Final Project

Down below is my final project.  This project may not look like it took hard work,  but as I've stated before this was done completely on my own. This took a lot of time to complete. Many other clips not shown in this project were filmed but cut due to the time limit. I really dedicated my time and effort to this project so I hope that it shows.

CCR for the Final Project

Down below is my creative-critical reflection for the final task.

The final project dilema

Whew! These past few weeks have been crazy. The experience that everyone in the world is going through right now is absolutely surreal.  There are so many issues, big and small. Fortunately, I would say, that my problems are smaller than most when compared to everyone in the world right now. Although they are small they are still real and significant. Recently my mom and I have been discussing with my AICE Media teacher about how I should go about finishing the final project for this class. My teacher has been trying, I'm sure, with everything she has going on to help direct my group members and me on what to do. And although she is trying it is not much help due to the fact that there is not much we can do. We started filming, with me as the director/editor, Derrek as the main character, and Jahzenyah as an extra/assistance to me. Due to all of our individual roles, it is almost impossible to continue with the same work that we were doing. I cannot meet up with Derrek nor Jahzenyah, we may not film in any of the public places we had intended to, and I am the only one with proper filming and editing equipment. At first, I had thought to re-do the entire film, new plot and all, and make it my own, but my teacher said no to that due to the lack of time. This frustrated me because regardless of the time I would have to refilm everything anyway. Still, my teacher said no, and I have to respect that. My second thought was to tweak the plot, due to the recommendation of my teacher. It was really hard to come to terms with this route due to the fact that my teacher had expressed to us that this final project would be a reflection of our work and progress since the exam was canceled. This had me worried because there is no way this final project will be in any way a reflection of our hard work. It will be us getting by with what we can make of it. I say this because with having a film centered around one person you cannot film in locations you may not go, how will it get done efficiently? I have worked hard in this class and I would hate to see all that work get discredited by the terrible circumstances we are in. I then realized that all I can do is try my hardest with what I have. So I reached out to both group members and am trying to plan out a tweaked plot and how to go about it with them. Unfortunately for me, I will be doing most of the work. As much as I wish this project was canceled or at least postponed, I care about not only my grade but my group members' grade so I am willing to do most of the work. We have spent highschool working for our Cambridge diploma. This is serious for all of us. So I will sacrifice time and dedication to get this project done mainly by myself. These are hard times and people all around the world are working and putting in extra effort in an attempt to fix and normalize everything, including teachers like my own. So although I know my problem is small it still is valid and I like others choose work and put in the extra effort.

The struggles of the Corona lockdown

So as you know from my last blog the issues us highschoolers are facing due to the Coronavirus, globally.  But it also is affecting us locally. My group members and I still have a lot of filming, editing, re-filming, and re-editing to do. Getting this done has become extremely hard due to this virus. The idea of self-quarantine and social distancing has been overly stressed to everyone. We have been told that going out should be done only if seriously needed. A lot of parents are not letting their children go to their friends' houses, or letting their friends come over to their own house. I and my groupmates parents fall into that category. My group member Jahzenyahs mom will not let her hang out with anyone regardless of the location. My mom is only letting family come over. And there is no hanging out with friends. As for Derek, I am not sure, but he cannot do this project on his own so as of now it is not getting done. This lockdown has put a huge dent in our project. Getting it done will be extremely hard. Depending on how long until this issue last it may not get done by the due date.  In that case, we as students would be very frustrated because we have put in a lot of hard work and we would hate to see it all go down the drain due to a virus. Our Cambridge diploma has taken a lot of hard work and this issue could easily mess up our chances of getting it. If the due date was postponed it may make this situation easier. No matter what we are doing the best we can in this time of conflict. All we can do is hope for the best outcome.

The picture above is a picture of the research I have been doing on Cambridge Aice exam updates.

WHAT is going on?!

So as you might know the world is having a huge global issue. This issue is the coronavirus.  Unfortunately, this virus is greatly affecting many of highschooler's school lives in the U.S in many negative ways. It started off as a minor issue. Not even slight worry came over us highschoolers, up until about two weeks ago. Then the havoc started. Teachers were warning us that school may be canceled. Kids were coming to school in gloves and masks, or they just weren't coming at all.  And now our school is canceled until, as of right now, April 15th. All school activities have been canceled and online work has begun. But you have to realize the timing of this all that makes it so much worse.  School got canceled right around the end of our 3rd quarter meaning we were not able to finish up our quarter. End of the year exams, including our Aice exams, is right around the corner and now this issue has caused our standardized state testing to be canceled and has caused a huge push back in preparing for our Aice exams which are very important for a lot of juniors. Us juniors were in the middle of SAT time. We were getting our college/graduation requirements done around this time. The news has been keeping us updated, but all it does is just make us more stressed. We now have the option of retaking the school year. We also have been hearing that all grades this school year no longer count. This is a  HUGE deal. And on top of all the information on the school, we have to also remain safe from this virus. Our spring break is ruined. The beach is closed.  Soon I believe almost everything will be and we must stay inside. We are in a huge part of history right now.

Peer Review and Reshoot Planning

    So you may remember me discussing in my last blog how I missed the peer review due to absence, sickness, and confusion. I then discussed how when I got to class the next day that I would speak with my teacher, which I did. When speaking to her I explained the same situation that I did to the blog. I told her that I was not here due to being confused with dates, and sick. I told her I made sure to still blog about this situation. She told me I did exactly what I should've done and that I am on track. I then asked her if there was any way to make up the review. To which she then explained that the peer review was not an assignment for her or Cambridge, rather something to help my group. She told me that if I wanted I could go find the group meant to peer review my group's project or ask a friend/family member, but it was not required. I decided that it was important to have someone else eyes watch and critique our project. So I showed my stepdad and sister the draft. They gave some good feedback that I will for sure use. The feedback is hard to understand unless you have watched the video, but basically, they expressed confusion of shots and lack of skill in acting. I'm not yet sure what feedback my other group members received,  but based on mine, I definitely think some reshooting needs to take place.  So I have started to talk with one of my group members, Jahzenyah, to plan days we can meet up, but not Derek. So she and I decided to discuss it all together in class tomorrow. Tomorrow in class we will first discuss critiques given to each other by family members. We will then discuss what needs to be changed/added. Lastly, we will discuss and schedule the days we will reshoot along with the days we will finish. I am not sure yet if we are on track with filming and getting this project done. That will be determined tomorrow when we discuss what I stated above.

In this picture above you see me stepdad discussing some acting issues with the main character.

Peer Review

    So, unfortunately, I was not able to do the peer review another group's first draft of their project, nor was anyone able to review my groups. This is the case for many reasons. To start I was confused with the dates for when everything took place. I was under the impression that we would be doing the peer review on March 5th because I had wrote that done, but I am now realizing that was just for the blog. I clearly was not thinking because I did not even have this class on March 5th, but the reason, why I was confused with the school schedule this week, will be explained later on. So when I made the decision to stay home I did not think I would be missing the peer review. The reason I decided to miss school was that for the past few weeks, I have been in and out of being extremely under the weather. I tend to have symptoms of sickness come and go randomly. Because of this, my school attendance has suffered. So the day that our class was peer-reviewing I stayed home with a migraine and sore throat. Not only is this situation complicated due to my absences and sickness, but it is also because this week we had our SAT and an early release. So the schedule has been very hectic and I still haven't gotten the chance to speak with my teacher about how to make up this peer review. This was also the reason why I was confused on which days I had this class. My plan, for now, is to continue to edit and critique things I find that need to be critiqued. This is because there is always room for improvement. I have found that if I continue to go back and watch the draft of our final project every day I will find new things I can fix. That way it can be in it's best shape by the time I show it to another group. I finally have AICE Media tomorrow so I plan on going to my teacher immediately to discuss with her what I can do.  I also have talked with my group members, but I was slightly confused on their end. Although there, the did not peer review other group's work. So I was not able to even know how the peer review took place or anything about it.

Above is a picture of just some absences due to being sick over these last few weeks.