Shooting Schedule Outline

On the Tuesday night mentioned in my previous blog where Jon and I couldnt film due to the rain, we decided to also create a basic shooting schedule overview along with our practice title scroll. The purpose of this concise schedulde was so that on Wednesday shooting would be easier for us to get through.

This is the schedule we created: 

Shooting Scedule Outline

Purchase:

-corn starch
-red food coloring
-blue food coloring

Shots

Inside Bar:

-Bailey drinking Jon comes to say hi
-close up of Jon face (credit)
-pushing off Jon
-bailey leaves

Outside Bar:

-Bailey walking out (approached right third into focus) and Jon in soft focus (left third)
-Jon tries to consult Bailey and touches him
-Bailey decks him in his shit

-dumping body in car (back shot of bailey , car bumps down)
-POV from Jon looking at Bailey in trunk
-POV from Bailey struggling to close trunk looking at you

-car driving shot (iffy)

Lamp Post:

-Jon on ground crawling back from high angle
-beating up scene
-on Jon's body tilt up


Post Title:
-possible reverse zoom shot
-full shot of original zoom out

The first section ismt directly related to shooting but it is for essentisl items that we need to purchase in order to make the fake blood for our project.

The following section showcases our opening broken up into 4 main parts: Inside Bar, Outside Bar, Lamp Post, and Post Title. Every name is self-explanatory and in each are the key parts that are within that section.

The Inside and Outside Bar sections are relaying the story amd shots showcasing where we will use our credits and the specifc angle or position of the camera that we want. Both of these sections carry the story up to the point where the parallel editing is about to come to an end.

The Lamp Post amd Post Title sections have the importamt aspects for the tilt up that we want to use for the title scroll down and the Post Title revolves around the continuation of the next scene to have the feel of the opening stray away from a trailer feeling.

Testing Our Title Scroll

On Tuesday night Jonathan and I met up so that we could shoot our project and have some footage to edit with after the fact. We had everything ready with our camera and the shots that we wanted to gather but once we began, it started raining. We tried to wait it out and get some footage but it didn't let up for the entire night.

In order to make sure that we didn't waste all of our time, we wanted to try and create an idea of what our opening title sequence would look like. Our title, Aberration, comes down onto the screen when the camera tilts up from Peter's body in the story. The font, as discussed my post on 3/11/19 shows the red color and one of the crooked/contorted fonts that we liked. In this video we went with the Chiller font just to test it out.

The tilt-up done here was from my car into the night sky because the tilt in our actual video will be up into a dark sky as well. Along with that, I edited this in Adobe Premiere (seen above) and it allowed me to create the drag and opacity change that I used.

The scroll down is done quite simply as you can click on a text box, ours saying "Aberration", that you want to use and then it is now mobile. You can drag the text box anywhere you want from the start of the scene to the end and to create the movement you simply set a primary location and a final location for the text box to move along.

The opacity was also not hard as it is the same concept as the text scroll I had just done. I simply set a primary amount of opacity at a specific time and then a final level at a specifc time as well. My goal was to have the background become darker as the text reaches the end of the screen.

I am well versed in Premiere so doing this didn't take me long and I think that for the base of the editing in the project I will be able to handle it in an efficient manner.

Group Meeting Numero Dos

A few weeks ago I made a post about a group meeting where I met with other students in my class who are doing different projects for their exam (magazine/film opening). The premise of the meeting that took place this past class was to show the development that everybody has made in their project since the previous meeting. My focus during this meeting was to relay the major transition that Jonathan and I made from moving past the idea of wanting to use the song ‘Breakfast in America’ by Supertramp and explain the new eerie idea we have for the suspenseful demented character in Homer. I explained how we want to have him stand by a lamp post and create two parallel events that will link at the end. I also explained the idea behind our title 'Aberration' and how we landed on our title and the font that corresponds with it.

The major takeaway that I gathered from this meeting is that there is a high chance that we might have to abandon some of the story or shots that we have in mind for the sake of the timing allowed in the two minutes of the opening. This might cause a shortage in our story ark or in our events. Taking this information Jonathan and I have addressed some ideas that we might try to cut but we want to have footage before we make a final decision.

Another major takeaway that I gathered is the amount of time that the editing is going to take. The majority of this is going to come from the sense of parallel scenes that we will be trying to create through the editing, the voiceover matching the movement of Homer's mouth in the zoom out scenes, and the title scroll down being in sync with the tilt up of the camera. To make sure that there is enough time I will be editing as much of the project as I can during spring break which begins next weekend. I have set out multiple time slots with a multitude of hours in each of them where I can edit and if I need consultation I will easily be able to contact Jonathan.

Overall, I now have a clear idea of how much time I am going to need to allocate for each part of my project and what was liked/dislike in my project. From the reception, I gathered people like the title and all the ideas that we have but a heavy dislike or concern was to ensure we are not steering towards a trailer feeling with such a quick paced opening. 

This week Jonathan and I will hopefully finish all of the shooting that we need and then the editing will start immediately after that. I feel as if we are on a good pace and that there is no need to stress or worry about any constraints that we have for the project.

Continuation in Our Storyboard

Now that about every part is ready for our project enabling us to film our project, Jonathan and I wanted to push through more of our storyboard. As seen in my previous post "Storyboard" it showed the first eight shots that we had and the idea that we had for each of them. Building off of that we created the next fifteen shots as seen below:

In order to continue the progression of our story, we had to focus more on the event that takes place between Homer and Peter at the bar. The first picture is the second page of our storyboard and it is the event where Homer snaps due to his mental state. The shots that have text and say they are in reference to shot 3 are in reference to the idea that we are going to use to juxtapose the event with Homer and Peter. This is where Homer is at the lamp post and we have the continuation of the zoom out that wil eventually link later in the opening. The remaining shots in this first-page display Homer hitting Peter and then due to his frantic mindset he puts him in the trunk of his car because he doesn't know what else he can do.

The next page shows the next six shots that we have which are depicting Peter when he is in the trunk of Homer's car. In this sequence, he will manage to kick the trunk open and he will roll/jump out of the car to be set free. Then from this, he will be at the lamp post where Homer has been giving the voiceover/monologue this whole time. This will then allow the parallel editing to link up and the two different scenes will come into one. 

Project Meeting and Analysis

In class this past Wednesday we met with our teacher in order to discuss the progress in our project and what she thinks about our overall idea. The main aspects focused upon were the filming locations and the continuation of the storylinre after the title comes onto the screen.

The first area that was of major discussion with her was the locations that we were planning on shooting the bar scene with Peter and Homer. Her idea was instead of trying to create a setting in one of our garages we should rather try to go to a local bar and ask for permission to shoot there. In doing this it would make the setting look more realistic and give off a better aura. It would also be hard to get the vibe of the bar correct if we were creating it from scratch and it wouldn't be the best use of our time if we could just shoot at an already existing location. Some suggestions for possible locations were local sports or cigar bars (I could not provide photos here as they were subject to copyright).

The second area that we focused on was the continuation of the storyline after the title. Our idea is to show Peter in his injured stated in the opening and then to tilt the camera upward toward the sky and then have the title 'Aberration' come down onto the screen. The way that we want to continue after this is to show the beginning of the next scene that would follow in the film to make sure there is nothing that would make the opening feel like a trailer. We want to ensure that there is a clear cut differentiation between what a trailer might feel and look like and our film opening. To do this, we discussed that we could have a whole new location where we begin the next scene with the camera still pointed at the sky, which will hopefully look identical to the previous shot. With this initial position, we will tilt the camera down and continue with a scene that can be at a later time. We could also have the next scene be on a different day or another entirely unrelated event to what just occurred. The goal with this is to continue the story and ensure that we are steering away from a trailer. We are still discussing what that event will be.

Title Font Selection

With a working title that we both agree on and an idea that will flow with it, in class we worked on fonts that are going to create the essence of our story. As I talked about in prior posts, the opening is going to involve a death of a character named Peter and then the camera is going to tile up and the title will appear. The idea that we have is that as the camera is tilting up the name will come down onto the screen. We haven't settled on where we want the title stop stop or the exact location of it but that will be decided when we are editing the film and incorporating the animation for the title.

In class today Jon and I used Microsoft Word and went through every font that it on it and came up with a short list so that we could visualize them all side by side. The picture below shows all the different fonts that we are considering and we are still discussing which of the following works best for us. 

In order of appearance the fonts present are: 

Chiller

Gloucester MT

Eras Demi ITC

Maiandra GD

Mistral

Niagara Engraved

Viner Hand ITC

The reasons that we decided on fonts like this is because we know that there is a sense of mental illness which would demonstrate a broken or crooked sense of the character, Homer. With having these different curves, slants, and slashes it makes everything seem more out of place and different than what would be considered "normal". I really felt that the Gloucester, Eras, and Maiandra provided a sense of off-balance that adds to our character and what drives his actions along in the opening and the remainder of the story. The Chiller, Misral, and Viner fonts are a more clear, present, and obvious idea of being broken and disturbed that would also work for Homer. 

We will have decided on which font we are going to use by the following class.

Establishing Filming Locations

Building off my last few blog posts, in order for Jonathan and I to incorporate all the ideas that we want in our opening it was necessary to have every location that we want to shoot our planned ahead of time. In the opening itself, I talked about a light post which will be used to create suspense and mystery. The light post will be used for the beginning shots of Homer next to it which not only begins our film opening but is also used as the constant zoom out shot. The picture below found on Google Maps shows exactly what it will look like. The only difference with our opening and this picture is that it is going to be at night time and the light post will be the only lighting in the area.
 

The next location that we talked about is a bar that will be used for the scene which introduces Peter and shows his relationship with Homer at this point in the story. We aren’t legally of age to be in any bar so we are going to create one in a garage. To do this we will use different lighting schemes, primarily focusing on low lighting, which will create the aesthetic that we are looking for. To go along with creating this bar setting we will be using a wooden table to create the countertop that will represent the bar itself.

We aren't entirely sure how both of these locations are going to work out so this week we are going to begin shooting after school. If it turns out that we need to tweak anything or find a new location that will be the next step for us. If things do work out we will prioritize getting done the majority of the shooting this week and the following and then begin the shift towards editing.