HERE ARE MY CCRS LIKE FOLLOW AND POST THANK YOU FOR FOLLOWING ALONG THE PROCESS
DIRECTORS CUT:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yu6cMMcYx8_0A4aPd1JrbYCtaTdaTkU2/view?usp=sharing
VLOGGING:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tZb2BOOSr1qfYaa3pYdrYHNfUzU6K7Mh/view?usp=sharing
HI HI HI THIS IS A LINK TO MENIAL MY 2 MINUTE FILM OPENING ENJOY OK?
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XkEp3g2SWlUw54LMjURjTKfJqZKO4Yy6/view?usp=sharing
Hiii!
My CRR script is completely finished and now I just need to record and edit it all! Honestly, I'm a little far behind but Im gathering most of the stock footage now so that I won't be that far behind tomorrow when I finally put everything together.
Hello!
So I pretty much finished my film (except for adding Santis updated version of the music). So I figure there is no better time than now to start my Creative Content Reflection Questions.
How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?
My product challenges conventions by being a relatively quiet psychological thriller focusing on the satisfying noises of the dietetic sound. I use elements from movies that inspire me and make me appreciate the art of movies, Taxi driver is an example where it uses many shots of the scenery and puts you in the main character's situation. The other inspiration I drew from was The Favorite which uses music as an overwhelming noise in order to cause tension and anxiety. I also drew some inspiration from Wes Anderson using his iconic still cameras to showcase his set design. In my movie, I show the life of a group that while extremely common I feel is underrepresented in medial; the working man, I'm extremely interested in psychology and when working at Publix for a short 8 months I really hated the feeling and idea of doing the same thing over and over again in a workforce such as this, but this is an extremely common lifestyle for many. And due to the stigma associated with men often do not seek out mental health care. I think that this is a large audience that is relatively untapped.
How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text?
It engages with them by relating to them and playing into most people's fear of needing to live a lonely life working at a dead-end job with no means of escape. I would most likely start by uploading the movie to YouTube and then trying to get it enrolled in film festivals across the U.S.
How did your production skills develop throughout this project?
I feel that I learned how to make a film which takes place in different places of time without actually having to film it on different days, I used different T-Shirts and different times of day to make it look like time was passing. I also toyed heavily with sound using some instances of Foley and I honestly think that in some scenes I have a very excellent soundscape, making for very crisp audio despite using a phone to record it. I toyed with audio A lot during the film, I wanted to cause anxiety trough the music and lack of it. In the final scene of my intro, my MC lies down and the music is increasingly becoming more and more intense and overbears all the Diegetic sound of the movie, then vanishes at the end of the scene. This detracts the viewer from the stressful situation they are placed in and almost relieves them of it, but then they are thrown back in with a loud breath sound almost serving as a jump scare as it places our main character back in his nightmarish life. The intro is supposed to make you resent his life and wonder why he is still in the situation he is in.
How did you integrate technologies – software, hardware and online – in this project?
As far as the technology involved when it came to the hardware, all I really used was my iPhone for all of the takes. When it came to the software I used Davinki resolve to edit the entire project as I am more comfortable with it.
Hello!
Today I finally completely finished editing the first cut of the film with some of the credits and put in the music sample provided by Santi! Here's a snippet of the timeline.
Hey!
Santi Rios has updated me! And it was a huge update, he sent me his first draft of what he's been working on! I will be posting it here.
Hello!!!!
I have some very exciting news today!!! I officially filmed the remainder of my project, meaning I am done with all the filming.
I and Cesar and his brother Gabriel did a day-long marathon where we filmed the rest of what was required in order to wrap it up. Here's a blooper from the film:
We are coming closer and closer to the deadline and I'm getting anxious, it still feels like I have so much to do. But today I want to focus on picking a font for the title. Here are some of the options for the title.
HELLO!!!!
Today I started filming!!! it was exciting to finally slowly see everything come together, I'm liking things so far and am looking forward to seeing the footage after the editing. It honestly took very long and that was a little frustrating because we kept stopping to talk and since it was being recorded while he was working there were some interruptions with customers, but he did a good job and put up with a lot of my nonsense. We recorded around 40 % of the project because some of it had some problems (I was standing in the shot through the mirror)
Here's some of the footage (boring clip but it shows you Cesar and the store) Most of the footage we got today was just filler.
HELLLO!!!
I have wonderful news! Today Cesar FINALLY sent me his schedule, which I will be posting here;
Hello!
It's getting closer and closer to the deadline and I really would like to start the process of filming soon, I like editing and do not think it will take me long to finish the final edit of my 2-minute segment, but I also want to have time in order to put a lot of effort into my CCR because I like the fact that I get the opportunity to put some of my personality into it and am excited to get to explain my project. Basically, it would be ideal to at the very least start filming this week, perhaps during this weekend, or at the very least early next week.
My current main concern with the entire project is Cesar's schedule and my schedule, I am still working, and because It's my two weeks my manager scheduled me pretty heavily. This creates a massive conflict with our two schedules because I need to find a day that he works a night shift that isn't busy (because a Friday or Saturday is too busy) and that I also don't work a closing shift at my (now unbearable) job at Publix. This is why Cesar's schedule is crucial to me to set a day and time so we can film.
This is where my other issue stands, Cesar has not sent me his schedule and every day I go without a schedule is one where I am possibly missing days I could take advantage of. Anyway, I still have plenty of time so I shouldn't be too worried about it.
I also recently found out that one of my other friends featured Cesar acting in a previous year, I'm posting his film here (with his permission).
Hi!!!!!!
Today I nearly completed all of the necessary final preparations for the project. Probably the most critical thing I did was contact Santi Rios in relation to the song I would use for my film. I was mainly concerned with whether or not he thought he was capable of creating the specific idea I had where the music escalates and creates a sense of tension while also having that final moment of climax at the very end, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that he said that he is very capable of making something like what I requested. I left most of the creative liberty to him and simply gave him an outline of what i wanted. Here is a snippet of a cute conversation I had with him!
(He said he likes the idea!!!!)
He said he would experiment with sounds and send me snippets as he develops the track. He seems like a great dude and very much looking forward to working with him. I am very excited to see how his progress goes.
I also talked to Cesar to try to schedule our filming session, he said his schedule comes out tomorrow so we will likely see then.
The only thing I've yet to prep is how I'm going to do the lighting of the closet door that is crucial to the reveal at the end of my 2-minute segment, it's the part that will entice the viewers to keep watching. I'm thinking of using my dad's very powerful scuba diving flashlight and using a red sheet to turn the light red. I'm hoping this will give the effect I desire.
I have a lot of work this upcoming week, but I actually recently resigned because my job makes me unhappy and have a lot of schoolwork so I hope that this will give me enough time to wrap up my project. My last day is on the 15th.
I'll be sure to update this blog with anything relevant.
Signing off,
Nico, 3/5/2023
Hello!!!
I have several remarks that I would like to briefly go over so I will do so in today's post.
A critical part of my film's cinematography is all the shots need to be very still and square and symmetrical. I want the image of repetition and cyclical lifestyles to be present through the visual elements of the film and I think keeping things EXACTLY the same will do this effectively. This means that a tripod is necessary.
My tripod recently broke but thankfully tripods aren't that expensive so I found this decent-looking one on Amazon that has a little bag and a remote that comes with it! I bought it and it is coming in today!
Hellllloooo!!!
Today I finally wrote out exactly what I want to do, I will post it here so you can read what I have in mind.
HELLO!
I spoke to Cesar at his store (I FORGOT TO TAKE PICTURES OF THE LOCATION I WILL NEXT TIME) and I spoke to him about some of the details of what he would be recording. Talking to him about it made me feel so much better about my project and I'm very much looking forward to filming with him. He told me that he wasn't very good at conveying dialogue but the positive thing is that my character doesn't speak very much, and I don't think he will speak at all during the 2-minute segment. He is a very emotive individual and I think that he will sell the character he is playing perfectly, and he seems excited to perform. I think we will record either this week or the week after.
Hi!!!!!!
Today I worked on a mood board for my character and I am posting it here;
Heyyya!!!
Yesterday we had a group meeting in our class to discuss, each other's film ideas, and it was very inciteful and fun! I heard a lot of good ideas and the suggestions. The main thing I learned from the whole meeting was what I would do with my project music-wise. Initially, I had the idea of incorporating the diegetic sound of loudspeakers playing in the background to sell the repetition of living a life like my characters. This idea was inspired by my own job working at Publix, they have this Publix playlist that is EXTREMELY repetitive and a little obnoxious that plays early 2000s hits on a loop every single day. I wanted to sell this idea in my film because the music gets to be horrific.
In my group, one member reminded me of this idea by mentioning that I should incorporate it and perhaps edit some diegetic sound of the liquor store playing a song on the loudspeakers every day that my character notices. The only problem is that in order for this to work my intro scene would have to be devoid of music, and I REALLY didn't want that since many of my favorite movies use non-diegetic music to amplify the emotions you feel in their film and sometimes completely consume the audio. I want my music to be playing over all the loops and truly crescendo as I reach the end of the 2-minute segment. I want it to be specifically Tailored to the film, so when someone in my group mentioned that they produce music, I was filled with excitement and joy, when I do my research on what music id like to use. I think I will strongly consider using my new peer and collaborator Santi Rios.
Signing off,
Nico, Friday 2/24/2023
Hiiiiii!
Today I made a rough outline of what I wanted to accomplish each week to help me keep a tight schedule and not fall behind on this very important project, I'm posting it here!
WEEK 3
Heyyyyy!
So there are two other movies that my movie will be drawing inspiration from, these two movies (both of which are, I think, incredible movies and serve as great examples of ways to make your movie revolutionary and different) are Taxi Driver and Clerks.
I'll start with Taxi Driver, this movie worries me a bit because it is a psychological thriller with a relatively similar concept and themes as my movie. Taxi Driver is about a man who works a very menial job as - you guessed it - a taxi driver and his life begins to spin out of control as he struggles to find love or any escape from his cyclical lifestyle. I think it's important to point out the differences in our movies because I do not want my movie to be too similar. One important difference is that in taxi driver the film is very grounded in reality and instead uses Robert De Niro's incredible performance to sell the characters spiraling mental health, I will instead use this supernatural element to make a more formalist film. But the main thing I hope to somehow incorporate is its EXCELLENT use of music. It has its iconic theme that is played over and over again and is used in its intro. It's brilliant and really does sell that melancholy feeling the movie is going for. The difference will of course be the era my movie takes place in, I want it to be set in the present and so my music will need to be more fitting. I want it to be the same music my character listens to (but I haven't decided yet) perhaps later this week I will look more into the music.
The other movie I had in mind when thinking about films on that I would base my films techniques is Clerks. A low-budget movie about two Clerks working at their corresponding stores while a compilation of seemly unrelated funny moments occur. I love the movie but the main thing I will be taking from the movie is the very simple and down-to-earth camera techniques, the camera is very stable and just cuts in and out of scenes in order to thread them together. The important factor is placing the camera in the perfect spots to ensure characters can move in and out of the shots while the camera does not move and is uninterrupted. I feel that these still shots are perfect for the tone of repetition that I am going for.
I'm likely going to have more cuts in between each shot but I intend to use the lack of movement in my movie the same way it is used here (minus the zoom-out).
Signing off,
Nico, Tuesday 2/21/2023
