Re-Filming Blog: Final Scene

     To start, it was extremely hard to get all my group members to come out to film the last scene of our film. We also had some things to re film but thats besides the point. Everyone’s parents are getting worried about the spread of the coronavirus so we had to agree on a specific date in which all of our parents would let us out. This date was April 1st. We all went over to my house to fix up some angles and shots that we could of did better on then headed to the cemetery for the final scene. To be honest, it wasn't necessary to bring have everyone present, but the group effort is what counts. I am the main actor, so I played my role while Maya and Thomas switched off filming. This scene was probably the easiest for me. All I had to do was act surprised and emotional. This was easy because I have lost someone I loved in the past so I could easily relate to this scene.
     After we finished filming, I suggested we film the same scene a couple more times. This was just in case we had to do this same thing again: re-film. In this way, we have several cuts and shots to choose from. More options allows for less mistakes. Although they did not want to film again initially, I convinced them. They agreed that it was smarter and safer to do so. Realistically, it will also save us more time. We only have a week until our final product is due and we cannot afford anymore re-film or re-edit meetings. This will only impede on how productive my group can be and can result in not only a bad grade from our teachers, but a bad score from Cambridge. I wanted to make it easier for all of us. Even though we stayed at the cemetery for another 20 minutes, it was ultimately worth it because it will make it easier for us to edit.

Re-Editing Blog

     Unfortunately, my group and I were unable to meet because of the coronavirus pandemic. Even though I’m allowed to leave the house, the rest of my group mates aren’t. Because of this obstacle, we had to resort to technology. Me and my group members had to hop on FaceTime to complete our re-edits together. Even though it seemed a little difficult at first, it went pretty smoothly. Everyone had an idea of what edits and sounds they wanted to include and it was not hard to compromise. After talking about it for about five minutes, we agreed that their should be a suspenseful soundtrack playing behind the scene where our main character is introduced. This will help to set the tone for out thriller. Once our main character goes to knock on the door, however, we all agreed that their should be a sudden silence. This will evoke q sense of uncertainty within the audience.
     To go further, we also agreed that our cuts should be similar and not too fancy. This will make our opening seem more movie-like. Although it would be cool to add some extra transitions, we agreed that it would be better to make our film seem more realistic. Considering it is about an important issue, we wouldn’t want to make it seem as if we were making fun of it. It would be best if we kept everything rather basic. To state something that I should have before, Amelia is the one editing our film. Therefore, all of the information I have listed here, I have told to Amelia. She continued the editing for our film with iMovie, and I trust her because she has lots of experience with technology. Overall, our re-editing “meeting” was a success. We didn’t argue, we finished quickly, and we didn’t really change much.

Editing Blog

          Although I was not physically present with Amelia and to edit our footage, I stayed on FaceTime with both her and Maya the entire time. Amelia was editing our film on iMovie, which was ultimately beneficial. We all have edited on iMovie before so we were relatively familiar with the editing software. i Movie also gives us access to a lot more transition and image effects that Pinnacle Studios does not have. This will give us the opportunity to spice up our film and make it more appealing to future audiences. When it came the time to actually hop on the phone and edit together, we realized we needed more footage. Our transitions weren't flowing smoothly, neither were they coming together the way we imagined. Originally, I imagined our film to virtually be movie-like, with several cuts and effects in between scenes. However, it wasn't quite coming out this way. There were long pauses and we didn't really have a lot to choose from in order to at least try and fix it.
          Because we realized a re-film date, I am going to dedicate this paragraph to our re-filming ideas and how we are going to incorporate them into the final product of our film (meaning fully shot and edited). Firstly, the scenes we feel like we need the most work for are scenes 3, 4, and 5. This is because this is where the first suspenseful part of our film emerges. This is also where a tonal shift in our film is created. We need to make sure we choose the right music to effectively create this shift. We also need to make sure that we make the tonal shift in our film clear. We can do this by putting more emphasis on a certain sound when its time for the shift to take place. In order to effectively create more transition effects, we have to make sure we have a large selection of footage. This will make it easier for us to have more cuts in our film as well as make less room for mistakes. It will also shorten the time needed to finalize our project because we will have to do less re-filming.

         
       

Peer Review

         
          Today, my group I started and finished peer reviewing another group's footage. This was quite helpful and insightful because it gave us something to compare our film to. This comparison gave us room for lots of improvement. For example, the transitioning presented in our peer's film was extremely smooth and realistic. We wanted to mimic these transitions and cuts in our film. We believe it will not only make our film run smoother, but it will make it more tolerable to fully watch. From watching our peer's film, we also concluded that we need to make the shots we are trying to include more clear. To be more specific, in the film we were reviewing tried to incorporate an eye-line match but it wasn't really made effective because the transitions were so fast. In order to fully emphasize what was being revealed, they could have zoomed in on it or let the shot run a little longer. This would have ensured that the audience was fully engaged in their film (this goes the other way too, meaning it applies to our group's film as well).
          From peer reviewing, I also learned that a strong and suitable introductory sound track is very important to an audience's perception of your film. In my peer's film, they introduced the characters in the beginning with this soothing music in the background. This made the beginning of the film appealing and therefore also made my group and I want to keep watching it. In order to make sure this same effect is created in our film, we have to decide upon a strong sound track. Since our film is thriller, we want to make sure the music we embed in our film evokes the fear and suspense that most thrillers create. Not only this but, our film starts off with a boy who is more than excited to see his biological mom (after 15 years). If we make a contrast between the music in the beginning of the film to when he finds out his mom is "dead", this could effectively create a tonal shift in our film. This will help build upon our genre because it will intensify our film's suspense. This contrast in music will also create two different feels to the movie. We want our audience to actually be engaged in our film (we don't want them watching it because they are simply forced to). Therefore, we will make sure we use these reflections to better improve our overall film.

Filming Blog: A Change in Plans

          Our plans to film on Wednesday were followed through. Every member of our group, including my neighbor, Nick, was able to show up and participate. We all went to my house together straight after school so it was extremely convenient. Upon entering my house, we realized that we didn't have someone to play the role of the old lady in our film. So, we started brainstorming a way to maintain the same conventions included in our genre with only two actors. We also changed the setting of our film. Instead of filming at my house, we are now filming at Nick's. We believed this will be easier for us since his house is bigger and is always illuminated by natural light. Although this meant that we had to re-film our first two scenes, it was ultimately worth it. This is because it would make our film better in the long run.
          Overall, we filmed about six scenes. Although they weren't all done chronologically, we made sure they were shot well enough to edit them together. Some shots we made sure we included were over the shoulder shots, a two-shot, a couple close ups, and a point of view shot. The over the shoulder shots and the the two shot were mainly used to illustrate conversation between Nick and I. The close ups and point of view shots were used to reveal specific characters as well as the setting of the film (Nick's house). Some shots and editing features that we need to include are an action match and an establishing shot. We plan to make the establishing shot at Nick's house. We also planned to create our action match in another way. Instead of pursuing the cup to knock idea, we decided to slightly change the ending of our film. Instead of the mom being dead, she is still alive which intensifies the dramatic irony asserted in our movie. We are going to use the action match to transition into the scene where we tell the audience she is still alive.

Filming Blog: Opening Scene

          Unfortunately, Amelia was unable to attend our first filming meeting as a group. This hindered how many scenes we could actually film (because we didn't have enough actors) and forced us to only be able to film the opening scene of our movie. Because we are now on a time crunch, we are planning to meet after school on Wednesday to finish filming. Hopefully all group members will be able to attend. Not only this, but we did not have a tripod or camera when we filmed on Saturday. This made it harder to incorporate some of the shots we wanted. However, we still made progress. For example, to film the point of view shot of our main character walking up to his grandmother's house, we wrapped two rubber bands around Thomas' phone and my head. Even though it was slightly difficult to get the phone situated at first, we were able to get the shots we needed. This was probably the hardest thing we did that day.
          To go more in depth about what happened on Saturday, it is important to note that Maya and Thomas were helping one another film while I was acting. I played the role of our movie's main character, Alex. Unfortunately, there were only two scenes that Alex played by himself in. Therefore, we were only able to complete a couple of scenes. In fact, because Amelia was not there, we asked my neighbor to take her place and play the uncle (instead of the aunt) of Alex. Considering these accommodations we made, I believe we were quite productive. We will also still be using my neighbor as an actor in our film. All we need to figure out now is who will be playing the grandma/old lady in our film. We are considering using my neighbor's mom or Thomas' grandma. We will have to further discuss this collectively to agree upon a median.

Filming Blog: My House

          Unfortunately, my group and I have yet to film. However, we are planning to film on Saturday at my house. Therefore, I am going to dedicate this blog to what my group and I are planning to do that day. This will include angles we would like to incorporate, back-up plans, and most importantly, the shots for specific scenes. I believe that even though we haven’t started filming, our final product will still come out how we want it. This is because I think we have prepared ourselves enough for this moment. I also think that we all have a good, general grasp of what we want our movie to look like. This is good because it will allow us to critique each other during the filming process. This will thus make less room for silly errors or mistakes in our final product. It will also speed up our re-filming process because we will already know what we need to make better or improve.
          To start, my and group and I will be splitting up our filming times. This is significant because this means we will not be filming everything this Saturday. We will only be filming the first five scenes. These five scene require all of us to be there. While Maya is going to be directing, Thomas, Amelia, and I will play the roles of the characters in our movie. To be honest, we don’t really have set acting roles because we made out actors flexible (based on gender, race, etc). Therefore, it doesn’t matter who plays who because we all know what is required of us if we are forced to play a character we don’t necessarily like or enjoy being. On the other hand, we don’t really have to worry about a set mis-en-scene or any unexpected obstacles. This is because we are filming at my house which will provide us with all the props, costumes, and lighting needed to effectively create our film. This in-house setting will also prevent any unplanned weather patterns to get in the way of our filming time.  I strongly believe our filming process with go smoothly because of all these factors.

Even if the weather channel is right and it rains on Saturday, this will not effect us because we will be filming inside anyway.