Filming blog- Final street shots

Today we filmed the final street shots. What I did this day was watch out for cars for our camerawoman. I  helped set up the props for the shots. And I also held the reflector. I would say if a car was coming so she could quickly move away. The prop that was used was my denim jacket. This is to help the disappearing people part of the scene. Another thing was I had to drop a soccer ball for the sound. The soccer ball also had to roll. The audience could hear the sound of the person suddenly disappearing from the roll. Later, I also had to hold the American flag. It was near the front door, so it would be in the shot. The reflector was for extra lighting for our actor during the shots. Since these shots were near the house, the reflector could work against the walls outside the house. I would quickly drop the flag and hurry to angle the reflector toward our actor.

This picture is of me, and our actor Brenna. I am being told when to drop the ball then to get out of shot. I was supposed to drop the ball when she reached the red plant. And to make sure it rolls onto the sidewalk. It didn’t rain, so I didn’t have to hold an umbrella for the camera.

Filming blog- Street and forest scenes

Today we filmed our street shots. It rained, but we decided to film anyway. We did all of our shots with our supporting actress Sydney first. I went to Sydney’s house with the group, and it started raining again. The camera died later in the day. The group  waited about 30 minutes for the camera to charge. Then, we went outside and filmed the street shots. My job was to hold the light reflector for inside shots. I also held the umbrella for the camera. While it is raining, our camerawoman was filming the actors. This was so the camera would not die. There was a previous problem with a camera that the battery would flicker on and off so we didn’t want that happening. Additionally,  I went with the rest of the group to film in the forest. The  lead actors parent, Ms Circe drove us to the filming location. Additionally I brought the reflector to use it in the forest for lightning. The reflector during the project I used to make our actor appear more colorful in the shot. During the inside scenes, this will greatly help for lighting. It’s also useful for helping the watcher see the actor more during inside scenes. When the actor is inside, I am using the silver side of the reflector.

Filming blog : Canceled

It was raining yesterday, so filming was canceled. We will try to reschedule for another day. The rain is something we did not plan for. We probably should have planned for the rain by listening to the news. The plan to reschedule will be tomorrow. Hopefully tomorrow will not be rainy and we can film. If it rains tomorrow, we can try again next weekend. If it rains again next weekend, we will be prepared because we are following the news. We can always film on the weekdays, but it will be hard considering school, and after school activities. The plan for filming was to film in the house. Then we would move on and get the street shots. Then we would get the shots in the forest. Then we would get the final shot of the actor falling and waking up. The new plan is to film on Sunday. Hopefully it will not rain again. The plan is we will meet up at our actors house. Then we will drive towards the “forest” film location. Then we will film there and move to the next location on the street to film. After filming, we can edit before returning home. We can also edit the next day, or at school. If the shots do not turn out as expected, we will reshoot.

Storyboard

This is our story board for our project. Each box is 3 seconds long, with 24 total boxes. At first we were going to have 6 seconds per box, but we decided to change it to capture more detail. The titles are in order, according to what we researched previously in title research. When doing the storyboard, we made a checklist of shots to use, as we progressed through we checked them off. In our storyboard, we have three characters, and 2 are featured: Jane and Rose. The two of them are set apart by their hair styles so we can know who is who when filming. The storyboard also describes where they are in relation to the streets we are filming on, so it is very clear. Additionally, camera angles, sound and acting cues are written into the note section for each box, to reference easily. The process of creating the storyboard was simple after doing it three times before this. We already had the scenes planned, so all we had to do was split them into 3 second intervals. First, Jane is shown to be jogging along, starting up her music. Then, passing a corner, she waves at her neighbours: Rose and her parent. The camera follows Jane across the street, but not without showing the neighbours disappearing, and tracks Jane to her house. Inside her house, Jane is then transported to a forest, and Rose is there as well. The two minutes ends with their reaction to the forest. Throughout the whole sequence we will try our best to subtly convey that something is wrong, using the white noise and smoke in the background.

Location, cast, and schedule planning

Our first location is the house of one teammate, who has given consent for us to film there. We will be filming some of the streets, but mostly the sidewalk. In order to keep as many cars out of the frame as possible, we will be using specific angles to their best effect. We will also be filming the driveway, and inside the friend’s house. We will be moving the cars in the driveway, and clearing some things from the front door to get a cleaner shot. The second location is a nearby park. It is close to our first location, so it will be possible to film everything in one day because the commute is so short. The park is public, so we are allowed to film there, but we still plan on asking permission. We have a specific location at the park we want to film at, but if that space isn’t free then we have scouted out other possible places to film. Casting was an easy process for this project. We have three characters who need actors, and one actor will be from our group. We kept the cast small because we wanted to keep scheduling conflicts to a minimum. As a backup plan, we have an understudy for Rose. The actor for Rose’s parent isn’t truly determined, but it isn’t the most important because the character isn’t the main focus of the film. Scheduling was still difficult, even though we tried to keep the people involved with the project to a minimum. The actress for Rose might have to leave early into filming on Saturday, but time for this was built into Sunday just in case that happens. Since the weekend of filming will last 3 days, we might even get to start the editing process right after filming! Getting this project done quickly is important because we won’t be able to edit in class, only watch and take notes on ways to improve.

Health, safety, and title design planning

Safety was simple with this project. After the music video, we now have experience with these details so planning for possible missteps was easier this time around. Title design was a new one, though. There are many aspects to titles, which makes this process take longer. Sites like Watch the Title and Art of the Title really helped with knowing what to plan, like spacing and font. Currently, we haven't decided where the titles will appear on screen, this will come with the storyboard. Generally, everything we have planned has room to change and grow, but we hope that this is a solid base for our project to at least work off of.

Sound Script

This is the sound script. The sound script includes all the different sounds we will use. They are labeled by scene. Some sounds we will use are diegetic sound of the neighborhood. There will be white noise and music too. There will be music while the character is walking. As well as dog noises when there is a dog.

Shooting Script

This is the shooting script. The shooting script includes all of the scenes for our film. It also includes information like the music starting and dialogue. Our film doesnt have much dialogue but there is some towards the end. Our film has 13 scenes. Some of these scenes include the character walking down the street and listening to music. As well as white noise when the “bad guy” is near.