Pre-Filming

     I have begun and progressed into the more important stage of my project, production. I can't believe I'm starting my production process already, I feel like this project is going so fast. So today my brother and I went to the range at Bonaventure golf course. We were just playing around and goofing off when I realized that I should record a few videos.

    Time was limited because of the Sun so I was only able to record for a little. During this time I couldn't really complete much, so I decided to use it trying to figure out how my character is going to swing his club. So I recorded a few videos in slow-motion of my brother swinging his club. I did this to analyze his swing to see if it could work with what I wanted or if I wanted to have my character swing differently. I switched two of the videos from slow motion to regular pace because they wouldn't load into blogger but I still have them in slow motion on my phone for a reference. My brother isn't the best golfer, but he has a nice swing, he also wasn't in the clothes that I would like to have my film in, so this video is really a learning tool. Based on this video I learned what time is best to record, which is way earlier than when I recorded and how I want the swing to be.

Like I said my brother and I were just having fun and his outfit didn't match up to what I wanted so these videos are just for me to learn from. Also, going to the golf course allowed me to have a better understanding of my time management and when I should start recording.

Audio Pt.2

         Hello. I know that by the look of this it seems confusing, but I plan on continuing to talk about audio, except about which types of sound I want to include into my scene. Since my my scene is golf related I need to utilize sounds that would be heard at a golf course or around a golf course.

    

    There are many sounds when it comes to a golf course however I'm only going to talk about the ones that I'm using in my project. First and foremost the sound of a golf ball being struck by a club. This sound is one of the most heard sounds at a golf course other then the sound of a golf cart. I'm also going to be using a sound of golf a cart driving and stopping because of the golfers that go from the shop to the actual course. Next I'm going to record a sound of a door being opened and closed because of the pro shop and sounds of chit chat from the other workers in the pro shop. There are many other main sounds I plan on including in my project, but they're more background sounds. The video above has a lot of sounds about the striking of a golf ball which will be very useful when I'm picking the correct sound or creating a Foley.    

            Now for the background sounds, there isn't a whole bunch, however they still need to be noticed and used to seem as real as possible. When playing golf if you just sit and listen you can hear so much. For example, for those people that play really early in the morning you would hear a bunch of birds singing and being loud or the sounds of cars rushing past the course to get to work. Furthermore, a golfer who plays later in the day would hear much more balls being struck and chit chat in the air. Occasionally a golfer might hear the word ''FORE", however it's not a very good thing to hear. I would like to add it to my film for a comedic effect and to create a humorous mood. For all of the other sounds it would be a nice touch because they make the film just have that extra pizazz and realism.

Character Development

        What is character development? Character development is the process of a character in a story changing and evolving over time by revealing their personality, desires, and how they respond to challenges. This allows the audience to connect with the character on a deeper level. Before I talk about how im going to develop my character I need to describe who my character is and his traits.

          While trying to look for a name for my character I looked up golfers. One name that stuck out was Bryson. I liked this name cause it’s basic and it rolls off the tongue nicely. Bryson is a teenager around the age of 16-18. He’s more on the older side because he's working and employed. Bryson lives with his mom and dad and older brother Mark. Their family is middle class and financially stable. Bryson doesn’t like his job working at a golf shop, however his parents are forcing him to work because they think it’s good to be making money. Bryson’s dislike for his job influences his dislike for the sport he works for. Bryson is an impatient person and gets easily bored and lacks interest in precision sports. Everything there is to like about golf he hates. However his whole perspective changes when he see’s this beautiful woman walking into the golf shop. Bryson is then motivated to learn the game of golf so that he can get closer to this girl. This girl’s name is Alice, I don't know why but it sounds nice.

           Bryson is like Happy Gilmore in a way but not really because Bryson has his whole family and Happy had to move into his Grandma’s, but they both have a reason why they’re going to play golf. Bryson is going to play because of a girl and Happy plays because of money. Now how am I going to develop Bryson? I’m going to transform Bryson through dialogue and his actions. At first Bryson is going to dread being at the golf shop and then he’s mesmerized by the girl and then he tries to swing at the ball and miss. He gets mad and quit, because I need to have some comedy in my opening. I hope that I’m able to make it look better than it sounds but I feel like my idea is good and will be done well.

Audio

     Audio is a very important thing in film making. Films use a wide variety of different sounds. Without audio a movie would be boring since sounds are what make a movie what it is. Finding and making the correct sounds takes a lot of work, however if done correctly the sound is a great compliment towards the visuals. I have talked about sound in one of my previous blog posts, so I am going to explore and talk about other types of sounds I didn't get to before.

                                        Diegetic & Non-Diegetic Sound

        Diegetic sound and non-diegetic sound are like opposites. For example diegetic sound refers to the sound or elements that exist and can be heard within the narrative world, like the characters. While non-diegetic audio refers to sounds that are added in post-production and can only be heard by the audience, which means the characters cannot hear them. Diegetic audio is used to enhance the realism of a scene and bring it to life, this is done by incorporating sounds that would naturally exist within the story world, allowing the audience feel as if they are directly experiencing what the characters are. On the other hand non-diegetic audio is solely to influence the audience's emotional response by creating mood and building suspense, or by conveying information that the characters within the story cannot hear. I plan on using both of these audios in my project by adding sound and background music, that the characters cannot hear, and by adding in background dialogue of other golfers.

This video distinguishes the difference between diegetic and non-diegetic audio beautifully. He states what both are and gives examples, as well as he does it quick, which was better for me since I tend to lose focus fast.

                                                Ambient Sound

        Ambient sound is a type of diegetic audio in which the of the natural sound of a location is recorded. The main purpose of ambient sound is to provide consistent and natural background noise for dialogue and sound effects, which results in a realistic sound mix. In addition to creating a realistic sound mix, ambient sound could also be used to establish the setting and atmosphere of a scene. Ambient sound can also create a range of moods from tension and suspense to calm and relaxed feeling. Without ambient sound a scene could feel unrealistic or dead. I plan on adding in bird noises, trees rustling and golf balls getting hit to m project to create a more realistic scene.

This video helps demonstrate a variety of different ambient sound by giving examples as well as giving an explanation on what ambient sounds were.

Props

          Hello, and welcome in. Today, I am going to be talking about a couple different props and their significance towards films. Props are very important in film making because without them a scene or film would feel empty. So, what are props? Well props are objects that are not apart of a set or worn by an actor. Props are used to help create a realistic setting and to convey information, they can also be used to add to the storytelling of a film by showing details about the characters or the environment. Just a reminder that props aren't just random objects on a set, they're tools each individually picked out to create a better scene for the audience.

        Hand Props

    Hand props can be any object that is held or carried by an actor in a film or television production. Although hand props may be small they form a key part of the story. Hand props can help define a character such as Mary Poppin's and her umbrella. It could also be used to fulfill a characters actions. For example when John Wick had to use a pen to defend himself from bad guys. The hand prop can also just be used to enhance a scene and make it more visually appealing. A hand prop that I wish to add to my project is a golf club because my film is about the sport Golf and I want to use this prop to make my scene look better.

        Set Props        

    The next type of prop I will be talking about is called a set prop. This type of prop is integral to the set design of the production. Set props are typically large movable objects that are not built into the set. Most of the time this could be furniture and includes things like chairs, couches, tables, rugs, etc. The main purpose of a set prop is to add to the look of the setting, in which the characters interact with. Set props can also be used to create believable environments or even establish mood. Since I am going to be recording my opening at a golf course I will mainly rely on the set props provided because it's a public place and I don't want to cause a disturbance.

Lighting

Hello Cambridge welcome to week number four of my portfolio project. Today I'm going to be talking about the mise-en-scene element lighting. The lighting in film making refers to the direction, source, or color of light in the scene. Lighting is such an important factor in film making because it allows the audience to see the characters, and create mood and atmosphere, lighting also establishes the time and location of a scene. 

            The most frequently used lighting in sport comedy films is high key lighting. High key lighting is a very bright light that produces little to no shadows. This type of lighting is often used in comedies and sitcoms because it creates a cheerful and upbeat tone. High key lighting was originally used for technological reasons, since early film and television had not done well with high contrast radios. High key lighting requires most, if not all, of the lights in a movies setup to create a bright and evenly lit scene.

                                                            Key Lighting

        Key lighting is apart of the three point lighting group, which includes the key light, the fill light, and the back light. Out of the three the key light is the first and most important light used in a lighting setup. The key light's purpose is to highlight the form and dimension of the subject in a scene. Since the key light isn't straight on from the subject in a film it must be put above eye level and facing down in order to not create shadows. Some comedic films have placed the key light to where it's illuminating from below because it creates more dramatic effect. Using the key light results in a high contrast scene, however a fill light is able to help decrease contrasts and add more detail.

                                                                     Natural Lighting

          Natural lighting in a film is exactly what it sounds like, it uses the natural light from either the Son, or the Moon. This type of lighting is utilized to create a sense of realism and authenticity to a film. Natural lighting is difficult because you can't control how it's going to look, or when it's going to run out. The best thing to do with natural light is to plan ahead of time because the light source could start to dim. I chose to research this type of lighting because it's the lighting that I will mainly be using since my film opening will be outside. I really like how this lighting looks when it's sunrise or sunset, so I will try to add some clips of that into my opening, to create a sense elegance and peace.

Media Theories

         Media theories are used to explore the relationship between people and media. There are many different media theories in the media sphere however I must only pick one to integrate into my project. Even before this project my teacher had us working on media theories by adding them to our essays. So I have some experience in this field.

        Out of these media theories the one that stuck out to me most was the character theory. I say this because I have seen this theory so much throughout the stories that I have read and consumed. This is also the media theory that I understand the most. I tried to understand all of the other theories but they were confusing to me. Also it would be easy to include the character theory because in order for their to be a film the characters need to have roles. I was also considering doing binary opposition theory but I don't know how I would add this to my project. Although if I found a way it would be a great addition to my project. I hope that my prior knowledge of the character theory will be enough when I add it to my project. Having something that the audience knows such as the character theory will boost my film by allowing the audience to have more relation to it.

Storyboard

         Well now that I have my plot done I can create a storyboard! Storyboarding is fantastic because it gives a visual for your film so that you can map it out. Storyboarding also helps you organize your ideas together. The great thing about storyboarding is that it's like a rough draft for your film and you don't have to be good at drawing either. The neat thing about storyboards is that they can also be used as a basis when it comes to the actual filming of the movie.

        Storyboards can be hard to layout if you don't what type of shots you want to use. Although it may seem stressful useless to create a storyboard, it's actually quite important and fun, because you are able to see your ideas come to life. While creating my storyboard I had a little trouble, because I wasn't entirely sure what shots I wanted to use. For now I decided on simple ones, but when I start filming I want to look more into diverse and unique camera shots, so that my opening isn't boring.

       My storyboard doesn't have a lot but it's just a rough draft and I intend to have more. What I added is mostly the main parts of the opening and It was just a quick sketch. Doing this activity allowed me to put into perspective how I need to use camera angles and shots wisely in my project.

Project Idea

         I'm glad that I'm finally able to share my idea for my film opening project. So as you already know for my project idea I plan on doing a sports comedy film opening. I've only talked about my genre though and not what I actually planned on doing for my project. Since I'm doing a sports comedy film I plan on creating a plot revolved around sports that also gives a nice laugh. You'll know that my opening will be about sports right from the very first scene, and as for the humor I plan on using some physical humor and humor using dialogue. 

           

           

        The opening starts off with an establishing shot on a golf course, this is because the sport I want this to be about is golf. Golf is a very elegant game and if it is not played right it can be humorous to more experienced players. The main character of my film works at a pro shop on a golf course and this is his first job. While working there he sees this very beautiful girl golfer and is dumbfounded. After this, the main character decides to try and learn the game of golf as an attempt that he can create a relationship with the girl. However, the main character has never picked up a golf club in his life and he has no clue what golf is even about. My influence for my film opening comes from the movie Happy Gilmore, even though the opening to Happy Gilmore was a montage of the main characters life.

        I'm mostly settled on this idea but I'm always open to suggestions and tweaks if it means my project could be better. This idea is like my anchor for my opening and I'll be basing my project mostly on it. I'm very excited to be able to see what I can create and I hope that my research of camera shots and angles, from the beginning of the school year, can be shown through the use of my project.

Group Meeting #1

         What's up blog! This week marks the third week of my portfolio project. On Tuesday of this week my teacher had put the class into groups. In this meeting I was arranged into a group of 5. The purpose of the meeting was for us(students) to share our project ideas with each other and learn from others ideas, as well as give advice to one another.

        The group I was in include my classmates Maria, Samara, Vanessa, and Arianna. We started off by introducing ourselves to each other and then we began to talk about our ideas. Maria was the first one to present her project idea to us. Maria decided on creating a mystery film intro in which one of the characters disappeared and how she wants the whole plot to relate to how the missing person disappeared. I was interested  to hear that she wanted to try and foreshadow the plot by laying mise-en-scene elements around in the background for the audience to discover. Maria also said how she wanted her opening to give off a more investigative POV. I think Maria's idea is very interesting and will be very cool to see.

        The next person to present their idea was Samara. Samara wants to create a sports comedy film. She was inspired from the movie The Sandlot as well as from her brothers baseball team. Samara had the most change in what she wanted to do, because the group influenced her to another idea, which she ended up liking better. Samara plans on having her opening filmed during the day as well as to have her comedy to be cheesy but not too much. Samara left with the idea of having to kids making a tryout or going to a tryout for a baseball team, so that the kids can play together like the kids in The Sandlot. I like her idea because The Sandlot was a good movie and her opening is based on it, so I believe it will be really neat and fun.

        After Samara was done with her project opening idea it was Vanessa's turn to talk. Vanessa knew the most about what she wanted to do for her opening. Vanessa discussed how she planned on doing a psychological horror opening. Her opening takes place around the 80's and it's about a college student who is a male nurse practitioner and doesn't gain the attention he wants from the doctors, so he kills the other employees to move up the ranks. This idea was very good and interestingly. Vanessa didn't really know how to show the hate he has for his co-workers so I gave the idea that the nurse practitioner should have a conversation with the main nurse in their office and one of the coworkers interrupts and the main nurse disregards the nurse practitioner. She liked the idea so she might implement it into her project.

        Now it was my turn to talk about my idea. I started off by saying what genre I picked and how I decided on it. I then gave my idea of what I wanted to do for the plot of the film and I got feedback and decided to change it up a little. I didn't get much feedback because my group members looked a little confused however I got the feedback I needed. They helped me decide on the influence of the main character and how I should display him. After me, my classmate Arianna went. There wasn't much time left in the class by this point, so all we could discuss with her project is that she was doing a sports drama about gymnastics and how the gymnast was really good however she had a bad accident while doing gymnastics. I'm kind of curious as to how this'll work but I'm also interested.

        Overall I feel like this group meeting was very good opportunity to learn about what I need to add to my project as well as what I should change. Also, it helped me discover my plot for my opening.

Credit Sequences

                                    Credits

        Credits are very important in film because they acknowledge and give recognition to all of the people involved in creating a movie. This often includes director, writers, producers, executive producers, lead actors, supporting actors and so on. Although many people don't pay attention to the credits they are still crucial towards the film.

        The Sandlot is the first film I discovered when looking for a credit sequence. This film wants all of the creators of the movie to be known. Not only does this credit sequence provide the names of who worked on it, it also provides what specific thing they did towards the making of the film. In the credit sequence The Sandlot kept a consistent white color font that contrasted a dark background to ensure the audience could read it. On top of that, the film not only makes the names of the people known by bolding their names, but they also put the credits right in the middle of the screen, meanwhile the font size is pretty large, so it takes up most of the screen. I really like this because the audience is able to focus on the film as well as see all of the people it took to make the film.

        Here Comes The Boom also applies a white font to their credit sequence with a contrasting, dark background. However, the font size isn't nearly as big as The Sandlot's. This film also acknowledges people who worked on this movie, but for some people they didn't mention what their contribution to the movie was. When it started to mention the people's jobs the font was smaller and less profound then their names. When it credited the title scene the last word, Boom, was a different color then the rest which made it pop. Unlike The Sandlot, Here Brings The Boom has its credits towards the bottom, focusing more on what's actually going on in the movie.

        

Happy Gilmore is another sports comedy film that utilizes the white font in their credit sequence. But instead of having it so that the credits are affecting the view of the film, the credits are on next to the video displayed, so that it doesn't distract the audience from missing out on what's being shown. The background that the credits are on remains black throughout the entire sequence. Although the names of the people aren't bolded like Here Comes The Boom and The Sandlot, they are still slightly bigger than the position of what they're being credited to.

    I think I would like to do my credit scene like Here Comes The Boom because it's clean and it focuses more on the visuals rather then the people who made the film which I think is better.

Film Opening

                             Sports Comedy

        The genre that I'm doing for my film is sports comedy. I know that in my previous blog postings I didn't mention or even think about doing this genre, but during a conversation that I had with my teacher, I have decided that sports comedy would fit better for me and allow me to connect better with my project.

       

                The first film I came across was Happy Gilmore. This film opening focuses on developing a character. In this opening sequence the film utilizes a technique known as a montage, this is where a film pieces together separate sections of film to form a continuous whole. While this montage is playing the main character, Happy Gilmore is doing a voice over, talking about his life story. This film uses a lot of medium and long shots, as well has handheld camera shots to make it seem as if every single shot was recorded from someone in the film.

       During this opening Happy's life is broken down into two main parts. It starts off with his childhood and progresses into his life as an adult. During both parts of this opening the film was able to keep it's comedic intension by it's continuous jokes and it's physical humor. This opening is a very good representation for sports comedy, however I want my film to be different. Even though I didn't find the whole sequence useful, the physical comedy shown in this inspired me to use some of my own in my film.

    

        Another sports comedy film I found was Here Comes The Boom. This movie opens with establishing character. The first thing the audience sees are pictures hanging up on a wall. One of these pictures has a young boy in a wrestling outfit and the other one is a certificate for teacher of the year. This film uses long shots and medium shots throughout the first few minutes to establish the setting. The music along with the scene of Scott riding his motorcycle is a nice touch and really adds that intense feeling. This opening has just the right amount of comedy with overdoing it. I also like how the film added the shot of the wrestling photo to foreshadow that this is going to be a sport related movie. Watching the fast pacing of the cuts in relation to the music and scene helped me understand how to create excitement and urgency. Applying pacing to my film will contribute to making my film better.

        While Happy Gilmore and Here Comes The Boom are both good representations of sports comedies, another great film is Benchwarmers. Out of the three films Benchwarmers is the only one to start off with an establishing shot. In this establishing shot we can see a baseball field which foreshadows what the film will be about. This film is also the only film out of the three to introduce a side character. The film portrays its comedy through the use of satire and other physical aspects. Throughout the opening a consistent use of medium and wide shots were used. This film doesn't really relate to what I would like to do for my opening, but t's still good nonetheless. 

        What I liked about all of the films is that they established character and they all included the title of the movie early on. Another thing is that the films kind of foreshadowed what they would be about, which I though was interesting. Overall this films helped better my knowledge on this genre and what I need to include in my own film opening.

Creating A Schedule

     As I have progressed through this class and through life I have learned that time management is so important. Because of this I need to create a schedule to plan out how I will spend my time with my project.

    Week One (1/29-2/2)

• two blog postings
  • A transition posting to portfolio project.
  • A posting about two possible genre choices for project. 

 Week Two (2/3-2/9)

• four blog postings
  • Choose genre for film opening
  • research and discuss three film openings
  • research and discuss three credit sequences from films within my genre
  • A research post of my choice 
  • Think of a basis storyline for film

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Week Three (2/10-2/16)

• Four blog postings
  • Find actors
  • Find set location for filming
  • Reflection about my group meeting #1
  • Research about a media theory that I wish to integrate into my project 
  • Create a script or storyboard

Week Four (2/17-2/23)

• four blog postings
  • Start filming 
  • post focusing on character development
  • post focusing on mise-en-scene elements
  • post focusing on audio
  • create some Foley sounds(if necessary)

Week Five (2/24-3/2)

• Four blog postings
  • Continue filming
  • Planning post of my choice
  • A few production posts of my choice

Week Six (3/3-3/9)

• Four blog postings
  • Post-production process post
  • Post-production process post
  • Research for #1 question of CCR post
  • Start editing film opening
  • Sound effect layering

Week Seven (3/10-3/16)

• Four blog postings  
  • Research for #2 question of CCR post
  • Research for #3 question of CCR post
  • Research for #4 question of CCR post
  • Post discussing CCR production ideas
  • Continue editing
  • Create credits for opening

Week Eight (3/17-3/25)

• Four blog postings
• Post about production of CCRs
• Post about post-production of CCRs
• Final reflection of CCR
• finish anything that isn't completed and/or needs touchups

    

    In the past I haven't been the best at sticking to schedules because I would procrastinate and wait until the last minute, but this project is different. I am going to do my best to stick to this schedule and manage my time wisely.

Sound

    Hello there! So for this post I was able to research anything in relation to the portfolio project, so I decided to do sound since it's very important.  

    There are many different and unique sounds used in films. Sounds make up a film, and without sound the film would be bland. You might think that the visuals are the most important part of the film but that's just not true at all. Although the story is being portrayed through visuals, sound enhances and makes the film feel impactful and complete.

    A lot goes into creating and finding the right sounds. The first sound created during film making is the dialogue. Dialogue is also the most important sound in the film because it conveys the story and allows the audience to understand the plot and the character's emotions. The dialogue is also what keeps the audiences listening and engaged. Once the dialogue is edited and finished then all of the other sound effects are made.

    One of the types of sound effects made post production are Foley sounds. This is my favorite type of sound effect because it's so unique. I like how the Foley artists are able to perfectly replicate what it would actually sound like in the film. Without Foley artists some of the most common sounds like walking and body movements wouldn't be in most movies.

    This video from YouTube of Wicket eating a snack is a perfect representation of Foley sounds and other sound effects and how they make the film so much better. By adding the subtle footsteps of Wicket walking on the grass, the scene feels more real and finer. Without sound effects films wouldn't be as significant as they are. Sound is so important because it adds depth and texture to the visuals of the film, sets the mood and builds tension, and it helps express narrative elements that might not be fully shown by the visuals alone. I could use the knowledge I gained on sound effects and techniques to construct a better film opening sequence by creating and using sounds, in relation to the visuals being shown, to make the film feel as if it's coming to life.

Portfolio Project Genre

                            Genre Research

        As soon as I was presented with this project I started to think about what genre I wanted to my film opening to be about. I have been brainstorming and considering all of the genre options out there. Two genre possibilities that I have thought about the most were action and horror. These type of films have always stood out to me because it's what I find the most interesting to watch. That being said, I hadn't known much about these genres, so I had to do some research.

                                                                   Horror

    The horror genre revolves around creating an unsettling experience for its audience. Horror films are usually shot in a dark and ominous setting to heighten the sense of danger. The mise-en-scene elements typically have a lot of black and red to represent evil or danger as well as the addition of weapons. Also, this genre uses camera shots like the Dutch tilt and handheld to intensify the fear. On top of that the antagonist should be intimidating because it's the primary source of fear for the audience. This genre also requires an effective sound design to heighten tension and cause jump scares.

                                                                    Action

    Action films are mainly to keep audiences engaged and at the edge their seat. This genre of film embraces warm colors, high contrast lighting, props like weapons and vehicles, and frequent use of handheld camera movement and quick cuts to convey the intensity and chaos of the action. The primary intention of action films are its adrenaline-pumping moments, not necessarily towards creating a deep character development. One of the most crucial things about action films is their visual pacing as well as having an understandable and interesting plot.

Portfolio Project Transition

Transition Into Cambridge Portfolio Project

    From this moment on my blogs pertain to my portfolio project. All of the previous blog postings have guided me and allowed me to have a better understanding towards the portfolio project. I've learned so much in my class about media and I hope to express it all through my project. I am very grateful and excited that I can participate in making this project.

    My initial thought when I was introduced to this project was "What do I want my opening to be about". Creating a story takes a lot of thought and consideration, but that's why I love it, because I am able to display my creative thoughts. By deciding on what genre I want to do I can then think about how I want to tell my story. After I've decided a basis on what I want my story to be about I can then develop it even more to intrigue the audience. Since I'm just creating an opening to a film I plan on keeping suspense so that the audience will want to watch the whole film. 

    My other plan is to develop the characters of the film. This is another thing that I find fascinating because developing the characters is what brings the entire film to life and makes it enjoyable. I'm so interested in being able to create these characters with their own unique features. Also, showing the relationship each character has with each other is exciting. I'm very eager to be creative about these characters.

    In general I think this project is going to be a very fun and knowledgeable experience. Also, I feel like the start of this project is going to be a lot easier knowing how I want my story to be told and how I'm going to create it.