Entry 13: (The Last Entry) Critical Reflection

https://soundcloud.com/qrzkim/critical-reflection

I would like to add that I had a great time throughout the entire process of this production and even though there were times I fell to pieces, I remembered this is the life I want. So even the bad times gave me a glimpse of (hopefully) is soon to come. Every moment was a lesson to be learned and experience closer to a bigger and brighter picture (as cheesy as that sounds).

I hope you like our finishing product.... Goodbye!

Entry 12: The Final Result

Entry 11: Complications....

Though this title does seem pretty negative, I wanted to talk about the obstacles we are going to have to face in the next step in the project as it is coming to an end.

Well the first problem of the week...music.

Finishing the filming process of our film opening we had hoped that the owners for the song Layla would have answered us by now. We did receive an answer but it wasn't from the owner of the song. Darren had an idea to email both the writer of the song and the production company for the song rights. The lyricist Bobby Whitlock, did answer our email but with bad news said that he didn't own the rights to the song. Upset we had to start preparing for the worst case scenario. We decided to turn to our other five options that we had in our final five list. We emailed all of them and we still have not gotten a response... maybe we should have done this earlier but we are really worried. For a week now I've been looking into possible songs that are not copyrighted. It's hard when you have an idea in your head but you can't duplicate it. As of now I'm still looking.

Next problem....editing.

This thankfully hasn't been a huge issue but an issue never the less. The day back to school ready to edit, we inputed the flash drive and uploaded the videos and to our shock....none of the videos would play. I was freaking out but we still had sometime. Trying to calm myself down before I was ready to go nuts, Darren with his great ideas gets the clips and converts them into a file that will be allowed to play in these computers. Unfortunately, it seems time is slipping as we are working.
Now that the clips are viewable, it seems that the website used to convert all the clips are cutting off the video. It seems we won't be doing any editing today at school. My panic mode is at an all time high now with the fear that I may have done a mistake. I remember seeing the big red button.
The answer will be coming soon. Looks like we'll be editing this at home. Time is ticking.

Hopefully we get this right......

Entry 10: Filming Day (Part 2)

After moments of panicking and the time just slipping away a miracle came and the manager arrived. 

This was great but it also had its down sides....Since we started filming later then we had planned, the sounds of the employees getting ready to work were caught in the camera's mic; and the spot we were filming was was really tight so it was hard to film when people were trying to squeeze themselves to the bathroom. But between the two, the biggest problem would have to be the sound. Because our actors were first timers (well at least Nick), they spoke really low and since the background noise was so loud you couldn't hear what the actors were saying. It became difficult since our solution was to wait for the loudest noise to at least settle down before we started filming. Stressing as it was (since we had limited time) we prevailed.

Unfortunately since the camera was huge and I had it over my shoulder, some of the shots looked shaky and others shots were just way to bright. The big window in the back came as an advantage and a disadvantage. Even with white balancing the background came out really light and the Iris either made it so dark that you couldn't see the people or so light that the background appeared as heaven.

Again we used what we could.

The acting was good considering the circumstances in their acting careers (as they have none) and Yana, our female lead, did amazing job in incorporating this character. I enjoyed that she asked many questions about the script, which told me that she was taking this seriously. She asked about why the character felt certain ways and how she would like certain actions to be portrayed. She did an amazing job. Nick did great too, regardless the fact that he never acted before. His personality and character makes him a perfect fit for the screen. I'm so happy that I convinced him to act. I think it was only one scene that we had to keep reshooting because it was a difficult line to portray. 

Overall we were able to finish the filming inside the restaurant part of the project right on time, as when we were exiting costumers were just coming in.

The last scene needed to be filmed was outside as we needed the car to look like it was banging. 

The solution was have three different people jump into Nick's trunk until we got the shot we needed....to be honest....this was the best part.

In the end and we got the scene done. Pleased with the day God has answered my prayers.

Next Step: Editing (Yay!)

Entry 9: Filming Day (Part 1)

So we have our filming day and as you are all aware, we have only one day to film our entire project. Something that I was sure of a disaster came out to be an overall success.
This is the first time that I've had an actual chance to breathe in this project. Since yesterday the final step is editing.

But first....Let's talk about the process of at least my day on Sunday morning and Bellini's Italian Bistro.

I woke up at the scheduled time in which we had all agreed to wake up...8:00
Then I would have left my house at 9:00
The actors or rather the actress we were waiting for would come at 9:30 where she would find us waiting 30 minutes early
The manager, Dario, would come at 10:00 to open the doors and so we can start filming
We have to finish filming by 11:30 because the restaurant would be officially open.

Seemed pretty simple and almost impossible but organized. We had planned for no distractions because we have no times for distractions. No slip ups, No distractions and ABSOLUTELY NO GOOFING AROUND (something we are rather famous for....well at least our group of friends). We were prepared for the worst, in the case of bring two of almost everything. Slowly the restaurant converted into Noah's Ark...two sets of utensils, two plates of food, two wings, two waffles and even two Daren's (the other member of our group)

Now you might be wondering "Why two Daren's?"...... you'll see....

So I wake up that morning just ready to get to Bellini's and start working....
First we had to go make the food (out of schedule but we have time), then we had to get our extra Daren and start heading to the restaurant and by this time it was 9:45 and we had to get the other side of Weston in 15 minutes.
Now you must be wondering... "What did you do that took up so much time?"
My answer to you is....when we were in Publix getting our plastic chicken, we got a text from good old Daren saying that he would not be able to film. We panicked in the car for a bit but we remembered that we had our extra Daren. So we got extra Daren but then realized that there were more variables in Daren's part than we previously had anticipated. Daren had to act and we had mad a dolly to get a smooth path from his location to the table. So we needed the extra Daren in order to push the dolly as I filmed and Daren acted. Now we have only two people in that equation and (not to be cheesy) it didn't add up

We had to get rid of the dolly, disappointing as it is....sacrifices must be made.

Back to the story..... Our actress gets to the location exactly on time (surprisingly) and we still had some time until we got to the location. We finally met up with our actress and we waited at the restaurant for the manager to arrive.

So we waited and waited and waited.....if you can't see by now, he was not here and it was past ten. Our film time is being cut the longer we wait. Me being the panicked person I am, I begin to internally freak out. Nick in the other hand (still mad that Daren dipped from working) looked at his phone and saw that his messages to his manager did not specify whether were to come at ten before the restaurant opens or ten after the restaurant has closed. This to me is the entrance to the Twilight Zone because my parents will not allow me anywhere past nine (they are really strict). I was losing my mind

And Nick's response was "This would be a very Dario thing to do."

Entry 8: Actors

Given this is Cypress Bay High School and not Hollywood, actors aren't something that's available in every street corner. Good acting is hard to find in a high school and when you do find an at least somewhat good actor, you need to make sure they have "the look". Now I'm not promoting judging a book by its cover but when there's a look in mind it great to keep with that image. And if I can't keep with that image, it at least helps if (since they're two actors involved) the actors have a visual connection. This is so that the audience will find this believable.
A connection with the character and as well as their co-star.
This all to make the world my group creates represents a our real world.
And as one lesson Stoklosa has taught me, media is a representation of all we do and all we experience.
In the end I convinced Nick to become our male lead and our good friend Yana (with the recommendation of Nick) being our female lead.

I hope everything goes well.....

Entry 7: Location

Back from New York and back to work. From the minute I landed the mass texts reeled in with no stops. It was time to get working on filming since we didn't have a physical day on when we're filming. 

If you smell disaster, well then you're right. But the story doesn't end there.

I started the week with a terrible fever and the only thing I held dear to me was a pillow. Like the idiot I am, I decided going to school and fighting it off with A LOT of medicine would help. Well it didn't, it was safe to say that the last thing I needed was school and my partner Nick breathing down my throat.

The first problem of the week....Location.

Our ideal location was in an Italian restaurant called Bellini's. From what I understood (in Nick's vague explanation), Nick was supposed to be able to have great availability to the restaurant since he had worked there last year. If that was to somehow fall short then we had another restaurant lined up. Not what we would visually want but if we were to be in a really tight spot, we would take whatever we have. 

Now for our lesson for this entry, location is very important to us. Location helps establish story and or character, for instance you might show a bedroom to reflect the characters "type". A clean and organized room would distinguish an organized person, contrasting to a messy room with death metal posters on the wall which would reflect to a person who is edgy. As for developing story, the location helps distinguish a place. In the case of my film opening the use of a diner tells the audience that the couple is "on the run".

Now you ask....How does a diner tell the audience that they're on the run?

It's actually quite simple (yet this might be a stretch, so bare with me). You have to young characters in a diner in the early morning, not rare, but a somewhat unusual sight. You have to ask, why are these teenagers (who are supposed to look young) eating at a diner, this early? 

They have homes....they can eat there.....why this early.....????

Not only this but you have the characters quiet and whispering within themselves. 

The car is supposed to be positioned right outside the window where they are eating.

All these elements to represent one thing.....they are on the run.

Here comes the problem.

FINALLY when Nick gets the phone to officially ask the manager of the store to allow us to film, it takes the manager (with no disrespect) almost two days to answer. Of course at this point we were stressed and tensions were building. But then again he FINALLY answers and guess what everybody??? 

He gives us a day to film the entire thing in one day.

Does this seem impossible??? 

It does, doesn't it???

We agreed on the day but it's safe to say that I'm in complete panic mode. I've been trying to keep myself together just so someone isn't going completely crazy. 

Pray that we get this right.....

Entry 6: Screenwriting

So we started in the writing after we had the basis of what we wanted to see on screen. This might have been a bad idea since after had everything written down, we had to change most of the shots in order to have a cohesive plot.

I have experience in the screenwriting field and from what I can gather from it is that it is extremely difficult to portray dialogue. In the beginning of the writing process everything, at lest for me, sounds stale and sounds like it can only be spoken by robots. It's extremely difficult and at the beginning of it, I'm always intimidated. By the second draft of the script you begin to have a rhythm with writing and you begin to have the sound you want your characters to have. It's a little funny because if you want your character to have attitude, you yourself have a little kick in the way start to speak. In other words, when you talk you begin to have an attitude. Then by the third draft, you have your little masterpiece. It might be a stretch thinking that only three drafts gets you a masterpiece but here's hoping.

Helpful Hint: When you are writing your script, don't just say it yourself and assume it's fine. oesn't matter if they can act or not, have other people act out the script. Chances are that one of you may catch something stale on the script, giving you a chance to change it.

Entry 5: Storyboarding

As of yesterday, I have started developing my story boarding skills. I had tried story boarding before but it lacked in detail and even I couldn't read it. The next time I tried I had to much detail. You'd think that a lot of detail is actually good, but again it was incomprehensible. I learned that you have to find a balance between the pictures you draw and the information you give.

The picture on the left explains exactly what I mean. The pictures are not too complex, along with just enough explanations to get the point across. I think my big problem with storyboarding is imitating and reflecting the image from my head onto the paper. Especially when I want represent camera movements. Everyone says "Use the arrows!" but how am I supposed to do that when I want to do more than one movement at a time.

You're probably thinking
"Why more than one movement?"
Now, I really like to experiment when it comes to shots and camera movements. For instance for this project I had an idea that, personally I think is complex.

This is where I get to the project. For the opening scene, the first thing you see is a waiter walking through the tables with food in hand for our main characters. This will be a long shot, following the waiter to the table; almost like the long shot used in Goodfellas, one of our inspirations for the opening, just not as long. From here it will be a shot of the food that is placed on the table in the center of the frame. An example would be the food intro from Napoleon Dynamite(picture on the right). From that shot it will be continuous from the camera facing the food to a downward tilt, followed by a slight pan in order to get another angle of the food. This action is almost like a flip as we get the food from the center into another angle, in order to see our main character. This is then followed by a focus pull from the food to the main character.

Entry 4: Music Choice

I don't think every film or piece of media needs music. It is argued that some pieces don't need music at all. With that in mind, for our piece we decided to begin our opening without the fill of music. This decision was made so that the audience's attention was paid to the couple. We wanted to put as little distraction to the couple as possible.
The scene will still involve foley sounds to keep the aroma of a diner. These foley sounds will be used to to portray the sounds of dishes being carried and utensils being clashed together. The chit chat of the people around them will be added on rather than recording the sounds of people eating, I'm pretty sure no one wants to have their conversations recorded.
The non-diegetic sound will begin to play when the camera starts to move away from the couple. This is because the couple's conversation is going to be less informative and so we can introduce the main problem. The problem being the man they have in the trunk of the car they have stolen.
In the process of picking the music we all decided to pick at least 5 songs, each, and from those estimated 15 songs we would choose the final 5 and then break it down to one. At the end of this, we came up with 20 songs. The list of songs is listed below:

My Songs-
Angel of Small Death and the Codeine Scene by Hozier
The Big Bang by Rock Mafia
How You Like Me Now by The Heavy
Paper Planes by M.I.A
Come On Eileen by Dexys Midnight Runners
Black Hole Sun by Soundgarden
I Can't Decide by Scissor Sisters

Nick Dwyer-
Layla by Derek & The Dominos
Roxanne by The Police
Just Dropped In by Kenny Rogers
Lamp Shade On Fire by Modest Mouse
Crosstown Traffic by Jimmy Hendrix
Voodoo Child by Jimmy Hendrix
Purple Haze by Jimmy Hendrix

Daren Naville-
Dream On by Aerosmith
Head Band by B.O.B
Bugatti by Ace Hood
Love Me by Lil Wayne
Alright by Logic
Fucking Problem by A$AP Rocky

Final Decisions-
Angel of Small Death and the Codeine Scene by Hozier
Come On Eileen by Dexys Midnight Runners
Voodoo Child by Jimmy Hendrix
Layla by Derek & The Dominos
Dream On by Aerosmith

From the 20 songs we all have chosen, Layla by Derek & The Dominos was the one we chose because it fits with the film. The song is interesting and draws attention along with giving a hint to what the film will be about. This will give homage to many classic drama films which used classic rock in the beginning of their films. It was also a personal choice, we all enjoy the song and felt that the song fits the pace of the film intro.

Entry 3: Character Development

My group and I haven't come together to talk about the film opening since I last wrote. I was absent on Friday, so all my ideas have come from my own research. I've been thinking a lot about the main character and her look for the film. It's hard to develop a look for a character without pulling straight from your inspiration. When I imagined her I saw her as an edgy teen, yet casual. I didn't her to look so messy that her look was clearly artificial; again, it's important for the audience to connect with these characters. Of course, when I imagined the character she was somewhat famous so I understand that I won't get my ideal girl. I just wanted to set the ball park for our character.

As the physical body structure of the character, I would base her look off Britt Robertson, or Casey Newton from the film Tomorrowland. Personally not the best of actresses and not the best of movies, but her look is what I found important to the character. Trying not to sound too terrible, I wanted our lead to have a face filled with emotion. This is important because I would like it to seem as though she fools the male lead and the audience. Making it seem as though she is the Rapunzel who needs freedom, who needs to be saved. When in reality she is the villain, doing anything to get her way. So she gets her happy ending.  On the photo on the top left the image shows the seriousness in her face and the almost closed physical traits, practically innocent. In the next photo, my thoughts about her look driving her performance is also shown. What drove me to her look were the eyes. I believe the eyes are the windows to the soul. When you look at the eyes, which surprisingly common, you can tell their story through emotion. What our lead can do is manipulate that thought to her advantage, falling into the lies of a succubus.
As for costuming, I had to take into great consideration of many looks. It might all look the same but they all are unique in their own special way. This, unfortunately, is a decision i can only make with my group. But just to get an idea of what inspires me, here are some photos of what I had in mind.
 

Entry 2: Scene Construction

Day 1: Part 2
Now that we have our idea, it took us some time to come up with an opening and we have an idea now but nothing is set in stone. I was a little uneasy about Nick's idea only because he is OBSESSED with Quentin Tarantino. Given he is one of my favorite director, I really didn't see the film being a dark comedy. I just saw the film being dark and emotional. It was just clear that Nick and I were looking two different ways.

 For the art direction and the lighting I was looking more towards the path taken from the film opening of  Room. The close ups used throughout the scene created curiosity and intrigued me, they were shallow focused and the shots that were seen were oddly confusing. Objects that were shown, like the bucket or the scrapping of the wall, pecked my curiosity. Followed by the clicking sound heard when the images switch to and from the title images; it created a dark aroma. Then when you finally see a physical person, its blurry and almost distorted. Through the point of view you can only assume that was from this child, you see a woman next to a light; which the audience finds out was the source of the clicking sound. All these elements were used in such a simple way that were fascinating. All this to create a tone of darkness and a source of tension.

I wanted to use all these kinds of techniques but alas, they were unwanted. Instead, Nick took a different approach. I'm not saying it's a bad idea, its actually not bad at all. It's just not a way I would approach the situation of the young girl, yet it is quite unique and I think that is why I liked the idea. We're taking the openings of Pulp Fiction and Goodfellas and mixing them into a rather comedic take on the story.

An opening like Pulp Fiction, where you see a couple talking ,in a restaurant, about a certain dilemma. The girl is in a excited state, almost on top of the table, explaining the problem that they happen to be in. The boy in the other hand is quiet and keeps to himself letting the female lead do all the talking. A very dialogue driven opening, I plan to have a stack of drafts by the end of three weeks.

We plan to play with sound by using foley in order to make the setting of a restaurant more believable. Not only this but the real hook to captivate the audience will be the faint beating from the car. From the couple, we pan away and start to focus on a car outside on the parking lot. As the car begins to focus and is placed in the center of the frame, the banging crescendos and the camera zooms to the insides of the car. We see a plastic mantis hanging from the mirror of the car framed on the top of the shot and the title appears.

This I based off the title image of Moonrise Kingdom. We would then start to the beginning of the story. This is where we incorporate the ideas of Goodfellas; we decided to place the middle of the film at the beginning. This decision was made in order to intrigue the audience. Giving space to ask many questions. What's that sound? What are they talking about? and Who's in the trunk? Of course these are rough ideas but I think we're making great developments.

"Pulp Fiction - Official Site - Miramax." Miramax. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Mar. 2016.
"Goodfellas." - WarnerBros.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Mar. 2016.
"ROOM - Official Movie Site - Own It Now." ROOM - Official Movie Site - Own It Now. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Mar. 2016.