Editing: a partners solo task

     At this point we’ve finished filming about seventy-percent of our opening scene. My group and I will still need about another day to film the remaining thirty-percent, which was been rescheduled for tomorrow. This is a good time to stop and being the editing process. However, we didn’t do this together, although we should have. Mariapaula (my favorite group member) did this by herself this time but I’ll make sure we try our best to edit together next time. All she’s done so far is join all the flips together chronologically and shave off some time. When I was filming I could tell this is something that was going to be necessary for our film to not exceed the time limit.
     I honestly did not play a role in this. The only thing I did was when she finished me and my other teammates reviewed it. Honestly, I really liked it. I’m surprised because I’m my last projects I’ve felt sort of unsatisfied with the first draft, even if it was unfinished. I’m looking forward to helping her or whoever edits next in the future. None of the titles have been added yet but when they are I feel it’s my duty to make sure they’re good.
     Getting down to business though, I couldn’t help Mariapaula edit because I was helping another girl with her own project. In hers, I play the role of an assassin who gets her next and last target. She asked me to help her with quite a lot of time in advance and I couldn’t cancel on her. I did many scenes with her; although, I’m not sure how much of her film is done. This process was also pretty fast. She felt satisfied after about one or two shots of each scene. However, the scene with dialect did take quite a bit of tries. I honestly feel the words in the lines were in a weird order. It was also the last scene we did that day and it was outside on a street. Cars kept coming and we, of course, moved out of the way each time for safety reasons. Enough of my excuses, next time I will contribute more to the editing process, especially since this first part didn’t require too much decision making, and the next parts probably will.

Filming: the continuum

      I’m bringing to you my experience with the second part of filming. During this section my team and I filmed in Mariapaula’s bedroom. First, we filmed the scene of her throwing her clothes on the bed. Next, I filmed her on the phone. Mariapaula on the phone is also one of the only two scenes with dialogue that will be in our film. Moving on, the scene where Mariapaula (Caroline) is throwing clothes on the bed took quite a couple shots. I set the camera up on her night stand to get a good angle of the clothes falling. Her dog Milo (which can be seen in photos below) also proved to be a little bit of a challenge. He is usually not allowed on Mariapaula’s bed and didn’t seem to want to stay on it while we were filming. However, he is an extremely obedient and calm dog since he ultimately and quickly gave into our demands with treats. In some shots clothes fall directly on him and he doesn’t flinch. This scene might be a bit too long for our opening sequence but because of the way it was filmed it can be edited to start at any point and end anywhere as well. 

        Secondly, I filmed Mariapaula/Caroline on the phone. This scene proved somewhat difficult to film simply because it contains dialogue. Everyone in the room had to be silent and Mariapaula had to talk. Later on, if my group and I decide that we don’t like the audio in the clip we might include a voiceover. To continue, Mariapaula kept forgetting her lines. It also proved difficult to bring able to hear herself on the phone, since the phone on the call was in the same room. It took quite a couple shots to get her to say the right lines and she still couldn’t say them until we put a teleprompter on the nearby desk. Another obstacle I found while filming was getting the camera to zoom out at a perfect speed. It’s something I’ve done before, but this time I had to zoom out and move and the same time. I feel like in the end I did a good enough job, I’m obviously no professional. Hopefully the next time my group and I film we will finish filming the entire opening scene. 

Filming: the beginning

     On Monday, me and my group got together to begin filming our opening sequence. Rafael and I got to Mariapaula's house at approximately 1:20. We waited for Macy who we would be helping us with filming and she arrived about 20 minutes later. We were a bit slow to start filming, we lounged around for about 30 minutes and then started the work. I wasn't needed very much through out the process. I filmed some scenes, which I will talk about later, but other than that I was not an actress in it. The first couple of scenes were supposed to be quiet simple. However, this took about an hour just for the first two scenes. The establishing shot was quick and easy, as expected. The scene with darwin shaving however took a lot longer because Darwin didn’t really know how to shave. I had to refilm this scene multiple times and am honestly not so happy with the final replay. It’s a scene I already plan to film again on the next filming day. Not to mention that the scene I shot doesn't really fit the mood nor the time frame. This one scene is about 6 seconds long, which in my opinion is too long for a scene that has no dialogue and doesn’t hold any necessary information. In the same scene Darwin walks away but when I reviewed it at the end of the filming day, I realized he almost waddles away. The position in which he walked was rather awkward and further coaching will be needed on the next filming day. Otherwise than this, while I filmed the trunk scene I didn’t notice how long Darwin took to load up the props. I was only rewatching to see if it looked sufficient but in my doing so I relied on editing to shorten things. Overall, the results the first part of my filming experience has been a tiny bit stressful. Cooperation from all of my teams members is needed. I hope that next filming day I can work with them a bit better and get better results.

Planning with a storyboard

  Attached to this blog is the storyboard of our final task. Each slide contains a sheet of what we will be filming. There are 10 pages for the storyboard template and each page has 6 boxes. The 6 boxes have  specific drawings of every action. The camera’s movement and location is described with angles and shots, for example, high angles and tracking shots. The actions of what the actors should be doing in each scene is also included. Sound is specific, especially diegetic and dialogue between characters. The titles are written in black pen in order to have an idea of where they should be placed in the scene. It also helps to plan out what titles we want to use for our final task. Hopefully our group would not have to add more scenes because it is a short opening sequence. 

Planning the title design

   Attached is the planning for our title design for our final task. We want our titles to be unique and eye-catching. We do not want them to be just some words we throw at the bottom of the screen. We decided on using different fonts depending on when and where the titles will pop up. For example, a chilling font will be used for titles that go up during the Driver's scenes. And for the victim's scenes, a happier font will be used for those titles. The main title will be bold and large to attract the audience's attention and so that you will not be able to miss it. Most titles in the two minutes will be monochromatic, meaning it will either by black on white, or white on black. The spacing for only the main title will be different since the font we are using puts the letters too close together. The titles will fit the background and most will last 2-3 seconds, long enough for the general audience to read.

Planning the location, sound, participants, safety, & schedule

   Attached is the location, sound, participants, safety, and schedule of our final task. The locations used for our film will be Mariapaula's house and her neighbor's house. We will mostly be using the inside of M's house as the setting for both the Driver and the Victim. We will use different rooms to add the illusion of the Driver and Victim getting ready in different houses. We will mainly only use the outsides of the house for establishing shots. The sound used will be royalty-free background music used throughout the entire two minutes. Other sounds will be mainly sound effects like doors opening or faucets running. Participants will be all four of us. Darwin and Mariapaula are the actors, while Rafael and Emily will work behind the scenes. One slide on the slideshow is the overall schedule of the project, while another slide is the filming schedule in detail. In the slideshow, we covered many practices we will be doing to make sure we are safe at all times. For example, one scene involves the Driver shaving his face. During that scene, the razor being used will be dulled to prevent cuts.

Planning the Sound & Dialogue

     Attached in this blog is the sound script for our final task. This is the script for every sound made, including dialogue, music, and any form of noise made. Each slide contains at least 2 scenes from our film, which describes all the sounds made in that particular scene. It shows whether or not the scene is playing music, and describes what genre or mood it makes if there was any. As well as any form of exchange in dialogue between characters, or a noise that someone makes. The sound script also includes sounds of objects or movement in the scene. For example, if the shower were to turn on, the slide would describe the sound of the handle, as well as the sound of the showerhead itself. If there happens to be no dialogue of any sort in the scene, it will be mentioned. Additionally, it also states the kind of sounds that are occurring: diegetic or non-diegetic. Diegetic meaning that both the characters and the audience can hear the sound happening in that scene, and non-diegetic meaning that only the audience hears what the characters cannot.

Planning: Shooting Script

   Attached is the shooting script for our final task. Each slide contains the general shooting details of each scene. For example, the second slide is for scene 1. It comprises the type of shots and angles in the scene. It has what the character(s) or subject(s) are doing in the scene. It also has the lighting; whether it is bright and cheery or dark and gloomy. The entire slide show is thirteen slides: one slide for the title and twelve slides for each of the twelve scenes. A majority of the scenes are morning-routine scenes from both Carolina's and Kenneth's point of view. Their routines are cut together to compare and contrast their preparation for the day. For example, while Kenneth just messes with his hair really quickly, Carolina puts thought into how she looks for the day.