Small peek of our film opening

March 31, 2019

Great news!! I finally have the opportunity to share with you guys the team and I’s first acting scenes. Even though this was conducted a couple of weeks ago, I finally have the chance to catch up with everything else and be able to share this with you. The blog for today will cover the scenes in the film where the family members are all laying in the floor, dead, with the backwards E symbol in this forehead. As mentioned before, this backwards E is the symbol that the psychopath leaves on every one of its victims. We decided to gather up in Parker’s house to create these scenes. We needed to do it in a really dark place and there was still light outside, which made it conflicting. We decided to film these scenes Parker’s garage, where we covered all the spots that the light came of. In the end, we managed to have the room extremely dark and to a point where we couldn’t see each other. This was exactly what we were hoping for. So with fake blood, we drew a backwards E on each of our foreheads and layed down in the floor next to each other. We put a blanket in top of us to make it look like a really murder happened. Down below are some pictures of how it looks

Referring to our storyboard, we decided to have flashing lights of the police and emergency services. This decision was made to add more of a murder vibe which took place. We were unsure where to get these lights until we thought the idea of looking up videos of stimulators in youtube. This is the video we used to help with our production

https://youtu.be/6GyJZoep6rc

In the end, everything workout the way we were hoping it to be. Down below are links which you can press on that will take you straight to the video! Let me know what you think about it!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/wrFyNwq5SLjXYA8c8

https://photos.app.goo.gl/XoXBZWJsGYSfi5KX7

https://photos.app.goo.gl/1f69TdVk8gVCQdaq6

https://photos.app.goo.gl/wEc7zLLfKtR81QsA7

Stay tuned! :))

Long day

March 29, 2019

Hey everyone! I want  to start of the weekend by bringing you guys with amazing news. After a long day of work, from sunset to sunrise, we have constructed the poster we will be using to show a sign of the neighborhood in the film. We were able to do this with the materials we bought that were mentioned in the previous blog. It took us a lot of time to do, however, we were able to finish at the right time we needed. Here is our process and the final outcome of how the poster ended up

Working process

Results

Thoughts?? Let me know! :))

The picture below shows one of our group members, Parker, conducting the first couple of shots that we will be using. Big shoutout to him since he was able to feed the project with a high-quality camera which he owns.

Next day: Headstones

We decided to have the shots of the headstones near the location of the poster. We found this really dark place covered by trees around it, keeping a low lighting. However, lighting won’t be a problem since we’ll be tweaking that throughout the editing process. Below are some pictures of how the headstones ended up in this exact location

Changes to project

We decided to change the location of the first establishing shots to this territory located inside Windmill Reserves because we thought it was a really good place to have the lonely and isolated tone of where the Jones family live.

That’s everything for today… have an amazing weekend!! :))

They are finally here!

March 24, 2019

Hey! I’m so happy to be able to reach out to you guys, specially today! In today’s blog, we’ll be covering the headstones we’ve created for our blog. A lot of work was given to this headstones by one of my teammates, Alexis, so special shoutout to her. So I want to show you guys what we will be using for our first scenes. First of all, I want to mention the names of each member in the family. Let’s begin with the family’s last name. We decided to make it Jones. We just thought this name was a common name and we all liked the idea, but not for special reasons. Here is a list of the family members

- Jones, Hannah: (died at 15 years old) girl who was the youngest in the family

- Jones, Alexander: (died at 18 years old) boy who was hannah’s brother.

- Jones, Madison: (died at 49 years old) was the mother.

- Jones, David: (died at 51 years old) was the father.

Here is a picture of the colortool spray we used to help create our headstones

After several hours of work, we got the job done and were able to finish with the headstones. We will be using these headstones for our first couple of scenes where we want to have all the headstones and the family surrounding it. I’m actually really glad that we were able to finish them by today and have everything ready for tomorrow. Tomorrow will officially be the first day we will start filming, so I can’t wait. Without further ado, let me get to what you guys are waiting for… OUR FINAL RESULTS!! Here are some pictures!

Results

Like them? What do you think?

Can't wait to finally be able to film... TOMORROW! 

See you soon! :))

You can't miss what I'm revealing

March 23, 2019

You won’t believe the great news I have. With a lot of hours put into this work, I’ve created the title of our film opening and how it appear on screen! It took me some time, however, I created the perfect title saying “Identity” the right way and with the correct colors. When I say the right way I’m referring to the “E” being backwards, in red, everything in capital letters. Here is where you can see what I made that we will be using in our film opening.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/rSfYdZobX78gpQof7

It took me a while to find out how to insert this screen recording link in here and find out the way to do it. The first thing shown in the screen recording is the gravestones. I decided to show this so you guys can refresh your memories and remember again that the the gravestone scenes are first and then comes the title. I made it so that the “I DENTITY” comes first in white and then the backwards “E” after, in red. I decided to show it like this so that the audience an understand that that specific “E” will be important through the rest of the film. As you guys know, this letter is the symbol we decided to have when the psychopath kills others and leaves that mark in their body.

The blog today will be short. However, this is an extremely important one to consider. So, what do you guys think of this title? Feel free to leave a comment down below saying if you liked it or didn’t or maybe what I should possibly change!

Tick-Tock!

March 22, 2019

Hellooo everyone! I hope you guys are having an amazing day and find this blog somewhat joyful and informative. I would like to share with you what the team and I are working on currently for our sounds. In today’s blog, I want to specifically talk about the clock ticking sound.

First things first...

Do we really need to waste our time on making this sound?

Will it be useful?  

Of course.

The article 'Interstellar's' Ticking Clock: Hiding Suspense in Plain Sight talks about why a clock ticking sound is effective and the difference it makes on for example the movie Interstellar. V Renee states that this sound is the best sound to use to ramp up tension. The article links to a Youtube video that talks about how Interstellar uses ticking sound to shape up the audiences’ emotions which can be found here https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=256&v=mWPenJNSPso

The video talks about how the ticking sound appears to make a more intense atmosphere. In the video, it’s stated that the intensity of the ticking sound depends on the scene. For example, in the scene of the shooting in the film Dunkirk, the intensity of the clock sound is extremely high because certain things are happening on screen that the viewers don’t know what will happen next so they’re curious to keep watching which is also mentioned in the video. This is such an effective technique since you’re not filling up the viewer’s brain with words but are just using a simple sound to help people understand that this moment is very important and that time is running out. With a clever technique like this one, the team and I will be able to create tension which is part of our goals.Hellooo everyone! I hope you guys are having an amazing day and find this blog somewhat joyful and informative. I would like to share with you what the team and I are working on currently for our sounds. In today’s blog, I want to specifically talk about the clock ticking sound.

How we’ll make it & our vision

We plan to make the clock ticking sound most likely with a pen or pencil. We tried this in class in different materials and we found out against the desk was the best to make it with. I know you guys might be thinking this will no come out as well as an actual clock sound. So I feel like you might be thinking for us to get this sound from the internet where we can just download it, however, where is the fun in that?! One of our main goals is to make a well-developed film opening with a lot of time and effort put into it. We are looking to challenge ourselves, use what we learned throughout the year, and reach our vast potential!

With that being said, get ready for what’s coming...

Successful hunt

March 21, 2019

HEY! I got crazy information I want to share with you guy… so today the team and I went to Home Depot to buy the supplies we needed to make our poster. Not to mention, we also went two days ago to buy the material we needed for the our headstones… but I’ll get to the headstones in the continuing blog so stay tuned for that! Without further ado, let me show you guys what we made with the items we bought.

We want to have this sign in our film opening during the beginning of it which will show the name of the place the family is leaving in. Our goal is for a sign to have like the name of their neighborhood which will look something like this

Why so much work into a ‘lame’ sign?

This sign will change the understanding of the story completely. By including this scene, the viewer is able to understand that the reunion of the family where the headstones are is not in a public cemetery, but rather in a neighborhood which in this example is “Wedgewood”. This couple of shots will help the person watching it that the family is abnormal, that avoids the usual. Most families have funerals in public cemetery, but not this one. It’s important to make this huge change so that it’s also clear this family is not like any other family.

More things along the way!

Interesting things coming soon!

March 17, 2019

Hello guys, I’m back! Today I want to go over some updates to the team and I’s shooting schedule. In other words, we are undergoing time management and are happy to share with you guys. Our filming of the opening splits into three major parts, which are the gravestones, house scenes, and re shooting. I’ve made a table to make it clear for you guys our shooting days down below!

DATES?	CONTENT?	LOCATION?
March 18-22	Shooting of headstones, names, bodies, etc.	Marham park
March 23-24	Shooting of psychopath in room, mom, symbol, etc.	Parker’s house
March 25	Redo mostly all shots	Both

March 26 & on will be used for editing and constructing CCR.

Keynote: March 21 is my birthday!!! Meaning march 21 will be probably be a day we won’t be shooting.

As you guys can tell, we made several changes. However, creating this table will help us have a reference and summary of what and when. It’s important to have something like this to refer to so we can manage our time correctly and make the best of our project without being in a hurry or taking action at the last minute. If we are to run to any issues along the way and we hit some obstacles, we will have extra time to avoid not completing this project. In anything you are trying to complete in life, it’s essential to key up with time. A great way to do this is by being organized and making up your own ‘due dates’.

We are currently working in our props like for example the headstone. They are taken up a lot of time since they they are pretty hard to make. I will be sharing you guys our progress of everything in my upcoming blog so stay tuned!

See you soon! :))

Seeing project from a different perspective

March 16, 2019

Group meeting

So each member from each group were divided into different groups where we shared our project and received/gave advices. This group meeting was this past friday which lasted about an hour and a half. I heard really cool ideas from other groups and ones that seemed quite interesting. Fortunately, I was happy to hear that all the members that I was assigned with thought our idea was delightful and compelling. I talked about the props we are working on, our film opening upcoming dates, and most importantly the beginning and the plot of our film opening. I discussed with the group the different shots we were doing and asked if they thought of ways I can improve upon them.

Recommendations given to me

-  The team and I were thinking of using Alexis (a girl in our group) as the mom of psychopath but one of the members in the group meeting said to use someone’s mom instead of Alexis to be more professional and for it to be easier to understand that it’s the guy’s mom.

-  Since our project requires a lot of time because of everything we have to keep in mind and work on, another group member said to use Youtube Audio Library for our clock ticking, water dripping, door slam, and pencil tapping sounds instead of actually making these sounds to save some time.

- I was also recommended to not put the title of the movie right after the cemetery shots to not create a trailer vibe which seems reasonable.

-  Lastly, someone else added that it’s extremely important to differentiate the flashback like scenes from the rest so that they audience is not confused about it and that it will be essential to make that differentiation very clear.

I actually found all these advice to be helpful and will be sharing them with my team and considering them for the future. However, I had received a lot of positive feedback. The people in the group were really agreeing with the ideas I was explaining to them. For example, they were saying the symbol is a really cool idea to have and the close up shots of the symbol in the dead bodies will be cool to see.

Is there any of these recommendations you think will not really help? Do you have any you want to share? Feel free to say it in the comments down below!

Stay tuned! :))

Changes to beginning that you need to know about

March 15, 2019

Hello guys! Today I want to discussed and further explain something I went over in my previous blog which I barely went in dep about. This is about our opening scene and establishing shot of what it was before to referred as a cemetary. We decided with the team that making these first scenes in a public cemetary won’t be the best idea for various reasons. Number one, we just find it a bit disrespectful to film in such places like these and isn’t a place to conduct a project on. Also, it won’t fit into our project very well for several reasons. Since we want to make these deaths special and different from others to differentiate that it has something to do with the psychopath, we believe it’s better to do it in some place isolated or hidden. Having this flashbacks in an odd place like this and not just any public cemetary can also be quite mysterious and appealing to our genre (thriller).

The new scene we created will take place on the family’s property. This will be shot in the back of the ranch where the family members died in. Something extra we have added to these scenes is that we want to make it with quick adds and also add some flashy police lights to create that murder crime that took place. There will be names showing of those who died and each one will have the symbol (backwards E) in their head to show it was done by the psychopath. As the cuts progress, we want to speed up into the turn back to days later.

The turn back will be illustrated by a message in the bottom thirds of the view saying something like for example “a few months later…” Someone in the team gave a really smart idea to have dates next to the victim’s names showing a date and then the transition will be shown by including some sort of calendar of that day.  We are still considering all the options we have thought about and I‘ll be keeping you guys updated on our final decisions as soon as we have them! Feel free to say whatever ideas you have in the comments below!!

See you soon! :))

Happy to announce this amazing movie title

March 14, 2019

Name of Film

Hey guys, I have great news for you guys. After an abundant amount of thought process to what the film name can be and reading the article The right and wrong ways to name a movie, I have came up with the name “Identity”. The article has tough me different  things like for example the shorter the title is the better. Also, that the title should have to do with what most of the film is about and that people should have an interest on that name which says the name has to be attractive. Since the film opening is about a psychopath who tends to murder people and leaves a symbol on them with blood surrounding the symbol, Identity would be a cool name to have since the identity of knowing who the murderer is identified based on the symbol. I think this name really appeals with the film and I think it’s a unique name which will bring a lot of attention. It’s really important to and highly suggested to come up with a creative name.

Symbol

The symbol of the mark that the psychopath leaves on his victims is a backwards E. It’s backwards so the guy can be looked as abnormal and different from everyone else. After dealing with his victims, the psychopath will efface this weird looking E mark somewhere in their body, with blood all over it. Below is a picture of how we want the E to look like

As you can see in the first E, it’s covered up in blood. The second E looks very mysterious and I think looks really cool. These however, are just ideas we are getting from Google. When it comes to actually making our name, we’ll be making our own symbol but basing them off these pictures above.

We want to display

    “IDƎNTITY”

right after the scenery of the flashback and the shot of the headstones at the beginning. We think it's the perfect place to add it so we can divide something that happened before to actual reality. What do you guys think?

Until next time everyone! :))

Sugarman, Jacob. “The Right and Wrong Ways to Name a Movie.” Salon, Salon.com, 25 Sept. 2011, www.salon.com/2011/02/11/just_go_with_it_movie_title_interview/.

Behind the scene!

March 10, 2019

Hello everyone! I have some exciting news which is that I started creating my props. The team and I think it's a good idea to have the items ready when the day of production kicks in. The pictures below show what the blood like substance that I created. I was able to refer to one of my previous blogs to see what I needed to go and buy to make this blood liquid. Thanks to my earlier research, I was able to go buy what I've needed for this to happen with not much time wasting.  However, I've noticed the fake blood needs more of a darker color. As you can see in this picture, the blood looks like a salsa color than actual blood. This preparation and the process of trying out this process has helped me to figure out that I will be needing less water or more water (more blood) but way more of the red food coloring liquid.

This fake blood will help my team and I with scenes like for example the one of the room with knives and blood everywhere as well as the symbol. The group and I will be going all together to buy the items we will need to create the headstones. Also, we will be going to Party City sometime this week to buy all the cloth that we will be using.  We have also discussed where we want to have the credits placed in the film opening, in which scenes, and with which font. We want to have a font that gives a thriller vibe but keeping it professional at the same time. One of the fonts we are highly considering for our credits looks like this, OPINIONS? Feel free to leave any feedback down in the comments! 

I don't want to say any more because I'm going to leave the rest for the production process... I hope you guys are as motivated as I am!

See you soon! :)) With interesting information and content you don't want to miss!!