Filming blog: filming getting delayed

Yesterday my group and I were supposed to go filming again to finalize on everything. This would've possibly been the last time we went filming, as we have 98% of all the footage we need. The bit of footage that  we need is a better close up of the wanted paper in our film. We already had did a previous shot of it, but it was filmed vertically, and that doesn't look right on an editing software. We had to do it horizontally, and do it for a little longer than the original one for time purposes. The plan was to get the final bit of footage at any park, then if we had time we would perfect other shots and then hang out. We would've done it at Birch State Park, but because what we need is not much, and birch state is a little far for two out of the three of us. Unfortunately,  the plans we had would change as one of my partners, Jack, would not be able to film. Jack told us that he cannot go filming, because he and his family is going out of town. Apparently, they are going to Utah, for personal reasons that may or may not be serious.There is nothing that we could do about it, except delay going filming. We would go when Jack returns from his trip, but he told us he'd be there for at least a week. So basically what it is looking like right now ,is that we will have to work with what we have. That is not bad, considering the fact that we have pretty much everything we need to edit. The bit of footage that we need, we will just have to use the original one we had filmed. The original one is not perfect, but nothing is perfect so it'll be fine. Now all that needs to be done is to gather all the footage and get ready to edit again.

Filming blog:filming one member short

Last Friday my group members and I decided that we were going to go filming again. We discussed all the things that we are missing for our film, and we planned on getting them done. The night before we were going to film, one of my group members Nathan, had a little emergency. He had a problem with his tooth and he wouldn't be able to film with us after school for his appointment. So jack and I were on our own, after school we didn't need to film much, because Nathan was supposed to be there and we weren't going all the way to birch state park. Jack and I decided to film at this spot right next to the school that seemed like a park, but when we arrived it was not a park. It tuns out it was a gated community, Jack and I needed to make it quick, so I pulled out the wanted paper and got straight to it. The shots we needed was a shot reverse shot of the camera faced at Jack, then at the paper, then back on Jack. He pulled out his phone and for 5 seconds he stared at the camera, then I went around him and filmed his hands and more of the paper. Then for about another three seconds it was for Jack to look at the camera again but call out Nathan's name. The only problem we ran into while filming was that the sounds of birds were very loud, but there was nothing we could do about it except wait for it to get lower. After doing a couple more takes Jack and I left. That night on our group chat, Jack Nathan and I agreed to film the other parts we need on Sunday, which was yesterday. The other part we needed was better dialogue of Jack and Nathan getting excited for the party they were walking to. We could've got it done on Friday but the situation with Nathan delayed that, so it was agreed to do it on Sunday in the afternoon. So on Sunday I arrived at the park before my group members did, and I waited about 20 minutes for them to arrive. I live closest to the park that's why I arrived earlier than they did. So when they arrived we went right to the area that we originally film at and got straight to it. I was the camera man because this particular scene did not have my character in it. So they got into position and I counted down 3,2,1 then I clicked start. They walked and said their lines, and it was as simple as that. We did a couple more takes to get the best that we could, then we were finished. For the rest of that day we just hung out and set another day to film.

Editing Blog: Getting all the footage together

Two days ago my group and I decided to start editing our film, we pretty much had everything we needed.  All of our footage was on one of my group members google photos, and all that had to be done was to download it onto a flash drive and import it to pinnacle studios.The process is easy, but we ran into several problems when trying to get the right computer. By now my group and I know about pinnacle studios, and it is not the best editing software in the world. It is really slow and sometimes the application doesn't. So I grabbed a computer and logged in so we can get all of our footage and download it, doing this was really simple. After downloading the footage getting it on pinnacle studios was a real challenge. The computer that I had grabbed, the pinnacle studios didn't even open, so I grabbed another computer. My partner did the same just in case the new one I grabbed doesn't work either. His decision ended up being right, because the new computer I had didn't work. A lot of time had passed and we wouldn't have enough time to get how much we want done. The great news was that the computer that my partner had got, the pinnacle studios had work. He gave the computer to me and I entered my Flash drive in the USB slot, I then imported the footage to pinnacle studios. Once again, this editing software is not the fastest, so this process took a good 2-3 minutes. When the footage finish importing my group members and I watched all the footage to see which thing goes where. There was a lot of footage to watch,because for various scenes we had to do multiple takes. After we finished watching, I dragged all the scenes where they were supposed to go. I then had to wait for pinnacle studios to finish loading the footage together so it won't lag when we look at how it looks. I pulled out my headphones and my group and I watched what we had put together. With a little tweaking of some scenes we found out that some scenes were not right and, we had to change it. Other than that everything else was good. My partner then added music to the film and we were done for the day.

Re-shoot Blog: Adding to our film

Last Thursday, my group and I went back to the park to re-shoot our film. That Thursday it was a half-day which means that we would have a lot more time to film and better our film. So before we went to the park, during class the group that peer reviewed our film gave us the papers back. When we were given the papers, I saw a few minor errors in our film but the one that stuck out was the time length of our film. I noticed that we were well short on the required length that our film has to be, we needed to extend and or even add more to it. When school let go, we got dropped off by one of my group members mom. When we arrived we chilled for a little bit because it was really hot, then we went to work. Before we started I insisted that we apply bug spray on, because one thing that was really bad in all the times that we went to film, was the amount of mosquitoes. The bug spray was an essential for sure, after that I got into costume, because one of my group members wanted to add an extra scene in at the end, it required the killer and actor A. This was a great idea, because we were already short on time, and he explained that this scene would be a good 15 seconds. So I was the killer and I put on my costume, I put on my dress shoes and my partner provided me with the mask and the straight jacket. The idea for the scene that was going to be added was for person A to be lying on the floor dead, while the killer is walking away in a creepy manner to go find his next victims. So we did exactly that, but it took a couple of shots to get it right. Some things that delayed us from shooting the scene like only 3-4 times was pedestrians walking, mosquitoes and bugs on the floor. After that scene, we decided to add an extra scene, this scene would be a shot reverse shot of person A picking up the wanted paper and the camera doing a close up of the paper, then to him then back to the paper. This scene would be like another good 7-8 seconds, so it worked and we went with it. I wasn't in this scene so I undressed out of the costume, because I was done for the day and it was unbelievably hot that day. After the two scenes we added, we just decided to extend some original scenes like an extra 3-5 seconds, just so we can reach that limit. Only very few scenes were able to be extended, that wouldn't look like the timing would be forced. After we finished doing that we were done for the day.

Peer Review blog: Butterbean

For the peer review assignment, the group we were peer reviewing was Bianca and Camilla. The name of their movie was Butterbean, and I think that's the name of a character. I didn't really know the context of the film, so there were multiple things in my mind. The first Idea that I had in my head, was that it is about a mysterious/unknown character named Butterbean. In one of the scenes I saw a person writing a letter, and in another it showed the letter being sent to a girls front door, in which she appeared to be confused. So maybe this character "Butterbean" is a stalker. The second Idea that I had on what the film was about is a character still named Butterbean, seeking to get revenge for whatever reason. The plot of the film was confusing, but there were good elements to the film other than the overall plot. First off I'd like to point out the use of different camera angles, movements and shots. The film was not short of to many of them, it had a variety of angles in there. The paper we filled out to see if the necessary camers angles were there, had plenty of yes' and a few No's, that was a good sign for them. And another thing to point out was the acting. Even though I didn't really know what was going on, I have to say that the acting was there, it was good. They seemed to be in character throughout the film. Overall the film was confusing, but they can make the plot more clear as they go to reshoot. As for my group and I, there was a few things that our film was missing. First off we didn't have titles, and we didnt reach the time limit of what our film should be. All of those issues were due to technical difficulties with the editing software. Other than those issues, hopefully our film got a good review, by the group that peer reviewed us.