Starting Cambridge Portfolio Project

     Hello! From now on all of my blog posts will be focused on the development of my final Cambridge portfolio project for the AICE exam at the end of the year. The blogs posted prior to his point have helped me develop my knowledge and experience in studying and analyzing the media sphere. Honestly, I am quite nervous and anxious to start this project but I know that will wear off with time and I will be excited and happy to keep researching and growing this beautiful experience.

    Ever since I was young I have always enjoyed comedy movies because they take my stress away and let me laugh and have good time. Even though I have interest in these types of movies, I want to research more genres before choosing the one I will ultimately use in my portfolio project. I want to research 2-3 genres to analyze the opening and see which would be the right pick for me to do. To start I will research the Comedy genre.

ANALYZING COMEDY

    Comedy is one of the broadest genres of film because it contains any subgenres including rom-coms, satire, and parodies. What really makes comedy a challenging genre is that humor is subjective. A joke that sends one person into hysterics might leave another completely emotionless. A successful comedy film will keep the audience laughing though the use of dialog, physical humor, and strong storytelling. In studying comedy, I hope to learn how such elements are effectively included into an entertaining opening sequence.

                                                                                                                                                                                 

White Chicks (2004)

    One of my favorite comedy movies is of all time "White Chicks" (2004). To understand more about how the tone is set in comedy films, I'm deciding to examine this well known and loved movie directed by Keegan Ivory Watans. The story is about two FBI agents posing as two socialite sisters after they got "injured" in a car crash.

     The comedic tone is immediately established in this opening scene, with the highly exaggerated disguises, physical humor, and over-the-top performances. The film sets up its light and absurd nature through a combinations of verbal and slapstick comedy. For example, the disguised Wayans brothers are disguised as Latino shopkeepers, which is awkward yet humorous and establishes the film's use of cultural and situational comedy. The scene effectively captures the audience's attention, introduces key characters, and sets up the comedic style that will be carried out through the entirety of the film.

For the AICE portfolio project, I will prepare a two minute opening sequence of an original fiction film. One direction I could take is the comedy approach, drawing from the reseacrh on genre and the critical analysis of "White Chicks". I would include features such as exaggerated character reactions, dialogue and situational comedies.

If I choose this approach, I want it to be a really entertaining, humour-filled introduction to establish both the personalities of the characters and the comedic premise of the movie. The main problem I most likely would run into is managing how much humor can be balanced within such a short and small window to make sure the narrative still gets across in an interesting enough manner. In this regard, I would practice various comedy approaches and revise my script many times with feedback from friends, family, and teachers.he portfolio project represents a rather exciting and enlightening journey into filmmaking. Studying 

The portfolio project represents a rather exciting and enlightening journey into filmmaking. Studying genres and analyzing successful examples and using these insights to inform my work should enable e to create an effective opening in a film for audience engagement and entertainment. The project will contribute to the development of my filming skills and a deeper understanding of how and why different genres work on screen. 

I look forward with enthusiasm to bringing my vision to life and really sharpening my storytelling skills through this creative process.

Music Marketing #2

 

If the video is unavailable click this link 

https://youtu.be/HXeh8wmxcHY

Music Marketing #1

 Research

The research portion of the project consisted of my project partners and me, each researching one pop artist, mine being Sabrina Carpenter. I searched numerous websites to find information and ensure it was correct so my research was reliable. Over the course of a few days, I did the different sections of my study on Sabrina Carpenter including her background information, target audience/brand identity, digital marketing and distribution, and non-digital marketing and distribution. Each group member had to partake in researching specifics about one artist in a certain genre, our genre being pop. This research helped each group member learn about marketing and distribution tactics that pop artists generally use.

Planning

The planning process of the rest of this project was somewhat difficult due to all our group members being occupied with different things. We decided to split up tasks to do while we are at home and film the project in school or while we get together to film it. I am working on the marketing tactics which includes social media, the website, etc.. In the end we plan to work as parts to complete a whole and finish the project.

Representation

 The Good Place is a funny and thoughtful show about the afterlife, where the characters learn about ethics and what it means to be good. Two of the main characters, Eleanor Shellstrop and Chidi Anagonye, help show how people are represented in the show, especially when it comes to their race, gender, and how they behave. While the show breaks some stereotypes, it still uses certain ideas that affect how we see the characters.

Eleanor, a white woman from Arizona, starts off as a stereotype of a selfish, rude, and shallow person. Her character shows what happens when someone cares only about themselves, like the idea of "bad" people in society. But the show challenges this by focusing on Eleanor's growth, showing that people aren’t just good or bad—they can change. This makes us think more about the idea that everyone has good and bad sides, breaking the stereotype.

Chidi, a Black man from Senegal, is very smart but can't make decisions. His character shows a different stereotype often used for Black men, where he's not aggressive or physical but instead a thinker. However, Chidi’s knowledge comes mostly from European philosophy, which makes it seem like his intelligence is tied to Western ideas, even though he's from Africa. This kind of representation can make it feel like his culture isn't as important, which is a subtle way of othering him—making him seem different from the norm.

Other characters in the show, like Tahani Al-Jamil and Jason Mendoza, are also shown through certain stereotypes. Tahani, a British-Pakistani woman, is seen as rich and stuck-up, while Jason, a Filipino-American from Florida, is portrayed as the "dumb guy." Even though they both grow as characters, the show still relies on these exaggerated ideas to introduce them.

Overall, The Good Place does a great job of making us think about morals and character growth, but it also uses some stereotypes and patterns that shape how we see the characters. It encourages us to question not only the choices the characters make but also how they are shown in the show.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4SjP8UmjpA

Sound Project

     For this project, we were assigned to make a 1-2 minute-long soundscape encapturing the sounds of a scenario of our choice. The soundscape had to have no video and we were asked to make 4 sounds using Foley and add those sounds to our project. We had to utilize the sound techniques learned during previous lessons and find sounds using websites that provide sounds for free.

    While brainstorming me and my partner had to think of a scenario that could happen within a minute or two and still be interesting. We decided to make a soundscape of a girl getting out of her car and entering a club. This soundscape had many audio factors including the chatter of people talking, the music from the club, the footsteps of the girl walking and so much more. We made an outline to help us specify which sounds would go where and when. This helped us separate each of the parts and sounds and helped us be organized with each and every sound going into this. To make the soundscape we utilized Adobe Premiere Pro, which I had used before but never for sound. It was fun and interesting to see how versatile Premiere Pro is and learn about how to use it more.

    I honestly think we did really good for this project and utilized many different sound techniques, but the one thing I wish we did differently was actually utilize more sounds and add more depth to the background of the soundscape. I think we managed to add a decent amount of sounds but we didn't make the most interesting soundscape in terms of background noises and action. Overall I think we did very good with this project and I really enjoyed the process of making this soundscape.

https://youtu.be/DMW70D4hu9o

OWF Project

     For this project, we were given a word, mine being 'remorse', and asked to make a short 1-1:30 minute film. This film should have portrayed the word using shots, angles, and editing techniques we had learned prior. We were also not allowed to use sound or dialogue although we could have used an instrumental song if we wanted.

    During brainstorming me and my partner made a shortlist thinking of what we could that would represent remorse.

     At first we thought of a bully seeing their victim alone. We asked our teacher about that idea and she said a lot of people did that and to choose something that would be different from other people's.  Me and my partner had to get a little creative and after some thinking we decided to do a girl who cheated on her test, got caught, and got a 0. The girl had remorse for herself and regretted not studying. 

    After we came up with the idea we made a shot and scene list. We tried to use a variety of shots and make the most of what we were taught in our video. 

    Once we finished our shortlist we made a storyboard to visualize and plan how our project would go. The storyboarding really helped me know exactly what to do for the project and not have to be stressed about how to do certain scenes and it also helped me know which shots I'm using, where, and when to use them. 

    Finally, the editing software I used was Adobe Premire. I used this software because it is the one widely used by editors and it is also the one we were taught how to use. 

    I think the main thing I that could've made my project much better was my editing. It was my first time ever editing anything so I know it wasn't that good but I wish I utilized more editing techniques to make it look more seamless. I also should've used a different background music, I don't think the song chosen fit with the film well and there would have been much better ones to use instead.

Camera Shots Quiz

For the first project/quiz to start off this course we were asked to take 15 photos telling a story using various different shots. We were taught to not only use shots but also distinct angles to convey a message and give the audience some context without using words.

Me and my partner chose to tell a story of 2 makeup products, and their 'sidekicks' and there were a total of 4 characters in the story. Our thinking led to the more expensive makeup bullying the cheaper products, but the cheaper products fought back and won. We had been thinking for a while and looking through things in our bags to use as props and found we both had our makeup bags. 

I think we did a decent job on this project but one thing that made it harder to give context was the fact that the products do not have faces. Facial expressions can give so much context and help progress the story easier and better. If I could go and retake the photos, I wouldn't change anything about the angles or shots at all. Instead, I would have taken the photos in a different setting and not in the entryway of a building. I also think I could have made some of the shots more clear but every shot and angle I used was for a purpose and I think it helped tell the story very effectively.

-https://browardcountyschools-my.sharepoint.com/:p:/r/personal/0618000396_my_browardschools_com/Documents/Camera%20Shots%20quiz%20final.pptx?d=wc9fd20c7e2ea4ac084f28176b78b4dcc&csf=1&web=1&e=sxdU9W