Alexander's Blog

      In this week we continued the editing process. A large majority of this week's editing came on the 24th where Angela and I met up to discuss and edit the short. In this, we were able to figure out what we wanted to do with the title sequence and the font. Angela brought up the idea of the font being thin because the basic nature of it adds to the short as a whole. This led us to decide to use the "Montserrat" font style. We also decided to put the sequence for the actors' names through the short and the other credits at the end.      So far with video effects, we do plan on still using a blur for the lights combined with a fade-in for the audio. Along with the fade-in audio we plan on using our own diegetic sound for the pen click. This will help with the abrupt stop to the chaos that it was supposed to be. In the "glitch" clips we also plan on making the music rise with the clip to add more suspense. Music for the first cut we chose a more myste...

      This week in the production of our opening short we started the editing process. This week the main focus was sorting through all the different takes we did and putting those shots in order so we could edit them. We plan on starting the title sequence and text next week, prioritizing the setup as it took some time.      Currently, the video effect we plan on using is a camera blur in the first couple of seconds when the protagonist is looking up at the light. Along with this, we plan on using a fade-in for the audio of the therapist talking. We encountered a few problems editing this. This included all the clips being sent in a random order and since they weren't numbered or named in any way the only way to check which clip is which is to open each individual file. In total, there were about 30 files. Since they weren't numbered also it was confusing to see where each clip was supposed to be on the timeline. Our solution to these problems was to open ...

      As a group we have finally started to wrap up the filming process. The photos below are taken during the filming last week and this week.  In this photo the two actors are preparing for their scene involving dialogue. For this we opted mainly to have close up shots of the characters talking, wanting to try and make it a bit more cramped to match the feeling of the patient and the therapist. There were a few problems we had when trying to film this, first was trying to keep a consistent camera without a camera stand so it purposefully wouldn't look like a handheld camera. This required a few takes as sometimes the camera would be too shaky but we were able to overcome this. We would also at some point change the chairs around to get more of the wall, this helped with shadows and avoid the background of the house as it would break the immersion of a "therapist's office." Our biggest success in these scenes was our actresses' Angela's acting, she definitely...

      Our group has recently started to film our opening scene and there were more problems than we would of realized. Our first and likely biggest issue was trying to schedule a day to film, this is because we all had different schedules. This even caused us to abandon one of the days we had planned to film due to one of our members not being able to make it. Another challenge is that we are overly ambitious, this is because we envisioned that we would get a lot more done than we were able to. Last of the major problems, is that the dogs in the house we were filming in were being loud and messing with the sound.      These challenges although it delayed us were easy to overcome. We were all able to find a day to film and were able to get a good part of the short done. Though this does tie into us being too ambitious, we all thought it would only take one filming session to complete it. Even though we got the more complicated bit of the short done, we still...

 There are two characters within the short we are doing. One is a therapist and the other is the patient, this is also the protagonist of the story.  The patient: The patient is played by Angela Rodriguez, the character is going through mental trouble. To reflect this we decided on simple and dark clothes to reflect the mood of the character. This decision adds to the character to as it gives the audience an insight into the mind of the protagonist. The top will be a black long sleeve shirt and the bottom will likely be black sweatpants. The hair style will also be messy, likely in a ponytail, this also reflects the "mess" of the mental health of the character. The therapist: The therapist's costume was a lot easier to decide on, it is going to be a business casual look. This will include jeans and a button up shirt. The point of this is to make the character look clean and almost proper. This adds to the character as a therapist is seen as someone who helps without any e...

       Over the last week our group has been starting to discuss how we want to start and approach the filming of the short. The biggest problem we have encountered is that it is hard to find a time where all four of us are avaliable to film. We decided the best way to fix that is to film when we can, meaning if the actor and actress are avaliable at the very least some scenes are able to be recorded and sent to those who were not there for the part that was filmed that day. Angela is our main actress playing the main character and Johansen is also an actor playing the therapist. Jamil is likely to be our cameraman and I will be part of the editing. Though me and Jamil's roles are likely to be swapped throughout the process. The easy part of our prepping progress is agreeing on the setting. We will film at Angela's house just because it is the best when it comes to how far it is for each person and also the space avaliable.  Actors: Johansen will be playing the ...

 In today's assignment, we were told to individually create a mood board for the opening scene that our group will be making. Below are the images.     The overall tone I wanted to create for the mood board is dark and almost tense. This is best seen in the lighting that will be used, like the lowkey and natural lighting. This is also paired with the black shirt that the character will be wearing. This will contrast the therapist's more neutral color and formal clothes in the button-up. With the the house I want to create something more familiar to the audience and also within our ability, this is why we are just using a regular house in filming. This with the natural lighting will create a familiarity but also a more tense feeling. The therapist's office is likely to be in the same house but with things moving around similar to the images below. For this, I want to use lowkey lighting to really highlight the mindset of the main character. The props including the dog bowl...