REFLACTION TIME 💭💬

I am starting this disclaiming that this project had costed me many hours of sleep and tears!

    I had always set in my mind that I wanted to work by myself on this project as I did not intend to share the creation of something so meaningful to me with anyone. I always knew It would be A TON of work and responsibility. During the production of my project, I regretted my decision so many times. Now, I look back and I don’t regret this decision, not even a little bit. Even though my project did not turn out exactly how I wanted… I am so proud to look back and see that I challenged myself outside of my comfort zone, I am so proud I did not take the easy way around this 450 points project!

   This Documentary has always had the purpose of sharing the human, intimate connections the Cypress Bay Football Team constructs and cherishes.   I always wanted to keep this as CLOSE as possible to reality. I never wanted to introduce fancy staged b-rolls, like I have mentioned in my past posts after our research done in class with the documentaries we watched. I knew I would incorporate a great amount of archived footage and “natural” conversations along the interview. “The Sweat that Runs Thru Our Veins”

, through visual aspects, does a successful job at representing the aspect of family in a non-blood related relationship. The documentary starts with a montage of pictures on a wall, those pictures visually represent the cherished “family” the team has created. I chose the montage of pictures to start the documentary as it is a more sophisticated way to present archived b-roll and also illustrate the close bonds outside of the documentary; a way to show reality.

    Touching the human side. I always wanted this project to touch people’s hearts and feelings. My main audience breaks down to young adults (15-23),female and male who are interested on sports culture. I wanted it to break that SPORT aspect of football (i know this sounds crazy, as football is a sports). I wanted it to be viewed as I SEE IT! Talking about this team naked me emotional and noone has ever been able to fell it or understand it; I WANTED TO MAKE THE IMPOSSIBLE POSSIBLE! I am completely aware that my disgusting audio quality made this major factor almost improbable to happen(as people could barely hear it) But after listening to the critiques in class and reading out discussion assignments on canvas, I was positively surprised to find out I was somewhat successful at this mission. People were able to feel and understand the message I tried to deliver! *happy face*. It made me so happy to see my documentary achieve my goal of interaction with my audience.

      As I had mentioned In my previous posts… I always new… since before we started the preparation of this project that I would have VERY VERY VERY limited time with this project. And I knew I wanted to spend A LOT of time in pre production (80% in pre-production). So I took our research in class as a literal preparation for my project (instead of only viewing it as a way of understating documentaries, I actually took notes on what I wanted for MY PROJECT). We watched American Purpose, Exit Through the Gift Shop, Abstract and Op-Docs from the NY Times. As research on the genre I used my notes I took in class. But I spend LOTS of hours researching ways to fix messed audio. I used thousands of different AI programs, watched YouTube videos on how to fix it on Premier Pro… and the only thing I learned was to NEVER EVER record my audio in the camera without a back up. WHY?? Because nothing fixes the messed up audio! As I look forward to refilming my documentary… I took on paying attention to the critiques from my classmates so I can fix my errors!

the DOWN FALL

MY FAVORITE PART IS FILMING INTERVIEWS

(talking to interviwee before filming)

I LOVE filming the interviews... It is always my favorite part of the project. 

(setting up equipment)

Ever since the beginning of this project I had one thing set into my mind; My interviews would look NICE and PROFESSIONAL! I checked out a better camera than I usually do, more light than I usually do, and I would use a different audio technique!

(interviewing)

Instead of recording the audio on a mic connected to my  phone... SO I have the camera audio as a back up. I decided   to use a mic connected to the camera (I had heard some   people say it worked better and that I would not have the   problem of the audio not being synced correctly).

hora H

"hora h"-  a decisive, crucial, exact or opportune moment 

Nov 6th was when I officially started my production process! 💥 YAY☺

80% pre-production

 "80% pre-production" is something a learned last year from Jim Guarasci from BECON TV.  Jim said that if we spend 80% of our time in planning and preparing... when it's time for production and post-production we will face LESS problems.

OFC that is not 100% accurate as life happens and we can always face problems (🚨🚨🚨SPOILERR 🚨🚨🚨)

After  running into numerous problems with last year's portfolio... I decided to take on planning!!! I met with Mrs. Stoklosa in the first day( I new I had to start filming SOON as the last game was in 2 days and that would be my last chance to capture b-roll).

During our meeting I presented my desire to do a doc on my school's  football team, as I have been a part of the team for a couple of years, I wanted to show the family side of the team! Initially I was not 100% sure of how to tell this story... But Mrs. Stoklosa 👸👸 had the AMAING idea of telling the story through the GIRLS ( the other managers/water girls)

Because I knew I had very limited time... I chose my interviwees and started writing my questions. I scheduled a meeting with Coach Hood (Head Coach) as I wanted to see if he would be all in for this project. I also talked to the girls who I had chosen. 

👩‍💻👩‍🏫🕵️‍♀️📹🎞️📽️

Over the last couple of weeks we have been studying documentaries in class... along with Mrs. Stoklosa's lessons (powerpoints and notes) she also introduced documentaries to our class. 

We watched American Promise, Exit Through the Gift Shop and Abstract in class and we also watched a few Op-Docs from the NY TIMES. 

As I watched the docs I took notes from examples that related to terms/techniques/ideas I would like to incorporate into my own doc! Watching the documentaries after as a research method helped SO MUCH when planning my documentaries. 👀

American Promise
 and Roaches' Lullaby had many shots of b-roll/interview (moments where the subjects were answering questions or explaining something but not in an interview setting). I loved those moments when I was watching the docs. I found it NATURAL AND TRUTHFUL. As I learned in class, docs are used to illustrate a "slice of life" and they are NON-FICTION. 

Even though I am aware the editor/director can still chose/edit to only show what they want in the final project, I loved how those "natural interviews" felt more honest and more truthful.  I believe this is because of the setting the subjects were less stressed, more talkative, more COMFORTABLE.

From Exit Through the Gift Shop I was inspired💭 by the archived footage ( specially the beginning montage). That not only inspired me because it shows moments of naturally where ofc they have a camera but, many times, they were filmed by friends instead of a camera person. That technique also inspired me alot, because I was always aware that I wanted to do something withe the football team and that by the time where the actual project arrived I would Only have maybe one or even none games left!

VOLTEIIIIIIII

 Oieee...

As I had mentioned on my last couple of posts from last year... I am back and finally in A level (so fancy and culta💅🧠)  culta: well-educated (in Portuguese)

I have missed the ORANGENESS of this website of course talking to you guys😜

I really wish I could've talked to all of you over summer! BUTTTT here is a bit of what I have done over summer and up till now:

• I travelled to Brazill 
• I did a 2 week internship at GLOBO (this HUGE  Brazilian media conglomerate that includes a television network, news channel, movie production company, publishing house, and more.) biggest dream of MY LIFE! I worked with the people who develop this website and this cool people who work in the BIGGUEST broadcast in South America👀😱😍😆💥
• Visited some family
• got my wisdom teeth removed
• Did a QUICK workshop to improve my photography skills
• Finished my last season as the Football media/team manager (favorite people/ still have trouble spelling the the word manager)😭😭
• Applied to colleges ( CULTA pt.2)🧠
• GOT A NEW CAMERAAAAAAAAAAA (FANCYYYYYYYYY)
• etc...

here are some flics....

   

(pictures from my intership)

Creative Critical Reflection

SOMOS A FORÇA E O PODER

 HERE ARE MY 2 CCRs

#1

ccr #1

ccr #2

ATÉ ANO QUE VEM 💋

FILM OPENING

HERE IT IS... 

BATE A POEIRA

Já sofri, já ganhei, aprendi, ensinei (isso não eh um adeus)

Hello everyone, I can't believe I am saying this, but I HAVE FINISHED ALL MY CCRs AND MY FILM OPENING. 

I AM OFFICIALLY DONE WITH THIS PROJECT!!!!!!!!!

I have grown so much within the past weeks, I learned so much especially with my errors.

I learned how to write a script, so to develop characters, how to manage better my time, how to blog, how to plan accordingly...

I honestly think this project thought me more than how to do a film opening. When I started this project I had no idea what I was doing hahahaha I thought I would hate blogging hahahaha and actually realized i like it A LOT, i just don't post more because I have other things to do (school). This project also taught me a good lesson, IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO CHANGE YOUR PLANS.

Last week I realized I had to change somethings in my story, and it was not the end of the world like I thought it would be.

I want to thank you guys for being here with me through this AMAZING journey, I would have not done it without you guys!

DON"T WORRY I'LL BE BACK NEXT YEAR IN A LEVEL☺ 

BATE A POEIRA

 I AM FLYING HOMEEEEEEEEEE...

currently on a 🛬🛬 from CPH to MIA!!!

As much as i LOVED my trip, finally beeing in Germany, reuniting with my family, and eating like crazy...  there is noting better than being back home☺☺

HOWEVER I HAVE GREATER  NEWS TO TELL YOU GUYS

DRUM ROLL🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁 

I HAVE FINISHED EDITING THE FILM OPENING  YAYAYAYAYAYAYAY

O preconceito velado

 HEYYYYYYYY!HOW ARE YOU GUYS? I AM ON MY WAY BACK TO MIAMI !!!!! Today I am flying from Berlin, Germany to Copenhagen, Denmark.🛫🛫🛫🛫🛫

As I flew I took on  editing my film opening. And with that I made some changes:

Because of how my actors look like the film opening is more about UNDERSTANDING EVERYONE HAS PROBLEMS NO MATTER WHO YOU ARE AND LEARNING HOW TO RESPECT THOSE DIFFERENCES AND PROBLEMS. 

With that change in mind I also changed the structure/order of the footage. There is a lot of footage I got tight I chose to  no longer use, for example the fight scene I chose not to show, simply because I fought Like it would feel like I was telling most of the story (like a short film) and that’s completely the opposite of what we are asked to do hahahaha SO I FIXED THAT.

                                                                      ( screenshot of premiere pro) 

Krishna, Buda, Jesus, Allah

 HEYYYYY, guysss I AM ON MY WAY TO BERLINNNNNNNNNN 🇩🇪!!!!!!!

So glad to announce I have filmed my first CCR😁

 As  I was filming it, I decided to change it a little bit: I had the idea of making it a “livestream” so I answer questions my followers are asking about my production. I had this idea because I wanted it to feel natural, as a conversation. I have always shared about life here as well, so I wanted to do something where you guys could see my personality and how I am, like I have always done with my posts here. I have never been formal here, so why would I be on my CCRS?

OFC ill add some media elements as B-roll to my “livestream” so its not a talking head 100% of time, as a media student I understand a single “image” for a “long” period of time is very boring.

Palavras soltas que aborrecem

 Heyyyyy. I have finalized the scripts for both my CCR’s!

After I got home last night I felted inspired and i think they came out very good! 

I want to use my family members on my CCR’s as hosts for my pod cast.( I got this idea from a sample our teacher showed in class from one of her past student, I don’t remember who’s it was so unfortunately I won’t be able to link them here)

Below is my script :

Tentaram me sufocar, mas eu respirei

Dobré ukotvení, writing from Czech Republic. My family and I drove from Wolfsburg Germany, where my godparents live, to Prague to spend the weekend. 

Here is a montage of our first day here. The city is BEAUTIFUL, and the food is so delicious. 

CCR’s

I woke up very early this morning so I could have time to plan for my CCR’s. I planned them out this morning. And I will be filing the next week when we drive back to my godparents’ house in Germany. The idea is to make a podcast

like the one on the image.

For the second one I want to do an “INFO SEGMENT” where ill have a stand up and I’ll be adding B-roll to visually show what I am saying.

More similar to the firs one i found in REN’S BLOG.

                     (CCR INSPO)

Se errar é humano, o erro te liberta

 Heyyyyyyyyy!

Guys as I had mentioned in a previous post "”Esperança Depois de uma Prece” I had emailed a popular singular in Brazil resquesting an authorization to use her song in my film opening. However, I never got a response. Meaning, we most move on to …. PLAN B.

Plan B consists of…

1).Without her authorization i can only utilize her song for 8 seconds.

2). I have a friend who is a musician. YOSH# I called him, and he allowed me to to use a few of his musics on my film opening. In the letter he gave the rights of 6 songs, so that whenever I am editing I can pick and choose.

(Authorization letter written by Yosh#)

Vários nomes pro mesmo criador

 HELLOOOO, officially from GERMANY!!! I have still not met with my family,but I,ll meet with them Wednesday morning! 

As i was having dinner I realized  never got to show you guys who are my actors! 

As Stella, Julia Carvalho a sophomore at my school.

As Babi, Leticia Carvalho; who is actually Julia's sister. I will be forever grateful for her since she was casted literally the day of filming; because the person I had originally casted gave up last minute.

As Vivi, Victoria Rambo another sophomore at my school!

SPOILERRRRRRR👀👀👀👀

In this scene the 3 girls are being interviewed after they argument for the parking spot!

(MALHAÇÃO- VIVA A DIFEFENÇA) INSPO

For my film opening I chose to use the phones as microphones because now a days, on social media, many interviews are being recorded using the phone audio recorder apps instead of mics. It was an adaptation so it can better fit in in today's lifestyle.

.   

 (TIK TOK VIDEO)                

 (TIK TOK VIDEO)

                

In both videos phones are used as microphones.

 

Do sul para o norte da Ásia a América

HALLO LEUTE

before I update you guys on my fil opening I wanted to share a little bit of what is going on in my life hahahah. I am in Denmark on my way to f******* Germany. OMGGGGGGGGGG (it has always been my dream to go to Germany)  When I was born my godmother moved to Germany for her work, and she ended up meeting the love of her life, my godfather, who is also Brazilian and was also there because of his job! About 1 year later they moved back to Brazil! I grew up with them talking about Germany, and 17 years later(2024) they moved back to Germany, and I am on my way to visit them! I AM SO EXCITEDDDDDDDDDD! I'm in Denmark because our flight had a stop here, but I can't wait to see them and finally have my dream come true!

É só mais um aprendiz

 CCR LESSON

HELLO EVERYONE,

This week Mrs. Stoklosa gave us a lesson on how we should prepare for our CCRs, whats we should not forget to cover, and some over all tips.

I had some ideas of how I would like to do my CCR but still not sure hahahahaha. To prepare for the mine I have been watching some of my friends' past years CCRs, to get some inspiration and also see what works well and what doesn't look so nice!

(LOREN MOISE'S)

(MATTHEW MAYKUT)

I meet both Matthew and Ren last year in my TV Production class, and ever since both became gigantic inspirations for me! Matthew holds a very special space in my heart as he was the one person who showed me the beauty of working with journalism and TV Production. He was the person in charge of competitions for the TV club at our school when I was a sophomore (2023-24), he saw the potential in me I didn't even know I had, so if I am right here making this blog it is all because of him!

Bate a poeira

 GUYYSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

SO HAPPY TO BE WRITING THIS.......

THE SCRIPT IS READYYYYYYYYYYYYY

I HAVE FINALIZED IT THE LAST DETAILS ON IT. AND ITS IS ALL READY TO START FILMING TOMORROW.

🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌

I'm so happy I have finally finished writing it!And also so excited to start filming tomorrow! I promise i'll share pictures tomorrow!

Somos todos iguais

GUYSSSSSSSSSSSS! The storyboard is here. I KNOW I am TERRIBLE at drawing, I apologize, but it is understandable. I am very excited to finally be sharing it with all of you! 

I have started to write my script but it is not 100%done yet! The Plan is to finish it tonight! I promise you guys will be the first ones to see it (after Mrs. Stoklosa) HAHAHAHHAHAH! I am extremely happy with my project!

Enquanto atingidos adoecem

 GUYSSSSSSSSSS THE CAST HAS BEEN CHOSENNNNNNNNN

the casting did not go 100% as I planned. I wanted the girls to look more different physically then they actually do but I had to play with the pieces I had HAHHAHAHA. MEANING I'll be depending even more on Mise-en-scene elements.

I finalized the cast this friday (yesturday) night. Even though it did not go as planned I am pretty happy with my cast.

Today I'll be separating some pictures from the girls' childhoods that would fit in they characters to decorate their rooms, I am also deciding how I want them to dress.

Os perturbados se prevalecem

HEYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

guys, I have to start filming. I honestly did not see time going so fast. 

let's talk about casting and who are the three girls:

• Today I am sending out a message to the 3 girls I want in my cast. YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYAYYYYYYYYYYYYYAYYYYYYYYYYYYAYYYYYYYYY😁😁😁😁

Barbara(BABI) is a girl who has very few friends(only her family members). Babi dreams about having true friendships and being able to socialize easily like all other teenagrs do. Babi does has difficulty with understanding  figurative language and slangs, she also has difficulty understanding why humans touch so much, she does not feels comfortable with long hugs or when people talk touching her. She lives with her mom, who works for at Babi's school so Babi and her little sister can have access to better schools. Babi's family lives with a small budget, her mom makes enough money to feed the family and pay for needed supplies.

Stella is an average girl at her school, with high grades.Stella is very know at her school for always being sweet to everyone. She has a very strong  connecting with her mom and dad, who are always available for her. She enjoys spending time with her close friends, and family. She has recently found out about her mothers cancer and ever since she has been very inattentive, she has been spending a lot of time in the hospital with her mom, which has been bringing her grades and attendance down.

Vivienne(VIVI) is a girl with a very strong personality. Her dad is the owner of a very well known restaurant in Miami; her family is financially successful.Because of her family's financial status everyone things she has the perfect life. Vivi's parents are going thru a divorce, after her mom found out her father was cheating on her at work. Because of her father's well know restaurant everyone in schools knows of her family. Vivi spends lots of time with her boyfriend,Marcos Braganca(MB). Vivi and MB both enjoy going to parties to forget about life problems.

Absorvendo sabedoria

 Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

guys posturing this week has been hard, since I have my SAT comming up Wednesday next week! 

Just a little update Karol, the singer, has still not responded. If she does not respond till the time I start filming we must execute PLANT B!

Plan B consistia of: 

instead of playing the song for a long time, I will only play the song max 8 seconds( that is the maximum amount of time I am allowed to used a song that is copy righted! 

O sangue é da mesma cor

GUYSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSs

I think I know what I want my plot to be, how I want the girls to meet. 

The ideas is: it will all happen in the parking lot (I AM STILL NOT SURE OF THE LOCATION), where girl 1 will accidently park on girl's 2 spot. They will start arguing, when girl 3 (who I want it to be a isolated girl) to come in and stop the argument. At the end I want them all to maybe start laughing and become friends.

This is when I want this scene to happens:

Palavras soltas que aborrecem

 Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.

GENTE DO CEUUUUUUUUUUUU

today we had our first group meetings, where we sat with people/groups  from our media class we we chated about our ideas.

I was a bit nervous at first especially because I had been feeling like I was falling behind. I saw so many people who had their scripts fully written and I am still not sure about my plot. After today's meeting I realised I am not the only one who's still planning.

As I talked with my group today I had a great idea of how I will visually structure my opening, how I will edit it. I want to incorporate close up images like the ones from the intro of MALHAÇÃO VIVA A DIFERENÇA, in a montage style.

Esperança depois de um prece

 GUYSSSSSSSSSSS, I DID ITTTT

I just sent an email to Karol Conká, the artist who sings the song that tittles all of my posts. 

I want to use this song on my opening, so I emailed her requesting the rights of the song for my project. 

Here is the translation of the text!

“ Hello Karol, how are you?

My name is Maria Eduarda, I am a media student at a high school in the United States. I'm getting in touch because I'm working on a project for my final exam, where I need to create the opening of a film. I would like to use your song "Bate a Poeira" for this project. The series "Malhação - Viva a Diferença" was a great inspiration for me when developing this work.

During the production of this project, I have been sharing the entire process on a blog. (https://du04.blogspot.com) This way, when the work is submitted for evaluation at Cambridge, teachers will be able to follow the development of my project step by step. To use copyrighted music, you must obtain formal authorization from the artist.

I would therefore like to formally request your authorization to use your song "Bate a Poeira" as part of this project. If you agree, please reply to this email confirming your authorization to use the music. I will be responsible for including the appropriate credits and fully respecting your copyright.

Thank you in advance for your attention and I await your response.

Yours sincerely,

Maria Eduarda”

Seja o que tiver que ser

 Happy Saturdayyyyyy

Finally weekend!😁

This  week I have been thinking a lot about my cast, and how I want my project to look visually.

For the cast, I’m still not sure who I want to play each of the girls.👧🏼👧🏽👧🏻 I have a few girls in mind but nothing is confirmed yet.

However, the girls aren’t the only ones on screen. I want to play a lot with mise en scene elements.

I want their rooms and clothing to represent A LOT their cultures., r

Since I’ll only have about 20 secs for each of the girls I want the mise en scen elements around them to talk for them.