Editing
Today I edited the last parts of my opening. It was pretty challenging considering I'm new to all this editing and not so familiar with this software.
Here's a picture of my progress:
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It's done, I just need to review a few things and check if there are any issues. I'm now 6 days away from the due date and I feel pretty good about it.
Meeting!
Today, our teacher assigned the class into groups of around 5 to 7 students for us to discuss our projects and our progress. At first, I felt really nervous since I was going to see how all the other students are doing and I started to overthink whether I'm behind. Luckily, I found out we are all at the same level. I felt so relieved to know that I'm not the only one nervous.
We discussed our projects and some even showed parts of their film opening. We also talked about the reflection we need to include on our blogs and gave each other ideas and ways to approach it. I wasn't feeling it at first, but this group meeting really helped me.
House Shots
Today I recorded the house part of the film opening for my portfolio project. Here are a few of the shots I took while recording.
Props
One of the many lessons I learned from my teacher was mise-en-scene, which is the importance of props and scenery Props make the scene look more real as well as bring another feature for the audience to lay their eyes on. One prop I worked on today was the "drug table" for Officer Constantino to find as another clue to catch the cartel leader. To assemble the table I used sugar to play the role of the drugs, a knife and money. I also added some random objects to make the table look more realistic and less set up. These items include, tissues, a wine bottle, a gift card to take the place of a credit card, medicine to take place as pills and a cup. All of these props serve the purpose to make the scene look more realistic and fit better with the plot.
EDITING!!!
After finishing all of my shoots two days ago, I spent part of my day Working on the first part of the video and giving it some touches. I used premiere pro and took advantage of the many tutorials to help me ease the work. So far I have covered around 40 seconds of the film opening which are fully revised and edited. Today was a pretty productive day since I also familiarized myself with the editing software.
Here's a picture of the editing software:
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Next week I'll finalize the recording and finish my film opening, thus ending this portfolio project. Wish me luck!
1ST TIME RECORDING
Today I recorded the first part of the film opening. I used my mom's car for the shots, and I had my friend, Jose, help me record the scenes. I had some issues with lighting but it turned out well. Here are some of the shots I took.
I'll have to edit all of the shots since I don't have much experience shooting videos like these. See you next time!Shot List and Final recording Plan
After thinking about every detail of my film opening, I have come to decide on the final edition of my film opening.
The film will be a combination of all the storyboards I have worked on where a few changes are made. In the film two characters will appear, one being Constantino (me), and the other a faceless villain. Her identitiy has kept a mystery to have this film follow the action movie genre by putting a goal from the start with a little suspense: Who is she?
My Helper
For filming my movie opener I had my girlfriend help me film as well as take a role in the plot. She filmed all the parts I appear in and I filmed the ones that she appears in. Her role in the movie opener is as the Cartel Leader. She plays the character the police officer (me) is trying to chase.
Getting things ready... again
Okay, so the original plan was to go straight to the recording, but after conducting a few shots, I realized that I'm not as good as I thought I would be at recording. That's why today I decided to learn some techniques and ways of optimizing my camera usage. I also checked a premiere pro guide video to avoid difficulties in the future.
Here are the videos I watched:
Sounds
Today I realized that I never looked for any website that would offer me sounds and foleys for my film opening video. I spent around half an hour today in search of one and found this one called Mixkit, which offered many sounds which I think may be helpful.
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Time to get started!
I am ready to begin recording and editing my film opening project. I feel secure with all the research I have done and all the planning I have completed. All the components necessary for my video are now ready to be put together.
I'll be recording with my phone, the iPhone 13, which has a high-quality camera that will work well with my shots
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This is it, next week I'll begin my video and the editing, wish me luck!
NEW OPENING!!!
Okay, after I found out that I would be unable to record at the planned area, I had to make a few changes, this way optimizing my time management and avoiding losing the following week of work.
Basically what I did was add a previous scene to the ones I planned before, this way having a chance of introducing the credits and building up the action of the following scenes. These new shots show how the agent gets to the area and
has some dialogue with the antagonist.
Difficulties with the Film Opening
My original filming plan was to begin the first 60 seconds during Spring Break. Unfortunately, my designated filming area is not available until the break is over. This is because my girlfriend will travel and won't be at Weston. This has put a stop to the original filming plan and overall film in general.
To counteract this, I have edited the begging of my film opening and filming schedule to fit the new filming area. The beginning of the film will now be the credits. I have also decided that throughout this break, instead of filming actual movie scenes, I will focus on the credits that go with the movie opening. Both filming and editing them, therefore when I begin filming the actual plot, the credits will be 100% completed. I am able to do this in a smaller filming area, allowing me to move forward until the original area becomes available. The plot of the film has not changed, however, allowing me to keep all the work from before, only altering the filming schedule.
Costume Design
I decided that today I will revise the costume for my character and some of its inspirations. Here are a few pictures of what I'm aiming for.
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Location scouting
Character Information
Today I decided to take my time to create my character profile and its main characteristics. I've been thinking about my character itself and how it will show all of his traits. this is why I worked on a mood board for my character.
SOUNDTRACK FOR MOVIE
I have planned to place a soundtrack behind all the scenes to enhance the suspense for the audience. To choose the soundtrack I went on YouTube Studio, which offers copyright-free sounds, and narrowed down my search by only looking at tracks that where labeled "Suspenseful". By doing so I ended up with 3 potential soundtracks; "Landing", "BTS Prolog", and "Suspense Action". Out of the three I ended up choosing "Landing", I believe this soundtrack does the best job at enhancing the suspense and interaction from the audience and also fits the best with my scenes.
Revised Storyboard #2
Today I worked on the second part of the storyboard.
The cop enters the building where he sees a person, but we don't get to see its face. He goes in slowly where traps are identified and bombs are present. He reaches a table with more drugs and decides to call for backup. While doing so, he hears a noise. The cop runs towards it, finds a body, and finally sees the person. It is a woman. He tackles her and incapacitated her. He calls for backup and is called by an unidentified number. It's the person from the beginning, telling him he's messing with the wrong people.
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Having this done really alleviates me because now I can properly start recording. This time I feel completely sure about it and know that it is possible. I will be working with this storyboard as a guideline but nothing is confirmed.
Revised Storyboard #1
After giving some thought to the project, I realized that the planned story for the action movie opening is really challenging to record. I didn't think of some of the elements I included in the storyboard. Since a storyboard is a must for a successful film, today will be dedicated to my new revised storyboard.
The story begins with a man walking toward a building. Through a tilt, the character is slowly revealed to be a cop. He receives a call where we hear little dialogue between the two characters to keep the suspense. The audience learns that the cop is trying to reach someone who we don't know. He goes into the building where he sees a strange figure...
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