March 8th, 2025

 Hey everyone!

Since I’m working on my Creative Critical Reflection (CCR), I’ve been doing some research for the first question:
How does my film use or challenge conventions, and how does it represent social groups or issues? To answer this, I started looking into sports drama films and how they usually follow a similar pattern. Most of them focus on an athlete’s journey to success, showing their struggles, hard work, and victories. Our film definitely follows some of these conventions, like including intense training scenes and personal challenges.

But we also wanted to challenge some expectations. In a lot of sports movies, the main character is super disciplined and has everything under control. Instead, we made Gianna struggle with balancing school, family, and gymnastics. This is way more realistic because real athletes don’t have perfect lives—there’s always pressure from different areas. We also wanted to make sure our film had real diversity. That’s why we made Gianna’s family Venezuelan-American to reflect the experiences of many kids who feel caught between two cultures. A lot of movies focus on the "American Dream" storyline, but we wanted to highlight what it’s like to feel like you don’t fully belong in either place. This is something I can personally relate to, and I think it makes the film feel more authentic.

I still have a lot more thinking and reflecting to do for my CCR, but this research has helped me understand how our film fits into (and changes) the usual sports drama formula. Can’t wait to dive into the other questions soon!

March 7th, 2025

 

What’s up, blog!

Let’s talk about sound editing, because wow… it is WAY harder than I thought. One of the biggest issues we ran into was that some of the diegetic sounds (like footsteps, breathing, and the sound of the gym equipment) weren’t loud enough in the original footage. Since these sounds are super important for making the scenes feel realistic, we had to recreate them using foley sound.

At first, I thought this would be easy, but syncing the new sounds with the footage was a nightmare. We had to record things like the squeak of Gianna’s shoes, the sound of her hands gripping the bar, and even the chalk dusting off her palms. Every little detail matters, and it took forever to get it to match perfectly.

We also started working on the background music, and that was another challenge. We needed to make sure the music added to the mood without overpowering the dialogue and other important sounds. Finding the right volume balance took a lot of trial and error, but I think we’re finally getting there.

Even though sound editing is frustrating, I’m realizing how much it actually improves the film. It might be one of the hardest parts of post-production, but once we get it right, I know it’s going to make a huge difference.

March 5th, 2025

 Hey everyone!

Editing has officially begun, and let me just say it’s A LOT harder than I thought. I knew editing would take time, but I didn’t expect it to require this much patience. The first thing we did was organize all of our footage, which took longer than I expected because we filmed a ton of extra clips. We had to go through each one carefully to pick out the best takes.

After that, we started cutting down the scenes. Since our final film opening can’t be longer than two minutes, we had to make some tough choices about what to keep and what to cut. It’s tricky because we don’t want the film to feel rushed, but we also can’t let the scenes drag on for too long. It’s all about finding that perfect balance.

One thing that’s really helping is using jump cuts. In the gymnastics scenes, we’re making quick cuts between different movements to make the training feel more intense. This keeps the audience engaged and helps show how much work Gianna is putting into her sport.

Even though we’re just getting started, I can already tell that editing will make or break this film. It’s definitely frustrating at times, but I’m excited to see how everything comes together!

March 4th, 2025

 Hey blog!

Today was a huge day for our film we finally filmed at TAG USA, where we captured all of Gianna’s gymnastics scenes. I was so excited for this part because it’s one of the most important aspects of our story, but wow… I did not expect it to be this exhausting.

We started by setting up the shots. Since gymnastics involves a lot of movement, we didn’t want the scenes to feel too stiff or boring, so we experimented with different angles. We used wide shots to show Gianna’s full routines, but we also added close-ups to capture the emotion and intensity of her training. Getting these shots right took a lot of trial and error sometimes the landings weren’t perfect, or the camera wasn’t in the right position, so we had to redo certain takes.

Another thing we struggled with was lighting. The gym had bright lights, but some areas had shadows that made certain shots look weird. We had to adjust where Gianna was standing and where we placed the camera so that everything looked clear. It was a little frustrating at first, but I think it actually helped us learn how to problem solve on set, which is something we’ll definitely need in the future.

Even though it was a long day, it felt so rewarding to see our film start coming together. Now that we’ve finished filming, it’s time to dive into editing which I’m a little nervous about, but I know we’ll figure it out!

struggles

 Hello blog!! 

Today i'll be talking about what happened at Candelaria's house on Sunday, February 23rd. We originally had planned to try filming on Saturday, but since I got called into work because people didn't find covers it stopped me from being able to film with my team mates. Emma was also unable to attend because she was grounded and didn't have access to her phone meaning that we were unable to communicate, as you can tell we had a bit of bumps on the road. So we decided to meet up at Candelaria's house on Sunday night at around 7pm, Oona, Candelaria, and I started filming immediately since it was a little bit late and still had to have dinner. Candelarias room was used to portray Gianna's Bedroom.

Here's me (Playing Gianna) and Candelaria shooting.

We originally had planned to film on Saturday March 1st, because there is usually something called open gym that happens every Saturday from 6:30pm to 11:00pm where kids get to roam around TAG USA and do whatever they want. But due to the fact that the front desk workers weren't available that night they had to cancel open gym, meaning that we couldn't go film.

The picture TAG USA gymnastics posted on their Instagram.

I asked my manager what day would be best to film so i wouldn't interrupt any important practice or any special event of some sort.

I asked the owner of TAG USA would be the best to come in and film without disturbing after they announced that open gym was cancelled and he said Monday Wednesday and Fridays but it was already Wednesday by then, so we had to choose Friday at 7pm. Friday Feb 28, i was running late since i had last minute emergency with my sister, and I had to pick up Candelaria since she didn't have any mode of transportation to TAG. Turns out I was a little bit late, and arrived at around 7:20. Our stunt double Valeria had to leave at 7:30 since she lived far away, so we had around 10 minutes of her doing super quick tricks on the bar, beam, and floor. After she left, Oona, Emma, and Candelaria all had to improvise and switch outfits, because one of use was better and round offs while the other was better at beam and bars.

Production day 2!

 Hey Cambridge! With our filming coming to a close, this blog is all about our second day of filming.

Since I was running late, Oona started filming. She began with the bars scene, and since it wasn’t actually Gianna’s actor performing, she made sure to frame the shots carefully so the audience wouldn’t be able to tell. We focused mainly on close-ups of her hands gripping the bars. Then, she transitioned into filming the chalk cloud with another close-up. 

Once Emma and Candelaria arrived, they signed waivers, and we officially got started! As planned, we did multiple quick clothing changes when filming tricks since none of us are actual gymnasts. We captured close-ups of mounts, turns, and jumps on the beam, focusing on Gianna’s right knee when she landed. Since we were on a time crunch, we focused on overshooting, filming tons of jumps and landings with close-ups so the audience couldn’t tell who was actually performing. One major challenge was keeping other people out of the background. It took multiple takes, but we finally got clean shots!

After finishing the landings and tricks, we filmed me (Gianna) alone. We shot her walking into the gym using long shots, close-ups, and tracking shots. Using different shot types always enhances the film’s aesthetic and keeps the audience engaged. We also got a great idea to show Gianna looking at the many trophies displayed in the gym. This shot highlights her deep love for gymnastics and her strong desire to win. Another important moment was Gianna taking deep breaths, emphasizing her focus during training. Finally, we filmed her fixing her hair, showing how hard she trains to the point where her physical appearance starts falling apart.

We had a super successful filming day and had a blast! Here are some pictures:

• Waiver

  

• The tons of shots we ended up taking (ALL of our storage is almost full since each of us grabbed our phones to film from various angles) 

  
  
  

• Clips we took (sneak peek!)

  
  

• Filming Gianna focused

  
  
  

Sounds

 Hey Cambridge! Welcome back to our blog! Today, we're diving deeper into the sounds we have decided to include into our project.

Background Music: One of my partners Oona found the background music on Pixabay. At first, she searched on YouTube but had trouble finding the perfect song that truly fit our film's opening. After endless scrolling and searching, We finally found the right song!

These are some sounds that Candelaria made for us!

General Sounds:

• Scrolling on TikTok (gymnastics feed)
  
  
• Landing on mats
  
  
  
• Squeaking of shoes
  
  
• Setting bag down
  
  
• Walking on the floor
  
  
• Knock on door
  
  

Diegetic Sounds:

Gym:

• Deep breath
• Heavy breathing
• Zippers
• Chatter/gym noise
• Soft footsteps (barefoot steps/run)
• Lockers opening and closing
• Phone notifications
• AC ventilation
• Velcro fastening

Car:

• Car door opening and closing
• Car driving sounds
• Car doors locking

Home:

• Papers rustling
• Marker writing
• Going upstairs
• Opening door
• Sitting down on the bed
• Pulling out a chair
• Putting phone down
• Sighing (female sigh)
• Clicking of a pen
• Writing
• Gasp
• Walking up the stairs

These sounds will be incorporated into our project and will definitely enhance our final film opening! All sound effects were found on Pixabay. Now that I'm realizing, I'm really thankful we had a project on foley sounds in my Aice media class.