Filming Day Part 2

Today we went filming again and it went along fairly easy. We went to filming straight after school because we all had something to do later in the day. We got to Aldi and the parking lot was fairly empty which was perfect since we needed to film the car scene. I originally was supposed to be only a background character. I was supposed to be the angry customer who was complaining about the sister holding up the line. Well when we got to class yesterday we learned that our group mate could not film on the rest of the days we were filming because her mom thought it was not safe. We already did most of the beginning with her in it. We got to Aldi today and had to film the beginning over with me as the other sister. It was a fairly easy task if I am being honest. Now let's get to the kidnapping part. I was suppose to be the sister that went out and found her sister to be missing. We tried to do the kidnapping scene with her but she couldn't get it down so she suggested I try. I decided to take one for the team and we were able to get the scene down. Making that scene was actually really fun because it felt like a actually kidnapping. The only thing I was worried about is a person in the parking lot seeing us and thinking something was actually happening. Thankful the people in the people understood it was not real. While filming one scene we met a bounty hunter that asked if he could be in our film. Unfortunately since this is only the first 2 mintues of the film we won't be able able to use him. However I did registered to vote by meeting so I think my filming day was fairly successful.

1st Day of Filming

Today was our first day of filming. Our original plan was to get one of our group mates bus because her house the closets to Walmart. When she reminded her mom that she was filming at Walmart her mom did not want her to go because of activities going on in the area. We changed our filming location to Aldi instead which is also a grocery store. I honestly thought that we weren’t going to be able to film today. I feel like every assignment we have there is always something that stops us from staying on schedule. The next problem we had was trying to get on the bus. In order to get a bus pass we have to have signed parent notes and a get a pass from our school bus administrator. We were unaware of this going to go get a bus pass so after getting a pass from our media teachers to go speak to our administration we couldn’t get a pass. I decided I’ll just get on my regular bus and meet them at Aldi. The end of the day comes and we decided to just ask the bus driver if she lets us on the bus without a pass and at first she says no but then agrees when she learns it’s a grade for class. It also helped that I add that my whole future depends on this class. We get to Aldi and filming was relatively easy. The only real problem we had was customers stopping in the middle of our shot and waving and smiling at the camera. Honestly I was not really annoyed by them because I knew they meant well. We were able to get about half of filming done today. Hopefully we are able to get everything done on Thursday.

Did we film or not?

We didn't get to film on the 14th as orignially planned. According to our schedule we were supposed to have our first day of filming on the 14th but because it was Valentine's Day we figured it was best to film during the week. We also had a half day at school for a day of service and love. I spent the day watching documentaries and movies instead of filming. One thing I can say is as I was watching the movies I was calling out the different angles, camera movements, and editing I can find throughout the movie. We were going to try and film on the 15th but one of my group members had a track meet. We came to class today and discussed our new schedule for filming and editing. I have a job so we had to work our schedule around my work schedule. The only day I could film for the following week was the 24th and the 27th. Since we have a peer review on the 4th of March we decided to film on both those days. Our grade for our peer review is based off what we have edited so we have to film and edit our film within that week. Our plan is to go straight after school because our movie lighting is broad daylight. We are hoping to have the filming done all in one day so we can the rest of the week to edit. I am hoping that we achieve all that we planned.

The Worst: Storyboard

The Storyboard was definitely the hardest part of doing this final task so far. We all sat together the first cars trying to figure out how we were going to put the scenes into pictures to make it 10 pages. The shooting script made it somewhat easy but it was still hard. We were drawing up the mock pictures we’re trying to come up with the best way to accurately describe the scene so that the viewer would understand what was going on. We all decided that we couldn’t draw, at all. So we’re trying our best to make the scenes come to life. We then realized that we wouldn’t have enough scenes to cover 10 pages. So for the first 30 seconds we added a new beginning. Towards the middle of the beginning sequence we added more so we were able to hit the two minute mark. This was definitely nerve-racking while we were drawing because we were afraid that we wouldn’t make the time limit required. We are jam it’s happy to have this part of the planning done so we can finally start filming. 

Planning: Title Design

One of our biggest concerns was finding out our title design. No film is complete without the perfect opening sequence, so we wanted to do something that fit the originality of our film perfectly. We decided to do a simple theme, all black. We didn't want our sequence to be too dramatic, we just wanted it to be calm and mysterious. Important words will be Bold and In ALL CAPS, the Bree Serif font was perfect for this. We wanted to do this so that the audience would be able to identify all the important people that contributed to the film. We decided to give our film the name "Vanished"; the titles are going to appear on the screen as if they are being typed out, then they'll vanish with a quickness. 

Planning: Location, Participants, Health & Safety, and Schedule

For this part of planning we had to think about all the tiny details that go into filming. This was one of the easier parts of planning because you just have to state who the actors were and what the location of our film was. The hardest part was thinking of all the health and safety precautions. While we are trying to think of everything that might cause injury. We realized that we were doing a kidnapping scene in broad daylight with people around. We thought that people seeing the camera might realize it’s not real, but with today's society you never. Our plan is to show that it is a school project by showing the instructions for the project and our school IDs and hopefully that will solve the problem. This is one of the final steps we are taking before we can start filming and it’s so exciting 

Planning: Sound and Dialogue Script

This power point is based on the sounds that are going to be put in our opening scene. We incorporated dialogue, incidental music, diegetic sounds and much more. Our Sound script consists of the things that led up to the kidnapping. The talking in the store and in the check out line. We used incidental music to build up the suspense and make the audience want to see more. We used the dialogue to draw out the scenes that’s led up to the kidnapping. This powerpoint simply outlines the big picture we’re trying to paint. This is just a small piece of our film. It’s an important part of the opening film, and hopefully it makes the viewers want to continue watching. Now as we go through the process of filming our script will be ready.

Planning: Shooting Script

This past couple of days we’ve been working on our shooting script. This has not been an easy process. The same day it was assigned I started working on it because I did not want to rush it. Well that plan kind of a success cause we were able to get all the scenes that we wanted down. However I did not start making it into a google PowerPoint until the following class. This is where I started to regret not choosing to do the sound script. Making a script without sound is hard by the way. We were trying to figure out how to play out the scenes without saying what the characters were going to say. In all honesty trying to get all the details into words was the hardest part. However with the trouble we had coming up with the script we are going to be able to film based almost solely on it. 

Title Research: Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang

During the opening sequence of this film “kiss kiss bang bang” there was 23 titles displayed throughout the outset. In the opening, pictures of guns blood dripping, an animated person running around. animated buildings was prioritized. I think these images carry the connotation  of someone escaping from the city, maybe, or a solicited place and the affect of the person escaping is killing, bloodshed or maybe violence. The genre is reinforced to this title opening sequence because it creates a suspenseful atmosphere, A technical coda that most thriller films outset’s have. This outset created a sense of enigma differently from the other title sequences I watched. In the previous opening sequences I’ve watched enigma is usually create it was the end of the opening, in this film opening the enigma was created in the beginning, with the animated man running around. We wanted to know why he was running ? who he was running from and was he safe ? The opening sequence uses suspense to draw in its audience. The audience of thriller movies love suspense, they find joy in not knowing what’s going to happen next and that’s exactly what this opening sequence displayed. Thr use of technology this title opening sequence was mostly editing. The editing told a story itself the animated man that was running around with the animated building, The director edit it to where the audience, would perceive that the man was running from someone.  but, in doing so the director made a suspenseful. The audience wants to know why is the man running and who is he running from.