Filming Blog: Last Few Days

Since we have almost finished filming we only had a few tasks left to do. Like we thought, we still have to continue filming because there was minor complications. For example, it started raining so we have to switch up some scenes. It becomes difficult when there are multiple characters in our film. My group mate and I have to choose days where everyone is available to record. It is also a challenge because each of our friends who help us film live all around the city of Fort Lauderdale. This day my group mate was able to get the car since he had his license. It took us a while to pick up all our actors, so by the time we got there it was around 3:30. During this time in Florida night time comes sooner than other seasons. At 5:45 it was already starting to get dark so we had to finish as much as we had possible. My group mate and I spent a while trying to teach the actors on what to do and say. Soon enough our friends understood it. We recorded a lot of footage to be sure of what we should and we will include. If there is any videos with loud background or people we can always use the other scenes we recorded as backup. My group mate and I work together well when it comes to the filming process. We will continue to work together and get off ideas from each other when we start the editing portion as well. We still have another day to film so we will gather up the actors again and continue on Saturday. Since we learned from our mistakes, we will start the filming process earlier so we don’t run out of time. We also thought of a plan: instead of picking each actor/friend up we agreed to all meet at a certain location to make it easier for us. Hopefully there is no complications when we record on Saturday.

Filming Blog: Next Few Days

     We continued to film on Saturday. It was a rainy and gloomy day so it was difficult for us to film. We planned to continue on the weekend because the rest of the actors were available to film. Last second we decided to go to a different small park to film. Fortunately, there was less people and it still seemed like a similar setting as the location prior. However, there was a church almost connected to the park so we had to ask for permission. I got everyone's costumes ready to film. Before actually starting to film, my group mate was the one to talk to the pastor of the church to let him know we are doing a school film with weapons and such. He told us it was okay, we just had small limitations on it. My task was to be the girl actor, we did pretty much all the scenes that have to do with the bad guys. For the climax, the girl had to be kidnapped. I had to get picked up and "shoved" into a trunk of car. Of course, no one was harmed because safety is the most important thing when filming, it is a priority. The most important scenes to film were the ones who had to do with the goons. So we finished the scenes that they are acting in. My group mate and I need one more day to film just the scenes of us two in the beginning. We could not finish it this Saturday because it was already getting dark and once we left the parking lot it started raining. Next, our plan is to get straight onto the editing process unless we need more scenes to fit the 2 min project. To finish things so we don't do it last second. Hopefully, this weekend it doesn't rain so the process will go smoothly. So far filming has been fun and simple, I enjoy this project more than the previous one.

Filming Blog: First Days

          Me and my group member started our filming process on Tuesday and continued it on Wednesday. We did not film last weekend because we were both busy. My group member's parent brought us to the first filming location and stayed with us for safety. We brought our props like: food, phones, and a blanket for these first two filming days. To film we used an iPhone 11 instead of the school camera because we think it is easier to film on. Filming on our phone can help us access our videos or dump it to film editing apps. School cameras and the editing software Pinnacle Studios can also get slow sometimes, we learned from past experiences to we just decided to use our phones for the biggest project this year. The first location was at the park, at a low angle to start off the scene, we got their parent to drive past to use it as a clip. It was a really hot day so we wore sunscreen to protect us from the sun. Filming in public locations may be hard because all of the distractions such as car noises, people talking, and people in background. For the next scene we used a zoom in shot as a clip of the main boy's phone having a conversation with the main girl. It was kind of difficult to get a shot of the phone since it gets a glare from the sun so we had to move to shade quickly before any other interruptions. Filming in public outside locations is also troublesome because of the sun and lighting, filming in the day should be quick enough to where there is not any lighting shifts from light to dark over time. While filming the boy we kept messing up because people kept walking in front and behind him which messes up the scene and even the lighting. We kept moving around the whole park to get the best shots. It took us about two hours of filming for both Tuesday and Wednesday. The next time we film will be with more characters, the bad guys of the story. We all need to pick a time and day where we are not busy to film successfully. Overall the first two days of filming wasn't as bad as I thought it was gonna be. We will continue to film this Friday to finish up and soon edit.

Planning Blog: Story Board

For this portion of our filming project we were told to make a story board. This helps us for the future for many reasons. We will know during the filming process what we will include. A storyboard is generally a script but in picture form. It also gives us details like angles and movements and types of editing shows what we should include when actually filming. This was a very complicated storyboard. It was quite confusing managing to fit 60 scenes for a 2 minute video. This was a difficult task. This wasn’t the greatest thing to do, its a lot of work.Hopefully the shooting of this project becomes easier.

Planning:Title Design

     Our plan is in place and we have everything prepared such as our location, participants, schedule, etc. Now, all we have to focus on is our title design and how in-depth this needs to undergo because it is going to show the audience a hint of the type of movie. If the audience is interested then the titles were done correctly. The point of our titles is to give off a secret spy mission type of film. The transition should give it the main hint because it is a key of spy mission films. This is actually a fun assignment because it allows the creator to be creative on how they will present their film. We are lucky to include back up plans because if our original concept accidentally blends in then we are able to change it. This won't be a hard task and will be quite simple to make and not a lot of other groups will do this because they will stick to the basics. The font although could be changed depending on what looks best with the typewriter transition. Overall, this film will be the definition of a secret spy mission film.

Planning: Location, Sound, Participants, Health, Schedule

     While still in the planning stages, what we have done next is the information about the location, participants, health, and schedule. We use this to help us when we will begin filming. For example, we know where our scenes will take place, we wanted it to be a place that fits our story. We also have important information on what we need to keep us students safe, which is in the health slides of our planning. We have also included the participants in which will be in our film, friends and even family. Furthermore, is our filming schedule, we need to stay on track to get everything done. This is the most important step because it helps us know when we will do each thing to not confuse us. Me and my group-mate find that this way of planning is much easier rather than the projects we did in the past. These slides will contain all we need for the next step in our planning which will be the storyboard, it helps us have everything set. This helps us feel organized with all the work we have to do so nothing causes  confusion. 

Planning; Sound Script

     In our sound script, we are giving off ideas of what we will include. My partner and I broke apart our roles so we could help each other. I am doing the sound script blog which involves dialogues and types of sound in this 2-minute film. We each chose our own script because we have more strengths in the one we chose. We put a lot of time and work into these scripts to help us for when we can finally film our ideas. I contained dialogue of the main couple in the story and the bad guys. We are putting as many ideas as we can to benefit our film. My role was pretty much a dialogue storyboard which is very helpful in the long run. I enjoy doing this blog because planning ahead gives me confidence in how our sequence will turn out. We will continue to plan and blog about further stuff like people in the film, health and safety, and location.

Planning; Shooting Script

     This was supposed to be a script describing what would visually be on our film. We needed to include camera angles, movements, and lighting. We also needed to include the lighting. On our film, there was unfortunately not much lighting change we can do since it'll be in a public park. There will be a lot of movements because it is a film with a lot of action going on. Our pitch was improved while creating this google slides project because we realize certain flaws. Our original pitch was too long and had too much action compared to now. The film will be hard to create since we are only given 2 minutes. In our opinion, we believe more time given would bring out more creativity. This is good to guide us on our final task.