Portfolio Project

Reflection

Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Creative Critical Reflection Podcast:

CLICK HERE!

SWATCH video link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HeApME3EOM&feature=youtu.be

Quick Blog links mentioned:

1. Wes Anderson:
http://introspectivepictures.blogspot.com/2017/03/my-inner-wes-anderson.html

2. Plot:
http://introspectivepictures.blogspot.com/2017/03/storytime.html

3. Sample Film:
http://introspectivepictures.blogspot.com/2017/03/sample-film.html

4. Green Screen Outcome:
http://introspectivepictures.blogspot.com/2017/04/re-filming.html

xx Maria,,, and that's a wrap!

FIN!

Tuesday, April 11, 2017

VOILA! THE FINAL PRODUCT IS FINALLY HERE:

xx Maria

I decided to make a poster for my production to include the print medium into my marketing plan for the film. My production is an independent film which will be shown at mostly festivals and selected theaters. A poster with that is visually pleasing (good composition, editing, color, font, etc.) is essential when marketing any kind of film.

For my poster I decided to stick with my yellow, pink, and red color scheme that is seen throughout the film. I also only included the actor Cesar Larez (aka Daniel in my production) since he is the main subject of the film. I wanted the poster to be very simplistic and flat like the shots I took, which also reflects my 'Wes Anderson' influence. I also included the film's website on the very bottom, that way it is more accessible to viewers and promotes convergence.

Citations:

Alexander, I. (2011, June 26). Why movie poster art is so important. Retrieved April 11, 2017, from http://www.filmindustrynetwork.biz/why-movie-poster-art-is-so-important/11530

xx Maria

Editing away

Tuesday, April 11, 2017

These last couple of days have been tough without service.... I've been out of town.

Luckily enough I was able to sit down at a coffee shop and use their wifi for an hour or two to finish up editing my footage! The visuals were mostly done by Saturday night, but I was still missing all of the audio. I decided to layer a bunch of different sounds from https://www.freesound.org and also record some of my own foley sounds. I also completely threw out the music I had planned for my production, partly because I didn't think it would have fit and because only two artists gave me permission to use their copyrighted music.

Since I wanted a classic, happy tune to play throughout the hardware store I decided to search online "old grocery store jingles". Not a lot came up, besides a channel that basically focused on "old grocery store jingles" to the ultimate extent. The description under the videos explains the channel and also clarifies that the songs no longer hold a copyright since they could not be traced to a label and/or artist:

"If you are looking for that classic supermarket jingle then look no further. Sounds For The Supermarket was the title of a tape cassette produced by a Minnesota based Communications company in 1975. It was available by mail purchase to supermarket venders in the US and Canada. The music contains inaudible subliminal recordings that were intended to increase buyer purchasing at grocery stores. Customers were influenced to purchase more products as a result of the brain-wave patterns hidden in the musical notes and sound compositions. Different subliminal tapes were also sold for purposes of advertising and social programming and all contained the title "Sounds For The. . . ." Iv'e held on to this for about 25 years. Musically the sounds are typical easy listening or elevator music. There is no information about the company nor the musicians anywhere that I could find. The label/information has peeled away with time. Each side of the tape had ten songs. All 20 songs are recorded here as 16 separate videos with two tracks bundled together on four of them. Songs 4 and 1 are very classic 70s easy listening."

The music gives the store the perfect atmosphere, which I will explain further on my CCR!

It took a while to layer all the sounds and it was so frustrating trying to find the exact sound for each little thing. I especially had difficulty with the ambience sound at the store, which I should have recorded when I was filming (unfortunately I had to mute all the original videos since I was directing out loud all throughout). I also had trouble adjusting the volume for each scene, since I need very specific adjustments depending on the character's placement in the store.

Overall editing was a bit tough, but I'm happy with the product! I wish I could redo a couple things, but now I'm more familiar for my next film... hehehehe

xx Maria

Filming Day 2

Saturday, April 08, 2017

So yesterday I filmed for the second time around... This time ONLY at Lowes and not using a green screen somewhere else. It went really well and I was able have a conttinuous color palette all throughout!! I adjusted the coloration by changing the white balance settings on my camera, here's some examples of the pink-ish tint my shots had:

My film 'crew' (consisting of two friends and my main actor) and I stayed there for about 2-3 hours, but we got a lot of amazing footage. However, we did run into a couple problems here and there... NOT with the actual production but with some of the people who were shopping at the hardware store.

Since my film opening is about a robbery, there are two scenes that emphasize the main idea by portraying my main actor with a ski mask. The two scenes only took about 15-30 seconds to film each, but wearing a ski mask in a public place can be a tad nerve wrecking. To be safe, I confirmed with the store manager that I was allowed to film at their store. I then warned the employees that we were filming someone with a ski mask, just so none of them would freak out. We tried filming when there wasn't a lot of people around, but honestly, the shot we were taking didn't even look REMOTELY threatening and actually rather humorous.

As we were about to start filming, Cesar (my actor), put on the mask and a large white man approached him and our crew. He came up to me and said something along these lines: "I know you got permission to do this, but I carry around a concealed handgun and there are many other people who do too". Honestly, I didn't even know what to respond because he was right next to me inside the store when I told the employees that I was filming this for a class and it clearly for educational purposes. After the whole thing my friends are I felt kind of intimidated, but we continued to film either way. I guess it's hard to film in public places without people having different reactions, but the situation was really weird in general.

A little bump in the road but the footage is still fantastic ;-) I'll post about the editing process later since I'm still working!

xx Maria

Re-filming

Saturday, April 08, 2017

(I accidentally drafted this post instead of posting it yesterday)

These past two weeks have been beyond hectic. I'm basically caught in between this project and my AP art final series; a match made in hell. Since I really dislike the footage I got last week for my production, I'm planning on refilming again tomorrow. I originally filmed my entire production with a green screen and then filmed the background normally at Lowes. The footage itself was filmed nicely, but the editing process was way too complicated. The whole purpose of the green screen was to be able to adjust the coloration of my actor with a warmer tint and the background with cooler tint (the program I'm using, iMovie, doesn't allow to only adjust color on specific areas of the clip). With the use of the green screen, I'd be able to edit both clips individually so I could adjust the coloration to my preference. However, it was harder than I expected. The filming itself didn't come out so bad, but I was limited to a very short space from side to side and up and down (due to my decently small green screen). I also was unhappy with the the coloration adjustments, it looks too much like a filter rather than the actual lighting of the setting. The video overall looks way too choppy and the green screen didn't even work for some shots; when I tried removing the background my subject became transparent in some parts of his body. Here's a small portion of the video, but I don't think I'll use it at all:

...On a brighter note, tomorrow is filming day #2! I'm still using my original storyboard, but I've adapted a new solution to my coloration problem. A friend in my class is also slightly adjusting his coloration throughout his production, and explained to me his approach:

Instead of editing the color of the clip on a software, film the clips already with a coloration setting on the camera. I have a Nikon D3500, which is able to adjust the white balance before capturing pictures/videos. In order to do so, I took a picture of a light blue paper to set it as my custom white balance. This cancels out all of the cooler hues in my shots, making them have a beautiful warm tint that looks more natural.

Just to make sure, I'm going to film each scene twice; once with the tint and once without it. That way if something goes wrong with the coloration, i can just use the normal clips and figure out a different solution. I'm hoping it doesn't come to that though!!!!!

So tomorrow I'll post again regarding my filming experience. I need to pull an ultimate all-nighter tomorrow in order to upload all the clips and edit them. I don't exactly want to RUSH to finish but I know I can get a lot of editing done if I sit there for a couple hours with a cup of coffee and strong determination ;)

Maria xx

Filming Day 1

Monday, April 03, 2017

Hello! So I wasn't able to blog that much at all this weekend since I was in Savannah, Georgia visiting SCAD (an art school). However I did get to film Wednesday and edited some of it throughout the 7 hour car rides, so I have some updating to do!

So on Wednesday I went ahead and filmed my main character with the green screen and some of the scenes at Lowes for the background. Everything went well filming but I'm still missing some clips from Lowes and some other scenes.

I tried following most of my storyboard but actually encountered some problems because my homemade green screen was either to short in length or width. I tried my best to record the shots differently, but I'm not sure if I liked how it came out.

I also started editing and found that when i removed the green screen from the background of the clip the subject actually became kind of transparent. This is a HUGE problem and I need to figure out how to fix it. Besides that, I need to re-film some clips here and there.

.....but heres the biggest problem of all. I love my idea on paper and how much thought I've put into it but I don't exactly like the product that has resulted from it. I think I haven't really been able to figure out if my voice and skills have really been able to shine through in the product I have so far which is really really stressing me out. I'm trying to think of new ideas and potentially shift my story, but I'm not sure if it's too late. I need to figure it out ASAP (so basically, this week) in order to continue filming/editing.

If only I had the dollies and green screen from the University I visited, all my problems would be solved~

xx Maria

Portfolio Project

Reflection

FIN!

POSTER

Editing away

Filming Day 2

Re-filming

Filming Day 1

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