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