So How Do We Watch?

 Some last-minute changes in the works people!

So, I know I said this film was going to be released as a limited release in theatres. Tai and I were going back and forth whether we wanted to change it to a streaming release on Netflix. After much discussion, we decided to keep it a limited release (that way our hypothetical movie could be nominated for a small Oscar category if good enough) and after a 3-week run, move it to Netflix so people can enjoy and rewatch if they want to. I think with this not being like a huge blockbuster movie the change is significant. If I were an actual director, it would give me the satisfaction of theatrical release but also keeping revenue coming. 

I know that if I've never heard of a movie, I probably won't watch it in theaters because you don't know what you are getting into for such an expensive price. (Like tell me why watching a movie at AMC is $14 dollars a ticket?!?) Putting it on Netflix after allows for people bored on a random Tuesday night to scroll and find it. With it being a movie that is accessible at home, the people themselves could promote it if they like it. For example, people promote a bunch of different mediums on Tik Tok. With Netflix they can easily rewatch to know what they wanna say, they can promote it as "free" if you have Netflix, etc. Speaking of which, having the movie on streaming gives for the illusion that it was free. If you don't like it at the end of the day, if you spent money on it you're going to fell more contempt that you wasted money on it. Basically, what I'm trying to say, is that it would be beneficial on both ends, viewers and crew. 

Last Group meeting :(

 And the time has come for our last meeting of the year. Yikes that's scary. 

A lot of great feedback was given, and I thought I'd share the last thoughts of my peers that will influence our project. So basically, as you guys know we switched the plot of the story around to include Liz's best friend more and honestly visually get rid of the mom character all together. We were going to assume she was a big influence in her life, because it's her mom. But the group didn't really like this idea. They think that since the title is "A Letter to My Mom" to include the mom character a bit more just to establish the depth of their relationship. Basically, to show just how much more meaningful the note is. I was thinking of having me play the mother, but honestly, it's just easier to have Lynda's mom play the role, especially now that she doesn't have to pretend to get in a crash, which I know she'd be unwilling to do. Maybe a shot of them hugging or talking here and there. 

I also had questions on where we should be on the social media aspect. Let's just say, I am more behind than I thought, but stories count as posts apparently, so get ready to see a lot of that. I'm going to have to post multiple things a day, and since we don't have professional interviews, and little time left till the deadline, we're going to have to treat it more as a short film social media rather than a full-length movie. I know this isn't usually done, but it gives the little homey feeling that limited releases usually have. It shows it's not a blockbuster and it's indie in a sense. 

Lastly as you know (Well I knew but I don't think I ever mentioned it on here) that Tai and I split our work up to make it as efficient as possible. We each work on one trailer, I'm in charge of the social media and Tai creates the posters. We each still help each other out with our stuff, and we talk out our plans, but if we don't have assigned roles, we'd most likely not get anything done assuming the other person had already taken care of it. 

But yeah, the countdown has started. T -8 days.

Posts!

 Ok yes. I know I've been lacking with social media posts; however, I can explain.

Before filming, we didn't have much content to go off of. All I could post was literally the title and... nope that's it.  Now that we had at least one day of filming and we have our cast selected, I can post so much more. I haven't posted in the last week because I was in Chicago, and I honestly didn't have time to do much. However, I have already posted the meet the cast posts and I will be posting a BTS post and Insta story later today. It is important to show the process of our short film because considering that we aren't actually making a film, it all stops once the trailers and poster are out. That's because well, the next step would be the film. 

 

Once I post the BTS stuff, I plan on posting things that the audience can interact with, like facts about the characters and little teaser pictures with the caption "coming soon" and the little eye emojis. I want the essence to be dramatic yet, not too dramatic that people know what is going on until the trailers. I also added a bio that states what the account is and the release dates. I've seen many movie accounts do this, so I just wanted to make it as professional as possible. 

Editing Pt. 1

 So, editing time!

I'm writing this at like one am here in Chicago. It's spring break and I can't do much because we sight see all day. However, I am trying. I started editing the first scene of my trailer together! I talked about my structure before, so you guys probably know what I'm talking about. I am using Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2023 (It's better than 2024 for me idk why) which I'm certified in, so I know my way around it. So far, I've used a piece of music I found titles "coming of age intro" and I'm going to cut it later on to make it sound more dramatic after the crash. The shots are framed right, but like two of the intro shots are out of focus so I need to sharpen them. I also need to color grade and fix the exposure, but I'm going to do that after I finish adding everything to the timeline because if not it's going to drive me crazy.  Finally, the two actors really do have great chemistry and I'm really excited on how this will turn out. 

Here's a picture of what my Premiere tab looks like. As you can see in the effects panel I had to add denoise on the audio because the background noise was too loud when dialogue was being said. I imported all my clips that we've filmed so far and added the copyright free music onto the timeline as well. It's going pretty well, and I can't wait for all of you to see the finished product!

Equipment

 To add on to my last post. 

We needed equipment to film our project so here's what we got:

-A DSLR camera

-DSLR camera battery

-A mini zoom lens

-50 mil lens

-28 mil lens

-A tripod

-Shure rode mic

-boom pole

-RGB three-point light kit.

The first three bullet points were equipment I had prior. We were good with that. However, how were we supposed to get the shots stable? How were we supposed to light it? How were we supposed to get audio? This is when we decided to contact our county news station that Tai and I actually interned at last summer. They actually give out equipment rentals for free to all TV/film kids in our school county.  That's where we got all the other equipment on the list, and it was actually a huge help. It made the prosses of filming run smoother, and it will make filming day 2 run smoother as well. 

Here's the name of where we got the equipment.

Filming Day 1

 So today was day one of filming for the movie trailer. We filmed basically every shot we needed minus the school scenes because we're currently on spring break. (That will get done the week we get back). I think we did pretty well, and we honestly had a lot of fun filming so :). 

We started off the shoot, by going to a semi secluded area of a local park. The purpose of going here was mainly to get shots of our two actors in character, not only to make them comfortable with their character, but to film their relationship, that way audience members will be able to understand what they mean to each other. We got long shots, medium shots, close ups, and a couple lines of dialogue of their interactions. We later got a tracking shot of them heading to a secluded parking lot where they will eventually get into the car and you know...

We then got all the car scenes. We got what happens inside the vehicle as well as on the outside, not only to have a variety of shots, but also just to give context to what is happening and what is about to happen. We even got Lynda to scream so that was cool. As you can see in the picture Tai and I are holding a Canon camera and a boom mic/pole to capture everything. 

I don't have photos, but we later went to my house to get all the shots of Liz being depressed in her bedroom and writing the "letter to her mom." These shots took some time because we had to get the perfect lighting without having the shot be too grainy. We also had a hard time figuring out what to write on the note considering it is a heavy topic to discuss and we didn't want to get it wrong. We didn't want to make it in any way comical or make it in a way that it isn't taken seriously. 

Finally, as a group, on a well-deserved break, went to go watch the sunset. However, when we got there we thought, "Why not get shots here?" So, I filmed Liz and Jackson (Lynda and Pombo) having more moments together to establish their relationship. I don't know if we'll use these as actual scenes or flashbacks, but we'll see. 

As far as social media goes, I did get behind the scenes content, but I'll need to edit it before it can go out. 

ACTORS :)))))

Photo credits: me :)

Our Liz 

 Lynda is the Liz of this movie. She used to be an actor at her local theater program, and I’ve seen her act. Trust me…she’s good. She also is in Tai and I’s TV program, so she know all about working with cameras, how long shoots can take, and how to follow critiques from the director. That’s what made her the perfect choice for our lead. Lynda is such a sweet and energetic person and hopefully that portrays on screen as her initial personality. 

Change 

So, we decided to change up the characters. The movie is going to be called a Letter to my Mom because the note is going to be actually meant for her mom. Like her mom is alive. We realized that the notes are usually meant for their parents anyways, and it proved difficult to get an adult willing to act into our film. So now the person that does in the car crash will be Liz’s best friend, Jackson. He will be a childhood best friend and someone Liz thought she could never live without. Having it be someone Liz’s age, makes the survivor’s guilt more real in a sense but it shows the frailty of human life no matter the age. The twin flames in the title will be meant for the two friends. Same meaning, different people. 

 Our Jackson 

Pombo, as we call him, is a great Jackson. He is very charismatic and has amazing on camera chemistry with Lynda. They complement each other well. He also is in our TV program, so he knows all the ins and outs of filming. He is willing to do anything for the shoot including pretending to crash a car.