Cap Hollywood Reflection Part III

We have now basically finished our film. Our group needs to put the finishing touches on certain scenes, such as layering audio clips in a specific part for effect. Our movie poster came out really well, and looks very professional. We had a slight problem when we thought  our project was missing from Final Cut Pro, but then we found it and the crisis was averted. We will definitely be finished with everything this week. The sound effects and flashbacks worked out in a way that is clear and easy for a viewer to follow. We had to make our own flashback sound because we were not able to use any of the effects that we found online. We were however, able to use ominous music from CC Mixer that ties the film together and creates a mood. I am happy with the way our film turned out.

CAP Hollywood Reflection Part II

Our group finished filming on Friday, which means we can now focus all of our energy on editing our rough cut. Once we import the last of our footage, we will be able to piece all of the clips together. We have finished our movie poster, and next week we will work on finding music and sound effects to go with the footage. We had a slight problem finishing our filming on friday because in our script, we needed a homeless person to be in the scene. However we were not able to find a homeless person willing to be an actor. Instead, we improvised and came up with a filmable scene at the gas station across the street.

CAP Hollywood Reflection

We have been working on our CAP Hollywood film project for a few weeks now, and so far, my group has been making good progress. Last weekend we shot our nighttime scenes in Downtown Silver Spring, and tomorrow morning we are going to Silver Spring again to finish the last part of our shooting. Shooting last weekend went well, even though not all of our group could make it, we were still productive.
One challenge we faced was when we got back to class last week, the files were in a weird format that we could not import into Final Cut Pro. This was a problem, but a magnet teacher helped us convert the file and now we can use all of our footage. Tomorrow when we film, we will make sure to check our file format.
Last week we made an outline for our movie poster, found sound effects for our film and looked for music to use. Next week, after filming, we will import the rest of our footage and begin to make a rough cut.

Blair Tasing

On Thursday, a 16 year old freshman was tased by our School Resource Officer, a woman who has been patrolling Blair since the Newtown massacre. The SRO is a Montgomery County police officer who carries a gun and a taser.
The officer tased the girl after the girl tried to assault the SRO officer. The freshman was disrespecting the officer and would not respond to the woman's questions. As a bystander to the situation, I thought the girl had weed on her, which would explain the aversion she had to talking to the cop. However, reports by the Washington Post, as well as local ABC and NBC stations said that no drugs were found. Still, the officer started to take the girls hands behind her back as if she was going to arrest the girl. The student then flipped out and started trying to punch the officer. At this point, the security guard who was there started screaming at the girl to get on the ground because she knew the SRO might tase her. The girl did not stop however, and the officer pulled out her stun gun and tased the girl more than once. Once other students heard the commotion, they came pouring out of the school, phones out. Blairs security team then went around telling people to turn off their videos rather than focusing on the girl lying on the ground.
This is the main reason I believe that SRO's and cops do not have a place in schools. They create unnecessary tensions and escalate situations. I understand the fear that Newtown has placed fear in the administration, but many times, SRO's end up criminalizing students, rather than intruders. In the heat of the moment, such as this unfortunate event, actions can be taken that could have been prevented. A freshman girl could have been restrained by a grown cop, even if she was a woman. However, this SRO reached for her taser quickly as soon as she felt her security was threatened. The SRO was not in the legal wrong, but morally, I think the use of a stun gun on high schooler in school is questionable. What would have been a  rutine security stop turned into an unfortunate event, and a young girl in the hospital.
This is a photo from the scene.

 

When A Stranger Calls

This weekend, I watched a terrifying movie called "When A Stranger Calls" which is an adaptation of the 1979 movie "The Babysitter and the Man Upstairs". It's about a girl who goes to babysit in this huge house, but she keeps getting anonymous calls. The person would just breath into the phone and then hang up. The movie wouldn't even have been that scary, but the creepy music made even normal scenes chilling. For example, when the girl first walks into the house, it is still light outside and the situation is still normal, but the music makes it scary. There was also a lot of foreshadowing, like a black cat that flashes its glowing eyes, and the girl's red popsicle melts and looks like blood. 
It was not a very well made movie, and i wouldn't really reccomend it, but it was entertaining . I won't say what happens and ruin the ending, but I screamed a lot. Maybe that's just me though. 
Here is the trailer: 


Also, is it just me or does the girl look exactly like Tom Cruise

Documentary Project Reflection Essay

My documentary is on the Open or Closed Lunch policy at Blair High School and the reasons behind it. At first I was more interested in the petition to start school later, but I was still interested in the lunch policy as well because it also had a personal impact on my life. By the end of the project, I still found the topic interesting, although I think we have exhausted researching it. I think our group has explored the lunch policy to the fullest extent. I do not regret picking this topic since I learned a lot from Ms. Johnson as well as the security staff about the policy and why it is in place. I was grateful for the opportunity to pick our own groups because it allowed me to choose a topic I was willing and excited about spending my time on.

This project allowed me to speak with Ms. Johnson, who said that she is the first female principal of Blair, which is one of the biggest schools in the county, with 2,800 students enrolled and over 300 staff members. Ms. Johnson told our group in an interview that it is not her decision to have a closed lunch, and that she signed documents before she started working at Blair stating she will not allow students to leave campus during lunch. This is because the intersection at Colesville Road and University Boulevard is extremely dangerous. Drivers are not always aware of pedestrians, especially students, who are rushing across the road so they are not seen, and then again so they are not late to get back to class.

Our group found that getting B-roll was tricky because it was often shaky and therefore unusable because we were walking with the camera and not using a tri-pod. Also, our group planned to “sneak out” and go to four corners during lunch to see if the stores would serve us, but the vice principal did not allow us to go, even with the teachers’ and Ms. Johnson’s approval. This was frustrating because this excursion would have allowed us to film the restaurants implementation the policy of not serving students during lunch, or if they might disregard it and serve us anyway. This would have given us plenty of B-roll, but since we couldn’t go, we had to find other shots.

If I had the chance to create another documentary I would have set aside more time for filming B-roll, and had other options besides the “sneak out” which we were heavily relying on. As a teacher, I think that more built in time to film in class would have made the project go a lot smoother because we had separate lunch periods, so it was hard to find a time where everyone could film. Also, when we filmed during lunch, I was hard to import footage before the bell rang, especially since BNC uses the computers.

Overall, I learned a lot about both the lunch policy and filmmaking with this project and I enjoyed working with my group.My documentary is on the Open or Closed Lunch policy at Blair High School and the reasons behind it. At first I was more interested in the petition to start school later, but I was still interested in the lunch policy as well because it also had a personal impact on my life. By the end of the project, I still found the topic interesting, although I think we have exhausted researching it. I think our group has explored the lunch policy to the fullest extent. I do not regret picking this topic since I learned a lot from Ms. Johnson as well as the security staff about the policy and why it is in place. I was grateful for the opportunity to pick our own groups because it allowed me to choose a topic I was willing and excited about spending my time on.

This project allowed me to speak with Ms. Johnson, who said that she is the first female principal of Blair, which is one of the biggest schools in the county, with 2,800 students enrolled and over 300 staff members. Ms. Johnson told our group in an interview that it is not her decision to have a closed lunch, and that she signed documents before she started working at Blair stating she will not allow students to leave campus during lunch. This is because the intersection at Colesville Road and University Boulevard is extremely dangerous. Drivers are not always aware of pedestrians, especially students, who are rushing across the road so they are not seen, and then again so they are not late to get back to class.

Our group found that getting B-roll was tricky because it was often shaky and therefore unusable because we were walking with the camera and not using a tri-pod. Also, our group planned to “sneak out” and go to four corners during lunch to see if the stores would serve us, but the vice principal did not allow us to go, even with the teachers’ and Ms. Johnson’s approval. This was frustrating because this excursion would have allowed us to film the restaurants implementation the policy of not serving students during lunch, or if they might disregard it and serve us anyway. This would have given us plenty of B-roll, but since we couldn’t go, we had to find other shots.

If I had the chance to create another documentary I would have set aside more time for filming B-roll, and had other options besides the “sneak out” which we were heavily relying on. As a teacher, I think that more built in time to film in class would have made the project go a lot smoother because we had separate lunch periods, so it was hard to find a time where everyone could film. Also, when we filmed during lunch, I was hard to import footage before the bell rang, especially since BNC uses the computers.

Overall, I learned a lot about both the lunch policy and filmmaking with this project and I enjoyed working with my group.

I don't have the video on my computer right now, but when I do, I will put it up.  

Basketball Game

Today I went to my dad's old high school to watch their championship basketball game. St. Anselm's Abbey, a Catholic school in Northeast Washington, played Avalon, a private school from Gaithersburg. Just having been to the Blair playoff game on Tuesday, the contrast was striking. The gym was a lot smaller than Blair's  and they only had stands on one side. Both schools are all-boys, so there were no cheerleaders, but the crowds were still loud, chanting and jumping up and down. Toward the end of the game, Avalon was ahead, but they shot and missed a three pointer. The Abbey boys chanted "air ball, air ball!" The Avalon student's yelled back "score board, score board!" The Abbey students immediately responded "SAT scores, SAT scores!" Only at the Abbey would they chant about SAT scores at a basketball game! We were down pretty much the whole game, but in the last 5 minutes, Abbey came back and were only down by one. But then they got nervous I guess and messed up and were down by four. With one second to go the point guard  somehow made a wild three pointer, and the game ended 46-47. It was sad they got so close to the championship but lost.
I tried to take pictures, but the iPhone quality wasn't that good.