David Le's Final Project Blog

     Over the first Semester in this class, my relationship with media, outlooks and views on media, and what I look forward to in Semester 2 in this class has changed from my original expectations when I envisioned joining this class. Since late August 2025, I feel that I have been able to appreciate how films are made to a greater extent, and the course's units such as cinematography, editing, and mise-en-scene made me realise and understand how scenes are put together, how everything can be extremely deliberate to create the desired scene and action on screen, along with using this knowledge and thinking about it in the back of my head as I am watching clips from a film and being to analyse them in ways this course requires for exams and sometimes just for fun. With the knowledge taught in Semester 1, it will allow me to fully utilise the tools we have been taught for the Final Project video such as applying cinematography to film scenes. For me, this course has been e...

For this post, please consider and reflect on your responsibilities as a filmmaker when it comes to the groups of people represented in your film. Do you feel you have a responsibility to represent groups of people "correctly" when creating media products? Do you feel that other filmmakers have represented groups of people in their films well in the past? Please provide examples of what you think has been positive representation and negative representation in some films that you have seen. Then add any other discussion or thoughts you would like to your reflection.  As a filmmaker, it is arguable that there is a responsibility to represent groups of people "correctly" when creating media products, such as not making them look stupid, as an idiot, or to represent individuals in an undignified and negative manner (such as being outright sexist, racist, or portraying certain groups with stereotypes that would be offensive) that would be seen as harassment and looking d...

Transitions: ellipsis, shot/reverse shot, flash forward, point of view shot, graphic match cut, fading in/out. Under your video, you should have a 10-12 sentence paragraph describing what you learned, the process of the project, and what role you played: David's AICE Media Studies AS Editing Project Video In the process of this project, I learned a useful things about video editing and learning/getting hands on experience with video editing for the first time with software and technology that is designed for the purpose using CapCut. I learned how video editing works in the sense of moving around, reducing lengths of shots as needed (to omit elements such as me saying "action" or unneeded footage) to create a seamless transition/flow as possible. In a way, these useful skills could be used if I decided to ramp up social media content for the Speech and Debate Team and see what I can do with video editing in my free time (alongside photography this school year, which have ...

Prompt: Think of the last two movies you have watched. For each of the two films, research into how they were made (specifically, what companies made them). Give explanations of the companies behind those films you watched. Then look at your own consumption habits, do you tend to interact more with media that is created by larger companies? Or do you tend to look for more independent content? Write about your own habits with this then discuss if this is something you are aware of when choosing content to consume. Finally, discuss whether you will be more conscious of who makes the content you consume in the future.  The last two films that I know I have watched are Top Gun: Maverick, and 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi. TG Maverick was made by Paramount and Skydance (at the time, these were separate companies, but as of November 2025 the corporation is now called Paramount Skydance after the merger), big media corporations and major players in the media industry with supp...

How does your knowledge of cinematography inform your artistic choices in your video?     My knowledge of cinematography informs artistic choices in the video by using combinations of close ups, medium shots, long shots, dolly shots, and moving/tracking shots to create a music video. In the moment, it was sometimes difficult to try to keep all the subjects in the frame without their heads or feet being cut off (as needed), made worse by the phone that was being filmed on having a privacy screen protector "blacking out" as a person looks at an angle as I recorded the scenes and my groupmates were dancing/acting. The knowledge that we attained in class helped formulate what a close up, medium shot, and long shot looked like, and dollying in/out with my hands and feet (as the person who recorded the video) to achieve the requirements needed in the video for differing types of shots. It also felt intuitive to try to move smoothly as possibly with hands and feet (soft steps) to no...

You will reflect on your skills as a filmmaker (using a camera, setting up a scene, and editing). Please discuss your experience you have had with these skills prior to this course. Then explain how this has potentially changed having been in this course. Finally, discuss whether or not you need to develop your skills further to be able to complete your Film Opening Sequence that you will create next semester. My skills as a filmmaker (at this time) could be said as virtually next to nonexistent, as I have little to no knowledge or skills on considering the different elements of filmmaking (such as lighting, blocking, mise-en-scene, etc.) as deeply as the course required compared to just filming a video just for the sake of filming a video. I do not have experience using an actual camera (with a lenses, buttons, that type of camera) to take photos, as the only experience I have had are using a mobile phone and simply clicking the shutter button on the screen to take a photo (which in i...