Filming Attempt blog

On November 27, I began to film for my short film. Starting filming without some props was going to be a challenge considering I will not be able to get them until early January.  I did however have the package prop I needed for the beginning of the film. I started to set everything up by putting a fake shipping label on my guitar case “package”. Then I had my parents move their cars out of the driveway, so it was empty. I positioned the cameraman “my sister” in the perfect position to capture the pan shot I wanted to start my film. I drove to the end of my road and turned my car around and began to drive down the street and into the driveway. Before I was able to get out of my car, the sky opened, and it began to pour. My sister ran inside and i stayed in my car until the rain stopped. The rain let up during the night when it was too late to film the first half of the movie which is based in the afternoon. My backup plan was to film the nighttime scenes, but I realized I did not have the props to do so. I gave up on filming for the day and just checked the tracking on my other props. On November 28 I was not able to film because I work 10 hours on Saturdays. I finally got the first bit of filming done on Sunday the 29th there was no rain and no work to do. I was able to finish the driveway scene, the yelling about the package scene and the opening of the packaging scene. Next, I must complete the leaving my room scene and the homework scene. Then I get to introduce the slasher. But I still need to wait for his prop to arrive. So, I will just skip it and must come back to it.

Props blog

The props I’m using in my film consist of two Pictures, a PVC pipe, and a package. At the beginning of the film, the main character pulls into his driveway and sees a large package on his doorstep. He has been expecting his new guitar to come and he is overjoyed for it to finally be here. The reason I included the main character receiving mail in my film is to make the entire movie seem real. Most children get distracted when receiving mail due to excitement and might forget to lock the door. The arrogance in this situation is what leads to an unwanted intruder in their house. The PVC pipe is used by the unwanted intruder to bash the main character and knock him unconscious. This causes the main character to lose his memory and wake up confused and afraid. The two pictures are used to bring the main character’s memory back and bring outrage when he sees them damaged. The first picture the main character sees is of him and his sister side by side happy and safe. The second picture is his sister’s face scratched out almost like a target, the main character loses his cool and begins to confront the unwanted intruder. Each prop needs to retain the aspect of horror, for the package its connection is the appeal to a stranger due to the valuable price of the object, being shipped to an open house brings attention to a murderous character. My second prop was a PVC pipe, within my film I wanted to incorporate a horror aspect such as brute violence, hence the pipe as it brings the imagery of brute force being bashed onto our weaponless survivor. It's a handy prop to use on set, as it’s a simple hand carrying light weapon shown in multiple scenes. “Two pictures”, those were props that I used both in scene separate, the first scene being a happy memory of the survivor and his sister, being a haunting trigger of memory as he awakes to sense truth, as the other being a horrific crossed-out picture of his sister, expressing that something has happened to her, something unspoken. Bringing these aspects into the film using these props is what I intended to reach maximum audience reactions. When this film process shall begin, I will make sure that each scene with the props is shot accordingly to how I want it pictured. Each prop plays a special role and my image is set in stone for my horror-based film. The next step is to film, and gather these props in case I don’t have any around my house and either edit them for more horror appeal or keep them the way they are.

Social Media blog

 One of the requirements for A level Media Studies is to have multiple social media platforms for my film. I created an account under the name of my main protagonists (Myles) to keep anybody who finds these accounts up to date on the film. We linked all the social media platforms for our film on a Wix website. The links on the website lead to Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. Accompanying the name of the protagonist on the social media websites is the name of the film. I had to come up with a name I thought suited my film. I decided on the name “Doors”. I chose this name because in the film a lot of the activity is regarding unlocked, locked, slammed doors, and open doors. The username for all the accounts had the word “Doors” in it, to make sure anybody who looks at the account knows that it is for that film. Each media platform required a bio, a bio being a short description of what to expect to be on the social media page. This includes posts, other tagged accounts, and any dates involving the short film. In the bio, I have the name “Myles from the short film Doors.” I also included the words coming to theaters soon. This was to establish that the film is still in progress, that Myles is involved in the film, and it coming to theaters soon is a marketing statement. I try to keep the usernames consistent, but a problem occurred with Facebook where I could only put the name of the person who owns the account as the username. So, I decided to call the account “Myles Doors” almost like doors is his last name, this began to grow on me. I worked with some websites that I was not familiar with, such as Wix and Facebook. I struggled with publishing the links from each social media platform onto my Wix homepage, as well as Using Facebook for the first time. I am excited to post on these accounts and receive feedback from their followers.

Storyboard blog

Making my storyboards was a lot of fun I really felt like I was in the production portion of a movie. I wish I had the input of another person like in the other group projects I have worked on, but I think it turned out pretty good. I enjoyed getting to make each scene feel as close to real as I can for now. It was difficult for me to draw the images for each scene as I am not a talented artist in the slightest. It didn't help that I fractured my wrist and had a cast on while handwriting everything. I still tried my best and I am ok with my stick figures. I would go and picture every scene in my head and think of what works best as I stood there. I like the use of long shots to full body shots for a lot of my scenes. I feel as tho it is very useful for the type of short film I am making. It was really easy to imagine how each scene would look like considering I live in the location my film will be taking place. I found out that my outside balcony is going to be under construction for a while and might inter fear with my filming. I hope it will be finished on time. If not I do have a backup plan. Inside my house, I have a railing that overlooks the staircase leading upstairs. I think it will do the job of completing my film. I am sad that it isn't outside and captures the same mood my original plan did.  I am still very excited about filming this year. I have never included my family in any of my works from the previous years. I'm sure they will be great and have just as much fun as me with this film.

Planning for short film blog

The filming for my short film has not been started, I am beginning to prepare for the filming process. The first step to filming is working out my schedule. This is going to be tough considering I have to work around my school work, girlfriend, homework, and my job to have time to film. One of the best things about my film is that most of it takes place at night, this is extremely helpful. Considering the I am least busy towards the evenings. I will have to do most of my filming at night time anyway so it works out perfectly. The location of my film also is extremely lucky. Considering the global pandemic I wasn't able to include any of my friends in my film like I originally wanted to. But as luck would have it this means that everyone I'm going to need is at home, in the same place my film takes place. The filming will happen in my room and the only two people I need are my father and sister. My dad gets home from work around 7:00 so I can film with him at night and my sister goes to school with me and has the same hours of free time and work. Some of the health safety precautions I am taking is not seeing any people outside of my immediate family and not leaving the safety of my house for any unnecessary reason. I am making sure that all the props used in my SLASHER film are fake so no one gets hurt. Other precautions we are taking are that during the balcony scene we don't get close enough so that some could fall over. The props for my film were originally going to be fake blades but to be even safer I decided to change it to PVC. I won't have a hard time getting some as I work at a hardware store that sells it. Other props will be typical house supplies like a photograph and door locks. Lastly, the costumes aren't too out of the ordinary, the victims Myles and Sydney will be in typical street attire as they have been to school and are just at home. The masked slasher is going to be wearing a dark black hoodie black pants and a mask to cover his entire body. I am very excited to begin filming and can not wait to see how everything comes out.