Cool it

After finishing filming now comes the editing. We are considering adjusting the color contrast in the shots. So I applied the same level of deep color contrast to all of the shots. This was in order to establish that dark tone that I wanted my world to be completely immersed in. A normal convention that a regular film would follow would be to let the colors be and to apply little to no effect to them I drastically changed each and every last one of my shots when I went into editing and got comfortable with the color contrasting effects in order to get them just right. Out of all the editing I did I consider this effect to be one of if not the most crucial because in order for my product to make the impact I wanted it to make I needed to show my audience how dark the future would be if we did not appreciate our similarities, forget our differences, and save the world that quite frankly is in a dire situation. Some may argue that a color contrast effect is not challenging convention rather it follows convention and perhaps that is true, but to the drastic level I did it. The level of color contrast my product is currently under is definitely rare to see. Along with adjusting the color contrast in our shots  we are considering lower the temperatures in the shots as well as that shares the same purpose to the product and that is to truly immerse the viewer in the dark world of a serial killer. I believe this effect however, has a better shot at making it to the final product because it is an effect the group seemed to like.

Finished shooting

Today was the conclusion of the filming process. I believe that we as group came together as a unit and produced a great product. Looking back my filming process I truly belie that I matured both as a filmmaker and as a man. Before I filmed I had a hard time working together with others, but when we came together to film I believe it went smoothly and here is the documentation of the groups filming process. These documentations directly correlate to the part I was mainly in charge of mise en scene the major props being displayed here are the mask, the map, and the pictures of the people that the serial killer plans to kill, and everything you see below in both pictures and videos is placed there for a reason.

Confronting the oppressor

Don’t Linger confronts a very real social issue in today’s society. A social issue that has summoned perhaps the biggest and most impactful movement in the last decade, the me too movement. The me too movement is about oppression and how strong individuals are now breaking through that oppression. In our film Don’t Linger we have put an emphasis on this issue of an oppressor. Since I was in charge of the mise en scene I decided to challenge convention in a way that engages with the audience while confronting a very serious social issue. Oppression is often, oppression is quite, oppression is loud, and oppression can come from anyone. Anybody can be an oppressor. Since I am in charge of a very important aspect of the film opening I can decide how things look therefore I have decided to put a mask on the serial killer in effect emphasize that very crucial lesson. That anybody can be an oppressor, anybody can be behind the mask.

Netflix and research

Instead of Netflix and chill today I did Netflix and research. I watched programs of different genres that Netflix provide. From the BBC hit Luther, a high quality thriller mystery staring Idris Alba as a tormented detective hunting down London’s killers. It puts a charismatic character, John Luther, against villains that put the audience on the edge of their seats this is perhaps the most terrifying scene. Another program I watched on Netflix was Bodyguard. Bodyguard was actually recommended in my AICE media class and it did not disappoint. Through the application of various this suspenseful drama displays a classic conflict, that is man versus himself. Bodyguard is a high quality portrayal of the inter struggle between defining the line between one wants and what is right. Finally, I had the pleasure of watching the classic No Country for Old Men. I believe this is the work that I can derive the most from. The way it established a unique atmosphere is just a piece of art, that everyone needs to see, this scene in particular might just be the most intense scene in cinema history. With the weekend and research behind me I am ready to start bringing my ideas to life

Let’s watch another!

As the dates for filming are fast approaching I have done diligent research. A different kind of research I’ve ever done. Tens of hours of research just in the past couple of days and by research I mean watching as many movies as possible. I’ve tried to see as many classics I haven’t seen yet to gather inspiration. Five films that have truly stood out are of different veneers, but all share one thing, high quality. I am currently watching a science fiction thriller that has stood the test of time, Total Recall. As our movie is more of horror mystery we can’t take much from the film that made a superstar out of the Austrian giant, but I was inspired by their eye catching opening credits. However, my inspiration did not stop there as I also watched a comedic classic, Legally Blonde. Legally Blonde’s film opening also inspired me. Legally Blonde’s film opening applied various camera angles and techniques to establish a truly immersive atmosphere that I believe we can use in our very own film opening. I also watched a not so classic film called Hostile where Christian Bale plays a retiring policeman forced to proctect an Indian in the old Wild West. This scene really sprung inspiration into how to portray raw emotion on screen, I know that has a lot to do with great acting, but there is some techniques that are present to aid in the portrayal of that raw emotion  that we could also apply in our film opening. Another film I watched was Disaster Artist. Throughout this film it portrays our to demonstrate the growth and the eventual decay of a relationship through the application of various shots techniques mostly medium shots. Last, but certainly not least was the underrated film Enemy staring Jake Gyllenhaal. In this film about femininity and the struggle to find one’s true self there is an abundance of symbolic metaphors that are apparent throughout the film and that is especially at the conclusion of the film. Now, I know we don’t have the budget or the know how to quite take the symbolism this far we might still be able to take the techniques applied here to convey some symbolism. As I count the days until we finally get out there and film our real shots I plan to keep on watching films to see what inspiration hits next.

You just made my list

Realistic mise en scene is very important in any aspect of film making, however I believe it might be more crucial to really perfect as much as possible our mise en scene because we are just shooting a film opening therefore every little detail will be judged and scrutinized that much more. In our in depth planning stage we have thoroughly thought out just how much props we need to have and where to get these props. A cardboard board is necessary as that is where the hit list will be. We obviously need realistic knives. Now this is the tricky prop, the actual hit list. I believe we could look at public domain pictures of random people. These pictures would hang on the cardboard board with strings that would connect the pictures to one another. Now of course, not all of the pictures will be of random pictures because one key shot is completely dependent on the mise en scene. After the murder has taken place we will make sure that the murderer crosses off the picture of the individual he has just killed. Now this little action separates us from having the appearance of a trailer. This crossing off of just one picture foreshadows that there is in fact going to be several more killings.

First practice shots

We have reached the point in the project where we need to pick a camera and start filming. Realizing that, Mark decided to send the group our first practice shot. As seen below the shot is of the low angle variety. This low angle in particular is meant to demonstrate the power of the individual that will enter the frame. The color of this shot is symbolic in that the blackness represents the darkness inside this individual. The sharp black in the shot is not only symbolic, but it foreshadows. Foreshadows the darkness that is about to happen the murder. Black usually means death or lack of life therefore, by including such an abundance of black the viewer has an inkling of what is to come. Another technique that is applied in this opening shot is the sound. Both a score of Mozart and sound effects of dogs barking both are there to serve different purposes. The score of Mozart is there to add to the procedural order of the killing. This killer is not messy he treats murder with a sense of order and cleanness that we believe Mozart adds. While the sound effects of the dogs barking add to the normalcy of the murder he is just a normal man, representing the idea that even your next door neighbor could be a murderer. This is obviously reinforced with the film location, the ordinary house adds to the feeling that this serial killer is a normal Joe like you and me, he just kills people. Similarly to the sharp blackness in the shot, the sound effects of the dogs barking foreshadow the murder. As a dog relies heavily on instinct and most of the time in movies dogs know if a character is shady, therefore these techniques that seem little are actually major in seting up the murder with the same cleanness of the murder itself.

Fully recovered

I am fully recovered after being bedridden for the weekend and now back with my group considering exciting new options. We are pinning down our music selections. I know we are taking our time with our music. I know it is for a good reason, however as a good score adds so much quality to any film opening. Mark has brought up the idea of having two songs. I believe in the one song option. With Mark’s idea he believed it would be best suited if we had a pop song in the first, let’s say, 30 seconds. To introduce the murderer as a normal joe. Cooking or cleaning his knives with fun pop music in the background does do that. He said it would be best if we would then switch to classical music, this providing a creepier vibe unveiling the true monstrosity of the killing. However, I introduced the idea of not making the murderer a normal guy. Since the main character of our project is the killer we don’t want to make our main character a normal guy because I believe it would not be engaging enough. Thus if we just had one song, a classical song, we would make this individual more intriguing. Who is listening to classic music nowadays, murderers that’s who. Plus our professor has told me on several occasions to keep material on the screen simple as it makes it easier to comprehend to the audience and thus I believe having one song instead of two would simplify our product. After this discussion I saw what Mari Correa, another aice media studies student, had since published on her Snapchat profile. She was working on her project, she was filming actors. I thought to myself this might be something my group should consider. I never thought of looking for actors, but it might work for us as it would allow all group members to solely focus on directing. One song or two, actors or no actors I am truly exciting about getting healthy so I can further progress my project with my group.

Bedridden

Unfortunately for today I have fallen too ill to make it to school. I really wanted to be there with group members to further progress our project. I did not want my condition to hinder our momentum. Although if I had gone I would not of been myself. However, this did not stop me from working on the project and this blog, as you can see. Today our group has produced an important product for our project. We have made a production logo. This was an idea I had for a long tine. I thought having a production logo would add professionalism to our overall project. It does exactly that. Not only did we create a production logo, we animated it. It zooms in creating a distortion effect that contributes to the upcoming project. Not only did we animate it, but we also included sounds. The sound effects that were included were to add to the overall tone of our product. It was all very cool, very creepy. That is not it however, as Mark has this editor friend that he told us he could help us develop a creative movie poster. I can’t wait to get healthy, so I can be there for my group members and add more progress to this engaging project.

Group meeting

Now we have a concrete plan that was gathered and improved from our meeting with our professor. Our lack of unity was evident we all knew it. I knew I was one of the if not the reason for this lack of unity. It was brought to light with this meeting. Our professor made us realize how ineffective this dissension was making our group. I consider myself a creative individual so I would preferred if the idea we shot was mine. However, I am still a man of democratic values therefore I went with the majority on every decision. Many of my ideas have been shot down. Regardless I still am looking forward to creating a great product. I felt as if the product really took a step in the right direction today

I’m back

Looking at the storyboard I felt as if we needed to spice it up. I’ve always been a huge fan of the film franchise Terminator. I know the characters, sayings, plot, and even shots by heart. I purposed we have some robotic influence on the project. We had a quick discussion on whether Terminator should be considered be a horror film (it should be). The technique I proposed we could apply to our project was actually how Terminator 2 opened. We are considering utilizing a technique that made Terminator 2 an iconic film. It is a shot where a terminator steps on a skull. First it has a long shot of a vast wasteland. Then it focuses on a skull. Finally the camera pans up to reveal who had stepped and ultimately crushed the skull, a T-800 Model 101 or in layman's terms a terminator. Of course it will not be shot for shot copy. We will have sunglasses or a phone being stepped on, we will obviously not have a terminator instead we will have our film’s murderer, and our vast wasteland will be an abandoned house. In the Terminator 2 shot it reveals the terminator, I don’t believe it would really serve our purpose to reveal our murderer. Therefore, we would love to keep the mystery alive by not following exactly what Terminator 2 resulting in a film opening that will be influenced by red-eyed murderous robots, but in no way copied. I’ll be back, hasta la vista baby.

We found music!

As a group we were on a constant hunt for music. We looked for the copyrights to songs by emailing recording companies it seemed as if every other day. One day it seemed as if Mark or Antonio would get the song that they wanted. Another day it would seem as if I would get the rights to my preferred song. This was a constant struggle. We knew it was worth it because the film opening that was in our minds all had music, simply could not imagine our film opening without music. It was worth the dozens of click to find the website and the countless of emails that send us other emails to email, just email email email. Enough was enough and our search to find copyright right free music was on. Mark has found it. As we now have our music selection, produced a storyboard, and established a plan to film. I would say this project is progressing smoothly.

Back from Pittsburgh

After visiting both the university of Duquesne and the university Pittsburgh I came back with quality shots. Everyone agreed that the shots I took were of high quality, however a big part of the grade are these posts and that is why we can’t use the shots I took. My group said that their ability to produce quality blog posts would by significantly hindered and I quite frankly wholeheartedly agreed with them. If we use the shots I took in Pittsburgh we would have been finished with the project 2 weeks in with several more weeks of blog postings left. I would attempt to convince them that there would be enough blog postings with the struggle to select the perfect score, we could also include other shots that weren’t in Pittsburgh, and we can go over in great detail the firing process. This idea was not well received as Mark and Antonio said that if we used my footage the quality of their blog posting would be too impactful for their overall grade.

Harder than we thought

We have searched and searched for the privilege to get the copyright to just one of the songs of our choice. All members of the group emailed their respective label companies for the rights to their song, all to absolute no avail. Mark attempted to get “Rabbit Run”, while I tried for “Everybody knows”. Mark got declined, while I got declined over and over again. Antonio tried to get the licensing rights, but never even got a response. Mark then got an email that read if he paid 2,500$ they would get the rights obviously that wasn’t feasible. Maybe they will contact us in the future, but it’s time to move. We have begun the search for copyright free music. It turns out attaining the copyright to a song is harder than we thought. No worries, however I’m sure we can get a quality copyright free song that would fit our project.

Completion of storyboard

Our group has now finsished a big part of the project, the planning. We are now set on the shots, the story, and the schedule. I cannot wait to start filming. This is project I look forward to and completing the storyboard will certainly help us put together a nice product. We, as a group understand the necessity to have a quality storyboard and I believe that is what we have here

Crawling and Running

Everyone knows one has to crawl before one walks and walk before one runs. Well I’m doing something a little differently. I understand in order to produce a quality video one has to storyboard. Today I filmed and I did a storyboard both for two different stories. I filmed on location in Pittsburgh while I helped Mark complete a storyboard in Florida. I worked to get the right shot in Pittsburgh while I worked with the group to plan the shots when I get home. I have to give props to my mother as she learned and listened to what I said made it a very smooth process. Not only did my mother corporate with me so did the weather it seemed as if the effect I wanted to add in editing was already there. It was a cool grey in the sky that seemed fit to be in the film I pictured in my mind. Later at the hotel the group discussed names we landed on “Don’t linger” for the horror film option.

Here I show my mom what an over the shoulder shot is

Here I make the prop of a bloody napkin with my mother’s lipstick 

Here is the actual over the shoulder shot

Why not comedy?

Upon my first idea being rejected from my group I immediately began thinking of another. I have also enjoyed making others laugh and I’ve also loved comedy. Therefore my next idea was under the genre of comedy. Now how would one go about making comedy that’s fiction, add an alien. First obstacle before the alien even comes into play is are the jokes. The jokes must be of quality and relatable with our target audience. Since our target audience is our age we have a better understanding of what really hits their funny bone. Now, on to the alien aspect. My idea is to always have the alien in dark lighting in order to really make the audience believe. I was also thinking of adding a UFO. My idea was to add some mist and green light to a small capsule object that could slowly pop open. Unfortunately for me, the group did not receive this idea too well either. They believe it would be too hard to pull off and they rather go with the already established horror idea that Mark had and so both of ideas of mine have been shot down by the group. Instead of keep on attempting with new ideas I’ve decided to help the group develop Mark’s idea.