Making my way downtown (Disney)

Downtown Disney was awesome! I got shots of Corina being happy with her friends there and it came out really nicely. I also got some shots of her POV shots with soft focus to show one of the symptoms that people with brain cancer have. I think that I got a good amount of footage today and I just need to get the Disneyland footage and the doctor scene which I'm going to film on Monday at school at the school clinic. Tomorrow's the closing ceremony so I'm going to see if Corina and I place! I'm really excited and either we win or lose I'm really proud of our video. You can watch it here if you want! Tomorrow we're going on a red eye flight so I'm going to be exhausted since we're going to Disney for 5 hours and right after that we're going to the airport. I'm glad that this project is finally coming all together and I can't wait for everyone to see it!

Until next time!

Karla Recio

Independent Journalist

California Screamin'

Hello! Today I we flew to California and it was amazing! We went to the Warner Bros. Tour in L.A. and we learned a lot of things about filming techniques and mise-en-scene tricks. We got to see the set for The Fosters, Friends, and La La Land! I even got to sit on Frank Underwoods desk. (Here's a picture to prove it)

In the plane, I filmed Corina at the airport and her on the plane. It was good since we got a lot of shots of her feeling nervous and her looking at the clouds. Which I think that it's pretty cool since she's technically looking at where she's going to be in the end of the film. I'm going to be pretty busy filming at competitions but I'm going to learn something. I'm going to Downtown Disney on Thursday so I'll have like 3 hours to film with Corina which will be pretty good since it's all I need. I'm a little jet lagged but it's okay because at least I'm going to be almost done with my movie trailers and I'll be able to finalize my website!

Until next time!

Karla Recio

Independent Journalist

ESPN, State Champs & 1 more day!

This weekend I went to Nova Southeaster University to film the Heroes Bowl, which was an event to fundraise money to help homeless veterans. It was a beautiful event and it was really fun too! I got to meet a WW2 veteran and 3 NFL players! Also, the video I'm making for the event is going to be on ESPN! I'm so excited to see my project on TV. 

I got a chance to get b-roll there of just blurry things such as the sky, the grass and people going around. It was a pretty cool opportunity just to get b-roll just in case that I don't get enough when we're at Anaheim (I'll definitely get more than enough but still I gotta have a plan B). 

Dax Dellenbach- Long Snapper for Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Pat O'Donnell- Punter for Chicago Cubs

Earlier this week I forgot to mention that I made one of the best Sports Packages in the state of Florida according to the Florida Scholastic Press Association. Corina Aguilera and I made a story about how the Western and Cypress Bay Rivalry occurred and how it has created some issues. Until April we're going to know if we got Best of the Best, which means that we have the best Sports Package in Florida.

Tomorrow we're going to California so I'm going to be filming on the plane, at the airport and when we get to California. I'm going to be sitting next to Corina on the plane so it's perfect to get shots of her looking at the window and getting all the POV shots of what she's looking at (mostly mountains that still have some snow left). It's going to be an awesome week and I can't wait to show everyone what I got to film that week! 

Until next time!

Karla Recio

Independent Journalist

2 days 'til Cali!

Today I had another 8 hour practice for my competition. Yes. EIGHT HOURS. But it's fine it will help us win. Also I did something pretty cool! Since I got my Adobe Photoshop Certification I decided to make a cool graphic for the beginning of the movie trailer! I made everything in this! I had to find the font and size for it and then just added the shadow depending on how it looked.

I'm going to film the most important parts of my movie trailer on Monday because that day we're leaving! I'll be missing group meetings which is pretty sad because I wanted feedback on my blog but it's fine, I can ask some people in class when I get back how does it look and what should I change. Next week we're going to see the Hollywood Sign so it's going to be great for the movie trailer and for me too since I went to California when I was 3 months old so I have no idea of what it looks like. The whole idea of California is really exciting to me and I think that it's going to be really exciting for Corina since she's going to be acting as someone that has never seen it and Corina has never seen it! It's just perfect. Tomorrow I'm going to Nova Southeastern University to film an event in which the Miami Dolphins are coming to play with veterans. I'm going to be using some of the footage for the film since it's a great chance to get the soft focus shots that I want for my film.

I'm working on making a motion graphic for the two production companies from my film, which are Little Bird Pictures and Recio Productions. I came up with the name Little Bird when I saw a font that I liked with that font and I thought that it was a cute and simple. And Recio Productions my last name is Recio so I felt like I had to add my last name in there since it's an uncommon last name since there are only 2 people in the school with the last name Recio which are my sister and me. Hopefully this weekend will go by fast so I can start filming the coolest parts of the film! I'm super excited to see how everything comes out!

Until next time!
Karla Recio
Independent Journalist

First, I’m an Adobe Certified Associate! Yesterday I took my certification exam yesterday and to pass the exam you need to get a 700 out of 1000 and I got a 780! This makes me now certified in Premiere Pro CS5, CS6, CC and Photoshop CS6. Also, my TV production teacher is trying to get someone to work for a South Florida sports team (Miami Heat, Miami Dolphins, Miami Marlins, or Florida Panthers) so I’m going to apply and we’ll see if I get the job! I would start with just wrapping cables which isn’t the funnest job ever but at least it’s something! This made my week really exciting, since I’m going to California in 5 D A Y S but the only bad part about this week is that it’s my TV Production’s teacher last day. But it’s okay since he’s getting a job at a technical college and I’ll probably work with him if I get the job opportunity. 

Also I found some music that I might use for the movie trailers!
Drama

Uplifting
Sad
Suspense

I started to play around with the shots that I have and I think that it looks pretty good. 

I have an extra week to edit the film so if I don't get enough b-roll when we're at Anaheim I can add more scenes to my story board and my script.

Until next time!
Karla Recio
Independent Journalist

Sit back and relax because FILMING starts right now

On Saturday I had an 8 hour practice for my competition in Anaheim, California. It made me realize that if I just concentrate on editing for one whole day then I’ll be able to finish editing before I wanted to finish it. Story board is done, voice over is written, and equipment is ready. All I have to do is start packing for the competition! I’m really excited and I’m we’re going to workshops in which I’ll learn important information about film and editing that I’ll definitely use for the movie trailers. Last year the producer from the show Baby Daddy came to the conference and talked about the process of producing and writing a whole new tv show. It’s really impressive how much they do and I can’t be happier to get this opportunity. To film I asked several chaperones that are going to the trip to act as parents and teachers of the main character so it’s realistic since I don’t want it to be a movie trailer in which all the people look the same age but one’s a high school student and the other one is a teacher or a parent.

I’m going to be competing on a Wednesday, meaning that Thursday is going to be the main production day when we’re at the trip, since Corina and I decided to go to Downtown Disney that day to have lunch to have like a post-competition meal. We’re going to be doing several things that you don’t usually see like a Cupcake ATM (I still don’t understand exactly what it is, the concept confuses me), go to see a Disney show, go to see all the food that they have there (since it’s not normal). We’re going with some friends so they can act like if they were trying to find her because she “ran away”. I’m really excited to see how this comes out! I’m using a Canon and a Nikon DSLR to film everything because it’s super easy to use and it’s super easy to transport! These movie trailers are going to come out really nicely! I'm not really a filmmaker, I'm going to major in Multimedia Journalism so thinking about all these ideas and different techniques make me really proud of this. I'm so excited to start production tomorrow!

Until next time!

Karla Recio

Independent Journalist

Poster:Done

The movie poster is done. I took some pictures of Corina and they came out just like I wanted them! Whenever we have another meeting with the class I'm going to ask for their opinions on the poster so it can be as good as it can be. Now I need to focus on the website and the movie trailers. I already set up the website so I just need to add the movie trailers, and the pictures for the gallery, which are going to be screenshots of some scenes of the movie. Since we're going to California in 9 days (YAY) I'm going to start filming this Monday so I'm super excited! 

Here are some pictures of my actors!

This is Ricky Kidder, he's going to be acting as Jo's male best friend.
Ricky has acted for some parodies, commentaries and commercials.
I became friends with Ricky when we were both acting for a commentary
at the Student Television Network national convention in Atlanta, Georgia.
This helped Ricky get out of his shell and started acting more for our
weekly show Aftershock. He's already friends with Corina so i think that
they're going to be good on camera together.

Character's name: James Allen

This is Carolina Rapp and she's going to be Jo's female best friend. Carolina
has acted in commercials, parodies and PSAs and she makes
Restaurant Reviews for Aftershock. Carolina is also a dancer so she's not afraid
of being in front of the camera. She's also very close to Corina so they're
going to be confident when acting together.

Character's name: Kaitlyn Bowman

This is Daniel Pursell and he's going to be Jo's doctor.
Daniel was an actor and even has an IMDb page about his work!
Daniel was the anchor for sports in Aftershock, and he's
now the main anchor of the show. Daniel has acted in PSAs,
commercials, movie trailers and in short films. He has a really nice
voice that will make him sound really professional as Jo's doctor.

Character's name: Dr. Taz Duncan

Until next time!

Karla Recio

Independent Journalist

Sticking to the schedule

Sticking to a schedule is hard, but not impossible. I had too much work this week since it’s the AICE Inaugural Night at my school and my teacher asked me to make a slideshow for the event so I wasn’t able to take any pictures for the poster, so tomorrow during 8th period I’m going to Vista View park to take the pictures for this. I already made the graphics for the poster so I just need to add the picture so then I’ll be done with 1 out of the 4 things I need to do.

My website is almost done! I just need to add the gallery of pictures, and movie trailers! Here’s a screenshot of it. I need to change the background so it matches the movie. Also, I looked at the websites for Sully and La La Land and they both have a small slideshow with quotes from the movies and I’m going to add that to the website during class. Also I’m thinking of having a tab with the cast and a screen cap of them in the movie trailer. I already added the social media in the bottom and it’s going to have the credits too (the ones that will be in the end of the movie trailers and in the bottom of the poster). As you can see in the picture, the trailer is the first thing that is going to be shown in the website. Then there will be a link with the other trailer. Then, in the right there's going to be a slide show of just text from different "critics" that gave positive opinions about the film.

Also, good news! I got a name for the film! It’s going to be “Jo”. That’s going to also be the name of the main character since it’s her story and it’s a short name too, which is something that I really wanted to do since I hate it when titles are too wordy since it doesn’t seem like someone would read it since my target audience has a short attention span. How did I come up with that name? Well, I looked up for websites that gave me all the possible names for females and when I saw that it was a two letter name I was sold.

Next week I’m starting production so it’s going to be an exciting week!

Until next time!

Karla Recio

Independent Journalist

It's going to be HUGE

Today we had a meeting at the media center with some of my classmates so we could share our ideas and give opinions on what to do or just give feedback. Everyone in my group had really interesting ideas for their projects and I think that they’re going to be AWESOME. I showed them my ideas and they liked them! I think that the research the I did was helpful for this meeting since I already had ideas for the website, both movie trailers, and the poster. I still have a problem, which is not knowing how to name the film, but someone in my group said that I could look up some motifs that could be seen throughout the movie trailers and that could just be the name of the film. If that doesn’t work I’ll name the film with the name of the main character since by the end of the day, the film is about that character. I noticed that 2 people in the group made a schedule so they know what to do each week, and I think that that’s an AWESOME idea so I decided to make one too. 

I have an idea for a movie poster now! It’s going to be a wide shot of the main character looking up to the sky, since “she’s going to be up there soon”. I’m going to take the picture at Vista View Park not because it’s Weston’s biggest hill, but because it has a beautiful view and I’ve filmed there before and the lighting is perfect. I’m going to be done with my poster before March 27th since I’m going to be focusing on my competitions and in filming my movie trailers. Scripts and storyboards will be done by then since both movie trailers are going to be 2 minutes each so it’s going to take a long time to plan(1 day) and get my ideas together, but I think that I got it under control. This weekend I decided that I’m going to stay at my house the whole time until I finish my website and my scripts. It’s going to be a little bit stressful, but I think that it’s the best thing that I can do to concentrate. But I’m super excited that I’m going to be done with two parts of my project next week. I’m going to make two websites to see which one fits better with my target audience and also I see what can I do to make them seem appealing. I’m really happy to be working on this project and I hope that next week is good so I can then just focus on my movie trailers and my creative critical reflection. 

P.S.: I'm going to be posting headshots of some of my actors next week!

Until next time!

Karla Recio

Independent Journalist

Research, research and more research

I’ve been looking at the symptoms of having a brain tumor and it shows that the person that has it might experience seizures, paralysis of an area of the body, changes in behavior, memory, or thinking abilities, and feeling dizzy or off-balance. So, for these movie trailers I think that a lot of rack focus shots or shots with soft focus might look good to show the point of view of the main character. In drama movie trailers they usually have a voice over that explains the plot and they have shots that match with what the voice over is saying. For one of my movie trailers I’m going to do that and with the other one it’s going to be little parts of what would be in the film.

Now I’m building the website for the film! I’m going to use weebly since it’s easier to use and it has an option template for films or portfolios, which work perfectly. I looked for some drama movies and the first one that came up was Sully. When I opened the website the first thing that popped out was the movie trailer. I thought that that was interesting since I’ve never seen something like that. When the trailer ends you can see that there’s music paling and the first thing that you see are 2 buttons. One to buy the book and another one to watch the movie trailer. Then, on the left you can see all the quotes from different critics. I think that it’s cool by showing everyone the reasons why you should watch the movie, since all the critics shown are nationally recognized. Then there are tabs such as synopsis, gallery, videos and all their social media, including email. They even had a 208 Seconds Experience, which is just scrolling down a website and it shows you the true story about the movie. I think that it’s interesting that they’re doing that but it’s not something that I would like to do since my target audience are teenagers. But I think that I could use some of the things that they have in their home page.

For The Fault in our Stars, they use a Tumblr website, since their target audience (Gen Zs) use Tumblr. They have tabs such as soundtrack, a hashtag about for their fans, about, photos, scrapbook and buy now. I honestly have no idea why there would be a scrapbook tab so I clicked on it. Oh wow it’s actually a pretty good idea. It’s like an art contest about things and places that were on the movie. Then they post it on that tab and people that click on it can find the art work of all the people that have submitted it. They also have the options to like or repost the picture that they put in there. This made me realize that I should make a Tumblr webpage instead of weebly, but with more research and as my project progresses I’m going to make a decision later(next week) but meanwhile I’ll work on both websites and see which one looks better and which one will appeal more to the target audience. Also in the corner they have a “Buy Now” button which I think that it’s pretty cool since it’s just reminding everyone throughout the whole time that they can buy the movie on DVD, Blu-ray, and Digital HD. I remember that when we did our postmodernist marketing project presentations a group showed that having a Tumblr as their online website it would be good since it helps with the accessibility and promotion for the Gen Z, and they are going to find this website easier since it won't be like one of those annoying ads that can be found on Twitter(sorry twitter). Here it will start a Domino fact since Tumblr is about reposting, so their followers see what the person reposted and it keeps going until it gets like 100 reposts in 1 day and it just keeps increasing because with Tumblr you can just keep increasing. 

Tomorrow I’m going to start thinking on what to do for the movie poster. By the end of this week I’m going to have an idea on what to do for it. I’m going to be using Photoshop for this since it’s pretty easy to use for me since I’ve been using it since freshman year and I’m going to be certified on the exam on March 21st (if I pass the exam) so let’s hope that 4 years of using photoshop pay off!! But with some of the movie posters that I’ve seen in Ms. Stoklosa’s classroom they seem pretty simple but it’s still a little bit complex and shows you a little bit about the plot, but not too much. For example, for Boyhood, they used a font that fits the name and the plot since it's like it's drawn with chalk and in the cover you can see a little kid just looking up while he's laying down on the grass. Then in quotations it says "A moving 12 year epic that isn't quite like anything else in the history of cinema". This movie poster doesn't give you that much information about the plot, but just what make the movie unique, which is the fact that it was filmed for 12 years and it gets the audience's attention and it makes them want to know more about this film since they show a powerful quote from a recognized critic, And since millennials are known to have an attention span shorter than goldfish, I need to find a way to make the website, movie trailers and the poster to stand out like how this movie poster stands out. I’ll find out how by the end of the week since I need to get started with this as soon as possible since I’m going to California in 19 days (YAAAS). Also I got another actor for my movie trailers! Saturday is going to be an interesting day *wink wink* there are going to be so many things that y'all will know about! 

Until next time!

Karla Recio

Independent Journalist

"Brain Tumor: Glioblastoma Multiforme." EverydayHealth.com. N.p., 01 June 2009. Web. 08 Mar. 2017.

"How Long Can You Live with a Brain Tumor? - Answered by Top Doctors on HealthTap."HealthTap. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Mar. 2017.

"SULLY – Official Movie Site – On Digital HD 12/06 And Blu-Ray™ 12/20." Sully Official Movie Site – On Digital HD 12/06 And Blu-Ray™ 12/20. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Mar. 2017.

The Fault in Our Stars Movie. "The Fault in Our Stars | Official Movie Site | #TFIOS." The Fault in Our Stars Movie. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Mar. 2017.

Tsuruta, Aya. "The Average Millennial's Attention Span-Shorter Than Your Goldfish's." Mobile CRM. N.p., 25 June 2015. Web. 08 Mar. 2017.

Change of plans!

I met with Ms. Stoklosa on Thursday so I could tell her my idea, and while we were discussing we came up with a better idea! My film will be a drama and it will show more about what it’s like to die. The main character will be showing what it’s actually like to be dying and what it’s like knowing that you have a certain time to live. She asked me a question that I had to think about which was “What am I trying to sell”. I could sell the character, I could sell the fact that the character has a fatal disease, the fact that the character has a few days to live, or the symptoms that someone can get. I’m not 100% sure of what I want to sell but I’m leaning more towards selling the symptoms of having a brain tumor, since I made some research and they don’t usually show what the disease can create in their minds, and they go to a more romantic route instead of showing the issues and keeping the genre as just a drama. 

According to the Huffington Post, Hollywood is trying to make cancer "young and sexy”. Since there’s usually romance involved and the people and the people that have the disease are teenagers, when actually people get cancer when they’re 55 or older. For my film, it will be just showing the symptoms and what it’s like to be dying. I chose the main character to be a female teenager since it’s a thing that would be possible, since I’ve seen it in the past with one of my friends. This idea that Ms. Stoklosa gave me is so good and so different, which is going to be hard to produce. This new idea changed my genre, my main character, the topic and the storyline. But it’s okay because I have a feeling that this project is going to be awesome. 

To pre-produce these movie trailers I’m going to use the website Adobe Story. It’s a website that helps you the  I'm and to produce this I’m going to be using my camera, which is a Canon Rebel T5. I’m going to get a monopod from my TV Production class since they provide us some equipment. To edit all this together I’m going to be using Premiere Pro CS6 and Aftereffects CS6 for my film company graphic (Name TBD). I looked at the movie trailers for The Fundamentals of Caring, To Write Love on Her Arms and The Fault in Our Stars since they all are drama movies and the trailers last at least 2 minutes that’s the time that I should go for for both my movie trailers. They also have two trailers, one in which a voice over of the main character tell the story, and another one that tells you little bits of the story, but not too much to spoil it to the audience.

This is going to be the main actress for the movie trailers! She’s Corina Aguilera and she’s coming to California with me and other 34 people. Corina has acted for several commercials and parodies for our weekly show “Aftershock” that we do at our school so she has the experience to be able to act for these two movie trailers. Since she has short hair, it will be easy to put on a beanie to show how she has cancer and that she’s losing hair. Her character(name will be TBD) will be having personality changes since brain tumors can cause depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive behaviors, and mood swings. Her character is going to be having some nice moments like going to Disneyland with her friends and going to Beverly Hills, but while she’s at those places she’s going to be having some issues like just get angry, get depressed, or even try to run away from her friends while they’re at the themed park.

Until next time!

Karla Recio

Independent Journalist 

Almendrala, Anna. "Cancer In Movies: Is Hollywood Trying To Make The Disease Young & Sexy?" The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 25 Feb. 2013. Web. 05 Mar. 2017.

Joblomovienetwork. "THE FUNDAMENTALS OF CARING Official Trailer (2016) Selena Gomez, Paul Rudd Drama Movie HD." YouTube. YouTube, 30 May 2016. Web. 05 Mar. 2017.

FilmsActuTrailers. "To Write Love on Her Arms MOVIE TRAILER (Kat Dennings DRAMA - 2015)." YouTube. YouTube, 26 Dec. 2014. Web. 05 Mar. 2017.

"THE FAULT IN OUR STARS (2014) Extended Official HD Trailer." YouTube. YouTube, 28 Apr. 2014. Web. 05 Mar. 2017.

Here we go again

This is a picture of the TOC of my
magazine that I did last year. This puppy
was going to be in the movie but there
was a change of plans.

Hellooooooo! I’m back (whoop whoop) It’s going to be a little different from last year’s project because now i have to make 2 movie trailers, a website for the film and a poster. In comparison from last year it was a magazine and I thought that it was a lot of work(silly me). I wanted to make a movie trailer that would kind of fit the theme of my magazine, which was about puppies! But, my friend that has 4 puppies(yes, FOUR PUPPIES) will be in the Netherlands visiting her boyfriend so she won’t let me just go take her puppies and film them with me and a bunch of strangers(my tech crew). 

But I’m so excited to do this movie trailer!! I had an idea for a long time and now I’m excited to share it. It’s about a girl with 2-3 weeks to live since she has a brain tumor and since brain tumors change someone’s behavior, which will be shown in the movie trailer. I’m working for this camp called Camp Cypress which is all about giving kids the best day of their lives, and in the movie trailer the main character’s friends are trying to give this girl the best 2 weeks of her life. The target audience will be Gen Zs and Millennials that are in between the ages of 13 to 25 since those are the ages that appeal the most to movies that include romance and diseases that might be fatal. I researched the The Fault in Our Stars target audience and I saw that most of the people that watched the movie were females in middle school and in high school. I researched that movie since it has kind of the same things such as a main character with a fatal disease and a relationship between her and a guy that is also helping with her last 2 weeks being the best weeks of her life. I’m working on a storyboard this week so you all can see how everything will look like. But now, here are some pictures of the hotel and the places I’ll be filming at for these movie trailers! (I'm going to Anaheim, California from March 27th to April 1st)

Disneyland

Disney California Adventure

Hilton Anaheim Hotel

Until next time!

Karla Recio

Independent Journalist 

"Mood Swings and Cognitive Changes." Mood Swings and Cognitive Changes | American Brain Tumor Association. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Mar. 2017.

"The Fault in Our Stars." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 28 Feb. 2017. Web. 01 Mar. 2017.