Things that Went Down

 Seeing as I'm finished editing my movie intro, and am currently working on my CCR, I wanted to share with you guys, things that just didn't work out in my project journey. Remember that post I made about finding buildings in California? Well, I never got to use any of the footage I got. In my original storyboard, you can see I have her getting out of the car, deep in thought. I was going to use chroma key in order to edit buildings into the background. However, I decided to go a different route. I decided to have her sleeping instead, mainly to show how peaceful she was and how chaotic things started becoming in the next two days. In the movie intro, I also wanted to use a type of glitching effect...that didn't work out either. It kept saying I needed GPU acceleration, and I looked all over the internet to find out what that meant and came up short. Either way, I resolved this issue by using fade to black and fade to white transitions. It honestly works. Lastly, for the few seconds at the end of the intro, I had to film that part another day apart from the day of the intro. I didn't have a camera because school was closed so I used my phone. The quality, you can tell is significantly lower, but hey, that phone saved me in a time of crisis ok. 

CCR Planning

I have decided to create two different forms of media for the CCR.

Media 1 would answer the questions:

- How does your product use or challenge genre conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?

- How does your project engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as real media text?

Media 2 would answer:

-How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

- How did you integrate technology in this project?

Now for what the media types are, I am still brainstorming. I was thinking one of them could be like a ride thing. Let me lay out the scene a little bit. You know how you get on a ride at a Universal or Disney theme park and you have the main characters telling you and helping you out on missions? It could be something like that. For the other one I was thinking either a parody for Jeopardy, a talk show, or a WIRED interview. I love seeing The Tonight Show, The Late Late show, and so on. I also love watching Jeopardy and watching my favorite casts on WIRED interviews. So, I could choose any one of these three and still know what I'm doing. I was originally thinking of doing a podcast, mainly so I don't have to show my face, but I don't know a single thing about podcasts so I could mess up really badly if I attempt one without visuals to back me up. 

This is what I meant about the rides: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRchsf41/

New Software Alert!

 Hey! For my title graphics I decided I wanted to go a bit beyond the basic title sequence. So, what did I do? I decided to use another Adobe program called After Effects. After opening it up and playing around with it a little bit, I found a way to make the graphics look cool (with a pop out type of effect) and make it look a bit more professional at the same time. Now, me and After Effects do not, and never have, gotten along. I never understood it no matter how much someone tried to teach me. However, with this project I realized the best way to learn something is through trial and error by your own hand. It has definitely motivated me to play around with Adobe After Effects more in the future. 

Title

 As my editing is coming to an end, it is finally time to come up with a title. I have been researching many mystery movies and they all have at least one thig in common; they have a short title that still manages to install a sense of mystery and fear to the audiences. Knives Out (2019) is a perfect example of that. The title consists of two simple words, one syllable each, yet it explains what is to come in the movie and with the connotation of "knives," it installs a certain sense of mystery and thrill that the movie is supposed to give off. Other examples would include Clue (1985), Gone Girl (2014), Memento (2000), Zodiac (2007), etc. Therefore, I needed to come up with a title that let's audiences know it is a mystery movie, it is nice and short, and one that semi-explains the dancer aspect to it. It took a LOT of thinking and brainstorming, but I finally came up with the perfect name: Tombé. Now that might not seem like it makes a lot of sense, but it will, let me explain. A lot of ballet terms come from the French language and have meanings that non-French speakers don't really think about; they just think of the step. Tombé is a step in ballet whose literal translation is "to fall." That already gives so much context to what might happen to the main character and what has been happening to the disappearing dancers. Don't understand French? That's ok! You may not know the definition but upon looking at the word, another you are reminded of another word: Tomb. That subconscious connection leads a person to believe someone might die, or that people are dying in the film. It makes the film seem way more ominous.

Here is a great example of how this particular step is used in ballet.

Extra Footage

 Hey! So, I'm back!

10:01 AM

Hi guys, so my crew managed to win 4 awards in the span of the week we were in California, so yay. However, I didn't just compete, I filmed footage for the movie intro. There were a lot of palm trees so I had very limited places to film that wouldn't look like actual California and NYC instead. My crew and I also happened to go to the Warner Bros. Studio lot where there was a whole street made out to look like New York City, so that was a must to take pictures, since videos were prohibited :(. I can use the pictures as background and add motion to it in some way. Anyways, I'd like to show all of you what footage I managed to get. 

9:26 PM

Ok, well bad news, I'm deciding to go a different route and not use the footage. In my head, it seemed to work out but the minute I uploaded them for editing... trust me it just didn't fit in with the story and looked funky. The movie intro all happens in her bedroom, and the buildings contradict what I was trying to do with the theme of obsession and how it leads to isolation. It takes away focus of what is actually important, the crime board and her sleeping. 

Editing Time

 I finally started editing!

I was browsing through the effects and found the dip to white which has honestly worked wonders, at least for the very beginning of the intro. I was debating doing the dip to black, but it just doesn't look necessarily right per say. With the first few seconds I wanted to make an impact. What better way to do that than close up shots! I am editing a sequence where three different shots just get closer and closer on her, Genova's, face. It not only shows her emotions, but it also makes the audience wonder what she is so concentrated on. 

In these pictures you can see the zoom in on her face to explain what I was saying before. If you look closely on the timeline panel you can see where I added the dip to white effect, at the beginning of the sequence. So far I think it is coming along nicely. I just cannot edit any more till next week because I am currently in LA for a TV competition, but I will still try to get shots of the city life. 

Until next week!

Music 2.0

 I FINALLY CHOSE ONE! 

I literally took forever to choose, but after much debate I figured out that the one with the tensest feel that I want is number 4 from the picture.

Here is the link to the YouTube: Tense Cinematic NoCopyright Background Music / Phobia by soundridemusic - YouTube

I was thinking that with each beat drop, I should change the shot to keep that fast pacing, you know? I also don't want it to be boring, so I searched up ways to keep the pacing goo and this is what I stumbled upon...

Film Pacing: 5 Secrets to Keep Your Projects from Getting Stale (premiumbeat.com)

Although I've already done most of my filming, all I need is shots of a city and the scene after the title sequence, I realized I can still do a lot to help my pacing through adding graphics and motion in post-production. This website has links to video examples and how to do it. I want to add a lottttt of effects, but I know they will take time, so I'm going to start searching up ways to do these "tricks." 

Stay tuned...

Organization

 I am still thinking of what to do with the music, but I also realized that my stuff is all over the place. So, I organized my files. I created a folder called TV, because that is the main class I do projects for. In that folder I created a Media Studies folder, just for this class :). In it I made two folders: One for the shots I have and one for the music. My plan for the future is to have one for my Adobe Premiere autosaves and one for notes I have on the project.

I found the best course of action to take through a website when I simply searched up "best ways to organize files." I also took the liberty to organize the rest of my desktop and files, but seeing as this is a media studies blog, you guys, as my audience, want to see media studies content. 

11 Best Practices for Organizing Your Business Files & Folders - EZComputer Solutions

One thing you will realize when you get to know me, is that I am pretty forgetful. So, sorry for always being like, "Oh, I just realized," or "Oh, I remember that I never did this." However, just trust the process, I'll get to my goal on time. The whole project will hopefully turn out how I want it. 

*Fingers crossed*

Music ;)

 So, as I was going to start editing, I realized that I can't really do that without the music. I need it to be able to edit on the beat and to know the type of feeling I want to introduce to the audience. It is a montage after all!

...It's been a hassle. I know I could get permission from the original artist of a song, but that takes too much time and is unreliable. Therefore, I've been trying to find copy right free music, but it's been really hard to find some that are completely copy right free. I've only been searching on YouTube, but it's a really good source usually.

I've narrowed it down to these four sounds, and I downloaded them all onto my laptop. I am not 100% decided on which one I want, mainly because I don't know if I want a more action sound like the second and third ones or a sound more filled with tension, like the first and fourth ones. Maybe I'll blend two of the sounds together and make a new sound all together? I still need to think on this.

Software

 

Even though I have yet to film the scene after the opening, I wanted to start editing. Looking through various software options, iMovie, DaVinci Resolve, Cap cut, etc. there was one that I know never fails to disappoint. That one is Adobe Premiere Pro. I am currently certified in Premiere Pro, so I know how to work most of the settings and so forth. I also feel like it is the most reliable software to work on, without fear of losing progress if you know how to save properly (which I do). Today I imported all of my video files onto the platform. I'm excited to start editing!!!!

Importing...

All Done :)

Filming!

Hey everyone!

These past few days, even though I fell behind schedule, I've been filming my intro. I'm so excited by how it's turning outttt! A little context before I show my pictures. So, I decided to film the montage in my bedroom, but I wanted one of those cool background where it was all black, so the subjects can be seen better. As you can see my walls are white, so I was going to put a black blanket up; It turns out no place I went to sold black blankets...

So, since I already had a navy blue one, I just put that one up and prayed for the best. My "Genova" was played by my sister, Manuela as featured in a picture below. She was actually the person I based the character on. She has her styles and likes the same things: criminology and ballet. I also used a T8i and a lighting kit that way the shots wouldn't be too dark or too low quality. I am part of my school crew for the competition, STN (Student Television Network), and we had practice this weekend, so I already had the equipment at my disposal. I had originally checked out my equipment from my school's TV program. 

 I just want to make the intro the best I can.

When I put up my blanket.

What my view looked like behind the camera.

My wonderful sister looking SO happy to be there.

My camera and lighting kit.

Target Audience and Representation

 Oops...

Today in my Media Studies class we did a lesson on Creative Critical Reflections, and it made me realize how important it is to include my target audience and representation on my blog. I did plan for it and incorporated into my plot for the first two minutes, but I never mentioned it on here: A big mistake. I am here to atone for my sins... just kidding but I do need to tell you guys what I plan on doing regarding these topics. 

From what I've researched most mystery movies are rated PG-13 due to their nail-biting suspense and talk of sensible subjects such as death. Some examples include Knives Out, Glass Onion, Enola Holmes, and so forth. This basically means I can't make my target audience five-year-olds. However, it is a story involving a teenager and I want the audience to feel as close to the character as they can in terms of representation. So, it would be best if my target audience is teenagers, maybe even young adults, but in their late teens, more mature for the topics discussed. Age group 15-25. It would apply to people in this age group in the middle class and mainly female, with the whole ballet concept. 

For representation, as I previously mentioned I wanted a blonde female character to show they are more capable with their stereotypical selves. I also want to deal with the mental disease of obsession. Like not normal obsession, but hyper focused obsession, maybe even OCD. Genova is always too focused on solving the crime and ballet, that she doesn't have time to do anything else, and neither does she care. She loses friends in the process, both physically with the disappearances and just losing friendships. The intro won't show the losing friends part that much, but it will show the obsessiveness side to her. Lastly, the charcater would also represent teenagers and why they do the things they do.

Sources:

The Target Audience for Thriller Films: Who Enjoys Thrillers? | AMPLIFY XL

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) - Symptoms and causes - Mayo Clinic 

Mise-En-Scene

 In order to film I needed to create some props per say. The main prop was the crime board and it took about 2 hours to do, especially since I was watching my favorite Netflix show while doing it. I had to go to Micheal's in order to buy red string and then when I got home, I handwrote a lot of notes and unorganized thoughts into sticky notes. I even went on Canva to design a "blog post" about the recent "NYC dancer disappearances." I then also got a picture of an NYC map and put dots where the people were last seen. I tried to add as much detail as possible: Of the things hung up, you can see that the pictures are from NYC, the phone numbers are from the area code of Manhattan, the street names all are in New York, etc. It was honestly really fun to make, and I put a lot of effort, so I hope you guys enjoy!

String I bought at Micheal's.

Production of crime board.

Final crime board.