CCR

https://youtu.be/DP5ER4pFNl8

Reflection

Portfolio Project: Reflection

To me I would say that overall my portfolio project went smoothly. I would say more smoothly than any of my previous projects despite the pandemic. Starting with the early stages of the project, that was a bit more rocky. I think it was because at the time I wanted to make sure that I had a solid and feasible idea and that stressed me out. But with lots of research and planning it really did help me find out what I wanted to do for my portfolio project. Everything after the initial idea was nothing crazy. I planned out how I'd film it and I thought out of the logistics of filming it. Fleshing out my story was not an issue either that to me came naturally and with little roadblocks.

Coming to the end of the portfolio project. It came about way more smoothly than I thought it would. Since the quarantine hit I was very uncertain about where my project was going and just what I would be doing for this class in general. Still even through all of that I filmed and edited my portfolio project without issue. I filmed all that I could and it ended out being slightly different from my original outlines but that is fine because most projects change a lot in the edit
.
My final thoughts are that the creation of the portfolio project is that it went by smoother than I thought but that is very much due to me scaling down my own ambition and having my main focus be how can I create this project as efficiently as possible. I would say that I succeed in doing that.

Portfolio Project: At Large

At Large

https://youtu.be/UTRhc1OtzUg

CCR SCRIPT

I took my time to write out a pretty rough script of my CCR. I plan on filming it all sometime this week after I go through another pass or two on the script. It will be filmed in my garage and once recorded i'll see what I could do to spice it up and make it more interesting that the generic talking head stuff that you always see.

CCR Script:

Question #1: 

What are genre conventions in horror and did you challenge them or embrace them, and in what ways did you do so?

R: Now some typical horror conventions is that horror is all about the darkness. Here is where I challenged that convention by having a lot of my opening play out during mid-day. I wanted to say that horror can work in broad daylight and I wanted to prove that the horror during the day could even be more scary. 

A convention that I choose that is typical of horror is obviously the killer/serial killer trope, but at the same time I did try to twist it into something more interesting than a generic slasher. I tried to give the antagonist some character which most horror movies don’t do. I did this by showing how organized the killer is and showing how the killer is essentially gloating about his kills by recording them and posting them online.

I would also say that I did embrace the found footage side of the horror genre but I used it as a narrative tool that would enhance the story that I was telling.

That’s interesting but what about representation, does your opening choose to represent any social issues or groups?

R: Yes, in my mind this opening and subsequently the whole film is about cold cases. I did a lot of research on cases like the one that I made for this opening. To me it is important to show how even with technology it can still be difficult to track down criminals. I really wanted to show how crimes can be committed on camera yet can be as cold as a case without a single witness.

Question #2: 

Who is your target audience?

R: My target audience is going for those fans of true crime and those who are really interested in documentaries about serial killers. As well as fans of horror as it is a horror film. Now I plan on attracting these people through the content of the film, the horror fans will come for the disturbing nature of the film and the true crime fans will come for the portrayal of an eerily realistic case trying to be solved. 

Now as for how I am going to get my film out there that should hopefully be simple. Netflix would not be a hard bargain to get into as there are many small budget independent films on Netflix, this also goes for Hulu and Amazon Prime. Submitting the film to film festivals would help greatly as having some buzz around to help convince a streaming platform to pick up the film. Even if that doesn’t work there is always YouTube where the film can be uploaded allowing anyone to see the film, yes it wouldn’t make much money but it's better than nothing.

Question #3: 

What was your process with developing the film and how did it evolve over time?

R: First It started with choosing a genre. I chose horror as I knew the genre well and felt that I could get some good ideas with the genre. Then came the research on the genre so I could get a solid footing with what I was working with. This was done within my first blog posting where I discussed typical horror budgets, ratings, and conventions. 

On my second Blogspot I also went over three different film openings, from stranger things, Halloween, and American psycho. I did this to analyze how and why these openings are so good and how I could apply what they used into my film.

For me, I would say that my main approach to doing research was by consuming the type of content that I was trying to create and learning from what I watched. I saw movies like the Blair witch project so I could see why the film worked so well as a found footage film. I watched many other horror films and true crime YouTube videos so I could find inspiration. 

How did you change or adapt as you worked on the project.

R: Well I would say that I had to get a lot more used to planning out things way ahead of time. It’s not something that i’m good at doing or something that I do often so it was a bit of a struggle to get used to. I had to make sure that I was on track and I was at the beginning but things did slow down once the quarantine hit.

A reflection on where I started and ended and how past projects helped me with this portfolio project.

R: I feel like I started off on a good note. I was posting all of my blog posts on time and through all of that I was able to develop my opening more. I think that I learned a lot from previous projects. I learned how helpful it is to have a teammate and I also learned how sometimes it’s easier to work alone. I think that’s what prompted me to be fine with working alone as it has made the whole process of creating the opening have a lot less bumps in the road. From other projects such as the film pitch and the one word short film I learned that sometimes simple is fine. I used to be a little too ambitious and It would prevent the end product from coming out as good as it could’ve. So with this one I would scale down on complexity and I would find out how to do this opening as smoothly as possible and that really worked out in the end. As now even under quarantine I was able to shoot my entire opening without many changes.

Question #4:

What technologies were used? 

R: That one is kind of simple and short. I did not rely heavily on technology. I used blogger for posting my research and collecting my ideas. I would say that I used a variety of devices to watch other films. And I used YouTube frequently for research on not only how to craft my opening but on how to refine my editing skills.

How technology is used during filming?

R: This is another simple one. I decided to scale down on complexity for this opening so the majority of the opening is shot on my phone with no filter on. I only used my DSLR for one scene which lasts a few seconds. I used Davinci Resolve to edit the footage from my phone and did very little audio editing. I think my lack of technology helped to avoid many problems since there wasn’t much in the way that could cause me problems.

R: One thing that did really help as I mentioned previously is YouTube. I even made a blog post about it. Where it was able to help me with crafting the credits for my opening which was something that would have been super challenging without the help of a YouTube video.

A major obstacle while shooting was definitely the quarantine hitting because of COVID-19. It basically derailed my entire filming schedule and planning for my CCR. It left the whole project in uncertainty and it really messes with how much I was able to get done with this project.  

Final Statement:

R: Throughout this portfolio project I learned a lot about planning and how helpful it can be when tackling a big project such as this one. I learned the value of research and especially the value of learning from others. 

In all honestly if provided the chance to do something different I would have adhered more strictly to my own schedule. I would have been more on top of getting work done and I wouldn’t push it off so far. 

Next time I tackle a project like this I could be more on top of myself with how much work I get done and when it all gets done. 

Filmed Today

Filming

I was able to film tonight and I think it look alright although I will intimately scrap it for now because its a bit too dark and I don't want the opening to be filled with so much darkness. So I'll re-shoot it during daylight tomorrow. But since I was out at night I got the last few shots I needed for the found footage segment of the opening. But tomorrow is when I will film the very final scene that is not shot on my phone. Tomorrow filming will be finished and editing will start, mostly just putting all the clips that I recorded together. The day after that I'll add all the necessary credits to the opening and then it should be all about done. 

Next thing after that is a full script but i'll just call it a rough script that I'll upload here on blogger. It'll serve as my guidelines for filming the CCR and hopefully it will be enough to cover the time limit.

Filming Interuptions

Rain Check

I tried to go outside today to get the few outside scenes during the sunset that I needed for the opening. But I experienced an interruption with some rain going on. Pictured here.

 

Although that does not matter much as I still am planning on getting those shots. Now it may have not originally been in my plan to shoot those outside scenes of the killer stalking the neighborhood all be at night but i'll record them later today anyways. I'll see how I feel about them being filmed at night once i'm done shooting the scenes later today. If I don't like them I'll just have to shoot the outdoor scene tomorrow which is still no big deal to me. 

A quick update on the CCR. I have been looking over the questions on the CCR and I have been writing some prototype scripts for my CCR. Again it will take place in my garage, the place where my opening starts. I'm still aiming for brevity in my CCR as I was originally.  

Filming Starts Today

I started my first few scenes of filming today I got the scenes of the killer getting ready to go outside and go on the "hunt". I just filmed those inside scenes today as I plan to film my scenes in chunks day by day so I can spend lots of time one once scene. From this I can make sure that re-shoots won't be necessary as I will film everything I need and more for the day. For example today during filming I made sure to get more establishing shots and other shots that while not completely relating to what I was filming could be used later for inserts during the editing process.

From today I also decided to roll back on my idea of doing the opening editing all through my phone's camera app. I will get most of my clips individually and I will edit it all in Davinci resolve. So any audio editing will also be done on that editing software. I'll continue my filming on Tuesday to get the outdoor scenes for that day. 

Scheduling Issues

Who Would've Thought

So due to a global pandemic my schedule has changed quite a bit. Now that filming needs to be pushed back. I need to make some changes to the film and the filming schedule. Without the extra people that I needed I now have to change up the way I will film certain scenes.

Starting now filming will begin soon probably in a few days, once I can rethink how to shoot my new scenes. But without the people I was gonna have on set with me and as actors it will be harder to film but it will still be possible to get everything that I need for the opening. 

Hopefully I won't have to cut anything out. And if all goes well I will film before Monday and I'll get it all done in a day and in time for editing. The CCR will come after the edit and I admit I will be cutting it a bit short with the time but it will be possible for me to do.

As of now i'll have to leave it at the murderer trying to only break into one house instead of multiple houses as I was originally going to do.

Filming Begins Soon

Filming Schedule

I plan to start the filming of my opening on Tuesday March 17th. The times are pretty messy and most likely subject to change while filming.

At 2:30pm I meet up with the crew at our first filming location which is at my house. From there we film the first scenes in the house and then the scenes of the killer walking around the neighborhood.

Next we will have to drive to my friends home so we can film the scene where the killer pretends to break in.

After that we will return to my house to finish filming and get the scene where the killer is watching a YouTube video about the murder that he committed. This scene will be filmed on a different camera.

This should all take place in between 2:30pm to around 8pm if we are able to pace ourselves appropriately.

Learning New Things

Video Tutorials on Video Tutorials

In preparation for the creation of my opening I decided to look at some video tutorials for editing. Mostly helpful things that will add some extra visual flair that I want. To me editing is very important but not in the sense of how flashy it is but in the correct usage of editing.

This video details how to create a VHS filter for Davinci Resolve. Which is the editing software that I will be using to make any types of edits for my opening. Auditory and Visually. The video gives everything I need to make it look like my opening is older if that Is what I want. Although I think that decision will be made after filming is done. I do think the effect would add to grit of my opening but I will only add it if needed.

This video was a good start that helped me to learn more about the general basics of how to use and animate text in Davinci Resolve. I do not plan on using the default transitions as shown in the video as I want something a bit cooler and less plain than the pre-made text effects.

And now that I have some knowledge on the basics of text editing in Davinci Resolve I looked at this tutorial for some more in depth information. Out of the text effects shown in the video I liked the last two and I plan on using them in my opening. The neon effect I really liked because it grabs your attention and makes sense to be used in my opening as the film is going to be internet concentric so it makes sense for the text to glow. The next text effect would be the writing effect. But i'd want to change it up to look more like typing than something being handwritten.

Location Scouting

Location Scouting

Location scouting for me was pretty easy. I only needed a few places to record this whole thing. I just had to be able to make it all seem like the opening takes place within more places than the very few locations that I am shooting in. And that should not be that hard as long as I am able to block scenes well and use my locations wisely.

I'll use my garage to as the place where i'll record where the killer sets up his gear to go out with. I'll have to make it look a lot more organized and clean as I'm trying to give off the vibe that the killer is the neat freak and control freak.

I will be using my house as a big shooting location as I will also be using it as one of the houses that the killer tires to break into and eventually does break in to.

This will be where the final shot takes place. Now keep in mind for none of these images is the lighting scheme final. I plan on all of them looking very different to how these scouting pictures look. This is the place where the killer will enter the house someone will call out if anyone is there and it will cut off there.

This is the place where i'll have the killer being on the hunt as he passes by someone walking their dog. (The dog in the picture will be the dog in the opening). This also is where a lot of the killer wandering around is going to be. As I like the safe suburban feel of the neighborhood and how it contrasts well with the danger that I'm trying to portray.

Here is a picture of my friends house. This is one of the houses that I will have the killer try to break in to. Thank you my good friend Hubert for taking this picture and letting me use his home for a fake break in attempt.

Creative Critical Reflection

What to do about that CCR

After the recent presentation on the CCR in class it got me thinking about the presentation of my CCR. And it is making think about what I can do to make the CCR as interesting as possible while also being able to say what I need to say in the shortest amount of time possible. Now that doesn't mean less information. It means less fluff and only the important details will stay.

My goal is to stay under 7 minutes while providing all necessary information in a fun and interesting way. Because not even the most boring person on the planet would enjoy watching me stare at a low resolution laptop camera for 10 minutes, it's putting me to sleep thinking about it.

I plan to achieve this with an interesting premise and style for my CCR. I was thinking, hey why don't I make the CCR in the same format as my opening that would make sense. So I plan on doing this. The premise: I'm in a dark room with a light shining on me and I have a bag over my head, i'm being recorded, and basically interrogated. I'll have someone pull the bag off of my head and immediately from there I will start talking about my CCR. I think it would be kind of interesting and funny if I were in that position for the CCR. It is definitely more interesting that looking into a laptop camera.

Being held hostage could explain why I am going to be talking so quick and explaining my CCR in a hurry. It'll all add to the presentation of the CCR. But as of now I have not finished my project so I do not know what I will even be saying. I do plan on writing a "script" and by that I mean I will just write an outline of what my main points will be for the CCR questions. 

Research

Blair Witch Project and Lake Mungo

For research on my opening, I decided to watch Lake Mungo and the Blair Witch Project (1999). Both films are very similar in a style both were documentaries, although Blair Witch Project was more on the line of a found footage film, just being about the making of a documentary. I will examine what works well for these films and see how they could work well in my opening.

Blair Witch Project

Blair Witch goes for the exact same look as I want for my opening. And it perfectly captures it too. The movie does feel very real, as it claims to be. And I think that it's amateur looking filmmaking sells that idea. Never for a second does it feel overly produced and that lends it to the movie really looking and feeling like footage that was found on some dead missing people. The low quality and bad shot composition are what sold it for me.  That is something that I would use in my opening to make it feel more real.

I feel that this clip from the movie shows what I explained.

Lake Mungo

Lake mungo is yet another example of a film that tries it's best to emulate real life. The film never does anything at the beginning to show that it could be somehow faked. Instead of relying on the amateur style to sell that it is real. The documentary instead tries to make itself seem just as produced as any other documentary out there so then nothing seems off. It using all the typical characteristics of the documentary sells the idea quickly. The film's director even just gave actors slim outlines of the script so when he interviewed them for the fake documentary they could give off real improvised responses.

This Ryan Hollinger analysis talks more in-depth 

Pre-Production: Sound and Music?

What is the Plan for the Sound and Music?

I thought about this after the group discussion. A lot of my group members brought up what type of music that they plan on using in their film opening. At first this concerned me because it felt like I was somehow behind but then I realized that I didn't need music. Considering the gritty realistic vibe that I am going for non-diegetic music would not work well, I mean I am trying to make the opening feel real so adding in music for dramatic effect would clash with the presentation that I am going for.

Sound design will be important for me. To keep up the realism I do plan on using almost all the audio solely from my phone. And if I do add any other sounds in the editing process I will make absolute sure that they sound like they were captured from the phone. Because again having overproduced sound that is too high quality can ruin the presentation of the opening. So from how it looks now there will be little sound design and no music. I am fine with this decision though as they are purposeful and do add to the opening in a positive way.

I will use Davici resolve to edit the opening, as it is the program that I have been using to edit my projects throughout the year so I am familiar with how to edit sound and video quite well with it. To continue on the subject of editing I have an odd way on how I plan to edit the opening together. I don't know if it will work but if it does it will be great. So basically phones have this feature that when you are recording a video there is a way to pause the the video while recording. Essentially with this feature I would be able to edit how the opening flows all from the phone camera. I really want this to work because to me this is how I would imagine the killer to have edited his video. I don't think that this killer recorded a bunch of separate clips of his adventure to murder someone and then went home and neatly edited them together. No, it has to be messier than that, it needs to feel more improvised, and with that feature on the phone it can feel that way. For this to happen that means that I will have to record the whole opening in a day and in one long run basically getting all of my shots in one long segmented take, but if I can do this all before my phone dies I am sure that it will turn out good.

That pause button is what stops the recording, pressing it again continues the recording.

For the recording I might turn down the recording resolution of my camera or put some kind of filter over it to make it look more rough.

Group Discussion

What I Learned From the Group Discussion

The recent group discussion that we had recently really helped me out and calmed me down too. Through the group discussion I realized that compared to my peers that I am still on pace with the project. That really helped to calm me down as it was good to know that I wasn't insanely behind everyone else and that I was instead right on target. 

It was also a big help to see how other people and what other people are doing for their projects, seeing their ideas and thought process behind their ideas helped shape the way I thought about my project. In my group a lot of the people had their actors and general set and character design nailed down. To me that showed how I was lacking in those aspects so I plan on finalizing that during this week. 

The group meeting was also helpful to see feedback on my project. It was reassuring to see the reactions people had to my project. I liked how from the first blog post on my page they were able to identify that it was horror which is good as you always want your genre to be noticeable. The group was also able to give me some good ideas as for what I should add into my opening. One was a recommendation to the channel Rob Gavagan. A horror you-tuber that goes over content similar to my opening and could be good grounds for research. Another really good recommendation was to make the killer in my opening this neat freak/control freak. I thought that was a more interesting idea what what I originally wanted which was just some generic character design for someone fitting that description, it was just going to be some guy who is messy and wears a lot of black and that now seems pretty boring compared to the new idea.

I am planning on taking a lot of inspiration from the opening of American psycho to put that control freak aspect into my opening. This works out great as American psycho deals with the same subject matter but in a different way.

Rob Gavagan: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYxrnDjNQZIs_aAcdhqSveg

Props! And Various Other Things!

What will I need for this opening?

So I was doing some exploring around my garage for a hammer as I originally wanted to have that be the weapon that will be used by the murderer. But I ended up finding something better.

I found this thing! I thought it screamed creepy murder weapon so I decided to replace the hammer with whatever this rusty pickaxe.

Another prop. I plan to use this bag for the backpack that the killer will be wearing throughout the opening.

Now thinking of some props and essentials that I do not yet have I have quite a few. Now I don't think I would do well in the role of the killer, even though you would basically never see me I feel that it would be noticeable that a not so scary person was behind the camera. For this role I plan of having my friend play the role, as he weighs more than I do and is taller than me and I feel that his presence will translate well to video. At the end I plan on being "Arthur Lancaster" the person you never see but you hear. I think I could do the role well, all I have is one line so it's simple enough. And I could get my friend Elizabeth the be the person walking the dog by the killer. I'll have her walk my dog Selena by the killer and say hi.

Picture of the Selena!! (Really an excuse to put a picture of my dog here but a valid excuse)

For the costume design I will go for all black. Maybe black pants or jeans for the killer and a big black jacket. I want to give off the vibe that the killer is not trying to be seen at night so the all black would make sense. I think i'd want to find a pair of messed up and damaged sneakers for the killer to wear just to have that little detail that this person does not care about much.

As for the set locations I will use my house for a good few of them (place killer breaks into, Garage as the place where the killer is in the beginning), my neighborhood, as well as my friends neighborhoods and homes. As part of the opening is the killer trying to break into different homes, I will use my friends homes. Because there is no way I would be able to ask my neighbors if I could pretend to look like I'm trying to break into their homes. So i'll use two of my friends houses for that.

At Large

Finally a story

So the main idea is that this opening will be about a murder recorded by a killer. The structure will be simple with it trying to emulate reality as close as possible. I want to try my hardest to make the footage look like something real, which will help with the scare factor. Most of it will be shot in a first person POV through a phone camera to make it look as gritty as possible.

The opening will immediately start off with the phone recording that the killer took. The killer is in a very dim room. You cannot tell where he is from the darkness. The flash on the phone illuminates a hammer on the ground. The shot lingers on the hammer for a bit. They killer picks up the hammer slowly and grips it.

Cut to the killer walking outside in a neighborhood, its sunset at this point. As the killer is waking around you can tell that they are quickly looking all around them for something. A person walks by with their dog, the cam is angled down towards the killers feet. The person walking their dog says hi, the killer does not speak but he does wave to the person. 

Another cut. Its dark now, this is when we see the killer attempting at opening doors of a few houses and searching their windows for any way of access. This will be in a quick cut montage like sequence. This continues with a scene of the killer spotting someone through a window and the killer will just stare at them. The person leaves the killer's sight. the killer almost calmly walks to the nearest door finding it to be locked. The killer then slowly turns away and walks out of the persons backyard.

Cut again and this is when it all goes down. The killer walking in a neighborhood they check another door, this one is open. They walk into the house and close the door behind them. Not doing anything to hide their presence. They take out a hammer from their hoodie and they tightly grip it. A voice is heard saying "Who's there?". The camera turns quickly towards the noise and then the video ends.

We now see a shadowed figure watching a YouTube video about the case. The person going over the video says "What you just saw was events leading up to the moments of Arthur Lancaster death, as of now this case is still unsolved. Even 2 years after Arthur's death and the police are no closer to finding his killer.  The killer is considered at large and dangerous. If you have any information regarding this case please call this number, 954-853-5432. Here is a police sketch of  the man who is thought to be the killer, again if you think you have seen this man on the day of March 18th, 2018 please call the number. Thank you all for watching and have a nice day." Cut to title "At Large".

Credits for the film will be spread out throughout the opening scene when appropriate. I also plan on doing a visual storyboard for this layout to refine what I want to do. I might not make a script as the opening is not very dialogue heavy so it makes more sense for me to focus on making an effective and detailed storyboard.

Ideas Ideas!

I have thought of more aspects of the opening. So since I am really going in on that aspect of almost personal violation of being watched without knowing that you're being watched I thought it would be a good idea to have the killer record their point of view of what's happening. Maybe the whole thing can be from their point of view I think that could work really well, especially as a way to lead off into a story. Maybe once the video ends of what the killer recorded before they got to their victim we can see that the footage is in the police's hands telling us that this case is ongoing. So then it would make sense why we can even see the footage that the killer recorded.

There is a really chilling true crime case that is extremely similar to what I am going for. It's the case of  Stephen McDaniel. This case is a terrifying one as we can see what the McDaniel saw just moments before he strangled Lauren Giddings. The home recording showing the inside of Lauren Gidding's dorm room with Lauren completely unknowing to what McDaniel is doing and what he plans to do. That is something I want to emulate with the home recording vibe. It's something closer to reality than we think and that is what makes it so scary. It's so scary to think that you can be that person, you could be watched, and recorded. And you would have no idea.

Video about the case:

There is another true crime story that I am going to take some inspiration from. The vampire of Sacramento case. Basically in this case Richard Chase a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic went on a killing spree and drank his victims blood. The scariest part about this case was how Richard would go from door to door and search windows. If a door or window was not locked he would walk inside and kill whatever living creature he could find. That is so scary to me as imagining someone going door to door and checking your windows for any way to break in just so they can come in and kill you. I plan on emulating that aspect with my opening where the killer will be seen trying to enter multiple houses leading up to the final house which left a door unlocked.

Video about the case:

An Idea is Forming

After some thought I have sort of found a basis for what my opening will be about. I'm starting off with a concept. I'm using something that scares me and i'm going to form that into a story. But first I'll start off with what I have.

So here I have a picture from the kitchen in my house. To me when you're here late at night at 2am getting something to eat there comes this feeling of venerability. And it all comes from the windows. I think the scariest part about that feeling is the feeling that what if someone can see me but I cant see them. That's why people are afraid of the dark aren't they. Because they are scared of what could be in it. I want to use that fear of the unknown in a setting like this or in this place exactly. 

Here I will take a lot of inspiration from the opening of scream.

This shot taken from the opening of scream to me shows how all of this venerability could be really scary in execution. In the victims house there are windows everywhere, doors that you can see though. There is an uncomforting amount of exposure of the victim. Then once we know in the scene that someone was watching her the whole time it hits even harder because we know that they could see her clearly the whole time and she was oblivious to it all. 

For my story maybe it could be some person in their house at night. All alone, until there are a few disturbances and maybe some hints to something creeping around their house. And I really want to put emphasis on the fact that the victim should not be able to clearly understand the situation and the danger that they are in. Get some of that good dramatic irony in there.

Link to opening of Scream.

Making a Schedule

I wanted to make a loose schedule of certain goals that I want to meet as the weeks go on for this project. I'll order the groups by the weeks from the beginning to the end.

Week One (2/13-2/17): Week one was an important stage of basic introductory research and some potential brainstorming of ideas. Week one was successful in those aspects, I completed my blog posts and my research on my genre was finished. Although an idea was not created just thinking about potential ideas was helpful.

Week Two (2/17-2/23): Week two should consist of some planing as I am doing now, just so I have a basic outline to follow while doing the project. Since my pacing should always be on my mind. More brainstorming should be done to hopefully by the end of this week have some idea of what i'll create as my film opening. More research will be done to get more ideas, consuming more horror content and film openings should be helpful.

Week Three (2/24-3/1): By week three if an idea is not found it will be finalized and the project will head into pre-production. This week will be a week of location scouting, planning out how to film the opening. Doing research on lighting techniques and how to color-grade video so I can get the look that I want. During this week I plan on making a light script outline, and create some visual storyboards with pictures.

Week Four (3/2-3/8): By this week all I should be doing is filming the project. I don't expect to do much other than film. Some research may occur if I need to learn how to do something while on set.

Week Five (3/9-3/15): Week five should be any extra filming if any is even needed. The editing process will start here, during this stage I will create a first draft of the completed product without sound effects or music. I will choose the music that I want for the project and do some light sound effects and some more refining of the flow of the project. If I need to do some research on how to edit something that would be done during this week. Some posts will be done in advanced to prepare for the upcoming spring break.

Week Six (3/16-3/22): This week I will be on target to finish the editing, almost completely, with sound effects and music being final. Any other edits will be done to improve flow and coherence of the film. Although I am not sure if the project will be finished editing. The majority of this week will be doing blog posts in advance for the upcoming spring break. If on target i'll do no work during the break and the next two weeks after the break will go smoothly and be on target.

Week Seven (3/23-3/29) SPRING BREAK: To be honest I do not plan on doing any work this week, as it is the break I will plan my postings ahead during week six. Editing of the project should be done during week six. My goal for this week is to get any work done that would have been done for this week beforehand so I can enjoy my break. 

Week Eight (3/30-4/5): By week eight I want to be completely done with editing the project, but if I still am editing and refining the project i'll consider that to be on schedule. If the project was almost done and edited before this week. I want this week to be mostly focused on on creative critical reflection and any blog posts relating to what my journey was like creating the film opening. I want this week to be a week of refining and reflection.

Getting Ideas

Now after doing some research and watching some great film openings I have to think up of a good idea that is worth creating. To me the hardest thing to figure out is what kind of horror am I going for? As that can drastically change my approach to how I create the opening. To me i'm trying to think of something more in the paranormal or slasher range. Maybe to have an opening similar to scream with some person being terrorized buy a knife wielding psycho. Or something more slow and subtle like something paranormal with a person being threatened by an unknown ghoul.

I think i'll try to focus a lot on the whole reveal aspect that I talked about in my previous blog. I really want to focus on something that can give me a good stomach dropping moment that will make the opening have more of an impact. I think that my idea will definitely revolve around that aspect. I mean after all I need to make an opening to set up a whole film, so I need an opening that is also interesting enough to stand on its own while also hooking the attention of the viewer to entice them to watch the ''full movie''. 

As of now those are my two big things that i'm thinking of while brainstorming for an idea. 1. Get you a man who does both: Make an opening that is interesting enough to hook someone and that makes them want to watch a full film, and make an opening that can stand on its own as well. And 2. Make an opening with some sort of stomach dropping reveal or event.

So far this is all I really have thought of. I went over american psycho which is a great character focused opening but I really doubt that I will take that route for my opening. As it doesn't have that big reveal aspect, although that is not to say that it can't its just that my brain can think up of more big reveals with different openings.

What is a Horror Film Opening?

For my research into how to create a horror film opening I decided to look at three different horror films/Shows and how they approached setting up their story. I chose American Psycho, Halloween, and Stranger Things.

American Psycho:

American psycho is different from all the other openings that I chose. Mainly because it is more of a character focused opening. Where as all the other openings were more to set up the tone of the films and the conflict. Now the tone is set up in American psycho but its all about building character of the protagonist Patrick Bateman. The scene is structured as a whole morning routine with some narration coming from Bateman. The scene begins with some classical music and a dolly shot of Bateman's home, which is almost all white, looking perfect. We then see Bateman go through his morning routine, a long list of exercises and cleansing routines.This immediately tells us that Bateman is a classy put together man who desires order. He does a lot to give off an appropriate image. Then as Bateman is taking off his face mask he continues to narrate about himself saying. "There is an idea of a Patrick Bateman. Some kind of abstraction. But there is no real me. Only an entity. Something illusory. And though I can hide my cold gaze, and you can shake my hand and feel flesh gripping yours, and maybe you can even sense our lifestyles are probably comparable, I simply am not there." He says as he slowly pulls down his face mask, representing his mask that he wears every day. Telling us that his complicated morning routine only is done to create an image of himself, something to trick people, to make them feel safe, he may look like anyone else but hes not. He is a cold man and by proclaiming that he "is simply not there" tells us that Bateman is just a husk, he almost isn't human. This opening is all done so the audience can have an understanding of who the character is, as this plays a huge roll in the rest of the film's story.

Halloween:
Halloween takes a different route to setting up a story. Where Halloween works mainly to set up the threat of the film. In the opening scene of Halloween most of it is a long take pov shot. This is done to set up what ill call "The reveal". Many horror films have this "reveal". The reveal is supposed to be the moment in a scene that makes your stomach drop, and reveals to you the true horror that you couldn't notice, which makes the scare are the more frightening. Because of the POV shot we cannot tell the age of the person who is spying on this couple. From outside. The person being outside tells the audience that they aren't supposed to be there spying on the couple, so immediately something is off. Then when the couple goes upstairs and the shot moves to the upstairs window and the lights shut off, there is a sharp sting with the music. Now the audience knows that whoever this person is, they are up to no good. The person then moves into the home, the music is slow and creeping, its building up to something. The person grabs a knife as they head upstairs. Now the audience knows exactly what's up. It seems simple at this point, the audience might assume that this is just some murderer. Well it gets more interesting as the person grabs a mask and makes their way to the girls room. As he goes in for the kill the girl says his name, Micheal. This tells the audience more, so she knows this person, but who could it be? A friend maybe? This all builds up to the moment when Micheal walks out of the house after killing the girl and he's unmasked. Only for the audience to see that this person was a child the whole time, and the girl he killed was most likely his sister. This is "The reveal". This whole scene works up to this moment and every choice was made to make this reveal have more of an impact. All in service to setup who the antagonist of the story is, a knife wielding killer. Its as simple as that.

Stranger Things:
I decided to look at the opening for season one, episode one, of the T.V show Stranger things. As it has to set up a whole season of conflict as well as just setting up the episode itself. With much more on its plate I wanted to see how the show could also set up a more vast story. Stranger things does this perfectly too. The opening scene works to set up three things. 1. The tone, 2. The conflict, 3. The characters.

The opening establishes the tone and teases the conflict with the very first thing we see, a scientist running away from something. In a place full of flashing lights and an alarm blaring. We know something is wrong. The scientist frantically gets into an elevator. Then a grumbling noise is heard from over his head. Something grabs him the doors close. This sets up the horror tone of the show, it makes it apparent that this show isn't a sitcom. With the thing killing the scientist we now also know that there is a threat on the loose, but we don't know exactly what it is yet.

Cut to the outside of a suburban house. We now know that these events must have happened close to this location. Cut to the inside of a basement. Filled with kids playing Dungeons and Dragons. To make it short character moments, dynamics and relationships are set up during the D&D session. Now this sets up the main cast of characters that we will be with throughout the show. Also it's important that during the D&D session they encounter a monster which is dangerous to them all, foreshadowing whats to come. As the cast of characters leave the house once the session is over we see the lights at the front of the house flash. This tells us that whatever was escaping that lab at the beginning is nearby. It's important to note that a lot of focus is put on the character of Will, Will encounters the monster during D&D, he rolls for an attack but the encounter is left unresolved as the kids must leave. Before Will leaves he tells his friend that he rolled a seven and that the monster got him. This further foreshadows what will happen to Will.

Now to setup the conflict. Will rides away from his friend's home. Will then encounters the monster and runs to his house where he hides in his shed from the monster. As he hides he grabs a gun and guards the door. We then see the monster out of focus behind him. And then the opening title rolls. Now this sets up the conflict of the whole first season, Will goes missing and now his friends and family must go looking for them while having encounters with the dangerous creature that took Will.

I focused on researching different opening to horror that are all done very well to give me some ideas on how to go about making a good opening first. As I feel that the knowledge of how to make something good is more important than the idea first.

Movie Opening: Genre

For my portfolio project I decided to use the horror genre. My main reasoning is because I love the horror genre and I am familiar with the Genre and it's conventions.

Fist the target audience must be identified. Horror usually is constrained with the R rating for ages 17 and up, but blumhouse has had success with PG-13 horror films. The target audience then is most likely to be within the ages of 13-20s. I include people in their 20s as horror films are mainly targeted towards young people looking for a good thrill. Despite an R or PG-13 rating that is one similarity that all horror films share.

The choice of genre was calculated as well. Many horror films are made on extremely low budgets. For example Sam Rami's The Evil Dead was made with a tiny budget of 350,000 dollars. And the hit film Paranormal activity was made on a budget of 15,000. This means to me that horror is a genre that thrives on low budgets, and that no matter how much money you have the one thing that could get in the way of making a good horror film is that the director just doesn't know what is scary.

$350,000

$1,500

Though money is not the only important thing. Its all about the thrill. That's why people see these films. I feel like my opinion means quite a bit as coming from a horror fan that is why I and so many horror fans love the genre. We want to be scared, we want to feel that thrill, we want to go to bed that night afraid, it's all about the thrill and that is what makes horror special. The Evil Dead is a Gore fest, and Paranormal activity is a slow crawl of grounded horror that feels too real sometimes. That is their way of thrilling the audience. 

Now the way a director chooses to thrill their audience is something that always differs. But the common convention of a horror film is a dark moody atmosphere and low key lighting.

A still from "The Lighthouse Dir- Robert Eggers"
Demonstrating both low-key lighting and a dark moody atmosphere. 

Music Marketing project

Music Marketing

For my music marketing project my genre was a sub-genre of  metal called nu-metal which is a form of metal characterized by its influences from other genres such as hip-hop, rock, and grunge. Some artists that apply under this genre are Korn, Linkin Park, Slipknot, and System of a Down.

Currently nu-metal artists tend to use their own unique image to market themselves. People like Slipknot rely heavily on the fact that they have this sort of wacky and out there way of showing themselves off with only ever performing in masks. While not every artist performs in a mask they all do harbor their own style, like korn were all the band members certainly have their own special edgy look to them.

We chose to develop our artist a lot through imagery, the masks again played a big role in that. The bright blue LED mask puts a lot of attention on our star if the show which was done on purpose to highlight him as the most important. While the two other people who wore the simple ski masks were not as important so the attention was not completely on them. Social media was also big on enforcing this fact with any promotional images put on any social medias being only of the man in the LED mask, the same applies for the website. They all feature the mask front and center as a eye-catching marketing tool.

We created quite a few marketing tools, such as these.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCH1KNc2tSoF7K6JcZ11s2FQ/featured

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/0_Mask_Official_0/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Mask43685259

Website: https://alevaz1408.wixsite.com/mysite

Through the production of the marketing and music video I learned that confidence in the product that you are making is huge. Throughout the project I felt like I was the only one with confidence in what we were doing and how we were going to do it, my team members weren't on the same page so there was a lot of confusion on their part. I felt that the product was a lot harder to create without that confidence because when no one has any confidence in what they are doing they tend to give off less than stellar results. I also learned that being flexible is just as huge. The way our music video turned out in the end was a far cry from the way it was originally supposed to turn out. But that's fine as things always change and you have to learn how to adapt and change things on the fly or else you won't ever get anything done.

For more information visit our power-point slides:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/18nCqSeXl1LWn9VGI_0HeWIXGsQ_7VdPUvnt7QBb5MfU/edit?usp=sharing