Week of June 12

This week we had a film festival, and I would have to say throughout my four years in Bell High, this festival would have to top all of the previous years. Many of my friends seem to think so also. The many films that were shown, were simply brilliant. Many of the films shown throughout the periods could have been a little more expanded, and many more films should have been shown, but many of the films that were shown were still good. I had one movie shown, and I personally believe that my own expectations did not live up to the actual comments that I received from many of my friends. On June 18th, we will be having our evening film festival, and I hope that it will be as good or even better than last week's film festival.

Week of June 5th

During the week of June 5th, we finished editing and submitting our second film. We are now starting are third film, in which it consists of a message within a music video. We have started filming and should be finished by next week with everything.

Week of May 29th

During this week of our film group's production we finished filming our second film, we just still need to edit and we can finally finish our second film. We decided to pitch an idea today, and hopefully get some quality filming done this weekend.

Week of May 22nd

During this week our film production got in a good amount of filming for our second film. We need about 2 more scenes to shoot and we will be ready to edit and finish this next project.

Week of May 15

During this week my film group and I struggled to get the script done for our movie that we must start filming this week. We got the script done, now we need to get planning on shooting dates and actually get it done ASAP. The LACLA film festival was a great and an inspirational event, I wish that I could be able to make several more films, because this event inspired me to think and create new ideas to make more films.

Week of May 8th

During the week of May 8th the New Monarchy Productions studio was not able to get a lot done, due to students in my production company taking AP Exams. We still need to finish up the script for our second film, and actually start shooting. We need to step up our game, and actually get a good quality, audience worthy film.

Week of April 24th

Our group just did a lot of editing during this week. We took every class period to edit, and even had to reshoot an ending scene that had to be remade into our movie. We are almost finished we will for sure be finished by no later than Wednesday.

Week of April 17

During the week of April 17, our group did pure filming, throughout the whole entire week. Finishing the filming for our film was top priority. We did just that, now it is time to finish editing as soon as possible. After we do that, it is time to shoot our second film.

Week of April 10th

During this week of film we actually got quite a lot accomplished. We have half of our film already complete, we still have to film about two more scenes and we will be complete with the shooting portion. As fas as filming for our movie goes, we should probably be finished by Tuesday. With editing  and everything else we should be probably be finished by no later than Thursday of next week. We also came up with a new idea for a PSA and that should be ready for shooting as soon as we are done with this film. We are on a good basis for filming and finishing our second film within the next two weeks.

Week of April 3rd

This week was actually a lot more productive than last week. We actually started to film and get a dent into our film. We started and finished the storyboards. We had a table reading, going over our lines, and we went out into the field and got some really great shots in. The productivity of this week went up tremendously from last week, in which we were still writing and developing our script. We as a production company now actually started filming our film that we hope to come out phenomenal.

Week of March 27th

During this week, my film group and I came up with a subject to work with and how to incorporate one of the film making categories in creating our film a reality. Our group decided to create a mockumentary/narrative about a secret agent, who is set out to destroy the film that is to reveal the truth about the secret service as a whole. My film group is consisted of Joseph Castro, Jorge Villegas, Gilbert Lomas, and Edward Mendez. This week, we constantly tried coming up with a set idea on creating our film a reality. We started with a script, and just kept going off the basis of that one script. Our ideas were constantly changing and we did not know how to get the right ones out onto the script to create the best visual representation of our film. Every single day this week, was just constantly kept working on the script. New ideas were constantly being brought up into the mix of the movie idea, but we always someone how knew to create a compromise in all the ideas we came up with. We finally have a set idea on how the film will be written, represented, and shown on the screen to the best of our imaginative ability.

What Music Means to Me

Music gives me an outlet to be free and reckless in believing what I want to believe. Music gives me a cure from the everyday diseased world, it gives me an opportunity to listen and feel what I listen to, without anyone telling me that is not right. When I listen to and write music, it is able to cleanse me, by listening and relating to how others feel, or simply to let go of all my thoughts and be who I want to be. The genre of music that is able to give a sense of real life, and real stories behind them all; is the genre of underground rap/hip hop. Every single song, comes with a story board, a plot, a relatable subject, and lines that mean something to the writer and possibly the listener. The number one artist that I am listening to right now in the underground industry is Logic. The name may say it all, but Logic has a way of embracing his stories without any care. Many songs come to mind when I think of Logic, but the one that I have been listening to nonstop as of late is the song off of his new Album Under Pressure called "Nikki" in his song, he relates back to when he was a addicted to nicotine, he reveals all and how it broke down his life, in this song he writes, "Everyday I wonder who i am, who will i be, where will i go/ What will they write upon my grave?" I can relate so much to this line, this question, questions my way of thought, I wonder how will people understand who I am after I have recorded and wrote all on paper. "Every body talks and every body listens and somehow the truth always comes up missing" This line comes from Drake's "Say What's Real" this also gives me a sense and how to question the world and what the truth actually means in the world.

Problems and Struggles

The problems and struggles that a typical high school student must face every day is the one struggle of decision making and making the decisions that will impact their future forever. In High School we are all judged by how we dress, how we speak, and generally how we look. The general student will say the struggle of high school, is coming in every single day hoping not to be judged by others. We as student have to come in day in and day out, creating a self image of our future selves and make sure people understand that image as well. Throughout the four years of the world known as High School, every year comes with a new problem and struggle. In ninth grade, freshman just want to be noticed and make sure they can survive the first year of high school. As the years go by it gets somewhat easier, but also gets somewhat difficult. Once the first year of high school is a achieved, the rest of the years seem to get easier as the student seems used to going to the thing called high school every single day. Although as the years start coming down and nearing the end, we as high school students run into the problems of how to view and create our life long future after high school. As a senior problems and struggles are faced every single day, trying to balance out school work, with a job, sports, finishing college apps, and trying to find money to pay for college in scholarships. Problems and struggles are encountered everyday, it is the jobs of the perseverant and problem solvers to over come the daily obstacles, because at the end of it all we are just human beings trying to become a somebody in this world.

The Most Interesting Person in the World!

The most interesting person in the world that I personally know, or rather have had the opportunity to get to know was my Uncle Michael Vera. Every single time that me and my dad would go visit my Uncle, he would always have a story or two to tell based upon his past life. I could always just sit down and listen to both my Uncle and Father go back and forth on their child hood memories. My uncle would always know how to make me laugh and crack a joke, in between his stories. Their was never a dull moment when talking to him. His life experiences gave him the opportunity to teach me about the many different aspects on life and what it has to offer. My uncle Michael would always give me advice whether it had been, how to fix my basketball shot, how to fix my baseball swing, or how to talk to girls; I knew I could always learn something new when I would talk to my Uncle Michael. Unfortunately those times are now gone, when I could hear my uncle talk about his childhood and growing up in the rugged and tough city of Compton. My uncle passed away last year, he was and will always be The Most Interesting Man in the World.

My Anti Drug

My Anti Dug and the way that I soothe my mind, body, and soul is through the passion of listening  and writing music. The way that  am able to allow the music to flow in and out of my mind, keeps my head under pressure. I love to express my feelings and my thoughts through the composition of music. I always relate the music that I am listening to and writing to, straight back to what I am going through in my own life. Whenever I put on my headphones and zone out, I picture myself in an empty room with nothing but a microphone, and I am the only one in the room being heard. The music that flows through my body, creates a sense of self worth that is helpful to distract the outside world. The way that I am able to view the music, is the same way that I am able to view the everything else in the world. I am able to dissect everything including the beats, the musical sounds, and the lyrical aspects down to the simplest form in which I am able to relate back to my own individual life. This creates my Anti Drug that keeps me away from everything else in the world that wants to bring me down. Music and the lyrical abilities one can add to it, is the only thing that keeps me up from it all.

What I Learned from An Inconvenient Truth

Al Gore's documentary of the Inconvenient Truth, had a very skeptical take on the topic of Global Warming as a whole. Many of the different topics that he discussed had an impact on the world and the human  nature of the whole reason for speaking. One thing that stood out to me the most is the possibility of the sea levels and how they could possibly rise in the near future. This problem may arise do to the melting of the ice caps in Greenland and Antarctica. When the ice caps melt, the oceans could over flood and cause bordering cities to go down under it all. This may cause a scare into the eyes of all that have a possibility of this happening to them. Although these predictions were made in the years of 2005, the rising of the sea levels have been rising little by little every single year. This may have an effect on over a million of people, proper measure should have been taken immediately, but since they have not been taken. Measure of saving the polar bears, and ice animals, as well as the lives of humans needs to be taken now. Another surprising subject that stood out to me the most is the ignorance a lot of individuals have been taking on the topic. Evidence is indeed needed to take the correct steps, but Gore has given all the evidence that is needed, but political officials as well as environmentalists still do not believe the predictions made by Al Gore.

My Film Job

The job that I would like to take part in my production company would have to be the job of the producer or the casting director.  I would like to be a producer in order to make sure that everyone is doing their job properly and is able to bring out the best in their abilities and create a film that would be well presentable.  I would not like to be the boss of everyone that is in my production company, but rather a person who oversees all the simple work, and look at all the underlying context of everyone’s individualistic work.  I will make sure everyone has greed upon the idea, the script, as well as the whole production setting. I want everyone to be able to agree on every idea in the production company rather than I have the final say so. If it does come down to that, I would be more than happy to give the final word. I would also like to be a casting director, because I would like to choose specific people for specific acting roles, and see how each person fits directly into that role. I want to be the one to choose the right person for the job, and know that; the person would be able to perform to the best for their abilities for that specific acting role. If the actors do not fit, then the movie will not run as smooth as planned on the screenplay. 

My Review of The Elephant Man

The Elephant man was a very interesting, disturbing, and uplifting movie in many different ways. In each one of the distinctive categories the director David Lynch was able to take his own thoughts, twist them all around and create the movie The Elephant Man. The Director was able to tie into the movie what he believed, we as human beings are doing to the mother earth. The theme that Lynch is conveying in the film is that we are not only hurting her, but also “raping” mother earth without any remorse. The outcome of this tragedy is men, of disfigured forms, because if we are treating our home as normal as possible, we do not deserve to be normal. The fact that David Lynch is able tie in his beliefs within a film that is based on true events is astonishing. This theme, and I guess you can say the director really got me thinking, the fact that this movie was released in 1980; and people today can see no changes have been made but rather “deformities” of our mother earth. The disturbing part of the whole film, is the fact that people can be really “disgusting” in the way we treat on another. The fact that we would treat another human being differently just because of appearance, horrifies me. John Merrick was not a creature nor an animal at all, but rather a kind hearted, sincere, gentleman. Another theme I think Lynch may have created is that, we need to stop seeing the outside layer of all individuals, objects, and topics. We need to start looking and understanding the underlying context of everything and take into consideration of what everything in the world really stands for. We need to stop sugarcoating evidence, and reveal the truth beneath it all. This is my review and take on David Lynch's The Elephant Man, I guess we are all Elephant men in some way or form. 

My Name is John Merrick...

Today is yet another day in the life of a carnie, I am constantly getting showed off by me “caretaker” Mr. Bytes, I am actually quite tired of this job, I always stay up at night thinking to myself when will the day come to where people will not view me with disgust but rather in the sense of praise. Bytes is always mistreating me, there is never a day that goes by that he is not drinking and abusing me, the only nice person around would have to be the little boy, Bytes’ assistant. I want to have that one day where I can be shown to the world and go about life with a sense of security rather than a sense of insecurity. I heard Bytes actually talking to this man; I believe his name was Treves or something of that sense. I think he was a Doctor, if he is a Doctor I sure hope, the hospital can cure me or take better care of me then Bytes. I am now wondering, if this man is a doctor, will he invite me to the hospital, give me my own room, and feed me all the time. I hardly ever get fed with Bytes’ I do not know when the last time was I seen a decent meal. I am so lonely in this “cave” I want friends; I want sincere people that I can call acquaintances. My life has been tragedy since birth, with my mother gone, I wonder if she ever thinks of me the way I think of her. I constantly carry her picture with me, every time I look at it I always get uplifted with happiness, I guess you can say she is the only one that can give me strength. Well I have to go to sleep now, I can never get quite comfortable when I sleep, I am always tired I can never sleep like normal people. I want to see what tomorrow will bring me when I see this man named Treves. 

Welcome to my Nightmare bwa ha ha ha ha ha!

I once had a nightmare that involved one of my greatest fears; the character of the Halloween Movies, Michael Myers, this nightmare was like nothing I have ever dwelled upon in my entire life. It was an ordinary day, and my family and I were coincidently out on Halloween night having fun and getting candy like all normal children love doing “trick o treating” as they call it. Me and my family were out on this one street, getting candy, and I approached this rather terrifying yet unique woman dressed up as a witch, and as I was done receiving candy from her, walking down the street was the man, of all my fears, Mr. Michael Myers. This man was dressed in the exact same costume, and roaming down the middle of the street by himself with no one else in sight, but the kids on the sidewalks and the people outside there houses. My heart began to race, and sweat began to drip down my face, I was only about 6 or 7 at this time I did not know what true fear was until this exact moment. I ran for dear life by myself around the corner I fell to the ground, and in agony I curled up into a ball and began rocking back and forth. My parents found me like this, as I was crying, and to this day I am too afraid to go trick o treating. I will always have that constant fear of knowing someone will be dressed in that such costume and this sense of fear will rise inside me once again. I still have not gotten over this fear and I do not know if I ever will.