Hey guys, now I can finally say that WE DID IT! I'm so proud of our accomplishments during this whole entire project and it was an amazing experience. I learned many new things and experiencing what it is to film an opening and the processes that directors have to go through to plan and set up everything. I loved every moment of this project and I hope to do this again some other day. Anyways, here is Identity:
Welcome back guys!! Well, this is it..almost. It’s time for you guys to check out my CCR which is also known as my creative critical reflection. Although this project has been stressful, you will finally be able to see behind the scenes of every single detail about how and why my group and I created this film opening! Check it out and hope you like it!
Hey guys, these last days we've been working a lot on the filming, editing, and finalizing of the project. I'm so excited to finally say that we did it! The two main things we've been working on is the editing and the CCR. In this blog today I'll be putting you guys through the final processes that we went through to get this project done.
Editing:
The group and I finished filming this Monday and these last few days I've been editing and putting together the clips.
As you guys can see I put together all the clips, added sound, and inserted the credits. A few minor changes were done to the video as well. For example, the location of the original cemetery scene was supposed to be done in Markham, but we changed it to a location in an empty lot in a neighborhood. The reason as to why we did this was because the sign was too big to put in a car, so we walked and ended up fining a spot that was even more isolated and better for the scene. Another thing we ended up changing was our production logo. Although Animaker was a very useful tool and inspired us with our original production company, we decided to use a motion edit from Wevideo because it was more interesting. Lastly, we finally figured out what music to add and it was a royalty free soundtrack named Venomous and It Is Coming (Click here to view the website and soundtrack). We chose to use instrumental music because it adds the element of thrill and suspense.
Also, we ended up making a foley of only the pencil ticking over the clock because the door slamming was very pronounced and didn't need a foley. If you guys also notice we ended up not including the scene of water dripping from the faucet. The reason as to why we did this was because it didn't fit the scenario well and ultimately ruined the production.
CCR:
Thus was another thing that I started planing during this whole last week and it isn't as easy as it seems. I already made the script and recorded my voice, as well as added the main pictures into it. All I need now is a few screen recordings and that's it, here is a screenshot of how it looks so far.
It is 8:19 and I answered all the questions as well as including some extra information. Now don't be frightened because of the blank spots, those are all going to be filled in with screen recordings, which i'm doing later tonight.
The last thing I wanted to talk about today was a reflection. These past 6 - 8 weeks were stressful but exciting and I loved every moment of this project. The group and I worked very hard to get everything done and revised on time and it feels amazing to have accomplished it. Not only did this project help me with my filming, editing, and technical components of filming, but it also made me discover new technologies. For example, I discovered many websites that helped me research and also found this tool named Animaker that really helped with the creation of my production logo. Also, I learned more about Wevideo and I would now consider myself a expert in it. This isn't it though,this project also helped me improve in my planning, time management, and commitment to ideas. Overall, I believe that the group and I worked extremely hard to get to where we are today and I enjoyed every last bit of this project and I hope you guys do too!
As always stay tuned for my next blogs, where you will finally get to see my CCR and FILM OPENING!!! Thank you for joining me in my journey and I'll see you guys later
Sources: Royalty Free Music. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.fesliyanstudios.com/royalty-free-music/downloads-c/suspenseful-music/25
Hey guys, i'm back! I am so excited because we started working on the second half of our film, which is the room scene. As you guys know already in the room scene there is a part where the viewer gets to see the room. During which they will see many weird, freaky, and creepy drawings on the psychopaths wall. We plan on taping these to the walls of the scene location (a room in Parker's house).
This is a very important scene because it will demonstrate how the character is violent and has traits of a psychopath. As I said in one of my previous blogs, Something that characterizes a person as a psychopath is his or her violence. We plan on establishing this violent trait throughout this scene to really emphasize his characteristics and problems.
Here are a few examples of the pictures but keep in mind there will be more then this on the wall:
This drawing is meant to show the backwards E symbol from the graveyard scene so that people can start making connections that the kid is related to the deaths of the family. I drew a face to resemble a creepy vibe.
This drawings main purpose is to show how he is violent by showing how he thinks about killing people through the picture. In the drawing we can see that it is a dead person who has blood coming out, which resembles violence and creepy actions.
This will stand out to many of the viewers because it is the exact same sequence that was played in the graveyard scenes when the bodies were lined up under a tarp, with a backwards E on their foreheads. This drawing serves as a connection between the two parts of the opening so that people will relate them.
This picture serves mainly to show the characters thoughts. We can see how he is violent by the words and the way he writes the words in an angry fashion. As we all know, normal people wouldn't do this and this is why this will help demonstrate that the kid is a psychopath who is very violent and creepy.
This last drawing showcases the E symbol to show its importance in the scene. Not only that, but it also shows a dead person with a backwards E on their foreheads, which relates the the graveyard scene as well.
As you guys can see by all the pictures they all have some aspects in common. These include the aspects of:
violence
psychopathic traits
backwards E
crumbled/ messed up papers
By including these traits in the drawings we hope to emphasize the fact that he is a psychopath. He is violent by the way he writes and the things he draws such as blood and dead people. We show his psychopathic traits by having messed up things on the paper that a normal person would never think about. By including the backwards E in most of the drawings we show how the symbol is important to the film. Lastly, all the pictures are crumbled and folded because it adds an emphasis to the creepy vibe of the film and shows how the character is violent. Not only that, but if you guys look closely you will see that the drawings are smudged which also adds a weird and creepy vibe.
Well guys that's it for today, but I also wanted to add that I started working on my CCR already and it is turning out great, I'll show you guys in a future blog how it is coming out because I don't want to overwhelm you with information today. Stay tuned!
Hey guys!! Welcome back to my blog! My spring break has been pretty awesome but I’m really upset that it’s slowly coming to an end. Yes I’m sad that it’ll be over soon but hey, the sooner it ends, the faster i’ll get to show you guys my final project!! My group and I have been working extremely hard to make this project exactly how we envisioned it and so far so good. Soooo, since we haven’t talked in a while, I have a lot of things to update you guys on.
First of all, my group and I worked on the first scene of the film. If you guys’ don’t remember my last few posts, I talked to you guys about how my group and I made the gravestones and the “Jones Estate” sign and the whole process. Finally, we put them to good use and started filming that scene. Not gonna lie, they turned out better than I expected!
The point of the sign is to use it as an establishing shot to show the audience where these gravestones are taking place.
Andddd second, we filmed the scene of the family being dead with the backwards symbol E on their foreheads. We used fake blood to draw the backwards symbol and we used a tarp to cover them from the neck to their feet so that the viewers could see the symbol. We filmed this scene inside a garage and turned all the lights off. At the same time, we used a police light strobe effect that we found off of You Tube near their faces to show that this is a crime scene and that the police arrived to the scene.
That's it for today and hope you enjoyed!! Guys, It’s turning out really good and I’m so excited for you to see the final project!! Remember to stay tuned and see you soon!
I’m back guys, and I’m finally excited to announce that we finished the gravestones! It took a lot of work for one of our group members but it’s worth it all. This is a very important prop in our opening because it establishes the “cemetery” that is in the backyard of the family ranch. Not only that, but it also brings the viewers in by making it look realistic. That’s why this is a very important prop because it can either make or break our film. Here are a few pictures of them:
We tried making them look as realistic as possible and we added all the characters names, year of birth, and year of death on there. Also, the sticks seen on the bottom are so that we can stick the headstones into the ground. These are the people part of the family and the viewers will tell that it is on the same property because the gravestones will all say “Jones” on them and the sign at the beginning will say “Jones Estate”.
Another thing that I started looking into was the music that will be playing over the cemetery seen. We wanted to create a sense of thrill, mystery, and suspense so I did some research and I found 3 songs that I seem to like. They include:
1- On the Nature of daylight by Mac Richter
2- Too Crazy (from Royalty Free Music)
3- Trouble is Brewing (from Royalty Free Music)
All these songs have a suspenseful vibe to them and will make a great touch to our cemetery scene. Tomorrow we will be filming the actual scene and I’ll be testing all these songs out to see which one looks the best with the scene. So stay tuned for the upcoming blog where I’ll be showing you guys what it looks like and the group and I will make a choice based on those recordings.
The pilot episode from Vampire Diaries does a very good job generating suspense through the music and sounds used and we will try making our film like this as well. We hope to accomplish the same type of feeling by incorporating music and sounds used in the cemetery scene of the opening. This will help the viewers prepare for the thrills that will occur throughout the movie. Here is the clip of the opening:
While researching I also found this very well done slideshow that helped explain the type of music to use. If you guys want to check it out click here.
Stay tuned for my next blog guys, it's hard work for now on and I'm happy to bring you guys along with us!
Sources:
“Royalty Free Music.” FesliyanStudios Background Music And SFX,
I'm back guys, and today I decided to work on the first part of the film opening, which is when the production group pops up. Through one of the group meetings, I learned that there is a website called Animakerand it is perfect for this because of the animations that we can add. This morning I woke up and tried it out and so far I came up with our production company name and how we want to include.
Here is a view of how it turned out:
As you guys can see it's a simple animation because we don't want it to take a lot of time from the video. Also, this isn't the main focus of the opening so we don't want to distract the viewers, it's only purpose is to show how we made the video. We used a font that inflicts a feeling of terror as well because it looks like dripping blood in a way. Not only that, but we also made the background black to resemble the genre that the production company (us) focuses on, which is thrillers. To make it more interesting we also added the wipe animation which quickly puts the text in and takes it out in a matter of 5 seconds which is amazing and doesn't take time from the opening.
We chose the name JGAP Productions because we got inspired by other big time production companies such as, Universal Pictures and Paramount Pictures. They both have very simple, two word production companies and we thought it would be a good idea to do the same. JGAP stands for the first letters of each of our names, for example:
J- Juan G- Giuliano A- Alexis P- Parker
In this part we got inspired by Warner Brothers because they used there last names as the production company. Since they were all siblings and had the same last names (Warner) they went with that. We really liked this idea because it gives us the feeling that we did it and shows how it is our production.
Well guys that all for today, stay tuned for my next blog because I'll be showing the finished gravestones! Also, on Monday we start filming as well and I'm so excited, I hope you guys are too.
Today I got up bright and early to start working on the film opening. Today, I was working on one of the main sounds that will be heard during the middle of the film opening. This sound is extremely important because it helps establish an odd tone. What we are trying to convey through this sound is a "psychopathic" state of the character.
Here is the sound playing (keep in mind that the sound will be going to the rhythm of the clock being shown):
As you can see pairing this with the clock will show how the character narrows his attention down to small things and gets stuck on them. In this scene, he won't even notice that his mom came in the room, all his focus is on tapping the pencil to the speed of the clock. We came up with this idea because of an article I found (click here to view the whole source) that said,
"We are able to alter our activity or modulate our responses, depending on relevant peripheral information that appears after the task has begun. Psychopaths are specifically deficient in this ability" This is exactly what the character, which we are trying to establish as a psychopath, is doing. So much that he doesn't even recognize his mom entered the room.
Not only this, but in the same article it also explains how they have a "very low tolerance to frustration and a low threshold for discharge of discharge of aggression, including violence". To We will also be including this in our scene by making him get frustrated and irritated at his mom when she makes him stop the pencil. Then, he will become violent by smashing the door on the way out of the room. That's it for today guys, I hope you can see why all these little elements are important to the film because if they are done incorrectly they might send the wrong message out, and this is why a lot of research was put into this section of the film. I'll see you guys later!
Sources: 9 Clues That You May Be Dealing With a Psychopath. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/mindmelding/201706/9-clues-you-may-be-dealing-psychopath
I am so excited guys, It's finally spring break! This doesn't mean time to relax though, we'll be working on our project everyday and I'll keep you guys updated on everything. As you guys know, we are going to be filming constantly throughout spring break and our goal is to finish the film opening. This will give us enough time to complete our CCR, which is highly important, in fact, in tomorrow's blog I'll be talking about some of the questions I've answered to the CCR.
Today, the group and I went to Home Depot to find the necessary supplies to build the sign that will be used in the first part of the opening. Since we want the sign to look realistic we bought 2 wooden pillars, a wooden plank to go across the top, two smaller planks, and a sign that will say "Jones Estate". Here is an example of of how it will look with all the materials we bought:
We have to put a lot of emphasis into this prop because not only does it establish that the "cemetery" is located in the house (which makes it a family graveyard), but it is also the first shot of the opening. Therefore, this is supposed to make viewers keep watching and is why we want it to be realistic.
Ultimately, our goal is to come out with a sign that looks almost like this one:
As you can see from the picture, it will establish the location, the name of the family, and that it is a ranch.
That's all for today guys, I know this was a short one, but the main purpose was to show how we are going with the props. Another person in the group has also started making the headstones as well, but I'll show the pictures when they're done. Stay tuned on my next posts because here is where all this handwork starts coming together.
I'm back guys, and I have to say this week has been a very busy one for me, But I was still constantly planing and thinking about our project. Today, I'll be talking about our shooting schedule because we had to make revisions based on the amount of time we had.
Here is the new updated shooting schedule (I split it into three parts because we split our opening into three major areas):
- March 18 - 22 (One of these days or maybe two will be used to shoot, not sure about the specific date yet)
Markham Park
Shooting the whole first part of scene (headstones)
We will also go to a house near Windmill Ranches and ask if we can film for our establishing shots
- March 23 - 24
In the room of someones house (possibly Parker's)
We will shoot the whole second part during this day
- March 25
Any extra shooting we need
This will serve to replace any of the shots
The rest of the time will be used for editing and completing the CCR
As you guys can see we changed some things from the last one. Know that we know exactly what the story consists of we know the scenes we have to film, so we split it up according to the lengths of the scenes. Not only that, but we also planned to have one day meant for re shooting just in case we decide to change any of the shots. As you guys can also see, there is a section in red. We added this because we're not sure what days we'll be able to film during those days and therefore, that section is just a range of the days we will choose from.
I was looking online and I found this quote on shooting schedules:
"A shooting schedule is an exact timeline of how much time will be needed to complete the shoot and on which dates you are going to shoot.... Scheduling will help you to shoot the scenes in accordance to the location and make the production a hassle free process."
This shows the importance that they have because not only so we have to take into consideration everyone's lives and commitments, but we also have to plan exact so that when the shooting takes place it's quick and easy. This is why we have put so much time into the planing and shooting of the scenes. For more info on the article click here.
Sources: Verma, S., & Verma, S. (2018, February 05). 10 THINGS WILL DESCRIBE WHY PRE-PRODUCTION IS IMPORTANT IN FILMMAKING. Retrieved from https://medium.com/@saurabhkverma/10-things-will-describe-why-pre-production-is-important-in-filmmaking-a815d0ac1832
Welcome back guys!! Today we will be talking about the Title. I wanted this topic to be one of the last posts but I just can’t hold it in any longer!! Just to make myself clear, this story is about a psychopath (about our age) who kills his family, and the opening scene is the ending to the film. Know I know what you’re thinking, we basically just gave the ending away.. But it’s not about how the movie ends, it’s about everything that leads up to the ending and all those important parts of the film that portray this psychotic character. After the title shows (which is towards the end of the beginning/middle), we will rewind to a few months earlier and tell the story from there. Get it?
Here is a quote that my group and I will try to accomplish in order for this film to be exactly how we vision it:
“As you transition to the next section of your story the audience should be able to identify the protagonist, what the story is about, the antagonist (villain- not always a person, but represents the opposing threat), and what’s at stake if the protagonist doesn’t succeed at their goal.”
Now for the moment you’ve all been waiting for… drumroll please…. IDΣNTITY
Now, before you all get confused, let me explain why my group and I chose this title and how it came to be. The main character of this story isn’t at all normal, he is a psychopath who wants to harm his family and we wanted the title to represent that this kid is not even close to representing normal. In one of my previous blogs some of the names that we got inspiration from was Prisoners, due to the fact that the “O” in prisoners is a symbol that has a lot of meaning to it so we wanted to make it similar.
One thing we knew for sure, was that we would use the Greek capital letter for Sigma, which is the letter E. One day in our AICE Media Studies class, we just thought of names that had the letter E in them so that we could use the Greek letter. Keep in mind, the Sigma E is backwards so it would be facing the other way, not the way it’s facing now. Now why is the greek letter so important? It all goes back to what I said before, the normal letter e is known as “E”, if the audience was to see this letter e “Σ”, they would know that it relates to the film and how it’s not “normal.”
Coming up with this name was a huge deal for us since the title has to represent the story. We are so glad that we’re making progress and keeping you guys happy! Can’t wait to share more with you guys.
Stay tuned for tomorrow!!
Sources: Screenwriting Structure: Expanding the Beginning, Middle, and End. (2017, January 24). Retrieved from https://www.zacuto.com/screenwriting-structure-jill-remensnyder Sigma. (2019, March 08). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigma (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.google.com/search?q=prisoners&rlz=1C1NHXL_enUS815US815&oq=prisoners&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.1435j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Hey guys, it's finally Fridayyyy and I'm so happy! Today in class we had another group meeting and I can't stress how much these meet ups helps. It not only helps me figure out any of the problems, but it also allows me to see what other people have to say about our scenes and story.
The first things the group told me was that our story line was good and that they liked how it started with a flashback. Then, they gave me some ideas and hints, these included:
Props
Lighting
Second scene (in room)
Props- I started off by explaining the types of props that we were gonna need, these are fake blood and headstones. Then I explained how we were in between making the blood or buying it, which they responded that it all depended on how the fake blood turned out. They said that they prefer that I make it because I can still manipulate and make it into my vision. This was extremely helpful because it made me realize that by making our products, we have the power to change them how we want. Lastly, I told them about the headstones and how we were planning on making them with cardboard, but after today's meeting I'm happy to say that we are now making them out of styrofoam. This idea that they gave me was EXTREMELY helpful because with the styrofoam we can give the headstones more texture as well.
Lighting- This meeting game me many different idea on what to do with the lighting. One member said that I could just edit the lighting while taking the picture through the Iphone camera roll. Another member gave the idea that instead of relying on the weather and natural lighting, we can use blankets and lights because the shots are gonna be close and focused on the headstones. I really liked both these ideas and I'm going to have to try it out over the weekend and see which one I like best.
Room Scene- I explained that we were still figuring out ways to show how he is psychopathic and one of the group members said that I should research some common characteristics of them. Not only that, but they also said that when the drawings on the walls are shown, it should be weird pictures related to death. For example, they said that it should include pictures of knives, blood, and even dead people (family). Lastly, they loved the idea how the title and symbols shown at beginning will relate to the seen by the same symbol being on a paper that the mom picks up. They also told me to look into the movies The Silence of the Lambs and Red Dragon because they follow similar characteristics.
All in all, I plan on implementing all these ideas into the film or at least try to take them into consideration. Also, these meetings gave me some ideas like the use of a website called Animakerto create a production company and make the opening look professional. That's it for today guys and I'll see you later!
Sources:
Animaker, Make Animated Videos on Cloud for free. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.animaker.com/
Hey guys, I know it's been a while since I posted, but the group and I have been planning out some of our problems and holes. Some of these included
Lighting
Scenes
Main characters
Name of the movie
Today, in this blog post, I'll be talking about an issue that we came across with our cemetery scene and how we plan on fixing it.
If you look at the post I did on March 8th, you guys will see how we decided on the setting and that it will take place in Markham park in a low key lit scene. This isn't changing in our project, the change comes with what's going on the scene. Originally, we were gonna make the scene look like a real cemetery, but we realized that we would have had to keep the shots to close and we didn't have the objects to make it happen. Therefore, the group and I decided to change it into a closed cemetery, on the families property. Due to this I made a new beginning and here is the storyboard that we will use for the first part (cemetery):
As you guys can see, the scene will now be a family cemetery in the back of a their ranch, which is the house of the family that died. The first 3 frames are there to establish the location and show the audience where the cemetery and story will take place. Then the next frames brings up the headstones and goes through each one of them to show the names of those who died. The rest of the scene will consist of flashy shots (resembling police lights) and there will be rapid cuts showing a headstone and the person who died (Will show a symbol on their forehead and all dead people shown will have the same symbol). This will repeat with each headstone and towards the end it will speed up the cuts and turn black. At this moment we will show the title.
At this point we are also considering adding either a message saying "A few months earlier" and then the story progresses, showing that there was a time to change. On the other hand, we are also thinking about including the dates on the headstones saying the day of the deaths and when the next scene begins we will show a calendar showing the month and date that is happening at the time. We are still thinking on what to do but as soon as we figure it out I'll post a blog on, So stay tuned on my upcoming blog.
Lastly, I wanted to mention that we are also on the task of figuring out a title of the movie and we have some ideas in mind, but we still need to work on the fonts and resemblance that it will have to the story. But, we are getting our ideas based off of these titles from other well known thrillers, so ours might look a bit like theirs. Here are the thrillers:
The reason as to why we are basing our title on this is because they all include specific characters that relate to the movie. For example, Prisoners has the "O" as a symbol, this is exactly what we want to do with our title, but instead something that relates to the film and is important to it.
That's it for today guys, have a great day and stay tuned!
Recently in our last class the group and I started discussing on what type of fonts we would use to show the credits and the title of the movie. So, I started researching and deciding which fonts would fit the theme the best. During my research I came across an article (click here for more) that explained the font process really well, in fact, this is a quote that really stood out to me "A nice attractive font can make an entire difference on a film, bringing it from an amateur level to professional." This shows that the type of font used in a film can make or break it, therefor people must take this step seriously and choose a font that grabs a viewers attention, but at the same time is simple. Here are some of the fonts that I have in mind:
Credits
EB Garamond
Credits
Courier New
Credits
Merriweather
Credits
Oswald
I chose these fonts because they are not only easy to read, but they also can do a good job bringing a thriller vibe to the film depending on how it is placed in the opening. Right now I am leaning towards the second font, but this takes time and discussion from all the group members because as said in the quote a font can bring a film from an "amateurlevel to professional".
I know this is a short post guys, but stay tuned for my next post where we will be making the props and showing pictures of how they turned out!
Sources:
Typography And Titles in Film. (2014, April 16). Retrieved from https://filmshortage.com/typography-and-titles-in-film/
Well this week has been a very stressful week for me due to SAT and all the tests I had, but the group and I were able to make some revisions to our storyboard based on our meetings and ideas. Remember our ideas and scenes are always prone to changes, so if you guys have any suggestions just leave a comment and i'll be sure to look at it.
Here are pictures of our revised storyboard:
As you guys can see during this scene we decided to be more specific with some of the shots, such as:
- Cemetery scene will be shot at Markham park
- The names will be shown (headstones)
- The transition used will be flashy (black to white or other way around)
- This is a FLASHBACK (beginning of movie is the end)
On this page, we just added more detail to the scenes, for example:
- The clock sound will be made through Foley to enhance the sound
- The close up of the water faucet will be made through Foley as well
- When the knob shakes we will here it as well
- The red arrows show that all those shots will be cuts (no transitions)
This last page included some scenes that we added a little more detail too, such as:
- We added a square around the paper to show where to zoom
- We added emotion/ action to show frustration
- We showed a possible symbol that might be shown (still deciding)
One of the aspects that we are looking on improving next is too make dialogue for the scenes, although we are planning on having a silent movie to reinforce the fact of thriller vibe, there will be some dialogue.
I was reading an article (click here to learn more about it) based on the creation of storyboards and this quote really stood out to me and thought that I should tell you guys because it is exactly what we are trying to do
"But remember, a long journey begins with a single step, so begin by breaking the screenplay down into small steps, or shots." I decided to show this because it shows how this is all a process and it has to be broken down step by step. This is why we first made the storyboard, now we revised it and made it with more detail, and then the next time we will add more information because the storyboard is the film and if done correctly will determine the outcome of it. Sources: Storyboarding Your Film. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.dummies.com/art-center/performing-arts/filmmaking/storyboarding-your-film/
Welcome back to the blog guys! The group and I have finally started scouting the location for our first scene in the opening, which is the "cemetery" scene. One of the group members went out and took pictures of some areas that are located in Markham Park that we might use.
Here are some pictures that we retrieved:
Out of these pictures the Location that we believe will fit the tone of the scene the best is the figure on the top left, as well as the two pictures on the bottom. These are the ones that we decided to go with because they are open enough to seem like a cemetery and the lighting will be easy to deal with, as you can see we can make the picture darker by going at different times of the day. This isn't 100% confirmed yet, but it is most likely where we will be shooting the graveyard scene. This isn't all though, we are also thinking about this spot because we are able to add the headstones, flowers, and props onto the land easily, and it would look like it belongs there because of the grass.
Stay tuned because in my next blog i'll be talking about the changes that the group and I have done to the storyboard and the type of dialogue that we might include as well. Have a great days!
Hey guys! I am so happy to be announcing that we finally started working on the props for our production. I've mentioned this on one of my last posts but briefly, so i'll be going into depth as to why we need the props that we will make and how we will make them.
These props include:
- Blood
- Gravestones
Blood This is a very important element in our film opening because it will help establish the thriller vibe that we need. We have looked through many different recipes to try figuring out which blood we would like to use and we chose one that we found on an article by Good Housekeeping. We chose the oxygen depleted blood because we plan on using in a scene where the blood would be dry and darker red.
Recipe:
- 2/3 cup of chocolate syrup - 1/3 cup of Tide detergent - 4-6 cups of red food coloring Gravestones As one of our first props that will be used, this has to be perfect and draw the viewers attention. Therefore, we put a lot of time and research into developing this prop. Not only did we want it to look like a real gravestone, but we also wanted to include the names of the characters that died on them. We are still deciding on whether to buy a gravestone or make it, for now we are leaning towards us making it because we need to include the peoples names and make it look realistic (texture). Here is a video on how we are planning on making them:
Sounds:
This is another important element that the group and I started looking into. In this blog i'll be showing the two main sounds that we will be making through Foley. In order to make these we will be using a microphone to really capture the sounds in detail.
- Clock ticking/ pencil tapping
To make this sound standout and create a sense of thrill, we decided to create the sound the same way as the pencil tapping on a desk (later scene in the opening). Therefore, to make this all we will do is put a microphone close to the pencil tapping on the desk and follow the tick of the clock so the timing is on point.
- Door slamming
We decided to create an emphasis with this sound because it helps convey the message that the kid is frustrated for having to go. During this scene the mom walks into the room and takes away the pencil, by getting frustrated at this it shows how he is somewhat of a psychopath. As you guys also know later on we reinforce this message by showing the pictures and symbol on the walls. The Foley will be made with the same microphone and books falling on the floor. We haven't decided yet whether to make it with an actual door or with the books, but it's an idea.
Just in case you guys wanted to see a little bit more on Foley sounds and how they are created, I found this video on Vimeo that was extremely useful for the group and I. Please watch the video because it demonstrates how we want to use Foley in our film opening, with the timing and emphasis of the sound like the guy demonstrated.
Sources:
Vigoreaux, G. (2018, November 05). How to Make Fake Blood for Halloween. Retrieved from https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/holidays/halloween-ideas/how-to/a35075/how-to-make-fake-blood/ EHow. (2017, July 17). How to Make Cardboard Tombstones. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUYWzxHRUyo The Foley Artist. (2019, March 07). Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/124053378
Hey guys, I am so excited to show you the storyboard that the group and I created. Now I have to say it isn't the best drawing ever, but it gets the point across for us to visually see the scenes. Many people choose to do storyboards online or with index cards, but the group and I decided to make it on a template that our teacher provided because it was organized and had space for comments as well. If you guys would like to use it some day here is link to the worksheet.
This isn't completely set in stone, there are still some changes that might occur. So keep in mind that in the future we might have to upload another post on our "final" storyboard.
As you guys can see there are some question marks in areas that we need to still plan out and as soon as we figure out those details we'll post about. This was a very important step in creating our film opening because it makes time management extremely efficient and allows the group to be on the same page. As said by Vyond Team in an article
"While it may take you a little while to put your storyboard together, in the long run it will save you time in revisions later.
Not only will it help you explain your vision to your team, but it will also make the creation process go more smoothly."
This quote, that I retrieved from a website, shows the reason as to whystory boarding is an effective way to plan and set up a film. Not only does it help a team get organized, but it also allows for feedback to occur through the process, which will all in all make the project better.
Shooting Schedule:
These are the days that we plan to shoot the film, but this might always change and will constantly be updated. For now we will try following this schedule and as you can see we start filming on 3/ 20/ 19 because first we have to get all the props and locations done.
Be aware of more upcoming posts because we are just starting to get into the fun stuff! sources:
Team, V. (n.d.). What Is A Storyboard And Why Do You Need One? | Vyond. Retrieved from https://www.vyond.com/resources/what-is-a-storyboard-and-why-do-you-need-one/
