Running Short On Time

 After editing all my clips I came to the realization that I am short on ten seconds! The more I tried for my shots to look longer to waste more time, the worst it looked. Luckily,  I have a few more days to finish the production process, therefore I asked my friend who acts as Lucas (the protagonist) to help me fill in a few more shots in between, with as well, a little more enthusiasm...

Ever since my classmates gave me feedback on my idea for the short film opening, I could not stop thinking to myself; Will this look like a montage? Will people think I am just trying to get across a point rather than telling a story? Then it hit me, I had to start filming shots with more enthusiasm more meaning. I also have to have a meeting with my friend to run him down some cool ideas and movements he could do for the next production day.  

The first clip showing Lucas running late to school, for example, begins in the video above. However, the audience is unaware of this because there isn't enough dialogue or context in the first few segments of the next day to clarify what's going on. To depict the protagonist's stress, I may need to film additional close-up shots of his face emotions.

Lucas is sprinting out the door in this clip, in contrast to the first morning, when he appears calm and in his natural setting, saying goodbye to his mother as he heads to school. The reader infers the difference between the first and second days in this case. He's getting unluckier by the minute as the days pass.

Another idea for filling up the time I had left was to record the protagonist arriving for his school, giving viewers a clearer understanding of what Lucas is going through and how his day-to-day life looks like, or perhaps how it is ruined.

Setting/Atmosphere

    The funny thing about the weather is it comes unexpectedly, especially if you live in a state like Florida. Things an go from sunny to cloudy in less than five minutes! 

    Lucky for me! I realized the days my friend and I met up to film where drastically different. One day it was sunny yet, the other was nonstop raining.  I realized this only after we were done recording and I had already started editing. 

    From then on, I only imagined things could get worse, but after some consideration, the rain scenes coincided well with the plot of the film. When something tragic happens to Lucas's (the protagonist's) car, the outer climate is gloomy, nearly rainy, symbolizing negativity. As soon as he changes his tire, the sun reappears, symbolizing that everything returns to normal. This is the start of a never-ending series of bad luck for Lucas's automobile. Will this horror ever come to an end?

Shots and Angles

 

Filming and school have kept me quite busy this week. Timing and process were two of the project's drawbacks. Because my friend Santiago Valencia (shown) and I both have very hectic schedules, it was difficult for us to meet at specific times to film. However, I'm happy to say  that the filming process is going just as planned.

Now for the shots... I've been attempting to select a diverse range of angles and shots in order to make my film appear significantly more intriguing. When recording from the same angle, the viewer can become out of focus with what they are watching, which makes it less enjoyable after a while. During the editing process, though, I noticed that the character's face isn't displayed as much in these shots. This was not my ideal strategy because removing my character from the scene would make him appear insignificant and unimportant . Especially if no other characters are present. I'll have to work on my shot composition and possibly include more close-ups, if not extreme close-ups!

Editing transitions and techniques

 Research, research and more research! Today I spent most of my time reflecting and researching how to improve the quality as well as the shots I am incorporating in my film. Since I am not very used to editing with "Davinci Resolve" I did a little bit of exploring before I went straight on to research how to use different effects and transitions in the app. 

For my opening shot of the time lapse sunrise, I had to find a way to reverse the clip since I filmed a sunset just to make my life a little bit easier. As you can tell by the left side image, I researched how I could change the clip to go the opposite way. The guy in the video was quite hilarious and I enjoyed that it's time limit was not too long, this helped me keep going at a faster rate with the rest of my project. 

It was only a few years ago that I remembered  when I took a film class in middle school they showed me about the fade in- fade out effect. Usually with background sounds or music videos this technique is primarily used to sooth out the sound of whatever the viewer might be watching. Since I will be using background audio in most of my clips I decided to research how to implement this transition onto an actual video. This will help me in the long run since the protagonist is talking most times, therefore instead of cutting the audio sharp, the fade out creates a continuous outline. 

 Okay, enough about transitions, I have been looking for representations of foley sounds that could help me with the sound of my popped tire. In my film opening Lucas Paine (the protagonist) is driving on his way to school when all of the sudden he hears an instant 'pop'. For the viewer to hear that 'pop' noise it has to be implemented in an audio. Therefore, I was thinking of making the sound as realistic by popping a ballon. I mean it can't get better than that, can it?

Group meeting and help from peers!

    Today during class we had group meetings!

As my classmates and I gathered up into groups we went counterclockwise for everyone to talk about their own ideas and weaknesses within their projects. I felt productive, relieved as well as useful! I am relieved because talking to my classmates they made me realize how my film may look from a different perspectives, they were a big eyeopener. I was also glad I got to help with the script outline of one of the people in my group table. 

I also noticed I wasn't falling behind with my blog posting and editing time. However I did realize that the week to start shooting and editing will be finalized as of this week, so stay tuned for the next few blogs on my process. 

Here's a group shot of all of us!  I believe we all benefited from each other's constructive feedback and ideas for improving each other's projects. Their comments on my project were extremely helpful and i also took the chance to ask them about the credits scenes. Since I will be the videographer, editor and more I was questioning wether it was a good idea to put my name above every line. This was only until my classmate John told me it was okay to place the name multiple times and you can also switch it up by naming all the credit sections and finally put your name in front of all of them. 

Another opinion my classmates gave on my film opening was the production itself. I never realized but the purpose of my film can come out as a montage. For those of you who don't know what that means it is basically choosing, editing, and putting together pieces of footage to produce a continuous whole. Instead of my shots coming out to look like something portrayed, I have to make the viewer 'wait for their meal' now that is a saying that one of the producers in Disney said when making a TED TALK. Basically this saying portrays how the viewer is going to feel when they are looking at the first minutes of your story. Are you going to keep them captured inside? Or worn off into space. 

Representation Shots

SUNrise/SUNset   

 Since the first few clips of my film opening are going to be based on credits, I decided to create a time lapse of the sun rising since the plot of the film takes place in the morning and gives the viewer a better insight of what is likely to happen next. 

 

  

  Although the sun rising is soothing to watch as well as relaxing. Time lapse, which is a technique of the frequency at which film frames are captured is substantially lower than the frequency at which the sequence is viewed. Time appears to be flowing faster and hence lapsing when played at normal speed. Time lapse visually symbolizes what my film is going to be about. Since catastrophic sequent moments happen to the main character, Lucas Paine, the fast motion of the sun rising represents just that. Here are a few examples from Youtube that I think have helped me endure a better perspective of what my shots could look like. Underneath the credits scene will be short clips of the sun rising. Although this will be a short clip it introduces representation, of the opening scene.

MY CREATION

Now, leaving your phone outside recording for the whole night hoping that your phone films a clip of the sun rising, is very complicated, and I say that because I put my phone outside my back yard and let something record, when all along I wake up to see no clip filmed. Therefore, I came up with a different idea to time lapse my video on reverse, I recorded the sunset on time lapse and then reversed the video to to play from finish to start. Creating the 'sunrise' effect. 

PRE- production scenes

TRANSITIONS

I am glad to say my film opening is starting to come together, most of my clips synchronize as they keep the same context of its lighting and angles. I was able to place my shots and audio above the same line therefore the audio plays as a background for the shots being produced. 

 

As for my overall editing, I'm still undecided on which transitions to use for each clip. I did, however, limit it down to two possibilities that are both modest and include a soothing response to each subsequent clip. 'dip to color dissolve' is a transition that blends in with the deepest shades of the shot and color matches them. Because my shots are dimmed in the dark, the black covers the majority of the frame, giving it a smooth appearance. When I use 'cross dissolve,' however, it mixes in with the main shot. 

I've seen movie opening sequences with a more cross dissolve effect, so I'm aiming for that, even though a drop to color dissolve mixes the video making it look aesthetically pleasing. Here are examples of the two transitions being incorporated in within the shots.