Nah Bruh - Part 1

     Update Post

So I have done a few things for the project. I have edited a second draft for the project and cut done a lot of the scene in the car. As I suspected a lot of the jokes and stuff were cut and the outburst that happens in the scene feels like it comes out of nowhere. 

    I also went back into the script and rewrote it while also shortening it. I am realizing now that some of the jokes are going to gone again but its fine at this point because the main joke still remains in the project. I am also seeing now that it is going to be very disjointed in the final cut because of how fast it goes through the events.

    Last update with the music. It has all been written so that is a relief. That is something I can still look forward to, they just need to record it and send and it is all good after that. 

Having Trouble On How To Continue - Part 4

 CARDS. I have not touched the cards at all in this project except for one time at the very beginning of the project but it was so miniscule that there was no need or reason to mention it in any previous post. The most I did was essentially just take on picture and make a layout on a card of a possible way to have the card look. I literally lost the card so I can't even show that in the post. Anyway, so right now I am thinking of a few ideas of how I am going to do the little card for film festivals. I honestly am not entirely sure what will best fit the tone of the film but I think I at least know where to start taking things out.

First thing is that I will not include the set pieces, I know that seems like an obvious thing to say but, hey, you have to start somewhere. I am not including them because, seeing as we got kicked out of like five different places trying to film the opening scene, we didn't film that first scene in an area that gave off a lot of neo-noir vibes. The same goes for the other scenes, most of the recognizable neo-noir/noir elements in my piece come from the characters and the objects. Now I am thinking that is where to start. I think I have to include the characters somehow because they are literally the entirety of the piece. There isn't a single spot of film where they are on screen or any theme of something that can be represented by an object. However, I think I can get a little creative with it. Since one of the characters hardly speaks for basically the entirety of the piece I can put that character in shadow or at least make him less recognizable and/or more mysterious in the card. That will fit well with  how the film opens. It also does help establish the tone a little, there is still some kind of morbidity to be found, I mean they are literally carrying a body to a car for part of the film.

That is my idea for the front of the card but I am not entirely sure for the back. Maybe the body bag they use in the film. OH, maybe I can use that as another poll in the social media page. That could be fun and if people actually respond I might end up taking one of the ideas. That is about it for this post, I am going to be doing a lot more work tomorrow.

Having Trouble On How To Continue - Part 3

    Surprise! It is another research post like 80% into the project. This time it is on the advertisement postcards.

    Side note I just saw Inglorious Basterds and yeah it was good. It had issues but there are certain sections that are like having a chef's kiss. I don't know that is about it. The movie in its entirety is just good.

    Alright, so, advertisement postcards, what are they? Why should we need them? Why are they so small? 

    I am going to start with answering the last question first. They are small because it makes them easy to carry around at place like film festivals and stuff. They are able to give a lot of information in such a small space so many argue that they are the easiest way of advertising more independent productions. 

    Another thing to note is that the card itself  is usually the first way people hear or see anything having to do with the production so whatever is on the card is incredibly important because if it is done well, than it will tell the person important aspects about the film.

Websites:

https://www.unifiedmanufacturing.com/blog/film-postcards-festival/

https://kavyamediastudiesa2.wordpress.com/2017/02/20/postcard-advertisements-research/

    Here are a few of the examples that I like:

Having Trouble On How To Continue - Part 2

 What's up I'm back. Guys ignore that last post. I AM A CHANGED MAN I THINK MY PROJECT IS A WORK OF PURE ART. Nah I'm just playing but if that were true that would be so weird and funny at the same time.

This is more just a social media post where I am just going to talk about different aspects of my social media that I should continue to work on and grow. I started the page pretty late in the project to be honest but I still feel like I can do something decent with it. I have already made a few posts on the page.

The thing is the page needs a lot more work and, quite frankly, these blog posts help me figure out how I have wanted to do certain things throughout the project, they end up showing most of my thought process and that is why a lot of them feel very disjointed sometimes. Anyway, there are a few aspects of the project I need to work on. The first one being the type of posts I create. Right now I think all of the posts are behind the scenes stuff and I need to create more variety in it. I need to add more advertisement elements. 

A few of the ideas that are in my head right now are different kinds of posters for the film, like posters that aren't used as the main poster. Another thing is simply just objects from the film in a picture, I think that could be a way to create some intrigue. My best idea I think is a pretend but kind of also real poll from which I can create at least two posts. It is a post asking what the name of the film should be, I have an incredibly hard time coming up with titles and names for things, its honestly ridiculous sometimes but I digress. I think that idea is a great way of bringing in parts of the community into unity. If nobody comments, oh well, the title will be "Noir+Funny+Dead+L+Bozo."

I also plan to do a small photoshoot for the characters in the film, I think that will add some variety. Another benefit is that doing that kind of thing might help me in deciding what the card should be for the film festival part of the project. Last thing to note is that I do want to add some videos into the posts but I am not exactly sure what to do there, maybe a few more behind the scenes posts. OH maybe a before and after for a shot in the film. I think that is a good idea for now but I will come back to it if I need to.

Having Trouble On How To Continue - Part 1

 This post is going to act as just an update on the project; The research ones will come a bit later.

So anyway, this project has had a few more, lets call them road bumps, over the course of this week. I have the editing done for what I already filmed so that isn't really an issue. The issue lies in the fact that the scenes I have filmed so far are too long, right now the first draft of the first two thirds of the piece are roughly five and a half minutes. WHO KNEW? This is just perfect because it means that I have to shorten both the opening scene and the car scene. The thing is that the car scene kind of has an emotional outburst at the end of it, which made sense in the script and in my head but not so much once done for real. In the first draft this outburst already kind of comes out of nowhere, I mean it is established that the character is already nervous in the beginning but I have no way of knowing if its enough. So this means shortening the scene will add to this feeling of the outburst coming out of nowhere, some jokes will also be lost in the process.

I am going to lose part of the tone and focus way more on the characters which I am not sure will help because there are jokes that are self aware and now with the cuts it might feel out of place.

Another thing this does is that it forces me to shorten the last scene of the script. The ending already is the weakest part but now, OH BOY, this is going to be some weird ass scene I know for a FACT people are going to confused on, even with the punchline at the end explaining why it still won't fit with the film because the cuts I feel might lose the tone. I don't know, maybe I am just getting too worked up and the tone was already lost to begin with. HA, wouldn't that be a cruel trick? So right now I just have to figure out how to make the scene as tight as possible and what I can afford to lose in it. I think I will be ok for the most part, the ending being an exception but we will get to it when we get to it I guess. I feel like I am talking in circles, sorry moving on.

One more thing to add to this list of annoyance is the music. My friend was so excited for this and I was geniunely excited to this week BUT, and this is a huge ass but, he got COVID. This means he can't record any of the songs at his friends house who has all the recording equipment and I won't be able to hear the songs for like a week or more WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. This is perfect, you love to hear it. I was really hoping the music was going to be a strong part of the piece but I am not so sure anymore. I can't read the stuff he sent me because I only know tabs. Honestly, I think my biggest problem in this project is that I went too far. I mean there is still positives to take from this experience and I found out that you can record a scene way faster if you have someone that can remember their lines. Little positive to not at all balance out the rest of the negative I just threw onto the screen haha.

Also side note, I know groups in the past have asked for their piece to be a little over seven minutes, I am not going to do that because I don't think my piece deserves to be that long. That may not be the right way of saying but I mean, just making under seven minutes seems like less of a hassle. See you in the next shitpost :D!!!

It Is Kind Of Working Out - Part 3

 FILMING IS DONE.... at least the filming that I did today. I leave for break tomorrow morning so that means I needed to get something done. Anything. Good thing is I got the vast majority of the filming for the film done today. I got both the intro and the car scene done, the one that is both the hardest and longest to film. This leaves me with the final scene which I literally am going to film in my own house that shouldn't be an issue. It also is not as long as the car scene. 

    This means a lot for the project and I honestly was so close to calling it quits and simply creating a new project to film over break. I had a whole premise and everything. Some kid has an accident and he can no longer snowboard. He goes back up to Canada thinking that he will finally be able to do it again now that his injury has been healed, however, he finds out that the accident gave him a mental block as well and the film just goes through how he handles this. Easy to shoot because I was going to spend like four hours on a plane and in an airport for that stuff. I can use my siblings and my parents because it literally is a story that involves a family trip. On top of that it doesn't require any crazy things like A BODY in the script. On top of that my brother sucks at snowboarding so that footage would be pretty easy to get. Honestly I kind of wish I had thought of this idea sooner. BUT NEVERTHELESS, I persevere poorly with my current premise. I realize I kind of went on a tangent but I swear this is actually substance to this blog. 

    There were a few changes made while filming. The first one being the car scene since that is what we filmed first. We changed some of the shots and focused a lot more the character of John, not only because he was saying almost everything in the scene but mainly because it turns out my brother, who played Doe in the scene last second was not very confident in driving. He has driven before but I guess I overestimated it. He went pretty slow most of the time so the illusion of genuinely driving would be broken if I focused on him too much. So most of the time I ended up doing shots like this so it wouldn't be a problem.

    Another issue we ran into while filming was the opening scene location. I had a place to film, thanks to the groups we had in class. We got there after filming the car scene but the room was taken up by another group already filming, but that wasn't really an issue. The issue came up in the fact that we needed someone to be over 18 to shoot inside the room. My friend was 18 but he didn't have a driver's license however he did have a passport at home. For some reason the lady at the library didn't want to hear it. She said we just needed a physical piece of document in front of her but when we said we can get the passport she said we needed a license which doesn't make any sense whatsoever because both prove age and are official documents. This meant we were not able to film there because of stupid ignorant people. We also tried to go upstairs because they also had offices but were once again turned away because we were not Broward College students. 

    We finally decided last second to film at my friends club house in a room with nobody in it. It wasn't a conference room so we had to change some of the shots from the storyboard but I think it worked for the most part. We filmed most of the scene but part of it is not filmed because we were kicked out even though nobody was in the room besides us. The reason: there was a pool table in the room and we can only use the room to play pool. Why? Just Why? Whatever. I filmed the part of the scene that was outside and there is a small portion cut from the scene, luckily it was shot slightly out of order so before they kicked us out I got the transition from the inside to the outside. 

    That doesn't matter now. What I have to focus on is editing, which I believe is where most of my strengths will come in. I will likely edit on Saturday because I have to keep in mind the music people for the project. He is adamant so I will send a first draft as soon as possible. Having done most of the filming also gives me time to revise the last scene if I need to just so I can make sure it is better. Side note, sending a first draft to the music guy will help him with the tone so most of my work over the break will be about the music and the production card. I also have to start a social media page I keep forgetting I am going to do it right now.

It Is Kind Of Working Out - Part 2

     I finished the script yesterday so now comes the storyboard. I am currently doing this while writing this blog but I already have much of it done. 

This is the first scene of the storyboard and it has the most visual storytelling so far. I'm currently halfway through the second scene but it has a lot less of this kind of visual narrative going for it. I am struggling a bit because of the limited space inside the car. So this post is kind of just a reminder of how I should continue to make my storyboard. 

    What should I focus on to make the storyboard better?

Going back to my last post about the storyboard it turns out I need a lot more physical stuff. More character actions that provide transitions for the camera to be placed or simply to look at what is happening in the scene and use certain angles to accentuate that. I don't think I will be able to create meaning, scratch that, I know I won't be able to create meaning out of every meticulous angle because for me, at least at my level right now, I would only be able to do that by holding shots for a long time or then suddenly having a bunch of cuts. This would result in absolutely atrocious pacing and that is my main focus right now. I am already conscious of the fact that my pacing I think gets worse as the piece continues so I don't want it to be a constant issue in the piece.

    However I can still improve on the redundant camera or meaningless camera by adding more character movement, it will create a smoother experience that will keep the pace up. This is my main focus of the piece. 

    The other thing I have to focus on is how I am going to transition into the shots I already have in my head for certain parts of the scene, but honestly the most I can do is speculate on how that will work, you never know for sure until you do it so I guess that is just more down to luck for now. 

    Bottom line, keep up the pace well and add more visual storytelling into the scenes that have a lot of dialogue.

It Is Kind Of Working Out - Part 1

     THE SCRIPT IS FINALLY DONE. It is only the second draft but I don't have any more time because I am losing like a week and a half to spring break so this second draft is the final one. It doesn't even matter because I feel so much better about this draft than I did the first one. I don't think there are as many jokes but the character stuff is a lot stronger... I hope at least lol. 

    I ended up having a lot of trouble with the last scene in the film. I wasn't sure how to get there from how the scene in the car ended but I think I did a decent job. There are a few things to note however. The pacing was terrible in that scene, but I think it has improved substantially. The ending of the scene is definitely still quick but I wrote the scene in a very different way from how it originally was. The original draft had an argument that quickly went sour but here it starts off incredibly sour simply because of information that hasn't been given to the audience in that moment so I think it softens the blow a little.

    There are a few things I have to make sure of while filming though.

    This is how much of the scene is. Doe has way less dialogue throughout but his dialogue still is cliché. I just have to make sure that I tell the actors how to deliver the line because I feel like it can be delivered in very different ways and one way would be very jarring for the rest of the film. Instead of being constantly mad and pissed off Doe simply became more mellow. I have to make sure this is communicated well in the film because looking at the dialogue by itself I am not so sure. That is just one thing to keep in mind while I film. 

    Another thing I included is a lot more physical acting so I can communicate things visually. I don't have any experienced actors. They are just some of my friends that agreed to do this so we can eat afterwards. This is why I included more visual stuff. That way some things are communicated more clearly instead of in dialogue in case the point doesn't come across correctly in the way they say the line.

Let's Hope This Works Out - Part 4

     I hate to do this but I am going to go back to the planning. This is because I have struggled with certain parts of the project WAYY longer than I thought I would have, *cough cough* the script. So this leads into a relatively short but important post because I need to figure out what the frick I am going to do for the rest of this project and how it is going to work out. So I lose the upcoming weekend and the weekend after that because of spring break,  this means I can't film those days but I can still communicate with people. Turns out my friend REALLY wants to do the music for me so here is my new idea. Everything after spring break will stay the same BUT this week and the first half of spring break will be completely different. In order to get the film done on time I am going to have to uhhh.... get sick and not show up to school because we are in the middle of a pandemic and going to school sick would be terrible. Me getting sick would allow me to have an entire day to film and once that happens so much less stress will be on me. My sister also has a pretty good laptop so I will probably spend Thursday editing as much as possible and do the same of Friday on the flight. I feel like that will give me a decent amount of time to get a first draft, which I can then send over to my friend so he can start doing his thing. I already told what I wanted so he may possibly have some things already brewing. After that the rest of the plan largely stays the same so let's hope this works out.

Let's Hope This Works Out - Part 3

     STORYBOARDING

    I am getting close to having to do it so I am going to have to look a bit into it.

    Anyway, quick summary of a storyboard. It is another way of outlining a film but it is a little more detailed, the outline itself is also mainly focused on the visuals and its mainly created with dialogue already in mind, or at least the blocks of the way the scene plays out. This can be whether characters win or lose something or simply a simple task they might be enacting in the moment. Each shot is created and drawn so people can see how the shots work in succession and see what they need to change ahead of time.

    

    

    Storyboarding is needed because it is a great way of organizing the shoots when actually filming so you see what is left. It also lets you expand on the intricacies of the film without doing in the moment and instead in a calm environment. For example the blocking of a scene can be changed to be more impactful ahead of time instead of having the idea mid shoot and not knowing any way of how to do it in the moment.

    Creating a storyboard is then pretty simple; as seen in the pictures above it is mainly just shots drawn out in sequential order of how they will appear in the film. But there are a few things that can be done to elevate the quality of the storyboard. One of them being having descriptions of what happens in the shot and of how the shot changes or possibly moves in the scene. This gives a better idea of how the shots flow together and of how the final product is going to look. The other is to put the dialogue into the shots as well, this essentially does the same thing but more with the characters; having the dialogue there gives insight into where the characters might be placed throughout the course of the scene.

Websites:

https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-make-a-storyboard-for-a-film#how-to-make-a-storyboard-in-4-easy-steps

https://www.careersinfilm.com/storyboarding/

Let's Hope This Works Out - Part 2

     UPDATES ON THE SCRIPT. Guys that first draft was garbage. It was not good. Most people that read it were basically saying, "yeah its pretty mid." My reaction was then, cool, they found what was supposed to be cringe actually cringe I did something right, awesome. Then I had one friend actually read and give me critiques and then that basically opened my eyes up so much. I realized that I had just basically written just to write, I did not treat the characters with respect at all even though they are the main focus of the story and I just used them for the jokes which, as a side effect of having bad characters, felt forced and inconsistent most of the time. So I am currently halfway through my rework.

    I remember talking about this in detail before about how the characters should be the main focus of the script and the film itself because it is just about the interactions the two have with each other and how they grow in those interactions over the course of this thing that they are doing. Yeah that was completely thrown out the window in the first draft. I don't know how and I am genuinely shocked I missed it but when I reread it I realized how annoying both of the characters were. 

    Then I realized I hadn't given goals for any of the characters, even if one character had a goal then it would make the script SO much better because there is actual subtext to literally anything anyone does and it would make sense why the character would say or do that thing. It also paves the way for more natural dialogue. So far the first four pages have been rewritten with this in mind.

That blank setting line is where the cut off is in terms of where the rewrites have been. Even just by that one line it is easy to see the huge differences in the tones of the scripts and their quality.     

    There were a few other issues with the script like pacing but I am trying to fix those things at the same time.  The character of John is now trying to befriend Doe while still being nervous about what is happening in the story because he barely knows anything. Doe now has way less dialogue which works anyway because he is supposed to be kind of stereotypical anyway. We will see in the future how this turns out but I am feeling much better about it in the moment.

Let's Hope This Works Out - Part 1

     GUYS I FINALLY GOT THE FIRST DRAFT OF MY SCRIPT DONE. I HAVE NO CLUE AS TO WHY I STRUGGLED SO MUCH WITH THIS BUT THAT DOESN'T MATTER NOW. What I need to do now is critique it myself and have others critique it, BUT what I can finally do is make a storyboard because I believe the vast majority of the script will follow the route it is already in. 

    However, I can still look at the areas I am not the most confident in and see how I can fix them by seeing what I want those parts of the scripts to do for the film. I also have to keep in mind of how it fits into the film as a whole. Right now my film script locks in at just under eight full pages, small note but I might have to shorten it slightly. One thing I did notice is that the parts that aren't dialogue aren't completely in the format of a film script, they are more like a short story, but I don't think it is a big deal I understand it and I want others to understand it. I have cast people that don't know a whole lot about film and all of its technicality so I wanted it to be more understand. That also goes for the people that want to do the music, I talked about the music to give them a better understanding of what I am looking for.

    Here's the context for the film. The film itself has three scenes that can also work as the three acts of the story. The first scene is the shortest, taking place in a room and getting into a car. The second scene is on the road while the car is driving. The last is in the house where the body is. The first scene's main purpose is to establish the characters and how they interact with both the world and the story. The second scene's purpose is to provide the main source of the satire, more specifically the satire talks about how ridiculous the actions of characters in these film were and how they were accepted at the time. It also has the smaller purpose of building upon the characters and their issues with each other. The last scene is then used as a place for more satire to occur, but this is more comedic instead of saying anything about the genre.

Anyway, here are the areas where I am not the most confident about; the ending mainly, but some parts of the car section as well.

The first picture is part of the car scene and the second is from the end of the film. The problem with the car scene is that much of the conversation feels odd, I am not sure how to describe it completely but it feels ham-fisted at times. The problem with the ending is the pacing, it ends way too abruptly and I need to fix that. The character of John is also annoying the hell out of me because he is just complaining about almost everything without any self awareness himself. Doe's line also feel weird because they don't exactly align with his character. I am going to give Doe way less lines, the voiceovers in the script I will keep because I think they work really well and feel way funnier than most of the other jokes in the script. John I am going to have to make him more likeable, I think I can do that by giving him a little goal throughout the film instead of making him just a ride along. I think what I am going to do is make him nicer and have him try to connect with Doe in some way, which works perfectly with the fact that Doe will be saying less lines, causing more distant between the two than this first draft.

    I didn't treat anything in the film with any care and focused solely on the jokes but I think the characters should come first. It will make John more relatable and Doe more of an intriguing character. This first draft was basically only about the jokes so that I what I am going to be working on for the next few days.

Catching Some Momentum - Part 3

     Ok I am still having trouble with my script so I am going to take the time to write about screenplay and hopefully that will do some stuff for me. There isn't really any need for me to do an introduction into screenplay because it pretty simple, it has all the dialogue and information of the surrounding world, basically a book in a weird format ok starting now.

    Most of the time the screenplays go through roughly six steps. The first few I have actually done so that actually gives me a bit of hope. The first is to create a logline, which is essentially just a super simple concept for the film, which I already have. The second step is to then create the outline, which I have because I have already shown it on here. The third is to basically just create a bunch of context for the screenplay, this can include things like character information, another thing I have, setting and the formalities of the time, and possibly even extra unseen scenes with the characters to establish them more for the writer. After that is the first draft and the subsequent revisions.

    The good thing is that I already have the first few steps down. 

These two things I already had so that makes me feel a bit better.

The logline however I didn't have so now that has been written into the same document.

What is surprising about this is that I didn't actually think it was going to help me but I see now that the piece needs to focus way more on the clashing ideals of both characters and less on the idea of making fun of the genre, that aspect of the piece will come naturally through this and it will be less on the nose now.

Catching Some Momentum - Part 2

    Ok my dumbass forgot about a few things. This mainly has to do with the schedule and the characters. I started writing the script and to be honest, it is not very good at the moment and that is mainly because the dialogue was garbage.

    First the schedule since that is both a simple fix and a fix that stresses me out a whole lot more, this happened last year too so I honestly should have expected it but I am going to be gone for about a week and a half for spring break. This changes so much for me because I had to reorganize the schedule to try and fit things differently and make it a little more bearable. I think I got it but I just have to be conscious of it pretty often now because I do get stressed when doing multiple things at a time in a project like this and when I am literally unable to do the work because my laptop is too slow and bad to run an editing program. All that considered here is the new schedule, oh yeah and one more thing is that I FINALLY got a job so I put that into consideration too but I only really work mornings on the weekend so it didn't change too much.

    The other thing is the characters and I haven't been doing great with them to be honest. The dialogue, even though it is supposed to be satire through irony, just feels bland and genuinely stereotypical instead of going that extra mile. So to solve this, like in a previous post, I made a little thing about their characters of what to keep in mind while writing the script, this should be able to help a lot because I already started using it and it honestly is doing something, we'll see whether it does a lot or little in time.

Side Post #1

 Guys The Batman is goated, that is all.

Catching Some Momentum - Part 1

     Ok I need to take a slight step back and now take a crap ton of the research I have done and put it into the context of the project itself. In other words, I need a more specific schedule because I am already behind on the recommended one, but I still think its manageable. What do I need to do? I need to write the script, film the piece, edit it, and then make the print aspect of the project. Filming it does include the score and music so that is like a little subheading or something in the filming part of the project, but that should still be done after the video has been made, at least the rough draft. I have a little over a month before the project is due and this is not even mentioning the reflection part. But right now I am just gonna focus on the immediate or close parts of the project, the script and the video, as to not overwhelm myself. 

    The script definitely needs to be done by the end of the week, preferably Friday but if I really need to then I will give myself Sunday the latest. This is because while writing the script I am going to be making an incredibly detailed storyboard, I did have a storyboard last year and it did help, but it was a bit jumbled so I want to take my time with this one this year. Honestly, I am probably going to finishing the first draft of the script tomorrow, I am definitely going to start today but I was invited to an early screening of The Batman, which actually I see a bit of noir influence in... maybe I should add a dark and brooding superhero into my piece haha. Anyway, start script today, since tomorrow is an SAT day is does nothing for me because I have four and a half hours in study hall and my other classes we are ahead so no point in doing anything there. Finish rough draft tomorrow. Thursday have my friends or others go over it and give me notes, that day I will be starting my storyboard too. Friday, tweak it and make adjustments as needed. Finish as much of the storyboard as possible. Saturday and Sunday talk to the music guys and see what's happening there.

    The weekend after that will be the filming weekend. This gives me the week to plan as much as possible and figure out anything that might be a loose end, also gives me more time to talk to my friend about the music. Anyway, after that is editing and I can't really be specific about that, at least not right now so I think this is where I will stop being specific for now. Here is just a visual version of the plan starting from now.

    Now onto other parts of the project, since I am already here, why don't I give the outline. The video is only about 5-7 minutes so the outline shouldn't be that long, honestly more of the information will probably be about what needs to established in the scene for later parts.

This is probably what I am going to base the script off of, I might take it home and have others review it. The bottom line is, I am finally getting somewhere so got to stay with the positives.