That's a WRAP!!

FILMING DAY #2! Let's go. Yesterday went great, as did tonight!

Breaking it down:

    When Jack and I walked into Lucilles, the manager that we cleared the date with was not there. We were told she left early, which made me panic a bit. Luckily, the other manager there was SO nice. He cleared out an area for us and gave us space to film and even turned the music off for a clear sound in production.

    Jack and I were joined by Gianna for the music scene as well as 3 of our other friends- Mya, Gabbi, and Vicky. They were happy to join us to fulfill the role as onlookers for me and Jack's diner fight.

Vicky, Mya, and Gabbi being customers :)

    Filming went really smoothly. Since this scene of the film is simpler overall, yet more detailed per line, Jack and I got MULTIPLE takes of each line to make sure it's perfect. Jack and I pretty much switched off filming each other until our conversation lines were over and it was time to enter the screaming-match.

Jack filming me! I love this picture.

    As you can see, the set up and lighting are really nice for the diner vibe we are going for, which was just so perfect. Having an actual restaurant to film at is a 5-star game changer. 

Two-take wonder!

    We had one specific bit in this scene that could only be done in one take- the water splash. We practiced multiple times with an empty cup, but now it was time for the real deal. One take only. Here it is-

    Clearly, I missed. I guess if you aim at someones face, you hit their hair. So we had to dry off Jack and wait a bit. Lucky, you can barely tell his shirt and hair is damp because of the dim lightning in the restaurant. May I present to you, the winning clip, in which I aimed at his neck-

*  *  *

And after all of that madness, that's a wrap!!

Im so, so grateful everything went well. 

FILMING DAY 1

Today was the big day! Filming day #1: the much harder, more intricate part of the film to execute. I'm glad we're getting it out of the way first.

Time Frame

    Jack and I blocked out 3 hours to film everything. We told our cast to meet us at 4 and we would be done around 7. We planned 2 hours to film and 1 hour for wiggle room. To our surprise, we needed all 3 hours to almost the very last minute! 

The Process

    When everyone arrived we started with a read-through. A read-through is what we call it in theatre, but I believe in film it is referred to as a "table-read". Either way, we read through the script to clarify any questions and hone in on the specific intentions behind each line to make sure the acting execution was on point.

    After that, we started. We filmed chronologically, which will make it a lot easier for me post-production to sort through all 154 clips we took. 

    One of the hardest parts of the whole filming process was placing everybody. With such trained actors, I didn't have to worry much about building chemistry between characters or giving them much direction with lines. But, I did have to place them. I did so to not only make shots look visually appealing, with different depths and levels, but also fit their character's level of interest and quirks. 

One of the opening shots

    Here, Nicole is on her phone: uninterested. Ember is bored and unenthused: not loving the plan. Ben is strategizing: leader of it all. Christian is standing up: a simple way to show dominance and care. Joshua is throwing an orange in his hand: goofiest and most inattentive. Details like this are often overlooked, but it's what makes the film believable.  

    In addition to this beautiful wide shot of the whole group, we of course had to have shots of each character at many times to hone in on their emotions as individuals rather than a whole.

Behind-the-scenes of Jack shooting a mid shot of just Ember

    The funniest thing to film was Skyler's character, Humphrey, who constantly making the most digs and jokes that made us all laugh. Due to our laughs, we had to re-film a few times in order to get a serious take. I can't wait for everyone to see his spit-take clip, it's seriously amazing. We got it in two takes!

*   *   *

    After 3 long hours, filming was finally wrapped up! We finished at 6:56 which was perfect. Everyone went home satisfied with what we completed, and all full on the pizza we ordered for production purposes and also to feed our actors. 

Casting Update!

Adapt.

Overcome.

    That's my motto for anything film project related. Nothing goes exactly as plan. Ever. That's ok, as long as you plan for an unreliable plan.

    One of our actors, Connor Lirio, is unable to come to Wednesday's shooting. He took the wrong day off of work, which is frustrating as a director, but understandable as a human being. So, we're down a castmate. What do we do? Re-write the script? Remove his character? Push back filming? 

No.

None of that.

Meet Logan Handley, a good friend of me and Jack who is eager to help us out. 

Logan Handley

    He has never acted a day in his life, but i'm pretty confident he will actually do a great job. He was so quick to accept the offer and he already started memorizing his lines. 

    I would actually say this change went pretty smoothly, and were lucky to have a friend like Logan who is immediately there to help out.

Thanks, Logan. :)

Time to film.

A New Alternative

So. So. So.

Filming is next week. Im pumped. Jack's pumped. 

    As we go through our concepts and script over and over again to make sure we're all set for production, I noticed an obstacle that we can get around, but can easily be made simpler and possibly even more effective.

In the opening scene, the first thing Ember does once going inside the restaurant is selects a song on the Jukebox. 

Except, Lucille's doesn't have a jukebox. Jack and I have been planning to film a jukebox at a different location and through the power of editing, make it appear as if it was at Lucilles.

But what if... Hear me out...

Ember asks NICOLE, our character that's supposed to be the "inside man", to play a song. That way, we avoid the lack of jukebox, and we add an extra element of the team working together to formulate the pre-heist distraction. 

I already asked Gianna (who plays Nicole) if she could make it the night we are filming the diner scene and she said yes! So, it's set. 

Change is good.

Script Finalization

HEY!

Sorry for the more enthusiastic introduction than usual, i'm just so excited because...

THE SCRIPT IS FINALLY DONE!!!

I'm so happy with it. Jack and I crafted it to the very last detail. Jack and I actually met up outside of class to finish it as we wanted as much time as we needed to seal the deal.

Jack and I outside the classroom, workin' away

So, without further ado... Here she is!

Well, kinda. The script is 10 pages long so i'm not gonna include it all, but here's some never before seen pages!

I love it. I love the tense dynamic between Ben and Ember along with the comedic dynamic between Humphrey and Joshua in other parts of the script.

Now... to actually film it.

Access Granted

    Lucille's has been me and Jack's planned location for the diner scene since the beginning. One of our friends in the cast works there, and I used to work there, so it shouldn't be a problem getting permission. 

    I finally texted my old manager today and officially cleared the date intended to film at the diner!

My initial text to my old manager

The response!! 

So, its official! Both locations are secured. Lucilles is allowed, and the other is Jack's house. So obviously we're allowed.

Schedule Drop!

     It's getting real everybody... We are filming next week. Jack and I have made sure our entire cast is available on the day we picked to film the plan scene. Everyone can come, so we are cleared and ready to start planning everything we need for filming day. 

Here is our schedule-

The 29th is the date we are filming the plan scene with our whole cast at Jack's house.

The 30th is when just Jack and I are filming the scene at the diner. 

    Even though we are getting a late start on filming, I'm confident everything will work out. Our editing involves minimal effects, so I think that will be finalized in the week following. So for now, just focusing on the filming schedule is the main idea.

    Jack and I split up the script (which is so close to being finalized) into these two main filming days for a smoother process. We call it and have been referencing to it as the "Diner scene" and the "Plan scene". 

I'm a bit nervous, but mostly excited.

We got this.

Let's hope everything goes smoothly. 

All about FONT

   Fonts play an essential role in portraying the mood and genre of a film by conveying specific emotions and characteristics through their design. Different fonts can evoke different emotions, such as elegance, suspense, excitement, or fear, and they can also reflect the film's genre, whether it is a romantic comedy, horror, drama, or action.

    For example, a serif font like the classic and fan-favorite Times New Roman  can convey a sense of tradition, sophistication, or formality, which would be appropriate for a period drama or a historical film. In contrast, a handwritten or script font can suggest a personal and intimate tone, such as in a romantic movie.

    Further than just font-selection, the size, color, and placement of the text can also influence the audience's perception of the film. For instance, a bold and large font can create a dramatic effect and indicate an important message or event. A small and light font can suggest a subtle or delicate mood. The color of the font can also express emotions, with warm colors like red and orange conveying passion or danger, and cool colors like blue and green creating a sense of calm or mystery. The color and size will be stressed once we place our font on our components. For now, let's dive into the selection.    

    - - -

    For this specific project, font is an element that stays consistent throughout the title screen, promotion, and publicity campaign. Since our piece involves such a large and hidden genre swap, finding the right font is even more crucial. 

    To embody both romance and heist, we thought a font that appears bold and professional would do the trick. That way, it can be interpreted as sleek and classy (leaning towards romance), and also intense and demanding (portraying drama and heist).

"Absender" on DaFont.com

"HUN-din 1451" on DaFont.com

These are two solid options I found that are great candidates for our piece.

What do you think? :)

P.S. -

Official title reveal!! 

Costuming

    As filming approaches, I am beginning to think about the details that often go unnoticed but are crucial to make our story believable. Costumes are a crucial aspect in filmmaking to properly portray time period, age, style, mood, etc. 

    The costuming for this piece will be simple as we are dressing teenagers to live in our current generation. The people we are dressing are teenagers living in our current generation, so half of the battle is pretty much done. My vision for costumes is simple- I want to instruct our cast to wear something casual, but not distracting. I want to keep it to mainly solid colors and possibly non-busy patterns. 

    Best of all, our cast are people who act in real life. They understand what it is to dress as a character, so Jack and I are going to give them some lee way with their costume choices. 

Some general inspiration for the cast:

 

The More Specific:

    The more prevalent costumes in this piece come from the opening scene in the diner. I’m going to have Ember and Ben dressed in something a bit more fancy, building the viewer’s belief that this was a nice, planned outing. 

    I was thinking red for Ember. Red can portray passion: wether it be in romance or rage. For her, this duality works perfectly. 

A simple, yet elegant red dress for Ember

    For Ben, something more cool-toned but still dressed up would work. Possibly a blue dress shirt. Blue is less intense than red, making for a good contrast between him and Ember, the clearly more fierce one. 

Ben's look. Way less intense, keeping it classy.

Besides those two, the costuming vision remains easy and simple for everyone else. Thank goodness.

Equipment

     On the topic of technical equipment for shooting this short film, Jack and I are keeping it pretty simple. We will be using my camera to shoot, which is a pretty standard DSLR camera I've used for many projects in the past. We will also, of course, be using a tripod to assist with keeping the camera stable and helping the final product to look more professionally put together. 

My camera and tripod.. and me

    Something also very useful about my camera is that it's not super advanced. It's a pretty basic picture/video camera with minimal function and a screen to see what you are shooting. This is helpful as there are sometimes throughout this process that Jack and I are not gonna be the ones behind the camera and we will have a friend help out in shooting some shots. It's minimal, but when that is needed, my camera is easy to adapt to.

What you would see if you were behind the camera

    Just before I go, I thought i'd share the quality were looking at for my camera. Simple, but definitely does the job. Funny enough, all 3 people in this frame are casted in my project. 

Shot by yours truly

From left to right, that's Gianna, Connor, and Skyler (Nicole, Christian, Humphrey). 

Not bad, right? :)

Lighting

Dropping some lighting knowledge...

    Lighting is one of the most important elements in creating a mood in a short film. It can set the tone, create depth, and evoke emotion in the viewer. Lighting choices can help to create a specific mood, such as suspense, romance, or drama, and can also highlight specific elements in a scene, such as a character's face or a particular object.

     For example, low-key lighting with strong contrasts between light and shadow can create a sense of mystery, while high-key lighting with even, diffused light can create a sense of optimism or innocence. The color of the light can also have an impact on the mood, with warm colors like orange and yellow evoking feelings of warmth and comfort, and cool colors like blue and green creating a sense of calmness or sadness.

     In addition to setting the mood, lighting can also help to convey information to the viewer, such as the time of day or the location of a scene. For example, natural daylight or warm artificial light can suggest a daytime scene, while cool blue light or harsh fluorescent light can suggest a nighttime or industrial setting.

My film choices...

    Using low-key warm lighting (naturally provided by the restaurant we are filming at) for our opening diner scene can create a sense of tension and even sparks of romance while still pushing the comforting aura of a diner. In addition, the low-key lighting with strong contrasts between light and shadow can create a sense of tension, suggesting that something may be brewing beneath the surface.

    The contrast between the warm colors and the low-key lighting can also create a sense of intimacy between characters, emphasizing the sparks of romance that may be present. This lighting choice can help to create a sense of anticipation and excitement in the viewer, drawing them in and making them curious about what might happen next.

    For the "plan scene," where the mood is more set by dialogue rather than lighting aspects, using high key lighting can help to portray focus. High-key lighting with even, diffused light can create a sense of optimism or innocence, which is fitting for a scene where characters are discussing a plan of action. By using this lighting, the focus can be on the dialogue and the actions of the characters as well, as this is where we see out characters play out on their true intentions.

My current to-do list:

• LIGHTS :      done!
• CAMERA :   up next...
• ACTION :     eventually!

Music Music Music

    Our concept for music in the film is a main set-up of our genre fake-out. Amber selects a romantic tune on the jukebox which sets the scene for her to have an outburst against her apparent past-lover. 

    The song I envisioned when planning out this scene was "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" by Frankie Valli because of its sweet feeling, but rising beat in it's chorus. Due to its popularity and ownership, usage of this song wouldn't be legal for this piece, but I can use it's basis to find something else I like. 

    I thought of finding public domain romance songs, but I then settled on the idea of using an instrumental for an easier watch to display a hectic conversation over a lovely strung together set of acoustics. 

    Last year when searching for music, I found an amazing royalty-free music website called Uppbeat.

    It has thousands of music choices for every genre and occasion. So all i'll need is a couple of hours to spend recklessly on Uppbeat until I find the right track. 

* BLOG POST INTERMISSION WHILE I SEARCH. And search. And search... and... *

MUSIC BATTLE! 

After a long search, I have found two tracks I like. Here are the links to both-

1. "Vintage Vibrations"

2. "Slowtown"

I'll finalize music before filming and update the blog when I pick. :)

Print Component Research

     In class this Wednesday, we learned about the last component of our project: the print component. For short film, Jack and I have to create a postcard that we would hypothetically hand out at festivals. Mrs. Stoklosa showed many examples and taught us about conventions of the typical postcard. I've started formulating ideas for my own, but I need to hold off until filming to gather pictures from our shots to base our postcard off of. That way, we gain the most consistent look between our film and postcard.

In the mean time, I researched other examples in order to analyze and draw inspiration for my own piece.

Research examples:

     In this film postcard, the subjects are placed on the left third. Not only does this leave room for text on the right side, but creates a more appealing view to the eye. The main titles, the film title and the main credit, are in red. This draws emphasis on these pieces of information and also sets up some aspects of color theory. The color red could be used to portray the film's genre, which appears to be a horror or drama. There is also a tagline displayed under the title, giving the consumer a hint to the content of the movie. I wasn't positive of the genre from the red text alone, but the word "haunt" in the tagline is another hint towards horror.

     This postcard has inspired me to settle on 1 color for the main text, our title, and keep a simple color for the less important text. I think this concept looks really put together on this post card. Also, I hadn't even thought of a tagline prior, but I think it's what brings this postcard together. So, I will be s sure to come up with and include a tagline on my postcard.

     In this postcard, the darkness of the background is the biggest factor. It displays drama and disconnect between the subjects shown. The shadows also serve the same dulled-relationship feeling. The mature font also does a nice job to portray a more serious film. I like how the title is below the film credit rather than above. It probably means the filmmaker is well-known. Then, the awards displayed in the middle serve as a nice way to give the film proper praise insight to first time viewers. 

     The disconnect shown by the two characters is what inspires me the most here. I think the placement is really well done and I want to try to accomplish a similar feeling in my post card. I think this placement rather than off to one third of the frame is best for my genre.

Script: Thinking Deeper

     As Jack and I continue to develop our script, I try to stress the importance of intention behind all dialogue. With this, we continue to build a shaky dynamic between Ember and Ben in order to make the angst portrayed in the diner scene fall into place. 

    Were writing this piece backwards- with the diner scene being completed first and the planning to follow for best control of how and why our characters should interact with each other.

    Take this extract, for example. This is where we first introduce a conflict between Ember and Ben. Ember thinks the plan is unrealistic and Ben can't find a reason she's even there. There are a few details within this scene that took extra thought to emphasize the most realistic aspects of our piece:

• Ember has the stage direction "Not afraid".  Most characters at this planned meet-up see Ben as above them and as leader, she doesn't. She's not even in the group, how would she know who is "alpha"?
• Ben's instant defense builds his character as stubborn and weak. His "I'm sorry?" shows he's going in with motive first and brains second. He doesn't know it yet, but Ember is the only reason the plan has a possibility to be successful.
• The stage direction "He pauses and looks around the table" is also an indicator of Ben's weakness. He makes a bold move and instantly searches for approval. Do other's give into this?

    As we continue to develop the script, we understand the value of the detail- even within stage direction. Character intention is specifically important in a scene like this: introducing everyone's relationship with each other, their role in the heist, and how they feel about the heist. It's a lot to keep track of, so every line has to be full of intention- even if it feels like its "filler". 

Filming Locations

 There are two locations our film takes place in. Here are our plans for both:

1. THE DINER

• Gianna, who plays Nicole in our cast works at a diner called Lucille's. Yes, in real life. I no longer work there, but I used to work there for about 7 months over a year ago. So, with Gianna's current employment and my connections there, we are pretty much cleared to use Lucilles as a filming location for the diner scene of our film. It has a retro-family style feeling which works well to not only set a nice scene for somewhere that would have a jukebox, but a nice cafe that would have a nice vibe to disrupt via distraction.

An inside view of Lucille's.

2. THE PLAN MEET SPOT

• This location is not hard to pick. It is a typical teenager meet spot, hosted by Jack's character. Since it just works out, we will most likely be using Jack's actual house for filming. It's lit well due to it's window placement, and it's a pretty open space. I like the open space aspect to show how the people involved aren't really super enthused to be there. They were just gathered. Some can be sitting but the open space give them room to move around. 

Jack's home

Still Scriptin'

     As Jack and I continue to develop all sides of this project, we are constantly nailing away at our script. It has some really nice progress to it- we have almost finished the heist scene entirely. 

Here is the first bit of the scene:

    There are little details within this snippet that are very important to me. For example, Ember and Ben are the first to speak in the scene. This works to continue portraying them as a pair when in reality, they aren't.

We hope to finalize the script this upcoming week. Updates to come :)

Meet The Cast

I think it's about time I introduce you to me and Jack's best friends and very talented actors who will be joining us in the production of our short film.

Meet Skyler. He is playing the role of Humphrey, the backup in the Heist. He only knows Christian, so he's pretty cold to everyone else, especially Joshua. He's a bit too selfish about needing money, so he will do whatever it takes. 

Next up, meet Adrian. He is playing the role of Joshua, Ben's best friend who wants a cut of the money. He brings Ember along to the plan. He's pretty nervous about the whole ordeal and is very easy to pick on. 

This is Connor. He is playing the role of Christian, who is the brawn of the operation. He’s doing all the dirty work in the heist. He is tough and ready for anything. He brings along Humphrey as backup. Doesn't seem like he has much to lose, he just needs some cash. 

Now for Gianna. Gianna is playing the role of Nicole, who is the 'in" for the heist. She is currently employed at the diner and is past coworkers with Jack, so she got strung along. She's in on the idea as she doesn't get paid much now. She's calm and logical and backs up Ember a few times. 

This is my project partner, Jack, who is playing the role of Ben. Ben is the leader of the plan. The diner fired him, so he gets the group together to rob it. He's pretty cold and unlikable, he simply means business. He gets in a scuffle with Ember for being useless and constantly shooting down his vision.

Lastly, this is me! I'm Keira and i'm going to be playing the role of Ember, who is strung along by Joshua to the planning. She isn't into it at all and interjects that the plan is unrealistic. She is deemed useless by Jack for shooting ideas down and eventually gets angry enough to show him up and become the lead distractor.

Title battle + Social media!

Hey, blog!

Happy week #3.

First things first, Jack and I have decided two titles to choose between.

Option #1: TILT- It's short. It's clean. It's cool. To "go on tilt" means to gamble recklessly and aggressively after a bad or improbable beat. This parallels to the utter recklessness of planning a heist after the bad beat of getting let go from a job, like our main character. 

Option #2: TAKE OUT- Also clean and short. Different meaning. Takeout could reference food from the restaurant that you see originally and also play as a double meaning to be taking-out funds from it (stealing).

* We decided we are going to finalize a title a bit later on after our script is finished in order to capture the complete essence the best.  

. . .

In the mean time, we have created a social media account for our short film! The username is obviously tentative due to our title battle, but the point is that the account is in existence! 

It's not done-up or anything yet, but we will start posting on it week by week as soon as we start production. We are going to post things like:

• Trailers and teasers
• Consumer surveys
• Behind-the-scenes
• In-the-making-of shorts
• Where to find the film
• Pretty promotion pictures (consistent fonts & colors, of course)

    This social media account will be a key factor for our film to connect to our target audience: young adults. Instagram is a popular platform for promotion and happens to be the perfect platform for our TA as opposed to Facebook which has an older target audience, and TikTok which leans more towards an informal posting style. 

    We will also follow similar accounts such as other short films or film companies such as A24, a popular independent company that has a similar target audience, and Smokehouse Pictures, the company behind Oceans 8, a popular heist-style movie that I previously studied. Also, we followed similar student-produced short films.

Some accounts we follow: