CCR answer-thinking

Drama films have characters with whom the audience can relate to, which doesn't necessarily apply in my movie because not everyone gotten bullied, bullied someone, or has a child whose being bullied but even though some part of the audience wouldn't be able to relate to Andrea's character, the audience would be able to empathize with the situation. 

In drama films, there is always some sort of realization at the end of the movie which leads the character to a form of journey or happily ever after. I challenged this in every way, Andrea's suicide at the beginning of the film indicates the viewer that that was the main event surrounding the film, and that there was not a happy ending for Andrea nor her family. Drama films, however, need to keep the viewer's attention on the plot of the movie, which I am doing by showing the viewer Andrea's suicide and then transitioning to the bullying scene.

In recent years, female protagonist roles have risen to more than 40%, which is considered a "historic high", according to "It's a Man's (Celluloid) World." In 2019, female protagonists appeared in 45% studio productions and in 55% independent productions, and only 5% of these women were Latina. My movie follows a Latina's suicide and the story behind it and after it. It'll represent the people with mental illness' and highlight the struggle of living while getting bullied, while also showing the consequences that bullying someone can lead to.  The majority of people who are bullied are ages 12-18, 23% of them being female and are 2.6 times more likely to attempt suicide, according to "PACER'S National Bullying Prevention Center". My movie will also represent those who are doing the bullying, people who engage in bullying are likely to have experienced a type of stress or trauma, or have been bullied themselves before. Bullies are also likely to have a low self-esteem, and instead of directing positive energy to themselves, they choose to direct negative energy to others. Major reasons as to why some kids engage in bullying behaviors comes from a difficult home/personal life and a personal issue with falling relationships with friends and family. 

Bullying is never okay, but people do have their reasons for acting in certain ways, and bullies are no different. Even though no one should direct that kind of negative energy to someone, it is important to represent the individual issues that the bullies have, which I will be doing for my movie. 

Sources ↘

"It's a Man's (Celluloid) World." - Dr. Martha M. Lauzen: https://womenintvfilm.sdsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/2019_Its_a_Mans_Celluloid_World_Report_REV.pdf

"PACER'S National Bullying Prevention Center": https://www.pacer.org/bullying/resources/stats.asp

More Changes

I have to add a few more seconds to the movie, as well as edit the credits because I have to add to creator of the royalty free music. Since the movie is missing about 20 seconds, I think I will add another scene in which Andrea's best friend, Evan, tries to comfort her after her encounter with Albany. Neither Andrea nor Evan knew why Albany was doing what she was doing, but Evan tried his best to help his best friend during this time in her life. Since Evan never told Andrea how he felt, he had no idea that the reason for Albany's bullying was because of his feeling for Andrea, nor did anyone suspect he had feelings for her. As the bullying progresses, Evan is left blindsided because he realizes what he does is not enough to help her and that the bullying is only getting worse. For this scene, Andrea will be arriving at Evan's house visibly upset. Evan asks her what is wrong and Andrea explains what had just happened. Evan then comforts her and even walks her home by the time she has to leave. I decided to make this the next scene because it shows that bullying affects the victim as well as the victim's friends and families. This scene will illustrate that even though Andrea had some support and was trying her best not to let it all affect her, all of it was affecting her in ways that neither her, Evan, nor her parents knew it could.

More Music!

For the second scene of the film, an emotional piano song will be playing in the background as Andrea and Albany approach their confrontation. I found this song on YouTube, copyright-free, and thought it was the perfect song for the scene. The song was done by  Mattia Cupelli. This scene happens three months before Andrea's suicide, and it was only the beginning of Albany's bullying. Bullying usually escalates because the victim gets ignored by their friends or hear their friends talk about them behind their back, or because more people take part in the bullying. This will shown during the rest of the movie as cutbacks in Albany's thoughts, as well as the rest of the kids who participated in the bullying. The movie as a whole will send a message to those who treat others poorly and to parents who may have a child going through this, or has gone through it. This movie will illustrate the effects bullying has on the victim and everyone around them, and the horrible consequence that can happen due to mistreating a person.






Sources ↘
Bullying Research Paper: https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/eds/92/0/92_107/_article/-char/en
Youtube Royalty Free Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JYHk_D5A44

COVID-19

Due to the coronavirus, I have had more time on my hands to edit and fully work on my movie. Since I had a problem with the editing program, the virus, since it cancelled school, has given me the chance to finish editing the film once and for all. It took me a little bit longer than expected because I wanted to go through all of the new options I had before choosing which one I wanted to include in the film. Nevertheless, COVID-19 has cancelled school, which does not allow me to get feedback from my peers nor did it allow me to ask for help throughout the process of editing.
Although the coronavirus cancelled school, it has also cancelled most, if not all, activities worldwide, which is causing panic everywhere. There are three types of people right now, the ones who believe the coronavirus is being blown out of proportion and do not stay in nor take precautions, and there is the ones who are going to extreme measures to ensure they do not get the virus. The "middle-man" between both types of people is the person who is taking precautions and not going to crowded places, but are not leaving the house with a hazmat suit. My parents are those type of people, meaning that I am the one going to the grocery store, or getting anything they may need while they stay at home, protected from the virus. COVID-19 is no joke, and while many people here in Florida do not agree with that, I rather keep my family safe from the virus, hoax or no hoax, which is also why I have not been getting too much time to write on my blog.

Editing Complication

I ran into a complication while editing since I was editing on the wrong account. The school has accounts for their students on WeVideo, but I did not know it was the premium version of the editing program and I made another account, which did not allow me to export the film without the WeVideo logo appearing throughout the entire film. I contacted my teacher to see if there was something I could do, and she mentioned joining the two videos, therefore the accounts, but that was not possible since the account I made was not connected to a school, like the other one.
Since it wasn't possible to connect the accounts and pass the edited video to the school WeVideo account, I have had to edit the video from scratch on the school account. Although I had finished editing it, I did not have access to the premium features that I do now, so I decided to change some of the effects I had put on the other one.
For the title scene, there was a motion text effect which typed like a typewriter, which I decided to use as well as the font "Montserrat-Regular." I was also able to select another motion text effect for the transitioning text of "3 months earlier" which I chose the "Above The Horizon" motion, which brings the text up, with the font "CantataOne."
I was also able to edit sound more thoroughly, raising and lowering the volume of the independent shots, allowing me to create the ambiance I like. I lowered the volume of the first shot, raising the volume of the song to create a dramatic feel. I then raised the volume of the second shot, lowering the volume of the song to allow to audience to hear what Andrea's mom tells her as she is leaving the house, then raising the volume of the song to where you can hear the song as well as Andrea's sniffles/cries. Then, the volume of the song increases slowly, as Andrea finishes writing on her journal to create a sense of suspense and sadness as the scene finishes.
For the second scene, the volume of the song is steady until Andrea and Albany's collision since the audience has to be able to hear what Albany says to Andrea. The volume will then increase slowly until the finish of the closing credits when the movie ends.

Credits

The credits for a movie consist of the writer of the movie, the director, the producer, the cinematographers, the editors, the important cast, the less important cast (A.K.A. the extras), and lastly, any source where music involved in the movie was found. Some movies have the credits in the beginning of the movie, such as in the movie "Alien" (1979)( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jJRvZ72fLs ) and "Godzilla" (2014)( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBQJjqnG1iI#action=share .)

In the 1920's, producers went from having no credits, simply the title of the show/movie, to having opening credits including the main cast and the major technical helpers. This did not allow the rest of the actors/crew to get more jobs in another productions because it was not known they were in the movie/show in the first place. In the 60's, audiences began to see longer credits, at the end of the screening, including everyone who helped in producing the film/show. One of the first movies with closing credits was Saul-Bass' "West Side Story" (1961), which includes the names of the actors/crew in graffiti on street walls and signs.
With the evolution of technology, credits have been getting longer, some movies with over 2,000 names in their credits. Action movies such as Iron Man include even more names, "Iron Man 3" with over 3,700 names, since they have to also include special effects companies and people who helped with the special effects. Some movie companies/producers make their closing credits creatively, with animations or mise-en-scene that is iconic to the movie. "Guardians of the Galaxies Vol. 2," "A Bug's Life," "Wall-E," and "Big Hero 6" animated and toyed with their closing credits so the audience would not get so bored during them. Marvel is also popular for their post-credits scenes, which most people stay for once all the credits are done.

In my movie, the writer, director, producer and editor are me, as well as Andrea, the main character. My friend Ayshe Can helped me record the scenes, being the cinematographer, while her sister, Aleyna Can was acting as Albany, the bully. My sister, Antonella Criscola, was Maria Victoria, Andrea's mother's voice, as well as an extra walking her dog as Andrea gets bullied by Albany.

Source: ↘
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/26/movies/why-end-credits-in-movies-are-so-long.html

So Scripted

Scripts allow the producer, director, artists, and everyone else helping to create a movie, understand word-by-word what it is the story is about. Since only the first few minutes will be produced, the script doesn't incorporate much dialogue since there is not much of it in the first few minutes, although much of the dialogue is done by every other character in the story other than Andreas' the rest of the movie. In the rest of the movie, there would be a few more bullying scenes from Albany's and her friend's part and it would go back to what would be life without Andrea. Life without Andrea for her family and friends includes many fights against bullying and the strong desire to help those victims who feel things they should never be feeling, those feelings that they couldn't help Andrea overcome.