CCR

Here is my CCR! 

Lots of love,
Amanda

A very happy Sunday! 

    Here are our digital components for our final portfolio project! I wanted to give a great shoutout to my partner, Onil Drore and everyone who helped to make this all possible. Overall, I enjoyed creating every component and I am proud of all I have accomplished. 

Enjoy,

Amanda :)

Postcard Advertisement:

(Front)

(Back)

Website: https://schoolsmale.wixsite.com/covid-19

Short Film: https://youtu.be/OZcReMWTlgE

What a relief! Love & miss you Tina! <3

Thrilling Thursday!

Wow, Onil and I’s journey is finally complete and if I could describe how it feels in one word I would choose bittersweet. We have come such a long way from last year, and we have developed so many new skills and techniques that we diligently used throughout this year’s portfolio project. I am so excited to share our three components with not only my peers, but my friends and family, as well as teachers. 

After 10 weeks of this entire process, there had been ups and downs. At first, Onil and I were working like snails, because we thought we had all the time in the world and then we started getting back into the groove. Our initial idea was to capture a romantic comedy, but with the unexpected circumstances of COVID-19, this was no longer an option for us. School was cancelled and all of our friends, including ourselves were on house arrest for our own safety and well-being. This was a major shift and I can speak for the majority of my peers when I say that I was shocked and a bit angry. As I’ve worked so hard throughout my high school career, this last year, my senior year was supposed to be the best one yet. As the county has recently made a decision announcing that we will not be going back to school, I was a bit upset. I didn’t get to experience college commitment day, our annual shaving cream fight, prom, and so many more end of the year festivities. Sad, but hopeful we all have been making the most of it and we continue to keep our heads up. 

So, Onil and I decided that it would be a perfect idea to create a short film on the virus that put us all on lockdown. We didn’t want it to be depressing, so we kept the parody technique that we had wanted to include from the beginning to lighten up the topic. Our goal was to create a story about a teenager who used different methods to cope with this deadly virus. We tried to exaggerate and mock some of the things that people have been doing to avoid getting the virus or dealing with it. We in no shape or form mean any harm, and we did not make fun of the virus itself, but we wanted to have fun with the extremes people have been going to during this time. 

Our short film took up the majority of our time as there was a lot to edit. I personally had to create a script to narrate the entire film, and this was not an easy task. To come up with the words, as well as time it correctly and record till I say it correctly, I was surprised with how much more time it took than I thought it would. Additionally, Onil and I had to spend some time hand making and gathering some of the sound effects to play throughout the film. We managed to find the perfect soundtracks on our editor, WeVideo, which was an important element to shifting the mood when needed. I was really pleased with how it turned out. For not being able to see Onil and only communicate through technology, I believe we did an excellent job. 

Our website started off quite rocky as both Onil and I struggled to navigate through all the buttons and editing tools, but once we got the hang of it, we flew through it. By working together adding in pictures, links, and designing it the way we felt went well with the theme of our short film, we got it done in no time. We decided to create a color scheme of red, black, white, and grey. Throughout all of our digital components these colors are displayed, which helped with branding. We used Wix and I have to say, I’m now a huge fan of this site! They provided us with so many amazing fonts and templates and I loved how they linked our website to an editor for a mobile version. This process was fun and easy (not too easy of course), but easier than the editing for our short film, laugh out loud.

Lastly, our advertisement postcard was super simple and it turned out pretty cute. We wanted the main picture to be of our main actor, Orian Drore, so we took an up-close portrait of her with a mask on. We manipulated the color of the photo, washing out the saturation and vibrancy, which gave it a dull effect that we used within our short film. We included our social media platforms, and made sure to advertise that it is coming soon. If we were to give these out to our target audience of teenagers at Chipotle or school, we feel this would definitely appeal to them. 

Overall, I’m super relieved that it is all over, but super sad as well. I’m going to miss Tina with my entire heart, but I will never forget what she has taught me and what I have to bring with me.

Enjoy,

Amanda :)

Working Wednesday!

    My brain is close to being completely fried. On Monday we finished our short film, on Tuesday we completed our website, and today, we finished creating our postcard advertisement as well as our Twitter and Instagram accounts. This last week we have been speeding, all gas, no brakes! 

    Postcard advertisement: This last digital component that we had to complete for our portfolio project was fun to create. We took a close-up portrait of our main character, Orian, wearing a mask and she was the main focus of the postcard. We felt this was the right choice, as the short film is only about her. We played with the picture's colors, making it dull, just like we have been doing throughout all of our components. Additionally, we stayed within our color scheme and came up with a nice postcard advertisement! 

     Twitter & Instagram: We thought it was necessary to create social media accounts to enhance our marketing campaign. Being teenagers, we felt that Instagram and Twitter were the main platforms that teens would utilize, so we focused on those. We made stylish posts that are insightful, informational, and involving. Including the website in both platform's bio, all the information and new updates could be easily accessed. This is exactly what we wanted and we couldn't have created a better way to market our release date of our short film. I will include some screenshots of these for you guys to see below!

Talk soon,

Amanda

Back again!

    Hello everyone! Today, Onil and I's main focus was our website. As we had previously started this component of our project, today we wanted to finish it and we were successful! We created a color scheme while editing our short film; It includes red (Burgundy), white, black, and grey. With this color scheme, we created our website and this would help the flow of all of our digital components, so it would be more memorable for our audience. We created a simple design that gives off a mysterious vibe, but we also wanted it to be cute and clean. We made sure that everything was easy to navigate through and made sure that even the mobile version ran well. As our target audience is teenagers, we know that they would most likely access our website on their phone finding it through our social media platforms, Twitter and Instagram, so we had to make sure it was functional and cool. I am super happy with the way it turned out and I think our viewers and customers will be too! 

Check it out:

(Desktop version)

(Moblie Version)

Woohoo,

Amanda

It's the final countdown!

This is the last week of our portfolio project and we are wrapping things up quickly! We have officially finished editing our short film, but I had some concerns with the final product. Here is an overview of our final decisions:

1. We decided to display the rules over the scenes, instead of displaying it on a black screen by itself. We would have had to done a lot of cutting in order to create this effect and Onil and I decided that it looked good as it is. 
2. We decided that I would narrate the short film by recording a voiceover that played throughout the film. 
3. We manipulated the color vibrancy and saturation from the scenes before quarantine to the present day. We wanted to portray this color differentiation to demonstrate to our audience the clear change in mood and environment. 
4. We decided that cutting the natural sound out of each scene and having the voiceover play in the background was a bit too quiet and it needed some sound effects. Onil and I went back to certain areas and recorded us making specific sounds to sync with what's being shown on the screen. 
5. Additionally, we collected some WeVideo free soundtracks to play in the background of some of the scenes that we felt needed it. The most important scene where the music component is manipulated would be where our main character starts showing and explaining the rules. We feel the rock music really took this scene to the next level. 
6. We decided to close our short film with a PSA to everyone, sending love and reminding everyone to stay strong and safe. COVID-19 has definitely changed a lot of things and we felt this closing touch would be heart-warming. A shoutout to all the seniors, who got their last year of high school cut short, we are the best!

Relieved,

Amanda

Happy Easter!

    I am very excited to announce that Onil and I have put together all the clips and our short film is looking really nice! We still have to make some adjustments and until then I will not be releasing any sneak peaks of our finalized short film. The whole point of blogging about my progress is to show my thoughts and express the ups and downs of my project, but I would like to keep this as a surprise. All we have left to do is add words (the rules) on the screen and find some background music. I had an idea for the words to be created on a separate platform, designed a certain way and a classic music to play behind the scenes like this short film I looked at the other day. 
Check it out: https://www.shortoftheweek.com/2017/04/12/5-films-technology/
I couldn't figure out how to screenshot to show you guys directly, but if you look at the video, you will see what I am talking about. This element and look/vibe is exactly what Onil and I are going for, we just have to figure out what the best way for us to create it is. This could be writing the words on a black screen, figuring out a way to draw it like the video, or present it over our scenes. There are so many options and we have so much freedom to create it however we want. This is a blessing, but also a curse!

Keep you posted,
Amanda 

Good Friday!

     Although this weekend has a great holiday to look forward to, Onil and I's project has hit its first dilemma. As I started to put the clips together, I found that we are a little short on footage, and the entirety of the project looked like it needed more. We made a change while recording, which was to add a flashback in the beginning. The flashback will show our main character's life before quarantine and the purpose is to not only to add some personality into the film, but add to the very odd transition everyone has had to adjust to. Initially, we felt that we only needed to incorporate a party, but then we saw that we should capture more simple elements like Orian walking her dog, laughing with her friends, or eating dinner with her family. Onil will be capturing these moments to add to the opening of our film. With this new addition, I feel that the flow of our film will be a lot smoother. 

Enjoy the weekend,
Amanda 

Woohoo!

    Finally! Onil and I have finished filming our entire short film. We believe we have captured every element and idea we wanted to portray to our audience. The only thing left to do to officially complete this portion of our portfolio project is edit. My goal throughout this week and next week is to finish this process. I am very pleased with Onil and her sister's dedication and commitment to making the most out of the situation and all that we have to work with. I will keep you guys updated throughout the week!

Talk soon,
Amanda

Soothing Sunday!
     I'm back with more updates on Onil and I's journey throughout our portfolio project. I know you are itching to hear what I could possibly have to share today, so drumroll please... Today, I will be sharing our rules:

1. Always have hand sanitizer by your side
2. Sleep with your mask, eat with your mask, and shower with your mask. NEVER TAKE IT OFF.
3. Gloves always stay on, hand sanitizer on top of your gloves.
4. Never leave your home

These rules will be displayed in the same style as our chosen film, 'Zombieland'. We have talked about it multiple times and it has become our final choice for style. As displayed in the film, we will present the rules through text and video with an accompanying voice-over. We have not yet decided which font will be used for the text of the rules but the idea is set in stone now.

Talk to you soon!
Amanda

Friday Fun!

     My goal since last posting was to get started on the editing process of our short film and I am pleased to announce that I have done so. After importing the new content that Onil captured, I started to lay it down in the desired order. I'm not quite sure if this is how we are going to start, but as of right now this is our opening. In order to create the mysterious vibe, I will manipulate the color as the videos came out very bright and lively. Onil wanted to continue recording either this weekend or throughout next week. She will be capturing the rules to staying healthy and what to do in our current circumstances: COVID-19. By over exaggerating, Onil and I hope to portray it as a parody, not making fun of the illness itself, but the extremes people are going to because of it.

Keep you updated,
Amanda

Wednesday!

    The day has come, Onil and I have officially started to record our short film. Unfortunately, since we are both not allowed to leave our houses, Onil did the recording of her sister by herself. Not only did we FaceTime so I can offer my input on shots and techniques, but she sent me hard copies of the videos as well for me to evaluate. We managed to capture many scenes of Orian (main character) doing her morning routine, which is the opening to the film. I will soon import these clips into WeVideo to start editing, so we don't leave it all to the last minute. I am very pleased with our chosen character and the looks of the clips. Can't wait for it to come all together!

Enjoy your day,
Amanda