CCR #2

 Let's goooooo! I finished everything! This is an interview that my mom helped me film for my CCR

Second CCR: 

CCR #1

Directors commentary

Here is my first CCR: 

Film Opening

I have finally finished my film opening!

Here is my final project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-mF6b8z0as&t=20s 

Reflection

 I am finally done. This project was very complex but fun to complete. What I learned from this project is that even though things go as planned you have to adjust and make what is available to you work. For example, on my last day of filming my partner and I were not able to contact Rui (one of the cast members). Therefore, we improvised and decided to change the story a bit. What we changed was that Dan (Reeves) and Michael (Me) wake up and find that Ryan (Rui) has disappeared. Then it cuts to us watching the news saying that there are missing people and that there is a serial killer on the loose. This foreshadowed that Ryan was kidnapped by the serial killer. Once we had that part everything else was the same except for the serial killer. At first, Rui was going to be the serial killer but he wasn't there so our second option was my brother who also helped us film during the last day.

Another thing I learned from this project was how to incorporate all the skills I learned in class into the filming of the film opening. These things were the shots, angles, composition, movement, mis-en-scene, and editing. Oh and sound. Since I wasn't able to make a blog for sound, I will be discussing a bit about it. For the sound, we signed up for a free trial in Epidemic Sound since we heard a lot of good reviews about it. There were a total of four songs that we used in our film openings. One that is electric and hyped up for the hang-out scene, another that is mysterious and kind of chill for the scene where we wake up. For the next scene where we get into the car, we chose a song that was fast-paced and conveyed that something was off. Finally, for the last scene, we chose a song that fits well since it established that something horrific had happened and a job was being finished.

This is also my first long term project that I have ever completed in a group. What I realized was that working with a partner was helpful because we can feed off each other's ideas therefore it also helped us come up with a film faster. Another thing that I realized was planning on a date to film with a partner was very aggravating because we had different schedules, so what I learned was that you have to sacrifice some things to complete a long-term project like this. For example, my partner celebrates easter with his family every year but this Easter he couldn't because we had to finish filming. A thing to prevent this is to have back up days. For example, if you don't want to miss a special event or miss spending time with your family, then you would have to plan to miss a plan for something less important.

Equipment

    I have finally finished filming! My partner and I used various equipment during the last day of filming. One of the equipment that we used during the last day of filming was a pick axe. At first, I thought the weapon the serial killer was going to carry was a golf club but then we found this pick axe in Reeves's garage when we were getting the black garbage bags which were another prop that we used during this filming. The reason we decided to use this pickaxe instead of the golf club is that it looked more menacing and frightening. 

Garbage bag and pickaxe

    Another piece of equipment that we used during the last day of filming was the phone mount. This made filming a lot easier as it helped with having a consistent height then it was used. This helped us greatly because it helped us stabilize our camera, especially during the shots that were still. While it still helped us during the shots where we incorporated movement, the camera still moved a bit but the mount definitely alleviated the shakiness.

Phone Mount

    The single most important equipment that we used during the last day of filming was the camera. The camera that we used was my iPhone 12 with the camera set at 4k 60. One might think why choose this phone and not the iPhone models from the previous years? Well, I did some research and I found out that the iPhone 12 picks up more detail and light than the previous model, the iPhone 11. This was crucial throughout the whole filming not just on the last day. For example, we were a bit worried that we would not have been able to see everything clearly since the filming took place at night, but we tested my iPhone 12 and it turned out great. Another example is during the car scene, since the car doesn't receive a lot of light because it is covered we were wary to try this car scene and wouldn't be able to see the serial killer clearly. Again this was not a problem because my camera lens can pick up light effectively.  

Last day of filming

    Today is March 31 and we have finished filming. Today is Easter Sunday and many people celebrate today, Reeves being one of them. We agreed to meet at his grandparent's house at 1 pm to start shooting. Reeves's friend Rui, was supposed to play his part in the opening but he could not come today so my brother came to help us. Throughout the shooting, my brother (Daniel) assisted us by acting as the serial killer in the last scene.

This is Daniel (My brother)

    Furthermore, we had to change the script and make my brother the serial killer. We started by doing the waking up scene in the couch in the backyard, where Reeves, me and Rui fell asleep the previous shooting. Since Rui could not come we had to improvise so we made the idea that Rui gets attacked at night.  So since he got attacked at night, me and Reeves woke up without seeing Rui and we assume he left. Moreover, the next scene, we woke up and turned on the TV and found out there was a serial killer on the news and we did not think much of it.

    For the next scene, we ordered a LYFT to leave the party and come back to the house. All of this is taking place in the backyard and is being recorded by Jordan and my brother. Jordan has had a good amount of experience with the camera since as a side hustle he works as a photographer. Therefore, we thought that he would be the right person to help us film. However, this doesn't mean that he will be directing the whole film, Reeves and I made sure that we were the ones implementing the skills that we learned from our media studies class. Therefore, we told Jordan what angles, types of shots, movements, and compositions we wanted before filming. Then he would also give us some insight which would have Reeves and I decide if we wanted to implement whatever he suggested.

This is Jordan Perez (Camera Man)

We had to film many takes, I would say 5 takes for each shot. This was key to recording the right shot. This also lengthened today's shooting to about four hours. We are then picked up by the LYFT driver, who is acted by my brother. Once the characters entered the LYFT car they asked the driver some questions but he would not respond. The characters found this odd, then the driver pulls over by a forest and attacks the characters inside the car. In the next scene we cut to the serial killer (Daniel) dragging two big, black garbage bags and a pick axe into the forest. For this scene we did not want to show the attack directly, since our objective was to have the audience imagine how the characters were killed.

Planning for Filming During Break

March 21

    I am so happy we are going to spring break! I talked to Reeves yesterday and we planned to film today, March 21, after school. We planned to film the scene where we woke up and got killed by the serial killer but unfortunately, it was raining. We decided to postpone the filming for tomorrow Friday hoping we would have a better day. We are going to his grandparent's house again because the scene has to be filmed where we left off which was us blacking out.

March 22

    Today is Friday morning, March 22, and we are planning to film at Reeves's grandparents’ house. We wanted to start filming early in the morning but unfortunately, it is raining. We are going to film once it stops raining during the afternoon. It has been raining all day in Weston and we cannot film in these weather conditions. We will try tomorrow Saturday, March 23 again with better luck.

March 23

    Today is Saturday and unfortunately, we had to cancel filming today. Reeves's friend, Rui, could not come to shoot so we decided to cancel it again. We plan to shoot tomorrow Sunday after Reeves comes back from church. I am getting worried because I will be traveling Monday morning, March 25, I will be going on vacation with my family and we still need to shoot the last shots of the film. I will be back Saturday late afternoon and plan to meet with Reeves for final adjustments and maybe reshooting if necessary.

March 31

    Today is Saturday, March 30. I just came back from vacation with my family. It is 5:30 pm, I called Reeves so we can meet to shoot tonight once I get to Weston but he told me he could not meet today because it is his mom's birthday so now I am really freaking out. After all, tomorrow is practically the last day to finish filming and start editing.