Set it & Edit

I went over my partner Arianas house today and together, we compiled all of the scenes that we took into our final project. After placing all of the videos together in the correct order they are supposed to be in, we viewed our film a couple of times and made some foleys to go along with it. We only needed three foleys for the video, and we only recorded two. For the last foley, I am going to record Vernie, our actress, panting as if she was in the woods scene again. I have the select video that we want her to continue panting in because there needs to be continuation within the video. In the video that I will show Vernie, it does not show that continuation of her panting and the video is just silent. That way, I can add in the recorded panting of Vernie to the scene for more flow. Here are some videos of Ariana and I creating some of our foleys.






During our editing process, even when we finished editing (or thought we finished) our video stayed at around 2:35 which is way over our maximum time limit. My partner and I kept trying to find space in certain scenes were we can clip off to save more time, we even sped up some scenes too. Additionally, we thought about a couple title names for our film opening (such as: Obsessed, Wheres Veronica? and Eyes on You), we figured the title would be in big red letters and we still need to figure out which font matches thriller genres. Next step, we are going to try and find the right music to go along with most of the scenes in our film opening.

The Mom Scene

Today, I had filmed the "mom scene" with my own mom, playing the role of the victims mother who is in sorrow for her daughter missing. I had filmed the scene in front of my house, and made my mom act as if she was hammering a "missing person" sign of her own daughter, then crying and walking away. I made my mother dress in dark, plain clothes showing that she doesn't care about the way she looks/presents herself in public because of her daughters missing. I also put some dark black eyebrow makeup under her eyes to make it seem as if she has been crying for days. To make it seem like she doesn't care about the way she looks, I also teased her hair to make it look raggedy and uncared for.


For the mom scene, this is the missing person flyer that my mother (the victims mother) was hanging up. My partner and I made sure to put the word "missing" in big red colors so that it can really stand out in this scene.

Makeup, Murder & Madness

Ariana and I went back to the same exact spot in Markham park as we did before when we filmed our other video that we are now not using anymore. We directed Vernie to run into the same area that we filmed in before, and this time we were pretty familiarized with the area so it was easy to know which spots would make good shots in. Down below are some pictures of my partner and I filming in the woods again, directing Vernie to run through the woods for the woods scene.




The make up:

 .                                                The makeup we did on Vernie for the closet scene turned out to be so good and looked realistic!!!! To make Vernie seem like she had bruises and cuts on her body, we simply melted bright red lipstick from a microwave and put it in a mixture with black eyeshadow and blue eyeshadow on a makeup brush and BAM!! We also put coffee beans all over Vernie's body to seem as if she was dragged in the dirt through the woods by the murderer. This make up is for the final scene of Vernie, when she wakes up in Arianas closet and discovers that she is somewhere she is unfamiliarized with and is scared.






The location:

For the location of the scene where Vernie is supposed to be in the murderers lair, we cleaned out Arianas closet and put in an old mattress so she can lay on in there to make the lair seem disheveled. We liked how the lighting (towards the right of Ariana) is bright in only one area, making the rest of the "lair" seem faint and dull.

 

Tomorrow, I am filming the "mom scene" where my mom is playing Vernie's mom and is hanging up a missing person sign of Vernie. 

Getting ready to film....again

Today my partner Ariana and I are going to meet up at our first location of our film opening today: the Library by Cypress Bay High School. For this scene, we need Vernie (our actress) to pretend like she is walking out of school with a backpack on with her "boyfriend", which is actually going to be played by Ariana's boyfriend. After we film that scene, we are going to head to Markham Park to re-film the woods scene, since we didn't like the other woods scene that we filmed previously. After were done filming in Markham Park, we are going to go to Arianas house to film the "closet scene" where Vernie is pretending to be trapped in the murderers lair. For this scene, we are going to incorporate fake blood, raggedy clothes and other props that make Arianas closet look stingy and used. We are going to try to finish filming today as soon as possible so that next week, we can start editing our film opening.

Race To the Finish (Out)line

My partner Ariana and I finally finished with our new script and we also wrote our final outline for our film opening!!! In our story outline, we included a beginning scene of the murderer stalking the victim at school. This way, we can develop a story for why she wants to stalk her. We are trying to make a notion that the murderer is low key in love with the victim, and that is why she stalks her up to the woods scene. We are adding in a shot of the murderer stalking her at school, while looking at a picture of the victim and her boyfriend, with the boyfriend purposely scribbled out. This added scene makes it less confusing and makes it easier for the audience to know why the murderer is interested in the victim. We also crossed out some of the scenes on our story outline for our whole flashback idea. Each flashback that the victim was supposed to receive is now crossed out. This works fine because we can just skip over those scenes, and the overall video will still make sense. Down below is a picture of our new story line.




We also wrote our new script to our new story line. I'm glad we made the conversation between the victim and the murderer less awkward and more focused on the point that the murderer wants to get to know the victim better and lets her know she's been watching her at school. Down below is a picture of our new and improved script.

Changing More Scripts Than Lightbulbs

So I talked to my partner and she loves the flashback idea!! After discussing it with her, we wrote another whole script that ties in with the entire flashback idea. It was great until we realized that it was getting too repetitive to be throughout the entire opening, and it was a bit cliche. We also realized that we couldn't even use the shots that we already have because the flashbacks will need to show a point of view from the victim, and we took shots from a third eye view. After figuring that out, we decided to make ANOTHER script (we haven't finished it yet) to go along with a new story line for how and why the murderer wants to stalk the victim. We decided to make the murderer "in love" with the victim, and act out as a reason of jealousy when she sees the victim with her boyfriend. This storyline makes more sense and could be very realistic. We are also going to make a tangible schedule list as a prop for the murderer to have to follow to know exactly wherever the victim is going.

Photoshoot Time

I mentioned the flashback idea with my partner and she told me she would get back to me as soon as she's finished with her college tour trip. For now, I am going to take the pictures of Vernie in different locations wearing different clothes for each picture. This way, it makes it seem like the murderer has been stalking the victim and watching her schedule for days, weeks, or months now. Im going to take pictures of Vernie in multiple locations: Markham Park, at a restaurant (any food place in Town Center), and a picture of her at a grocery store (like Publix or Walmart).

Peer flashback idea

Talking with some of my peers today in class, someone had mentioned that I should incorporate flashbacks throughout my film opening instead of it being chronological. They mentioned that the very first scene of the film opening should be when after the victim is kidnapped and put in a white random room (which will be Arianas closet) that the victim should look down at her scars, and try to remember how she even got them, and her trying to remember will "flashback" to the scenes of her at the woods. After showing my classmates what I have filmed so far, they mentioned that instead of having the scenes leading up to the kidnapping, (like the dialogue and the part where the murderer is looking and walking up to the victim) they feel as if it will take up too much time. I REALLY like this idea and will have to talk with my partner about it when she comes back from her college tour. Actually, this idea of the flashbacks is great because we already have the shots of the victim running from the murderer, so all we would have to do is intertwine those shots in between other shots of the victim looking down at her cuts and bruises from the woods scene. So each injury that she has gotten, she "looks back" and remembers exactly how she got them in the woods, which are the scenes we already have. My classmates also mentioned how in the end of the opening (where the victims mom is stapling the missing person picture of her daughter on a tree) should have the murderer there with the victims mom. I kind of like that idea because it is more entertaining and shocking by seeing the murderer physically with the mom, knowing exactly that she is the main cause of everything.

Fixing Up

Looking back at what my partner and I have filmed so far for our woods scene, I noticed that we have to fix some parts in our video. We might actually have to go back to Markham Park to re-film a certain scene. The main problem with the scene was that there was no continuity, which made the video look inconsistent without any flow. The scene was the one where the victim and the murderer are on the bench together and the murderer put her arm around the victim. After the murderer put her arm around the victim, the next shot shows her arm placed down besides herself, making it look like as if she magically placed her arm back down without anyone noticing. We now have to re-do that shot but this time with the murderers arm still around the victim.


I also realized that we have to go back to Markham Park regardless because I still need to take pictures of the "victim" in different areas wearing different clothes. We need to go back to Markham Park for a POV shot of the murderer looking through those multiple pictures at the park before she goes up to the victim. This will also show consistency throughout the opening to show the same background in the shot as before.

All About The Beat

Since my partner Ariana is out on a college tour, this weekend I am going to find background music and create foleys on what we filmed for our woods scene. There is just way too much background noise (like other people talking, dog barks, etc) in what we have filmed so far, and it is very distracting. Sometime this weekend, I am also doing a photo shoot with Vernie for the beginning of our woods scene. I am going to have to take multiple pictures of her in different locations wearing different, bright colored clothes. This is for the shot when the kidnapper is looking through pictures that she took of the victim on different days. This allows the audience to infer that the kidnapper has been stalking the victim for days, weeks, or even months now to give more of a creepy vibe. For the background music, I am going to find slow, creepy music when the kidnapper approaches the victim. Once things speed up, and the victim is running away from the kidnapper in the middle of the woods, I am going to try to find background music that is still spine-chilling but now at a faster pace for when the victim is running.

FILM DAY!!!!

As said by the title, we started filming our first scene today!!!! For the woods scene, we found the perfect location for Vernie (our actress) to sit on a bench in a park that is right by the woods. This is perfect because that way she can run straight into the woods after she gets creeped out by the murderer. My partner and I took a BUNCH of shots for each scene so that we can have multiple shots to choose from when we are editing our final video. For our script, we ended up changing most of the lines and condensing them because we realized that we need to have time for our other scenes that we need to film, and the dialogue would just take up too much time in our video. Additionally, I think my partner and I did a pretty good job not showing the face of the "murderer". Since I play the murderer, to hide my face I wore a black hat and tilted it down and just put some of my hair in front of my face (thank god I have long hair). Also, for our woods scene, I was supposed to pretend to knock out my partners phone and she was supposed to hold it and make it seem like it fell down on the floor. Well.... by accident I ACTUALLY knocked her phone down onto the floor and the shot actually turned out to be one of our best shots yet! For our other shots, we got creative and wanted to make it seem like the audience is in the woods along with the actors. For one shot, we showed Vernie running in the woods from behind a leaf. The picture below is a behind the scenes shot of Vernie running while my partner Ariana is filming behind a leaf.

Writing the script...

Today in class, my partner and I wrote the official script for our film opening. Throughout the entire opening there is not much dialogue so we finished the script in class with spare time to work on our blog postings. The script consists of the conversation that is between the victim and the murderer when they first meet at a park. The murderer is trying to lure the victim in by talking about a similar book they were interested in, eventually chasing her down into the woods where she kidnaps her.

Down below is a picture of our script





We still don’t know what book our actress Vernie is going to be reading in the opening until we get all of our props together this Sunday. That is why the script has parenthesis so that we can still figure out what the book title is and what the authors name is. We will be filling in those parts Sunday when we have our book/prop.

Step By Step, Week by Week

My partner and I scheduled what else we need to do in order to execute our project. Before we film, we want to get all of our props, cameras, etc ready so that we can shoot without any problems. Later this week, we are going to be writing down the script for our film opening so that we can start shooting the forest scene this Sunday. After shooting is when we are going to work on the foleys after we view what we have filmed. With spring break around the corner, this weekly schedule will help us stay a little extra organized and prepared….


TO DO BEFORE FILMING:

3/4/19-3/10/19

-Film forest scene (Markham Park)

-Get costumes (Goodwill)

-Get fake blood (Party City)

-Write script


3/11/19-3/17/19

-Ariana: Begin foley list for forest scene

-Sofia: Film mom scene, look for soundtrack, create foleys for mom scene/forest scene


3/18/19-3/24/19

-Film closet scene

-Create foley


3/25/19-3/31/19

-Edit Video


4/1/19-4/6/19

-Create CCR

Lights, Camera, ACT!

Today, my partner and I planned our final outlines to begin filming this weekend. This way, it is easier and we can jump right into filming, being well prepared knowing exactly what to do. We found our other actresses to be in our film besides my friend. The "victim" character is going to be played by my friend Vernie, who I mentioned before is currently on a full ride scholarship for acting and theater, so she was a perfect actress to find. Up top are some pictures of Vernie acting on stage for American Heritage School.


Also, I know she wont laugh while trying to act and I know she will take her acting seriously. With this, I know me and my partner can get our work done and straight to the point which is going to work GREAT with timing.

I'll also be one of the actresses, along with my mom for a scene at the end of our opening. My partner and I wrote down where the setting is going to be for each scene. We also wrote each actresses specific costume design scene by scene. Additionally, we were thinking about having the first opening scene begin with the kidnapper/stalker looking through pictures of the same girl (which would be different pictures of Vernie, the victim). For Vernie's costume design we were thinking about having her wear different colored bright clothes in each picture the kidnapper is looking at. We were thinking of her wearing different colored sundresses that represent each characteristic about her. For example, we were thinking of having Vernie wear a white sundress (representing her purity and innocence), a pink dress (for femininity), and a yellow dress (representing happiness... well before she gets kidnapped).


The kidnapper is going to wear dark clothes representing the total opposite of the victim. At first, we were thinking of having the kidnapper wear darkish jeans, casually strolling through the park until she sees the victim. But instead, we crossed that idea out and wanted to make more of an excuse of why the kidnapper was at the same park as the victim, so we thought....why not make the kidnapper wear dark running gear? So now, the kidnapper is going to pretend to be on a jog when she sees the victim.


My mom is going to be playing the victims mom towards the end of the opening when she finds out her daughter is now missing. For her costume design, we want her to wear a blue top (representing sadness) with messy hair, not looking put together because of what happened with her daughter.


Down below is our actresses/actors, location, and costume design for our film opening.





After that, my partner and I started working on what each actress/actors hair and makeup should be for each scene. Down below is a picture of each characters hair and makeup throughout the film opening.

Storyboard WHO?!

Because my partner and I already have our story line and shots list done, we decided not to create our storyboard because it will just waste more of our planning time for our video. The shots/angles and writing for our whole story line is the same thing as to what we would be putting down on our storyboard. It wouldn't make sense to replicate the whole storyline for the storyboard because we already know what exactly is going on. throughout our opening. Since we are almost done with planning for our film opening, we decided to create a schedule on specific dates to officially begin working on our opening. Down below is our schedule for the next couple of weeks.



3/4-3/10


-Find actors and actresses for our film

-Find locations to shoot our film

-Design costumes/ hair & makeup

-Focus on: color, time period, and location.

-Begin filming




3/11-3/17


-Continue research (if necessary)

-Search for no royalty sounds and music

-Finish filming





3/18-3/24


-Create Foley sounds needed

-Begin editing





3/25-3/31


-Ensure to have all shots needed

-Finish Foley

-Finish finding no royalty music

-Finish Editing

-Begin working on creative critical reflection (CCR)





4/1-4/7


-Finish and post CCR

-Post Film opening

-Finish editing blog

A little peer review...

Today in class, I talked with some of my other classmates about my film opening and they gave me really good ideas that I hadn't even thought about. One idea that stuck out to me that one of my classmates had mentioned was timing. From the story that I am trying to carry out, they mentioned that there is just too much information that I am giving the audience just for the opening. When I first discussed the story line with my partner Ariana, I was more focused on how to conform with our thriller genre and mostly thought of details that can make the story juicer. But only with two minutes for the film opening, all of those little details can add up. After talking with my peers I realized that there are just too many scenes in a short amount of time, so now I am thinking about cutting some scenes out, therefore, giving Ariana and I more time for our film opening. I am even considering taking a whole day with my partner just to focus on how we could carry out our video just in case some ideas we have do not end up working, for back up.



My classmates also mentioned the use of props. There were many unrealistic ideas that I had, and I didn't really think about how hard they are to actually carry out. For one of my ideas, I wanted to get a cop or a group of police officers for the ending scene, but realistically, I do not know where I would find a cop to be in my video at the specific location I need them to be in. So, my classmates gave me some prop ideas and said that I should use blue and red flashing lights to indicate that there are police without actually having any there.