Portfolio Project 9

Today I got to meet up with my two friends Franco and Phillip who I plan to be my "potential actors". I have been contemplating either choosing friends to help me out for my project or using people who are more experienced with acting, such as AMT members. While at first glance, the kids who do acting as a hobby seems like the reasonable choice, getting a scheduled date from a teenager and having them show up on time is near impossible. The reason I know I can trust my friends is because I'm what you could call their "designated uber driver". They have also brought up in the past how they would love to be an actor for skits so I know it won't be a chore.

We got to go over things like props and costumes and they were kind enough to donate their own belongings to help out with the film. Franco seems really excited for this as he might be the role of the CEO, who has to act dumb and charismatic to the main character, which seems a perfect role to him since he loves the idea of acting for a comedy. Next time we meet up I hope to discuss possible dialogue for the film and want them to really try to think of their own speech. I know that comes off as me seeming lazy, but I have a reason. If I am able to have them think of their own things to say (I will check over it to make sure it best suits the story) the speech will seem more natural and less forced. Students are notorious for making horrible acting in movies, so I hope to avoid that as much as possible.

I'm very confident in the performance that they will do and can see future filming to be a lot of fun for the three of us. I just hope we are able to manage our time properly. 

Portfolio Project 8

Today was a huge help! Iv'e constantly been circling back to the same problem since I started this project, which was "What dialogue will I make for my script?" I do enjoy literature/creative writing and can appreciate the works made from them, but I've never been good at it myself. So when discussing our projects in groups today I brought up this dilemma and received awesome feedback.

They offered that I have the dialogue make the character have plans surrounding how to "fake" his way through his job by distracting others and blind luck. What I mean by this is maybe before - let's say the Boss of the company - see's one of the main character's plans to fake his job, the character distracts him at the last minute with a comedic effect. Or maybe a scenario happens where the main character refuses to go to a meeting because of work and is commended on his "good work ethic".

I was also recommended to watch the movie "Dinner For Schmucks". The one who offered it, Jordan (thanks by the way) stated how the movie is similar to the idea I have and that I might be able to get some inspiration from that. I'll try to make time today to watch it as to better help improve the story.

Portfolio Project 7

Today in class I was able to get a good amount of work done. We were given the entirety of the class to work on our projects while groups or individuals took turns with Mrs. Stoklossa discussing the progress of their work and any errors they may have run into. Using this time I was able to create a storyboard for my film. While without a script, I do have a general idea of what flow or theme the film should follow, So I will implement dialogue at a later date.

Here is what I have created so far for my storyboard

I'm going to have the setting location be in a simple room with simple office props and camera angles to help better create a suspension of disbelief. With these methods, I won't worry about certain setting restrictions like time or distance. 

Portfolio Project 6

Right now I'm stuck with a decision. The decision between making my own music for the film or getting most of my sounds from royalty free music. I do love the idea of being able to make an entire soundtrack for my film, but I think I lack the skill and time for a job like that. I think what would be best for me is to split the choices of self-made and royalty free music into two areas. By this, I mean having royalty free music be the score and make my own foley effects.

Having this method might make it easier to have the music done on time while still being able to work on the audio by creating it. From the audio Halloween project we did, I was able to have a lot more practice for foley effects, since the majority of the audio I did for it was done at school. Now that I'll be able to create the sounds outside of school, I will have a wider range of possibilities for making the audio. 

For inspiration, I'm going to review foley videos on youtube and see if they can provide any insight. Hopefully, they can give me tips to help with my project!

Portfolio project 5

So I just found this great video to help out with my film. I was going through youtube when I discovered a video titled "The Afterlife" by Cyndago. The film's story follows a man who had just died and learns how the afterlife is not what he or anyone has expected it to be. I don't want to go into too much detail as to not spoil it, but I'll post a link for anyone who is curious.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BI1aYCJSIdQ

The reason for my posting of this video is because of how the entire scene takes place in the small corner of a room disguised as an office. While I do have a couple of possible filming locations to shoot at, having this set up as a "Plan B" could be a great idea. With it, I would have less to worry for props, scheduled times for filming, and any cancellations that may come up with with the area we would be working in. 

A cool fact about this film is that the two men who wrote and directed it, Ryan Magee and Daniel Kyre, won an award for it at the South Carolina's Campus Movie Fest for best picture. 

Portfolio Project 4

Working on the project so far I've come up with a few ideas to help with the filming. I've decided to get a lot of inspiration from the film "Catch Me If You Can" by Steven Spielberg. This film tells the story of a man who fakes his way through jobs in order to gain services and money, perfect for what I had in mind.

Heres a link to the trailer to get a better idea of what the movies about

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnjmF21qgYU










As for location, I want to go with the backrooms of companies which will allow me to use the space to film, or offices in people's homes. I have around 3 possible locations so far, so hopefully one of them would be willing to let me film there. For actors, I'm going to be using my friends to help fill in the roles and asking kids from the AMT program in cypress.

As of now, I'm unsure of what possible conclusion I could use to end off the 2-minute length intro,  I would like to go with a cliffhanger as to make the intro seem more part of an entire film, but not end it too abruptly.

portfolio project 3

For my project, I originally had a few ideas as to what I wanted to film. From my previous post, I decided to create a story board surrounding the idea of a comedic bomb diffusal. I brought it up to my teacher, Mrs. Stoklossa, and we decided on the best option for what skit would be easiest for me. Now, I am going to change my previous idea to a new one about man who must fake his way through his job as CEO of a huge company. While he has a very prestigious position, he has no idea how to do his job correctly and must use techniques to convince others he is qualified.

Today we got together with other members and got to discuss the progress on our projects, and the feedback I received really helped me get a better understanding of what I could do to make my film opening better. We went over possible openings to the scene, film locations (which other members have been very helpful to provide) and ways to tell the story with either dialogue, or visual clues. 

For my next planning, I want to get together with other members who will help me work out a script and story board. In my next post I plan to have a rough draft of the story board shown and any changes I might make to the idea I have. 

I really enjoy the progress that I'm making and the work I get to put into this project. Its a great learning experience and I hope to have more detailed plans for what I'm going to do next. 

Blog Discussion 3/1/19

Beginning our discussion we discussed choosing a character based narrative over a story driven opening. To do this we talked of having the main character follow a specific theme or have a particular object that he is constantly with such as a hat, smoking, always cracking his fingers. With this the viewer will follow more on the actions of the character and how they are feeling as compared to a story taking control.

Another topic discussed was my project. I believe i'm going to go with a office building and show the story, not tell it. By this I mean not filling the scene with dialogue explaining the story.

Yet another was the topic of horror. The members wanted to have a "2+2= "set up where the viewer is left with many questions. The idea we came to was to have a Halloween, Jaws style shot where you get a POV of the monster/killer and have little details in the background explain the story. Examples of this include how in Halloween, we see Micheal Myers  go throughout a house, and on TV we see how killer has escaped the asylum, furthering the story without blatantly telling the audience from an actor.

We also discussed different techniques and movies we enjoyed to help with our work and possible influence. Examples of this include creating your own colored light with plastic covering and a long stick, areas to create lighting for horror movies that doesn't reveal too much and also shows enough of the character/surroundings.