50/50
Today, we finally created our "How To" show and I can honestly say I learned a lot from this project. 
1. Personally, film production is more enjoyable than television production because you get to take your time and you are not restricted with time limits and a certain "theme" like scrap booking or cooking. Film gives you a lot more creative freedom and if something doesn't work, you simply re-shoot it. Which brings me to my next point.

2. There is no room for mistakes. If the smallest thing goes wrong, it can possibly bring your whole production down to the ground. This happened to us today. To begin with, I think it took us a bit too long to setup today. There were some things we just couldn't control like Alexa's headset which wouldn't work. There were also problems with my mic which also would not work. 

3. We need to learn how to properly communicate with our teammates. I noticed a lot of confusion coming from everyone in the group and it just held us back. I guess maybe it's due to the fact that this is our first time but we need to communicate better in order to make a good show. We also had a hard time communicating because the mic on my headset wouldn't work and Alexa didn't have a headset either. 

4. Everyone needs to know what they are doing and need to be confident about it. From the talent, to the camera operators, to the directors in the back. People need to be assertive and confidently give other team members suggestions or requests. 

Overall, I think we did the best we could. I am not sure if we met the time limit or went overboard but this was our first show and I think that with time, we will gain skills needed for this kind of production. I am happy with my groups efforts and I'm sure that we will make a great morning show for next year that the whole school will enjoy. 

Dear Diary,

I had a lot of trouble trying to come up with a film noir story only involving teenagers simply because most film noir films involve adults. After trying really hard, I drifted from the story and ended up watching cases of teenage schizophrenia patients on YouTube. Don't ask me how I got there. That was one source of inspiration. I got more inspiration for my story when I started listening to The Shining soundtrack. I always get ideas when I listen to that because it's so dark and full of emotions. It lets my imagination run free. After that, my writers block was gone and ideas came to my head from all directions.       

    
It was a bit disappointing when my story was rejected because it wasn't film noir enough for Spencer but that is how film is. I know that there will be many rejections in the industry and I need to take it and move on. I like my partners idea, don't get me wrong, but I just wish mine was accepted. 

So then we had to work on Spencer's story and that was hard for me too because since I didn't work on it, it was really hard to picture what Spencer was thinking. Parts of the story were confusing to me and so I suggested we write a new story. That didn't work out because we were running out of time so we stayed with Spencer's story and changed stuff.

Overall, I have already learned a lot about the pre-production phase. There will be rejections, and there will be acceptance. We will now take all the suggestions that we got in the pitches and try to fit them in the story.

(Sorry if this sounded a bit weird but its 9:23 pm and I'm tired.)  

Argo is Best Picture Quality!

For those unlucky souls who haven't watched Argo, need to as soon as possible. I am so glad I was able to catch this in the theaters because it was simply a masterpiece. If I would've paid $20+ for this movie, I wouldn't complain. I wouldn't even mind writing a film analysis on it. This film has everything. Action, comedy, and definitely suspense.  It has a great story and being based on a true story makes it all that better and incredible. I think that Ben Affleck did an amazing job in this film as a director and an actor. I don't know what the Academy was thinking because he isn't nominated for either category. At least he won at the Golden Globes.

But this post is about Academy Award nominee for Best Supporting Actor: Alan Arkin. (Pictured above) Arkin played Lester Siegel in Argo. Lester Siegel was a fake producer for the fake film Argo. Arkin was pretty much the comedy of the movie and I thought it worked well. His comedy gave us a bit of relief from all the craziness. But it's the way he delivers his lines that doesn't disappoint me because I don't think anyone else can pull those one-liners like he did. Now I can make a prediction if he will win because i haven't seen the other films but I think he can really win.