CCR

CCR:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlhNPGKx8CI




Bibliography:
Anonymous Audience Applauded After The Premiere stock video 483675665. (n.d.). Retrieved April 14, 2018, from https://www.istockphoto.com/videos/audience?sort=mostpopular&offlinecontent=include&phrase=Audience 

Collins, S. J. (2017, August 10). If You Need Violence to Enforce Your Ideas... » One Voluntaryist's Perspective » Everything-Voluntary.com. Retrieved April 14, 2018, from http://everything-voluntary.com/need-violence-enforce-ideas

Category: | The Courier Mail. (n.d.). Retrieved April 14, 2018, from https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/australias-top-500-most-criminal-names-revealed-in-database/news-story/b7c59e08ddaa39917d155cf071dcdd86?source=images

Detroit - broken city. (n.d.). Retrieved April 14, 2018, from http://www.itv.com/news/2013-07-19/detroit-

Design, B. (n.d.). Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro. Retrieved April 14, 2018, from https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/blackmagicursaminipro

Audience. (2018, April 14). Retrieved April 14, 2018, from https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audience

(n.d.). Retrieved April 14, 2018, from https://m.youtube.com/

Why Do We Shake Hands? (n.d.). Retrieved April 14, 2018, from https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.theodysseyonline.com/why-shake-hands.amp?source=images

Want to Learn a Skill That Will set you Apart? Here's how... (n.d.). Retrieved April 14, 2018, from https://www.workinentertainment.com/blog/video-editing-software-for-students/

Make transitions longer in iMovie for Mac. (2017, January 16). Retrieved April 14, 2018, from https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203876

Killer Tracks expands 'Artist Series' with Nashville's Ian Bern. (n.d.). Retrieved April 14, 2018, from http://www.newscaststudio.com/2016/06/30/killer-tracks-expands-artist-series-nashvilles-ian-bern/

Film opening "The ASSassins"

MOVIE OPENING:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqta-VGN-Jc

Bibliography:
Dark Gangsta Hip Hop Instrumental Rap Beat (#9) - Royalty Free No Copyright Music (Free Download). (2015, December 04). Retrieved April 14, 2018, from https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LJXaYuu01zg

R. (2015, December 18). Elevator music royalty free. Retrieved April 14, 2018, from https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TJMK2lIReIg

Convention and social issues

I believe my product challenges conventions and represents social issues. I believe that my product uses and challenges the conventions of a comedy. Normally a comedy's main emphasis is on humor. We do use several conventions of comedy because we designed the opening to make the Audience laugh through amusement and most often work by exaggerating characteristics for humorous effect. We show this throughout our movie opening like the scene in the elevator where we show the two men trying to get away from the elderly woman and then we show the elderly woman in a slow motion scene. But we also challenge it my adding many elements off an action. Like I said before a comedy's job is usually only too make the  Audience laugh. But in our comedy we want too add elements of violence, physical feats, and frantic chases. We showed these elements of action during our film opening with the several scenes of drugs and weapons in the beginning. We also showed it by using dark black colors and masks which automatically make the audience think of action.

Also the beat up man in the trunk shows the theme of violence that we want to show during our movie. We also challenge the convention of what a criminal or gang member is suppose to be. Usually criminals in the media are shown as scary, big, and heartless men who have very little education. They are usually portrayed as some type of animals who will do anything for money. But in my film opening we show that these two criminals are different and are not as scary but they are actually likable characters who the audience can build a connection with. It is also clear that these two men have a very deep connection with each other and are not as heartless as people think they are.

 Our film opening also demonstrates crime issues. Out film opening takes place in Detroit, Michigan. Detroit has been the most dangerous city in America for the past 4 years. This is because violent crimes such as murder rape robbery and assault occur here 5 times the national average. Most of these crimes come from gang related violence. Our two main characters are in a gang, and it is obvious that they are because after they finish getting ready they call their boss who pays them for their work. Although we did add a comedic twist to our film, gang related crime is a big issue that effects many cities in our country.

Bibliography:

Fisher, D. (2015, October 29). Detroit - pg.1. Retrieved April 07, 2018, from https://www.forbes.com/pictures/mlj45jggj/1-detroit/

Last Time filming

We began filming for the final time today. We had to stop filming during spring break because one of our actors left and we already began shooting with him, so we had to finish with him. This last scene consists of 4 actors. We had to go to my grandmas apartment because we needed an apartment with an elevator in which to film. Even though my grandmas apartment is not what I had in mind, we have to make it work because we do not know where else we can film that has an elevator. We were thinking of doing it in a hotel near us, but when we called and asked if we could they said no.

We also had to re film some parts of our movie opening because they got lost. Although it is very annoying that they got lost and we have to re shoot those parts, I am not very mad because we can make those parts even better then they were before. The only problem is that Nick has been sick or absent for all of the filming, so I've had to do most of it by myself. I feel like the film could look even better if he was here, but since he is not I am just making my own choices and going with what looks the best. I still have to find a song for my movie opening and edit our last few scenes in.

Today during filming I tried to use smoke to make our scene look better and more professional but it did not work out how I wanted it too. So instead throughout all the action films I decided to just use a green filter like the one from the movie The Matrix. Then in the comedic scenes the green filter is going to be taken away. I am also going to add a voiceover which is going to say a quote to make the action scenes more dramatic. I also have to add slow motion to some of the scenes that we have already shot. Plus I have too do my CCR. I really hope my partner helps or I do not know how I am going to finish everything.

Distribution

Even thought we are not actually going to distribute the film, distribution is a good topic to talk about that is important to every film. Distribution is the process of making a movie available for viewing by the audience. There are distribution company's that are responsible for the marketing of a film. The distribution company is usually different from the production company. The distribution company is responsible for setting the release date of the film and the method by which the film is going to be made available by viewing. The distributor often receives credit in the films credits. Some examples of distribution company's are IFC films, Mangolia pictures, and Artifical eyes.

If we were to distribute our movie the first step we would take would be too make a licensing agreement with a distribution company. The distribution company would then show the movie too buyers representing the theater. And because our idea is good they would buy the movie and make an agreement with the distribution company. And from there the theater would show the movie for a specified number of weeks and people would buy a ticket to go see it. Then after it is exhibited to the public through the movie theater we would make it available for home viewing through several methods such as VHS and download. We would also make agreement with T.V stations so it can be aired on television programs through broadcast syndication.

Several of the student made examples that we were shown gave credit to distribution companies. They do this because it makes the movie opening look more profesional and real. But I realized that many of this distribution companies were fake and did not actually exist. So we decided to do the same thing and create our own distribution company logo to show before our film opening starts. We are not using a real one because their is probably several steps that have to be done  in order to use a real companies logo, so we feel it will be easier if we just make our own. We are thinking of just doing something simple like a bird and under we would use our names like "Diaz production". Even though is it simple it makes the movie opening look a lot better.

Bibliography:
Tyson, J. (2000, September 18). How Movie Distribution Works. Retrieved April 02, 2018, from https://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/movie-distribution.htm

Film distribution. (2018, March 31). Retrieved April 02, 2018, from https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_distribution

One last change

Nick and I have changed our idea many times. We thought we had the perfect idea and I talked about in one of my last post. But after the group meeting everyone including the teacher said we were trying to do too much in a little amount of time. Nicks group also gave him feedback and said that we should change around the idea. So we sat down and brainstormed ways too change the idea and make it shorter but we couldn't find a way to do it and for it to still be good. So we decided to start over and create a whole new idea. After a million bad ideas, we finnaly thought of a good one that is short enough to not overwhelm the audience but also intresting enough for them to want to keep watching the film.

Our film opening is going to look like an action movie. It's going to have all the elements of one such as the the music and the filter. We want people to believe it is going to be an average action movie with drugs and guns like every action movie has. During the film opening it is going to show the two main characters getting ready for their mission. After they are finished preparing for their mission their is going to be a scene of them in an elevator. It is gong to be a two shot of them next to each other in slow motion and a low angle to make them see powerful. But our movie is a comedy so their is going to be a plot twist. We are going to add several comedic elements. One of them is while their is a slow motion scene of the two men, a lady is going to walk in and their going to try to close the elevator while she's trying to get in but she's going to be in and then their is going to be another slow motion shot of the woman and the men in slow motion. We are also going to add other several comedic scene so it is obvious it is a comedy and not an action. 

We are so sure of this idea that we began filming for it. We only filmed a small part of the beginning with a table of drugs and guns. In this scene the two men are getting ready for their mission. We used several low angles of the men and the table to make them seem more powerful. We also used a green filter like in the matrix. We are trying to use as least words as possible because the two men are my friends so they are not the best actors. We are going to depend more on individual movement and sound elements. Here is a  picture I from our shooting.

Actors

Actors are important in films because movie characters are the vehicles for storytelling in films. Actors use a variety of acting methods to create a real performance in a fictional circumstance. Actors have to become and feel the character or else what they are portraying won't be believable. This is why casting is so important. Casting helps choose the right actors in your film in order to bring you story alive. Casting is a hard job because not only do you have to pick a good actor, but that actor also has to look like the person you have in mind. Like in our film we are going to show our character as time passes so we have to find actors that look similar so our story is believable. While casting you also have to look for actors who fit the characters personality, so when they act it is more real and believable.

Unfortunately we do not have the money to hire a castor and actors. We were given an idea to find actors. We were told that we should go to the drama room and ask the kids if they want to help us in our movie opening. The only problem with that is that the kids are probably not going to want to help us because that would require them to take time out of their day and meet up with us in order to film. The only way they would probably help us is if we paid them but neither Nick or I are going to do that. So we decided to go with plan B and just use people we know. We needed to find three people who look the same to show our main character as time passes.So I contacted three of my cousins who look similar to play these roles. I also contacted some of my friends to be extras. I hope that they are decent actors and make our film look believable.

I am glad that we chose a dark comedy because we do not have to depend on actors as much as if we would off chosen a drama. It depends more on the script and the comedic elements. We are planning to begin filming this week. The only reason why we have taken so long is because my cousins have been out of town ever since spring break began. I hope we get all the shots we need when we film so we can spend more time editing and making the film look better.

Bibliography:

Nirutnapapan, S. (2016, March 08). Importance of Casting in Film. Retrieved March 26, 2018, from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/importance-casting-film-soracha-nirutnapapan/

Dialogue

Dialogue has been around since the beginning of film, even in old silent films with title cards. It is important because it explains the plot, creates character development, and allows the audience to have form a bond with the characters. It also helps the plot move forward. But writing realistic and effective dialogue can be very hard. Dialogue has to sound clever and unique or the audience will get bored. I looked up some examples in order to get inspiration for my dialogue and found a great article called: elements of cinema. They showed me a great example from the movie The Exorcist, when the priest was asked if he wanted tea, instead of saying yes or no, he replies with "Well, my doctor says I shouldn't. But thank God my will is weak. " In this sentence he says yes and no which makes the dialogue more interesting then just saying a one word answer.

We are making a dark comedy, so we have to rely on dialogue like most comedy do. We need to make the audience laugh but that is something that can be hard to do. It is hard because comic dialogue has to keep up with the characters personality. I also have to create the right situation in which the character says it. An example of comedic dialogue is in Thelma and Louise when Thelma says, "Daryl doesn't have a cute butt like that. You could park a car in the shadow of his ass." These remarks are not only funny but they also foreshadow the affair that is going to happen later in the movie.

I already have some idea of the dialogue I am going to incorporate. I just hope that the audience has my same sense of humor and laughs at the jokes and their isn't any awkward silences. Another problem that I am worried about is the camera. In all the examples I've seen the groups always have great cameras that make the film look professional. But neither Nick and I have a good camera, all we have is our phones. I do not want to use a phone because when films are shot with a phone it usually makes the film look very bad, even if the idea is good. I do not have the money to buy one So I am just going to see of my friends have one and ask them to borrow it.

Bibliography:
Dialogue. (n.d.). Retrieved March 26, 2018, from http://www.elementsofcinema.com/screenwriting/dialogue.htm

Props and stage design

Props are an item used on screen or stage to help enhance a performance. Props are most commonly used in conveying the time and place the narrative is set. Props are one of the only indicators of what period of time the film takes place in. According to an article called: The importance of props in film, not only do props help the audience understand the narrative, they also help actors get a feel of their role. For example, an actor will find getting into their native american role easier if they are dressed similar and and holding weapons and tools from that time period. Props can also make a character instantly recognizable. A good example of this is Indiana Jones hat and whip.

In our film we are planning on incorporating a couple of props. One prop we are going to use is a gun. Our main character is a criminal so it would make sense that he would have a gun. I also talked about wardrobe in a recent post and how we were planning on having our main character and his past selfs wear black so it can be clear to the audience that all these characters are the same person. But this article gave me a good idea that we should use a prop to show who the main character is. I am thinking of using something simple like glasses or a hat so it can be clear who the main character is. 

Another important aspect that we have to worry about is set design. The set helps create the tone, the era, and the overall vibe of each scene. If there is no background or stage design the story is harder to believe. We want to have several different set designs because several of our locations take place in doors. The one that is probably going to be the hardest to re create is a sort of dungeon where our main character is forced to work. But for this set, we are planning on using a garage and low key lightening. We can manipulate angles and lighting to make our sets look better thank they actually are.

Bibliography:

The importance of props in film. (n.d.). Retrieved March 24, 2018, from http://spurcreative.co.uk/the-importance-of-props-in-film/

Costume design

Costume design is extremely important in all movies. There is even a special team assigned to just working on costume design. Costume designers work closely with the director in order to match the directors vision. And it is not as easy at it seems. Costume designers have to do a lot of research in order to make the wardrobes which the actors wear. If the movie is in the past, they have to do research to see what people wore during that period of time and make sure they don't make any mistakes. They also have to make sure that the outfits balance the scheme with the texture and color. They also have to make sure the outfits match the socioeconomic status of the characters. Designers seek to enhance a characters personality with the outfits they wear. Not only this but there are also diffrent types of costumes designers such as freelance, residential, and academic.

In our film opening costume design is going to be very important. We have to make sure that our actors wear similar clothing because they are all suppose to be the same person. If they wear diffrent clothing the audience might not get that this is the same person but in diffrent stages of his life. I am thinking of having all 3 of my actors wear all black clothing. I picked black because I know that  all my actors can get an easy access to black wardrobe. Also because black represents the depression in the characters life. Like I said before it is important that the wardrobe balances the scheme with texture and color. Black matches with anything so this will make the process of balancing colors easier. I do not have to worry a lot about the period of time interfering with the outfits because our movie opening takes place in the present. But we do have to worry about socioeconomic status because our main character is poor so I have to make sure his clothes is ripped up and worn out.

I believe we will do a good job with our wardrobe because it is not complex. But I do have a problem  with our film. I have been telling several people like my friends and family about my idea and the scenes in our movie opening. I tell them because I like getting feedback and in order to know if I am on the right track. I always tell them to be extremely honest because I see it as constructive criticism instead of negative. One thing that several of them have told me is that they like the ideas but that we should switch up the scenes. Some of them tell me I should switch it up by showing more of the main characters life and others tell me that I should show less of his life and add more comedic scenes. Nick and I are not sure what we are going to do yet but we are going to meet up one of these days before we film and improve some of our scenes.

Bibliography:
Costume design. (2018, March 06). Retrieved March 21, 2018, from https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costume_design

Colors

Colors in films are not just coincidences or accidents. Film makers carefully make decisions about colors that affect the whole film, even if we do not realize it. One of the main reasons why color is so important is because they make the audience feel. I did not really understand the importance of colors until I did some research and found an article called: How color helps a movie tell its story. It showed me how some of my favorite movies use colors without me even realizing it. For example in the incredibles when Mr. Incredible works at his desk, the colors are grey and dulled to represent depression. I always wondered why that scene made me feel uncomfortable and now I realize it is all because of the color in the scene. Many times we do not realize how important colors are because they work on a subconscious level.

As I was researching about colors I found another article called: How to use color in films. This showed me that different colors have different psychological effects on the audience. For example red makes the audience think of love and passion while yellow shows madness and sickness.The article also showed me that their are three main components of color which are hue, saturation, and value. The article also showed me that it is important to balance the colors so it is pleasant in the viewers eye. But one of the most important things that the article showed me is that even a slight change in color can make the audience confused. For example if you are trying to show love but accidentally show pink, this can confuse the audience and make them think of playfulness.

Color is an extremely powerful tool that I want to use in my film. Lat week one of the members in my groups used color in his movie opening and it looked great. It looked very complex but when I asked him what he used he said it was just a light changing lightbulb. It amazed me that something so simple can make a film seem so powerful. This inspired me to want to use colors in my movie opening. A color that I will probably use in my film opening is pink because pink shows playfulness and since my film opening is a dark comedy I do not want the audience to take the jokes literally. I also have to be careful to not use the wrong colors because this can confuse the audience.

Bibliography:
How color helps a movie tell its story. (2017, April 06). Retrieved March 19, 2018, from https://ideas.ted.com/how-color-helps-a-movie-tell-its-story/

How to Use Color in Film: 50 Examples of Movie Color Palettes. (2018, March 06). Retrieved March 19, 2018, from https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/how-to-use-color-in-film-50-examples-of-movie-color-palettes/

Group Meeting

Yesterday we met in groups for the first time. We were separated into groups with people who we are not doing our movie opening with and the purpose of this activity was to get feedback about your project and help other people with their projects. Before we did this I was very skeptical because I felt like this was not going to work and I was scared that someone might take my idea. But good thing that I was wrong because this activity was extremely helpful. Not only was I able to help others, but the feedback I received was also great and it will help make my movie opening even better. The only problem was that I was not able to explain my idea as well as I wanted too, so I do not think my group got what I was going for. But they were still very helpful and even gave me names of  some dark comedies that I should watch in order to get ideas for my movie opening. Nick also got some great feedback from his group that was very helpful.

Some feedback that Nick and I both got from our groups was that our idea was too long. We are trying to fit too much information and scenes into 2 minutes so we should shorten it. The point of a movie opening is too get the audience intrigued in your movie, not show them everything that is going to happen. My group told me that in order to fix this, I should cut out everything that is not important to the main plot of the movie opening. In our movie opening I have several scenes about the main characters life that are not important to the movie opening. We are going to remove many of these scenes in order to not add to much information too the movie opening. Since our movie opening is about our main characters past life, we were going to cut to him as he talks about the flashback and then cut to the flashback. But I realized that this is too time consuming so we are going to have to change this too.

One of the members in my group gave me a great idea. We were originally going to start of  the movie with our main character in a psychologists room and him being questioned about his life and then continuously cutting back to him. But like I said before this is very time consuming so he told me instead that the main character should just be asked a question like "tell me about your past life and what led to you being here today", and I should show all of the flashback at once instead of cutting back to our main character walking. And he also said to use a voiceover which I already researched how to do, so it should not be too complicated to do this. Another problem we got is that our film seemed too expensive because of all our props and locations. Because of this I researched and found an article called: How to make a short film with practically no budget!  The article talked about how all I really need is a computer, a digital camcorder and some kind of editing software. It also said that I do not need all these props and gadgets as long as my story is good. It also advised me that I should try to get some good actors in order too make my movie opening even better and not depend on money.

Bibliography: 
How to make a short film with practically no budget! (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.filmconnection.com/reference-library/film-entrepreneurs/short-film-no-budget/

Lighting

One thing I am worried about is the lighting. Lighting is something that is fundamental to all type of film. Not only is lighting important for for visibility, but it can also be used as an artistic tool. Lighting can be the most artistic portion of a film because there are no hard and fast rules, only guidelines. That is why I am scared to mess up on the lighting because not only can it make your film unprofessional but it can also confuse the audience. For example if you put low key lighting in a scene that requires high key lighting, it can mess up the message which you are trying to portray in your film. Not only lighting, but the color of the light is very important too. For example if you want to portray love or passion, then red lighting should be used so the audience can clearly understand what you are trying to represent.

In our film opening we want too use several different types of lighting. In one scene where the mom poisons her son we want their to be high key lighting so that the audience thinks that nothing bad is going to happen but then their is a big twist. In the scene where our character is in the woods we want to use low key lighting in order to build suspense. And for our scenes that take place inside a house we want to use three key lighting so it looks as professional as possible. The only problem is that we do not know how to create these lighting's , but I looked up an article called Lighting 101: A Quick Guide for Lighting Film. This article teaches us how to employ lighting designs and shows us new lighting that I have never seen before which we can use for our movie opening. 

Most of our film takes place outdoors, but we can not move the sun so I was wondering how we would make the lighting look good even though we are outside. I researched and found an article called : Tips to make your exterior lighting shine. The article showed me several ways how I can create my own lighting, such as using modifiers to shape light. Using these tips we should be good to film outside and create the lighting we want. Another problem that I have not found the solution to is about one of our scenes which requires a room full of guns. In this scene Our main character robs a gun store but gets stopped quickly. I researched but found nothing on how to create a gun room. We might have to just go to an actual gun shop and beg the workers to let us use it! 

Bibliography:
Hardy, R. (2014, October 28). Here Are a Few Simple Tips to Make Your Exterior Lighting Shine. Retrieved March 13, 2018, from https://nofilmschool.com/2013/11/simple-tips-daytime-exterior-shine
    
Lighting 101: A Quick Guide for Lighting Film. (2016, September 13). Retrieved March 13, 2018, from https://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/basic-light-placements/

Cinematography. (n.d.). Retrieved March 13, 2018, from http://www.masteringfilm.com/set-lighting-fundamentals/