HOW IS IT ALREADY WEEK 7??! CCR CENTRAL: QUESTION #2! YOUR HOST: A SLIGHTLY LESS SICK EMI

 Heeyyyaa friends! :D Happy officially the second to last week of this project!! Bro time FLIES. It literally felt like yesterday when I made that transition post...BUT IT'S BEEN 2 MONTHS??? HELLO???? Anyway I'm happy to be back here :D I've had a pretty awesome day today, CRAZY FOR A MONDAY!!

(Cambridge i made this first half on a monday sorey if i threw you off again lolz)

 I had a nice relaxing day of school followed by an art club meeting that I was low key very unhinged at (in a good way) due to my everlasting sickness.....GUYS I KEPT COUGHING, ALL DAY EVERYDAY GUYS IT WOULDN'T STOP

COUGH COUGH COUGGHHH COUGHITY COUGH COUGH

CCCCCCCCCCCCCOOOUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHH 

(^^^me rn)

SO!!! CCR TIME!! THAT'S OUR TOPIC!! HELL YEAH!! If you remember from last time, I talked all about my overall idea for the 1st CCR video and shared the first part of the script answering the 1st question out of 2! And so that meansss DING DING DING!! YOU'RE RIGHT! Today is going to be all about CCR question 2!! :D So without further to do, let's get right into it!!

For the thumbnail!!! (me rn) 

(me rn) (me rn)

(me rn)

WHAT A LONG DAY IT HAS BEEN: EXPANDED IDEA AND THE EXPANDED SCRIPT! BECAUSE CREATIVITY!! YAY! 

SO!!! Last media class, my teacher has made a grand announcement that truly knocked my socks off....ready?? You're not ready bro watch

Our CCR's have to be creative :(

I KNOW RIGHT???? UGH!!! HOW DARE IT??! 

As you already know (if ur a dedicated blog reader of mine), my idea for the first CCR video was an unboxing fan mail video taking inspiration mostly from CoryxKenshin's similar content, starring a super famous actress Emi! Sadly though, this is a thing that very much exists on the internet and therefore has been seen many times (sadface). Ever since this realization, I've been silently stressing about these CCR's along with my other things, and so I must find a way to create an even more original product here and now on this blog to make the voices that haunt my very soul every single day go away :D YAYYYY!!!!

 BUT!!! DON’T FRET!! Literally absolutely nothing in this whole wide world is entirely original so I have some hope here! I need to find a way to make this idea not a copy and paste one but one with my own original flare and design!! Knowing myself, I’ll think I’ll be able to make this idea my own in one way or another :D HELL YEAH!!

COOL BEANS!! HOW ARE YOU GOING TO DO THAT? :0

guys im going to sleep I'll be right back nighty night 

OKIE DOKIE IM BACK!! guys its been such a logn week

So! This idea! Thankfully I have decided to include not only just letters from fans, but also actual gifts from my hypothetical fans; But I'm still thinking of ways to totally "emify" a fan mail unboxing video and I think I have a few decent proposals. To start off, today I thought to myself, what makes me, me?? It took me a second, but after maybe a single car ride to Flanigan's (the best restaurant in the world mind you), I came up with a number of stuffs :D:

WHAT MAKES EMI, EMI??

-ART!! (DRAWWWINGGG!!!! and painting sometimes :D

-ART!! (music version) (saxophone) (doot doot)

-PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE (purple) (PURRRRPPLEEEE!!)

a collection of purple items I had on me during school today (edit made on Fri(yay)  3/14/25 (pie day)

-TMNT! (the obsession only grows)

-COMIC BOOKS! the amount of actual books I read is concerning (by that I mean the number is very little BAHAHAHHAHA who said that)

-VIDEO GAMES! Whenever I can (mostly on breaks because school kicks my ass), I sit myself down and PLAY!!! (fav games are listed on the side) (guys should I play marvel rivals) I''m looking forward to doing so this spring break!! YAY!

-PLUSHIES! (I have a whole treasure chest and then some filled with them)

And yeah that's all I got for now :D!

Taking all these things into consideration, I thought for a moment how I was going to implement these things and after a second my silly scatterbrain was all like "YO EMI! THE SET! MAKE IT LIKE..MAKE IT YOU!!" and then I was all like "yo wait that's actually fire I may do just that!" I know I'm supposed to talk about production set in other post BUT LEMME JUST MENTION IT REAL QUICK! 

As said in the script, throughout the video, I'm supposed to be sitting on a bean bag in my game room and stuff, and yeah that's pretty awesome! I consider myself to be a strong bean bag aficionado so that works just fine, but how about some decoration? That would make it all 10x more awesome! I have a number of plushies in my room that I could move there, like my big Pikachu and Blinky the ghost (from Pacman) plushie....AND A LOT MORE that I totally cannot remember at the moment because there are just so many. Maybe I should put plushies on the "What makes Emi, Emi?" list now that I think about it...

Along with all the amazing plushies, I'm also thinking in depth about what exactly to put inside each of the boxes themselves too! As I've seen in CoryxKenshin's videos, a number of fans love to send fanart! And you already know about my love for art! So guess who's drawing all of the fanart! MEEE!!! I'm going to be sure to draw each fanart in a different style so it won't be redundant and repetitive and stuff so YAY! More work to do but that doesn't matter because it's not math or lang homework so I'll be happy :D! 

Apart from fanart,  I'm also thinking of including things in the boxes from my specific interests like TMNT, sonic, spider-man...YOU NAME IT!!! I have a plethora of items from each of these things including but not limited to t-shirts, comic books, funko pops, socks, sweatshirts, stickers, beanie, pins, posters, OH COB, YOU NAME IT!!! The reaction that I will have to this stuff is going to be very similar and almost on the same level to the reactions I have in real life, here wait let me summarize my reaction to receiving a TMNT beanie for Christmas: AHHAFAHSFASFAHFHASFGUAUDGFASHFGASGF GOMGEROHNEWUOGBAEYIGJKMEA

Guys I just recorded grunting noises for the opener in the middle of a hallway isn't that so cool and awesome   (edit made on Fri(yay)  3/14/25 (pie day)

emi caveman? (edit made on Fri(yay)  3/14/25 (pie day)

I'm also thinking about wearing an outfit that will be the actual embodiment of myself, but that's not at the upmost importance for now, WE WILL COME BACK!!

 As of right now, I feel like everything will be alright with this first CCR, I'm going to style things up with set design, include some of my own original art, and OH I HAVEN'T MENTIONED THIS YET but I have a little skit at the beginning of the video to serve as a baller introduction! I have a feeling everything will be just fine :)

The real big bad however, is the second video.........I told you all before that it was going to be a professional-like interview, but I HAVE TO ADD THE FLARE!!! As the day goes on, I'm going to continue to think up of ways to "emify" this interview or maybe come up with a new idea altogether! WE WILL SEE! AND IT WILL BE DONE SO SOON! BECAUSE THE LOOMING DEADLINE IS LIKE RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW IN THIS ROOM WITH ME READY TO POUNCE AT ANY MOMENT!!!!!! 

guys I just laughed really hard in class and coughed like an old man with chronic tuberculosis it was really funny  (edit made on Fri(yay)  3/14/25 (pie day)

nico is currently swooning over young stalin  (edit made on Fri(yay)  3/14/25 (pie day)

OKAY WE ARE BACK!!! Now that I have expanded on my idea, I will now share with you all my expanded script! In here, I answered question 2 of the CCR, how does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text?

BIG ANNOUNCMENT/DISCLAIMER/WARNING/WHATEVER!!! LIKE REALLY BIG!!!! 

OUR FILM'S NAME HAS OFFICIALLY BEEN CHANGED TO DEATH WEARS A DRESS!!! DEATH WEEAARSSS A DRESSS!!!!! thank you :DD

Here's a screenshot from Renn further proving this has happened:

ALRIGHT, SCRIPT TIME!!

EMI is sitting on her main desk, the chair turned back to face the camera

EMI: Hello everyone, Emi here! It is officially now a week until my big interview with Vanity Fair where I talk all about the film I produced for and starred in, Death is No Friend! So because of this, I thought I could make today’s vlog all about choosing the best outfit and-

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!

EMI’S totally real roommate: YO EMI! I GOT AN INSANE AMOUNT OF SHIT FROM THE MAILBOX JUST NOW AND I THINK THEY’RE FOR YOU, PLEASE OPEN THE DOOR.

Door opens and a bunch of boxes get dropped on the floor

EMI picks up one of the boxes and looks at the camera

EMI: (laughs) You serious??

NEW SETTING! Another room (my game room) with a red bean bag on the side

Boxes get dropped and EMI sits down on bean bag

EMI (humorous tone):  So uh..clearly, a lot has come in the past month. You guys are wild. (she lays out her hands towards the boxes) LIKE LOOK AT THIS!

EMI: I genuinely did not expect this to come up, but yes, I have got an absolute overflow of mail from you guys…so guess what we are going to do first instead?? YOU GUESSED IT! ITS FAN MAIL TIME! However, I'm only going to unbox about 4 of these boxes because I still got outfit business to take care of right after this! So with that being said, lets get on with it!

EMI pulls out a box

EMI: First up, we got Ryan from California!

EMI opens the box and reacts to each thing Ryan sent which includes: Fanart, a plushie, and then the letter.

EMI (reading Ryan’s letter): Yooo Emi!! Love your vids and movies!! Death Wears a Dress was an absolute banger and your performance was outstanding!

By the way, I got a question for ya. I got inspired to make a film of my own and figured you might know a thing or two!

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

Thanks so much!

EMI: Of course Ryan! Thank you for all the awesome gifts!

“Death Wears a Dress” follows a good amount of conventions while also challenging huge parts of em! A number of Western films have the common theme of moral ambiguity, which basically means they feature situations and conflicts that really question who is in the right and in the wrong. So it’s no surprise we chose to do it ourselves with our plot by asking the question: Is Charlotte truly in the wrong for murdering her boss out of self defense? Or would she be considered evil and a criminal?

With visual conventions, Western films most of the time have their main characters wear the iconic cowboy hat and outfit, completed with boots! In our film, Charlotte sports a black cowboy hat, red vest, brown pants, and black boots, all of which provide meaning to her character and screams to all, “HEY! YOU’RE WATCHING A WESTERN FILM!”

We also challenge a huge convention in Western films by having a female protagonist!! YAYY!! Most, if not almost all Western films star male protagonists who are typically characterized as individualistic, tough, and rugged; women however, are barely acknowledged, and if they are, they are mostly portrayed as the “damsel in distress” or “saloon girl.” This representation can reinforce the subordination of women and patriarchal norms, which isn’t very awesome. Our film, however, stars a woman who takes on the predominantly male cowboy role...CHARLOTTE!

As for representing social groups, by using gender performativity theory, which basically says that gender is socially constructed, instead of her being a damsel in distress or any other harmful stereotype, our opener will portray Charlotte as a capable, independent, and tough individual. This choice will challenge the gender barrier that most Westerns have and will have the chance to normalize these roles for women, further influencing societal expectations to be more accepting of them!

Regarding her costume, we decided to have Charlotte wear brown pants and a deep red vest. The pants are meant to defy gender norms that were especially present in the 1800’s, and the vest is meant to convey her strength, establishing that she is not one to be messed with!

EMI: Alright onto the next one…

EMI grabs next box

EMI: Here we got Leandro from Ohio! Let’s see whats up.

EMI opens the box and reacts to each thing Leandro sent, which include: Sonic lego set, Sonic rubber duck, Sonic shirt, and the letter.

EMI (reading Leandro’s letter): Heyo Emi! I’m Leandro and I really like your content almost as much as I love Sonic. (I really like Sonic). I’m really looking forward to that big interview you got next week, and will forsure be the first viewer! Also, I got a question regarding your most recent film, Death Wears a Dress, and it would be so awesome if you answer:

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

I appreciate it :)

EMI: Hell yeah Leandro! Thank you for all the Sonic stuff, they will definitely be put into use! Now to answer your question! The typical western target audience consists of older, middle aged men due to prominent masculine themes such as action, violence, and greed with another main factor of appeal in western films being their vast landscapes and nature! However, since the 1960’s,the popularity of traditional Western films has been going downhill due to the genre being outdated and competition with other genres like drama, action, and crime.

A Fistful of Dollars (1964)

To spice things up and appeal to more contemporary younger audiences as well, we decided to challenge the male dominated role of the cowboy by making our main character a woman! A cowgirl!! Our film interacts with these audiences through the theme of moral ambiguity while also including violence throughout as well! Taking the rest of these appeals into consideration, we decided to incorporate multiple long shots of Charlotte trudging through the wild west in our film in order to show off the setting and truly establish its Western genre, and as the viewers are older and are more likely to enjoy things reminiscent of the past, we decided to also implement old Western-like fonts to mimic the old Western films of the past!

Font we are thinking of using!

As for distributing our film as a real media text, “Death Wears a Dress” will be released on YouTube and will be displayed at the Lightning Film Festival being hosted by our school on April 4th, and the Gateway Cinema at Fort Lauderdale! We want to reach a wider audience than our target, so it only makes sense to make it available on YouTube and in person events attracting younger and older audiences alike!

EMI'S SUPER AWESOME CONCLUSION!

GUYS HOLY CRAP THE WEEK IS ALMOST OVER. I'm genuinely so very incredibly sorry for not posting until today my super awesome blog readers (sad face) I've had quite the eventful and homework filled week. Since AICE and EOC exams are coming up, most of my classes are going crazy with the work load at the moment and GAGERHAGHRAEGH but not you aice media I love u aice media 

SO! SOME EVENTS TODAY!!!

Today was the notorious concert band MPA day, and OH MAN it's been quite a long day. Emi what the freak is concert MPA? It's basically just a music assessment, like you go perform at another school with your band to receive ratings from a bunch of highly esteemed band directors and YEAH! It's pretty cool :D The ratings are in this order: poor, fair, good, excellent, and superior!! Guess what the Cypress Bay Wind Ensemble got???? you can never guess 

STRAIGHT SUPERIORS!!!!!!! WOOOHOOOOOOOOO!!!! 

Here is some lovely multimedia of our performance, with one pov video of me playing the march and NOT the overtures because they are a gazillion years long but just pretend you heard them and thought they sounded really awsome and amazing! YAY! 

SONG 1: THE WILD ONE!

After concert MPA, I went back to my lovely home and immediately took a shower and put on some clothes (and worked a bit on this blog post) because my brother, dad and I were gonna go to FLANIGANNNSSSS!!!!!!!!!!! OHOHOOHOHOH YEAHHHHHH!! If you know me well, you KNOW that I absoluetly ADORE Flanigan ribs to an unhealthy degree. I have this thing that I do on my end of year Instagram posts where I post a picture of a full rack of Flanigan ribs and then another of the same thing but completely EATEN! Just gotta show the world how much I love them >:D!!!!

i don't play guys

live footage

ANYWAY HOLY CARP I NEED TO FINISH THIS BLOG!!!! I'm deadass when I say I've been working on this thing the whole week SO I MUST FINISH. LIKE NOW. I NEED TO MOVE ON!!!!!!! So with that, I will now leave and go SLEEP!!! Goodnight/whatever time it is for you, super awesome blog readers!! See you real soon! :DDDDD

THE PRODUCTION CHRONICLES, THE FINALE: EXTRA PROPS THAT WERE PROVEN USEFUL AND FILMING DAY 2!

DISSSSCLAIMER: IGNORE THE OUT OF ORDER-NESS!! I HAD TO WAIT A SEC UNTIL FILMING DAY 2 TO FINISH!!! okay u may read now :333

Hola amigos! Como estan? :D (hello friends how are you in Spanish for the English lads) Welcome to week 6 of blog postings! I've had quite the slow and little exhausting day today. I had to make up a geometry test earlier and it was kinda scary if I'm being honest BAHHAHAH I know geometry isn't that bad most of the time (except right now, I am not a fan of this circle chapter someone save me), but this test had a plethora of word problems and fill in the blanks...TERRIFYING, I KNOW! But I luckily ended with a score of 90!! YAY FOR ME!

SO! What's today's topic??? EXTRA PROPS AND FILMING DAY 2! Today is Tuesday and the rest of my group is coming tonight from STN, so we are most likely going to film our missing shots around this weekend! So for right now, present day Tuesday Emi will be talking about extra props that were proven to be useful on filming day 1, and then future around the weekend Emi will tap in and talk about filming day 2! So with all that being said, VAMONOS! (LET'S GO!!!)

For the thumbnail!! (dead ahh boss) (dead ahh boss) (dead ahh boss)

(dead ahh boss)

PART 1: EXTRA PROPS THAT WERE PROVEN USEFUL! 

YOUR HOST: TUESDAY EMI

PROP NO. 1, THE CROSS:  I talked about this prop briefly a few posts ago, but since it's about time to talk about these improv props, I'm going to go more in detail :D! On filming day 1, some improvisation had to be involved with some shots like the flower scene and grabbing the cross scene. But WHAT IF! WHAT IFFF!! What if I told you we improvised with a certain very important last minute prop! SOCKS KNOCKED OFF, I KNOW!!!

  

me right now!! (internally) (externally, I'm staring into space with baggy eyes)

A little while after our super awesome lunch break (Guys I ate a sandwich did you know that I ate a sandwich, it was hella guys the sandwich was fire), Nico, Renn, and I were standing around the area where we poured out the dirt, while Zach was out filming a flock of black birds. Nico then started expressing his idea of adding a cross of some sorts to the grave to add some visual interest and we thought it was a pretty awesome idea! 

I personally wondered where we were going to get a cross for a moment, until all of the sudden, I saw Nico going over to the nearest tree with our shovel prop to chop off some dead sticks. I then followed my built in teenage instincts and pulled out my phone to film it, and when I watched it once I got home, I thought to myself: "EMI!!! EMI!! EMII!!! EMIIII!!! INCLUDE THIS IN ONE OF YOUR PROD POSTS!" So now because I must remain true to myself, here's step 1 of building a super awesome cross:

ACQUIRE STICKS!

Right after Nico got the sticks, he used the shovel once more to perform stick surgery, meaning he took off the parts that wouldn't be useful in forming a cross. We then put the sticks in a cross formation and used the rope we had to tie them up together! In order to not use the whole rope, we used my dad's pocket knife (it saved our lives once again) (love ya dad). After following those steps, we successfully made a believable looking cross! This last minute decision really made the final walking away from the burial shot look a lot more visually appealing and can also serve as a way to convey Charlotte's character more, representing her religiousness and grief for murdering her boss. YAY!! Thank you cross for all that you do >:D 

 

PROP NO.2: THE BANDANA: This was initially implemented in my costume so I can cover my face while walking up the hill, but unfortunately it was quite the windy day (rip my hair), so I ended up just leaving it around my neck. When filming the digging scenes, we decided to use this bandana to emphasize the fact that Charlotte is hard at work in the steaming wild west and is therefore sweating buckets! I was directed to take off the bandana and wipe my face after digging, and it came out well and made the opener feel a bit more realistic and Western like! :D Thank you bandana!

BANDANA BEING APPLIED!

                                                                        

NOT A PROP BUT THIS WAS ALSO A NICE TOOL: I genuinely did not expect Renn to pull out this thingy, so when he did, I was all like :0000!!! He then explained to me that like the bandana did, the bottle is going to be used to pull off the effect of sweat, making the opener feel a bit more realistic as Charlotte has indeed made a long journey across the harsh wild west, so of course she is going to sweat buckets! It would be pretty strange if she didn't    (ﾟ∀ﾟ).

 Using this spray bottle, I have been blasted with water countless of times throughout production to keep the sweating buckets effect in check! Because of this, the front of my hair got quite wet, and I think that did add well to the sweaty look so YAY!!

ME WITH THE SPRAY BOTTLE!

 (yo renn if u seeing this lmk if u want the bottle back BAAHAHHA i forgor) (skull emoji)

Also fun fact: when we finished filming, Zach and Nico wanted to wash their hands with the spray bottle (that Renn totally didn't forget) water because by the end, all of our hands were drenched with dirt and probably had covid ultra million nine thousand on them. YAY! So I got the bottle, opened it, and poured it on their hands, and sooner than later, their hands were clearer than my future! HELLA!!

That's all from Tuesday (and totally not Wednesday (wensday)) Emi! Now time to pass it on to around the weekend Emi! CYA!!

PART 2: FILMING DAY 2!

YOUR HOST: AROUND THE WEEKEND EMI, STILL SICK BUT WE UPPPP

Hello everyone, Sunday (sick) Emi here!! I'm proud to say that today my group and I went back out to Vista View Park to film missing and additional shots! YAY!! Thing's went pretty quick and smoothly, and we now officially have 100% of the shots done! (that I at least know of) YAY!! 

Nico, Zach, and I arrived at the park at about 11:30 am in order to avoid the lovely morning runners, meaning we didn't have to wait, YAYYYY! Once we got there, we began filming a new shot of Charlotte walking to the burial site while holding the cross so we can have a nice transition to the shot of her digging it to the ground to prevent any awkward cuts. I was directed to step right in front of the camera and walk straight and then slightly right towards the burial area and it maaayyy have took a few takes to get that scene done right because I could not walk straight BAHAHAHAH (story of my life). 

The walking shot turned out really nice and successfully connects with the digging in the cross scene! :D

(those are my pants)

After filming that additional shot, we then filmed a few shots of me digging and then grabbing my cross necklace and twisting and turning it and all that good stuff :D We also re-shot the close up shot of Charlotte grabbing her cross because it was WAYYYY too close bro like you could see my pores and mitochondria cells look check it out:

OLD

NEW (so crisp holy shat)

Here is Zach filming me grabbing the cross necklace after sticking the shovel on the ground! Might I add, THE WIND WAS INSUFFERABLE GUYS AARGRGHHGHGH GHGHHW wait watch the video first before I start my unhinged rant over natural weather conditions:

 As a person with long hair, windy days take away little parts of my soul and crumble my sanity slowly but surely. During all of filming my hair was all like WOOOSHSHHH WOOSHY WOOSH WOOSSH, IM GONNA GO THIS WAY! AND THEN THAT WAY! AND THEN ALL THE WAYS EVER!!! And I was all like, "AAAHGGGGGRHHAAAAA GET OUT OF HERE YOU MOTHER FU

it was truly painful guys.

But the wind luckily did not affect the amazing quality of the shots we were able to get today! Including this next one!! We finished off filming by getting the last and final missing shot we needed for the past two weeks, and that is the one where Charlotte takes out a picture of Phillip! I unfolded and held the picture, and Zach filmed from behind my shoulder, getting a good close up of the picture and a bit of my hair that was getting obliterated by the wind. YAY!!

PHILLIP MENTIONED!!

We have officially finished filming needed shots after filming the photo scene, and so all we had left to do was get some foley sounds of digging with a shovel! To get this sound, I grabbed the shovel and repeatedly shoved it on the ground, with a mic in front used to explicitly capture the sound, until told to stop. Here's a video of us doing just that! Check it :3

After successfully getting this super awesome sound, we finally finished it all and retreated back to our resting place, the bench. But it wasn't time to relax just yet, oh no, no, NO!! IT WAS PROMO SHOT TIME!! The first area was at one of the benches, and I was directed to sit there while holding the shovel down and look like a total badass! YAY! The second area was on the hill top I was told to just stand in a super cool manner while holding my shovel looking out into the horizon, ready for anything coming my way. I saw some of the pictures on Zach's camera, they are yet to be sent, BUT THEY LOOK SOOOO COOL. Don't get surprised if I make it my profile picture for everything mwehahahahahhahahahah >:DD

Check out these bts pictures!! Once I get the actual ones, I'll put them right here in this blog :D YAY!

BENCH!

HILL!

And that would be all for filming day 2 everyone! :D Even if it was short, I still had a super awesome time out there and survived whilst being under the weather! Throat was hurtin, nose was a bit clogged, BUT SHE DID IT!

YAY FOR EMI!! She's my favorite actress guys

EMI'S SUPER AWESOME CONCLUSION!

WOOOHOOOO!! LET'S HEAR IT FOR COMPLETING WEEK 6!! I really can't believe there are only two weeks left to go of this project (She said with a somber tone), I'm truly going to miss it once it's over (She said once again with a somber tone). But for now, I must make the most of the last two weeks and begin focusing on the CCR! So definitely stay tuned for next week :D

As for now, I must drink water and begin scheduling for the next two weeks ahead of me, because being honest I am a little kinda sorta nervous for the CCR's and want (and definitely need) enough time to film and edit (ESPECIALLY EDIT) and finish creating something I'm proud of before the looming date of March 25th. OOOOO THE HEEBIE JEEBIES!!! But I know myself, and one thing I do well is persevere through busy/hard times AND I'M READY TO DO SO! BRING IT ON! (please don't kill me though) (I'm sick) (that's a good excuse right)

With all of that being said, I shall now leave you all until the first post of week 7! Goodnight amigos! Or buenos dias, or tardes, night, evening, golden hour, dusk, dawn, sundown, HEELLLL YEAH!!

IT'S ALREADY CCR TIME??! CCR CENTRAL: QUESTION #1! YOUR HOST: A SICK EMI

 Hello all! I am back! I have just survived a very long week and it is now a calm and peaceful Saturday night, exactly what I needed all this time! 

Before we start, I have some not so hella news for you all...

I'm sick :(( 

Today I woke up with insane fatigue and a sore throat, so you already know I grabbed my jug and drank as much water as I could! All of today, I've been a little sluggish, but still used all the brain and will power I had left in me to create a decent idea for my CCR! I also drove around Weston with my dad and did pretty well, and watched Mamma Mia (the movie) with my parents! Pretty awesome day :D even if I was internally dying!

So as you probably already figured, this post is going to be all about question #1 for the Creative Critical Reflection (CCR) which is basically just a reflection answering 4 important questions that will require me to take a step back, analyze, and explain our choices made for our opener. I'll be telling you all about my idea for the 1st part of the reflection, then the research made for it, and then to top it all off: the script! So with all that being said, VAMONOS AMIGOS!

For the thumbnail! Three super awesome alter egos in one! >:D

SICK ASF BUT WE UP: SCRIPT AND IDEA! IDEA AND SCRIPT! SCRIPT AND

Being so incredibly honest right now, it took me a solid almost I think 2 hours to fully come up with an idea for the 1st CCR video. At first, I thought of doing a talk show, but then I was all like "nahhhh" because to be honest, I would only like to feature myself in the CCR'S as working with another person can take up time, and filming could only be done on specific days and times that may not work for me and the CCR needs to be done pronto! I also said "nahhhh" to this idea because even if I didn't work with another person, and a different version of myself acted as the host, I don't really like the idea of making the camera switch back and forth from host Emi to famous actress Emi.

Guys I think I have a fever I feel myself heating up help

So then after saying "nahhhh" to the talk show idea, I then thought about doing an interview while in character; like instead of me answering the questions, it would be Charlotte! But then my archnemesis, Overthinking Emi, came and was all like "bro how would she even know about the fact that she was in a movie? You would have to break the 4th wall and shit, and then multi universes will break out, and then the world would explode, AND THEN THE UNIVERS

I need water

AND THEN THE UNIVERSE WOULD EXPLODE!" So then that made me be all like, "oh crud you're right dude, that doesn't make sense...WHAT SHOULD I DO???

I then spent almost an hour watching CCR videos from the past to gather inspiration and quiet down the voices. After watching some and thinking to myself for a moment, I got an idea and thought it was the one: ME WITH A SUIT AND SUNGLASSES ON WHILE DOING A PRESENTATION SHOWN ON MY GAMEROOM TV wait no that would low key be boring and you would probably need a green screen and you don't want to do that, because editing is hard and and and SCRAPPED!!

After walking around my room in circles aimlessly while listening to Pop Rocks by Cherry Hencefox (guys this song has genuinely been stuck in my head all day please save me), a little light bulb popped in my silly scatterbrain and said: "EMI EMI EMI EMIII BRO, YOU KNOW HOW LIKE SOME YOUTUBERS AND INFLUENCERS AND STUFF DO UNBOXING FAN MAIL VIDEOS??!!! HOLY CARPY WHAT IF YOU DO THAT??!?" 

And then I was all like, "YES" and searched up unboxing videos for inspiration! I then came across a video made by one of my favorite YouTubers ever of all time in the history of the world: CORYXKENSHIN!! He has a series of unboxing videos and I immediately saved them to my "CCR CENTRAL" playlist. 

THESE VIDEOS PLUS MANY MORE ARE GOING TO PLAY A BIG PART IN MY CCR PROCESS!! YAY!! (shoutout to the goat cxk)

From Cory's content, I found out that in unboxing videos, fans usually don't only just send letters, but also a number of other goodies!! These include but are not limited to: posters, fanart, paintings, books, (swedish fish), shirts, sweaters, figurines, plushies, dream catchers, and even katanas. I KNOW RIGHT??! So from my findings, I got a whole soup of ideas and decided to not only make famous actress Emi read letters that ask profound questions, but also unbox and react to other goodies that were sent to her, because, y'know, FUN!!! I love having fun guys!!

OVERALL IDEA: 

So finally after 2 hours of this:

(from my ccr doc (skull emoji))

I GOT THE I guess you could say plot (?) down!! So basically, the first CCR video answering the first two questions, is going to just be famous actress Emi beginning to unbox fan mail because she has gotten a load of them over the past month; she ultimately only opens 4 because she has to get her outfit ready for the big interview she has with Vanity Fair the following week, and the video will end before she does all of that! Because time limit! As you probably already guessed, the second CCR is going to be an interview which I will further dive into another day!

With the whole process, research, and idea established, I will now present to you all my super awesome blog readers, half of the script only answering question one of the CCR: How does your product use or challenge conventions, and how does it represent social groups or issues?

OMG THE AC TURNED ON LETS GOOOO 

THE (HALF) SCRIPT:

EMI is sitting on her main desk, the chair turned back to face the camera

EMI: Hello everyone, Emi here! It is officially now a week until my big interview with Vanity Fair where I talk all about the film I produced for and starred in, Death is No Friend! So because of this, I thought I could make today’s vlog all about choosing the best outfit and-

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!

EMI’S totally real roommate: YO EMI! I GOT AN INSANE AMOUNT OF SHIT FROM THE MAILBOX JUST NOW AND I THINK THEY’RE FOR YOU, PLEASE OPEN THE DOOR.

Door opens and a bunch of boxes get dropped on the floor

EMI picks up one of the boxes and looks at the camera

EMI: (laughs) You serious??

NEW SETTING! Another room (my game room) with a red bean bag on the side

Boxes get dropped and EMI sits down on bean bag

EMI (humorous tone):  So uh..clearly, a lot has come in the past month. You guys are wild. (she lays out her hands towards the boxes) LIKE LOOK AT THIS!

EMI: I genuinely did not expect this to come up, but yes, I have got an absolute overflow of mail from you guys…so guess what we are going to do first instead?? YOU GUESSED IT! ITS FAN MAIL TIME! However, I'm only going to unbox about 4 of these boxes because I still got outfit business to take care of right after this! So with that being said, lets get on with it!

EMI pulls out a box

EMI: First up, we got Ryan from California!

EMI opens the box and reacts to each thing Ryan sent which includes: Fanart, a plushie, and then the letter.

EMI (reading Ryan’s letter): Yooo Emi!! Love your vids and movies!! Death is No Friend was an absolute banger and your performance was outstanding!

By the way, I got a question for ya. I got inspired to make a film of my own and figured you might know a thing or two!

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

Thanks so much!

EMI: Of course Ryan! Thank you for all the awesome gifts!

“Death is No Friend” follows a good amount of conventions while also challenging huge parts of em! A number of Western films have the common theme of moral ambiguity, which basically means they feature situations and conflicts that really question who is in the right and in the wrong. So it’s no surprise we chose to do it ourselves with our plot by asking the question: Is Charlotte truly in the wrong for murdering her boss out of self defense? Or would she be considered evil and a criminal?

With visual conventions, Western films most of the time have their main characters wear the iconic cowboy hat and outfit, completed with boots! In our film, Charlotte sports a black cowboy hat, red vest, brown pants, and black boots, all of which provide meaning to her character and screams to all, “HEY! YOU’RE WATCHING A WESTERN FILM!”

We also challenge a huge convention in Western films by having a female protagonist!! YAYY!! Most, if not almost all Western films star male protagonists who are typically characterized as individualistic, tough, and rugged; women however, are barely acknowledged, and if they are, they are mostly portrayed as the “damsel in distress” or “saloon girl.” This representation can reinforce the subordination of women and patriarchal norms, which isn’t very awesome. Our film, however, stars a woman who takes on the predominantly male cowboy role...CHARLOTTE!

As for representing social groups, by using gender performativity theory, which basically says that gender is socially constructed, instead of her being a damsel in distress or any other harmful stereotype, our opener will portray Charlotte as a capable, independent, and tough individual. This choice will challenge the gender barrier that most Westerns have and will have the chance to normalize these roles for women, further influencing societal expectations to be more accepting of them!


Regarding her costume, we decided to have Charlotte wear brown pants and a deep red vest. The pants are meant to defy gender norms that were especially present in the 1800’s, and the vest is meant to convey her strength, establishing that she is not one to be messed with!

EMI'S SUPER AWESOME CONCLUSION:

WOOOHOO!! I officially finished my first CCR blog! I am internally very happy, but externally I look like this:

me rn

live footage

Apologies if this blog was a little unhinged, my sore throat and developing fever were affecting my sanity throughout, but WE ARE SO UP RIGHT NOW!! After fleshing out my idea, I have become very excited to begin filming this first CCR very soon, and even if I'm still sick by the time I film, SO BE IT!! It'll be just fineeeeeee. 

Thank you all for sticking around during this post! I must now drink water, stay up for a bit, and go to sleep! Tomorrow is officially day 2 of filming, so that means NEW BLOG POST! Stay tuned :D For now, buenas noches or buenos dias or buenas tardes, dusk, dawn, YEAAUHHHH!!!!

POST PROD PARTE DOS: RECORDING RECORDDDINGGG!!! (editing part 2)

 Good morning or whatever time it is for you super awesome blog readers! :D HAPPY FRI(YAY)!! I'm so stoked for the weekend, I swear this week has been the longest/fastest of my life. I'm currently in first period and finished all of my work, so HERE I AM! About to write for you all :D Today we are going to talk some more about editing as yesterday we recorded the voice overs!! VAMONOS!!

For the thumbnail! :D They're running away from bounty hunters isn't that so awesome

RECORDING RECORDDINGGG!!!!

So yesterday in media, the only thing we had to do in class were the blog posts; so with that, our group decided to go record the VO to get it out of the way! To get good quality audio, we went to the TV room's recording studio and stayed there for a good 30 or so minutes as we did multiple takes for both lines we had to record! 

In the script, it's written that Charlotte has 4 lines of VO, but we temporarily decided to not include the last two because it might give too much of the plot away. This choice can change, but for now until further notice, that's how it's going to be :D!

ALL THE LINES! The last two are not going to be recorded for now :))

The recording session went pretty well! :D I was directed to say my lines with conviction and an almost pondering tone, and I had a not so difficult time doing so! In the first take of the first line, I delivered it just fine, but at the end of the recording, my breath was like WOOOOSSHHHH, and that didn't sound so hella. After the second/third takes, I was told to say the line with more conviction and to maybe separate each word a bit more, and the next take ended up being the best one! YAY!! For the second line, I had the same direction, and was told to say "die" with a ponderous and almosttt dramatic tone. Eventually, we got a pretty solid recording for both of the lines and Zach put them into Premiere Pro to test it out! Check it :))

VO RESULTS!! Hella right :DD

I'm proud to say we are getting closer to finishing up the editing process! The only thing left we need to do with this opener is film some reshoots and missing shots on filming day 2, which will be this Sunday!! :D YAY!! So happy to put on my awesome costume again >:DD!!

EMI'S SUPER AWESOME CONCLUSION!

WWOOOAAHHHHHHH guys I think this is the first time I ever finished a blog post IN SCHOOL! CRAZY!!! First period is about to end so I must put my computer away, but in 2nd period I'll talk more!! BE RIGHT BACK!!

Hello all this is second period Emi!! Homeroom just started and I have a little minute to finally conclude. YAY!! Only 2 more periods left in the day, then afterschool band stuff, AND I'M HOME FREE!! I think when I get home, I'm gonna start thinking about what to do for the CCR because I need to make a post on that, and if I don't, I'M TOAST!! Only got 2 more days left of postings guys, I gotta make the most of it >:DD 

Anyway, I must now put away this computer, drink water, and stare off into the distance until the bell rings! See you all later, BYE BYE!!