Links to CCR's and Film Opening

 Film Opening

CCR Questions 1 and 2

CCR Questions 3 and 4

CCR's Post Production

     The editing for my CCR's went pretty smoothly, as I had a lot of time to work through the trial and error, over 3 days. Because I gave myself this time, I didn't really feel stressed or overwhelmed at any point, and I think this gave me the creative freedom to freely work.

    Both CCR's were edited on Premier Pro 2025 through the Broward County Schools free subscription, and helped me compensate for the lack of editing knowledge, because of how versatile the software is. Furthermore, many issues or struggles that I had were easily resolvable with a quick Youtube tutorial or Google search. On a final note, I definitely feel as though my best work went into the second CCR video that answered questions 3 and 4, and this may be because I was already warmed up and accustomed to the software from creating the previous CCR, or it may be because the filming and clips were a little more organized and less chaotic. For whichever reason it may be, I think my best work went into the second CCR, but I still tried my best on both parts and can say that filming all of these with my parents was a really fun time, and felt less like work and more like a fun little activity to do.

Final Reflection on Project

     As a sign out, this project was easily the hardest project I ever had to complete in my whole life, I have never felt truly creatively pushed to this level, like I was during the creation and production of this film. Furthermore, I thought that after completing the film opening that I was done, but that was the furthest thing from the truth. I still had almost half of the project left, that I somewhat put off and didn't give enough piece of mind. The CCR's really crept up on me as I procrastinated doing them about a week, which really showed as I had to lock in during the last week and go into overdrive. But at no moment was I bored or mad, this entire project was fun and took everything out of me in a good way, being so pushed and challenged makes it fun and what it is. So my final thoughts are that this project was fun, taxing, and a struggle at times, but in the end made me grow a lot.

CCR production Post

     This week, I began working on my CCR's. This came pretty easy as I had already written the script out for all of them, and now I had to just find creative ways to present this information. For the first CCR that I have already filmed it is going to be a reenacting of a post game interview, and for my following CCR I am most likely going to do a podcast. My beautiful mother and father helped me a lot with this CCR as my mom was the interviewer and my dad was the camera man, I am so thankful that they had the time to help me with this because if not for them, I don't know who I would do this project with.

    Furthermore, the filming of this CCR went pretty smoothly and it only took about 30 minutes. The only real struggle was trying to memorize the script, which is pretty long and hefty. Because of this, there were a lot of fails where I lost it half way through, like the one linked below.
BTS CCR fail

CCR Question #4

     CCR Question #4:

How did you integrate technologies – software, hardware and online – in this project?

    Tips for this question (given by teacher)

-Begin with discussing any techniques that you used while producing the project
-Discuss hardware-camera, lighting, mics, phones, tripods, dollies, etc.
-Discuss software, editing, planning, blogging, etc.

    Script:

    When planning for this project I wanted to incorporate as many techniques as possible that resonated with the genre characteristics of horror to demonstrate my knowledge and understanding of what the horror genre is and consists of. Because of this, during production we included many techniques like straight cuts, low key lighting, and handheld camera shots to provide an unsteady and shaky feel. In addition, we used three-point lighting to illuminate my face more in the scene where I am drunk because the take we took before was too dark, this isn't necessarily associated with the genre of horror, but it is a technique that we utilized and adapted into our film.

Before: 

After:

This was accomplished by putting all three of our phones' flashlight on the max level and pointing them at my face at different angles. In terms of the actual filming, I was lucky to have Arthur in my group as he owns a very good, high-resolution camera. A Canon EOS 60D, I believe this camera really gave our production a spark of flare as it makes the entire filming much more professional. The camera in question has an extremely clear picture and a very high-quality microphone that pics up nearly everything crisply. In addition, thanks to Arthur's hard work in studying how to properly use the camera, through tutorials and instructions, he became the ideal producer.

    Lastly, being instructed to post weekly blogs about various topics like planning, research, and behind the scenes was truly a blessing in disguise. Although the crafting of each blog on Blogger.com was tedious and I didn't want to do it at many times, they helped my group, and I have a detailed plan on almost every aspect of this project. Moreover, the editing of this film was one of our largest obstacles and challenges. To get to the final product, it took a lot of trial and error, Diego and I both tried to edit but couldn't reach a level that was beyond just adding the clips together. Due to this, Arthur stepped up and took the role of full-time editor within this film. He spent hours on hours learning and applying his knowledge to this film. This film was edited through Premier Pro through our school's free subscription.

CCR Question #2

     CCR Question #2:

-How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text?

Tips for answering this question (given by teacher)

-Discuss how you arrived at your target audience, cite necessary research
-Discuss how your production choices, content, etc. work to engage with your target audience
-Next, discuss how you plan to make your film available to audiences
-Responses should address realistic options for an amateur filmmaker. For example: you would not release your film worldwide to theatres, this is only an option for major productions

    Script:

    To begin this project, my group and I began with brainstorming and deciding on what genre we wanted the opening to be. Once we landed on horror, we were instructed to begin researching as soon as possible, because of this we were able to clearly identify our target audience of horror watcher which is teenagers to young adults, about 16–30-year-olds. This makes sense because I don't think if you showed this film opening to your grandma, that she would enjoy it. Another reason that we felt like this film would cater more to the 16-30 year old age range is due to the themes of alcohol consumption and work stress. But furthermore, I think more often than not younger adults immaturely overconsume alcohol to the point where they black out as supposed to older and wiser people. Because of this, it will hit closer to home for the given age range of 16-30 year old's.

    

(research showing age range of horror watchers)

    In regards to distributing the film, our end goal is to get the film in front of as many eyes as possible, and to be shown worldwide. But, to get to that end goal there are many smaller steps that need to be taken, especially as first time, small directors, actors, and producers. So what we are planning to do is to submit our film to many film festivals across many states. Ones that we are planning to do that are more local are the Miami Film Festival and Fort Lauderdale Film Festival. If this is successful we will be able to sell CD's and gain traction for our film. In addition to this, we would upload the film to websites that allow for independent publishers like Youtube and Vimeo. With this, we will be able to maximize how many people see our film on a budget.

CCR Question #3

     CCR Question #3:

How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

    

    Tips for this question (given by teacher)

-Reflect on your progress throughout the production
-Discuss how you begin with research and planning, and offer specific details about both of these processes
-Discuss your approach to production. What did you have to change or adapt as you worked on the project?
- End with a reflection on where you started and where you ended. You may also discuss previous projects completed in class and how they helped you to develop you portfolio project

   

    Script:

    In the beginning of this production I had previously worked on much smaller projects regarding this class and a much more entry level film class in middle school, but none of these projects had made me truly push myself and try to creatively develop something quite like this. For this project my groupmates and I had to truly try and use 100% of our brain capacity to figure out how to tackle this challenge. And because of that, I grew an exponential amount in everything that relates to film and media. Firstly, I grew in terms of researching and dissecting content as I had to do a lot and a lot of research for all the blog posts that I needed to create. To begin this research I would simply just look up whatever it was that needed to learn and through that I would cycle through websites opting to mostly take information from trusted websites that ended with either .edu or .gov, and if there was nothing for the topic I was looking for that ended with either I would use my better judgement.

Secondly I grew in planning, as for the majority of the blog posts that we were instructed to create, they revolved around planning, so not only did my planning skill increase but I realized the value that planning carries, especially when handling a big project like this one. As for the planning for the project, I really just began with brainstorming ideas with my groupmates that fit into the horror categories that we were aiming for, and once we landed on the idea we deemed good, I created a storyboard and my groupmate created the script and of course we all oversaw and helped each other with these tasks. Thirdly, I grew a greater sense of adaptability, as through the journey of this project many adaptations had to be implemented to go around all the roadblocks. For example, during our original idea we planned to film the first few scenes of the film in town center at a bar, but we could not find something that looked like what we planned so we decided to film the bar scene from the small bar I have in my house and alter the lighting and props of the bar to reflect what we envisioned.

    The previous projects that I completed for this class all helped me with little bits and pieces like creating an only audio piece, or creating a film with no words that only developed a plot through shots and acting, that accumulate to give me the experience I need to be able to do my best in this project. 

Group Meeting in Class 3/12

     Today marks the day that we are less than 2 weeks out from the final submission of our projects, and today to get ideas, tips, and constructive feedback on our blogs, projects, and CCR's our teacher put us into random groups of 5-6. In these groups we were instructed to share all about our projects and to receive and give opinions. The picture that is included below shows my group and I, The students names Max (me), Arthur (in my group), Robert, Miranda, and Daniela.

   

Through our group discussions, each of us presented our ideas and what we have made for our projects respectfully. By chance, I got someone in my group and I am also working with for the final project, because of this we were able to both spill our brains onto the group and receive twice as much feedback. The opinions that we did receive after demonstrating our projects were mostly positive, but there were things that people suggested we change or work on. For example, in the credit sequence we didn't use full names and that was a mistake on our end, so when my group and I get the chance, we will change this to add full first and last name.

    Moreover, some of the constructive criticism that I gave for other people in my group was that Daniela had what I thought was too long and too repetitive of shots where her character was blowing out a candle in slow motion, I suggested to her that she should either take out one of the shots, or take it out of slow motion. Another suggestion I gave was to Robert, and I told him that he should take into consideration the fact that the movie opening should be indicative of the fact that there is more movie to come, and should feel like it is just the beginning. I told him this because he didn't grasp this concept and I don't think he was taking it into consideration when working on his project, but after I told him this, he agreed with me and is now going to slightly alter his story and filming so that it feels like there is more to come.

Post Production Post (editing)

     The majority of the camera work and editing will be handled by Arthur as that is what he knows very well and he knows much more than both Diego and I, but on my own, I did edit slightly, as I put together all the clips to see how everything would flow and if the scenes would match up (I did this after the first time we shot which was last week). But because of this, we were able to catch flaws and come up with solutions to eventually fix them for the next time we shot.

This screenshot shows the process of me adding all the clips together on Capcut, which isn't a necessarily good or advanced editing software, but it got the job done for what I was looking for.

    This screenshot depicts a similar thing as the last but it more specifically shows one of the imperfections that we found within the shooting. And that is that we think that this scene is slightly too dark (our teacher also told us this), but the thought is good and we are going in the right direction. (We ended up redoing this shot in a different and better-lit location on our next day of shooting and it turned out pretty good we think)

Post Production (editing)

 

    Arthur is the person in our group who is handling all the editing and what he has been doing is putting all the clips together and using very simple but commonly used transitions in horror to create the flow of the movie and set the pace. Furthermore, in the gap that we have set in between shots, Arthur is adding red text that reads the producer, director, and things of that nature. Furthermore, he added an eerie lullaby in the background when the screen cuts to black and as the credits roll, this not only relates to the title and story of the opening relating to a doll, but it also plays into the genre characteristics of horror movies, where there is commonly an eerie song when the credits roll.

In addition to this in class, we helped Arthur time up the shots perfectly so we can use the glass as an indicator of transition because in a few shots, when the main character puts the glass down, the glass is used as part of the transition and it cuts to the next scene where the main character puts the glass down again.

Research for CCR

Research for CCR

    In class, my teacher went over what is expected for the CCR and we went over many tips and things to help us complete the CCR which is what this blog post is going to include.

    Tips for "How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?"

- Start by discussing genre conventions - cite where you found the given information

- Next, discuss why you chose not to challenge genre conventions

-End with a discussion of representation, remember that representation refers to the choices made in how individuals, groups, events, and, issues are illustrated within a production

    Tips for "How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text?"

-Discuss how you arrived at your target audience, cite necessary research

-Discuss how your production choices, content, etc. work to engage with your target audience

-Next, discuss how you plan to make your film available to audiences

-Responses should address realistic options for an amateur filmmaker. For example: you would not release your film worldwide to theatres, this is only an option for major productions

    Tips for "How did your production skills develop throughout this project?"

-Reflect on your progress throughout the production

-Discuss how you begin with research and planning, and offer specific details about both of these processes 

-Discuss your approach to production. What did you have to change or adapt as you worked on the project?

- End with a reflection on where you started and where you ended. You may also discuss previous projects completed in class and how they helped you to develop you portfolio project

    Tips for "How did you integrate technologies – software, hardware and online – in this project?"

-Begin with discussing any techniques that you used while producing the project 

-Discuss hardware-camera, lighting, mics, phones, tripods, dollies, etc.

-Discuss software, editing, planning, blogging, etc.

    Overall tips

-Time limit for the entire CCR 11 minutes
-Create a script

- Present information creatively, don't rely on the "talking heads"

-You must include research and cite it in your CCR

Production Post

 

    My group and I continued our filming from where we last left off which was the outside scenes. When we were reviewing our footage of the outside scenes we didn't feel as though they were up to par. Because of this, we decided to film another day and dedicate it solely to filming the outside scene after the bar again. In addition to just filming, we changed a few things to make the setting and story fit in more with what we were trying to portray, and a horror movie. For example: one thing we changed was that instead of filming the scene of the main character drunkenly walking into the street next to houses, we went further into my neighborhood and filmed it on a street that led to the main road where there were also cars passing, adding to the realism. Also, the change in location was helpful because another knock we had on the previous takes was that it was too dark, and in the new location the lighting is much better, whilst also still maintaining the dimly lit, eerie, and dark vibe that is a characteristic of horror movies.

BTS of second day filming outside

    This video that is linked shows Arthur as he is filming me acting out the scene of the main character drunkenly wandering. But this isn't the take that we are going to use as we weren't convinced about the acting part and felt as though the trip was unrealistic, so we took another take and we were more pleased as a group all together.

Production Post

 Production Post Speaking on Props

    The main prop we used for the first day of filming, to film the bar scene was this empty bottle of Tequila that my parents had lying around. So, my group and I cleaned it, and filled it with apple juice as that was what we were using to recreate alcohol. In one of the shots in the scene, the bartender opens the bottle and pours the main character another drink, so the prop comes in very handy, and I think just adds and an extra hint of realism to the opening. Furthermore, we chose apple juice as it has a similar tint to a glass of whiskey, and especially with the lighting that the bar features, the golden brownness of the apple looks even more like that of a glass of whiskey on the rocks.

  

    The link shown features a funny fail from the shooting of the bar scene, where I (portraying the main character) try to take a sip out of the glass filled with apple juice (supposed to be whiskey) and a cube of ice somehow comes flowing out of the glass. Moments like these are nice because they provide a laugh break from the seriousness of filming and planning, and really make the whole process enjoyable. There were many more moments like this that took place during the first day of filming, this one is just my favorite.

funny fail from filming

Production Post

 The second part of filming day 1 (outside)

    The second part of our day 1 of filming was the process of trying to perfectly capture the scene of the main character drunkenly stumbling around while walking outside at night as he is trying to reach his home. This part of the filming process came with much more complications than the expected, and than the inside part of filming. For one, my dog could not stop barking at my group members, so I had to put him inside. And sprinklers were going off which slightly ruined the sound that was recorded with the video. Lastly, the overall look of the footage was not up to the par that we wanted, as the filming was too dark and the setting didn't perfectly represent what we wanted for the opening.

(Image of Arthur getting camera ready for outside shot)

    BTS of outside filming

    The link above shows the behind the scenes of Arthur filming me as we try to get on of our shots for the outside scene, but after reviewing all the footage and speaking to each other in class, we came to the conclusion as a group that all of the footage is too dark and we are going to need to refilm all of it, changing up the lighting and shots a little bit, and also shooting it a little bit further down the street where there is more light posts and less houses. 

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.