Cool Idea For First CCR!

Hey guys, happy Friday! Since we're in the final stretch of the project, I have been thinking of some cool ideas to add to the project to make it better. I finally though of a cool idea! My first CCR is basically a talking head as it should be. In the YouTube videos, they have the same things but they make it a bit less boring and more intriguing. It is a talking head with a white background yes, but they add something to make it less boring. 

I thought of a cool way to do that. When I talk about the first twitter post, I included a popup of the twitter post. I used a photoshopping app to make a twitter post with the names, place, and question I talked about. As you may be thinking, this idea came to me after exporting it so I had to go back, add this and then export it again. 

Here are the 2 twitter posts I created and added:

When I talked about the tweet and read it out loud, I faded the picture in and put it on the left like most YouTubers. When I stopped reading, I faded it out. I think it added that intriguing part that it was missing and what the YouTube videos had. I am so happy about how this project turned out and after one more post, I will be post the final videos, both the film opening and the CCR's so stay tuned!

Have a good rest of your day!

Filming First CCR

Hey guys, Happy Tuesday! Today I wanted to talk about my first CCR. I filmed it!!

This CCR was supposed to be a bit creative. Recently, before the show Outer Banks new season came out, the cast members did a little interview and answered tweets from fans. Anything they asked, they answered. That is sort of the approach I took. This needs a white backdrop and since my girlfriend's mom is a photographer, she had one I could use. I took a different approach in the creation of the video though. I didn't stop the video any time I messed up and just pieced the good lines together when editing. This was done on purpose though. The videos where they do this usually do it this way. It looks as if they stitched many clips together. It adds an interesting effect on the video when it looks stitched together. 

This was annoying though. I had to go through 17 minutes of footage and cut the parts I messed up on (and I messed up a lot lol). What I did was listen through it all and every line I did correct, I would cut out all the other takes and put the correct part on the left so I know those were the ones that were good. After this, I added some music that perfectly suited the situation. I finished the video for the most part but I want to show the twitter tweets on the screen when I read them. I will take a screenshot of a twitter post and photoshop it to make it look how I want it to. This will make the video more interactive and intriguing so it's not just a talking head the whole time. 

Here is a picture of my filming:

I will finish this by tomorrow and get started on the second CCR which is the powerpoint. This one should not take too long so I will hopefully finish it tomorrow and would just need to add the voice over and I would be done with that one too. I have finished filming and editing the film opening and I will post it when I post the CCR's. The CCR's and the film opening will be my last 2 posts. After all this, it's over. I will be done with this project. I am happy to show all my friends and family when I finish :).

That's it for today guys, and I hope to see you tomorrow on the next post!

Group Meeting - Final Stretch!

 Hey guys and happy Monday! Today in class we did group meetings. We went around giving each group member 5 minutes to speak and asked questions about how their project was going. If they were running into problems, we would give them feedback. We have done this before but the last time we did it, we were just starting the project. This time, there wasn't much to talk about since people are close to finishing. There were some people in my group that hadn't started filming yet. We have 1 week left until the due date so they have a lot of work left. 

I am close to finishing mine though. I am set to finish by Saturday and I couldn't be more excited. Although this project has been fun, I am relieved to get this strain off my shoulders and focus on my other exams coming up. The members of the group did give me some good feedback though. I wasn't sure where I was gonna film my first CCR but then they suggested a white backdrop for the idea I was gonna do. I remembered my girlfriend's mom is a photographer and that I could film using her white backdrop. It will look very professional and just like the interviews off youtube.

Somebody in my group also suggested I use a good quality camera for this just to add that extra professional look. I was thinking of using my moms camera to film since I have it at my disposal. 

                                       This was very helpful in the creative process and will make my project even better. 

                                                                    Have a good rest of your Monday!

Specific Details

Hey guys and happy Saturday! Today I want to talk about the specific details of my project like the film name, production company name, the font I chose, and the information included in the opening credits. Here are my ideas and the red letter ones are the ones I officially chose. 

Film Name Ideas:

• Fatal Punishment 

• Taken

• Abduction

Production Company:

• Sacul Productions

• Calus Productions 

• Surf Surge Productions

• Madrid Motion Pictures

• Ladderado Productions

• Skyscape Productions

• Gatekeeper Productions

• Skyjet Productions

     Opening Credits Include:

• the production company

• executive producers

• the director

• the lead actors

• Music credited to: ​​Christoffer Moe Ditlevsen and Wendel Scherer

I decided the film name because the main character gets taken and the movie revolves around him being taken and the spiral of the aftermath. I decided on the production company name because I just thought about the name and it had a great ring to it. Lastly, the font. The font was an interesting choice because it was chosen for a specific reason. The all-caps, thick lettering is strong and impactful. It promises a film that is direct and no-nonsense and makes it look serious.

Also, the music I chose for my opening was taken from this copyright free website:

https://www.epidemicsound.com/music/themes/podcast/stories-interviews/

That's it for this post and I am excited to start the CCR!

New Tight Schedule

 Hey guys, and happy Friday!! These next couple weeks are gonna be a little tight for me. After my spring break, it's crunch time. On Saturday, I will be filming the second scene. It shouldn't take too long because I wrote a script and i'm hoping to knock that out in 45 minutes and then finish editing. On Monday, I will start filming my first CCR. I will do a blog post on the questions I will answer in the CCR as well on Monday. Next week is gonna be tight. Monday - Tuesday I will edit the CCR I filmed on Sunday. Then Wednesday I will take a break. Thursday I will film the second CCR and I will edit on Friday and Saturday. I am hoping to be done with everything before Sunday so I can relax. 

Here is a picture of my agenda so you can see my schedule for next week: 

This is gonna be difficult but it can be done. I am going to enjoy my Friday and tomorrow, the real work begins. Happy Friday everyone and wish me luck!

Editing!!

Hey guys, happy Wednesday and happy spring break! My family and I decided to head up to the west coast to have a fun and relaxing vacation. Although the beach was amazing, its also giving me time to reflect on my project. What I did wrong, what I could improve, what I would like to input. Those kinds of things. To take advantage of the situation, I decided to continue editing on the beach. It was very relaxing and hey, I even got some sun. Anyway, let's continue with the editing portion. Since I have to re-shoot the last scene of my film opening because it was too rushed, I am only editing the first scene. There was a lot of thought process that had to go with this because I had to figure out what music suits this opening the best. I went with a dystopian trailer to sort of give that eerie feeling in the first scene. I was able to add a few sound effects in certain parts to emphasize a hit or a thud to to make the scene more dramatic. 

Here is a picture of the editing timeline:

I did start editing the second scene as well to just plan out how I would like it to be. I know the layout of how I want it to be now so I will just re-shoot it and edit it in no time. In the next scene, I am planning on doing a neat trick to create a blinking effect when he wakes up. This can all be done with the power of premier. I did a little research and watched a youtube video from an expert and after I shoot the next part, I will create this effect. 

Here is the youtube link for the video I watched: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50qIeVsF0zU&t=380s

That's it for today guys and stay tuned for the real video to be finished. The next step will be the CCR's!

Filming Update

 Hey guys, happy Saturday!

Yesterday's filming went pretty good actually. There were some problems we ran into though. The first setting was fine but the second one was where we had the most problems. For one, my actors had plans and since we had taken a long time on the first setting, we had to rush the second one. There were some good scenes in there but it was rushed. At the end when everything was done, I added up all the times and I was short 30 seconds. Now that's a real problem. Since it was rushed, I didn't have time to write a script but today I am going to re-shoot that scene. I wrote a new script and now, it won't take as long and I won't be short 30 seconds. I also noticed that the introduction panning scene was a bit rushed. It could have been longer and more detailed and when I re-shoot, that's what I am hoping to do. I do need to call all my actors back and hopefully they have time to shoot one last scene. Fingers crossed! 

There isn't much speaking in my film opening so that's why it's short. 

Here is my script: 

I will post pictures of us filming tomorrow if you are interested but for now, that's all I have for you. Enjoy your Saturday!

Filming Dayyyyy!

 Hey guys, the day has finally come to film. My friend is coming over in a little bit to film but I just wanted to talk to you quickly and give you an update before it's time to film. 

The prop I made from my little brothers kindergarten picture is finally done. I've been busy doing stuff for the end of my school quarter so I have been putting this off but I finally did it last night. I went to Walgreens last night to get it printed but there was such a long line; it was absurd. Luckily I had a picture frame at home that nobody was using so I just put the picture in it. That way, I didn't have to waste time or money buying a new one as well. I had the picture printed the same size as the frame as well. If I had forgotten to do that, it would have been a NIGHTMARE lol.

I have a picture of how it turned out right here: 

I think this is a good idea to put in here because it shows what drives the character and this could be a good thing and a bad thing. Since he is in a hurry and stops to look at the portrait, it would make the audience think about what happened to the son. Maybe the son was kidnapped or maybe he needs to go find him. These are questions that will be going through the viewers head so I think this is a pretty cool idea. 

My friend is on his way so I have to go get ready really quick but i'll update you guys tomorrow on how it went.

Happy Friday everyone!

CCR Planning / Ideas

Hey guys, happy Wednesday, 

I wanted to share some ideas I had on the CCR. I know I might be getting ahead of myself by talking about the CCR without having finished the film opening, but i'm just mapping out what i'm going to do because I am behind. 

For the first CCR, I will be answering the first 2 questions in a powerpoint presentation. It is kind of a directors commentary but explains answers the questions in a powerpoint. The first CCR will talk about how my project challenged genre conventions and how the video represents social groups or issues. It will also talk about how the project engages my target audience and how it would be distributed/available to audiences. This will play some light music in the background to make it more intriguing/calming and will last 4 about minutes.

For the second CCR, I will do a youtube interview type thing. This will answer the next 2 questions. I was scrolling on TikTok and saw a cool idea. To promote the cast for the hit show Outer Banks, they did an interview where they read tweets out loud and answered peoples questions. This will be a good idea to put for my CCR because it will add the creative aspect to the CCR. I will talk about how my production skills developed throughout the project. It will also talk about how I integrated technologies in my project. 

Here is a picture of more or less what I will do for the second CCR:

That's it for today and I hope you enjoyed! you're half way through the week so hang in there!

Great New Idea - Representation

 Happy Monday everyone, 

I wanted to tell you guys about a really great idea I had recently. I did have an idea for representation already but I just came up with another idea. In my film opening, the character gets kidnapped after getting in way over his head. When he gets taken to a separate facility, he wakes up to 2 women in front of him. I will ask my girlfriend and my friend to be one of the goons in the back to represent women in this genre. Many women aren't represented well in this genre OR in the mafia so I thought it would be a good idea to have a woman in it. In the past, women were only featured in action films as love interests. Very rarely were they lead characters or partook in any of the violence. This will be different in my film because I will have women play the muscle characters. Often, women do not get the big jobs in the mafia or the big characters in these films so I thought this would be a very good idea for representation.

They will be wearing long coats with colors like red and brown to show power. 

Sources: https://theactionelite.com/the-portrayal-of-women-in-action films/#:~:text=Up%20until%20very%20recently%2C%20women,off%20of%20the%20protagonist's%20masculinity.

That's it for today and i'll get right on to writing my script. There aren't many speaking parts so it shouldn't be too hard.

Happy Monday guys!

Shhhh...It's Classified

Hey guys happy Saturday!

Today I wanted to just show you guys what I have created in preparation for my filming. In the opening scene, the camera will be panning around the room giving lots information on the character discretely. For example, there will be a family portrait on the desk to show what his motivations are and what drives him (his family). What I created today was the briefing paper. Usually, black-op spy organizations in movies show a briefing paper. I though this would be a great idea because it solidifies the spy feeling and gives even MORE information on the character. 

Here is the briefing paper I created:

I got a lot of inspiration from the Jason Bourne movie. In the movie, they include a similar layout. 

Here is a picture of theirs: 

I am proud of how realistic I made it look and when its spread out on the table inside a manila folder that also says "classified", it'll look even better. 

That's all I wanted to say today and i'm counting down the days to film!

Filming Update - "Houston, we have a problem"

 Hey guys, 

i'm sorry to say that there has been a change of plan for our filming schedule. My friend has just told me that he isn't feeling well and he can't come film tomorrow. There's nothing we can do but move forward. This doesn't change the plans too much and we'll do the same outline I said on my last post with a little bit of tweaking in the times, but not the time frame for each thing. I am going to make the script before the video happens so this has given me a bit more time to get creative with the script instead of rushing it. I plan on filming on Friday but we are behind and now we're on a time crunch. We can get it done though. After filming on Friday, I will start editing right away and get it done during spring break to be back on track. Filming is going to be so much fun and I know that from my previous projects :). Editing is always my favorite though. Before I took this class, I took a television course at my school and I completely fell in love with editing. It has always been one of my favorite part of projects. I will be editing on Adobe Premier. I am most comfortable in this application and there are way more things that you can do on it. 

For those of you that don't know, this is what premier looks like:

Well that's all for today and i'll see you guys next time on my next post ;)

Shooting Schedule

Hey guys, I finally received my classified stamp and folders in the mail yesterday. For those of you just tuning in, I ordered some props on amazon for my project and they finally came in yesterday so I am very excited. Anyway, lets get to today's point. 

This weekend I plan on filming my project. On Saturday, I am inviting my friend Santiago Fermin over to my house to begin. First, we will start with the pictures. To show what drives my main character (family), I will be showing a picture of my main character's son in the beginning of the film opening. We found my brothers old kindergarten graduation picture recently and I though it would be perfect to use it for this so I will be printing it and putting it in a frame.

After this is done, I plan of starting to film the first setting. The first setting will be the room where he is kidnapped. This is my sisters room as well. It will take time to set up the room to my liking but it'll be worth it. After we finish filming the first part we will move to the second setting. This is my grandmothers garage. She lives down the road so it would not be hard to transition to the next setting. 

1:30 PM - Start Setting Up Room For Filming

!:45 PM - Start filming

2:15 PM - Take Break

2:30 PM - Continue Filming

3:00 PM - Be Done With First Setting Setting

3:30 PM - 4:15 PM - Film Other Setting

That's all for today but I am excited to film this project this weekend :)

Storyboard

Hey guys, happy Saturday!

Today, I completed the storyboard for my project. Forgive my drawing skills as they won't be as good as Picasso hahaha. This storyboard is a close comparison to how the project will be when it is filmed. I do have some other technical aspects I will be imputing along the way so i'm looking forward to sharing those ideas with you in the future. For now, enjoy my storyboard and next week we'll see how it really turns out! 

Shopping For Props - Amazon

Hey guys, today I wanted to talk to you about the prep for my project. To complete my story, I need a couple things to bring the plot together. My main character is a government agent and to show that to the audience, we need to input some hits so that the viewer can infer that. 

The first prop that I will be buying is a classified stamp. This way, the viewer can infer a government job. This will be put on some folders and papers to show the importance of the paper. This way, the story starts developing and the plot starts being introduced. Here is a picture of the amazon product that I will be buying. 

Next, I will need something to put the stamp on. Although I may have paper at home, I will need something to strengthen the importance of the papers inside. This is usually done with manila folders. In government jobs like the FBI and any job for that matter, they put important information in manila folders so that way the plot gets introduced and understood. 

 

Group Advice

 The other day in class, our teacher put us in groups to talk about our products and get feedback on our projects. At first, I was iffy about it because I don't usually take criticism well but it was actually very helpful.. 

At the beginning, we just shared our ideas. I told them the idea I was planning and went through my blog to see some of the specifics as well. Since they knew where I was going or what I was trying to portray, they gave some good ideas to develop that idea more. For example, they told me a REALLY good idea about the color representation of my characters. Since my mob boss/type character is a very powerful person, somebody told me to incorporate the color blue into his costume design to show power and and money. I thought this would be a very good idea because I was looking for something else to portray that character and that filled the void. 

Although this exercise helped give us ideas for our project, it also helped us put our information out there to think about it from a different angle. It helped see things differently and think of some good ideas on my own. It seemed like I gave some pretty group advise to the other people in my group because they started writing it down. They felt better about their idea in the end and we helped them break through some problems they were having in their ideas. 

If you needed an idea of how it looked like I looked up a picture of sort of what we did to help. 

This was very helpful in the creative process and will make my project even better. 

It's almost the weekend so don't worry !!