CCR Video

       What's up readers! I have returned to present to you my thoughts behind the production of Offsides, in this CCR video on my channel. It will give you lots of insight into what we think about our film, where things have gone well, and where we could have improved. Enjoy!

Final Project: Offsides

          Hello readers! Today is the day that our film, Offsides, is released! This moment has been months in the making, to which I am proud to finally unveil our hard work. Without further ado, here is Offsides!

Lessons and Farewell

        Hey avid readers! It has been months in the making of writing these 40 blogs, but the time has finally come for me to say goodbye. Media Studies has been such an exciting journey to learn new skills and find a new perspective as I watch movies, it will be a class that I will remember after I have graduated. There is much I would like to talk about in this final post, so let’s dive right in.

          Movies have always taken a great presence in my life, I remember some of the earlier films I’ve watched such as The Land Before Time and Cars. Movies are not just entertainment, they are stories that find millions of fans to sit down and watch them. The thousands of films that have been released to the world have created such an impact in the media and how we absorb it. In general, the skill of moviemaking has improved drastically since the time of The Wizard of Oz or Citizen Kane, both great movies I have watched about 5 years ago. In today’s age, we have higher expectations of quality of video, audio, and script for a film, which technology has been capable of producing.

 

          As I was taught the art of films in Media Studies, I have been able to get knowledge on how shots are created and the thoughts behind each of them on the plot of a film. These shots are usually incorporated into the movies I watch in my life, especially the over the shoulder shot for conversations. The lighting is another factor in conveying the type of tone you wish your reader to feel, such as having low-key lighting to create a horror movie, or rather high-key lighting for some feel good film. We also have what type of sound you want to include in the movie, such as a diegetic sound for the characters to hear that sound playing in the background, or rather a non-diegetic sound to intensify a scene. There are a variety of ways directors implement these tools to create the type of movie genre they are expressing. 

          All in all, the main lesson I can take away from Mediastudies is to enjoy watching films. After taking the class I can point stuff out about a scene that makes me appreciative of the hard work they put into its production. For example, the other day I watched the first Creed movie, released in 2015, which followed the story of Adonis Creed in his boxing career. During Creed’s first fight he goes against his opponent, Leo Sporino, in a continuous shot that lasted 4 minutes, which is crazy! The choreography, lighting, props, setting, audience, and consistency of the actors to produce this scene must have been such a venture, especially considering if you mess something up you would have to restart from the beginning. I highly recommend watching this movie, it is incredibly exhilarating. Without Media Studies, I don’t believe I would have been able to thoroughly take away from each scene of the film. 

       As a final note, I wish to thank my teacher, Mrs. Wozniak for helping to teach me the aspects of producing a film. I have relished the time I had in her class and plan to recommend this class to lower-classmen. I appreciate the time she took to go through each aspect of the films, as well as giving us examples of when they are used in a film. Her love for production is echoed in how in-depth she is in teaching us about the topics of the lesson plan, which helps us understand and enjoy the material much more. 

      It has been an honor providing you, my readers, incite into my mind and feelings about my time in the classroom and the final project. I bid you farewell, thank you.

What if Our Budget Was Unlimited?

 

        It has been a long journey my friends, especially working with what little stuff we have to produce a 2 minute scene. There are many limitations, such as casting, quality, accessibility, convenience, experience, knowledge, equipment, and props. However, let us think about what it would be like to have an unlimited budget to create such a film. What would that be like?

       Well, I want to approach this topic by the way we would create the story, in the boardroom. With an unlimited budget, we could afford to pay a group of writers and people to help advise us on what we should do differently to improve the plot and shots. Additionally, we could afford better editing software and equipment to film, such as a crane and tracks for the camera movement. This would allow for us to reach heights and positions we could not achieve with our iphone alone, such as when we went for an overhead shot of Ricky on the ground next to the Offsides title. We could emphasize this scene much better with this budget. Not only that, but audio equipment would suffice such as hidden mics in the shirt to capture voices better. We do not favor background noises such as the wind affecting our recording, so it would be in our best interest to seek better audio quality. 

     Similarly, better audio would pair good with better quality, such as a 4k camera to capture the shots in pristine manner. Lighting is another issue we could not tackle, but with editing, as well as purchasing spaces for proper lighting, we could achieve the original vision we had for scenes, such as when Ricky was in front of the mirror. We could convey his anxiety much better if we could have had that lighting, but for now it is a good thought.

 

      The budget would allow us to pay for a wider group of actors, as well as ensure they show up to the set more often. Our biggest struggle by far was attempting to get a cast together, but most of the people we know were busy on days we needed them, which required change in casting often. Thus, the budget would change how we went about the story in a big way, such as implementing background characters like cheerleaders or observers of the football game. We could also provide the team with more players to reenact an actual football game rather than a scrimmage. I would love to put these shots to use in a situation such as that. 

     The last thing I would like to touch up on is regarding costuming and props, which we know are important aspects for the audience to know who is doing what on screen. The distinction of the players would come from their jerseys and custom numbers, as well as the coach’s uniform to tell the audience he is coaching the blue team. We could also afford football helmets to go along with the jerseys.

     All in all, this is all wishful thinking and perspectives on what parts could be improved with a decent budget. Thank you viewers for tuning into this blog post, I will catch you next time!

 

Other Film Project Ideas?

            What's up avid readers! Today I want to open up some ideas about what other ideas I would have taken on for our film project. There are endless amounts of ideas for a film, some even approach the possibility of zombies on a train or an ex assassin coming out of retirement to avenge his dog. Creativity in a plot is what attracts the viewer, while writing and production keeps the audience seated. 

           Samurais

      Football is cool, but the idea of samurais could set up an intense, action packed opening sequence involving two masters of blades fighting it out to kill one another. I would definitely pursue this idea, if it was not for the limitations in our equipment. Here is what I would imagine the scene to play out, two samurais with robes on, no helmets, approaching each other with the white lighting shining up above them. The rest of the background is nearly pitch black with only the two windows in the room shining moonlight from the outside. See where this dream is already impossible? I feel any other scenery other than this moment would not work for the type of tone I want to achieve, so this idea is in the gutter.

 

      

   Bowling

      This is a popular choice among Davin and myself, where we could include a montage of us scoring or missing pins. I could imagine how easy it would be to film with the ambience of other bowlers, as well as adding rock music layered in to create a sensational opening sequence. However, that dream falls flat once I realize how difficult it would be to even achieve that. For instance, being able to find ways to film the bowling ball would be impossible considering we cannot walk onto the bowling track to get close ups of the pins or ball itself, nor get multiple angles for a montage. The only way would be to rent out the bowling alley. Additionally, we would have to each pay to play in the game, adding to the fact that we have limited tries to get perfect strikes or play it out how we want to. This idea is just not suitable for our project.

        Workout

      My last idea for a video project would include us working out, similar to a Rocky movie where we have a montage of us striving to better our bodies. Where this already dies out is Davin simply wouldn't favor doing this idea, although I would be down to do it, and show off how many pull ups I can do in a row (35). Even so, it definitely would have been easier to film and create. However, Davin and I agreed producing a sports movie, so American football was our best bet. 

     These ideas still have a place in my heart, because they would just be so cool to film. I certainly think you would find excitement in them, as well. Thanks for tuning in to this post, I'll catch you guys around. 

The Mind behind the Shots

 What’s up viewers, in this blog post I want you all to take a peek into what had gone through my mind while in the making of the Offsides. I want you to find out about how my perspectives had shifted as we produced the project. That being said, let’s dive right in!

The beginning

        When we started the plans for the film we understood what we wanted to create. We wanted an action-packed, football scene about a young man who ultimately gets defeated. The original plot for this scene was to have this young man, Ricky Schmidt, imagine he wins a scrimmage against resilient opponents, but when he wakes up from this dream he is utterly broken by them. He lies in defeat, with no one to help him. The genre would be a sports-comedy that would encapsulate a story of a boy trying to find a career in the sport. However, things had changed as we realized this project would be much too ambitious, even in terms of how many people we looked to cast. Oh were the days of expecting 15 people to show up to the park for the filming of the project. We scrapped the idea of a daydream sequence and pursued to build a strong relationship in Ricky’s team, as well as set up the red team, who would pose as their antagonists. 

           The middle

        My perspective had shifted from a sport-comedy to more of a dramatic one with slight humor to keep the audience intrigued. Rather than having two scenes that differed in their lighting, where the daydream would be presented in a high-key lighting, while the reality would be cloudy and dreary. Finding the right tone of the movie would be impossible, especially attempting to get the cast to the field on a cloudy day with the right attire as the day before, so I decided to keep it simple and have natural outside lighting. At this time, I was really focused on how we would shoot everything, so I set up shots such as mid-shots, close-ups, and wide-shots paired with transitions. We really began to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but our train derailed suddenly once we came to a realization. The easy part was creating the story, the hard part was getting people to show up on filming. Thus, we made severe changes to the plot of the scene.

           The End

 

       The final struggle to finish our project was ultimately getting people to get to the park, so we made changes. These changes ended up being the thing we needed to really create a well thought out story. Our second storyboard would crunch too many storylines and sequences together that appears rushed and out of place at times, but with time to reflect I created a story that focused on developing the character of Ricky and the people around him. This way, we would have a good flow to go off of, as well as not need as many people to show up for production. The best part of this is the amount of shots we can now include during one scene, such as one where characters converse with each other to help develop the plot, allowing for the audience’s attention to be focused on a certain actor or object. 

          Concluding Thoughts

       

       I am glad that I went through with the changes to make the movie seem much better to watch. The mistake I have learned is that a good dish takes time to marinate to really taste delicious. The entire focus on Ricky throughout this 2 minute segment will allow viewers to understand his pain and struggle rather than watching different plot lines erupt during the scene. Thank you readers for continuing to view my blog posts, even after the film has finally been released. Your thoughts will always be appreciated. See you next time.

Special Thanks to our Cast

 It is good to see you again, avid readers! The premiere of our film has wrapped up and now we await the reviews. We hope you enjoyed the scene, but now we want to give special congratulations to our cast and provide you guys with insight into their performances and roles. We could not have done it without them, so please give them a round of applause!

      * Nicholas Nelson as Ricky Schmidt

      * Nicholas Williams as Kelvin Alonso

      * Emir Delossantos as David Beck

      * Davin Williams as Coach W

      * Lazaro Alfonso (Yours truly) as Coach B

         Nicholas Nelson performed wonderfully as the protagonist of our film, who certainly captured the expressions and mentality that Ricky Schmidt conveys in the plot. The moment he walked onto set he understood what we wanted from him. Not only that, but he gave me a few pointers on what the characters should do or say as we filmed, which aided heavily into changes we made dialogue wise. It was great filming with him and he is such an amazing guy.

      

        Nicholas Williams is an outstanding friend who had put himself up to the task as the role of Kelvin once we could not meet up with a previous cast member consistently. He allowed us to ensure this project would get finished, even assisting us with recording shots and entertaining the crew while I yanked my hair out trying to decide how to improve the shots I wanted to create. I appreciate you man, you really helped us big time.

       Emir Delossantos is a close friend of mine who had always made time to film with us, even if we had to reschedule due to complications. He was consistent in his venture to show up to help us and we want to give him the proper thanks for that. His cooperation with both Nicholas’s helped the process of filming the shots they were in, even more so bringing life to David’s character. Thank you, Emir, for being there when we needed you.

      Davin Williams was both a pivotal voice in the dialogue, as well as the editing front for the film. I have regarded him in a high manner for months since we have started working together, but I sincerely compliment his efforts towards finalizing this project. Without him, I would not have been able to have this project fully realized. Thank you, I wish to work with you again in the future. Till then, let us enjoy the completion of our movie, “Offsides.”