Portfolio Project 20 Settling On Sets

 #20 Settling On Sets

    We had ONE day to film in my old house, uno, no mistakes, no reshoots, we just had to get it done. We drove to the house and immediately faced our first challenge, they changed the lock. Now we weren't breaking and entering here, I wouldn't admit to that on a blog like a FOOL, my dad had the locks switched early, and this gave us a major issue in our filming process, so we entered the house through the garage, and remember we had to film in the front door, a lot of shots would need us to keep the front door open and to go inside and out for production reasons. Filming the shot-reverse-shot was HELL especially when one of use had to walk inside. The camera woman, Nina, had to stand still and who ever wasn't in shot had to run around the house through the garage, hold the dog to make sure he doesn't run away and run around, ruining our timing, and unlock the door which would AUTO LOCK because it was electronic, then they had to keep relocking it and unlocking to refresh the auto lock's timer, it was a major pain but we got it done. The house also had no water so we went the entire shoot dying of thirst, that includes the poor dog who got a major break after shoot, plus we had to be careful with everything since if anything breaks I would be screwed. Here is a photo of the house from Zillow:

    Filming at my house was a bit easier, my dad was off in Miami and my dog slept outside so we didn't have a lot of problems. It sucked having to take down all of my posters off the wall but it's FINE they can come back. Not a lot of interesting stuff happened relating to the setting but at least we didn't face a lot of issues that couldn't be fixed from not being legally allowed to go into the house.

Portfolio Project 19 Consumer Goods

 #19 Consumer Goods

    We needed a lot of props for this and had like 3 before hand. These props included: A couple of mirrors, a radio, a clock, broken glass, a picture frame, fast food bags and cups, and a dog, of those we had a single mirror, a clock, and a dog. Alejandro picked us up and drove us over to the dollar store, they didn't really have a lot that we wanted, we got these two tiny circle mirrors and they work fine, there's a metal bit sticking out of them and we're probably gonna have to rip them off plus they are very small but with good stage directing that won't be a problem. Alejandro also had the GENIUS idea of using those hard plastic bowls for the broken glass, chiseling them to give them that sandy glass look. Overall we walked out of the dollar store with 2 mirrors, one plastic bowl, and two things of beef jerky because we were hungry, boy I wonder how we're gonna handle that issue!!!

    We were actually gonna just get a bunch of bags from Macdonalds but we realized we should get things like those burger wrappers and fries holders and such, plus we were hungry sooo.... I paid for everything. The bags didn't show up a lot in the video but im still glad we got it.

    Last we needed a radio/clock, we merged the two by buying an alarm clock radio. We went to Goodwill and found the perfect one immediately, it was greasy, very greasy, Alejandro had to wash his hands to get whatever was in it. We originally wanted to get a radio and analog clock but there weren't any good ones and we wanted to cut bluff for time and I'd say it worked out in the end.

Portfolio Project 18 Editing Start

#18 Editing Start 

    Last time,  during the music marketing project, I did most of the editing, my team mate Nina doing some changes and additions. This time the opposite will be true as she is going to be the main editor of the project with me and probably Alejandro doing secondary things. So far what she mostly has done is put the clips together in the timeline which is a lot when you actually sit down and do it. While filming we wound up reshooting everything near the start since we figured out a way to make the shots look better, and properly white balanced to get the pre-editing yellow look.

    

I don't mean to give us too much credit, but I kind of love this shot

Portfolio Project 17 Editing Plan

 #17 Editing Plan

    The most common thing I ever say while filming a project and my team mates don't think it's looking good is:" don't worry, it'll come together in editing". Storyboards, scripts, and shot plans are very very helpful but I am a very amateur film maker, and I over shoot how much I can actually do while filming all the time. Sometimes some shots just don't work out, my last blog was about working with my dog and I didn't mention how we had to scrap a wide shot of the dog barking at the door since we couldn't figure out a way to make him face it, wound up having to replace it. We faced a similar issue trying to get those low angels of the dog, however those will be salvaged in editing, we will use cut aways to the dog as if he were intruding Ollie's mind while he lays on his bed. An obvious example of this being in Empire season 1 episode 1, we just recently had to watch and excerpt for this in media studies and me an my team used this scene of the hospital as our example.

 

Portfolio Project 16 The Wrangler

 #16 The Wrangler

    There is a saying when it comes to the art of film making, never work with children or animals, by WC Fields. For a part of the opening we were going to need my dog Mani to be barking, and we had to film him from a low angle. Now my dog is easy to excite and get shouting, a big problem that me and my family have whenever we have to do a countdown from 3, my dog always starts barking at 1 (which is cool, I like knowing that my dog knows how to count) he barks whenever we grab his leash, whenever someone knocks obviously, and whenever someone uses a blowtorch or spray, not sure why. For the shooting we used all of these tactics, minus the blowtorch because I couldn't find it, and they all worked through some success. Getting my dog to bark wasn't the issue, it was finding a way to record below him while he barked, or at least at any level that made him look imposing that was hard, we knocked really loudly on the door to make him SCREAM but he kept running around the room. 

     Now at first I assigned myself as the animal wrangler, but eventually that title would go on to Nina, who wasn't using the camera as much and didn't have to appear on the film. Nina eventually came up with the idea of using my dog's leash to lead him after she saw him playing with it, a sign that he wanted to go on a walk. What she would do is hold the leash above the camera as I filmed on the floor, which would make Mani look up and give me opportunity to film him. We also used this leash technique later on to make the dog follow us, I'd have the leash in my pocket and he would just walk along side me. The only down side of this technique was that I had to take a 5 minute walk that would halt production with the dog to make sure he didn't go to the bathroom in a house that neither me, anyone in the production, and, at the time of filming, my own father owned. My dog was really tired by the end and he got a well deserved nap on the ride back home, after 11 years on this earth he finally had to work like we humans do.

Portfolio Project 15 Location And Set

 #15 Location And Set

    I notice that I've filmed a lot of things in my house, makes sense it's shaped kinda strangely, it has a garage that kinda looks like a shed, and there's usually not a lot of people in the house. For the opening we did eventually decide to use my house again, like we did in the music marketing project, but there's a few problems. For one the front door that is going to take up a lot of space is placed at an inconvenient angle that is going to be hard to film it in the way we want it to look. The door is also right in front of the living room so seeing a nice couch and big TV is really gonna worsen the idea that this character is some junkie. My room is also a problem since I have all these posters and pictures on the wall, of course those can come down but they are a slight inconvenience to me personally. However the biggest issue with my room is the massive window that looms over my bed. No blinds meaning we're going to have to scrap a shot we really wanted to do, and the curtains are bright yellow with cool geometric shapes.

This just doesn't work for what we're going for, this character is a junkie who's life is dark and gritty. This window barely works for my own personal living, let alone a movie!

    However a stroke of genius stroke me and I had an idea on how to film this, we can film at my old house, it's been a year since I moved but it still hasn't been sold and it's entirely empty. We can get a mattress and a little coffee table and if anything that could work better for showing how far gone this guy is. Plus the front door is below a staircase, way less appealing and the doors are placed in a more convenient spot for filming. I'm not sure if we're gonna use this other house, my biggest fear is that we show up to film and a realtor is there giving a tour to a family, plus other than the poster and the window I do think my bedroom works for what we are showing. At the end of the day it's nice having more options and we'll probably use a mix of both houses. 

Portfolio Project 14 Mise-En-Scene Lighting

#14 Mise-En-Scene Lighting 

    The very opening takes place in Ollie's bedroom as he stares into his lights that give his whole room a tint of yellow, they are almost like fluorescent lights that you would see in an office, these yellow lights are not only repetitive, they make you feel as if you are going insane, casting your world in this color that feels unnatural to anywhere you have ever been on, yellow lighting doesn't give of the warm feeling that red light does and it doesn't give the cool feeling that blue light does, if anything when combined with the rest of the setting the yellow lights feel disgusting like if he whole room has been infested by mold. Yellow is a color that usually represents happiness or joy, however the visuals being displayed are contradicting this idea, and that plays into the point of the story, Ollie has surrounded himself with fake joys such as cocaine or being ignorant of the people around him, and this reflects that. Ollie is also a recovering coke addict, a common sign of being addicted to coke is having yellow eyes and while Ollie is having withdrawals and is struggling to stay off coke, his eyes would be fairly white, however the light acts as a reminder, almost as if his addiction is a part of who he is. The room would have heavy shadows making it feel as if we witnessing a scary and dangerous location.

    After he steps out his whole house has a light blue tint, nothing crazy but it shows how cold the world around him is. When his friend, Chris appears the tint vanishes as if he was showing him a slice of the real world.

Portfolio Project 13 Mise-En-Scene For Set Design

 #13 Mise-En-Scene For Set Design

    I don't know how many times through out all these blogs I'm going to repeat this but the main character, Ollie, is a junkie who's whole house is a mess. He has lost all care for himself or for cleanliness so his room is a disgusting mess. There is clothing piled everywhere, fast food bags and drinks lined up, random wet spots, crumpled up tissues, broken glass, and spots with residue of cocaine. His mattress covers are grey not only showing a lack of color in his life, but also that he doesn't have anything exciting in his life, to the point that his mattress covers are a median grey, not leaning either way of black nor white, however his bed sheets are white in reference to the white powder that is controlling his life. Other than that his bed is going to be wet from sweat and full of crumbs and imperfections. Once again bringing the Breaking Bad inspiration, this set of the aftermath of a giant rave is partly what we are going for:

    The outside of his room is going to eerily empty, like you couldn't guess someone lived in that house if you didn't see his bedroom. The front doors obviously lead to the outside of his home, something that he has been avoiding and ignoring despite going outside being healthy, so they are both white, giving them an angelic feel.

Portfolio Project 12 Audio

#12 Audio

    The film's opening's opening is a black screen with only two things, the TITLE CARD! and rising audio. This sound will be that of three things: music, a dog's barking, and loud knocking. Now the music sounds very clear and clean, it's clearly non-diegetic however the black screen cuts to the main character's room and not only do all of the sounds become slightly muffled and less loud than they were before, the music now sounds as if it's coming from a radio, as we have switched from non-diegetic to diegetic. The story takes place in the 2000's and the radio that the music is coming from is owned by a depressed and aimless man who was probably quite careless with the machine, the music is going to come out very gargled. We are using music by the artist Elliot Fullam who's music fits perfectly into that classic 2000's aesthetic (even if it was made today).

    

    Sound is an important part for this opening since it displays his lack of awareness of what's going on around him. He clearly doesn't care about or know whats happening around him and hears everything through a muffled or quiet filter. However his life doesn't have any tranquility and he is constantly berated by loud sounds that he can not seem to control and only ever drag him down lower and lower through his spiraling sanity.

Portfolio Project 11 Character

 #11 Character

    Now I think I've made it pretty obvious that the main character I'm writing is a junkie, however me and my team have been making certain changes lately and changing the plot to better fit our vision. The version of the main character, who is named Ollie, is a recovering Junkie who's girlfriend left him as he wasn't able to quit for her, now he has been avoiding his NA (Narcotics Anonymous) meetings as he slowly rots in his house. He can't stand up for himself, he is horrified of making lasting connections, and he can't take anything too seriously. I think so far I've made it pretty obvious that Breaking Bad, my favorite show, is a huge inspiration for this opening, and the character of Ollie is majorly inspired by Jesse Pinkman. Now Pinkman is not identical to Ollie, however we are mostly basing it off the many scenes of him struggling with drug abuse, I won't go too deep into spoilers but there are many scenes were visually he looks like a moving corpse with no emotion and is unable to connect to people in a deep level, that's mostly what we are going for here.

    The friend character, Chris, shows up to as Ollie about him missing on his NA meeting and try to bring him back into reality from this nasty bubble he has put himself in. Chris tries to be nice about Ollie's problem but ends up having to yell at him to see how miserable his life is after Ollie refuses to collaborate, he wants to see his friend get his life back but knows that he doesn't see it that, and wants to force him to change. Chris isn't directly inspired by anyone, he is just meant to play a guardian angel like role except from afar, keeping an eye on Ollie and trying to push him to be better.

Portfolio Project 10 Summary

#10 Summary

     So far we have finally decided on our project idea, it was actually our very first idea, all the way up here now. I hate giving myself credit, but I'm the one who came up with the original idea, not to say that the rest of the team hasn't played equally in the pre production of this project. Me and Nina started working on an outline for the story but didn't get around to finish it:

    It was mostly just planning things out and whatnot but it's pretty detailed, and we will definitely finish it when time comes. My last blog had the script so I'll just give you an outline of the story:

Ollie is in his dark room, disgusting room, full of clothing and with dim lights, he is a coke addict and starts his day off by grabbing a baggie of coke and snorting it. All through out a loud knocking can be heard and his dog is barking non stop. He checks on the door and finds his friend, Chris, there, he excitedly invites him in but he's just there to comfort him about his girlfriend who recently broke up with him, while Ollie wanted to do drugs. Ollie plays her off, acting like she doesn't matter Chris sees right through this and tells him he need's to stop before walking away. Ollie is left in his house with a barking dog and after yelling at it to shut up, which it doesn't, he breaks down into tears.

    One of my biggest inspirations for this was the tv show, Breaking Bad, as I've been rewatching it lately. The character of Jesse Pinkman inspired Ollie greatly. These characters are very different but they have a similar struggle with drug addiction.

    

    I don't fully remember if I've mentioned this in any blog before but I wanted to use artificial sweetener for the coke, however Nina told me that flour looks way more accurate than coke. I have really dumb reason for wanting to originally use sweetener and it's because of the Starsky and Hutch movie. Not a great movie but there's a scene where Ben Stiller confuses coke with artificial sweetener and for some reason that inspired me to use cocaine for this, so thank that movie for this opening's existence.

Portfolio Project 9 Script

#9 Script

    I've written a few scripts before, I've at least started some and given up since the screenplay format is confusing so getting to do this felt somewhat refreshening. I wrote the script myself, even though the entire group threw around ideas and contributed equally:

I wrote it using screenarist, a free to use software that is really helpful for formatting things like this. I couldn't figure out how to download the script so I had to take screenshots. One issue that has been pressing me so far is the problem of length, the software has a built in estimate for the the video's length but it kept changing randomly and I don't really trust it. I do think we can make it within the 5 second grace period of 2 minutes and there are some stuff here that I think can be reasonably cut out. I think in the editing room this will all work out.

Portfolio Project 8 Film Theory

#8 Film Theory

    I like being critical of the media I consume, I don't write a review or massive three page essay on every movie I watch, but to some extent I like knowing that there is a reason why I like the art I like, and with that said I have come to realize that there are a lot of ways to judge art's quality. Media theories fascinate me since their focus is less on weighing if a movie has good cinematography or if its funny or what not but how it relates to society as a whole and how it effects the viewer. Theres a great video series by youtuber Lindsay Ellis where she discusses media theory in the Michael Bay Transformers movies because of how notably terrible they are, I'll link it here. I want to use Semantic Code, using signs or symbols that represent more than their literal self. In the Great Gatsby the glowing green light over the lake in Gatsby's backyard represents his longing for what's on the other side, which I won't say in the 1% chance you haven't read the Great Gatsby, but it also represents Gatsby being enticed and obsessed with it as it blinks 

 Gatsby knows that everything he wants is right in front of him and that its just calling him, being clear and bright as day, but he can't get to it as there is a lake covering his way there.

    In my opening I want to use the dog in a similar way, he will represent the main character being unable to do anything about his life that is only getting worse because of his own doing. His tiny little dog barks at him loudly and doesn't stop no matter what, all through out he sits there and doesn't do anything about this problem, acting like if it doesn't exist, but at his lowest point he finally snaps and yells at the dog, which does nothing and he cries and cries but doesn't bother to do anything. The dog being small shows his lack of power, a weak creature having this kind of control on him shows him as being weak and unable as he gets overpowered by this tiny little dog. The fact that dog barks loudly represents that he has issues that he is working through and can't seem to control.