Sunday, April 7, 2019
CCR
FInal Video
Finally, after weeks of hard work, I am very happy to present our completed film opening, "Infatuation" Enjoy!!
Click here to watch!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nq2OxnICi3ugl1dqO2BLX2AQ8blaq7mc/view
Click here to watch!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nq2OxnICi3ugl1dqO2BLX2AQ8blaq7mc/view
Reflection
Overall, I think this was a very interesting process. I thought this whole project was very stressful and that we did not have sufficient time to do all of the necessary steps for the project, especially with the interruption of spring break and other heaping of work from all of our other classes. I am very happy with the way our project turned out, I just wish that we had a little more time so we could make the project perfect. I think the process was also very rewarding because I got to learn many new things about the production.
- How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups
- or issues?
-In our film, we have a female teenager as our lead. We tried to represent teenage love to a
heavy extreme, where the line crosses from attraction to obsession. In most stalker-based films
and tv shows, the male is the aggressor because he asserts his natural dominance over the
victimized female. For example, the recent Netflix TV show, “You,” follows a dominant male, Joe
Goldberg, who stalks a young woman named Guinevere Beck and develops an obsession revolving
around her that eventually leads to him murdering her “out of love.” This is a similar concept to our
film, except we challenged the status quo and made the female the dominant aggressor. It also
represents the issue of mental illness, because something in Lauren (our female lead)’s head
causes her obsession to spin out of control. We tried to represent her mental illness through the
overlap in the voiceover when she says the word “crazy” and it repeats as it fades into the rest of the
film
heavy extreme, where the line crosses from attraction to obsession. In most stalker-based films
and tv shows, the male is the aggressor because he asserts his natural dominance over the
victimized female. For example, the recent Netflix TV show, “You,” follows a dominant male, Joe
Goldberg, who stalks a young woman named Guinevere Beck and develops an obsession revolving
around her that eventually leads to him murdering her “out of love.” This is a similar concept to our
film, except we challenged the status quo and made the female the dominant aggressor. It also
represents the issue of mental illness, because something in Lauren (our female lead)’s head
causes her obsession to spin out of control. We tried to represent her mental illness through the
overlap in the voiceover when she says the word “crazy” and it repeats as it fades into the rest of the
film
- How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text?
-Our product engages with audiences because the suspense attracts an audience, especially the
target audience of teenage girls. Although in reality, people do not go to the same extremes as it
does in our film, there is a very relatable theme of teen love or having a crush that is present in the film
opening. Most teenage girls can relate to developing a crush while in high school, and the suspense in
the movie draws them in. A technique that we thought would be effective is showing the result of the film
at the beginning. The outcome of the plot is that Lauren ends up killing Christian. This was revealed
in the very beginning of the film, and then the audience is left wondering about the events that led to the
murder. This technique was seen in the movie “The Escape Room” where one of the very last scenes, of
the final escape room, was shown in the first seconds of the film, and the duration of the film showed the
events that led to that scene, with plot twists at the end of the film following the repeated scene of the final
escape room. If the film progressed, we would followthis same technique. If the film were distributed as a
real media film, we would want it to be presented in movie theatres and would target advertising towards teenage females. So we would display mini trailers on social media and before Youtube videos,
and then full trailers before movies in a similar genre of teen drama.
target audience of teenage girls. Although in reality, people do not go to the same extremes as it
does in our film, there is a very relatable theme of teen love or having a crush that is present in the film
opening. Most teenage girls can relate to developing a crush while in high school, and the suspense in
the movie draws them in. A technique that we thought would be effective is showing the result of the film
at the beginning. The outcome of the plot is that Lauren ends up killing Christian. This was revealed
in the very beginning of the film, and then the audience is left wondering about the events that led to the
murder. This technique was seen in the movie “The Escape Room” where one of the very last scenes, of
the final escape room, was shown in the first seconds of the film, and the duration of the film showed the
events that led to that scene, with plot twists at the end of the film following the repeated scene of the final
escape room. If the film progressed, we would followthis same technique. If the film were distributed as a
real media film, we would want it to be presented in movie theatres and would target advertising towards teenage females. So we would display mini trailers on social media and before Youtube videos,
and then full trailers before movies in a similar genre of teen drama.
- How did your production skills develop throughout this project?
-At the beginning of this project, my skill level for production was very very very low. However, throughout
the project, my group members and I learned from each other and combined our strengths to improve our
production skills. A large part in the development of my skills included the rented camera equipment from a
local tv station, Becon TV. We were able to rent a camera and lighting, and as we learned the ins and outs
of the equipment, we developed our skills in production. It was very interesting to apply techniques that we
learned in class, such as the impact of different camera angles, to our film opening. Through collaboration
with my group members and other peers in our class with more advanced skills prior to this project, I was
able to increase my personal production skills.
the project, my group members and I learned from each other and combined our strengths to improve our
production skills. A large part in the development of my skills included the rented camera equipment from a
local tv station, Becon TV. We were able to rent a camera and lighting, and as we learned the ins and outs
of the equipment, we developed our skills in production. It was very interesting to apply techniques that we
learned in class, such as the impact of different camera angles, to our film opening. Through collaboration
with my group members and other peers in our class with more advanced skills prior to this project, I was
able to increase my personal production skills.
- How did you integrate technologies – software, hardware and online – in this project?
-We integrated technology into the project with our editing software, Wondershare Filmora9. We previously
purchased this software for another project in this class and became familiar with this editing software.
This software allows us to accomplish all of our editing goals and capture the vision we had for our film.
This software allowed us to have clean transitions, an eerie filter effect, and time our voice overs effectively.
purchased this software for another project in this class and became familiar with this editing software.
This software allows us to accomplish all of our editing goals and capture the vision we had for our film.
This software allowed us to have clean transitions, an eerie filter effect, and time our voice overs effectively.
Sunday, March 31, 2019
Sound issues and CCR instructions
Hi blog! I have been stressing out a lot because I have not been able to do any work this whole week. It was a very relaxing and fun week, but now the work is starting to catch up to me. I have just gotten back from my vacation over spring break and have finally regained cell service. I was finally able to communicate with my group members again about where we are in the project. The editing is almost finished, however, after we have started editing, we quickly learned that the sounds that we got from filming in the forest scene were not of great quality. We needed a way to fix this issue because we could not refilm all of the scenes to get the sounds, and we are very nervous that any sounds we insert into the films, such as panting, footsteps, or trees rustling, may not have the exact timing and pacing as the scenes we have filmed. Lauren was able to record herself running and we are going to insert those sounds into the film, however, the timing is not perfect. I am hoping that after we find royalty free music and add in the music, as well as add in the voiceover, the sounds will blend together. Below is the script that Lauren has recorded for the voiceover for the film.
I thought the most productive thing I can do today before school starts back up is to review what I have to do for the CCR. I am very confused about the whole concept of the CCR and what I have to do. I am also confused about how I have to make the CCR. I am thinking that I will make a screencast or voiceover with a prezi or powerpoint where I discuss the decisions we made about our film. I am going to talk with my classmates and ask how they plan on creating their CCR. This is going to be a very hectic week. I have multiple tests and quizzes and I wish we had more time to complete this project, especially the individual portions such as the CCR and reflection posts.
I thought the most productive thing I can do today before school starts back up is to review what I have to do for the CCR. I am very confused about the whole concept of the CCR and what I have to do. I am also confused about how I have to make the CCR. I am thinking that I will make a screencast or voiceover with a prezi or powerpoint where I discuss the decisions we made about our film. I am going to talk with my classmates and ask how they plan on creating their CCR. This is going to be a very hectic week. I have multiple tests and quizzes and I wish we had more time to complete this project, especially the individual portions such as the CCR and reflection posts.
Monday, March 25, 2019
Spring break editing
Thankfully, after a long and hard 3rd quarter, spring break is finally here!!! Although spring break technically started a couple days ago, I leave for vacation early tomorrow morning. Lauren has already left for her vacation, and Callie leaves Wednesday. I am very very excited to go on vacation, however, this week will not be very productive for our project. I will be on out of the country and will not come back until late Sunday night. I won't have any service for the 5 days so I will be unable to work on the project. This is a very major roadblock to our film because Lauren has been away for days and has been enjoying her vacation so she not been communicating with Callie and I about the project. She comes back from her vacation around the same time that Callie and I both leave for our vacations so we won't have any time to communicate with Lauren about what is left to do for the project. Thankfully, most of the project is already edited, and we are very ahead of our other classmates. We were able to stay on track with our original schedule, which allows us to enjoy our spring break and not have to worry about falling behind with the project.
After a long discussion through text messages, our group has decided to take our classmates' advice and go against our original outline for our film. We are going to shuffle the two original parts of the film and intertwine the two scenes to make it look more like a film opening than a trailer. The editing process has been difficult so far because we organized all of the scenes on Callie's laptop according to the original outline, so now we have to dig for the scenes and be creative on how we want to shuffle the scenes. We think the best method is trial and error and playing it by ear, rather than rewrite a new outline. We are going to see which order of the clips flows the best and the continue from there. Our goal is to not have to refilm any of the scenes because we have already returned the rented equipment and are unsure if we can get the same camera, and different cameras may lead to inconsistencies within our film. We have edited a good portion of our film using this technique of trial and error, so we are ahead of most of our classmates, which is very relieving because Callie and I will be unable to work on the project for the remainder of spring break, and Lauren is unable to get the footage and editing software off of Callie's computer.
After a long discussion through text messages, our group has decided to take our classmates' advice and go against our original outline for our film. We are going to shuffle the two original parts of the film and intertwine the two scenes to make it look more like a film opening than a trailer. The editing process has been difficult so far because we organized all of the scenes on Callie's laptop according to the original outline, so now we have to dig for the scenes and be creative on how we want to shuffle the scenes. We think the best method is trial and error and playing it by ear, rather than rewrite a new outline. We are going to see which order of the clips flows the best and the continue from there. Our goal is to not have to refilm any of the scenes because we have already returned the rented equipment and are unsure if we can get the same camera, and different cameras may lead to inconsistencies within our film. We have edited a good portion of our film using this technique of trial and error, so we are ahead of most of our classmates, which is very relieving because Callie and I will be unable to work on the project for the remainder of spring break, and Lauren is unable to get the footage and editing software off of Callie's computer.
Friday, March 22, 2019
Peer Review pt 2
Hi blog!! This is the last class meeting before spring break, where Lauren, Callie and I will all be away on vacation and unable to really focus on our film. Today in class we had another peer review session, and since the last session was very useful, I was excited to get some input from our classmates after we had already filmed our scenes. Lauren wasn't in class today, but Callie and I tried to reach out to as many of our classmates as we could to get some great feedback.
First, we watched some footage from some of our classmates' films and looked at their blogs to see their progress, and it was very reassuring to know that we were right on track with many of the other groups in our class. We then shared our own ideas with our classmates. We went through our blog posts and showed them our progress, and then showed some raw footage that we filmed. Since the footage was unedited, we had to explain the storyline in depth to our classmates. We were told by one of our classmates that the scenes we shot were good; however, our storyline for our film opening had too much action in it and seemed more like a trailer than a film opening. He suggested maybe shuffling the scenes from part one and part two to make it look more like an opening. Callie thinks this is a good idea, but I still like the original storyline, and maybe instead just having the title sequence play through the second part to make it seem more like an opening, rather than a trailer. We both decided that we would have to talk to Lauren about what she thought, as well. When we get back from spring break we are all going to have a group talk about how we think we should edit the film.
First, we watched some footage from some of our classmates' films and looked at their blogs to see their progress, and it was very reassuring to know that we were right on track with many of the other groups in our class. We then shared our own ideas with our classmates. We went through our blog posts and showed them our progress, and then showed some raw footage that we filmed. Since the footage was unedited, we had to explain the storyline in depth to our classmates. We were told by one of our classmates that the scenes we shot were good; however, our storyline for our film opening had too much action in it and seemed more like a trailer than a film opening. He suggested maybe shuffling the scenes from part one and part two to make it look more like an opening. Callie thinks this is a good idea, but I still like the original storyline, and maybe instead just having the title sequence play through the second part to make it seem more like an opening, rather than a trailer. We both decided that we would have to talk to Lauren about what she thought, as well. When we get back from spring break we are all going to have a group talk about how we think we should edit the film.
Wednesday, March 20, 2019
Reviewing scenes in class
Today in class we reviewed the scenes that we filmed from day 2 and day 3. All of the scenes looked really good and really captured our vision for the film opening! I’m really happy with the way they all cane out and we had surplus shots, so we are able to pick the best ones when we start to edit. Speaking of editing, we have researched a bunch of different editing softwares and we were between using iMovie and Wondershare filmora9. There were pros and cons to both softwares. Imovie was free to use, however we found it to be very limiting in the techniques we were hoping to use. Wondershare filmora9 was more advanced and allowed us more freedom with editing, however it was not free to use. In the end we decided to go with the latter and split the cost of the editing software. We can’t wait to start editing and see our film come to life!!
Monday, March 18, 2019
Filming day 3
Hi blog! Today for the final day of filming, Lauren, Callie, and I all met at Callie's house to create and film scenes with the shrine. I went to the local Walgreens and picked up about 20 pictures that we took of Christain. Some of the pictures we took while filming, others we took of him around our school throughout the week, and others we screenshotted from him Instagram. I also bought heart-shaped sticky notes and a red sharpie so we could write little notes around the pictures of the shrine, such as his daily schedule, or little love notes. It took us about an hour to cut the pictures, tape them up, and write the little notes. After we finished making the shrine, we filmed close-ups of it, as well as Lauren with the shrine. Overall, I am really happy with the way it turned out and can't wait to see the footage of it and start editing!
 |
| The finished shrine of Christian |
Filming day 2
Last Friday, after school, our group met to film parts of the second half of our project. Lauren, Callie, Christain, and I met at Callie's house to film some of the scenes. We shot 3 major scenes. First, we shot some scenes at the clubhouse. We wanted to film Christain playing basketball, however, it looked strange in the shots that we had to have him playing alone, so we recruited Callie's younger brother, Cole, to play basketball with Christain in the scene. We showed Lauren taking pictures of Christain and Cole from behind a tree close to the basketball court. We made sure to get many diverse shots, such as close-ups, long shots, mid shots, high angle shots, and low angle shots. We did not want to have to worry later that we did not have the right shots and have to refilm the scenes. Next, we went to the game room to film some scenes of Christain playing pool. There was a door to the game room that Lauren was able to take pictures of him from. Although this did not exactly fit the vision we had for the scene, we are hoping that we can edit it to make it seem smoother. Lastly, we filmed outside Callie's house, where we had scenes of Christain skateboarding by Callie's house, and showed scenes from the window where Lauren was taking pictures. Stay tuned for day 3 of filming!
Friday, March 15, 2019
Filming day 1
Hi, blog! Yesterday was a very big day for our project. Right after school, Callie picked up equipment from BECON TV to rent for the duration of filming. We have rented out equipment from them before and it made our films look very professional. Callie picked up a lighting set for the forest scene and a professional video camera. The last time we rented equipment they sent us a different video camera, so we are going to have to play around with this one to figure out how to use it. Later that night, Sebastian texted us saying that he was available to film, so we immediately began to gather materials. We already had most of the materials for day 1 of filming at home, the only thing left that we needed to acquire was a plain white dress. The main issue was that we were going to get the dress very dirty and cut it up in some parts to look distressed, so we needed to find an inexpensive white dress. I thought the best solution was to go to our local craft store and buy an extra large white T-shirt, as opposed to a real dress. Since Lauren is short, the XL T-shirt will have the same effect as a white dress. With her makeup and the XL T-shirt, she really captured the effect we were going for of a deranged teenage psycho killer.
It was great that we were able to stay exactly on time with our schedule; however, my fever had not yet gone away. I had hoped that I would be able to attend all 3 days of filming, but I knew it would be more beneficial for the whole group to start filming rather than postponing to a later date. I was having a lot of FOMO (fear of missing out) and I was texting Lauren and Callie throughout the entire filming process, so I was still able to share some of my opinions. Today I was finally starting to feel a little bit better, so I met up with my group after school and they shared the footage with me. We were all very nervous that the shots filmed in the forest at night would be too dark, but with the lighting that we rented, there was still the dimness that we were hoping to achieve, but enough light to see Lauren burying the body. There was a large variety of angles that showed diversity among the clips. We organized all of the clips on Callie's computer so that when it comes time to edit, we will be able to find the clips more easily. We are aiming to film more this weekend, and since I am feeling a little bit better, I am hoping I will be able to come to assist Callie with the filming. Meanwhile, I am so happy with the way the first day of filming turned out! Lauren and Callie made a vlog for the first day of filming, so I was still able to have a recap of the first day of filming.
Wednesday, March 13, 2019
Materials
Hi, blog! We decided to split the filming process into 3 days. The first day would include the entire first part of the film, the forest scene, and we would film at Regional Park. The second day would be the scenes with Lauren stalking Christian, both at Callie's house and her neighborhood clubhouse. On the third day, we would film all the scenes including the shrine that we are going to build in Callie's house. This schedule would work best for us because Sebastian and Christian can each only film one day, so this would only require them to each come one day. We have not decided the exact days we are going to film, but we are going to work mostly off of Sebastian and Christian's schedules and adjust our own personal schedules accordingly. As I mentioned in the last post, I am not feeling well and have been out of school sick, so I am hoping that my fever will go down and I can come to film when Sebastian or Christian give us the dates and times that work for them.
Our next step in preparing for our days of filming was to make a list of all the materials we needed to gather. Callie has volunteered to pick up equipment that we can rent out to make our project more professional. The other materials we decided we need are...
Day 1:
-shovel
-dirt from home depot
-missing poster
-white dress
-mascara
-red lipstick
Day 2:
-photo camera
-skateboard
-basketball
-pool stick
Day 3:
-red sharpie
-heart sticky notes
-photos of Christian
Our next step in preparing for our days of filming was to make a list of all the materials we needed to gather. Callie has volunteered to pick up equipment that we can rent out to make our project more professional. The other materials we decided we need are...
Day 1:
-shovel
-dirt from home depot
-missing poster
-white dress
-mascara
-red lipstick
Day 2:
-photo camera
-skateboard
-basketball
-pool stick
Day 3:
-red sharpie
-heart sticky notes
-photos of Christian
Tuesday, March 12, 2019
Shot Lists
Since we have sorted out details of filming locations and casting, our next step was to create a concrete list of the exact shots we would need to film, and split it into 3 days of filming. With the end of our school's 3rd quarter approaching, Callie, Lauren, and I have all been very busy with our school and personal lives. I also haven't been feeling well this past couple of days and have been in and out of school with a fever. I hope that I can get better before we start filming since we are only going to be able to find a few days to film that will work for our (as well as Christain and Sebastian's) busy schedules. We think that making a shot list will be very beneficial for planning out our days of filming because we do not want the limited filming time that we have available to go to waste. Also, we are planning on renting out equipment from BECON TV and so we will need to adjust our filming schedule around when the equipment is available to rent. Although the shot list is just an outline and is subject to change while we are actually filming, we are hoping not to stray too far from it.
Part one:
-Establishing shot of the forest
--Sound of running
-Close up of feet running
--Sound of heart pounding
-Close up of digging
-Dirt pile in forest
-Close up of face
--Sound of heavy breathing
-Christian completely buried
-Lauren standing over the body
-Close up of Lauren with the missing poster
--Voiceover: "It shouldn't have ended this way"
-Lauren ripping the poster
Part two:
-Establishing shot of house (??)
--Upbeat music
-Alarm on phone for specific time
-Close up of Lauren grabbing the camera
-Taking pictures from the bedroom window of Christain skateboarding outside the house
-Taping picture on the wall near other picture
-Pans to another picture on the wall of him playing basketball/pool
-Graphic match to Christain playing basketball/pool
-Close up of Lauren behind a tree taking pictures of him
-Close up of other pictures of the shrine and Lauren drawing hearts on the pictures and crossing out other girls' faces in the pictures
-zoom out to reveal full shrine
Monday, March 11, 2019
Important Decisions (switching locations, casting, etc)
 | ||||
| Christian Aniello as Christain
|
Since my last post, we were discussing with a friend about our project and they gave us a great suggestion of a fourth park that we should consider--regional park. It is a closer distance, open 24 hours a day, and has a great forest-like effect. Also, the park is busy during the day but nearly empty at night. We think that this location is most ideal for filming our forest scene and really checks off every item on our list. We have also decided that we are going to use Callie's house and her neighborhood clubhouse to film the second half of the film opening. We are going to use her room because it has a large open wall where we can build the shrine, and a window so it can show Christain skateboarding by, and Lauren taking pictures of him from her window. At the neighborhood clubhouse, there is a basketball court surrounded by lots of trees. We are hoping to film Lauren stalking Christain playing basketball behind a tree, taking photos of him. Also, there is a video game/pool room with an outside connection, so we are going to try to incorporate that room into the film, as well.
Now that we have our cast and final locations for our film, we are really starting to see our story come to life!! I can't wait to start filming and see it all come together!!
Sunday, March 10, 2019
Finding a location--forest scene
Today Callie, Lauren, and I went on a hunt to find a place to film for our forest scene. We decided to check out three nearby locations: Vista View Park, Everglades Holiday Park, and Markham Park. Each location had some pros and cons to it.
For our scene, the most ideal situation would be a park that was large, open, and woodsy with lots of trees but had a secluded section where we could film without being disturbed or worrying about other people getting in the background of our shot. Also, we would ideally be filming at night so we would need a park that is open late, or we will have to try to figure out editing techniques to make the scene darker. First, we evaluated Vista View Park. The park is a big hill, which did not completely fit the vision we had for the forest scene. The park was very busy and there weren't many areas that were secluded enough for us to film. Also, the park closes at 7:30 pm every night. We could not find any pros for this location and immediately eliminated it from our list of considerations. Next, we went to Markah Park. This park also closes at 7:30 pm every night, but it gave the right effect we were hoping to achieve. The park is very large and there are numerous trails into the forest area that we could use for filming. The last place we considered was Everglades Holiday Park. This park officially closes at 5 pm; however, there are surrounding grassy areas that we could use to film, but similar to vista view park, it didn't quite fit the image we wanted for our scene. In the end, we have chosen to go with Markham Park because it captures the essence of a secluded forest. I attached an image below of one of Markham Park's trails that we can use to film our scene in. We will have to be creative with the lighting and editing techniques to make the forest appear to be darker, but we think that this option is truly the best and will make our scene great!!
For our scene, the most ideal situation would be a park that was large, open, and woodsy with lots of trees but had a secluded section where we could film without being disturbed or worrying about other people getting in the background of our shot. Also, we would ideally be filming at night so we would need a park that is open late, or we will have to try to figure out editing techniques to make the scene darker. First, we evaluated Vista View Park. The park is a big hill, which did not completely fit the vision we had for the forest scene. The park was very busy and there weren't many areas that were secluded enough for us to film. Also, the park closes at 7:30 pm every night. We could not find any pros for this location and immediately eliminated it from our list of considerations. Next, we went to Markah Park. This park also closes at 7:30 pm every night, but it gave the right effect we were hoping to achieve. The park is very large and there are numerous trails into the forest area that we could use for filming. The last place we considered was Everglades Holiday Park. This park officially closes at 5 pm; however, there are surrounding grassy areas that we could use to film, but similar to vista view park, it didn't quite fit the image we wanted for our scene. In the end, we have chosen to go with Markham Park because it captures the essence of a secluded forest. I attached an image below of one of Markham Park's trails that we can use to film our scene in. We will have to be creative with the lighting and editing techniques to make the forest appear to be darker, but we think that this option is truly the best and will make our scene great!!
Thursday, March 7, 2019
Peer Review
Today in class, we were having a peer review day. I was excited to hear what other people in my class thought of our ideas, but I was a little worried because we could not work on finishing our storyboard and that we would fall behind schedule. I was also very nervous my classmates would find flaws that would highly set us back and make us reevaluate our plot. Callie, Lauren, and I were divided into different groups so we could all share our plots with our classmates. I was with 3 other classmates. It was very interesting to hear all of their film opening ideas, and I felt relieved after they all said that they really liked our film opening idea. It was also very helpful to hear their feedback on how we should improve our plot.
One of my classmates shared that they think it would be beneficial to have many short, rapid scenes in the first part to convey the essence of the character. I completely agree with this piece of feedback and think it will be good to incorporate into the scene. Another idea I got from another classmate in the group was to really emphasize a deteriorating mental state of the character in the first part, to show that she has an evil, psychotic side to her. He also suggested adding subtle clues to her craziness within the second part, such as having a picture of the boy hanging up in her room. The last member in our peer review group considered our current storyboard and thought that we should maybe switch the order of the parts of the scene, and show the body being buried (box 4 of the storyboard) before the girl is frantically running through the woods (box 3 of the storyboard) to add suspense to the situation.
Lastly, once we all shared the plots of our films and gave feedback, we looked at each other's blog posts and made sure that everything was organized, user-friendly, and easy to follow. Although we weren't able to stay on schedule and finish the storyboard in class, this activity was very helpful and we received great feedback that can help us with our film opening.
One of my classmates shared that they think it would be beneficial to have many short, rapid scenes in the first part to convey the essence of the character. I completely agree with this piece of feedback and think it will be good to incorporate into the scene. Another idea I got from another classmate in the group was to really emphasize a deteriorating mental state of the character in the first part, to show that she has an evil, psychotic side to her. He also suggested adding subtle clues to her craziness within the second part, such as having a picture of the boy hanging up in her room. The last member in our peer review group considered our current storyboard and thought that we should maybe switch the order of the parts of the scene, and show the body being buried (box 4 of the storyboard) before the girl is frantically running through the woods (box 3 of the storyboard) to add suspense to the situation.
Lastly, once we all shared the plots of our films and gave feedback, we looked at each other's blog posts and made sure that everything was organized, user-friendly, and easy to follow. Although we weren't able to stay on schedule and finish the storyboard in class, this activity was very helpful and we received great feedback that can help us with our film opening.
Wednesday, March 6, 2019
Storyboard
Hi blog! Yesterday, after our team finalized the plot, we were able to begin the storyboard. Once we created a structure and finalized our plot, it was fairly easy to separate the scene into parts that we created in the storyboard. It was also very helpful to visualize the different shots of the storyboard. I included the paper version of the storyboard below (and please forgive me for the drawings as I am not the best artist) which includes descriptions for each part of the scene, as well as the images.
Descriptions of each box:
-The first box shows an establishing shot of the forest. The scene will have dark lighting and will take place at night or at dawn to capture this effect.
-The second box a close up of the girl dragging a lifeless body through the forest, but will only show the feet of the victim and the hands of the girl. No faces will be shown yet.
-The third box shows the frantic nature of the situation. Multiple clips with quick cuts will show the girl running through the forest. There will be sounds of leaves crunching and heavy breathing.
-The fourth box shows the body being buried in the forest. We will most likely alternate between high and low angles to get both a point of view and aerial shots.
-The fifth box shows a close up of the girl and shows her messy hair and makeup. She will look scared and tired and represent a psychotic emotion.
-The last box will show a missing poster of a teenage boy, and the audience will be able to infer that the boy in the missing poster is who was killed. This is when the scene will cut to the flashback (and part 2 of our scene) that sets up the rest of the film.
Tuesday, March 5, 2019
Finalizing our plot
Hi blog! After a long time of not being able to meet in person, our team finally had another team meeting in class today where we were able to finalize details about the plot of our film. We wanted to jump right into the storyboard and draw out our thoughts for the film, but we thought it would be beneficial to plan out a skeleton structure for the different types of scenes we wanted to incorporate into our film opening. We divided our film into two halves: the first half would be the present day, and the second half would be a flashback. The first half would show the outcome of the film, and the second half would effectively set up the rest of the film (all within a flashback).
Part one:
This scene would take place in a forest. There would be all diegetic sounds, including rustling trees, and heavy breathing. A young girl would be shown dragging a body through the woods and running frantically. She would be looking very distressed and have makeup running, dirty clothes, and terrified emotions. She would bury the body in the forest and run away. Finally, there would be a close up of a missing poster of a teenage boy (the boy who she previously killed and buried). There would be no dialogue, but towards the end of the clip, a voiceover of the girl would say something along the lines of "So how did we end up here..."
Part two:
This section would be a complete contrast from the present day situation. There will be upbeat music, bright clothing, and a happy atmosphere. The title sequence will be shown throughout this section, including the important actors, directors, etc. The scene will begin with a graphic match of the picture in the missing poster to the same picture in the girl's room (possibly him calling her on her phone and the picture coming up on her screen). This scene will include dialogue of the girl talking to a friend (or maybe her mother??) about how she is excited to be meeting up with a boy who she had a crush on for a long time, aka the boy who she later kills. The scene will most likely end with her about to leave to meet up with the boy.
Staying consistent with the schedule I created for our team in the previous post, next class we will create the storyboards for each part of the film opening. It is still quite difficult for us to visualize our scenes coming together, so creating the storyboard will help us see our ideas come to life prior to filming. Stay tuned!!
Part one:
This scene would take place in a forest. There would be all diegetic sounds, including rustling trees, and heavy breathing. A young girl would be shown dragging a body through the woods and running frantically. She would be looking very distressed and have makeup running, dirty clothes, and terrified emotions. She would bury the body in the forest and run away. Finally, there would be a close up of a missing poster of a teenage boy (the boy who she previously killed and buried). There would be no dialogue, but towards the end of the clip, a voiceover of the girl would say something along the lines of "So how did we end up here..."
Part two:
This section would be a complete contrast from the present day situation. There will be upbeat music, bright clothing, and a happy atmosphere. The title sequence will be shown throughout this section, including the important actors, directors, etc. The scene will begin with a graphic match of the picture in the missing poster to the same picture in the girl's room (possibly him calling her on her phone and the picture coming up on her screen). This scene will include dialogue of the girl talking to a friend (or maybe her mother??) about how she is excited to be meeting up with a boy who she had a crush on for a long time, aka the boy who she later kills. The scene will most likely end with her about to leave to meet up with the boy.
Staying consistent with the schedule I created for our team in the previous post, next class we will create the storyboards for each part of the film opening. It is still quite difficult for us to visualize our scenes coming together, so creating the storyboard will help us see our ideas come to life prior to filming. Stay tuned!!
Sunday, March 3, 2019
Filming schedule
Hi blog! Since we have not had a team meeting in a couple of days, I thought it would be beneficial to create a schedule for filming to help us organize our time better. The schedule includes each day that we are in our class and what we will be doing with our time in class. Since all of our filming has to be done in locations outside of school, we cannot rely on class time to film and must instead utilize our class time to develop other parts of the project. The most efficient use of our time in our class prior to filming is to plan out the days of filming so that we don't waste our time during the filming days trying to figure out what to do since we have very limited days that we can actually film and the time is very valuable. This schedule is very tentative and will most likely change as we go through the month. We all have very busy schedules and we will most likely have to alter this calendar to accommodate them. Nevertheless, it is still very valuable to have because it will act as a guide and help us stay on track as we work through the project.
Friday, March 1, 2019
Bumps in the road!
Today my group experienced a major bump in the road. I had an important doctor's appointment and could not attend class. My other group members also were unable to attend class for personal reasons. We felt that we were running behind, but thankfully we are all good friends aside from class and were able to communicate ideas through the phone. We decided that we really liked the idea of building suspense in our film and we are almost certain we are going to stick with the idea discussed in the previous post, where a noticeable dirty girl is running away from burying a body in the forest/woodsy location. Through group messaging, our team discussed some key mise-en-scene features we wanted to include in our scene.
We decided that the scene will include some sort of flashback to provide context as to what led to this drastic event of a teenage girl burying a body. I suggested that maybe we show her getting ready for a date with a boy and have a voiceover question "so how did we end up here?" This will create an element of suspense because even though the audience knows something will go terribly wrong, they will be eager to know what led to the morbidity of her committing murder.
We want there to be a large contrast from the girl and her surroundings. We want to film the scene at night and have very dark lighting and shadows in a forest-like setting. To create a contrast, we want the girl to be wearing a white dress covered in dirt stains. Since white is a color typically associated with innocence, this will represent how this event has "stained her innocence" and will show aspects of irony. This message will also be conveyed through her heavy makeup that will be ruined, such as heavy mascara that is running down her face, and bright red lipstick that will be smeared all over her face. I included images below that show the image we are striving for in our scene.
We decided that the scene will include some sort of flashback to provide context as to what led to this drastic event of a teenage girl burying a body. I suggested that maybe we show her getting ready for a date with a boy and have a voiceover question "so how did we end up here?" This will create an element of suspense because even though the audience knows something will go terribly wrong, they will be eager to know what led to the morbidity of her committing murder.
We want there to be a large contrast from the girl and her surroundings. We want to film the scene at night and have very dark lighting and shadows in a forest-like setting. To create a contrast, we want the girl to be wearing a white dress covered in dirt stains. Since white is a color typically associated with innocence, this will represent how this event has "stained her innocence" and will show aspects of irony. This message will also be conveyed through her heavy makeup that will be ruined, such as heavy mascara that is running down her face, and bright red lipstick that will be smeared all over her face. I included images below that show the image we are striving for in our scene.
Wednesday, February 27, 2019
Camera techniques
Hi blog! Today in class we did not have a lot of time to work on our film opening, so instead of having another brainstorming session that we would not be able to fully finished, we decided to discuss logistics. We decided that to make our film as professional as possible, we would borrow a high-quality video camera from Beacon TV. We have rented out camera equipment from them before and think that this is the best option to really make our opening great.
Although we are not certain we will stick with the idea we came up with in class the other day, we decided to use our limited time to discuss if the idea was practical from a filming standpoint. We thought we could use interesting shots and angles to make our film opening unique. We thought for the scene where the girl was burying the dead body, we could film the scene from below, as if from the point of view of the body being buried, with dirt being shoveled onto the camera and the girl in the background looking like a powerful figure from a low angle. We would also include an establishing shot of the woods, as well mid and long shot showing the girl burying the body.
When the girl is burying the body, we want few cuts and just her actions represented. However, as she runs through the woods, we were thinking of incorporating many swift cuts conveying motion that will hopefully represent the anxiety of the situation and the girl's feelings. At this point, we are not sure how we want to film the portion of the scene that includes flashbacks of how the girl ended up in the situation of burying a body. In our next team meeting, we will discuss this further.
Although we are not certain we will stick with the idea we came up with in class the other day, we decided to use our limited time to discuss if the idea was practical from a filming standpoint. We thought we could use interesting shots and angles to make our film opening unique. We thought for the scene where the girl was burying the dead body, we could film the scene from below, as if from the point of view of the body being buried, with dirt being shoveled onto the camera and the girl in the background looking like a powerful figure from a low angle. We would also include an establishing shot of the woods, as well mid and long shot showing the girl burying the body.
When the girl is burying the body, we want few cuts and just her actions represented. However, as she runs through the woods, we were thinking of incorporating many swift cuts conveying motion that will hopefully represent the anxiety of the situation and the girl's feelings. At this point, we are not sure how we want to film the portion of the scene that includes flashbacks of how the girl ended up in the situation of burying a body. In our next team meeting, we will discuss this further.
Monday, February 25, 2019
Inspiration and Ideas
Hi blog! Today in class we wanted to set a concrete idea for our film opening. Having gone back and forth for so long deciding on a genre, we knew that we were running slightly behind schedule and that our brainstorming process would take longer than we had originally thought. Even though we decided on drama for our umbrella genre during our last team meeting, we still needed to choose a subgenre that we wanted to focus on. We tried to come up with initial ideas, but felt stuck and could not think of any plot ideas. This is when Callie came up with a brilliant plan to watch some of the openings from last year that might spark inspiration.
We went to our teacher's website, where we found all the foundation portfolio projects from last year. We scrolled through the past student's blogs and watched 5 videos until we figured out the direction we wanted to go in for our video: drama with a hint of suspense. We started listing ideas that came into our head. Lauren suggested that we film a shipwreck but I pointed out that with limited resources, it would be quite difficult to create that sort of set, and also that a shipwreck might not leave room for suspense. Callie suggested that an idea of a girl running through the woods looking dirty, possibly after hiding a body in the woods of someone she has murdered, or attempting to escape a harmful situation.
We all liked this idea, but I suggested that we develop some sort of context behind it. Since we are all teenagers and decided that our film would be about teenagers, I drew from my research about what makes a good teenage movie, and how most movies revolve around some sort of relationship. We decided that the girl in the woods would be running away from a boy whom she had recently started dating, and something went wrong in the relationship that caused it to take a morbid turn. This is still an idea in progress, so hopefully after our next meeting we will have a more developed idea. Stay tuned!!!
Sunday, February 24, 2019
Teenage Movie Madness
Now that our team has decided on an overall genre, teenage drama with a hint of suspense, it was time to conduct some serious research on all that teenage drama movies entail. In order to be successful, teenage drama movies usually include some sort of "rite of passage," which is a turning point in a person's life. Usually, rites of passage are developed throughout the entirety of a movie and the crucial event that leads to a turning point is not reached until the end of the film. Although we will not be able to reach this event within the first couple minutes of our film, we can include foreshadowing that would ultimately lead to this rite of passage. Another important element that should be captured in our film is the essence of being a teenager. This includes the typical teenage struggles, speech (such as teenage slang) and lifestyle choices--being teenagers ourselves it should be pretty easy to accomplish this.
Many teenage drama movies are so popular because of how relatable they are to young audiences. Characters face simple issues that are not too far off from what normal teenagers face. For example, one of the most iconic teenage drama movies, "Mean Girls" is an exaggerated comedy about a girl trying to fit in and survive high school. A concept as simple as this, along with an insanely humorous script and attractive actors, has made "Mean Girls" a staple teenage movie. "Mean Girls" also effectively combines humor and drama. This is especially important because although we decided it would be too difficult to focus on the genre of comedy itself, we do possibly want to incorporate some aspects of comedy into our film opening. Hopefully, we can embrace our inner comedians and conjure up a couple laugh-worthy lines in our script.
Martin, Daniel. “What Makes a Truly Great Teen Flick.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 31 Jan. 2008, www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2008/jan/31/thejunomachinehasarrived.
Brody, Richard. “Why ‘Mean Girls’ Is a Classic.” The New Yorker, The New Yorker, 3 Oct. 2018, www.newyorker.com/culture/richard-brody/why-mean-girls-is-a-classic.
Many teenage drama movies are so popular because of how relatable they are to young audiences. Characters face simple issues that are not too far off from what normal teenagers face. For example, one of the most iconic teenage drama movies, "Mean Girls" is an exaggerated comedy about a girl trying to fit in and survive high school. A concept as simple as this, along with an insanely humorous script and attractive actors, has made "Mean Girls" a staple teenage movie. "Mean Girls" also effectively combines humor and drama. This is especially important because although we decided it would be too difficult to focus on the genre of comedy itself, we do possibly want to incorporate some aspects of comedy into our film opening. Hopefully, we can embrace our inner comedians and conjure up a couple laugh-worthy lines in our script.
Martin, Daniel. “What Makes a Truly Great Teen Flick.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 31 Jan. 2008, www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2008/jan/31/thejunomachinehasarrived.
Brody, Richard. “Why ‘Mean Girls’ Is a Classic.” The New Yorker, The New Yorker, 3 Oct. 2018, www.newyorker.com/culture/richard-brody/why-mean-girls-is-a-classic.
Friday, February 22, 2019
First Team Meeting!
Today in our media class, Lauren, Callie, and I (aka Llama Productions) had our first official team meeting! We brainstormed many ideas for our film opening. We went back and forth with a couple of topics that we wanted to focus our film opening on. We felt very defeated because we could not immediately come up with any great ideas for our film. Instead of trying to immediately come up with an idea, we decided that we would start broader and first just pick a genre first.
We talked through each film genre and listed pros and cons of how we could make an idea for each genre come to life. We went through the genres of horror, drama, and comedy. The pros for horror included that we could have an effective opening that could foreshadow future events in the film. However, we do not have the means to create a great film opening for horror because we do not have access to special effects or sets that would be crucial elements of horror films. The pros of drama included that it was very broad and we could include elements of other genres within the film. We could not think of any cons for the genre of drama, which persuaded us to highly consider it for our film. Lastly, we discusses the genre of comedy. The pros were that it did not have to include any complex elements and could be made with materials and locations available to us. However, the script would have to be really funny and we were not sure we would be able to come up with a humorous enough script that would effectively set up the film as a whole.
We eventually settled on drama as an umbrella topic for our video. We decided that there are many subgenres within drama that we could end up leaning towards, but overall we all agreed on wanting to create some kind of plot that revolves around drama, most likely also including elements of suspense. The other important decision that we agreed on in our meeting is that we wanted the film to be about teenagers. With the broad genre of teenage drama, we are thinking of focusing our film on suspense but we are not quite sure we want to go in that direction until we can come up with a great idea for the plot.
We talked through each film genre and listed pros and cons of how we could make an idea for each genre come to life. We went through the genres of horror, drama, and comedy. The pros for horror included that we could have an effective opening that could foreshadow future events in the film. However, we do not have the means to create a great film opening for horror because we do not have access to special effects or sets that would be crucial elements of horror films. The pros of drama included that it was very broad and we could include elements of other genres within the film. We could not think of any cons for the genre of drama, which persuaded us to highly consider it for our film. Lastly, we discusses the genre of comedy. The pros were that it did not have to include any complex elements and could be made with materials and locations available to us. However, the script would have to be really funny and we were not sure we would be able to come up with a humorous enough script that would effectively set up the film as a whole.
We eventually settled on drama as an umbrella topic for our video. We decided that there are many subgenres within drama that we could end up leaning towards, but overall we all agreed on wanting to create some kind of plot that revolves around drama, most likely also including elements of suspense. The other important decision that we agreed on in our meeting is that we wanted the film to be about teenagers. With the broad genre of teenage drama, we are thinking of focusing our film on suspense but we are not quite sure we want to go in that direction until we can come up with a great idea for the plot.
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