Saturday, March 21, 2026

A-level production!

 Hello blog! Welcome to the third and final post of the week which is going to be reflecting the production process for my portfolio project which is a documentary about Latin American culture and how it influences society and creates unity within society. In this post, I’m going to be reflecting upon the first interview I conducted.

 

 I decided to ask my grandmother 2 questions based on the ones that I pondered about in previous blog posts.

 The questions are as follows: 

  • Can you elaborate on how Latin American music has changed over the decades?
  • Do you feel as if Latin American culture has an influence on creating unity within society?

 I thought these questions were appropriate to ask because she grew up listening to Latin music throughout the decades and she is well versed on Latin American culture and the topics that are being presented within my documentary. First, I started by giving her the interview questions a couple days prior because she asked to have time so she would be able to formulate the proper responses and topics that she wanted to talk about within each question response. 




 

For each question response, she went over topics that she wanted to talk about and presented them to me before filming. Then, she came to me and decided to receive feedback on how we can direct the conversation to strictly answer the question.  My response was to give a lot of examples and really show the evolution of how Latin American music has changed over the decades and how the culture has influenced on creating a community and unity within society, she did just that. The interview went very smoothly, and I began by asking her to state her name and spell it out for editing purposes, I then asked her the first question off the screen and recorded her response. The same thing follows for question 2.

 

This wraps up the production process for this week. Next week I will be getting in more interviews for my documentary and recording more B roll footage. See you next week!

Friday, March 20, 2026

A-level production!

 Hello blog! Welcome to the second post of the week which is going to be reflecting the production process for my portfolio project, which is a documentary about Latin American culture and how it influences society and creates unity within society.  In this post I’m going to be talking about an additional introduction shot that I decided to include within my documentary. In my other post, I talked about how I wanted to include a globe for my introduction, but I also decided to give myself the option of using the map that I have within my living room and see which one would work better and which one looks more professional and more formal.

 

My original idea for this shot for my introduction was to get a red thumbtack and place it on where I wanted to specify in Latin America specifically. Then, I realized that I wanted to show the entirety of Latin America and the entirety of the globe and how I’m focusing on one specific niche which is Latin America. Since this is my first time using a professional camera for this portfolio project, I was playing around with the lighting and how I wanted to look on camera.  For example, I opened my front door which produces the most sunlight in my house and the back doors to see how the lighting would look, and it ended up being too bright which would later affect the saturation and editing.  

 


Additionally, I also decided to play around with some composition techniques such as pan and tilts to see how I wanted to angle it. I ended up deciding on a pan of the map.  In the first post I was talking about the globe as previously mentioned and now I’m focusing on the map for this post. I might decide to include both of those shots within my documentary or choose just one. 

Thursday, March 19, 2026

A-level production!

 Hi guys, welcome back to my weekly blog post for my documentary for my portfolio project. Since we are off this week due to spring break vacation, we were given the task to begin the production process for our projects. This process includes beginning to record what we have envisioned and planned for a couple weeks now as well as show proof that we've been working (behind the scenes). As previously mentioned, these posts will demonstrate just that.




Friday, March 13, 2026

A-level Print component research

    Welcome to another week of blog postings for my A-level portfolio project! In this post, I'll be reflecting and discussing some research I have done involving my print component. Since I am doing the documentary package, I will be doing a two page magazine article. The overall purpose of demonstrating mastery in the print component is to show marketing skills toward upcoming productions. Before I start researching magazine articles, let's go over popular conventions that are normally used in magazine article. 

    Magazine articles include: 
  • pages numbers 
  • title of publication 
  • Two columns Maximum 
  • White background ( Mainly because it is more cost efficient) 

    The first magazine article I researched from the website Ms. This website highlights many topics that are trending currently. Some of these topics include news and opinion, politics culture, women, Democracy, and many more. Specifically, I decided to take a peek at the Latin American posts. These posts talk about some of historic values that society appreciates today as well as fun facts (Poska & Delgado-Poust, 2026).

    What intrigued me is they have a section specifically evaluating the Bad Bunny halftime show and the message behind it (Jacques & Hobson, 2026). It talks about culture representation, and statistics that show how many people watched the halftime show (Jacques & Hobson, 2026). Shockingly, close to 130 million views (Jacques & Hobson, 2026)!! This magazine article, then ties back to the current political state of the United States and how his Super Bowl performance brought people together and created unity (Jacques & Hobson, 2026).I really like this magazine article because it touches on several different aspects of his performance and of Latin American culture which is something that I want to do within my documentary. 

Here's a sneak peak into the article: 

(Garcés-Vila, 2024)


    The next magazine article I researched is from magazine article Latinx pop Magazine. This magazine article strictly focuses exclusively on all aspects of Latin culture. The publication first starts off by exploring pop culture roots by highlighting superstar’s such as Carlos Santana and Rita Moreno who created opportunities for the Latino community (Team Latinx Pop Mag, 2025).

    It then talks about the growth of Latin pop culture in music. Which I thought was the perfect section to research since my documentary is highlighting music, pop culture and dance (Team Latinx Pop Mag, 2025).The article also mentions the impact on fashion and lifestyle as well as representation and TV and film production (Team Latinx Pop Mag, 2025). I also really like this magazine article because it specifically focuses on only Latin American culture within society and I’m definitely going to take some inspiration from this magazine article (Team Latinx Pop Mag, 2025).


(Team Latinx Pop Mag, 2025).





                                                                    REFERENCES 
    Team Latinx Pop Mag. (2025, April 11). Exploring the influence of Latinx pop culture today. Latinx Pop Mag. https://www.latinxpopmag.com/post/exploring-the-influence-of-latinx-pop-culture-today

    Poska, A. M., & Delgado-Poust, A. (2026, March 9). ‘This is our country too!’: The enduring legacy of Spanish-speaking women in early America. Ms. Magazine. https://msmagazine.com/2026/03/09/spanish-speaking-women-early-america-history/ 

    Jacques, S., & Hobson, J. (2026, February 12). Who’s American? Whose America? Bad Bunny’s radical halftime message. Ms. Magazine. https://msmagazine.com/2026/02/12/bad-bunny-super-bowl-halftime-show-puerto-rico/



Thursday, March 12, 2026

A-level- Planning outline

 Hey guys! In these blog posts I will be continue to brainstorm ideas and outline some planning techniques for my documentary. In this blog post, I will be creating an outline for how I want to structure my documentary production. 

INTRODUCTION

- Thinking about doing an opening transition/ some logo and animation work to show all the flags together

- Fun fact: during our group meeting, Zach made a contribution to my production pitch by suggesting that I should do a like wheel inspired animation to select or highlight a country. I know this may be confusing so I'm gonna show you guys an example. 

 (Betson Enterprises, n.d.)
(Twinkl, n.d.)

Giving this kind of effect where a number or prize is selected. Obviously, substituting the number or prize with different Latin American and Caribbean flags.  
OPENING CLIPS 

- Indirect commentary about one of the interview questions from family members and tie it back to the main idea and plot. (Mostly music evolution)

- For these clips in need to include inserts of various subjects replying to the question in an organized way to make the answer make sense. 

- I definitely need to make sure I have a tripod/ stabilizer as well as learning how to shoot from different types of angles and cameras (will watch a youtube tutorial  on this). 


MIDDLE CLIPS 

- Most interviews will take place within the middle

- Choreographers, studio director and possible dancers interviewees will be featured

- Include a dance portion/ section highlighting latin american styles

- This section will require heavy filming, editing and location of the interviews/ production

ENDING CLIPS 

- Wrap up interviews and get subjects final thoughts on the topic of choice ( Latin american culture within music and dance)  

- This section requires heavy editing skills

- Maintain consistent with the use of location and background ( Switch up location) 

- Thinking about ending it with all of the subjects saying the word " Unity" ( Which is what I might call my documentary) 


                                                                     REFERENCES

Flags of Latin America and the Caribbean display posterhttps://www.twinkl.ch/resource/latin-american-flags-display-poster-t-g-1707307065. For more guidance on referencing, visit TwinklCares.

Betson Enterprises. (n.d.). Carnival wheel: Multi-spin redemption game. https://www.betson.com/amusement-products/carnival-wheel/.

Tuesday, March 10, 2026

A-level planning

    Hi guys!! In this post I will continue to brainstorm planning ideas for my documentary. For this planning outline, I've decided on doing a planning/shooting schedule for my documentary production. I feel like this is important to do because this helps me stay on track and have an overall good idea of what I need to complete and when I need to do so. This outlined schedule will include editing, shooting and location. 

MARCH 16TH-22ND 

- Primarily focusing on shooting the interviews and getting all needed information from the subjects

- Around Monday or Tuesday film my family members interviews ( This will mainly focus on music evolution and how it works within society today 

-  Get B-roll footage for these interviews

- Begin the editing process for the interviews

- I think I've finalize the location that I want to film the interviews at ( I'll insert the photo below) 




- I think it's a pretty good spot to film these interviews in because of the map that's in the background 

- Attempt to get interview footage from choreographer/studio director  

- Blog 

- Post on social media!

MARCH 29TH- APRIL 5TH

- Focus on heavy editing skills 

- Spilt up the documentary footage so it can all flow consecutively. The reason I want to really focus on this aspect of editing is because on our last documentary project, we were given that critique for our interviews to make the topic and overall production feel like a unit. 

-  Add any last minute interviews in. But this week should solely focus on finalizing the production stage

- Continue to post on social media to market the production

- Start my magazine article for the print component and decide which approach I want to take.

- Start research/planning process for the CCR component 

- Blog

-Post on social media!!

APRIL 6TH- 10TH 

- Finalize editing and rewatch my production a couple times to ensure no hiccups or errors 

- Finish magazine article for the print component 

- Finish CCR component 

-Post on social media!!

- Upload to blogger 







Sunday, March 8, 2026

A-level 1st Group Meeting!

 

Hi all!  Today we had our first A-level group meeting about our portfolio projects. We were placed  into groups and one by one and we shared our portfolio project ideas. We also offered critiques and suggestions to make their portfolio project better. 

Here's our group photo :)



Renn 

Renn's project is about a girl struggling with her schoolwork. School is overwhelming and gives her a lot of issues on top of that. She argues with her best friend. From my understanding, the protagonist looks at a plant for the first time in a while. This reminds the girl of her best friend as she’s looking at the flower pot. The symbolism behind this is that the flower changes as well as individual. The main concept of this is to illustrate how time passed by planting a seed once a week. Renn explained to us  how they wanted to convey aspects of the main characters through mise-en-scene elements which I thought was pretty cool. 

Joaquin

Next up was Joaquin. If I’m being completely honest, I was a little lost within the plot. To my understanding, Joaquin’s production is about a girl who is sick of the world she lives in and what has society become so she joins a satanic cult. Her sister helps her complete these tasks by the devil because she is anti-religious. Joaquin said that his production is a metaphor, symbolizing people who join religions to find themselves and discover themselves. After he explained his production, I gave a quick note to Joaquin so he can be successful. I suggested that he fill in certain plot holes with his story,  it can make sense as a whole in to the audience

Robbie

His story is about a guy who used to be a really famous tennis player. But the protagonist isn’t. He didn’t end up being successful like his father so he ended up homeless in Markham Park (which caught me by surprise and made me laugh) . Anyways, one day he was flipping burgers at his job and over the radio he heard that someone is impersonating him so he goes back to training and something happens.  Robbie hasn’t finished that part of the story, but I’m interested to see what he comes up with.

Zach 

Zach and his team are planning on doing a dark comedy. Zach notes how he wants it to be about how an owner falls in love with a camera, then falls in love with another person, ultimately symbolizing a love triangle. Zach asserted that his team are working diligently to try to complete the story. One thing they do know that they want to symbolize how people enjoy being recognized by other. They accomplish this through the relationship with the camera and the owner. I’m excited to see this one!

Gaby

Next is Gaby, her team decided to do a music video promo. Which caught me by surprise because I wouldn’t think that people would normally go this route since most people don’t have access to a real artist, but she did! The only issue is that the artist moved to Tennessee to pursue her music career, which can be conflicting. So, her team came up with a plan to tell the story of this song that they want to do. The song is called “ I’ll call you when I’ve made it” by Annie LeMasters. I went ahead and listened to it and I have to say, it’s pretty good (LeMasters, 2024).

Ryan 

Lastly, is Ryan. He presented that his team wanted to do a short film. The short film is about a custodian is working late at night in school, mopping the floors. However, the custodian didn’t think anybody was in the hallways and there was a teacher that slipped and died. He tries to hide the dead body and go to extreme measures to protect his daughter. At first, it sounded like a horror, but he notes that there’s going to be some comedic aspects to his short film. 




                                                                              REFERENCES 

LeMasters, A. (2024, December 27). I’ll call you when I’ve made it lyrics. Genius. https://genius.com/Annie-lemasters-ill-call-you-when-ive-made-it-lyrics








A-level production!

  Hello blog! Welcome to the third and final post of the week which is going to be reflecting the production process for my portfolio projec...