LINKS!

LINK TO FOLDER 

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1_WGEYQJSSqRC0QF374tWomvuaQcgPLKx?usp=sharing

Final thoughts

Before I begin discussing my experience, I wanted to express my gratitude for Cambridge. This experience allowed me to learn a great deal about myself and grow as an individual. This experience taught me lessons that I will carry for the rest of my life outside of academics.

To begin, the biggest lesson I learned was structure. Even though I stay on task and do things at the correct time, I often lack structure. The lack of structure often leads to wasted time, which really frustrates me. This project allowed me to realize how important structure really is. Time is crucial not only in school but in every other aspect of life. If tasks were not completed in a timely manner, you would fall behind, so perseverance is crucial.

I will say this experience was very stressful because I am a very perfectionist person. I want everything to be the best quality possible. Thankfully, being able to work on this project with two of my best friends calmed me down a lot, and they were constant reminders that everything would turn out great and not to beat myself up so much.

My favorite part was being able to explore my creativity and sharpen my production skills with a great supporting cast, including my friends and instructor. Our instructor provided us a great, easy-to-follow schedule that kept us on time and on task. Being with these people allowed me to stay confident throughout the entire time about our product.

Turning this project in was definitely a big relief. This has been on my mind for a while, and it feels like a weight is lifted of my shoulders, and our collective hard work will be rewarded. I look forward to doing something similar for the A-level class, and once again, thank you, Cambridge, for this opportunity!

References:

Adobe Stock. (n.d.). The end. https://stock.adobe.com/search?k=%22the+end%22

CCR editing

DAY 1

The first day of editing CCRs was certainly a challenge. I filmed and edited on the same day, and it was a lengthy process. From the time finalizing my answer, to filming, then bloopers, and finally editing, I was at the studio from 11 AM to 3:20 PM. As soon as I began to edit, I realized how many cuts I had to do. I did over 20 cuts in the first 20 minutes. I used iMovie to cut down the time from 14 minutes to 5. iMovie is the easiest plat form to simply cut.

 After cutting down, I moved my project to Canva to layer in clips of the movie, sound effects, drawings, and short videos from Canva to reinforce the visual engagement. Canva has a great variety of audios and similar features that make the process a lot easier. While editing i quickly realized the downside of Canva is that it glitches out a lot. I found myself refreshing fairly often, which slowed the process down, but it was worth the easily accessible features Canva offers.  

I tried implementing a variety of clips from the film that matched what my dad and I were talking about. For example, if we were talking about Dr Muller’s reaction, a clip would be added of Dr Muller’s reaction.  

Other features I played with were the drawings that Canva has. For example, when I mentioned Drama and Mystery i added them. I feel like I have not seen it before, and it added a unique touch to it.

The booing when I introduced my dad was because he was the antagonist seen in the film's opening, so it further reinforced the negative impact he had.

Frankly, this was a draining process, and this made me realize how much detail and time editing a film requires in all aspects. 

DAY 2

This is also the last editing procedure for my portfolio project this year. To start the editing process, I started in iMovie, as always. I cut the 8-minute video down to 3:45 and added background music. There were significantly fewer bloopers than on day 1, which made it far easier to edit. Since this was not a podcast or a running conversation, I could essentially cut after every sentence, which limited stuttering.

After all the final cuts, I transferred everything to Canva. I wanted to take advantage of Canva's unique designs, and I incorporated them a lot. I continuously switched the placement of their designs to make it more visually engaging.

I also added clips from the movie to show examples of what I was referring to. I made sure to not to leave a talking head for too long and not make the editing repetitive by adding sound effects and transitions of the editing screenshots. My favorite edit was when I changed the lighting to black and white when I mentioned light. I think it was a creative and fun idea.

For this CCR, I made sure to be creative and edit something I am proud of and can watch. If you cannot watch your own content, that means you are doing something wrong.

The only downside I had was the length of the editing process. From 0 cuts to the final product, the result took me over three hours. Since I strongly dislike procrastination, I did it all in one sitting. Three hours sounds like a long, boring process, but when you are doing something you enjoy, it does not feel as long.

 music:

Darix Togni Digi G’Alessio - Background Music (HD). (2015, July 8). Gaming Sound FX. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2n8E9HgqVoE

CCR Production

 DAY 1

Today was the first day of filming my CCRs, and frankly, it was a longer-than-expected process. My first CCR was a podcast where I was joined by my dad, Dr. Mueller, and we were discussing our latest production. My dad asked me the CCR questions and contributed from time to time. I was planning on having a script, but since this was a podcast, a script would be more unrealistic. A major reason why people watch podcast is because of the raw, unplanned conversations had. If I had a script, it would not feel like a podcast.

We used my Dad's studio to film this because of the misce en scene. That part of the studio is made for filming podcasts, so it was perfect. In the backround there was a painting that said Sonica. For extra detail, I decided to name the podcast Sonica so it can match the background.

Since we had no tripod because my dad had an accident using his the other day, we had to improvise. We quickly saw a chair that would hold the phone, and it was a stable shot. The only issue was that there was far too much headroom, so we had to lower the chair. I noticed this as soon as I commenced watching the video, so it was a massive waste of time.

I had a basic idea of what was going to be said, but not word by word, which i though would be easy to do. I looked over at the original script to have a structure and order in which I said things. Once I started actually responding to the questions with the camera, it was a lot harder than I expected. I was speaking too fast, and I was getting slightly off topic. I was honestly nervous and would blank out, so there was a lot of unnecessary information and stuttering. I kept saying "Um," which really frustrated me. After the 6th attempt, I was very frustrated, and i could not think properly. I had to take a deep breath and reharsed what I would say slowly and actually thinking about every word i said. On the 7th try, I finally got it! The video lasted 14 minutes, which certainly needed to be cut down, but the answer was much better detailed, so I was happy with how it was answered.

 DAY 2

Today was not only the final day of filming my CCRs but also the final filming day of the portfolio project. When I finished filming this I felt a weight lifted off my shoulders knowing that this was the finale. I wanted to have a nice background behind me to make the video visually appealing. So I figured that the lake would be the spot to do it. Another idea that I came up with at the last minute was sitting on the couch where Maverick sat, but the background was not ideal.

When filming, I had the script below me. Although I did not say it word for word, I did say a lot of things directly from it and added on from what felt best in the moment. I believe I answered the questions efficiently and was straight to the point.

For the CCR video itself i decided to do "fan sent" questions that i would be answering. I typed and printed the questions and but them in a packet where i wrote CCR case 48. This made the movie feel famous and was a creative ways to answer the CCR.

Lastly, an issue I ran into was background noises. I am outside, so nature will obviously be there, and the birds certainly wanted to answer the CCRs with me. 

Take a look https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ZFNx4sG3natqztvoZDUcTr81_mdWbVAa?usp=sharing

Overall, the filming process went much more smoothly than the first CCR filming because I followed the script more profoundly.

Final edits

 Today was finally the day Jalin and his father were able to film! This was by far the quickest filming day. Other than the fact that we needed a very few shots, Jalin and I hopped on the phone before he arrived, and we immediately got to work. For the blood on Maverick's wrist, we used food coloring once again. Instead of using fake blood, we figured that food coloring would look more realistic than fake blood, which sounds weird to say. The reason we chose food coloring was because of the texture it created with the bandage. Fake blood would be too gooey. The filming process took about 25 minutes because we still overshot. Many shots that we had did not even make the film because while editing, I made the final decisions of what made the film opening.

The editing process was fairly easy aswell. My job was to decide which shots made the film and which ones did not. We had a plethora of shots, but because the video must be under 2 minutes and 10 seconds, some shots did not make sense due to the fact that they needed more context.

For example, we planned an over the shoulder shot of Maverick looking up Dr. Mueller's new medicine. We realised that the shot would not add anything to the plot, and it would take up very valuable time. Not to mention If the search led to something, it would have simply been too much information in the first 2 minutes.

The shots that I decided to incorporate instead were ones with Maverick stressing out, sitting down with papers all over the floor. This was an extra element of Misce-en scene. The messy hair and floor further emphasized the messy and stressful situation Maverick was encountering.

An extra detail we added was adding more blood 5 hours later to show that the effects were only getting worse. The shots I settled for made the blood more vissable which made me more confident in the decision I took.

When Maverick found out the news, we decided that looking at his cut would show the audience he connected the dots on why he had been randomly bleeding. I decided that an eyeline match would truly emphasize this, and the close-up of his wrist highlighted the severity of the bleeding.

The only challenge I faced was getting the timing right once again. I wanted to keep the audio coming from the TV on the over-the-shoulder shot of Maverick typing, so I needed to perfectly time the cut from the actual program to the shot of Maverick typing.

The last editing procedure I took was layering the foley sound of the computer keys over Maverick typing. This was fairly easy because all I did was slightly lower the volume and extract the sound from the video.

Overall i had a blast editing this, and I look forward to editing again. So far, editing has been one of my favorite parts of producing, other than directing. These processes allow me to see everything come together from nothing, which is a fun process to be a part of.

CCR Production Ideas

For the production of my CCRs, I will be answering 2 questions per video. An idea I have for my CCR is using the darker side of my dad's studio to simulate an Instagram reel. I will be using this side because it looks like a place to create content, it is professional, it has microphones, and it has a lot of mise-en-scène. The idea is I will be opening "fan questions" which would obiosuly be CCR questions. The studio is meant to give it a professional look. I will be using nicer clothes to further emphasize the famous producer role I will be taking on to make this CCR. I believe this is a creative and fun idea that can make my CCR entertaining yet informational. I plan on answering the questions very straightforwardly and add layers of other pictures, videos, and sound effects to make it visually engaging, not just a boring talking head.

For my second video, I plan on sitting down and answering the questions as my regular self. I am still figuring out whether my father's office is available for this week. If not, there is another set. For the second set, I will be sitting down with a background view of a big lake and golf course behind it. I want to make this one aesthetically pleasing. You may be asking yourself how will i make this engaging. Well i will incorporate a plethora of clips from the film and audio to keep the screen engaging. The more visuals, the less boring it becomes.

With these 2 ideas being practically set in stone, I believe that the workload from these CCRs will come from the editing. Sitting down and repeating a script can be done easily, but what takes skill is editing this at a high level. I will highly likely use IMovie to edit the CCRs and will have Canva as a backup idea/ I am thrilled to begin filming and editing my final say on this experience

. 

CCR #4

 For my final CCR i will be answering the question: How did you integrate technologies – software, hardware and online – in this project?

For this project, we implemented a wide variety of technologies to maximize the potential of this project. We used software like like Canva, Imovie. Hardwares like phones and laptops, and different online tools like Google and Google Scholar for articles and YouTube.

To begin with the softwares, these where a big help for adding the final touch to our film. Canva was a big help in designing our production logo, introducing the logo in the film, and editing the credit sequence. Frankly, I was completely unaware that there was video editing on Canva. To my surprise, it was very user-friendly, and it was easy to work with. Layering videos' fonts and adding animations to the credits was very easy. As far as the design logo goes, it was a very smooth process. We grabbed a template and we designed it in one class period. It has a wide variety of fonts, templates, and audios that allowed our minds to be creative.

For our second software, I used iMovie. I used this to put all our recorded clips together. This is the editing software that I am most familiar with, and it is fairly easy to use. I will say that it lacks details like variety to the fonts, transitions, and just overall more options that allow you to improve your editing and make it more detailed. Transferring the clips can also be frustrating because the quality significantly decreases when i was attempting to send the clips to my group. Overall, I think the movie is convenient for surface level editing like sound volume and putting clips together, but anything more than that would require more advanced software.

For hardware's we used a phone to record and a laptop to edit. The editing process on a laptop is much easier than on a phone. We considered using cameras, but since I have the newest Iphone the process is going to be smoother, and the camera quality would not see a significant upgrade.

Lastly, for online websites I used Google for research for a large quantity of articles. To get more accurate and valid research I used the reliable Google Scholar, which skyrocketed my confidence in my research. Lastly, we used YouTube to download copyright free audios templates and back round musics.

Script:

For this project, we implemented a wide variety of technologies to maximize the potential of this project. We used software like like Canva, Imovie. Hardwares like phones and laptops, and different online tools like Google and Google Scholar for articles and YouTube.

Canva was a big help in designing our production logo, introducing the logo in the film, and editing the credit sequence and layering filters. Frankly, I was completely unaware that there was video editing on Canva. To my surprise, it was very user-friendly, and it was easy to work with. Layering videos' fonts and adding animations to the credits was very easy. As far as the design logo goes, it was a very smooth process. We grabbed a template and we designed it in one class period. It has a wide variety of fonts, templates, and audios that allowed our minds to be creative.

For our second software, I used iMovie. I used this to put all our recorded clips together. This is the editing software that I am most familiar with. I will say that it lacks details like variety to the fonts, transitions, and just overall more options that allow you to improve your editing. Transferring the clips can also be frustrating because the quality significantly decreases when iOverall, I think the movie is convenient for surface level editing like sound volume and putting clips together, but anything more than that would require more advanced software.

For hardware's we used a phone to record and a laptop to edit. The editing process on a laptop is much easier than on a phone. We considered using cameras, but since I have the newest Iphone the process is going to be smoother, and the camera quality would not see a significant upgrade.

Lastly, for online websites I used Google for research for a large quantity of articles. To get more accurate and valid research I used the reliable Google Scholar, which skyrocketed my confidence in my research. Lastly, we used YouTube to download copyright free audios templates and back round musics.

References:

Coderus. (2023). Software 101: A complete guide to the different types of software. https://www.coderus.com/software-101-a-complete-guide-to-the-different-types-of-software/

CCR #3

For my third CCR, I will be answering: How did your production skills develop throughout this project? Through this process, my planning, editing, and recording skills greatly improved. While I was familiar with editing, recording was not something I was usually tasked with, so I had to learn more about this part of production.

To begin, planning was not something that I previously put a heavy emphasis on. For my past projects, I had an idea of what the production would look like, and I had a basic understanding of what we would do, but I never had anything like a script or planned shots going into filming. Since this movie’s opening is dialogue-heavy my team and I wrote out a script. As soon as we got to the studio, we had a script done, and I cannot describe how thankful I truly am for our instructor's strong encouragement to do this. It saved a ton of time despite making slight adjustments. This made the production process much smoother than any other production I have done. We where able to focus on other things like mise-en scene and having the perfect shot. While writing the script, we also thought of shot ideas. Honestly writing the script was a bigger help than I would have expected, and I will certainly do it for my next production.

Next up, editing is something I am familiar with. In my previous projects, I have been the one who does most of the editing. Lighting, sound, audio, and timing. What I did not do before was have the same shot but from different angles. For example, we recorded the interview numerous times, but we had every angle. A 2-shot, the camera shot, and a close-up of both actors. This made me make decisions on what shots to use for specific lines. I watched a couple of interviews to get a feel of what to do. The one interview I learned the most from was NBC's interview of NFL QB Mathew Stafford.  “When to insert the close up? What about the 2-shot?” where questions I asked myself and answered through my analysis of interviews. I learned that you need a good amount of shots and have a smooth rhythm of when you switch shots. If the pace is too slow, the interview is visibly boring but to fast feels to hectic.

Lastly i had very little experience filming previous to this project. Filming the credit scenes taught me a lot about involving the background while also keeping the focus on the main idea of the shot. I certainly prefer editing over filming.

Overall, this production process improved my skills in a variety of aspects that are crucial to producing a high quality film. I will transfer and further enhance these skills to my future projects.

 

Script:

Well I must admit planning was not something that I previously put a heavy emphasis on which is embarsing as a producer. For my past movies, I had an idea of what the production would look like, but I never had anything like a script or planned shots going into filming. This time around i decided to change. As soon as we got to the studio, we had a script done, and I cannot describe how thankful I truly am for my staff's strong encouragement to do this. It saved a ton of time despite making slight adjustments. This made the production process much smoother than any other production I have done. We where able to focus on other things like mise-en scene and having the perfect shot. Thank you to our wonderfull staff for making this so sucsesful.

Next up, editing is something I am familiar with. In my previous projects, I have been the one who does most of the editing. Lighting, sound, audio, and timing. What I did not do before was have the same shot but from different angles. For example, we recorded the interview numerous times, but we had every angle. A 2-shot, the camera shot, and a close-up of both actors. This made me make decisions on what shots to use for specific lines. I watched a couple of interviews to get a feel of what to do. The one interview I learned the most from was NBC's interview of NFL QB Mathew Stafford.  “When to insert the close up? What about the 2-shot?” where questions I asked myself and answered through my analysis of interviews. Thanks to the NFL's great production team I learned a lot and hopefully we can get a synergy very soon.

Lastly i had very little experience filming previous to this project. Filming the credit scenes taught me a lot about involving the background while also keeping the focus on the main idea of the shot. I certainly prefer editing over filming.

Overall, this production process improved my skills in a variety of aspects that are crucial to producing a high quality film. I will transfer and further enhance these skills to my future projects.

References: 

NFL on NBC. (2025, November 22). Matthew Stafford using tough lessons from past to fuel success | FNIA | NFL on NBC (FULL INTERVIEW) [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCdQ8owvdug

CCR research #2

So we had another minor setback, but it is not a big deal. You may have noticed that Jalin was not mentioned in the filming blog. Sadly, Jalin has had the flu and a high fever all week, and he was not able to film. Since he cannot film until next week, we have nothing else to edit. Originally, our instructor scheduled us to post 2 editing blogs this week. Instead of that, we will film for the last time on Monday and edit that, and this week I will do my research for question #2 CCR

How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text? This is the question I will be answering in my second CCR. Well, engaging the audience is just the act of connecting with our audience. Understanding our target audience and producing work up to their expectations. The more we meet those expectations, the more success the film leads to.

Our target audience is individuals aged 16-50. If this were just a regular drama, the targeted age would be around 13, but since there is a mystery aspect to the film, the audience must be active and pick up on clues. If the audience does not pick up on the clues throughout the film, it becomes significantly less enjoyable and loses meaning. From ages 15 and after, teenagers are found to be far more engaged and pick up on social clues from film (Lyons, 2016). This was a scholarly article written by a university, alluding to the validity of the qualitative data.

Our target audience would typically be individuals who are deep thinkers and enjoy drama and emotionally charged films. So we would need to use techniques to engage this type of person. We have a couple of techniques used to engage the audience. To begin, the obvious hook is the immediate jaw dropping announcment. Most movies begin with slow beginnings, and the plot builds up. In our film, the plot is immediately set. This will catch the audience's attention right away, especially those looking for a movie filled with drama. The second technique is breaking the 4th wall when Dr. Mueller is talking to the patients. It feels so uncomfortable that it feels like Dr. Mueller is talking to the actual audience.

Lastly, is how the film will be distributed. To address the younger audience it will be distributed through Netflix, YouTube, Amazon Prime, and Hulu. These are the most common amongst teenagers. For the older audience we will distribute through DVDs and traditional cinema for those who want the experience through the big screen.

Script:

Our target audience is individuals aged 16-50. If this were just a regular drama, the targeted age would be around 13, but since there is a mystery aspect to the film, the audience must be active and pick up on clues. If the audience does not pick up on the clues throughout the film, it becomes significantly less enjoyable and loses meaning. From ages 15 and after, teenagers are found to be far more engaged and pick up on social clues from film (Lyons, 2016). *in frame* This was a scholarly article written by a university, alluding to the validity of the qualitative data.

Our target audience would typically be individuals who are deep thinkers and enjoy drama and emotionally charged films. The obvious hook is the immediate jaw dropping announcment. Most movies begin with slow beginnings, and the plot builds up. In our film, the plot is immediately set. This will catch the audience's attention right away, especially those of you looking for a movie filled with drama. The second technique is breaking the 4th wall when Dr. Mueller is talking to the patients. It feels so uncomfortable that it feels like Dr. Mueller is talking to you guys.

To answer the last part of the question, i will adress distribution. To reach teenagers it will be distributed through Netflix, YouTube, Amazon Prime, and Hulu. These are the most common amongst you young people. For the older folks we will distribute through DVDs and traditional cinema for those who want the experience through the big screen.

References:

Goldsmith, J. (2020, March 4). Streaming study finds Netflix, hulu led in new subscriptions – in Pre-Disney+ ERA. Deadline. https://deadline.com/2020/03/streaming-study-finds-netflix-hulu-led-new-subscriptions-1202874044/

Lyons, K. M. (2016). Examining the relationships between socio-cognitive factors and neural  synchrony during movie watching across development. Scholarship@Western. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/8812/#:~:text=In%20Chapter%203%2C%20I%20found,differed%20in%20their%20cognitive%20scores.