Preparing for my CCR

 Soooo now it's time to get ready to film my CCR. This is definitely the project I was the most worried about doing. Although I'm not going to be presenting this to a full class watching me I'm still going to be recording myself talking for at least 7 minutes which already has me a little bit nervous. I plan on writing my script today and tomorrow and filming over the weekend. I already know a little bit of my answers for each question but I still need to write the script and really perfect it.

This blog post is mostly dedicated to how I actually plan on filming and editing my CCR...

I want to make my video very conversational and not like i am reading off a screen. I play on incorporating a few scenes in and comparing it to other films.

For example, a scene I want to make sure I talk about would be the scene where Serena is sitting on the floor, looking around her room, contemplating what to do and tie it back to the question about how this represents social groups. Teenagers now are under a lot of pressure and get stressed easily. We put things off to the side and get easily overwhelmed. This scene of Serena perfectly represented that and the confusion teenagers can feel at times.

Another scene I want to talk about is the scene where Serena is upstairs laying on the bed while her mother is just getting home from work. This scene will tie back to the question of how we integrated technology through editing. We worked on parallel editing to show these two things happening at the same time, in the same house. Which will also make its way back to the question of how it represents social groups because some families can be so clueless on what's happening in eachothers lives and this represents it. 

 

Reflection

Finally finished with the film opening, all I have left is my CCR. 

Creating this film opening has taught me a lot, not just about media. I learned how to better my time management skills and how to work and communicate with other people. To be honest, in the beginning we were kind of in a slump and it was noticeable. We managed get ourselves out of it and realize this is a real project that we need to do and if we have this much time to do it, its for a reason. Most projects will be short and the "long- lasting" ones im used to would usually be a 2 week long assignment. Having this much time helped us create a story and then realize it wasn't what we wanted and we still had more than enough time to make it the way we wanted.

My partner and I were already close friends so we didn't struggle with communicating our ideas but in previous projects that I have worked in groups on I was more quiet and didn't feel as comfortable communicating my ideas as I do now. I think this project has really helped me be more open to new ideas too and listening to other people's perspectives.

The project overall was a lot more fun than I had anticipated. We got to create our own storylines, characters, their backstories and then actually filming it and bringing our vision to life. I did a lot of the editing and I have to say that by far that was my favorite part of the whole project. At first I was nervous but when I opened adobe and realized I actually knew what I was doing I caught myself adding so many touches and not even minding. I can't say I want to pursue a future with my editing skills but it was definitely something I liked doing.

Sounds

As small as it seems, sounds were definitely the hardest part of the project for us, or at least in my opinion.

First off, we couldn't find the right site to use. Over and over we searched "Copyright free sounds" and we couldn't find a website that would allow us to download the sounds for free. Everytime we thought we found a sound we liked we had to make an account. We made the account and it then would give us payment options and none were there for free.So we would constantly get excited about a sound and then find out we couldn't use it..

 

Finally we find a website that's free and available to use, now we just need to find the perfect sound.

While filming and putting everything together we realized that the film may not be representing the thriller genre the way we envisioned it. The film seemed a little bit more like a drama rather than a thriller. So we searched through sounds which took forever. We searched up key words to help the search and we were down to a few options. We played them all through and by the time we found the perfect sound we were so thankful after watching the film so many times. The music played in the background really helped put it together and show viewers, this is a thriller. The music creates suspense throughout the video. Along with that, the music ends at the perfect time and has its last major beat the second we put the movie title.

Here is the website we decided to go with:

Editing process

So now that we are finally ready to edit, the big question is what program we are going to use.

For all the other projects we have done this year that required that form of editing we normally would use Imovie. Imovie was good for those projects but looking at this project and the more precise details we need to include we thought it would be a better idea to move onto a more efficient editing system.

Federica and I both took Film 1 and Film 2 in middle school and used adobe premiere pro.Middle school was a long time ago but this was what we had the most experience in. The second we opened it up we were pretty much able to navigate through everything. We were actually pretty shocked by how much we remembered about adobe.

Just because we knew most if it doesn't mean we perfected it. We actually ran into some huge problems. At one point I accidentally deleted the whole projected when we were almost done. Luckily I was able to get it back and I still have no idea how I managed to do that.

It's almost finished, we put all the clips in order and they we want them, we just have a few touch ups left.....

Filming problems

 As expected we ran into some issues but we were able to overcome most!!!
 Our biggest problem was the mirrors and glares. The room we used has two big mirrors in them so filming was a little bit of an issue. But we knew that from when we first started filming so while filming we were constantly ducking and moving around. 

Later the next day when we started watching the shots and started getting them ready to start editing we realized our reflections were also in the window. Because it was late at night we really stood out in the window which we didn't realize on day one of filming. So we filmed again two days later and had redo a lot of the shots we took one the first day.As well as our fingers getting into the shots that we didn't realize.

Another issue we ran into that was super random was the spiral shot we had planned. We planned to tie something to the fan and put it on the lowest volume or even move the fan with our hands ourselves with the phone attached so it could spin around her. Super random story, but my fan actually doesnt turn off because a few weeks ago I pulled the string too hard so now it's on pretty much all the time so we weren't able to get the fan to stop to tie it on. So instead we just tried to go half around her with a more slowed down shot.

Here's an example of some shots we had to redo:

First day of filming

Finally we started filming!!

Filming process went pretty much smoothly but we did run into a few problems while filming. Our actor, Sara Montenegro listened to all our directions and did everything the way we visioned it. While filming we decided to make even more changes to our video/ add little things to improve the scene. For example, throughout the duration of the whole project we always planned to start the film off with an establishing shot of the house itself rather than jumping straight to her running away. While we were outside we had the idea to add a small touch to the house to make it stand out more. It's very subtle and could easily go unnoticed but, we had Sara go upstairs and open the blinds of my room and turn on the lights, leaving all the other rooms in the house dark. Then she went and was pacing back and forth looking stressed/ confused. 

It is a very small detailed but it really helped us get more excited about filming and helped us create a vision for the rest of the projected. When we came up with the idea we both got super excited and got way more into the filming process than we had anticipated.Another idea we had while filming was tracking shots. We added quite a few throughout the film.We didn't go into this thinking everything would work our perfectly and we did run into some issues i'll address is future posts.

Here's our shot:

Film Changes

     After our group meetings and discussing our feedback with my partner we decided to change up our story. So overall we still have the idea of a girl running away but we are taking out the part that she is making it look like she got kidnapped. We aren't really sure how we would be able to bring that vision to life in our opening scene and it might just look a little tacky.There would be no way to ensure the audience that that is what she's doing and could leave watchers with questions the film might not be prepared to answer. So we decided to just switch it to Serena having a mental breakdown while she is home alone rather then her mom being home the whole time. We will have the mother get home from work at the very end rather then having her home at the same time. 

    Because our film is called "Spiraling" they gave us the suggestion to have the camera spinning. So we think we are going to film in my room and hang the phone from the fan and have the fan on a low setting or off and just push the fan around the subject with our hands to show the room spinning. This will create the image of Serena's mental breakdown that will lead her into running away. Another method we could use is putting ceiling tape on certain areas of the fan. Doing this can create a real life spiral effect that we could possibly use while cutting back to scenes of Serena's P.O.V.

    Now that we have made these changes we are getting even closer to our production days!!

Group meetings

 

    Getting feedback on my project as well as listening to other peoples ideas for their story has helped me a lot. While we went through each persons posts and stories we went through action films with FBI agents, a boy moving, a firefighter, music producers, and a school day and no matter how different our projects are almost all of us had the same issues, which is the sound part of the scene. Most of us have scenes with very little to no dialogue but don't know the type of music we should each use. 

    After telling my group my idea and explained the actual scene layout my group told me that silence may be better. I still want to consider adding music but I still have no idea what song or direction we would take it in. Maybe in between the scenes add a sort of "sting" sound effect to build tension. This kind of reminded me of the movie "Don't Breathe" where the whole concept of the movie is that none of the characters can actually talk so you hear all these background and environmental sounds. While it wont be exactly like that this helped me take inspiration from it and realize how effective even "small" or seemingly un-important sound effect can make.

Production Schedule

Now's the time to start filming!! 

After putting together all our research and planning we are finally ready to start filming. We have a set schedule for each day we film. We want to start filming this week and then spend time during our upcoming spring break to edit the film. 

March 15: Our first film day

This day we are mainly going to focus on filming Serena scenes

We want to do this all together in one day considering she is going to make the room messy and we want to make sure it looks the same way the whole scene because if we separate it the room will inevitably change in some way.

March 16: This is the day we want to film the parent scenes. The cooking dinner, the close ups, etc. Putting this all in one day will make the production easier.

Because there will be no scenes of the two actually together in the same shot we have decided to separate the film days by the characters rather then the scene itself.

March 17: We will take this day to work on any shots we want to refilm or any shots we went to rewatch and decide we want to change it something else. We obviously don't predict to have two perfect film days so we are making time for this one just to fix any errors.

Costumes

     I mentioned it in previous posts about the possible outfits choices but we have finally decided how we are going to dress our characters and represent them through their makeup/ outfit choices.

Serena:

    So we want to represent Serena with darker colors. As we previously mentioned in earlier blog posts that she is a mix between the two. Sometimes in sweatpants with a hoodie or crop tops and jeans but we decided to go with sweatpants and a hoodie to show the more "real" side of her versus the side of her she created in front of her loved ones. To be more specific we decided on putting Serena in a red/ maroon
hoodie and black sweatpants. Red in movies is commonly used to represent anger, blood, violence, danger, rage and so on.The red hoodie is representing her built up anger she has towards herself and the rest of the world. The black sweatpants are used to portray her grief and unhappiness. We are going to give Serena a more traditional makeup look with smeared mascara to illustrate her stress.  For reference, this is the type of hoodie we are going for.

Luchy:

    For Luchy we are attempting to go for a very traditional mom work outfit. We are looking to get black work pants and possibly a black and white polka dotted work shirt to show her formality. For hair we are going to have her hair perfectly straight or in a tight ponytail. The makeup will be natural looking but you can also tell she is wearing makeup. With all these elements put together this will create the "perfect" mom or the image Luchy has created for herself. She wants to be seen as the perfect person with no flaws.

Storyboard

So we were finally able to create our storyboard:

Storyboard explained:

    The scene is gonna start with a high angle of Serena walking upstairs her room obviously looking distraught. Once she gets to the top of the stairs this is where the medium tracking shot begins that will last most of the scene. Once she enters the room she's going to visibly be a mess. She's gonna look stressed and conflicted. She'll have her hands on her hand. Then she'll walk to her closet while we follow her as she looks at everything in there for a minute. After a minute she will start ripping everything out and making the room a mess as if someone came in and she left unwillingly.

    This is where we use parallel editing and cut to various shots of the mom cooking dinner. For the rest of the scene we cut back and fourth between scenes of Serena and her mom doing completely different things at the same time. We then see Serena packing up her back and getting ready to leave. When she's leaving we switch to shots of the mom walking upstairs back and fourth. The ending scene will be a shot of the mom finally entering the room and leave the viewers wondering whether or not Serena made it out in time or if her mom caught her. It builds tension in the audience.

    In the storyboard, you can see an X and arrows throughout the board. The X indicates where we will be standing while filming and the arrows show the direction we will be moving in while film.

Next step.... Filming!!

 

Production planning

     We are thinking about planning during sunset or once it gets darker at night to show how this was after school and after her parents come home from work. We have decided we are going to film at my house because my parents are going to play the role of Luchy and Javier.We are going to film an establishing shot of my house from the outside mixed with shots in my kitchen, staircase, and my bedroom.     

    We want to create the storyboard in class this upcoming week and will most likely post it sometime in the week.We plan start filming by the end of this week and and the following. We are most likely going to divide up the production by the characters.

    For example, we will probably spend one day focusing mainly on Serena and her room and the following production day's we will spend focusing on the parents coming home, cooking dinner, and going up the staircase.We will probably film the ending scene, her parents seeing the room the same day we are filming because the room will be a mess that day.

    The following week we are going to focus mainly on editing. We still need to come up with the soundtrack and get the music approved and explore our font options that fit the thriller genre. Coming up: Filming !!

Scene development

Today we are coming up with our plot outline, there are 5 main events that create a story:

1.Exposition: This is where we introduce our characters and the setting

2.Rising action:This is where we add tension and the build up of the story

3.Climax:Tension is at its highest peak and the most is going on

4.Falling action: The conflict starts to simmer down and close

5.Ending:The story ends

For reference:

Our exposition:

For our exposition we plan to start the scene messy. Fast tracking shots mixed with POV shots of Serena running around her room, grabbing different items while also throwing her comforter off the bed, putting picture frames on the floor and making a mess of her room.

Starting the scene off like this will create suspense and have viewers confused as to what is going on, what she's doing, etc.

Rising Action:

Luchy and Javier come home and start making dinner so we now cut to parallel editing of the parents cooking dinner at the same time Serena is planning her escape.

This will symbolize how clueless her parents are about her true feelings while they are downstairs preparing a dinner, seeming to be a perfect family while their daughter is upstairs 

Climax:

We faintly hear Serena's mom, Luchy calling Serena to come downstairs. We hear it again which is also when Serena hears it. She stops and stares at the door unaware what to do

Falling action:

Shots of the stairs, Point of view shots of Serena's mom walking up and walking to the door. 

This will be used create even more suspense as to if Serena will get out in time.

While walking upstairs it will cut to shots of Serena looking at her room one last time and climbing out the window.

End:

The final shots will be off her parents finally opening the door with a full shot of the room set up. Serena will be gone.

Creating Characters

     While creating a character we need to make sure they have a detailed backstory and take inspiration from our personal experiences to create a stronger character. 

    Our main character is named Serena Thorpe, she's average height, blonde hair, and has brown eyes. She's a junior in highschool and used to be one of the popular "It" girls all of freshmen and sophomore year. While suffering from severe depressive episodes she still tried to portray herself as a perfect person due to her parents high expectations of her.Towards the end of sophomore year she had a fight with her best friend Juliet Williams and lost all her friends. Ever since she has become a loner at school and at home. Since then her relationship with her parents has changed. She fights with them pretty often now due to her level of irritability. Her parents are just worried about her, but she takes it as if they are trying to control her and she feels that she does not need their help. Throughout everything she has gone through this year she has been coming up with a plan to run away from her town. Her plan consists of running away but making her room messy as if someone had kidnapped her so that she wouldn't ruin the perfect image her parents have created of her.

    Her wardrobe consists of neutral colors. When she's alone she wears sweatpants, hoodies, oversized T-shirts and shorts. When going out with her parents and at school she tries to dress in jeans and nice crop tops to fit their expectations. 

    Her parents are named Luchy and Javier Thorpe. They are both average height and both dress in business casual outfits. Luchy is a fashion advertiser for Ralph Lauren and Javier is an engineer.

Serena's color palette:

Luchy and Javier color palette: