Intro to A Level Portfolio!

Welcome or welcome back to my blog! I've done a few posts here and there since my last project but it's finally time to begin my blog for my A level portfolio project. This year I've decided once again to work with a partner on my portfolio project. Gus and I were partnered up on a project earlier this year and it went really well so we decided that we wanted to create another piece together. The project that we worked on with another student was the task of making a movie trailer, teaser, and poster which is attached here.  The reason I mentioned this project is because we both want to do something similar to the postmodern theme and storyline we were given to create the piece with. We have a few ideas so far that will be explained in the next post but so far we have concluded that we are going to make a psychological thriller or horror short film. We both brought ideas to the table that were in that fell in to one or the other (or both) of the categories and are both genuinely interested in making this type of short film. I am really excited that I finally get to make another portfolio project this year and make it even better than last years!   

Wonder Paws Rescue marketing!

This was one of the most fun projects I've ever worked on. It was really fun working with an actual company and have a deadline that was more than just a time to submit something for a grade. We worked with a 501c3 called Wonder Paws Rescue which is a nonprofit dedicated to pet rescuing. I knew I had  to work with them so me and my group of three others put together a campaign based around fundraising. We took inspiration from other successful pet rescue organizations: ASPCA and PetCo Foundation. Since our campaign had a basis in fundraising our products reflected parts of both the ASPCA and PetCo Foundation we believed would provide the most impact to appeal to our target audience. Both of the pieces I made we're made digitally and meant to be showcased on different platforms. This project was really important because it taught me time management and how to produce quality pieces within a set period of time. I will use what I learned about time management during this project during my portfolio project to aid in the making of it.


One of the pieces I made was the PetMatcher which would be on the website. Perspective pet parents can easily view pets that are available for adoption and view a short bio about the pets and swipe left and right based on interest. Swiping right would bring them to a more extensive bio and adoption information and swiping left would bring them to the next pet






The other piece I made was a postcard that can be passed out at events

We decided to stick with a clean look that still is fun and inviting. This postcard includes contact information and can be easily passed out at an adoption event so future pet owners can contact Wonder Paws Rescue when they are ready to adopt.

A Level!!

I can't believe it's time again to create another portfolio project and honestly I'm really looking forward to it. There's been a huge shift from AS to A level but I've enjoyed every minute of it. A level dives deeper and there is further analyzation of media as a whole than the analyzation of pieces of media. Watching full length films has helped me understand film as whole and how techniques work together in an excerpt longer than 5-10 minutes. I'm excited to use the information I learned to put together a portfolio project that reflects what I've learned throughout my two years of AICE Media Studies.

Black Hat Final Project

Click here to see film opening.

Black Hat CCR

Click here to see Black Hat CCR.

Reflection

Hi! My name is Julia Fuentes and I worked with Amanda Cortex to create the film opening “Black Hat”. Black hat follows the events of how an innocent citizen gets a virus implanted in their brain. This film falls into both the horror and thriller genre and uses conventions of both to its advantage. One of the most prominent conventions is the use of lighting. Throughout the opening, it is evident that lighting is going to help shape the events that are about to unfold. This is often used in horror movies before a jump scare or in thrillers to add suspense. We used this convention to add suspense and urge the viewer to almost try to look for what could be past the darkness. Another genre convention used was the sense of isolation. There are only 2 people in the film- the hacker and the innocent person and they never directly interact or have a conversation. The opening also lacks music or sounds of others making the viewer aware that the main character is in fact alone. The last convention i’m going to discuss is mise en scene or setting. A huge part of my inspiration for Black hat was colors. My living room happened to really nicely align with what my partner and I were going for. This is where we decided to break conventions and use a brighter setting to contrast with the darker tone of the film. This allows the viewer to believe that nothing as bad as what’s going to happen, can happen in a place as nice as this. Our target audience is between the ages of 13-65. with the target audience being so broad we must use several types of methods to engage with audiences. Social media will definitely help spread the word with the younger crowd and radio commercials will help with the adults since adults often listen to the radio in the car. In addition there will be coming soon signs outside theatres and strategically places billboards and stickers with an ominous QR code which will lead future audiences to the film’s website. I would choose Lionsgate to distribute with since they have distributed many other hit films. This project furthered my understanding of production by: helping my production develop, taught me how to use editing softwares like premier pro and photoshop, taught me how to properly film, taught me the importance of shots and angles and how to manage time.