Welcome Back

    Here it is! The very beginning of a brand new project and with that begins the brainstorming process. My partners (Ryan and Oliver) and I have begun the the task of coming up with a fresh and unique idea for our upcoming short film. The genre and overall feeling of a film is what seems to be most important for us right now as we start to explore possible stories and themes. With each of us having different ideas for our ideal short film, we decided to each construct a playlist that embodies our ideas. With a playlist we are able to express a certain feeling and overall vibe for a potential production so that we can compare and narrow down our ideas into one perfect story. 

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2PoRUAVW7BmwDFf1vj6Zd5?si=399c3e5d47704a93

My Playlist: With my playlist I went full into this idea of a moody yet charming indie drama. I took some inspiration from the Netflix series The End of the F***ing World (good show check it out) and incorporated some 60s songs along with the more modern pieces to change it up slightly. Themes of calmness and sadness are explored through the soft acoustic guitar and pianos songs while excitement and adventure are explored through the more upbeat songs. Overall the playlist is subtle but still makes room to explore many themes like romance and drama that is commonly shown in many indie films.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5zSKcAHzlc1rNNvwWok6Fy?si=e359ccaae02d4322

Oliver's Playlist: With this playlist, Oliver has gone with a much different approach that evokes a very distinct and moody dark style. There is a large focus on deep synths throughout the playlist that gives the idea of a dark and moody drama set during the night time. The songs create an atmospheric and gloomy feeling that is unique and cohesive, perfect for a short film. 

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3nLbaAHMfE6qGiKOkDrVVu?si=a111c5f3e00044cc

Ryan's Playlist: Out of all the playlists, Ryan's has the most variety in terms of sounds and genre with the music. The playlist has a good combination of more toned down songs and more upbeat songs that give it a good range when it comes to themes. Overall the playlist gives a feeling of anticipation and wonder that continues throughout each song that makes it great for a variety of short films.

    Each of us had very different directions when it comes to our playlists and through this we really learned about what we each want to explore in our project. We all seem to agree on taking on an indie style short film that will most likely end up being a drama. We also agree on exploring a variety of themes that range from subtle to dramatic. In the coming days we will slowly come together and create a rough idea for a story that we can all agree on.

CCR

Here it is, my creative critical reflection for my film opening project:

Film Opening

The opening is finally complete for our film "The Runaway," a teen drama about a stressed out teen that runs away from his school and family problems. Enjoy:

Reflection

Now that the project is finally done, I can now look back and see all the work my group and I have put in for the past couple weeks. Even though we changed the story multiple times due to complications, especially due to the coronavirus, we were still able to complete the project. I think we managed to create a quality project, despite the circumstances, and make an opening that uses good technique and creates an interesting story.

Although I wish we could've still used our original story, it would've been pretty hard even without the quarantine. At first when we started this project we had a lot of great ideas and decided on the story of an actor struggling with addiction. The story had many details and was extensively thought out, but due to our current situation, it didn't work out. After deciding that we would have to change the story we struggled to find something that would be reasonable, but we eventually landed on the story we used in the opening.

Filming of the project was a challenge since we had to do our parts separately in our homes, but since we changed the story it was much easier since the setting was now in a house. Filming took a couple of days, because of the weather and some lighting issues, but I eventually got all the shots done. The editing was soon done by Ryan who did a great job at putting together all the clips and audio. Overall, I think we succeeded in completing the project while still making it interesting and well made.

Filming Update

I have finally begun filming today and got a good portion of my part done, before realizing that the lighting outside was pretty bad due to how cloudy it was. Although it wasn't too bad, I had to postpone the rest of the filming since some parts will take place outside. Some parts of the window scene may also need to be refilmed since most of the lighting comes directly from the outside and the clouds made the lighting very cool colored. The hue of the lighting doesn't go very well with the feeling I'm trying to achieve since the opening has a very upbeat and fast-paced feel to it that would benefit much more with a brighter and more neutral hue to a warm hue. The hue could also be corrected while editing as we will be color correcting almost all the shots to make some of the shots look more visually appealing as well as connect Ryan's footage with mine.

warm (right) vs. cool lighting (left)

Last Steps

Since I will be filming a majority of the opening, Ryan created a quick storyboard to outline the story and some of the shots. From this I can film easier with a clear guide that gives me an idea of what I should be doing. I can also build off the storyboard to add more shots and alter some of the shots. Most of the nature shots will be filmed by Ryan, while the indoor scenes will be filmed by me. With all the planning complete I can move on to filming with the storyboard as an outline.

In preparation for filming, I had to rearrange some parts of my room to better fit some of the shots that we planned in the storyboard, specifically the section with the window, leaving my room pretty messy. Hopefully I can pull off a clean yet deliberately artistic look with the props I have laying around my house. One issue I may face is lighting, since I will probably have to rely on daylight and my single room light, which happens to be a pretty warm colored light, but will hopefully balance out with the daylight and provide good lighting.

Filming Plan

The problems from the coronavirus never seem to stop as we have now realized that none of us will be able to leave our houses in order to film. We originally planned to meet up and film at someones house and briefly outside, to minimize our chances of being exposed to the virus, but we have all decided that it is far too risky and we will be filming at home. Although this does make a dent in our plans, it shouldn't take away from the quality too much, other than the fact that I will have to use my phone to film, since I usually use Ryan's camera to film.

The plan is that me and Ryan will be filming our parts separately with Ryan filming some B-roll and I will be filming the main shots and acting as the main character. We may also need some voice acting from one of my other group members to act as the father yelling in the background, which we can edit in. Once the filming is done, all that needs to be done is editing and the opening should be complete.