Please enjoy my commentary on the creative process of this film opening!
Tuesday, April 11, 2017
Friday, April 7, 2017
Editing
As of right now, I am almost finished editing my video, but there are still many details that need polishing and decisions that need to be made.
I still need to find a copyright free song, but yesterday I started browsing through Ben Sound and they seem to have a good selection to choose from. I'm thinking about doing an upbeat jingle to demonstrate how this is Allison's normal day and how she's quite content with her life, but that all changes once she get into a car accident that kills someone, then she realizes the thing that made her the happiest is the thing that has ruined her. My video is about 2 minutes and 4 seconds long, so I need to shorten almost all the clips and show only what's necessary. Also, I'm a tad concerned about the credits because my film opens with credits written on the phone screen as the alarm but in the third shot I added more credits just written on the screen (rather than the something in the narrative world) because there was a slight pause at the end of the shot and it felt like a good place to put it. But, I'm not exactly sure as to where the next few credits should go. I'm thinking that I can add one on the shot where I'm brushing my teeth on the bottom left corner. I think I should space them out throughout the whole opening and end the opening with the title, since this two minute video is the introduction to the actual film.
The plan is to finish editing tomorrow and begin the CCR, but I want to be completely done with the whole project by Monday. Let's cross our fingers and see how this goes!
I still need to find a copyright free song, but yesterday I started browsing through Ben Sound and they seem to have a good selection to choose from. I'm thinking about doing an upbeat jingle to demonstrate how this is Allison's normal day and how she's quite content with her life, but that all changes once she get into a car accident that kills someone, then she realizes the thing that made her the happiest is the thing that has ruined her. My video is about 2 minutes and 4 seconds long, so I need to shorten almost all the clips and show only what's necessary. Also, I'm a tad concerned about the credits because my film opens with credits written on the phone screen as the alarm but in the third shot I added more credits just written on the screen (rather than the something in the narrative world) because there was a slight pause at the end of the shot and it felt like a good place to put it. But, I'm not exactly sure as to where the next few credits should go. I'm thinking that I can add one on the shot where I'm brushing my teeth on the bottom left corner. I think I should space them out throughout the whole opening and end the opening with the title, since this two minute video is the introduction to the actual film.
The plan is to finish editing tomorrow and begin the CCR, but I want to be completely done with the whole project by Monday. Let's cross our fingers and see how this goes!
Thursday, April 6, 2017
My Film's Purpose
As I was browsing through the internet, I came across an article about a 13-year-old girl who jumped onto the subway tracks in Queens to retrieve her phone. She was pronounced dead at Elmurst Hospital Center. As I was reading the article all I kept saying to myself is "this is why I'm doing what I'm doing." I'm sure the girl didn't realize the danger of jumping on the tracks, but why was it her first instinct to put her life on the line for a cell phone? I know what it's like to be a naive middle schooler, but I can't help but wonder if someone older, someone "wiser" would do this sort of thing. Then I realized that they do; everyday people risk their lives by texting and driving or driving with headphones on. The latter, by the way, is absolutely ridiculous since listening to music through speakers is much better. But it baffles me how this obsession has lead us to walk along the line of life and death. This encompasses the main purpose of my film, which is to demonstrate how this obsession we have with our phones has reached the point where it becomes dangerous. Although this is just a project that won't be seen by many, I hope that just by showing this to my peers, it can make them more aware and lead them to make a change in their lives. Through this process, as I mentioned previously, I came to realize how much I consume media and how it's my instinct to just scroll through Twitter whenever I'm bored. Well, I stayed off of Twitter for a full 2 weeks and now I only go on occasionally. This may not seem like a big deal, but I feel that now I have more time, I'm not just wasting it reading insignificant posts. If just creating this film opening has made some sort of impact on me, I hope that it can do the same for someone else.
Monday, April 3, 2017
The Filming Process
So, yesterday everything almost went according to plan. When we first started out, it went fine, until Juliette made a few suggestions and began questioning me on what the plot of my movie was and how this intro would flow into the actual film. I know she meant this only to help me, but it lead me to second guess myself and feel as though the whole film opening didn't even make sense. I then quickly tried to come up with other ideas for my film opening. I came up with an (awful) idea that still revolved around my plot, just a different film opening. Then I began thinking that the problem was the plot, so I thought that my new movie would open with a voiceover of a young teen introducing herself through her journal entry. After considering this idea for several silent, awkward minutes, Juliette said to just keep filming my original film opening and we'd work around it. So we went out to the car to continue filming, where it was apparent I was frustrated and just wanted to stop. So after sitting silently in the car for several more silent moments and after I banged my head on the steering wheel a few times, we drove back to my house.
She suggested I try filming alone to get more of an idea on what I wanted, rather than continuing to doubt myself because of some constructive criticism. I usually do well with constructive criticism because it's actually meant to help you, but in that moment I became overwhelmed thinking about how this project is due in a week.
It went a lot smoother filming on my own because I didn't feel self conscious about someone watching what/how I was filming, which made the project enjoyable, rather than stressful. My favorite part was setting up the "stage" for the scene and moving my props to coordinate with the rule of thirds. I'm quite excited to see how this editing process goes, which I started today!!! Hopefully, I will be done in the next few days with the actual film opening so I can begin working on my CCR.
Sunday, April 2, 2017
Developing My Character
If I'm going to be shifting the focus from the smartphone to the owner of the smartphone, I need to consider who she is.
My character's name is Allison Pierce and she is a 17-year-old high school junior. Her father was born and raised in California and is of English decent, hence the surname Pierce. Her mother was born in Venezuela and at the age of 10, her family moved to Florida in pursuit of a better life. Her parents met in South Florida while attending college. They are not a religious family, however her mother is always insisting they go to church. Some of Allison's fears include spiders and swimming. When she was young she fell into the pool and almost drowned, since the incident she has refused to step foot in a body of water. She has absolutely no idea what she wants to study in college, nor what career she wants to pursue. She is an average student and always does the bare minimum. Her favorite class is Anatomy, where they are always doing dissections and cool labs. Some of her positive personality traits are that she's kind, generous, and is always willing to help someone.
Some of her negative personality traits are that she isn't observant, she's lazy, and she believes everything she hears--no matter how ridiculous the information sounds. A defining moment in her life will be the car accident she causes and kills a middle-aged man because she was texting and driving. This moment will lead her to get off her phone and start paying more attention to the world around her.
My character's name is Allison Pierce and she is a 17-year-old high school junior. Her father was born and raised in California and is of English decent, hence the surname Pierce. Her mother was born in Venezuela and at the age of 10, her family moved to Florida in pursuit of a better life. Her parents met in South Florida while attending college. They are not a religious family, however her mother is always insisting they go to church. Some of Allison's fears include spiders and swimming. When she was young she fell into the pool and almost drowned, since the incident she has refused to step foot in a body of water. She has absolutely no idea what she wants to study in college, nor what career she wants to pursue. She is an average student and always does the bare minimum. Her favorite class is Anatomy, where they are always doing dissections and cool labs. Some of her positive personality traits are that she's kind, generous, and is always willing to help someone.
Some of her negative personality traits are that she isn't observant, she's lazy, and she believes everything she hears--no matter how ridiculous the information sounds. A defining moment in her life will be the car accident she causes and kills a middle-aged man because she was texting and driving. This moment will lead her to get off her phone and start paying more attention to the world around her.
Saturday, April 1, 2017
Take Two
Tomorrow, hopefully around noon, Juliette is coming over to my house to wrap up filming. For the scenes that take place at school, I'm going to go to my local library and depending on how realistic the setting looks, I may or may not have to film the scenes at school. The one scene I know I have to film in school is the wide shot of my character walking through the hall after class. To make it realistic, the hallway has to be packed with students. I am, however, nervous about the quality of this shot because the whole film opening is filmed on a fancy camera, whereas this scene will be filmed on my iPhone.
Something I just considered for this particular shot is having the other students in the hallway also be on there phones in order to emphasize that it isn't just one teen who has an obsession with her phone--it's everyone. This may be difficult seeing as people are always in a rush after class and they're strangers, so I may just have to relay on the students to already be on their phones when the camera is rolling. Now I'm thinking for the mid-shot, where my character is eating dinner with her family, the mother can make a comment referring to something on Facebook, implying that she's also on her phone while they're eating dinner. I don't want to stray too far from my opening's main purpose, so I'll have to think about this.
Something I just considered for this particular shot is having the other students in the hallway also be on there phones in order to emphasize that it isn't just one teen who has an obsession with her phone--it's everyone. This may be difficult seeing as people are always in a rush after class and they're strangers, so I may just have to relay on the students to already be on their phones when the camera is rolling. Now I'm thinking for the mid-shot, where my character is eating dinner with her family, the mother can make a comment referring to something on Facebook, implying that she's also on her phone while they're eating dinner. I don't want to stray too far from my opening's main purpose, so I'll have to think about this.
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