Editing my CCRs

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Filming my CCRs!!

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CCR Ideas

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So, I now have all of the info for my CCRs! I will use my blog posts as a script for the audio portion of these videos, leaving the visuals as the final part to figure out. I've seen many examples and am sure I want to at least try to make it fun to film and watch, not just a presentation and a voiceover. So, here are my 3 favorite ideas that I came up with.

News Interview

So, I'll link the inspo vid under this paragraph, but for the past like 7 years I've seen this one street interview on BBC so many times it's concerning. Basically, an English reporter was going around the city streets asking for people's opinions on a specific soccer match in the 90s only to randomly come across one of the goal keepers of that game. It's a very heartwarming interview and I thought it would be cute to recreate it in my own style and to fit the CCR questions. So, I would have one of my friends (probably Arantza) walk around my neighborhood and coincidentally come to me asking about the film "When the White Seeds Fall." I will break it to her that I am actually one of the directors and respond to her questions (the CCRs) with in depth answers. 

News Anchor

If you haven't noticed already, I'm a very news person (I want to pursue a journalism career). So another idea is acting as if I were a news anchor reporting on my film and maybe referencing an interview that the channel conducted on my actual self. And my news reporter character will basically just report my responses as if it were a current event. And I didn't mention this in the last idea, but I would incorporate different types of visuals (pictures, graphics, videos, etc.) and clips of my film opening to make the CCR more entertaining than just seeing and hearing myself talk. I would also probably have to use a green screen for this idea, but that alright. 

Oscars

And my final CCR idea: I got nominated for an Oscar, wow, now it's time for me to walk on the red carpet. Before the Oscars start, there's always a red carpet and many interviewers asking the people attending questions. I think it would be pretty cool to pretend that "When the White Seeds Fall" was nominated for best film or I got nominated for best director and I dressed up nicely and simply went to the Oscars. I get interviewed by, again, probably Arantza, with the CCR questions and that's my video. I would also probably have to use a green screen for this one (by the way, when I say green screen I mean just a blank wall that I can edit the background on), but I'm not too worried about that. I would do the same as my other ideas and add visuals to it, making it more entertaining, and that's that. Here's an example of an actual red carpet interview.

Prep for CCR 4 (last one yayyy)

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CCR 4: How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

(Will redo this response) Well, to be honest, I barely had any production skills before I began this project. I had some knowledge from my AICE Media class my junior year of high school, where I filmed a music video and another small project. But I never participated in a project this big. I really did learn a lot. I learned how difficult it is to focus on every single detail of a film, how to incorporate certain things into one, and lastly, most importantly, I would say personality wise, I grew so so much. (Talk something about patience, perseverance, teamwork, and problem solving). (With problem solving I would like to emphasize on some of the issues Arantza and I ran into, such as, having to change actors/scenes, lack of daylight to film, random illnesses and trips ruining our schedule, our very own procrastination, and there's probably more but clearly nothing important enough as I can't remember it). This process also made me realize how much I actually enjoy this field. I was never one to be interested in the technical side of film production, I was always an actor and still love the acting portion, but this project allowed for me to do something I never would've thought I'd enjoy. (I repeat, this response will change significantly).

+ I will probably add some clips from the opening in this one for sure, so here are some of the clips I like the most (OOOO WAIT maybe I can add bts... that's cute)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/18CJA38AXR7HwxVVHUO4z94b5RsmO7KAt/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1__7_wQmZT8aECMkdTw3MoLZwH9zOb-RW/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vcTTQCunv3Fbzj0D5TrihCuzmH3Glu8O/view?usp=sharing

Prep for CCR 3 (News)

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CCR 3: How did you integrate technologies in this project?

Well, with the advancement of technology, it is difficult to keep up with everything especially as beginners who are still trying to figure out what each setting and button means. But starting with the basics, we used Arantza's iPhone to film the whole project as it had very good camera quality. To be honest, we were under a very low budget, so every shot was filmed hand-held and we did not use a tripod or anything of the sorts. We did, however, attempt to use my brother's electric scooter to catch up with the bikes and film very few of those scenes. At first, that is what we were doing, until we realized that it was in fact a little dangerous, hard to do and wasn't even turning out good. So after some research, we found this stabilizing setting on Arantza's phone, which allowed us to record shots in any way, and they wouldn't come out shaky, which saved that issue. We also used Premiere Pro to edit and put all of our shots and sounds together, making the project the project it is. To record the foley, I used my own phone and the speakers of my Bluetooth earbuds to ensure I don't catch background noise. I also forgot to mention, I feel it is very important to emphasize how much it helped up pre-production wise. Not only did I keep a blog on Blogger throughout the whole process, which definitely helped me organize myself and reflect on what I saw going right or wrong, but I also used technology to make the props. It seems unimportant, but the college letters, arguably one of our most important props, was made through printing out word docs. We would search up the NYU logo an make up random addresses, names, etc. and print them out to stick on our envelopes. Goes to show how broke we really were, we were running on passion! And again, I feel it is worth mentioning, Google saved us. We had no idea how things were in the 2000s, because... well Arantza and I were not alive then... So being able to research things to ensure they were time accurate was crucial.

 

Prep for CCR 2 (Oscars)

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CCR 2: How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text?

Interviewer: And what in your film do you think resonates with audiences so much?

Well, our target audience was teen girls since... well, that's what the film is about... and I feel that many of our watchers have or had a strong friendship like Jackie and Lily's that they are able to feel some sort of connection to. And I think this film also brings comfort to teens regarding hardships they may encounter and proves to them that they will be able to overcome them. Even with older audiences, that fun youthful innocence and excitement combined with the 2000s style also adds to that nostalgic feeling that we wanted to include that some are able to reminisce on.  

Interviewer: Respond/react to that. The attention that "When the White Seeds Fall" received was overwhelmingly positive. So, how did you get to sharing this film to the world as a small, independent creator?

Well,  I started out by just submitting the opening to local film festivals for fun, when I received a lot of good feedback I realized, "wow this could actually become something." So I decided to post it on Youtube and eventually researched how to release it on Tubi, which is a great starting point for beginner films. And yeah, since it was put on Tubi, it gained wide traction, was watched by thousands of people and well, got me to the Oscars!

.....

 Our target audience consisted primarily of creative teenage girls, the same as our main characters. Jackie was seen as more artistic and introverted than Lily, which allowed for the artists and teenagers who might feel out of place to see themselves in her character and not be embarrassed of themselves. Lily, on the other hand, fits into more of the trendy and quirky side of being a teenage girl. And even then, we chose to add that bit of a nostalgic feeling by making the film take place in the mid-2000s so that, even those who are older are able to find comfort in a film that reminds them of when they were younger and learning to find who they are and to navigate the world. Which leads me to the 2nd question, it is difficult to distribute a small beginners film like this one to become what it has become. But it all started out with my school's film festival where I submitted the opening because why not. Once I received a lot of good feedback from it I was like, '"wow... maybe this could actually be something big." So, after some research I decided to release it first on Youtube and then on Tubi. Youtube users consist mainly of people from ages 25 to 34, and while this wasn't necessarily our principal target audience, we thought that age group still fit into Gen Z, which most of our target audience was in, and they would relate and understand the nostalgic point we chose to add in. Tubi, on the other hand, gets views from a wider range of ages, with 34 percent of users being in between the ages of 18 and 34. This definitely helped us reach the younger parts of our target audiences and helped us reach much more viewers. And well, we made it here. It is actually still a small film in that sense, so Netflix, HBO, someone, if you're interested.... we got nominated for an Oscar.. just saying...

Sources:

Tubi. (2025). Tubi unveils insights on how marketers can navigate the shifting entertainment landscape in “The Stream 2025.” https://corporate.tubitv.com/press/tubi-unveils-insights-on-how-marketers-can-navigate-the-shifting-entertainment-landscape-in-the-stream-2025/

Global Media Insight. (2025). YouTube statistics 2025: Users by country + demographics. https://www.globalmediainsight.com/blog/youtube-users-statistics/

Prep for CCR #1 (Oscars)

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So, another big part of our AICE exam are the CCRs, Creative Critical Reflection. Basically, each student will answer 4 questions about the process of producing our film opening and reflecting on it. We are also supposed to do them in a creative manner, hence the name of them. I don't really know exactly what I want to do but I do want to make it fun to film and watch. Arantza and I plan to help each other film next week Monday to Thursday (also includes coming up with script and memorizing it). So in the meantime, I'm going to start researching about each question and find a bunch of information I could include in my CCRs. So here's the first one:)

1st Question: How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?

Interviewer: Sofia Fernandez!! It's so lovely to finally meet you!!! ... talk talk talk

So, tell me, how did you even come up with the idea for this film? What makes it unique and different from others?

So, it actually isn't that different. When my partner Arantza and I began brainstorming ideas, we already knew we wanted to make a typical coming-of-age film. We grew up watching and loving these types of movies, so, we chose to follow a lot of those genre conventions and stereotypes. Already in the opening, we included upbeat music, natural lighting, and a warmer color scheme, all of which tie together to bring that nostalgic joy coming-of-age films always have right from the start. "When the White Seeds Fall" also really dives into the classic themes of self-discovery, resilience, and grief which shows the shift from childhood to adulthood Jackie and Lily go through during this time of their lives. All of these were also meant to help our audiences feel seen and relate to the characters on screen. The film focuses on Jackie and Lily's last summer before college, a point in life many people experience and can or will relate to. Our protagonists are also 2 different representations of teenagers that I'd hope today's youth can connect with: Jackie portraying the creative, artsy teens, and Lily the caring, quirky one. But there is also a challenge that must be overcome that, I feel, those who have experienced the loss of a loved one can attest is a very difficult time period that we thought was important to add into this film, as it can be a very important part of growing up.

Sources:

MasterClass. (2021, September 24). Coming-of-age movies: What is the coming-of-age genre? MasterClass. https://www.masterclass.com/articles/coming-of-age-movies

Kench, S. (2023, September 24). What is a coming of age movie — Examples and characteristics. StudioBinder. https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-a-coming-of-age-movie-definition/