Another day of filming

Hey guys today I continued filming some more. Today I had help from both of my parents. I had my dad dress in all black and a hat. He was supposed to be portrayed as a robber. For this part I had to use a long shot. Since this scene was mainly focused on him I was able to record these takes. It only took us a couple of takes. While my dad was walking around the house looking for me (Stephanie) I used a high angle. I bet you're wondering how. Well I stood on the top of my stairs and stretched my arms as far as possible. This made it look like a high angle which was the goal I was aiming for. My dad forgot some of his lines so we had to film many takes until he got it right. After we did that I switched back into my clothes and started filming the next scene. In this scene I was in my room listening to music while packing my luggage. For this scene there was no dialogue which made it easier to film. I used a long shot and a mid shot for this scene because I wanted the luggage to be shown but not at all times. My mom assisted during this scene as well. I had her call our house phone. She did this so that it would ring and I would pick it up. This is where the suspense started to build up. After picking up the phone several times I heard nothing, this happened a few times before the climax was set into motion. When I grab a knife I make sure to get a close up of this to add emphasis. Eventually the action scene takes place. I used a zoom shot and a tracking shot for this. When I saw my killers face that's when the zoom shot was used. After this the camera was extremely shaky. Due to the tracking shot. I had to run downstairs and my sister was filming so she did also. When running I also used a hand held shot. I did this to show my face while running. After this another action scene will occur between my dad and I. In the end he will kill me and flee the scene.

Second day of filming

 Hey guys I’m back again with another update. I’m slowly making progress with the film. Today I filmed the 2 scenes. The scenes that I filmed were the scenes where I was entering my home and began to walk upstairs. Last time I filmed I left off filming right at my front door. I used a close up shot for this to show my hand movements as I opened the door. I forgot to mention that I have new filming equipment. Today was Christmas and I got a new ring light. I also got a small tripod. I used the tripod for many close up scenes or scenes with me walking. Anyways, back to what I was saying. Today I had to film many scenes using a tracking shot. This was because I kept walking in many scenes today. For example, when I was walking in my hallway and the stairs I had to use a tracking shot to track my movements. When we finally began to film me entering my room that's where it started to get difficult. The angles were kind of hard to get but we made it work. I had my sister stand in a far corner in my room to record me entering. It looked as if we filmed this part using a wide shot. When I opened my closet I used an over the shoulder angle which switched to a trunk shot. I wanted the audience to see two different perspectives and I have a good feeling we achieved this. I've decided to film certain scenes on my younger sisters ipad pro. I made this decision because it carries more storage than my phone and it also had a great camera. For scenes that require hand held shots then of course I'll use my phone. I can't believe I spent Christmas afternoon filming, however it was a very productive day.

First Day Back Filming

 Hey guys we're finally on winter break which means that my partner and I are back to filming. We decided to split the filming and editing process. I will be filming the entire movie from my home and Jasmine will be editing everything. Of course, I will be assisting with the editing and giving my input. So today I pulled up my storyboard. After reviewing it I decided that I will be filming the first scene. In this scene I will be getting into a car and driving while having a conversation. I don't have my licenses yet, however I do have my permit. While I was driving today I had an adult over the age of 21 in the car with me. Since my character was a lawyer I decided to put on a business casual outfit. I also had my younger sister record everything. I used a tracking shot when I was walking into the car. I had to record several takes for this part because I had to make sure not to get my house in the background. The goal was to make it seem like I was just getting off of work. In the car I used a wide shot so that the entire background could be seen. I drove around my neighborhood rather than the main roads because I'm not a really experienced driver. During this time I was talking to myself. I did this to make it seem like I was having a conversation with Briana, Stephanie's (me) bestfriend. After recording several takes and driving around my neighborhood for a good 5 times I finally pulled into my driveway. For this scene I used an establishing shot from the front and back. I did this because I didn't want the licenses plate in the movie. This was basically everything that I filmed today. Below is a picture of the outfit I wore.

Re-editing

 Hey guys today was another day of us not filming. However, we did manage to get some things done. Before Jasmine and I decided to put a hold on our filming schedule we had already filmed some scenes. We had also started to edit. Even though we started to edit we didn't get as far as we wanted to. So today I had some free time on my hands and decided to review the footage. After I looked over the footage we had I decided to start re editing what was already edited. I normally use iMovie to edit. iMovie is a great editing software on apple devices. However I also wanted to use other editing software as well. So I did some research of my own. I ended up finding an app called "Videoleap Video Editor". It's basically a free video editing app. On this app I'm able to combine different video clips together and add thing such as special effects. I think this is really going to help us when editing. I never planned on using any special effects but now I might want to add some in. I started combining the footage and it looked great. However, I wasn't able to figure out how to insert music with this app. I might have to use iMovie for that. Although, we didn't get any filming done today we still managed to have a somewhat productive day. I can't wait to see the final product of our film!

Another day of not filming

 Hey guys so by the title of this blog you already know what's happening. Unfortunately my partner and I didn't film today. After discussing our options we came to a decision. My partner and I decided to continue filming the rest of our movie over winter break. Winter break is two weeks for us. That should give us more than enough time to film an edit our movie. We decided to do this because we think that it'll give us more time. This way we won't have to rush to film and edit like we are doing now. This is definitely something that causes a lot of complications when filming. This virus has changed the way that I have to do everything. For example, I can't film a movie like I did last year. Last year I was able to use a camera provided by the school as well as a tripod. Now I have to use my own devices. Furthermore, my partner and I reviewed our storyboard. Originally we thought everything fit perfectly. After we reviewed it we decided to change some of our scenes. For example, we chose to tweak our murder scene because we felt like it was too predictable. We want to keep our audience guessing. And we also want to keep the suspense throughout the entire movie. We also changed our interrogation scene. All we really did was switch up the conversation between the characters. Overall I think that we really had a productive day even though we weren't able to film.

Starting the editing process

 Hey guys, we already started filming. We just had to adjust the way we filmed as previously mentioned. Anyways we have started to start editing as well as searching for music. For example, we have been editing and finding music for our film. You're probably wondering how we started editing already if we don't have all of our final footage. Well to answer that question, we started to edit the title page and edit the footage of the scenes that we have already filmed. We've also started to work on adding words in between flashback scenes of our movie. We decided to do this so the viewers won't be confused when time goes back during the film. For example, during a flashback scene we plan to put words such as "earlier this week". Things like that will alert the audience that this particular event occurred before the present scene taking place. While doing this we realized our film needed background music. We wanted music during the suspicious scenes. Another thing that we wanted was music during the ending of the movie. Obviously we would have to get permission from any artist that we choose to use music from. We have to do that unless we're able to find free music that fits our film. We're currently looking for music that have the audience anxious and on edge. I think if we do this it would make our film 10 times better. Our main goal for this movie is to give our viewers a feeling of suspense and excitement mixed together. While the plot is slowly building towards the climax of our movie we want the audience to literally be on the edge of their seats. Hopefully we'll have music picked out by the time we start to put all of our footage together and edit it. 

Starting to film

 Guys guess what!!! We finally started our filming journey. The wait is officially over. I am beyond excited guys. As you all know we are currently still in the middle of an ongoing pandemic. Due to this we had to adjust how we film our movie. Jasmine and I both started to film. However, we filmed at two separate locations. She filmed one scene at her house while I filmed another scene at my house. I decided to film the murder scene. So basically this scene was the climax of our movie. I started filming upstairs in my bedroom. I had my younger sister assist me with holding the camera at certain angles. During this scene there were many different camera angles. I mainly used a high angle and a low angle though. In this scene I played the role of Stephanie, the victim. I kept stumbling over my words when filming so there were many takes. I also used my ring light as a stand to hold my phone. It was also used for better lighting as well. After filming upstairs I went into my parents bathroom. My younger sister created some fake blood for me. I was supposed to pour it into and around the bathtub to stage the crime scene. But I was unable to do this because I had to go somewhere. As of right now that's where I stopped filming guys. Everything went great! I'll be back with another update later.