Filming

We started filming on February 22, 2022. We were give 2 weeks for filming. We had to switch around our schedule of filming. On the first day, we wanted to get the hardest scene with the green screen out of the way. After we spoke it over with our teacher, we realized the scene would be much easier if we left the responsibility with Jeremmiah to do it at home by himself. I provided him a ring light that he could place anywhere and hold his phone to get the best shot. He filmed with an iPhone XR. The rest of our shots were filmed with an iPhone 12. We also realized that we wouldn't be able to do three more shots, the empty parking lot and the last two shots revealing me as the main character walking into school. 

I completed the two shot at home using my ring light to hold my phone at the angle I wanted. I struggled greatly with the wind and my hair. It kept covering while I was trying film. I also wanted one the shots to be more centered but I was unable to perfect it exactly how I wanted. We have yet to get a empty parking lot shot. If my group members and I can't find one by the time editing rolls around, I think our shots will still be long enough. During the days we were supposed to be filming the shots we couldn't get, it provided us more time to spread out capturing our abandoned shots. Shonna was the one who captured most of our shots. Getting those shots was very easy. We had our storyboard pulled up on Jeremmiah's phone so we know we angle and what we were capturing.

After completing the shot set by the storyboard, this allowed us to go back and decide if we wanted to keep the shot or changing an aspect about it.  Fortunately, we still planned to film Shonna's shot during the first week of shooting but she continued to forget her change of clothes required for the scene. We thankfully were able to get the shot on Tuesday of the last filming week. I brought a white paper table cloth to school for her to lay on in pajamas or comfortable clothing to demonstrate she was hurt. I suggested putting down some red liquid underneath her to suggest she's dying or hurt in the end we decided against it. we did a lot of retakes for this shot. My arms were too short to take the overhead view myself so Jeremmiah helped. We kept laughing due to the funny position Shonna was in. For the last shot, we attempted to do it at school. We need a door to open and reveal Jeremmiah's face in horror.

 Due to Jeremmiah being the opposite gender we didn't want to use the school bathrooms. He decided to take on another shot to complete at home. We decided to have the shot include movement. During pre-production we already decided that we wanted the major of the shots to be in black and white. Although we didn't stick to our original scheduling and had to overcame some errors, we still managed to finish two days before our deadline. 

Here are some blooper we took while filming

This was taken right after a school drill. We had to wait for many people of the school to return and leave the frame in order to achieve the shot we wanted. The camera also wasn't still enough for our liking.

We were scoping out how to get the shot we wanted. Jeremmiah is in the shot, and the camera isn't straight. 

Branding

 In class last week, I wish introduced to branding. Branding is a short clip or video in an opening to showcase a particular company. For my branding clip, my group and I started off by coming up with a company name. We went their many trials and errors. Our biggest issue was the name already being taken. In the end, we decided on combining the first letter our names together to make "J.A.S". Then then we discussed some adjectives we could use that described our compony. We added dark to the name because we thought it would be a adequate way to describe our thriller based compony. We each individually worked on our own branding clips, shared with the group, and decided on which one we wanted to use in our opening.

I tried to use keyword to create my opening at first. The application is only accessible on a apple device, and unfortunately my apple computer wasn't working. I then switch to PowerPoint: PowerPoint was very easy to use. It's a user-friendly editing software. I've used through out my years in school. The opening I created was too simple for my liking. I then attempted to use the application Blender. It's a very advanced editing software. It allows the creation of very professional looking openings; However, The application wasn't very user- friendly. The application did supply many tutorial for learning but they were a bit too confusing and lengthy. I then downloaded the Cute Cute Pro on my phone. I have previous experience using this app although, it had been more than a year. The transitions and other aspects come back to me very quickly. The fact that the application is very user friendly also greatly contributed. I completed my opening in about an hour. 

I chose a black background due want to keep the dark thriller mood. I though the red lettering would give it a big of a scare factor and contracting with the background. The dripping blood idea was to enforce the thriller and horror aspects to the branding. The flicking elements of dark was add to grab the attention of the viewer a bit. I thought it was suiting to do it with the words "dark" because it can flash to the darkness and back. I was advised by my teacher that the sound may have to go unless it fights in with my opening clip. Once my other group member finish, we will share our branding clips and decide which one we want to use. If mine is chosen, as a group we will make the necessary changes to better fit our project. 

During  this process, the hardest thing was finding a software that worked best for me. I studied a lot of other ones before deciding on Cute Cut Pro. Coming up with an idea and brainstorm what we wanted  our compony to represent was the most interesting part. Creating my opening at first was a bit frustrating. I had to stop and watch tutorials to know what i was doing. In the end, branding isn't one of the hardest aspect to making an opening sequence. It was nice to step back and focus on something else while filming.