Filming Day 2

     Production continued today as we met up and filmed for our short film right after school. We originally planned to film both the coming of age and horror scenes, but ran out of time as the sun set. By the time we would have got to the location to film the horror scene, it would have been way too dark to film anything. Despite this little setback, the coming of age portion that we filmed came out way better than I could've thought. The lighting way perfect as it shined through the window of the bedroom we filmed in and made some amazing lens flares with the camera we used. 

    My partners, Ryan and Oliver, were able to secure some high quality equipment through the Student Television Network, which made the overall quality of our filming sky rocket. We had lights, light diffusers, reflectors, stabilizers, and much more. For most of the scene we used the stabilizer to add a lot of movement into the scene that added some variety to our film. The smooth movements made our filming look very professional and will surely stand out. Other than not being able to film our horror scene, the production process is moving along very well and we expect to be over on Friday. Here's a rough edit of the very beginning of the scene:

Filming Day 1

     Hey everyone! Production has officially started on our short film as  my group came together to begin filming. For the most part, filming went by pretty smoothly with us being able to complete the romance scene. Some scenes took longer due to noise in the background being picked up by the microphone which was annoying and forced us to wait until the noise went away. I had faith in our lighting and composition of but seeing the shots in person exceeded my expectations, especially with what I've seen previously with filming in cars.

    For my first time acting it took a little bit of time to get used to especially with conveying these emotions on camera. I also had a some trouble remembering my lines and on multiple occasions messed up a take by forgetting part of what I was supposed to be saying. Overall I'm proud of myself for getting through the whole day of filming and giving acting my best shot. I can't wait to see the end product especially when all of the footage is properly color graded to truly reflect the romance drama genre type look.

Production Schedule

     Hey everyone, soon we will be starting the production for our short film. Since it will be quite complex film with a lot of different scenes we will have to film over the course of several days. To make the most out of our time next week we have created a schedule that we will follow to get down every scene we need to shoot. The schedule is definitely needed because many of the scenes will need to take place at different times in the day. Now with the schedule we will be able to pace ourselves and get the filming done without overwhelming ourselves. After that all that is left is to edit the footage and the film will be done!

• Tuesday: Romance scene
• Wednesday: Teen and Horror scene
• Thursday: Comedy and Silent film scene
• Friday: Action and Void scene

Costume Final Touches

 Finally after some time, the finishing touches for the costume design have came in the mail. Thankfully the package arrived on time and with everything inside. For the most part the package contains rings and some bracelets for the beginning part of the film where I'm acting as the main character in an indie coming of age film. The rings and bracelets work with the outfit I chose to make me seem like a skater by keeping true to the basic look that is associated with skaters.

For the last item that came in the package there was a pair of sunglasses for the action portion of the film. In that scene I'm acting as the mysterious main character that comes to the rescue in a hostage situation. The sunglasses are great for giving that mysterious look and the aviator sunglasses in particular are synonymous with the "cool guy" main character in many action films. Now with everything here, the costumes are completed and I can focus more on familiarizing myself with the script and preparing for my role in the film.

Locations

    As my group gets closer and closer to beginning the filming process for our film, we have decided to plan out our filming locations. We wanted to get this part of the production process out of the way so that we can get a good idea of where we will need to be going. We tried to make it so that it will easy to achieve a good looking scene while also making it accessible. Most of the indoor scenes that are in houses (teen, action, comedy, and void scenes) will take place in Oliver's house while the rest of the scenes are in the local park and any empty parking lot. Overall the locations are pretty ordinary and simple but I think we will do a great job at transforming some of these spaces to fit with our film.

• Teen scene: House
• Action scene: Garage
• Romance scene: Parking Lot
• Comedy scene Living room
• Horror scene: Park
• Silent film scene: Street
• Void scene: Garage

Local park location for horror scene

Storyboard Process

    Now that the script is complete, I am able to get started on the storyboard for our short film. One of my group members, Ryan, created a shot list that accompanies the script so that I can use it for the storyboard. I can adapt the shot list into small thumbnail drawings so that we will have a good idea of what our end product will look like. I'm sure that when we actually shoot for the film, the shots will diverge from what I will put in the storyboard, but the point is just to help give an idea. 

    I have only just started the storyboard, but I expect to keep working on it throughout the week. The process will take much longer than it would on another project, because this storyboard will be much longer than any other one I have had to work on. Our aim for our short film will be around 5 minutes but the shots we have so far might be much more than we can fit in side that time frame, so we might have to cut some shots out when we edit the film. 

Wardrobe

    One of the most exciting parts of our short film has to be the constantly changing story. The story changes from an indie film to an action film and then to a drama film. I thought it would be a great opportunity to develop some costume design as my character will change clothes to fit with each genre in each scene. Over the writing process I have been thinking about what I would wear for each scene and I have finalized my first three outfits.

    The first outfit is for the very start of the film where the main character finds themselves in a coming of age indie film. The main character is supposed to be a stereotypical teenage skater which is shown through the outfit. I'm wearing a flannel and a light beige shirt which is a look that is often associated with the skater community. While making the outfits for the film I quickly realized that I really didn't have many pants or shoes to work with, so for each of the scenes I will probably use the same pair of pants and occasionally switch out the shoes. Speaking of the shoes, the vans I'm wearing are synonymous with skating as they are designed specifically to be worn while skating. I'm also wearing some rings I have, but I'm still waiting on the rings and necklaces I ordered that will complete the look. Overall, the outfit is laid back and comfortable which hits all the boxes for the stereotypical teenage skater look.

    The next outfit is for the second scene in which the main character is suddenly pushed into an action film and prepares for a fight. From what is gathered in the scene, there isn't much to go off for the characters background. Characters in action movies can range from gritty fighters to well-dressed spies, so I decided to create an outfit that makes the character seem mysterious and dark. The outfit is all black with a hoodie, a windbreaker, and the same pants and shoes as the outfit before. I layered the windbreaker over the hoodie to give me some more size and make me a little more menacing. (I'm not the most muscular guy) Once the sunglasses come in the mail, the whole outfit will come together and I'm sure will work out great for the scene. 

    The last outfit I have made so far is for the romance drama scene in which the main character walks to their car and breaks down bawling their eyes out. The scene is supposed to be after a nice date that ends in a break up so I thought I would make the outfit look like what someone would wear to a nice restaurant. I'm wearing a dark blue polo shirt with white stripes which is a good change from the previous outfits. The colors should go well with the scene as color grading will make the overall scene look cool and blue. For this outfit the pants and shoes shouldn't matter much because many of the shots in this scene will be from the waist up as I'm sitting in the car.