The Screenplay (Teenage Edition)

I have just concluded writing the script for the idea Edward gave of a teenager running away from home. I first outlined it mentally before beginning to write as I wanted process this idea into a practical sequence. I thought of the opening beginning with beautiful nature cinematography of the outside world, which shows where the main character of the film wants to escape to. This is then contrasted with a negative atmosphere of a somewhat dysfunctional home with the teenager's father shouting at him, which explains why he would want to escape. From there, he would grab supplies, stuff them into a backpack, and head out the door. To end the opening off, the teenager would look at his surroundings and sprint into the wilderness. In this case, the wilderness would be actually a walking trail in my neighborhood instead of a real forest. After coming up with the progression of the opening, I sent a typed version of this mental outline to my partners. They agreed with it, and from there I wrote the script. Here it is in full:


EXT. FOREST - DAY

It is a beautiful day outside as the sunshines bright on the beautiful flora and fauna found outside in the "Great Outdoors". Birds chirp. Trees sway in the wind. Nature is truly at peace. A perfect opportunity to lay down and relax from the stress of daily life. This escape is exactly what JORDAN KADE, a rebellious, energetic and playful teenager, needs more than anything.


INT. JORDAN'S ROOM - DAY

Jordan's room is disorganized and far from perfect. To be honest, it is the complete opposite of beautiful. Jordan rushes around his messy room to find clothes and other essentials to put into a backpack. He is planning on running away. JORDAN'S FATHER, a strict and hotheaded old man, is yelling at Jordan to get his act together from outside his room. 

                JORDAN'S FATHER
        (ANGRY)
    You need to quit this act right now young man! Do you hear me? You are throwing your life away by failing your classes, hell, you're not even showing up to them. To sleep under this roof I expect hard and honest work, and yet this is the third week in a row you have not completed your chores. Simply unacceptable! If you want to make something of yourself one day you need to get up...

Jordan ignores his father's ramblings and prepares to leave everything behind them. He is done with society and his family's criticisms. Jordan opens the door and heads outside disregarding his father.


EXT. STREET - DAY

Jordan walks away from his house and stops at the middle of the road. He cautiously looks to his left and right trying to figure out where to go. Instead of actually logically thinking things through, he goes with his gut instinct as he knows anywhere is better than where he is. He sprints away from his home and never looks back. Jordan has broken free.

Conclusion

The plan from here is that Edward will storyboard the script and I will figure out the logistics of the actual production process due to the COVID-19 pandemic. See you guys soon!

The New New Idea

Writer's Block

After days of trying to come up with an idea for the film opening, I honestly was unable to think of anything. It was difficult trying to come up with an idea that is not only of high standard, but one that also can be recorded at home with a cast and crew of one person (yourself). Simply put, I was dealing with a bad case of writer's block. I was trying to get creative on what could be possible with the limited resources at my disposal, but I felt as if there was not much to pull from when I took a look around me. Reflecting back over these past few days, I can conclude that part of this could derive from my failure to think of my house as a set instead of what it was to me, a home.

The Idea

Since I was mentally stuck with what to do next, the idea for the film opening came from partner Edward. His idea was about a teenager running away from home, but in a sort of upbeat style similar to older teen movies such as Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986, dir. John Hughes). This same sense of fun rebellion illustrated from the film is a major influence on the tone of our opening, and will appeal to a target audience of not just teenagers, but specifically the disenfranchised youth that wants to let go of all of their concerns for a while. As I began visualizing the concept, it seemed like it would be able to be done even with these many obstacles in our way. With that in mind, there is no time to waste. I'll be back as soon as possible with a script ready to go.

Take 3

Here we go again...

COVID-19 has affected our production once again as even more serious pre-cautions have been taken to prevent further spread of the virus. To be exact, the park we were supposed to film in, Markham Park, is closed until further notice. All other parks are shut down as well. Filming in a spot outdoors and filled with a lot of nature was essential to the core of the horror concept I had previously discussed, which ironically was set that way to be safer from the situation. There's no room for blame as lives are literally at stake, but there is also no time to complain. The deadline has not shifted at all and at this point it isn't even creeping closer, it's straight up sprinting at me full force.

What now? 

An obvious route would be to make the film opening a drama instead of a new genre. This will save time in the pre-production phase and as well be more useful since we already have copious research about these types of movies. The only shooting location realistically available to us will be limited to our houses and their surrounding development, so the plot has to stay grounded, or at least grounded enough that it can be filmed at home. Due to the entire quarantine happening, we cannot get anyone to act, not even anyone from our group. It might be a good idea to attempt to tell the story visually instead of heavy dialogue because of this, or have audio cues indicate what the film would be about. An example that comes to mind is the opening from the dystopian film Children of Men (2006, dir. Alfonso Cuarón), which has its central premise of humans being unable to reproduce revealed through a news broadcast. My group and I will attempt to come up with an idea in these upcoming days that will both be excellent yet achieveable with this ongoing pandemic.

Production Schedule V3

Before I begin researching and finishing up pre-production, I decided to update the production schedule once more to properly pace myself and the rest of my group as we work quickly to finish our portfolio project. A production schedule will also guide us on what we will need to do to create a spooky opening. Check it out:

March

April

Key:

• Blue = Pre-production
• Green = Production
• Yellow = Post-production
• Red = Deadline

The most apparent change is our deadline being pushed back from April 5th to April 12th. This gives us an extra week which is extremely useful as we are starting from scratch. The first couple days of this upcoming week will be based off of horror research, while the rest of it will be based off of the rest of the pre-production process such as making an outline, screenplay, and storyboard. Essentially, we have a week for pre-production. The other reason for getting pre-production finished so fast is not just to meet the deadline, but to avoid any possible lockdown or having the park we are filming at closed due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The faster we finish pre-production is the greater of a chance we will be able to film our opening without any more problems. After that we will jump immediately into post-production, and edit the film all the way up to the deadline. Revisions will most definitely be made, and my group already plans on texting each other frequently and even making voice calls to discuss the opening. There is not much else to say except that I have a busy week ahead of me.

Baby Steps - Shooting Location/Genre

I was able to quickly come up with a shooting location and genre for the new film opening. Due to the limited time available and the other obstacles in the way of our production, I had to think with a different mindset than the one I had when previously developing what would have been Showtime. As I mentioned in my last post, my thought process is now based on looking around what is available to me and going off of there.

Shooting Location

The first aspect that I considered was a shooting location. It might seem odd to start here first, but it was essential to specifically find one that is safe health-wise and does not require any lighting equipment or props since we cannot get any in time. The first location that popped into mind that met these requirements was a large recreational park nearby known as Markham Park. Lighting here would be excellent since the weather has consistently been nothing but sunshine, and seems like it is going to continue this pattern for the foreseeable future. Since we are filming in nature instead of an artificial set, no set design and decoration would be required. With the limitations we are facing, this would be a great choice to record in. 

A photograph I took a couple of weeks ago at Markham Park.

Genre

Since Markham Park has many woodlands within, there were two genres that seemed to fit perfectly with that setting: horror and adventure. Adventure films typically rely heavily on set design, large set pieces, intense action, and mystical props. All of these elements and the many more that go into the process of filmmaking would take too much time in this particular genre, so what was next was to consider horror. Horror is infamously known for being made under very small budgets, which perfectly matches our budget of zero dollars. Jokes aside though, making a horror opening can be done through unnerving sound design, suspenseful pacing, and creeping shot composition. These are elements that my group and I can successfully pull off even with the limitations we are facing. There are many other techniques used in horror films that I might not know, so I will be sure to write a brand new genre research post all about them. 

Everything aside, it is good to see this production find itself even through all of this mess. Stay safe everyone!

Take 2

It's not everyday a global pandemic arises, but hey, here we are.

The world has seemed to cease all movement, and because of that so has our group's progress with the portfolio project. I know it's been a while, so let me remind you guys what we had left on the agenda to complete our film opening known as Showtime.

1. Purchase props and costumes
2. Pick a shooting location
3. Revise pre-production materials (script, storyboard, etc.)
4. Film the opening
5. Edit

After some discussion with my group, it was clear that with these new-founded obstacles we are going to be unable to successfully execute this idea. Almost all shops are closing down until this COVID-19 disaster is resolved, and the current motto of life is "social distancing". Most of my group members, including myself, are officially self-quarantined at home, so meeting together to film is a problem on its own.  

What this means for our opening is that we have to start fresh and create a great opening on a much smaller scale. A month's worth of progress lost, but that's just how life is I guess. This means that for this new opening we must consider filming different portions in our own homes, possibly eliminate the use of actors, and solely use the materials, equipment, props, and costumes we have available to us at the moment. To be honest, we have no clue what to do, but not enough time to spend too long forging this new idea. All that is left is to start and look ahead to this new road we have found ourselves on.  Let the brainstorms commence.

Animating a Motion Graphic

I want to incorporate a cool animated title card near the end of the film opening that would act as the “cherry on top” of the project, but want to make it one that matches the retro aesthetics of the production. The problem with making it too retro is that it would look too cheesy, generic, and feel out of place with the dramatic tone established earlier on. In order to circumvent this issue, I decided on making a compromise. Something that matches the vintage aesthetics, but wanted to avoid the VHS effects and create something that is still modern and sleek. I set out on using After Effects to make the graphic as I have been familiar with the program for almost a year now and found it very effective in creating great looking video and effects. With this information in mind, I went to look at motion graphic tutorials on YouTube to find a good platform to build off of.

Tutorial Time

The tutorial I based the title card out of.

I really liked this tutorial in particular because it was less typical to what people now associate with retro graphics and felt more authentic to what would be broadcasted on TV, even if it might have been a bit too early 80’s than late 80’s like the film opening is set in. While the end result was great in my opinion, it still was too excessive for what I was going for and as well required external software, which I avoided and made from scratch. The elements I took from this tutorial and incorporated to my own motion graphic was the trailing effect of the text as it goes into a spiral, except no spiral at all, just downwards movement for the “show” half of the text and upwards movement for the “time” half the text. I also used the same color palette, as it looked nice and as well matched the 80’s color palette we are using throughout the opening.

Creating the Graphic

When making the title card, I made it so that once the text met at the center to create a complete “showtime”, the text fades to white and the background turns black. This is because I wanted to keep the end minimal to illustrate the stark contrast between the vibrant beginning of the animation to the cold ending screen, mirroring the glamorous lifestyle everyone expects from a celebrity to the tragic truth presented in the plot. Some extra effects I added in were very light film grain and chromatic aberration to the text to keep the title card looking like a retro television graphic, but not too much to the point where it becomes distracting and corny. While I did the chromatic aberration in After Effects itself, I had to find elsewhere to implement film grain. Luckily, Shutterstock has completely free film grain overlays that anyone can use in their own productions both personally and commercially. This resource helped make this graphic complete in the authenticity I was aiming for.

Once I finished it, I sent it over via text to my group. They found the title card to be visually pleasing and liked the simple approach I took with it, making my job complete for now. Here it is below for your own viewing pleasure, enjoy!

It's Showtime!

This project will no longer be known as “the film opening”, but instead with its own true title.
This took a while to come up with since my group and I wanted something appropriate and simple to match with the film and its themes. Personally, I thought that approaching it almost sarcastically and using irony in the title could be interesting as it could tie into the whole concept of celebrities struggling with their own demons being treated as entertainment by ordinary people, and the idea of glamour being tarnished. The first thing that came up in mind was a sudden epiphany that captured the excess I wanted to accomplish and the instability of the character Keith Floyd. This name was called “Glamorous Madness”. After some thought and strong criticism from the rest of my group, it was clear to see that the name was way too obvious and silly for the serious tone we were going for. From here we had to go subtler.

The process in creating the title of our project had then become Manuel and myself spamming brief names and buzzwords into our group chat that would hopefully light a spark of inspiration. While none of them were notable, there were recurring topics seen in many of these shoddy titles. These topics were the emotion of longing for a better life, going down under, being stuck, helpless, and having to entertain everyone while having to be struggling internally. This method of spitballing at least helped me get a better grasp on what the title was supposed to invoke and relate to when it came to representing the film as a whole.

After even more thought and time passing by, I decided to focus more on the entertainment aspect of our title once again instead of blatantly including the personal issues Keith Floyd goes through. I became insistent on this because I believed that it would be directly correlated with the setting and central plot of the film while also acting as a sense of irony once the audience understands that the film about the figurative show Keith has to put on for everyone else while suffering on the inside, which eventually results in his downfall. Taking this approach would result in a name that is less generic and one that is overall more impactful. This affirmation had led to my next epiphany: if Keith is putting on a show, then shouldn’t the name simply be related specifically to putting on a show? Therefore, the title of the film I finally came up with was “Showtime”. My group enjoyed the title as well and liked the straightforward yet deep meaning behind it. Goodbye to just “the film opening” and hello Showtime!

Sound Design

After music comes sound.

Sound design allows for dimension within any production and heightens its quality by a longshot. For my film opening, I will use sound to produce a realistic soundscape of a television set. In order to create this believable soundscape, it is essential to find good sound effects or create your own as foley. For this production in particular, I believe I will be focusing most of my time getting these sounds online since what I need is much more about creating an atmosphere than replicating a specific sound of an action or object. To be specific, here are examples of the sound effects I will need once I begin editing the film opening:

• Distant chattering
• Movement of the crew members on the set
• Old TV show opening sting

As you can see, these will be sounds to layer in the background and to give the impression of the set being alive and active right before they record. In other instances, such as Cole flipping through his work binder and Keith opening his flask, foley would probably be the best route to take to perfectly match the sounds they would make. All of these sounds I have just previously mentioned are diegetic, but there are also opportunities to implement nondiegetic sounds of dramatic and psychedelic cues to reinforce Keith’s lack of sobriety. With whichever sound I might need, I will have to have excellent sources to get them efficiently when it comes time to edit. Luckily, I have had some previous experience with various websites through my time researching and developing soundscapes in class.

Freesound

The home page of Freesound.

Freesound is a collaborative sound database with users across the globe uploading their own recorded sounds for millions to use. The benefits of downloading these homemade sounds versus from a professional library is the practically limitless amount and variety you can find by simply typing into a text box on the top right of the page. Each sound is specifically identified with a creative commons license, therefore I would be able to apply them into the film opening without any trouble. Here I’ll definitely be able to find any type of sound effect I might need, especially the harder ones such as the opening sting for the interview.

YouTube Audio Library

The search screen for the YouTube Audio Library.

The YouTube Audio Library is a service provided by the video platform YouTube to its content creators to access a feed of free sound effects and music that they can use within their videos. The advantage of this service is that the sounds are all high quality and that it has a vast library to choose from. Each sound is extremely easy to extract, with a simple download button to its right side that instantly installs without any hassle. All sounds are explicitly indicated as free on the pages subheading, so this will also not be a problematic source. The YouTube Audio Library will be great to use for creating the sense of movement on the set, whether it is footsteps on the floor or a crowd talking.

Conclusion

With two useful sound sources that each have their own respective uses, I am going to be ready to make a convincing and dynamic soundscape to make this film opening more alive.

Picking a Perfect Song

For this film opening, my group and I want to use the best quality music as possible to convey the dark tone of the production without it being too overbearing on the audience. We plan on picking a track that sounds subtle, yet dynamically develops to become more dramatic over time. As a bonus, we also thought it could be cool if it ended up matching with the 80’s aesthetic we are heavily applying to the project. This kind of high quality and meticulous music that we wanted was something I could not find for free after searching on popular copyright-free and royalty-free websites such as Incompetech and Bensound. These websites are filled with what I thought were personally corny and generic sounds that would have potentially ruined the atmosphere and distracted the audience. Of course I cannot afford a full professional license as a high school student, so I had to find a good middle ground.

The Middle Ground

Subscription based music services provide a professional quality library of music with royalty-free licensing for each song on their platforms for a relatively small price each month, or in some cases a couple hundred dollars when each monthly purchase is instead combined in a yearly plan. I think this is a reasonable route to go to get great tracks without having to deal with the trouble of either making our own music or purchasing highly expensive licenses. The two services that I looked into were Epidemic Sound and Artlist. Both are well reviewed and have the type of music we were looking for, but after taking a glance at this useful comparison for both I found online, I decided to go with Artlist. My reason behind this decision was the fact that the licensing for all of the songs on the service last forever. Once I download a song, I will be able to use it in any video production for life, even if I unsubscribe in the future. This is perfect for a student production like ours, so I took the leap of faith and began a subscription.

Using Artlist

The search page for Artlist with my selections applied.

I’ve spent some time using Artlist and found it super simple to find very specific music for any occasion. On the side bar, I am able to select specific moods, genres, instrumentation, and types of video production to find a killer track with ease. To find a similar song to the one that we had in mind earlier, I used the selections of dark, synth (driven instrumentation), tense, and cinematic. I went through a decent amount of tracks, but really enjoyed this one as it was simple, reflected the tone of the opening, and built up with the dark 80’s sound we were going for. Check it out:



My group really enjoyed it, with my partner Edward really being on-board with the selection to the point where he claimed it helped him visualize the scene in his head. That’s the moment I knew I picked the perfect song.

Schedule Update

Quick update on the production schedule. It's actually good news this time! After some change of plans on my partner Nick's part, he will now only be gone on vacation from March 26th to March 29th. This is great to hear, because as we previously had it, we would of had to film right when I got back from a competition and shoot everything as fast as possible since Nick had to leave right after. With this change, we are able to film at a much better date that isn't so exhausting and would allow for more leeway if things go awry. This would also mean that we would have more time to be prepared as well. Of course, we can't extend the shooting date too much in order to prevent post-production from being too short, so we are filming on March 20th and March 21st. Post-production will then be pushed back by two days, but still have the same amount of time as before.

There has also been another slight change of plan. Instead of going to plan in person and go thrift shopping like we were supposed to yesterday, we are now going tomorrow afternoon. The details of are meeting will stay the same: we're still going to discuss the storyboard and screenplay, purchase costumes, and planning out the shoot as a whole. In conclusion, I think these changes will work for the better and make the production process much smoother than it would of been otherwise. I'll try to update you all on the result of our meeting soon. For now, here's the updated schedule.

March

April

Color and Lighting

In my previous post, I mentioned that I would take the opportunity to research what approaches to color and lighting my group could take in our film opening. In today's post, I'll go over what I found relating to these two topics and how I plan on using them.

Color Theory

My partner, Edward, has previously researched color palettes, and decided to go with this one below as it is very apparent in 80's aesthetics:

These shades of magenta, cyan, yellow, purple, and red will be used to decorate the set and inform costume design desicions, but I wanted to figure out how I can also use it to convey tone and emotion through color theory. Color theory states that within film, colors presented on-screen will psychologically evoke different emotions depending on what color is used in a production. For example, seeing the color red might be associated with anger, but the color blue is associated with calmness. These infographics from No Film School explain each primary and secondary color with their mood associations:

As shown above, the same cyan as the 80's color palette can represent sadness and the magenta can represent anger. The cyan would most likely would be the best color to associate Keith Floyd, as his inner depression and loneliness is at the core of the character, with possibly some light usage of magenta to illustrate his snappy personality due to his substance abuse. This information will definitely become handy for when my group and I go thrift shopping for clothing.

Lighting Set-Ups

In film, lighting is a necesity. Lighting is how the audience will percieve the set, actors, and props presented, and different lighting techniques will vary the tone and context of a scene. Since this production is a drama, dramatic lighting is definitely a great choice for the film opening. To be specific, low key lighting. Low key lighting is a lighting technique tjat is achieved by removing the source of lighting known as the fill light, which lightly fills in details of a person's face. By removing this light, essentially half of a person's face is covered in shadow. This not only makes a scene or character seem more dramatic, but it also adds a sense of mystery. From a creative perspective, this looks like a great decision for the film opening, but is also great from a realistic perspective. With no real proper lighting equipment as of now, lighting will be scarce. Therefore, removing the amount of lights we need helps to reduce this problem.

An example of low key lighting that is typically seen in film noir.

Sources:

Hellerman, Jason. “How a Film Color Palette Can Make You a Better Filmmaker [W/ Infographics].” No Film School, 18 Feb. 2019, nofilmschool.com/Film-color-theory-and-color-schemes.

StudioBinder. “5 Cinematic Lighting Techniques Every Filmmaker Should Know.” StudioBinder, 9 Feb. 2020, www.studiobinder.com/blog/film-lighting-techniques/#Hard-film-lighting. 

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Feedback Time

This past week I was fortunate enough to sit down with other creators and discuss each other's projects so far. This group meeting was meant to both get feedback and to as well help work out any problems or improve upon existing details with everyone's film opening. In general, I found the  experience really inspiring since I got to hear everyone's creativity highlighted and to see the efforts they are making to bring it to life. Since I was able to share my own film opening, I was able to get more ideas to implement or consider as the project takes shape. I jotted down quick notes about everything and am now going to show you guys what I got. Here goes nothing!

Movie Recommendations

Since my film opening deals with the topic of mental health, specifically it being unaddressed among countless celebrities, many in my group told me to check out some similar films that handle this similar topic. These might be some possible sources of inspiration on how this subject matter is represented, acted, written, and implemented within a successful production:

• A Star is Born (2018, dir. Bradley Cooper) - A Star is Born is a drama about a musician falling in love with another artist, but is tragically facing drug and alcohol addiction on the side. The element of privacy to this problem matches Keith Floyd's own hidden battles. This film can hopefully help me understand how to handle addiction properly in the film opening.

• Walk the Line (2005, dir. James Mangold) - Walk the Line is a drama about the country music icon Johnny Cash and details his rise to success. Within the film, he deals with drug addiction, which is another connection to celebrities and substance abuse.

• Amy (2015, dir. Asif Kapadia) - Amy is a documentary on the late singer Amy Winehouse. The documentary acts as a deep look into her life and what led her to pass: drug and alcohol poisoning. This real world example can definitely help to inspire Keith Floyd's overall presentation in the opening (She was also in "the 27 club"... see more below).

• Rocketman (2019, dir. Dexter Fletcher) - Rocketman is a drama and musical is based off of the life of legendary artist Elton John. Elton John himself has dealt with substance abuse issues in the past and the film supposedly details some of it.

• The 27 Club - While I wasn't able to get the name of the specific documentary, there seem to be many from my searches online. The 27 Club is a collective name for a group of musicians, athletes, actors, and artists that have unfortunately passed while they were all twenty seven years old due to poor mental health, substance abuse, or violence. The topic itself as a whole works as a great topic to research and it is something I will definitely look into to inspire the tragic lifestyle of Keith Floyd. 

Costume Design

I told everyone on how my group plans on recording the opening indoors to avoid modern looking buildings from interupting the fact that it takes place in the 80's, and they responded by stating that costume design should then be heavily incorporated to illustrate the time period. This was an excellent idea, and one that luckily some of my group members have already spent time researching on their own. I will make sure to bring this up to them so they keep it in mind.

The Use of Color and Lighting

One of my fellow classmates suggested that to help convey the tone and the emotion of Keith Floyd, we can use color and dramatic lighting cues to illustrate his tragedy. I have already have knowledge into these two techniques, but have not done much research into how I can specifically implement it for the film opening. I really should check this out before it becomes time for production.

Other Assorted Ideas

Here are more minor ideas that I was given during the meeting. First off, they all approved of keeping the film set in the late 80's instead of the early 80's as it would make sense with the coccaine epidemic of the time. I was also told that during this time period that the program of Drug Abuse Resistance Education (or D.A.R.E.) was prominent in the media, so maybe a subtle allusion to it would help conncet the time period with the subject matter. Another improvement I was provided with was to enforce that Keith Floyd has a "snappy" attitude, and to consider his psychological headspace to base his behaviors off of, not simply just that he was on drugs or alcohol. They all gave me other things to consider, such as the strange frequency of child-stars who grow up finding themselves go through substance abuse, maybe how Keith could hide his physically decaying apperance with make up, and to possibly play with perspective. If the opening can show how Keith sees the world through his drug use, and how unglamorous it actually is, it can visualize his twisted sense of reality. 

Conclusion

It was truly great to get a fresh perspective on my film opening after spending a lot of time talking with my own group. I will keep everything in mind in these next upcoming weeks.

My actual copy of notes from the group meeting.

Back on Track

Our group has become organized thanks to a nifty production schedule we all worked on together in class. This schedule stretches from today to our deadline, April 5th. This gives us about four weeks to complete our film opening, and we’re increasing our productivity immediately in order to finish with a fully fleshed product. Our calendar embodies this mentality and has all of the remaining steps we must to accomplish in this time frame. I used Google Calendar to make this, as it is easy to use and share with my team through their emails. Check it out:

March

April

Key:

• Blue = Pre-production
• Green = Production
• Yellow = Post-production
• Red = Deadline
• Orange = Absence

Description

First up on this calendar is pre-production. The main tasks in this stage are to make a storyboard for the film opening, which my partner Edward is working on starting tonight. We also need to meet up together this weekend to discuss every single detail of this opening in depth. On this day we must plan the shoot, finalize the storyboard and screenplay, and purchase our costumes and props. These two tasks, and as well as the inclusion of copious research and smaller developments in class, will lead our group to create a strong foundation of our production.

Following pre-production comes the main event: production itself. After my group discussed what to do with Nick and I’s absences, we collectively decided to work hard and film on March 16th and 17th. This way the entire group is on set and we do not have to replace Nick as an actor. With our creative forces combined, the end result will be even better than if we were all separated. Also, working on these dates allows more time for post production to flourish.

Lastly, as just mentioned, post-production is up next.  I will be the main editor of this production, therefore I made sure that this part of the schedule would be realistic as editing can become time consuming very quickly. There will be a total of two weeks for editing, with three days for a rough cut of the sequence and five days to develop it into the final cut. After this my group and I will look over the final cut and iron out any minuscule issues (or even major overhauls) that might appear. We want the opening to be shaped into its best possible form when it comes time to turn it in, which is our last step in our filmmaking process.

I am very satisfied with this schedule and think it will be of great help to navigate through this project with a sense of direction and confidence. I will make sure to stick onto it in these upcoming weeks.

A Slight Detour

Today my group and I were supposed to meet-up and begin fully finalizing our planning process. The keywords are SUPPOSED TO. Unfortunately, our schedules did not align. My partner, Nick, had to go visit relatives, while the rest of us were busy with other work and activities. Our journey was supposed to consist of reviewing over the script, set design, and the storyboard as we wanted to film this upcoming weekend to get the production process out of the way early. We also wanted to go thrift shopping to get 80's looking outfits and figure out what other props and materials we needed to buy. Needless to say, we were supposed to get a lot done. While disappointing, it is just one day out of the many we have to complete the film opening. On the other-hand, if we're not careful, time will become limited, especially with the amount of work it will take to make this a fantastic production. This is the reason why we need a properly established production schedule.

First off, I will be going away for almost all of next week for a competition. This will last from March 10th until March 15th. Secondly, Nick will be on vacation for the majority of spring break, which will last from March 18th until March 25th. These lack of shooting dates will be a big problem if not dealt with correctly, therefore my group and I need to figure out a way to work around these circumstances. This is especially the case since we lost one day of proper planning and organization. Not to mention, post-production will require time to edit and revise the film opening. A solution to this whole debacle could be to film on either March 16th or 17th, which would be tough in itself due to school coming to an end before break. Another solution would be to film early on spring break without Nick being there, which might have to be the case due to our limited time. With whatever path we choose, I am going to discuss this with my group in-depth and write down a detailed production schedule to get things back on track as quickly as possible.

I'll be back shortly.