Our script has been progressing very well. Our whole group met on the weekend to work on it, getting out the kinks and shaping it into the final product. We have incorporated all of our 5 elements of a dystopia into our script. Everyone thinks they are living in a perfect utopia because none of the poor know that there is another class and the rich are perfectly happy with it. Freedom is restricted with the disability chips that are implanted into “all citizens” head’s. Communication is manipulated because the poor class cannot interact or communicate with the rich because of the chips. They are told that their society is all that there is and that anyone who strays beyond the boundaries disappears. The citizens are living in a dehumanized state because they are constantly working to make the world better for the rich even though they think it’s just for them. In our trailer we are incorporating both voiceovers and titles in order to get our message of a dystopia across. The titles describe the dystopia while the voiceovers show the perspective of our main character. We have 12 different scenes in our trailer but they all go by very quickly and is what we thought we needed to make sure our plot and message gets across to the audience.

In my 5x5 all my clips are from Dalview Pool. The first one is from the upper deck of the pool looking out on to the main pool. The second shot is of me attempting to blow air rings. The third shot is simply of me and my sister throwing around the ball. The fourth shot is of the Well or the deepest part of the pool. The fifth shot is of kids playing a game called Sharks and Minnows. I used a Go-Pro Hd hero video camera to shoot my 5x5 and I edited it on I-movie. Though in the future I hope to use final Cut I am still learning all the functions of Final Cut and hope to be able to use it on my next film project. This pool day wasn’t my original idea. I originally was going to do a Blair soccer game but unfortunately lost the clips that I had shot. I am pleased about the 5x5 though and I thought it was a fun and interesting project. Another idea I had for a movie project is based off of the same criteria used for The 48 Hour Film Project which is a nationally recognized film competition (see below). In this competition contestants are given 48 hours to shoot and edit a short film but in their short film they must have a line or phrase which is creatively incorporated some how into their project, an object which doesn’t need to be prominent in the film but must be used, and a charcter (this phrase, objec, and character is the same for every group of contestants). We would definitely need more time but this could potentially be a very fun and creative project.

See The 48 Hour Film Project for further information

Title: In Time

Director: Andrew Niccol

Rating: PG-13

Synopsis: This movie details the life of Will Salas (Justin Timberlake) who lives in a futuristic setting where time is currency. Will tries to narrow the social Economic statuses by teaming up with Sylvia Weis (Amanda Seyfried) in order to steal time from the rich and give it to the poor.

Webster New Collegiate Dictionary defines a dystopia as an imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one. The trailer In Time effectively exemplifies said society with its beautiful cinematography, riveting music. The audience can first notice the movie’s dark motifs with the high contrasting and dingy hews of blue, grey, and dark orange which appear many times throughout the trailer. There are also bold titles that are also dark in nature, giving imperative details about the conflict and shaping the ornate plot. This trailer also is formatted so that the clips are longer in the beginning and get faster and shorter towards the end building tension and excitement. This cinematography is crucial to the development of the dystopian society but the ominous and exciting music is the major hint that this is about a dystopian society. The music starts out low and dark and gets faster and louder as the trailer progresses adding to the already tense atmosphere of the drama. My group will definitely be using action packed music with low and dark points as well as intense and uplifting points in order to get the audience interested. Lighting is key, and in order to create an affective setting and feeling to the trailer we will be using dark colors as well. Whether we use titles or not is based on how we want to get the message across but they definitely add to the In Time trailer and we now know how to effectively use them.

Leaning with blogs

I read the article, World Without Walls: Learning Well with Others, and found it very interesting to see the arguments presented in favor of encouraging interconnected learning, through blogs, made for school. The article first mentions a presentation done by eleven-year-old community volunteer and blogger named Laura Stockman who has done many big service projects and tells the audience she gets most of her inspiration from her readers. The article then goes on to talk about how useful her blog has been to her and how young people in general have been integrating blogs into their learning. The article also talks about why blogs should be used as an extension of the classroom and there incredible usefulness in the 21st century. The author mentions that, "the work we create and publish is assessed by the value it brings to the people who read it, reply to it, and remix it. Much of what our students learn from us is unlearned once they leave us." I thought this was a very effective and accurate argument and is important because it is true that if we elaborate on what we learned in class on our blogs then the material will continue to be fresh in our minds. It is also important as well as useful to get feedback from other people on your thoughts and ideas. One thing I found slightly surprising was the enormity for the potential for these blogs. Not only could classmates see a blog, but also people around the world who have similar passions. I believe that the blogs are a good idea because it gives us a chance to see the opinions and thoughts of our peers as well as continue learning outside of class without the often-felt boredom of a class. There are many topics that I am interested in but I would like to specifically learn more about law and how law firms work.

interconnected learning

For our quarterly movie reports I think that there definitely needs to be some structure but I think it should be very flexible as well to increase creativity and make it more enjoyable in general. Our previous movie reports were considered more of a task then a fun project that I think it has a lot of potential to become. We should also definitely be able to pick movies we like and choose because the ones that the school chooses are often “classics” and are not as fun or as easy to understand as some of the more modern movies. I think there should be a section in our reviews devoted to the movie regarding its technical details such as the movie lighting, music, filming techniques, and plot. Then we should have a section that explains its message to the world and how it might affect our lives today. 

First Blog Post Assignment

Hey Readers! I'm Max Scribner and as is most likely apparent from this post, I not only attend Montgomery Blair High School, I am in my 10th grade year of CAP. I personally, greatly enjoy working with good cameras and creating art both through movies and video, as well as pictures. The picture you see above was taken by one of my favorite time-laps artists named Michael Shainblum who does both photography and video. The most fascinating part of video making for me is the editing part because this is where I can put together all these various clips into a piece of art. I think one of my favorite film projects ever was the Star Wars Ad PSA in 8^th grade year for my TV-Studios class. I was the cameraman and the main editor for the project that ended up being a great success. It was not only a really big project, but me and my group members got a chance to be very creative and have a lot of fun with it. I also enjoy photography a lot and love being able to take a picture, attempting to make it look as professional as possible while catching the perfect moment.