CCR Link

Here i the CCR both parts:

Part 1- https://youtu.be/g0beFO_xDsw

Part 2- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwD2gPKfP6Q

Film link

 I finally finished my film and here it is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqzIwlLsYnk

Film reflection

     I finally finished the editing for the film and the Creative Critical Reflection! It took a little while to do it and I also kind of procrastinated a lot on finishing it but Im glad I did it. Over the 9 weeks I had to work on this project, I believe I became more experienced in the preparation process, as well as in the editing and filming process.

    I dont think I could have been as organized if I didn't use the blog posts. They really helped keep me in check and keep everything planned out as I progressed throughout the project. From the first weeks of researching genres, creating a plot, finding a location, to the end of the project of filming, editing, and creating the CCR, I gained a lot more experience in the process of making a short film.

    At first I was nervous in filming all the scenes because I had to record at sunset time to get the best lighting for my film, so there was limited time for each film day. I expected to film the whole thing in maybe 2-3 days, but actually filmed it in about 5. It was more work than I expected when I was actually doing it. And for the editing, I did have to research different techniques to add on to the film such as downloading specific fonts for my horror genre for the title and credits at the beginning. I feel relieved that I'm now done with this project and happy that I took part in making a film opening.

Planning for the Creative Critical Reflection

 A few days ago I was planning for my CCR, which was the last part of the portfolio project. I decided the best route of planning what I was going to do was to create a very simple script of everything I'm going to say. I will also include in parenthesis what pictures I will insert in the actual video because it is important not to keep a video of just me talking the whole time.

Script: 

Hello! You just saw a quick clip of part of my film opening called "Pursuit", and I'm going to be talking about and discussing my planning progress throughout the entire film opening by answering a couple questions. So lets start right away with the first question:

1. How does my product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?

So I'm going to split this up into two parts by first talking about how my product uses conventions, specifically, with talking about the genre of the film. The genre I used in the opening was horror, and now when you use horror as the genre of a film, it has the same approach and goal like every other film, which is to engage the audience and interest them. However, the main thing that makes horror stand out from other genres is that this genre tries to create a unique feeling compared to other films, like boosting adrenaline or creating an uncomfortable tone for the viewers. And this is overall made by using techniques like lighting and specific sounds.

Now for the second part of this question, my film does not specifically dive into or focus on any specific social groups or issues. However, it does dwell into teenagers and some struggles they could possibly have in their childhood, like doing things that cause them to be in bad situations or interacting with strangers. So for example, in my film opening the protagonist, which is of course a teenager, could have been doing something like exploring a restricted area or interacting with a mysterious person, causing them to end up in the bad situation he's in.

The next question we have is:

2. How does my product engage with audiences and how could it be distributed as a real media text?

So back to what I mentioned before with the genre and the feeling I tried to create, there are certain aspects that are used to help engage the audience. One of them can be lighting. By using a low key lighting technique or having a dark environment, you can kind of get that spooky or uncomfortable feel for the audience. In my opening, it started of bright at sunset and made the gradual change to being darker as the scene started getting more intense. Another important technique is the sounds and shots used. For example, towards the end of the opening where there is a POV shot of the protagonist hiding and looking around, this helps immerse and engage the audience into the film. The panting sound from the main character suggests that he is scared and that something could happen at that moment, which will make the audence want to pay more attention and keep watching.

Now I am not working with any big film organization or anything like that, so obviously I won't be able to distribute my film in a theater. One of the best ways to help promote and distribute content so that people can find it is through social media, like YouTube. Everyone has heard of YouTube and uses it to watch videos everyday. By posting this on YouTube and other social media platforms, people who are interested in the horror movie genre will be able to find my film and it can grow in popularity.

Next we have the question: 

3. How did my production skills develop throughout this project?

Now, A great way that I planned and and kept everything organized was through blogging everything I did. By doing this, I could look at what my ideas were in the past and if I wanted to change something. From looking at what I researched, to creating a script, and to even finding a location for filming, the blog was a great way to track everything I did.

And although I do have experience in filming things from past projects like my sound film or one word film, this was the first project working by myself. I got to have a lot of freedom on this project, and everything was my own idea. I was lucky to have my dad help film and give me some tips on something I could do better, and although he did not understand what idea I had for some certain shots, he later saw when I was editing what my vision for a specific shot was for and why.

I think this project overall helped improve my planning process for big projects like this and gave me more experience in filming and editing.

Finally, we have our last question, which is:

4. How did I integrate technologies in the project?

So first off, the film equipment I used was basic, however was super important in the film making. For example I used a tripod to help stand up my phone when recording scenes to keep a still and stable shot. The tripod had good features such as adjusting the height, being able to tilt, rotate, and pan when recording. I was able to use all of these techniques in my film to make it better.

I also used a lot of important software in this project. One of the things I used was the blog posts, which I mentioned earlier, and how they helped keep me organized and helped me plan everything out. Of course, I used an editing software to edit and combine all of the scenes together, and I used Adobe Premier Pro, which I already had previous experience with, so it was not an issue. One final important thing I used was a sound effect database to add every background sound. I used a website called ZapSplat to find sounds like the wind, crickets, footsteps, the trees blowing in the wind, and more.

At the beginning of this project, I was a little nervous on all the work I had to do, but I knew it was going to be a fun new experience. I got to improve my planning skills through blogging, I got to use my own ideas and creativity, and more. I also got to learn more about new filming techniques used in my specific genre of horror. Something I think I could do better is to not wait so long to record, so I could have more time after to fix anything, go back and rerecord, and more. Thanks so much and I hope you enjoy my film!

Self Made prop during filming

I forgot to mention this earlier when I was filming but I wanted to talk about the prop I used for my final scene in the film opening where the masked figure had to supposedly drag a bag with a body in it. The difficult part about this was how to make the bag appear like there was the shape of a body in it. After researching different ways to make this happen, I came accross a video with a very good idea that I ended up using.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Urw8tapvrfI

This video cuts up a couple of big black garbage bags in half and spreads them out. They then proceed to get many used containers to make up the body and later use other bags and tap to cover everything up. 

I did the same thing by finding used containers in my recycling bin, however something I did that the video didn't do was use cardboard and towels. I think this was a really cool idea that I ended up using. The only thing I had to make sure was that the cardboard wouldn't leave any sharp corners that stand out of the bag to not make it look like a person.

Sound effects for my film

 As I have started editing, i need to use sound effects in my film. I have found sound effects for  panting, the wind, crickets at night time, and more using the website zapsplat.

These are some examples of what I was trying to find on the website. Since not all of the footsteps or environmental sounds are not recorded at the scene, foley sounds or sound effects are made or added later in editing to make it sound better, which is what I will be doing for my project. I ended up using sounds that include crickets at nighttime, wind, footsteps, and trees blowing in the wind as well.

Started editing !

    Yesterday I finally started editing for my film after recording. I started by airdropping all the videos from my phone to my mac and put all of the videos into one folder. After I imported the folder into Adobe premier pro, I started to look at all of the scenes and order them out in the same order I went in the storyboard and the shots list.

    I noticed that since I recorded my scenes during sunset, I started to notice a lighting difference between some scenes. So I might have to go back and re-record a scene to match the other scenes. Another thing I have to do later is find a lot of sound effects to add into my scenes such as the footsteps, crickets, and wind.

Done with Filming

    On monday afternoon, I finally had my last filming day! I did multiple takes of the same shots or clips to have a bunch of footage which I will be editing later. 

    

    I got my dad to film help me out and film the shots in the background, and it was also nice to have him give me some tips on how to make the shot better. For example, he told me when we were filming the masked figure or the killer that I had to look more menacingly or look like I'm on a mission to find the other person rather than just wandering and walking around the trees.

    

    I think the filming was a really cool experience for me, especially since this time I was by myself rather in a group, so I felt I had much more freedom to do what I wanted. I am excited to start editing and I can't wait to see how it turns out!

My first film days!

    So yesterday I finally had my first film day! I had to go to the park in my neighborhood at 7:15 pm right before sunset because the other days I was looking at the park, the area I wanted to film in was too dark. I found that the perfect time to record with it being dark and there being good lighting was right at sunset, which was at 7:30pm, so we were there 15 minutes early to practice the shot so we could use the little time we had efficiently.

    After sunset started, we started filming as many shots as we could before it got too dark. I originally planned to do one film day of the protagonist running, and another film day of the antagonist chasing, since I was playing both characters and I would just edit the cuts when I edit all the shots. Unfortunatelly, I did not get all the shots with the protagonist yesterday, so today ended up going again at sunset to get the last few shots. Then, on monday I will do the antagonist shots. A lot of the film opening will be the main character running, so the antagonist wont be in as many shots, so it won't take as long to record.

Mise en scene elements in my opening

 In my film opening, there will be multiple factors that will create the mise en scene elements to contribute to my atmosphere of my film. 

I found a website that goes over Low key lighting and how it contributes to the horror atmosphere of a movie:

Low key lighting in horror films

Low key lighting is used in films to imply danger, mystery, and terror. It also can conceal a monster, a weapon, or a hint. This type of lighting in film can create feelings of anxiety and anticipation. It can also enhance the atmosphere and set the tone in the horror film. I will be using this type of lighting in my film, which will take place at night time. The scene will be dark and overall set up the atmosphere for my film, to be scary.

Another mise en scene element that will be used is the color of the outfits of the two characters. For example, The antagonist of my film, MASKED FIGURE, will wear a black attire covering their entire body. The color black can represent mystery, fear, evil, and more dark tones that the film also signifies. The antagonist will also be wearing a mask to cover his face. On the other hand, The protagonist who will be running away from the killer will be wearing brighter colors.

Start of Creative Critical reflection

    After I finish my film opening in the next few weeks, I have to start working on my CCR, or creative critical reflection, to reflect and go over my complete process of making my film. I took notes in class the other day and looked at multiple examples of what I have to do for the video and some tips for it.

    There are 4 main questions I must respond in the CCR:

    1. How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or changes?

    2. How does your product engage with audiences and how could it be distributed as a real media text?

    3. How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

    4. How did you integrate technologies (software, hardware, online) in this project?

    When answering each question I must discuss my process of making things or what I did to plan. As examples, I can include clips from my film opening during when I am explaining certain topics, or put up pictures of my blog posts or storyboard to demonstrate what I am talking about. Another benefit this does is that I will help not make the CCR boring rather than just having a talking head, because I will include multiple photos and text of the questions.

Here a picture of my notes of what I went over in class the other day:

Storyboard

I finally made my storyboard, after delaying it for a couple days. The drawings aren't that good, but I still think it is not hard to understand what is going on in the pictures.

Found filming location

When I first started planning for my film opening, I already had an idea of what area I wanted to film in, specifically a park. However, since my film opening was going to be at sunset or dawn (basically just a dark environment, I looked up the opening and closing times of the park I wanted to go to. But, they closed too early before sunset so I could not record there. 

As I continued to research and think of places I could record in, I was walking home from the bus and saw the park in my neighborhood and realized there is a spot in the park that would work really great for the film.

There are a lot of dark tree areas, and these big bunches of trees together in a small area. I think this could be really good for the chase scene Im trying to do, and to create some hiding areas for the main character to hide. 

There are also these dead trees that I think would look really cool on a shot during the chase scene. I know there are houses in the background, but I will just use different angles that will not show the background to keep the audience immersed in the feel to keep it realistic.

Then there is this long kind of area on a hill filled with trees and roots on the floor, which I think can be used to demonstrate the main character struggling when he is trying to run away from the masked figure

Font research for my Film

 I am going to be researching different font styles used in movies. To be honest, I have never paid attention to the fonts that movies use for opening credits or the title of the film. I am specifically going to find a font to use that will be considered scary or suspenseful, since the film genre I am making my film opening on is horror.

45 of the Best Horror Fonts for Your Creepy and Scary Designs

This is an article from the website "Vandelay Design". This article has the purpose of the most frequently used and best fonts for titles of horror movies. They discuss how creepy fonts makes the movie title pop out to scare audiences. They give the feeling of of being scary and edgy. Here are some examples:

This font is considered chaotic with its design of the writing kind of scratching the screen in a way.

This font is very spiky with every single letter of the title, with the way the sides of each line drawn. This one really helps draw out the scary and intense movie vibe.

This is one of my favorite ones I have seen on this page. I really like the gooey effect each letter has along with the sword or knife going through the "O" of the title.

This one is somewhat similar to the first one with the way the font is drawn. However I do like the effect of the marks surrounding the title.

Overall I think going with an overall standing out and red title or spiky words would be a good way to show my title in my film.

Creating My Shot List

I just finished making my shot list. This includes every shot that I will use in my film, followed along by a short description of what the shot is showing in the scene.

I think having a shot list is super important in the planning stage. It is a great way to organize my thoughts on what I want to do in each part. Another thing I can do to make a good plan for my film is a storyboard, which shows the draft of pictures of what each shot will look like. That is also the next thing I am going to do for my planning.

Group meeting post

     Today in class I did somethings different than just work on my film. Everyone was separated into groups and we all had a meeting discussing our developing projects. I was surprised that everyone I spoke with had very different genres and unique storylines.

    Of course, I had holes and issues in my film ideas from the very beginning when I wasn't 100 percent sure about the genre I was going to do. At first, I thought I wanted to do a post-apocalyptic kind of movie and ended up changing my topic to a slasher / horror kind of movie. Although I had to redo all my genre research by finding more similar movies, I still got an insight on a type of movie with a dark tone. 

    One important topic we discussed was where to include the title for our films, a lot of people were uncomfortable with putting the title somewhere in the middle or towards the end, so they believed it was better to have it at the beginning. Although I still want to put my title towards the end to create more effect of the plot in my film opening, it is still interesting talking to other people about their ideas or their perspectives.

    Another problem I have right now is making my script, because I thought the script I made was way too short. I looked at example screenplays from real movies or past projects of this and they had about 2 pages, while I had much less.  After discussing with my group,  They said that your script could depend on how much happens in your story. I chose not to have dialogue in my film because I believe it is hard to represent realistic conversations on film. But I guess because there is no dialogue in my film, it is not a major problem if my screenplay is not as long as others. Overall, I believe today went well and helped give me new perspectives of what I can do in my film.

Rough draft of screenplay

I will be making a rough draft of my script here. This will be based off my ideas and some techniques that I want to include specifically, however any shots or editing techniques will not be shown in the screenplay. Also, I will probably be making changes of this if I don't like something or want to change it.

                         Title of film: Pursuit

MIDDLE OF THE WOODS, LATE AT NIGHT

Moon shining in the sky, shows overhead view of the forest.

Introduction to JACK, young male, aged 17, in dirty clothes. JACK is running through the woods with many trees in the way. Many loud sounds of branch snapping on the ground from running over them, and loud suspenseful music is in the background. JACK looks back behind him multiple times.

Camera cuts to MASKED FIGURE, in dark outfit, speed walking with a weapon (shovel, axe, etc) in his hand.

Panting sound coming from JACK running for so long.

JACK continues to run and then hides behind some fort/ building. JACK catches his breath behind fort, peeking around to try and find MASKED FIGURE.

JACK looks back, and suddenly sees MASKED FIGURE coming from different direction, aggressively walking at JACK.

He lunges and swings weapon at JACK, sound effect of weapon making contact.

Cuts to black.

TITLE CARD SHOWN.

Cuts to floor perspective of the woods.

MASKED FIGURE shown dragging a big bag with what appears to be someone dead/ unconscious inside. Little blood shown on some parts of the bag.

Phone lights up inside bag ringing.

Filming technique research

The following videos explain multiple techniques to film chase scene such as the pan and more.

1- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAvn034VcCg

This first video explains many techniques to use with a tripod. This is important because I will be using a tripod in my film, however its just going to be a horror film. One important technique I could use from the video is the rubber band technique on the tripod to help with steady pans and tilts of the scene. The different ways to hold the camera in order for it to be steady is really well done such as the steady rig technique. Because Im using a tripod its important to know how to use it rather than just using it as a placeholder for your camera or phone.

2- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IEPPcNSq20 

This second video shows a drone "god like" view from the top of the chase scene. Also, the behind the scenes are shown of the fight scene and what they did to make it look good. Although Im not having an action kind of film, its still cool to see this video to give me more ideas of shots I can use on my characters.

3- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyIWXcYDL_o

Using long lens pan and traveling along with the subject is super important when doing a chase scene to immerce the audience into the film. Making it look like the character is running with someone following him in separate shots make the film fit together really well.

4- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5qHqKTsT-s

Using a tripod in multiple ways is important to make a scene as hard as a chase scene good. The pan even if its in a circle can be made really well done with a tripod, which I did not expect. Another important thing I have to do in my film is use a variety of shots on the character whether its a close up of his face, his body, his legs or a top or low angle of him running. Many quick shots of people running are required to create the fast paced atmosphere.

Story Outline / Brainstorming

Today, I will be brainstorming on the outline for my story on my script. The genre I have is a horror genre movie so I want to make sure it will be suspensful. 

    The idea Im having is to have mainly a chase scene of a person being chased by a mysterious figure in the woods eventually getting caught. Throughout this chase scene, It will be dark, filled with trees, and the character running will be sweating and scared. Making many obstacles for the character running to struggle with could make the scene more intense, such as the big trees and branches in the way. I believe some really important sounds to include is this is a lot of panting from the running, maybe some wind of the trees, and some background music that is suspenseful to help intensify the mood. Using multiple angles is key in this kind of scene to express that fast pacing, and the worried face of the characters. For example, close ups of the characters feet passing by as they run through the woods, or a tight close up of the face sweating and being worried from the situation their in. 

I think for the antagonist or creature/killer I wont show their face and it could maybe be something like a POV like the Halloween movie opening I reviewed on another post, but I havent decided yet. If I do show the killer's body or identity, it will be very quick and brief shots. Maybe I could show the bloody knife in their hand or something else.

Now for the title card, I am allowed to include it towards the end but not all the way at the end. My idea is to have a title card shown after the character gets caught/killed, and then after the title card for about 20 sec or a couple of shots, I will show the killer dragging the body in a bag.

Overall, I think I have a decent idea of what Im going to film, but doing more things such as the storyboard will better help me visualize my shots. And continuing these blogs will help me get new ideas and think deeply about my own idea.

More genre research

 Now that I have changed over to a horror genre than a post-apocalyptic genre, I still need to find an approach or specific characteristic of the horror genre tthat I want to focus on for my film. For example, I believe the Halloween Movie intro is a great example of something I might want to do. I believe the pov killer idea is cool and I could incorporate it into my film. However I want to do more of a chase scene than just walking through a house.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fdQIesr6Yw&t=1s 

This video provides a more in depth analysis of the Haloween movie I researched in my last blog post. I goes in depth into Michael's personality as the killer pov at the begginning of the film, and relates it to other slasher films of its time. Some of the other films similar to this is mainly the Scream movie, which I also went over before.

I also really enjoyed the effect of the mask where the screen went dark and the two eyeholes are visible in the camera. Also during the killing scene, you can see the POV of the child killer looking at his hand with the knife, being intrigued. Its very interesting how we are in the killers perspective and at the end of the opening scene, we go back to our usual audience POV. Another element I think is good to add is the eerie music when the watchers know something bad is going to happen like when Michael grabs for the knife in the kitchen.