HIT THE LIGHTS!

Hey y'all! In this blogpost I'm going to be talking about lighting!

Typical spell/seance scenes are portrayed in dark rooms with the candles serving as the main source of illumination. But, since we can't rely on the candles for the lighting (due to lack of professional+advanced equipment), we have to have another source of lighting. Which is why I asked my friend, Julia, who has a light projector, if we can borrow it for a few days. But I totally forgot she's in Paris all spring break, SO we had to figure something else out. Then I remembered I had a light projector, but mine has patterns on it so I just took the cap off and BOOM!

We've got our lighting down boys and girls,

happy witching hour!

I feel a witch in the room...

HAPPY SPRING BREAK WOO! I'm literally working all break (everyday no exaggeration, so that's fun!) Okay anyway, it is confirmed we are filming Monday afternoon. I'm think we're going to try to get most of filming done. If anything happens, we still have time to reshoot and fix things up before April 7th.

Now lets talk music. Finding music for this film opening is literally going to be the hardest thing EVER. I've made the executive decision and decided I am not going to look any longer on Killer Tracks, I searched different moods, genres, etc. for an hour and nothing! This is when Mrs. Stoklosa came in and recommended Purple Planet and the audio library on YouTube. I didn't look too in depth into these two but I can already tell they're a lot better, so I'll keep y'all updated on that.

My friend Carly let me borrow her witchcraft book! I was hoping it would look more authentic, made of leather, etc., but it's very cheesy looking and was literally bought at Hot Topic.

We're not going to use it, so I just ordered a leather book on amazon that looks more authentic (it's only $6 plus $6 shipping because we need it by Monday and has relatively decent reviews.)

Let's hope I'm not wasting my money...

Happy witching hour!

The editing begins

Hey y'all! Kaylin didn't go to school (yes again) so I was on my own yet again!

In class today I finally started putting the footage we got from last Saturday together! I think it's okay for now... when I first put it all together I wasn't too confident about it and honestly didn't like it. But, that could be because we haven't found the background music yet. I tightened up the editing a bit and now it looks a lot better actually! I feel like it'll get even better once we shoot the rest of it this upcoming week. Usually, I edit my AICE media studies projects on Final Cut Pro X, but a few months ago I got Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2018, so I'm using that to edit. I first learned how to edit on Premiere Pro (in my TV production class) and I think I'm more knowledgable with the program so it's better to use it.

We're filming more next week (Monday, I think), but I still have to confirm with Kaylin and Alexia! I'll keep y'all updated.

Happy witching hour!

UPDATE: I'm using Final Cut Pro now

So so lonely...

Hey y’all! Kaylin wasn’t in class today so I was all alone! But, I was texting her and she said that she can buy the candles tomorrow at target for the spell scene. I already discussed in a previous post that we're going to use pillar candles, but the ones in glass containers because those are significantly cheaper than ones that aren't (I'm not sure why).

I started editing the shot list we had already made together in class because we're still not exactly sure how to transition from her looking up the message on google translate to the scene where she tries to "summon" her boyfriend, Ben. I was thinking of doing a close up track shot of her shoes as she walks into the garage (the camera follows her into the garage), and we'd have the door close behind her and the screen go completely black. I'll discuss that more with Kaylin when I see her next.

Kaylin and I were planning to film this Saturday, but Alexia (our actress), is going to Tampa Thursday-Sunday so we have to postpone! I'm fine with that though because I'm not going out of town spring break next week and neither is Kaylin so we have the whole week. I'll keep ya updated!

Happy witching hour!

Kaylin broke her keys

HEY Y’ALL! Time to further discuss our first day filming!

We changed things up a bit from what we initially drew on the storyboard. Instead of having the girl frantically handing out missing posters, we had her put them on the windshields of random cars in the parking lot. This was because we realized the hassle of having to ask random people at Town Center at 11am if they can be in our film for school... we took the easy way, but it still looks good! Since we adjusted the events a bit, we had to think of other shots to use. We used 2 track shots within the first scene, but I was hesitant to do so because of the repetition but Kaylin told me that it'd actually reinforce the importance of what is being conveyed (the girl's boyfriend/friend is missing and she obviously cares since she's putting up so many missing posters), so I'm hoping that when we start editing, it'd turn out good.

To show a transition from Town Center to the girl’s house, we filmed her getting into her car and backing out of the parking spot. Since Alexia (our actress) doesn’t have a car, we used Kaylin’s moms car, but Alexia wasn’t totally sure how to put a key into the ignition and this SOMEHOW happened...

Kaylin fixed it it's okay (I think)

Other than that, I feel like our first day filming was successful! It was also really fun! I can't wait to film the rest of it within the next few weeks.

Happy Witching Hour! 

Alexia and I communicating to Kaylin on how we want to cue the scene

Group Discussions + Filming???

HEY Y'ALL! I was feeling sick yesterday so I didn't go to school and I missed the group discussion during class ughhhhh. I wanted to get input from others! But it's okay I still have a few more chances to do so. Kaylin told me that people in her group discussion were pitching title name ideas and they came up with: The Hunt, Scavenger, and Scavenger Hunt. I'm going to be very blunt. I absolutely dislike all of those. I still have no idea what I want the title to be, but not those. That sounds so aggressive but it's true. PERIOD.

I printed like 14 missing posters (we most definitely did not need that many) so rest in peace to the ink in my printer. First day of filming was today! I brought the posters, a stapler, our storyboard, my phone and my Contigo because you gotta stay hydrated!

Kaylin, Alexia(our actress), and I linked up at Town Center around 11:30-11:40am. We had a few issues with our first opening shot but fortunately, we solved them quickly. We planned on using a stapler to staple the missing poster to a tree, BUT, the staple I brought doesn't allow you to open up and actually staple... so we put tape on the back and just made it look like she stapled it.

Sneak Peek of our opening shot

I'm going to continue discussing our first day filming in another blogpost because I don't want this one to be too long! I'll post it tomorrow so stay tuned!

Happy Witching Hour!

Song of the Blog (I'm not going to start to copy Kaylin with her song of the blog thing but this song is too good not to share): If You Didn't See Me (Then You Weren't on the Dancefloor) by JR. JR.

HAVE YOU SEEN BEN?

HEY  Y’ALL! The intro is back now because I can’t think of another one. Today in class, I worked on the missing poster and actually finished most of it. It’s 11:05pm right now and I just officially completed it!

I'm missing I guess... also my photoshop skills are on point

When we were doing the storyboard a few days ago, Kaylin and I never reached the seance/spell scene (the ending of the film opening), so I decided to quickly make a shot list of the last scene! I thought that maybe we could use a few close up shots of the girl gathering candles, a lighter, and a picture of her boyfriend, but Kaylin thought it’d be better if we had all those items in the box already, and I agree with her. Kaylin also really wanted to burn the picture of the boyfriend during the spell, but typically when you see someone burning a picture during some sort of spell, it has a negative connotation (possibly foreshadowing a death). Which is when we both realized that, although we’re not creating the entire film, the plot could revolve around the woman being given an evil spell that actually does NOT work in her favor and how she deals with it.

ALSO WE’RE STARTING TO FILM THIS SATURDAY OH MY GODDDD! I can’t believe were actually doing this I’m worried but also excited. Kaylin and I are planning to meet up at town center at 11:30am on Saturday to film the first scene of the opening. I will keep y’all updated if anything changes.