Challenges in Film

Hello! Today, I'll be discussing the challenges that my group and I faced during filming. 

During filming, the challenges we faced were props, acting, and remembering our script. For example, when it came to Kamryn acting, our group couldn't maintain composure and burst out laughter because she started laughing out of nowhere. There were also problems with gathering props and costumes as we either didn't have the items available or needed to ask other teachers to permit us into using their items. Then there would be times when Veronica couldn't remember her line in the script. These challenges caused us to keep redoing certain scenes over and over. We handled the situation by recording the scenes over while maintaining patience and practicing our acting. 

For lighting, we didn't have much problem with lighting as the setting of most of our scenes involved high-key lighting.

As for sounds, we are having a bit of trouble getting clearer sounds from certain movements and the actor's dialogue. We've decided to record the sounds separately and overlay the sounds of the clips if we run into an issue. 

I believe everyone is pulling their weight as we are trying our best to help make the film possible. Niliem and I helped direct and record the scenes while Kamryn and Veronica made sure to act the part of our characters during filming. 

Preparing to Film

Hello! Today, I'm going to be talking about my group's preparations when it comes to us filming our movie opener. 

When we are preparing to film, some of the challenges that we could encounter is making a schedule of when we are filming. Things like our availability and where we live could affect our schedule and slow down the filming process. Filming itself might also be a challenge as we are trying to act and get satisfactory clips. Niliem will mainly be recording while the rest of us will be acting. The easy parts of preparing a film is gathering the props. We'll all contribute to bringing props.

Actors: The actors contain Veronica Madrid, acting as Dr. Elena, Kamryn May as the patient, Claire, and I’ll be acting as both the ill husband and the receptionist at the “clinic.”

Costumes: The costumes that will be used throughout the film is casual clothing, formal attire for the receptionist, and a doctor’s uniform

Props: The props we are going to be using is fake blood, possibly a stethoscope, a computer, stacks of paper, clipboard and a cloth.   

Locations: The locations where we will be filming is at someone’s home and at the school, hoping that we're able to get permission to use the clinic.

Dates and Times: The dates we have planned so far to start filming is January 28th, February 4th, February 11th, February 18th, February 25th, March 4th and so forth. All the filming will take place from 3pm-6pm.

Scripts:

Scene 2:

Doctor Elena: "Alright Claire, I will call you once I get your labs back. Have a good day"

Claire: "You too, bye." 

Scene 3: 

Doctor Elena: "Hello, am I speaking to Claire?

Claire: "Yes, this is Claire."

Doctor Elena: "Hi Claire, this is Dr. Elena, calling from the clinic. I'm calling you regarding the results that we received from your recent labs a few days ago. I'm afraid that we have found complications regarding your heart. 

Claire: "What is it?"

Doctor Elena: "On our charts, your blood has shown very elevated troponin. Have you felt any symptoms recently?"

Claire: "I haven't felt anything, what does that mean?"

Doctor Elena: "Feeling no symptoms while having high levels of troponin could indicate asymptomatic heart failure, early stages of heart failure. If possible, I would like to schedule an appointment with you at another clinic to talk about possible solutions, in 2 days at 6 pm. Are you able do that?"

Claire: "Yes, that would be fine."

Scene 4:

Receptionist: "Welcome miss, do you have an appointment here?"

Claire: "Yes, it's under Claire, for 6 pm."

Receptionist: "Alright, just sign your name on this check-in sheet and you may enter her office now."

Claire: "Thank you." 

Scene 5:

Doctor Elena: "Hi Claire, sorry for the short notice. I wanted to make sure you get treated as soon as possible."

Claire: No worries. What are my treatment options?"

Doctor Elena: A safe and efficient option that I would highly recommend is a CABG surgery, which can help improve your cardiac functions. May I proceed with it?"

Claire: Yes. When can I start?

Doctor Elena: "Now."

Claire: "Wha-" 

Film Equipment: The equipment that we will be using is our personal devices like phones, and a microphone to capture sounds throughout the film.

Initial Storyboard

Hello! Today in class, me and my group were assigned to create a storyboard that will allow us to draft and visualize what our movie opener could potentially look like. This also helps us as a group understand what elements are going to be involved into the making. I've presented a draft of ideas of what each scene should include and look like. My group members, Veronica and Niliem, presented thoroughly on how each scene should play out while Kamryn contributed to the ideas of what transitions we should use. 

Scene 1: This scene starts with Dr. Elena and her ill husband, Daniel, laying unconscious on a hospital bed. She received the news that her husband is going to die soon if he doesn't get a heart transplant soon. Unless a miracle happened, he was destined to die. In that moment, she is having a breakdown.

In the process, a two-shot is being used to display the intense, heart-aching situation that goes on between them. It creates a sorrowful mood for the audience. Then non-diegetic sounds like Elena's weeping, faint breathing of the husband, and sounds of the monitors are played in that scene. A straight cut is then used to transition to the next scene.

Mood board for Movie Opener

Hello! Today, we are assigned to create a mood board that correlates with the movie opener that my group will be working on. 

In this mood board, I wanted to capture fear and suspense from the mood board because it’s a horror movie. I decided to use color schemes like red and black. The black color gives off an ominous, mysterious vibe to the board. Of course, there's a lot of red because there's going to be blood involved since it involves a crazy surgeon. The blood spatters on the mood board also gives hints that it's going to be a horror movie. I included elements such as a scalpel and a heart as there's a cardio thoracic surgeon involved, doing a heart surgery on the victim. I also inputted images like a distressed woman, which represents the state of the surgeon, who gets all distressed because of her severely ill husband, shown in one of the pictures. The Polaroid photo of a woman is the victim that will eventually get murdered by the surgeon herself. Some of the pictures involves a doctor’s office and an operating room, showing where the setting of the opener takes place. I chose pictures with a low-key lighting, as it gives off a mysterious vibe to the picture. 

Final Idea for Movie Opener

Hello! Today in class, my group and I have decided to to stick with our original idea as our final idea for our movie opener from our previous blogposts. 

Our storyline consists of a protagonist named Dr. Elena Marquez, a refined cardiac surgeon who goes into a spiral when she found out her husband, Daniel, suffered from severe organ failure. His doctors noted that he doesn't have much time and needs a organ transplant. Despite her efforts, she couldn't get him a donor quick enough, so she goes through illegal and inhumane efforts of finding a healthy donor herself.

When it comes to our project, I'm excited about the whole idea of creating a horror movie opener with my friends. What I'm mainly excited about is when I get to add my creativeness into the editing part to bring our opener to life. There's a lot of things I worry about when we start the production of our opener. This involves time management, props, acting, and the overall execution of our project. I'm worried that with a storyline a bit complexed, we might have a hard time because of where we live, so it makes it hard to film. 

View Other Student Work

Hello! For today, we are doing our midterm in class, viewing and critiquing other student's work from the past. 

Dare To Thrill

1. Strengths that I found was their tracking shots when it came to recording the teens driving. Their editing also created some tension to the opening. The weaknesses that I found with the opening was the audio. You couldn't hear much of the dialogue because the background music was too loud. I also One takeaway that I could consider using for our opener is using a track to be able to get smooth, camera movement. 

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=nYpjHCwRO6Q

The Blue Boar

2. Strengths that I found was the audio. The dialogue was loud and clear, and the background music didn't overpower the dialogue. I also liked the dolly shot, following the girl walking into a forest. The weaknesses that I found was the shakiness of the camera. Most of the camera shots were all too shaky. I also didn't get the story line as much because the title of the opening was called the "Blue Boar," but nothing in the opening didn't relate much with the title. One takeaway I would grab from the move opener is using a voiceover in order for the audience the clearly hear the dialogue.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvMH-1XdR9c

White Coat

3. Strengths that I found was the eerie background sounds. The sounds give a thrilling, mysterious vibe to the movie opening. The use of low-key lighting also added some sort of suspense to the setting in the movie. Weaknesses that I found was their editing and lighting. For editing, the beginning of the opening was face-paced, then slow at the ending, which disrupted the flow. The lighting in the movie was kind of too low, so you couldn't see much of the props they used. One takeaway I would take from the movie is using low-key lighting to our movie opener since the genre of our opener is thriller and horror. 

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=dvAsmo32uo0

Stalker

4. Strengths that I found in the opening was the close-up shot of her face when she heard the camera shots, showing her shocked face. Weaknesses that I was able to find in the opener was the sound. The sound of the overall movie was too low and the abrupt uses of sounds they use near the end didn't sound realistic or disrupted the flow. The black screen with the title Stalker in the middle seemed weird as they should've added in the beginning. One takeaway that I would possibly use is the transitions that change from one setting to another. 

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxIZJKdc-Sw&feature=youtu.be

Rise

5. Strengths that I found was the audio and the camera shots. I like the music they used to keep you upbeat. The music also went on beat with the shots. I liked that they used an action match, where the player kicked the soccer ball, which then cut to another shot of the ball he kicked going into the net. The credits at the end were also a nice touch. Weaknesses that I found in the shot was the ending. I founded the abrupt close-up shots of the two guys at the end, facing each other. One takeaway I would consider is using cohesive editing that allows the audience the understand the storyline in the opener more. 

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9AKdUT8nyg&feature=youtu.be

Dear Lover

 6. Strengths that I was able to get from the movie opener was the sounds and the voiceover. The use of romantic music enforces the title "Dear Lover" more. The voiceover allows the audience to understand the protagonist's inner thoughts. The use of white vignette to indicate a flashback was also a nice touch in the editing. Weaknesses that I found was the low dialogue between the main protagonist and her "lover." The conversation between them was a bit low. You couldn't hear the lover too much. As for a takeaway, I would consider is editing flashbacks into the opener as a way to reveal the protagonist's past.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_bKQDg6fiI&feature=youtu.be

Brainstorm/Ideas

Hello again! Today in class, my group and I are starting to brainstorm ideas of possible storylines we could do to make our movie opener.

Possible Storyline

Genre: Horror, Thriller

Roles in the opener:

- Doctor: Veronica

- Dying husband: Niliem

- Patient: Kamryn

Roles for production:

- Veronica is helping record scenes and manage the social media 

- Niliem is going to help with editing 

- Kamryn is going to help with sounding

- I am going to be providing the props, recording sound and edit the opener

Plot: A specialized transplant surgeon named Elena Marquez is well-known for her years of successful transplants within the area. She has a husband named Daniel, who she was wedded with for decades. Elena started to notice symptoms like fatigue, appetite loss, and even fainting from her husband. Later on, her husband was diagnosed with severe organ failure. His doctor said that without an transplant, he would possibly die in less than 3 weeks. With the high demand of organ transplants, it would take years to get on the list. Desperate, Elena decided to go through a inhumane method to get her husband the transplant, by any means.

Preliminary Exercise

Hello! During today’s session, the class were assigned to take / make 4 images that has a certain meaning behind it. The purpose of this activity is to demonstrate our understanding of composition. We are then supposed to write a commentary, explaining our decisions when shoot and a reflection, explaining how to improve our skills.

1. In this picture, I wanted to do a shot of a person having a hard time studying for their upcoming exams. During the shot, I decided to do the location at a library since that's usually the typical place where students borrow books and study there. I used SAT books as props for this picture. Then I told the actress in the picture to convey an annoyed, sad reaction to the opened book while ruffling her hair as a sign of struggle. I did a close-up shot to be able to show the reaction of the person's face. As for what I could have done to improve it, I should've framed the camera more close to her face to capture even more of her expression. I should have also chose an area with book shelves to further indicate that we're in a library. 

2. In this picture, I wanted to capture someone who is watching a sad show in their room at night. In order to execute the shot, I chose the dark bedroom with low-key lighting as the location because a lot of people would watch movies in the comfort of their own home. As for props, I used tissues as to show how sad the person is while watching their show, a laptop displaying the movie, chips, and a stuffed animals as for emotional support. I also decided to do it in a POV shot for the audience to feel immerse into the scene as they are part of it. If I could improve it, I would fixed the lighting so that the props in the picture could be more visible while the background remains dark. I would've also liked to angle the camera higher to capture more of the setting. 

3. For this next picture, I wanted to capture an altercation between two friends at a library. I used a two-shot for this picture. The location took place. I had the actress on the right grip the hair on the other actress to further enhance the fight between them. To improve it, I should've picked a different location instead of a library, probably more outside. As for the framing, I could've backed up a bit to show more of their body figures. For the action in the shot, I would have liked it if the actresses were more aggressive and have had angry expressions to help the audience understand the context of the scene more.

4. For the last picture, I wanted to capture the scenery of the bright city at night. For the location, this was taken at a a city. I wanted to take the picture at night to be able to visually enhance the beautiful scenery of the lights emitted from the city. I did an establishing shot because I wanted to show the audience the whole, overall location. Since its an establishing scene, there aren't any props to be displayed. To improve it, I could've zoomed the camera a bit to be able to see the city more.

Primary Research - Auditing Media Skills / Members

 Hello! Today in class, we were asked to fill out an audit chart that helps us understand more about our skills for when we start producing our own movie opener for the AICE exam. Based on my chart, I am more skilled at editing and recording sound rather than filming or posting on social media. Then we were asked to form a group for our production. My group consist of members which involves:

- Veronica Madrid: While she is exceptional at producing social media, using her camera, and writing to convey a purpose to the audience, she's not decent at using editing software.

- Kamryn Phonesoukseum: Kamryn i

- Niliem Valdes: 

 

Skill	I am good at this	I can do this but need to improve	I need to acquire this skill
Using camera (photography or video) including those built into a mobile phone		✔
Recording sound either on its own or as part of a video	✔
Using light for effect, either in still photography or moving image	✔
Using video or photo editing software	✔
Using desk-top publishing software		✔
Writing for specific purposes and audiences		✔
Producing social media such as Instagram, Youtube, Tiktok, Facebook			✔
Using online applications to enhance the meaning of texts, for example Prezzi, Powtoon, Slideshare		✔