Portfolio Week 4 Post #3 Filming Updates and Editing Research

     For the last post of this week, I wanted to give a rundown of the filming process we wanted to do this week, however, due to scheduling issues with my groupmates we were unable to record it this week and will be pushing it back to next week. So instead I would like to use this post to talk about some editing techniques in horror movies that would be great to use in our film since we will be editing in the coming weeks.

Editing Techniques in Horror Movies

    1. The first and in my opinion most important technique I want to keep in mind for the editing of the opening is the pacing. The pacing is a central component in horror movies and event the opening so that the audience can be introduced to the events of the plot in a way that does not make them too bored nor makes them feel like it was too much too fast and they do not understand anything. In our film, I was thinking of making the opening shots slower-paced and ramping up the speed of the cuts and overall feel of the film as the main character gets closer and closer to dying. In this way, the opening will have slow to fast pacing mirroring the emotions of the main character as his mundane activity of being in his house becomes a scary nightmare that happens all too quickly. This will also aid in making the audience feel fear and suspense.

    2. Another technique I want to use is some special effects. My groupmate Hayden mentioned that we should do something like Nope where they had some shots that were fully lit but then worked to make them dark in post-production along with some camera settings. I will experiment with the effects to see if it is possible and manageable or if we should scrape that idea. Another thing I wanted to do is black out the eyes of our dark figure when he does the reveal as a doppelganger at the end which will give him an inhuman look and I think it should add to the creepiness and mystery we are trying to develop in the film.

Something like this for the blackout effect.

This is a guide on how to make a shot in daylight into the night that I may try and recreate.

    3. Another editing technique I want to use is music inserts. This one is fairly simple but whenever the actions ramp up or something significant is happening I want to play suspenseful music along with it to try and double down on the fear that is being produced.

    4. Another technique we may use is inserting the audio after the events. We may record all the audio separately and then add it later during the editing process. For some shots, this will require good lip syncing but since we have this in mind it should not be that hard. However, if we are able to get a good enough mic to get all the audio since the camera we are going to use does not have a mic we may scratch this idea entirely. 

    5. Finally, for the final scene when the main character dies we want to use a cross-cut back to the living room with the echoes of the main character's scream to imply that he had died but not overly show it. This will help us keep up the pacing while also setting up what happens after our film. 

Conclusion

    Although we were unable to get the filming done this week we are still on track since we are starting the week 5 work now. Thinking about the post-production so early may even help to make the actual production go better since we are consciously thinking about it now. In my next post, I will likely experiment with the special effects mentioned in this post so stay tuned. 

Sources:

https://filmstro.com/blog/horror-movie-editing-how-to-add-the-scare-factor-in-your-film 

Portfolio Week 4 Post #2 CCR Information and Initial Thoughts

     Today in class we learned about the CCR component of the project and what exactly it is. Although I had never intended to make a post about the CCR so soon I think it is important I document what I learned and my initial thoughts regarding it now as they are developing for later reference.

CCR Information

    The purpose of the CCR is to provide a reflection on the development of film opening production and all the aspects that goes into the process. To do this we have to answer 4 questions with elaborate responses that serve as a way for Cambridge to understand our process and our thoughts about it now that we are done overall. However, these questions must not be answered in a boring way such as a "talking head" but instead in an engaging manner like a director's commentary with examples from the production and the research examples. 

DONT DO JUST THIS FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, add some cut-in shots to make it visually interesting.

    Each question also requires different information to answer spanning all parts of the production process. The first question asks for genre conventions if you used them, and representation. The second question revolves around the target audience, how you will engage them, and how the opening will be distributed. The third question revolves around how your process of production changed in all steps from pre to post-production and reflects on where you were vs where you are now. The 4th question requires you to discuss the hardware and software used for the project and the difficulties these provided or helped you overcome. Finally, you should end with an overall reflection about what you learned and how you could've improved. These questions will be split into 2 media products that strive to help you answer these questions in a creative and exciting manner.

Initial Thoughts

    For this part of the project, I had a couple of ideas for methods I could present my question answers in a creative manner. One way is like the examples shown where an interviewer style was presented where I would answer the questions as if I was being interviewed. I definitely want to do that but I may also may do it in an interesting way like by doing it in the dark with a light shining in my face to align with my dark setting in the opening I plan to have. I also may do it while wearing the mask which is also tied to the opening. No matter what way I choose I will make sure to provide cut-ins of components to make the CCR visually interesting. The other way I might do it is in a talk show manner where I act as if I am answering questions on live TV to a host about the film. These are all my ideas for now but I will continue to develop more ideas till the time comes.  

Conclusion

    Learning about the CCR helps me understand what is required of me for this project and will make me more cognizant of my choices as they culminate in the final reflection. Seeing examples were also helpful in showing me what will be required of me for the actual CCR. If I am going to be completely honest I was planning to do a talking head thing but now I know that I need something more to get the points and show what I can do. My next post will likely be updates about filming so stay tuned for that. 

 

Portfolio Week 4 Post #1 Mise En Scene of Opening

    To start this week off I wanted to do some mise en scene planning for our film opening to do with the characters and the setting specifically. I wanted to think about some things like the attire the characters will wear and the setting this will all take place in. Mise en scene planning is extremely important since if something in the look of the opening does not fit the general feel we are going for it could throw off the whole production. We do not want to have a horror opening where the killer is in a pink outfit unless it is to add to the scariness in any way which in our case will not. 

Mise en Scene: Main Character

    For our main character, we decided that we would dress him in attire fitting of a regular teenager with a regular t-shirt and pants. We want to give him the feel of being a normal kid in his house which is exactly what we know. The dressing of him will be simple just involving going into one of our closets and picking out an outfit. However, we likely will not make him dressed in black since that is what the killer will be wearing and we want to make sure both these characters are not dressed the same as the dark feel that the killer will have in his black attire will give him an ominous feel that we do not want our main character having. 

Mis en Scene: Dark Figure (shapeshifter/killer)

    For the dark figure, we wanted to dress him as the name implies in dark clothing. We plan to give him gloves, black pants, a cloak, and a mask to cover his face. The dark clothing will aid in keeping him hidden in the dark house setting the opening will take place in and the dark clothing will make him feel like a shadow or a part of the darkness giving him a more creepy and ominous feeling. We also plan to make it so we never really see him walking making him seem like a force of nature that chases the main character around seemingly manifesting behind him from the shadows at the end. The only real part we will see of him while in his disguise is the mask which will be shown in 2 close-ups and because of that the mask is a central component of the character. The masks we will be deciding on are below but either one can work with the first giving a more menacing and threatening vibe while the latter gives a more mysterious and unknown creepy vibe. We are still deciding which we will go with. In the end, the killer will take off the mask and have the same face as the main character setting up the mystery of the shapeshifter we also plan to use some effects on his face to make him seem like a distorted version by blacking our eyes. We also may do makeup on the day of filming like putting on eye shadow to provide a similar effect. 

Mise en Scene: The Setting

    For the setting of this opening, we have decided to do it at a house at night since that gives off the suburban supernatural murder aesthetic we are going for. The house is also an easily accessible location and provides the fear of being killed in a safe place that our audience can connect to and feel. We plan to utilize the living room with a TV, couch, and a table and keep it pretty minimalist with not many things in the frame except the actual furniture to not distract from the events that are occurring since they are the focus. We will then move to the hallway with the chase and for the final scene which will be a standard house hallway is empty and also dark as that is the constant feature in the house. The room that will be used to hide will be pretty minimalistic with just a simple bed with the focus being on the character sticking close to the door hiding and listening for the figure before going out to investigate. 

Conclusion

    Overall, as mise en scene is an important element to have in any film or movie it is great that I was able to cover some of it today and start to plan it out before filming. We still have to decide on the filming house location between my group and will likely talk about it, next class. We will also likely film or at least practice filming over the weekend, so until then stay tuned!

Portfolio Week 3 Post #4 Script Writing

     For the last post of this week, I want to finish off the last goal I set for myself for week 3 by making a script for the opening of our film. I accomplished this by utilizing Celtxs, a platform we previously used in this class for script creation. I based my script on the sequence of events in the first post of this week and the storyboard I posted yesterday. I created a physical copy of the events that will occur in order to list the shots and actions that will occur, just like in the storyboard and sequence list, but the script also contains details that I could not include in those two resources, such as dialogue and shot locations. These additional details, along with the details that we already have, will make the process of recording easier, as we can use the storyboard as a visual representation of the events and the script as an ultimate guide of the events with every detail listed. 

    The creation process of the script was fairly simple, based on the previous material developed this week. The hardest part was likely making the dialogue as it is, funnily enough, hard to think of words that will come out of a human's mouth naturally when put on the spot. Most of what I came up with sounded robotic in a way and forced but after a lot of revision, I came up with something satisfactory to use as dialogue. I hope what I decided on does not come out as robotic or forced when we go to film but I have faith that it will not. Most of the script is action based with little dialogue so the issue was limited during the process. The actions were easy as they were already listed and the same story goes for the shots. 

    One thing I think my group and I will have to think about is a title for the opening since we have not gotten to it, but I hardly think that will be that big of a deal when we decide to do it. The characters in the script also do not have names. The is listed as such and the same goes for the friend and the dark figure. However, this will not be a problem for the opening at least since none of the dialogue that was produced revolves around their names or requires them to have specific names and the opening is more focused on developing the killers' scary nature and the mystery behind what is going on. 

Script

    Without any more delay here is the script I came up with for the opening: Film Opening Script

    Snippets of the script (but I highly recommend downloading the script for the best viewing experience):

Conclusion  

    Overall, this week was very productive in the process of making the final film opening. We were able to finalize a plot sequence, make a storyboard, and write a script. I also did some digging into the potential score for the opening. Next week, my posts will be heavily involved with the filming process. I will do all the things on my schedule that I said I would do, like final revisions and, of course, filming itself. But I also want to do some mise en scene research if possible and talk about the mise en scene we want to use for the opening, whether it be for the setting or the characters. So, stay tuned for that, and see you next week!

Portfolio Week 3 Post #3 Storyboarding

    In my last post, I spoke about how I wanted to develop a storyboard this week with my group and today we finally got around to it. We grabbed a template for our storyboard online and printed the pages out for my groupmate Hayden to draw out since he likes that better. In our storyboard, we outline the different shots we want to do for the sequence of events we want to portray in our film opening based on the first blog post of this week. This will allow us, when going to film next week, to know exactly what we are doing and how to compose each shot when the time comes. 

Storyboard

The first page of the storyboard shots 1-6. These shots set up the conflict of the opening. The first few shots establish the suburban house setting and the later shots show the antagonist (the mysterious man in the background). One thing not mentioned in the storyboard that is important for later is that the MC forgets his phone on the table and leaves it there. The credits will likely happen as the setting is being established and when we first see the MC. 

The second page of the storyboard shots 7-12. These shots show the response of the MC to the conflict of the mysterious figure in his house. He decides to run away and like every stupid horror movie protagonist he decides to check if the coast is clear which will lead to the climax. 

The 3rd page of the storyboard shots 13-16. These scenes outline the climax of the MC being killed (hence the scream) and start the aftermath with the figure picking up the phone and revealing himself opening up another mystery. The 2 blanked out scenes are the ones that I decided are not necessary for the story and break the 2 + 2 = 4 rule because after the cutaway and the audio of the scream they showed the body again which is redundant and necessary so this will not make the final cut so I decided to remove it here. The title card will likely appear during the cutaway to the couch. 

The 4th page of the storyboard shots 17 and 18. These shots wind down the conflict and leave the story open to continue in the future with the killer waiting for the next victim.

Conclusion

    The storyboard should be extremely helpful for the upcoming production (filming) we are going to do next week since it allows us to visualize and see the shots we want to do when the time comes. For the last post of the week tomorrow, I will make a script based on the events of this storyboard. Silence will play a heavy part and likely result in it being mostly action based which will be fun to write, I imagine writing the dialogue for the fake phone call at the start will most likely be the hardest part funnily enough but I will manage. Until tomorrow, stay tuned!

 

Portfolio Week 3 Post #2 Group Discussion and Score Selection

    For this post, I intended to post the completed storyboard that we would work on in class but in class today we instead focused on a group discussion with my peers for feedback, so I will likely post about the storyboard over the weekend when I talk to my group again. I will also incorporate my process of trying to find a score and/or sting for my opening into this blog post since it was one of my weekly goals on my schedule. 

Group Discussion 

Picture of me and my peers in the group (the circled person is me)

    Today in class I convened with a group of my peers to discuss what I have done for this project so far and to get their feedback on it. I will only discuss the feedback I got since that is relevant to the purpose of documenting my process. When we got into groups and it was my turn to present my progress I showed the blog you are reading. I discussed my plot, the sequence I had conceived, and some shot types I wanted to do. My group replied to this information positively for the most part. They said that the idea was good and interesting to do the doppelganger for the antagonist which adds mystery. They did say that for my idea, I really need to test the lighting for it and ensure it fits the vibe to make it seem creepy also I need to make sure the reveal is well executed to build fear right away. Finally, they said that I need to practice with aftereffects to make the doppelganger look scary and not normal like I want it to which I plan to do in the editing weeks. Overall the discussion focused on the areas of importance for the filming and the scenes I need to get right in order to make my opening great.  

Score/Sting Selection

    For our film opening, we also wanted to incorporate sound as an integral element in it to help aid in building suspense as is often done in horror pieces like the ones we researched. We also decided that we may want to establish a sting for our killer here that would persist throughout the film we are creating an opening for if it were to continue. Although there will not likely be music played throughout the whole thing as we want to use silence and the raw noise of the background as elements of our opening I still think it is a great idea to go and look into some different tracks to use for the opening.

    The place I went to search for potential tracks to use in our opening was Youtube, the home of endless copyright-free music, I went this route because I know there is a lot of horror-centric music out there to pull from that is free and that it will overall be easier than asking for licensed more popular scores. From my searching, I quickly found a playlist with about 64 songs to do with horror music that is also copyright free. I skimmed these tracks and found that many were not suited to my envision of the plot but I did find some gems in the playlist. 

This track has a lot of aspects I want like the overall creepy feel incorporating spots of silence with times of screechy eerie noise which I think can work well for the hiding scene or the reveal scene. 

This track also has a lot of great elements, especially at the 0:32 second mark where the sounds climax which can be used for our ending. Also, the many bumping sounds could be used as a type of sting for our audience hinting our killer is getting closer due to its ominous and loud nature of it. 

I really liked it for its teasing nature as the sound at the beginning ramps up quickly and then stops which can imply if used in the scene where the MC is hiding can hint to the audience that the killer is steadily approaching but the sound makes you always on edge for when the reveal will happen. 

Conclusion

    Overall, today was pretty useful in the process of making the opening. The music as stated earlier is planned to be an integral component of building the suspense and fear in the opening overall. Also, the discussion with my peers really helped to make the areas I need to focus on during the filming more clear to me. Finally, we also started to work on the storyboard which should be done likely by tomorrow or Saturday. I will make an update post about what whenever it is complete and give a walk-through of what it involves and how it will aid us in the future. Until then stay tuned!

Portfolio Week 3 Post #1 Class Discussion and Finalized Sequence

    Going into this week, one of my goals was to finalize the sequence of events for our film opening through class time discussion. So, today in class when we were given free time to work my group and I spent the entire period plotting out the sequence for our movie. Although, I laid out a sequence in my plot blog that was subject to change and change it did. We spent the whole period just discussing different ways to edit the initial idea into something we all felt embodied a horror opening we could be proud of. This is what we were able to do during the period:

Sequence of Events in the Opening

Rough Sequence of events my group and I decided on. This will be the basis for later planning parts like the script, storyboard, and music selection.

    As you can see, the sequence is a bit different from what I outlined in my previous blog. We decided to end it a bit differently with something like a clear continuation of the plot after the opening with the phone call which Cambridge likes. We also wanted to hide the method of killing and what happened to the MC and how he is seemingly replaced with the cutaway. This will hopefully add mystery to our opening as it is not exactly clear what happened but the audience can put 2 and 2 together and figure out something is definitely wrong. The reveal of the full face of the killer with it seemingly teleporting in the dark also adds to the mysteriousness of the thing and builds tension.

Filming Location and Time

    We also briefly discussed filming locations and times. We said that since everyone had a 2 story house it could be shot in anyone one of our houses. We also said that we definitely want to film next week or at least start likely over the weekend. It was also suggested that before we shoot everything we do some practice shot angle composition in the locations we planned to see if it will turn out well when we actually go to record and that we can make any necessary changes if something we planned does not work out.

Conclusion

    Next class, we hope to develop the storyboard to its completion actually thinking about the angles and shot types for the events in the sequence. This was a great start to the week in terms of productivity and I hope we can keep it up for the rest of the week and the weeks to come. Until next time, stay tuned!