Week 5 Post 2: Day 1 Shooting Reflection

Cambridge Portfolio Project

Day 1 Reflection

-My main takeaway from today that you should always have everything planned out. Today was mostly a practice shoot, since my actor had something rescheduled to the day of filming, so we couldn't get the blue sky shots I needed. But despite this it was a valuable learning experience. Coming into this I didn't have a solidified shot list, so I sorta just played around with things, seeing what worked. But I did get one shot I really liked, which is definitely going in the final cut. One plus is that when I go back to film on Sunday, the set is already set up, which saves time, not having to set it up all over again. Then I also can just ride my bike there, cuz before I had to hitch a ride with all the stuff in a big box. and yea thats kind of it

also check out this sick highlight

Week 5 Post 1: Planning Update

 Cambridge Portfolio Project

Planning Update

-As of writing this, I am pretty much ready to shoot. All that is left to be done is finalize the script and schedule shooting days. Shooting this week is set in stone but I'm working to fit around everyone's schedules. We will most likely shoot Thursday and Friday. The crew I assembled consists of me, my 2 actors, and one of my friends to just help out with general things. Due to personal matters regarding one of my friends who was gonna be in this, I had to write their character out of the project, which slightly set me back.  (also here's the permission to use the previously mentioned song--------->)

Also I was in my friends project for this class cuz he's gonna be in mine so 👍

MON-WED

during this period of time, I will get the era accurate TV from Facebook marketplace in my possession, and solidify the schedule with my crew

THURSDAY

I will film the majority of scenes needed

FRIDAY

I will shoot anything I didn't have time to do on Thursday, and reshoot any necessary shots

Week 4 Post 4: Set Dressing

 Cambridge Portfolio Project

Set Dressing

-I am planning to film my project at my friend's house in his room, which I picked for three reasons, he is acting in my project, he lives really close to me, and its nice and open to fit equipment and people at a distance from the actual set. I went and printed out a bunch of album covers of nu-metal bands like drowning pool, kittie, limp bizkit, etc. and other time appropriate stuff. I also plan to use my xbox 360 in the set, and get an old tv off of facebook marketplace for like a dollar. I also took down my pantera flag and my The Clash flag from my room and put them in a box of stuff. I also grabbed some articles of clothing including a couple pairs of jeans, a band tee, and an affliction tee, which is another popular brand from the time. I took most of the stuff and put it in a box to bring to the set. I also have a guitar and amp I intend to put in the set, showing that the main character is musically talented. And finally I plan to put dorito bags and cans of monster around to make the set feel more lived in, and not like it was cobbled together in a day (inspiration------>)

Week 4 Post 3: Costuming

 Cambridge Portfolio Project

Costuming

-For my main character, I wanted to give him a darker outfit, reflecting his music taste and rebellious personality. I also include green tones in his outfit to represent the pureness in him, and how he would eventually caves and tells his parents (in the hypothetical end of the film).  I looked into clothing brands from around the year my project is set in and found the shirt pictured on ebay.

-For the other character seen on screen, he's the jock friend so he's gonna wear a polo and regular fitting jeans or something, preferably red or something to be complementary to the green. 

Week 4 Post 2: Audio

 Cambridge Portfolio Project

Audio

Dialogue

-To have professional sounding dialogue, I will lavalier microphones, which clip onto the actor and are connected to a audio box. I will have the lavaliers clipped to areas not seen by the camera, utilizing the darker toned costumes to blend the lavalier into it. 

-In the beginning of the opening, there will be a radio, playing a radio station starting with the host talking, followed by music. In post production, I will make the dialogue of the host a bit fuzzy, making it sound more like its from a real radio. 

Foley

-In the beginning of the opening there will be a shot of a window looking out at a backyard. I will use a sound library software that CBTV has (sound dog I think its called) And for footsteps and simple sounds I will make myself. 

Music

-I got permission from Dave Tree (singer of Tree) to use their song, Question Abuse, in my opening. After the radio host finishes talking, the song will play. I intend for the song to play for the rest of the scene. From watching other movies, I noticed that sometimes when a character is speaking, any music playing will be quieter, and return to the prior volume after the characters are done speaking. I intend to use this unless I find it unfit. 

Week 4 Post 1: Character Development

Cambridge Portfolio Project

Character Development

    For my project, I want to show how the character expresses himself through music and the way he dresses. In Better Off Dead's opening, the set and props are used to tell us about the main character before we even see him, and I intend to use a technique like this. I will go more in depth with the set and props in a future blog post but in general I want the audience to understand the character and setting through what is seen rather than just through dialogue. 

With dialogue, I want to give the audience a vague idea of the events prior to the film, but not spell it out to them. With my opening, I want the audience to be sort of thrown into the events as they happen, with the plot of the movie following the repercussions of an event prior to the film. To put it simply, I want to develop the character through less obvious methods, but still understandable to audiences. 

Week 3 Post 4: Script

Cambridge Portfolio Project

Awesome Script

Hey guys! here's the script. I'm not totally finished with all the nitty gritty details but this is mostly the final product

https://drive.google.com/file/d/18vopmK9ZGKpIkAApXq4M9Yi7xHRchnIZ/view?usp=sharing

Week 3 Post 3: Media Theory

Cambridge Portfolio Project

Todorov's Theory of Equilibrium

OVERVIEW

To put it bluntly, Todorov's theory is how every narrative has distinctive parts, The big 3 being Equilibrium, the audiences introduction to the characters and story, Disequilibrium, the protagonist's life being disrupted and them working to fix it. And New Equilibrium is the resolve or compromise of the disruption.

For my project, the equilibrium will be all that is seen, with my opening serving as a character introduction, using music, visuals, and camera movement to express the main character's personality. If it would fit in the 2 minute time frame, I would like to include a glimpse at the disruption, introducing the main conflict of the film in a humorous way, helping establish the tone of the film.

also sorry about no multimedia pictures weren’t working

Week 3 Post 2: Project Idea

 Cambridge Portfolio Project

Project Idea

Now for my project I've got a good idea of the whole plot synopsis, but I'm not certain on how I'm gonna open it. But I've got things I wanna accomplish with my 2 minutes. I want to show the audience the character and what he's like through visuals rather than dialogue. And I would like to introduce the main conflict. I want to utilize the 90s nu-metal genre and aesthetics in this project, both showing the main character's interests and establishing when it takes place. I chose this project to take place in the early 2000's to challenge myself when set dressing and costuming. 

Plot Synopsis

Our unnamed character is a sophomore in high school, and not the most popular student. And in an attempt to boost his social status, he hosts a party at his house while his parents are away for the weekend. His party ends up making him the most popular guy on the campus, to a comical extent. He has to maintain his popularity while also hiding the reason as to why he got so popular to his parents, who are confused as to why their son is suddenly at the top of the food chain. 

also its gonna be called After-Party cuz its after the party :)

Week 3 Post 1: Group Meeting

 Cambridge Portfolio Project

Group Meeting

JULIAN

Julian's project isn't very fleshed out yet, but through the discussion he told us he was going for an action/comedy film, and we collaborated and came up with a heist movie, starting with a chase scene, Like the opening of Baby Driver. also he is working alone

ELISA

Elisa is going for a horror thriller with supernatural creature feature elements. Her plot outline for the opening is seeing a poster for a missing girl, and then a search party in the woods looking for her. Then one of the people looking for her is attacked by the monster that got the girl. She wants the title to have something to do with amber alerts, and is going to make the amber alert sound play over the studio logos.

SOFIA

Sofia and her group are going to have a horror thriller, revolving around a group of girls who made April fools a tradition that they take seriously. and a couple people take it a bit too far. Her group was inspired by the movie Tag, but they are adding the elements of horror

ISABEL

Dexter (2006)

Isabel and her group's opening will be about a doctor with a mental illness where he keeps his patients sick, eventually killing them. They plan to film their opening in a garage, and it will show the doctor preparing his killing ritual before walking out of his house, like any other average joe. The group was inspired by the intro to Dexter (2006)

Week 2 Post 4: Credit Sequences

 Cambridge Portfolio Project

Credit Sequences

Zombieland 

Throughout this opening, the letters of the credits are affected by what is happening in the scene. For my project, I want to utilize alternative methods of showing credits, similar to this opening. The credits help establish the more comedic tone of the film, compared to other more serious apocalypse movies and shows like 28 Days Later or The Walking Dead. 

Week 2 Post 3: Film Opening Research

 Cambridge Portfolio Project

Film Opening Research

Opening 1: Better Off Dead 

(if you couldn't tell already this is my favorite movie of all time) Before we even see our main character, we learn a lot about him through his room alone. We can infer that he is obsessed with some girl (to a comical level) We see a poster of a skier (which is later shown to have his face taped over it) and can infer that he likes to ski. A saxophone is shown leaning against his wall, and comes up again multiple times throughout the film. And between him waking up wearing goggles over his eyes and him getting in the shower with his socks still on we are shown that the film doesn't take itself too seriously.

Opening 2: Baby Driver

I enjoy how this opening tells the audience a lot about the focal character, before even hearing him talk. We see that he is a getaway driver for a group of criminals, and through him vibing to his music while his coworkers are holding up a bank we can infer that he's not new to this. We see that he has a deep appreciation for music and when he flinches at the gunshot my thought was that he's not totally okay with what he does, but he does it anyway to get bills paid or whatever. What I want to utilize for my film is using music to explore the main character.

Week 2 Post 2: Music in Film

 Cambridge Portfolio Project

Music in Film Research

DRAGON BALL Z: COOLER'S REVENGE

For my project, i had been inspired by the soundtrack of Dragon Ball Z: Broly-The Legendary Super Saiyan, with its 2000's nu metal personifying the animalistic, villainous nature of its antagonist. see below

But I had watched Cooler's Revenge last night so I will write about that since it is fresh in my mind, and has a similar soundtrack. The film's antagonist, the tyrannical Cooler, is the brother of Frieza, who Goku had beaten prior to the events of the film. Cooler and his soldiers jump Goku and his friends. All the fight scenes are met with awesome music from bands like Drowning Pool, Finger Eleven, Disturbed, etc. The final fight 

of the film between Goku and Cooler has Change (In the House of Flies) by Deftones playing over it, signifying Goku's change in demeanor. From seeing his friend Piccolo seemingly killed, and the destruction of the forest around him at the hands of Cooler. see here. 

For my project, I want music to be an important part of it, both representing the main character and the era it is set in.

Week 2 Post 1: Schedule

 Cambridge Portfolio Project

Project Schedule

WEEK 1: Brainstorming and writing. Most of this week was focused on SkillsUSA

WEEK 2: Finishing the script and starting to storyboard then costuming and set dressing

WEEK 3: Prepping for shooting, getting equipment, actors, crew, etc.

WEEK 4: FILMING!!!

WEEK 5: Reviewing footage and editing + reshoots if necessary

WEEK 6: Writing the CCR and making any revisions if necessary 

WEEK 7: Finish CCR and make final tweaks

I will try to be ahead of schedule to prepare for if I make it to states in SkillsUSA, so that I can enjoy the potential trip stress free. (at least as stress free as I can get) I already have people in mind to help me during production, but nothing is set in stone so far.