Forest Travels

March 28, 2018

     Today we went to the forest to film the rest of the film opening. I did not have the right clothes on because I just came from practice so I was all sweaty. So I told my girlfriend to bring me her jacket, so yeah the green jacket is hers.

     We only had to film the scene where Brian had to touch the tree and the camera zooms out. Brian could not make a surprised face so it took us a pretty long time to get the scene finished. It took us so many takes so I thought that we should just change up the angle a little bit so you didn't have to see Brian's face. The camera was behind Brian so it could be an over the shoulder shot and you could only see my character's reaction. This made the scene a lot better because you could see my character's reaction and you could infer that Brian's reaction would be confused. We have finished everything but now I have to do a voiceover and say "welcome to limbo," then we could be done with the greatest film opening ever!

Terrible Actor

March 27, 2018

     We started the process of making the best film ever! The long awaited Limbo is finally upon us. So the first step in this stressful filming process started at Brian's house. Brian wanted to be the main actor but I came to find out that we have a minor obstacle in the way. HE IS THE WORST ACTOR EVER!!! Almost everything took us like 20 takes. They were as simple as just getting up from a bed or putting your hand on a door. Even after all of this stressful filming, we ended up finishing the scenes in the house. We filmed the baby pictures in chronological order, so from baby years to kid to tween to teenager. The fake blood that we made had to be used very carefully because his parents would freak out if we got any on their floor. The sheet that I bought took care of most of the blood spills so we didn't get into any trouble. Our other actors were very professional and did wear black which we asked them to so that went well. Tomorrow we are going to Markham Park to film the rest of the opening. Brian touches his hand on a door and the camera will zoom in, and when it zooms out, Brian will be in the park. We will discuss more about that in the next blog. We will finish off with a few pictures from today.

Me tucking in Brian

Worst actor ever lying on the bed

Props

March 25, 2018

     It is FINALLY time for the best film opening America has ever seen!!! We have the bed sheets and the blood is all done. Tomorrow is when all the actors can get together and the process could finally begin. Brian's parents are fine with us filming at his house with the fake blood going on the white sheets. The actors are going to wear black to signify death and negativity. Here are pictures of all the props we are going to use.

Clothing for actors

Clothing for actors

White sheet for blood

Fake Blood

Items we used to make blood

     Now let us put these props into work and make Limbo!

Perfect Setting

March 24, 2018

     After further consideration for the setting of our film, we realized that Brian's house would be the perfect establishment to film this opening. He has a bunch of baby pictures on his walls which goes perfectly with what we are trying to do for our opening.

Baby Pictures

Bed where we are filming

Baby Pictures

Baby Pictures

Hallway where character walks out

     Brian and I believe that this works perfectly with the vision that we had in mind. The bedroom has a curtains which could help us work with the lighting and he has many lamps in his house that we could use as well. The sheets that we purchased match perfectly with the bed so we can spread the blood over it and just throw the sheet out after. We are so close to being ready to film, all we need are a few more props and the actors have to coordinate on a certain day to meet up. Then we can make the greatest film opening ever!!

Bloody Opening

March 23, 2018

     As Brian and I were discussing our props for the film opening, our teacher overheard that we were in need of fake blood. She informed us that she has some in her cabinet and we were in luck that she had plenty of it.

Me inspecting the bottle of blood.

The bottle of fake blood.

     This is one of the major props that we need for our film opening. Brian is going to get some sheets and a white t shirt that he barley uses because this blood does not come off clothing. Spring break is approaching us and we have found us some great actors that want to be in our film. We are going to borrow our friends camera and start filming at Brian's house as soon as we can. It will not take a long time to film because the main elements are just panning over the baby pictures and zooming out of the subject that is on the bed. The monologue is also being written by Brian and I which will be done before we start filming. The monologue is coming out better than I imagined because it brings a suspense to the scene and shakes up the audience a little bit. I can't wait to start filming the greatest film opening ever!!

Messy Beds

March 18, 2018

     Here are the possible locations where we could film the man on the bed with his family surrounding him...

1st possible location

2nd possible location 

3rd possible location

     I believe that the 2nd location would be the best because we could use the curtains for lighting and there is a couple of lamps in the room as well. It is also an empty room that I have in the house so we can move furniture if we need too. Brian is also looking at places we could shoot at his house. We are meeting up tomorrow to discuss where to do it. This week we have to look at lights that we have to purchase and the fake blood too. After we receive all of this, then we can start to film the best opening ever!!

FINALLY

March 17, 2018

     OKAY, so this is it!! Brian and I have finally figured out the plot of our movie and every single aspect of our film opening. The main character starts off lying on the bed with his eyes closed. It cuts back and forth from the baby pictures of him to him on the bed as the opening credits pop up in different corners with each cut. Every cut to the man on the bed, it keeps zooming out as we start to see some people around the bed. The audience assume that they are his family members as you see a mom, dad, and a sibling shedding in tears. They are all dressed in black to signify death and cruelty. While all this is happening, there is a monologue playing in the background explaining what limbo is and how this character is going to become part of it. The frame keeps zooming out as the monologue ends and the character sits up on the bed gasping for air with a shocked look on his face. He looks around and every member in his family is frozen and he doesn't know why. The film opening cuts to black right there and the film opening ends. This leaves the audience members engaged with the film and want to learn more about what limbo is. This film opening does not give too much away and the audience is a bit confused on why everyone is frozen but they want to figure out why.

     This plot for our movie is incredible and now we have to get all the actors for the opening. Either Brian or I will be the man that is in limbo as the other one along with two of our friends will be the family members. Brian and I will also be alternating as the camera man as we are both directors and have the same vision of what we want our movie to look like. We will start to film next week and make this the greatest film opening ever!!

Group Gathering

March 15, 2018

     Today we were assigned groups to discuss all our projects. I really enjoyed this group time because I received new ideas for my film and gave some constructive criticism to others which helped everybody out. While I was explaining my film opening, I realized that it is too much information for such a short film opening. This was our storyboard before the group discussion...

     After some long over viewing of the storyboard, I realized that we have to make this shorter. I went to talk to my partner and he agreed with me 100%. We came to a decision that we don’t need the bottom row of the storyboard. It gives away too much information and it doesn’t really engage the audience to continue watching because all the questions are answered in those 2 short minutes. Tomorrow we are going to get together and finish discussing the plot of our movie, how we want to shorten it, and how the opening could engage the audience. This must be done tomorrow because next week, we are going to start filming the real thing.

Filming Indoors

March 11th, 2018

     I was really excited to tell my friends about the field that I found to shoot our film in. I told them that it would be a perfect place to shoot because it is an open empty field with lots of space to get different angles to make a beautiful film opening. After discussing this with my partner and a few friends that have a lot of knowledge about films, I realized that we should not shoot our movie outside in the field. My friends told me that many of the famous films that our scary and need certain lighting are shot inside. Shooting the film outside can bring too many variables. It could rain, too much sun, its too dark, or it may be too cold to film outside. That is why we are now going to shoot our opening indoors. We will be able to control the lighting with lamps and ceiling lights to give it the spooky feel.

Video Inside, Film Outside
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/VideoInsideFilmOutside (this explains why certain movies are recorded inside, even though the film is supposed to take place outdoors).

     The shooting will take place either at my house, my partner's house, or one of our friends houses. I think that I have a perfect friend to help us do this. He has a big house with many lights and a room that is empty so we can shoot it there. The man(Brian) will be laying on the ground as the death man(me) stands over him. We have a little plan of what is going to take place and now we need the main part of our film opening which is the monologue. The monologue will be in a deep voice that makes the audience feel uneasy and a little frightened with what is going on in the screen. The lighting will be darker than usual and if we can't make it dark enough then we can fix it in post editing.

Paranormal Drama

March 10th, 2018

     To figure out the perfect actors and the correct setting we want for our film, we decided to look at some films that have the same genre as us. This could help us get a better idea of what would work with our film and what wouldn't. The Sixth Sense is about a boy who communicates with spirits seeks the help of a disheartened child psychologist. The Orphanage pertains to a woman brings her family back to her childhood home, which used to be an orphanage for handicapped children. Before long, her son starts to communicate with an invisible new friend. Signs involves everything that farmer, Graham Hess, assumed about the world is changed when he discovers a message - an intricate pattern of circles and lines - carved into his crops. As he investigates the unfolding mystery, what he finds will forever alter the lives of his brother and children. All these movies are in the paranormal drama genre which makes them perfect candidates to compare with our film. The target audience for these movies are 13-50 year olds. This genre mainly pertains to males as well. What makes our movie so great is that it is not as much of a horror film as the other movies so children can enjoy our movie as well without getting scared.

http://www.imdb.com/list/ls062609921/ (Top 50 paranormal dramatic movies)

Setting

1st Location

2nd Location 

3rd Location

I believe that these three fields will be perfect destinations to shoot our opening for our film. These areas have a wide space for many different shots and angles to incorporate into the project. My partner is looking at settings as well and where to shoot our film, so we will discuss about the setting more in depth tomorrow. I will tell him that I enjoy the 1st location because I believe that it has the largest open area and the less people go there so it will be easier to film since it is less crowded. Let's see what my partner thinks of these locations tomorrow!!

Opening Ideas

March 8th,2018

     My partner and I discussed how we wanted to shoot our film. We discussed parts of the outline and how we were going to lay everything out. We just started brainstorming and writing down whatever came to our head.

My idea for the opening
- Long shot of body laying around on field
- Slowly moves into a close up of the eye (with introduction of character)

- Dead on a field (lighter shade of color)
- Zoom out of eye and limbo man is standing over the body

Partner's idea for the opening
- Showing off setting
- A lighter side and a darker side
- Character wakes up gasping for air and the title shows up

Combined ideas for the opening
- Shows off setting while narrator reads quote about death (narrator is limbo man)
- You see a long shot of character dead on the ground
- Zoom in on his face
- Zoom out as you see blood on his stomach with a knife next to him
- The limbo man is next to him watching over him
- The limbo man checks his watch and walks out of frame
- The quote finishes “you’re in limbo” and man wakes up gasping for air

     We decided to go for a slow opening approach because it pertains more to our paranormal drama genre. The field that we will shoot our film will be in Vista View, Everglades Elementary park, or Markham park. I was thinking Everglades Elementary park because it has a clearer background which gives it a sense of isolation when we show the character dead on the ground. Now that we have a basic understanding of what we are going to do with our movie, we have to get the supplies and the right actors to make this the best film opening ever!!

SAUCY SCHEDULING

March 4th, 2018

     My partner and I realized that we have to be organized and make a schedule to do the best work in the limited amount of time that we have. This schedule has four different sections. Film Prep from March 1st to March 17th, Filming from March 11th to March 31st, Editing from March 25th to April 7th, and CCR from April 1st to April 14th.

     We have also been talking about the different songs that we could incorporate into our film opening. The songs have to be about getting to heaven, death. and what happens in the after life. Ideas for songs are Don't fear the Reaper, Stairway to Heaven, or Dear God. These are all songs that could set the tone for the rest of the film which is about death and mystery. My partner and I have to start emailing these bands so we could get their approval and make this the best film opening ever!!

LIMBO

March 3, 2018

   My partner and I talked about our ideas earlier today and I was impressed. I thought that my ideas were going to be amazing and that his ideas were going to be trash, but I was wrong. He had some brilliant brainstorming and we ended up choosing one of his ideas for our film opening.

     "A man is stuck in limbo," Brian said. I had no idea what my partner was talking about when he said this. I always thought of limbo as a party game where you are supposed to go under a pole and the lowest point a person can go is the objective of the game. After I had looked up what limbo meant, we kept on discussing the film opening. Brian wanted an actor that would wake up on a bed with no recollection of what just happened. He has blood stains on his back and maybe there is a knife on the bed as well. The man looks to the right and sees plain white with light beaming down which will symbolize goodness, innocence, and  the purity of what is heaven. To his left, is black with dark red light beaming down which symbolizes death, evil, and mystery. The man is confused but he starts to realize what it going on. The man has to figure out his own murder and how it took place so he could get out of this limbo.

     After Brian pitched me this idea, I could not help but fall in love with it. I will be the actor as I believe that I can be serious enough to make this a great film opening. Brian and our friend will be my directors as they make sure that the lighting and all the different shots we use our perfect for the setting we are trying to establish. Limbo is going to be the greatest film opening that the world has ever seen!!

IDEAS GALORE

March 1, 2018

     Comedy, drama, mystery, horror, thriller, and many more genres could be used to make a film. My partner and I are going to be directors of the greatest film opening yet!!! We decided to each come up with a great idea for a movie and meet up tomorrow to discuss. I have been brainstorming ever since I came home from school and I believe that I could come up with a million dollar idea. This is what I have so far...

1st Brainstorm of Ideas

     These were my ideas that I believed could have been great movie options. I circled the one that I think would be the best movie to make. I ended up going with the idea of a basketball star getting injured in his last game of high school before he goes to college. He gets injured in the last seconds of the game and goes to the doctor the next day. He had tore his ACL and was not allowed to play basketball for a year. College scouts retracted their scholarships for this kid and now he had no idea what do do because basketball was his life. The film opening would end with him in the middle of his high school basketball court thinking to himself, "OMG what do I do now, I have never done anything else in my life besides play this sport. Well, I guess it is time to move on and find another career path." After I took a quick nap, I had many more ideas pop up into my head. You can never brainstorm too much so I wrote down as many ideas as I could.

2nd Brainstorm of Ideas

     I can't wait to tell my partner tomorrow about these great ideas and I will love to hear his ideas so we could elaborate on them and figure out what we should do for our film project. As I said before, we are going to make the best film opening ever!! :)))