Play by Play

Scene 1: 

Close up camera focus on shoes to shorts

Foley sound of the waterfall and water moving

The camera pans from clothes sitting on the floor to the production

credits behind the pool.

Scene 2: 

A birds-eye view of the pool with a person floating in it

Scene 3: 

The camera switches from a bird's eye to behind the pool seeing a

kid witnesses his father laying in the pool. He walks out and walks up

do his dad gets  in the pool flips him over, runs out, and runs inside

Scene 4:

The drone shot starts with the music and the shot gets smaller and smaller.

Scene 5:

Cop lights form in the distance making pursuit and while they make

their way the screen turns black and white.

Scene 6:

With the screen turning black and white the name of the film

appears in yellow.

8D

 The people I emailed for the music copyright still haven't contacted me back I've been looking at other sites. Youtube audio library is a very safe option and lots plan Z if I can't find anything ng but the type of music I want is not on the audio library. I actually downloaded an 8D version of "Everyday" that I would love to incorporate into my opening.  8D is a type of audio that makes the audience feel like they are listening to the song in person. So using 8D would make this opening more complex and enjoyable for the audience. 

"8D audio or 8D music essentially tricks your brain into thinking there is more space than there actually is. 8D music creators use software to manipulate a song's various stereo parts, placing and moving them within a virtual 360-degree space."

The ambience

 Today is senior skip day a big chapter in my life. I decided to write this blog a little earlier to update everyone. Here's a 5-second sneak peek of the animation I made on procreate on my brother's Ipad. This took around 30 mins to make and I had to watch a tutorial. This is just a but of short frames clipped together in a loop but I think it works out just fine.

This was also edited on premiere pro where I will be editing my whole project. The idea behind my logo is to take my last name and combine a  coffee mug. I've worked at Starbucks as a barista for 1 year and fell in love with coffee. So combining my 2 favorite things is the inspiration behind my film logo. I also think it's simple enough for an audience to look at. Easy on the eyes, I guess I shall say.

Stills

Here are a couple of stills I would like to incorporate into my opening. 

             Old School                                                                    The Joneses

I'm showing these  2 photos because they replicate the underwater movement and content I want to create. I don't have a waterproof camera to copy this exactly but I can show a birds-eye view of the death. I will incorporate a lot of medium shots and extremely long shots. There are 2 other examples of what I would like to do.

 

These are some other ideas I have in my head and what I would want the shots to look like. The first one is a really up-close shot of pants and the second would be up close of shoes with a blurry background. The background would be a pool setting instead through.

Everything is still a work and progress but to get you in the same mindset I think these shots would help.

Paying

 My budget for this film opening is a whopping $0.

For having such a flexible budget my filming location will be my backyard. I don't have pictures to show you guys yet but when I include the behind the scenes I will make sure to label everything. After talking to my teacher about my ending she suggests a backup plan. So I will be conducting another storyboard with a different ending. I have also run into a speed bump for my project. 

My parents are selling the house and I need to move out by March 10th! This gives me approx. 16 days to film all my footage. I still don't have all of my thoughts in place to execute my opening so soon.  I have been looking into other locations like my friend's backyard or a community pool but this totally messes up my vision. 

Ordering

From my last post, I developed a rough sketch of my storyboard. I need to develop my characters thoroughly so my audience and readers can grasp a better understanding. With my film only having 2 characters, this means I can go pretty in-depth with designing them. They will both be male characters. The impact this scene will cause the younger male character is trauma without having a fatherly figure in his life. Shawn Lib is the character floating in the pool and Zach Lib is the younger character watching his after die.

These mood boards describe the similarity yet differences between my characters. In Zach's board, you can see how alone he becomes and copes with it by doing different activities. Skateboarding and photography are 2 ways we can see Zach cope with his father's death. Shawn, you can see what he has been involved in like drugs possibly a cartel deal. I don't exactly know where my opening will take place in the film world but dealing with drugs will be the main component.

Still Waiting in line....

 Here's my storyboard. There's not much to this post but a visual idea will maybe help you guys build a better concept of what I have inside my head. Soon I'll post pictures of my filming location. I also need to find actors that will play the 2 parts.  Still coming up with ideas to make my opening a bit longer but so far I'm thinking of making the credits a huge part of the opening. 

The Paper is a bit degraded but it's the closest thing I had to me at the time of thinking of this idea. This actually was my second idea the original thought was taking place in a town called Bokeelia but filming in that location would be tough with school, sports, and my job.

Waiting In Line

After discussing my ideas with my teacher I have a pretty sturdy idea going on. My film opening will have 2 main characters with multiple types of shots. Extreme close up, Long shot, and medium shot are the main 2 that I will be using. I will be utilizing a drone that my father already owns but this will be used for the last 30 seconds of the film. My teacher is very skeptical about whether or not I will have enough footage to meet the required time of 2 minutes. I believe I do but with her experience should trust her? I know I must get extra footage of anything I record so I shouldn't be too worried. 

The opening shot will be a man's shoes pants shot and belt zoomed-in focusing on the clothes taken off but the man floating in the pool behind the clothes. The audience at this point doesn't know how the man got in the pool or why his clothes are off. The 2 +2 factor of letting the audience guess what happens next plays here. As the clothes are shown credits start to roll in the lower right corner. Credits like Director, writer, editor, etc. After the credits roll a medium shot of the body in the water is shown. and then a long shot of the pool and mouse relation. In the house we see a boy staring out the window witnessing what just happened. The boy just stairs and soon opens the door. The boy walks over to the pool and kneels down. as he kneels down the drone shot comes into play. we can see the whole house now. The drone will go up until we can see the whole city. the boy runs inside and calls the police. we see the red and blue lights as the title card appears. Hopefully, by this time 2 minutes will be reached.

Reading the Menu

 Having all of this creative freedom picking a genre is kind of tough. Knowing I already want to do something with mystery, suspense, and thriller narrow down my genre library. I will be taking inspiration from the TV show Euphoria using their camera technics and putting a Kodiak filter over my film. I love the mood they set with the music combined with the film. Euphoria is the source that I will be referencing a lot due to its young actors. Working with a high school budget and high school students' euphoria is a good reference when it comes to casting.  My film opening will include only 2 actors. 

Some other shows that will have a similar premise to my film opening include Breaking bad. Having this pool scene as a reference point will give you guys a better understanding of what I am trying to achieve.

I have drawn up a storyboard which you will see soon but this project will not be easy if I can put what I have in my head out on the screens. Breaking bad is also the moos standard I would like my audience to have while watching the film opening.

After reading the "menu" I have finally decided on choosing suspense/mystery as my genre and will proceed with caution.

Walking In

 What did I just walk into... or actually sit into I was sitting when I got the news but I'm excited to start this new project! For the next 50 days, this blog will be taken over by my Portfolio Project! I have so many ideas running through my head right now. My main struggle is getting the song copyright released to me though! For every piece of film, I have created the most important aspect I believe is in music. I first pick a song then base my plot around that song. I have 2 stuck in my head that I can't get out of. (Sittin' on) the dock of the bay (Otis Redding) and Everyday  (Asap Rocky). These both are heavily copyrighted so I already sent my request to use them in my project. I used this website to get the 'Everyday' permission and they already sent an email back. I have also attached an Instagram account that I reached out to that lends Florida students free equipment! How awesome is that? 

I also developed a cool logo for my film opening. I don't want to spoil it yet but it's animated. Below is a picture of what I've done and my timeline. I'll keep everyone updated once I actually get footage but I was so excited I just couldn't wait to start!

I'll talk to you next week when "I start my order"

My Favorite Project to Date: Music Marketing

This was one of my favorite high school projects to date. With getting so lucky my group's music genre was pop! Now building a pop marketing campaign won't be too difficult until you bring the artists into play. Now we must cater to a certain audience and age group. This is where the project got fun. With getting inspiration from Dua Lipa and Joshua Bassett. Our artist named "Deenah" we decided to cater her to young female adults. Our song sends my love has an empowering connotation we wanted to play into the music video. The title card looks like magazine letters set into our paper theme. The research included multiple artists like adele, the weekend, and even Taylor swift who played a huge role in our case studies. Taylor had a huge influence on our music video as well as the style of the presentation. Brainstorming for a music video idea was difficult. Adele in her own video went into a creative approach. We wanted to make something more out of the song rather than just a girl standing there. Here 2 clips from the video that I loved the most. Preproduciton included scouting   locations as well as finding time for everyone to meet up. This part was difficult as everyone had a club or practice after school but we did get it done. Post-production of editing was the most fun for me. Playing with different effects and cuts really added to the meaning and effect of the music video. Once this video was done making the PowerPoint was simple. Relating all of our techniques right back to the video. It was sort of a root for our project. My favorite slide included was the brand deals slide.

Using big-name brands allows our new artists to create a sense of validity. Partnering up with office depot and Starbucks also hits our target audience. Deenah also decided to create some concert dates along with a performance at Coachella. Many classmates had a problem with Deenah performing at Coachella but don't understand there are 2 weekends of 2 days full of the unknown artist performing waiting to be discovered. I will still argue a Coachella performance is a great way to get recognized. Another major component of our PowerPoint was the website. Creating a one-stop-shop where you can find everything about Deenah really made her accessible to all her fans. The website included merch, Spotify, an email mailing list, and even information about herself!

This project was a lot of fun and taught me a  lot. Now knowing what I know there are a majority of things I would change the give my brand new artist a better chance in this competitive world.