CCR struggle

Hi blog! I have been having a personal struggle with the CCR. I feel as if this week was just a mixture of being presented with a problem and overcoming an issue, both group-wise and now individually. I do not know when the CCR is due, so I felt that it would be in my best interest to start working on it this break. However, I just do not understand it. I am confused on the whole purpose of it. I understand I have to answer the four questions presented in 5-10 minutes, but I do not get what I am supposed to show as I film myself saying it. In the class examples, people showed the same clips over and over again of their film, with a voice over in the back. I just feel like this is pointless, because the audience will get bored. The clips also have nothing to do with the questions asked, as it is just the end product.

I understand the questions asked. I am good at analyzing the piece and explaining why we chose to do what we did. However, I just think the main issue is putting the entire CCR together and tying it into a video. I have been jotting down bullet points for each of the questions in which I think can answer them. I am going to go talk to my teacher on Monday so I can make sure I am on the right track before I start filming the video. I am kind of disappointed that I am still confused on this, because I wanted to finish it while I had a light load of work to do. I already know I will be stressed when I get back to school, so I am upset I could not finish this work now. I just need to focus on time management to make sure it gets done.

Editing complete (basically)

I am back from my trip now, and have been working hard on the project. I think we have a head start compared to other groups in my class. After talking to some of our classmates and teammates, most have not even filmed their opening scene yet. On the other hand, ours is basically done with editing now! The clips have been put in order and merged together to create our piece. However, it is not final yet because we are unsure if we like transitions in the scenes. As well, we do not know if we want to create a title page for the movie, or have it pop up with the credits when the shrine is being created. Besides these small two fixes, the film opening is done. We just have to work on finding a royalty free song that could fit well in the opening, which has to be creepy yet upbeat. This is something we have been struggling on.

We did end up facing another issue recently. Due to Callie going to Mexico, the product was saved on her laptop. We tried to share it with me so I could edit more, but it would not go. We spent an hour trying to figure out how to download the movie opening to her computer and send it to mine, but we failed. We went with the next best option of doing a flash drive, but that does not give me editing properties to work on the clips. This does pose an issue, but not a very big one due to the fact we are almost done anyways. I am now going to start working on the CCR to get a good start before we go back to school.

Solving the sound issues

I have been stressing out about the sound issues so much over the past few days. The voice memos that I filmed, after tons of tries, fit perfectly with the clips that we filmed. This made me feel a lot calmer. However, we are still missing our other sounds like footsteps, running, and breathing. The fact that the ones we filmed did not work puts such a damper in our work. However, I have spent time looking online for royalty free music sounds that could work, as well as filming myself doing sounds. I went for a run to film myself panting, recorded my footsteps, and even made impromptu sounds. This issue is causing me so much stress because I really want it to be solved.

However, after working hard on making and recreating sounds, I realized it is not that bad. We could have lost clips or even not filmed parts correctly. The fact that only the sound is the issue honestly does not put us in the bad of a position. After spending the day working, we overall have recorded or found online enough sounds to make the clips work perfectly. Teamwork makes the dream work.

This is the first real issue that has been thrown at us since we started working on the project. However, I truly am glad that it was not bigger. It could have been ten times worse, and we have been doing so much to accomplish our end goal. I think this showed us how well we all work together, and allowed us for the opportunity to learn to trust one another more. Our team pushed past this, and succeeded in the long run.

Voice Recordings for film

Hey blog! Callie has been editing the first part of our movie while I have been in North Carolina. However, we came across an issue that I hope is resolved soon. The night we filmed the first part of the opening, where we buried the body at regional park, we did not get the sound quality in the clips that we thought we would get. Now we are stuck in a sticky situation where we have to redo the sounds in the exact perfect timing and tempo in order to have it fit perfectly with the film. When Callie called me to tell me this, I was overall frustrated because this seems like a huge issue. I am very nervous with the way it will turn out now that this is an evident issue present.

In order to solve the issue, I started filming over the parts that we are adding into the clips. These are a few voice memos that will be inserted throughout the film. However, it was so hard for me to get the pacing one hundred percent correct that it would match perfectly with the film. Attached below is the sayings of the voice memos that I recorded. I will keep you updated blog to see if the issue is resolved, in which I truly hope it is. I am extremely nervous on the way the film opening is going to turn out, especially because we just hit a major bump in the road. I think we can work through this to resolve the main issues!

Spring Break Goals

Happy spring break! It's crazy that the project is due so soon. Callie and Sara are traveling when I am in town, and vice versa. I am gone the first half of spring break, so I do not plan on doing much then. However, this break I want to finish the reflection paper. I think it would be better to get this done now, especially since it is individual. It would allow for more group editing to be done when we all get back to Weston. Similarly, we also have to create a CCR for our project that I plan on doing over the break. I honestly am kind of confused on this part of the project. We watched an example in class and went over what it most be composed of.  I understand that we have to answer the five questions in a video, but I just do not understand what we show as we film the video. I think the CCR will take me a while to do, just because the directions are not as direct. However, my goal is to finish both before the break ends.

I have not talked much to my group members about the project. I need to, in order to ensure we are still on track and will be able to finish the majority by the end of break. I am going to call them tonight, and set a track in order to ensure that is it complete. I think a challenge for me will be actually sticking with doing work over the break, because I will be traveling and in another state. However, I need to be disciplined and get it done! I will keep on pace and work hard in order to focus in on the project and get my tasks done!

Editing Software

Today, we decided on what editing software we will use in order to develop the final product. It is called Wondershare filmora 9. Callie is the main person in our group who knows how to edit. She found this editing software for the last group project we did, which was to develop a music video. We each had to pitch in twenty dollars because the software was not free. However, it works very well and is easy to navigate. I am not good at editing, but I can move through the website with no errors. We decided on this as a group, after discussing the success it gave us for our last project. Another plus is the amount of music it has on there for us to choose from and sample. This overall gives us a wide variety of choices.

To be completely honest, the only editing software I have used has been iMovie. It is not advanced, which is one reason why I used it. Switching to a whole new platform may give me personal difficulty, but Callie is confident in her abilities to maneuver the website. I am excited that we came to this decision, because it helps me feel confident that we are ahead of the game and moving in the right direction. I trust her, and know with her help we can all contribute to the editing portion and create the best film opening.

Reviewing in class

Hey blog! So today in class, we sorted the movie clips into a folder on Callie's laptop. As we were watching them, I noticed how good the clips were. The storyline is going to be perfect! Not only did the camera give us perfect quality, but it also allowed us to create the overall end piece we wanted. Sorting the clips took the entire class period, because we had taken so many over the weekend. Our teacher advised us to take double what we needed, so just in case we have enough shots in the long run. This advice because super useful and it allowed us to have enough clips to create the opening.

I am very nervous about how this is going to turn out in the long run. I feel like we have good footage to pull from. However, I do not want this to be a basic project. I really hope that we can pull it together enough to have a good opening. We were the only group in the class with this idea, until our friend Marco said he was also doing a stalker story. However, his is different because it is based on the idea of a guy cheating on his girlfriend. Ours is not like that, so I still feel like it will be a new and original piece. This week we will keep editing our piece to get good results!

Filming Part Two!

Hey blog! This weekend my group members and I filmed the rest of the film opening. We got all of the shots we needed and overall accomplished so much! We filmed the parts with Christian on Friday after school, and filmed the rest Sunday morning. From the mixture of clips, we plan on being able to edit and complete the video before the end of spring break!

Friday after school, we all met up at Callie's house. The clips we focused on filming were the scenes of Christian doing activities, and then zooming out the me watching him with a camera film. We first started with Christian and Cole playing basketball. We took shots of them shooting hoops, as well as shots of me taking photos of him from behind a tree. We then filmed him playing pool in the community club house, and clips of me taking photos from the window. Lastly, we filmed him riding his skateboard down the street. I took photos from a window on the second floor, as Callie filmed a mixture of shots like POV and high angle shots. It took about an hour, where we worked super hard to get it all done. I had lacrosse practice, but Callie and Sara stayed to review the shots and said the clips were good.

Sunday morning I forced my group members to get up super early. We created a shrine for the "stalker girl" to be obsessed with. We combined tons of photos of Christian we had gotten, as well as some from his instagram. We took shots of me creating the shrine, like cutting and taping photos down. These are used to emphasize the overall creepiness of the desired tone. The shrine is attached below! Soon, we will edit the clips and see the final product!

Filming Day 1 Vlog

As we were filming our opening scene for the first day, I made a vlog! I thought it would be fun to watch and track our progress throughout, so what better way than to film my own experiences. The video below tracks our progress as we filmed the first night, and at the end discusses the difficulties and overall progress we had. We talk on the issue of how we thought we were going to get in trouble due to the fact of looking suspicious as we walked into a public park with a shovel and dirt. Callie and I also spoke on our filming, talking on how we are off to a good start and overall had no issues. If time permits, I want to make a vlog for every portion we do. Enjoy!

Reviewing scenes in class

Today in class we spent the time looking over the footage from last night. With the way the lights were compared to the darkness outside, we got some great clips! The shots look amazing, with a variety showing different angles of all the actions I did. We spent the class period looking over these shots in order to see how we can improve for the next day.

Callie wants to have the video edited by next week. I think this is a great idea. We put all the clips that were filmed well into a folder on her computer, so we had them organized and ready to go. I am not sure what program we will use yet to edit the film opening, but when we decide it will be noted. We looked into royalty free music and sound effects today, in order to see which would fit well into the clips we had taken. Similarly, we came up with a filming plan for this weekend.

Since we only have the camera until Monday, we need everything to be filmed before Sunday night. Christian has agreed to film today after school, and we will film the rest Sunday morning. Of course the one weekend I have so much going on we have to film a million shots, so I think it may be an issue with timing to work. Right after school we are meeting at Callies house, in order to film the scenes of me stalking Christian. We will have three parts of this:
-me stalking him as he plays basketball with a friend
-me stalking him from an upstairs window as he rides his longboard
-me stalking him as he plays pool/video games at the community clubhouse

On Sunday, we are going to film the shrine parts as well as the singular parts that are just me. Then, next week in class we can spend it putting together the opening so it is done before spring break! We are all going away, so we can not have group progress. That is why it needs to be done now! We overall have been very productive these last few days and it is going great.

Filming Day 1

Hi blog! So today, Callie and I began filming our project. Sara is sick, so she took the day off to rest. After school, Callie drove to get a professional video camera and a few lights from BECON TV, a company in which allows us to "check them out" for filming. We have used cameras from them before, and these allow us to film with great quality!

To prepare for this, Callie and I worked on a shot list and materials list for this specific scene. Callie made a list of a bunch of different shots she wanted to film in order to ensure we had enough. I made a materials list of what would be needed to ensure success. These included:
-shovel
-dirt
-white dress
-camera and supplies
-missing poster x3

It was necessary to gather the supplies the day of, in order to allow us the greatest amount of filming time possible. I created a missing poster in class the day off. The poster is essential for the graphic matching that will be done between the pictures in the scenes. It also alludes to the boy who is being stalked. Since Callie drove to get the camera, I was in charge of getting the supplies. I bought a big white tee shirt from AC Moore and a bag of dirt from Home Depot. I had already owned a shovel, so I just grabbed it from my garage. When I got home, I spent around an hour getting ready. I had to do my makeup to look like a "killer", so I did heavy eye makeup to make it appear as if I had been crying and running around. It was all messed up to emphasize the plot. I also left my hair messy, in order for it to create a tone for the piece. My mom and I cut holes into the dress, and put dirt on it in order to create an appeal as if I had been dragging a body around in the woods. It was important for the costume to be this, because it creates the tone for the entire scene.

After I had gotten ready, we went to Regional Park to film. It is close to our house, so it is easy to film at. Since it was a Thursday night, we didn't want to take that long since we had a lot of homework. However, we only have the camera for the weekend, so we do not have much time and had to make it work. I skipped lacrosse practice in order to prepare, so we decided that it would be good to film it close to where we live. We asked my friend Sebastian to take Christian's spot for the night, because he was busy. When we first got there, Sebastian and Callie set up the camera and lights  while I made a plot with the dirt for the body. Then, we filmed each part multiple times to ensure that we had enough clips to create the first thirty seconds of the film. We took about an hour and a half, and I think we got some really good shots. We are going to review them in class tomorrow to see how we did!

This shows what the end product of my costume/look was!

Materials List

Hey blog! Today my group members and I are making a materials list in order to be more prepared for the project. We have really pushed off working on it a lot, because we have all been super busy with school and extracurriculars. However, we didn't realize how fast the due date is approaching and want to film this weekend. They looked at me crazy when I said that because it is so soon, but I think we can do it. 

Today we went scene by scene in order to see what supplies we need to get. We want to divide them up so we each can get a few, and in the end have them all ready by the weekend. The prop list we came up with is below! 

Props for media studies:

Opening Scene (burying the body):

Shovel- lauren

Dirt- home depot - tomorrow

Missing poster- lauren making

Second part:

Photo camera- lauren

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

Similarly, we made an outline list for what shots we want each to be. It is below!

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

It was good that we made this list because it helped us to stay organized and be more productive. We are going to review it and add to it in the upcoming days in order to be ready for the weekend! Can't wait to start filming!

Location Hunt Part 1

Today we were able to drive around and find some locations for our first scene. Since it is the weekend, we had all day to brainstorm and think of the best park locations to film the burying scene. We checked out a few locations, and wrote down the pros and cons.

At first, we realized that we have a major issue in our storyboard. We are not sure if you can dig in a park. We have a shovel, but we do not want to get in trouble for digging in a national park. We had the idea to bring dirt from Home Depot, to make a pile and attempt to make the same affect as dug up dirt would. This would solve the issue halfway, and may prove to work. Also, we may not be able to film at night because national parks close. We may have to put the lighting down when we edit the video, to give it the effect of nighttime. Callie will try to see if this editing style can be done, and then we will go from there.

We checked out three parks today. Around us, we went to Vista View Park, Markham Park, and Everglades National Park. While all would work, there are massive pros to all of them. Everglades National Park does not close at night, meaning we could film there. However, it does not look like a forest, so it does not give the same vibe. Also, it is not very safe at night, so we do not know how comfortable we feel to film there. Markham Park looks like the woods, so it gives a the effect we are looking for. It is huge so there are so many locations to film, but it closes early. This would all depend on the editing technique. Lastly, we went to Vista View Park. This is a giant hill, so the wood feels was not there. Also, it is very busy and open, not giving many concealed locations to film the scene. I think personally our best bet is to film at Markham Park, if we can figure out how to edit the lighting. This would create the idea we want for the scene.

This week, we are going to create the storyboard for the second part of the scene. I am not sure what else we are going to do yet, but the next class period will be used creating the other storyboard.

Peer Review

Today in class, we did a peer review day. This is where we get into groups of different classmates, and discuss our plan for our projects. In return, we each get advice from different people in order to incorporate it into our project. I worked with a group of five people. At first, I was not looking forward to this event. I did not see this as useful, because we are not that far along into our film. Similarly, I did not think my group would be productive because we are all friends and get off track easily. However, I was surprised to see how helpful the overall day was.

My group and I went one by one in order to hear everyone's ideas for the opening scene. We also reviewed blog posts in order to see how to improve our writing style and make things easier to understand. I went third, telling my group about the ironic stalker theme idea. For feedback, I got some valuable pieces of information I want to incorporate into the piece. I was told to maybe make the beginning scene shorter, in order to allow for the flashback to provide more time to progress the storyline. Similarly, I was also told to not make the storyline too complex, which I think was an issue from the start. We were trying to include too much information in two minutes, making it seem jumbled and confusing. They overall loved the idea and said it was unique. While at first I wanted to work on the storyboard, I think this was productive.

Sara and Callie got good ideas as well. We plan on meeting this weekend in order to review our findings and how we can incorporate it into the film. I enjoyed hearing other people's ideas for their story. I heard some crazy things like boxing and street fights, which I think will be amazing if done correctly. Bouncing ideas off one another was super successful, and in the end made me feel more prepared about our idea. It was well liked, helping to make me feel better.

Storyboard Part 1

Today we worked really hard on getting a story board together! After a lot of discussion, we did end up going with the theme discussed in the previous post. We planned out the first scene of our film opening, which will be around 45 seconds. Below is the attached storyboard our group came up with.




In the story board above, we discuss and layout what will be the first seconds of the clip. We are doing the forest scene, which will be followed by another clip of the flashback. The flashback will explain the entire story. The first part will open with an establishing shot of the forest and town, which may be filmed with a drone. We will then show a mixture of choppy, close up shots of feet being pulled and hands covered in dirt/shoveling. This will create a feeling of suspense when teamed with proper music, establishing the overall tone for the piece. We are also going to show a clip of a mixture of different shots of the girl running, with the sounds of panting and a heartbeat in the back. From here, we assume the scene will be set. We are going to go into a high shot of the girl standing there with the shovel, with the shot circling around her to see all angles and emotions. We want to cut to a face close up, to show emotions. This scene will close with a missing poster of the boy buried, leading to graphic matching of the photos to lead to the flashback. The credits will be in the scene after this, not this one because we think it will destroy the mood.

We struggled with choosing a name for the film. We want to make sure it is perfect before we commit to a title. However, this was our only struggle for the period as I think we were productive and got a lot done.

The cuts will all take place on movement. We want to set a choppy tone, with an overall sense of suspense and chaos. While this is our current plan, the angle and shots may cut or change order. However, as of right now this is what we plan on doing to create the best opening for our idea. We plan on finish the storyboard next class, and then work on perfecting it. As well, we want to begin casting for our roles. Overall, we had a successful period!

Film Opening Chosen!

Hi blog! Today was a very productive day for my group members and I. We sat down and overall decided on our plot today. This was a very big step because we had been struggling to decide what idea we would actually go with. We decided to chose a suspenseful drama, because we think it would be the most effective in grabbing the readers attention and creating a monumental scene as the opening. We chose the stalker idea, where a girl is overly obsessed with a guy and ends up killing him. We will start the first scene of as the girl burying the body, and then switch it to a flashback of times before he was dead. As of right now, we have decided to do a girl getting ready for a date with the boy. The mom will say something along the lines of how she doesn't feel comfortable with her daughter going out with a guy she has never met before. The daughter says something like "don't worry mom, nothing bad will come out of it." This will tie in the killing to this moment, creating the sense of foreshadowing necessary in order to develop the plot.

The biggest issue I think we face at this point in the project is that we need to develop the entire movie in just the opening. We have to figure out a way to establish the plot in only two minutes! This seems very hard to me, just because there is barely any time. Because of this, we have to focus on developing the right wording in the flashback scene. Through the conversation, we can allude to what happened. From that point on, the rest of the movie can be the entire story between the couple that led up to the murder. I believe this will be the best approach to tackle this obstacle, because it can establish the entire scene with the words.

This week, our main goal is a storyboard. We want to sketch out the first part of the film opening, because we can start researching filming locations and materials needed. Planning is essential, and we  need to focus on this in order to move on with our project. We have a busy week ahead of us!

Film Opening Research Camera Features

Hi blog! Keeping my blog posts for the week in a similar pattern, today we focused on camera features. If we do keep the idea of the film opening, we discussed some of the camera features we should do when filming. We plan on borrowing a camera from Beacon TV, in order to ensure our project is amazing. The way we cut the scene is essential, and we want to do it in the best ways possible.

Throughout the scene, we want to keep all the cuts on movement. This really helps to keep the cuts low-key, and make sure that they are not noticeable. By doing this, we can ensure the audience is not distracted and that the piece flows smoothly. We do not want the cuts to be choppy, unless we show a running scene in the woods. Other than that, we want the cuts to flow well.

Next off, we want to film a lot of the shots from either high or low angles. As she buries the body, we want to film the scene high. This would help to establish the surroundings off the area, and we think it could be filmed through maybe a drone? We also want to shoot some from low angles, to make our actor look powerful and dominant. That would help to develop her character as a stalker, making her seem dominant and obsessive. We do not want to have a lot of cuts, but instead focus on doing long shots and filming the scene from start to finish.

In the flashback, if we do the idea of a collection of clips from the guy, we want to do close ups. That way, the scenes are focused completely on him. It will most likely be in slow motion, providing emphasis to his features. The voice over will explain the clips, but using close ups will be the best method to having this be affective.

These are our baseline ideas for the clips. While I am sure they will change, this is the baseline for the film opening scenes.

Film Opening Sound Ideas

Hey blog, today was one crazy day! No one in my group went to class today, so we did not have much time to plan. I had a huge lacrosse game to prep for, and the other girls had personal things to take care of. However, we still were able to text about the project and figure some stuff out. It's a good thing we are all friends, because it helps us be able to contact one another at random times. We decided since we all were super busy that we should focus on another aspect of the idea and start researching into it. We assumed the easiest would be sound, being that it is a suspense movie. Here are a few of the ideas we discussed.

For sound, we want the voice over discussed in the previous post. We think this is essential to build the suspense wanted in the piece. It helps to keep the focus on the actions off on what the main character is doing, but explain the back story to the events taking place. I think this idea is unique, compared to just having dialogue between characters. It would incorporate well into our piece, and if done right would really be effective.

Similarly, we also want to do suspenseful background music. We will have to choose royalty free music, because neither of us are able to play or write music. However, we want it lightly playing in the back in order to cause an even greater effect. This will not be present for the entire piece, because it will draw somewhat of attention away from the voice over.

Another factor we want to incorporate is the sounds during the flashback. During this part, we want to include some dialogue because it would help us to hit all aspects of a good film opening. 

We didn't do much work today due to our busy schedule, but I think this brainstorming helped us to get organized. We now have a better idea of what we want to accomplish, and I hope we can get more organized from here.