Production Post

     Shooting the Bar Scene Inside 

Behind the Scenes

    The linked video demonstrates my group and I as we are inside of my house in the bar filming and planning on of our shots. The Bar scene is the first scene of our opening and is what sets the tone for the coloring and things of that nature, therefore a lot of trial and error went into getting the final result we deemed as sufficient. As there were struggles with finding the right angle to show enough of the bar so that the setting is set, but not so much that the audience can see the it isn't a full sized bar. Furthermore, what I really liked was that my concept changed of what I wanted the vision of the opening to be as my group gave me more ideas and shared what they saw, and vise versa. Because as we work together we can use the brain power of 3 people, rather than 1, to decide which shots, ideas, and choices best fit the end goal of the opening.

More BTS

    This first opportunity to shoot showed me how easy and fun it will be to continue, as the bar scene is just the beginning 30-40 seconds of the entire 2 minute film. I am looking forward to continuing to film much more than I thought I would.

Planning Post

 Planning for main character's costume:

    As stated in my previous posts, my group and I settled on the aesthetic, vibe, and style that we want our character to be and represent. That being a young, aspiring businessman that is currently working  a summer internship balancing college, work, and friends. The main character dresses well, choosing to fit into the business casual branch of clothing as he needs to represent himself as polished, put together, and professional. Given this, I had to put together the costume design of the main character as I will be playing him, this wasn't too difficult as I love fashion and moreover dressing up well, so I have a wide variety of clothes to choose from (except for a tie which I had to borrow from my dad). The business casual look relies on button up shirts, quarter zips, slacks, and things of that nature, so that is why I chose the clothes that I did (the image below).

    Furthermore, I also am going to wear my orange boat shoes (Sperry's) just to further fit the character that we want to be portrayed in the film. I don't believe that my shoes will be shown at all during the film, and if they do most likely it will be only for a split second. But, I want everything that we can control to be as good and fitting as possible to the story so that the opening can garner the most points.

Storyboard Post

     As one of my previous planning posts included my group and I's script, this post will include the story board that we worked together to come up with. This story board was created after the script so therefore some things may not perfectly line up with what I have previously posted, but that is just evidence of our project continuing to grow as we fix hiccups and add things. Furthermore scenes, angles, and other things from this storyboard are subject to change depending on what my group and I determine is fit or not.

Audio Post

     For the audio aspect of the opening, we want to spend most of our focus on finding and creating sinister, eerie sounds like loud booms for jump scares, maniacal baby laughs, and scary background music. In addition, we want to add a variety of foley sounds to make the audio aspect feel new and fresh, for example, walking, echoes, and laughs. We brainstormed these ideas so that the opening is more suspenseful and feels like a real high-quality production. The ideas for more foley sounds include, twigs snapping, leaves crunching, and wind. We want to place these sounds when the opening is most bland which will further create a sensation of what is to come. 

   

    My group and I conducted research on how it is that horror films use audio to build suspense, and most horror films use audio in sudden ways that are unforeseen and for ambient noise. These all together create the most important sense of a horror film that I feel like I have said 100 times, which is suspense, and moreover uneasiness. This uneasiness and discomfort is what leads to the feeling of fear, that is why it is so crucial to nail the aspect of the audio for the opening. Because if we want the opening to be eerie in the slightest, the sensation of suspense needs to be created.

Mise-en-scene Props and Lighting

    The props chosen by my group are a doll, a tie, and fake drinks (substituted with apple juice to look like alcoholic drinks). In addition, the doll we are buying is a plain and regular doll that we are planning to cut, scrape, paint, and mess up to look more eerie and like a conventional horror symbol. The tie will be taken off the main character in the bar during the scene, and later used to put around the doll's neck and hang it from a tree when it appears in the film to implement an element of horror and surprise. The main character will drink the apple juice and act out the effects of being drunk.

    Furthermore, the bar scene will be dimly lit and brown, so it can set the low tone that will continue on for the rest of the film's opening. After the bar scene, the set will change to that of the woods at night with the scary vibe of an empty dark forest. But, for the bar, we would prefer the color scheme to be dark brown and dim, this may be not easy to find within the town center but we will try our best as a group.

    Given this previous setting, the forest will similarly be dark and dimly lit as filming will take place at night. Forests at night are already scary, so the addition of the doll will play into the horror effect. The transition of the two scenes will also be smoother due to the fact that the colors go with each other.

Mise-en-scene and Set

     Through my group and I's discussions and conversations regarding our project, any ideas, critiques with given ideas, inspirations, etc. we have come to the conclusion that our two main sets are going to be a bar and a forest, the "forest" that we are planning to film at is less of a forest and more of a nature walkway with a river that is outlooking the Florida Everglades. We landed on this as our final option because the forest at night is very primitively eerie, and has an offsetting vibe. In addition to this, the implication of dolls as commonly feared symbols of horror. Our location will resemble the picture below. 

    As for the bar, it will be the first scene as the main character gets introduced to the audience, the bar is going to somewhat resemble the color of the forest at night (dark tones of black and brown). This paired with the drinks in the background will help us to set similar moods throughout the opening for the audience,

    Moreover, as stated before, our main character will be introduced to the audience as dressed in business casual attire and painted as an aspiring business man who is getting his education. He just got off of his summer internship at a big firm and copes with his stress by "letting off steam" and drinking.

Character Development Post

     Through my group and I's discussions about the character we landed on the conclusions that our main character is named James, he is a very stereotypical male as he is in a frat and studies finance, he is an inspiring businessman working an internship during summer, is a college student, single, and 21 (Born January 5th, 2004). This story takes place in 2025, when James walks into the bar (which is the setting of the first scene) he is dressed well (business casual) as if he just got off his shift at the firm. James has acquired a dependency on alcohol to escape his stressful schedule of simultaneously working, school, and friends, due to being newly 21 he spends nearly every night drinking alone at the bar.

Names: We landed on the name James as it is ranked the #1 most common name for American born males, and James is a very typical, regular young male.

Media Theory

     As my group and I were discussing the ideas, scripts, shots, and theories to be incorporated for the project, we came to the conclusion that the Semiotic Theory of Barthes best correlates with our story. This story speaks about how people portray meaning and emotion through signs and symbols. Roland Gerad Barthes is who came up with the theory and was a French literary theorist. The Semiotic Theory of Barthes is used very often throughout media as you interpret what mis-en-scene represents in the "bigger picture". Video on theory

The Shining (1980)

    The Shining is an example of a movie that uses the Semiotic Theory of Barthes as the phrase REDRUM that is present within the movie, is a sign that when is reversed reads MURDER, adding to the suspense. This symbol helps the audience understand the deeper horror beyond just what they see.

Halloween (1978) 

   Another example of a movie that uses the Semiotic Theory of Barthes is Halloween. Withing the movie, Michael Myers' mask is a sign. It hides his identity which makes him more terrifying because he seems less human. His silent movements also symbolize death itself which is something inevitable and unstoppable.

Post Including Script

     Through my group and I's work this past week, we have created a potential script (more like a rough draft) for the idea we have come up with for the project. The idea for our title would be Into The Forest.

    The script is the guide and blueprint of the entire project as it is what we will follow before, after, and during recording to make sure we capture every aspect necessary. Of course the script is subject to change, but for the time being this is what we have. And the script would consist of the following: 

Link for doc

Summary of Project Idea

    Summary of Project Idea

    Through all the group discussions and conversations with our teacher, we are inching closer and closer to having our idea set in stone. But what we have for now is a horror film that centers around the mystery and unknown. The main character will start at Town Center, fully dressed up, taking drinks (alcohol) and getting more and more uneasy until he goes to the bathroom and passes out, (this will be indicated by a fading black effect and the title and credits will play). Once he is awake he will wake up in a forest without a clue of how he got there. Once he is in the forest he will have an increased heartbeat and will be panting heavily throughout. While he is traversing the forest he will encounter a sign that states (do not continue). Our character will ignore the sign and take off his tie as a mean of trying to figure things out. As he leaves the tie on the floor he will continue on his pursuit, later on he will encounter a gruesome doll hanging using his tie that he left. He will get tapped on the should, turn back, and not see anyone, and when he turns back again the doll will be gone. A laughing sound effect will play and echo as the opening scene ends. For the doll we will purchase a doll online and customize it ourselves to our liking. 

Doll type we are trying to buy:

doll

What we want it to look like:

2/11 Group Meeting #1 in Class

     This is officially the beginning of week 3 for my group and I's project, and in class we got into random groups of 5-6 people and discussed our blogs, ideas, and details of the project. We gave and received constructive feedback about our blogs and opening scene ideas.  

    My group included my peers named Camila, Mackenna, Natalia, Michael none of which are in my group for the project. This helped me as I had to think deeper on my idea and explain it from scratch as none of them had any prior knowledge on what it was that I was doing. 

    The first person in the group to speak on their ideas was Camila, and her idea revolved around the story of a drug addict and the fact that he owes people money. He is ironically best friends with a cop and has to have a full circle moment as he asks his friend for help whilst he is a criminal. I really liked the beginning scene and gave some ideas on what to do for the costuming and lighting. Suggesting that she make the main drug addict have a black hoodie with the hood on and have holes in the hoodie, and said to buy a cheap hoodie online and use it as a canvas.

    The second to go was me, and I received tips on what I should do for the foley and lighting but most importantly my blogs, as my most recent blog was completely wrong from the instructions. They also informed me to analyze at a deeper level. They also gave me ideas for foley sounds and shot ideas for my idea that is still in the very beginning stage.

    Third, was Mackenna and she spoke on her ideas for a coming-of-age film that revolves around an alluded love triangle, I gave her ideas for the music she should use, and I mentioned Somebody that I used to know by Gotye as it is a very good and popular whilst being free. I also mentioned that she should have the girlfriend give the loser (girlfriend, boyfriend, loser love triangle) a empathetic and apologetic look when the jock boyfriend throws a cup at him to further indicate to the audience the triangle.

    Next went Natalia, and she spoke on her idea for a murder mystery opening that revolves around a boyfriend that doesn't know her girlfriend is a killer. I suggested that she use a rack pull on the trash can when the boyfriend sees bloody gloves (or whatever evidence Natalia wants to use to hint to the audience that the girlfriend is a murderer). The rack pull would indicate a sense of realization felt within the boyfriend.

    Lastly, Michael needed the most help as he had ideas for the beginning and end of his opening but had a lot of open room for suggestions. His idea was to have an opening based on a mechanic and his preparation for a race, and to have the opening and ending scenes as opening the garage and the two cars lined up for a race. We suggested to flip the two and have the first scene being the cars lined up, and then show what led up to that, as our teacher has stated that it is preferred to not have your title at the very end of the opening.

Study of another blog

 Study of Another Blog

    The blog from the list that I chose to study is https://brainfogcentral.blogspot.com/2024/02/i-cant-wait-to-quit-my-job.html. I chose it because it is much more human and personal than any of my blogs have been. You can tell that this person genuinely enjoys to create these blogs as a form of expressing themselves (not that I don't like it, just that they really like it), evidence of this would be the fact that this person continued to post updates of their life even after they completed this course and graduated.

    The overall contents of the research were definitely more in depth than mine, but not by such a severe margin. The main difference is the analyzation and intertwining that with their own personal decisions. By doing this you better understand and display what is needed from your particular genre, so that your project piece can be improved.

What I will improve on because of this: by reading and dissecting this blog I will try to implement more human and personal language to connect with whoever is reading, whilst still maintaining proper expression and a formal tone. I think this will make my blogs much more entertaining for me to write which will have a domino effect and boost the level of depth that these blogs go into.

schedule

    I have come together with this schedule as a result of working with my group and all creating similar schedules as we are all working together.

Week 1 (2/3-2/9) 

Research 

Develop concept and them 

Movie plot development 

Brainstorm visual style and tone

Week 2 (2/10-2/16)

Create storyboard 

Create ideas and research where to film

Finalize who is acting 

Set filming schedule 

Gather props and costumes

Begin script

Week 3 (2/17-2/23) 

Finish script

Start production 

Film key scenes 

Begin collecting sound effects and foley (if needed for scones) 

Week 4 (2124-32) 

Start editing 

Review footage and identity reshoots

Record additional foley 

Week 5 (3/3-3/9) Start closing up editing 

Check out different editing choices 

Test different transitions

Gather feedback and make necessary changes

Week 6 (3/10-3/16) Finalize editing

Color correction and sound mobbing 

Write and record Creative Critical Reflection Review and polish the CCR

Week 7 (3/17-3/25) 

Buffer week for any adjustments

Final review and polish 

Export the final version

Submit project

3 credit sequences from films within horror

3 credit scenes from horror

    Within horror, credits scenes tend to have common characteristics like; ominous music, slow creepy rolls, flicker/glitch effects, retro effects, jump scares, gothic fonts, and many other things. In this post I will be researching 3 specific credit scenes from horror movies and dissecting them to conclude what is needed to be implemented into my future horror opening scene.

Dawn of the Dead (2004) 

    The title sequence begins mixed into the opening, what is being shown is a bunch of fast cuts of VHS footage displaying disturbing scenes of zombies and a politician saying the doctors do not know if "they are alive or dead". The text that is shown on the screen is in a red font and seems to be written in blood. Writing first that "Universal Studios presents", and then goes down the list of entertainment companies for production. The title is then shown written in blood as an eerie country song begins to play in the background as people discuss the virus, all while disturbing images are still being shown. Then the same formula repeats but what is odd is that it just lists an abundance of name, without stating the role they took in the movie for about 25 seconds. Then it states who did the casting, who the music is by, the co-producer, etc. After this continues on, the credits finish with a cut of the VHS tv and the politician speaking on the zombies as the music ends, creating an uneasy cliffhanger.

Smile (2022)

    

   

 Similarly to the previous film covered, Smile also starts with a scene and "Paramount Pictures presents" written in a red font. The scene in question is an unconscious body on the floor with a puddle of liquid leaking from it with miscellaneous items on the floor that are broke. The scene seems to take place in a hospital as the camera slowly pans revealing more and more, while this is going on there is eerie music playing, whilst associations and productions are being named. The camera finally pants to a woman sitting down in a chair looking very uneasy as she is crying with one tear running down her face. The camera continues to zoom into her eye until it is completely in the pupil where then a transition is implemented to show the title card which is in a red font.

The Nun II (2023)

    

    The scene begins in a very dimly lit church hallway with dust floating everywhere displaying the title "The Nun II" in a white font, which is slightly irregular for a horror movie. While this is happening there are reverbed sounds that are unsettling mixed with the sound of a phone ringing. The scene is then cut black as the phone is picked up and a woman screams "Mr. Warren!". Following this there is a cut to the outside of a house which has Warren on the mailbox, insinuating that it's Mr. Warrens house. The woman informs Mr. Warren that Father Gordan is searching for him and claiming that it is an emergency, eerie music is put in the background for the audience to pick up on the hint of the impending danger. She hands him the phone as he says "Yes Father", and the scene cuts to black.

Conclusion: To create a credit sequence that would fit in the realm of horror it needs to be still eerie, use preferably red font, and have constant eerie sounds being played to keep audience uneasy and engaged.

 

Three film openings from Horror

3 Film openings from Horror

    Recap; As my group and I inch closer and closer to filming and all the good stuff we are discussing more and more our ideas and the direction that we want to go in. We have came to the conclusion that our genre of choice is going to be Horror (it was a deeply discussed issue as I was leaning more to drama). So the following research will be based on all the characteristics of Horror film openings.

Halloween (2018)

    The film begins with an extreme close up on a clock and silence so you can hear the clock tick to create the feeling of suspense, there is then an extreme close up on a woman's eyes then a close up on a mans face as they seem to be in prison. There is faint murmuring in the background as the clock keeps ticking with laughing that seems from a crazy person. Everyone is dressed in what seems to be either rags from a prison or mental institution, and the all the colors of the scene are very bleak and gray. A man then signs a paper and checks tv's that have a camera's signal on it. The audience gains more information as there is a close up showing an officers police badge and you can hear the radio saying that it is a rehabilitation facility. The officers speak about a "monster" that has been in captivity for 40 years and has not spoken a word (Micheal Myers). They then speak very hesitantly about moving him to another facility, this foreshadows that something will most likely go wrong. They begin to walk and speak of him, calling him pure evil and saying over 40 doctors have seen him and they all have different opinions.

    This scene is good because it uses traditional techniques of horror, like bleak and colorless sets, and having a typical main character that is "pure evil". These techniques have been used and proven to create suspense, but they are pretty typical and not innovative.

Sinister (2012) 

        The scene begins in a unique way as it starts with an old timey movie count down from 3, then it after it cuts to old vhs footage of a family hanging out and playing as static noises are playing emulating the sounds of old technology. The constant fast cutting and filter slightly changing the coloring makes it feel creepy. The static noises get gradually louder. The camera is constantly shaky the whole time to show that it is filmed by the family and homemade. The footage then suddenly cuts to the entire family (including the kids) lined up in the same backyard and same place with a bag over their heads, tied up, and a rope around their neck as they are about to get hung. As this cuts it becomes silent, and the branch that was holding them down falls as it seems to be cut so it was barely hanging, and once the tree falls the family is pulled up and lynched to death. There is then about 3 seconds of them squirming followed by 5 seconds of silence and the family hanging. 

    This opening scene is extremely disturbing and frightening as it sets the tone perfectly for this movie, the entire movie is just as decrepit as this which is what makes it a really good opening.

The Exorcist (1972)

    The opening starts very typically as it is an establishing shot of a building at night with earie music playing. It then shows a tracking shot as the camera moves to show a couple walking alone at night. With the same music playing there is then a transition into the face of a nun sculpture, the music then gets to a peak as it cuts to a title shot with the title being in a creepy red font. After the title shows for a few seconds it then fades from black to the rising sun as someone seems to be singing in Arabic with the same earie music playing in the background. The man that is singing is singing in also a tone that makes me feel a little weird.

    This scene is the one that gives the least information out of the 3 that I researched for this blog post, if I were to have never known about this movie and just watched the beginning I would have absolutely no idea what the plot is about, which has it's pros and cons.

Conclusion:

    For my project I am leaning more to the type of scene where not a lot of information is given and audience is just thrusted into the story, and the story starts to fill it's own gaps throughout the film. 

Picking The Genre for Cambridge Project

 Potential Genres:

Drama and Horror

    My group and I decided on the genres of horror and drama because we feel that we will have the biggest variety of creativity within these genres and that we could still produce a quality piece of media within a budget and lackluster production equipment. For other genres like action, we feel as though it is more difficult to create something of quality, because if there is fighting the sound effects and acting need to be spot on, along with the editing if there are gunshots or anything of that nature. And for that we chose to stick to drama or horror. 

Horror:

    There is an abundance of indie, low budget, short films, that are horror that I really enjoy. And because of that, I think that horror has the highest success rate for low budget media. (example of short film https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUQhNGEu2KA ) 

Lights Out (2013)

Characteristics of horror: 

    Horror movies typically have very dark mise-en-scene with color palates of black, grey, and red. They usually utilize dark and claustrophobic settings that try to make the viewer uncomfortable. There is almost always underlying themes of death or the unknown and there is constantly tension with jump scares sprinkled within. Many movies have very creepy and graphic costume designs for the main character, while others just focus on the plot and make the story what is most eerie.

Sinister (2012)

Characteristics of drama: 

    Genre movies mainly focus on storytelling and within the storytelling, emotional depth, character development, and often explores themes that evoke empathy. The characters are typically relatable to that majority of the audience and there is no set default for the mise-en-scene. The story usually is accompanied with realistic dialogue and situations and paired with slow narratives. 

La La Land (2016)

Conclusion:

    We are not yet sure specifically what our story is going to paint but for me I know I really like the idea of doing a Godfather-esque opening with similar aesthetic of money and family but instead of having it center around murder it can be more focused on still the Mafia, but the drama aspect of it.

    

  

Transitioning into the Cambridge Portfolio Project

     Transitioning into the Cambridge Portfolio Project

My pervious posts were more centered around what I was learning in class, the projects I was doing, and the steps around them, but from this point forward for the next 8 weeks my blog posts will be dedicated mainly to the development of my Cambridge Final Project. Within this project I will use and display the skills that I have been learning and refining all year which you have seen grow through the timeline of blog posts.

    These are some of the notes that we took in class regarding the upcoming project. In addition as the project is based on movie openings we had to complete a nearpod that had a lot of information based on movie openings. In class one of the main things that was emphasized was the fact that the opening has to allude to the fact that there is much more of the movie to come, and that the opening cannot reveal too much information or substance of the movie. This being said, my mind instantly started running to one of my favorite movie openings of all time from the Godfather.

The Godfather (1972)

    This just made me recall everything from it and take in what it means to have a quality film opening. This is why I am considering something related to this with the same Mafia centered aesthetic and I am further discussing it with my group.