CCR script question #3

This is question #3 on my CCR I'm close to the end of my project and I'm very excited to see how the final product of my film opening and CCR's are going to look. So, with all the production processes that I've had there will be a lot to talk about in this CCR. I hope you enjoy it; you can access it here.

Group meeting #1

 Today we are less than 2 weeks away from submitting my CCRs and film opening, so we decided to do a group meeting, this included taking brief notes on advice and taking a picture with my group. However, in my group we are currently struggling with finding dates that we are all free to film, for example we were planning to film on Tuesday, one week all 3 of us could at firs, but one of us last minute said he had a meeting which caused us not to go. We made a big impact on this since we could've already finished our project, but we are maneuvering through it and filming together on Thursday. This will help us finish and edit our projects on time while leaving enough time to finish our CCRs independently. The group meeting is set up using random groups, and we all talk about our project while taking notes on advice that we should include in our video or take out. Moreover, the notes and my partner's notes from the film opening were both short, which means were on to success since there are few corrections we need to make. This is a picture of my notes and group!!

This group meeting helped me work on my project in many ways, and some of my group meeting members advised me on some tips to do for my CCRs. Although it was only a few tips, some of them weren't too goo, so I'm going to need to brainstorm some things for my CCR this week, so I can finish it before I go on vacation for spring break. Overall, I would love to do this meeting again when I'm done with my project to see if I achieved perfection on my project.

CCR script question #2

 CCR question #2 was a straight path for me as I already did research on target audience and so all I need to do was integrate it into my script. Aswell as most of the other things I needed to include in my CCR such as where should I distribute my opening to target audiences. In the script I also added statistics and research about target audience. So, I hope you enjoy my script you can access it here. Enjoy!!

CCR script question #1

 For my CCR question #1 I would like to think I did a great job, but I will need to wait for my grade. However, I expressed all of my feelings with the question and included different pictures of research I did. Most importantly I included what I should show and say while filming so it is easier for me to plan and edit the full thing out. While doing this script I took advantage of one of my blogs (Script blog) and used it for some help with the looks of the script.

Here is my script. Enjoy!!

Editing #2

 Credits

For this editing blog, I saved it for the credit sequence, this is the fun bit of the editing since it's more challenging and requires skills with fonts and placements of words. Although it was my first time editing a credit sequence, it was a very fun experience and improved a lot of my problem solving skills. This is because while I was editing the size and placements, many things were off, the first thing was the title introduction, it was popping off from the bottom right and ending up big in the top left, but I wanted it to stay in the middle and get larger every second. I resolved this mistake by also, instead of timing the size of the font, changing the placement of the letter so that every second it stayed in place. Additionally, another similar mistake I had was with the credits where I couldn't place them in the same locations I've had before, so they were all spread apart every time a new credit appeared. I fixed this mistake by taking off the fades and looking at where the last ones were and aligning them with the new credits. So I think this enhanced my abilities of editing (and my patience) because I somewhat mastered how to place, size, and move texts to where I want them to be (as well as making them gradually increase, which you will see in my film opening). Here's what it looked like when I first started my credit sequence.

And here's what I ended with:

Editing #1

Film 

                                                                                                                   The first piece of editing I started with was the scenes, these were the simplest part and since we set each of them up for transitions, I didn't have to add any fades or extra things. So, what I had to do was just put them all together and do some quick cuts of us just talking in the end or the start of the scene. However, one big mistake which a talked about before is how I removed a scene I thought was bad but in the end I deleted the good one and left the bad one so my advice for my future self while filming is "always look through each and every single second of a scene even if its long", this led me to contact my group telling them about the mistake I made. Although, my group ended up reassuring me that it was ok and that we can do another one even better with actual apple juice (because we had to do it out of water "vodka" because we ran out of apple juice "whiskey"), so good thing they weren't upset. Here's a picture of how it looked while I was in the middle of editing it, and I'm very happy with how these scenes turned out (except for the one I deleted). Overall, I'm happy with the mistake I made because it was a short scene. After all, if I had made this same mistake with a big scene that would have been troublesome for my group.                                                     

 

 

    

Production Process

Filming- Day 2

 For our day 3 of filming, we decided to repeat some things we did last week, since we thought it wasn't good enough, so this time, we did some of the same scenes, just with better quality, and it reached the point where it was perfect. However, when I got home, I went over the scenes and deleted some of them, turns out that was a big mistake, I deleted one of the good scenes and kept one of the bad ones. I resolved this by telling my group immediately and they were fine with it since they didn't really like that scene. So, on our last film day, which will be Sunday this week, we are going to film that part again and film the other final parts of the film opening. While filming, we were thinking ways we could transition into that scene without adding fades and editing transitions, so we could just do straight cuts. We wanted to do straight cuts because if we kept adding fades it would become way too repetitive. One of us had this idea while filming to make a neat transition happen.

And this is what we were transitioning from:

Overall, we loved the way each scene looked, and we hope we can make the perfect film opening for you to love.

Production Process

 Filming- Day 1 part 2

These are the shots that we will have to remake since they were too dark, this scene is meant to be about the guy leaving the bar and walking around clumsy and stumbling at night, but we realized in the night, the camera wasn't capturing the shots the way we wanted. So, we are resolving this problem by picking a time frame better and shooting when it's close to dark but still visible for the camera to capture great shots. Moreover, we will have to do this for the forest too, since we were planning on it being at night, but these 2 scenes in particular made us change our minds about the night time filming plan.

These are clips of us filming the scenes, but I don't want to show the actual scene since I want it to be a surprise on how it looks. But as you can see, it is really dark outside and if you look at the camera screen in this picture you will understand more about what I mean.

Production Process

 Filming- Day 1

On this day of filming, we are shooting the first scene (the bar scene). In this scene, we chose a brownish environment, and one of our props was an empty liquor bottle with apple juice inside. This was to make it realistic so the audience could suspect that the main actor was drinking alcohol (fake). We sometimes also encountered issues with opening the bottle or with lighting in general. Our shots were not always visible since it was very dark, so for our upcoming film day, we will do a better job at picking the time we are shooting.

Furthermore, we had some funny bloopers while filming, but of course I'm not gonna put them in my film opening, so I will go ahead and put any bloopers we have on my "production process" blogs.

Film Set/Props/Costume

 Update on the mise-en-scene

My group and I decided that we will be filming at a mini bar in one of our places for the bar scene instead of the Town Center bar scene. This is because the bar at our house matches the tone we want to set for our film opening, which is dim and brownish color. Additionally, the props came in recently and we may not beat the doll up like we are planning on doing since it may add some extra realism if it's clean (that's just a thought). The group and I planned on beating the doll because we thought it would make it more realistic and chilling, but when the doll came in, we realized it was already very realistic and unique looking. Also, we have the perfect clothing ready for the bar scene, and for the forest, we are still going for that unique, business casual look. However, since we will be filming at a mini bar and not filming at a bar, we will have to switch locations after filming in our mini bar and go to a restroom that is in a bar or looks somewhat like the restroom of a bar. 

Forest (similar, not the real forest that will be shown):

Bar (similar, not the real bar that will be shown)

Real Doll:

Real Clothing:

Camera equipment

 For the camera equipment, my group and I will be using a Canon EOS 60D, I gave the idea of this camera since I remembered my dad bought it a while ago, and it will be better to use than a regular iPhone. Moreover, I did get a brief understanding of it when my dad explained it to me while handing me the camera, but I don't think that will be enough to satisfy my demands on my project. So, I ended up doing some extra research about it to explore some extra interesting things about this camera and to help me and my group accomplish our goals with this project. 

Furthermore, I not only did research on how to use it but also the specifications of the camera and what makes it a good camera (the technology that is inside the camera). The article states that the "Canon EOS 60D is a mid-range DSLR released in 2010 designed for photography enthusiasts and semi-professionals". This interesting thing about this camera is that even though it was released in 2010 it has 3K graphics and is paired with an "18-megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor with DIGIC 4 image." Additionally, all of this means it is capable of making images with "great detail and sharp color accuracy", this is perfect for my project as we will need detailed cinematography. There is also an "ISO range of 100-6400 (expandable to 12800) which allows for versatility in many lighting conditions while the continuous shooting speed of 5.3 FPS is useful for capturing action shots." It is great that this is included because I was worried that the camera wouldn't be able to see what we are doing since our set is mainly in the dark.

Although an older mode, the EOS 60D is a good choice for beginners due to these specifications, as well as its ease of use. The battery life of this camera is reliable from the article's perspective, saying it has "several hours of shooting," which is great for me and my group. While newer cameras offer more quality and faster processing, my EOS 60D still is great since I didn't have to spend much getting it (since I already had it), either way, if I had to purchase it for this project I would since it's very budget-friendly.

Sources-

https://www.canon-europe.com/for_home/product_finder/cameras/digital_slr/eos_60d/specifications/

https://www.dummies.com/article/home-auto-hobbies/photography/cameras/canon/movie-recording-basics-on-a-canon-eos-60d-175811/

Storyboard

 Like I said in my scripts blog post, I will be uploading a storyboard, so here it is. I worked on this over the weekend and made some adjustments on it so it could sound a little better, so there may be some differences from the script. I included some more information about the shots/angles since I didn't include much of that in the script. Additionally, I did some research on a slide I found on why we make storyboards and it included some very interesting topics and facts which I didn't know about before. 

Storyboards are an important tool in media studies as they help visualize scenes, plan shot composition, and ensure a clean narrative view before filming. Moreover, they serve as a blueprint for directors, editors, and cinematographers, reducing errors during filming and saving time. In my previous work, like my Eraser Story and One Word Film project, I would say storyboarding helped me map out important moments, frame shots, and help me while editing. In addition, the article stated that "Storyboards assist the filmmaker in realizing his or her vision. Not only do they assist with the artistic level of the future film, but also the budget, duration, and much more, depending on the quality of the storyboard creation." Overall, I thought this was a very important line since it shows the proper way to use the storyboards; while reading the slide and the article, all taught me how to make my future storyboards better.

Sources- 

https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/introduction-to-media-studies-storyboards/116967130

https://makestoryboard.com/blog/why-do-flmmakers-use-storyboards

Audio

 For our audio, we want to focus on sinister sounds such as loud dings before a jumpscare or maniacal laughter, and lastly creepy music. Moreover, we want to add different types of foley to make it unique, such as when the person walks or the dolls echo a laugh. We also brainstormed a few different ideas to add more suspense to the film's opening for when he is alone in the forest or in the bar's bathroom. Nevertheless, the ideas included foley for the twig snapping or leaves crunching, we wanted to make these sounds placed at random locations in the film opening, like behind the character or to his sides. Another idea for a foley that we had was when he vomited and then fainted in the bathroom, we could do the vomit by throwing water in a toilet and the thud by throwing something heavy to tothea floor. 

I did some research on how horror films use audio to build suspense and make the film frightening. Most horror films use audio in the same way, such as using sudden stingers (kind of like a ding) for jump scares, sudden silence, and weird ambient sounds, all of this is to build suspense and heighten fear. Additionally, the article stated that they use "distorted or unnatural noises to create discomfort while atonal music and distorted dissonance generate tension". However, what I want to incorporate most in my film opening is dietetic sounds like leaves crumbling far out and distant laughter these things make the setting more realistic and are important for the audiences since they make them think about what is happening, such as when a heart beats in a horror movie it makes you get more tense. This is all so you can get more immersed in the movie, and foley sounds are an upgrade to that since it adds to your realism, making things seem more disturbing. Overall, sound design in horror controls audiences' anticipation,o n which keeps viewers uncomfortable.

Sources-

https://thehorrorhq.com/sound

https://artyfile.com/blog/the-power-of-music-in-horror-films-how-soundtracks-intensify-creepy-movie-scenes

Mise-en-scene Props and Lighting

The props we've chosen are a doll, a tie, and fake shot glasses with apple juice to substitute for alcoholic drinks. Moreover, the doll we are buying is very clean and not scary, so we plan to beat it up and make it seem dirty, so it looks haunted and scary. The tie will take place when the main character is in the bar, and he will drop it once he is in the forest. This same tie will be used to rap around the doll's neck when she is hanging on the tree. Moreover, the shot glasses will take place in the bar, and it's very important for the passing out effect so the credits can be played, and is also very important in the forest where he wakes up and is confused.

Nevertheless, in the bar scene, we want it to be dim and brown, so it can set the mood for the rest of the film. This same set will continue as the first couple of scenes in our film opening. After the bar, we will be located in a forest, these similar tones of color will be important for our film opening. However, for the bar to be the color we want it is tricky since most bars have their own unique vibe, but we are hoping for the bar in Town Center to be a great spot for us to shoot our film opening in.

Moreover, the forest will be dim and will illustrate the mood perfectly since we want it to be dark and sinister. We want the forest to look somewhat like this, with the green showing and the brown from the dirt and trees also in the view. In other words, we chose these two colors (brown and green) to match with each other because we didn't want to set them to look completely different from each other, so we can go through the whole film opening with similar tones and moods. 

Mise-en-scene Costume and Set

My group and I have decided our set is going to be in a forest and bar, this specific forest is located in the Everglades, it's more of a river than it is a forest, but besides that, it is the perfect location for what we want to film. Additionally, the main reason we based it on a forest is that it is feared by many to go to a forest alone at sundown. Also, we will include a doll in one of our scenes hanging on a tree with a tie around its neck. Our location will look most similar to this picture below. The bar is going to go first, while introducing the main character, it is going to be a similar color scheme to the forest, with mainly brown colors, dim lighting, and drinks in the background. This is so we can set similar moods and tones throughout the film opening.

Furthermore, our main character will be introduced in a bar while wearing business casual. He will be wearing this because he is a very well-educated businessman and just got out of his job. In addition, later on in the opening, he will be wearing a tie which will be conjoined with the doll and the tree. We had this idea to make our audience fear the doll, and since he is in the forest alone and at night, it's going to make the audience feel a certain way about this scene.

Character Development

 After many conversations with my group, we chose one of these three names: Andrew, Robert, and James. We settled on Andrew at first, but after a while, we thought the name didn't fit in with the character, so we went with James. Moreover, he is a very stereotypical male as he is in a frat and studies finance, he is a well-educated businessman working an internship during summer, he does all this while being a college student, single, and 21 (Born January 5th,2004). This story takes place in 2025, when James walks into the bar (which is the setting for the first scene), he is well dressed (business casual) as if he just got off his shift at a firm. Additionally, James has acquired a dependency on alcohol to escape his stressful schedule of simultaneously working, school, and friends, due to being newly 21, he spends nearly every night drinking alone at the bar.

Furthermore, we landed on the name James since it is ranked #1 most common name for American born males, and James sounds very suitable for the genre horror.

Project Script

 This blog post will be about the script for my film's opening. A script or a screenplay is a written text based on what happens in a film, TV show, and other media types. A script normally includes descriptions of the setting, stage directions, dialogue, character actions, and shots/compositions. Scripts tell the story through words and descriptions and provide the structure of the film. They are very important, and a movie cannot be filmed without one.

This is an example of a single page in a Movie Script.

This is the link to my script. It shows what is going to be in my film's opening. Since this is my first time making a script, it was interesting, especially when I was researching how to make one. The different formats included in scripts were fun since you could choose which format you wanted to make. However, I chose the original format because, in my opinion, it was simple and cool looking. I hope you enjoy reading my script. And I will also be uploading a future blog about my storyboard.

Sources:

https://www.masterclass.com/articles/script-writing-explained

https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/screenplay-format-75569/

https://www.oscars.org/margaret-herrick-library/collections/scripts

Project Idea Summary

 Through the group discussions we've had with our teacher, we can nearly perfect our ideas. But for now, we have a horror film opening that is mainly about the mystery of the story and the suspense it brings to our audiences. The main character will start drinking at the first location (Town Center), fully dressed up with a suit and tie, taking drinks (alcohol) and getting more drunk until he goes to the bathroom and passes out, this is part we are going to do a fading black effect, and the title and credits will play. Once he is awake, he will be in a forest, and he will be amazed at how and when he got there. Moreover, in the forest, he will have an increased heartbeat and panting throughout. While he is walking in the forest, he sees a sign that states "Do not continue". The main character will ignore this sign and take off his tie as he is trying to figure things out. As he leaves the tie on the floor, he will continue his plans. Later on, he will encounter a gruesome doll hanging using the tie that he left on the floor. As he is looking at the door, he gets a sudden tap on the shoulder, he turns back, and no one is there, when he turns back to look at the doll, she isn't there. An echoed laughing sound will play showing that the doll is still there but not in his view, and the opening scene ends. For the doll, we will purchase a doll online and customize it ourselves to our liking.

The doll we are buying:

What we want it to look like:

Media Theory

 A media theory I would want to put into my horror film opening is the Semiotic Theory of Barthes, which explores how meaning is created through signs and symbols. Roland Barthes, "a French literary theorist, believes that media texts communicate meaning beyond their surface content by using symbols that audiences decode based on cultural understanding". In horror films, semiotics play an important role, the sense of tension building as normal objects or settings can't take on threatening meaning. One example would be the doll of an innocent child, which can signify innocence, but can also suggest danger when placed in a disturbing context. Using Barthes's idea, my horror opening could slowly make a meaning through symbolic image, like a doll hung on a tree, slowly moving left and right, which suggests uneasiness before any intense dangers are shown. 

Furthermore, Barthes introduced the concept of "connotation also as denotation being the literal meaning of an image while connotation refers to the deeper cultural or emotional associations that it carries". A setting of horror could have a dark forest or spooky corridor, but the connotation introduces fear, danger, or the presence of evil. My film's opening could show this by focusing on visuals that carry threatening connotations such as weird shadows or a random flickering light. "These signals subconsciously start the fear in the viewer which increases their fear without any direct threat". By turning to the effects of visual images, you can create a cooler and uncomfortable atmosphere, avoiding boring violence while still having the audience in fear.

Moreover, Barthes' theory says that "media texts are polysemic, they can hold multiple meanings depending on the audience's background and experiences". This is especially effective in horror where uncertainty can increase fear. What one viewer thinks as a sign of supernatural danger, another might see it as psychological uncertainty. My horror opening could purposely leave certain visual clues or sounds open to explanation, an example would be that a character suggests ghosts to some viewers while others might view it as a sign of fear. This confusion keeps audiences engaged, going well with the uncomfortable tone that is important in horror. With Barthes' Semiotic Theory in my opening, I will use objects correctly, making audiences confused yet anxious.

Source:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland_Barthes

Editing Software

The editing software I will be using to make my film opening is Adobe Premiere Pro. This is because it's my main editing software; it's also a perfect tool for a good horror film opening. Therefore, I will need to do research on how to make my film opening neat for my audiences, Adobe Premiere Pro is used by professionals like Hollywood and YouTubers, which means it's a very trusted editing software. However, they have many other interesting things put into it, including timeline editing, which is to layer video, audio, and effects; in one of the sidebars built-in effects like fades, dissolves, and custom transitions are also included. (This VIDEO taught me Adobe Premiere Pro when I first used it.)

Color grading and Audio tools are important to use in edits, these two tools help set the tone and the looks of your film opening, especially when you can change the color or sound of a specific thing that doesn't seem appealing to have. Moreover, keyframing allows you to create slow zooms which are perfect for suspense, integrations work really well on Premiere Pro since they allow you to use After Effects for a more advanced visual effect in your genre. Using Premiere Pro, you can create suspense easily using tight, quick cuts to create confusion, you can also use match cuts, for interesting transitions that help build suspense. Using the color grading tool, you can create a creepy atmosphere through color, the color you change will mainly represent your genre.

Sound in a horror film opening is everything, with Adobe's Audio tools I can layer different types of sounds like whispers, leaves crunching, birds humming, trees moving around in the wind, and other different things. Two of the most important things I would do before a scare to build tension are to have sudden silence and then a high-pitched hum, kind of like a 'ding', this builds up tension to loud scares and increases the fear of the audience. The last thing I would do while I'm editing my film opening is put texts and titles the design would be more pencil-like with a slow fading text, from what I learned while researching film openings for the genre horror is that the pencil font is really famous and is still cool looking since it matches the horror vibe. With all of these tools, Premiere Pro will allow me to shape every visual and auditory detail the way I want, confirming that my film opening will look good.