Research for CCR #1

 I can't believe we're already on CCR's, but there's no time to waste so I'm starting to gather all my research and start my presentations. 

The first question that I will be researching is:

How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?

So, our film won%, follows drama conventions. Our main character Alea Punter, struggles with an internal and external conflict, which is very common in dramas. Our film opening also uses low-key lighting, which follows the drama conventions for technique. 

Our reasoning for following these conventions is because of the emotion and message we wanted to send, but also because we liked the plot and idea. Through her struggle of keeping up with bills and her gambling addiction, her situation represents a small percentage of the American population (unemployed with a gambling problem). Unlike most people living in poverty, they are hardworking and didn’t grow up with a middle class family, Alea was just lazy, she never listened to her parents, and would always rather take advice from other people (like the random Reddit person..). 

I think this would make a great film to send a message to people who take for granted what they have. I always hear my classmates talk about how they will just Chat GPT all the classwork, even the simplest things, like a 12 word vocabulary assignment, or putting a news article in order. I also hear about how they would use AI for all their assignments the previous year, and only start studying right before the end of year exams… I don’t mean to be rude, but it’s always the people who want a professional career, like a doctor or something, and I’m always wondering how would they survive? I also think of my future doctors, hoping they didn’t cheat their way through med school somehow… 

Anyways, another technique we use in our film opening is pacing and rhythm to build tension and using close-ups. There is a specific scene in the beginning of the film where Alea is on the edge of her seat and you start to see the panic in her face because the team she has bet on and rooting for might be losing, but suddenly the microwave beeps and she needs to go get her popcorn! 

Sources: 

University at Buffalo. (2014). In areas with the highest poverty, the death rate is 27 percent higher than in those in the top fifth of economic advantage. https://www.buffalo.edu/news/releases/2014/01/001.html#:~:text=In%20areas%20with%20the%20highest,top%20fifth%20of%20economic%20advantage.

- FarjanaTahmin. (n.d.). *Conventions of drama films* [SlideShare presentation]. SlideShare. https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/conventions-of-drama-films/9837149

- Cooper, M. (n.d.). *Codes and conventions of drama* [SlideShare presentation]. SlideShare. https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/codes-and-conventions-of-drama/15481222

Production Post #2

     Today I added the last part of our film, which makes it 3 minutes, so unfortunately we have to figure out what to cut out or what to make shorter still. I was going to add this to the first production post, however I think the school has blocked me screen casting, not sure why but EVERYTIME I used the Snipping Tool to screen cast, it would disappear after a minute. I had to refilm 5 times because I thought it was a me problem. Thankfully, my partner told me I could use Canvas to screen cast, I never knew until today that we could do that.. Anyways here's the video of me editing in the last parts: 

My partner is going to work on the audio this weekend you can check that out on their blog (mediaandmee.blogspot.com). I will also be posting about it on Sunday though!

Production Post for Editing #1

     Hello! I decided to finally switch out the parts that didn't look good or we had to refilm today and I took a screen recording of me doing it. All the clips I used to replace the bad ones were filmed on Sunday, the second filming day. The video was originally 10 minutes, but I used Clip Champ to make it 5 times faster so it's easier to watch. Here's a screenshot of me editing a video of me editing my portfolio project: 

                        

    Also when I was editing some other parts, I accidently deleted the whole project... Thankfully there was an undo button. I didn't realize I had the whole thing highlighted. This won't be the only editing I do of course but this was just a short clip of how I usually do it.

Group Meeting #2

     Today in class (right now, were still in class), we had another group meeting, with different people. We talked about our film script and a little of out CCR’s because we forgot about those until the end. 

    Many of them haven’t finished filming or started, there was only two of us who had finished! Which was kind of surprising since it’s due in two weeks and we still have to edit and do our CCR’s and edit that! Many of us are also doing some type of thrillers. Me, I’m doing a game show and four people in my group are doing a thriller/murder. I bet those fake blog companies are making a lot of money. Also, someone in my group, Guillermo, had professional camera’s which were so cool to see, because all of us are using our phones. This is his blog check it out!: https://guillermo1834.blogspot.com/2026/02/. I’m most excited to see his final product, we were stuck on his script/plot for a bit because we were all confused what type of shot he was explaining.

   The other two in the group are doing romance and coming of age dramas. I wanted to do a coming of age drama, but I decided to do a thriller drama instead. I’m also really excited to see the CCR of Kylie’s because she’s getting inspiraton from the YouTube show “Hot Ones”, where they eat spicy wings and get interviewed. This is her blog! https://kyz12345.blogspot.com/

                                                                 Group Meeting #2!

Filming Day #2

     Today we finished filming everything that we thought looked bad in the last filming day. Before we started filming, we had to look over the footage we had on ClipChamp. We thought we only had to refilm two of them, but we actually had to redo 4 of them because the other two we were missing the popcorn bowl. The first one we redid was of Alea getting off the couch to get the popcorn. That scene was fine, until we realised the footage on the TV was copyrighted!

            

    Then we had to refilm the part where I was opening the envelopes. We realised it was WAY TOO long (over 1 minute) and I kept smiling because the envelopes weren't opening properly and it was sticking to me and my clothes. It was so bad... This time it was way shorter and I didn't smile because we didn't actually seal the envelopes. Also, the popcorn wasn't there but we realised we had it in the shot but never showed us moving it, and it just magically disappeared. We actually forgot about the popcorn until we watched it over for the 3rd time..

          

    After that, we filmed the scene were we get the call and the camera zooms into the "Yes or No" part of the letter since it was a very bad cut. We actually didn't have the phone we used last time, but thankfully there was a random black phone charging next to us and just used that. The camera was different so I covered it with my hair as I was holding it. It took many tries to get this part right because my partner had to go from a close up of my face and swerve into a close of up the letter which was on the couch.

          

    

Production Post #2

     Filming day was kind of chaotic, we got distracted a lot and I couldn't get into character many times because we kept laughing, but it was fun. I think every time we film we always get distracted some how.

     The last project, which was our music video project, instead of getting started right away when everyone got there. We had a conversation for an hour and then went to McDonalds!! Which was kind of perfect because we got pictures for our band's Instagram and Tiktok. Unfortunately this was not the only time we got distracted for a long time. Well I guess the next time it wasn't distraction. We needed the sky to be dark since the setting was a party and we still had an hour or two before the sun would start setting, so we watched Camp Rock and ate cupcakes while we waited! I can't believe that was all the way in December. It felt like we just filmed two weeks ago..

    Before we started filming the character scenes, we had to take care of the credits, which were pretty easy to do. We just stood there holding the camera as still as possible to capture 10 seconds of the clip. We did this 3 times, once for the lotter tickets, the dishes, which you can see below, and the clothes on the couch.

    I think this was during the part where it was a close up of Alea's face staring at the TV, which you might not see in the final product because it was kind of bad and awkward to look at. Here you can see how easily distracted we get while filming. I forgot what we said before this, but I know this was our 2nd or 3rd take and my partner, who is filming me, the character said something to make me smile and I couldn't get serious after that. BTW the person filming the behind the scenes is my partners sister.

    This is a clip of us actually filming, without being distracted for once. This was the over the shoulder shot of Alea reading what was inside the red envelope. It was going to be the shot we were going to use... but then my partner's sister started talking to the camera telling us the date and what we were doing, she didn't know we were filming so we had to start again. She did this many times throughout the day that my partner had to start saying "We are filming" to let her know when to not talk. It was hilarious!! 

Production Post #1

    Last week on Sunday, we started filming and got most of our clips that were going to use. However, this blog isn't about filming yet, its about the props we had to make on that day! 

    First we have the lottery tickets! We had my partners dad buy them for us 30 minutes before filming, and since none of our parents had scratch off tickets just lying around. This is also where we got our production company name from! Out of the 4 tickets we got we only won one dollar, and our film name is won% and the tickets costed $1 each, that's kind of crazy.

            

    After the lottery tickets we had to make the bowl that we were going to use to put popcorn in dirty since they didn't have any dishes in the sink. My partner's dad also got fried chicken with the lottery tickets so we decided to rub some of that on it, but it wasn't saucy, just oily. Instead we had to go into the fridge to find something to rub all over the bowl. We found some pretty expired drinks I think, it smelled weird and had a weird texture... We threw it away after we poured it! 

                                         

    Next we made the popcorn! It was pretty simple since it was microwaved popcorn, we just opened it and stuck it in the microwave. While it was microwaving, we started recording the part where Alea is sitting on the couch and we can hear the microwave and popcorn popping (next blog!). 

    After that, we had to throw the clothing somewhere in the house and we decided to throw it on the other couch, not the one the character sat on. We had to use her dad's clothes because I forgot to bring mine..

    

Production Company Name and Logo

 Hi! Come make my production company logo with me. Before we start let me explain how we got our name, Dollar Studios. 

Today in class, after my teacher explained the CCR’s, we started thinking about names. I was thinking to do something related to our film so I suggested “Shark Studios”, because of loan sharks, and Alea, our character is in massive debt. I was thinking of writing the words “Shark Studio” with a shark skull open around it. 

Like this:

However, my partner doesn’t really like the idea, and that was the only one I had. A few minutes passby and I’m thinking of our filming day last sunday, and I realised that when we were scratching the lottery tickets, we won one dollar, and our film is named won%… I told my partner that and we decided from that  we would named it “Dollar Studios”

That was the end of class, so we decided to call tonight to figure the icon out. In 3rd period (right now as I’m writing this), I thought of an idea and I decided to screen record it all while drawing it out on Canva! I sped it up as much as I could on IMovie (2x). If it’s still too slow, you can also speed it up here on Blogger in the Settings then Playback speed. I hope it’s not too long. Also if there are awkward long pauses on the video it’s because my pen wasn’t working or my screen was frozen. Sorry!

I just sent the video to my partner, so this isn’t the official logo yet, but I made two different versions of it. I will update this blog after we call tonight! 

Okay so update on the logo! We decided to change a tiny bit of the logo, just the font and size hered the final product!

Lighting

     The lighting for our film opening "won%", is going to be motivated lighting. I had to research all the different types of lighting types because I realised that lowkey wasn't the right one. 

    We decided to have barely any light because it reminds us of bed-rotting, which is a term made for people who stay in bed all day and do nothing but eat junk and scroll on social media. We planned on starting to film at around 1 P.M and finish before 5 P.M since it starts setting then and getting darker. If we don't finish, then we can just continue the next day. Sometimes when it's too dark, the camera quality looks very bad, since we don't have professional cameras, just our phones, we will probably have to use one of our phone flashlights on the lowest setting to make the footage somewhat visible. 

So the smaller yellow lines is the sun peeking through the blinds and the big yellow thing is going to be the TV. Where there is a very dark grey is where most of the shadow is going to be since there is no light from the side we see.

    Besides the natural light from the outside, which won't be super bright because we're going to close the blinds, there will also be some light from the TV since Alea, the character, is going to be watching a sports game. There will also be the microwave, but I don't think that will effect the camera as much as the TV, since it's pretty small. 

Sources: 

DeGuzman, Kyle. 2021. "What is Motivated Lighting in Film — Building a World with Light." StudioBinder. Retrieved February 15, 2026 (https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-motivated-lighting-in-film/).

Wiktionary. 2024. "Bed Rotting." Wikipedia. Retrieved February 15, 2026 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bed_rotting).

Props

Props we made from scratch: 

Fancy envelope: 

1. I looked up an envelope template and I cut it out to trace it on the red paper.

2. I cut it up and started folding it where the dashed lines were on the original template.

3. I glued it together and made sure that a piece of paper would fit inside.

Letter: 

1. Before I started writing the letter, I had to make sure paper fit into the envelope because it was a pretty small envelope. Since regular paper wouldn't look good or fit, I decided to use this paper from a journal I had lying around.

2. I then cut the end off to make it look like it wasn't from a ringed book.

3. I then went on Canva to find some nice fonts to see how I should write it and I found a perfect one called Sulat Rizal

4. Next I wrote a draft in pencil to see how it looked

5. Then I wrote it in pen, I added some words to it as well. 

Logo/Wax Seal:

My partner made this super nice 3D logo out of her nail gel and chrome powder!! Were planning on putting this on the front of the envelope, and the wax seal will be on the back where you open it.

1. print the words out, she used the font New Icon 

2. Use builder gel to make the letters. Roll it into a thin worm then use a spatula to shape it on the paper

3. Cure it under UV light 

4. Dust the chrome powder on

1. Roll the builder gel to a ball

2. Stamp the gel with a round cap

3. Use dotting tool to engrave the % logo

4. Cure it under UV light

5. Dust it with chrome powder

Overdue Bills:

My partner found a cool website where you can find some fake debt mail templates. She edited it to look like it was addressed to Alea Punter. She also named the street Alea lived on to be "Albatross Street", because an albatross is a bird that symbolizes debt. 

After she printed a few papers of the bills out, she put them in the regular white envelopes and used her printer to print out what they would usually stamp on past due bills. 

Props we DON'T need to make from scratch but will use: 

Lottery Tickets/Scratch offs: 

Dirty Dishes/Full sink, they don't have to be dirty we will probably just stack a few dishes under like one or two saucy ones: 

Microwaved Popcorn/Snack (not healthy):

Sources: 
- Reddit user. (2023). And nothing… 4 in a row nothing not even a 10 [Online forum post]. Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/Lottery/comments/11ce9vd/and_nothing4_in_a_row_nothing_not_even_a_10/
- Henderson, A. (2023). How long should you let dishes soak? Southern Living. https://www.southernliving.com/how-long-should-you-let-dishes-soak-11844524
- Delish Editors. (2024). Reasons not to eat microwave popcorn. Delish. https://www.delish.com/food-news/a62718777/reasons-not-to-eat-microwave-popcorn/
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. (n.d.). Debt collection model validation notice [PDF]. https://github.com/cfpb/debt-collection-files/blob/gh-pages/print/cfpb_debt-collection_model-validation-notice_en.pdf

Were going to start filming tomorrow and hopefully we can get it done this weekkkk! But still have it look very nice, because I don't want a bad looking project, but we probably shouldn't spend too much time on filming because I think editing takes a lot more effort....

OH YEA Happy Valentines Day :)

About the character

 Naming our character:

We decided to take from her gambling problem and create a name from it.  For her last name, we were first considering using the word Gamble, but we felt like it was too obvious that the name Gambelle or Gambale would come from Gamble. Instead we googled synonyms of gamble and the world Punt came up, and it sounded like a real last name so we decided to go with that. For her first name, we googled "Girl names that mean risk" and we saw Alea, which we thought was a very pretty name. Her name is Alea Punter. 

Background of Alea:

Alea: 23, an unemployed college graduate. She majored in acting, which her parents didn't approve of, and unfortunately, that also meant they wouldn't pay for college. She wanted to figure a way to get rid of the debt quickly so she could pursue her dream of becoming a celebrity actress, however, that led to her taking advice from the internet... Which lead her to her addiction, she's a mess and does nothing all day but watch TV, bet and gamble her few winnings hoping for a larger one.

Alea Punter's mood board:

Alea's Personality:

Alea is lazy, naive, and a risk taker. She's always wanted to become a famous actress, but she didn't put much effort into it. Now in debt and not being able to hold a job, she started gambling and buying lottery tickets all because of a random person on Reddit... She'd rather take the risk of the lottery rather than working hard. 

Sources: 

Nameberry. (n.d.). Alea - Baby Name Meaning, origin, and popularity. https://nameberry.com/b/girl-baby-name-alea#google_vignette 

Audio

     Our film opening, won%, is all going to be diegetic sounds, or mostly diegetic, I'm not entirely sure if we should add music yet. I feel like adding music wouldn't fit the opening because it's about a lazy, lonely gambler who's in debt. 

    Instead of starting with music like most films, were starting with the sound of a sports game in the background (for most of the film, until they turn it off) and a microwave with popcorn popping in the back and this is during the credits, eyeline match and up until we hear the microwave beep (mid shot on the couch). Then we will hear shuffling off the couch, we probably will put footsteps but very low since they are probably going to be wearing socks or are barefoot. 

    Next, were going to hear the microwave open then it cuts to the tv with the sink, if we do a focus pull on the sink, we might also do a focus pull on the audio and make the droplet sound louder. Then we will hear her take a bowl from the sink, maybe wash it too. After that, we hear her put the popcorn into the bowl, open it (maybe add "ouch" because the bag is hot), and then close the microwave and walk away. The next major sound we will hear is the mail being all taken away together, so like the sound of thick paper shuffling. 

    When they get to the couch, we will hear her start eating the popcorn and ripping open the mail and then throwing it away, she will do this a few times before she finds the fancy red envelope ( blog post soon about making the prop). We still hear the TV at this point but we will focus and blur the audio of the game and focus on the sound of opening the envelope. Then we suddenly hear her phone ringing, and she picks it up. We hear the anonymous voice on the other line and the character responding, then hanging up. She looks around, TV still on, and she turns it off. It's silent for a bit, other than some sounds from neighbors outside (maybe), and she decides to call them back and we hear the ringing tone, and it ends there!!

Soundscape (not the official one just a test/idea one kind of for the blog post):

I was originally going to upload an audio or video file but it doesn't work so I just put a link hopefully it works

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ifLp5RIEhjRznloPZ5ZZJQQk1lcH0gxs/view?usp=sharing

Media Theories

 The media theories my partner and I think we will use in our film opening project:

The ones I think were definitely going to have in our project is the Enigma Code or Action Code, both of them are leading up to mysteries, where the only difference is the Enigma Code is when information is withheld and the Action Code is actions that lead to something. It's hard to say for certain which we are using because we haven't thought through the what they are going to say in the phone call or letter, but we will probably decide next week. If we did the Enigma Code, the ending would be the main character calling back the unknown caller and it would end there, while the Action Code would be the character calling the unknown caller back but then they said they would do it and end it there. 

The one I'm not certain we will use, but still considering it is the Binary Opposition Theory, which is by Levi Strauss, where the story is made of concepts of good vs evil. I'm not sure how we can use that one since our main character is not really good since they have gambled all their money away and is living a very lazy life. It would probably be useful for the whole film where we would see character development, but we are just making the film opening, so it's best to stick with the Enigma and Action code.

This is our media theories paper that our teacher gave us to study and where we chose our theories from

won% storyboard!!

We just finished our storyboard! 

It's not perfect and some things aren't fully decided yet, but it's pretty much how the film opening is going to look. We might add some things or take it out based on the resources and time we have. Also if the drawing doesn't look too good, sorry, but don't worry because it's gonna look great in the opening (i hope).

I think I forgot to add where were planning on putting the title, so I'll just explain it here. My partner and I were planning on putting the title on the fancy envelope during the over the shoulder shot in the third page of the storyboard sheet. I was thinking of writing it in cursive, or something similar, in gold/shiny ink. We would zoom in on the envelope as they are examining the writing, like feeling it over or something, because that's something I would do if I got a fancy letter with very nice writing on it. I was also thinking that they could say the title, like "won%....?", in a very slow and confused voice.

 

won%

    My partner and I finally came up with a plot!! It's a mix of drama and thriller. We decided to name it won% because won sounds like one. The character has to win the game to win the money (won), and no one except the character should live to win it which is where the % comes in (one%). However, it also represents the one% of the population, like in squid game, who have so much money they don't know what to do with it. So for entertainment, they pay people to watch people fight each other for money. 

   The film opening starts with many close ups of places in the dark house, such as the sink, piled up with days of dirty dishes, messy laundry all over the place, and old food laying around the house. You can hear a sports game/horse race playing in the background. Then the character is introduced through a mid shot. They're watching TV with a blanket over them, also in the background we hear the microwave and popcorn popping. Then an eyeline match of their eyes and the TV, we can tell they are anxious because someone or a team is loosing, suddenly the microwave beeps and they get up to get their popcorn. It's a tracking shot following them to get the popcorn, but they get distracted as they are getting the popcorn, looking back at the TV, it's another eyeline match. They grab a bowl from the sink because they are lazy and then there is a focus pull on the dripping faucet. 

    They notice the mail on the counter, all past due bills but also ads for horse races and betting on games. They grab the mail, but accidently drop it, pick it up and go back to the couch. As they open the mail, they are throwing the paper all over the living room not caring to be clean. As they go through their mail, the see a very nice envelope with fancy writing, as they open it they read it very confused. Suddenly they get a call, no caller ID. They accept, someone with a heavy voice changer, they simply ask YES OR NO, confused, they hang up. They look around their house, dirty and messy, thinking if they should accept this odd offer. After a few thoughts, they call them back, and the opening ends there. 

Our major inspirations:

Parasite: (the look around the house)

The Substance: (the call/offer)

Squid Game Season 1: (survival game/title)

Scream 1996: (the phone call)

 

    

Group Meeting #1

First Group Meeting!!

    

On 2/2/26, my class was separated into 4 groups, where we all give feedback and help to each other after we explain our plots and show our blogs. 

 

During this meeting, I realized that many of my classmates were doing action as their genre, and raids in their film openings. I was very surprised by this because raids are harder to do especially when they probably don't have the right props, costumes, and amount of people. It would be expensive and probably hard to find many large weapons and FBI shields, and it would be hard to find 10-20 people to act as the raiders at the right age if they are showing the faces and heights. One of them who were doing the raids also wanted to do a scene where they show government officials in a meeting, but I was wondering how they were going to make it realistic, because usually the buildings are always crowded and loud. Also, all of government officials are usually over the age of 30, and he was having his friends act as the government officials, which would look VERY odd. 

When it came to me, I knew I wanted to do something coming of age, teenage drama, and something they could all relate to, because those movies are my favorite. So, I asked everyone what they struggle with and think other people also do. I had many good suggestions like insecurities and feeling left out, however, I wanted to do something more academic related because course cards are due soon and I kind of had the idea to do something about struggling to fit in with a very competitive school, like my school. However, I didn't know my partner was going to ask her group about how we could do a thriller, so I think we may change the genre...

                                                                       My Group and I!!!

Film Credits

 The Godfather (1972):

    The credit sequence for The Godfather(1972) is mostly at the end, while in the beginning, it only shows the producer, screenwriter, and the name of the film. The ending credits are similar to most other movies, where it's just a black screen and words moving up. However, they use a specific font that is a bit sharp and represents the time period the film was set in (1940's). The music played during the ending sequence also fit the mafia theme of the film, and it sounds like something played at a fancy banquet.

Link to ending and credits: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2l2OXn17CL8

Spider-Man (2002):

    I liked this opening because it was different than the other ones, but it wasn't as creative as I would like my film credits to be. I thought it was interesting to put the letters on the spiderweb, and the transition was also good compared to the scrolling names in other credits. The music was made for an adventure, like what the genre of Spider-Man mainly is; however, it does feature a lot of emotional and personal struggles, so I consider it to be a drama as well. 

Link to opening credits: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f5ykkGJvMU&t=198s

Memoirs Of A Geisha (2005):

    This was my favourite out of all three credit scenes. The moving water represented Sayuri's experience and how she was adapting to the world around her. The music also represented her life and the ending well, as she finally achieves her dream, but it was bittersweet since she ended up being his mistress instead of his wife. I also liked seeing the characters' faces with the actor's names instead of a blank black screen or something else. I think I would've changed the font, though, because when I think of a memoir, I think of a diary, and the font should be more like a human's handwriting.

Examples of other fonts that would be better fitting(on Word):

Link to credits:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QP39kVEgEB8

Citation:

LitCharts. (n.d.). Water, rivers, and streams. LitCharts. https://www.litcharts.com/lit/memoirs-of-a-geisha/symbols/water-rivers-and-streams