Critical Reflection

For our documentary project , Alec Labossiere and I, Romina Olvera, created a short documentary on the topic of gen z slang and how it has impacted culture among high school students.

To begin with, our product represents social groups by demonstrating how teenagers socialize today with their developed slang. We focused on the vocabulary that teenagers use now to connect with others and to form new bonds with others. We represented it by using interviews that pertain to the use of gen z slang through the perspective of high school students of different grade levels. The interviews demonstrated the individual thoughts of the students in regards to how they use and view gen z slang in society and at school. The b-roll that we included in our product also demonstrates students socializing with their friends and how it demonstrates that gen z slang is included in various conversations to connect with friends at school. Our documentary does a good job at representing gen z slang through the perspective of high school students. Although, I do feel that our whole topic for our documentary is not specific enough to go into the depths of gen z slang and how it affects communication among teens. We also could have included some more b-roll of students socializing and maybe some b-roll of students actively using gen z slang to bond with their friends. That detail could have made the representation of social groups more prominent in the documentary. 

Continuously, our product engages with audiences by demonstrating activities that they can relate to. The elements of our documentary primarily target younger audiences. Specifically teenagers who are in school, since our b-roll takes place in Cypress Bay High School. Our interviews of the students discussing their perspectives on Gen z slang is relatable to other students. Our interviewees are just a small portion of the entirety of teenagers who use gen z slang in their daily vocabulary when they are communicating with family members and friends at school or at home. Our b-roll engages with the audience by demonstrating activities that students typically do since the b-roll that was used was not staged. I think that we had a sufficient amount of b-roll for the documentary which engaged our audience since there were things to look at. Our product’s editing engages with the audience because it is fast paced editing. This keeps the audience from wanting to look away from the product. The music also played a role in this, since without music it would probably seem boring to the viewers. Gen z slang is not a boring topic to learn and talk about, so the music really added to the overall theme of our production. However, the fluctuating quality of the sound, and video camera quality most likely disengages the audience because the quality is not consistent. If the quality was more constant throughout the documentary it would probably cause less disengagement among the audience.

Furthermore, our research informed our product by establishing the target audience and type of b-roll and information that me and my partner needed to gather for our result to be what we wanted. Our research mostly consisted of us utilizing social media to find different types of posts where gen z slang was integrated. We used Instagram, and we scrolled through our feed and sent each other as many gen z slang related posts as we could to get a good idea of what types of images and videos we wanted to include for our b-roll. It led us into the direction that we wanted for the project. I was particularly inspired by one of the documentaries that I viewed in class, which also helped my partner and I to choose the right types of shots , and interview questions. Our research also influenced the way our product challenges conventions by allowing us to be inspired to use all the elements that are a part of our piece. It informed our product to represent a social factor of society among teenagers that is increasingly becoming more and more popular. The documentary challenges the fact that society never really used gen z slang that prominently before. It explains that now teens have begun to use gen z slang to connect with others because it becomes an inside joke for those who regularly use social media. This phenomenon among teens was something that was never popular in earlier years. This was probably due to the fact that the use of the internet was not as popular as it is now in society. Our documentary demonstrates how society has challenged this idea and how socializing has developed throughout the years, primarily for teens

Overall, the gen z slang documentary demonstrated the effects of gen z slang to communication between high school students within their school and at home.

Production for documentary 2

 The next day, I had to finalize the sounds that we were going to use for the documentary. It was incredibly hard. There's was nothing that I could find that I liked for the project. It took me a while but eventually I found a couple songs that I liked. I sent them to Alec since he was in charge of editing the whole thing. It was a very stressful process because he has never really been in charge of editing for a group project before. However, he did a good job! There were a few problems with the program he was using though. Originally, he was using Adobe Premiere Pro on Creative Cloud, but apparently his thing expired somehow. It was a whole situation. Very stressful. So, what he did instead is use CapCut to edit the documentary. This had to happen at the worst possible time ever. It was the day we had to submit, so it was especially stressful. CapCut was kind of a mess too because it deleted a few of the files that Alec had imported. I don't know how it happened but it happened. However, Alec was able to import them again. I helped him out throughout the whole editing process. We were on call through Discord and I was helping him out by making files into mp3 files and helping him find extra sounds that he wanted to incorporate into the documentary. We were working very efficiently together. In the end we finished, but then there were some issues with submitting the project. There was a misunderstanding between Alec and I. We both accidently assumed that the other person was going to submit it. I thought that he was going to and he thought that I was going to. We were so stupid for that but it's ok. We didn't notice that neither of us submitted the project until Mrs. Stoklosa let us know the following week. Alec then tried emailing her the folder that had our project through canvas and he thought that the email sent successfully, but unfortunately it didn't. Mrs. Stoklosa notified us again about our problems with submission and Alec emailed it to her again. It actually sent that time which is good. However, we are going to get points deducted for turning it in late. It was completely our fault though because of the misunderstanding. But here, is the finished product of our documentary! 

Gen Z Slang

Production for documentary 1

 When it was time to start actually producing our documentary, we started filming on the day that Mrs. Stoklosa wasn't in class. We were supposed to talk to her about our project but we had to start filming ASAP because the project's deadline was approaching. So, our first stop was the cyber security classroom. We wanted to interview a teacher so that we could demonstrate gen z slang through the perspective of a teacher, but the teacher for cyber security didn't want to be interviewed so we just let some of the students in the cyber security room volunteer for the interview. We couldn't interview the students in the class immediately because they were going to take a quiz so we had to go back later when they were finished. 

So, in the meantime we filmed some b-roll of Cypress Bay. We filmed some b-roll of the 900s building, and specifically where it said Cypress Bay at the top. We also asked permission to film outside the school to get an establishing shot of the school. The security guards let us go outside for a few minutes to get the shots that we needed which was great. We thought they wouldn't let us but they did! So, we filmed three still shots, one of the stone sign that says cypress bay in front of the school, one of the grass that has the Cypress Bay logo imprinted on it, and one of just the school. After that we went back into school and filmed another shot right under the catwalk. 

When it was time, we went back to the cyber security room to film the interviews we needed. In total, it was three students that we interviewed in there. There was going to be a fourth but we ran out of time to do another interview unfortunately. Each of the three students had a different perspective to gen z slang, which was perfect. Alec and I were hoping for a variety of responses, we weren't really looking for the same answers to our interview questions. So, I thought that those interviews went really well and that we got good information. When the bell rang I filmed a pov shot of me walking through the hallways on Alec's phone.

Later that day, I filmed another interview during my lunch. I had interviewed my friend Tomas, he gave me good answers which was great! I had also filmed some b-roll on my own after school during dismissal. I filmed two shots while I was waiting for my bus. When I got home, I filmed an interview with my younger sister. The quality of the shot wasn't as great because my camera quality isn't that good compared to Alec's camera quality. However, my sister did give me good responses!

Research on docs viewed

 I really liked all of the documentaries that we viewed in class. I love that they all had their own stylistic theme and aesthetic. I especially liked the documentary, "Exit Through The Gift Shop". I love how all the b-roll was recorded, it was really natural and and it felt so raw. I was really inspired after I watched it. I really wanna make a documentary where all the footage has its own style. Like for example, my camera quality on my phone isn't that great and often the videos that I record don't look that pleasing when compared to an iphone's camera quality. When my partner, Alec, and I were producing our documentary on gen z slang, we mostly used his iphone to record b-roll and I used my phone's camera a few times to record a few of the interviews and some b-roll. I kind of wished that we continuously used his camera for all of the b-roll we had so that the quality of the b-roll was constant and didn't fluctuate. When we did the op-doc assignment, one of the op-docs that I watched was really beautiful with all of the b-roll that it had. I forgot it's name, but after watching it I had it clear in my mind that Alec and I had to record a lot for our documentary. I had to get some b-roll of the cypress bay students at dismissal, and in between classes. So, I recorded a pov handheld shot of walking in the hallway between classes on Alec's phone. I really liked the idea of that shot. I also recorded two shots during dismissal and I thought it looked pretty nice because none of the students were really paying any attention to me recording.

This B-roll is one of the shots that I liked for Alec and I's documentary. I mentioned it above. 

Research and planning for group documentary project

 For our planning we started by doing the outline with the planning sheet that was provided in class. We had to redo it like twice because we kept messing up. We didn't plan out our shots correctly because we misread the directions for the planning. But we eventually did it correctly. We also didn't realize we had to write out the outline in a specific format so we had to redo that too. We had to do a lot of thinking and visualizing of how we wanted the documentary to look like and to make it accurate to the style of a documentary. Mrs. Stoklosa told us that we had too much shots that were similar, so we had to change that up a little bit. So in the end, we didn't include that much footage of that type of shot. After that we had to brainstorm interview questions. I came up with five that were pretty good questions in relation to our topic, and that actually got information that we needed from the interviewees. Alec also brainstormed a few questions of his own that he thought were a little more specific than mine. In the end we used a mix of the ones we both came up with for our interviews. 

Interview questions that I came up with:

How do you feel towards gen z slang?

How would you define gen z slang?

What are some of your favorite slang words to use and why?

How often do you use them and in what context?

How does gen z slang allow for you to bond with others?

Alec's questions:

How has communication been easier or harder because of the slang?

Do you use these words over social media, and if so how?

Do you feel that gen z slang has become over saturated within school?

How does gen z slang allow for you to bond with your friends and classmates at school?

How often do you use them at school compared to out of school use?

In this interview we used my interview questions!

Transition

 Hi, I used to be in AICE Media Studies AS level last year when I was a junior. I decided to continue taking this class, so this year I am in AICE Media Studies A level as a senior. I'm really glad to be in this class and I can't wait to continue more projects throughout the school year. From this point on, everything I post on my blog will be in relation to my projects in A level.

Creative critical reflection

 

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

My product challenges my genre convention. Our genre being military fiction, our product does not abide by the genre convention. Movies that abide by it are Dunkirk, Schindler's list, and Saving Private Ryan (insert pictures of movie covers). My story is not similar. The plot does not revolve around war. It circulates around society and its government. My story also represents the social group of the military, as well as representing the societal issues that some people have in the real world in relations to the government.

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

My partner and I decided on our target audience as middle-aged men. We decided the military would be the common interest for our audience. For our production choices, we used a real JROTC uniform for our main character to attract that common interest in our target audience. The speech at the beginning of our film opening is there to grab the attention of the viewer. It fits in the line of common interest of middle-aged men. The speech does not take up that much time on the film opening either, so their attention will not waiver. It would be distributed through theaters and film festivals as as real media text.

• How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

At first my production skills were nothing compared to what they are now. Over the course of this project my editing skills have developed immensely. Before, I didn't know how to edit correctly without losing files, but now I have developed the knowledge to prevent any drastic issues from taking place during the course of my editing process. In previous projects I had the task of editing and I had to teach myself how to work Adobe Premiere Pro because I had no knowledge of how it's used. That experience led me to manipulate it better this time for the portfolio project. I discovered how to place text on videos through Adobe Premiere Pro for my credits. After exploring it a bit I got the hang of it.

• How did you integrate technologies – software, hardware and online – in this project?

I integrated technologies by using blogger to document the whole process and development of my portfolio project. Blogger was also great for planning and brainstorming ideas. For the script of our project we used Celtx (insert photo of script on Celtx). To film, we used an iPhone camera on a tripod (insert photo of tripod). For the lighting in one of our scenes we used the light of my closet door to create the lighting we desired (insert scene). As for my editing tools, I utilized Adobe Premiere Pro to edit together the entire project. 

Interview

Self- Interview