Finished!

Although it is currently 1 in the morning, we're officially done with everything! This project was not as easy as I thought, but it was a fun experience. :)

Final touches - 4/23/14

Most of our group is done with their roles now. However, Kristen had to redo the drawings and start over (artwork posted below). We're a bit nervous on how we're going to manage to finish this because we haven't put our portfolio together and Kristen isn't close to finishing the drawings. Everyone is becoming a bit stressed and crabby since the due date is approaching. Although we only have one day left, I believe that we can manage to pull this off!

Fifth meeting: Last day of filming! 4/16/14

Meeting at the park in Katie's neighborhood from 1pm-5 pm. Kristen couldn't make it, and Kristy and I arrived late, but I brought the pizza this time. Good news! Jethro figured out how to put three Dantes in one frame so we don't have to shoot his parts again! We filmed the last of Dante's parts and filmed Kristy's big speech at the end. However, filming her speech took a while because we had to take it at multiple angles and there was a lot of background noise. Additionally, Dante had to leave early due to a doctors appointment, so we were a bit rushed at the end. We had one of our friends from Mrs. Fenstermaker's class and Katie's little sister help us film the dance scene at the end. Finally done with filming! We just need to put the portfolio together and finish editing the movie. Overall, this meeting was successful; we didn't get off task as much and we were filming things much faster than in the beginning. Filming the movie was the most fun experience of this project!

Fourth meeting: second day of filming! 4/15/14

Meeting at the park in Katie's neighborhood from 1 pm-6 pm. Dante couldn't make it because of a swim meet and Kristen was late. Jethro realized that editing three Dante's into one frame would be harder than we thought, and said that we should re-film all of Dante's parts. This meant that our first day of filming was a complete waste. However, we did film almost all of the girls' scenes today. Katie did all of the girls' hair, who knew she had so much talent with 50s hairdos! We still need to do Kristy's speech and parts of Dante's characters. Early in the afternoon, we ran into another group from Mrs. Fenstermaker's class and helped them film one of their scenes. Because Jethro decided to change the way he was going to edit the film, we decided to film a few parts of our movie again. Acting was a bit hard at first since a lot of us kept laughing and messing up our lines, but later on it got easier and we messed up less. To be honest, we could easily tell that we were a bit nervous, since this was all our first time acting. Overall, a productive meeting today, but we could have got more done if we didn't mess up our lines so many times. Time is running out, but I'm sure we'll manage to pull this off.

Third meeting: first day of filming! 4/6/14

Meeting today at the park in Katie's neighborhood from 3 pm to 7 pm. We filmed the majority of Dante's parts today (Lucentio, Hortensio, and a bit of Petruchio). We also filmed some of Jethro's and Kristen's parts as GusGus and Jaq. However, the set-up took longer than expected. We had so many props and had to re-create a banquet. Setting up the banquet table took about an hour. By the time we started filming, it was already the evening and the sun was beginning to set. Nevertheless, this pushed us to work faster and more efficiently. We didn't realize how long and tedious filming was, so we didn' t get to film any of Katie's, Kristy's, Jaein's, or my part. In the beginning, Dante had trouble memorizing his lines and talking in the right tone. As we filmed more and more of his lines, he became more relaxed and sounded much better on camera. Jethro was our camera man, and Katie was the boss lady. She was giving instructions on what to do and once again, taking leadership. She made sure everyone stayed on task, and that no one had any issues with each other. Therefore, we had no arguments today. She sure makes a fine director! Since the other girls weren't being filmed today, we just helped out in any way we could, such as holding up the sign for the actors to read off of, or recording when Jethro had to be on camera. Overall, this was a successful meeting, and we got a lot of filming done today. Hopefully next time setting up won't take as long, so we can get into filming right away. Everyone showed up today, but Kristen and I had to leave early. 

Goodwill shopping trip! 4/5/14

After searching through our closets and wardrobes, the girls realized that we don't have any 50s clothing, besides a dress Kristy can wear for her character. Therefore, Katie, Jaein, Kristen, and I had to go buy our outfits. We decided to be thrifty and shop at Goodwill. Our shopping trip was from 3 pm to 5 pm. Who knew shopping for 50s clothing was so difficult? A few days ago, Kristen sent us an email with pictures of typical 1950s dresses, so we were on the look out for anything that seemed similar to that style. However, we obviously had high expectations, and were disappointed when we got there. The clothing they had was very simple and seemed very modern. Jaein and I found plain knee-length dresses and polka-dot cardigans to wear on top. We were hoping for polka-dot dresses since people in the 50s wore similar styles, but a polka-dot cardigan would have to suffice. For Kristen, we found a polka-dot shirt and white skirt, and for Katie, we found a black shawl and black skirt. After trying on all the clothing, we went to pay, but we did not realize how much clothing we got. The grand total turned out to be around $50! That did not sound thrifty at all to me! As a result, we had to take some clothes out of our purchase and use what we had at home. We ended up buying the two dresses, two cardigans, the shawl, and the polka-dot shirt. This added up to be $37. We did not expect to spend that much money at a thrift store. Nevertheless, we are now ready to start filming!

Second meeting 3/30/14

We had a meeting at Jaein's house today at 2 pm in order to revise our script. Unfortunately, Kristen couldn't make it today, and Kristy didn't show up until 4:30, so she brought us pizza in order for us to forgive her. Jethro came up with the idea to make our script Disney Princess themed, instead of just Cinderella. However, he added that we would have to trash our current script and start over. After a few minutes of contemplating his suggestion, we all agreed to not use his idea, and just revise what we have. In order to add more Cinderella aspects to our script, we added the shoe (glass slipper) scene and the midnight scene. It took us a few hours, but we finished revising the script. Now it sounds much more original! However, we could have been able to finish faster if we didn't goof off as much. It took us longer to focus, and we were easily distracted at Jaein's house. Hopefully, next time we learn our lesson, or else it may be costly.

Problems with our script - 3/24/14

Today, in Language Arts class, Jaein pointed out that we based our script too heavily off of the actual The Taming of the Shrew play. We all realized that we just changed the words from the play to 1950s slang, and didn't really make our script original. Additionally, she also suggested that we incorporate more of the Cinderella theme into our script. Currently, the only Cinderella aspect we have in our script is the combined The Taming of the Shrew and Cinderella character names (e.g. Katherella or Bianastasia) because we thought we were not supposed have any part of the Cinderella story in our script. She also criticized the amount of 1950s slang we had in our script. She said that it made our script really hard to understand because no one would know the meaning of the slang. As a result, we agreed to have a meeting at her house on Sunday (3/30/14) to revise our script.

First meeting - 3/22/14

Meeting at 1:30 p.m at Kristy's house. Jaein couldn't make it, and Jethro's was late because his pizza took too long to heat up. Dante can only stay for an hour because he has to go to his brother's basketball game. We were very productive today; we didn't have any arguments or conflicts. Everyone got along well, and we were able to finish the rough draft of our script. Katie (our director) definitely took leadership today. She was on a roll and wrote the majority of the script. Jethro (our producer) also contributed a lot by adding in the Shakespeare and 1950s slang into the script. Kristy (our historian), Kristen (our artistic designer), and I (the blogger) all took turns helping Jethro add the slang, and helped write Kristy's dramatic speech at the end. Dante (our linguist) had to leave early, so he couldn't contribute much today. Throughout this meeting, we also planned out certain aspects of our video and where we are going to shoot it. Overall, this was a successful meeting, and everyone who stayed the entire time worked hard without causing any conflicts.