Blog 23: Final Lesson Reflection

(1) What are you most proud of in your block presentation and/or senior project?

I feel that I demonstrated my knowledge of my topic very well and I was able to keep my audience engaged, as well as impart some knowledge about film on them.

(2) What assessment would you give yourself on your block presentation?

I would give myself an AE because I think I presented an abundance of interesting information to my peers while keeping them engaged.

What assessment would you give yourself on your overall senior project?

I would give myself an AE. I strived to find knowledge with depth about my topic and provided my peers with information about film they might not know otherwise. I also feel that even though I studied a broad topic, I was able to acknowledge and present the intricacies of each facet and aspect.

(3) What worked for you in your senior project?

I thought every single component challenged me to examine my topic from different perspectives, thus enhancing the depth of my project.

(4) What didn't work? If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently to improve your senior project if you could go back in time?

I didn't feel that anything didn't work in the project. Although, when I rehearsed with family members, they expressed concerns about me overwhelming the students I was presenting to with information, so that led to me taking out slides that I think would have added a little more to my presentation.

(5) How has the senior project been helpful to you in your future endeavors?

The project instilled knowledge in me that I may not have pursued otherwise. Also, I learned how to reach out to people in the industry and express my likes and dislikes about film and TV in a thoughtful manner. I found that I was extremely interested in screenwriting and producing through examining the different roles in filmmaking. Overall, my confidence in my abilities as a filmmaker has grown and my certainty about what I want to do in film.

Blog 22: Mentorship

Literal

• Link to Mentorship Hours
• Phillip Miller-ROP
• Priscilla Gonzalez
• Amanda DiPiazza-Disney 

Interpretive

• The most important thing I learned were the foundation and techniques for recording and mixing sound, camera angles and shot choices, lighting, cross-editing, and such in ROP. I also learned the importance of a pleasant collaborative environment with my mentors Amanda DiPiazza and Priscilla Gonzalez. I thought all of these things were valuable because I feel that even though I will not work in every single field in the industry, having knowledge of even the basics are useful to me as an aspiring producer and screenwriter. 

Applied

• Through taking ROP I learned the fundamentals of telling interesting stories, bringing them to life in unique ways, and trying to appeal to audiences. Through mentoring with Amanda DiPiazza I learned the importance of quality collaboration. Lastly, through mentoring with Priscilla Gonzalez I learned how subjective memorability can be, especially based on one's moviegoing experience. 

Blog 21: Exit Interview

1. My essential question and answers are as follows:

• "What technique can be most effectively employed to create a memorable film?"
• Successful collaboration between filmmakers--professionals in their respective fields whether it be writing, lighting, directing, cinematography, etc.--to combine their expertise.
• Screenwriters need to be able to empathize with their audience and know what appeals to people, whether it comes to story-writing or dialogue
• Filmmakers must be able to use their knowledge of what is aesthetically appealing to audiences. 
• My best answer is my third. I chose it because a film's aesthetic largely assists the story told in uses of camera angles, color, and production design. 

2. Initially, I read a lot more books on screenwriting because I intended for that to originally be my best answer, but I came across more visual sources such as informative videos, visually striking films, articles on visually striking films, and a couple of books that detailed the history of production design and how filmmakers have strived to alter visuals to appeal to audiences. 

3. Seeing as my focus was more so on screenwriting at first, I mostly just had to seek out more sources on visual aspects in film. 

4. The two most significant sources I used to determine my best answer was Gavin Miller's article 15 Visually Striking Films with Amazing Color Palettes because it provided an in-depth, solid foundation on how integral color palettes are to establishing the mood of a films and Cathy Whitlock's Designs on Film , which helped me understand the history of production design and how important it has been for filmmakers to adapt to their audiences' changing tastes in relation to aesthetic appeal. 

Extra Blog Post 1--Discovery of Celtx

So I have encountered something absolutely great (in terms of screenwriting).
A website called Celtx acts as a Google Docs for screenwriting:

I plan on using the website for future projects and if I have extra time during my final presentation, I might introduce it during the Answer 2 portion as it does help my understanding of formatting.

Independent Component 2

Literal:

(a) I, Micah Chambers, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 35 hours and 50 minutes of work. 
(b) Moore, Michael. " Michael Moore's Thirteen Rules For Making Documentary Films." Indiewire. 10 Sept 2014. Web. 21 Jan 2015.
(c) Senior Project Hours
(d) Veronica Lopez and worked on a documentary about fangirls and fangirling, in which we featured interviewees with several students from I-Poly. We also completed a trailer and some posters as a marketing strategy.

Interpretive:

We worked on the film in all five stages (development, pre-production, production, post-production, and distribution). We developed the idea for the film, conducted interviews, edited portions of the film, and worked on hypothetically marketing it.

Evidence: Independent Component 2 Booklet

Applied:

Through working on this documentary, I learned how to create a compelling story, albeit not a narrative, which can lead to a memorable film. We sought out interviewees we knew would have a wealth of knowledge to share, making sure their stories could appeal to the masses should we choose to distribute it. We also discussed the importance of marketing the film and how to make it outstanding.

Extra Blog Post 2-Fangirl (Change of Independent Component)

Even though I think my last independent component went really well, and I enjoyed that I was able to examine all the different stages and aspects of film through using real-world examples and my own work, I would like to mainly focus my second independent component on the production of Fangirl. I  have already dedicated a nice portion of my time to working on the documentary.
I originally planned on writing and shooting my own narrative, but I like the idea of working on the documentary because I will be conducting interviews and learning about fan-ology in general.
For my independent component, I would be working on conducting interviews, cinematography, later editing the interviews and ultimately creating an overall story for the documentary.

Extra Blog Post-Fangirl

So far, the production for Fangirl is going extremely well. We have filmed nine people. Veronica and I have created a spreadsheet so that we can keep our meetings and footage organized, as well as keep a schedule of the people we will be interviewing. This Wednesday, we plan to film a panel/debate with several fans of Marvel and DC. Basically, we want to see a heated discussion about which company is better.

Link to the Spreadsheet:

Fangirl Schedule

We will probably start asking for more interviewees after Spring Break, specifically lowerclassmen, mostly because we haven't had a chance to reach out to them. Once we interview a nice majority of people from school, we will probably start seeking out people in public places (malls, events, etc.) and perhaps reach out to people on social networks (Tumblr, Twitter, etc.)