What I learned

        I am basically done editing my opening at this point, the only thing I have left to do is the names on the credits. My teacher said they can be random but some people I asked said they could only be random for the actors names, but the names of the directors, writers etc. would have to be real. Currently I have made up names for those positions as well so once I ask my teacher this question I will either change it to real people or just leave the fake names. This is my last blog post before the CCR and the actual opening so I think it would be cool to leave off on what I learned from this project.

        Initially, I absolutely despised this project. I mean I heard blog posts every week and a 2 minute film opening and just thought of how much work it was. I hated the idea of this project and was a little nervous as to whether I could keep up with the blog posts and make a competent movie. Turns out, it was much easier than I expected and I even enjoyed it a little. The blog posts were not hard at all and came naturally to me and did not even take me that much time. For the movie opening, getting the shots was much easier than I expected and the editing was also easier than I expected. The finished product was much better than I expected, now I do not know if it is up to Cambridge standards but it is definitely better than what I thought it was going to be on the first day this project was assigned. This taught me to go into things with a more open mind, I had already decided I hated this project before even starting it, so I did the first few blog posts and did not like it, but eventually I realized it was not bad at all and I tremendously overexaggerated the difficulty of this project.

        Another thing I learned was the practice of not procrastinating. This project was set up in way where you really could not procrastinate as you needed to do things every week. I finished my opening with there still to be a week for my CCR plus a long weekend. I did this whole thing stress free. Another important thing I learned is to plan. I asked my actors way beforehand about when we could meet just to make sure nothing would come up and it worked as filming day went by very smooth. Also, I learned that while it is important to plan, not everything will be exactly like you planned it. I had a script made, but when it turned time to film it was not feasible to do what I had put in the script. It turned out for the better though because it was much better in the new way. All in all I think it went pretty well.

  

Things to fix in my last cut of the movie.

         The first major issue with my opening is the length of it. The film is supposed to be 2 minutes max but my film is 2 minutes and 18 seconds. However, I do recall my teacher saying it could go to 2 minutes 20 seconds but I am not sure of this so I will ask her when I have the class again. If the max time is indeed 2 minutes I need to figure out a way to shave off 18 seconds. I do not even know where to start to do this. I am going to have to go through the film and see which scenes are absolutely necessary and the ones that are not I will cut off. I am hoping that the max is 2 minutes 20 seconds other wise I am going to have to think long and hard about what to cut off. This is something that I am a little worried about doing because most of the scenes in there were necessary, 

        I also sent this version of the film to one of the actors and they identified some possible issues with it. The first one was with the fonts of the words on the screen. These were there to list the people who worked on the project like director and cinematographer. I will need to look to find a better font than the one I used for that. I think this is a pretty easy fix so it really is nothing I am worried about at all. It is just going to take a quick Google search and me having to select which font I want to use on Shotcut. 

       

        Another issue with fonts that I did not even realize was they were in different colors when displaying the credits. This was actually completely unintentional and an accident but I did not even notice it when I rewatched the opening. This is also a very simple fix as I just have to go to shot cut and click on that scene and simply change the color from white to black. This is also another minor fix that I am not worried about at all. 

        Also I was informed the color filter I put over the character Bill Tyson in the second scene initially was not good. I put the filter over to try and mute the colors to make it seem like the character is sad and when he gets the text I switch the colors back to normal to make it seem like he is happier, but it did not have the intended effect I wanted to. I still want to put a color filter over that scene but I am going to need to try different ones before I find the right one. This is also a very quick fix and something I am not worried about.

        Some other very small stuff is some of the transitions did not look good so I am just going to have to switch them. It is only 2 transitions and they are both easy fixes. Another thing that needs fixing is in the scene after the trunk is closes, the music kind of just comes to an abrupt stop. I have seen some movies where that does happen but I am still deciding whether to keep it like that or to make it so that the music goes down bit by bit so that it is a smoother stop rather than a sudden one.

Editing

         I think I have finished editing for the most part. I will change up some things based on the feedback I get. I think it went as well as I could have expected. I did my best and that is good enough for me. It came out a little better than I expected it to. I did run into a couple of problems however, which I will quickly run through and at the end I will post the screenshots I took while I was editing the opening. All in all even if I do not get the best grade on the opening I think it was a good experience to have.

        The first issue I had is that me being stupid, in some critical shots my finger was over the camera. Luckily, it was like only 1 or 2 shots so I found a solution. The solution was to basically zoom in on something else in the shot. Also again me being lucky, the shots I had my thumb in also had the suitcase in it. This meant that I could just zoom in on the suitcase which saved me the pain of having to re record. As a matter of fact, I actually think this zooming in on the suitcase helped enhance the film. Initially, this was an issue but after I came up with a solution it really was not that big of a deal. 

        Another issue I ran into that also took up some time was the editing software. I know initially I said that I was going to use Shotcut(which I ended up using anyway), but I felt like I might want to use the extra features that Da Vinci Resolves gives. However, whenever I would upload a video onto it, the video would lag out like crazy. I spent a decent amount of time trying to figure this out before I just went back to Shotcut. Shotcut served me well and it was not complicated so perhaps I should have stuck with my initial decision anyway.

        Below I will just dump a couple of screenshots I took while I was editing on Shotcut. 

Filming

         I filmed the movie opening yesterday. There were a couple changes made to the film while I filmed. I think the filming went well and I got all the clips I wanted to get. However, the only way to tell truly how well the filming went is after I edit the clips. I filmed it on a phone and when watching the clips, the iPhone audio seemed like it picked up the audio pretty well so I did not need a mic or anything special to pick up audio which was one of my bigger concerns going in.

        As discussed, I had a couple changes made during filming. First was the location. Initially, I had a completely different location picked out. However, some of the people who I had asked to act in my film said they had a better location. This location was right outside of Weston Regional Park and it was a better location than the one I had initially selected. I think it helped my movie opening immensely because the overall aesthetic was much better in this new location and it allowed for my next change which I will talk about in the next paragraph. 

        This change was to the script of the movie. Initially the secret agent, Derek Johnson was supposed to be in the car, but now it was easier logistically for him to be walking around with the suitcase in a backpack. Henry Walker was going to be the one in the car and he called Derek over and when Derek came over, he knocked him out. In the original script Derek was supposed to be in the car and Henry would stop the car. However, it was very difficult to film this, so I decided that it was better to have Derek walking and trying to blend in. A decision was made that in order for Derek to blend in, the suitcase would be inside a backpack and when Henry knocks out Derek, he will take out the suitcase from the backpack to further signify the importance of the suitcase.

        For the future, I am very nervous about editing. I have one experience of editing before and I got a bad grade on the project so I am not very confident in my editing ability. I feel like I got the necessary clips but the editing might mess the whole thing up. I am hoping I quickly pick up the editing as I am editing and the opening looks good in the end. However, I do have major doubts about it.

Title Change

         As I discussed in my last blog I absolutely hated my title. The supreme suitcase sounded so lame and I just came up with it because I wanted a name on the script. First, I narrowed down the title to 3 names. Warrior Of Yesterday, Snake in the River and The comeback. I felt these three names really resonated with the plot of my movie. I had a hard time narrowing them down because each of them symbolized a part of the movie which I will explain below.

        Snake in the River was an intriguing title because the title is very catchy. It also has a deeper meaning behind it in relation to the movie. As I explained in the post about the plot, there was a spy in the ranks of US government which is why they came to Bill in the first place. Snake is a word for traitor and the river was meant to symbolize the US government, so essentially the title would foreshadow the traitor in the government. In the end, I decided against this name because I felt like it did not have enough to do with the main character of the movie.

        The Comeback was another one I considered. This one related to the main character Bill Tyson as he had been away from his job as a secret agent for a while, but he needs to make a comeback to stop a major harm from befalling upon the US. In the end, I decided against this title because it felt kind of cheesy and something that is super generic and overused. It also did not really have a deeper meaning or anything and just looked kind of plain to me.

        The one I finally decided on was Warrior Of Yesterday. The title itself looks intriguing and mystifying. Moreover it also has a deeper meaning. Bill used to be a secret agent and much of the plot is going to show how he struggled in his life between missions. He was clinging on to his heroism of the past. I think the title was best suited as it provides a mystifying hook as well as links in to the movie in a big way. 

Group Discussion 2

         Our teacher once again sorted us into random groups to discuss our projects. The groups are where everyone discusses their project and has a chance to share their questions or concerns. I am happy whenever she does this because since I am working alone it gives me an insight on whether what I am doing is good or bad. Like last time, I again found this session to be very helpful. It offered me confirmation of stuff I already thought or it gave me new ideas. There was 1 major question I had that was answered and various other concerns that were addressed. 

        Firstly, I had an audio concern. I initially thought Airpods would be okay to pick up audio from, but when discussing someone else's project, it came across that it might be better to buy a Mic. I am not sure if this is what I want to do, but I am going to run some tests on my Airpods and see if they are sufficient. If they are not I may have to buy a Mic pack. I can get them on Amazon if I want to, but this is supposed to be a low budget film, so I am not sure I want to buy that. Especially, because I probably will never use the mic after this project. However, if need be I will buy it. I am going to speak in my airpods and see if they audio picks up without any feedback or noises and if it does, then I will have my source of audio. 

Vs 

        Another concern I had with my opening was the title. The title I have right now is the supreme suitcase. I feel like that is a boring name especially because the title is going to have to be shown right before the opening ends. Someone suggested to me that I should use a random name generator to generate a name. They said that even if I do not like the names they produce, I can draw inspiration from that. I am likely changing the name in upcoming days, because I just feel like the name I have is really bland and not enough of a hook. 

        Lastly, it was suggested to me that I use a series of alternating shots during scene 1 where the car and suitcase is stolen. Last group discussion someone else had said the same thing and now someone also said the same thing, so now I know that is what I need to do. I will work in the alternating close and mid-shots during the struggle between Derek Johnson and Henry Walker. I think that this can also solve the issue I have with time, because if I have multiple camera angles, it should take more time. I think this could be effective and it could also help boost adrenalin since the changing camera angles adds to the fast-pace of the film.

    

Small Issue

        Although I have two scenes, my script feels a little low on time. I am trying to think of ways to extend the length of the film. However, at the same time I think it is possible that what I have come up with is already enough. What I am going to do is shoot an extra scene just in case I am short and if I end up falling short after editing I will have an extra scene. I think this helps to solve my problem, now I just need to come up with an extra scene. The extra scene may or may not make it into the editing depending on how long my film is. The max limit is 2 minutes and I want my film to be at least 1 minute and thirty seconds.

        For the extra scene, I am thinking of a scene before Henry Walker steals Derek Johnson's car and the suitcase. I think this scene could consist of Henry having a chat with his unknown boss over the phone and Henry is asking what is in the suitcase and the boss is telling him about it. The reason I am iffy on this scene is because I want to keep the mystery of the suitcase especially because it is just a film opening. However, if people know what is in the suitcase, they would understand why the kidnapping and robbing of it is so significant. This extra scene has a heavy weight on it and can significantly change the tune of semi-action scene in the opening. I think this is one possibility for an extra scene but a risky one because an extra scene should not have such a change in meaning for the opening. 

        The second scene I am thinking about that could be used as an extra scene is a scene after the main character is introduced. In the current version of my script after the text message is shown to the audience, the camera will zoom out and slowly turn to credits. In this extra scene, it could be shown what happens after the text and where the secret location is and who Bill Tyson is meeting with. It could be a small shack where he has a conversation with a higher up who is on a screen. For dramatic effect, the screen could turn black after the higher up tells Bill the contents of the suitcase. The gravity of the situation has just been explained and it cuts to credits is also another interesting hook that I think could work. If the audience finds out why the suitcase is important, it could get them to stick around for longer to see how the issue is solved.

        These are just two extra scene ideas I had. They hopefully will not be used, but I am planning on filming sometime soon so I am going to have to decide between the two or maybe a whole new scene is something else comes to my mind. I think it is best to be prepared going in because once I film it is going to be hard to film again if I do not have a sufficient amount of clips. I think this is a smart idea, but I am actually not that happy with the two scene ideas I have come up with, so I am going to try to come up with more and if not I am just going to hope the initial script is good and long enough for the the project.

        

Sound/Music

         Music in the background especially in an action movie can really help a movie in many ways. It helps to complement what is being shown on the screen if the proper music is used. For example, in action movies a more up-tempo beat can help to boost the adrenaline and thrill of the audience which is what action movies are supposed to do. Moreover, some action movies have a mystery element so the music in the background can help to make the audience feel the excitement and intrigue. In my opening I want to use music to do many similar things. In the first part of my first scene there will be some action so I want music that is more up tempo, but for the second part of my first scene when the suitcase is in the shot, I want there to be more intrigue so the music will be different.

        In this opening, the music is used effectively to create a mystery and start to get the audience to ask questions and get them to be hooked to the movie. The use of the music is especially clear in two places during this film clip. The first instance is in the first part of the clip where the spaceship starts to catch fire and hurtle toward Earth. The music in the background was more slow than an action scene and was aimed more at hooking the audience. The directors wanted the audience to think about questions like where is the spaceship coming from and why is it losing control. The music really helps in achieving that mystique. The second part where the music is highlighted is in the end when the women gets out of the crashed ambulance and looks out of sorts but surprisingly healthy for someone who just survived an accident. The music in the background is also more suited for mystery because it gets people on the edge of their seats and start asking why is she looking like that and what happened to her. It provides a good hook for the audience as they will want to stay to have their questions be answered.

        In this scene, the music is used differently than in the Venom scene. Here the music is more up-tempo and is occurring during action with the main characters. The music here also serves a different purpose, instead of building intrigue and mystique, it is meant to illicit feelings from the audience. The up-tempo of the beat combined with the fighting and high-paced action boosts the adrenaline of the audience which is what action movies are supposed to do. The high-tempo music is perfect for action sequences and this is a good example of why music is important in a movie.

        

        For my opening, I want a mix of the two scenes. In the first part of my first scene there will be some fight struggle which is where I would like to use a more high-tempo beat. However, in the ending parts of the opening there will be a scene where there is a close up of the classified suitcase which is where I want to build up intrigue. For this purpose, there is where I will use a more slow-tempo mystery type of music. I will need to find the perfect spot to change the beat from high to low-tempo which is what I will figure out most likely after shooting the scenes. 

Color Schemes

         Color is very important in a film. It can affect people in many ways psychologically and emotionally. It does many things and can help in setting the tone of a film, show the details and traits of a character and can highlight details in movies that have deeper meanings in them. For my movie opening, I want to aim to create a color scheme that helps to set the tone of the film and show the trait of a character. I want people to understand from the two scenes I am shooting that it is a serious action movie as opposed to a comedy one. Also in my second scene, I want a good color scheme to highlight the destitute nature that Bill Tyson finds himself and highlight his desperation. But, the movie does not have anyone dying in it, so I do not want the color scheme to convey the tone of death

        In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 a color scheme is used to convey a message of seriousness and loss. The movie comes to a point that the audience knows that lives will be lost which is why a muted blue and green scheme is used. It helps to signify the tragic nature of the film and it helps to make the audience feel the same emotions as the characters are supposed to be feeling. The movie makes sure to use muted color as well because bright blue and green would have an altogether different meaning than muted blue and green. The importance of this is immense because it is easy to tell the tone of a movie from its colors, so if the color scheme does not elicit the same emotions from an audience compared to what is going on in the movie, then they will not enjoy it as much.

        In contrast the movie Frozen uses color scheme to illicit the opposite emotions. It does not want to convey death and sadness and instead convey hope and love. Usually in a place as cold as where the movie takes place, the weather is brutal and the skies are usually filled with darkness and hopelessness. However, Frozen makes use of lighter colors to illicit more positive emotions. Snow and snowstorms instead of conveying hopelessness convey hope and love. The tone of the movie would be completely different if the snow was depicted more as cold and hostile instead of welcoming. 

        For my movie opening, I do not want the color scheme to convey something as dark as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2, but not something as upbeat as Frozen. I want my opening to portray Bill Tyson as lost and hopeless before he gets the call, so I am thinking about using a darker hues and colors when he is pondering in his car, but after he gets the call the color subtly starts to become lighter. I think this will help to add detail to the character of Bill Tyson but still keep the serious sentiment of the movie.

Script for Opening

         I think I came up with a plot and it is helpful for me to make a script. A script helps in a multiple ways. Firstly, it helps to envision the opening when you really write it down in a coherent flow. It also allows you to figure out the intricacies of the opening like the dialogue or the specific movements by the characters. The script will also help to make the shot list and help the actors to understand what is expected of them and what dialogue is going to be used. The script also is a tool that is easy to update so it is easy to edit if I feel like there is a problem and changes need to be made. The tool I used was YouMeScript and it provided a very easy interface to help me create a script in a format that was clean and easy to track. This script is an important part in the planning process and helps in easing the filming burden. 

Location scouting/prop and set design

        For the location of my movie opening I will explore more this weekend. For the first scene in my opening I googled abandoned roads around my area and came up with 2 places. I will go look at them this weekend and see if they are adequate. If they are not, I will look around more. For the second scene, I think I will shoot it at Weston Regional Park. The scene needs to be in a parking lot and needs to make it seem like Bill Tyson is listless. I know Regional has an ample number of parking lots, now it is a matter of scouting it and seeing what backdrop would fit my opening the best. 

                                                

                                                                  Prop and set design

        I am trying to make my movie as good as possible with using as little equipment and props as possible due to the budget. For the first scene, unless the location turns out to be poor and I cannot find other locations, I will not need to buy artificial lighting. However, the props I do need for this are a round black hat and a car. Any car will do and since I do not have a license I will have one of my friends play the actor of the person who is getting kidnapped. The car is being driven along the road till someone stops it and then kidnaps the person in the car and drives away with him in the trunk. I am hoping the location is not crowded at all because if there are cars passing by it would be very difficult to film. The props I need for this scene, I already have or I know I have access to.

        For the second scene, I also tried to keep the amounts of props used in limitation. The first prop I need is a phone. The phone is what is receiving the text message to tell Bill Tyson his services are required. I have access to a phone and so do all the people that are acting in the opening, so this prop has been taken care of. The second prop I need is the inside of a car, which is also easy to find because I can just use the same car from the first scene and just film in the interior. Again, just like the first scene I have or have access to the props I need for this scene in the opening. Maybe, after visiting the locations, more props will be required, but for now I think I am set.

Characters in my opening

         In my movie opening as of right now I am planning on having three characters. The first character to appear onscreen will be the character who is going to be carrying important information on America's nuclear weapons in a briefcase. His name will be Derek Johnson. He is an employee of the American government and was tasked with carrying the nuclear weapons locations and codes from Washington to California. The audience would not know this information in the movie opening, instead they are going to be left on a hook to stay and find out what is in the briefcase. The character Derek Johnson will not be shown too much in the film an he is not a main or supporting character, so his backstory is not important.

       

        The second character in the opening is going to be the henchman named Henry Walker. He is going to be a henchman employed by the fictional terrorist group The Red Talon. He got intel on where Derek was going to be through a mole. His backstory is that he was born into the terrorist organization and was trained from an early age to become an asset to The Red Talon. He rose up the ranks before being sent on this important mission to retrieve the codes. The Red Talon wants the codes so they can launch an attack on an innocent nation so international support turns on America. 

              The last character shown in the opening will be the main character. His name is Bill Tyson. He used to be a secret agent for America before being forced out due to accidentally killing one of his partners. The US government calls him to help because they realize there was a mole and they need someone they can trust and while Bill was reckless, they knew they could trust him because he had been out of the loop. Since being forced out, Bill had failed to find purpose in life and had become a little detached from society which is why he would be sitting in the car aimlessly till he gets the text that they need him again. The character is going to be someone to root for because he represents a comeback story. 

        These are the backstories I came up with for the characters shown in my opening. None of that will be shown in my opening, but I felt it important to develop the characters fully so I know what the opening should highlight about them. I feel the same way about the plot of the opening so later on I will probably type out the whole plot for the movie including the beginning middle and ending. I think this will help me if I want to add some easter eggs in the opening as to how the film will end. I think developing the first two characters is not going to be difficulty because they are not main characters with intricate backstories, but for Bill I will need to find ways to showcase his isolation whether that is through camera shots or through lighting.

Equipment

         There are many ways to film a movie opening and it is important the camera shot come put clear and in a good format for editing software. All throughout this year for this class I used my iPhone 7. I am going to use it again for this project. The big reasons why is I do not have any other equipment to film with, but also because I am familiar with how an iPhone camera works and I know how to export the videos taken on an iPhone onto an editing software. This method of filming suits me and is what I am most comfortable with.

        The tricky part is to record the dialogue audio and synching it up with the video. I think through Apple Airpods the audio can be captured or any Bluetooth headphones, but the people I am asking to act have Airpods. The issue now is to figure out whether I am going to connect the Airpods to the phone that is recording or to a separate phone and record the audio through voice memos. I will test out whether the camera app picks up audio from Airpods and if it does, then I will connect the Airpods to the iPhone that is recording so that I would not have to sync up the audio with the video.

For the lighting I will record during the day, so that I can use the daylight and edit the exposure, contrast etc. in the post production. It will be a little difficult, but I will need to pick a location where the location has adequate lighting. To edit I will be using the app I used the whole year which is Shotcut for now. It is pretty basic and if I think I need more complex editing apps I will ask around, but for now I think I should be fine with it. I think it will be a little hard to film without artificial lighting but it is still doable, I will just need to figure out how to edit lighting in post-production in Shotcut.

Costume

         I have not contacted the people I need as actors to see if they are willing to act, but I think I should come up with a general idea for a costume now. Costuming is vital to the tone and progression of a movie. It helps to develop whatever kind of scene you are trying to make. It helps to convey a characters personality or their job and sometimes even importance. Costumes are there in a movie to help the audience understand and believe and sometimes theorize what a characters life was before the movie started.

                                                                Examples of costumes in movies

       In the movie The Dark Knight costumes were essential in developing the personality of both characters in different ways. In Batman's case, the suit is meant more for his job, which is to fight crime. His suit allows him to blend into the darkness and launch attacks as well as get away without detection. It also is meant to show how batman is a more private person and more darker in nature since his suit is darker compared to most superheroes.

        The Joker's costuming choices are chosen for an entirely different reason than job performance. The two shades that the Joker wears are meant to be opposites. In this case, his clothing is meant to show off his personality and what to expect of him. It helps to create the overall tone of insane that already surrounds his character. Different from batman, his clothing is more to accentuate his personality rather than make his job easier, however both are needed to create the tone of the story.

     

   For my film, I would like to take an approach similar to the Dark Knight where some characters wear clothes based on their job and some characters wear clothes to reflect their personality. In the first part of my opening, the man who is carrying the briefcase, I would want him to have black colored jacket with a black shirt inside with glasses because when people want to blend in they usually wear darker color clothing and glasses to conceal their face. This is to send a message to the audience that he is doing something secret and important. 

        The person who kidnaps and steals the briefcase from the man should also wear something darker like a suit with a round black hat to signal he is a henchman. I do not if any of my actors have a black or brown suit with a white shirt, but ideally that is what the henchman is wearing. This is also clothing to signify his job as a henchmen and to signal to the audience he is not the main villain and is just a hired gun.

For the last person in the scene, their clothing is meant to reflect their personality. This is the person that gets the call that someone needs help and is presumably an ex-agent. It should reflect who he is as a person and what his life is like. Since I want to also portray him as a little listless and lifeless, I would also want him to be wearing dark clothing, but more casual. Instead of a jacker or suit just a plain black T-shirt. This costume choice is meant to send a message that the person is likely going through a troubled period in his life at the time he gets the text message.