What Would This Be Without Problems?

Wonky shadows, mysterious blue hues, uncomfortably framed

After my first two days of filming and looking over the footage that I got, as always, I need to refilm. For the scene between Gabe and his mother, I filmed at night so all of the natural lighting was gone; I had to use lamps, one normal and one blue bulb, but it looked too artificial. I can film in the same location, my brother's room,  but I think it'll look better with natural light coming through the blinds. I also think the shot will be better if I use a CU, rather than a MS, so that the desperation and controlling nature of his mom is more obvious.

The scene I spent most of my time filming was the dramatic dinner scene. When I was imaging the scene and storyboarding, I had the table filled with 5-6 priests. Though due to scheduling, I couldn't round up enough actors for this scene. I thought that if I used tighter shots, it wouldn't be obvious, but even so it looks awkward and lame. Therefore, I am going to get some more male friends to help me out. When I film this scene again, it should go a little quicker because I already have an idea of what shots I want. Another issue I had with this scene was that the light fixture in my dining room was too low, so it was partially in a couple of the shots. The whole setup of my dining room ended up being more difficult to maneuver than I thought, so I am planning on using my neighbors dinner table. Her house is a bit more modern, but I could easily manipulate it to fix my miss-en-scene. The lighting in her house is more ideal because it had whiter and cooler hues rather than my house that has yellow hues. 

The scenes that I filmed with Diego came out good! I successfully captured shots of him in his room, reflectively writing in his journal and also a couple of him sitting under a tree as he reconsiders his life's purpose. 

This coming week is spring break (whoop whoop!!) so all of my actors are available (whoop whoop!!!!) I get back from New York on Monday night, so I plan on filming all day Tuesday and finishing up on Wednesday. Tuesday, I am taking the gang down to my church where we can get some shots. My friends mom is a teacher at the school connected to my church and she said we could use her classroom if we need to. Then I'll edit all day Thursday and finish up my website and poster. 

Posters

Naturally, I can't just think about what I'm doing at the moment, I need to think about what's next; I'm in the filming process but I can't help but start planning my website and poster. I won't lie, I'm not the biggest fan of making websites because I feel like the ones I make are always ugly and unorganized. I have made movie posters before, using simple templates but I want this one to be clean, crisp, and professional. In the past, I have just used a still from the piece but after looking up film posters, most include a separate photo. I definitely want to use the conventions for my poster, so I plan on doing
something similar.

I found a simple website that could help me construct my own poster. From many drama film posters that I have seen, usually the main character is the subject of the poster. I envision either a CU of Gabriel looking into camera, or a MS of his body, from the neck down. With the latter, it would be a little more interesting because it isn't revealing the face of the main character, therefore leaving some part unknown. Classic GenZ will be so intrigued with the person and why their face isn't shown that they might go out and find the film. 

I want to use the conventions but I want my poster to be original enough to get attention; the Moonlight poster is an excellent example. It used the basic conventions of a film trailer, but the image itself was to well-thought out, simple, to the point, and not to mentioned eye-catching. 10/10 to their market team because people are still talking about the poster. Even though my Photoshop skills are a solid mediocre, I want to try and attempt to make a poster that is new and enticing. This will help to aid in my branding; The Order will use traditional conventions of drama but it also
 is new and innovative in the narrative.

Vlogs Are Back And...

...better than ever! Here's a vlog from last night, which has some set design, hair and makeup, director's notes, and of course bloopers. Enjoy!

Storyboard

I'm 90% done with story boarding! Yay! Hooray! I usually storyboard on regular paper or in a notebook, but this time around I chose to use index cards (Wow it's crazy, I know. Everyone please just calm down). For the trailers, I have to use the same shots in different orders so I thought that if I went into filming already having an idea of each, it would make things easier.

Trailer #1

Trailer #2

 






















As I tried to indicate on my story boards, trailer #2 will take on drama trailer conventions: chronological order, textual graphics, etc.) Trailer #1 won't be in chronological order, and leave audiences (hopefully) intrigued about the whole film enough to go see it.

There are scenes and shots that I didn't get around to story boarding but it makes filming a little more exciting. For now, this creates a good guideline for filming. Now I'm excited, let's do this thing!

Frosted Flakey

Diego looking fresh and clean

I had everything planned with Adrian to film after school on Friday, but unfortunately he was called in to help with a drama club production. I understand he's very committed to his extracurriculars but he told me that the next time he is available is this Sunday evening. I won't lie, I freaked out for a hot second (which was more like a hot hour) until I got my act together and compromised; as much as I want Adrian to play Gabe, the main character, his schedule isn't very flexible so I'm going to move him to Chris, Gabe's closest friend. I'm recruiting my friend's younger brother, Diego Estrada, to play Gabe. Diego, like Adrian, is very involved in our school's theater program. He will be playing the lead in this year's production of Fame. Now that I have him as Gabe, I feel like he is even better for the role! I'm very excited but I also have to work fast. Fame is opening next weekend, so Diego has rehearsals after school  every day until 5pm, so I am going to try and film the majority this weekend. Also, having Diego as Gabe and Adrian as Chris is convenient because they will be both staying after school this week so they will be together if I need to get a quick shot or two.

Jason (left)

In addition to Diego, I also got my friends, Jason Liu and Francisco (Fran) Acosta, to act as well. I failed to find other actors from drama club so Jason and Fran kindly volunteered. Jason has no acting experience but he has helped me film other production so he knows how I work. When I asked Jason to act he eagerly said yes and, "this will help me complete my destiny of being the next Ronald Reagan." Fran has acted for me last year in a small piece for class. He isn't in front of a camera often, as he spends most of his time with our school's math club, History and Science Bowl teams, and keeping his status as salutatorian.  Though, Fran is a good friend, who is always willing to help and I am extremely grateful.

Fran (right) and our friend Kassidy (left)
enjoying some yummy crepes

I am casting Jason as Sam, the make-shift antagonist, who is the main reason for Gabe's exclusion. There is an important scene where Sam is questioning Gabe's relationship with Chris, and I feel that Jason has the power and passion to execute the scene well. Fran is going to be portraying Michael, a supporting character that doesn't have any huge scenes, but adds to the group dynamic.

Today, I am going to try and shoot the dinner table scene, with the argument between Sam and Gabe. I want this scene to act as the climax in the trailers, so it is really important that I give the scene enough time to shoot.

I Did Some Things

The planning process for filming is going really well! Since I'm doing the trailers, I didn't have to write a full script, which was almost harder. I didn't get to through a fluid process; I had to think in fragments. I thought up balance of important scenes and little shots to be in the trailers, and wrote out the dialogue for those. For sound in the artsy trailer, I want it to be one song (possibly classical/score/instrumental) and dialogue; therefore, the dialogue in these few scenes is crucial. I ended up writing more than I will probably need but hey it's better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it haha am I right?!

Here is the whole script! But to you give a lil' taste before clicking that link, here's my favorite line (which was actually inspired by one of the Bible verses I quoted in one of my previous posts.) :

GABE

I feel like a leaf, a dead leaf. I’m disconnected and all shriveled up. I'm scared I’m going to get swept away in the wind.

Quickly while I'm on the topic of sound, I plan to record all of my characters saying the Our Father prayer. For the artsy trailer, I want it to open with a black screen and only the the prayer being said out loud, in unison. The Our Father is too long to use the whole thing but the idea is to have the audio in pieces the coincide with the varying shots. I realize that I didn't explain that well so let me try again:

• BLACK SCREEN, "Our Father,"
• CU pan of stain glass in church *only music*
• MS from back of boys sitting in the pews "who art heaven"
• CU of bibles *only music*
• LS tilt up to priest at alter with cross in the background (symmetry), "hallowed be thy name"

Things Are Happening

I walked into class with the beautiful news that we have an additional week to complete our projects. I was hardcore stressing that I was behind but I feel a little more comfortable now. Especially since the additional week we have is spring break so I can fully devote my time and energy to finishing my project!

Now things are going into high gear! Vroom vroom! I'm going after school tomorrow to my own church to confirm that I can film some scenes there. A classmate of mine said she asked them previously and they let her, so it should be fine. At church, I want to film little shots that I could use as potential fillers if I need them. I envision CU pans of stain-glass windows, murals, and flowers to show the beauty of the environment. I also want to bring in my actors at some point, probably just my main character and their closet friend, for a scene between them.

I also just spoke to Adrian, and he can film any day this week so I am planning on story boarding Monday and Tuesday, gathering my supplies on Wednesday, and then filming Thursday-Sunday. I also wrote up some lines for specific scenes and sent them to Adrian so he could familiarize himself with Gabe.

I'm very excited to get things going!