Welcome back!
Today was supposed to finally be the day when we would finish filming. But thanks to the rain, that wasn't possible.
Since half of our film takes place outside, the weather and timing is key. We need it to be dark but also have a clear, dark sky.
Without being able to film we tried to focus more on the editing side of our film. Throughout our last projects we have been using iMovie, which we have really mastered how to use and has worked perfectly with us through the year. Because of this we plan on using this very same software for this project too.
We plan on also using Maria's camera which has also worked great on past projects.
Filming has become a bit tough just because of the planning. It seems to be that every time we plan on filming, one of the five of us can't make it. Either Gaby, Gabe, Mari, Carlos or me.
But thats ok, thats part of working as a team so this weekend we plan on doing the final shots and have next week to edit and film our ccr. Thats our plan, but of course this is subject to change!
Until next time!
Friday, March 31, 2017
Wednesday, March 29, 2017
Music
Welcome back!!
Today I decided to do some research on soundtracks often used for mystery films.
Although you may not realize it, the sounds and dialogue are just as important as the visuals. With this, my group and I started to freak out a bit. The project is due next week and we realized that we haven't considered music and dialogue into our storyline.
Yesterday though, Gaby went up to our teacher and asked her if dialogue was necessary for our film. And with our luck, she said no, it is not needed.
We were so glad to hear this just because we always thought dialogue wouldn't be necessary for our film and for that reason haven't talked about it.
Now... MUSIC
Music is a must. Without music or some sort of sound the film seems very plain, or even awkward. With this I chose to do some research on sound tracks that are used in mystery films.
In this webpage, they listed plenty of different soundtracks used by famous mystery and crime films today. I noticed that most of them are very suspenseful and thrilling with high sounds and low sounds. There are also some very upbeat kind of songs similar to what I had in mind from previous blog post.
Using this information we plan on using this some upbeat songs during the indoor scenes but than use the thrilling and suspenseful songs during the outside scenes.
Until next time!
Media, United. "Soundtracks | Suspense & Thriller." Soundtracks | Suspense & Thriller | Best Music by Theme | YookaMusic.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2017.
Today I decided to do some research on soundtracks often used for mystery films.
Although you may not realize it, the sounds and dialogue are just as important as the visuals. With this, my group and I started to freak out a bit. The project is due next week and we realized that we haven't considered music and dialogue into our storyline.
Yesterday though, Gaby went up to our teacher and asked her if dialogue was necessary for our film. And with our luck, she said no, it is not needed.
We were so glad to hear this just because we always thought dialogue wouldn't be necessary for our film and for that reason haven't talked about it.
Now... MUSIC
Music is a must. Without music or some sort of sound the film seems very plain, or even awkward. With this I chose to do some research on sound tracks that are used in mystery films.
In this webpage, they listed plenty of different soundtracks used by famous mystery and crime films today. I noticed that most of them are very suspenseful and thrilling with high sounds and low sounds. There are also some very upbeat kind of songs similar to what I had in mind from previous blog post.
Using this information we plan on using this some upbeat songs during the indoor scenes but than use the thrilling and suspenseful songs during the outside scenes.
Until next time!
Media, United. "Soundtracks | Suspense & Thriller." Soundtracks | Suspense & Thriller | Best Music by Theme | YookaMusic.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2017.
Sunday, March 26, 2017
More filming
Welcome back!
Today we decided on shooting a tiny bit more for our film. Because of the weather, we haven't really been able to find some time to shoot our outside scene of our opening film.
So today we shot a bit more inside.
My group members and I have always thought that the more film we have the easier it will be to edit for our film opening. We learned this during our last project which was making a music video for a song chosen by our teacher. My group and I had so much film that when we got home to edit, it became extremely easy.
Because of this we continued to shoot today....
As you can tell, we decided to put the same pictures up in order to make sure the setting looks just as it was last time.
On the top left, we have a picture of Maria dads handwriting. We included this in our film because we wanted the writing to seem rushed and as if he was receiving a lot of information at once.
Marias dads handwriting gave us that exact same feeling. We also did some close up recording of my shoes.
We thought it would be pretty interesting to add this into our film to give the audience a creepy and anxious kind of feeling. With all of this, we also did some over the shoulder shots of me (the stalker) typing on the computer. This will also give our audience a creepy feeling.
Now sound...
We are planing on playing some happy up beat sort of music. This will also hopefully help add onto the creepy emotion that we are looking to give off. I do have to do a bit more research on music so stay tuned!
Until next time!
Today we decided on shooting a tiny bit more for our film. Because of the weather, we haven't really been able to find some time to shoot our outside scene of our opening film.
So today we shot a bit more inside.
My group members and I have always thought that the more film we have the easier it will be to edit for our film opening. We learned this during our last project which was making a music video for a song chosen by our teacher. My group and I had so much film that when we got home to edit, it became extremely easy.
Because of this we continued to shoot today....
As you can tell, we decided to put the same pictures up in order to make sure the setting looks just as it was last time.
On the top left, we have a picture of Maria dads handwriting. We included this in our film because we wanted the writing to seem rushed and as if he was receiving a lot of information at once.
Marias dads handwriting gave us that exact same feeling. We also did some close up recording of my shoes.
We thought it would be pretty interesting to add this into our film to give the audience a creepy and anxious kind of feeling. With all of this, we also did some over the shoulder shots of me (the stalker) typing on the computer. This will also give our audience a creepy feeling.
Now sound...
We are planing on playing some happy up beat sort of music. This will also hopefully help add onto the creepy emotion that we are looking to give off. I do have to do a bit more research on music so stay tuned!
Until next time!
Friday, March 24, 2017
Problems problems problems...
Welcome back!
The other day in class my teacher put us in groups in order to help us receive advice from our peers.
My classmates loved our idea and were extremely trilled with the setting and editing of the film after seeing some shorts clips from our filming from Tuesday.
From a previous blog, I talked about the key factors in a mystery film and one of the most important ones was including a death in your opening film. I discussed this with my partners and we were having some trouble setting a death scene into our opening film.
But...
The other day as I was talking to my mom in regards to our project and our problem with trying to find a spot for a death, and my mom helped me come up with this amazing idea!
We are going to print and picture of Carlos hugging his current girlfriend who will be played by either Maria or Gaby. The death is going to be of Carlos's current girlfriend and the picture will be framed and placed right by the dead body. The framed picture will also have a big red "X" on the girls face. The camera will do a quick pan movement of the scene in order to show everything thats going on.
The idea of having the death be of Carlos's current girlfriend creates more mystery and also helps the ending (of the stalker being his ex girlfriend) be less shocking.
Ontop of all of this, we were supposed to finish filming yesterday (Thursday) but thanks to the rain we had to do a raincheck for later this weekend!
Until next time!
The other day in class my teacher put us in groups in order to help us receive advice from our peers.
My classmates loved our idea and were extremely trilled with the setting and editing of the film after seeing some shorts clips from our filming from Tuesday.
From a previous blog, I talked about the key factors in a mystery film and one of the most important ones was including a death in your opening film. I discussed this with my partners and we were having some trouble setting a death scene into our opening film.
But...
The other day as I was talking to my mom in regards to our project and our problem with trying to find a spot for a death, and my mom helped me come up with this amazing idea!
We are going to print and picture of Carlos hugging his current girlfriend who will be played by either Maria or Gaby. The death is going to be of Carlos's current girlfriend and the picture will be framed and placed right by the dead body. The framed picture will also have a big red "X" on the girls face. The camera will do a quick pan movement of the scene in order to show everything thats going on.
The idea of having the death be of Carlos's current girlfriend creates more mystery and also helps the ending (of the stalker being his ex girlfriend) be less shocking.
Ontop of all of this, we were supposed to finish filming yesterday (Thursday) but thanks to the rain we had to do a raincheck for later this weekend!
Until next time!
Wednesday, March 22, 2017
Filming
Hey!
So yesterday, Mari, Gaby and I actually began to film. Since Mari had SAT tutoring yesterday from 7:00 to 9:00, we thought it was best to just do some of the "man cave" shooting right after school since the rest is going to be done at night.
So we began... Gaby and I rushed to her house straight after school and with a mix of our brain power, we were finally able to decide on exactly what we will do.
Like said before, Carlos is our main character and we all agreed that our stalker will be played by me and my face will never be revealed. We first started filming in Marias office and pulled up all of Carlos's social media on the big computers. To make matters worse i came up with the idea of opening google maps in order to give the audience the idea that the stalker is constantly stalking Carlos.
We also scattered around a bunch of pictures we had taken of Carlos around school in order to give a creepy kind of touch towards our film. Printing them in black and white also helped add onto this feeling.
This is what is came out as:
As you can tell the lighting is quite intriguing. We did this by turning off all the lights and turning on the only light on the actual desk itself. This creates a very creepy kind of look.
In addition to this we also included the tools into this scene in order to show that the person is actually planning on killing Carlos.
Until next time!
So yesterday, Mari, Gaby and I actually began to film. Since Mari had SAT tutoring yesterday from 7:00 to 9:00, we thought it was best to just do some of the "man cave" shooting right after school since the rest is going to be done at night.
So we began... Gaby and I rushed to her house straight after school and with a mix of our brain power, we were finally able to decide on exactly what we will do.
Like said before, Carlos is our main character and we all agreed that our stalker will be played by me and my face will never be revealed. We first started filming in Marias office and pulled up all of Carlos's social media on the big computers. To make matters worse i came up with the idea of opening google maps in order to give the audience the idea that the stalker is constantly stalking Carlos.
We also scattered around a bunch of pictures we had taken of Carlos around school in order to give a creepy kind of touch towards our film. Printing them in black and white also helped add onto this feeling.
This is what is came out as:
As you can tell, Maria and Gaby are holding up a pair of scissors and string. We decided to attach the string to the pictures posted on the wall to demonstrate the tracking of Carlos.
To add a more dramatic affect and change of location we also took some shots in Marias office. We did some including me with a black hoodie on and a couple birds eye shots to focus the audiences attention toward what I am exactly doing which is brushing off the tools I will be using in the scene outside in town center.
This is what the board came out to look like in the garage:
As you can tell the lighting is quite intriguing. We did this by turning off all the lights and turning on the only light on the actual desk itself. This creates a very creepy kind of look.
In addition to this we also included the tools into this scene in order to show that the person is actually planning on killing Carlos.
Until next time!
Sunday, March 19, 2017
Storyboard
Welcome Back!
In general, my group hasn't talked much about our storyline but since this is my blog, I'm going to express my ideas on what we should do. But of course this is subject to change.
In order to grasp the viewers attention, we are going to need a strong opening cut. I decided it would be best to have an establishing shot of our main character, Carlos start off with his hands on his knees, out of breath (as if he were out of breath from running).
He than looks back to see our stalker who is dressed in all black running after him. As he runs away, multiple flashbacks run through his head. He remembers when he opened his bedroom door and found a girl stabbed to death, he remembers seeing threatening signs on his car and he also remembers seeing a trail of blood all over his driveway.
In general, my group hasn't talked much about our storyline but since this is my blog, I'm going to express my ideas on what we should do. But of course this is subject to change.
In order to grasp the viewers attention, we are going to need a strong opening cut. I decided it would be best to have an establishing shot of our main character, Carlos start off with his hands on his knees, out of breath (as if he were out of breath from running).
He than looks back to see our stalker who is dressed in all black running after him. As he runs away, multiple flashbacks run through his head. He remembers when he opened his bedroom door and found a girl stabbed to death, he remembers seeing threatening signs on his car and he also remembers seeing a trail of blood all over his driveway.
Then, the camera go back to the present and shows him running. This scene soon gets faded away and we are shown an over the shoulder shot of the stalker dressed in all black in his "man cave" with pictures of Carlos posted all over the walls.
The camera soon moves slowly up to the stalkers face as the stalker slowly reaches to remove their mask but soon the screen goes blank and our movie title shows up.
This all of course is subject to change. I will definitely keep you updated!
Until next time!
Change Of Plans
Welcome back!
Like in my previous blog post, we had agreed that we were going to start filming yesterday, but we ran into many complications.
Maria wasent able to film due to the fact that her mom wanted her to spend some family time. We then decided it would be best to film today but yet again Sundays are hard on everyone so it got changed to Friday night.
Talking about complications, were having some trouble finding the exact actors we need for the film. Our friend Natasha is no longer able to star in our film. We are still trying to find someone from an Asian background to help us shoot the film.
Now talking about of genre, we did some research in regards to our topic. According to this article, there are many things that make a mystery movie.... "mysterious".
- We need the killer, the thief and the blackmail
- The suspect has to have secret whether they are guilty or not
- A trauma that haunts them from the past which explains their motives.
Until next time!
“Taking the Mystery Out of How to Write a Mystery.” Taking the Mystery Out of How to Write a Mystery, www.writersstore.com/taking-the-mystery-out-of-writing-mysteries/. Accessed 19 Mar. 2017.
Friday, March 17, 2017
Shooting schedule
Welcome back!
Today our group and I finally came to the conclusion that were basing our film on a mystery genre.
Like mentioned in my previous blog, we will be incorporating multiple diversities in order to help us target a larger audience. We will be using our friend Dylan who is African American, Gabriel who is Haitian, Natasha who is Korean, our friend Carlos who is white and finally me, who is Colombia.
Carlos will be staring as our main character who throughout our film opening is being chased around by a stalker who I will be playing. The stalkers face will never be shown but it will be extremely close to being shown throughout our film opening.
We will also be including a "man cave" for our stalker. This will be shot at Maria's house in her office, here we will incorporate multiple pictures of Carlos that we will take throughout the school days starting today. These pictures will be printed and hung all over her office to create that "stalker room" kind of feeling.
We decided shooting would be best to do tomorrow, so we made a shooting schedule which is listed below:
Until next time!
Sunday, March 12, 2017
Technology & Setting
Technology plays a huge role in our everyday lives. Whether your turning off your alarm every morning or cooking your breakfast, technology is used.
In order to make our production the best, we are definitely going to need special camera and editing software.
Well this is what we thought.
According to this article they actually say the opposite. Filming isn't all about the "latest technology" it's actually more about the creative work your capable of putting in. They even go on to say that as long as you have some sort of camera and a computer thats able to download free software such as iMovie, all is good. So thats a relief! Thankfully Maria owns a great camera along with our creative minds which will defenitly be put into work for the creating of this film.
As for the setting, we need to pick a place. At first we thought Miami would be a great option. But... I doubt our parents will be thrilled when we ask them for permission to go to Miami at 8:00pm. So we decided Ft. Lauderdale would be best.
Here, not only is it close to home, (only 30 minutes away) but it also gives the audience the nightlife feel that were going for. With a combination of its loud music, dancing and the beach being right across the street, this will be a perfect setting to shoot out film.
Untill next time!
"Equipment for Low Budget Filmmaking." Learn about Film. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Mar. 2017. <http://learnaboutfilm.com/making-a-film/equipment-for-low-budget-filmmaking/>.
Friday, March 10, 2017
Character thought
Welcome back!
Today my group and I revolved our conversation around our characters.
We decided the best start would be to figure out what our target audience is. According to this article, the biggest movie consumers are between the ages of 18-24, so its in our best interest to focus our film opening towards that age group.
But how is that possible?
As we all know, a major topic for young adults is diversity. Orange Is the New Black is a great example of a show who has incorporated multiple races, religions and even sexual orientation to help target a much larger audience, and this has definitely worked. According to this article, Orange is The New Black has even been listed under the top 10 best TV shows of 2013 which leads us to the conclusion that incorporating these techniques will be extreamly effective for targeting a larger audience.
With the help of our lovely diversified community we will incorporate multiple races in order to target our audience. We will include ourselves who come from different countries and even close friends who come from places ranging from New York all the way to Haiti. Our goal is to attract the largest audience.
Until next time!
Today my group and I revolved our conversation around our characters.
We decided the best start would be to figure out what our target audience is. According to this article, the biggest movie consumers are between the ages of 18-24, so its in our best interest to focus our film opening towards that age group.
But how is that possible?
As we all know, a major topic for young adults is diversity. Orange Is the New Black is a great example of a show who has incorporated multiple races, religions and even sexual orientation to help target a much larger audience, and this has definitely worked. According to this article, Orange is The New Black has even been listed under the top 10 best TV shows of 2013 which leads us to the conclusion that incorporating these techniques will be extreamly effective for targeting a larger audience.
With the help of our lovely diversified community we will incorporate multiple races in order to target our audience. We will include ourselves who come from different countries and even close friends who come from places ranging from New York all the way to Haiti. Our goal is to attract the largest audience.
Until next time!
Fallon, Kevin. "The Best TV Shows of 2013: 'Orange Is the New Black,' 'Breaking Bad' and More." The Daily Beast. The Daily Beast Company, 13 Dec. 2013. Web. 10 Mar. 2017.
Silverstein, Melissa. "Who Goes to the Movies? Moviegoers Stats from 2010." IndieWire. N.p., 25 Feb. 2011. Web. 10 Mar. 2017.
Silverstein, Melissa. "Who Goes to the Movies? Moviegoers Stats from 2010." IndieWire. N.p., 25 Feb. 2011. Web. 10 Mar. 2017.
Initial thoughts
Hello to whoever is reading this blog. Throughout this blog, I will be posting weekly posts about a film opening that my group and I will soon be creating. Yesterday my teacher assigned us a film openging project in which we are to create and record the progression and thought development of our very own film opening with my amazing partners: Gabriela Marcano and Maria Bonilla.
So, here we go...
Like many others, we got stuck with writers block. What do we do? How do we do it? Where do we do it? Holy crap!
We came to the conclusion that starting off by selecting our genre would be the best start. According to this article, adventure, comedy and action are the most well off genres, meaning most people enjoy genres that relate to multiple age groups. Due to this we decided to base our film opening on an adventurous kind of look.
But what exactly will we do?
We first thought of revolving it around unsolved mysterious such as Amelia Earharts unsolved story, but soon we were reminded that not only does it have to be original but also fictional. This caused us to change our train of thought towards something such as the titanic in which you have a story revolving around a real event. This also soon led to more problems such as what exact time period do we want to do? How will we make it look like that time era? And let's all face it, costume design will become extreamly difficult.
This led us to our final idea in which our film opening will begin with a highschool party and soon translate into a crime scene when suddendly someone has been murdered.
But of course, this is subject to change. I will definitely keep you updated as this is my number one priority at the moment.
Until next time!
"Movie Genres by Box Office Revenue in North America 2017 | Statistic." Statista. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Mar. 2017. <https://www.statista.com/statistics/188658/movie-genres-in-north-america-by-box-office-revenue-since-1995/>.
So, here we go...
Like many others, we got stuck with writers block. What do we do? How do we do it? Where do we do it? Holy crap!
We came to the conclusion that starting off by selecting our genre would be the best start. According to this article, adventure, comedy and action are the most well off genres, meaning most people enjoy genres that relate to multiple age groups. Due to this we decided to base our film opening on an adventurous kind of look.
But what exactly will we do?
We first thought of revolving it around unsolved mysterious such as Amelia Earharts unsolved story, but soon we were reminded that not only does it have to be original but also fictional. This caused us to change our train of thought towards something such as the titanic in which you have a story revolving around a real event. This also soon led to more problems such as what exact time period do we want to do? How will we make it look like that time era? And let's all face it, costume design will become extreamly difficult.
This led us to our final idea in which our film opening will begin with a highschool party and soon translate into a crime scene when suddendly someone has been murdered.
But of course, this is subject to change. I will definitely keep you updated as this is my number one priority at the moment.
Until next time!
"Movie Genres by Box Office Revenue in North America 2017 | Statistic." Statista. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Mar. 2017. <https://www.statista.com/statistics/188658/movie-genres-in-north-america-by-box-office-revenue-since-1995/>.
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