I Have The WORST Luck

Hey Blog,

GUESS WHO WOKE UP WITH PINK EYE TODAY? Yeah it’s the girl with horrible luck. That’s right. It’s me. 

It is currently Saturday and almost all of our filming is done and I am happy but also upset. The reason being we finally finished and are getting closer to editing and finalizing everything. However, I wasn’t there for the filming because I have been super sick. With that being said I feel it is especially important to mention that my team members, Reem and Nawal have been nothing but understanding when it comes to me not being there. I know this is because I have done my part at home while they have been filming. Nawal sent me some tasks to do while the filming was done so I managed to do that with the extra time in bed I had this week. She basically just had me finalize things with the way we wanted scenes to be. We had some concerns regarding some scenes and I just had to go back and fix the problems before they went to film the scenes. Usually I would be a bit more upset that I wasn’t there for the filming, but I know my editing skills will come in handy while editing the film opening so I know that will be a huge contribution. To shift the topic a bit, I also have to finish my CCR. I started answering questions from it and creating my and I think I am off to a good start. I am planning on making my CCR on iMovie or WeVideo.  I was thinking about doing a screen recording with a powerpoint but the more I thought about it the more I thought it wasn't the smartest move. I think creating the CCR on one of the two platforms I mentioned will help to ensure that all my information is in one place and easy to interpret.

Overall, I am excited and nervous to see what is going to happen next in regards to our project.

Until Next Time,
Shelby 😊🎤📽

Cast List Is HERE!!

Welcome Back Blog Readers,

Guess what? We FINALLY casted our opening. It took us forever, but we finally did it and I think its going to look awesome! The cast consists of 6 characters. Reem and Nawal really came through with people since my friends flaked out on us :): So, as promised today I am going to be discussing who is playing each part. Our cast consists of 6 total characters.


Without further a do here is the cast list along with some traits of each character:

• Reem is playing the Gemini- Zoë
• Enthusiastic 
• Adjustable 
• Indecisive 
• Zoe is the lively one 

• Sofia is playing the Taurus- Emerald
• Independent 
• Patient 
• Selfless 
• Understanding 
• Stubborn 
• Emerald is the birth stone for Taurus/May

• Sumaiyya is playing Emerald's friend, the Pisces- Mercy 
• Compassionate 
• Emotional 
• Lazy 
• Selfless 
• Sensitive 
• Mercy is Middle English for compassionate and Mercy 

• Andres is playing the Aries paired up with Zoë- Niall 
• Adventurous 
• Versatile 
• Lively 
• Passionate 
• Arrogant 
• Niall is a champion 

• Sebastian is playing the Virgo paired up with Emerald- Swain
• Meticulous 
• Analytical 
• Reliable 
• Overcritical 
• Judgmental 
• Swain is youth in old service 

• Julie is the Sagittarius waitress- Doran
• Large hearted 
• Careless 
• Doran is a wanderer 

We chose the names of the characters based on the personalities of their signs because we thought it would add to the overall theme of the plot.


Until Next Time,
Shelby 😊🎤📽

I HATE BEING SICK

Hello Blog,

So today is Wednesday and I am still sick. Being sick during the break sucks; not only because I don’t get to do anything fun, but also because I can’t be there for filming. Reem and Nawal met up earlier this week to finalize our script and scene ideas as well making decisions on what days we will be filming this week. I could not be there because I was sick, so they kept me updated and now I can update all of you. Now that the script is finalized we have the foundation to our film. At this point we know exactly how we want each shot and scene to be filmed in order to help convey the theme and message of our film. It is really crazy to see how fast the film is coming together and how this time next week we will hopefully be almost completely done editing our film. We have been talking about this project for so long and its weird that it’s going to be over soon. Im having bittersweet thoughts about this. I am also very concerned because my friends who are supposed to be in our opening are not answering my messages so we might have to start thinking about backups. I hope things work out in the end; I'm sure they will.  They usually do. Reem and I have never not succeeded at a project we have done together and now that we have Nawal, we are unstoppable.

Anyway, pray that I get better by Friday because that’s when we are filming! IM EXCITEDDDD!! 

Until Next Time,

Shelby 😊🎤📽


P.S. here is a cute gif of Nawal, Reem, and I ;)

                                

Spring Break Is Here... Or is it?

Hey Blog,

It feels like forever. Let me just start by saying spring break has not been treating me well so far. I just got back from Tampa on Saturday night, where I participated in the State Thespian Festival, and got sick on the trip! So, now I have sinus infection which is very unfortunate because we have to film this week and I really would hate to miss it. But as we say in show biz, “the show must go on”. To get more into our project, I am also very upset because some of my best friends were supposed to be in our film opening, but they bailed on us. This goes to show you shouldn’t work with your friends. Also that you should watch who you trust, but that’s another story. Anyway, since they bailed on us we now have to recast the two main characters as well as finish casting the rest of our roles. Nawal and Reem both said they have friends who will fit the parts well so below I will attach pictures of some possibilities.

This is Sofia (Reem's Friend and a possible Emerald)

This is Sumaiyya (Nawal's Friend and a possible Mercy)

Stay tuned for my next  few blogs where I talk more about our script and I will announce who we decided will be playing each part. 

Until Next Time, 

Shelby 😊🎤📽

The Aftermath

Hey Blog,
This weekend has been so much fun, but also so long. I did so much to celebrate my birthday this weekend. My whole weekend was spent with my family and bestfriend which was perfect. Then to end the weekend off with a big bang we all went to the Renaissance Fair today which was super fun (even though I got really sunburn). This is what I look like currently:






I have come to the realization today after talking to Reem we are about halfway through our final project, time wise. We've been moving a little slow the past week, but thats only because we all have had a lot going on this week.Yesterday Reem and Nawal filmed some shots for our opening and today Reem sent me a video that she made on iMovie that shows all the filming they did. We plan on filming the rest of our opening and getting our editing done during spring. After watching the video  Reem sent me I can say that I am definitely seeing progress. Reem and I came to the conclusion that we really need to step up our game this upcoming week to get back on track for the project due date. 

Until Next Time, 
Shelby 😊🎤📽

Let The Filming Commence

Good Evening Blog! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MEEEEE. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!!!!! That is right blog readers, you heard correctly, today it is finally my birthday!! In my last post I told you guys my first task as a legal woman would be to buy a lottery ticket and that is just what I did. This morning I drove to publix and got a scratch off lotto ticket and guess what....? I WON $5. Well technically I won back the $5 I spent on the ticket but I still won! I say that is good luck. Other than that I did a lot of fun things today like went to the beach and got lots of free food for my birthday. Now comes the time of the blog where I tell you about the project since not everything is about me even on my birthday ;)

So today Reem and Nawal got something filming done. They filmed some establishing scenes for the beginning part of our film and they filmed the cook show scene with Reem as the chef. Apparently, Reem is a bit upset because she wanted to use this chef hat she made, but Nawal wouldn't let her, and I have to agree the hat is a no go (sorry Reem I still love you <3).

Anyway, to the right you see a picture of Reem dressed for her scene. We decided to make her outfit white and polished-looking to go with the dystopian society. Along with this picture I also attached some pictures Reem took of Nawal while she was filming some establishing shots so you guys can see my two partners in action! I hope you enjoy the progress so far!

Until Next Time,

Shelby😊🎤📽

P.S. It is really weird that I am considered an adult now

Groups Meetings #2

Good Evening Blog! GUESS WHAT...? I'll wait... Go on guess... MY BIRTHDAY IS TOMORROW! It is actually so hard to believe how fast time has gone by. It feels like just yesterday I was a little (well not that little I'm a tall girl) freshman getting lost on way to class. And tomorrow I turn 18! I am finally going to be legal! My first task as a legal women will be to buy a lottery ticket. I'll keep you updated. Anyways back to the topic of todays blog: today we had group meetings. I had overwhelming amount of support from my classmates this week. Everyone really made me feel very optimistic about our project. Not only did they like the idea of our project, but they also thought the name was very creative and is a title that they if they heard it they would want to watch (which I was happy about since I came up with the title). I also shared my blog link with my classmates so they could see our progress and everyone single one of my peers told me that they enjoyed my blog. Some of them said I was a strong writer and some of them said that they felt that reading my blog was a pleasurable which made me happy since it is something that someone will eventually be reading. The only thing my peers addressed concern for was how we are going to edit the zodiac sign above our characters heads. I told them not to fret because Yejing already told me how to get the job done! Other than that we didn't really receive any criticism or advice on our project.

Tomorrow Reem and Nawal are going to start filming the chef seen and get shots of Town Center since we are making our film take place in Weston. I will keep you updated!

Until Next Time,

Shelby 😊🎤📽

Storyboard

Hello beautiful blog people!!! My birthday is soooooo close (3/16) and this is my current mood:

So today in class we worked on a rough storyboard for our film opening and and we discussed a lot about plot and the mise-en-scene. Since we are focusing the plot more towards the stereotypical aspects of our zodiacs. The first way we are going to develop the stereotypical zodiacs is by having our main character (V)  make a healthy fruit salad in the beginning of our film. While this will develop the zodiac sign of our character, we figured that to illustrate the Dystopia further, the tutorial is going to be conducted with government vibe that portrays how the government will be manipulating everything. We are going to have V following the chef's tutorial, and by doing so, this shows the structure of V and how even she is manipulated. We also decided that we would have Reem play the chef and she is very excited (too excited in my opinion). Below I am going to attach pictures of the storyboard we created:

This weekend Reem and Nawal are going to start filming and even though I cant join them because of my birthday (hehehehe eeeeeeekkkk) I am very excited to see the outcome! I have a lot of faith in my girls!!

Until Next Time,
Shelby 😊🎤📽

Trying To Get Organized

Hey Blog readers! So as we inch closer and closer to our due date, we are trying to use our time more efficiently in order to complete our project. Tomorrow we have class and we are going to be working on our project so today we decided to FaceTime so we could discuss what we would be working on specifically tomorrow.  Heres what we narrowed it down to:

1. Finalize script
     - Create a storyboard with specific shots and angles we want to use
2. Give characters names
     - Maybe find names relative to specific zodiac signs?
3. Finalize filming schedule
     - Make sure we will all be here to film
4. Create a linked calendar
      - Make sure schedules don't class with each others
5. Spice up our blog
      - Make ours blogs look super cute to match the theme of our opening!!!

Creating this list helped us so that we could each become more organized for tomorrows class because tomorrow is when we are going to get down to business. I will keep you updated on what happens in class tomorrow. Here are some gifs that describe how I am feeling today:

Until Next Time,
Shelby 😊🎤📽

Schedule Time

Hello people of my blog! Todays post isn't going to be too long because its very late and I am NEED SLEEP. So today was our closing night of Mamma Mia and we sold out for the second night in a row. I could not be more proud of my cast and my friends. We sold the most amount of tickets in AMT history and to just be a part of that is an honor. With all this being said, even though I am sad my last high school show is over, I am also extremely happy because hopefully I wont be as overwhelmed now. This past week has been absolute chaos and I am so happy to be done with it.

ANYWAY, back to what this blog post is about: our schedule! So basically, the due date for our portfolio project is approaching quicker than anticipated and we are going to have to start filming soon. We started to discuss when would be the best time for everyone to film since everyone is going to be busy with spring break coming up. Nawal and I both have trips planned around this time of year. I have Drama States March 20-23 and I am not totally sure where Nawal is going. Since its such a busy time of year we made a rough film schedule:
February 21th- March 15th- Full research and planning of film
March 15-17th  and first half of Spring Break- shooting the film
Second half of Spring Break and first week of April- Editing of film
April 1st-7th- finalizing and doing the CCR

This plan will ensure we get our project done with a week to spare so we have time to finalize all of project and complete our CCR. I can't wait to begin filming, it is going to be great!

Until Next Time,
Shelby 😊🎤📽

Working on our Script

Hello my beautiful blog readers!!! I have to leave to go to Mamma Mia soon so I have to make this quick, but I wanted to post a quick update since we had class today.

 So today in class we talked about our script since we are finally set on zodiac signs for our characters. We decided that we were going to make there be an 'error' in the system when setting up our two main character on a date together even though they are incompatible. Once we were set on this we were able to focus on more specific things in our opening that will help to develop our plot a bit more. We are going to be focusing a lot on Mise-en-scene in our opening shots as we pan around our main characters houses and place shots of things in their houses that are specific to their zodiac signs in order to develop the signs in the opening. I already posted a lot outline, but we updated it a bit so below I am going to paste how we are planning on our opening to go so far so you can get an idea of what we want to happen:
Opening scene:
- Various shots of community
- Establishing setting and way of life
- Credits rolling

Scene #1:
- (V)-Main girl in her room waking up (doing a daily task)
- Get an email about monthly schedule includings dates to meet compatible person
- Various shots of her room to show zodiac
(Purpose: showing a normal life of a citizen in society, and introducing character and their zodiac.)

Scene #2:
- (T)-Introduce partner, doing similar thing to the main character
- Very similar shots (parallel editing)
- Also gets an email about date, and monthly schedule
(Purpose: further emphasis of society, and introducing character and zodiac.)

Scene #3:
- Go back to V, complaining to friend
- Friend is compatible
- Getting ready for date
- Looking out window

Scene #4:
- Back to T also getting ready, but slight shift in routine

- Looking at different scenery, further establishing setting

Last scene: 

- Put a bar scene within the last scene

Bar? Guy is hitting on the girl and sees her. He hits on her but she rejects bc of her sign. She saw him do something stereotypical.

- Viewing of main characters, at a restaurant in a booth (on a date)
- Camera then pans to a crane shot to show a full restaurant of different people on dates
(have little bubbles of each zodiac and compatibility level on top of each person’s head-like sims)
- Camera pans out to a black/constellation and title “How The Stars Align”

Until Next Time,
Shelby 😊🎤📽

Changing our Characters signs

Hello Blog! Tonight was our opening night of Mamma Mia and it went SO WELL! I just got home from the show and I am absolutely EXHAUSTED. Its been so great to be a part of such a fun show (even if I didn't have a part).

Speaking of parts, a little while back I said our couples' zodiac signs were going to be compatible. Well that has changed a bit. We decided it would be more effective having two non compatible people fall in love. So because of this we had to change our characters signs. Our main character, which will be played by my friend Vianna will be a Taurus. Taurus is actually Vianna's real zodiac signs because thought that it would be easier to work with her actual sign. Nawal also happens to be a Taurus so we thought it would just be best to use this sign as the main characters sign.

Because we decided to work with zodiac signs close to our owns we are making the love interest for our main character a Gemini like Reem. Not only is this sign the same as Reem's, but it is also incompatible with a Taurus. Along with this, our main characters best friend will be a Pisces like me. (side note: MY BIRTHDAY IS IN 9 DAYS). This works out really well because Taurus and Pisces are actually compatible which means our best friends work out and can be around each other. 





In my next post I will discuss what we are thinking for our script so stay updated!!

Until Next Time,
Shelby 😊🎤📽

The Plot Outline

Hello Blog! So today my group and I facetimed and discussed a general outline for how we want our film opening to be. We tossed back and forth a few ideas because we all wanted the opening to start and end in different ways, but we ended up finally agreeing on how we think we want it to go. Now of course, this is just a draft so there is definitely room for change,  but for now this is what we have so far: 

Opening scene:
- Various shots of community
- Establishing setting and way of life
- Credits rolling

Scene #1:
- (V)-Main girl in her room waking up (doing a daily task)
- Get an email about monthly schedule including dates to meet compatible person
- Various shots of her room to show zodiac
(Purpose: showing a normal life of a citizen in society, and introducing character and their zodiac.)

Scene #2:
- (T)-Introduce partner, doing similar thing to the main character
- Very similar shots (parallel editing)
- Also gets an email about date, and monthly schedule
(Purpose: further emphasis of society, and introducing character and zodiac.)

Scene #3:
- Go back to V, complaining to friend
- Friend is compatible
- Getting ready for date
- Looking out window

Scene #4:
- Back to T also getting ready, but slight shift in routine
- Looking at different scenery, further establishing setting

Last scene: -Viewing of main characters, at a restaurant in a booth (on a date)
- Camera then pans to a crane shot to show a full restaurant of different people on dates
(have little bubbles of each zodiac and compatibility level on top of each person’s head-like sims)
- Camera pans out to a black/constellation and title “How The Stars Align”


Until Next Time,
Shelby😊🎤📽

We Made A Mistake....

Hello beautiful blog readers! It is currently Saturday and I have so much work I had to do. I am so overwhelmed, but the show must always go on and I need to get this blog post done so here we are!

As we have been researching more and more about zodiac signs and utopian societies we have come to the realization that we have made a mistake! :( We realized that our film would not be portraying a Utopian society, but it would instead be portraying a Dystopian society. It is a common misconception to view a Dystopia as a Utopia, and of course our group made this very unfortunate mistake. So basically all the research we did before on Utopias is completely irrelevant now and we have to develop new research that correlates with Dystopias. This is extremely annoying and stressful for us because now we are little bit behind on research, but its ok because we PERSEVERE!!! To be completely honest, I am really taken aback as to how we didn't realize all this sooner because our inspiration for our opening came from a Black Mirror episode that literally portrayed a Dystopia. It's ok though because we have taken the time to research more on Dystopias and now we fully understand exactly what a Dystopia is.

I am however very glad we caught this mistake early on so we had time to fix our errors. And as Hannah Montana once said, "Everybody makes mistakes, everybody has those days", so thank you Hannah for the wise words that have helped us persist!


Until Next Time,
Shelby 😊🎤📽

Group Meetings!!

Good Afternoon Blog! How is everyone feeling today? Because I am absolutely EXHAUSTED. I had rehearsals for Mamma Mia everyday this week until 6 and I am so drained. The good news is though the show is next week so it'll all be over soon! They said this part of senior year would be the most stressful but I didn't believe them. Who is they? I don't know, but I should've believed them. Anyway now I am going off on a tangent so back to the topic of this blog: group meetings were today!

I am not going to lie, before meeting with other classmates I was kind of nervous with how our group was progressing because we only had a general idea for a plot and no specifics. However, after meeting with our classmates and getting advice from them we have a much stronger vision as to what we see our opening looking like. I was happily surprised to find out that other groups have about the same done as our group, and if not that then even less. After finding this out I felt much better about our progress. Some of my classmates gave me some ideas to use on our film and I want to take the time to discuss them here so I don't forget any of them.

Idea #1: 
My group members and I are not the best when it comes to editing and we were trying to figure out how to use the idea of putting the zodiac sign symbol above characters heads to establish  everyones zodiacs. We were unsure as how to go about doing this and one of my classmates, Yejing told me exactly how to put the symbol in with layering on WeVideo, which was extremely helpful.
So, thank you, Yejing!
Idea #2:
The next helpful idea I was given for our group was from Aitana. She suggest that we start the film opening with our main character getting a letter from the government telling her when her scheduled date is. After receiving the letter, she said we could film a phone with the main character and a friend (one who she isn't supposed to converse with due to zodiac incompatibility) where she talks about how unexcited she is for the date because she does not believe in the whole system. Along with this idea she also suggested a shot we could do of the date scene in which the two people are on a date sitting at a table and you see the symbols above their head. She said she thought it would be cool to then pan out and see other tables with people on dates and the signs above their heads as well, which  I thought was a cool idea.
Idea # 3:
The last helpful idea I received for our group was from Ben. He suggested that to save time when drawing the henna of the zodiac signs on the wrists of the characters that we create a stencil so that we don't have to redraw it from scratch every time. I didn't think of this and I thought it was a smart idea.

Slowly but surely the pieces are coming together, and even though we still have a ways to go, I am getting excited to start filming soon! :)

Until Next Time,
Shelby 😊🎤📽