Sound changes

Hi blog! So I ran into a slight issue while editing. The video itself is mostly done but the sound is having some issues. The night we went to film the burying scenes, the sound didn't come out quite right and so the clips aren't amazing. Also, since we changed the outline to have the shrine scenes and the burying at the same time, there has to be music that fits both scenes perfectly. Lauren is out of town still but I sent her some lines that she is going to record and send back to me. I'm nervous she may go too fast or too slow and it won't sound right but I'm hopeful that it will.

Update: Got the voice memos from Lauren. We had to redo a few to get the pacing right but overall I think they turned out good and will work in the film editing wise. These are what I had her record and send to me to fit into the video clip.

As for the song, I am going to start looking at royalty free music options and put them with the video to see what would make sense and work for what we are trying to convey. I think it should be kind of suspenseful in a way that people feel a little nervous and anxious watching.

Editing the Video

Hi blog! I decided to use the first part of my spring break to edit our video and get it to where we want it to be. Since the editing software is on my computer and I have experience editing, I am the main editor for the video. Lauren is out of town in North Carolina so I have been texting with her and Sara to communicate ideas. Editing the video so far has gone well and I'm just about done. The videos didn't come out as well as I would've liked since the video camera we used had some focusing issues but they are decent enough. We are trying to smooth out the transitions between clips since we are flipping from the burying scene to the shots of the shrine a lot and I don't want it to come out choppy.

The editing software Wondershare Filmora9 has been really great at making editing and cutting clips super easy and fast. The only issue is trying to figure out the title and subtitles for the video. We are thinking of having our names pop up while the shrine is being shown but we are debating having a separate title show up or having it show up in the background of the video clips as well. It is something I think Sara and Lauren are going to play around with while I'm in Mexico since they are good at finding fonts.

Spring Break Goals

Hi Blog! So spring break has officially started (yay)! Sara, Lauren, and I had to talk about each of our goals as a team and as individual group members. So my first priority was returning the equipment to James at Beacon TV who was super kind and helpful in lending us this equipment. Then we discussed what we hoped to accomplish by when. Lauren is gone the first have of spring break so Sara and I have to work together on what is needed by then. I have started editing some clips in the software but keep going back and editing them until I think they're perfect. I am a bit of a perfectionist when he comes to video projects since I hope to one day work in this busy so I always hope people stay me seriously.

During break we also have the CCR that is due for the video. We watched a few examples in class but this does seem like its going to be the hardest part for me. I think what's most confusing is even though we have to answer the five questions, trying to talk about the process without going step by step may be difficult for me to express. I'm hoping to get it done by halfway through spring break as that is when I leave to Mexico and won't have that much service.

Peer Review Part 2

Hi Blog! So today in class we had our second peer review of our projects in a group setting. Lauren was absent today, so Sara and I presented our blog and showed some of the various clips that we had filmed during the weekend. Everyone the circle agreed that our blog posts had looked good so far but they were a little concerned about the plot. They said that it felt too much like a trailer and that we needed to change around the structure of how we are presenting everything. They think we should blend together the clips of Lauren burying the body and her making the shrine as the opening and end it with the full shrine and her ripping up the missing poster. This would establish a connection between the body that's being buried and the shrine of Christian.

I was a little nervous to change it since we had worked really hard on our outline but ultimately after discussing with the group I realized we did have a lot of clips we could cut out and decided maybe to follow along with what they were saying. I think I may edit it both ways and let our team decide which way they thought was the best for what we were trying to communicate. Both are interesting takes it just depends how it looks. Regardless, the peer review really helped give me insight as to what we need to accomplish and what modifications we need to make in order to have the best film opening possible.

Editing Software

Hi Blog! So today Sara, Lauren, and I decided on which editing software to use. We chose Wondershare Filmora9 after using it in our previous music video project. I had stumbled upon it after researching easy to use, good editing software and had downloaded it to try. After we used it for our last project we ended up having to pay for it so it makes sense that we ended up using it for this project so we can get our money's worth.

I am the primary editor in the group just because of my previous experience editing documentaries and videos however, Wondershare Filmora9 is very easy for Lauren and Sara to navigate and help edit. It has a variety of tools that I have been practicing familiarizing myself with so when we actually begin to edit, I can dive right in. I'm excited to see how this project will turn out and how we can use this software to really make a cool and impactful project.

Filming Over the Weekend

Hi blog! So this past weekend was our filming for the rest of the project. On Friday, Sara


 We met up on Sunday morning at 9am at my house to make the shrine of Christian and start getting things in order. Sara brought over 30 pictures I had ordered and she had picked up from Walgreens of Christian and I supplied the sharpies and tape. We began cutting and taping the pictures together on a blank wall I had in my room. This allowed us to have a lot of space to move things around as needed. We selected three pictures to be the ones we show her stalking and show what time they were taken. Then we filmed close up scenes of Lauren tapping some of the pictures down. We then filmed close shots of the shrine without revealing the whole thing. The purpose of that is to show close ups of the creepy pictures and really emphasize she's crazy but still keep some mystery. At the very end we'll reveal the full shrine and let the viewers see the full extent of her crazy. Filming for the most part was pretty good. We didn't have much time to film but we worked diligently in order to get the shots we needed. I've attached a photo of the shrine below! As you can see we made the surrounding pictures kind of like a clock showing where he is at each point of the day and writing things on heart sticky notes to add dimension to the pictures.

Vlog from Night 1 of Filming

Hi Blog! So last night Lauren and I filmed the first part of our film opening. It was a success however there were some challenges. We did make a vlog throughout the filming to show our set up and how the actual filming went. We also discussed some of the challenges we had. We got a lot of weird stares when we went to the part with the shovel and bag of dirt (especially with Lauren dressed and looking how she did). It was also super dark outside so we constantly had to move the lights around to make sure you could see what we were filming. Overall we had barely any issues and filming went great! Here it is:

Reviewing Clips in Class

Today in class, we reviewed the clips from the night before from our filming. We had taken many shots twice just in case so we began sorting them into the yes we'll use or no we won't pile. The ones we don't use we'll still keep just in case but it helps to narrow them down. The shots turned out very good for the most part! Some looked a little dark but thankfully others of the same shot didn't so we had options.

The camera is only available to use till Monday so we have the weekend to film the rest. Christian has agreed to film after school today so we are all going to my house to film after school. Our goal is to finish his scenes so he doesn't have to come back other days. I'm hoping to start and finish editing next week before spring break since most of our group will be out of town. The editing software I am thinking of using is Wondershare Filmora but will confirm once we decide for sure.

Today, we need to get shots of Lauren's character stalking Christians as he skateboards, plays basketball, and plays pool. We know it's going to take a lot of time to film this weekend so we are trying to spread it out so that we have enough time to film within our busy schedules. We are planning to film the rest of the parts on Sunday morning at my house again.

On Sunday, we need to film the parts of Christian's shrine and the parts of Lauren's character making/adding to it. This scene is crucial to revealing just how crazy Lauren's character is and allows the audience to make the connection that Christian's character is the one that was killed.

Day 1 of Filming!

Hi blog! So today was our first day of filming for our project! I was a little bit nervous that we wouldn't have enough time to prepare since we didn't expect to film this week but we've been working hard to gather everything necessary to start filming. Sadly one of our group members Sara is very sick and had to stay home to rest and couldn't make it to filming.

I was in charge of getting the camera and equipment. Our teacher gave us a contact of someone at BECON TV who I was able to speak with and get him to lend us a video camera, microphone, and lighting equipment! I had borrowed equipment from him before so I knew the quality was exactly what we needed to make our project the best it could be. While Lauren went to go buy the dirt and white dress, I went to go get the equipment. It was quite a drive but I think it'll be worth it.

In class, Lauren and I worked on making the missing poster of Christian. She found a template while I found a clear photo for her to use as his missing picture. I have attached a photo of it at the end of this blog post. We had also discussed how Lauren should do her hair and makeup for the scene. We decided she should look very distressed so it is more believable that she just killed someone. When I picked her up to go to Regional Park to film, she had done what we had talked about. Her makeup was very dark and smudged while her hair was messy and not put together. We got a large white t-shirt to make into a dress and cut slits and added dirt to make it disheveled.

Christian was unavailable to shoot that night but since we weren't planning to show his face in the scene anyways, our friend Sebastian came to step in as the body. He was very useful in helping me set up the lights and camera equipment while Lauren made the dirt plot for the body. It took us around an hour and a half to two hours to get all the shots necessary for the first part of our opening scene.

Here are the photos of the missing poster and of Lauren in her full costume:

Material List and Outline

Hi blog! Today in class we worked on making the material list and outline for the video. I was hoping to gather everything this weekend in order to film next weekend but both my other group members are out of town so we must film this weekend. It's going to be a bit of a crazy schedule in order to get it all done but I think we can do it!

We started with the outline so that we could go scene by scene in order to establish what props are needed for each scene. This is the outline we have come up with so far (although it is subject to change if we shoot other shots while filming):

Opening Outline:

Shot of forest

Hear someone running- more shots of forest

See feet running

-silent shot of forest

-heart pounding

-see digging

-shovel in dirt

-dirt pile covering

-close up of her face breathing heavily

-after it shows the guy is copletely buried

-shot of her standing over the body

-pulls out missing poster

-close up of the missing poster

-shot of her saying “It didn’t have to be this way.”

-shot of her ripping the poster

-cut to white

-title come up in red

Outline:

-the street name

-house

- Sees time on her phone and peers out window where hes running

-grabs camera

- takes pic of him jogging

-show her taping the shot of him jogging and panning to other pictures of him

-takes picture of him in line at a store talking to sara

-show her cutting sara out of the pic

-take a picture of him at basketball practice

-show her taping that picture

-shows close ups of the collage of pics of him (include sticky notes of when hes at certain places etc)

-zoom out to lauren staring at the whole shrine

After going through the outline we began making the list of props needed to fulfill these scenes. This was what our material list ended up consisting of:

Opening Scene (burying the body):

Shovel- lauren

Dirt- home depot - tomorrow

Missing poster- lauren making

Lights

Video camera

Microphone

Second part:

Photo camera- callie

Christian outfit 1: work out clothes

Christian outfit 2: normal clothes

Christian outfit 3: whatever he wears to play basketball

Hoodie for girl

Duffle

Photos for shrine

Sticky notes

FInalizing Plot of the Second Half

After doing the storyboard for the first part of our film opening and discussing our ideas with our peer review groups,we decided to finalize our plot. We are going to keep the opening scene of the girl burying the body. To start, instead of with music, we are going to have her say a monologue. It is going to have her say how much she loved him and it didn't have to be this way, etc. This will hint to the audience that she did kill him. Then it's going to flashback to the start. It'll have more upbeat music that gives the sense things are normal. We are going to show hints that she is crazy by maybe having pictures of him on her wall or something crazy. We are then going to establish him as a super popular guy and her as a kind of loner girl. This will help the audience understand who the characters are but maybe not what exactly happens. It'll leave it ambiguous enough that people want to keep watching since it won't give it all away.
We are going to have to start finishing the storyboard next week for part 2 and also figure out where to borrow equipment from. 

Scouting Locations

Today, Lauren, Sara, and I went to scout out locations for the opening scene of our film opening. We realized we need a park for the opening shot. We did however, realize our dilemma that although we have the shovel and materials to dig, we need a park that may allow us. Our second complication comes from staying in a park late at night since many public parks close at certain hours. We are thinking of using a different lightning but we haven't decided yet.

We first checked out Everglades National Park, which was very good in the sense that it doesn't close at night but is doesn't look like the woods. It is also not guarded at night, meaning anyone can show up so it's not the safest option we have. Then we went to Markham park. The location looked just like a forest so it fit perfectly but the hours are shorter. Since daylight savings just happened, I'm nervous it won't get dark before closing. Then we went to Vista View Park. Vista View Park had a lot of hills, which didn't really match the ideas we were going for. I think it is going to depend on if we can change the lighting or do something to make sure it looks like nighttime.

Hopefully Markham Park can work since it seemed like our best option scenery wise.

Peer Review

Today in class we did a peer review of our projects so far. We were all split into groups in order to hear feedback on our project while our partners heard feedback from other groups. I was a little nervous to share our ideas because I'm scared people will not like them, but I found that the exercise helped not only my project, but my confidence in my ideas.

We started off by taking turns in a circle saying if we were doing a film opening or a magazine. Then we became discussing the plot ideas that we were thinking of doing. My group isn't super far into the plot but we did have a general idea we wanted to work out. Since we want to start out with the girl burying the body and then flashing forward, we wanted to to figure out a way to establish that she's crazy from the start. We were trying to squeeze too much information into the few minutes we had and we weren't sure where to cut it out. The group I worked and reviewed with was so encouraging and helpful. I initially thought they would think the story line is too dark, but instead they loved the mature mystery of it. They also helped give advice such as how to make the scene way shorter and how to give off signs she's crazy in the flashback.

When I met back with Sara and Lauren, my group members, I found they heard valuable advice as well. Using all of our learned insight, I think we can really fix the errors in our project and make it better.

Storyboard Part 1

Today we worked hard on planning and drawing the first part of the storyboard for our film opening. We decided to split it up into two parts, one being in the present, and the other flashing back to events prior. The reason for this is to leave the audience with suspense, wondering how the events got from point a to point b.

The storyboard starts with the opening shot of the woods. We want the opening shot to convey the mystery of the plot. By opening with the dark woods, we establish that the setting is going to be scary and the events that transpire may not be good. We are planning for some shots to be of the trees and some of the road. The next shot is of a girl dragging a body. We don't want the viewers to see who it is but we want it to be clear its a male and the person dragging is female. The shot shot be leveled on the ground so it is more suspenseful up close. The following shots will be very choppy of someone running and breathing heavily. We are thinking of having sounds of a heartbeat and heavy, fast breathing to emphasize the intensity of the situation. The fast cutting of the shots should also emphasize this. We'll see the girl digging and burying something, with a lot of close ups of her face. Her face will be covered in makeup and dirt so viewers can see what a rough condition she's in. It'll close with her looking at the missing poster of the boy which hopefully viewers will understand as the body she just buried.

We worked very productively to get this first few seconds of our opening done and are excited to work on part 2!

Shooting Schedule

Since we all have such busy lives, we have made a draft for a shooting schedule that will be best for us to use during this project. While we are going to be flexible and make adjustments as needed, this is going to be our basis.

Potential Storylines

Since deciding to do a drama genre, we have been researching what story lines are typically associated with them. Many include intense story lines such as kidnappings or murder on one side of the spectrum as more serious while the other side includes cheating, pregnancies, and more. We are thinking of doing one of the more serious story lines to shake things up from what you'd usually expect from teenagers. We are finalizing our story board next week so we can start prepping for what we need and what we need to do. 

Location

For our movie, we are thinking of filming most scenes outside since the location is important to assess the feelings of your character, especially in a drama. If the character is feeling lonely, just looking up to the sky may be able to help symbolize this.Since I believe our characters will be teenagers, in order to have more people relate to them, our location must be evident in showing our characters emotions. Location also sets the tone for what it to come.

Many locations in a drama movie or locations that may be frightening or emotional. For instance, the outdoors at night is typically used for intense scenes so it can instill a sense of fear in the audience. Some scenes of kidnappings and other high level tend to happen in the woods as it adds a sense of mystery since a lot of people naturally get uneasy walking alone at night. We are thinking of showing a girl in the woods during our scene in order to add intensity.