CCR Planning

I have started to plan for my CCR. After thinking about my options, I am leaning towards director commentary and podcast. I feel like I can be more creative with these choices. I will answer the first 2 questions during the director commentary and the other 2 during the podcast. I watched some CCR's that previous students have completed and I think I have a better idea of what I need to do for mine. First, I am going to write a script answering all the questions for the CCR, so I will have a better idea of what I'm going to talk about during both the director commentary and podcast. I also need to find a neutral place with good lighting in my house to film the CCR. It will most likely be in my study. I plan on doing a lot of editing for the director commentary, so I'll finish filming it fast and get to the editing part as soon as I'm done. 

Editing: Day 2

Today I continued editing my film opening. It's going pretty well and I love how its turning out. I got a huge chunk of the editing out the way, so I think I'll be done with it soon. Can't wait to see the final product.😀

Editing: Day 1

I finished filming everything and started the editing process on Adode Premiere Pro. It's going pretty slow since I took a lot of time to decide on a font. However, I'm having a lot of fun with putting my film opening together. Hopefully I can finish quickly and start working on my CCR.

 

Filming Complete!!

I finished filming all the scenes in my movie opening. It took a while, but I finally did it. I spent the whole day filming so I could get it out of the way and start editing my project. I was a bit nervous since I was behind on my schedule but now I'm back on track and super excited to see my film opening.

Foley Sound Creation

I created a foley sound with plates and utensils. To make the sound, I tapped utensils like forks and knives together and scraped them against each other. I also clanked them in an uncoordinated pattern against the plate. This was to create the illusion of someone eating, which I will use at the beginning of my film opening. It will start as an asynchronous sound with the character eating hidden and eventually change into a synchronous sound as the character is revealed.  

Titles/Fonts

I need to decide what font I'm going to use for my film opening. This is an extremely important decision to make since it is one of the first impressions the audience will get of my film. The font I use during my film opening will set the tone for the rest of my film. This means that it has to grab the attention of my audience and entice them to watch the entire movie.

Some example film/show titles:

The Stranger Things title is very powerful and elegant. The unique shape of the all caps letters outlined in red is definitely attention-grabbing and also creates a sense of suspense that's constantly felt in the show.

The font in "SE7EN" uses faded white, all caps letters that contrasts against the black background. This creates a dark, suspenseful feeling which is a major purpose of the thriller film.

The font used in Dexter is bold red with splotches of red surrounding it like blood stains. The font is grotesque and forceful which stands out against the white background. This creates a sense of unease in the horror film.

Sources:

https://www.pixartprinting.co.uk/blog/fonts-david-fincher/

https://www.myfonts.com/collections/dexter-font-type-innovations#:~:text=Dexter%20is%20an%20original%20new,for%20display%20sizes%20and%20headlines.

https://betterstudio.com/fonts/stranger-things-font/

Green Screen

Learning how to use green screen:

I filmed the news report scene in my film opening with a green screen so I could edit out the background and change it to a news studio. I've never used green screen before, but after watching a few YouTube videos, it seemed simple enough. I bought a green screen and hung it on the wall behind our set. Then I filmed the scene with bright lighting on the subject and made sure that there was no other green color in the frame except the background. Since I was editing the green screen on Adobe Premiere Pro, I watched some videos on how to edit the green screen out and add my own background specifically on that software. The videos were very straightforward and saved me a lot of time while I was editing. I played around with it a bit on Premiere Pro since my green screen wasn't completely flat and there were some color variations, but I was really happy with the results in the end.

Sources:

https://www.soundstripe.com/blogs/how-to-use-a-green-screen-for-any-video-project

https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/video/discover/how-to-use-green-screen.html

Equipment Used

So I did a lot of filming this week and here is the equipment I used:

Tripod

Ring Light

Green Screen

iPhone 14

Second Day of Filming

Today was my second day of filming. I didn't have a lot of time to film today but I did get some shots of random things around my house like our chandelier, painting, and flowers. This was to set the scene for my film opening where I'm emphasizing that my main character, Alisha, was raised in an extravagant, luxurious home. However, everything is meant to seem cold and indifferent due to her parents being neglectful of her.

Some of the shots I got today:

First Day of Filming

Today was my first day of filming and it was pretty chaotic. I filmed the news report scene with my friend, Celcia, acting as the reporter. My sister also helped us film and it was really fun. I used a green screen while filming this part, since I will be changing the background to a news studio. This news report plays a significant role in my film opening since it will share more details about the life of my main character, Alisha. The report will be running on the TV in the background while I film the actual scene in another area of my house. My plan is to film and edit the news report alone and then AirPlay it on my TV so it will run in the background like a real news report.

It took longer than it should have to film this scene, since we couldn't stop laughing in the first 10 takes we did. We eventually decided to take a break and walk my dog so we could all calm down. Look at this cute cat that decided to say hi along the way.

There were also some people over at our house but they were all super understanding and stayed quiet while I was filming this which I'm very grateful for. In the end, we finally managed to pull it together and film the scene a few times without laughing or messing it up. Overall, I think day 1 of filming went pretty well.

Some behind-the-scenes photos:

Screenplay

Changing My Idea

So I've decided to change my film opening idea. I'm not changing the entire story, but I would rather focus on one character instead of two. My original idea was a romantic drama where I would be introducing both my main characters and their individual struggles in my film opening. However, I noticed that I would need to put in a lot of details in order to make this happen. This would definitely exceed the 2 minutes of my film opening. To avoid this, I decided that I should just focus on one character and fully introduce them in my film opening. My film is about finding yourself and following your dreams which will remain the same. It will also still have romantic aspects to it, but it just won't be a major part of the plot. 

The character I chose to introduce in my film opening is Alisha. The target audience is teenagers from the ages of 13-18. She deals with family struggles like neglect, which is a relatable issue among teens. Many teens have difficult relationships with their parents due to a lack of trust and independence. My film opening allows teens to connect with my character who faces similar obstacles and feelings of frustration in her life. Alisha also struggles with pursuing her dream. She wants to be an artist but doesn't believe she is good enough. Throughout the film, she learns to be proud of herself and her work as an artist.

Costuming Options

Alisha's Costume Options:

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2.

London's Costume Options:

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2.

Reporter Costume Options:

1.

The Mess: