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.

Spring Break!

As Spring Break comes up don't think we have anything less than a ton of work to do! The only thing harder than getting 4 teenage girls schedule's to line up is editing. It will be a...task. With both me and partner away for spring break we have a lot to complete but we have 1 more class period before where I'm hoping we can really get the virus and emergency broadcast finished (remember that?). Next week I will be uploading an outline for both the script and the editing process (Amanda look back in like 3 days...maybe...) My biggest concern is the loss of service I have for a few days over the break but my partner and I have done a fantastic job collaborating and getting things done when we are together. When we're not...we'll find out next week blog.

Set and Lighting

I am kicking myself for not getting more pictures of lighting because while our methods of using handheld and phone flashlights were unconventional, it definitely got the job done. Flashlights on iPhone had an update where you can control the brightness level which was super useful and made it really easy to do our job. And I did end up having single light sources as said in a previous post which was a big win for me.

The whole premise of our opening is that our victim inherits the virus because she doesn't hear the emergency broadcast warning her to shut off her tv. We wanted to have her get up and get food but my kitchen is directly behind my living room (check drive link in filming post). So we had to use my laundry room door and pretend that it led to my kitchen. Figuring out how to do the transitions between this was challenging but, as i said before, the outcome will be well worth the struggle. Who has a door leading to their kitchen? I don't know but for some reason it works in the world in the film.

We also couldn't make a set in my garage but luckily my living room did a pretty good job matching up to my desired set in my previous blogs. I talked a lot about color which I did want to emphasize which I did in strategically placing lights to do so. Maybe it was my unconscious pulling from what's around me or maybe it was just pure luck.