Pitch

 After being in quarantine for months, a teenage girl longs for one night t of friends, music and memories  she will never forget.

Solo Blog

              In elementary school, I saw group projects as a fun opportunity to spend time with my friends. Now in high school, I can't stand a group assignment. My assignment is to produce a 5 minute short film and fully advertise it. We are given the option to work alone or in a group of up to 4 classmates. I am choosing to complete it alone.  Although I will have friends featured in my film, they will not make any decisions. That is exactly why I decided to take on this project alone. I do not want my grade to be based on anyone else's work or lack thereof. As it is my grade, it will be a representation of my skills and work. A benefit is control but a setback would be workload.

            In AICE Media A level, I did my first project in a group and although it was my favorite project, I did not like working in a group. It is easier to work with a group because of time management and work load. Working in a group though, limits your creative control. For example, if my group does not like my idea I have to work on a full project that won majority vote or is easier to do. That is a problem I ran into a lot last year with my group projects. I like to do all my work with dignity and creativity, so to do a project I don't want to do would leave me bored and bland. When you get full creative control, you don't have to vote for every song, every shot, and every costume. No one will fully understand your vision until it is executed so if I have full control I can do things the way I want and express my emotions, not a collective groups. 

        The only downside to working alone is the workload and responsibility all falls on you. I have to manage story-boarding, advertising, filming and editing all by myself in addition to all my other classes. That is a lot of work for a 16 year old I will not lie. As I said earlier though, I do all my work with pride so I am glad to take on a challenge.Working in a group can also be very distracting as people tend to collaborate with friends. This leads to getting off track. Last year a two-minute film which was supposed to take one day to film, ended up taking two days. The only reason for this is because we were not being serious with our time. I like collaborating with people and everyone loves less work but I do not believe I would submit an assignment that is authentic. The film I create will be an accurate representation of my creativity and skills. That is why I am choosing to work alone in this group-based project. 

Welcome Back Blog

     I am back! I came back for round two of my film making career with AICE Media A level. This year I am so excited to be making first full short film. Not only will I be making a short film, I will also be completely marketing it to the world. So I should probably re-introduce myself. Nice to meet you, my name is Macy Genevieve Villar. I am a 16 year old junior at Fort Lauderdale High School. I am bilingual (English and Spanish), but I do boast three full Italian sentences. My hobbies include photography, music-listening and excessive phone usage. I have three brothers and we like watching movies together. Some of my favorite movies are Project X, Charlies Angels, and Kingsman Secret Service. I like wearing a lot of black and white because I think it makes me more productive. My dream job is to be a millionare, investor, philanthropist and influencer; the Kim Kardashian of Wall Street if you will. My dream colleges are University of Miami and The University of Florida. I like fashion and R&B music as well as Asian food, roller coasters, any form of art. My favorite project that I have made in the past year has been my Vans commercial. I liked that one because it was short and fun, also quite impressive for my first film. This year I am excited to make a full movie as well as promote it. Promotion and advertising is quite beneficial to me as I want to enter the business world. I am currently forming a pitch for the movie; tis is the first step to the very exciting project ahead.

Audiences Essay

          Technology modernizes purely off efficiency and convenience. In today’s age, everyone does not consume media in the same way due to the advancement of technology. Although film was originally distributed through cinemas and VHS tapes, now there are countless services and methods to watch your favorite films.

            In modern day and age, a film can be distributed through a multitude of ways. With apps such as Netflix, Disney+, and Hulu, you can watch original movies produced by these companies without having to go to a cinema or wait for a DVD to come out. “Netflix’s catalog relies upon a complex web of algorithms that, nourished by monitoring its subscribers online use, aims to contribute towards formalizing satisfactory viewing decisions”, (Eva-Patricia Fernández-Manzano, 2016). These apps and streaming services run algorithms to suggest content based on previous viewings, this could be a reason for their large number of users; instead of targeting the population, the algorithms target to you. With these streaming services, it allows users to watch their favorite shows and films from their phone, computer, or smart television, which is very convenient for its users

For an experience, cinemas exist all around the world to watch new movies. There are many cinemas worldwide to watch the newest blockbusters. Many films by big corporations such as Walt Disney Studios, Universal productions, and Paramount can all be viewed at theaters. I don’t think cinemas will ever disappear because it is an experience you can’t get from watching a film on your phone. Although cinemas are a highly-grossing industry, they have been seeing a decline in sales “Streaming and other leisure-time enticements appeared to take a bite out of movie ticket sales in 2019, with total admissions declining nearly 5% to 1.244 billion” (Hayes, 2020). This can be due to the competition from other services.

Furthermore, another method to enjoy film is through DVD or BluRay disks through a player. All though it is not common for young people to own many DVDs, there are still millions of dollars being made through DVD sales annually. Films such as Aquaman, A Star is Born, and Avengers: Endgame all made over $20 million each in 2019 through DVD sales, (Numbers, 2020). Although DVDs are declining due to digital films and streaming services, there is still a profitable method to make more money off hit movies.

Today, to watch a movie there are so many ways. You can buy physical movies, you can rent from a local Redbox, you can go to a cinema, you can watch a movie on YouTube or Netflix, there are so many different options in the 21^st century that consumers can choose whatever is the most convenient to them. Companies can choose what is the smartest for their films when it comes to maximizing profits and viewers.,

Works Cited

Eva-Patricia Fernández-Manzano, E. N.-G. (2016, July 06). Data Management in Audiovisual Business: Netflix as a Case Study.

Hayes, D. (2020, January 17). U.S. Movie Ticket Sales Dip Nearly 5% In 2019, Reflecting Competition. Retrieved from DEADLINE: https://deadline.com/2020/01/movie-ticket-sales-2019-decline-domestic-box-office-1202834469/

Numbers. (2020). Top Selling DVDs in the United States 2019. Retrieved from Numbers: https://www.the-numbers.com/home-market/dvd-sales/2019

Extract Practice- Game of Thrones

       The director’s purpose of these two scenes are to demonstrate a boat landing to a kingdom and men of different background having a conversation about power, succession, crime, family and more. The director was able to convey this information while also establishing a mood using camera angles, shots, sound, mise-en-scene and editing.
The opening image was an aerial view of a boat traveling over a waterway. The aerial shot suggests movement as well as showing the boat with flags entering a kingdom. While the aerial shot took place, a thematic score played to intensify the serious mood. The next take of this scene showed the two men on the boat while the camera zooms in on their faces as they look off into the distance, which is most likely the kingdom they are entering. Their faces were very determined which further establishes the mood that the conversation and business that is about to take place were very serious and important. While they are on the boat, the day is cloudy, natural light. This gives off a pessimistic, somber tone, whereas if the director chose a bright, sunny day, it could suggest that the conversation was more light-hearted. The next transition was a jump cut between the view of the boat on the waterway and the men in the kingdom room. This transition suggests a change in location and therefore a small passage of time.
The next scene was of the two men from the boat having a discussion with three men from the kingdom. The long shot of the two men showed off their costumes and setting which are important for two different reasons. The costumes all the men wore were not modern, maybe 1000 A.C. which suggests that this storyline is very old and develops the story. Their costumes were also very heavy suggesting it was either winter or takes place in a northern country. The room they were in had marble floors and high ceilings, which suggests they are inside the kingdom now as these are signs of wealth. While the men were talking, the camera followed a shot-reverse-shot, which shifts the perspective and focus from the men as they speak to each other. In addition, the very dialogue was important because of the information but as well as being an indicator of the time period this took place in due to their tone and mannerisms. The lighting in this royal room was natural, as it lightly leaked in from a large window, which also indicates the time period.
In conclusion, the author used many small tactics and paid very close attention to detail to portray his vision into these two scenes. Their closeness to detail is what smoothly established their vision. With a combination of camera shots, movements, sound, editing, and mise-en-scene to establish a mood, location and characters.

Creative Critical Reflection

Final Movie