Documentary Critical Reflection

Our documentary, ‘The Conventions of Art’, was based on Kyle Dutra, a high school student who partakes in graffiti and expresses his artistic side of himself through his designs. Throughout the documentary, we delve into his personal life and how he came to be the amazing artist he is today.

 

 

How did research inform your product and the way it uses or challenges conventions? 

 

A documentary is a nonfiction product that illustrates a ‘slice of life’ to communicate a specific message or story to the audiences. Most documentaries are shorter than full length films, have narrative format, interviews of subject progress throughout the movie, and a biased point of view. Our documentary takes on most of these original conventions of documentaries, with indirect interviews, narration through the interviews, and a bias towards the artistic side of this certain art form. The research I used to get an understanding of documentaries was watching some top tier productions. I watched, “I think this is the closest to how the footage looked”, “American Promise”, “Exit Through the Gift Shop”, “Abstract: The Art of Design”, “To Live in a Wild Sea”, and “The Case Against Torture”. The first five productions were all full-length documentaries that were phenomenal and captured me in every way, despite me not being fully interested in all of them. They told stories with such emotion and detail to their subjects, and it really inspired me on how to tell people’s stories. The last two productions were Op-Docs, they were much shorter documentaries by amateur film makers that were very moving and inspiring towards me as I was tasked to do a smaller and shorter documentary. I took most of my inspiration from the Op-Docs and “Abstract: The Art of Design”, as these productions focused on specific people and telling a story in a shorter time frame through a documentary. These also inspired me to choose the type of documentary I wanted to create, which was one that focused on one individual. Finally, we watched projects from the years before us, and I got an idea of how to format my production in the amount of time that was given, establishing a beginning middle and end.

 

How does your product engage with audiences? 

 

Our ideal target audience for this production was any gender kids, ages 13-21, and active artists of any form. We were aiming for this target audience as our subject really wanted to spread his art to inspire others and speak his message to them, explaining how important it is to keep trying with your art and to always persevere. I believe we could have done a better job at engaging our target audience. One component that was very capturing to our intended group was the actual topics. Dutra's drawings and messages appeal to younger audiences as there are many cartoon drawings that kids his age grew up with. Additionally, him being a younger subject in high school gives relation to the target audience as they can connect with him due to his experiences from being an artist in high school currently. I believe we could have come up with a better name for our production to appeal to younger audiences in general. It is a very general title that doesn’t capture the interest of our intended group. Additionally, I feel if we got him to speak more about his high school experiences and how they relate to his artwork it could have appealed more to high school artists.  

How does your product represent social groups/issues? 

 

Our project represents the diversity within art. It exemplifies the different aspects of art, specifically graffiti, with the way Dutra speaks on the topic. He makes a statement about how he gets frustrated at the people who seemingly taint the name of graffiti by making vandalism of rude topics and matters that have nothing to do with ‘art’. We made sure to ask questions that specified about true art in graffiti, and I believe it represented graffiti artist well as they put in so much effort and time into their work. I became inspired from the documentary “Exit Through the Gift Shop”, when it created a controversial question about what defines art. We wanted to uphold this question and create a biased point of view on the specificities of graffiti artists and how certain ones are artists. I believe we did a good job of this by giving an example, which was Dutra, and displaying his beliefs on the matter as well. We also explored a bit of Dutra's Brazilian background and incorporated certain Brazilian aspects such as the music choice we used and the b-roll that was displayed. Although we didn’t make this piece about ethnicity within art, it still displays how it is a big part of what makes him so unique. I believe we could have delved more into the representation of the struggles with school and how daunting the art process can be while coping with school. I would have asked questions about how he personally handles both and finds the time to utilize his creativity while also dealing with the mental strain of school. Overall, I think we communicated our main representation well but could have developed a couple of different aspects of smaller representation matters. 

 

I think our documentary was a good starting point for what we are trying to accomplish in a production educating people about art forms and what truly makes them art, but we could have dived deeper into the specific representation while also relating our topic towards our intended audience more.  

Documentary Production 4

The editing process- so tedious :(

We didn't have as much time as we hoped to edit our documentary as my group members managed to get our b-roll only a day before this was meant to be finished by. But!!! All of our b-roll came out really crisp and fit into the production well. He wasn't as mic'd up as he was in the actual interview when he was speaking in the b-roll and explaining his art, but I think it really went with the documentary as it felt more in the moment and we could see his passion speaking about his art. I do really wish we got more b-roll of his personal art and the whole process he has to go through, but I understood that he was very secluded about what he wanted to be filmed.

 I think we could have solved this problem by coming up with different staged shots just involving Kyle, either struggling with art block or 'laughing with friends'. I think in the future I am definitely going to over shoot b-roll so the editing process is easier with the difference of shots and especially to cover up the jump cuts in interviews. I also really liked how our group member colored the production, it felt very involved in the world of graffiti and really brought the cinematic look together.  The background music I found was upbeat Brazilian pop as his work takes on the Brazilian inspiration from his home, and I think it blended very well into the production. We did have a confliction with the use of the second angle in the interview, I personally would not have included it despite us going through all the effort to film it, as it felt very jarring within the production, but it ended up having a couple shots in the production. Overall, I think our editing came out very good and managed to seamlessly intricate the theme of the documentary, but I do wish we spent a little more time with b-roll and over shooting!

Documentary Production 3

We got to the filming part of the process and it was really fun! We got to the house and set up all of our equipment, it took quite a while as it was me and one other group member, as the other couldn’t make it. But we managed to get both cameras set up for the different angles and the lighting turned out really cool. It was a blue hue and the quality looked amazing for it too! The interview was a little tough at first as he was slightly closed off, but he opened up as the interview went on. I was really interested in what his work was and what he had to say about everything. I was manning the second camera on his side view, and it came to quite an issue later on because we didn’t properly light the second angle as well as the first one, so the shots were rather confusing as they didn’t line up physically. Overall I thought our filming process went really well and smooth, as well as the interview! There were times where it strayed off topic, but I don't think that can be helped much. I also wish we had planned out second shot out better as it was a waste of the second angle use. One of my favorite parts is the lighting, pictured below!

I thought the lighting was so cool and we even asked him before hand what color fits him the most, and he said blue! It came out so crisp and was super unique to our project. Additionally, our sound quality also came out so crisp and captured everything really well! Overall I think this was my favorite part of the whole process as it was such an interesting interview and everything really tied together with the different technological aspects.

Documentary Production 2

We have planned our production out and we are thinking out our editing patterns. I think we have a good pre production focusing on most of our general shots and the main idea of what we want to accomplish. I know documentary planning is very difficult as you can’t follow an exact script of what your interviewee is going to say, but I think our outline really has helped us for the better as it gave us a clear view of what we want to focus on when it comes to editing. We set a date to meet out interviewee and begun to check out all of our equipment too. We rented it out for a day and had two cameras, two microphones, a three point lighting kit, tripods, and extra lighting tools to help us achieve the lighting that we wanted. 

Additionally we begun making all of our questions. We wanted to make a point to not be too personal with our subject as he was a rather closed off and secluded guy, so we didn’t want to scare him into his shell when communicating with us, so we made sure our questions were very light and easy for him to answer. We also began to plan out which group members would do what! I would be manning the cameras and helping set up on the day of actual filming. I would also be getting all the background noise and music for the editing process. My other group members would be editing the bulk of the production and getting the equipment. I think that planning our whole production out the most detailed we could possibly do really organized our process and helped us have a clear mind of what we wanted to accomplish and how we would do it all. I still think we could have planned the editing process out a little more to give us a more detailed path onto the structure of our production to fully communicate our message. 

I am really excited to see this whole process and how it all turns out! Below is all of our production planning and shots that we have organized and written out!

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1aWK8TBBEfdRyBwFg3ESm4inAognyZYQP

Documentary Production 1

     So we've been focusing on documentaries in AICE Media, and for our production of a documentary, we decided to originally focus on unconventional art forms. At the beginning of this process we had two interviews lined up, a street artist and a tattoo artist. Our plan was to create an episodic documentary where we would focus on the personal elements to each artist, but plans fell through with our second interviewee, and we compromised, focusing on artist Kyle Dutra and how he creates meaningful street art. 

    This was a very interesting process that took a lot of time and planning, but what took longer was the amount of research that was put into it. We watched multiple documentaries in class, and based our topics and interview/structure style based off of these different productions. I think watching all of these productions really gave me an insight to what a good documentary production is, and how many aspects go into creating a meaning through the story you are trying to tell in the documentary. 

Transition

 2024-2025 SCHOOL YEAR!

I'm glad to be back blogging my AICE Media A level processes and I can't wait to learn so much more about media and be challenged by the upcoming projects!

Creative Critical Reflections

 FINALLY!!!

https://youtu.be/BvqK1c4k140?si=1ujtEn2_DutddG4I

https://youtu.be/n8Ef7SXkLq8?si=05f_KFE7T71AfARw

Film Opening

 ENJOY!!

https://youtu.be/zbGdhIBUSLs

Final reflection

 This project was really one of the most enjoyable yet stressful things I've ever had to do. I loved all the creative freedom I could run with on it, and I liked the pacing of the project too.

I have learnt so much, and taken into consideration how much time simply just planning something can take! I now know, that to film smoothest and best, to make very long plans and have everything planned out word for word!

Additionally, I really learnt a lot through my editing even though it wasn't perfect... I really enjoyed how everything turned out apart from a few things here and there that I definitely need to work on... but overall, I learnt a lot about reverb and the colour editing through adobe premiere, even after getting certified in it, I keep learning! I can't wait to use these skills in my future projects to make them even better!

Thank you for following my long and hardworking journey on Kalopsia!

CCR Script

CCR script

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

"So I immediately knew the genre I wanted to develop right from the start! Psychological thriller's had always captured my attention, especially those that develop an eerie mental illness with the main character. Parts of this genre include a lot of plot twists and tangled story telling's. The pacing is much more measured throughout it, creating the intense buildup which helps add to the suspense. The tone created in these movies is very chilling and edgy. It is made to disturb and unsettle the audience. In Kalopsia, the ending contrasts the beginning so intensely, yet the change is very gradual. In the first two minutes, it opens with simple shots of creating a bagel and putting cookies into an oven. The quicker cuts yet slow actions pair together to make it seem much more tame and domestic. The clips build up through the piano scene, which is meant to give insight to the main characters past. The reverb added to the sound is meant to give the eerie tonal change to the clips as well. After the piano scene, the sound of a ticking timer is meant to build the suspense of the person entering the house, the sound getting louder is meant to show how this new character causes alarm and distress, the quicker cuts building a quicker and more stressful suspense to relate to the characters feeling. I didn't challenge any of these conventions due to them working in my favor. The whole plot has mixes of action and psychological components in it, and they do actually relate to each other. The mental illness development is meant to be gradual just as the pacing is. 

The representation in my main character is to highlight women. Despite the lacerations shown when her face is first revealed, there is purposefully no emphasis through the camera on the wounds to show how it is normalized in the perspective of the character. The costuming of the character in the first scene, she is wearing light pink and purple PJ pants, the coloring indicates her femineity along with her hair being down. The connection between the main character and in the flash back scenes is also the color of the pants. Although the audience isn't meant to know at the start, it is the same person due to the coloring of the pink pants. The opponent is in all black to indicate they are the enemy in this battle. This takes part in the fighting side of the story, where woman are represented in fighting. Despite her feminine features and costume design, she still takes part in the violent actions, which show deeper meaning towards the end of the film."

https://www.toledolibrary.org/blog/psychological-suspense#:~:text=Storylines%20are%20layered%20with%20frequent,%2C%20moody%2C%20ominous%20and%20foreboding.

• How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text?

"The target audience for this film is 21 and up, due to the female protagonist and the mental aspect of the movie, it would appeal more to woman than man, yet the fighting action side of the movie captures the attention of men as well. It is really directed at the mentally ill target audience, bringing a not well known syndrome to life. The slow development of the mental health aspect develops stronger throughout the film as the character participates in more fights. The faster paced and more engaging fight scenes can attract the audiences through the grungy type of settings that capture the interest of people. 

Kalopsia will be distributed through Hulu from a collaboration I organized with them. I chose Hulu to use for distribution as its a very accessible with a simple subscription that most people have. It is mainly accommodated to older audiences on the platform as well. Additionally, my movie will be premiered to the public at Miami film festival the day before it comes to streaming services on April 19th!" 

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34033319/#:~:text=Capgras%20syndrome%20%28CS%29%2C%20or,inanimate%20object%20or%20an%20animal.

• How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

"It all started with the song Claire de Lune, I read a book where they had the song in the playlist for the book, and I loved the buildup throughout the song, I wish I could've had more of it incorporated to build up in the opening. I got the idea of a psychological thriller through the film fight club. I loved the development of personality disorder throughout that film, and the incorporation of action throughout it really pieces it all together at the end of the film. I took this idea and began to research the mental illness that develops throughout the film. After I began my research on how sound affects film and changes the tone, and research on psychological thrillers, I began to develop the plot, story board, and the script. It took a while to develop all of these aspects, but just simply taking my time and thinking, I planned out everything I wanted to have incorporated over the process of multiple weeks. I began to find my setting at that has all the props I wanted to use and I organized my actor coming into film. We used different locations for the fight scene and the house scenes that were filmed about a week apart. The editing process was rather hefty with the different issues that were encountered throughout it. In the end, using different perspectives and advice really brought it to its best look!"

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34033319/#:~:text=Capgras%20syndrome%20%28CS%29%2C%20or,inanimate%20object%20or%20an%20animal.

• How did you integrate technologies – software, hardware and online – in this project?

To set and plan out my ideas, I used blogger to create a mini mind map for myself, putting it down in writing to confirm my thoughts and plan them out the best I could. For script writing I used another online app, Celtix. It was a very good website that walked me through each and every step for the script writing process. Additionally, I got my music from Freesound website which provides copyright sound effects and music for public use. The editing software used was Adobe Premiere Pro, it's an app I've been using for a longer period of time and have a certificate in. (put in the screenshot) During filming, I used an iPhone stand and a rolling table with stacks of books to help elevate the camera level. The iPhone 14 camera app was my camera for this film, capturing all of the sound raw from the actual phone microphone. There were quite a few obstacles with the filming, getting the different angles, and a lot of the shots were not used with the phone stand we had. We used lots of different resources to help stabilize the camera like propping it up or stacking things underneath the iPhone. During my editing process, I got recommended to use reverb to mix the audio better, and I was shown how to mix audios despite not using it for my film. I think this really is gonna come into handy after I start messing around with mixing and editing audios instead of using the raw audio. 

 

• 
  

CCR Plan

 CCR's

I have been very focused on my film project, but now that I have 98% finished it, I want to finalize the thoughts and idea's I have had about my CCR planning. 

Video 1

• How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?
• How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text?

    For these two questions, they will be in my first video which is a "Most asked questions" style of YouTube video! I am going to incorporate different overlays of all my clips and scenes layed over it to help capture audiences attention and not be a "talking head". The background of this will be fairly plain as I am going to rely heavily on outside clips to take the audiences attention while changing between the talking head clips. 

Video 2

• How did your production skills develop throughout this project?
• How did you integrate technologies – software, hardware and online – in this project?

For my second video, I wanted to do an interview, or a "behind the scenes" with different "crew members" of the production to show how each specific area of the film was developed. It would all be clips of me, just in different costumes and hairstyles to help change the continuity to indicate its a different person each time. This will also have overlays and voiceovers to help engage the audience. The setting will be in a "film studio" type of location, which is really just my guest room with gray and red decorations with some movie posters hung up. I will film this in cinematic mode on my iPhone so the background is visible but blurred as to not be distracting.

Planning all of this out has been somewhat helpful because I now I can have different set ups, and begin my filming right after I make talking points for each CCR! I want to develop a clean and engaging CCR, because I cannot do a lot movement wise in my video without distracting myself, so I am relying heavily on the edited in clips! Knowing my own strengths and weaknesses in filming myself can help make my process much smoother and less of a drawn out process!!

End of editing!

 I think we're pretty much finished with my final! I am going to sleep on my decision and see how it is tomorrow, after I am going to show it to my family and see if they have any tips for me!

It was frustrating throughout parts of this editing process because although it didn't ever look or sound BAD, it wasn't perfect. I struggled a lot with this thought, and although it's still not perfect, I think I've tried to the best of my ability to make it closest to the vision I had in my brain. 

For this part of the editing, the sound effects on the imported audio clip during the piano scene drove me crazy! I managed to line up all the clips into synchronizing with the audio. While filming, I played the music in the background, so although my actor doesn't know how to play piano, she could at least hit the keys on beat. What the issue was, was when the audio did not sound diegetic. I wanted it to echo and reverberate just as all the other audios did in the film. I realized I had to mix my audio with a reverb effect. For the piano playing clips, I used a regular reverb, but for the memories, I added a different type which made the audio sound like it was coming from another room. I was really happy with this outcome, and finding out about all the different effects and even maybe mixing a certain sound on a different app, this can help my editing in the future to make everything seem even more realistic. 

This was the second most tricky part about editing... The flickering clips in the face still don't sit right with me, but I can't figure out any other way to make it look better. I changed the pacing of it to start slow so you could see what is happening briefly, and than it picks up pace with the ticking audio to build the proper suspense. 

I think despite these struggles in editing driving me up the wall, I learnt loads about sound editing and I think it's going to come really handy in my future projects for when I have to layer audio again to fix an issue that happened in beforehand filming!!

Filming the fight scene

 This was actually very fun to do!!

We had a very grungy dark garage with bits of sand about the place, the walls were cracked and pieces were missing from it too! The only thing I could complain about was the quality in my camera... when the lighting dims in the room, my iPhone camera becomes very grainy and not as high quality as before on the 4k 60 fps setting... 

I think I’ve fixed it with messing around on the adjustment settings on the iPhone editing app. I have lowered the black point and brightness along with adding saturation to highlight the costume choices.

I used pink sweatpants for the main character, despite the audience not seeing her face (as it’s not my main actor 🤫) you can tell the character is female due to the feminine pink pants. Additionally the white shoes sway the audience towards this character as white represents the purity of that character. The sleeves pulled over the females hands is to show her size, how she is much smaller in comparison to her opponent. This is additionally an indicator to illegal fighting as in legal fighting, they are matched by their weight. 

Filming this was relatively quick, as the shots are very tight and cannot reveal much, but as I messed with the lighting on the effects side of the videos, I realized it’s easy to conceal the characters faces with their hoods up and the black point lowered.. 

This specific lighting can show the opponents animosity, also creating an “evil” effect on the character, as they end up winning the fight in the end.

This overall discovery of editing the lighting through my iPhone before even putting it into my computer has helped me so much in use of future projects, it can change the entire tone of a clip and the delivery of it! 

Thanks to the quick fixes, I can now create the contrast I need between the piano clips and the darker more serious fighting clips to create that confusing contrast I’m looking for in my film!!

Planning for the fight scene

 I’ve waited a while to film this fight scene, and it’s finally being filmed Monday!

I am going to have to organize a few needed elements

-Wrist fighting wraps

-Beaten up sneakers

-Water bottle

-Dark and grungy room

-Filmed in garage/basement

-Sweatpants

-Baggy top (preferred long sleeve)

I think if all of these elements are met, it’s gonna turn out really good!! I wanted the setting to be in a darker location as the fighting the character is taking place in is illegal home made type of thing (i’m not sure what they’re called) 

I can plan all these things out to try and make it the best looking it can and try to capture the darker setting of it all! 

It can really bring the tonal shift in the production together!!!

Editing

    So far, the editing has been very tricky... my total raw footage adds up to 14 minutes :') Although this is probably the best issue I could have with my project, I really have to cut it very thin in the beginning scenes to try and fit the second half of the film in. I am filming my fight scene on Saturday/Sunday.

    I would much rather have the issue of too much footage rather than too little footage if you know what I mean!

UPDATE: I think I have kinda sorta fixed it!! I tried cutting my clips so they are all mid action and i used a few jump cuts to cut down the time too! I editted the ending and I still have to put filters and effects on some clips, but I’ve gotten the backbone of it all done!

I feel better having this all layed out so now I just have to put all the details into it, I think it will make it all really good with the different smaller effects and I can plan it all better!!

FILMING!!

 FILMING

    Today we filmed!! I was honestly so happy with the outcome from my clips I might cry

My actor was perfect, and doing the makeup was super fun! It took me a minute to do her bruising but I think it came out great! I was really happy with the different shot compositions I could get because I had heaps of time. The audio quality was SO good, which I really was not expecting if I'm being honest...

This clip, although the only technique I used was a close up, the sound quality really impressed me!

 

Once I have more edited footage, I want to show a few of my favorite clips, all I did today was make copies of everything and make sure it is saved!!

 

At this point, we were filming the final parts of it, and I had to be in the film, so I had to redo it a few times to make sure everything was centered! I didn't take a photo, but we made an area for where I can stand just to make it all line up!

This was how I filmed the walking in part for myself,  I made my friend do it just to check it looked good!

I had a small rolling table that could change heights which was part of my make-shift tripod!!

I am really happy with all my filming progress and I don't think it could've gone any better! All I have left to film is the fight scene with a different actor, I still need to set up a few props for that, but I at least want to edit most of the video before I get that footage!

I think something that really helped me today with my filming is giving myself enough time! My actor was amazing too, she did anything I asked and didn't ask about anything, it really helped me relax and get it the best that I could. I was a little stressed about how it would all go as I always feel so tight on time when I film, but I could not be happier with how it all turned out!!

Script

 YAYYY I FINISHED MY SCRIPT!!!

I have really been procrastinating making this, but I just got down to business and said screw it.

Its short because I find it really hard to write my thoughts down exactly how I want to, but I think I've done it the best that I can!! I didn't want to incorporate a lot of dialogue, so that definitely contributes to the length. I tried my best for formatting, I remember making a script back in eighth grade, but its still foggy so I just put my own touch to it!

I did actually really enjoy the script writing if I'm being honest, I was dreading it but I felt so fancy using it and it really has helped me to plan my idea's out the best that I can!! I was really happy with my outcome and I think that it will make my filming process a lot smoother...

I need to create a planning for the filming day soon, but for now I focused on the script! :)

Here it is...!!

EXT. HOUSE IN A NEIGHBORHOOD PHONE 

CAMERA holds the house in an establishing shot onto a house, low angle shot of house, midday. 

INT. KITCHEN 

CLOSE UP shots of BAGEL being made 

Different angles of the CREAM CHEESE being spread, SMOKED SALMON layed, plate being made pretty. 

SOUND of utensils clinking, MAYBE some humming in the background if there is too much empty noise. Humming will be added as a VO. I

NT. PIANO ROOM 

CLOSE UP shot of the one half of the BAGEL being carried on a plate that than ZOOMS OUT to show the main character carrying it, with a pair of WIRED HEADPHONES in their ears. They are eating the other half of the BAGEL. 

MC walks through the LIVING ROOM, past the STAIRS, and stops by the piano. All of this will be a continuous shot, that has a VERY SLOW zoom out. 

SHOT CONTINUES to show the MC stopping by the PIANO, putting the food down, taking out her HEADPHONES, and than pulling out the bench. SHOT ENDS. 

Various CLOSE UP and MEDIUM shots of the MC running their hands over the KEYS, keep the movement, get lots of ANGLES.

 MC begins to PLAY PIANO

 -CLAIRE DE LUNE- 

***START AT 30 SECONDS (OR LATER) END AT 1:30 SECONDS FOR AUDIO***

 Use CLOSE UP shots, MEDIUM shots, and LONG shots of piano playing.

 As the MUSIC crescendos, the FIGHT SCENE CLIPS begin to roll 

INT. DARK ROOM FIGHT SCENE CLIPS

CLOSE UP Shuffling feet around in circle.

CLOSE UP Wrapping hands

 CLOSE UP of wiping face 

CLOSE UP of PUNCHING fists together 

CLOSE UP of Taking a drink of water 

CLOSE UP of HOODIE sleeves rolling up 

CLOSE UP of FIST towards camera 

 SCENE CUT TO BLACK

TITLE CARD 

NT. KITCHEN 

MC is placing dishes into the dishwasher

 The DOORBELL rings throughout the house

 CLOSE UP shots of new characters shoes, bag slung over shoulder and being placed down, closing the door. 

            New Character (NC): 

                                                            HEY IM HOME

 MEDIUM SHOT of NC, their face looking PAST the camera, in a kind way 

SAME EXACT MEDIUM SHOT of NC, their face in KUBRICK STARE, straight AT the camera. 

**THIS WILL FLICKER** 

 END SCENE

Planning

 I have made a plan for this week for my filming!

Wednesday 3/13-Saturday 3/16: Script writing 

Sunday 3/17: Filming FILM from 2-6

Monday 3/18- Wednesday 3/20: Begin editing and document what clips are still needed. (May be fighting clips)

Thursday 3/21- Friday 3/22: I am traveling :D

Saturday 3/23- Wednesday 3/27: Try and film the CCR as I need my brother in law to be the 'interviewer'. (May also need to film the fight scene with my brother as I need a male actor**)

Thursday 3/28- Monday 4/1: EDIT EVERYTHING, FINISHING TOUCHES ON FILM,  CCR, AND BLOG!!

Tuesday 4/2: Submit D:

I created this schedule because I am getting STRESSED!!

I wanted to plan and organize my thoughts and try to be as productive as possible because there is not much time left. 

I have already had some set backs with my filming. I wanted to make the set a very fancy house with a big piano, but I think I am going to change that, as my film location has just fallen through...!

I have changed to another friends house who has more of a keyboard than a grand piano, it may fit better because I can develop the personality of my character more with a more personalized house than a modern looking house. 

I have one actor as the main character, and I am going to film the fighting part with my brother during my vacation, as most of the shots are point of view shots, and the main character's face isn't shown in these parts. I am trying to just imply the beginning of the fight, not any interaction between the two until the fist into the camera happens. 

My struggles I am having with this so far, is I am in two completely different states for both of these parts, and its hard to plan out my continuity as that's very important. I think I have figured it all out despite this struggle!! 

Despite not doing any research right now in the post, writing all of this down really eases my stress and helps me map everything out. When I do things like this, I really can make better produced things, and I so desperately want this project to turn out well!

Title Font

 Just a small post today, I wanted to try and find a font for my title!!

I was going for something that looked old money and elegant, I wanted it to come on after the fight scene, and it will be paired with classical music. I wanted to incorporate the elegance of the font to contrast with the content of the film. It is off-putting and a little bit confusing, yet paired with the classical, it would sound fitting. Here are some options:

I liked all of these options, but I was leaning towards the bolder side of things!!

Speaking of all this title font... I have decided on my title!! 

It is...

KALOPSIA

                                                            

I really wanted my title to be a one-word film, but I wanted it to be a pretty word. It was between Galvanize or Kalopsia, and I went with Kalopsia!

The meaning of the word also contributes to my film because it creates such a stark contrast to what the character is actually going through, and in no way can the character call their events in their life beautiful. If anything, the character experiences the opposite of this, but I still think its a good word to match with my film to symbolize everything they are missing out on that we, who are unaffected by this syndrome, can still have and value in life. My font depended on my titling because I wanted the elegance to show through on both my title and fonts! I think this decision and planning for the font can really piece together the overall vibe of my film I am trying to plan out. 

Character boards

I wanted to create character boards to try and capture the feeling of my characters so far. Because I am only creating two characters, and one barely gets screentime, I just made a mood board of the main character. 

I really like how this captures both sides of her. I really wanted to show her change throughout the plot of the movie as I think ahead to the whole thing. The beginning will obviously capture her previous lifestyle before her illness kicks in, and I liked how I could incorporate both that and her preset lifestyle in the mood board. 

I did something like this to help finalize my ideas on my character so my actors can try and recreate this persona in the best way possible. I am not having professional actors of course, but it helps anybody just a little to really know the person you are trying to be.

 

SFX Makeup & Costume

Misc en scene

    I researched about the elements of my film to try and create the best and most realistic looking feel to my production. 

Makeup Research 

I watched a few bruise tutorials on how to create this sfx, but I also purchased some cheap sets to help me create this set to give the most realistic show. 

When the time comes around, I am going to rewatch the video to try and develop it the best I can, I wanted to place the bruise closer to the eye, where it is in the first video, but I wanted to create a more purple undertone rather than a yellow undertone to it. The wound skin is for the scar and cuts that I can put the butterfly band-aids on. 

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Costume Research

This video I watched really opened my eyes to how much costume plays a role in film. When I create my character board, I was thinking of sketching outfits or researching outfits that will match my character's persona. I have limited supplies as it is more of a casual story, so the right clothes are just essential as a persons personality really shows through their clothes. You can tell how somebody acts and what their interests are on based on how they dress, do their makeup, and hair. 

Although my main character is a girl, I wanted to have her without any facial eye makeup to show the roughness of her situation. I think the clothes she wears should match this vibe because she is in the comfort of her own home, and she can relax, where she thought she was safe. I think it is easy for my to develop this, and if I were to be making the entire movie, her clothing would change. She would start with casual and cozy dressings, while develop the illness, she would than dress more like somebody who isn't welcome is constantly there. The comfy clothes go away and she wears outfits you may wear out to run errands. This shows how she never feels alone and never feels the comfort she feels in the introducition. 

This research has helped my pre-production so I can plan everything I need to when I film next weekend. I want to have everything layed out so I don't forget and have to refilm last minute. I want to create it as realistic as possible, and I think all this research can help me do that. 

Props

 Prop Ideas (Misc en scene)

Yes... maybe I have been putting off finishing my script writing, but I realized as I was thinking about procrastinating it, I had to make a log of all of my props and things I am going to be using.

        -Piano

        -Piano bench

        -Smoked salmon Bagel

        -Fake blood

        -Makeup for bruises

        -Butterfly closure bandages

        -White/Black t shirt

                (for the sibling, when the flicker occurs, the shirt color can change perhaps, I want to film                         both options to see how it all looks)

        -Green t shirt

                (for the MC to wear to represent mental illness)

        -Plating for food

I wanted to make a list of all of my main props for two reasons. One: to actually remember everything for day of filming. (March 17??) Two: assessing how each little thing can add to my project to make it all seem more realistic. I have a plan to research wound makeup, and although I am not a makeup artist, I have found people to help me create these effects the best that I can to make it the most realistic to immerse my audience in my media. 

    I believe this can add to my project to really create that last realistic touch to it. I really want to get my misc en scene right to create the best looking facade to my characters!

Screenwriting

Writing a story

Today we watched a Ted Talk in class by Andrew Stanton about story telling. I have had my doubts about my creation of my story as I am really unsure if my plot lines or how I will deliver it is any good. 

    As someone who has grown up finding comfort in Disney and Pixar movies, this talk really stood out to me, as I know that every movie I take comfort in, is for a reason. Some key points I wrote down were:

•  Storytelling is joke telling. It’s knowing your punchline. Your ending. Knowing that everything you're saying, from the first sentence to the last, is leading to a singular goal and ideally confirming some truth that deepens our understandings of who we are as human beings. 
• For my story, it's harder to develop this concept in just the first two minutes, but the confidence of knowing what will happen within the first part of the movie can really bring my intro together. 
• MAKE ME CARE. Emotionally, intellectually, aesthetically. 
• I wanted to capture audiences hearts through characters, its almost impossible to do this in the first two minutes, but I can peak their interest in the character slowly but surely. 
• Make a promise: in the beginning, make a promise to your audience, that this story will lead somewhere that’s worth their time.
• This is something I can execute well and have to focus on in my project. I want to be able to promise the audience that I can lead there somewhere to where they're minds will be scrambled and awed at the end of the plot I've introduced. 
•  The audience wants to work for their meal. They just don’t want to know they’re doing that. Meaning, we want to be given the clues to understand the whole story. We want to be told, what is 2 + 2? But we don't want to be told, 2 + 2 = 4. It’s this well organized absence of information that draws us in. make the audience put things together. 
• This is also something I can start to create. The fight scene and the wounds on my character can help the audience piece together the story line, and although it will be very hard to infer the mental illness and the fight are related, there could be a connection if one looks hard enough. 
• Give your character a main goal to pursue.
• The self conflict I am trying to show in my first two minutes will hopefully pull this element through, I can help the audience realize this is a first for the main character through my actors and the shot compositions. 
•  All well-drawn characters have a spine. The characters have an inner motor, a dominant, unconscious goal that they’re striving for, an itch that they can’t scratch. 
• Although I love this statement from Andrew Stanton, I cannot develop my character so much in just two minutes, but in movies that work on character development, they really appeal to me. 
• Change is fundamental in a story. If things go static, stories die, because life is never static. Drama is anticipation mingled with uncertainty. When you’re telling a story, have you constructed anticipation? In the short term, have you made me wanna know what will happen next? Have you made me wanna know how it will conclude in the long term? Have you constructed honest conflicts with truth that creates doubt in what the outcome might be? Storytelling has guidelines, not hard rules. 
• I like how I have structured my storyline. The fight scene shows the capability that it can show something can and will happen, and the suspense with the sibling at the end shows how there is uncertainty in the reality of the main character. It creates a suspense that there is something there, but we are not sure what exactly. 
• Like your main character. We all live life conditionally. Characters can be good, but have a fatal flaw in them, that doesn’t come out unless their one condition for being nice and kind isn’t met anymore. We’re all willing to play by the rules and follow things along, as long as certain conditions are met. After that, all bets are off. 
• I believe this is an element I need to work on in my story. I need to dedicate time to create the persona of the main character, their outfits, their hair, all the misc en scene of the character. 
• Can you invoke wonder? “That’s what I think the magic ingredient is, the secret sauce, is can you invoke wonder. 
• This is one of the key elements to my story, I really want to get the audience thinking and questioning themselves. 
• Write from what you know. Draw from it. It doesn’t always mean plot or fact, it means capturing a truth from our experiencing it, expressing values you personally feel deep down in your core.
• Although I have never experienced anything like this, I know what it is like to fear the unknown and being alone, to communicate this idea I believe I can express myself through my camera lens. 

This Ted Talk has opened my eyes to the important details and to think beyond just a story. It's going to help my project so much in its story lines and help me communicate what I want to show in the best way possible.