Editing (or lack thereof)

     This blog post is supposed to be about editing, however, after repeatedly asking my partner about the progress, and finding that there is none, I'm going to outline what will (hopefully) be included and tutorials.

The elements I'm taking to account are cuts, color grading, and audio.

Band Performance

Color

    The first part of the opening where the band is playing onstage. What I want to alter about the original footage is the coloring. The color grading would include a warm filter that becomes cooler and darker as the scene continues.  Our film times actually help in great ways on this topic due to the beginning being filmed a little before sunset while the end is filmed after sundown. The sun creates a naturally bright, orange light source that eventually disappears that we can manipulate in post production to our liking. The scene would begin as innocent, cautious, and nervous, represented by the yellow, then progress to an orange hue as the crowd begins to show their distaste for their performance, then a darkish blue hue for when Florence is beaten up.

Cuts

    The cuts will start out with normal pacing, then become more quick as more closeups appear. Finally, with our tracking shot, I wanted to insert some close ups of the cans falling. Honestly nothing special that I can visualize, aside from the final hard cut.

Audio

    I just know the dialogue is going to a be a pain. It isn't really "dialogue" unless heckling a group of high school boys in a band screaming that they suck counts. My plan is to get the hecklers to record about 45 seconds of them in a closet (or their chosen quiet location of choice) yelling the same things in the footage where their faces are shown. A few sounds I can foley at home, such as:

- The footsteps

- Monster can being picked up

- Chip bags landing on the ground

-Cans falling

-Crutches being picked up

    Additionally, during the inserts of the cans falling, I want to add a loud piercing distorted version of the sound to add to the tense mood.

Walking Scene

Color

    This scene takes place in the evening/night, and while we could't get everybody to go to the location at that time (and the footage wouldn't look good) we decided to film at around 5:30pm while the sun was still out. I found an article that explains some of the elements that we need to consider when creating a nighttime scene with footage shot during the day:

https://borisfx.com/blog/how-to-shoot-day-for-night-tips-and-techniques-boris-fx/#:~:text=For%20the%20scene%20to%20look,harsh%20light%20and%20harsh%20shadows.

    What I've never heard of, but should've assumed, is the call for fabricating a faux night sky. I won't need to add stars, since the time is not supposed to be that late.

Cuts

    The scene begins with a tight close up of Florence's beat up face, and it will be a hard cut from the crutch scene. This part will last long, but I also wanted the scene to be slowed down in contrast with its antecedent. Aside from the hard cut, the other cuts will be simple and expected. 

Audio

    Now HERE is where I know the dialogue will be a pain.

My plan is to record all dialogue (maybe aside from Florence's lines on the microphone) in a library. okay now here's the sound list.

- Footsteps on sidewalk

- Footsteps on grass
- Makeshift crutches (keyboard stand) tapping on the ground
- Dialogue
- Ambient  sound
- Cars passing by

CCR question 1

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

Is the first question I must answer for my Creative Critical Reflection.

Talk about:

How it represents laziness with the drummer and how it can also be depression

The Bassist (literally everything about him, his sexuality, his motivation for joining the band, him not getting a happy ending, not being able to show his passions and is stuck with the bass just to impress a boy, in a way it waters him down)

whether the keyboardist should be blamed for not walking away

THIS CAN TIE INTO

how it represents an abusive relationship between teens

Q: How does your product use or challenge conventions?

A: Thrillers are not known to have happy endings, nor cut and dry ones. Especially not psychological thrillers, which is the genre that I wanted to base some elements of the film off of. In a way, this movie follows the trend of a bittersweet, morally ambiguous ending and message. The ending, where Keyboardist leaves while the rest feel the need to stay with Florence, allows the audience to interpret themselves if The Drummer and The Bassist make it out as well. I like to think that the movie serves as a cautionary tale to warn others of jealous people and laziness. You can succeed if you allow yourself to, basically.

Q:  and how does it represent social groups or issues?

A: The obvious social group that this film represents is teenagers. Teenage boys actually. I think it shows that despite one's age, you are your own individual. The Drummer, I believe is the only character that fits the teenage boy stereotype. He's lazy, dumb, detached, and cold. I thought of the characters this way:

The Keyboardist: is how kids look at teens; capable, cool, talented.

Drummer: is how society look at teens; lazy and passionless.

Florence: is how society look at teens; self centered and invulnerable.

The Bassist: is how teens see other teens; literally just a dude with wants and needs.

Although, each of the characters challenge these stereotypes. Each band member is fragile one way or another. Florence needs to feed his ego and be successful, but manipulates others into doing it for him. He's powered by the approval of others and refuses to think he is a bad person.

The Keyboardist is a smart and clean guy with a knack for music. He has the desire to be recognized for his musical talents, and that's how he gets caught up in the band in the first place. Not tough or macho, he's more quiet and shy.

Th stereotypes challenged with The Bassist are subtle. The Bassist is notably a queer character, 

The film deals with manipulation and peer pressure. 

None of the guys are tough, they just won't admit that. 

Fonts...

    March is almost here and we haven't started editing yet. To make this worse, our second filming day has been pushed back by about three days because of a million little last-minute contradictions between schedules of the five people involved in this. This has honestly opened my eyes and realize I either did a horrible job casting responsible people, or I did something wrong. Whether it's one or the other or both, I am seriously contemplating working in production again. I'm sticking to painting pictures by myself.

If I'm going to be honest, I don't know if I'll reach a final decision on the title font here.

Anyway, I found this handy-dandy website called

 https://www.fontshare.com/

with a vast catalog of free fonts to choose from, even including a multitude of filters. Now knowing the difference between sans, serif, slab, display, handwritten, and script is another thing. 

    I originally wanted a sans font to make the tone more modern, assuming this movie takes place in modern times as the main characters are inspired by older rock-stars. Additionally, a contemporary font would make the band want to seem more professional, therefore having bigger chances at success (who's going to tell them it doesn't work that way.) I was also open to doing a chicken scratch-type font to make the title seem more handmade. I could also mix these two elements, however I doubt that would be very appealing.

    What I know for sure is that the title card will fill the entire frame, therefore the font must have a small width, or if handwriting, able to be condensed. Worst comes to worst, I make my own font, but right now, I'm too tired and not desperate enough to do that.

The first font that caught my eye was the Comico font

    My first thought was, "That looks like sharpie," but then I realized "That looks like sharpie!" As if the band wrote on the camera lens itself the title of the movie. It's a good example of the homemade garage band style.

Second option is called "New Title"

    I like this one because it is already condensed, and the simple, cookie cutter look of it. As if the person who chose it put little effort into the decision (fortunately I am putting effort.)

Similar to the last one, there's "Anton"

    A common theme I see in my decisions are that the fonts are very thick, and I believe that the final font should be. If the font is taking up the entire frame, might as well make it yell at you even more with its boldness.

Final sans font I liked was "Oswald"

    This is just a mix between the first and second. I have actually used this font before when designing a logo for fun. My only complaint with this font is the spacing between the letters, in which there is too much. I want it to feel like a crowded elevator of words and letters. 

My favorite is currently "New Title," although I'm going to ask for feedback from my film partner.

Now for credit fonts!!

I was not drawn to "Oswald" as the big-fat-attention-grabbing-title, nonetheless, it would be a good choice for naming the jobs for director, writer, production designer, etc. The names however, will have a different font.

"Comico" is a good font choice for the names. Because it looks like sharpie, it appears as though the jobs were listed formally, while names were written on top as an afterthought by either the person or another party.

Group Meeting

 Luciana 

Ana224bb.blogspot.com 

No title yet 

The story is a love story portraying a couple arguing and the man hits her, but before he does, there is a flashback. They’re laughing, eating, when the flashback cuts to the girl at the computer, and she gets a notification.  

Some ways to capture a flashback are using different lighting for each scene, and different editing techniques. The lighting for the argument can be dark and cool toned, while the lighting for the flashback can be warm and bright. The editing can vary depending on the scene as well, such as quick cuts and continuous over-the-shoulder shots of the couple, while the flashback has long still frames. 

No dialogue, first slow and sad music, flashback is fast and happy music, then finally neutral speed music.  

CCR: 

An interview and presentation with a voice over 

To add more variety of clips to the voice over, one can add a face cam and zoom in while talking. 

 

Felipe 

Shift Happens 

Lipecouto.blogspot.com 

comedy/action  movie where A kid (PAULIE) leans onto a car he meets up with “Mr. Clutch” (car part dealer). He gives him the car part, while the scene is dark and serious in an alley. It cuts to a driveaway scene; another cut to his friend Jay calls him and asks when he’s coming. He is driving to the roundabout, and his friend meets up with him, they get ready to race, but Paulie stalls his car immediately. Cut to the title “Shift Happens,” a pun on the stick shift in a car. Jay comes back to taunt him, and the opening ends. 

The scenes are predominantly going to be filmed from the outside of the car, and the only scene that is filmed inside the car is when Paulie stalls the car with the clutch. 

The music will be with a lot of bass and be in the hip hop genre.  

Sebastian and Friends is the production company's name. 

CCR: 

Likely do a presentation with a voiceover, and an interview as he plays the character Paulie. 

 

Srikara 

Myportfolio-journal.blogspot.com 

Action, no title yet.  

This occurs during the night. 

The movie is about a kidnapping where a man is drug dealing (gone wrong). He walks up to the spot, texting the person he’s buying the drugs from, then there’s a shot of the dealer pulling up to the spot. They have an interaction with the trade off, and the dealer walks off. While he walks off there’s a close up of the person who bought them on his face to check to see if they’re legit, and the next shot is him with a pillowcase over his head getting kidnapped and he’s knocked out. It shows him tied up in an alley. A shot of his eyes closed then opening up, and then a shot of the sky. Dialogue where they talk about they the kidnapper did this. The dealer’s best friend “Big Ben” doesn’t remember what, and it cuts to a flashback to the dealer and his friend having fun. He starts asking for forgiveness, and the dealer bets him and cuts to the kidnapped guy in a dark room, where the dealer shows how he found him. The dealer is the protagonist.  

Somber music in the flashback.  

The CCR : 

An interview with the drug dealer asking why he did what he did and how he did it, not sure what to do with the other. 

An idea could be the dealer on a talk show where he is arrested by the end.  

 

Raina 

Raistellar.blogspot.com 

Drama/Coming of age, “Is he breathing?” 

The story fllows a girl who is consumed by her boyfriend's suicide right before leaving high school. It is centered on mental health. She was devastated since he never told anybody about his mental decline. The film is a dream sequence flashback, dreamlike and artificial feeling since it doesn’t happen in the real world. The backgrounds are very lush and sunny, to further the feeling of him not telling anybody about his struggle. The fil, ends with her falling asleep, then someone knocking at her door, and it ends. 

The music, Metamorphosis by Your Arms Are My Cocoon, plays during the dream sequence. A copyright free song would not be as impactful and emotional as a song that has that intention when it was created, as well as having a connection with the creator. 

 

CCR: 
An interview with her father as the interviewer; the interview being comedic to juxtapose the somber tone of the film opening. The other will be a voiceover with a presentation. 

 

Camila 

Kmediadiary.blogspot.com 

Psychological Thriller, No title yet 

The story is a love story that turns into a psychological thriller. 

The couple is in the car, warm colors, during sunset, bright colored costumes. They et hit by a car and the girlfriend in the passenger seat dies. Boyfriend blames himself for his girlfriend's death and wants to get revenge on the person that hit them. It shows a picture of her phone, with a photo of both of them together, then the title shows up. A year later, he is in his room, depressed, dark coloring, but when he goes through his day, it shows a big wall with clues on who murdered her that night. As he goes through his day, he hallucinates his girlfriend that day, and her costume should be very recognizable. The rest of the movie would be him going through his revenge plot. There would be more flashbacks of the couple, showing warm colors, different from the main story, with dark cool lighting. 

He plots to kill the driver on the anniversary of her death.  

The hallucinations would be shown since she is in the same clothes but bloodies and not in the same state as she was in the car. At some points, it will show the girlfriend a lower opacity to indicate that she is a hallucination. The girlfriend as a hallucination is trying to comfort her boyfriend, and her being hallucinated reminds him of why he does this. 

One could add a matching piece of jewelry for the girlfriend and boyfriend, to make her costume more recognizable. 

Little dialogue aside from before the car crash is used. Some dialogue can be added to show that the boyfriend acknowledges his hallucinations of his girlfriend by talking to the hallucination.  

CCR: 
No clue bro 

One could do the boyfriend being visited in jail, and there being an interview. A police interrogation video style interview as well.