Creative Critical Reflection

And because you guys deserve it, here's a little inside look on the opening of Hacked :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgDy1vfmEPw&nohtml5=False

Final Project

This is it. The opening is done. Thank you so much for your support and feedback through the process of this movie. I would to thank my team: Isa, Carolina and Caroline. Without them this wouldn't have been possible. And a special thanks to my teacher, Mrs.Stoklosa, for making us more than ready to make this project get accomplished. A lot of hard work has gone into the creation of Hacked, it wasn't easy, but it came out amazing. So here's our movie... hope you like it!

Hacked by Isabella Castro, Carolina Moreno, Caroline Johnson and Mariana Guerra
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xU8jygFMhgE

The Twelfth Thought

Today has been a very progressive day. Finished the video comments/questions which will help me not be so stressed out in the future. (I actually get stressed easily, but instead I kinda shut down and go into a different universe, and then when i wake up I eventually get everything done, so... no stressing out for Mariana in this project. ) And when I wrote the answers I loved how incorporated the genres and the big social norm we are breaking free from. And even I while writing everything down, was so proud of the group and I. Im super happy of the things we have been able to create together. Couldn't have asked for a better team. Another accomplishment is that we finally decided the ending of the opening scene, which will give a small little hint to the audience that Isa is the reason for Caroline going crazy. Tomorrow in school we are also going to take a picture of Isa and Caroline because that will be the background of Isa's computer. Super excited for the next couple of days, final cut people!!!!!!!!!

The Eleventh Thought

Can you believe after all this time we forgot to give the film a title! That's hysterical in my opinion. Well then the four of us brainstorming, I think we are going with the name "The Code". It has a really nice ring to it. And then of course Carolina speaks up and says that its perfect, because at the same time she broke the girl code. Not going to lie, we all laughed a little, but then thinking about it, it actually really does make sense. A little play on words. So imagine going to the movie and going through the allies and then a giant poster catching your eye and it says the The Code with two girls under it. It's kinda ironic if your think about it. Look at this imagines, (of course our movie would star Isa and Caroline.

I started woking on the questions as well! Progress! Trying to get everything thing done as soon as possible! Motivation! We only have 5 more days! No time to waste!

A Quick Pause

So here's the quick video (that I promised the other day) of an obstacle that we had to overcome which was the contact lens. So here's a quick behind the scenes of Caroline trying to wear the neon blue contact lens. Caution: We do not advise to wear these contact lens, nor do we want to scare you of wearing contact lens. It's just not as easy as it seems, especially the first time. Well here you go!

Anyway today we starting to edit today. And hopefully on friday we will be able to finish editing and finish our video comments, WHOOP WHOOP.
Right now me and Isa are looking through sound effects since none of them can be copyrighted. And hahaha literally writing that sentence we found the sound we were looking for (a zap). You guys bring me good luck! All in all the film is looking amazing, and I'm super excited for you guys to see the finishing touches.

The Tenth Thought

Changes Changes Changes Changes. This is literally all that describes the past weekend. In the end we stayed with our original idea, but looked at it at whole different perspective. Realizing that filming at home is much easier than filming school, we decided to base the opening at home. And then also (although it would have been awesome) we dropped opening the credits with the coding perspective because its actually pretty hard to make it as cool and graphic as we actually wanted to make it. Another aspect which was dropped was the boyfriend pitch. The reason for this whole process is because of the opening but will be known later on throughout the movie. What we actually did was that we left the audience with a hook. One that they wont be able to stop watching the film because they need to know the rest of the story unless they will never be able to sleep (at least that's what we're looking for haha)
So now basically the girl will get a Facetime call from her "bestfriend" at night. Gossiping and talking the friend persuades her to put her earphones in. Once she does, she gets an immediate shock (coincidence? I think not!) Logging off, she goes to the bathroom and the viewer is able to view her eyes changing! (Now do you still think its a coincidence?) And that's how far we've gotten. Good right? Well then a mini speak peak, is that during the rest of the movie the best friend is subconsciously controlling her "bestfriend" to kill her boyfriend (since it was her ex) and then that way we still capture the target audience of because of the typical knife to the back teenage drama. In a little ill post some behind the scene clips that consider ever wearing contacts again.

The Ninth Thought

Just got some amazing feedback from the other classes who looked through my blog. The comments were opened my eyes to the some technical issues that I didn't even realize we're there haha. Besides that all I got was great comments and how they lived my voice. Which makes me really happy. At the same time looking through the other blogs I realized that I really need to step up my game a little. So keep a closer eye on my posts and see if you can realize the difference. 

Anywaysss changing topic, me and my group have had a major set back, now we changed the whole beginning. And what we filmed the other day is not even going to be used. Especially since none of it had any flow to it. Then the contact lens, cost too much and won't be come in time so we are managing with one eye contact.This is so stressing because these "minor" setbacks actually have a huge effect on the time and project. Well this Saturday we are refilming everything, so I'll keep you guys updated. With probably a whole new beginning, but in the end this process makes the filing and flow come easier. I'll explain after we film and we actually have everything settled down. Cross your fingers! 

The Eight Thought

Today we started filming today a scene of the opening. It went amazing! We actually changed a few things because you know, thats the movie industry. And today we literally repeated scenes like 50 times. And then we even made a joke and said "Rolling, Take 27" and realized that the industry is actually like that. And then there was a part where we had to cut the whole thing away because Caroline wasn't able to carry a full improvised conversation with my cousin hahaha. She even asked him "Do you hate your teachers too?" we all laughed for a good minute. In the end we didn't even use my cousin haha. I really enjoyed filming today, i just realized that filming is going to be a bit more complicated than what was expected since we are aiming for perfection.

The Seventh Thought

So I got my first review for the movie! I explained the film to my mom, and she loved it. She thought that it was super unique and that it would attract all kinds of different personalities. A super scientific student and the drama queen of the school. Besides getting critiques I have also been investigating for the film. The colors that portray dishonesty. And I want Isa to be have something gold represent her. Maybe the phone can be my gold iphone. Because gold represents philosophy, dishonesty, cowardice, jealousy, covetousness, deceit, illness, hazard and friendship, this article explains it in further detail. http://www.incredibleart.org/lessons/middle/color2.htm
I also want Isa to have a bad family in the movie because that can be the basis for the craziness that Isa obtains. Researching this area of topic i came upon a chart that actually demonstrates that parenting styles can cause some disorders.

http://www.mentalhealth.com/home/imhimages/PERSONALITY_parenting.jpg

 https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/a3/3a/52/a33a5229eb015b70a07c126c44f99f0a.jpg

The Sixth Thought

So basically examining closely the story board... the film will begin with the opening credits which will be a code form rolling down the computer, and MICC Productions will appear (Mariana, Isa, Carolina, Caroline; i thought it was rather catchy and cute). And then close up of screen where the face of Isa will be shown in the back with a nerdy appearance. And then the next scene will focus on Caroline and her boyfriend. And then back to the coding credits. After that Isa will be shown yelling yes and screaming up and down in the middle of the night. Then a long shot of Isa running our of her room, and then cutting to the school parking lot where Isa finds Caroline with her boyfriend, and Isa looking pissed. And then since Caroline has her ear phones in, an over the shoulder shot of Isa pressing a bouton on her phone. In the background you can hear electric sound and the cut to Caroline kind of jumping like as if she's been shocked. And then Isa runs to Caroline as if nothing happened. And then a cut to Caroline doing homework around 2 in the morning and then quickly cut to Isa pressing a different button on her phone. And in that instant a close up of Caroline's eyes, and then with a blink she has different colored eyes. And then the scene fades all black with the letters HACKED.
And so yes, that's what have so far. Super excited to make the story board come true. Don't forget to always check for new updates on the process and the film!

Thoughts In A Picture

Here's the story board that was made to represent basically the overall plan for the movie.... Hope you guys like it so far

 

The Fifth Thought

It's spring break! But me and my team are still bringing our A game, although sometimes it's hard to actually get all of us to be online at the same time. For example yesterday I had no internet whatsoever, and that why this post will be published a little later than usual. Another obstacle that now needs to be overcome is that one of the contact lens broke... Yeah that's a huge deal. Right now Caroline (another girl in the group) is looking where we can buy one before we start shooting, and we will pay in for it. But for some good news we finally did decide that the reason for the mind control is because of an ex boyfriend, and we are planning on killing the ex boyfriend through the girl that is mind controlled (who is currently with the guy). We thought it was the best reasoning for the mind control of a 16/17 year old. And then the evil perfect girl will get obsessed and not be able to control herself when it comes to mind controlling. Anyway, they are yelling at me because I have to leave. I'll come back to you guys soon because we are starting the story board Monday. Don't miss it!

The Fourth Thought

Thinking of new concepts for the movie we decided on a specific symbol that will draw the viewers attention and make sure that it ties to the movie. We are incorporating neon blue eyes that demonstrate creepiness and basically shows the essence of being controlled. So now the viewers will be able to differentiate the different states that the main character will display. Here's a sneak peek of the enchanting eyes:

Getting to the nitty gritty, the age group that we are trying to capture is 15-27. Our genre is horror/mystery. And based on research the elements of the film will be unique but at the same time be able to capture the basic elements that capture the viewers attention. This thought was hard for me to understand because I always thought of different is better, but my group explained that there are specific keys that no matter what draw a viewers attention since it's what their life is based on. A teen will be able to connect to a rivalry/boyfriend situation be chase no matter how cliche it is, it still an actual problem in a teenagers life.

Thoughts Shared

Yesterday there was a meeting at the library to discuss what we have so far for our project and get other group input. Luckily me and Isabella (one of my group members) ended up in the same group. And it actually went really really well. And after discussing the input of the meeting me and the group were able to finally decide what story we are going to be projecting. So here it goes, imagine...

The perfect, preppy, and popular girl is actually a coder and loves to study neurology. Now add an ex best friend (still contemplating why she is the ex best friend). This mixture adds to crazy and conniving plan. This perfect girl has coded her way into the computer of her ex best friend and has been able to enter her mind. What will she do? Kill the boyfriend? Become obsessed with the power? Well you have to see it to find out hahahaha. 

So now me and the group have started researching neurology to actually have background info, and Isa already codes and she has been teaching us the basics throughout the days. Here's an article about neurology and controlling the mind  since its actually pretty interesting. 

Mind control relationship to neurology

Hacking into the brain

The Third Thought

Today I texted the group chat just to double check on the progress made during the past two days. And the genre was finally decided... *drum rolls* a thriller/horror film is going to be made by us. So I decided to look more into the the genre and researched key details that make a thriller/horror movie actually stand out. http://www.filmsite.org/thrillerfilms.htmlThis website hilighted great thriller movies and the techniques used to make each one special. I'm super excited to create this movie opening. This week we will start storyboarding, don't worry, I'll keep you guys informed. 

The Second Thought

Minor setback to our creative project. I got the flu and haven't been able to go to class. Although I have been researching even more the genre of suspense. And came up with the idea of a girl meeting the new boy in school, and it turns out that he's a massive psych killer. If we incorporate special techniques we can actually make this movie stand out. Although tomorrow there is no school, I'm texting my group though the group chat to finally decide what we are finally going to go through. I just wish I hadn't miss these two days of school, but I guess life is like that, complicated.  

The First Thought

Helloo! And thank you for taking time to read this blog and entering the mind of Mariana while her and her group discover what kind of film opening to create for their Aice Media project. Nice to meet you, my name is Mariana Guerra, hahaha. Anyway so me and my have decided that this film has to be something that stands out and catches Cambridge’s eye from the beginning. Today we started researching the Do’s and Dont’s for specific films. After researching I have concluded that I would prefer creating a suspense/thriller/mystery movie (article), but now I need to let my group input their ideas. Tomorrow the group and I shall decide. Stay tuned!