Film opening and CCRs

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1enJ6KLtL7tIFp1uSBcJYcCVO-IU8h02b/view?usp=sharing - Film opening 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XIQjRWJkgQiQpdF3KaxnwDOULDTSWlZE/view?usp=sharing -CCR #1,2

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aU5BuN8tV042FOA3Seb0OR0iDC6pmMyM/view?usp=drive_link -CCR#1,2 

Final reflection

    This is going to be a short blog post but wow, I can't believe it's the last day. After 8 weeks of working it's all done. I had a lot of fun creating this. I'm especially grateful for my friends who helped be actors in the film opening. I think this project really helped me see all the different attributes that goes into creating a form of content. I cant imagine how much more work it is for Individuals in the film industry. Overall this project is  something that I'm never going to forget.

editing of the CCRS

     Just finished editing the CCRs!! One step closer to finally being able to finish this project. 

(Comment example)

Editing the CRRS was fairly simple and tedious, for sure a lot simpler than editing the film opening. The only hard part of editing the CCRS is probably creating fake comments and adding them to the video.

To create the fake comments I used a Canva template which helped a lot. I had some pictures of my friends so I asked for permission if I could have their faces for a profile picture of a fake comment and they agreed. So with that, I just uploaded a photo of my friend's face wrote a fake funny username, and then added one of the CCR questions 

(Editing of CCR#1/2)

    While editing the CCRs the main thing that I was focused on was adding pictures and the audio. The editing was easy and didn't require a lot of time. I added a background jazz song to not have the only audio be my voice.  For this, I used Pixibase to find a song that was just the right timing and vibe for the video  

    I cant wait for tomorrow
when this project is finally over 8 weeks about to over.  

(Editting of CCR#3/4)

Production of CCRS

Just finished filming the CCRs!! Overall this part of the project was the most boring. I also have rather done a 5-minute film opening than the CCRs. 

    

    For the CCRs, I filmed two videos with 2 questions in each one. Writing the script for the CCRs was tedious. I had to do research and just talk about the film's opening 

To make it less obvious that I was reading a script, I used an octopus tripod and mounted it on the cabinet that held my computer. I also used two lighting stands to ensure proper lighting. 

Since I was cooking I found a stove plate that was lying around in my house and decided that I was going to use this to cook instead of using the stove. The reason why I did this is because I wouldn't be able to place my camera anywhere properly enough to get good shots. 

I also used the octopus tripod to achieve close-up shots of the food getting chopped up and cooked. 

Overall this part of the project was still fun to film but forsure the most boring part of the project. 

Planning for CCR#4

    The question for CCR number 4 is, 'How did you integrate technologies—software, hardware, and online—in this project?' I'm going to approach this by cooking a meal from the last blog post: the Bratwurst Supper. To achieve this, I will obviously need to get the ingredients for it and wear my Classic 1940s/50s outfit. I also want to get a portable stove to film the cooking process better and easier. 

(Portable Stove Top)

    

    

(Bratwurst Supper)

    

    While prepared and cooking, I would discuss how I used a studio lighting rig in order to achieve the right light that I wanted. I would also talk about all the different software that I used in the editing of the opening. 

Planning for CCR#3

 

(Bratwurst Supper)

    The question for CCR number 3 is 'How did your production skills develop throughout this project.' The way that I will be uniquely answering this question would be by cooking a meal while answering the questions. In order to match more with my film opening which is based during the 40s/50s I will be cooking meals from that time period. Some meals would be a delicious hamburger soup, light cornbread pancakes, and a savory Bratwurst supper.
 

    While cooking the meals I would show previous shots and mistakes that I have made in past projects and show the difference in technique in this production. I would also talk about the difference in the way I approach a certain obstacle or shot. 

(Similar outfit that I might wear)

     For the cooking, I don't know if I should wear a white button-down shirt or an outfit from that period to further make connections with the film opening.  

    Might have different ideas for the way I will approach this but so far I'm sticking to this. 

Group meeting #2

     Today we had our second group meeting of the year. In my group, we each discussed how we were doing on the project, our struggles, and any questions we had. 

(Notes I took)

    The first group member(Saida) started by showing her blog to the rest of the group. She talked about how she filmed and what her film was about. The basic outline of the opening is that a girl goes missing, and a detective is trying to figure out where she could've gone. A thing that she said that shocked me was that she filmed within the airplane, airport, and in some parts of Italy during her trip there. She wanted to know if there were any suggestions that any of us had for her. She later discussed that she is gonna do a musical idea for her CCRs (singing the questions). Lastly, she gave the group a tip to never edit on a phone as she lost all her progress once.   

   The second group member(Vicente) didn't have much to say as he had not filmed any bit of the project. he discussed his concerns about how he is very behind on the blogs. With the blogs that he has posted, he doesn't include any forms of multi-media, so I gave him the suggestion of telling him to start placing photos into his blogs.  Vicente did give a suggestion to a group member on how to place a picture to look more dynamic.

(Other side of the notes)

    The third group member(Emmi) started off by talking about what she was going to do for her CCR(she would get into a car accident and the officers would ask her the CCR questions to see if she is okay and doesn't have a concussion. Emmi also talked about how she's been doing her blogs and asked if her blogs are "bland." Emmi also showed the group what she had filmed for her film opening and talks what it was about. 

   The fourth group member(Gabriel) started of by showing his blog and talking about each blog that he has posted. He showed the group how he incorporated a video in his blog and how his blogs provide proper greetings. He talks about where he is in his film opening and his plot. He asked the group to help him come up with a name for the title. 

    Overall great, fun meeting that we had, and I'm glad I was able to communicate with my classmates about this huge project that we are all doing  

Audio editing

     I will be using various amounts of audio software in order to achieve the desired sound for the film's opening. One of these software is ArtList.

(Artlist sound software)

    Artlist provides copyright-free soundtracks with various different genres and moods.  Having the right soundtrack is an important and key factor in making the film feel professional. The soundtrack can help emphasize the mood and tone of the film's opening. With all things being said, I found a track titled "Insomniac's Dream" which really helps my film have that serious tone that I'm looking for. 

(Pixabay sound software)

    Another software that I will be utilizing is Pixabay. Pixabay provides royalty-free sound effects with thousands of different options to choose from. Sound effects are normally a factor that is discredited by many beginners. Sound effects and using them correctly can bring a good production into a great one. Pixabay is a great software allowing individuals who want to achieve greatness possible. An example of how I have used Pixabay is by using one of their knocking-on-door sound effects in my film opening. 

Editing the clips altogether

 The editing software that I was initially using was Adobe Premier Pro, but serval problems arose with that. A problem with the software was that the audio from my video clips did not work. Though composing the video clips was fairly simple the problem with the audio set me back.     

(Editing With Adobe Premier Pro)

    With this, I decided to use a much simpler editing software called iMovie doesn't require any prior skills in order to be good at it doesn't take much time to achieve the look that you want to achieve.     

    Throughout the editing process, I would get new ideas on how the clips should be structured together, so in turn I would restart from scratch. In the film opening, I also included the names of all the actors involved in the production and gave credits to the director, producer, and writer.

(Editing with imovie)

    I am still planning on using Adobe Premier Pro after I compose all the clips together in imovie for the audio portion of the editing.

filming day!!

     Today we finished filming the opening. We filmed in my friend's room but we had to move a couple of stuff. While filming a few problems arose which made my life a bit difficult

(use of gorilla pod)

     For starters, the tripod that I was using had a non-stable plate, so it kept moving, almost dropping my camera. So I switched to using a Gorilla pod tripod. This also allowed me to mount the camera on various places such as the top of a door and on top of a chair. The Gorilla pod made it achievable for me to get high-angle shots of the room with the two actors.  

Another self-inflicted problem was that I forgot the battery of the camera at my house. Not only did I have to drive all the way back to my house but one of the actors(Estefania Gonzalez) had to leave in 30 minutes. By the time I came back to the house, she had to go. We only had the opportunity to capture a couple shots before she unfortunately had to go. In addition, me and one of the other actors(Maximo Capparili) had a soccer game in an hour so we also had to rush during the rest of the filming in order to make it on time for the game. As we leave and get to the field where the suppose game is supposed to happen we don't see any of our teammates, so we check the team's group chat and the game has been postponed for the next week.

(Problem with wearing the 
suspenders)

    For the dead body also known as Norman Walker, the character is supposed to be depicted wearing a white button-up with suspenders. The issue with that is that we had some trouble trying to put the suspenders and eventually coming to a decision on not wearing it. 
        

    Overall I really enjoyed filming with the actors and enjoyed the process of it all.

Camera

(Nikon D5100)

     For the film opening I will be using the Nikon D5100. I love this camera so much even if its 14 years it still provides high quality pictures and videos. Paired with the camera the lens that i will be using is the nikon dx vr 18 200mm. With these two used together, the images that the camera provides is utterly beautiful.         

(Nikon dx vr 18 200mm lens)

(Set Picture Control)

      In order to film the opening in black and white I had to change the set picture control to monochrome. Reason why I chose to film in black and white and not just film normally and later apply the monochrome filter. Well if I were to just film without the picture control set to monochrome  then I wouldn't be able to get the right lighting used in film noir.

                                           

   One problem that the camera has is that since it was released 14 years ago the audio that gets captured is not of high quality. In order to fix this problem I would just capture the audio using the voice memo app on my phone. Overall the camera is amazing and the quality that it captures makes up for the problem with audio.

(Sample Picture with the new setting)

Auditions For Roles

     In order to find the right people for my film opening I want to do an audition. The positions that the actors will be auditioning for is the protagonist (The detective), the dead body in the room, and the antagonist (The women serial killer).             

(Cypress Bay AMT)

    Some of the people that will be auditioning are from Cypress Bay American Musical Theater program. I chose to ask the individuals who are part of the program is due to them having experience in acting which can enhance the film opening making it look more professional. I will be hosting the auditions in the schools auditorium after school.

    

    One of the things that I will be looking for during the auditions is if they are able to perform different emotions flawsy. A actor with a emotional range can make the film opening seem professional and great. Personally, a film that has great visuals and a great production quality but horrible acting, can degrade the films quality. 

    

(Trans-Atlantic accent)

    Another important factor that I will be looking for is if the actor can do a trans-alantic accent or sound similar. Reason for why this is an important factor is because while doing my research, looking for inspiration, whenever I viewed a short noir film and the actors didn't have a trans-alantic accent or at least sound similar the film seemed amature and not as good as the other films that had the accent.