Hello everyone! It's the time everyone has been waiting for... it's filming day! I'm so happy I got together with my actor in order to make this production possible. I got to experience the lighting techniques and many mise en scene elements that I had gathered in the past.4 weeks. All my planning and research has come to a wrap and I have now moved on to the biggest task of all.
Behind the Scenes
Now, I have only filmed a good first few scenes of my film leaving some things out due to costuming errors. However, everything worked out well and down below is a video of the behind the scenes footage that I have taken with my actor Maria.
I have also had experience with filming throughout the duration of this class, therefore, I have made sure to overshoot. This makes it easier in the planning process because in order to reshoot it would take more planning and obviously scheduling and time isn't something I can be flexible with. There are some screenshots of my overshooting for some scenes below. Including the walking scene, putting the medical tray down, and many are due to lighting trial and error.
What's Next?
My plan now is to record some foley sounds now that I have some recording footage that I have reviewed and carefully picked out. I will be recording sounds like metal clanking together, blood squishing, hand washing, glove sounds, walking, and many more! Stay tuned for more updates on my production process! See you next time!
Welcome Back everyone! As seen from my previous storyboard there is some dialogue at the second part of my film opening. Dialogue is a way to carry the story, however, I do need to hammer it down and officialize it before I start filming. My next posts will be in the production process (fingers crossed everything goes well)!
ScreenPlay
In order for me to polish up the dialogue, I need to write a script for the second part of the scene. This is the first time I'm writing a screenplay and I had to research on some techniques and methods I need in order to successfully write the screenplay. I didn't include visuals in my screenplay but I did have a format ready to demonstrate my dialogue and in order to show attention towards the names. I made sure to keep the styles of each character's dialogue consistent in order for the scene to flow effectively. There are examples of horror screenplay that I wanted to base my screenplay off of.
My screenplay is here this outlines my perfected dialogue that is more detailed than my storyboard and will help me film the second part of my opening. Stay tuned for my production process in future blog posts!
Hello Cambridge! Welcome back to my blog! Today I have experimented different techniques on making fake blood and how they look on different materials. Obviously in horror films you don't need blood, however, I decided to utilize it in my film opening since it is a slasher film based movie plot that I want to portray. Well let's get to it!
Recipes
So for my fake blood recipes, i got the recipes from a website on how to make fake blood for any occasion and this time I chose to utilize it for my opening. However, they used different colors of food coloring in their recipe and I will list it underneath.
Mix Together
2 tablespoons of corn syrup
4 drops of red food coloring
1 teaspoon of cocoa mix
My Recipe (Rendered)
3 tablespoons of corn syrup
1 teaspoon of cocoa mix
5 drops of red food coloring
3 drops of blue food coloring
I added the blue to give a purple look and under the correct lighting it would be much better.
Now, I needed to use this blood on a prop that would be very critical for my opening and I decided to use the blue medical gloves that I showed in my previous blog posts. These gloves are blue and in order to contrast it I had to make the blood have a hint of blue so the red would pop out more.
The picture of the glove covered in blood
Now What?
As you all know, I'm nearing the end of my planning and research part of my project and will start filming so I will use all the techniques and props I have collected in the past and I will compile it into my video filming. Stay tuned for upcoming updates of my filming production process.
Welcome back everyone! Today I had the time to go to my setting in person and be able to photograph important props that will be shown in my opening production as well as the actual settings that these places will be as well as basic concepts of the props and my next post will be about the lighting techniques that will capture the blood and what type of blood id use on each prop.
Setting
Thursday in class I had the time to sketch out two of my setting places where my scenes will take place and this is only for half of the opening and doesn't include the scene with the dialogue between Danielle, Doctor Sherwood, and Shelby. These pictures below are the pictures that were sketched out in class.
The outside patio behind the office
Inside the Office
Interior
I also went in my mom's office and took real photos of the setting indoors for the interiror of the office and next I will talk about some props I took pictures of including the gloves, tray, and medical tools that will be displayed in my opening. These pictures are what my sketch is based off of as you can see from my reference in the laptop.
Sink with the red biohazard bin (used for objects that are stained with blood) for mise en scene purposes
Props
Some of the props that I will include in my opening are displayed below and I set them out in how they will be portrayed in the film but without the fake blood and lighting corrections
Medical Tools
The medical tools here will be used for the prop for Danielle since she is a nurse going through residency and in the beginning of the opening it's seen that she is pulling out tools and displaying them on a tray with a light blue paper underneath. The tools will be bagged in a sterile packaging as well to fully portray the narrative world. Some of the tools will be pulled out and some will be remaining in the bag because Danielle does stop her work halfway when she notices her unfinished "work" in the corner of the clinic room.
Visual of the sterile bags utilized
Gloves and Masks
The gloves and masks are a crucial prop to this opening as it's seen to be proper PPE protection that is utilized by many medical professionals and without it the story wouldn't mirror the narrative world as closely as possible. This is a visual representation of how the gloves would be displayed, however, they will have a more used and bloody look in the actual opening. For my actress, I will have to shoot an entire scene with mainly her gloves and close ups of her face.
Wednesday, February 19, 2025
Hello everyone and welcome back to my blog! I'm going to the location of my film tomorrow and the rest of the week and hopefully, fingers crossed, we get to film this weekend! First I want to establish the audio I will be using and I will focus on some things I can use to create foley sounds, download sound snippets of a website, and the overall background music I can use to create my project.
Music Techniques to Utilize
The techniques below are some that I have researched from my own notes and some that I want to include in my own opening in order for it to be natural and clever.
Sound Bridge
When a sound is used to transit from one scene to another
Sound is used as a transition
Example: Between the two scenes that I have in my opening I would like to use a sound bridge with the trash bag falling to Danielle throwing something in the trash making the same sound.
Asyrnchonous Sound
Sound that doesn't match the screen
Creates metaphorical situations or provide context
Example: During the same time that Danielle is putting her victim in the trash bag a clock could be ticking in the background to signify that she has little time left untill she is figured out.
Background Music
My background music does have to be intense and give off some sense of mystery. However, the music should change between the two scenes that I have decided to split my opening to. The first scene will be the clean up scene of the victim and the second scene is the dialogue between Danielle, Doctor Sherwood, and Shelby. So for the first scene I chose to go the more mysterious and tense route. I used this website in order to find the non diegtic sounds that I will include and won't be from the narrative world since it isn't heard from the characters.
The first sound I chose was more tense and upbuilding and I wanted to include some sound that had moments of a jump scare and some sort of drop like in rollercoaster. This sound below is a good idea of what I want to go with and it's a good start of how I will approach the background music. Obviously this could have room for change and improvement once I start editing my sequences together.
The second audio I'd choose is something that is more digetic such as background noise followed by foley sounds that will be used in order to give a sense of being in a medical clinic and having dialogue to carry the opening. Some foley sounds that I'd include which are seen below.
Foley Sound Ideas
In some of the clips in my opening I'm going to need to utilize foley sounds because some are a bit specific that I won't be able to find online. Such examples are medical tools being placed on a tray, a trash bag falling with blood inside, and some bones cracking possibly. Now how am I going to do these foley sounds and what objects will I use? I'm very glad you asked!
Trash Bag Falling
For this I will be able to use a wet paper towel thats covering rocks and drop it on hard wood indoors so that outside sound won't interfere with the foley sound. Below is a visual representation of a basic concept of how this would sound.
Bones Cracking
Bones cracking as a hollow sound and Danielle would be using medical tools for this so obviously I'd have to maybe use something that I can crack and has the same sound with a scalpel maybe. A good idea is to use any sort of vegetable that has a crunch such as cracking open celery or carrots. Now below is a visual representation of me cracking celery and how it would probably sound because unfortunately right now I do not have carrots or any hard vegetables in my possession.
Welcome Back everyone! It is officially week four of developing my portfolio project. I have picked out the names, costumes, and basic concept of personality. Now I want to set them out on a mood board displaying these personalities through color schemes. Even though my characters will be displayed in scrubs, I want to incorporate the psychology of color through their costuming and maybe the things they're associated with.
Danielle
About
Danielle is a 19 year old and is a fresh high school graduate who has been enrolled in rigouruous high school courses that have allowed her to partake in residency at an early age. As I mentioned before Danielle is a female and is hispanic. The actor that I have selected to play Danielle is my friend Maria. She is in theater which makes her a great candidate and I trust her to bring my image of Danielle alive.
Maria (Danielle)
personality
So for Danielle, her personality will be more bipolar since she is trying to keep up this character that she is innocent and hardworking in order to gain the Doctor's approval. Her actual side will be more judgemental and filled with jealousy. This pertains to her motive of taking her coworkers off one by one. The personality she shows off to her coworkers and Doctor Sherwood is more bubbly and hardworking. She has the role of the new coworker in the office even though she has been there for three months. I have searched up how long a residency is and according to Academia Labs, a residency lasts between 6 months to a year. This new role that she has been ominously assigned to doesn't please Danielle and she wants to prove herself to the Doctor since she doesn't seek validation from her coworkers.
Costume
Since nurses do wear scrubs the costuming isn't the difficult part, however, I did include a storyboard to include her color scheme and objects that she is closely associated with. Her costume is seen to be wearing black scrubs to represent her dark personality while still being shown as innocent. She is known to be very smart and clever which is why I included some of her notes that she would be taking in order to keep up with her coworkers so she can shine above.
Welcome back everyone! So, now that we got the plot out of the way we can finally put this opening plot into a storyboard. Even though I;m not a very good artist putting these ideas together will aid me visually and allow me to plan my shots and what technique I'm using and obviously it'll be an overview but I do plan on sticking to this storyboard as close as possible.
Welcome back everyone! So now it's the time we have all been waiting for... It's plot time! I officially figured out that my genre is horror and my sub genre is psychological horror. With this, I can continue to narrow down my plot with the help of my peers suggestions, commentary, and feedback from the group meeting this week.
Character Identity 𐙚
So as you all know, my main character is the antagonist of the story and as I mentioned before, this character would be a college student that's going through a residency of shadowing over the doctor of the clinic they are working at. The motive of this nurse is to be the star pupil of the doctor and be a very well recognized nurse that is successful and with this they have intentions to kill off the competition of other high ranked nurses that have been at this clinic longer and more sought after by the doctor. This movie would be more focused towards this main character.
Previously, I have mentioned that this character would be male and the actor would have to be masculine in order to play this role, however, I have realized I had issues with casting and now the main character would be a female. This character's name is now Danielle and will be casted by someone who is female.
Plot 𐙚
Danielle is a college student who comes from a lower middle class family who has been struggling but mysteriously disappeared when Danielle was 15. She looks up to Doctor Sherwood and has multiple victims that are nurses that have successful surgeries and the Doctor care about. All Danielle has left is for her is her being a prodigy as a successful.nurse and before the movie it's inferred that she has just finished off her first victim at the end of the opening we see that she has found a new victim which is another nurse named Shelby. Shelby is the protagonist but as previously stated, she won't be the main focus of the movie due to the movie having the main character be the slasher. The movie will have scenes that consist of Danielle figuring out about Shelby like who she is, who she hangs around, where she lives, and what they do for fun. This is actually what Danielle does to every one of her victims, she collects information and includes it on a bulletin board to track down her victims and get them when they least expect it. By the end, both Doctor Sherwood and Shelby figure out Danielle and as they corner her but she manages to escape and gets a missing person file case against her.
For the actual opening plot, I want to develop a sense of mystery and it will start with the credits rolling in as Danielle is seen cleaning up her crime scene but still in her scrubs and in the clinic setting. This will happen for the duration of 40 seconds maybe 30 depending on my story board and the title of the movie will display with the formation of medical tools. After this, Danielle looks at her work and walks out as the Doctor catches her and they go through some dialogue and the conversation goes through him asking Danielle and showing concern about their coworker who has gone missing. During this another coworker of Danielle cuts in and talks to the doctor and we see Danielle get visibly upset and the scene cuts off there. During the conversation the credits will still show but they will be in a white minimalistic font.
Hello everyone! Today's blog will center around the discussion about media theories and what they are. This is being done in order for me to figure out what I can incorporate into my film opening.
What is a Media Theory?
According to media studies theory, media theories are useful methods to help the audience anylyze and understand the interlinked relationship between media and society. The theories are seperated into genres that include media contexts, representation, and narrative. The ones I will be focusing on will the narrative category. I have chosen the theory that I want to integrate in my opening and I will have backup reasoning for it.
Narrative
Character Theory
The character theory which belongs to Vladimir Propp discusses that characters can be put into specific roles. Propp also argues that these characters are split into seven and these seven characters are:
Hero - protagonist
Villain - antagonist
Dispatcher - sends protagonist on a quest or journey
Helper - helps the protagonist
Donor - gives something to the protagonist that they will need later
Princess - the reward or motivation at the end
False Hero - not exactly the villain but someone who works against the protagonist and prevents them from succeeding
Out of these seven characters I do want to integrate three roles into my opening with the characters I have in my film. In this film I will have the nurse going through residency who is obviously the killer and even tho typically the main character is the protagonist, in my case the villain is the main character.
Villain Costume Idea
The next character I want to include is the protagonist and this would be more of a supporting side character because they are trying to stop but the antagonist but they aren't the center of the film or plot. This protgonist would be the nurse that is being targetted by the villain but will have someone that will support this.
Protagonist Costume Idea
Last but not least! The helper is next and it will be the doctor who is supporting and helping the protagonist (nurse) with figuring out the villain and who is behind all these killings and missing people that are disappearing.
Welcome back everyone! It is now week 3 of my portfolio project and today in class we participated in group meetings. In these meetings were were assigned in a group of 5 people and were tasked with discussing our projects as well as give feedback and comments about our openings. This assignment was given in order for us to learn from everyone's project idea, get inspiration, and obviously receive feedback.
Discussion of Openings & Plots
My group consisted of my classmates: Maria, Will, Arianna, and Samira. Maria went first and she had her genre and inspiration figured out. Her inspiration and blog consisted mainly of genre research and inspiration from the movie Knives Out (2019) which is an Mystery film from what she told us. I personally never watched but I might wanna go check it out! In her opening she wants to focus on mise en scene elements and I recommended using props such as missing case files, a bulletin board with clues and with this she could display her credit sequences in these props. This is something I really enjoy because it correlates with the foreshadowing of the mystery that she wants her opening to develop. Samira also recommended for her to make it about a detective who is compiling all this information about a missing person and by the end they have a finished bulletin board about the missing person. I also gave her the idea of having a background of the missing person such as having a history of drug abuse and that's why they're missing. This is a nice clever touch because it doesn't give away too much about the plot as well as show the audience something they can infer is about a missing person.
The next person who went was Samira and I'd like to say she was really prepared and had an idea of behind of scenes in terms of cast, genre, and shots and composition that she would include in her opening. She had the idea of having a sports comedy movie that would include her little brother who is 8 years old and plays baseball. She had the idea of including his friends to play baseball together and she got inspiration from the movie Sandlot (1993). I don't really watch sports movies so Will was telling me it was about baseball players in the summertime and that it's also a coming of age film. I recommended that Samira should have the plot be about her brother and a friend who go to tryouts and try to find kids around their neighborhood to tryout and be apart of a baseball team they have at school. The reason why I recommended for her to figure out the plot is because it will be easier for her to develop the technique she wants to include if she has her plot idea planned out.
I went afterwards and I was describing my full plot idea that was about a nurse assistant who is a college student that shadows a doctor and goes onto take his victims who also happen to be his peers at the medical office. The student is going through a residency and is trying to kill off his competition. It will be a psychological horror that has medical aspects and mise en scene elements. Samira recommended to me that the beginning of my opening could start off with the man finishing off a patient and cleaning off equipment and typing up documents but have foreshadowing elements of the missing nurse that he killed off but the audience doesn't know that. She also goes on to give me another idea about having a screen of many characters with different characters finding out at different times about what happened to the nurse. I don't know how this would work out but I will take it into consideration. Then, Will gave the suggestion of having a conversion at the end with dialogue between the doctor and main character and have another nurse come in and interrupt the main character and have it finish off with the main character figuring out his next target. These were amazing suggestions because now that I got my plot idea I finally have an idea of what I can include in my opening and now I'm a step closer into making my storyboard.
This is what Samira was referencing to when she gave me that suggestion:
Will went next and he also was doing a sports comedy based off Adam Sandler's movies. His inspiration is also Happy Gilmore (1996). He had his plot down and he had two versions which included a man whose going through a conflict and starts playing golf. His first version was having a golf competition be because of a cash prize and his second version was to have the guy lock eyes with a girl. I recommended that he would go with the second idea because in order to successfully do the first idea he would need research on golf competitions, how much money he can find, make his own flyers, and put in more effort into the small details. Whereas, if he went with the second idea he can follow up with this guy having a crush on a sporty girl who is portrayed as whimsical, witty, and athletic. He also mentioned that this guy is not good at golf and he would learn just for her which is a very comedic trope that I feel would reflect really nicely with his ideas.
Arianna was the last person to go and she went on to explain that her genre was a sports drama. Clearly this is a reoccurring pattern that is in our group and I feel like that is very beneficial because they can reflect on each other's commentary and get inspiration from their openings and mise en scene like costuming and plot ideas due to having very similar genres. Her project is in a group and they have an idea of it being based off an American girl doll story where they are basically coming of age films. She has the idea of a gymnast falling and breaking her leg. Will recommended that she should do a time rewind in her opening of a baby beforehand and having a realization with a whistle come back into reality where she is a gymnast competition. However, we never got the chance to ask if they already have access to a gym with gymnastic equipment because otherwise it would be tedious to ask for permission to film there.
This is the document I utilized in order to take notes: Group Meeting.docx
Now What's Next?
With all this being recapped, I can finally go into figuring out my entire movie plot idea and place my pieces of the puzzle together to figure out who will be casted, my full storyboard, and actually start filming in order to get ahead in my project. That is all for tonight bloggers, stay tuned for more updates on my film opening!
Hello everyone! Today we will be focusing on lighting techniques concerning budget, colors, and tone. As we know, my opening will utilize a horror genre so today I will be researching on how these techniques can be used in a horror genre or analyze video essays that go into depth about how to construct lighting for horror films. Now without further ado, let's get started!
How to Develop Lighting Schemes 𐙚
As I've surfed YouTube and shuffled through countless videos I have found two very helpful videos that will pertain to my project and the first one talks about the different methods horror film producers take in order to develop a certain tone in horror movie. They talk about low-key lighting, back-lighting, background lighting, natural daylight and much more.
Now what are each of these and how can I make use of them? That's a great question! To first develop examples of how I can utilize these techniques, we need to dive into each one of these and construct a basic concept of each and how they're used in horror films. Below is the video and techniques I chose to analyze with this knowledge embedded.
This technique emphasizes shadow and utilizes one key light to create shadows on the character's face.
Example:The character is notices something or has killed a victim and is reflecting upon that moment
Back-Lighting
This technique is useful for creating sillouettes and shadows where the back of the subject is shown to the camera. The light source will be towards the viewer.
Example: A character could be just done with something he did, turned off the light and is walking out the room with only the light shining on his back.
Background Lighting
Adding a source of light behind the subject to add a deeper tense or mood within a scene instead of having a completely black background with no depth. This technique would typically be combined with low-key lighting to add a tone to the horror.
Window Lighting
When creating a daytime scene in my case, having a light pointed towards the outside of a window into a room can create a light that is more available to adjust when filming if not met by proper standards.
Example: The subject is looking outside to see a faint cop car light in the distance.
Note: The lighting methods above are chosen from the video are strictly researched in order to develop my project in relevance to the techniques I was taught in class and will be able to execute them professionally.
Horror Lighting on a Budget 𐙚
As I mentioned before, I'm not looking to spend money on a bunch of new lighting equipment. Therefore, in order to aid my solution, I found a wonderful video that will help me get that same professional lighting shown on my film opening within a strict budget. This will allow my video to have the same tone, look, and aesthetic as a professionally filmed video while also utilizing the techniques that I've learned from the video above.
This video goes into depth and includes an example for each technique utilized with just three lights. This is also used with can lights and used with three steps. I will go on to analyze these lights and include examples of the subject the speaker used in this video.
Have a natural light from windows and maybe utilize intense light without having to use gels that change the color. Instead adding a blue hue to the colorization of the camera in settings or editing the lighting can help create that blue or red dramatic effect we want.
Example: The changing blue and red cop car colors are interchanging from the natural light of the window.
2. Practical Light
The light has to be physically in a scene probably from a lamp, ceiling light, or a blue light used in medical centers like hospitals.
Example: The subject could turn on a lamp from a dark room and have it shine from behind them.
3. Rim Light
This enhancement from a rim light will finish the job that the practical light wouldn't particular be able to do on its own.
Example: The subject is in the same position but the lamp isn't shining on their face so we would have to add a rim light to enhance the light or give the illusion of placement from the practical light that's in our scene already.
Now with this research I will be able to recognize what scenes will require me to adjust the lighting and how to combine my efforts from previous class notes that I have made in order to develop my full opening. Stay tuned for my upcoming storyboard of my full opening and more progress that will be made on my film opening. See you next time! 🎀
Good morning or good evening Cambridge and welcome back to my blog! As I mentioned in my previous blog post I wanted to do some research on some credit sequences. These three opening credit sequences will be from three different movies in order to increase a variety of movies I can pull inspiration on for my own project.
The Dentist Film follows a dentist named Dr. Feinstone who has a successful career in dentistry who discovered his wife's affair. It's a horror based movie that's shown in a dentist office. This would be the reason as to why I picked this film because as I mentioned before I will be focusing my opening choices based on what I want my movie plot to be based around including Inspiration. The credits are shown with the utilization of showing the companies first with a black background. The text "A Film by Brian Yuzna" is displayed instead of saying the director. This would be a nice paraphrased version to say directed by in order to have some changes. In these credits the names are in a bigger text font than the titles.
The rest of the actor names are shown the right side of the screen in a white text and show a stacked version of the names. Then after the production tea is displayed with hands in the back in a blurry white background with the text still on the side. The titles include "Director of Photography", "Music by", and more. These titles would be something I'd like to incorporate as well as the titles separate by the names with a line in a distorted font.
This film starts off with a background of constellation of stars showing the company Orion Pictures and the formation of the O is followed with the music and it synced up. The rest of the credits are shown abruptly in a black font with a white border around the font, which is in all capitals. They start with showing another production company then goes to list the cast members by their actor name. The text is shown in the middle with big lettering and blocks out the background scene because it's not incorporated throughout the beginning of the opening. After they show the actors they display the title of the movie The Silence of the Lambs. As the scene progresses there is a lot of space between the actor names and the production team which is separated by dialogue and are a minute apart which obviously I cannot incorporate into my 2 minute opening due to time shortage. The production team includes titles such as "Casting By" and "Production Designer" followed by the name. The titles other than casting and music is just the title followed by the name which is in a different text size.
The opening goes on to display the actor names again but in a stacked method that looks choppy and distracting from the background scene of the woman walking through the woods. This takes away attention from the film. The picture beside this text is an example of these credit sequences. Something else I wouldn't want to incorporate into my film is spacing out the credits so oddly because in this opening the credits are spaced out at least 10 seconds apart for the second half.
The last credit sequences I will be analyzing will be from the film The Conjuring which is a paranormal horror about a couple that seeks demons. The opening follows the couple and they're presenting afterwards, they go on to show a transcript in yellow font in a small text to say that the film is based off a true story. The credits roll as if they are in a transcript and the title The Conjuring is shown in the same yellow font but much larger to emphasize the title.
This is something I like because of the font color matching from the context of the story to the title. It's a nice way to represent the color theory because usually demon's eyes in the conjuring like in The Nun (2018) show the eyes to be a very bright yellow as seen in this movie because the nun in that movie is known to be an evil spirit. This is also seen in many other of the Conjuring films where the demon's eyes are yellow. I personally would like to get inspiration from the color matching.
Hello Cambridge and welcome back to my blog! Today I will be analyzing three film openings within the horror genre to have an idea of what I want to include in my own film opening with inspiration from different films that were also set in the 90's.
The opening of The Black Phone takes the approach of a character vs character conflict and focuses on adding a sense of intensity and fear and has a repeated theme of missing children, kidnapping, and suspense. The opening starts with a upbeat song with a teenager riding his bike and then the music starts to fade away into the iconic suspense music when a mysterious black van appears alluding to its importance and correlation to the kid's reaction. After this a series of establishing shots and inserts are seen to develop the setting and place of where this film will be taken and still have a sense of mystery. The music gets more intense as more close ups of children show up on screen as well as tight close ups of the word "Missing" and "Caution" lets the audience have awareness that this will be a reoccurring theme in the movie. In terms of mise en scene elements, the lighting and props such as shoes, posters, and balloons to express the important plot devices that are critical for this movie. As the opening goes on the shots are seen to be more shaky from hand held movement and appear to have a distorted image with more reoccurring themes.
Something I'd like to get inspiration for my opening is mostly the color scheme and mise en scene elements like a more yellow undertone in the lighting to give off a most uncertain feeling as well as have a reoccurring prop show up in my opening. A prop that could keep showing up could relate to the character in my opening like they did with the missing posters, black van, and black balloons to represent the Grabber in The Black Phone.
This opening from Scream (1996) follows Casey Baker who is getting anonymus calls from someone she doesn't recognize and when she repeatedly says he has the wrong number he reels her in closer to play his game. We see lightning themes to be more inviting and homey as seen from her house lights when she's making popcorn but once the killer reveals his true intentions the atmosphere gets dark and eerie which is also seen through the dark coloring of the lighting by casting shadows on her face with hues of dark blue. There is usage of dialogue to help provide context about her relationship with this other character. This is also the utilization of character vs character approach because she is being hunted down by this serial killer who she later finds out killed her boyfriend.
Inspiration from this opening would include background props that are from the 90's as well as the language characters spoke in. Props would include examples like the popcorn, computer, and phone she uses. Also the end of the opening right before Casey is killed off she takes off ghostface's mask and she finds out who the killer really is. I think this would be something interesting I could incorporate. However, not exactly the way she did it but something similar since I can't have the ability or money to produce a well written gore scene with killing.
The last opening I will be analyzing will be Misery (1990) and in this opening there is plenty utilization of foley sounds like the type writer, grabbing paper, and many other background noises in the car. We find out this guy is a writer the story he wrote has some importance. When he gets into his car it's a time skip montage where he is driving in a snowy road at the edge of a mountain or hill of some sorts with upbeat music in the background. As the scene progresses there are more hand-held shots that give off a raw movement to indicate stress as the clips get faster between the guy's face and the front view of the car with continuity editing. This keeps happening until he crashes his car and the car is just upside down for the rest of the opening.
I'd like to focus on the editing techniques used in this opening because the focus pulls from objects give a significance to certain props and leave mystery to the audience but not so much with context and background which is something I want to have in my own opening. So i wouldn't focus so much on making my audience confused because I will be dropping hints at the end but they would be able to know what's happening due to the dialogue.
Now What?
I will be focusing on making my storyboard and doing more research on the credits and how they appear on these openings or on three new ones to get more inspiration. Stay tuned for these updates on my movie plot and overall sequences that will fit into my 2-minute opening!
Welcome Back everyone! So before I continue my project I need to stick to a set out schedule in order to ensure my work won't be lacking in quality. Making a timeline for myself will allow me to breakdown this 2 month long project into minor assignments needed to completed in a week instead and will allow me to have some weight off my back.
Portfolio Project Breakdown 𐙚
Initial Research
Researching and analyzing examples of film openings within my chosen genre.
Researching and analyzing credit sequences within my chosen genre.
Planning
Coming up with movie plot idea.
Scripting (On word document)
Find music (Either foley or background music)
Storyboarding
Finding actors/crew members.
Choosing location and date for filming. (With permission)
Production
Filming scenes
Recording foley (if needed)
Recording voiceovers (if needed)
Editing
Editing the sequences
Include title card and credits.
Record foley and voiceover (if needed)
Revisions
Review and analyze current version of the video.
Either make revisions or clean up mistakes (if needed)
Critical Creative Reflection
Research information relating to the reflection.
Create the reflection.
Edit and review CCR.
For this project I have 7 weeks left to complete all the critical components of this project in order to be successful I will put this schedule and break it into those 8 weeks.
My Timeline Breakdown 𐙚
Week 1 (1/29-2/2)
Genre Research
Make overview of plans of how to approach
Decide what genre to focus on
Week 2 (2/3-2/9)
Research
Compare film openings for genre
Conventions of films in 90's-2000's
Brainstorm plot
Script & Storyboard based off openings
Plan for filming
Find Locations
Find actors or actor and crew
Set filming schedule for crew and actors to meet
Week 3 (2/10-2/16)
Production
Create props and set design based off last week research
Set up costumes
Production
Record any behind the scenes of prop and set making
Start filming
Record foley sounds
Week 4 (2/17-2/23)
Production
Finish up filming video
Record foley's for editing
Editing
Edit first cut (no sound yet)
Week 5 (2/24-3/2)
Editing
Edit second half to finish up
Incorporate foley sounds into the whole video
Edit in background music
Week 6 (3/3-3/9)
Revisions
Revise any sounds link
complete the final opening
Creative Critical Reflection
Research information relating to the reflection.
Create the reflection.
Edit and review CCR.
Week 7 (3/10-3/16)
Creative Critical Reflection
Finish up the CCR
Week 8 (3/17-3/25)
Final Revisions
Use this week in place of any delays or conflicts
March 25th is the FINAL deadline, so I should have my actual video done
two weeks beforehand and finish my CCR the week before.
Personally, I use my laptop every day and in order to remind myself of my set schedule and to keep myself on task I will be able to have a note on my screensaver in order to visually see my timeline which will be updated each Sunday for a different week.
For example, today is in week 2 and this is the notes I have for week 2.
