CCR - Researching/Script for Question #1

    It's time to start planning for my Creative Critical Reflection. We have already gone over and took some notes on all the important information that needs to be presented in the CCR during class.

Here are some things I jotted down:

    In addition, I already have an idea of what I am going to make for my reflection. During the second group meeting yesterday, I was given amazing suggestions by Maia and also Luke that really helped me get inspiration for my CCR. I believe I talked about this in my Group Meeting #2 post, but as a refresher, Maia had suggested I should make my stuffed animal "Lamby", interview me for my reflection. I thought this was hilarious and a great idea. Luke had then suggested that I could use Lamby as a puppet, using a high pitched voice for when he talks. I am definitely going to incorporate this into my CCR because not only is it funny, but it is also using a prop/character from part of my film opening. I just love how connects my CCR with my actual production opening together so smoothly.

       Continuing on, there are four questions based on our film opening we will need to answer in this reflection. However, today I am just focusing on question number one:

Question #1:

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

   I believe my product has challenged the conventions of a teenage girl. The typical teenage girl usually does sports like gymnastics, dance, or figure skating. Allie, unlike other girls, does a more masculine driven sport, taekwondo. On the contrary, the film embraces quite a few general martial arts movie conventions, such as highly detailed action shots and bright color schemes. It also includes some coming-of-age conventions like voiceovers and a setting of a teenager's bedroom. Allie does fall into the category of being a teenager in general. For instance, she wears comfy clothing such as hoodies, shorts, and slides, when she is not training. Allie also uses her laptop in bed, as many teenagers do. This film opening represents the athletic social group, specifically of martial arts. Allie is seen to be practicing in a dojang with a real taekwondo uniform and black belt. She accurately represents taekwondo and her status of being a black belt, by showing her impressive movements and techniques. My product highly emphasizes the issues of mental blocks and injury, mainly with athletes. When Allie goes to do her flash kick, she hesitates at the last second, leaving her with a broken ankle. Essentially, the audience can see that Allie needs to become more mentally resilient, while also needing to heal her foot in the process.

   

 

Sources:

Manson, D. (2021, August 17). Representation in martial arts media. Martial Journal. https://www.martialjournal.com/representation-in-martial-arts-media/

Codes + Conventions: Martial Arts [Prezi presentation]. (n.d.). Prezi. https://prezi.com/6uuulatmd37g/codes-conventions-martial-arts/

Codes and Conventions of Coming-of-Age Films [Prezi presentation]. (n.d.). Prezi. https://prezi.com/svyzdw4qndq4/codes-and-conventions-of-coming-of-age-films/

Albishi, W., Alajlan, F., Alshehri, S., & AbuDujain, N. M. (2025). Athlete’s mental health and quality of life after sports injuries. JBJS Reviews, 13(9), e25.00123. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12445178/

Shooting Process -Computer Scene-

     For this specific scene, I wanted to include different angles and shots so that the audience would be able to see Allie through various perspectives. I first filmed a long shot of the whole bunk bed. This showed how her room was set up and it represented her type of style through symbolic objects, such as the USA dobok top hanging from her bed, her adidas slides below her, and her stuffed animals above her.

    The USA uniform symbolizes her passion and dedication to taekwondo. The slides represent her athleticism. The stuffed animals exemplify that despite participating in a tough sport, she is still a kid with a big heart.

    The other shots I filmed act as a way to get the audience to see Allie's sad emotions when she realizes how long her ankle will recover. I use a series of close-ups and medium side shots to illustrate this.

Here are some examples:

    After filming these, I recorded my blank computer screen from my POV as Allie. Then, I screen recorded myself typing, "how long does it take for a broken ankle to heal" on Google. So when I edit this in my project, I will overlay the screen recording to align with my computer screen.

    The reason I didn't just take a video of me actually typing from the computer in one take, is because the picture quality of the screen would've look pixelated. I think it is clearer to use a screen recording because it is more clear and can be seen better by the viewers.

Here's what it looks like separated:

The Editing process -Credits-

     Now that I have all my footage recorded, it is finally time to start editing my film opening. That being the case, to begin my editing journey, I started off importing all my video footage and audio, including my production logo, into Clipchamp. This way I can easily access each clip during my editing process. Clipchamp will be the main editing software I will be using throughout this project.

     Next, I displayed my production logo as my beginning scene and used a transition and a cool sound effect to add more dimension and to make it look more professional.

Here's how it turned out: 

    After that, I started to experiment with different types of fonts to use for my credits. Choosing which font style I want is a very crucial decision because it decides what type of aesthetic the whole production will be. I need to make sure the font matches the actual film opening.

    I decided to use the Staatliches font. It is very simple yet affective, as it gives off a white and bold looking appearance. I chose this font because I wanted it to resemble the sports aspect of the film. Similarly, I connect bold, uppercase letters with the sports aesthetic.

    For the background of the credit sequence, I wasn't sure if I was going to add any sort of video to it because it may be too distracting for the viewer. As a result, for now I will just leave it as is, black. As for the music aspect, I decided to time the beats with the appearances of the credits. This makes the scene look more cohesive and connects the visuals and sound together.

Here's what the credits look like so far:

     UPDATE!!! I just figured out the perfect color to change my font to. Gold! Gold is the perfect color to match the black background because it has the same color scheme as a taekwondo black belt. The belt is obviously black and the letters are embroidered with gold thread.  And not only that, the lettering in English uses all capital letters, similar to the font for my credits. Overall, this small change creates a huge impact on the meaning and message of the story.

Here's what my whole first scene looks like now:

    ALSO VERY IMPORTANT, I have finally chosen a title for this production. I will be naming it, "Mind Over Mat". I love this title because it is a play on word of the phrase "Mind Over Matter". The title truly represents the message of willpower through mental resilience in the film. It suggests that the power of the mind will impact and will help overcome physical obstacles. Moreover, I will be including this title into my credit sequence.

Group Meeting #2

    Today in class we had another group meeting, however it was with a different group. I like how we changed up our groups because it allowed us to get more insight from even more perspectives. This meeting was genuinely very helpful, as I got a better idea on how to do my CCR thanks to my group members. Here's how it went:

Me:

    While I was talking about how I filmed the scene where I injure my ankle and reversed it, the group said it was a clever idea. However, they suggests I should speed it up and cut to the falling scene right away to make it look more realistic. I also showed them my POV shot of me doing a round-off. Luke said it was very creative and he suggested that I should try to use small increments of it just so it doesn't look too fake. Maia had suggested that my CCR should incorporate my stuffed animal, Lamby. I hadn't thought of this before and I thought it was a great idea. Luke had also recommended that I should prop my phone up high and almost use Lamby as a hand puppet. He also suggested I should use a high pitch voice for Lamby, which I will definitely do. I loved all of the ideas they gave me, not only because they incorporated my childhood stuffed animal from my story, but also allowing the CCR to be funny and giving my viewers a good laugh.

Maia: Blog Post: https://lifeofagirlwithablog.blogspot.com/

Her story

Title: Maia: unfiltered

A girl gets bullied because she is very childish. She likes baking, crocheting, playing piano, taekwondo. The film opening is her voicing over her character and explaining/introducing her character.

Fun fact: She decorated her room with star garlands and decorated her phone with gems to emphasis the personality of her character.

CCR

She is thinking of doing a vogue 21 questions type of interview. Crocheting, baking, and any other hobbies while answering questions.

Noah: Blog Post: https://noahawadalla.blogspot.com/

His story

Title: Straight A's (he wanted it to be seen as sarcastic)

About a rich kid named Oliver whose parents think he is a good person and is smart in school. However, he is actually a bully and does bad things such as smoking. The film opening shows two different sides of him. It will follow his character acting differently around his parents, while being a whole other person at school. The film opening while include scenes of him in his fancy bedroom and on the way to school, with his mom. He wants to use two types of music to show two different sides of his character throughout the story. 

He wanted to have a scene of him smoking, but he did not actually want to smoke. Maia suggested that he could use a fog machine to get smoke. Then I recommended him about fake cigarettes at Spirit Halloween or to use the smoke from incense. After that, Luke had mentioned that the scene could show him with a cigarette in his hand but with smoke in the background, so the audience can imply smoking.

CCR

He had an idea of one side of him is interviewing him and the other side of him is answering his questions. We suggested that he should use different costumes to distinguish the characters even more.

Jade: Blog Post: https://eattraveljade.blogspot.com/

Her story

About a girl named Avery, in a mental asylum whose best friend dies. Everyone thinks the girl is crazy. The girl tries to convince the police that she has nothing to do with her friend's death.

Fun facts: They used a dog cage to represent a dog cage. They used wallpaper for the prisoner walls, which looked very realistic. I saw some of the clips and the set looks very authentic and cool. Also, the police was played by one of the girl's dads.

CCR 

We gave her ideas about possibly being interviewed by a police officer, maybe being a witness of the case of Avery.

Brennan: Blog Post: https://darkest-insight.blogspot.com/

His story

A thriller/suspense about Asher and Austin, two opposites. The film opening consists of Asher passionately working on a project, however Austin steals it and becomes a disturbance to Asher. Taking revenge for what Austin had done, Asher had murdered him.

 Brennan showed us a video recording of his tracking shot. Overall his filming was great quality. However, Luke did suggest him to use a stabilizer because his footage was slightly shaky. Other than that, the rest of his footage looked very professional. He is part of CBTV after all, and used some fancy cameras when filming.

Fun Fact: Brennan said it was quite a challenge to act because he is usually behind the camera, as he is in CBTV.

CCR

He had an idea wear he was being interviewed by his character, in a prisoner jumpsuit. I agree that this was a great idea. Maia had also recommended him to somehow creatively use the project he was creating during the film opening as the CCR.

Luke: Blog Post: https://boldbiscuitblog.blogspot.com/

His story

Title: To Will (inspired by the letter)

It is about two friends, Will, the antisocial bed rotter, and Derek, a social butterfly and caring individual. The first scene starts in Will in his bedroom as he gets call from his friend Derek. Derek calls Will to ask if he wants to hang out. Will rejects Derek's offer, the next scene cuts to Derek standing outside of Will's door, looking defeated by Will's response. The last scene illustrates Derek drop off a letter to Will's doorstep. Our group liked the way he ended his film opening because it leaves the audience questioning what was written in that letter.

CCR

We had suggested that Luke should use Derek's letter for each question of the CCR. We thought this was a creative way to drag the film into the CCR itself, as for many of our other group member's CCRs.

   Ultimately, this meeting was super collaborative, supportive, and helpful for not only me, but for all of the group members. I really enjoyed listening to what others had to say about my project, as well as giving others feedback on theirs. It is so cool to see how everyone's portfolio project is so different yet equally impressive and well planned out.

Anyway, here's a little group picture from our meeting in class:

Group Picture!

The Shooting process -Dojang scene-

    Due to the fact that most of my film was shot at the dojang, I needed to film right after the last class of the day. This worked out perfectly though because my class is always the last one to finish. So after practice, me and my friend Alexis, who was helping me film, got to work. We first captured the still shots to get the easy parts out of the way. We recorded close-ups of all the belts hung on the walls, the quotes, the equipment, and of the American and Korean flag.

    After that, we started with the hardest part... aka filming me. I consider myself to be a decent actor. But it is SO easy for me to break character and start burst out laughing. And it doesn't help that my friend Alexis was the one recording me too. She would make me laugh every five seconds. However, we got the job done and recorded all of the shots we needed.

   For the scene where I hurt my ankle while coming out of the round-off, I came up with a clever way to shoot this without actually hurting my ankle. I started with a close-up my ankle in a twisted position, then I jumped up so my feet were out of frame. And when you put this video in reverse, it looks like I landed right on the side of my ankle.

Original Video

Edited Video (Reversed)

Here's some BTS footage!!

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1pfRr8C8FTU2kna4_W2UBWr-utZA7SBai?usp=sharing

The Shooting process -Bedroom scene-

     The time has finally come start the filming process. I decided to film the last few scenes in Allie's bedroom first, primarily because I think it will be the easiest to shoot, and also because the set is literally my own bedroom so I don't have to drive anywhere. I used my phone as my camera and my light up mirror for some better lighting. As much as I wish I could've have a better quality camera for this project, you can't always get what you wish for. Anyway, I still believe my project will turn out great either way.

            Lighting/Camera

    (light up mirror)

    (phone camera)                   (lamp)

     

     I have never acted in my life and I know nothing about it, so it was definitely a challenge for to play the main character. However, I intentionally made Allie have a similar personality to me, so at least I didn't have to change too much about myself to play her.

     As I have displayed before, Allie had a taped up foot from her ankle injury. Ironically, two days before filming, I had twisted, bruised, and almost broke my pinkie toe during taekwondo training. This injury set me back in filming because I wanted to rest my toe for a while. And the injured toe just happened to be on the same right ankle that was supposed to be a fake injury. Turns out I didn't have to do much acting because I already hurt myself lol. To save some of my athletic tape when taping my ankle, I knew that I would only record the right side of it, so I left most of the left side of my ankle bare. 

Here's what it looked like:

Surprise!

On the spot, I decided to include a very special guest into this scene. I needed someone to act as Allie's parent. So I believe it was only right for me to cast my actual parent to play my fake parent in my production. Drum roll please....... my one and only dad!!! (also known as Dr. Le)

    My dad was not only a huge help for his acting, but also for his behind the scenes work. During the scene where Allie throws her stuffed animal to close the door, the plushie wasn't actually heavy enough to close the whole door. So I had my dad actually stand behind the door from outside of the room, and close the door at the same time I threw "Lamby", to make it seem more realistic. I'm not gonna lie, we had to reshoot this scene so many times because it was so hard to match my throw to my dad closing the door. In total, we had shot 9 takes to finally get one take to look somewhat realistic. Although it was a pain to film, I think my dad secretly enjoyed being apart of my project.

Here's a video of all our attempts:

Easter Eggs!

    Hidden throughout the bedroom, I placed little details for viewers to spot, such as Allie's USA dobok, her adidas slides, and I even cameoed my personal tkd training bag.

(Also look how clean the set looks versus the messy side of my bedroom that was not being used as a background lol)

Production Company Logo Creation

    My Company Logo is a crucial part of this project. I mean it's the first thing the audience sees of course. This logo will set the tone for the whole entire film opening. That being said, it is important that I come up with a fitting design that matches the aesthetic of my production, as well as adding in my own personal style into it. I am creating the logo through Canva.

Starting Point:

    I want to incorporate my initials for the company name, but I want to create a more unique way to write it without just putting "A.L." in some boring font.

Here are some of my brainstorms:

     

    I like like the last style the best. Now I just need to add some animation and perhaps a background to it. I also love how the first "E" in entertainment can also be connected to the "L" to create Le, which is my last name. It is somewhat of a cool way to incorporate that into the design.

Final Result:

(If the video isn't loading.. here's a picture of it)

Final Costume plans -Costume Creation-

      For my dobok, I have two different options that give off different aesthetics. I have a dobok with a "USA" logo on the back, and I have a dobok that is just blank on the back. One represents the country and how Allie may compete for the USA national team. But the other dobok is more general to the sport and doesn't really go in too deep into who Allie competes for. Nevertheless, I think the "USA" dobok will add more depth to the character. Plus, the logo will also look better visual on camera, especially during the scenes where the camera is facing towards my back. I believe it will really make Allie stand out and it will make the colors in the background pop.

Blank Dobok

USA Dobok

(They both look the same on the front)

      Similarly, I have two different options for which belt style I want to use. My first option is the black belt I wear to train. It has my name in English embroidered onto it, with many stickers/stripes from past belt testings. This belt is thicker, as it is a double tie belt. My second option is the black belt I wear for competitions. It has my name in Korean embroider onto it and it has no stickers/stripes. This belt is thinner, as it is a single tie belt. Although my training belt is thicker and more worn out, representing hard work and accomplishment, my competition belt will work better for filming for several reasons. First of all, my training belt has "AMANDA LE" embroidered onto it. Keep in mind that Allie is the main character, so it wouldn't make sense. Yes, my competition belt also has my name on it, but it is in Korean and I have an audience who I am assuming will mostly not know how to read Korean. This will make my character look more believable. Also, the overall look of the competition belt looks cleaner and is more simplistic without any stickers/stripes. Sometimes less is more.

Training Belt

Competition Belt

Choosing the Audio (plus updated ending scene)

     Sound is a major factor when producing a film. It sets a certain tone for the film and is used to convey certain emotions. Sound effects play a huge role as well, as it really immerses the audience into the story. For this film opening, I will be incorporating nondiegetic music, sound effects, and some dialogue.

Taekwondo training scene:

   I want this scene to give off an action pact and energetic tone. This is when Allie is showing off her impressive taekwondo skills to the audience. It will have fast pace cuts, close-ups, and will be shot in many different angles.

   I found a non-copyrighted song on YouTube, that I believe will fit this vibe perfectly. It is very fast, energetic, and the drums are somewhat bringing out the Asian style of the martial art. The song can also convey Allie's nervousness and heartbeat, right before she does the flash kick. Due to the fact that the song is so fast, it symbolizes Allie's struggle to relax.

Here's the song: https://youtu.be/tG6IlNUb91M?si=m2RZDO1rq4l4AJyU 

    During this scene, I also want to apply sound affects overlaying the music as well. Sounds of Allie tightening her belt, the sound of her uniform as she punches, her footsteps, etc... As I said before, this is a great way to get the viewers to feel engulfed into this production. These sound effects will resemble real life diegetic sound, unlike the music. It will be the sound that the character in the story can actually hear. I can create foley sounds and integrate them into my production. I can also use sound effects on YouTube to create the sounds. I will probably use a mix of both because sometimes it is easier to just create the sound myself. For example, the snap that the dobok (uniform) makes is unique and I will most likely make a foley sound of it to match my movements better.

Sound Effect List Ideas:

-Breathing

-Uniform sound

-Footsteps

-Feet shuffling

-Tightening belt

-Falling (when Allie injures her foot)

     There will be minimal dialogue in the opening because I really want to emphasis the character more from the setting and the mise-en-scene. However, the little dialogue that will be heard in this specific taekwondo scene is when Allie is about to attempt the flash kick. She whispers to herself encouraging words, something along the lines of, "Come on you got this" or "Just relax". It represents that she is in her head and is trying to get herself to believe she can do it. When filming, I will say these lines out loud, however, I will most likely rerecord just my voice to match my mouth later. This is because it will create a clearer audio for the audience.

Bedroom/injured scene:

    Once the film transitions over to the bedroom scene, I want all of the nondiegetic music to go away. This is so it it feels more real because it is shifting from an active and passionate girl to a miserable and injured girl. It will have a realistic soundscape of the air conditioning, Allie shifting in her bed, and the parent opening her door.

     I will also have some dialogue in scene scene as well. The parent will open the door and say, "Allie, you left this in the car"(She left her belt). The parent walks out right after, leaving Allie hanging when she tries to ask, "Can you close the....door".

Sound Effect List Ideas:

-Door opening

-Door closing

-Stuffed animal hitting the door

-Belt being placed on Allie's desk

-Allie sighing

Here are some sounds from YouTube that I might use:

Door Opening/Closing: https://youtu.be/6Ur01bT1778?si=NHccA1XayiiDcLzm

Falling Down: https://youtu.be/mVpMtG_n_V0?si=lj6yfMUBz_BqRWM3

Breathing: https://youtu.be/7O6ec8IaBzc?si=3J3dwKYeO1z4mmmp

Placing belt on Allie's desk: https://youtu.be/TV2SunP1S1U?si=N6XI9Y38Qr1wXgkY

Updated Ending Scene

-(Side Note: I may have changed the ending slightly. Allie will want to have the door closed after the parent leaves her belt, but she can't really stand up and close the door because of her foot. So instead, she throws a stuffed animal at the door to close it. This represents that she is still a kid after all.)-

The stuffed animal in question (aka Lamby):

     I chose this specific stuffed animal because it pays tribute to my own childhood, as it was my favorite stuffed animal growing up. I want to have a Lamby cameo in this production because this film opening truly resonates with my life and I wanted to represent how everyone has a soft side to them. Take Allie as an example, She is a strong, disciplined, black belt, however, she sleeps with a cute little lamb plushie at night.)

Choosing the Sets - Mise-en-scene

      My film opening consists of two settings. One is at the dojang and one is in Allie's room. To film at the dojang, I will need to ask my master(aka owner) for permission. However, my friend who was in CBTV filmed there before so I am positive I will get permission to film. The dojang is the best place to film this opening because it really represents the sport of taekwondo. It immerses the audience by having Allie be surrounded by the mat and sports equipment. The space is also very open and I can film after my class is done. I have class almost everyday and it is always the last one to end, so this gives me a bunch of time to film.

American Tigers Martial Arts Dojang

      My bedroom will be filmed as Allie's bedroom. This is because it is easily accessible and I can film at any time. I can also film by myself so it saves me some trouble of planning days to have a friend come over and help film. If anything, I can ask my older sister to help me record some scenes. To represent Allie's personality, I am going to highlight the medals, trophies, and accomplishments on her wall. I also want her room to be slightly messy, as she had just lost her confidence when she got injured.

Choosing the Costume - Mise-en-scene

   A costume can say a lot about a character. Since I have casted myself to play the role of the protagonist(aka Allie), I need to first find the right costume for me that would fit the character's personality. It can express her individuality, status, and identity. Furthermore, since the Allie is a taekwondo athlete, she will need to be wearing a dobok. A dobok is a traditional taekwondo uniform. 

   Additionally, I want my protagonist to be seen as professional and skilled.  I can express this by having her wear a black belt, symbolizing her passion and expertise. However, it is also important to remember that she is still a teenage girl and still has a lot to learn.

   Another factor I need to figure out is which type of dobok I want her to wear. There is the white dobok, which is used for sparring, and there is a dobok with either red pants, bright blue pants, greyish blue pants, navy blue pants, or a gold top, which is used for poomsae (forms). In taekwondo, the color of your pants represent your gender and age group.

Sparring Uniform

Adidas Combat Sports - Taekwondo Sparring Uniform

Poomsae Uniforms

Custom logo -Poomsae Uniform

Red and Black Collar

Red pants = cadet (12-14) girls

Bright blue pants = cadet (12-14) boys

Black Collar

Greyish blue pants = junior/senior (15+) girls

Navy blue pants = junior/senior (15+) boys

Gold dobok = 50 and older

Heres a quick video explaining the different doboks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfhRBXTtb9Q

    Since I am the same age as my character, I will be wearing my regular uniform, which is the Greyish blue pants falling under the 15-17 age group for junior girls. This film will also only showcase the poomsae/demonstration side of taekwondo, so their is no need to wear the sparring uniform.

    For the scene taking place in the Allie's bedroom, I want her to be wearing something lazy like a hoodie and sweatpants or shorts. This is because it will represent her as losing her confidence and not putting in effort anymore. It creates a more realistic approach to the film. And for her wounded foot, I want to either wrap tape around it or I can put an ankle brace on it to highlight the injury. I have athletic tape and all kinds of braces from my previous injuries so I do not have to make any purchases.

Overall, I intend to display Allie as a typical teenage girl, so normal looking make up and hair will be fine. She will have her hair tied up in a ponytail when training, and when she is in her bedroom, her hair will be down. This will emphasize how Allie looks more put together before her injury, than after when she is lying on her bed.

Character Development

After examining the character and personality of the protagonist, I have finally come up with a name for my main character: Allie

I chose this name because I wanted to also emphasize that the character is not a tom boy just because she does taekwondo. The the name "Allie" means noble and a defender of mankind. This plays into her strong and persistent personality.

    Allie is a 15 year old sporty and sophisticated athlete. However, she can sometimes get self-conscious or nervous when it comes to getting out of her comfort zone. She has long black hair, brown eyes, and pale skin.

    During the film opening, I will emphasize her physical struggles when attempting the flash kick, as well as her mental struggles. The sport that she does really sets her apart from others. Taekwondo is a pretty niche sport and requires discipline, focus, and athleticism. I create a mood board to represent her character to help me better visualize her personality.

Mood Board

Resources:

Parents. (n.d.). Top 1000 baby girl names. https://www.parents.com/top-1000-baby-girl-names-2757832#toc-the-complete-list-of-top-1000-baby-girl-names

The Bump. (n.d.). Allie baby name. https://www.thebump.com/b/allie-baby-name

Storyboard and Script

     In order to shoot my film opening in an organized manner, it is important that I create a storyboard to plan out each and every individual shot so it is easier to know what I need to film. To make my life easier on shooting day, I should label what type of shots I need (Ex: Close-up of face) so I don't waste time trying to figure everything out on the spot. Storyboards can also help me visualize my production better so that I can make any last minute changes if necessary before I start filming.

    During the opening, the protagonist attempts to do a flash kick but ends up injuring her foot. Due to the fact that not everyone knows what a flash kick is, here are some examples of what it is supposed to look like:

https://youtube.com/shorts/55ZXsPOoKOc?si=Wl-Of60X1yIvkuMH

https://youtu.be/NVbG71ML6Wk?si=J-c241-8pis_Qmvf

Integrating Media Theory

After looking back at my media theory notes from class, I have two theories and one code in mind to integrate into my film opening.

Theory #1: Todorov's Narrative Theory

I want to incorporate Todorov's Narrative Theory into my production. This theory suggests that every story has distinctive sections for different parts of the film. The main parts can be divided into the equilibrium, disequilibrium, and the new equilibrium. This is how I will section out these parts throughout my film opening.

-Equilibrium: (Beginning of film opening) Introduces a calm environment (dojang) and a disciplined taekwondo player in control and confident in her training. Shows order and balance.

-Disequilibrium: (Middle of film opening) The taekwondo player has a slight hesitation before attempting a difficult skill. She fails to perform and injures her foot. Introduces doubt, disruption, and imbalance.

-New equilibrium: (End of film opening/After the film opening) A new setting in the teenage girl's bedroom. Her ankle is hurt and she is looking back at her past victories. The audience wants to know how the protagonist will resolve or deal with her injury. It hooks the viewers and leaves the rest of the film to fill in the new equilibrium.

Theory #2: Binary Opposition Theory

I also want to include the Binary Opposition Theory in my film. It suggests that the narratives are represented through elements of oppositions (Ex: Good vs. Evil).

My film opening will emphasize the oppositions of victory vs. defeat, confidence vs. doubt, and control vs. instability. 

Codes

The Hermeneutic (Enigma) Code is something I want to integrate to my project as well. This code is used when the film leaves out certain information to leave the audience with questions that will be answered from the rest of the production. For instance, some questions my viewers will want to know after watching are: 

-Why did she hesitate? -Will she recover from her injury? -Is she going to continue taekwondo?

Coming up with the Story (Ideas and Inspirations)

    Now that I have established the theme, representation, and genre, it is finally time to begin planning my storyline and main idea for my movie opening. So far I have two main plot lines, and I'm not sure which one is the right choice yet. Both ideas follow a teenager girl who is a dedicated taekwondo black belt. She attempts to do a difficult skill and ends up becoming injured. However, the way I convey the story through the setting and the time (past/present) is what's different about the two versions.

Plot line #1

    The girl is at a competition, she is competing on the mat and performing a complex routine. The crowd cheers. She is doing well so far, with no falls or imperfections. Then she gets to a difficult part of her routine. You can see a slight hesitation in her face as she attempts to perform a hard skill. She ends up landing wrong and injures her foot. Being ousted from the competition, the crowd gasps and she is helped off of the competition floor. The scene cuts to her on the sidelines with a second place medal around her neck and a wrapped up foot. She looks at her medal and sighs, as flashbacks of her winning gold rush into her mind. The opening ends with her coach tapping her on the shoulder, waking her up from her memories.

Plot line #2

    The girl is at her dojang (training gym), practicing a complex routine. She gets to a moment in the sequence where she begins to hesitate. To try to get back into focus, she takes a deep breath and closes her eyes. She visualizes what she needs to do in order to accomplish a difficult skill that comes next in this routine. After she pictures a perfect landing, she starts to attempt the trick. However, she overthinks it and ends up injuring her foot in the process. It cuts to her in her bedroom lying on her bed with an injured foot. She looks at her medals and trophies on her wall and flashbacks of her with happy memories of taekwondo appear in her mind. This creates nostalgia and motivation for her to not let that injury define her. The opening ends with someone knocking at her bedroom door so she snaps out of her flashback.

   After comparing these two versions, I have decided to choose Plot line #1. Although the first story is a great idea, it would be very difficult to film that because I would need to be at a competition and use the mats. This wouldn't work because there would be no time to film on the mats and I would need permission from the organizers of the competition. I picked the second story because I feel like I can easily film at the dojang that I train at and I can use my house as another setting. It is more convenient and I believe I can execute this film opening storyline better.

    My main inspiration for this film opening is The Karate Kid (1984). I have mentioned this film before in my previous blogs and I just think that it is a great film that truly represents what martial arts is all about. I wish that there were more movies that gravitated more around sports, especially martial arts. It deserves appreciation, and although sometimes the topic can be a little cheesy, it has great life lessons that come with it overall. The Karate Kid gives themes of resilience, determination, and finding inner balance. Furthermore, I want to emphasize these lessons into my own martial art production, Especial the theme of "never giving up".

Images from The Karate Kid (1984)

Resources:

Synergy Martial Arts. (2024, August 16). Five life lessons you can learn from The Karate Kid. Synergy Martial Arts. https://synergymartialarts.ca/2024/08/16/five-life-lessons-you-can-learn-from-the-karate-kid/

Group Meeting #1

    Last class, we did our first group meeting. I was grouped with Carolina, Arantza, Andrea, Lidia, JP, Mateo, and Eli. During the meeting, each person shared which genre they had chosen, and discussed a little bit about their ideas for their film opening. After we heard their ideas, we gave feedback and helped each other brainstorm to help each person expand and gain more opinions on their choices. Overall, it was a great way to get more ideas for the film opening and share more knowledge to help others with theirs.

   When I proposed my idea to my group members, they recommended that I could use filters and different coloration settings to make my flashback scenes look more timely and realistic. It was nice to have a several opinions for this project because if the story isn't good, it cannot be produced properly or as well. They liked the idea of my film opening and suggested that for the flashbacks I should utilize more videos rather than pictures because it is more visually entertaining. Although they said if I were to use pictures, they would have to be quick flashes of them in between other flashback videos.

    Carolina said she wanted to do the mystery genre. She explained that her and her group were going to film their opening in a dark garage. She explains a story of a crazy woman in a prison cell, getting flashbacks to a murder that she is implied to have committed. Carolina will play this character and she wants to wear a dirty robe and will try her best to use make up to make her look older and crazy. She asked us for some ideas on how to incorporate a flashback scene into her opening. We then suggested she could use a transition of her writing on the prison wall, to panning into a flashback, where her arm would transition across the screen.

Here is her blog: https://carolrabacrepa200928.blogspot.com/

     Andrea wanted to do a Dystopian themed opening. She discussed that the beginning would start off with a woman scrummaging across a destroyed street after a war, looking for food. She then wanted the next scene to be of the woman when she was little, eating at the dinner table with her family before the war. We suggested that she could transition the future woman about to take a bite out of food she had found from the street and then it cuts to the younger version of herself eating a food of the same shape or dimension. To get actors, she has a friend who is an actor who will play the role and her mom with most likely play the future woman. 

Here is her blog: https://andreasmstudiesblog.blogspot.com/

    Arantza wants to do a coming-of-age film genre. She explained that the movie will start off in the summer with two best friends who are excited to go to college together. After certain events, one friend passes away. The rest of the film would be about how the other friend griefs and overcomes their best friend's death. She said she was inspired by the "Barely Legal" film opening we had watched in class and wants to incorporate that type of aesthetic into her production. That means she is going for a vintage, 90s look. Our group suggested her to use the seasons to evoke the emotions of the main character. For example, in summer there are warm colors and sunshine, creating happiness, spring is rainy but colorful, bringing hope, autumn feels nostalgic, and winter gives off sad emotions through cool toned color schemes and dull weather.

Here is her blog: https://mediastudiesblog2526.blogspot.com/

     Lidia is looking to do something Sci-Fi related. She wants her film opening to be of a scientist who creates these futuristic glasses that can see into and predict the future. When the scientist puts on the glasses, he sees himself being murdered and sees that he is going to be killed in five days. She wants the story to be about how he tries to change his fate. She was having a difficult time in coming up with what happens after he sees his fate through the glasses. One of our group members suggested that after there could be an extreme close-up of his reaction, and then I suggested that after that there could be a knock at the door. The knock implies that the video is just the film opening and that there is more to the production.

Here is her blog: https://blogging4scool.blogspot.com/

   Eli wanted to do something with psychological horror. Her idea was that there are many mentally crazy people going to a therapist in the same town. They all recall a story of a traumatizing, such as a shooting, but all of their stories are different. As she said her idea, we suggested that the therapist should be the main character and she can become a detective in solving what really happened at the tragic event that took place. So she ended up thinking about if she wanted to take a more mystery genre type route or a more horror type route. Maybe she could incorporate both if she chooses to.

Here is her blog: https://eliwritess.blogspot.com/

    JP decided to do a horror/thriller type film. His story is that there is a boy who was killed by his bullies. The thing is JP didn't know how he was going to execute this. Carolina suggested that one of the bullies could throw a rock at the boy's head. Then I had suggested that a shadow of the boy being killed is a better option because it is easier to produce. We had also advised him to include a voice over of mean words or phrases the bullies would call him, so every time he would be hit by the rock, a cruel word could be heard at the same time.

Here is his blog: https://mediajean.blogspot.com/

     Last but not least, Mateo chose to do a crime film opening. His production is inspired by mafia movies. The opening will take place at a big event, like a wedding, and it will introduce a family who all have committed foul crimes. This will be done through a narration of going through each and every family member. I suggested that he could use freeze frames to create emphasis on each individual criminal. He is also planning to film his opening at a place in Weston Town Center so the event looks more realistic.

Here is his blog: https://mateosuperawesome.blogspot.com/

Here's a resource that one of the group member's had suggested when finding music for our project:

https://copyrightalliance.org/faqs/how-to-get-permission-to-use-a-song/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

(Proof of Life)

Our group: