The Moment We Have All Been Waiting For...

"A Bite of Happiness"

After months and tons of work, we are finally done!! It has been a longgg journey.

But here it is! Inspired on my favorite hobby, baking.

I present to you:

A Bite of Happiness

                           

This journey has come to an end...

Project Reflection

During these past months, I have put into use all the information I have learned throughout the year. We have been preparing for this project all along, and it is finally done. I have learned a lot in these past two months, and it is a journey for which I am really grateful. Ever since the beginning of the school year I have been nervous about this specific project and I am so relieved that it is finally done. There were many ups and downs along the road, and it is definitely not my best work. But I know it was a very good experience from which I was able to learn so much. 

The hardest part for me has definitely choosing the theme. I had no idea what to do it on, and it took me a lot of time to figure it out. My creativity was nonexistent for months and I couldn't come up with anything. Eventually, some ideas started emerging, but none of them ended up being good enough. Everyone started working on their project, and I was just stuck. Later on, I finally knew what to do. I started planning and planning and had lots of ideas. I began to work on the props and everything I would be needing during the filming process. I was very optimistic and had hope that my project would actually be good.

Then, covid came... I was really frustrated because I already had everything planned out. But I had to improvise and work with what I could. I changed my idea twice. And then I changed it back to the original. I decided to keep working on that and make the necessary changes. After finishing the storyboard and having everything ready, I realized that it was too long, and that I would never be able to fit that in two minutes. So once again, I had to change everything. I kept the same story line, but I changed every scene into something more concise. 

After a lot of work and time, I was finally ready to film. The filming process was really fun at first, but then it started becoming very stressful. It took about three days in total to get all the footage I needed. Since I was filming the process of making a cake, I had limited tries to film each shot. The fact that I couldn't refilm a shot if I messed up, and that my sister was the one actually doing the cake, had me very stressed out. I had to worry about taking good shots while trying to make the cake pretty. It was a very long and stressful process, and once I finished I was extremely relieved. But then I remembered that I had to edit.

Editing was also a complicated process. I had multiple problems in the process, and I even had to start over again while I was already halfway done. Nevertheless, I was able to finish successfully and create "A Bite of Happiness". Even though I did put a lot of time and effort into the making of this project, I think it wasn't enough. I am a little disappointed at myself as well as the result, as I know I could've done a much better work. 

I need to work more on my time management as well as planning. If I would've had better planning strategies or spend more time during the planning process, many of my mistakes would've been solved. I need to plan everything from beginning to end before continuing with the process. This way I will be able to prevent a lot of small mistakes that could really affect the final product. Additionally, another mistake I made was not using the time I had properly. If I would've started a little bit earlier I wouldn't have been as stressed as I was, and I could've dedicated more time to fix some of the mistakes I made. It was a very long journey, and I am very happy I was able to finish this project. It was a very fun experience and I learned a lot. I learned and reflected upon my mistakes, and hopefully I will do better next time. Thank you. 

Editing...

I started editing a couple days ago, and I must say, this was also a very stressful process, or maybe I just get stressed too easily, I don't know. I loved it, and I enjoyed it, but there were many ups and downs along he road.

I first started editing on iMovie. As soon as I started, I had my first problem. I was having trouble with the files. I wasn't being able to open them, and for a minute I thought I had lost everything I filmed. I tried and tried and finally I was able to open them. I started editing and it was all going well, until it started freezing every time I clicked something. I closed and opened the program, I shut down my computer and restarted it, I tried everything I saw on the internet, and it would still continue freezing. At this point, I  was already about 40 seconds into my video, but I knew I would take forever if I continued using iMovie.

So I changed to WeVideo. At first, it was kind of weird, since I was already used to using iMovie, but I was able to get the hang of it quickly. I continued and I didn't have any trouble for a long time. But it took me forever to finish the video. I did realize that I was missing some shots, and that there were others that were not taken properly.  Some were blurry, and some others weren't taken from the exact position or angle I needed. And since it was about a cake, I couldn't go back and film some more. So I had to work with what I had. Now that I've used both, I think I like iMovie better. It has more features and I personally find it a lot easier to use.

After a very long time, I finished editing the main parts. I was just missing to edit the introduction, add the credits, and the music. It was all going well. The only thing was that I was short on time. Editing took too long since I had to change the program I was using midway through the video and start all over again. I was able to finish on time, although I was a little rushed through the last steps. I wasn't very proud of the final result.

Another problem I encountered, was that I had too much content I wanted to use. I was missing the introduction and I was already two minutes in the video. I had to go back and try to take out some shots. I managed to make it exactly 2:14. Two more seconds and it would've been too long.

Music

For music I was planning on using 2 songs. One for the credits and the beginning part, and another one for the rest of the video. I had soooo many options of songs that I wanted to use; I even made a playlist... After a lot of thinking, I was able to decide which one I wanted to use. The first one is called "look how far we've come" by Dylan LeBlanc, and the second one "What you know" by Two Door Cinema Club. I chose the first one because it created the perfect mood for that part of the opening. I wanted to portray a feeling of sadness and emptiness, which was what the character was feeling. I think that song was able to create that exact mood. After seeing the competition flyer, the character has hope, and is immensely excited, which is why I choose the other song. It transmits happiness and adventure as soon as you hear it.

Opening Credits 

This is one of the parts that I am least proud of. Since I was a little rushed through the process, I wasn't able to dedicate it the time it needed. I found that my shots weren't long enough, and I didn't have the space in the frame to fit the credits. So I just had to put it wherever it was able to fit. I decided to make it yellow and pink themed, since the main title was going to be yellow. I chose this combination of colors because it reminds me of fun, cupcakes, and candy. The problem with this, was that they are very light colors, so it is hard to see through them. Moreover, it does not completely match the color scheme throughout the video, which is something I should've planned beforehand. I think if I would've had a better planning strategy, and thought about every aspect BEFORE, then the project would've been way better. I need to work more on my planning skills in order to achieve success. 

Done filming!!!

I am finally done filming! This was such a stressful process, but we are finally done. It took days to film and get every shot I needed. They are not the best, and I am not so proud of them, but I tried my best. I am really hoping that the video turns out good.

I had a few complications during the filming process, primarily since it involved real food, as well as the help from other people. First of all, I could never start filming whenever I planned to. I had to accommodate to everyone's schedule and that was kind of hard.  Since I was filming the making of a cake, I was occupying the kitchen, which is a place that my whole family visits pretty often. For this reason, I had multiple interruptions and distractions. But after all, we managed to finish successfully. 

Additionally, making a cake is not easy, and takes a lot of time, let alone a two-tier cake in a house full of people. Since my sister was the one performing, and actually doing the cake, she had to do many things she did not know how to. I had to walk her though every step so that we didn't ruin the cake (especially during the decorating process). Moreover, like I was saying, making a cake takes time. In this case, finishing the cake completely and filming took two full days (if not more). In order to get good shots, we needed good lighting, which we could only get from sunlight, meaning that we couldn't film after 7:00 PM. 

This was a very stressful process due to the fact that we had to film part by part. First, the making of the cakes. Once we finished making them, we couldn't continue filming until the cakes were out of the oven and cooled. There was 7 cakes to make, so this took quite a while. Later, I had to make the frosting and the filling. After the cake was frosted, it had to chill for about 20 minutes. After it was chilled, we filmed, and we continue with the second layer of frosting, and then chill again. And we repeated this process until we were done with the cake. Moreover, something that also had me very stressed out, is that we didn't have some of the ingredients I needed. And obviously because of Covid, is not as easy to get a hold of them, so I had to improvise with what I had. 

The entire house was a mess and suddenly everyone was involved in my project. This was also the first two-tier cake I have ever made, which I think turned out pretty good for being my first attempt. Making this cake pretty was also critical. If the story is about a cake competition, then the cake must at least be phenomenal. So, not only did I have to worry about getting good content, but also about making the cake presentable, since it is the star of the show. I ended up going to bed at 6:00 AM in order to make this cake appetizing. It's okay, it was voluntary, but it was exhausting. 

The good thing is that we all got to eat cake after. Not trying to brag or anything, but this has been one of my favorite cakes every. The top tier was vanilla cake with dulce de leche filling and cream cheese frosting. The bottom tier was vanilla cake also, but with chocolate ganache and cookie dough filling and frosting. Here is a picture of the final result! Enjoy.

Getting Ready to Film

   We start filming tomorrow!!! I am extremely nervous. I feel like everything is going to go wrong and not as planned.  I am trying to prepare everything beforehand so that I do not have to interrupt the filming process.  I am starting to put together all the props that I will be using. I am making this blog to share a "behind the scenes", so that you guys can see all the process and and props I will be using

Props needed throughout the film

- Calendar

- Eviction notice flyer

- Baking competition flyer

- Newspaper

- Post-its

- Sharpe

- Cans

- Plates & food

- Papers & books

- Earbuds

- Backpack 

- Cake recipe

- Baking appliances
- And the cake itself, of course

Room "makeover"

  First of all, I rearranged my room to make it fit the visual theme of the opening. As we all know, mise-en-scene is one, if not the most, important aspect when making a film. It is how you tell the story. So I "set the stage" to make it look like it's my character's room, Ellie. Ellie is a full-time college student with no family. She doesn't have money because of school debt. For this reason, she rents a room in a house where multiple families live; it is the only thing she can afford. Ellie basically lives in her room, and since she is a full-time college student, she has no time to keep her room clean. So to create the proper atmosphere, I decided to completely change everything about my room. I changed the sheets, the pillows, and took every piece of decoration off. I added food, cans and bottles, books, newspaper, clothes all over the floor, etc, etc, etc. I will attach a picture of the before and after so you are able to appreciate the change.

Recipe 

Since my film opening is about baking, there is obviously going to be food involved. Ellie is just getting into the cooking world, so she doesn't have any recipe of her own. She will be following this one throughout the opening. This is the one I will be using to make the actual cake. It tastes AMAZING; however, I am not a big fan of the texture. 

Preparing food

Ellie is a college student who has no time for anything else but studying. For this reason, her room is a mess, she has clothes everywhere, papers, trash, and food. She has her desk full of plates with food that she has been collecting over the days. Soooo I had to recreate this. It has kind of fun honestly. But here is a behind the scenes of making this and how it turned out:

Locations

Helloooo. As I have mentioned before, due to the current Covid19 situation, I had to change my story, and therefore, my locations. Here are some of the new locations I chose for filming. These is a place near my house which the closest thing available to what I had in mind. A part of my story is taken place outside, and I didn't wanted to change that specific scene. So I chose this place instead. It is not exactly what I wanted but it gets the job done. It is also veryyy pretty.

                    

                                                                 

                       

   

                                             

This place is only for the scene that is taken place outside. The rest will be filmed inside my house. It is also not the original location I had planned but I did what I could. I will not be including any pictures since the place is not going to be showing as much. The film will focus more on what the character is doing rather than the place itself.

Last Minute Changes

There has been last minute changes regarding the final project. It is based on the same story line, but I have changed some of the scenes and the order. It is the same essence and topic as my first idea, but I had to change it since it would've been to long and it cannot exceed the 2 minutes. I created a more concise story, still using parts and ideas of the previous storyboard. Unfortunately, I was not able to create a storyboard for this. I am am short on time and the deadline is almost here. However, I did make a list with all the shots I needed, and the way the story was going to go. This will come in handy during the filming process. It will help me stay organized and keep track of the shots I've made and the ones that I still need to work on. 

The first 30 seconds will be kind of the introduction. It will consist of shots taken from parts of the characters room that describe her. This will be able to show the viewers more about the characters daily life, her likes, dislikes, her personality, and it will also help develop the theme of the movie. It will portray ideas that were not able to be shown in the video and are relevant to the story line. For instance, the eviction notice will be a part of the intro, since it is critical to the story.

The next scene is one of the most important ones. It starts with the main character walking down the street, sad, anxious, and stressed. She is about to be kicked out of her house because she has no money to pay her rent. She is walking, looking for jobs, and she finds the baking competition flyer. This is what motivates her to start baking. The process of her journey is what the movie is about.

Next, day 1 of her training starts. She starts practicing to win the competition, so she starts with the basic steps to making a cake: measuring flour, whisking the eggs, etc. The number of days passed will be shown through a calendar, which is the same idea from my last storyboard. This will show the viewers when the day is over. After day 1 is done, she starts day 2. This day she is still practicing and she will be shown doing the next steps to make a cake after the ones she did the day before, which will be measuring milk, the vanilla extract, and mixing.

Day 3 is the day when it starts getting serious, she is close to the deadline, but she still is not able to complete the cake within the 2 hour time mark. This scenes starts with a timer starting at 0. She then proceeds to get the cakes out of the oven and stacks them. She is not ale to finish the cake within the time frame so she starts getting frustrated. She goes to the calendar and crosses out another day, to simulate that the days are passing. Day 4 is here, it is the day before competition day. During these scene, she will be decorating the cake and finishing it, and this time, she will be able to finish it on time.

All of this scenes are shown and organized this way in order to share with the viewers the progress she has made throughout her journey, and how she reached success. It is the start of her new life.
I will attach the paper I used as a guide to make sure I wasn't missing anything. The story line is still the same, but in a more concise way.