Getting our Equipment

 Equipment

March 10, 2023

Before we started production, I knew I did not just want to film on my phone. Sometimes the phone can be grainy, and I wanted more of a professional look to my film. 

In our group meetings two weeks ago, I learned about this place called BECON TV, which allows students from the county to borrow film equipment from them. I messaged them on Instagram and was able to book certain dates to use their equipment! I picked out a camera, a microphone and a tripod. I did not take into account lighting until much later.

So last Friday, March 3, I asked my Dad if he could drive me to their location. I could have driven on my own, but I figured the equipment would be too heavy to carry alone. So we headed down to their studio! As we got there, we were greeted and taken back to get the equipment. 

The camera we got was very nice (I was a little scared to use it at first to not break it since it was super expensive). It was an XC-10 Camera by Canon. I was given a lesson on how to use it, as well as how to adjust certain features to get the kind of shot I wanted. While I could have used auto and not cared, it was so interesting to hear how the depth-of-field could be adjusted for the likeness of my film. 

I was given a shotgun microphone as well, since we did not have dialogue in our film. That was a VP83F Shotgun mic. We needed it for the sound elements, such as footsteps and cellphone sounds (ex. getting a text). It plugged right into the camera, so I did borrow a headset. The one I had at home is wireless, so it would not exactly work.

Finally, I was suggested to borrow a bicolor light. It had a brightness setting, as well as how warm or cool the lighting should be. We used the cool lighting in the dorm room, as it is relatively dark compared to the other locations we filmed in. 

This the equipment we received:

While using a phone to film could have been easier and less time consuming, the quality of our footage looks much more high quality and to the standard we want it in! Next week (March 13-16) we start editing! So in the meantime, we'll be reviewing which scenes we want to keep and which ones to use as backup. We have already set up a google drive so we could share it.

CCR Lesson Review !

 CCR Lesson

March 9, 2023

Last week in class, we covered the CCR.

My teacher broke down each question. The first details genre, and how it used or challenges conventions. I have already completed research for it in a previous post. The second question on distribution also uses that same research, though introducing how my production will be distributed to its target audience. 

The third and fourth are more difficult.

The third question asks how did your skills develop. That question alone will take a while. I came in knowing little to none about filming and the production process, so there will be a lot of discuss. Finally, the fourth question asks about technologies. Again, I will have listed the equipment I used in a future post (keep an eye out!), so it will be easy to discuss.

 

These are just some of the notes I made in class about how to address each question!

Luckily with filming this past weekend (sneak peak at a post this week), my partner and I will be able to complete the CCR pretty early on, cause editing may not take too long.

We are still planning a date for editing. I may not able to this week since I am incredibly busy with birthdays (mine and my mom's!) as well as my grandparents moving down here. So... lots of stress this week!!! But I know we will be able to get it done soon, just maybe after this week ends.

We watched a few examples of the CCR in class, and I even went home and watched a few myself. There were a few simple ones, like one being a parody of Vogue's 72 questions, and another just being a simple presentation. There were some stand-outs though, as one of them was even in a plane! It felt more memorable than the other ones, which made me think of cool locations I can do.

I already have a plan for some of my questions. For the questions concerning genre and distribution, I think I want to complete it in Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World. The reason I'm planning this so far in advance, before we even finished filming right now, is because of Spring Break. I want a unique location, and Disney World is the most different I can get with my locations. 

For the question concerning genre, The Tower of Terror may be a perfect backdrop for discussing the conventions of horror, since it is based off Twilight Zone. While it is not entirely similar, The Tower of Terror being much more paranormal than a slasher, it still is apart of the wide-range of horror.

Ex. The Tower of Terror in Walt Disney World

With distribution, there is so many places to choose from! Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood Boulevard, Echo Lake? So many choices! But... Hollywood Boulevard may be my best choice. Now replaced by Mickey's Runaway Railway, I want to film in front of the Chinese Theatre. I want to incorporate humor, but I still have to complete my script.

Ex. Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway in Walt Disney World

The other two questions may have to be done at home, especially with the images I will need to include. The first two, the genre and distribution, may only need a few pictures, hence why I would like that background. This will not be needed to be done for another week or two, but it is something to think about.

Making a Mask

 Mask Design

As our filming date comes closer, it means less time to finish our costume designs! Thankfully, this is the only item that needs to be made (I had a prop weapon at home from an old Halloween costume).

On Monday, I ordered a paper full-face mask as well as some paint. When it arrived that Tuesday, I was just staring at it, my mind blank as to what to add. There was so many things to add, but what would fit our aesthetic?

I had such an array of paint colors so the sky was the limit. 

I immediately looked at black. I used the plate to put the paint on, in case I wanted to mix colors. My original plan was to paint it black when add a design over it. However, when I was painting the base coat of black, I loved the streaks of paint. It looked frayed at the sides and looked really cool. I kept the features under the thick coat of black but kept the ends messy. With the hood for the costume, I felt like it would look really cool and threatening.

As soon as I was done, I excitedly sent it to my partner for their opinion. She really liked it! I was debating making another version, just in case something were to happen, but I decided against it due to time constraints. Last night, I had a lot to study for, so I had only a small interval of time to really finish this. Plus with family in town moving in? Not a lot of free time.

This Friday, March 3, I have to pick up the equipment at BECON TV. As much as I say this, it is so weird that filming is tomorrow. It was only two weeks ago when we were clueless for an idea and now we're filming! 

I'm so excited to create this film opening. With the final part of the costume done, I feel more confident in how this will turn out!

Storyboarding

Storyboarding

While in class, we decided to finish our storyboard! With our fixed plot after discussing with our teacher, it was time to finally plan the shots.

I drew the panels, so apologies if the art is not the best!  

Depending on the shot, we added action lines to show how we want our actor to move (which Olivia volunteered to star!). By adding arrows by the head, we knew which way the action would face, adding more consistency to our final project.

Each page is intended to be a minute each. We planned with the first page, the one with the killer chasing her down, that there will be a lot of insert shots of the hall and the actual chase scene happening. There will be quick cuts to show the desperation to escape. We did not include every frame we wanted in this sequence, but it will mostly include over-the-shoulder and tracking shots.

When we meet on Friday (SAT day is on this Wednesday), we will review the storyboard to make sure it is the sequence we want it. It’s so exciting to see the story coming together! 

Once we get the equipment from BECON TV and get our costumes/props, it’s time to turn this storyboard into a reality!

First Individual Meetings!

 In our individual meetings, Olivia and I met with our teacher to discuss our film. 

We realized there were a few inconsistencies with developing the male love interest of the film, as we want the killer to be the girlfriend of him. This is our main conflict of the film and would need to work in order to fully understand our opening.

We decided to change it from waking up from the call from the mother, as she will already be established with the broken picture frame, but maybe the call being from him as well as the lock screen. A knock on the door will be at the very end of the piece. For his name, we decided on Luke. We thought the name sounded nice. I personally liked it since it reminded me of Star Wars. The name was needed for the contact info for the phone calls, so to achieve this we'll just change our names on our phones to the name of the character depending on the phone we use. 

The phone call will also help with establishing mystery, as one suspect has already been introduced. It will be the audience's first guess, which is the effect we want to achieve. There will be three characters in our opening, but we will only need two actors. Olivia volunteered to be our main character while her friend could play the killer. The knock at the door will be implied to be Luke but his face will not directly be shown. 

A mood board would help develop him a bit. We wanted a preppy-jock vibe for him, giving the essence of our location of Miami. By making him an athlete for the school, it would make him have a higher status in the school, adding to why his girlfriend would go after our protagonist. We also decided on the name Luke Taylor, as we found a jersey that had the last name Taylor for our mood board and we really liked it. 

Our Schedule

 Day by Day

My partner and I knew we had to make a schedule this week. We had already set aside different dates we could not film, like spring break for example. But after learning the other schedules from our peers, we decided on our own schedule!

February 27-March 3: Gather mise-en-scene elements, props, and work on storyboard

March 4-March 6: Film our project at UM

March 7-March 17: Get feedback from peers, edit and finalize our project

March 18-April 3: Complete CCR

April 3: Have everything done, submit our project!!!!!

This schedule really put everything into perspective. It now feels less overwhelming, but it also shows how close the end of the year is. I'm so excited to complete my film opening with my partner! Our idea seemed almost far-fetched but with our planning we realized it is possible with no budget. I may try to contact BECON about film equipment next week to see if we can use anything from there to help the quality of our film. 

Filming March 4th through the 6th is really helpful as well. That week is really busy for me as my grandparents are moving down to Florida and it's me and my mom's birthdays! Then the week after is spring break. 

First Group Meeting!

Sharing Our Thoughts

Today was our first group meeting. We were randomly assigned groups then went to different parts of the classroom to discuss our plans and ideas.

I will say, I was a bit nervous to share my idea, so having to share our blog posts made it a lot easier to discuss. I was worried about not being able to fully express what Olivia and I came up with, so sharing my previous posts really helped. We got off to a quiet start, as most groups go, but as we kept talking, we felt more comfortable fully sharing.

One person in our group told us about something called BECON. It is a way to use media equipment that is available for students. I made sure to check out the website so when filming rolls around, we have a great resource to get cameras, and lighting and sound equipment. This will make our film look more professional, as iPhone quality may not do our idea justice. 

I took inspiration from their schedules, by taking two-weeks for filming and two-weeks for editing. It leaves enough time just in case something goes wrong to fix it. While filming may only take a day or two, it is still good to set aside that time. Even if we finish filming before those two weeks, there will in-turn be more time for editing, putting us ahead of schedule.

This is a picture of our group meeting, we shared our blog websites and read and discussed them. I got some really great feedback, especially since we still need to develop our storyboard. I got a better idea of mise-en-scene because of the color palette I blogged about. I was told that having a set color palette may help in the editing project as we can color-correct as red will be our main color. It will make the shots more interesting having this specific color, instead of just the dull lighting of a university dorm.

We met for around 30-minutes, but being put on the Secure Protocol (also known as a "Code Yellow"), our group was allowed to stay together for a bit longer. Even though I am annoyed as this is the second time this week we have been in lockdown and secure, I know it will be safely handled by security.

During this time, we worked on our blog posts and discussed further into certain shots we wanted to create and how. Being stuck in the classroom let us fully tell our ideas instead of just what we had laid out, like actors. Most of our projects involved older characters, between the 18-25 range. However, this is a bit difficult as we are all high schoolers. I did not have this problem, as I am asking people in this age range already to star in the film, but it may be for others. Even if they looked the part, their acting may not be the best. That is the only worry I am having. Sadly, I do not know anyone in drama or theatre who has acting experience, so it is a slight disadvantage, but I will try the best I can to get the emotions needed for the film opening.