Final Submission Links

I can't believe we're here. After all this time, I can finally relax. I really surprised myself with this project and I hope you enjoy!

“THE MOTIVE” 2 Minute Opening

CCR 1&2

CCR 3&4

Project Reflection

 I finally finished. I can't even explain how happy I am that I finished and can take the rest of the break off. I'm actually kind of sad though, even if this project was a pain in the butt, start to finish. The best thing that came from this project was a new friendship with Elias that brought us from school friends, to out of school friends. I don't know what I would've done if I had to do this project by myself. 

This project really made me appreciate how much time and money actual producers and directors put into full movies, because in 8 weeks, we struggled to make a 2 minute opening. I like how much I learned from this project and am very proud of how it came out,

I wanted to drop out of this class as soon as I joined, but I'm so glad Mrs. Stoklosa didn't let me because this project was so incredibly fun. 

I also might have to get new tires because I have no more tread but it was totally worth it.

I'm really thankful that Mrs. Stoklosa was so strict on our blog posts, because she forced me to actually do research which helped develop our film overall. 

Now I just have to study for the two essays and I should be chilling. I hope that after this project, I am able to focus more on other classes and relax with this one, which probably won't be the case, but at least I finished 50% of my AICE Media Exam. 

Post-Production of CCRs

For my CCRs, I don't know why, but Adobe Premier Rush wasn't working so I had to go back to my roots and use an editing app that I recently started to use to edit some YouTube and TikTok videos. This app is called Inshot. I really like it because of its easy to use nature.

                                         

                                                        

I used it to edit both of my CCRs and I think they came out great. I filmed the YouTube Blog CCR, and my friend Nicolas filmed the CCR of me in the car. The only thing I didn't like was the audio in my CCR 3&4, but there is no time to re film it since my sister left for a college campus tour in Orlando with the car.

CCR Production

For my first video, I decided to do blog for YouTube acting as the director of the film that answered questions asked by the audience. It was really hot when I was recording and I started sweating. It took me 120 tries to get all the shots well. 

Eventually I finished and went to Elias' house to start editing since he lives close to the filming location. 

The next video will be about me getting interviewed by some guy that really likes my car. I will switch around the order of which they are posted because in my CCR 1&2 I answer questions from the comments of the interview. I had to wait for the perfect moment to film my CCR 3&4 because my sister was always taking the car from me the whole start of spring break. While filming both CCRs, I realized that memorizing a script is a lot harder than it looks. In the end, I couldn't follow the whole script, but I was able to get all of the main points down.

CCR #4

 Today I will discuss the CCR question #4: "How did you integrate technologies - software, hardware and online - in this project?"

For this project, we used a combination of many different items to film, and also many online apps and websites to complete it. We use Elias' dad's camera which had insane quality and pretty good stabilization. If it wasn't for the camera, I don't think it would have came out nearly as good as it did. We also used a tripod to held the camera in place when we needed to film some stable shots.

For editing, we used the app Adobe Premiere Pro on our iPads, which was great because the quality of the shots from the camera transferred really well into the app. Using this app to edit taught me that it is a lot scarier than it looks, and that with enough time and patience, you can edit it well. For our production company logo, we created a slide on Canva with animations which turned out really well. Our songs where taken from this website called Artlist which has a ton of royalty free music to choose from.

Here is the script for my CCR #3 and #4:

*Elias walks up to car* 

Elias- “Hey, I love your car, what do you do for a living?” 

*Subtitles show car name, brand, price* *ca-ching noise* 

Me- “Hey man what's up? My name is Thomas Miller, and I drive for a living.” 

Elias- “Wow man that’s awesome! How can you afford this car?” 

Me- “Well, I don’t just drive, I act too. My real name is Jano Kotsias, and Thomas Miller is the character I am playing in my new movie, The Motive.” 

Elias- “That’s sick man! Is this your first movie?” 

Me- “Yea, this is the first movie I act in, and also the first movie I directed, alongside my bro Elias.” 

Elias- “That’s crazy bro! Can I have ten minutes of your time to interview you?” 

Me- “Make it five, I got places to be.” 

Elias- “So tell me, how did your production skills develop throughout this project?” 

Me- “To be completely honest, starting this project was really difficult. My partner and I both had no prior experience with filming or editing before this project, excluding the other projects we did for this class. After doing a lot of research, and I mean A LOT, I started to get the hang of it, and it all just came together.” 

Elias- “Wow man, that just goes to shows how hard work pays off.” 

Me- “Yea, and facing challenges such as lighting, shadows, and focused and unfocused shots really test your patience, which I would like to think has also improved throughout this project. My editing skills have improved so much, it's insane, and I also learned how to make an amazing Canva presentation when making the production company logo by adding movement and sound to a slide.” 

*Shows production company logo* 

Me- “This project made me realize how every single choice made during a film is important, and one small mistake can mess up the whole project. I also learned how to fuse two genres into one, making a comedic action movie” 

Elias- “It’s amazing how much you can learn from a singular project.” 

Me- “Another area where I saw huge improvement was the camera positioning. When we first started, we would just place the camera anywhere and pray that it worked, but once we did research and got better at it, we focused more on the mise-en-scène elements of the shot and started placing the camera in a specific spot with props in specific spots for it to work the way we wanted it to.” 

Elias- “Speaking about cameras, how did you integrate technologies- software, hardware and online- in this project?” 

Me- “Great question. For our hardware, we used a tripod and Elias’ dad’s camera. The camera played a huge role in the success of our movie due to the quality of the shots, which doesn’t even compare to that of an iPhone camera. For our production company logo, as previously mentioned, we used Canva, and for editing, we used Adobe Premiere Pro. This editing software was really simple to learn and was quite effective. We got our sounds from this website called Artlist.io which has a huge variety of royalty free music.” 

Elias- “Dang bro it’s so cool how you managed to use just those things to create such a beautiful film.” 

Me- “Thanks bro! See ya around!”

CCR #3

 The question I will talk about today will be "How did your production skills develop throughout this project?"

For this question and the following one, I have decided to do the car interview to answer the questions. At first, neither me or my partner had any type of prior experience with filming or editing, so that would be a big challenge that we would have to face. Given 8 weeks to create a two minute film opening seemed like a lot, but boy was I wrong. Since the project was announced, we have used the most of our time to work on this project, and we are still cutting it close. Through many delays, we were able to finish our film on time and now all that's left is to film our CCRs.

This project has helped me improve my editing by a long shot, even allowing me to edit videos for fun and/or my business on Instagram. Our lighting and camera skills have also improved significantly because before, we would place the camera somewhere and pray that the shot looked good, while towards the end of our film, we set up the camera in a specific spot, to work the way we want it to. This project has also improved the way that I conduct research, not just for films, but for every other class as well.

CCR #2

The question I will discuss today is "How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text?"

Our film will engage with out audiences by introducing real world problems such as child abandonment and high cost for medical services, which some audiences may be able to relate to. According to the National Library of Medicine, 1 in every 4 children in the U.S go through child abuse or neglect. This will connect with the audience on a deeper, more emotional level. Our film also shows quite a bit of hate towards the U.S government, for not releasing the cure for cancer to the public, which isn't the case in real life, but it is meant to serve as an example of the social injustices that are provided to us by our national governments throughout the world.

My partner and I decided that we will try to distribute our film first through a small film festival called the Sunscreen Film Festival. We will need to get accepted first, but I have high hopes that we will. Another way that we would like to distribute our film would be through some major streaming platforms such as Netflix, Max, Prime Video, Hulu, and YouTube. Getting our movie featured on one of these platforms would help a lot with reaching a diverse audience since streaming platforms account for 40.3% of the total TV usage. YouTube will offer the most exposure as it is available in every country worldwide except China and North Korea, where it can be heavily censored or even restricted.

Resources: 

Child Physical Abuse and Neglect

Young Americans lose trust in the state
Video Streaming Statistics 2025

The Ultimate List Of Geo-restricted Streaming Services

Group Meeting #2

CCR Ideas

My group was composed of Emi, Mariana, Isa, Ale, Sofia, and me. First, Emi told us her ideas for her CCR. She wanted to pretend that she was a famous actor with a popular YouTube channel so her first idea was to do a YouTube video, unboxing fan mail(gifts, letters, etc.). Her second Idea was to do some sort of interview on YouTube as well.

Then, I described my ideas for my CCR. My first idea was to do an interview where the camera man walks up to me and says "Hey I like your car, what do you do for a living?" like Daniel Mac on TikTok. I thought this was pretty unique, and would really match the movie we are creating, since it has to do with my car. My second idea was to do an on-set blog for a YouTube channel. I'm not sure if I'll stick to this idea, but for now I like it.

Marianna's first idea was to do sort of like Vogue's "In The Bag" episode, which consists of a celebrity that shows what they have in their purse. In the video, she will pull out props and other items that will lead to one of the CCR questions. She didn't decided what to do for her second video though.

Then it was Isa's turn, and her first idea was to be a witness in a trial, getting asked questions about the movie by the lawyer, leading for her to answer her CCR questions. Her second idea is to make it seem as if she's stuck somewhere and will answer her remaining CCR questions.

Ale then told us her ideas, one of them being a movie review on her film, talking about the movie and responding to criticism she received because of it. Her other idea was of a her getting out of surgery and surgeon asking her questions about the movie.

Sofia went last, and her first idea was to make a breaking news channel interview, talking about her new famous movie, and her second idea was to making a cooking video, answering question while making something.

Post-production Post #3

So, since were pretty much done filming, we have decided to use the clips we have and add the other clips later. I am responsible for adding the credit texts, and the production company logo. I've been pretty nervous to start editing because Elias and I have no prior experience to editing anything. Because of this, I will look up some tutorials and will help Elias edit some of the clips. Elias told me that he is already sick of editing some of the clips, and that the song that keeps replaying is driving him crazy. I think our production company logo is great and really matches the movies aesthetic.

CCR #1

The question I will be researching today is "How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?" 

For our movie, we will follow some of the typical action movie characteristics, but we will also add some comedy movie characteristics to make our movie stand out. The action movie conventions that we will follow are the fast-paced shots, the emphasis on physical action, and establishing heroes and a villain. In this case, the heroes will be Thomas and Lukias, and the villain will be the pharmaceutical company. 

Our movie will also highlight the social injustices proposed to us by the medical industry in the US, and the problems that come from single parent households. Healthcare has always been a problem in the USA, due to its high prices, while in Europe and many countries in South America offer free public healthcare. Our film will focus on the greediness of the American government, keeping the cure for cancer from the public in a realistic fiction manner. Thomas' situation will show the difficulties of growing up with no father, and also the struggles of being in the foster care system. Since Thomas doesn't really know what to do with his life, he just resorts to stealing which doesn't show that he has a promising future in the work force. 

 

Resources:

Action Cinema 
Action Genre: How to Tell an Exciting Life and Death Story 

Child Well-Being in Single-Parent Families 
Health Care Expenditures 
Mental and Behavioral Health Needs of Children in Foster Care 
Former Foster System Youth: Perspectives on Transitional Supports and Programs 
The foster care-to-prison pipeline: A road to incarceration