Required 3rd Film Day

Turns out, the footage we compiled only added up to 1:19 when fully edited, this is due to the fact that our old clips were way too long, and we only used around half of them. This short amount of footage needs to be improved and fully edited before the deadline on 4/2, where it needs to be shared to me and uploaded onto the blog. Our 3rd film day needs to be sometimes this week, as we have spring break, and we can freely film this weekend. It will most likely be Saturday again, but I will have to coordinate with my teammate and the actor, we could do it as early as Thursday if possible, and probably latest on Sunday. This is to give time for the editor, my teammate, to fully edit all parts of the film, and compile it into a final cut that will be turned in around a week's time from now, early next month.

Our Film Editing, CapCut, March 19, 2024.

Final closing shot, at 1:19 without added footage.

Having to Approve our Story

     As director, I had to approve any additions to our story and providing any feedback that may help with the creation of the film. We have changed almost 80% of our film from the storyboard. This greatly affected how our film looked and how it was filmed, as the strategies were improvised in person and input was received from all members. 

    Even the actor, provided his own opinion and we took it into consideration when making it in person. As director, most of the story talking took place over text with my in-class teammate, who forwarded it to our actor. We also created a group chat including our actor so I can inform all of them directly. 

Dialogue Between me and Teammate, SMS, March 19, 2024.

I have found that conversating over text has had a more beneficial impact than talking in class, because in class we are all tired and do not want to even talk about the film, so it is better quite literally at any other time of day. 

Change of Main Story

     We deviated far from our main story. This is due to confusion in our old one, and it was hard to shoot because of the film revolving around somebody's car. In our new story, there is only one car scene. And it is at most, 5 seconds. This vastly contrasts with the original, which had around a quarter of the film involving a car. This would save us the trouble of getting an actor with a car.

    Our story starts with the first victim being stalked from the brush. He then gets up and runs away, but not without the killer chasing him. This leads to the introduction of the second victim. The first runs into the second and is frantic for help. This leads to the second scanning around for the stalker, but he cannot see him. This leaves the first shocked and he leaves the scene. The second is then ambushed by the killer later. This leads to the second victim almost being pushed into alligator infested waters, but the first victim comes in and saves him by pushing the killer into the water instead, insinuating that the killer was mauled by alligators. This leads to set up the rest of the film, where the victims try to cover up the murder of their almost killer. 

Some New Scenes, BlackMagic Camera App, March 18, 2024.

    These new scenes took up around 40 seconds of the film. They contributed greatly to it and we will only need another film day to complete the rest of the film.

Issue With File Sharing

 File sharing is a big issue in the class. The footage gets its quality worsened if you are not careful where you send it on. For example, if we tried sending the footage through WhatsApp, it would compress the footage to the point where it is almost unintelligible. We tried doing it through regular SMS saving, but that did not work. 

We came up with an idea that worked for all of our clips. Since we used the BlackMagic app, it can be directly exported INTO SMS. This helped greatly as regular camera roll to SMS was messed up too. Doing the direct export through BlackMagic got all of our footage shared so my teammate could work on the Final Cut.

2nd Film Day

 Most of our shots are completed. During this day, we have got around 1:35 of the film done and fully edited, leaving just one more film day as expected. The film is coming along great as we already have our full story line and many action packed scenes. I used a lot of camera techniques for these new shots. 

For example, we used a tracking shot to see the first victim running in to help the second from the stalker. The film deviated a lot from the storyboard, and I believe that was a good thing. The story board was disorganized and followed a confusing story. We fixed that with this new shooting we did, giving it a more concrete feel and making it quality with an actual background now.

Alligator Scene, BlackMagic Camera App, March 14, 2024.

One example is this alligator scene, where the stalker got pushed into alligator infested water, setting up the rest of the unseen movie where the 2 victims cover up their murder. (He wasn’t actually pushed into the water)

Leading to 2nd Film Day

 Our 2nd film day is coming. We had very good progress on our first film day. However, all of those shots did not require an actor, and we had gaps in between our footage that needed to be fixed with an actor, who could sub in and play those parts. Luckily, we actually have a reliable one now, so that will not be an issue.

This actor is also experienced in editing, so he could help us set up shots and get the best camera angles for the part. One idea is a high angle shot looking up at the 2nd victim, the camera is supposed to be the killer under the car.

However, I am running late and will come around 15 minutes late for the shooting, I will work on that next time.

Messages Leading up to Shooting, SMS, 16 March, 2024.

Change of Actor

 Our actor was not available at all and we had to change that. At the first film day, he couldn’t come because of a track meet. They had another coming up when we expected to film, so we just got him out and replaced him with a more reliable actor. This new actor will help us greatly in the production of our film, as he also gave us ideas for what we can do instead of our old basic scenes, while also keeping the main idea.

The prospect of having a new actor was discussed over text and was decided a couple days after the actors disappearance at our first film day.

Change of Actor, SMS, 15 March, 2024.

(He was not filming it was a miscommunication)

First Film Day

     On our first film day, we had a switch of parks due to the giant crowds at the first one. The 2nd park that we went to was next to lake, and we plan to take more shots near the lake later, for the scenic effect. What we got done was all of the shots that did not involve a 2nd actor, as I was filming and my teammate was acting for these. This added to the stalker feel and I believe we got a good part of it done, it was roughly around 40 seconds when trimmed up. This filming all took place near one area of the park, which had a good trail for one of our chase scenes. We plan to reshoot as the transition between those was not that good. Our 2nd or 3rd film day should wrap up the film.

Leading up to Our First Film Day

    We needed to have some kind of footage by March 11th. This was for a peer review from our classmates. Our actor cancelled on us, so me and my teammate had to improvise and shoot the scenes with only him in the frame, and me behind the camera.

    Our first film day took place on March 9th. It was a Saturday and we decided to film at 10:30 AM, however, we chose a different park at first, but when we arrived for filming, we found out that the park was way too overfilled. Because of this, we wasted almost an hour of film time, before my mother took both of us to a different, less crowded park.