Day 19: Final Postings

Hey Blog!
   

          I am happy to say that I have finally ENTIRELY completed the film opening. It's been one wild ride!

https://youtu.be/3o85CVDtDB4

Link to the final product

https://youtu.be/O1fu9ev01eM

Link to the final CCR

Day 18: Filming

Hey blog!!

    Today was the day! We finally filmed the major parts of our film opening. The issue with the casting was eventually solved: we ended up having my friend Robbie Play the dad character, I played the mom, and the young Michael part was played by my friend Connor who agreed to help us out. Over all, filming went really well. At first we were kind of worried because Robbie was an hour late and not answering his phone. We almost had to make an emergency casting change, where my partner grant would have played teen Michael and Diego play the dad. Eventually, Robbie answered his phone and came to the shooting and we were able to finish the whole thing.
   In some instances we had some trouble trying to figure out how to film some things. One instance was in the final shot where the parents are capturing a picture of Michael and his dog. The screen was too dark to execute the original vision we had and Grant, my partner, came up with the idea for us to do one continuous shot where the actors swap places. That ended up working really well and we chose to keep that shot.
    I was pleased with how smoothly everything went and I think a lot of that had to do with the planning that I had done in the whole process. Even though we had some trouble getting of the ground with our project, I believe that we're now in a great position progress wise. Now that we have everything filmed, we can tweak it for a week and make it perfect in editing. I couldn't be more pleased with the way today went! Below I'll attach some pictures from today's filming.

Here is an example of when the screen was too dark for us to work with the envisioned shot

Me filming Connor in a scene

Until next time,

                      Kyleigh!

Day 17: Set Design

Hey Blog!

       With our filming date only days away I decided to begin gathering things that we can use in our set for the film opening. As you know, the main character is a young boy, so I wanted to make a part of our set look as if it could be his room or play room. Being that I have no male siblings I didn’t have much at my house to work with when it came to mise en scene elements that reflect a young boys interets, but I did my best. Everything I put together was made up of some old things I had lying around and it ended up coming together quite well. I asked my partner if he could bring over a few more things when he comes the day of filming, that way we could make the room really really decorated and believable. Below I’ll attach some pictures of the set design we came up with

Day 16: Second Feedback

Hey Blog!

   In class today we did another feedback session among small groups. I showed my classmates the script that we have created and they seemed to like it very much. We have just a few days left until our deadline for our projects will be here, and everyone in class seems to be very far along in their projects. Everyone’s progress with their projects makes me a bit apprehensive just because I know my partner and I have not begun filming yet. I shared with my group that my partner and I have not yet started filming and they seemed nervous for us. Our classmates having little faith in our ability to quickly execute our film is disheartening, but I know we can prove them wrong! Within the next few days we will have everything we need in place and can begin filming. And for that I am so excited!

Until next time,
                    Kyleigh.

Day 15: Planning the Score

Hey blog!

    This post is going to be more of an informative update on everything so far: I still haven't found the rest of the cast, the script is done, we have a date set to film this weekend, the location is set. The other things we need to figure out are the score and the formatting of our film opening. I plan on creating an original score for our film opening. I know my way around a keyboard pretty well and have experience in producing music so it should be fairly easy to create the original score. The music will most likely consist of instrumental and soft songs. We have a pretty heartfelt vibe all throughout the film so the music should reflect that in order to create a tone for the story. The music in a film is essential when it comes to creating a mood for the audience. This source had an extensive lost of other films that had utilized a sentimental score inter movies http://flavorwire.com/426863/the-most-emotional-film-scores . Again, this source pointed out UP (2009) as having an amazing score. {I think this movie could be very a helpful tool to refer to when making decisions in our film opening. It even has to do with dogs!}
       Later on, once we have filed everything we need to and edited every scene, we will begin constructing the score. When that happens I will attach some pictures of our process of creating the music and what programs and inspiration I had. Can't wait!


Until next time,
                    Kyleigh.

Day 14: Solid Plan

Hey Blog!

   This is my fourth week working on the blogs and I feel have made a lot of progress since when I first started blogging. Everything is truly coming together nicely. Although it has been a slow going process, we have been able to stay well enough on track to the point where we are in line with our class. We have worked out the kinks of our story line, finished finalizing the plot, and finally have a definitive plan of when we are going to actually begin filming. We still have the issue with casting hanging over our heads; we have three characters that still need to be casted! I asked again tonight among my friends to see if anybody knew of actors we could use, and the response was underwhelming.
     Since we are planning to begin filming this weekend, we need to have the others parts casted no later than this Friday. I have faith in our ability to find someone but it hasn't been easy, trust me.
Coming all this way, and entering into fourth quarter is putting into perspective for me how close the deadline is and it's approaching fast. Of course I am excited and expect to do well on the project overall, I'm just nervous.
       I can't wait to begin filming and actually get to do some hands on work with directing. I was looking through youtube to see if I could find any inspiration for the first part of our opening. I have envisioned a montage of pretty images that act as foreshadowing for the rest of the film. I found a great examples from music videos. We learned in class that there are different methods of music videos and one of which is storytelling. I plan to utilize elements of storytelling music videos in the beginning part of our scene. I want to blend music, with the images, and narration. A really great example I found was in the movie UP (2009). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2bk_9T482g . The flashback scene is almost exactly what I am envisioning just not animated and much shorter. I am Beyond excited to execute this aspect because I think if done right, it will be amazing.

until next time,
                   Kyleigh.

Day 13: Spring Break Blues

Hey Blog!

    So, just as I predicted, spring break is getting in our way. It has been about a week since break started and my partner is currently on vacation somewhere so we haven't been in contact to discuss any plans. I don't blame him though because I obviously knew this was going to happen so I tried to make sure we weren't doing absolutely nothing. I've been revising the script a little bit and thinking more and more about the casting. I made a few changes to the script which made it a bit clearer of the conflict and the premise/ main idea of our film opening. As to the casting, we still have no parents or young Michael but we are not done looking. A good casting director doesn't stop until her cast list is done and as perfect as it can be. Below I'll attach the newest version of the script we have.

     In the next few days to come, as my partner returns from his vacation, we'll get in contact with each other and begin planning out when we are going to start filming and where we will shoot. Over all, we are not totally underwater with our progress or spring break stagnation. I just hope my other classmates aren't miles ahead of us when it comes to how far along on their projects they are. I will keep you updated on the next few days and where we stand.