Struggles

 Struggles/Overcoming them

Hey Blog! Today is not the best :( We have encountered our first major filming problem. Our main boy cast had a family issues and for the moment can not record. We are extremely saddened by this and it had unfortunately pushed our filming process back!! We have been working so hard and preparing for this that its really difficult however we have found a replacement for him incase he is completely unable to film anytime soon but it was also a reality check that not always things will go great! We are saddened that we will be behind on filming but sure that we will succeed and get back on track soon! I know its not the best news but we will learn from this and realize lots important to have backup plan and patience because not everything will go right always.  

Prop/Set Up

Prop/ Set Up

 Heyy Blog! Today in class me and my teammates discussed as little of the changes we wanna include in our set. We researched on some places where we could get accessories and this is the list on some of the things we planned!

1. Retractable Fake Knife( Just in case we decided to include something with it) 

- From Amazon

2.Candles, Chandeliers to set mood and create that mystical vibe

-Im bringing them from my house!

3. Colored accessories like books or extra items

-Dollar Tree

4. Fake Blood 

-Thankfully our teacher had some and let us borrow it for the project which is super helpful because we will be using it for the "movie" inside the film opening.

Preparing for filming!

 Pre-Process

Hey Blog! Today In class we discussed our plan for filming which will be happening this week! Were super exited and it feels super surreal that this is already happening. We already have materials ready for shooting day and have the times ready we plan to start recording about 6pm when sun goes down and be able to fill as much as we are able to, hopefully finish everything!! 

We plan on beginning my recording the "movie" inside film opening first so that were able to film everything in a sequencial order so were able to go along following the storyline and how the different shots are looking like. 

We have been preparing for this day a lot and feel like we are ultimately ready when know the different convention within our genre we have the different shot planned out to use written down along with a script and storyboard which im super grateful too because its gonna be there to guide uss throughout this filming process.

Mise-En-Scene

 Mise-En-Scene

Lighting:

We really want to work on giving the setting the correct ambience to capture the opening like we want it to. We want to take candles and have multiple on and kinda have low lighting so mostly the candles,tv and maybe one lamp the rest dark. For the bathroom we want it to be really dark with one candle on where he then spots the blood.

Decoration:

We will be filming in Naty's living room so were going to get some decoration we each have that we think would be a great fit. We also want to include some like maybe a grey or black blanket to be laying down in the couch. 

Costuming:

Like Ive mentioned we wanna have her outfit be tones of black and maybe burgundy have her be wearing like a skirt with a flowy top and for him a very laid back outfit something very calm toned like grey or white that gives of more like a layed back vibe.

Sound

Sound

Heyy! Today our sole focus is sound! With my group member we discussed a lot we plan on soon starting to prepare and plan everything for the foley sound which we will split between the three of us. We want our initial environment to be very quiet exept for the tv thats gonna be playing for which we are gonna create the sound to. Mostly everything else will be foley until it starts getting to the end for which we plan to add music. One of our initial ideas for song choice was  Diet Pepsi by Addison Rae but we remembered it gotta be copyright free so today in class we all looked up different copyright websites and even though we found some couple of solid choices we are still on the look for one. We really want to be sure and pick one that we film represents our film opening and the context best!

Character Development

Character Development

 Heyy Blogg! Today were going to be delving deeper into the development of our character. We first want to make her have this really dark side to her. We plan to demonstrate that through not only her actions and looks but through her image like what she wears how she moves what she says. We want to give her silver jewelry and put a lot so its very goth kinda. We also want to incorporate makeup so like black eyeliner to give the eyes a more powerful look which is essential for the development of her being psycho.

Script

Script:

Scene 1:

(In living room, while watching movie- movie depicts girl being killed)

(Jero has his arm around Nati- starts moving as if to get up- lights of the violent movie

reflecting on them)

Scene 2:

Jero: (as he's standing up) I'm gonna run to the bathroom

Nati: (nods- but says nothing, continues watching movie INTENSELY)

(but, as Jero's walking away- back to Nati, we see her moving rapidly in the

background, heading for the kitchen)

Scene 3:

(Jero in bathroom)

(Looks down at sink and sees drops of blood on sink and floor)

(Looks up and mirror in confusion which morphs into horror)

(Debating if he should go out of not- while hand is on doorknob)

(Scene cuts at his hand on the doorknob turning)

Scene 4:

(cuts to Dani in the kitchen)

(Dani is slowly slipping a knife into her sleeve, glances down at it, but continues looking

up)

Scene 5:

Jero: Why is there blood in your bathroom, (pauses, looks at her and notices something

is wrong) Nati, what the hell is going on... I'm gonna... I'm gonna go...

Scene 6:

Nati: (as she's slowly making her way towards Jero, and he's frozen in fear) You're not

going... anywhere. We WILL have a happy ending; you WILL be happy.

Scene 7:

Jero: I- um, ah, what? (laughs dryly) What are you talking about babe? Baby don't- don't

do this, hem, this isn't you ok, we can fix this- come on. (says in a pleading- almost

whining voice)

Scene 8:

Don't worry, baby (in a mocking voice) Its all going to be-

Scene 9:

(Cuts to the door- we heard a knocking)

(cuts back to Nati and Jero)

Nati: Shhhh....

Cuts to credits...

Schedule For Project

Schedule

Week 1 (2/3-2/9)

-Research our specific genre

-Get an overall idea of what are project is going to look like.

Week 2 (2/10-2/16)

-Discuss project with group 

finish planning

-Create storyboard

- More research on location, actors and plan.

Week 3 (2/17-2/23)

-Begin Recording

-Discuss plan for credit sequence on project.

Start editing and doing foley sounds

Week 4 (2/24-3/2)

-Continue recording

-Finish filming

-Editing

Week 5 (3/3-3/9)

-Finish editing

-Research for CCR

-Answer CCR questions

Week 6 (3/10-3/16)

-Answer CCR questions

- Blog posts

Week 7 (3/17-3/25)

-Wrap everything make sure everything is how we want it to look and have it done.

Film Openings for Horror

 Researching Film Openings

The Babysitter

It begins with a transition showing the production company with a intense background music usually used in scary movies with a common strong beat it then mentions another company and begins with close up of kid clearly scared about to get a vaccine being extremely scared of the needle then followed up of him afterward getting hit on head with basketball and then providing film name.

Halloween:

It begins by showing the universal studios logo along with Miramax group. There is then a scene with multiple things happening a floating chair book a very slow but chaotic song things moving all over the place very paranormal then editing into wall "Blumhouse" Productions. Then showing the different production companies followed by a clock ticking.

Jigsaw:

Begins with lionsgate logo a twisted pictures editing if a claw followed by a cop scene with no context and some nails being set up to catch a car and then the car crashing and loosing control.

Group Meeting #1

Group Meeting #1

Heyy Blog! Today we met up with a group to get feedback on our ideas for the film opening and how we plan to do it. They gave me some feedback on my project and i gave them some on theirs. Some of the advice they gave me was to make sure I found a way to establish within the film opening that she was a killer and had done it previously. 

Ayden is doing a film opening coming of age with elements of fantasy media blog 24-25 I found the idea extremely original and really cool.  She had a thorough plan for her project and had everything very thought out.

Madison is doing a coming of age too Madison’s media blog however his idea is very different I thought his approach on doing a coming of age and having an event make the person grow was super interesting. I really look forward to seeing how it will turn out.

Charlee is doing a mystery/ crime film opening Charlee's Blog on a serial killer. She was still figuring out how she wanted the storyline to look like but overall had a very cool idea. She also shared she was soon going to have a discussion with her group to have the idea completely done soon.

Milver is doing suspense /horror film opening he did not provide a link to his blog. He did not specify much on his idea for the project but did mention how we wanted to kind of have an opening with investigating a murder and including a detective board.

Storyboard

 Storyboard

Heyy Blog! Today I created a storyboard of how I view the ideas for the project! some thing will slightly change depending on the house we end up recording at but this is the main idea!

Disclaimer im not the best drawer and I included a small version of what the ending conversation would look like.

Location for Project

 Location Scouting!

We did some thorough detail and of our project we wanted to go with a dark theme so something that could fit our project we knew it had to be in a house. So after a lot of thought we decided on Natalia's house her set up is very similar to the one we were looking for which was going to be essential for recording the opening.

Credit Sequences

Credit Sequences 

Hey Blog!! Today I researched on common title and credit sequences within the genre of horror. I watched multiple title sequences for horror films but the two that most stood out to me and will like to do like a mix inspired for my film opening was the film opening of Liaison (2023) Which I found on the website Art of the Title and the sequence for Smile (2022) which I found on youtube. From the Liaison I very much liked the use of filters ands illusions accompanied by the credit sequence and for the Smile movie I like the sinister music accompanying the scene and how credits begin in such a powerful scene while the girl was smiling full of blood and then the credits started rolling. 

I found that they usually start with either the production or distribution company then move on to main cast, directors, producers, costume designers, editors and music. 

Media Theory

Media Theory In Film Opening

 Heyy! Today I decided to go over some of the theories and brainstorm on one that I would like my opening to represent or be implemented in.  I feel like the representation theory which is about how "Representation is developed through language and 'signs' or symbols interpreted by audience" I feel like its what we want to create with the main character to represent who she is and her actions through her creepy or weird action and through signs that are then left for audience to interpret. We still have to discuss how we can correctly do it and if we make any changes to a theory we want our opening to have. Once we begin shooting we will take this into account to correctly represent both of our characters. We can do this through wardrobe design or music and action during the bathroom scene where we will see a shot of her going to the kitchen as he's heading to bathroom.

Feedback on Project Idea

 Reflection on Group Meeting #1

Hi Blog! It's week #2 of working on our final project and today in class we had group meeting with our teacher  ands group members (Natalia & Anastasia) to check in how we were doing and our progress with the project. After having our first group meeting we decided to make some changes on our initial idea. We will not end the opening one a knock or the police arriving because that will kind of conclude the scene and its supposed to be a scene opening so we decided to change the ending to the two of them arguing and ending it mid argument to create suspense on what is going to happen next. This meeting helped us get a different perspective on what we were going to do and figuring out how to correctly achieve what we want to. We also more sure on the vibe we want to go to and how we want the characters to be. We want to create a dark ambience and the main girl to be psycho. We will also end the scene when he accuses her of doing something with the knife on why she's acting psycho.

Project Idea

 Research and Planning of our Film Opening.

We finally came to a conclusion on what we want our project to look like! After discussing with my group members since we were in between romance and horror were deciding to do a mix of both in where what starts as "romance" then turns into horror. In our research we found movies within this same genre include Frankenstein, and like a You vibe. We have explored three options for our Film opening and we picked one.

Our first Idea was to have a couple where the guy cheats and the girl kills him, but it wasn't going to work out because it was a little too basic and the storyline wouldn't make sense on why the police would get there since we wanted to do like a scene with the police lights reflecting on the girl's face. On top of that doing a killing scene is very complex so we did not want to compromise our project focusing mostly on that scene.

We then made little changes to our current version where the girl is psycho, and she basically makes guys fall in love with her and kills them. We tried to find a way on a reasonable scene where it didn't look like a complete story and more of a film opening so we wanted to leave it in a bit of a cliffhanger. Our idea was to have them sitting in a couch watching this horror movie which we are going to create a small scene for which is going to create foreshadowing. Hes then going to head to the bathroom and find a bloody knife he's going to be confused and meanwhile she's going to be in the kitchen preparing to kill him and were going to have a close up of her putting a knife under her sleeve. Hes then going to ask her about the knife and blame her of doing something when she pushes him against the wall and is ready to do it since she's done this a couple of times police is going to arrive not necessarily because of what is going on she is then is going to whisper to him to stay quiet and the scene is going to end with the reflection of the police lights on her and hearing a knock on the door following by the voice of the police.

Possible Genres for my Portfolio Project

Possible Genres for my Portfolio Project:

For my Portfolio project I have two options on possible genres we would like to do, these are Horror and Romance. For these two genres my group and I plan to establish tone and plot in a fun engaging way.

For Romance they usually deal with love between two people and all the different things that come in the way of that along with learning how to open up and explore strong connections. These films usually have the main character for which the story will revolve around. Usually accompanied by a group of friends. Some usual techniques used within this sub genre are not only realism but the use of colors signifying feelings of the character and moments shown through costume design and set designs.This usually happens in a realistic environment.

A great example of this is the movie 10 things I hate about you. This film follows teenage girl Kat Strawford (Julia Stiles) and teenage boy Patrick Verona (Heath Ledger) .The climate of this story occurs when Kat realizes this was a bet all along after she finally opened up to someone. Patrick extremely regrets it because he finds something far greater in what was supposed to be a simple bet. In this movie they explore the complexity of love and how for some it can be really hard to open up and give their full trust to another person.

For Horror the story's usual main goal is to create a sense of fear in the viewer and create a sense of

uncertainty throughout the movie to keep the viewer engaged and alert. These usually have

themes of loneliness, darkness and fear of the unknown.

A great example of this is the movie Bodies Bodies Bodies which follows a group of 20

year olds where throughout the whole movie they deal with uncertainty of finding who

the killer is and loneliness since they end up isolated at a cabin in the woods.