Week of June 5th

This week we continued to edit our second film and began filming and editing our third and final film.

Week of May 29th

This week we filmed all that shots for our music video in golf n stuff and in the auditorium. We also began to edit our film. at the same time some of our members are planning our last film.

Week of May 22

This week we began to film our dance scenes and have made plans to film our in between scenes in golf and stuff on Sunday.

Week of May 1

This week we have been working on our choreography and completely finished making all the dance steps. We are now just perfecting our dance and taking different shots of out dance to see which angles would look better for our dancing.

week of April 24

This week we kept working on the choreography for our film. we also came up with the scenes that will go in between our dance scenes. We practiced our dancing and are in the process of deciding who will be our main characters and dancers.

Week of April 17

This week we pitched our ideas for our next two films and got approval from Mr. Lansdown to do them. Then we finished the last ideas for our music video. We finally decided on a song and we began to choreograph the dance parts of our video. We also came up with ideas for the background story of our video. On Wednesday we began practicing the dance and that carried on until Thursday. We will continue to practice the dance today.

Week of April 10

This week my production company and I finished making our PSA. On monday we imported the new footage from the weekend. On Tuesday and Wednesday we finished editing our film and yesterday we put the song on our film and made the last finishing touches on it. Our film was completed yesterday. Also, everyday, as some of our group members are editing, the rest of us were coming up with new ideas for our second film which will be music video. We decided that it would be half dancing and half acting and that Ale was going to choreograph the dances. Today we will finish discussing what we would act, so that we could pitch it hopefully by Monday.

Week of April 3rd

This week we began to edit our PSA and decided on meeting up again this weekend to finish filming a couple shots that we were not pleased with the first time we filmed. We also began to brainstorm ideas for our next film, which will be a narrative film.

My Week

My production company, Stellar Productions, consists of six people: Paula, Alejandra, Maritza, Kevin, Rafa, and I. Our film is going to be a PSA and the positive message we want to give is to be kind and to pass kindness on. This week we finished planning the last minute thoughts for our film and made a sketch for our storyboards. We also went to the park to rehearse for the actual recording of our film and to decided whether we were going to make it a one shot film or multiple shots. This seemed to be the biggest conflict because we all had a different opinion on how it should be and after a lot of filming we decided that it was best to do multiple shots. We filmed a couple of shots and the next day we imported the shots into the computer. we also began to think of new ideas for our new film. Yesterday we began to edit our film and some of us continued to talk about the next film.

What Music Means to Me

Music is freedom of expression. Music is living without the fear of being judged by anyone else. Music is the escape from reality into a world you can create however you please. Music is life.
Whether one is listening to it, dancing to it, or singing along to it, a sense of freedom and loss of embarrassment is felt when there is any kind of association with music. Being able to dance like no one is watching and sing like no one is listening is one of the best feelings in the world, for it makes doing what you love so much easier. We live day by day worrying about what others think of us and when listening to music, it is as if all those worries cease to exist. There is music for all kind of moods and feelings, which means there is always a perfect song for any situation you are in. For me, music means dance, so an upbeat salsa song is perfect for when i am happy. A very harsh tango for when i am angry and a slow bachata song for when I am sad. A song never changes, so it does not fail to disappoint ever.

Problems and Struggles

Every student has their own share of problems and different kind of problems. Some students may have academic issues while others may have emotional problems. Academic problems that i see everyday are the inability to learn as fast as the teacher is teaching. Because many students are intimidated by their teachers, they do not ask for help and can fall behind in their classes. Another academic related issue is that a lot of parents do not become involved in their student's life at school. Because of this, kids do not find the great importance of excelling in school and this causes their bad grades. On the other extreme, there are students who strive to do well in school to better their circumstances and to live a better life than what their parents did. Although motivation can be good, having a lot of pressure to do well can also have its negative effects. For example, students become willing to do anything for the higher grade. Some typical emotional problems are relationships with the opposite sex, friends, and with family. Every person has their own drama and problems and the excessive drama can come between a student's school work. These are some of the troubles and struggles Bell High students have.

The Most Interesting Person in the World

In my eyes, the most interesting person in the world is my cousin's boyfriend, Albert. When my first cousin first told me about him, he sounded like a boring nerd that spent his days studying and with his nose in books. It was not until I met him that this erroneous idea I had of him was proved wrong. His physical appearance, for starters, makes him unique, well at least to me. You can tell right away that he is not Latino, like I am so used to seeing around my community; however, he did not look caucasian either. Turns out he is Russian, and he is the one and only Russian I know. His clothing also was not one I am used to seeing because he looked sloppy, yet well groomed ironically. It is also his culture and experiences, though, that make him interesting not just his appearance. He was born and raised in Russia but at the age of eleven, his family was exiled and forced to move to America, for unknown reasons. His dad, having owned many businesses back in Russia, is a very wealthy man, but Albert's humility would have never led me to believe he came from a family with money. Despite his parent's money, he studied hard all through high school which landed him a full ride scholarship to UC Santa Barbara where he successfully kept his GPA at above a 3.8 while studying biochemistry, what I believe to be a tough career. His intelligence, experiences, and overall uniqueness is what makes him the most interesting person.

My Anti-Drug

My anti-drugs are dancing and shopping. When I dance, all of my worries and stress disappear in almost a matter of seconds. I no longer worry about what others may think of me or whether i look ridiculous because when I dance, it is just me and the music. Also, even if many people find it somewhat gross, I love sweating. After dancing for about a half our, I could begin to feel sweat and I like this because it makes my passion for dancing a work out as well. Dancing can also be a way to express emotions such as happiness, anger or sorrow. If i am in a great mood, dancing merengue allows me to express it; if i am angry, the sharp steps of a tango release some anger. My other anti-drug, shopping, is one that i feel is very common amongst girls. Shopping can make anyone feel better because it gives you the satisfaction of having bought something you wanted. Sometimes, when I feel all else is going wrong, perhaps buying a cute outfit or the perfect shoes can brighten my day. These two activities are my anti-drugs.

What I Learned from An Inconvenient Truth

          In The Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore makes his audience, and anyone who watches the movie, realize the severity of climate change and the effect it has on us humans. The damage that we, ourselves, are causing to our one and only home is getting uncontrollable, for the increase in carbon dioxide emissions and average temperatures are reaching unbelievable highs. Despite the efforts of promoting awareness on this issue, there are still ignorant people out there who fail to see that climate change is a real thing that can, ultimately, cause our destruction. Because of the increase in temperatures, glaciers in the Arctic and Greenland are slowly melting. If these continue to melt at this pace, however, it is possible that there is an increase in 20 feet of water in our oceans. Though this may not sound like a lot, Al Gore mentioned that it would be enough to cover parts of Florida, New York, and San Francisco. It would surely cause a huge natural disaster, similar to the ones that have been occurring recently also because of climate change. The increase in hurricanes, earthquakes, typhoons and floods are all causes of global warming and, if measures are not taken, they will only get worse. People seem to believe that taking care of our planet is going to cost a lot of money, but studies have shown that that is not the case. That is why it is of utmost importance that we begin to care more about the only home we have and less about the money in our pockets.