Ohh transitions, why do you make my life complicated?

       Hello everyone. I’ve been on the hunt for the perfect “cliché high school-feel” kind of song you hear at the beginning of all school-related films. I found two. It was so hard to get a good song for free that is also copyright free. But I finally found the one and I believe it fits perfectly with the body movements seen through the actors. I did have a tiny obstacle come my way once I began to put the footage together. Turns out in the paper ball that has the message “I know it will be worth it” the words weren’t as visible and legible as I thought it was. After thinking how I was going to fix it, I decided I was going o simply do a voice over, giving it that effect of when the reader can hear the writer's voice in their head. Turns out it sounds great! 

       After editing a bit more I realized that the flow of the the main scenes was a bit off, therefore I began to add in some transitions in order to help create a smoother shift. It looks better than before, however I will continue to work on it because I believe it can still look better than it does right now.

Time for fun and no sleep!

       I began to edit today, and although it takes a lot of time, I love editing my projects. I find it so cool how all of these long, random footages can be converted and merged into something awesome! So far it is looking good, however, it's a bit challenging editing the scenes that I took that are the same shots but in different angles. Also, as I began to edit, I noticed that the car scene I had shot for the beginning looked too out of place, therefore I began with the actors running into a gated, prohibited area. I believe it looks better now and makes more sense.
       I plan to film the pool scene sometime today or tomorrow and finish off the week with the school scene so that then I can finish most of the editing by the end of this weekend.
       Not gonna lie, I am a bit scared of the pool shot because I know it will be challenging with the lighting in the pool as well as making sure it's a tight enough shot in order to make it look realistic without the background looking like it was actually done in the pool.
       Also, now that I remember, I think I will have to retake the scene of Callie crying over Brandon's death; or at least take more shots of it in different angles, because it seems to plain. However, overall I am enjoying the outcome of the shots and editing.

Let the filming Begin!

       Today I began to film at Markham Park for the "running away" scene! To start off, (although it doesn't really relate much to the project itself) I've realized that the actors I always get for my projects start off not so excited to act at all and look as if this was an obligation, but whenever I begin to start the filming process, they end up loving it and having the time of their lives. They get so excited and begin to say stuff like"Oh, what if we do this" or "Maybe we can do that" or " Damnn that looked so cool" or "Yeah, we should retake that scene". And they begin to give so many suggestions that at one point it's like, shhh it's my project buddy, hahahaha. Anyways, the filming went great, my actors had fun and I got great shots.
       However, I did have two minor obstacles in the way. First, it began to rain towards the end of the filming process. At first I thought it would look cool to have it rain in my shooting because it would help set more of the mood I was looking for since it was the moment the guy was going to die, and it's well known for it to rain in films whenever someone important dies, but turns out it would have been a struggle later. Why? Because since the dying scene has to take place in a pool, this scene was going to be shot on a separate day, and you never really know when it will rain or not. Therefore, because I have to connect two separate scenes from two different days, it would make it a bit of a problem. But yes, it would've looked really cool. Therefore, we had to retake those scenes after waiting for the rain to die out in order to make sure this wouldn't become am issue in the future.
       The second obstacle, more of a small disliking of mine, is that the scenes didn't come out as dark as I wished for it to come out. I wanted this scene to be dark so it gives it more of a suspense/thriller feel to it. Therefore I am going to have to play around with the editing with the colors to see if I can fix that problem.

Told you they were having fun ;)

Funny Complications

Hey guys! I have a fun little story for you guys today. So earlier today I filmed the school scene, which I thought was only going to take a few minutes, meaning 10 minutes the most. Let me tell you, I was awfully mistaken, took 40 minutes total! This scene had to include a bit of flirty body movement in order to portray the interest Brandon had in Callie from the start and Callie’s curiosity. When we were about to start I asked Deven (whom is Brandon) if he knew how to wink, more as a joke because what guy doesn’t know how to wink? Every guy should know how to wink! Turns out he didn’t and his attempt wasn’t any helpful either. After taking a million shots of trying to get him to look flirty, because he couldn’t even smirk sexy, I began to brainstorm as he took a break to eat lunch. When I looked up he made this amazing facial expression as he ate his food and turned around looking my way to ask what was next. I couldn’t help but to yell out “That! That was it do that! Think of food”. Moral of the story, if you ever want a guy to put a “sexy” look, have your man think of food, that’ll do the trick. Anywaysss, it brought us all a good laugh trying to figure this out. Once I get home I plan to edit this part and find the perfect song to fit the school shots.

Good afternoon! Today in class we completed a peer-group discussion about the ideas of our projects; whether it was a magazine or film. We dedicated 10 minutes to each person in order to listen to the idea and give an suggestions. When it was my turn, I told them my idea as I showed them my blog. The students liked my idea, however, they were concerned with my timing because it seems to be too long for the time we are given. They gave me a good idea on a way that I could make it more understandable for the audience on how the school scene will connect with the first scene of them running away. This idea was to have the guy, whom I’ve changed the name to be Brandon, to say “It was worth it” right before he dies, which is what is seen on the paper at school.  I loved this group discussion we had and hope to have another one soon in order to show my peers what I have so far.

After the discussion, I timed myself saying the narrative part I plan to have in order to work my way around it and my timing. Turns out the full narrative part will be thirty seconds total. Therefore, I decided thirty seconds will focus from the running away scene to the moment where Brandon dies. Then thirty seconds will follow with the narrative, and lastly a whole minute will include the whole school scene.

Good morning! After thinking long and hard, I decided my location for the film recording will change. I will be filming within Markham Park in order to capture the scene of the kids running through the woods. I will continue to seek for the perfect, dark sunset look. for the underwater take, I have decided to use a pool and simply focus the camera on the body and minimizing the amount of background seen, in order to give it an effect as if it occurred at a lake, not a pool. I will begin filming this week, which is actually very exciting.

      Hi, everyone! I have been working on my storyboard lately as well as deciding where and how I am going to be filming my shots. For the location, I need a pretty specific scenario for majority of the film. It has to be a place with woods that also has enough space to run and film in. I will then need clear waters near a dock or an edge that isn’t so tall so that my actor can fall in as well as allowing me to have the chance to film a perfect shot underwater and over-the-water shot. One of the problems is, is that we live in Florida, and well, there's a good amount of sharks and alligators in our watery areas. We need to find a safe place to film, because I along with my actor will spend a good amount of time in the water. Also, it has to be clear waters, and in case you didn't know this before, Florida is known to be very swampy. By being swampy, this means waters tend to look "muddy" and this would seem like a bit of an obstacle I will eventually have to work around to get a good shot in. However, to get this perfect location the nearest spots would be at least a 5 hour drive. Guess it’s time for a road trip!

      Another challenge I will be facing is the lighting I visualize in my head that I want to see in my film. I believe a dark sunset will be the perfect lighting in order to help set the mood of tension, mystery and suspense. In other words, when we film with the actual sunset, the takes have to be perfect on the first or second try because these sunsets leave real quick. And that makes my life complicated. But I know it’ll be worth it. (Hahaha how ironic, as I wrote that sentence I realized it is the same exact phrase I want my character to write down on the paper ball in the film opening). Therefore, we will have to get there early in order to practice all of the acts for each scene in order to have the perfect one once it comes time to actually film the legit shot. The scenario is beautiful though, we are all excited to meet this new place and explore.