Editing Blog: Putting Everything Together

    With all of my scenes filmed, it was time to edit them together. I dumped all the footage onto my computer rather than a school computer. I began editing at home using a program called Movavi Video Suite. While I did want to use Pinnacle Studios, I decided that using an editing program that I can access at home would be better considering the time constraints I have. The free trial is long enough for me to finish editing the opening over the weekend.

     This is the layout of Movavi. Among other features, it has a tab for filters on the left side. One of the filters is a slight static effect. I think this will be a good filter to use during the transition from scene 5 to scene 6. However, in this editing session, I'm focusing more on putting all my shots in order and cutting out what I don't need. The next editing session will be for more precise edits and extra effects.

    After selecting which clips I would use, I put them into the timeline. I cut out pieces that I didn't need and shortened the video to be less than 2 minutes. I forgot to factor in the time it takes for transitions to appear, so my film was slightly over 2 minutes. I had to remove some of the lengthier transitions and shorten the time of other ones. Once this was done, I detached and removed the audio of scenes with voice overs. While editing, I realized that I had to redo a few sections of my voice over because they had to be in unison with the robotic voice. I downloaded the fixed voice overs from my Google Drive and placed them into the scenes. With all of that out of the way, the skeleton of my opening was complete. I am planning on adding the titles and filters next.

Filming Blog: At the Beach

   On Sunday night, I filmed at Keating Beach. The beach was, as expected, fairly empty. The weather was suitable for filming. There weren't too many problems that came up initially. As time went on, though, I realized the biggest issue with filming at night: it's dark. I expected this to be an issue while planning, but I thought it wouldn't be as dark as it was. While I could see fine, the camera barely picked up anything. My faith in school provided technology was my downfall. I wouldn't let this stop me, though; at certain points, I decided to use a flashlight for lighting. This added a dramatic and tense mood, which matches the convention of an apocalypse movie. But, it went against the convention that apocalypse movies use natural lighting. I'm not sure if I'm going to re-shoot scenes that utilized a flashlight. Ultimately, I'm going to have to think about which matters more: lighting or mood.

   In addition to the lighting issues, I was not able to implement some aspects that I am planning on having in the final film. For example, I wasn't able to get the drone in time, so I couldn't film the bird's eye shot. I also couldn't get the poster board to construct the spikes props. However, this is only the first draft of the film. I will be able to re-shoot at the beach at a later date. Hopefully, by then, I will be able to get what I need. If not, I have replacements in mind. For the drone shot, I will replace it with an extreme wide shot, panning to the side. I may just simply remove the black spikes entirely, leaving only the yellow tape.

  While not something I filmed at the beach, I recorded my voice over on Sunday. I decided to change the script slightly after much deliberation to sound more ominous. 

Filming Blog: Indoor Scene

    Originally, I was planning to film at the beach on Wednesday, February 19th. I would only be filming the scenes of me holding the box and coughing. However, because of work schedules that couldn't be changed, I was unable to go to the beach. In hindsight, though, I believe this is a good thing. I think it would be more effective to film all the beach scenes in one day so I can keep better track of what I need to film. The man whose drone I'm borrowing wasn't able to deliver the drone on Wednesday, anyway. While I was initially disappointed that I was unable to film, I've realized that this will ultimately lead to an overall cleaner and more efficient filming experience.

    Because I wasn't able to film at the beach, I decided to film the indoor scene in which a man sits on his couch in front of a TV. The screen goes static and he straightens up. It's an over the shoulder shot. I got my dad to be the actor in the scene and sit down. The first major problem I faced is the layout of my living room, which I have put a picture of below. In the actual recording, the light in the back left corner was off.

   My couch is up against a wall, which makes getting a good over the shoulder shot difficult. To solve this problem, I moved the couch away from the wall enough so that I could stand behind it and film. This did help in being able to get the shot, but the part of the scene where the man straightens up as the screen goes static was still hard to film. No matter which direction or angle I filmed in, the action didn't seem clear and seemed like a mistake. So, I decided that the man would stay still and the focus of the shot would be more on the TV.
 
    An interesting process I had to go through to film this scene was connecting my phone to the TV. I wouldn't be able to make the screen go static normally without pressing a button on the side of the TV and getting in the shot. However, I have an HDMI adapter that allows me to connect my phone to a TV. I took a recording of a recent news report and added a static screen towards the end of the video on my desktop. I emailed it to myself and downloaded it onto my phone. From there, I plugged my phone into the adapter and played the video on the TV. I had to time pressing record on the camera right so I had enough footage of the screen before it went static. This was hard at first, but I was able to get used to the timing after a few takes.

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Planning Blog: Storyboard

    I have completed my storyboard for my final project. I have embedded it below. I put the storyboards through a picture scanner app so they appear more legible. This process reminded me that storyboarding is not one of my strengths. I am not able to draw well, which made some of the shots confusing. However, I explained some of the shots beneath them by explaining whats going on and what type of shot it is. I didn't put the dialogue in the storyboard because of how lengthy it is. I put key sound effects on the storyboard, though, as they are important parts of the shots they are in.

Planning Blog: Title Design

     I used a process of elimination to decide which font I wanted to use. After weighing out the pros and cons, EB Garamond will be the font I use for my film. It doesn’t require any special text effects to be legible. I also had to consider the timing of my titles.Each title will appear on screen for 2 seconds. The exception to this is the main title credit, which will appear for 4 seconds. Readability is also important. Because I will be filming at night, the text will be light colors so they contrast with the background. The exact color will depend on how the shots look once they are recorded, but for now, the text will be white. I have included an example of the transitions and appearance of the title in the last slide. The transitions are timed so that "Place of Honor" fades in for 3.3 seconds and fades out for 1.7 seconds. This may be changed in the final product.

Planning Blog: Locations, Participants, Safety, and Schedule

    In this powerpoint, I talk about the locations I will be filming at, the participants in my project, and safety precautions. I also outline my daily schedule while working on the project. For the location, I will be filming at Keating Beach after sunset. There will be one scene that is filmed in my living room. I am taking basic safety precautions, such as making sure all sharp points are dulled. In addition, I am taking measures to ensure that passerbys don't feel threatened by what I am doing. The participants in my film are minimal because I am doing this project alone.

 

Planning Blog: Shooting Script

        I have completed the shooting script for my final project. Overall, I'm aiming to film during dusk hours so the lighting is ominous. This will help set the mood I'm trying to achieve in my project. It is also beneficial to the filming process because I will be able to get away with doing more things later in the day when the beach is empty. Scene 1 starts with a bird's eye establishing shot of the beach. I am hoping to borrow a friend's drone to take this shot. If not, I will still have the establishing shot, but just not as a bird's eye POV. The studio name I am planning to use for the credits is "Termite Corporation". The black spikes mentioned in scene 4 will be created using black poster boards that are assembled to look like elongated pyramids. Scenes 7 and 8 are visually similar, so their slides on the script are short. The emphasis of those scenes is on the audio rather than the visuals.

 

Planning Blog: Sound Script

     I have completed the sound script for my final project. The first three scenes are almost entirely narration. The lines in scene 1 are read by a text to speech voice to make it sound as if a robot is reading it. In scene 2, the Navigator, the main character of my film, joins in and speaks in unison with the robotic voice. In scene 3, only the Navigator speaks. As the main title appears, there is a "woosh" sound effect. Scene 4 amplifies the sound of footsteps while the Navigator speaks. The non-diegetic music also begins to play in this scene, and it continues until scene 9. In scene 5, there is tv static. There is no dialogue in scenes 7 or 8, but there is the sound of a heartbeat and the Navigator coughing, which gets louder over time. All sound stops in scene 10.