc. 

     Around 10:30PM I believe, Isa's parents started telling us to wrap things up so. started setting timers for each set and making sure we were done with our shots by the time the timer was out. I think this helped the crew a lot because we were managing our time and seeking what was most important. Also, Maya is just a natural at modeling and posing like she rocked that. This made it 20x easier to work with the time limit we had on us because Maya kept thinking of new and smart ways to pose. Once we finished, Isa has all the footage and she said that the shots look a way lot better, so that is good to know.

     Below. I have uploaded pictures from the filming process. One of my favorite pictures of me doing the interview are there. Maya also brought several outfits and you can see them throughout the pictures.

Maya holding clapper.

That is me doing the interview with Maya. The questions
are on my phone.

Isa and Sammy filming with both cameras
for interview.

Maya b-roll.

Maya b-roll.

Maya b-roll.

Maya b-roll.

Maya b-roll.

The whole gang filming.

Maya b-roll.

Maya b-roll.

Maya b-roll.

Maya b-roll.

Maya b-roll.

Isa doing director stuff. 

Maya b-roll.

Maya b-roll. (cool reflection)

Maya b-roll.

Maya b-roll.

     Tomorrow is the second to last day of filming! The only issue is that, I had already booked out my free time this week with babysitting, so when we changed filming to night, the time we do Tess's b-roll was now already filled. This means I likely will not be there for Tess's b-roll but I will for the interview and I have full confidence in Wade and Sammy. I am excited to meet Tess on a more personal level, I have only known Tess through classes but never got the chance to talk to Tess. I know that Tess does lots of speeches so I know Tess will go off.

Starting to Post on Instagram

    Entry 27: 3/21/22

     Good afternoon! As you probably read from my other blog post, there was some downtime while we were filming so I was able to get some post in for the social media. I have to say Canva is my best friend for the social media. Canva has so many templates and it is extremely easy to use. It does have like a premium option but the regular one works perfectly. For these post, I just go to templates on Canva, select the neutral one, and upload some pictures. For the colors on each one, Canva already creates them for me so I just have to choose which look best. Since our social media is the docu-series, I am starting with Counter Conformity, but after a few teasers and pictures, I will move into the next documentary. The Counter Conformity post has the link to the documentaries website. Unfortunately, the link does not work while it is on a post but Isa was thinking of making a Linktree. I recently made a Linktree for @cypressbaycbtv and for myself and it is extremely simple so we can probably do that for this social media page. 

     I will be posting lots more through out this week and the next so make sure to follow the Instagram. Since we do not have a name yet, the Instagram is still called @documentarypt2. (We have 44 followers isn't that so cool)

Filming Day 1

     Entry 26: 3/21/22

     FIRST DAY OF FILMING!!! Our first interviewee was Sabrina and she did a fantastic job. The crew meet up at 10AM to set up and Sabrina showed up around 11AM. We went through all the interview questions in about 3 hours. Sabrina answered with lots of personal experiences which is going to be tricky to find b-roll to put over but she did a marvelous job and we want to include as much as possible. So thankful that Sammy and Wade were there because they helped a lot. Also, I was mostly the main interviewer but whenever Isa had a question in mind she said it to the interviewee. I loved that Isa did this because sometimes things that Sabrina said slipped my mind and Isa was able to catch on to it and ask more. Also, an issue that arose during this interview was the AC. It kept on turning on and you could hear it on the lav. Each time the AC turned on, which was every 30-45 minutes. We took a break until it turned off. It was very annoying and painful but the positive was that we did get a break and some time to bond all together.

     Sabrina then had to leave for a prior commitment but came back in an hour. During that time, the film crew basically had lunch and just talked. It was a nice break period for the first day and started to prepare us for the b-roll time. Sabrina ended up coming back around 4PM. This was fine at first until we realized the sun kept going down and the lighting just looked awful. When Isa was testing out sets at night, it looked really professional and clean but around 4PM-7PM, the lighting was a whole different situation. We might have to ask all of our other interviewee's to come later in the day for b-roll because the lighting is terrible. But during the b-roll, Sabrina used her big brain and brought multiple outfits which was super cool. We were able to do different set ups with different outfits. 

     Below I uploaded some pictures and videos so that you guys could feel like you were there with us. For some reason, the videos won't let me put captions but one is a time lapse of us changing sets and the others are just ones while filming. The last video is a shot of Isa's house and how we quite literally worked with what we had and changed Isa's house into a studio. I love that video because it goes from normal kitchen, normal living room, to BOOM studio, lights, camera, and some wanky televisions.

Setting up the interview spot and having Sammy 
test it.

That's me getting ready to interview Sabrina.

The shot from one of the cameras during the interview.

Sabrina holding the clapper.

Isa, Wade, and myself waiting for the AC to 
die down.

Both cameras for the interview.

B-roll shot.

Sabrina holding the clapper.

B-roll shot.

Ms. Director.

B-roll shot.

SAMMY <3333

B-roll shot.

     Right after filming, I sped over to go babysit. My spring break so far has been either filming or taking care of nasty little.. I mean precious children. I stayed at the families house until 2AM, which was the time they came back. Yes it was an exhausting day and I already have babysitting days planned for the rest of the week so I know I will be extremely tired but I know it will be worth it in the end.

     The film festival that Counter Conformity got selected for a while ago was NFFTY and my parents had to sacrifice a lot to be able to buy the plane ticket for me and everything else that was needed. Isa and I are going in at the end of April to Seattle AHHHH. Also, I decided that since I have time, I should babysit more so my parents do not have to worry about paying for my college orientation, school events, and anything that I can pay for myself. They get mad at me for doing so but I might as well help out. Hoping to at least make enough to pay for my states trip during break so I can get that out of the way. 

     Anyways, second day of filming tomorrow! What does Maya have in store for us?

Docu-Series Social Media Research

    Entry 25: 3/20/22

     Hi again. Yes, it is 11 PM on a Sunday night but Isa and I did some research for the social media and I needed to share it. When we were studying documentaries in AICE MEDIA, we were told to watch Abstract: The Art of Design. Isa and I both love that docu-series and we decided to follow how they promote their documentaries. They have a variety of post including BTS, clips of their episodes, quotes, and more. A lot of what we will be posting will follow what they do, but we wanted to go for a more minimalist, neutral tone. I will start posting on the social media tomorrow before our interviewee comes in so you guys can take a look at some of what we have in mind. Below are some examples of what Abstract post and how we will likely be following in their footsteps.

     Also, they mostly post on Instagram so that is where we decided we would want to post as well. In terms of our video, we will likely upload it on Isa's instagram, Youtube, and Vimeo. These are the places, not only where our target audience interacts the most, but also where we can spread out piece to more people. I would love to also post on TikTok since it is the perfect place for our target audience, but I am trying to find other docu-series that do the same to research them as well.

     Speaking of social media, Isa made an outline while I was babysitting of a few things I could post about. This helps a lot because we have to reach more than 20 post. It should not be a problem but I want to make sure we have all of it prepared.

     Alright now I am heading out. I shall see you guys tomorrow for filming.