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.