Editing process

During my editing process, I focused on creating a clear difference between the flashbacks and the present timeline. Since my story depends on emotional differences between happiness and grief, color was very important.

For the flashback scenes, I used the “Dramatic Warm” filter on the iPhone. This made the colors warmer and brighter, which helps represent happiness and love. I have learned that warm tones can make scenes feel nostalgic and comforting. 

For the present scenes, I used the filter “Mono” on the Iphone as well. This filter made the scene look more dark. This creates a visual contrast and represents isolation and sadness. By changing the color and lighting, I was able to show the shift in time without needing any dialogue.

Shooting Process

 Hiii Cambridge! I started filming my opening this week, and I am very excited to show you how everything is getting done. Unfortunately, I could not film last week, so I had to film and start editing in the same week. I thought it would be more frustrating than it actually was, but shooting my project was very fun. My mom was the main character and my dad was helping me to film while I was acting in some scenes. Doing this with them made everything less stressful. Here are some footages of us while filming:

CCR #1

Hii Cambridge! In this blog post I will be sharing my researches to answer the first question of my CCR. During class, my teacher gave us many tips on how to answer these questions correctly. Here is what I have written down and will be using as a guide for the first question. 

1- How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?

1. Start by discussing genre and cite where you found this information. 

Dramas usually follow characters the audience would see as friends, neighbors, and family dealing with the struggles of everyday life. A dramatic film shows humans at their best and their worst. They usually include a strong moral view of the world around them and the characters in these films are always dealing with what life has to offer. Suspense movies are the ones that keep you wondering what will happen next. They give viewers feelings of excitement, surprise, anticipation, and anxiety. Some of the common themes of thrillers are crimes like ransoms, captivities, heists, revenge, kidnappings, and investigators. When mixing both genres you are able to make a project where the audience feels nervous and anxious, and also attached to the characters. 

Suspense link

Drama link

2. Which genre conventions you chose to challenge or not, and why?

I chose not to challenge the genre conventions because I thought my film opening would look better if I followed them. My main character, Taylor, is dealing with grief, which perfectly fits into the drama genre. This is something most people can relate to, and that makes them understand the character better. On the other hand, Taylor is not dealing with grief in a "normal" way, she is trying to get revenge. My opening shows that Taylor is angry and wants to kill her sister's murderer, this is perfect for the suspense because it makes the audience wonder what will happen next. 

3. End with a discussion of representation. 

In my film opening, I used representation to show grief, sisterhood, and how trauma can change a person. I did not want to represent the main character as just a typical “revenge” character. Instead, I first showed her as a loving older sister through flashbacks. This helps the audience see her as kind and human before seeing her darker side. 

In terms of gender representation, my main character is not sexualized or shown as weak. Instead, she is shown as a complex person with deep emotions. Her desire for revenge comes from trauma and pain, not just anger. This makes her feel more realistic and human. Overall, representation in my project shows how love and loss can transform someone, and it makes the audience question whether she is just a victim of trauma or someone becoming dangerous.

Group meeting #2

Hii Cambridge! Today we did a second group meeting during class to help our classmates with their project. In the first group meeting, me and my classmates were still deciding what they were going to do for their opening, and we were able to exchange ideas and help each other with the script. For this second group meeting, we all knew exactly what we were doing, and most of us already started to film. Still, it is always helpful to listen to other's opinions and see what they think would be good for my project. In this blog I am going to share some of the information I got during the meeting. 

I was the first one to share my project, and I told them what I was struggling with. They were all very nice and said they really liked my idea. I said that what I am struggling with the most right now is with the CCR. I still do not have an idea for it, but I know I want to do something very engaging. Emanuel shared a very cool idea that I am definitely considering. He said that it would be very cool to do the CCR like the "Hot Ones"  interview. I loved hearing their ideas and to see what they were planning to do. 

 After me, Meliyah shared her idea. Her story is about a girl who lost her sister and is hallucinating her still alive. Meliyah and her partner already started to film, they are doing their opening at the beach and I think her project is turning out really cool. She said the only issue they were having is with the sound because the beach had a lot of noises that might sound bad during the opening. Me and my group said that she should try to film it during the week after school instead of during the weekend.

Caesar's idea is a thriller. The opening will start with a POV shot of an unknown person walking towards a house. Then, it will cut to two boys relaxing on the couch when the TV suddenly stops working. They turn it on again and there is an announcement about an unknown intruder. I really like his idea and I am sure his project will turn out great!

Taryn shared her idea and I think that it might be my favorite. She is doing a Sci-fi opening about a girl living alone at a tent and surviving after an apocalypse. She said that one issue she had is that one of the actors could not participate anymore, so she had to change her plans. Taryn already started to film, and I am very excited to see how her project will turn out.  

Ella is doing a Teen Drama about a teenage girl being neglected by her parents. Her father is not around and her mother does not care enough about her.  Her character will be planning her own birthday party alone, showing that she is always by herself. Ella already started filming and said that her main obstacle was filming by herself. She said that she will be asking someone to help her film for the next scenes. 

Andres is doing a mystery / adventure about a thief that steals objects for no reason and is well known. The protagonists are two detectives who are obsessed with finding him. The opening start with the thief walking into a house really dark and grabbing a single necklace, he also leaves a card with a symbol on it. The next scene cuts to the protagonists showing that they are really obsessed with the thief. Andres was having some issues with the lighting, his shots were not looking very good because they were very dark. Me and my group told him he could easily edit the lighting on his phone.

Emanuel is doing a kid being rejected by his parents. He will be playing the main character and the scene starts with him sneaking out of his house. This scene is supposed to symbolize the first step of leaving his family. His "friends" are going to invite him to go out and show that they really do not care about his well being. 

Overall, my group members still do not know what they are doing for the CCR. Most of us are doing interviews or podcasts. 

Planning post (shot list)

Shot list 

Hii!! In this blog post I will be organizing all of my shots. This is a very important step, and it is going to help a me a lot while I film, which I am starting this week. I do believe that during the filming I might change my mind and change a few shots. This list is just a way to help me so I am not lost when I start recording. I will try to include pictures of some shots so that you can understand what I am planning.

This is what I have so far: 

1- Establishing shot in messy room

2- Close-up at picture of Elain and Taylor together

I actually want the shot to be closer to the pictures, I just could not find the picture of exactly how I wanted. 

3- Close-up at Taylor looking at the picture

4- Extreme close-up in her eyes as they close

5- Black screen (start of flashback)

6- Many shots of sisters together having fun 

7- Medium shot of Elain's hand (she is dead)

8- Black screen (back to the present)

9- Close-up of Taylor's eyes a they open

10- Medium shot of Taylor getting up

11- Long-shot of Taylor walking towards the wall 

12- Medium-shot of the wall showing the pictures 

13- Long-shot of Taylor walking towards the door

14- Close-up at Taylor grabbing a gun

15- Long-shot of Taylor leaving the room

Company logo

 For the company logo, I wanted to do something pretty, but simple. I have been thinking about a name for the company, and I think Golden studio is a great name! 

First, I chose a template that I thought looked good. Like I said, I wanted something simple, but still pretty. After finding the template I changed the original colors to yellow and orange since the name of the company is Golden Studio. To add a little motion, I animated everything, but still kept it simple. 

I did my logo on canva, and while I was doing I recorded my screen so that you could see exactly what I did. 

Prop creation

 Hiii! In this post I will be showing and explaining how I did all of my props.

I knew I needed to create pictures for Taylor’s wall, so I went to Pinterest to see a few inspirations of what I wanted 

 

This is what I found. With that I was able to create my own props with things that I have at home. 

For the evidences, I wanted to have a weapon, and a ring. The ring was at Elain’s hand when they found her dead, so that is an important piece of evidence. And the weapon is what killed her, so it has her blood in it. 

First, I found a plastic bag and wrote “EVIDENCE” 

After that, I used one of my rings as the evidence, and used a knife with Ketchup as the weapon.

My next evidence is a picture of the shoes Elain was wearing when she died. So I just used the shoe that I will be wearing during the openning and took a picture of it. 

After, I wrote “WHO ARE YOU?” And the time of Elain’s death in a post-it. 

I also found a picture of a map, which I think will look good with all the other pictures on the wall. It looks like taylor already have a location and is ready to go after the killer. 

Finally, I found a picture of a suspect where it does not show anyone’s face.  The real killer will be my dad, so I am just going to use a picture of him, but i wanted to have other pictures with names to show that Taylor has been searching him for a long time.

After finding all the pictures I wanted, I printed all of them so I have them ready to use. 

Costume creation

 Hellooo! In this blog post I will be showing you what I have planned for my costumes. 

Here are the outfits that my mom will be using as she plays the main character, Taylor.

This is what she will be wearing in the flashback, a very colorful dress to express her happiness. 

And this is what she will be wearing while planning her revenge, very baggy clothes to show the way she changed. 

This is what I will be wearing as I play Elain. 

The shoes are very important because they are in one of the picture Taylor has in her bedroom as evidence. 

Sound

 Hi!! In this post I will show you how I am planning to do my sound. My project will not have any dialogue, so my audio choices will be very important to create the mood. 

Here is what I have planned:

1- Opening scene- girl looking at picture

-Emotional piano audio

-Paper rustling when girl touches the picture

2-Flashback-Happy memory with sister

-A more happy piano audio 

-Laughter of the sister (almost an echo)

3-Flashback- sister’s death

-Slow audio to create tension

-Girl cries in the backgroud 

4-Girl looking at wall of pictures

-Still a low audio to keep the tension

-Camera clicks and photo frames being touched

5-Ending- Girl leaves the house with gun

-Suspensful music 

-Footsteps in the backgroud

-Door creaking

-Gun being cocked

Mise-en-scene elements

 In this blog, I will continue to talk about the misce-en-scene elements that I will be using n my project. 

Lighting-

I want to use dark lights when Taylor is in her room and bright lights when she is with her sister in the flashback. I want to create the contrast between the time where she was happy, and now that she is miserable. 

When she is poiting at the pictures, I think using shadows would make the scene look even more dark. That scene is going to represent how obsessed she is with revenge, and how angry she really is.

Props-

For my prop elements I know that I will be using pictures, to show that Taylor is planning revenge.

A weapon, because at the end Taylor will leave the house and look for the assassin. I already have a fake weapon because it was part of my halloween costum, so that will not be a problem. 

I was thinking that making her wear gloves when grabbing the gun would be smart, since she has been planning this revenge for a while and does not want her digitals anywhere.

These are the main prop elements that I am thinking about using. I think that all of these objects are going to show how much Taylor has been waiting for the moment of revenge and how clever she is. 

Misce-en-scene elements

In this blog post I will talk about the mise-en-scene elements that will be used in my project. 

Costumes- 

For Taylor, I thought about using very different styles to represent how she changed after her sister’s death. For the flashbacks, she will be wearing very bright color clothes, with a pretty hairstyle, and light makeup. I want her to cause the impression of a a happy girl, who is expressing herself through her clothes. After Elain’s death, she will be using dark and baggy clothes. I want her to look very tired,  like she has not been sleeping or eating well. I want to make her hair look more messy, and not put any makeup on her. 

For Elain, she will be using clothes very similar to Taylor, I want her with bright colors, a pretty hair, and a light makeup. She is also supposed to look happy, like she is representing Taylor’s happiness. 

Seeting-

I want to use Taylor’s room as a mirror for what she is feeling. It is going to be very messy, her bed undone, her clothes thrown at the floor, some chips on the floor too, and everything looking very chaotic.

 

The only place that looks slightly organized, is her wall, where she put all of the pictures of Elain’s death.  This is supposed to simbolize that even after her sister died, she is the only thing keeping Taylor alive. The thought about revenge makes Taylor strong, and I want to show that with her room. 

Character development

Hi cambridge, in this blog I will introduce you to my main characters. 

I have always liked the name Taylor, so i thought it would be a good idea to use it for my main character. I am not planning on using any dialogue for my opnenning, so her name probably won’t make a big difference for the audience. Still, i wanted to use a name that sounded sweet, but at the same time it could be serious. For her sister, I thought the name Elain would be great! Every time I think about the name Elain I imagine a very sweet young girl. 

Taylor is 17 years old and used to be a very sweet girl, that loved her sister, Elain, more than anything. She is extremely smart, loves books, and always enjoyed studying. After Elain’s death, Taylor became lonely and very angry all the time. All she could think about was revenge, and plan to find her sister’s murderer.

During the openning, it will be very clear the differences between Taylor’s personality before Elain’s death, and after. Everything about her will change, her outfits, her room, the way she moves, and even her eyes will look more dark. 

Storyboard of project idea

This post is going to be about my storyboard. The storyboard is really important to help me visualize the story so I can see if my idea would really work. It also helps me visualize the shots and see exactly what shot/angle would be the best one. The storyboard is very helpful when it is time to film so you do not need to worry about remembering everything. Because my project won't have any dialogue, I feel like the storyboard will be more useful than a script.

Media Theory

 Todorov’s Narrative Theory works really well for my project because my story begins with a normal situation, then something happens to change it, and then the character ends up in a new reality.

In the beginning of my opening, the audience is introduced to the main character while she is grieving the loss of her sister. This represents the equilibrium because it shows the audience what her life looks like before the story changes. Even if the sister is already dead in the opening, the pictures show that her life used to be peaceful and normal.

Then, the sister’s death is the disequilibrium. This is the event that changes the character’s life. It creates mystery because the audience does not really know what happened yet. This is important because the disequilibrium is what makes the audience want to keep watching.

The story starts to move toward a new equilibrium. In this part, the main character is not just grieving, she begins to show that she is someone who wants revenge. The ending where she reaches for a weapon shows that she is entering a new stage in her life, where she is ready get revenge.

Overall, Todorov’s theory works well for my opening because my story is based on a big disruption (the sister’s death), and the audience watches the character move from sadness into suspense and action.

Summary of my project idea

    This blog post is going to be about my idea for the film opening. My initial idea was to make a very dramatic opening about a girl grieving someone she cared for. After my group meeting, I am thinking about doing drama with a little bit of suspense. 

    What I am thinking is a story about a girl (the main character) who just lost her sister and is grieving, but at the same time seeking revenge. In the beginning it would be very sad, but as the credits are showing, the audience would start to see the girl looking at some pictures (I still have not decided how her sister will die, so i do not  know what pictures the main character would be looking at), and maybe seeing flashbacks of the night her sister died. In the end we would see her reach for a weapon and go after the guilty of her sister's death. 

    I do not want any dialogue, the background sound would only be a music that I still have not decided if I want a slow song or a fast paced song for the suspense. My problem with this idea is that I do not know how to make the scene of the sister's death to show in the flashbacks. My first thought was to make a car accident, but I do not think that I would be able to make an accident look realistic. I thought about maybe not doing the flashbacks and just showing some pictures of them together, but then I don't think it would be implied that the sister was killed. I am now thinking that I could make a scene of someone poisoning her, because that would be easier to make, and it would look realistic if I used the right shots and angles. 

    I think that the change of drama to suspense would be very cool and maybe it would make the audience want to keep watching if it was a real movie. Now that I have the idea, I can start to build a script and the storyboard.

Group Meeting #1

This week my class did a group meeting so we could help each other with our projects. During this group meeting, me and my classmates exchanged ideas, and helped each other build our stories. It was very helpful to hear other opinions and see what they were planning to do. 

I have received many advices that really helped me build my story. I was planning on doing only drama, but my groupmates gave me ideas that made me think about doing a little bit of suspense. They helped me think about the editing, saying that I should do fast cuts and strong lights if I wanted to make an accident for example. 

Andres planned on doing it in a museum, but it would be really hard to film so we suggested to do it in a house. His genre will be mystery. He thought about doing like a treasure hunt, and all of the members in the group really liked his idea.  He thought about making someone stealing something in the beginning and then leaving a riddle for later. His idea was really good and he just needed some help with the setting. 

Juan is planning on doing the genre thriller/action. His main focus is to introduce the main character and show his personality. He said his project would have a serious tone. The story would be about a character that did something bad and has flashbacks during the opening.  We offered him a few ideas about what his character could have done. 

Taryn is thinking about doing Sci-fi. Her idea is to build a story about two sisters alone in a world post apocalypse. She still did not know the setting, so we suggested to film it in a forest. Me and my group also said that she could use some equipment to show that they are trying to survive alone. I really liked her idea and i think it will turn out really cool.