Final Film Opening (Identity)

The Final Film Opening

Identity

Here is a backup youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-h_icThTpoU

Creative Critical Reflection

Here is my creative critical reflection, Enjoy!

Week 7 Posting (Last Filming Day)

We have finally finished filming, We have edited the first two scenes together already and have started on putting the last scene in. We are just tweaking at this point and should have the project done before the next post.

Here are some pictures of the last filming session. During this session, we did the first scene of the movie. In this scene we had the boy have a mental breakdown and storm out of his room. The mother then notices all of these odd drawings in his room. The mother then inspects the drawings and the scene ends on a shot of one she picked up and put in her hand.

Week 6 Posting (Preparing to wrap things up)

We have begun the process of editing the first two scenes. We are going to see how these turn out then shoot the final scene of our opening early next week. This scene will be the first scene of the plot of the movie while the other two were introductory. This scene will take place in a bedroom and we will need a pencil, paper, psychotic signs, and two actors. We have gathered all the necessary materials and are ready to film. After this scene is shot we will just need to edit it and make final adjustments to the opening.

Week 6 Posting (The Police Scene)

To prepare for this scene we got a blue tarp, fake blood, a paintbrush, lights, and waited until it was dark. We set up in a garage with four actors. On each of the actors foreheads we but the backwards E (the symbol for the serial killer). Then we shot close ups of each of the actors to show that they were killed and there was a police scene. We are doing this scene to show that the family was killed and that the boy (The living son) was involved in it.

Week 5 Posting (Starting to film)

We started to film and got through the first of the three scenes. This scene was the establishing scene that I have been referring to as the graveyard scene. We set up the gravestones in a grassy shady area. And the sign was places an open area signifying the entrance to an estate. We filmed close ups, long shots, establishing shots, and high angle shots.

Week 5 Posting (The Sign)

After planning out the sign and purchasing the materials, we have finally finished the sign. We had to cut the wood to be the correct size and shape. Then we had to start to attach the pieces together with screws and supports. We also put a hinge on the top so we would be able to fit it in a car and bring it to the set location. We drilled holes in the main part of the sign and hung it from hooks off the support system. Here is pictures of the final product of the sign.

Week 5 Posting (Finished the Gravestones)

The first prop for our film opening has been completed. We made these gravestones by buying 4 square pieces of styrofoam then cutting them to be rounded at the top. Next we spray-painted multiple layers of grey spray-paint to make it look like real stone. Once dry, we wrote the names of each family member with their DOB and DOD. We finished the prop by putting wooden skewers in side them to be able to stand up in the ground.

Week 5 Posting (Getting materials for the Props)

We just went out as a group and purchased the wood and other materials needed to create the sign that will be in the film opening. We plan on making the sign how we have it below with the main part hanging off on the top by ropes. The supports will also be in the other direction to support the weight of the sign. This sign will be used to establish the situation of the scene and we plan on doing an establishing shot of it.

Week 4 Posting (Getting close to filming)

We are planning on filming during the week next week and of we cannot work out times or a change in a scene occurs we will have to push at least some of the filming to the week after. We plan on filming each scene on a different day and potentially the first two (the graveyard scene and the dead on the floor scene) on the same day. Also, we have made a slight modification in that scene in whuch we will have police lights showing that it is a crime scene.

Week 4 Posting (Group Meetings)

In yesterdays class we met with different groups and discussed our projects. The groups were 4-5 people in size and had people from different groups only. When talking about my group's project they told me that we must make it clear that the first scene of the movie is towards the end of the movie chronologically. I came up with a solution to this by making sure the date of death on the gravestones are highlighted and when we are moving into the first scene we will have a shot of a calendar clearly showing the date. I also received advice to obscure the symbol on the peoples foreheads so it isn't to straight forwards. This cal be done my putting someones hair for example slightly over it. Overall, these group meetings were very helpful in reflecting on our project and accepting criticism and improvements.

Week 4 Posting (The Title)

My group and I have decided to call the film IDENTITY. We chose this title because we want to make the story about the kid that kills his family specifically, why he does it and what he does after it.

IDƎNTITY

This is how we picture our title looking on the title screen. We haven't decided if we are going to change the E to a different color on the title screen. We believe that this will draw attention to the E which is what we want.

Week 4 Posting (The Symbol)

As I have mentioned in previous blogs, we want to have a symbol that is put on each of the victims foreheads. We have worked out that we want to have the symbol to be a backwards E

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We haven't quite worked out the font of it, however we do want it to be different than a typical front. This symbol is going to be a main part of our film so we must make it recognizable  rather than looking just like a backwards letter.

Week 3 Posting (Fonts)

 After looking through many fonts our group has come up with a few options that might work for the credits. These fonts are to the point and will accomplish the goal of credits. However, the title for our title will be different.
 Credits

EB Garamond

Credits

Courier New

Credits

Merriweather

Credits

Oswald

Personally, I am leaning towards courier new because of the fact that it is rounded and not so squared off. This gives off less of a corporate feel.

Week 3 Posting (Storyboard Update)

This week we have been working on refining our storyboard. As a group, we have transitioned a general plot into a more shot focused outline of our film opening. Here are pictures of the storyboard:

This is still subject to change however, at this point we are planning on going through with this storyboard.

Week 3 Posting (Location)

We have started looking for locations for the graveyard scene. We have found this place in a local park that would work for what we want. We will have to bring our filming equipment, props, costumes, and actors to the shoot. We also need to find locations for the two other scenes of our project

Week 3 Posting (Props)

In this week we have begun to discuss our set design. The two props we have begun working on designing are the gravestones and the blood. We have found an online recipe to make the blood

The ingredients are 2/3 cup of chocolate syrup, 

1/3 cup of Tide detergent, and 4-6 cups of red food coloring.

For the gravestone, we are going to use a material such as styrofoam and then spraypaint it gray to look like stone. We hope to reach an end product that looks like this

Week 2 Posting (Shooting Schedules)

After speaking with my group we have decided on this filming dates. These are subject to change and will depend on how long it takes us to design the costumes, create the props, and design the set. We are planning on doing these things in increments split up by scene. The last scene with the writing on the walls will most likely be the most time consuming to develop the set so we will have to take this into account.

Week 2 Posting (Plot)

We have decided on the outline of our film opening. We want the film to open with people standing around 4 gravestones then it will cut with a graphic match to the 4 bodies lying dead in a dimly lit house. These 4 bodies will be part of the same family. This family will have 5 people in it a mother, father, one daughter, and two sons. The living son will be implied to have killed all of them. We will do this by putting a marking on each of the bodies head. Aster this graveyard/house sequence elapses we plan on showing the title of the film. After this, we will cut to the start of the film which will be in the surviving boy's bedroom before he killed all of his family. We will start with him tapping a pen following by someone grabbing his hand. The boy will begin to freak out and then he will storm out of the room. This will cut to a shot of the room showing that there is writing all over the walls. These writings will be patterns implying that the boy is a psychopath. The person who grabbed his arm is his mother and she sees a piece of paper on the floor, picks it up and sees the same symbol that was on her and the other 3 bodies heads. This plan is still subject for change but right now this is what my group plans on doing for our film opening.

Week 2 Posting (General Plot)

After speaking with my group we have decided on a general outline of how we plan on creating the plot for our film opening. Since we have chosen the genre thriller/mystery we need to create suspense through visual and auditory techniques.

The opening of the film will be in a graveyard in the daylight

These shots will transition into those in a dimly lit house

Then we will cut to the film title followed by the first scene at the start of the beginning of the movie in a boys bedroom with patterns on walls

In a later posting, I will go in depth about what will be done in each scene and how we plan on creating each set.

Week 2 Posting (Change of Genre)

After further discussion with my group we have decided to change our genre of our film opening from horror to thriller. We decided to do this because the aspects of the thriller genre fit much better than the characteristic of a horror film. A horror film typically has some sort of monster or phenomenon that is a danger to the main character or characters. However, thriller would fit our opening better because we plan on creating a plot and film opening that is suspenseful.

This image is what a typical horror film might contain. We won't be doing this and rather have a person as the antagonist. Horror films have antagonists that aren't typical people, they have antagonists that are monsters, ghosts, altered people like in this image (A vampire). Overall, I believe that our choice to research the genre of thriller will greatly assist us in creating a film opening that is consistent with the techniques utilized in the genre.

Week 1 Posing (Planning)

Nothing in this posting is finalized yet and will just act as guidance for the film opening. Set design and plot are the first two aspects we must tackle.

The set design of a horror movie must contain aspects that convey the plot. The plot will need to invoke fear in the viewer. We will do this by creating some sort of monster of phenomenon that the viewer will be scared of.

We want to create a scene where it is building up to one like the one above. We want to develop reason why the main character should be afraid without actually putting them in serious danger. We will most likely be using lamps and other low light lighting sources in our opening because we want there to be a dark atmosphere. We also were thinking about using a fog machine to further develop the felling we hope to achieve

These general concepts will be applied to our film opening. The specifics will be developed in further blog postings.

Week 1 Posting (Research)

      My group has decided upon doing horror as our genre for our film opening. I needed to find out what tactics are used in horror films. I found that horror films are scary because of 10 main aspects: fear of death, darkness, crawling things, traditionally scary places, disfigurement, dismemberment, suspense, spooky music, lightning/thunder, and the use of things that are not typically scary and editing them such as a clown or doll.

This base amount of research will help us plan out the set design. Overall, we will be going for a

suspenseful, dimly lit opening. The plot of the film opening hasn't been determined but this research will assist in accomplishing the main goal of a scary movie which is to cleverly invoke fear kn the viewer.

“The Top Ten Things That Make Horror Movies Scary.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/cutting-edge-leadership/201410/the-top-ten-things-make-horror-movies-scary.

a.  My group comprised of three people was tasked with creating an artist and a marketing plan for them that included a music video. We were given a song from an artist and we had to create an entirely new identity for the artist.

b.  We began to research case studies of bands in the same genre. This allowed for us to be able to create a marketing plan based on successful plans in practice. We also did research on the demographic for our genre and distribution methods. This allowed us to effectively market our artist.

c.  We created a website (https://giulilupica.wixsite.com/scarboy) that showcased all of our marketing creations which allowed us to give potential fans a place to find extra information if they pursued it. We also made social media accounts which will promote the artist by drawing attention to him via advertising. We also created a music video that promoted our song and artist. Below is a screenshot of part of our music video we created.

d.  I have learned many things from this project. The first is the group dynamic, communication makes the group members all satisfied with the final product. The second thing I learned was filming tactics to improve on. The main one is the stabilization of the camera. We filmed in very windy conditions so preparing for the filming conditions can definitely be utilized int the portfolio project. Overall, this project has been very effective in preparing me for the portfolio project.