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