AICE Media Studies

           My short film works to represent certain social issues like the over-sexualization of women in today’s society. During the creation of the film, the thought processes my group and I had were concerning what the child was thinking throughout her duration of playing with the dolls. As can be seen in the film, the actresses were dressed in low-cut crop tops and short skirts. The reasoning behind this was to showcase the fact that a child was choosing to imagine these sexual characters during her seemingly innocent act of playing with dolls. Of course, this is by no fault of the child’s. It is simply to present the outcomes that result from kids of all ages being exposed to today’s media and culture. The norm nowadays is women exploiting themselves, seen especially through their choice of clothing. Throughout the past years, women have been known to dress more modestly and it’s been considered normal to cover up. As of more recently, women have...

 This is our website https://violetroberts8.wixsite.com/my-site-6 This is our postcard This is our short film https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxtKtPT2t6w&t=129s

I started off by just adding the videos together to create them into one. This was easy since I already had experience from last year. The hard part came when I had to add the sounds over top of the video. I thought this would be fairly easy since I had some prior experience with this before. However, it did not go as smoothly as I thought it would go. I had issues because the sound would either be too loud or too quiet. I knew what I had to do was to put the sound of "Honey, dinner's ready" over the video. I thought I could just make the underlying video silent. However, it ended up sounding too fake when everything in the background was silent and there was just the sound of the mom talking. I then thought I could increase the sound of the video a little bit but not too much so there would be some background noise, but so the audience couldn't hear me giving the little girl cues. I couldn't figure out how to do this easily so it sounded regular, it would always ...

At last, the filming process was over and the really fun process was about to start, editing. Addison wanted to take a sort of lead in the editing since this was one of her strong suits. Still, she agreed with me to split some of the work. I felt bad to pin it all on her, whether it was something she enjoyed or not. I felt that it was the right thing to do to at least split some of the editing up among the group. This way, not only would one person not have to do everything, the film could have a piece of everyone's creative work. She said she could use some help on a couple of the final scenes, so I got straight to work. I already had the last two shots that incorporated the little girl and the dolls, so it was perfect. There would be no hassle trying to send over the shots, which I have unfortunately experienced before. I decided to edit in iMovie because it was the most accessible for me. It was free on my apple devices and I could access it on both my phone and laptop. Being ab...

This was the scene that had been put off the most and I was excited and scared to film it at the same time. I'm aware that getting children to do what you need them to is a difficult task. However, I was hopeful that the little girl I was working with would be compliant since I'd known her for years. She'd never seemed to be a troublemaker and was hoping she would stay this way for the duration of the filming process. At first, everything started off smoothly. When I first got to her house, I settled down and asked her to bring over her Barbie dolls so I could see what I was working with. A large box was brought over full of dolls and toys, and I discovered she had exactly what I was looking for. Two dolls, one blonde, one brunette, and even a table with a plate of sweets and a drink, to replicate what we had in the film. I started explaining what I needed her to do, which is when I was met with her own input on what she thought I should do. It was quite hard to get her to ...

The next day came fairly quickly and it was time to refilm. Since Dara and I had decided to not go to Addison's house physically, I sat on my bed and waited for the facetime call. At about 12:15, everyone was on the call and Addison and Violet began getting ready. Once the costumes, hair, and makeup were finished, filming was ready to begin. Addison decided to prop her phone up on a tripod to film the scene. There were no other group members there, so everyone decided it would suffice. However, problems quickly arose. Addison's dog immediately jumped on the bed and it was hard to keep him out of the shots. If he was locked out of the room, his barking would disrupt the scene, so there really was no other option. Besides the dog, my group and I all came to the conclusion that the tripod made the scene lose some of its creepy feels. Everyone agreed it looked way better before when a person's hand was holding the camera. Little things like moving the camera around in the sligh...

  This is what I was most afraid of, footage being deleted. Unfortunately, that became my reality today. I was feeling extremely accomplished and productive after having finished almost all of our filming. However, this all went away when I read Addison's text in the group chat. Addison told everyone that for some odd reason, one of the scenes had been wiped from her phone. Sadly, it was an important scene too, so it would need to be refilmed. It was the scene where Addison was holding the knife up to Violet and was about to stab her. I texted Addison asking if the video was in her recently deleted, but she informed me it wasn't. I was out of ideas on what to do and knew the whole scene would just need to be refilmed. Initially, the idea brought up was to simply have Violet go over to Addison's house in order to shoot the scene again. This seemed to be okay with everyone on the team. Dara and I decided to be on facetime while the production was going on. Despite not being t...

The day after, filming went by quickly and easily. My group and I already knew exactly what needed to be done from our experience the day before. This time, when school ended Violet picked up Dara, Addison, and me to drive to Addison's house. Before Violet went to Addison's house, my group and I stopped by Starbucks. This was to get some good drinks and food to fuel my team and me before filming. After the quick stop, my team members and I were on the way to Addison's house. Right after arrival, everyone set out to do what they needed to. Dara and I set up the scenes to be filmed. Addison and Violet got dressed in their costumes from the day before. Addison also helped Violet put on makeup the same as the previous day. This was all done relatively quickly, quicker than the day before, at least, and soon the filming process began. Again, Dara and I took turns holding Addison's dog so there weren't any dogs in the backgrounds of the scenes. The first couple of shots w...

After the worker revealed there were no ropes that my group and I had been searching for, they gave another solution. The worker showed my group and me the jump ropes instead. While nobody was really thrilled about the idea, this all soon changed. There was a pink and blue jump rope, which wasn't what anyone was initially looking for but ended up being what was used. Everyone thought it was perfect because the colors perfectly matched the barbie aesthetic. Once this was taken care of, there was the last issue left to tackle, the spoon. My group and I searched high and low throughout the store for a seemingly large spoon, yet it was nowhere to be found. Violet, Dara, and I even went as far as asking another worker if the store had any large spoons. The worker revealed there were none in the store, only regular-sized spoons. Sadly, there was no other alternative option this time like there was with the rope. My group and I decided to check out and go begin filming before the cake mel...

I was so excited to finally film today and bring my group's and my ideas to life. The plan was for Violet, Dara, and I to all go to Addison's house after school that day. Addison wouldn't need a ride there because she had stayed home that day. This was exactly what my group and I did. However, before going right to Addison's house after school, Violet, Dara, and I realized we needed to go to a store quickly to get some missing props. My group and I  decided to go to Target because it was close to the school and had everything that was needed. After talking and texting with everyone, it was decided that Dara, Violet, and I would look for a cake and a rope. My group and I also decided to look for a large spoon since barbies are miniature versions of people, so pairing a large spoon would help bring that out to viewers. When Violet, Dara, and I went to Target, there wasn't any vanilla cake that was originally planned for. However, there were found two slices of a choco...

My group and I finally got to the day we decided to film. While this was a set plan we all had from before, something had come up for me. This caused me to, yet again, not be able to film. My teacher had resigned from her position as an online Spanish teacher, so I would have to receive a new teacher. I needed to have a welcome call with this new teacher before she went on spring break. The only day and time she was available were at 5:30 pm on the 6th. This, unfortunately, was the exact time we would have to film, so I couldn't go. It wasn't a huge problem though, as my group and I worked through it. It was decided that I would be on a facetime call while the group films so I could give my input and "be there" through the process. Also, Dara would just be able to film all the scenes on her own while Violet and Addison acted. While this wasn't our original plan, it would have to do with the circumstances given. However, the whole plan ended up not working out beca...

After many hours of looking through what music would be a good enough fit for our film, my group and I finally came to a conclusion. Personally, I started by looking at copywritten music to make sure there wasn't anything that really stuck out to me. I was able to find a couple of good songs here, that I kept in the back of my mind throughout the process. These songs included ones like "Bela Lugosi's Dead by Bauhaus. I liked that the song was mainly instrumental and was slow and calm, it was scary but unique. I felt it would be a great choice for a film. I also really liked the intro to the song "Black Magic" by Backxwash because I felt that it was slow enough and creepy enough to be a close-to-perfect fit for the film. However, I didn't like the rest of the song. In order to use it in the film, I would have to cut out only the beginning part of the song. I would then have to go on and put it on a loop for the duration of the film. This would be too complicat...

After the mishap that happened the first time, my group and I thought everything would go good this time. Again, my peers and I tried to make plans. It was decided to film the following weekend. This would be the weekend of the 25th and possibly the 26th if we needed another day of filming. However, it then came up that Dara and I had to attend a beach clean-up that weekend for our club. Since we're both club officers, it wouldn't be fitting if we said we couldn't participate in the clean-up. Addison and Violet wouldn't be able to film the scenes independently since they both act in the film. Therefore, it was decided that my group and I would sit down and figure out a set date for filming when everyone knew they would be able to film. After a call, my group and I decided to film on the week of the 6th. Violet would pick everyone up in her car and go to Addison's house after school. However, I didn't want to just sit around and wait until we were all able to get...

My group and I were supposed to start filming at minimum one day this weekend. My team and I had planned to get started on our film and finish at least a couple of the first clips. If not, it would at least provide a feel for how filming is going to go. Unfortunately, this was not able to be successfully done. It soon came up that my peers and I had previous commitments that weekend, which were not able to be postponed. For example, my mom told me when I got home that we would be visiting my friend out of state that weekend. I would be gone from that Friday night to the next Sunday morning. This left me no time to film since it would be too complicated to film on a school night. This is because I live so far away from everyone else in my group. By the time I got home from filming, I wouldn't be able to have enough time to sleep before I woke up at 6 the next morning. Therefore, I had to let my team know I couldn't make it that weekend. However, I assumed they would still be abl...

Scene 1: The first five seconds will show clouds going down with "...Presents" and "...Production Company."  Scene 2: The next scene is a tracking shot of a very vibrant neighborhood with the actors' names.  Scene 3: The camera gets closer to a house and shows the film's name. Scene 4: The camera goes into the house slowly. Scene 5: The camera continues throughout the house that looks very put together. Scene 6: The kitchen is a little messy-looking and says "The Music by..." Scene 7: Two girls are shown talking muted as the "Directed by.." is displayed. They are stiff.   Scene 8: Sara grabs a chair and sits as she says her first line stiffly. Scene 9: This is a close-up shot of Lynn and she says her first line very smiley. She has a lot of makeup on.  Scene 10: The camera turns to Sara as she says her next line wearing a lot of makeup. Scene 11: The camera watches closely as Sara gets out of her chair stiffly and asks Lynn if she wants ...

The participants include Mila Rakic, Addison Walker, Violet Roberts, and Dara Sedaka. The location will be Addison Walker's house. Our backup plan in case Addison's house doesn't work out will be to film at Violet's house. We will have Addison's parents home during the filming. This will be to ensure health and safety. They will watch over us to ensure nothing goes wrong and help us if something goes wrong. This is especially important since we have dangerous props, like a knife. For the props, we will need as follows: two barbie dolls, a rope, a cup of lemonade, and a chocolate cake. We will also need a plate for the cake, a knife to slice the cake, a small vile of green liquid, and a T.V. remote. Finally, we will need a bowl of popcorn, a glass of water, and a knife. The costumes will be regular clothes that a teenage girl would wear. This works so the audience doesn't get suspicious. It will also slightly reassemble a barbie, so things like the color pink and...

  INT. KITCHEN - DAY This is the home of SARA. The two girls are talking casually, LYNN is sitting at the kitchen table, SARA is standing beside her. SARA I seriously can’t believe we don’t hang out more often. Every time we’re together we have the most fun! LYNN I was thinking the same thing. Maybe this time we could even stay up super late, like until 12 o’clock at night! SARA Yes yes, we should! By the way, are you hungry? I’m so hungry. LYNN Oh, yeah, I am. What should we eat? SARA Oh! I have some leftover cake in the fridge! A chocolate cake. LYNN gasps. LYNN Oh my gosh yes! SARA Ok, I’ll go get it for us. SARA walks to the fridge and removes a cake from inside. She places it on the counter and begins slicing two slices. SARA Do you want a drink with your slice? LYNN Sure! Can I have a lemonade, please? SARA Of course! SARA opens the cabinet and pulls out a comically large cup. She then secretly removes a mysterious vial from her pocket and pours its contents into the drink. ...

This short film is one of the oddest we've ever seen. None of us can seem to discern the message. We are between thinking the message is that the media vilifies marijuana too much, or that marijuana is genuinely bad. If it is a parody of an anti-drug campaign though it is genius. If it is an actual anti-drug campaign, it's still kinda genius. The plot is literally about a girl smoking weed in the car with her friends. As a result, she gets into a horrible fatal car crash. The visuals are very vivid and colorful. The shots, wide, long, close-ups, are amazing. The puppets are used very effectively as props. The dialogue is extremely weird though. It is fake conversation. Nobody talks like that. However, that's the point of it. It is very goofy for the most part until the grotesque puppet violence near the end. Even that is goofy, with the stupid non-diegetic music in the background and the dead bodies still moving and flailing about. Everything in this film is making fun of s...

The film follows the main character who just returned from studying away from home to meet with her father before he goes to prison. Her day is filled with loads of inconveniences and negatives. She wakes up  ravaged by the ocean. She recovers from a night of drugs and drinks. She picks up a cake that is too big. Her boyfriend acts weird on the phone. She drops the cake all in her car. Her conversation with her father turns sour as she questions his reluctance to appeal his court decision. Eventually, she goes partying and gets high and wasted. She discovers a camera in a room of a man she almost sleeps with. All of this leads her to question her life and have a more meaningful conversation with her father the following day. He confronts her on her recent behavior and she truly has a change in ideals in that split second. Her bond with her father is drawn tighter and she will wait for him until he gets out of prison. This film was very good. The close up camera work was very intere...

Music is important in this film. From the beginning we noticed the nice classical music to accompany the thematic camera shots. It accompanies the film for nearly the entire duration. The music picks up at appropriate times and settles at others. The main character owns his restaurant trying to bring customers in during a pandemic. It addresses the lives of immigrants in America. It covers the expectations saddled upon immigrant children. It also discusses the prejudices that minorities deal with in America. It covers the current events that influence these. The lighting and camera work is very effective. The action matches and eyeline shots are frequent and exciting. The lighting is very dark to fit the gloomy mood of the piece. But all the characters are fully illuminated to keep the film character driven. This film is very interesting and thought provoking. The statistic about half of Chinese restaurants closing during covid is very sad. It is disheartening. This film is perfect to ...