RECORDING WAS FUN!

Yesterday I spent the whole day recording the song for my project. I really like how is coming out. My voice is ready but now my friend will help me add a few sounds and arrange my voice He said that he would have it ready by tuesday or wednesday. I am really excited of how it's going to come out! I have a few videos and pictures of that day.

Now the next step is to finally film!!!! I finally found someone else that is willing to help me by providing her camera. I will film the first part tomorrow after school and spend the whole day filming the second half.
I decided that i wanted to make tangible credits for that art of the movie which is why I decided to film that last so I can plan how I wanted and all my shots planned.

#STRESSED

Well... With this project I realized that people have no commitment whatsoever.
I was supposed to film yesterday the second half of my project but the girl who was supposed to film the project (I texted her the day before to confirm) told me last minute that she couldn't come and she wouldn't let me borrow the camera either. My actress got bored of waiting for me and went eating and when I finally found a camera, she was long gone.
With this post I just want to express that it's so hard put people with different schedules to help you with something by their own will (no money involved).
Just to update my bog, I don't know when I'm going to film... Today the actress is unavailable, friday I'll be the whole day recording the soundtrack of my film and saturday I'll be in a law mock trial.
I'll probably film the first half (the girl trying to kill herself) because it doesn't need of the daytime or much light by any means. THE THING IS, I don't think these people would want to help a saturday night. Hopefully it won't take long and they'll access to it. Catch me this Saturday night filming and this sunday editing the whole day :))))))))
I swear I try to be an organized pal sometimes but nature doesn't like me.

QUICK UPDATE

Small post, but I just wanted to share that thanks to a conversation I had with my teacher I came up with an idea (ok fine, it was her idea...) to incorporate whispers and and echo to infer her insanity. I really liked this idea because I felt like I couldn't show as much technique as I wanted in that scene of my film and now I'm so excited to play with sounds and editing to convey my message.

DEVELOPING THE STORY (THANK YOU IN-CLASS-DISCUSSION!)

We discussed in class with other peers our ideas and I received some feedback. I realized that I need to incorporate more mise-en-scene elements since my film opening won't dialogue. Because my story has to do with the fashion industry, I think it's extremely important to discuss what my actress is going to wear and the makeup. This also requires some research.

Starting with the makeup, I decided that I wanted to go further than just face makeup. I want to accentuate the fact that in the first half of the film opening she already went through the whole transformation, which means she should be underweight in these scenes. I watched 2 videos hat teaches you how to body contour. These videos obviously won't teach you how to look extremely skinny, but I plan on exaggerating everything of the video so I get the look that I want.
Videos:

Also, for the first half of the film opening, because as I explained in the plot, she's coming from a runway when she tries to kill herself, so I want to give her a runway look. I want to use my glittery dress that I own, style it with a formal ponytail and a dramatic smokey eye. 

What I want to accomplish with this is make the audience understand that an event occurred for her to be dressed like this that also made her be in this situation. I will "ruin"the look a little bit making it look as if she was crying with the use of the mascara and make the ponytail messy. 

For the second half of the video, I want pick an outfit that looks innocent, using pastel and white colors and natural makeup. When I did my research on the model industry I learned that models need to wear little to no makeup and white t-shirts and tight clothes to have a better and sincere look of the body, which is why I decided to style a t-shirt and jeans. I still want her to reflect a statement on the way she dresses so I will incorporate some accessories to make the outfit more suitable. 

PLANNING THE FILMING DAY

I've been planning what I need do for the filming day and everything that needs to be done before that.

- Date and Time: Tuesday right after school (3:30pm)

-Camera: I asked my friend whose a photographer to come with me so she will be in charge of the camera. She's is also in AICE Media so she will understand what type of shots I want and all of that sort.

-Location: My friend's house. Her house has white decoration which I think will help with my mise-en-scene elements. I want the background to be white to symbolize purity and innocence in the second half of the movie. She also has a lot of windows that will help have natural light.  

I also want to film in a scene where she's getting dropped off her first audition. For that scene, I was thinking on going to Weston Road, the main street here where I live. I decided to use this location because there's always volume of cars and people just passing by. I want to portray the active life in LA.

-Equipment: My dad used to be a photography fanatic so he has a couple of tripods he will let me borrow for the medium shots and long shots. Also, a girl in my class called Liz has a Ring Light that she'll let me borrow in case the natural light is inconsistent and be prepared for everything.

-Script: My film opening won't have a script so I won't have a problem with the actress learning her lines. However, I will see her today to practice with her what I need from her. because there's not a script, it's imperative that her acting is on point and that she will be able to tell the story through her actions. 

SOUNDTRACK

As I said in my first blog, my favorite hobby is singing even though I would love it to be more than just a hobby. I decided i wanted to sing a cover of a song that will appeal to my film opening. To get some inspiration for the song I watched the opening for cyberbully . I wanted it to be a happy song that could contrasted with that was seen before, within in the alternative genre. Tuesday I will be going to my friend's house. He has a recording studio and we've recorded a few songs before so he's willing to help me. 

While doing my research of many songs that I could use, I found one called "Wicked Way-Ben Taylor". I really liked this song because it taks about a boy who admits to only want to have fun with a girl,  which foreshadows all that happens to Olivia in the story in an indirect way. 

I'm not entirely sure how this copyright permission would work if I do a cover of a song. I watch so many people on Youtube who sing covers of popular songs that I find it a little hard to believe that all of them asked Ed sheer an to sing his brand new song and they all got a reply from his team, for example. That's why I did some research on the topic. 

In an article called "Critical Info for Youtube Musicians Who Perform Cover Songs" argued that it is illegal not to ask for permission and the big majority of these people have a risk of getting their songs deleted, even if you're  not profiting from it. Also, I know this isn't a credible source to ase my decision on, i also wanted to ad that I found a Quora Q&A about this subject and it said that if you state the original artist and your non-copyright intentions, you could upload your cover legally. 

Because I am as stubborn as I am, I had to do my research to understand that I still have to ask for permission to use their song. 

I also did my research on Ben Taylor, I found out he is a small singer with only 2000 subscribers on his channel. This gives me some hope that he will reply on time and have no problem with me using his music. I will keep you updated! 

Lyrics:
I just want to take you out and get you drunk so I can have my wicked way with you
Im just being honest cause I know the other guys are thinking just the same way too
And Im not gonna lie and say that I will take you out to dance theres just no chance cause I dont even like the same music you do
I just wanna have my wicked way with you
So dont you fight it Cause I know youre gonna like it
Show me some skin I might bite it
I wanna have my wicked with you.
So Im not gonna come over and meet your mom and dad
They know that I was bad
And I dont want to meet your friends or just pretend I like you
And I dont want to talk about what happened on your favorite tv show
I just want to get you close enough so I can take off all your clothes
And Im not gonna make you cry or break your heart girl we dont have the time
Im just thinking of three hours or more
So I can have my wicked way with you
So dont you fight it
Dont knock it til youve tried it
Show me some skin I might bite it
I wanna have my wicked way with you
Wicked way with you
My wicked way with you.

Read more:  The Ben Taylor Band - Wicked Way Lyrics | MetroLyrics 

Bibliography

Adamrafferty, Samuel Sutter Says, Adamrafferty Says, Jawmunji Says, Dave Id Says, SlowhandKev Says, Maddox Says, Jeroen (Heronymusic) Says, Lessonsthatrock Says, Cameron Mizell Says, JAW Says, Emma Says, George Says, Jon Says, Adam Rafferty Says, Lisa Says, Graham Spice Says, Cassi Wysock Says, Milan Says, Dave Says, Brad Imsdahl Says, Adam Rafferty Says, Mat Says, Jeff C. Says, Al Says, EvaEva Says, Commamder Chaos Says, Dlewis78 Says, Marty Says, Gfdgfgd Says, Rhonda Says, DeAara Lewis Says, David W Solomons Says, Erland (Kim) Cambridge Says, T. E. Says, Tom Says, Warrenlain Says, Alex Says, Travis Says, Becky Says, Brady Hamilton Says, Top Mistakes Says, Ingogabriel Says, Facebook YouTube Twitter Google Plus Traffic Says, G-man Says, Not Whitney Says, AdamraffertyAdam Rafferty Says, Jim Stewart Says, ScottD Says, Zagan Says, Exercise Weight Loss Says, Tristan Jones Says, Fast Youtube Views Says, Wally Hanson (@hansonmusicstd1) Says, Abaorecords Says, Chas Says, Grandpa Crunk Is DJ Seko Says, Dylan Says, Gary Beckwith Says, Loo Wood Says, Jack Says, Frederick Says, Sherrie Says, Lauri Says, This Article Says, Microsoft Points For Xbox Says, Del_Duio Says, Phil Says, Emily Rosewarn Says, Tony Says, Chris Says, Danny McEvoy Says, Joordankk Says, TheWraith517 Says, Best Villa In Bali For Wedding Says, Rick Spadoni Says, Matt Clay Says, Kevin Says, Victor Says, Steve Says, Best Earbuds 2015 Says, Leon House Says, Terry Says, Jeff Says, and Honiekaren Says. "Home." Adam Rafferty. N.p., 28 May 2010. Web. 26 Mar. 2017.

YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2017.

Abmarkvideo. "Ben Taylor Wicked Way Official Video." YouTube. YouTube, 07 Aug. 2009. Web. 26 Mar. 2017. '

Cyberbully Movie- Netflix

STORYBOARD PART 1

Because I'm not sure yet how I want to portray my second part of my film opening, I'm just going to be showing today the first part of the movie where she's trying to kill herself (I look ugly, I'm sorry)

(from left to right)

1) High angle shot, Close Up: Show her vulnerability and inferiority
2) Close Up: Show with caution what she's trying to open (pills) and make the audience understand she's trying to commit suicide.
(The idea with the first close ups is to make the character uncomfortable and almost as they're also finding her)
3 and 4) Long shot of her trying open the bottle and then getting frustrated. It helps see better the setting of the scene and her whole corporal expression
5) Low angle Shot: Show the power implemented to throw the bottle. Shows frustration
6) Point of View shot: Feel closer to the character's situation
7) Extreme Close Up: Pills falling
8) Long shot: To help emphasize that the door is knowing with the help of perspective sound
9) Medium shot: Show with a better look the face of the main character and create intimacy

A FEW UPDATES

Even though it is a short blog, I just wanted to share a few updates and ideas I had
First of all I'm trying to decide the tittle and had these two ideas:
1) SPOTLIGHT
2)THE SCENE
(I prefer Spotlight but I don't wanted it to be called the same as another movie)
I will ask my teacher next class if it is a problem that is caled the same as another movie.

Moreover, I had an idea for the cover of the movie. If it's called "Spotlight" I want low key lighting image of her face, with makeup on and with marks that are very characteristic of plastic surgery to represent the changes she suffers. I want her to be smiling in a medium shot that show from the shoulders up.  I want to infer she's naked because I want it to represent her vulnerability through out the whole movie.

Finally, I wanted to say that after several days looking for an actress, I finally found one. I wanted her to be the stereotypical model, skinny, sweet and pretty. We will start shooting this weekend and I'll see if I like her acting. I'll leave a picture of her in this post. Till next time!

OLIVIA TAYLOR, WHAT ARE YOU GETTING YOURSELF INTO?

Now that I have a concrete idea of my film opening I would like to start elaborate on the plot and the main character.

PLOT 

The movie starts with Olivia, the main character, going to her first audition for a big LA model agency. When she gets there, she meets Maia, a new character introduced to the movie. In the audition she gets accepted to the agency. Once she starts being trained, she gets way too in the model industry; She stops talking to her Irvine friends, only hang out with her "model friends" and goes to parties almost everyday. Olivia starts to have a drug abuse problem with pills to stay awake and extasis when she went to parties. At this point of the movie, Olivia is the favorite of the agency for her effortless sweetness until one day her manager tells her she's overweight and needs to loose 10 pounds in a week. At this point, Olivia starts to get stressed eating extremely healthy and working out every morning. 3 days before the day the agency was going to weight her, she was not even close to her goal. Maia recommends her what every model is doing. Throw up. She gets used to the this idea and develops an eating disorder.
 Olivia a few weeks after gets called along with all the models of the agency to announce that they are going to choose 10  models for a very important runway.  Days after this, Maia and Olivia get called to a perfume commercial audition. Olivia get overstressed and self-conscious thinking that Maia will get the job because she thinks she's prettier and more confident, so she sabotages her audition so she could get the play. All her friends found out and left her alone with no friends by her side except for her boyfriend. That night her boyfriend and her go to a party together at a hotel. He gets way too drunk and rapes her.
There's a time skip in the movie. Olivia looks extremely skinny and just looks destroyed in general. She supposed to spend the weekend with her family in Irvine. Her parents are concerned which is why she calls her two best friends from high school. When they find her, she was in the bathroom doing a pregnancy test.  Her best friend, Lily, asks her why was she so irresponsible, but she answers, "It was not my fault, my boyfriend raped me". Lily gets upset and asks if it is the boyfriend she's still with. She nods. Lily tells her to breakup with him immediately and report him with with the police. But her biggest concern was that she didn't to get fat because she got the job in the runway and the dress would not fit. Both of her friends get upset at this comment saying that they can't recognize her anymore. She's now completely alone.
When the day of the runways finally comes, her ex-friends sabotage her and give her the wrong dress that with the light looks completely transparent embarrassing her in front of everyone. She runs to her apartment and locks herself in the room and takes the bottle of pills she was taking to not sleep. Her mom, after seeing what happened to her daughter runs and saves her. She's sent to rehab
Another time skips happens in the story once she's finally out of rehab and is planning on moving by herself to Europe to start a new future as a fashion assessor. The final scene of the movie is her in her new apartment mirror and her reflection starts to talk to her trying to convince her to go the the open auditions that she heard about. She tries to fight but she couldn't help it and steps out of the door to go the audition.


OLIVIA TAYLOR
- Age: 18 years old
- Where she's from: Irvine, California
- Hobbies: Read books, listen to music and hang out with her best friends
Olivia is a typical girl currently a senior in high school.  She has a very innocent personality and has a peculiarly big heart.  Olivia lives in San Diego with both of her parents; She holds a good relationship with both of her parents and helps in everything that she can in the house. She has been told since she was a little girl that she should model because she is extremely beautiful. She star†ed modeling for a local agency when she was 14 years old and since then, she's been in the newspaper and in small jobs.  Olivia is a girl that lives in a bubble. She's never been out of her city and her god attitude has driven her where she is in life. One day, Olivia decided to take a step ahead on her career and her parents hired a personal trainer who taught her the basic information she needs to know for a prestigious LA model agency. Once she is accepted in the agency, Olivia drops out of school and moves by herself in a model apartment complex. The LA environment changes Olivia's personality completely; She gets involved with bad influences, Maia Stainman, abuses of drugs and suffers of eating disorders. Also, Olivia is betrayed multiple times by people who she thought were her best friends. Because of these factors, she becomes a complete different person. She becomes skeptical of everyone in her life, self-conscious, cares too much about who she surrounds herself with, looks for revenge and is not afraid of hurting someone in order to escalate in the model industry.
Olivia, after embarrassing herself in a runway, she felt there was no point of living anymore. She experiences a near-death-experience when she tried to commit suicide but it's stopped by Logan, his friend from Irvine.

DRAMA OR PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER?

I was thinking about the genre of my film and I started to doubt if it was a drama or a psychological thriller. I will do my research on both to make my own conclusions.

DRAMA
- Reflect human behavior and crisis in everyday life.
- Sub-genres: The tragedy, comedy, melodrama and tragicomedy. 
- Melodrama: Problem caused by external forces outside of the protagonist's control. Protagonist does not take responsibility for the action, nor does she feel guilty.The main character is often the victim of circumstance. Strict moral judgment 
With these characteristics I see how drama fits in my film. I want my film to have a strict moral judgement and the main character to be the victim of the situation. However, in my film my main character has control over the situation in an aspect. She has the power of stop modeling or set boundaries but still does not do it. Even though I know these are not all required characteristics of the genre, I still want to do further investigation. 

PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER 
- Complex storylines
- Suspenseful, emphasizing the psychology of its characters
- Realism and personality issues 
-Involves elements of drama. Use of dark isolated places
I think many of these characteristics fit my movie perfectly, specially because psychological thrillers involve elements of drama. 


 MOVIES THAT I WANT TO BE INSPIRED BY

Bibliography
Malysa, Sebastian. "Characteristics of Drama Genres." EHow. Leaf Group, 02 June 2011. Web. 12 Mar. 2017.
"What Makes a Film a Psychological Thriller" Psychology Today. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2017.

THE TRUTH ABOUT THE MODELING INDUSTRY

When doing my research, I realized there's more abuse and injustice than what what I thought... 

CONS OF THE MODELING WORLD:

- Inconsistent pay. Could spend months without a paycheck.

- Many models experience sexual harassement.

- Eating disorders come with the whole model package.

I watched a video about modeling labor abuse. A big majority of models suffer of labor abuse; Models get payed on average $5,000 the 8-hour work shift but the modeling agency they're on takes 40% of the money made. Moreover, models often have expenses like hair dresser, nail salons, tan salons, makeup artists, etc, that come from their own pockets.

What amazed me the most was an article about an interview with a model called "What I wish I'd say to my fans". What influenced her to make this allegations was a message that she got from a fan saying:  

"Dear Carré,

I'm 10. What is your workout routine and what do you eat? I wish I had your body. What's it like to look like that? I would die to look like you."

Truth is, her body was not attained in a healthy way. She claimed that she took pills to sleep, exercised up to 3 times a day, and many times ate just once a day. Because she started getting so many positive comments, she thought what she was doing was right. Her diet included a few packs of cigarettes and 6 cups of coffee a day, without any type of milk because she was terrified of calories. She stated that "One morning, I was sent to the emergency room with heart palpitations and an irregular heartbeat - a culmination of 20 years of starvation."

This impacted me on another level because I realized how difficult it is to be "just a pretty face" as many call them. I have the privilege of being mentally stable and to know how to eat healthy without any type of remords. I've never felt so thankful for it.

Bibliography

"Runway Injustice: How the Modeling Industry Exploits Young Workers." CNNMoney. Cable News Network, n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2017.

Model: What I Wish I'd Said to My Fans." NewsComAu. N.p., 22 Aug. 2013. Web. 12 Mar. 2017.

WELCOME TO MY JOURNEY

Hi this is Valentina Sanchez and I am beyond excited to present to you my AICE Media Studies Project. I would like to tell some things about myself:
-I'm 17 years old
-I love spending time with my friends just as much I love spending time by myself
- I enjoy reading, writing, drawing, singing and dancing
- I love shoes but I hate wearing them
- I speak 3 languages fluently but I still want to learn like 5 more
- If you see me, I'm probably listening to music
- I am a professional procrastinator
- I love bullet points... and irony.
- I realized this year that I have a big passion for audiovisual communications
I want you to get to know my personality through my blogs and know me as Valentina rather than the maker of the project.

Now that i introduced myself, I would like to talk about what you truly want to hear, my film opening. Unlike many students, I already know what I want to do. I always had 2 concrete ideas in my head:
1) A girl twho was introduced to the modeling world and how it changed her (negatively).
2) A girl who witnessed a violent divorce and, after moving to college, she has to come back to her house and starts to see memories of her parents fighting that torment her and affects her mental state.

GENRE: Drama

After thinking and thinking, I finally came to the conclusion that it was going to be easier to portray the first idea into 2 minutes.

How I want my opening to be:
-A girl in a bathroom trying desperately to open a bottle of pills (drugs) to kill herself. Someone knocks on the door
- The scene ends with a blackout and the title of the movie (I don't know yet)
-6 months before
-The same girl getting ready for her first audition as a model to show her innocence.
The idea is to compare and contrast the change that the girl suffered.

In my next posts i would like to discuss the modeling industry, and genre characteristics
See you then!