Group Meeting #2

 Hello everyone!!!  Today during class we had our second group project meeting! This meetings really do help bring insight to what we could be doing wrong or better :) For this group project we were grouped with different people, except Isabella, she was in my first group project. Here I'll tel you what they each discussed during the meeting:

Abriel: Idea for his portfolio project is a coming-of-age opening. When it came to obstacles, there were issues with showing the beach in a car scene. The issue specifically was wanting to shoot with the sunset in the background, but it was too dark to capture that. In terms of the CCR, he's thinking of doing a transition between a radio of them speaking to the actual setting that takes place.

Brianna: Her idea was a coming-of-age story as well but revolves around growth from grief. She hasn't filmed yet but plans to this weekend. As for CCR that our group recommended was creating a video of questions that are popped up on the screen and the actors answer the same questions, just in different parts of the video. 

Mateo: His opening is more of a crime/thriller genre and also includes violence. Mateo already knew what he wanted to do in terms of his CCR, and is planning to do a podcast with the actors and director :)

Isabella: I've worked with Isabella before with my previous Group meeting project, so I had a good idea on what to expect. She plans to film soon as well and is thinking of having her CCR videos be in the moment while filming. Or actually I recommended her this idea. Having a crew member go up to the actors in the moment while filming or when they're taking a break, to have them answer questions right there and then.

Clara: Her idea is a thriller/psychological genre. Her main character will be suffering with reoccurring nightmares and can't get rid of it. Her opening circles around that, and Abriel gave a cool idea on what she should do for her CCR. He suggested on having the actor answer questions nightmares, specifically the person tied up in a chair, answer questions in the setting of the actual nightmare, if that makes sense. Like the actor will be interviewed WHILE they are tied up in the chair while being in a nightmare.

As for my CCR, they reccomended I answer the questions like an inttoragation. For example, have myself or one of my group members answer the CCR questions as if we commited a crime of some sort. I thought this was a brillant idea, and I'll see later if I can execute it.

To summairze, this group meeting was very beneficial for coming up with ideas on hwo to carry out our CCR videos. :D

Set design

 Hello everyone!!! Today I will discuss the set design, and the process of it all ;) 

So, we arrived at the park, and we knew that Asher would need pencils and his papers placed in a specific way. Remember, Asher is someone who is organized and very structured. So, we really wanted to incorporate that when placing items on the table. Like having the paper highlighted with annotations and having the pencils spaced out but specifically. Another I did was add reminders onto Asher’s phone to show how organized he was. This is more of a prop discussion but I still though it was important to mention. Here I will share a photo of Me and JP setting things for the scene.

Afterwards, we filmed at Brennan’s house. When we filmed Brennan (Asher ) in the hallway, we used lighting in his house which made the environment have dim lighting. Specifically yellow lighting ;) Later, we filmed in his room, and we had to move everything off of his desk. Again, we wanted to show the little details. We also had a circle light in the back of the room to give the room a creepy effect. We also wanted Brennan’s to turn on the light when he entered his room. We included a textbook and notebooks onto his desk. As well as a couple of pieces of paper stacked on top of each other.

Overall, I believe the pictures will help give you guys a better idea of what we did with the set design. Hope you guys will enjoy the final product! :D

Revised Project Idea

Hello everyone! There's been tweaks in our project... and I thought it was only right to let you know before you see the full portfolio project. So a few weeks ago, JP and I talked to Mrs. Stoklosa about our project idea and she gave us advice on how we should create our portfolio and I mean setting wise. Pretty much Mrs. Stoklosa said it wouldn't have made much sense for Asher to be walking down the road with paper and a pencil in his hand. So, we ended up switching the setting to a different location entirely. I'm grateful and happy that we did, so it helps make our portfolio project more realistic.

We'll have Asher set up at a table in a park. It will be a natural setting, and we'd include sounds of people nature cars, and animals (birds) .We wanted to show that Austin and Asher were scheduled to meet there at a certain time, and they have a project to turn in that same day. We then want Austin to show up abruptly and have him right behind Asher, Then afterwards, Asutin will want to take the project home , just to have it for himself, when it was supposed to be the both of them together. Mind you. Asher has had enough. Austin will walk away with the work, and Asher will use his pencil as a weapon to not let Austin get away. 

Afterwards, we won't show the aftermath of what happened, but you can guess. Then we want to transition to Asher looking into the distance after what he had just done, to a 2-day before sequence of him entering his home. We'll use a traking shot of Asher entering his house all the way to his room. We then want to incorporate certain characeristics that show Asher is a very particular person. Then we would end it there, showing a continuation of the story. That is our project idea! 

Filming process!!!

 Hello everyone!! Today was our first day filming!!!! We all met up at our selected location, Indian Trace Park, and agreed to meet up at 1:30pm. I'm not gonna lie, there was unexpected troubles along the way.  In the beginning, all of the tables were used and we needed one as it was a part of our set design process. One of my group members, Brennan, had to go and ask the person politely if they could let us borrow the table for our class project. The person ended up saying no in the beginning, but we got a hold of it later on thankfully. We pulled out the script, as well as the storyboard to guide us for the opening :)

Afterwards, we begun with an establishing shot of Asher (Brennan) sitting down at the park working on his project and waiting for Austin. During the whole park scene, I was the director for the whole thing. I guided Brennan on how he should portray himself when it came to facial expressions. As for Jp, one of his struggles, as well as Brennans, was trying to not laugh when it came to the dialouge. Which is totally understandable since I was also holding in my laughter. But I advised him to treat as a natural conversation and let it flow naturally. To no think about the fact that he's acting, but just treat the situation as reality. 

As for the camera, we had one and it was handheld. I was holding the camera on one hand, and holding the mic on the other. Thankfully, Brennan could borrow it from his TV production class. If not, that would've been a whole other situation we didn't have to go through. We used handheld camera work during the confrontation scene at the park to create a psychological discomfort. Now, when we filmed at Brennans house, Jp was filming but having the camera held hand gave it a effect that I wasn't expecting. Having the camera be handheld gave an almost creepy effect if that makes sense? It adds character to our opening and went very well with the dark lighting that we were aiming for. 

Overall, our filming process taught me many things, like you can never be prepared for everything. New problems may appear, and it's up to you how you handle it. 

Production Company Logo

 Hello everyone! Lately, we've been looking at ideas to create our own company logo, and we've already started and finished the process.

First off, we started off by thinking whether or not we wanted to use an intense color in the background like red, but then we realized that most production companies include logos. What we specifically had in mind was using glasses onto our production logo. Why? Well, fun fact, me and my group members all wear glasses, so we wanted to incorporate something that represented all of us. We also chose the production company to be labeled as " BRIGGS Productions". One of my group members, Brennan, we used his last name as the label since it sounded pretty different than other typical names :D

Here is our logo!!!

My group and I decided on this logo during class and tested out different fonts that would suit us. We also were deciding between using "pictures" or "productions" as part of our company name. We want to have it fade in then fade out as we use it in the opening. We were also inspired my other companies which were more simple like ours. Companies like Pixar, Dreamworks, and Disney really inspired us. Pixar’s logo is minimalist and Dreamworks and Disney have a bit of personality to them like ours. When I mean disney I mean this (so you have a clearer idea of what I mean) :

Overall, this is what we chose for our Logo, and I'm very content with it :D Expect to see it in our portfolio project ;)

Prop and Set Design

 Hello everyone! For today's blog post we will be discussing AND researching about props and set design! Props and set design will essentially provide an insight to the audience of how our characters are portrayed. For our portfolio project, the set design will have pencils, papers, calculators, and even more items to demonstrate Asher as the main character. But for now, lets research! 

Props are pretty much items or objects that actors may interact with on screen. As for set design, it refers to the overall setting or environment of where everything takes place. Like how it will be decorated or will any objects have meanings, does it mean something in the way we set it up, pretty much those kind things if that makes sense. 

Examples & Research:

In Get Out, everyday objects like the teacup become tools of control. What seems harmless at first slowly means something else.  This shift creates tension because the audience begins to see the ordinary items as something related to danger. I want to achieve that by showing the pencil in Asher's hand, and showing that it later becomes a weapon. Something as ordinary as a pencil, can be shown as something must worse. 

In Shutter Island, the asylum’s dark narrow hallways, and harsh stone textures create claustrophobia. The effect of set design that's doen here is exactly how I want to imitate in my portfolio. But of course, with a different kind of effect. 

But overall, in psychological thrillers especially, small details in the background often hints at what happens in the future. Like, a
cracked mirror or an unfinished drawing can show the secrecy. 

Now, for our portfolio project, we will use props and set design to display Asher’s character without directly stating who he is.

Our set design will include:

• Pencils scattered across the desk

• Papers filled with writings

• A calculator

• Possibly stacked textbooks

These items suggest that Asher is academic AND detail-oriented. However, I want the audience to see that the items are arranged in a certain way for a reason. In summary, these were our ideas as a group, and I believe these movies use props and set designs amazingly. :D  Hopefully, the vision that I'm aiming to show is understood in some way.

What audio will I use??

 Hello everyone! We are going to talk about a different topic today, which is AUDIO!!:o

One of the issues that I thought of was getting a hold of a mic for the dialouge, which is essential to the opening. My group member, Brennan, suggested that he could get a hold of one from his TV class, or we could record it with our phones if necessary. :)

Anyways, me and my group want to make this opening as realistic as possible. So, we want to incorporate many natural sounds especially in the park scene. In the beginning of the opening, we were thinking of including the sounds of wind, and the sound of Asher writing as well as papers rustling. In the previous blog post, I mentioned that I wanted to include reminders form the phone to demonstrate how structured and organized he was. So when including the reminders, i wanted to add the realsim and include the notifications sounds as well as any other electronical sound. Also, for the sounds of Asher writing or whatever action that is done, we were thinking of foleying the sounds! To include more original works of our own ;)

When it comes to Austin walking ahead of Asher when he takes the project, we can foley the footstep sounds and especially when Asher comes from behind. 

In the next scene, where Asher shows up in his house, we wanted to include natural sounds in his house that would get louder and will become like a ringing sound in his mind that he wants to get rid of. For example, a tracking shot would be done, with following Asher through his room and ignoring anything that comes in his way. Like the sounds of his mom talking or yelling at him (haven't decided that yet). Or maybe the TV is on or a sibling trying to get a hold of him. Once Asher enters his room, then it will go silent. Almost as if it was his safe place. 

Now for the title card, we were thinking of adding music, any music that creates tension will do. Maybe get a hold of that sound from somewhere online where it isn't copyrighted or I could create a piece on the piano..??? If it sounds good of course, and if it's doable. 

This is a video I wanted to share with you guys, and give you an idea on the way I want to incorporate my foley sounds for my portfolio project! (natural sounds in specific)