Peer Reviewing

      This week was review week. Each group would get assigned another team’s project to peer review. A different team looked over my group and I’s project. The main focus for me was to look over the other group’s work and fill out some information about their project. The questions were asking about the groups progress and whether or not they are following the guidelines properly. Lucky for me, the team I got was very organized and had their project ready for me to review. I watched it once fully through and then rewatched it. The first time I watched it, I wanted to see the storyline and view it like I would any other movie. The second time I watched it I took notes on the camera angles, shots, and movements I saw. I also focused on what transitions they used in the first two minutes.
     Once I finished taking notes, I focused my attention to the worksheet. I answered the questions based on facts first. I had to put whether they had certain camera angles and/or movements. If they did have it, I had to put at what time in their video the angle or movement appeared. There were also a few questions about the order of the titles. After I answered all of those types of questions, I moved on to the more opinionated questions. What I really liked about the group’s film was their use of camera movements. The tilts really helped enhance the feeling and mood of the film. The camera movements also helped the scenes flow together nicely. Overall, the peer review was very beneficial because it showed examples of how different camera shots can be used and executed. This part was also fun because we got to watch our fellow classmate’s act.

Editing blog: coming together

      My group and I finished filming this past week. Filming is a main element when creating a film however, the editing is what really makes a film. To begin the editing process, I started by putting all of the footage into chronological order. When I say footage, I mean the shots that my group and I decided were the best out of all takes. Once the footage has been put in chronological order, it is time to cut each video. The cutting process can take a very long time. For this project, cutting the scenes wasn’t too bad overall, however, there were some challenges. One of the challenges I faced was trying to make sure all of the shot reverse shots matched up. Sometimes getting two different scenes to align perfectly takes tedious work. Eventually, the shots came together and flowed smoothly.
      The editing stage is also where you can see which scenes are needed and which scenes aren’t. While editing, I noticed our film was too long. Because it was too long, I had to go back and review every scene to see which ones were absolutely necessary and which ones could be removed. There were a few scenes near the beginning of the film that I had to cut out. Although, originally those scenes seemed like a good idea, they are not necessities. Lighting was not too much of a hassle when it came to editing. Sound is another important element of a film. The next step of the editing process will be too work on making sure each sound is leveled out. Sound can get difficult to control which is why a lot of the time it is edited. For my group and I’s film, the audio of the outside scenes will need some work.

Filming: Getting the job done

      Earlier this week, we filmed all scenes of our movie! We started with the outside scenes and then continued the rest of the film inside. Straight after school, we left to go to our filming location. We arrived at about 3:30 pm. Once we got there, we headed to the bathrooms to change into costume. I brought all of the things my character needed. I had red lipstick, a black dress, and a long sleeve coverup. My group mate brought me some fancy, black sunglasses to wear also. Everyone had gotten into costume and then we began to film. We started with the outside scenes. The very first shot of our film took a little while to get right. I had envisioned the shot in a special way so I had to demonstrate and explain the shot to my team member recording the scene. After a few tries we got it perfect!

      The next section of filming was all going to be shot indoors. The location we chose to film at had a receptionist area with a desk set up. This was a big part of why we chose to film in the location. For safety measures, we asked permission to use the desk area for our film before hand. Filming the receptionist scene was harder than I expected because people were talking on the background or you could hear construction going on. Because of those things, the shots took a lot longer to film. We eventually got the footage we needed and moved to a different room for filming. This room is where we shot the rest of the film. Everything went much smoother form here on. It was really interesting to see how much work goes into directing and acting, along with making sure every shot does it’s purpose.

Filming: Get ready, get set, go!

     My group mates and I will be filming this week. Today was the start of our filming process. We first needed to make sure we had everything we needed. My character is wearing a black dress, heels, a coat, and sunglasses. My team mates also brought their props and costumes. I made sure we had access to the shooting script, sound script, and storyboard at all times. As soon as school got out, we all met at the front gates. From there, we went to the filming location. Our filming location is outside of an apartment building as well as inside. The scenes inside will be taking place in the office/lobby area.
     The beginning scenes take place outside the building. Only the outside scenes were shot on the first day of filming. While my group mates set up the camera, I got into character. By that I mean I changed into costume and gathered my props. I also applied the red lipstick. I am the one who drew the storyboard for the first few scenes. Since I drew them, I wanted to share with my group members my vision for how the scene is meant to look. Once I showed them and we took some example shots, we all decided on how we wanted the shot to look. I walked forward and the camera followed me. After the first scenes were done, the last outside scene was to film and establishing shot of me walking into the building.

Filming: rain check

      This past weekend was the start of filming. However, my group mates and I could not film because it was raining. Everyone in the group lives spread out from each other and traveling in the rain was not an ideal situation. We decided to reschedule our filming plans to a later date. Meanwhile, I used that time to finalize the costumes and make up that will be used in the film. I began by analyzing the shooting script again. I also looked at the storyboard to visualize each scene. I reread the script a few times and looked at the storyboard as I did so. I did this so I could fully envision how I want the movie will look once it is filmed. My main focus was trying to finalize details.
      Make-up is an important element of a movie and it’s characters. The first character introduced is the lead of the movie. She will have a natural look on the eye with some highlighter to make certain parts of her face glow more on camera. I thought it would be best fitting for her to have red lipstick because her character is someone that is powerful and determined. The receptionist will have a natural look as well because her character is supposed to appear as an average worker. The last character, the second woman to enter the room, will have pink tinted undertones in her make-up and will have a gloss on her lip. Since the scenes this character are in are in a dimmer setting, she needs  different tones in her make-up. The pink tones are to add more color to her face so on camera all of her features are still defined. Although, my team and I could not start filming this weekend, the time was still spent wisely. The details of a character are important to the way a movie looks and the way the movie will make the audience feel.

Storyboard: Mantis

     For our storyboard, my group and I worked very hard. None of us have very strong artistic abilities but, we felt very accomplished when seeing our results. For the storyboard, one scene was split into four boxes on the paper. It was then divided between my group members and I. On our storyboard paper, we decided to put what camera angles would be in that particular box/scene. We also wrote any dialogue that would happen in the scene under our drawings. The last thing we wrote on our storyboard was a brief description of what is actually happening within the scene.The storyboard is very important because it will help guide us when we are filming each scene. Instead of looking at an entire powerpoint, we can just look at our storyboard papers instead.Storyboards have to be as detailed as possible so that the filmmakers can refer back to it at anytime and know the setting, dialogue, and camera angles. We can do that thanks to a great storyboard!

Title Research: Title design

This powerpoint describes our titles in which we will use for our film. We decided on a name that fits the genre and that is useful to the development of our story. We also discuss the fonts we will use in creating the titles. This is very important because the type of font gives off a certain mood to the viewer. We also decided to only use first names for safety purposes. The titles will be “focused” on the screen. The powerpoint also describes the length of time we will be displaying the titles. All titles will be white for a simplistic viewing. The transitions between each title will also be fitting to our story. Within each title, the first name will be made more prominent. We will do this by making the font larger for the first name and a little bit smaller for the rest of the title. This also gives it a sense of design.