Editing Blog

On Monday, October 28, we edited our commercials that we had filmed last Thursday. Editing is the process of cutting and making changes to your film. I have had no prior experience with editing, so this was all very new to me. We used the software, pinnacle studios, to edit our commercial. The software was kind of hard to use, but it was most likely because the computers were very slow. To begin editing, we had to dump all of our film from the camera onto the computer. We did this by using an SD card reader to take the footage from the SD card that was in the camera and put it onto the computer we were using to edit. In relation to the rest of the class, we were ahead. Many people had computer problems, so we were very lucky our computer was working. It was slow, but at least it worked. Therefore we had no excuse to not get our editing done during the class period.

We begun our editing process by first arranging our shots in order. We had to figure which shots went after the other. This took some time but we finally got it. We took a few minutes to just cut some unnecessary and weird footage from our film. We then sat and watched it for some time, proud of work, before we realized we had a time problem. Our project was 1 minute and 5 seconds long. This is 35 seconds longer than the allowed time, which was a max of 30 seconds. We then had to go back and cut more. We were so proud of our commercial it was hard to figure out what to cut. We first started by cutting any “leftover” or footage that just rambled on for too long. That got us to about 50 seconds, which was still too long. So then we made a very bold move and cut out the first two shots entirely. This got us to 40 seconds, which was STILL too long.

At this point, it was nearing the end of class and I had to work on my blog. Me and Jimmy let Dylan finish cutting our film. The blog was due at the end of class so I had to start working on it fast. I am thankful that Dylan was able to cut down our project to 30 seconds. Even though we had to cut more than half of our footage, we are still very proud of our work. The next class we will add sounds, such as explosions. We also plan on putting transitions and effects to spice it up a little more. We will try to make it look as professional as possible. Overall this was a very fun experience. I helped to cut out a lot of unnecessary footage, and this was my main role in the editing process. I hope to have this much fun with the music video as well.

Filming Blog

   On Thursday, October 24, we filmed our commercial. This was our one and only day to film, so we had to get everything. We based our commercial on Wendy’s. More specifically Wendy’s new spicy chicken nuggets. We decided to take a comical and funny approach to our commercial. With a comedy inspired commercial, we could give viewers a good laugh while simultaneously promoting a product. In our commercial we had two people play the “boring” characters and one person played the “cool” guy. In the end, one of the boring kids eats a spicy chicken nugget. He then immediately becomes a cool kid. That was the main focus of the plot of our commercial.
    My personal role in the commercial was to film. I had the camera the entire time. I personally was not a character in the commercial. Therefore I do not appear in it. I worked to make sure the visions for our commercial were executed through the angles and shots I took. I did not use the tripod. Instead I held the camera in my hands the entire time. I wasn’t sure about not using a tripod, but I think it was ok and it still worked out in the end. We shot our commercial at the senior patio. I got onto tables and benches to shoot some of the shots.
    In our commercial, I made sure to capture a lot of the shots and angles that we learned about in class. I used a high angle and an eye level angle. I had a tracking shot when a character was walking to go sit down at a table. I used a zoom to get closer to the product. The product was the spicy chicken nuggets. I got an over the shoulder shot when a character was talking to another. I got a close up, as well as an extreme close up. I also got a wide shot. In the end, this was a very fun and enjoyable experience and I enjoyed filming a lot. I wish to be the cameraman on the project we do as well.

Storyboard

Today we made our storyboards and we have to make a blog on the elements of our storyboard. The angles on our commercial are at eye level or in one shot, level with the object being examined. The only major camera movement we use is a zoom. The types of shots that we use are wide shots, medium long shots, medium shots, medium close up, close up, extreme close up, two shot, and three shot. Editing that we will use is split screen, insert, reaction shots, and cross cutting.

Editing Lesson Blog

   Today we learned about how to operate the cameras, how to transfer our film to the computer, and how to use the software, pinnacle studios, to edit our commercials. When we are going to use cameras, we must fill out a paper with all the appropriate information, or else we will not be allowed to use a camera. This would result in an immediate zero so it’s very important we fill this out. The cameras must be turned back in the next class. To operate the camera, open up the screen and the camera will turn on. To charge it, the screen has to be closed. There is a special place on the camera where you can slide the SD card in. We can also use tripods if we want. When moving the tripod, the legs must be closed. There is a special circle piece that the camera goes on to be able to clip it onto the tripod.

    To get our footage onto the computers, we have to insert the SD card and put in the SD card reader. We must also insert the USB because we will be placing our footage there as well. We must make a folder on the desktop. We can name this folder whatever we want to, but it would be smart to name it something related to the actual commercial, for example, naming it "Wendy's". We then must check for the footage in the DCIM. Next we click on the stream option. At this point, all of our footage for our commercial should pop up. Then we have to drag the film into the folder. We can do this by highlighting everything in the DCIM. This way we move the entire film into the folder all at once.
     In the last part of our class today, we learned how to use the software, pinnacle studios, and how to edit our films with it. We learned that you can cut out parts of the film using the razor blade-looking button or icon. This way you don't have extra, unwanted, or sloppy moments in your commercial. We also learned that there are ways you can take sound of the film. Underneath the boxes with the visuals, there are blue boxes with sound waves. We can delete these sound boxes if we want to get rid of sound. You can also use the blue sound boxes to create overlapping sounds. The last part of editing we learned today was how to add a title to the beginning of our commercials. With the editing software, you choose the title font, color, size, and layout design. There are also many different title transitions to choose from, including a sliding transition and a transition where one word appears, and then the other does after it. 

Planning Blog

Our commercial is going to be on Wendy's new legendary spicy nuggets. Today we are making a blog about our planning stage in our commercial where we will list out the props, costumes, schedule and our backup plan, as well as explain why we chose to do those ideas. The props will bring life to the scene we are trying to set. The costumes will also help set the scene. Making sure our schedule is organized imperative to our project, so all of our group members know when we are brainstorming, filming, and editing. The background plan will be used as a last resort if any of our group members are absent.

Props - 

• chicken nugget container - to give to boring man
• hot sauce - to be used by boring man and still be bored
• gross food - to be eaten by boring man
• lunch plate - used by boring man
• chair - for the boring man to sit in
• table - to be eaten on

Costumes- 

• Regular school-wear- to portray a sense of blandness
• cool wear - when the cool dude with the spicy nuggets walks in
• other cool wear - when the bland guy bites into a nugget

Schedule 

• October 10th/day one - brainstorming
• October 14th/day two - film
• October 16th/day three - editing

Location

• inner cafeteria (if not available - use outside table)

back up plan

• we only have two main characters and one extra, so we can leave out the extra and just have one boring man.
• if the cafeteria is not open, we can just use the outside tables or any other table.

Commercial convention

Many commercials use the same tactics and styles to sell their product. We are going to write a Wendy's commercial. We have an idea to do an advertisement about the new Wendy's spicy chicken nuggets because it is the hottest and most hip chicken nugget on the market. We feel very strongly for this new nugget and it made us cry tears of joy when it came back into our lives. Collectively, our group loves Wendy’s chicken nuggets and are excited about the prospect of making a fake commercial.

We will advertise many things in our commercial, such as Wendy’s baconator and their fantastic 4 for 5 deal where you get a burger, fries, a drink and chicken nuggets for only five dollars. But the main focus of the commercial is the delicious spicy chicken nuggets. The commercial will have a hot theme to further prove that Wendy’s spicy chicken nuggets are not to be messed with. We will probably throw the spice onto them in slow motion with rock music on the background. It’s gonna be great.

Some will say that McDonald’s is better. But we will say something along the lines of “not like those other chicken nuggets” or “a kick you won’t get anywhere else!” To go against our main competitor in the spicy chicken buissness, Popeyes, we will show a box of their color (orange) getting smashed by our bigger, better red box of nuggets.

Introductory Blog

Hello, my name is Owen Ricks. I am currently enrolled in AICE Media Studies at Fort Lauderdale High School. I am in the 5th period class where we have two awesome teachers, Ms. Marchionne and Mr. Katz, but Mr. Katz is my assigned teacher. This class has been pretty fun so far and I have a good group to work with in the class. We are just now starting our blogs which we will do a lot of for the rest of the school year. I look forward to all our future projects, such as the our commercial which we will begin working on soon.

I am a 10th grader and I am in the marching band and more specifically the drumline at Fort Lauderdale High School. In band we always have events and practices we have to attend. Band is very fun for me and sometimes helps me get my mind off of school. In the band I play percussion which all types of drums and Mallet instruments. In the marching band I play the quads.

Outside of school, I enjoy playing video games, listening to music, watching movies, and longboarding. My favorite food is pizza and my favorite soda is Dr. Pepper. My immediate family consists of my younger brother, my mother, and my father.