Its been a long and fruitful process but with this post I say good bye! Here is the final portion of my portfolio project: my CCR
I can't wait to see where I end up and what new production opportunities will open in the future!
Until then,
Logan :)
I am excited to announce, the release of Losing Track! This took a lot of effort from my group and I, so here it is!!!
Stay tuned for my final post, my CCR, coming soon!
As we are coming to the end of this project, I wanted to do a quick reflection post on the overall process. I won't lie, my group started out rocky, arguing over what idea to use, what place we wanted to film, and just over all butting heads with each other over menial decisions. We of course did not let this stop us, as we were able to suck it up and put our differences aside to make a quality film opening and I genuinely believe that with our skills we made something I am proud of. The coronavirus was a big obstacle we had to face but due to our preexisting relationships we were able to easily communicate with each other and it never felt like we were out of place. I was able to hone my directing and writing skills as those were the primary roles I took in this project and I think this project definitely gave me a better understanding of what the circumstances are like for directors. Planning and thinking on the spot during filming was not only challenging but fun. I had to understand what I wanted from both my actor and my cinematographer and communicate it to them effectively so that we could get the best shots possible. I also had to listen to their input as well as they also had their vision for the film and this communication lead to a great production. In the end this project really opened my mind to the production world and made me excited for what experiences I may run into like this in the future! I can't wait to put out the final product so yall can see what I have worked on for so long!
This blog is a mix between a little life update and also some CCR research that I will take into account for the actual thing. To start this week has been rocky at best between my group and figuring everything out, we are almost finished like I said in my last post and I dont doubt we will finish, but there is not much left for me to do on my part so I do not have much to write about project wise. I found the foley sounds as I stated in my last post and things look like they are turning out well. I was going to do some research for the CCR and create a post answering the questions, however I realized that this would be almost redundant as I am going to be answering the questions in the CCR anyways, as well as the fact that in order to answer the question I really just need to look back on my blogs I have already posted.
For instance, I have stated before through my genre analysis for post-apocalyptic films and my post on target audience that usually the characters are male and these films are more inclined for male audiences, however in our film it centers around a female protagonist. This also serves as representation as it places a woman in a strong protagonist role that is often not seen in media.
For distribution I was thinking the obvious route of using YouTube, however I also think that with my connections to the TV production club in my school, I could also promote my film through Beacons short cuts which is a student made show that airs in the Broward area. I also got this idea after watching a past friends CCR from last year named Tati, where she notes this as a way to distribute her film opening as well.
For production skills I plan on discussing how I learned the importance of planning and organization as like I have said in many of my blogs that was a major issue my group has struggled with. I also learned some cool effects and more about the pre-production process.
Lastly for how we integrated technology, I plan to discuss the numerous platforms and websites we used to plan,storyboard and discuss, while also going over the actual physical equipment we used. For physical equipment I want to specifically highlight lighting, as that was an issue during production that was difficult but also fun to work around.
Sadly I have been unable to meet with my group after Yesterday mornings meeting as it is Passover and I am a little swept up in the holidays with family and everything, but since we are back to school tomorrow I hope to end off this whole process with a bang! Cant wait to show yall our film opening!
My last blog on Sunday I stated I wanted to finish asap and since this is being posted on Saturday, I think yall can tell things took a little bit of a different turn. Not only did some of my group members have things happen that were out of their control but also we realized that its spring break, so might as well take a break! But we are back at it and today we discussed and started on the finishing touches of our film opening and not to toot our own horn, (get it because the train in the opening :p) but I think it is coming out really well! Today we finally all had some time to go over the finishing touches and we assigned what every one should be working on, Isa is going to finish up the volumetric lighting for one of the opening shots and add the particle/dust effects to add atmosphere to the shot, Sabrina is going to add in the credits, and Kim and I are going to find the rest of the foley sounds.
Sabrina also showed us some changes and additions she made to the edit that I thought were really good details! For starters, she made the opening credits have a flickering effect that adds that extra layer of the vibe we are going for! She also added a zoom on one of the beginning security camera shots that not only matches with the camera sound underneath, but also adds depth to the story about whether or not the protagonist is being watched! Also there is a really good L cut towards the end of the film opening that creates a natural transition from when the protagonist is inside the building to them being outside!
We obviously could not get a real train for our opening so we have an added sound effect for it, we noticed when watch the opening back that it may be a little confusing that you can hear the sound of the train but not actually see it. To work around this we are going to try and lower the gain of the train sound and also either add some reverb or echo to make it seem as though it is farther away than originally thought, this way we can keep the final shot and effect we are going for. Also we plan on after showing the title graphic over the train tracks, cutting to black and then having the sound of a train physically passing the character to create that last moment of suspense about why there is a train!
I hope to update yall on some CCR research later and soon post our final film opening!
To start off, we actually got a lot of editing done, in fact the film opening itself is essentially finished and we just need to add the opening credits and title graphic and we should be all set to finish. So far I already discussed in my blog yesterday one of the effects we created for the security camera shots, but other than that we also gathered all our sounds, music, tested some luts, and basically line edited the whole piece together. While editing we tried to follow the story board as best as possible, however, it obviously was not going to be a one to one match and so we used our decision making skills to decide whether rearranging some shots or placing a cut away would be better than what we originally planned. For example one shot shows our protagonist entering the building from a medium shot and following her as she looks from room to room for supplies, as she enters the building she drags her hand along a desk, while shooting we noticed this and got a cut away shot. The reason for this is because during pre-production, we placed fake blood on the hands and nails of our actor to give them character. The cut away close up shot allowed us to better showcase the make up on the actor and show the audience they are toughened.
Here are some of examples of the before and after of some of the different Luts we are using!
Its been a long and fruitful process but with this post I say good bye! Here is the final portion of my portfolio project: my CCR ...
