Creative Critical Reflection

Question 1

Question 2

Question 3

 

Question 4

 

Final Product

 

Different Worlds

Joseph Araujo and Tejal Donkor

Editing: Text and text color.

 Hi welcome back to my blog. We are now rapping up editing so let's get right into it.

We finished all the line editing, coloring, and sound editing so today we are just adding the text and then we'll be finished!

Text color

After researching and looking through multiple different colors we decided to go with yellow. This is because Yellow is a font color that is pretty popular in drama films. especially smaller studios and more independent sources like the kinds that are promoted by A24. The color also looks really nice with the scenes and fits the vibe really well.

Text Font

We chose the specific font because t was aesthetically pleasing and it fit the blend of formal and casual. It seemed like a good middle ground for the film and also matched the scenes like the color. We used the text for credits in the beginning which can be found in drama and romance films, and since the scenes were Jessi and Jackson getting ready, it fit to have credits in the beginning.

Well that concludes my editing! It was a great experience and I learned a lot. From different sounds, to different cuts and different music, I feel like I gained a lot of knowledge for whenever I need to edit in the future. Thank you so much for being with me on this journey!

editing: Sound and coloring

 Hi welcome back to the blog! Still editing so let's get into it.

Today we finally finished line editing. This means that we put all the clips in order on the timeline and made the cuts we needed to. Now all we have to do is choose background music and color.

For the background music we wanted to go with something upbeat and that fits the vibe of getting ready. In order to find this we went onto epidemic sounds. Epidemic sounds is a website that has many different sound effects and multiple genres of background music. After scrolling through the pop section we finally found the right one. It was perfect and matched the vibe perfectly.

The green represents the the audio of the clip that we added. Here is a recording of the music. 

For coloring, we just wanted to brighten up the clips since the original ones were very flat. For this we went to the lumetri scopes coloring panel and played around with different settings for whatever looked best. In the end the coloring was still a little dark but we did the best we could

Editing went really well today and it was fun to pick out music that matched our theme and genre. Thank you so much for reading, see you in the next blog post!

Production: editing

 Still editing the film so let's get into it!

One of the coolest parts of this film, is getting to edit and create the different transitions. We started with the mirror transition. This is where Jessi and Jackson are both getting ready and the camera goes behind Jessi's head and comes out of Jackson's head. In order to make it smooth, we had to scale in Jessi's shot so that it could look similar to Jackson's. To do this we had to add a key frame and increase the scale as the shot progresses.

This caused the to be pulled in a little bit during the scene, but I actually like the effect it added. It made the whole transition a lot smoother too.

The next transition we worked on, was the closet transition. This is when Jackson goes to his closet to pick out his clothes and as he is about to split open his clothes, the shot cuts to behind Jessi's clothes as she splits them open. This scene was a lot easier to work with. We just had to align them up and cut it so that it was smooth. We also kept the audio of Jessi opening the clothes so that you could hear the hangers sliding on the rack.

It was another really successful editing day. Editing the transition scenes taught me a lot about cutting and also how to scale in a scene. Thank you so much for reading, see you in the next blog!

 

Production: Editing

Hi and welcome back to my blog! Today I will be talking more about editing so let's get into it.

Today we wanted to focus on the drama part of the film. This meant the parts where Jackson read the note on the fridge and where Jessi wrote a note to her grandma. The two scenes have great significance for the opening. This is because since it is only the opening of a film, conveying that sense of drama is important and can sometimes be difficult to do. With the two scenes, it adds to that dramatic feeling while also getting the audience to recognize the characters troubles they face and sympathize with them.

When editing, we wanted to put the scenes close in time in order to create a parallel between two worlds.  We decided to put Jackson's part before Jessi's, We went with the handheld tracking shot that I took as he walks out of his bedroom and to his fridge. The camera follows him and then his had as he reaches for the note on the door. We decided to keep the audio for the clip even though there would be music over it so that it could add depth and make the scene more realistic.

You can see here that the coloring of this scene is pretty cool. This emphasizes the drama in this situation and also adds to the cool emotion of the Jackson in this scene.

For Jessi's scene, we use multiple cuts of different shots creating a sort of back and forth. This adds stress as her situation is pretty stressful since she has to take care of her mom all by herself.

Today was another pretty successful editing day! We got a lot done and were able to put an emphasis on the drama. Thank you so much for reading see you next time!

Production: editing

Hi welcome back to my blog! We started editing the film and so far it's coming along really well. We have a lot to talk about so lets get started. 

We already had a specific format in mind for the movie trailer cause of the storyboard and shot list so what we really had to do was line up the shots in order and smooth over transitions and audio.

This is what the format looked like on premiere pro. We added a few clips to the timeline to see how they would look. The different lines on the timeline represent different layers. The layers make it easier to edit when one full clip has to be used in multiple different shots. Layering is also really good for audio as well if multiple sounds will be used on top of each other.

Before we started editing we played around with a bunch of the panels and stuff. There were a lot of cool tools and things that we needed to look through so that we could understand where to go for specific effects.

In the effect controls panels, there were many options for a lot of different things. Almost any type of effect you wanted to add to a clip you could find here. There were different clips that we wanted to scale in, so it was helpful to know here we can do that. We also found the coloring panel.

The coloring panel is actually a lot easier to work with than you would think. Everything is pretty straightforward. They have different scales for general things that you would find on your phone. But they also have a color gradient for tints and color correction.

We were able to get a good amount of clips on the panel today which was good. I feel like we made pretty good progress and learned a lot! Thank you so much for reading. See you next time!

                                        

Production: First day of filming!

Welcome back to my blog! I have very exciting news! We finally started filming! We learned a lot and there were a lot of exciting things so let's get into it!

Cinematography 

One of the really cool parts of filming was learning different techniques to get different shots. Getting the transition shots that we had planned to have, turned out to be a lot more difficult than we thought it would be. For the transition shots in the mirror we learned that in real films and movies, it's often a fake mirror with a stunt double.  Here you can see an example of a fake mirror being used in a movie. Knowing this we ran into quite the predicament, how to get the shot without the camera being seen in the mirror? Surprisingly, we were able to get it. I had Joseph stand to the side of the mirror where the camera isn't in the view. Then he tilted the camera to the side to go behind my head. I stood close enough to the camera in order to make sure that when the camera went behind my head, it didn't have enough room to be caught in the mirror. We did the same thing for Alejandro's shot. For the closet shot, we wanted to put the camera behind the hanging clothes so that I could split open the clothes and reveal myself.. The trouble we faced here was getting the shot to focus on me after opening the clothes. Luckily we figured we could just put it on auto focus which worked really well.

Changes

We had to make multiple changes to the script when we were filming. Of course, when it comes to tv production nothing ever goes as planned and that was definitely the case for us. We had to cut the whole scene of where Jessi and Jackson meet. This was because of scheduling and time. When we were filming our actor for Jackson had to leave early and there was no other day for us to film. so we could only get all the clips of both of them getting ready. We also realized that them getting ready and them meeting would of added to much time to the opening. I think this is ok though because it still looks like a movie opening and as the audience you cant still tell that the two of them are going to meet each other

Success

I was a little worried about conveying the message of the struggles both characters face, but we were able to show it really well. For Jessi, we were able to get her and her grandma, which showed the situation she was in. And for Jackson, through his facial expressions and actions toward the note he found on the fridge, we were able to show his struggles to.

Over all filming went pretty good, of course there were some mishaps but it all worked out in the end. I cant wait to start editing! Thank you so much for reading, see you next time!

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Planning: Change of plans!

Hi welcome back! Due to an unfortunate series of events, we had to make changes to our script so that's what Ill be doing today. Let's get started!

Background

So we realized that we couldn't film at school because of scheduling. One of our main actors isn't free to film in the mornings before school so we have to switch to whole school scene. For this I think we can maybe have them run into each other on the way to school rather then at school. They could both have to walk since they can't drive or don't have a ride. Something like that.

Deciding

I think instead of having them meet on the way to school, they could meet at an outdoor mall. This is because it won't really make sense if they're meeting on the way to school but the audience can't see the school. If they're both on the way to a mall or something like that it would make more sense.

How the scene will happen.

Since they'll be meeting at a mall, Jessi won't really be carrying any books or anything like that. So instead of her dropping books and her having to pick them up, she could be getting coffee and then turn around and he bumps into her spilling the coffee on herself. He tries to clean it up for her and then she gets annoyed and says it's fine then walks off.

Final

I really like the new idea we came up with. I think it'll work better and I'm excited to try out this new scene. Re-writing the script taught me that sometimes things don't workout in your favor so you have to work around it however you can. Thank you so much for reading see you in the next one!

Here's an example of the meet cute I was talking about!

Planning: Characters

Hello and welcome back! In the last few blog posts I talked about my shot list and storyboard helping me to visualize the film opening and plan out everything in order. Today I will be taking a deeper dive into my characters, looking at how they act and their backgrounds. Let's get started!

Jessi

I want to start off with Jessi because I'll be playing her character. Jessi comes from a less fortunate background then Jackson does. Both of her parents passed away in a car accident when she was sick so she lives with her grandma. Her grandmother though, is sick. So, with the cost of medical bills and everything else, she has to work while also being in school and doesn't really have time to make or have friends. She is very quite and to herself and is only focused on helping her grandmother. She also tries her best in school because she wants to get into UCLA which is her dream school. She has wanted to go there since she was little since both her parents went there. Jessi has a very noticeable look to her. She wears dramatic makeup and very dramatic clothing because that's how she expresses herself. A lot of people at school judge her for her look which is another reason she is so quite and doesn't have many friends.

Jackson

Jackson is kind of the opposite of Jessi on the outside but when you dive deeper into who he is as a person, he is also kind of quite as well. He hangs out with the 'popular group" at his school. He comes from a family of esteemed lawyers, so he is very well off. His parents aren't very involved in his life because they're always working, but his dad has his whole life planned out for him regarding which school he'll go to (Columbia) and that he'll be a lawyer when he's older. Jackson doesn't want to be a lawyer or go to Columbia, so this causes a lot of tension between him and his father. He doesn't show it, but the fact that his parents are so absent bothers him a lot. He feels very lonely and even though he seems to have so many friends he doesn't really connect with anyone on a deep level. He is very soft and kind and wouldn't hurt a fly but his friends don't know this because he puts on an act. He dresses like every other rich kid, his appearance isn't really that important.

Even though these backgrounds may seem useless since we are only filming the opening of a film, I think it is very important to have these backstories so that the actors can know how they would act and who they really are. Creating a backstory for both characters even helped me better understand how I want each actor to act. Well that's all I have for today! Thank you so much for reading, see you in the next post!

Planning: Shot List and Storyboard PT 2

 Hey, welcome guys, welcome back to my blog! In my last post I made my shot list which allowed me to know exactly how I want the scenes played out. Today I will be making my storyboard which includes visuals of what each shot should look like. Making the shot list definitely will make this experience easier since I already have the basic rundown of how everything will go. Let's get started!

Shot List Examples

First I looked at some examples online just to make sure I know what they're supposed to look like. Here's what I found.

Now that I know what storyboards are supposed to look like I can finally start making my story board. I'm deciding to do it on paper and draw it out because I feel like that would be easier.

 

Here are some pics of part of my story board

Making the story board was really helpful since I got to put my ideas into a visual on paper. That's all I have for today. See you in the next blog!

Planning: Story Board/ Shot List

 Hey guys! Welcome back to my blog. Today I will be discussing my story board and shot list for the film. These two things are very important to ensure that everything goes well when filming and that everything is organized so let's get started!

Shot List

I want to start off with the shot list because the storyboard is basically the shot list, just with visuals. I honestly never write shot lists for the films I work on but I think a shot list for this film would be important especially for the match cut scene in the beginning.

Scene 1

Opening shot: Push in wide pov shot of looking through the bathroom of Jessi getting ready for school

Cut to: Over the shoulder mid shot on the right, of the mirror showing Jessi applying her make up.

Transition: Pan shot of the camera moving to the left going behind Jessi's head transitioning in to the back of Jackson's head continuing the pan until you see and over the shoulder mid shot looking in to Jackson's mirror.

Cut to: Static mid shot of Jackson fixing his hair in the mirror. He then turns around to open the door

Cut: Close up shot of Jackson's hand on the door handle opening the door

Cut to: Handheld tracking shot of Jessi opening the door of her bathroom, entering her bedroom.

Cut to: Static mid shot of her entering her closet facing the front of her. She reaches over the camera and grabs a shirt then turns around and walks to her bed.

Cut to: Pan of Jessi throwing her shirt on the bed facing the front of her.

Transition: Match cut to a static shot mid shot of Jackson's shirt landing on his bed.

Cut to: Mid shot of Jackson putting on his shirt and opening the door to leave his room.

Transition: Static mid shot of Jessi opening the door to leave her room.

Cut to: Static mid shot of Jessi walking towards another door in her house.

Cut to: Close up to Jessi's face as she opens the door

Cut to: Close up of Jessi's hand on the door handle opening the door

Cut to: Pov shot looking through the door crack at her grandmother in bed.

Cut to: Close up of Jessi's smile at her grandmother then her carefully closing the door

Cut to: Mid shot of Jessi closing the door from outside of the room. Then Jessi walks pass the camera and the camera pans to follow her where she stops and writes a note on the counter.

Transition: High angle close up shot of the note Jessi wrote that fades into a note on a counter in Jackson's house. Jackson reaches for the note and picks it up

Cut to: Mid shot from the side of Jackson reading the note then rolling his eyes, crumbling it up, and throwing  it away.

Cut to: Handheld tracking shot of Jackson's hand grabbing his bag and leaving his house

Cut to: Wide static shot of  Jessi walking through the entrance of her school. Pan to Jackson also walking into the school

Scene 2

Fade in: Static long shot of Jessi at her teachers door.

Cut to: Over the shoulder of the teacher

Cut to: Over the shoulder of Jessi

Cut to: Static close up of Jessi's face

Cut to: Static mid shot of Jessi walking away

Cut to: Static wide shot of Jackson and his friends walking the hallway when Jessi bumps into Jackson

Cut to: Random movement following Jessi's books to the floor.

Cut to: Close up over the shoulder of Jessi picking up the her papers and books.

Cut to: Over the shoulder close up of Jackson helping her

Cut to: Close up of their hands meeting when picking up a book.

Cut to: Close up of their eyes meeting

Cut to: Close up of Jessi's hand quickly snatching her book from Jackson.

Cut to: Close up of Jackson's reaction

Cut to: Boom close up following Jessi stand up to go to class

Cut to: Boom close up of Jackson also standing up.

Cut to: Wide static shot of Jackson's friends

Cut to: Mid shot of Jessi rolling her eyes then walking away

Cut to: Close up of Jackson looking at Jessi as she walks away

Cut to: Wide Long shot of Jessi continuing to walk away.

Fade out

Making the shot list taught me a lot about how I wanted the scenes to play out. It helped me visualize every single movement and shot and really helped me organize my thoughts. I will definitely be using a shot list for every film I create now. That's all I have for today, in the next post I'll be making the sotry board so stay tuned! Byeee!