The Beginning of Filming... At School!

      Today was the first day of filming for our commercial project; here's how it went. After attendance, we were basically free to go out and film our commercial, however, we needed to make sure we had everything we needed. We first made sure we had the props we needed; the 'mask required' flyers and the mask. The main issue is that we had forgotten to bring tape, which means we wouldn't be able to hang the flyers up for the shot we needed; luckily we were able to ask around and get the tape from other classmates. With that said and done, it appeared we had all of our props in check, but before heading out we needed one more thing...

     Costumes and makeup were next; before school, I had already dressed up as my part. I would be playing a rebellious student ready to break any mask policy that came my way... but how do I convey that with clothing? The answer wasn't difficult; black vans, black pants, and a black hoodie were more than enough to sell the character I was playing. Mia and I wouldn't stop there; she brought black fishnet gloves and eyeliner to really hit it home with the costume; the fishnet gloves were easy, but the eyeliner took way more than one try as it was hard to apply. We eventually settled with the worn-out, eye-liner residue remaining from the several times we applied, wiped off, and re-applied the eyeliner. As for Mia, she came dressed up as a preppy teacher who would enforce the mask mandate onto me.

     Finally, we were ready to begin filming; we both decided that the entrance to our school would be the best choice as it fits our first slide on the storyboard the best. There were many poles around the entrance that we could hang the fliers to for later shots as well; it was truly the best setting available to us. The first tracking shot of me walking into the school was done quickly and swiftly, however, for the next two slides we struggled a bit with finding the perfect angles. Eventually, we did find them, the first was an extremely high angle coming from below my body, the second was a low angle pointing down on me from above. The best part of today's filming session was easily the action match we filmed near the end; we were both really happy with how it came out. Here's a picture from the filming process today of me trying to figure out where to hang the 'masks required' flyer.

Storyboard Blog

Scene 1: Commercial starts off black with a sound effect of a gate closing, (music starts playing) which then cuts to a medium-long tracking shot of the main actor walking into school; it continues to follow the actor deeper into the outside school hall, 

Slide 2: This scene will be a POV shot of the main actor ripping off three "MASKS REQUIRED" papers off of their respective poles from the outside school hallway, using the diegetic sound of the paper being ripped off from the poles. Each of the three shots will be slightly jumped cut to increase the speed of action and therefore tension.

Scene 3:Then, the commercial will cut jump to a slightly high shot of the main actor putting chewed gum in the middle of the three papers, and then crumbling it up and throwing it on the ground, which will use the diegetic sound of the paper being crumpled. An action match show will show the paper hitting the ground after the actor throws it.

Scene 4: The actor starts to walk into the school with no mask. (music stops) This is until the actress walks over and grabs the actor's shoulder, the camera pans to the actresses face. This scene is shown as an over the shoulder shot to show the scene in the best way possible

Scene 5: Using a two shot, The camera shows the actress taking out another mask, one that suits the aesthetics of the actor and although with a little resistance the actor ends up putting on the mask and realizing it is not as bad as he thought. This is shown by his facial expressions when he goes from annoyed to nodding his head in agreement

Scene 6: (music restarts)A forward track shot follows the actor walking into school, with confidence and his new and improved mask. The logo appears saying "Mask for All." 

Planning Blog

 Props:

Our main goal of the commercial is to sell our fabulous facial covering the "Ideal Mask", making the main prop of the commercial our unique disposable mask, with the secondary prop, the mask's blue-colored lanyard. 

Costumes:

When it comes to our commercial, one of us will have the majority of the screen time in typical school attire. We'll use solid color clothing, basic pants with a proper shirt or sweater. Another prop will be a common hospital gown. Both actors will be wearing lanyards and disposable maks of the same color. 

Schedule:

On 9/24/21, Storyboard and storyboard blog will be complete.

On 9/30/21, Filming will begin and we expect to capture all the needed shots for our 30-second commercial within the week.

On 10/4/21, Filming is to be completed. 

On 10/8/21, The Editing of the scenes will be completed and our final commercial will be ready for submission.

Location List:

Our central location will be at the entrance of the school, where the main gate and administration buildings are. This will help to showcase the actors placing their masks on within the appropriate mask mandate areas and showing how easy, comfortable, adjustable, and helpful they can be. 

Backup Plan:

When it comes to South Florida, you can never be too sure of your plans due to the unpredictable weather cycles. With this in mind, we will be filming in areas that will have overhead coverings to shield direct sunlight or rain. The weather on the days of our filing will not interfere will the message we are trying to get across. If the specific props are not as accessible as needed, we will alter some of our shots to include similar items and scenarios.

Research Blog

 My group is doing a commercial for disposable masks. These commercials typically showcase emotional situations (sick/old people at risk), certain angles, and sounds/music in order to convince people to buy and wear masks.

CAMS

• The most common angles used in these commercials are eye level, which humanizes the person in the commercial, making it easier to reach an emotional connection with the viewer.
• In addition to the eye level, the commercials typically use close up shots to intensifying the eye contact between commercial and viewer, therefore increasing emotional connection
• In terms of camera motion, these commercials often use a tracking shot to follow the main individual in the commercial, which inserts the viewer in the action of the individual, making it easier to empathize with them

SOUND

• These commercials purposely lack music in order to focus on diegetic sounds coming from humans (etc. heart beating, breathing, and exhaling), which is once again an attempt to summon pathos in the viewer.
• Most non-diegetic music coming from the commercial will be sad/emotional music, either used throughout the commercial or only on the logo at the end

CLAMPS

• COSTUME: Costumes in these commercials vary on the setting, however, the usual costumes happen to be regular attire worn by everyday people, or clothing found in hospital environments such as doctor's uniforms or patient clothing.
• LIGHTING: Lighting tends to be that of natural light, or artificial light emulating natural light. This type of lighting is more casual and makes viewers more willing to take the emotional value of the commercial into consideration.
• ACTING: Actors will either have a lot of dialogue, moreso with an intention to inform the viewers about the safety risks of not wearing a mask, however, actors will also tend to have little to no dialogue if they are trying to connect with the viewer emotionally. 
• MAKEUP: Makeup, if any, will lean to a more natural/casual look, once again making the people in the commercial more relatable to viewers.
• PROPS: Props will of course involve mask; however, other than that, items of an everyday nature (ie. laptops, schoolbooks, pots,) which are used by actors to do everyday things. The effect of this is that it makes the commercial more casual and relatable.
• SETTING: Settings in mask commercials are places associated with disease, for example, hospitals or crowded everyday paces like school or the grocery store

EDITING

• Mask commercials generally rely on simpler editing, using jump cuts in order to show different angles of a single event, which complement the commercials general short nature and make the event easier to understand by viewers
• Withing the usual single event in these commercials, there will be an action cut to show the actor doing the action, and then the second show to match the first action made by the actor. This goes to making the commercial and the order of the events easier to understand to the viewer

Group Blog

      When picking who I was going to work with, I knew that I wanted to keep my group as small as possible. Although it is true that there would be less work if I had picked to work with more people, I feel as though having a large group would stress me out and make the experience less enjoyable. The workload for this project is something that I find manageable as well, so keeping the group small was not much of a loss for me. On top of that, it's easier for a small group to control itself and focus on the objective at hand. Most importantly, fewer people means everyone is on the same page would be more straightforward.

     In addition to this, I wanted to pick persons with whom I'm decently close or very close. Although I'm not opposed to meeting new people, I rather meet them first and then decide to work with them, not both simultaneously. When I work with people with who I'm familiar, I find it easy to effectively communicate what I'm feeling without a burden of stress. The entire process becomes less anxiety-inducing and more of a fun project that I'm doing with my friend. I knew that at least for the first project I do in this class, I want to follow this rule, later on, I'll make sure to branch out to other people. 

     While choosing a partner for this project, I was very aware of the possibility of having to film outside of school. This meant, to me at least, I needed someone readily available to meet up with after school if that were to ever happen. In addition to this, it would be preferred that we live relatively close to each other for reasons of convenience. It would be even more valuable if this person had a good filming place near them that would be versatile enough to film the commercial. These variables at play would maximize how quickly we are able to finish the commercial as well, therefore giving more editing time.

     The person who fit most if not all of the criteria above was my friend Mia. First of all, Mia is one of my closest friends in the entirety of my high school, I find it very easy to work with her. Working with her often becomes fun and second nature, we are very efficient together. Mia and I also live fairly close together as well, if filming in school doesn't go well, having to fall on an afterschool backup plan would be undemanding. We both also live in places with a lot of filming locations/amenities; pools, alleyways, hallways, balconies, gyms, lounges with pool tables, etc. Most of all, I know Mia is very responsible and has a great work ethic, so I know I can trust her with helping each other with the workload.

(Example of a commercial made with a pool)

Introduction Blog

      Hello to those reading, and welcome to my AICE Media Studies blog! For the sake of introduction, my name is Michael Smith, and my middle name is Ethan if that matters. As of right now, I am 15 years old, turning 16 in November; so about less than 2 months. Since I was born after the start of the school year, I am a sophomore on a traditional American high school scale. If you're into astrology, my moon and sun signs are Scorpio placements and my rising/ascendant sign is Gemini. According to that, I am an emotionally intense and independent person, which I would say is too far off from reality. In terms of the Gemini placement; I like to intermingle with people in different social circles, which is true!

     Now for my hobbies and interests? As of right now, I'd say the most prevalent thing in my life right now is a mock trial. That is because I am on the mock trial team at my school; we have a really good law program so it's an honor to be a part! So I would say the mock trial is the closest thing I have to a hobby right now; I do it more often than anything else. This especially rings true because my team and I compete in a competition in just a couple days; it's very nerve-wracking but I'm ready. My team and I have been meeting up for about 4 days straight now; I'm sure we'll keep meeting till competition day. Other than mock-trial, I occasionally play video games, but not the ones you may expect of a teenage boy. I'm all for nostalgic and goofy games that aren't such a burden to play, so my favorite right now is "Spongebob: Battle for Bikini Bottom." Don't get me wrong though, during summer I do like to play "intense" games; they are usually horror games like the "Resident Evil" franchise.

     Lastly, I should explain why I decided to take this class; it's not very complicated. Although the film isn't my usual form of media, the process of encapturing emotions with different angles and settings has always interested me. As far as TV/film goes, I really only watch "The Haunting of Hill House" and "American Horror Story" avidly, however, I am thinking of picking up "The Queens Gambit". Overall, I am mostly looking forward to conveying a message through media and seeing how creative I can get. I am more than looking forward to participating in this class!