Making Musical Moves

      Now that the production process has finally ended, we enter the era of post-production. Julia and I plan to get this film opening mostly edited by Sunday or Monday to leave time for any last-minute setbacks. The reason it has even taken so long to start post-production is that we did not have the materials needed to transfer the footage from the SD card to our editing software. So Julia and I took advantage of Amazon Prime and ordered a USB 3.0 card reader so that we could actually carry on with the project. Since it is spring break and we are separated as of right now, we have agreed to split the editing in half, and then hold a meeting together where we combine both edited portions of the film opening together seamlessly. In the meanwhile, we have been trying to decide what music we wanted in the background of the opening since it really does make or break the film opening.

   Taking into consideration the genre of our film opening, we decided to go with a music genre that is more popular amongst teenagers right now which is: indie music. At first, we were going to borrow a song from one of our friends who is a songwriter and producer, but it would not be done on time. As a result, we turned to copyright-free music on YouTube. While I would have loved to use "The Adults are Talking" by The Strokes in our opening, contacting them for permission to their song would be impossible to achieve by the project deadline. So instead, we looked up copyright-free indie-pop music on YouTube and were mainly torn between two selections. The first song was definitely the genre we were going for, however, it was not as upbeat as we wanted it to be so we kept looking. After much searching, we found the second song which seemed perfect since it was more upbeat and would match the chill vibe we were going for in Malia's room. Overall, we decided to use the second song since we feel as if it matches the pacing of how we wanted to edit the shots together better.

Song #1

Song #2

That’s A Wrap!!

 Today was production day number two, also known as our last day of production. Taking what we have learned from production day one, the filming process went much more smoothly and we were able to film everything we needed. Due to the fact that this is Florida, we could not film past 6 p.m. because it was going to start raining, which would ruin our shots outside. However, we were on schedule and we’re able to finish in less than two hours. First we filmed all our scenes inside. We didn’t have to worry about setting up since we left the set decorated from the previous day. We shot the scenes we drew in our storyboard with a variety of different angles so we had more to choose from when editing.

Then, we filmed the scenes that would come after the film opening and title card. We had to wait until 5:30 p.m. to do this since we needed a car. When Julia’s mom arrived with her car, we hustled to get all the shots done before it would start raining. We filmed a scene of Malia getting into her car to go to school, and getting a text from her friend asking if she got into the writing program she applied for. One of the biggest obstacles was figuring out how to film anything involving a phone screen since the camera could be seen in the reflection, or it would not focus. We solved this by filming a variety of shots where the camera was hidden to see which one would work with editing. While originally we wanted to film the text message as the notification popped up, we may have to show the text message already sent since it was the only way the camera would focus. We discussed how to solve this problem by throwing around the idea of adding a ringtone sound effect when the message is shown to create the impression it was just sent. I really think that because we shot scenes a variety of times we won’t need to do any reshoots, which makes the production process an overall success.

Lights. Camera. Action.

 Today was filming day one. Surprisingly, there were a lot of obstacles but we were able to adapt to them to make sure the film opening was still on schedule. We were able to film the shots with Malia’s sister who bursted into the room telling her she was late. We were originally going to use Julia’s actual sister, but she declined and we asked our friend Sasha to be in it last minute. Since we knew her time was limited we filmed her scenes first. Then we set up the props in the room and filmed the shots with the different objects around the room to show Malia’s personality. We were not able to film as much as we wanted to due to the fact that it was raining and there were people cutting their grass outside. Who knew people made so much noise?

Another obstacle we encountered was having to switch the filming location. While originally we filmed in Julia’s room, we changed it to my room because the layout would allow us to manipulate the camera more. In total, we spent an hour filming and setting up. We dedicated the first day of production to preparing Malia’s room and filming the shots that did not require much sound. In the future, we need to look at the weather and consider how it would impact our progress, even if we are filming inside. I would still call the first day of production successful since we were able to accustom ourselves to what filming is like. Below are pictures of our set:

Getting a Second Opinion

 This week in class, we got into groups and told our classmates about our film openings and our progress in order to get some feedback. This activity allowed Julia and I to get some more ideas to further enhance our film opening. First, it was good to know we were on the right track since everyone was at the same stage we were: production. While the people in my group had completely different ideas, there was one person who was also doing a coming-of-age film opening, so it was nice to share some ideas on how we were going to incorporate the genre elements into the opening. It was refreshing to see everyone’s creativity and I was really inspired for post-production, something I was previously scared about because of my lack of experience.

One of my peers in my group looked at our storyboard and recommended not just typing the title, but also the opening credits. My friend and I really liked this idea, but it interferes with our plan of having the credits appear as we show different shots of the room. Fortunately, we came up with a resolution and decided to still show the opening credits as we show the setting, but have them typed out in the corner. Additionally, someone in my group shared an amazing website with royalty free sound effects and music that I plan to use in the editing process. I was honestly having trouble finding good sound effects that were copyright free, but this website seems like it will really help; it is called Uppbeat. Overall, I look forward to editing my project with all these new ideas and advice.

I've Never Heard Silence Quite This Loud

 All this talk about pre-production and production has clouded my brain to the point that I have barely thought about post-production. Who knew that films aren't just magically ready after the filming process is done? (insert gasping sound effect) I decided it would be a smart idea to start thinking about this as soon as possible since editing will be done for the duration of one week, and I don't really want my film opening to just be utter, complete silence. As a result, this post is dedicated to sound editing. Without sound editing, it can be unclear as to what characters in a film are doing. Without sound editing, you might as well throw your film in a time machine to the 1890s because that's the only time where silence in film is normalized. My partner and I did a sound editing project near the beginning of the year and we learned the hard way that not all objects sound like they are supposed to sound. You would expect walking on the street to sound like you are walking on the street, but it doesn't! 

We have compiled a list of the major sounds that we need to edit into our film opening, either through foley or making those audio snippets ourselves (insert applauding sound effect). One of the main noises we use is the typing noise, which could be made by just typing keys on a computer. For the opening, we use a voiceover of Malia's character as well as a score which will be provided by one of our friends who produces music (the backup plan is using copyright-free music). We also need to produce the sound of paper ripping which cannot just be produced by actually ripping paper since it will not sound as crisp. Next, we need the sound of a car or bus horn which we can find in a sound bank or record a car horn beeping. Additionally, we need to have an iPhone notification sound that we could just record from an actual iPhone. I think our biggest challenge will be trying to mimic the sounds heard when driving, such as the wind, other cars around you, the radio slightly turned on, etc. The goal is to try to produce as many natural sounds as we can, however, we do not want to sacrifice the quality of the piece out of convenience. As a result, we will edit any sound that does not sound as crisp as we would like it to. (insert inspiring music sound effect)

P.S. The title of this blog post may or may not be a reference to a Taylor Swift song, but I couldn't help myself ok. Sue me.

It's Filming Time!!

 The time has finally arrived! After weeks of meticulous planning, Julia and I are filming our film opening this week. It feels so rewarding to finally see our ideas and plans come to life. Before we get ahead of ourselves, there are a few items we have to collect to ensure filming goes by as smoothly as possible. We will be having a two-day shoot, one for the scenes in the bedroom and one for the scenes in the car. This will ideally take place on Thursday and Saturday. Once we finally film all our content, we can get started on the post-production process. In preparation for our first scheduled filming day, Julia and I will be collecting a few items to use as props and/or aide in filming.

First, we will be filming on a Canon camera I have to ensure the quality of the shots is high. While the setting is in Julia's room, I will take some of the many movie posters in my room and hang them in Julia's room in order to give off a more teenage impression. We will need to figure out the placement of our camera that produces the shots most similar to our storyboard and has the best lighting. We need to photoshop the college acceptance letters as well as the writing program flyers, and then print them out to scatter them across Julia's room. In addition, we need to crumble pieces of paper and write a heavily annotated manuscript on a piece of lined paper (at least one page). We need to make one of the most important parts of the opening, the plot board. We will do this by writing down different writing terms as well as references to Malia's book on index cards and hanging them on a closet door. I need to take an alarm clock to Julia's house and set the time to early in the morning. Lastly, we need to ensure we shoot earlier in the morning so we get optimum sunlight. This week should be exciting and the pre-production process has ensured me that everything should go to plan.

Storyboard: The Finale

 I feel like a giant weight has been lifted off my chest now that the storyboard is done, and this project has a sense of direction again. We added more to what we have already done (illustrated in a previous blog post) and we finished the opening scene as well as the scene after it. One problem we had while making the storyboard was timing. There was no way for us to know how long each clip would be, and therefore we did not know how many shots to add or remove to the film opening. As of right now, all the shots we included seem necessary to build Malia's character and her storyline. My fear is that the shots will exceed two minutes and we will be forced to change the storyboard to cut down the time. This will be determined during the post-production process and we will figure out how to problem-solve from there.

New additions to the storyboard include more shots of the room, Malia writing her novel, her getting frustrated over her book, being late for school, and then the trip to the school itself. The frustration over Malia trying to finish her novel will communicate how important writing is to her, and how dedicated she is to perfecting her craft. Furthermore, Malia being late to school introduces the conflict between her being a writer and her being a teenager since writing often takes priority over schoolwork. Finally, the trip to the school itself will show Malia getting an email of getting accepted into a writing program to show the audience that Malia really is a serious writer and is quite good at it. Below I have attached pictures of the new and improved storyboard (it's digital and everything!!), as well as Julia and I working on it during class.