Final Blog Post of the Portfolio

Film Opening:

https://youtu.be/cuU4tNFOsKg

1st CCR:

https://youtu.be/XaxULIriAKo

2nd CCR:

https://youtu.be/T5R65pvadto

Final Reflection

 This is the last day of the project and I am really excited to see how it goes. We have been working on this for almost eight weeks and I have put a lot of effort in this portfolio, so I don't want it to do bad but I have to say it's been very fun to get the recordings, edit, plan and basically create my own media piece.

I really enjoyed filming this, because this class has taught me a lot of techniques that I was able to use for the opening, giving me results I would have never expected from me.  

I liked the editing part, even though I feel that my editing isn't very good since I don't have a lot of experience, but at least, I am gaining some with this opening.

Another part of the project I liked, was the blogs. I think that the blogs were very useful to keep track of things and to make us think for ideas like a name for the opening or the genre we want to do it about. Although I think, this characteristic of the project was very useful, I would have liked that we had at least a limit of two blogs per day and not only one.

CCR Post Production

 For the editing part of my CCRs, it was the most important thing but it wasn't too difficult. I used Adobe Premiere and I put the recordings and the pictures I used in a video and for the audio, I used my phone to record myself the talking part and then put it over the.

To present the questions in the videos, I used "Canva" to make a flyer with the question. I tried to not use a complex background and use a simple and legible font type but at the same time, I didn't want it to be ugly or boring.

CCR Production

 This is the last week of the portfolio project and I am feeling good with the results, and I really enjoyed the journey. For this week I am alos finishing the CCR's because my goal is to have everything ready by friday. 

Yesterday I recorded halfway of the first video where I answered the question and today I wasn't able to get any scenes. The recording went well and wasn't too hard but I still haven't come with an idea on how to present or ask the question, so I can answer it.

3rd CCR Question

 The third question to be answered for the Creative Critical Reflection or CCR is "How did your production skills develop through this project?"

To answer this question, I want to record a video of me explaining like a story or anecdote sitting down with a not boring background but that doesn't catch the attention and using pictures from past projects, the improvement of my production skills with this project.

For this question, I'm going to compare things or skills before and after the production of opening. For example I will talk about lighting, planning, costume design and more skills. To compare I also will use pictures from past projects and pictures for this project to compare certain skills.

In this picture from a project from earlier this year, it is recognizable that there weren't too much effort in the costume design, as I only used daily clothes and the backpack I use to go to school.

But in this picture from the opening, The costume was picked more wisely. For example, I used a white tee to highlight the sweat.

2nd CCR Question

The second question for the CCR is: How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as areal media text? For this question, I was thinking about answering in the same video where I'll answer the first CCR question. 

For the first video, I don't want to show my face and instead I will use pictures and short recordings to show examples of what I am talking about in the video. 

To answer this question, I want to break it up in two parts; The part where I talk about the target audience and the one where I talk about how it could be distributed. 

My opening engages with the audiences by making them feel nervous and anxious through elevating music, blind spots and the confusion of the character. The target audience for this film is people that like watching horror movies of the ages from 15 to 25 and that are into films that don't give away a lot of answers.

If it was a real piece of media, it would be distributed by a film distribution company on cinemas for the first months of its release and then it would be available on streaming services like Amazon Prime or Apple TV and more.

2nd Group Meeting

 In today's class, we got into groups separated from our project group to check if the links to our blogs were working correctly and to tell our group about our project (mainly about the opening) so we could make suggestions to each other in things we didn't know how to approach or improve.

My group consisted of 5 members: Keyla Seona, Bella Montanari, Benjamin Marchan, Will Cullen and me. 

Keyla's opening is about a high class girl in the 1950's that witnessed her twin sister's suicide and we see how it starts affecting her. She wants to use high key lighting and vibrant colors to not make it so depressive but to build up the psychological twist.

Bella's opening is a gore about a woman who has a record of murdering men on dates in her house and how he kills one in the very opening. She will use lowkey lighting and creepy, eerie music to set off the watchers.

Benjamin's opening is a sports drama about two football players routines shown parallel. He thinking about doing a montage between their morning routine and their traning on and off the field.

Lastly Will's opening is also about sports but his opening is a sports comedy about a guy that works at a golf course arriving to work late, where his boss starts talking down on him and where she meets a girl who he falls in love with. He wants to use high key lighting and use golf scenes for the credits.

1st CCR Question

 In this week we are finishing our projects, so we are starting our CCR's. In this post I want to think about how can I break down the first question.

For the part of the conventions, I could mention how in a suspense movie the lighting is poor and in a cold tone, how it cuts into different angles and shots for a scene or how it builds tension with the sound.

For social issues I could definetely talk about how in the world from nowadays, unfortunate events like the kidnapping from the opening happen oftenly. The kidnapped character, could represent the social groups of people who has been the victim of crimes like kidnapping, human trafficking, etc.

Post-Production 2

 Today I started editing the scene where the kidnapped guy is already outside of the house. There is one picture that I took for the recording and I like how it ended up after editing because it gives a good example of the tone that I'm looking for.

This is the picture after the editing and I think it looks good and useful for the opening, but in my opinion it{s a little too bright and it would be better with a cooler tone.

This is the picture after editing and I like it way more than before because it is more visible than before and the editing helps to highlight the light post, which is the center of attention in the shot.

Post-Production 1

Last week we focused on the recording, so this one, with my partner, we started the editing to start putting those details that make the piece just better.

First, we focused on the lighting, which is very important for setting the mood, especially for a suspense film. We made the lighting a little bit more poor to build up on the confusion of the character.

This is the picture before making it some touches and as you can see, the light is kind of warm which doesn't compliment the scene.

This is the same picture as before but with some touches. And as you can see the changes are the lighting and the warmth. It helps a lot to set the tone and create mystery.

Fourth Production Post

 Today I recorded some scenes that I wanted to get again because I didn't really like the first time I got them, so here they are.

This is the close up of the kidnapped's guy face, where he wakes up. I recorded this again because I didn't like my acting and because the background lighting was off.

In this shot, the character realizes his hands are tied by trying to move them but being unable. I wanted to get this shot again because in the first one not only I saw that I didn't move my hands a lot and it looked like I was just shaking them a bit. And the other problem is that I recorded it vertical instead of horizontal, so I still had to get this scene again.

Third Production Post

 Today I recorded the missing scenes I had left from yesterday and they went pretty well. I didn't have any problems, aside for some takes that I finding a good source of light was difficult. 

This is my main door, where the kidnapped guy escapes and to the street and starts running away.

This is one of the takes I took of the street where the main character passess running.

In today's recording, I got the two last scenes, where the main character finds the exit to the kidnapper's house and where he runs away from it. these are important scenes for the opening since they help to build the genre because in they help build anxiety since you don't know if something like a jumpscare, will happen. 

Second Production Post

 Today I was able to record almost everything of the opening, though I will record the last scene and some shots in case the ones from today are wrong or shorter than I need. In this post I’ll be over some important scenes and details. 

This is the make up I did for the shots that had my face involved.

This is the first shot of the opening. Here the character wakes up and he finds himself somewhere he doesn’t know tied to a chair.

The first problem I had recording, was that I didn’t know what to use to tie my hands and feet to the chair but I got some short ropes that did the job.