Film Opening

Here we are on the end of our journey! After about three months here is our film opening for "To Remove the Grime." This process taught me so much about the film making and I was able to have fun throughout!

The CCR is Done !

I am excited... no elated...no ecstatic to present to you my finalized CCR ! Doing the CCR was a bit dffernet because I have never had to use a program like this. Screen-O-matic was easy to use but speaking and having the right images on display was a bit tricky.

Until next time !

Getting Closer to the End

So....
We forgot the credits in our film opening. Mrs. Stoklosa gave the class some last minute pointers about our portfolio projects. We had our title for the movie and our production name but not other credits. Such as the  director, producer, editor, cinematographer, writer and main cast. We didn't have to mention the music credit because it's royalty free music. Julia and I distributed who's names we would use for each category. Julia directed because she was the one behind the camera. I am the producer because I assisted coordinating the films script and directing. Julia edited the opening (editor )and we both wrote the plot of the film (writers). Roughly every twenty seconds we decided to add a credit to space out the timing accurately.
Okay... I am not going to lie about the CCR not an easy task for me. Mostly having enough quality information for seven or eight minutes. Not in the sense that it's not enough time but I want to make sure what I say is answering the questions with analysis and research. I want to have the information be concise and have the audience understand the choices I made and why. I also want to make it interesting besides the verbal portion. Possibly inserting music in the background. Or having . I know I will not be doing a PowerPoint but instead tabs to show visual information as I do a voice over.
Wish me luck !

Started filming in school

Julia and I started filming our scenes in school before we went on our spring break or vacation from school. We filmed our scenes for the opening in one class period. Mainly because of how we planned it out with our shot list.

Amber walking to the class to steal the money. This is during a lunch period so she can go into class to take without anyone seeing her. We wanted to show how cautious and scared Amber felt during this scene. We had her walk slowly and look paranoid. In the hallway, sometimes people walked by and making noise. We had to retake shots once in a while in case the background noise effected what we were saying.

Amber and Josh talking in the hallway. We wanted an eye line match and shot counter shot for the conversation. We wanted first did a film shot of the camera pointing at me the whole time. Then we did a whole shot of the camera only looking at Josh. Then Julia stepped back and we did a two shot for the last angle. 

Amber stealing the money. We wanted this to be a high angle and Amber grabbing the wallet quickly. We did other takes of this scene of when Amber took the wallet slowly. The shots included close ups of the material and my face, mid shots and . The close up of the face shots helped show Amber's emotions: fear and distress. We plan to have this part with more cuts to show more chaos. 

Started Filming at Home

Julia and I went to her house recently to start filming the scenes at her house.We started with the recording for the voice over. First we did a video then we did an audio recording. It took a while for me to narrate slowly and coherently. I had to work on pronouncing each word slowly and leaving pauses between each topic. We wanted to show that I was recording so we made the beginning of the recording of me setting up the camera and fixing my hair. We made a setup for the first scene with the computer.

 We kept the outfit more simple After that we did the scene of me waking up and implying that I have been up all night because my eyes are open before my alarm goes off. We took several angles and shots of this scene to have a a lot of options. That clip is shown up above! Then we recorded the scene where I am walking outside to get the drawing of my "mom." Julia and I thought of making the drawing of what Amber thinks her mom was like. Lastly, we filmed the scene where I hand the dad the money. Overall we had trouble with having me animate the proper emotions. We got thorough it by hearing the narrations in other movies "The Edge of Seventeen" and "The Notebook". I saw how slow the narrators spoke and how they had longer pauses in between their statements. I also saw if the voice over was the main character they used a lot of details. We wanted to over shoot because Julia was going to be away for most of spring break.

CCR Planning

Hellooo readers,

Here is my VERY rough draft for the CCR....

-How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?

Our film uses "coming of age" conventions by having the main settings be at school or at home. Characteristics of an outcast include someone who is not part of a main crowd or is very outgoing in school. They keep more to themselves and don't dress to impress. The story revolves around the teenager facing difficulties in her life and how she is reacting to it. The lighting was natural not including the low key lighting in the bedroom. The camera angles were mostly close ups or mid shots to see the characters emotions as much as possible. It allows the audience to be more connected to the character and her emotions. The iconography of the props was demonstrated in our film with school backpacks and . The sounds that are the most evident tare the voice over and upbeat music. The plot used genre conventions such as the teenager facing problems everyday and she will eventually learn a life lesson. Her mom did pass away due to an illness which is another common convention.  

-How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text?
The Target audience includes teenagers and young adults in lower or middle economic classes. This can relate to people going through this stage in life. Trying to figure out who they are and what they want in the future. This would be distributed in movie theaters then on streaming applications such as Netflix or Redbox. It's good to start in the movie theaters to promote through trailers and large audiences.

-How did your production skills develop throughout this project?
Julia and I learned it is important to over shoot because having more options when editing is better. Also, overshooting is done by capturing the scene in different camera angles (high and low) or having different close ups of the subject. It is does take a good amount of time to think of the different angles and shooting the shot continuously. I learned how important research is to know how to produce a project. There are so many details especially with the mis en scene that a director would have to know. Such as (EXAMPLES) . We were able to stay organized with our shot lists and scripts. We spent less time wondering what to film while we were filming because we knew what we needed. This saved time as we were taking our shots. Planning out our opening was intricate because of all the changes. Also, figuring out our purpose of the film. The creative process was much longer than I had expected. There were constant changes from us wanting to stray from our original ideas to what we want now. 

-How did you integrate technologies – software, hardware and online – in this project?
Google  docs for script, CCR, shot list, BME and character development sheet.

Detailed Plot

Julia and I wanted to develop the story more so we came up with a more detailed plot. Mainly to know the climax and what Amber was going to do to get out of this situation.

Background:
The mom died when Amber was younger because she got sick. Before this the mom was in the CIA and graduated from Stanford in criminology. The dad turned to alcohol when she died and Amber did not cope well with the loss.

Ambers' life later in the movie: 
The dad realizes he has wasted a lot of money on alcohol and the bank is taking their house. As the dad and Amber are packing Amber finds an unopened box in the back of a closet. The box has old photos of her mom, her CIA badge and other belongings. Amber asks her father who for once is not intoxicated. He finally tells her more about her mom: personality, looks, her job and how much she loved Amber. Amber gets inspired to change herself for the better to be like her mom. The dad starts to slowly stop drinking. Amber starts taking school more seriously by studying and paying attention in class. She becomes friends with people who take school as seriously as she is. She stops stealing and starts to draw more as a form of escapism. Her dad and her start to a healthier relationship because he is sober more often. She starts applying for colleges and hopes her academics help her get into a prestige four year university.

Ending:
The last year of having good grades was not enough for most four year universities. She is devastated and runs away to find the criminals herself. She feels lost ans she has no where else to go. Her dad finds her not long after. He explains to her she does not need to start at a four year university. She can start small and keep building her way up. He believes she will continue to take school seriously and follow in her moms footsteps. With this hope she takes his advice and begins at a community college. She will keep trying to get to where her mom was in life.