Filming Complete

Today I finished filming all the necessary scenes. The reason I finished filming today was for a special scene that my friend Luc wasn't there for on the original days of filming. I had him act as a side character without any lines. However, his part was vital to understanding the story. He was the janitor who put up posters which ended up being what the characters settled on as the explanation. However, at the end of the movie, you notice that the poster isn't up. The way I set it up is the final scene which shows the room is for those who really paid attention. So technically there are two endings to this movie. For these new scenes, I had Luc wear a beanie and not shave his beard to look more adult-like. I also got permission from the actual janitor to take a quick recording of janitorial supplies. Combining these is pretty hard but I did an editing effect that works well. What I did was had an opacity transition so the supplies were over him unlocking a door. This took a little bit to figure out but it turned out great in the end. Editing has been taking me a while overall. I am spending a while looking for good royalty-free music. All of it is either really cinematic or romantic music. I need background music that isn't those two. I have a couple contenders right now but the main issue is it not being too distracting. Almost all of the songs kind of distract from the dialogue in the movie. Which is probably the most important part. Anyways, I think I will finish editing very soon.

 

Filming Issues

 Unfortunately, a good amount of footage was corrupted after I checked the clips. However, I have a plan to counteract this. There is another day we can film and I think everyone will be free. I also switched to voiceovers for a few lines in the script. I think it makes it a little bit more on topic for the movie. I also started the basis for editing today. I had to re-install my software but I was able to work on cutting and importing the clips. Luckily enough, the clips that are cut reach the time limit. This means I have a little bit of extra space to work with when editing. I think I will also help the two media students Grant and Nick (who are in the image) with their video. They invited me to be the dead body which is an exciting role. I was in the same role for their last movie so it should be a fun time. 

I had a lot of work in other classes so I wasn't able to work on my final CR this week. I have some plans for it though. I wrote a bit of a draft for the questions so I will be prepared. I was inspired by rewatching some of my old projects for AS-level media studies Overall, this week has been pretty productive for me. I think that everything will be finished on time.

Editing my Postcard

 

I actually changed my Postcard and Website recently. This was because I just wasn't too happy with what I put out originally, especially for the website. For the website, I did a little redesign with the side pages. I just wanted both to be more efficient. Another thing that changed was the Font on the postcard. I changed it to make it more readable. I also changed to put my name at the bottom. Just a small touch that I think enhanced it a lot. I finished the Postcard now but I still want to edit the website a little bit. Some things I need to do are finish the side pages. I also just need to fill in these blank areas I made on the website. That should not take long though. I should be able to finish before everything is due. Some housekeeping with the filming plans needs to be done as well. Like if my members will be here to film. I think that I will have everyone but I am not sure 100% as the actors are shaky. I also have a scene that needs props. I think I will film it later than everything else. Since that scene is probably the most important part of the film. I will be able to finish everything on time though. Right now I am thinking about adding some more recognizable things to my website. But I do think my original Philosophy is good. Just making it hard to recognize allows for mystery.

Filming Plans

 

In this blog, I will be telling you my plans for the filming process which should be happening on the 17th. On the 17th, I will have access for a classroom to film in after school. I happen to have a club on that day, so I decided that my friends in the club will be the actors in my movie. I only need 4 actors, so this should be easy enough. For outfits, I told them to wear anything they wanted. The main plot of this movie is not correlated to what they are wearing, as long as it is appropriate. For props, I have printed out a fake poster that is necessary as well as scouted out the area for a window I need to use for my prop. You see, in my movie one of the characters looks out a window at a small building. For my movie to work, this needs to be accurate. After looking at the classroom, there is a window facing a small building so it all worked out in the end. The other props I need are nothing too important. I need a key, as well as backpacks which are common items that most people have. I will be filming on my phone, and if that runs out of space or battery I have a friend who will have a back up for me to film. I think this will go smoothly, but only time will tell. I'll keep you updated, as tomorrow is the time to film. 

One more thing is the social media accounts. I have created a facebook, instagram, and twitter with the handle. I plan on making them look better as I go on. Perhaps the next blog will be about those accounts, but for now I am busy with some more college application things, so I do not know when the next blog might be.

Changes to the main character

 

This will be kind of like a background for my main character. You see, originally my friend Trent was going to be the main character. He agreed to do it a while before. But right before I filmed, he got nervous and couldn't do it. This role was very important so it makes sense that he got nervous. Thankfully, my friend Mayteetad was at the film location that day. He was originally going to be a cameraman for the movie. His brave volunteering helped the movie become what it is. I am happy with the result of him being the main character. While he had some trouble memorizing lines, it all was able to work out in the end. Funnily enough, the character Gendo was also a last-minute decision. I had another friend who goes to Pompano who was going to act as Gendo. Last-minute, he was stuck at a track meet so I had someone else fill in. We basically took whoever we could find. Since Nicholas was with Grant at the time, he filled in as Gendo since Gendo does not have too many lines. This rag tag team we put together really shined though. The actors were really enthusiastic to fill their parts. Overall, I am very happy with the results. I will be doing more with them if I ever make another film.

Postcard

 

Here is my design for the postcard. While making this, I used other real postcards as examples for how I wanted mine to look. I decided that I didn't want any obvious plot signifiers in this postcard as the movie is supposed to be a mystery. I think I did a good job of this, while also making it look nice. Another thing I must mention is the fact that I have used Canva before. This made the postcard process much easier for me. I know some other friends in this class asked me for help as they did not use canva before.  I tried to make the poster look mysterious with the key and background, and I think it worked! If I saw this postcard, id definitely be intrigued at the least. One issue is some of the parts I used were locked behind the Canva premium which costs money. What I did, was screenshot them and just upload the pngs to bypass that. I was able to do this by putting the overall postcard in photoshop and completing it there. Should be fine since im not profiting off of it. Even though I knew what I was doing, this still took me about an hour to do. I kept changing and changing every little thing. Before I knew it, I had 3 versions but this is the one I went with.

Website Work

 

Today, I finished the basis of my website for my movie. It was tough getting used to the new software, but after spending some time messing around, I was able to create a pretty good website. I have a pretty long main page with the actors, times for premiere, and everything else required. I made it so as you scroll the individual parts pop up so it isn't too much information overload. I also created the sub pages for things like the about page with a short summary of the plot. I tried to make it seem mysterious as the goal for this movie is to be a mystery. I hope it will work out and should finish this website quite soon.

On the other hand, I have not filmed yet. I was able to get an empty classroom to film in after hours. Since, this isn't going to Cambridge I think filming a school building shouldn't be an issue. However, I am still going to blur anything that makes it too obvious where it is recorded. The room in question is very empty though, and only one scene takes place outside it. As the mystery is a "locked room mystery" with no obvious answer. I don't know who I am going to get to act in this movie, but I have a rough idea. I have some friends in this class who I worked with last year on their movie. Hopefully, it all goes to plan.