Final Project Week 5: Filming Problem

 02/28/2024

    Yesterday was supposed to be our final day of filming but an issue came up. Hannah's work schedule changed at the last minute and she was called into work and was unable to get her shift covered. Unfortunately, since Hannah plays our main character we could not get around her not being there for filming. Today we got together in class to reschedule a day to film this however, was a little difficult since I do not have my work schedule for this upcoming month yet. After talking we decided on potentially filming March 3rd and/or March 8th especially because the 8th is the start of our spring break and we would have more time before work to film. In the meantime, we agreed to try and start the editing process so we do not fall far behind. I am a little worried about falling behind but we have the first half of the opening filmed so hopefully, we can start the post-production process this week but since I do not have the camera I have to wait for Hannah to upload the footage. I am a little worried that the editing process will not turn out how I expect, but I am sure that it will come together well with the help of Hannah and Paris,. 

Final Project Week 5: Filming

 02/25/2024

    Today was day two of filming and we did all of our house scenes. Our biggest obstacle today was time since Hannah had work at three and Paris could not be at my house till around 11:30ish. Once everyone was at my house we went out to find a poster of a map for one of our scenes and what we thought would be an easy find proved to be much much harder. I think we went to about four stores before we found a map that would work. This of course ate away at more of our time and by the time we got back to my house we had about two and a half hours to film. 

    Once we got home we started to set up and decided to film each scene in order of how they appear. We started with the waking-up scenes and any B-roll footage we might use. Then we moved on to the bathroom scenes. We sat and planned out these scenes since we only had one chance today to get it done since Hannah would get wet and we did not have time for her to dry off to reshoot. Furthermore, my bathroom is very small so we decided to go with the pan back and forth between Harper and the door instead of setting up no shots since it happens all very quickly and there was not much room to set up different shots. We also realized that the RODE mic was dead and we forgot to grab the battery from Mr. Z so we continued to film with the mic that came with the camera. If the audio quality is affected we agreed to record any audio needed later once we begin post-production. 

    The last thing we needed was the scenes of Harper leaving the house and unfortunately time did not allow us to finish the last couple of scenes of Harper walking outside but we decided to get those shots on Tuesday when we finished filming. Overall, we got the majority of the shots needed but I am mostly worried about the audio quality hopefully most of it can be fixed in post

Final Project Week 4: Further Research

02/22/2024

    This week has been uneventful for our project since Hannah's work schedule changed because we had to move our film date from this week to next week. Our next film date is this Sunday and we will be filming the house scenes. However, as we wait for that day to come I asked Mr. Z what I should do while we wait and he said I should conduct some more research and analyze another film opening. Since we are looking to add a bit of comedy in our coming-of-age opening I decided to look at a more comedic film when compared to the last film I looked at (Lady Bird). So, I decided to look at one of my and my sister's favorite movies growing up, "Clueless." 

    "Clueless" follows the main character of a teenage girl named Cher as she navigates high school with her friends. Unlike many high school movies, the main character is not the underdog or "loser" of the school rather Cher is a popular "girly girl" with lots of friends. Cher's development is her realizing how easy it is to get lost in your own world and by the end of the film she focuses on helping others not for herself but to genuinely help others.

    The film's opening follows Cher getting ready for the day as a voiceover of her plays in the background. This helps the audience get to know the character as they see her day-to-day routine and it gives an overall idea of how the character lives her life. The voiceover also provides extra information on Cher, her life, family, and situation, and allows the audience to further learn about her and form an early opinion of the character. It also provides a bit of a comedic aspect to the film by having the character break the fourth wall and share her thoughts that show how she fits the title of "Clueless" but it also helps show how Cher is truly a sweet girl who has room to grow and this helps set up the plot. We want to mimic some aspects of this opening in ours specifically showing our main character getting ready and using a voiceover to reveal more information and for comedic effects to deliver punchlines; however, our opening will be less bright with a more somber mood to help reflect the mental state of our character.

    In the next half of the opening, the audience is introduced to Cher's best friend as they are on their way to high school. Their conversation and how they interact with their environment are very telling on both of their characters and their relationship with each other. Furthermore, this is also another way to introduce conflicts and plot points as Cher gives the audience input on her thoughts of her friend, her friend's boyfriend, and her thoughts on school in general. Again, this is another convention seen in coming-of-age films we want to mimic in our film opening. Meeting our main character's best friend helps show Harper's relationships and who she is as a person. The voiceover also allows in both situations for the characters' to show their true emotions no matter what they say to other characters. 

Final Project Week 3: First Day of Filming

 02/15/2024

    We conducted our first day of filming. Today's agenda covered all of the car scenes. After school, we got in my car and stopped by my house so I could get changed and grab my make-up. Then Hannah and I picked up Paris and headed back to my house to film. We decided to film in my neighborhood since I live on a dead-end street next to other dead-end streets so we would be able to drive around a non-busy area and still be able to film safely. One of the problems we faced was that my car was just very cramped and it was hard to set up camera angles. Since Hannah and I were in the scene together, Paris did most of the filming and was able to get some good angles. To help accommodate the space situation we decided to do a lot of perspective shots of the characters talking to each other so Hannah and I filmed one another since we had more space upfront. Another issue we ran into was timing out the music so it fits with our shots. We had the music turned down low so hopefully it is not too noticeable but hopefully any errors can be fixed in post. The camera also died so we did take a few shots on Hannah's phone since it has a cinematic mode but overall, even though I just mentioned a bunch of issues, filming went really well and we got everything done for today. Our next filming day has been moved to the 25th since Hannah's work schedule recently changed. I will update you on filming then!

Final Project Week 3: Equipment

 02/13/2024

    In our class when it comes to borrowing equipment from Mr. Z it is a first come first serve system so we wanted to sign out the equipment we needed as soon as possible. Since most people are filming with their phones and we are filming with a DSLR camera, the equipment we need is rarely signed out already but we still wanted to sign it out a little early since Mr. Z is leaving soon for a vacation. We are filming this Thursday but since we are only planning to do the car scene we only need the shoulder mount and RODE mic, since we will be in a small space, and we were able to secure it today. Since Mr. Z will be out till next Wednesday we have to hold on to the equipment till then unfortunately my group and I are only able to film together on Thursday but Mr. Z told us the only other group that is using a DSLR camera and said we can let the use it between now and next Wednesday so I will probably try to contact them and offer them the equipment if they need it in the next week. When it comes to filming, we will have to conduct some test and sound checks to ensure everything works correctly but we used this same equipment for our mid-term, so I am confident the footage will be good and usable. 

Final Project Week 3: Final Costume and Make-up

 02/12/2024

    Today we finalized our costumes and make-up looks since we start to officially film this Thursday. We are sticking with the style we decided on in my last post about costume design. For Harper, we decided on baggy shorts with a baggy t-shirt that sticks to a darker color palette while Nia has a flowy long skirt and tank top that are more Earth tones. For make-up, Harper just needs black mascara and eyeliner that is smudged and Nia will use shades of brown for mascara, eyeliner, and eyeshadow with some gold in her eyeshadow and potentially a berry color lip tint. After going through our closets here is what we decided on.

Outfit for Nia

Outfit for Harper 

Final Week 2: Screen Test

 02/09/2024

    Today is the day we are running our screen test. We did run into one hiccup already and that is our location. We were originally planning to film in an abandoned mall and yesterday I went over to scout out the mall to see if what we were planning would work but it turns out that about a month or two ago the mall sectioned off all the closed areas and we can no longer go in. I dug into this a little and found out that a new company bought the property and they are working on renovations so there was no way we were making it inside the area we wanted to film in. So we went onto plan b, using the other mall (who knew there are two abandoned malls in this town); however, this mall does not have the mural we were planning to use as our title card so instead we might use a "welcome to Sarasota" street sign. This mall is a little less abandoned than the other one so we had to find a mostly empty area and luckily there was one so we could film without disturbing anyone. After running through the script for the first time we decided that Hannah would be Harper and Paris would voice the mom and film most of the shot especially when both Hannah and I are in a scene. One problem that we are a little worried about is the music that is playing in the mall since when we filmed with our phones the camera picked up on it and it is very noticeable. We are hoping that when we use the rode mic will mostly just pick up our voices or we might try out the little mics that we can attach to our shirts but we have not used them before so we are unsure how they work. We are definitely going to consult with Mr. Z about this issue and hopefully find a solution next week. We took some pictures inside the mall to hopefully showcase an idea of how the film will look (thank you Josie for tagging along and taking our picture)! Alright, that is it for today, I will see you next week!

Final Project Week 2: Supply List

 02/07/2024

    While we prepare to film we decided to come up with a supply and props list just to make sure we do not forget anything. We do not have many props but most of them are used to enhance the mise-en-scene of our film. We want to make sure everything is believable and that our main character and her room look and act like a real teenager (which should be easy since Hannah, Paris, and I are all teenagers with rooms). We also need to sign out equipment from Mr. Z to use during our filming such as mics, tripods, and a shoulder mount to make sure our film is as professional as it can be. Here is the list of everything we plan on needing. 

Materials and Mise-en-Scene

Filming Equipment

• Tripod
• Wheel Mount
• Rode Mic
• Shoulder Mount
• Canon Rebel 17
• Lenses
• Dead Cat

Mise-en-Scene Materials

• Map
• "Edgy" Teen Decor
• Polaroid Photos
• Sushi
• Jeep
• Costume
• Phone
• Shampoo/ Soaps/ Toiletries (Bathroom Items)

Final Project Week 2: Scheduling

 02/06/2024

    For the start of this week, we decided to work out a film schedule so we can start filming as soon as possible. We already planned to do a screen test this Friday but still needed to plan our other film dates. We planned out three dates to match up with our three locations: the house, the car, and the mall. Since Hannah and I both work part-time jobs, scheduling ahead is very important so we do not take any shifts on our filming days. Conveniently, Hannah and I already have a shared calendar with some friends where we put in all of our workdays to see when we can hang out with each other but now we are also using it to plan out filming dates! Below is a screenshot of our calendar, we have filming planned on the 15th, 20th, and 25th with any reshoots being done on the 27th. This will allow us to finish shooting by the end of the month and give us a month to edit the film which should be plenty of time. 

Final Project Week 2: Character Design

 02/06/2024

    The last task of this week is character design. This task fell onto Paris because she was the one who took on costume and make-up design but we all agreed on what style we wanted for each character. For Harper we wanted her to have a more grunge style that has that"no effort" look to highlight her mental state and how she does not have the energy for anything more. Nia, on the other hand, has a more "put together" look and wears brighter colors to showcase her personality so we went for a more hippy look. We picked these almost over-the-top loos to help signal to the audience the kind of dynamic these two characters have without the need for dialogue. To show the characters' design in one place we decided to use Pinterest to help collect photos to get our vision across. Paris did most of it but Hannah and I also added to it some. I added the screenshots to the end of this post if you are interested in a sneak peek at what the characters will somewhat look like.

Harper's Design

 

Nia's Design