Filming Blog: Our Second Day Filming

Yesterday our group met up again and filmed after school. However, this time because it was a school night we decided to film a short scene. So, instead of filming the chasing scenes in the woods, we filmed the final scene in the bedroom. We went to one of our group mate's homes to film this scene. However, it did not go as well as we hoped since we encountered some difficulties. The first being it was bright and sunny outside, so it was hard to figure out the lighting on camera so it looked like it was nighttime. We tried to fix this issue by adjusting the blinds on the window and getting it just right to make the light outside appear to be moonlight. Then, once we got this problem taken care of we encountered another issue. This was the same one as last time, where our main character can not stay in character. We had faced this issue the last time we filmed, and figured it was just a one time thing and it was only our first time filming. However, it seems to be an ongoing problem where our actor can not stop laughing. This does not go well with a movie where the main character is supposed to be getting killed. So, after multiple takes of the varying room scenes, we did not have a lot completed. We then decided because we were all also so tired after a long day of school that it would be best to continue filming the next day. On another note, the scenes we were filming consisted of our main character arsing from her 'dream' in a state of panic. Then we would film a slow pan of the room, creating an eerie mood. We also had our character who acted as the chaser hide in the corner to slowly creep out when our victim had fallen back asleep. However, because of the difficulties mentioned earlier we filmed almost none of these plans for the scene. Therefore, we came up with a new plan to film the whole scene at a friend's house closer to school so it is easier for us all to meet. Hopefully, this time on our third try our main character will be able to stay in focus. 

Filming Blog: First Day Takes

This weekend we finally started filming. We initially had difficulties choosing a date because one of group mates was very busy this weekend, but we worked around it. The solution was having to film without one of our group mates, but we decided this was better than nothing at all. Then, we also had issues with the location because each park we looked at was far from at least one of our houses. So, we ended up filming at Wolf Lake Park, which was the farthest for me. We began filming at 5:30 PM to get the lighting we wanted, and continued filming for 2 more hours. Unfortunately, we did not get as much footage as we would have liked but we plan on going back a few more times. When we arrived we had to walk a short distance to reach an area where there were fewer people, however we still had some issue with people walking in the area. Additionally, we all helped out in some way, and I helped out by filming the whole thing while my group mates acted. I would say I did a decent job filming but because I am not a professional, the camera would shake sometimes or I did not get the right angles. We had some other issues filming as well because one of my group mates, the main character, had a difficulties staying in character, and she would often smile or laugh during the scenes. This made it hard to film correctly since in scenes where a character is being chased to be murdered, they normally would be very serious and scared. So, this was difficult to work around, but I would help out as much as I could by maintaining a straight face as I filmed her. This definitely got in the way of our ability to film as much as we wanted, but we did all we could to fix the issue. Moreover, some scenes we had planned out were more difficult to film than we expected. For instance, in a scene where the main character had to trip on the ground, we had to retake it many times. This is because each take was either too much of an exaggerated fall, or it was not believable at all. For many scenes like these we had to shoot it over 10 times, which took very long. Additionally, it was difficult overall to get the exact angles we had pictured in our head when story boarding. Overall, we did not film as much as we wanted and got about 25 seconds of usable footage.

Filming Blog: Plan to Film

Since we have completed all of our planning requirements, it is now time for our group to film. So, today in class we discussed our plans to film. We talked about the location we will be filming at and the certain dates. We had difficulties when choosing the location since we all live very far apart. However, we knew we had to choose a place that seemed woodlike and included a lot of nature. We went over certain areas near each of our houses to find the perfect spot to film. We then decided on one that's not too far from everyone called Silver Lakes Nature Park. The park contains many trees,  trails, lakes, and also it is a very large park in general.
Additionally, we discussed the dates we will be filming. This was a difficult process since we have to work around 4 different schedules. While we would prefer to work on weekdays because of a teammate's schedule we are only able to film on weekends. This leaves us with only a small amount of dates to film since other teammates also have work obligations.  So we decided since we will do multiple days of filming we might have to compromise and on some days, not every teammate will come. However, we still decided on 3 dates we will plan to film on so we have somewhat of a schedule. Also, we decided to include ourselves as the main actors as to not complicate things further. This fits in with our difficult filming schedule as well, especially since we also need time for reshoots. Moreover,  although our school provides us with cameras to film with, we prefer to use our phones so it is easier to export and share. We went over this in our group multiple times because the camera does have some benefits but in the end we decided on using our phones. We also decided in class today who will be the main person filming and which phone to use so we avoid any arguments later on. Lastly, below is an attached image on the site we will be filming at, Silver Lakes Nature Park.

Planning Blog: Storyboard

In the past few days, we have worked on our storyboard. Our storyboard consists of 10 different papers, equaling 2 minutes of footage. We did our storyboard so we could turn our ideas and words into pictures to understand them better. This is helpful to our filming process because it is very beneficial to have a clear outline of what we will be doing so we can use our filming time more efficiently. However, we also came across some difficulties while story boarding. We realized that it is difficult to depict our ideas since all of us are not skilled drawers so it took longer than we hoped. We helped overcome this problem by taking turns while drawing, so one person did not get too tired. Additionally, to not over complicate things, instead of coloring our drawings, we shaded them with a pencil since color is not an important aspect of our film. We asked our teachers about this to assure that this was the correct way to storyboard, and they allowed us to do this since it would save time. Overall, the story board came out similar to what we expected it to look like, but unfortunately took a lot of time to complete.

Planning Blog: Health/Safety, Location, Participants, & Schedule

For this week of planning, we discussed certain elements that will be important when we film. Specifically, we went over health and safety, location, participants, our schedule, and title design.  When discussing Health and Safety, we thought it was important to discuss how we will navigate through a wooded area since it will most likely be at sundown when we film. Additionally, as I just mentioned we will be filming in an area that resembles the woods, most likely a large park nearby one of our houses. Then, for our participants, it will only be my group mates and I acting and producing the film. Lastly, since there are 4 people in our group, we decided it was best to have a loose schedule since there might be days where something unexpected comes up, but we are also hoping to only film twice at most (2 separate days).

Planning Blog: Titles

After planning which titles go where in our shooting script, we have now decided on the design of our titles. We decided on the font, point size, entering, and exiting of these titles. We used our previous title research, and examples from the film, “Split” to help us determine these details. We felt that it was best to try and go into depth to limit the amount of work and processing later in the project. Despite all of this thorough planning, we do expect some changes and bumps along the course of this project, and we have prepared for that by not making anything set and stone yet, leaving us with back-up options. 

Planning Blog: Sound & Dialogue Script

Since we have prepared our final task we began to plan and make our scripts for the introduction of our two-minute movie beginning. In our script, we decided that we will be separating our opening sequence by scene and indicate exactly what the audience will be hearing in each scene. In the topic of sound, we covered every piece of it, from the Voiceovers to non-diegetic sounds that will be played through the course of the film. When writing our sound scripts for our film, we stressed the importance of it. Sound scripts allow us to plan and hear what the audience will be hearing, also, it lays down a foundation as to how the movie will move along with the sound alongside it. In the case that the sound script is ignored or isn’t prioritized, the quality of the film would greatly decrease as the movie will be lost. Since sound is the major accompaniment to film, these reasons are why it is so important to have a huge priority over them.

Planning Blog: Shooting Script

The shooting script blog is different from the sound script as the shooting script includes some if not all camera movements and angles. The reason that we included a shooting script is because it is a written form of the storyboard with the same amount of detail. Once again we broke down the film into multiple scenes and described briefly the action that the character is doing as well as the camera movement around that character. Without the shots script, film makers would have a much more difficult time shooting film because they have no plan. Also, as students we do not have film sets so we must film wherever we possibly could and not be able to shoot retakes as we are crunched for time.