AICE Media Studies Blog

Aja: Hi everyone! Welcome or welcome back to my cooking show! Today I am joined by a very special guest, and my friend, Sophia!   Sophia: Hey everybody, today I am here with Aja, who just came out with her new movie, Gunshot. I am here today to ask her some questions about the film while we make cookies!   Aja: Alright let’s get into it! I’m going to start off with brown butter, the secret to a delicious cookie!   Sophia: Alright so our first question is: How does your product use or challenge conventions AND how does it represent social groups or issues?    Aja:  First of all, great question. I think that the main convention that my film challenges is gender misrepresentation. Something very unique about my film is that it is an all-female film., It is so rare in the history of the industry to have a film that is truly made of all females, from the writers and creators of the story, the actors, the extras, the filmers, the producers, and editors were all f...

I am so excited to finally present my movie to you! Here is the opening sequence of our movie, Gunshot.

Through this long production process for my film, I have encountered many difficulties. From the initial planning of the filming, even. The first one I came across was choosing a location for filming. there were so many options that my partner and I had hoped to use, but couldn't. The first on was the abandoned beach warehouse I have mentioned in earlier blogs. I had really hoped to film here as I knew the layout and though it to be perfect. Unfortunately, I was informed just days before filming, that the building had been demolished. The next was choosing the location for the campus scene. For this film, I could not film at my own high school, as that was against guidelines. I also, as a precaution, decided not to film at other schools associated with the Cambridge Program. My partner suggested filming at the University of Miami. She and I ended up deciding on this,  but there were also some difficulties and waiting time to be granted permission to film. I also had a very inconven...

 I did my film review around a week ago. Overall it was pretty successful. Although I only wrote about two people, I interviewed five. This included my mom, my dad, my sister, and my friends Kayla and Ashley, who also acted in the film. Mostly, they gave positive feedback, but there were a few critiques. Some of these critiques were the sound effects and filters. First, my friend Ashley told me that she did not like the selection of 'creepy' music. She said that it was not fitting for the film, and advised I choose another one. My partner and I searched on YouTube, and found a new one that both she and I liked. I then asked Ashley for her opinion again, and she said this one was more fitting. Next, my dad told me that he thought the footstep sound effects were a little bit off. He said that they did not match the rate at which she was running. I adjusted this as well, and showed him again. He liked this much better. Finally, Ashley, Kayla, and my sister, Jade, all told me that ...

 The final part of editing was mostly effects. This part included music, sound, and visual effects. For the music, I had to increase the volume on any diegetic sound. This was primarily the song "Happy Life" that was playing in the car scene. It was not loud enough to hear clearly in the film so I had to enhance it. The sound effects included diegetic sound and foley effects as well. For the diegetic sound, I was able to find creepy and suspenseful royalty-free music on YouTube. I put this in when my partner and I saw fit. The foley effects that I  made were actually quite easy. The main one is footsteps since there was a lot of walking. For this I used a boot with a platform heel and "walked" it along the concrete sidewalk. I also made the sound of squeaking of shoes, to use in scenes like the one where Sophia trips. For this,  took a shoe with very little grip on the bottom and rubbed it against my tile floor. This worked very well. The last effect was not foley s...

 After all the filming and editing was complete, it was time to move on. After finishing the opening sequence, there was still more to do. I added in music that my partner and I chose, and made the diegetic sound louder. I also had to add text. This included the title sequence including the title of the movie. I picked out a font that I had liked and Sophia agreed that it looked good. This font was called Zapfino. The first person that I showed my film to was my sister, because I knew she would give me an honest opinion. The first thing that she noted was that the acting was a bit awkward. I agreed in a sense, but my partner and and I are very new to acting, and I believed it a bit too late to re-do all of the filming. She told me she enjoyed the font, which I agreed with. Finally, she told me that it was a bit busy with all of the angles. I disagreed with this part, and I explained to her why I did so. In this course, they teach about the use of various angle and cameras movements...