Transitions/Music

 As I may have mentioned in the previous post, a growing concern of mine was that the content of my movie opening was coming across as too dramatic. While the goal of the opening is to give insight on the character’s emotional state, I want to make sure that I am doing so in a way that maintains the playful aura that is characteristic of so many coming-of-age movies. 

 

My solution to this problem is to add music and transitions.

 

Transitions:

The transitions come from the recommendations in my prior post. While I believe they did do their job in fixing the choppiness of the section of shots I had trouble with, they also serve another purpose. The “cheesiness” of these transitions creates a lighter and more playful atmosphere. In doing so, I think that what the character is going through will be more relatable to my audience.

 

Music:

I knew I needed to find music without a copyright that also fit the vibe I was trying to convey. The easiest way to do this was to go to iMovie’s wide selection of non-copyrighted music which is divided up by different emotions/genre (sentimental, playful, retro). Here, I found the song that I think I want to use for the background. It is called “Asagao” and it is by Asuka Ito. However, my main concern with this is that once I begin to add my idea in for audio layering, the music and audio may become too overwhelming. 

Overall, I think I like these changes so far but they may change as I progress in editing. 

Here is the revised section:

Group Meeting

Today in class we got into groups of six and got to talk about our projects. This was super helpful because I got to show my group mates the section of shots I talked about in the previous post. They agreed that it looked too choppy on its own and gave me some recommendations. 

 

The Recommendations: 

 

The first was to add more shots. Someone suggested I add a shot of my character standing up in between the reading the magazine shot and the dropping the magazine pile shot. The second was to add a shot after the dropping of the magazine pile to show her spreading them out on the floor. 

 

Another suggestion was to add transitions. These could lead the previous shot into the next to show that time has passed. I like this idea because I’ve been concerned that my opening is too serious. Even though I am addressing her emotional conflict, I don’t want it to come across dramatic. I think that transitions are a little silly and can bring a more playful element back into my opening. 

I think I will try the transitions idea first because I really do not want to re film anything unless its completely necessary. 

Here was my group:

Shots I Don't Like/Possible Reshoot

 This past week was kind of chaotic so I  haven’t really had time to begin editing my footage yet. What I did do however, was begin to put the shots in order in Adobe Premiere. While doing this, I have come across a couple of shots that I dislike. 

The shots I dislike  actually follow each other. It is when the character has the idea to get more magazines to research and then her actually reading them on the following. I feel that these three shots  don’t have a smooth transition and may be too choppy together. 

Without any editing besides putting the clips in order, this is what the section/shots look like together (I don't know why the quality on Youtube is so bad sorry).

I think I will ask a few people what they think of this part and if they agree with me, then I will either try to brainstorm ways to edit it so it looks more fluid or simply reshoot this section. If I do reshoot, then I need to come up with how I am going to change the shots so that this sequence looks smoother. 

Other than that section, I have not really come across any other shots that may need to be redone yet. As I begin to edit this week, I will be better able to identify other problem areas.

Filming Day

So as you may have guessed from the previous posts, I did film over this past weekend. I’m just going to run through everything that happened. 

Sunday (3/6/22) 2:00 p.m. 

Sophia (the actress) and my friend Rachel showed up at my house. Rachel brought her  tripod which we did not know was broken prior to filming. Sophia changed into her costume which she wants everyone to know is the “ugliest fit” she’s ever worn. 

Then, I went over the storyboard with both of them. We established that I overplanned some of the shots so we decided which ones to cut. The ones we cut were not really necessary so they will not be missed. (Although, I am still kind of worried I have too much footage but I will only really know once I put the clips together). With some shots cut, we continued to film in order of the storyboard and it went pretty well. 

We switched between using a tripod and a hand-held device (it was basically a selfie stick). 

       

We filmed many shots with the half broken tripod but it could not lower as much as it was supposed to and when we tried it just completely fell apart (I indicated in the picture the lowest the tripod went before fully breaking). Luckily, I found this mini selfie-stick that turns into a tripod at Walmart for like $6.00 so it was fine. 

This hand held device also had an effect that I did not expect. We noticed that the shots filmed using this device had a sort of shaky quality to them. This actually ended up working out in our favor as these particular shots were meant to be from the perspective of the protagonist. Thus, the shakiness of the shot actually seems like a more realistic simulation of the character's own perspective.

We followed the storyboard and had no other issues until about page 3. The trouble came in shot #7 of this page because we realized putting the board on the top part of a chair would block Sophia from the view of the camera. We couldn’t really change the angle it was filmed at either because it would reveal the board. We had to get creative so I ended up sitting in my closet behind the chair. The back of the board was propped up against the legs of the chair and my feet. I also placed the mini tripod on the seat of the chair to get the top of the board and Sophia in frame. This angle was perfect because you can see that Sophia is working on the board but you cannot see its contents.

 

We continued to shoot until about shot #4 of page 4 where we needed to actually construct the murder investigation board. We stopped here and went to “Craft Services” which was just my kitchen and some takeout chicken.

After eating, we put together the board because itwould appear in the subsequent shots. To make it, we just used a cork board, multicolored post its, cut-outs from travel/Nat Geo magazines, and red string. We tried to make it look as chaotic as possible. Then, we continued following the storyboard and finished filming all the shots on page 5. Since I am worried about having too much footage and going over 2 minutes, I filmed an alternative ending as well. This second ending stops prior to the last 3 shots on page 5. 

We finished around 4:30 p.m. and I did not do any more work that day. 

Red Throughout the Opening

 The Red Shirt

As I stated before, one way I wanted to unveil the emotional state of my character was through color. The most obvious way I aimed to do so was through her clothing. When we first meet the character, she is wearing the peaceful colors of light blue and green and her hair is pulled back neatly. When Sophia first put on the costume, we clipped the inside to keep the red shirt underneath from showing itself too early.

The character becomes more engrossed in her work, she starts to break her put-together façade. Unconsciously, she is beginning to create a mess in her room. Thus, the red shirt begins to peek through her robe. This is representative of her true emotional state surfacing.

Other Red Elements

The Books

I had mentioned in a previous post that I wanted to incorporate some sort of clue prior to the unveiling of the red shirt that utilized the color to hint at her emotional struggle. I had said I would either do it through a bracelet or nail polish. However, after thinking more, I decided not to do it this way since I already have an unveiling through her costume. Instead, I chose to use a shot before we see the main character. This was a shot of her bookshelf which has orderly green and white books and then scattered red books.

Red Yarn

As the character works on her project she begins to use red yarn. This was another way I chose to incorporate the color red. I wanted this yarn to connect the things she is pinning to the board. Since the color red is meant to be reflective of the character’s true self, I think that in a broader sense, using the red string to connect her thoughts and ideas (the cutouts on the board) could be representative of her passionate work/chaotic mindset.  

Lighting the Set

I decided that I wanted to film without using natural light because I was worried that it would change from shot to shot. Due to this, I had to get creative with how I lit up the room. Originally, I just turned on the overhead light in the room but it ended up not being enough, the room was still too dark. In addition, from certain angles that I had not considered when choosing the room,  I realized it caused a bit of a glare. 

To combat this I decided not to use the overhead light and instead to bring in multiple lamps. I placed one of these lamps on the desk to light the left side of the room and to light the scenes at the desk. Next, I placed a lamp on top of a bookcase on the right side of the room. Here it was removed from most shots but could still cast light over the right side of the room. Lastly, I brought in one last lamp and placed it in the hallway. That way, it could not be seen in the video but still worked to light the room.

My Three Saviors:

        

Here is an example of how the lightning looked in one of the shots:

Setting Up the Set

 Even though I picked the location of the filming, I still thought that the room did not look exactly like I envisioned. I also needed to place the props in the room. 

Firstly, the bedspread seemed a bit too chaotic for someone trying to convey a minimalist vibe. Due to this, I changed the bedspread to white sheets. I think that the sterile nature of the color white will be helpful in creating a "neat" impression. I also added green pillows to keep with the color scheme of green to communicate tranquility and calm.  

Before: 

After:

Secondly, I added the poster props that I discussed in the previous post to the wall. I chose to include all three posters because they all communicated what my character aims for in their life. I also removed everything from the nightstand and instead placed the diffuser and Vix Vapor Rub to contribute to the creation of a calming and tranquil image. Additionally, I replaced the books in the bookshelf with all the self-help books I could find around my house and another row with orderly green books and a tilted red book.

Third, I stuffed a bunch of random supplies in the desk to give off a cluttered look and removed the rug since the pattern seemed to also be too chaotic. 

With all that done, I believe the set is ready for filming.