Planning My CCR

 Hello I have just finished the scripts for my CCR's, here are some pictures of them below, so you can get an idea. The first CCR is talking to a camera with images and Videos, while the second is an interview with my mom.

I hope you enjoy my videos, because this took me about 2 hours per script.

I do know that I will have to cut some parts out, but that is for when I edit, anyways

See you next time!

Editing my project

I just edited my project and love how it turned out. Her are a couple pieces of the editing software I used which was Openshot video editor.

As someone who has never edited before this application was extremely simple and I had a lot of fun using it. As you can see on one line is all the different scenes in my film opening. This process of sorting them was extremely easy as I could see which video belonged in each place.

I was exploring the software and found an easy transition application, so I decided to fade in and fade out some of my scenes and audio. This extra touch really perfected my film opening and made it very easy to edit overall.

I was also playing with the audio and found out if I decreased the volume of my music in certain places of the film opening I would not need to include as many sound effects, as you can see there are only 3. This is because you can hear all the important aspects in my scene and "if something isn't broke, don't fix it" as many people say.

These tiny dots represent the volume changes within my audio and as you can see the circle at the end means the audio fades out. 

Overall, I highly recommend Openshot video editor and will even share the link Openshot Video Editor.

If you are someone with little to no editing experience I hope you give Openshot a try because for me it was fantastic.

Now that I am all finished all I need to do is my CCR and I am done. I feel like I might miss this project, which is extremely weird because I am definitely not a fan of school. Also, I am not someone into editing and theatre, but I am glad I found something I enjoyed.

Making my Credit Scene

 I have just finished creating my credit scene and I am very happy with it. I used Canva to create it and am very happy with the results of it.

I used the Butcherman font and in red like this Butcherman to help signify the horror and bloodiness even more. Canva was very easy to use and mine was pretty easy considering I did everything and was the only person included in my credits.

I have just started to piece all my videos together along with the music and it looks good at first glance, but obviously there will be many looks and maybe suggestions from friends who also take this class or some who do not and would view it as a consumer.

Overall, I am having really fun producing this project and hope to finish up soon.

Making my title

 Hello, today I am making my title for my film opening. I found a youtube video explaining how to make a bloody animated title and used it as help.

Obviously I changed the title to mine but I love the way it came out. The only thing I wish I could have done was picked a different font, because my font that I found in previous researching was not available, so I was stuck with limited options.

That's how it turned out, but with a black background. I could not show the video of the entire title because the size limit was too large, but I can explain it.

At first the title is normal and non distorted, but as time goes on in the clip the title slowly distorts. This helps add to the twisted life of this serial killer and shows there a psycho. This also helps continuously develop the sense of horror in the opening that should be clear already.

That's all, now I just have to edit and add some sounds, other than that it is just the CCR and I am done.

See you next time, Bye!

Cutting down My videos

 After adding up the time for all my videos, it was just slightly above the 2 minute mark. I needed to cut down some of the videos and did that. 

The first one I decided to cut down was the clip of me washing my hands. First of all, the only reason this clip is included is to add the credits and I felt like 43 seconds of washing hands was not needed, so I decided to lower it down to 25 seconds. This gives me enough time to fit all the credits in without it feeling rushed. Another reason I chose to edit this one down is because my hair gets in the way at the end. Viewers do not want to see the back of a person's head, so that was an easy decision. 

Next, I decided to not cut the opening scene of me walking to my room and slamming the door. I think this was more important than the other clip I decided to cut down because the dark house helps add to the eerie feeling. This helps the horror genre be seen clearly and from the beginning. I felt like this was an important aspect and much more important than what I decided to cut down.

Finally, I decided to cut down the clip of me taking out of my school supplies. The whole point of it is to develop that this is a student serial killer. There is no need for multiple binders to be pulled out of a backpack to see that. I cut it so the notebook is being pulled out and then colored pencils, then the bloody knife.

Here are the edited videos

Ok that's all next time I will be putting it all together and editing, but I am not sure when that will be, because I am currently on vacation in Colorado. Bye!

Just Filmed!

 Well I just filmed and needless to say it was a struggle. My mom filmed my project and had some trouble with some of the zooms and there shots. There was a lot of arguing between us and many redos of scenes or shots. It took around 2 hours and it was kind of stressful. Here is the Raw Footage.

This is just the pieces of filming I liked the best and in the next post I will be going through each piece of filming and choosing what I want to include in the next post.

I will say we had our struggles filming and multiple arguments such as me doing things too fast or her forgetting to click the record button. Overall, it was just a fun experience and in the end we laughed looking back at all the stupid mistakes. For example, in my scene i miss the trash when throwing paper in it and it made me laugh. 

Well that's all this was stressful in the moment, but funny looking back on it, so I hope memories were made. Bye! See you next time where I will be cutting down my footage into pieces I like.

Writing My Script

I wrote my script today at celtx.com, it was very good and easy to use software. I felt my script was particularly easy because there is no words in my project. Here is my script Script 

One thing about my film that I do not love, but need is the washing hands scene. I am going to have that going for 30 seconds, in order to roll all of the credits, which are mainly myself but maybe my mom will get some credit for filming for me. I feel as if I like storyboarding better than using a script, because for film openings with no words I feel it is important to be displayed visually rather than in writing. 

One thing I am worried about is reaching that 2 minute time, my project is very short, so if I need I can extend the first clip of me entering the room and I can film myself at night entering my house and going upstairs. This actually may be a better idea cause it establishes that he was somewhere mysterious considering it is dark out. I am planning to over shoot this part and get both short and long entrances. 

Well that is all for today, I am planning to film this week, so that is most likely what I will talk about next, Bye!

More Sound Ideas

 After looking at my storyboard and realizing all the actions I am doing I realized I need to incorporate more sounds into my film opening. I am aware that there is music, but I feel that it is also important to have faded sounds

For example in the first scene. I can do make the door creek when opening to help enhance that sketchy and horror feeling. This also builds tension and is a common characteristic amongst horror films. Royalty free sound effects is where I found my door creak. I cannot figure out how to put the exact sound I used into blogger, but it is the third one down on the left. The action is quick and squeaky which is exactly what I need. 

Also, In that same category I found slamming doors towards the bottom. I felt this could be incorporated as the character is trying to stay secret. Slamming a door indicates that you want to be left alone at the moment, so i think it could go well with my scene. Also, the camera cuts right when it slams and you immediately go into the next scene inside the room. THis gives the consumer the feeling of secrecy and that they are apart of it currently.

For example In the Boogeyman seen above, the door slam  is effectively used to establish that something is not right immediately. This is how I intend to use it, instead of it just meaning goodbye or your angry. I want it to develop fear into my viewers.

I also wanted to include the sound of the marker popping off and writing. I could not find this online and I am going to record the sound on my phone in a separate audio then the video that will be seen. I feel like this is the main establishment of what occured if it had not been inferred before, so I think a loud marker is something needed in my opening to establish that THIS IS IMPORTANT.

I have done sound effect blogs in the past and I already have the knife being cleaned along with the sink running, so I think I am good. I know after in the Creative Critical Reflection I will find somewhere in my opening that I missed the use of a sound, but for now I think I have enough sounds, plus my classical music.

Next time I am writing my script and will talk about that so Bye!

Note for Myself: Use YouTube Audio Library

Storyboard!

 I have just made my storyboard and I am super excited to share my thought process behind it and why I chose certain features. I will be going shot by shot. 

I know they are very tough to read and see so I will explain each scene thoroughly.

First shot

Very simple choice of following character from behind into a dark mysterious room, all black clothing and my hood is up. I chose this opening shot and tracking camera based of the movie whiplash as shown in previous research. This choice helps establish the context of someone who has just got home from a mysterious mission. This choice also shows the dark environment the character is surrounded in which causes the consumer to immediately think of depression, sadness and loneliness. I chose the tracking camera from the back because as seen in the opening of "Killing Eve" in class. The character shown from the back helps establish a mystery and makes u feel like there is something that is evil about this character. 

Second shot

The over the shoulder shot of the same person taking out things from their backpack like markers and paintbrushes and colored pencils. This helps develop the artistic side of our character. Then our character pulls a knife out with blood on it. This is the big thing out of the bag and I want to include a sting so consumers know.

Third and Fourth Shot

Close up shot of the knife with blood on it. The camera slowly zooms in from the backpack and then a towel wipes it and cuts the shot into the next one. This is the big deal and the camera will be fixated on the knife for 3 seconds before wiping into the next shot. The next shot is the title shot. The r at the end of the word "Murder" will have blood dripping and I will include sound of water droplets if I can edit it in. This is to establish the word murder as the main subject of the title along with droplet to indicate killing has occurred. The title will be in all RED to signify death and evil.

Fifth Shot

My desk with backpack items, plus some school work with the initials H.M on them to signify the mystery person's initials, this will help create the sense of a mystery for the rest of the film, as they will want to figure out who the killer is. This also indicates that this plot for the rest of the film will have to be in a school somewhat as there is school work. This relates to the target audience as they are middle-high school and this event feels like something that could occur at their high school(But Probably Will Not). 

Sixth Shot

The camera zooms into the knife and dirty towel and they are slid of the desk by hand into the trash. Once they fall the camera zooms further into the trash and then tons of crumbling and normal paper are thrown on top. I want this to be kinda like a pov shot of the person cleaning up their murder props, but I will have someone else holding the camera so I can throw the paper in the trash with ease. Anyways, this cover up is not very good, but successful because no one would suspect murder items in a teenager room. I chose this easy cover up because I wanted the dumber side of teenagers to be evident and this definitely does it. 

Seventh Shot

There is a abrupt cut and it immediately shows me washing my hands and getting all the blood off. I have some medicine that leaves a stain in my sink so I can use that for fake blood. I can even use ketchup if I really need to, but someone can pump it into my hands off camera. That's why I chose a high angle so you can only see what is going on in the sink. The real purpose of this scene is to include the credits because as the water is running I can include the credits in a bolded font, so they are visible. I think this calm action allows the consumer to notice and maybe even focus on the credits.

Eighth Shot

Then after the credits are done another abrupt cut occurs to a over the shoulder shot of myself at my desk. This shows me take out a red marker and draw a big RED X over the victims face. (I printed out a random photo of a student). The camera then zooms in slowly on the RED X and then it cuts to a black screen and it is done. This scene helps indicate that the action has already taken place and affirms the fact that a murder has occured and it is a horror film about a mysterious and secret killer. This also helps build the question why did he murder this specific person?

I ended up changing the victim from a man to a student to show this film will relate to the target audience that is younger like high-schoolers and middle-schoolers. Also I was thinking of incorporating a loud sting while I zoom in before I cut to the black screen.

Ok that's all, Bye!

Creative Critical Reflection

    In class we went over the creative critical reflection that is to be completed after my film opening. This is when you reflect on the planning, process, production, and final product.  The CCR is when you respond to questions about your piece in your own creative way.

    There are many styles to do your CCR in, like direct commentary, a talk show, or even a podcast.

I am going to definitely do one of these as a direct commentary, where I speak to the camera in a creative way, answering the questions asked. My teacher taught me to incorporate fun visuals rather than just a Talking Head the entire time. It is also important to incorporate your research into your videos and I am definitely show examples from other shows.  

The first question I can answer is how does my piece use genre conventions to represent social groups or issues. For this answer I plan on talking about the many basic conventions of horror I used and also when I talk about how it represented certain groups, I can talk about how it represents people who are psychopaths and society needs to make sure they are all good and constantly check up on them or bad things can happen. 

The next question is asking how it engages the audience and can be distributed as real media. I plan to talk about how it engages the audience which are younger people ages 18-35 and both genders, but usually male all find psychopathic stories very interesting. Stories about twisted murder is very popular on platforms like TikTok and definitely YouTube which are heavily used by my audience. I plan to distribute on platforms like YouTube and show the film in parts on platforms like TikTok and Instagram. My teacher told me to not distribute through the movies because it is unrealistic.

The next question is how my production skills develop throughout he project. I plan to talk a lot about the fact that I have never edited something before and this was the first time I edited ever so I can easily show evolution in that department. I also need to talk about my research thinking and why I researched certain things, along with the planning like my storyboard and script which are going to be created soon. I also need to address obstacles I faced such as limited resources and lighting issues that might occur. End with reflection on the difference between the start and the end.

Additionally, the next question asks about how I integrated certain technologies, hardware, software and online sources into my film opening. This is when I need tot talk about documenting my progress on blogger along with the websites I used to find certain sounds along with what I used to edit my project. I need to address how these helped me in my project, and if I needed to learn a certain component like editing or how to incorporate sound into my film. I feel like I have a lot of components I can write about, which also includes the phone I will film on.

Finally, I need to end with a final statement to reflect on the project as a whole, like saying it was a tough road, but I persevered and succeeded anyways. Discuss on what I need to improve and did improve on during my process of making the film opening. I also need to address what I could do differently which I am not sure yet, but will be sure once I finish because there is always room for improvement no matter what.

Bye! This was a lot, but very important considering the amount of points the CCR is by itself. See you next time!

Location and Mise en Scene elements

     Hey, today I am going to show and explain where I am filming and why first of all and what props will be used in the filming. 

    First of all here is my room which is most likely where I will be filming majority of the project.

This Room can get very dark and I want my setting to be dark that's why It would be the perfect fit. I have to decide if I want my room to be messy or clean though. I think I may go with messy to further help illustrate that my character Hades is out of control and has no real grip on life and living. 

Another element is some props. For example I need a target for my killing and I printed out someone that just doesn't look like a good person based off their mugshot. 

Person that had been killed before opening.

I am going to signify that he has been killed by showing a close up of myself drawing a red X over his face. This will be the ending of my opening because I feel like it fully establishes what was occuring in the actual opening with the cleaning of Knives and since I do not own paintbrushes I decided to go with colored pencils. So I can put each one back into the box, in the exact slot so it is colored order, but I should only take out Red, Orange, Black colors to help signify that darkness,

I have an idea that just came to me and I think it is pretty good. I can put away all the colored pencils, then open up the markers take out the red one and draw a BIG X over the victims face that has been killed.

Another thing I plan to do Is to wear dark colors.

I intend to wear my black Nike hoodie and black sweatpants. These help further enhance the suspect and mysterious mood I intend to create for my killer. My hoodie will be up because then the camera will not be able to see my face. Currently my nike hoodie is in the laundry, so here is a photo from online.

This is going to be my outfit, all black. This choice helps the character stay mysterious and unknown. I will leave a clue for those paying close attention and write the initials of my character H.M  in a quick shot that includes something else. For example maybe the shot of me putting the colored pencils away. There could be a piece of paper with just the initials H.M in the top left corner, so majority of viewers do not catch on to it.

That's all for today, see you next time, I will most likely be working on my storyboarding and then maybe even filming.

 

Choosing My Music and Sound effects

     Hey!, Today I decided to choose the music for my music video. I found a website that has royalty free music and the music is also free to use. It is Right here just incase you wanna check it out yourself. Royalty Free Music.

    I decided to use classical music in my opening, so I was researching and found this. Classical Music. I feel like I can adapt to this speed. I feel like the speed is fast, but since my opening is going to have a high paced opening I feel like the music suits it.

If you skip to the point 15:30 in the video, you can see an example where the music is very fast. In this the character are moving fast and completing things rather quick. Instead of doing that I am going to do multiple things so It keeps up with speed of the music and the music choice seems to make sense. This high-paced music also can create a sense of hurry and scaredness as my character Hades is afraid of being caught by his parents who do not know this evil side of him. 

Also, I need to have the sound of the knife being cleaned to do this I searched up knife sharpening and found this audio Dull Knife Sharpening. This audio is not very aggressive like the others and this is good because I want the knife to be in the background noise of the music so this works out well. I feel like this audio also sounds more realistic than some of the other audios.

Additionally, I need to find a sound for the washing of the paintbrushes. Sink Running Water I choose this one because once again it is not very overpowering and I want it to kind of be in the background noise of the music. I chose this also because it sounds like something is being run under it rather than just water flowing.

Well that's all for today, I will talk to you soon. Bye!

Exploring Credits

    Hey! Today I will be talking about credits and how to add them into an opening. Since my opening is in a darker location, I am going to need my credits to be in a lighter color like white. I am going to research how to include credits in a darker setting and see what comes up.

    I am reading Movie Opening Credits and they are talking about how the font, color and the sound in the background is an integral part of showing the credits. Below is the opening for Pink Panther

    Even if you have never seen the film you recognize the iconic Pink Panther along with the infectious music. The colorful pink font is eye-catching and helps grab the audiences attention. I am planning on doing something similar with my title sequence. For example, I could include "The Art Of Murder" in big red letters and then play a background noise of a knife stabbing, which I could most likely find online. Also as the title sequence has a panther in the bottom right, I can include a paintbrush on one side and a knife on the other to further establish context of the main character.

    

    Since the movie is in a very dark setting and I need to make the credits visible to using a lighter color is a good idea. 

    For example in Star Wars they use a black background and have light yellow letters so It is very visible and easy to read. This something I can do but have like me painting in a dark room in the background or like drawing, so the credit scene doesn't lose the focus of the audience. Instead of explaining the context I can just put a credit and then wait a couple seconds, fade it out and add another until every credit has been covered. 

    Another key aspect is the font, In order to find a font that fits my theme of horror I explored and searched up some fonts right here in blogger. I was exploring blogger and found "Butcherman"  This font's name is scary and I think this font will help enhance the mood I intend to create. For example it may look like this "Director: John Doe" This is very scary and I bet it would work well for both my title and credits to continue to create the mood of murder and horror.

Well now I have a good idea of what font, color and how I will be incorporating credits in my film opening. I ultimately are just going to have myself cleaning knives and paintbrushes in the background of my credits while they are in a "Butcherman" font seen above and will definitely be in Red as it helps develop a scary mood.

Bye! See you next time, which will be very soon. I have not decided what to do next for this opening, but will let you know next time.