On January 12, 2022. In class, we started working on our final project. Which was to create a film opening (2 minutes) of any genre. My situation was different than those of my classmates.
The first thing we did in class, was decide on our group members.
January 12, 2022
I am working in a group of three, including myself. My two partners were unfortunately out because of Covid 19. Which only left me to work on the project. The first thing I made sure to do was, get their contacts from another friend. With that, I was able to start communicating with them. I made it an initiative to make them feel included, and kept them updated on what was going on in class. We messaged and came up with our genre. We all agreed on a mystery. We all enjoy solving problems and I have a very high curiosity for things.
After that, it was time to start working on our film ideas.
January 17,2022
We all pitched different ideas, but the one I picked ended up being the winner. We decided to go with "A lady that was in a heated argument on social media, was then found murdered. Now I'll admit, it's not as interesting. But there are a lot of things that you can add or even change in the storyline. I also wanted something doable. Previously, on my Christmas Music Video, I didn't really plan what I can do, realistically. I had so many ideas, but I never took into consideration, how I was going to do that in the time that I had. This time around I wanted to do some fun, different, and achievable. From the start of this idea, I had so many different types of storylines that we could have done. And since the idea would be about an argument on social media, that was something that we could do, outside of school.
Then, it was time to come up with our project proposals.
January 24,2022
With my classmates at home. We decided to do Zoom calls to still collaborate and pitch in our ideas. Of course, another part of this project is being able to update my journey and progress. I find explaining what I have done so far on a blog really therapeutic. It's as if I'm talking to someone. Anyways, we then started working on our storylines. I made a group chat, and I asked them to pitch in any ideas they had for a storyline. At this point, I started feeling quite frustrated. I know that our schedules don't match and that they barely correspond with each other. It was hard getting feedback, I was waiting for an agreement or an opinion from them to continue working. Although, in a few days, they will be coming back and it will be easier to work on the project in person with each other as a team.
We then started working on... our Short Story!
January 28,2022
This was really exciting, we got to use our creativity and imagination. Although, I am not that creative. I do enjoy writing. I'll give you a little "sneak peek", the story is about a girl who ends up getting murdered, to everyone's surprise, even the police are stunned by what happened. That's all I can tell you. Sorry! But as a group, we all took apart in writing it. I was responsible for the falling action and resolution. While my other group members did the exposition, rising action, and the climax. We got to put our own ideas into our own piece that we were responsible for. This was awesome. We all had a brief idea of what the plot was and worked on it from there. Next up! Scripting time.
Disclaimer: *The idea was changed, due to some factors that we considered.*
New Idea: A teen girl is found murdered, but her phone was a clue to what had happened.
We are still using the same factors of our original idea, but with a twist. Instead of a heated argument online, it was a stalker that messaged and sent her suspicious things.
A little interjection :) February 3,2022
Before scripting, we must research and blog about how films are produced/distributed/ and exhibited. That blog is up now, so go and check it out! Then we did a case study on a film of our choice and blogged about the History and target audience, production, distribution, marketing, and finally the cross-media convergence and synergy. That blog is also up!
Now comes the scripting! Yay! February 8,2022
This was very... I don't have a word. But it was great. My group and I came together to write the script. We wrote out our script on Word first and then transitioned it to Studiobinder. I also used Studiobinder to write out my script for My Christmas Music Video. We were all able to work on the same document together. Because we wrote our short story, it was easier to continue the scripting of our opening scene.
Storyboarding Time! February 10,2022
For this, we had the option to either write or complete the storyboard using digital graphics. For storyboarding, we had to include the shot number/shot duration/sketch/camera movement/ and a shot description. The shot description was pretty easy to do. We just had to take into consideration, the type of mood and feeling we wanted to create and how we were going to create it. Using the elements of Mis-en-scene, made this process fairly easy. If you would like to see the finished product, that blog is up now! It will be included in the blog post about Preproduction. We used Studiobinder and split up the shots and worked on them separately with the help of our shot-by-shot analysis.
Shot by Shot Analysis! February 11,2022
We also completed a shot-by-shot description of the shots we plan to use in our opening scene. This was very simple, we were able to work on the same document as a team. We all took a part of mise en scene and completed each shot as a group.
Next up! Scheduling! February 15, 2022
Using Studiobinder, we were able to construct our schedules. We put in the location and actors needed for each shot. We then separated what needed to be filmed at night and day. This made it easier to work on just one section. Instead of working on each shot as it is in the script. Breaking it down and separating it made it much better. This is also something that directors in film go through, you must be able to do your shots without the order you want them to be in. As a group we scheduled times and how we were going to film it. Obviously we thought about this before. But as time is slowly coming to an end of us working on this without filming, we made sure that our schedules still allowed us to go with our plan. A separate blog is up on this. Check it out!
Calendar: February 18,2022
Before filming, we created a production calendar. This was very easy. We were able to take our stripboards and use them to create our calendar. We scheduled our shots in a way that was easy for us to shoot them. We wanted to get all of the shots with the fake blood done first and then focus on our flashback which will be in back and white. We even got the choice to color code it. I didn't want to be confused with the colors, instead we just color-coded the establishing shots. We also wanted to get these shots done first before we start adding the *fake* blood. Time is ticking!!
It is now time for.... February 22,2022
Filming! I have been waiting for this since I started this class. I am so excited to make our ideas and imagination a reality. On our first week of filming, we started going to our locations with our supplies. We brought our crime scene tape, *fake* blood, chalk, and a change of clothes, if necessary. We all contributed and got the supplies we needed. We did run into a few hiccups our first week. The weather was a big component, all of our shots are supposed to be filmed outside but it started raining and we had to stop filming. This was continuous. The second week of filming came around and I would say that it was quite successful. We were able to get all of our shots! This was amazing considering our first week.
Production company:
During the second week of filming, we had to create our own version of a production company to incorporate in our opening. We ended up going with my production animation for the opening. I used "CapCut" to create my animation.
Editing! March 7-17,2022
Finally filming is over and now it's time to combine everything we did together. But obviously making it better. Starting off, we were supposed to use "Abobe Premiere Pro" but there was an issue with the school computer. Instead, we had to edit on "WeVideo". As a class, we had to edit our own version of the opening scene. Then we would come together in our groups and edit.
Individually we get three days to edit it. And then we get about a week to edit it together.
After spring break (March 17-28)
We came back and started working on finishing up our opening scenes before Friday, April 1st. We noticed that the sound we had added previously didn't follow the conventions of a mystery. So we changed that and anything else we thought didn't fit in the conventions. During this, we also had to work on our CCR essay which was also due by Friday, April 1st. This was a lot to handle considering coming back from a nice, long break.
This is a very important day! (April 1st)
We finally concluded editing and hit "Publish" on our opening video. Which we exported to YouTube.
On Monday, April 4th
We began the task of completing our Creative Critical Reflection digital video. We had until Friday, April 8th to get it completed. (Friday was my birthday :))
Blogs on CCR and Final Production are up now! Have a look!!
And thank you all for being a part of this journey :).
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