Thomas' Blog

Before you view my CCR I want to apologize for my lateness. The week I was supposed to tun this in was very chaotic and I tried to get around to editing and posting but I couldn't get around to it. This my CCR. https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=xLel0Fry7go

When looking over my peer reviews, there was one common change that I was requested to make, I needed to increase the volume on my voice over. I returned to my editing and increased it, and also the volume of the youtube video capture because I feel that was a bit challenging to understand and is a key part of my story. I was also told by a couple of my peers that the protagonist's storyline was a bit unclear. I understood where they were coming from, however, this was intentional. I feel that the beginning of the movie should leave out key parts of information like that, leaving the viewer to figure out who someone is and why they fit into story themselves, as the movie goes along. My Movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_x5xTf7Wwk&feature=youtu.be

This is the first draft of the opening to my movie, "The Untold Story Of Simon Taylor".

One part of the editing process that I knew would be a challenge was syncing up the fake youtube video with the actual youtube video, so I wanted to get that done first. As can be seen, by the clip itself, there are some hiccups that need to be worked out. Two things, in particular, are that there is a part where you can see the original video (Which is a video game clip) and it randomly switches over to the new video. I also need to add subtitles to the video to help the viewer understand the subject better. The original video is already hard enough to hear, so with the distortion, and not being able to make out his words by looking at his lips, I even need subtitles to understand him. Here is the rough draft of that section. This part alone took me almost an entire class period to complete because of how tough it was.

When I heard that we would be using premiere pro for this project I was super excited because I have previous experience with the program and I like it a lot. My first batch of editing mostly included organizing my clips and re-learning the program because I haven't used it in a little while.

There is another type of filming I needed to do for this project, and that is the type of filming that doesn't involve a camera at all. I had to use a program called Open Broadcast Service to record my computer screen to gather the footage from youtube videos. I needed to get a clip, but change the title, since I don't have access to the original uploaders content, I had to upload my own random video with my desired title, and overlay his video, here is the original clip with no overlays. There is another kind of filming that I needed to do for this project, and that is audio. Since I will be using a voiceover for most of the duration of this video, I needed to write and record my voice with my Blue Yeti Microphone.

I started out this project with the full intent of doing a mysterious/ scary film opening with a comedic undertone, but as I had longer to process the idea, it sounded less and less interesting. Scrambling to find a new idea, I thought of so many different things, but my final choice, pretty much just landed in my lap. My new film will be an intro to a documentary about a former friend of mine that had a pretty dark secret about himself uncovered. Some of the footage that will be apart of my film will be from the actual video exposing said secrets. All names and faces of real people will be changed and or blurred. The first batch of footage I filmed myself during the drive to one of my actually rehearsals and shows clips of my actual routine that I go through every day before a rehearsal or show. These are some of the raw clips that I filmed, some of which I will be using in the real video, and some of which I will need to get rid of or change heavily due to poor produ...

actors,  costumes,  props,  locations,  dates and times,  scripts, and film equipment.  For my project, I wanted to get my friends from Sugden Theatre involved, and if things don't work out with them, then my opening will be made up by my family. Costumes will be easy, just some darker clothes, and the only props we will need are a table, bag, the contents of the bag (still undecided), a bat, and some kind of blindfold (i.e.. sleeping mask or bandana). The location can be pretty much anywhere that can get dark and is indoors. My friends and family are not great at planning so I will have to decide the dates and times fairly close to when they actually happen. The script is on my at home computer and I'm sure the actors will have fun lines to add along the way. I will be using my phone camera to film, and editing it with premiere pro on my personal computer.

    This is my long overdue storyboard. While making this, I underestimated how difficult it would be. I am usually very good at this kind of stuff, but for some reason I had a lot of trouble thinking of what to do. My movie opening is subject to change, but this is the closest thing I could get to what I was hoping for. I want to make a comedy, but I want to also make it intense and have some ironic "serious-ness". My opening takes place at the end of my "movie" so some things have to be left up to the audience to interpret. My opening will be a sort of interrogation of a confused man that had a bag mishap, and got involved with the wrong people, but when the contents of the bag are emptied, it turns out to be filled with something very non-serious, like stuffed animals or candy. I left names out of my storyboard because I am still not completely sure who will be acting in my opening.

When thinking about what I wanted to do for m film opening, I have decided to change my genre. I want to make a film opening for a horror/ thriller film. All of my favorite film openings have been from films with this genre. In my opinion, the best way to open a horror/ thriller film is with one of two things. You either start the film with something very positive where the protagonist(s) are in a positive state, then contrast throughout the film, or start with something scary or thrilling, but provide little to no context. I think I will end up going with the second option because I personally prefer that over the first. This opening should be a key story point that happens later in the film that the viewer can think of throughout the film. One example from a movie that I watched and blogged about recently would be Bird Box. The movie begins with a very important part of the movie, but you don't know what the scene means, or why it is there until around halfway through the movie. ...

For my film opening, I was thinking that I would start in the future/ with the end of the movie. The reasoning behind this is that some of my favorite film openings have been done this way. The main movie I got this inspiration from is the "First horror film of 2019" Escape Room . This film "starts at the end". I want my opening to be something that is stuck in the viewers head for the entire duration of my "film". This will be tricky because I'm not actually making a full film, but I am excited to figure out how to execute it.

I will be working on the Action-Comedy genre and I will be working alone.

Avengers Infinity War (and other Marvel movies) For my second movie I thought I would choose Avengers Infinity War, however, upon revisiting the movie I thought of doing my blog post about the “Marvel” opening and not the opening specific to Infinity War. The Marvel movie opening is a classic that most people can recognize. Something that I really like about the opening is that still pays homage to the comic books by mimicking a sort of “page turning” effect at the beginning and if you look close enough there are pieces of text that are visible. It also includes almost all of their characters no matter what the movie is, it includes bits and pieces of the entire company and its history.

Bird Box The opening sequence of this movie is very simple. It only includes two titles, the production company (Netflix) and the title of the movie (Bird Box). Also, the beginning of the movie doesn't necessarily have to be the beginning of the story, a very common approach is starting a movie in the past, but this movie starts about halfway through the story. When watching for the first time I had no clue what any of it meant until I watched the movie and put pieces of the story together in my head and without having to revisit the scene in the opening, i already knew what it was about (although they do include the same scene from the opening where it belongs chronologically). They include images that spark an eerie feeling in the viewer. I could tell from the first few drone/ helicopter shots that the setting won't be bright or happy at all. Since this is a Netflix original movie produced in 2018, the quality of the equipment used is fantastic, and the quality of the ima...

The clip opens with the classic marvel logo, but in the background, you can already hear the dramatic tone of the clip starting to come through. I don’t know anything about these characters, but just based off the music, camerawork, and editing I can almost defiantly tell you that they have a love relationship. The back to back close up shots on their faces let the viewer get a better look at their facial expressions, and with talented actors like this, that is all they need to tell a story. Next, we are met right away with an unpleasant siren noise and an office full of frantic workers. Before hearing a word out of anyone’s mouth, I already know that something important is happening. The second that the man (Who seems to be the leader of that particular office) picks up the phone, the alarm turns off and the office goes completely silent. Based only on the body language and the silence, I know that whatever the person is saying on the other line is very important. Something that I no...

If you wish to view the presentation, please click HERE.

While watching this movie I noticed that the director of the movie is very smart when it comes to his scene/ camera work. The beginning of the clip is very emotional and dramatic, I feel this way because of the close u shots and the absence of background noise in some of the clips. In the part where the man is on his phone, i can instantly tell that whatever is happening on the other end of the line is important, because all of the sudden, almost in an instant, everyone in the background is focused on the conversation, and the camera focus is directly on his face, also, his body language is very frantic. The camerawork in this clip is almost beautiful. I personally think that if you don't notice something like this, the better it is. Camerawork should seem un-noticeable to an audience member, because it should just feel like the camera is where it needs to be every time.

This is my graphic organizer which includes many of the important things I need to know all in one place.