Finished Editing?!?

Hello!
Recap of where Anna and I are so far with our final project: 
-The two trailers are filmed
-Script is recorded
-Trailer 1 is almost finished editing
-Trailer 2 is put together and about 60% edited
-Film Promo Poster needs to be done
-Website needs to be done

  Basically we're about 40% done with the final project as a whole. We still have a lot to do and the next two weeks we will be working extremely hard to get everything done by the due date. I do think we are good with timing as we will hopefully be working every single day at getting everything done. Anna is great with all things photoshop so she will be putting together the Promo Poster, I will be helping her as we go. My task right now is to get the editing done.

 As of today, I have finished editing trailer 1, with just one small piece missing: the statics. We want to add the statics in the trailer because it hints at the conflict of the movie, which is the film Spencer made has been broken in the process of transfer.
  The editing process was tedious and lasted about 3-4 hours but I am very proud with what it looks like so far.  We added the music that was shown on the last post and it goes well with the trailer. I decided that for the trailer to look professional and realistic, we needed to add cinematic bars. Cinematic bars are the black bars at the top and bottom of the screen. Most trailers have these and when I added them our trailer transcended from amateur video to professional.

 This is a screenshot of our trailer with the cinematic bars.

This a screenshot of the trailer without the cinematic bars.

 I added a filter called vignette to the found footage, this makes the image look more vintage as you can see from the screenshots. I also added all of the audio for Spencer onto the video to give the illusion that he is there and it works very well expect for that of course the audio of the different shots sounds different than the audio of our voice actor background sound. I tried lots of things to fix it and I did the best I could. Lastly, in our final scene we have older Eliza remembering the crash where Spencer died and instead of showing it we decided to have audio demonstrate it. I added a realistic car crash and heart rate monitor sound effects that were copyright free. I also added Eliza screaming "Spencer!" at the top of her lungs that was done by our lovely actress, Laura.

All in all, today was quite productive.

Tune in next time!

Isa

Back to Work!

Hello all and welcome back!

My trip was very inspirational since I was in Paris, the city of love. Now, I'm back home and back to work with the final portfolio project. Anna and I are picking up right where we left off from last we met. We decided to chose the music at that time because I didn't my computer and couldn't productively edit on Anna's. I showed Anna "Mystery of Love" by Sufjan Stevens from the film Call Me by Your Name, as an example of what type of song I pictured on our film promo, and she liked it. We searched for hours looking through multiple sites with royalty free music for our trailers and we found one song on bensound that we though went well with our film promo, it is called sweet.

Tomorrow is the day where I finish or finish most of the first trailer.

Thank you for tuning in!
Isa

A much needed rest.

Hello.
I am in Paris, for spring break, right now until Thursday, March 29. This getaway was planned way before we even started the Portfolio Project and when Anna and I found out the dates for this project we were surprised. We planned out everything to make sure these days were not wasted. These days are meant for relaxing but, I feel like we're at a good place in our project, which makes relaxing a little easier. We will be back finishing up after I get back.
Thanks for tuning in.
Isa

Reporting From Paris!

Hello!

My spring break began yesterday with some traveling from Florida to Dallas with a final destination to Paris, an extremely long and exhausting trip. We had an eventful layover at Dallas due to an emergency landing after 2 hours of flight on our way to Paris, which wasted 5 hours of our time. My family and I landed today at 2 PM and have day full of events but I couldn’t help but get to blogging. I wanted to update you on the process of filming and editing of our trailers. Anna and I have decided that the clips that needed to be filmed, we don’t need so, we are done with filming.  I have dubbed the audio that needed dubbing, and to my surprise not much had to be dubbed over. I have inserted film rating and our production company logo in the beginning of both of the trailers. Lastly, I tweaked the clips to the right times. We still need music, foley, statics, and editing the camera footage that is supposed to be filmed by Spencer to look older/ vintage with filters. We weren’t able to get the editing done when we wanted to sadly, but Anna is helping me out with the editing while I’m away. 

Stay tuned!

Isa

This week’s schedule!

Hello all!

I will be talking a little bit about what is going on this week as for filming, editing, etc, and updates. This week we plan on having both trailers filmed and edited before spring break starts, which is Thursday March 22. We plan on having everything done because I will be leaving the country for spring break and we do not want to be set back a week on our project. Today, Monday, Anna and I did not attend class sadly so, we couldn’t film Ryan’s classroom scenes but we plan on doing that on Wednesday. As for editing, I have put together the clips we will be using  for our trailers and so for we have 2 minutes and 7 seconds for trailer 1 (without any proper edits and inserts, such as statics) and 56 seconds for the other trailer. 

Thank you all for tuning in!

Isa

Filming Day 2

Hello!
Filming day 2 was a success, we filmed most of Ryan's parts and older Eliza's parts. Because Anna's aunt, Laura, is playing Eliza, she figured it would be best of she would play Ryan since she looks like both her aunts. Anna did a great job of acting and bringing her A game. Anna's aunt, Patricia, acted as older Eliza for us. She was also very cooperative and we did everything efficiently. I'm very happy and appreciative that Anna has a big family that all lives here because they have all contributed to our previous and current projects. We filmed everything we could in a matter of 3 hours. In my opinion, we have about 85% of our filming done; we have a two classroom scenes and two pool scenes left to go and then we are done with filming and can move on to editing.
Until next filming day,
Isa

Filming Day 1!

Hello!

Today was an exciting day, it was filming day 1! We filmed almost everything that had young Eliza in it. We filmed with Anna's very cooperative and patient aunt, Laura, who plays our young Eliza. Laura not only acted but she was giving us suggestions on how to do little things like how to film particular shots and what Eliza should say. We also had Laura record what older Eliza will say so we can start consistent with the voice. Laura was very lovely to work with. We also had Anna's younger cousin "play" Spencer. Like Stoklosa suggested, we didn't have to show Spencer at all, but we got Mattias to play his shoulder, hands, and feet, for our over the shoulder shots, holding hands scene, and Valentine's Day scene. Overall, we got a lot done today, we're exhausted but we're ready for the next couple of days full of filming.

Until next time, 

Isa

Storyboard and Script... Finally!

Hello all! Over the past couple of days my partner, Anna, and I have been working on the storyboards for our two trailers, and finally, we have them done!

Trailer 1

Shots 1-6
Shot 1: Film rating
Shot 2: Production company logo
Shot 3: Static to show broken pieces of film, Voice over of Spencer saying "Hey my name is Spencer”
Shot 4: POV of Spencer walking up to Eliza who is reading
Shot 5: POV of Spencer putting down camera
Shot 6: Over the shoulder of Spencer saying " "Hey I'm Spencer, what's your name?"

 Shots 7-12

Shot 7: Static

Shot 8: Over the shoulder of Ryan sleeping, waking up from static noise

Shot 9: Close up of Ryan waking up

Shot 10: Ryan laying head on hand, voice over of teacher saying " Reflection of video due monday...Ryan are you even listening?!”

Shot 11: Ryan walking in house from school, Eliza asking how her day was.

Shot 12: Spencer filming, Eliza says 
“So did you like it?”
Spencer says “As you can clearly see, I hated it.”
“Why are you making dad jokes when you aren’t even a dad…”
(Turns and whispers) "At least not yet"

Shots 13-18
Shot 13: POV of holding hands
Shot 14: Footsies in pool
Shot 15: Reflection of Ryan in pool
Shot 16: Ryan going to grave and placing flower saying  “Hey dad, i heard you liked these, mom told me, and i wanted to bring them for you….*sigh*....i really wish i could've met you”
Shot 17: Ryan and Eliza sitting on bench, Ryan asks "What was he like?"
Shot 18: POV of Spencer giving Eliza flowers, roses, and chocolates.

Shots 19-24

Shot 19: POV of Ryan on Eliza's computer clicking "For You" file 

Shot 20: Shot of Ryan saying "Why didn’t you tell me about this?!”

Shot 21: Close up of Eliza remembering Spencer's death

Shot 22: Black Screen sound of car screeches, and Eliza screaming "Spencer!", heartbeat flatlining, and doctor saying "He's dead, I'm so sorry."

Shot 23: Static

Shot 24: Title screen, voiceover of Spencer saying "And this is for you."

Shot 25: Release date and #FORYOUMOVIE

Trailer 2

Shots 1-6

Shot 1: Film rating

Shot 2: Holding hands

Shot 3: Production company logo

Shot 4: POV of Spencer caressing Eliza's face

Shot 5: Static with critique

Shot 6: Eliza jumping into the pool

Shots 7-12 
Shot 7: Close up of Spencer's legs walking on edge of pool
Shot 8: shot of Spencer walking on edge of the pool and Eliza
Shot 9: Footsies in the pool
Shot 10: another static with critique
Shot 11: Close up Eliza remembering Spencer's death
Shot 12: Eliza seeing positive pregnancy test

Shots 13-18

Shot 13: Close up of Eliza's reaction to the test

Shot 14: Black screen with sounds of baby screaming  and doctor saying  "Congratulations! what are you gonna name her?" 

Eliza says Ryan.

Shot 15: last static with critique 

Shot 16: Eliza and Ryan at the bench where she met Spencer. Ryan asks "Mom... What was he like?

Shot 16:  Title sequence , voiceover of Spencer saying, "Hey my name is Spencer and this is for you."

Shot 18:"Now in  theaters  #FORYOUMOVIE"

Script

Spencer’s Dialogue:

Trailer 1:

• Frame 3: “Hey my name is Spencer”
• Frame 6: “What’s your your name?
• Frame 12:
• Eliza says: “On a scale of 1 to 10, How was my cooking, and be honest, i won't get offended”
• “As you can clearly see, I hated it.”
• “Why are you making dad jokes when you aren’t even a dad…”
• (Turns and whispers) “yet….”
• Frame 24: “...And this is for you”

Trailer 2:

• Frame 8: “Stop splashing me, I’ll slip and fall in!”
• Eliza says, “That’s the whole point love!”

Young Eliza’s Dialogue:

Trailer 1:

• Frame 6:
• Spencer says “What’s your name?”
• “Eliza”
• Frame 11:
• Ryan walks through the door
• “Hey sweetie how was school?”
• Frame 12:
• “So did you like it?”
• Spencer says “As you can clearly see, I hated it.”
• “Why are you making dad jokes when you aren’t even a dad…”
• (Turns and whispers) “yet….”
• Frame 18:
• Spencer knocks on door with flowers, chocolates, and teddy bear”
• “He was sweet like the chocolates he used to get me every Valentine’s day and adorable like the teddy bear he would always bring me; oh and those roses, oh they were my favorite, and his favorite too”
• Frame 22:
• Car Screeches, Spencer gets run over
• “Spencer!!!”

Older Eliza’s Dialogue:

Trailer 2:

• Frame 8:
• Spencer says “Stop splashing me, I’ll slip and fall in!”
• “That's the whole point babe!”
• Frame 14:
• Doctor:  “Congratulations! What are you gonna name her”
• “Ryan.”

Ryan’s Dialogue:

Trailer 1:

• Frame 10:
• Teacher: “Reflection of video due monday...Ryan are you even listening?!”
• “Mhmm”
• Frame 11:
• Eliza asks “Hey sweetie how was school?”
• “It was whatever i guess..”
• Frame 16:
• Ryan walks to Spencer’s grave and lays roses down
• “Hey dad, i heard you liked these, mom told me, and i wanted to bring them for you….*sigh*....i really wish i couldve met you”
• Frame 17:
• Ryan is sitting with older Eliza
• “Mom...what was he like?”
• Frame 19:
• Ryan finds For You file
• “Why didn’t you tell me about this?!”

Trailer 2:

• Frame 16:
• Ryan is sitting with older Eliza
• “What was he like?”

Doctor’s Dialogue:

Trailer 1:

• Frame 22:
• Car Screeches, Spencer gets run over
• Eliza says “Spencer!”
• Heart rate monitor beeps
• “Eliza I’m so sorry, he’s dead”

Trailer 2:

• Frame 14:
• Audio of baby crying (Ryan being born)
• Doctor: Congratulations! What are you gonna name her?”

Friend Dialogue:

Trailer 1:

• Frame 15:
• Clouded voice in Ryan’s head
• “What are you getting your dad for Father's’ day?

Teacher’s Dialogue:

• Frame 10:

• In class, Ryan is sleeping.
• Teacher says “ Reflection of video due monday...Ryan are you even listening?!”

Not Everything is Rainbows and Unicorns...

Hello again!
You must be wondering "What is up with the titles of this blog post?". Well, today I will be discussing some issues that have been occurring in our Final Project. It is so important to discuss these things because in writing it all down is when you can improve on what is going on.

First and for most, CASTING. Casting has been a drag because of how specific our characters' ages are, especially because of our adult main characters. I had contacted some family friends that were of the perfect age for the part and they're, very conveniently a couple. Sadly, they have a very busy weekday schedule and if we were to have them be our actors, we only had one day to film, so it doesn't work. Anna's aunt is willing to be Eliza and it is very convenient that she is on spring break right now. Our main issue was that we can't find someone to act for Spencer and Ryan and they are both very important to the plot. This has helped throw our schedule off and it has been extremely stressful.
Here's when our teacher Mrs. Stoklosa comes in for the save. She gave us the great idea of not showing Spencer but implying that he's there. This gave us the idea that we could use literally any boy for this part because we aren't showing Spencer's face. Instead of showing our actor's face, we could just shoot the scenes facing his back. This allows us to not only solve a problem but also add mystery to who this Spencer is.

We are very behind schedule. We were scheduled to start filming the Monday of this week, but we haven't even finished our storyboard, or scripts. The most stressful part of it all is that next week starts spring break and I will be out of the country! I feel terrible because I don't want to leave Anna to do all this work and I also don't want to leave her frustrated because we aren't being productive. The plan was to have the main portion, the two trailers, filmed and edited by the beginning of spring break so we could both have some time to relax. It is Tuesday and we haven't started filming and I have a feeling that this trailers won't be filmed and edited in the next 9 days. This is all becoming so overwhelming and we are very stressed about the whole situation.

I will keep you updated,
Isa

Update

Hello.
Today's post is an update on how Anna and I's project is going. We met yesterday to figure out some important details of our project. Here's a run down of what we figured out.

We figured that we needed to create a production company name and a small marketing campaign for the production company.

We named our production company A&I Studios and this is a rough sketch of what our logo will look like.

This is important because one of the genre conventions of film trailers is to show the production company logo.









We also sorted out the character names, ending of the plot, and film title.
The character names are:
Husband/ filmmaker: Spencer
Wife: Eliza
Daughter: Ryan

Plot:
Just to recap, I will briefly explain the plot of the film.
 Spencer is in the park and he sees a beautiful girl and wants to talk to her. He decides that he was going to film the moment in which they first interact so he takes out his camera to say that he will go talk to her. He walks up to her and sets camera down to film the moment. They talk for a while and hit it off. In every significant moment in their relationship, he has his camera out to capture even just a couple of seconds. For example, first date, anniversaries, and even insignificant moment in which they are just together, keeping each other company. Spencer wants to make a film in which he tells stories with the clips that he captured. Over the years, Spencer edited the clips together and had it on a file, named For You, where at the end he would put them all together.
  One specific moment that will be included is the moment in which the name their child. This moment is before Eliza is even pregnant but they were planning their future together. Over dinner, Eliza asks Spencer if he wants children and he says of course, they start brain storming names and they come up with one that is unisex and works perfectly, Ryan. One day, Spencer comes home and Eliza runs out of the house with a pregnancy test that is positive. Spencer is so excited and tell Eliza to hold on. Spencer runs across the street to get two flowers, one for Eliza and one for Ryan. He gets the flowers and runs back across the street and sadly gets hit by a car: he passes away and his film is left unfinished, Eliza doesn't finish it but she has it all on her computer. Ryan has now grown up be 17-18 years old and is very unmotivated and lost, she doesn't quite know what her purpose is in life. One day, she's on her mom's computer and finds this file where all of these clips are. She sees that some of the clips are ruined and that motivates her to fix them. She fixes them and finishes the love story about her parents over the course of a couple of months and names it For You. She decides that she wants to be a filmmaker just like her dad and she wants to go to NYU. She applies there and sends the finished film to NYU. They accept her with honors into their film program.


Film title: For You

- How did we come up with this?

Well, it was simple, we thought of naming the whole film after what the Spencer wanted his film to be named.

Target Audience

     Developing a specific target audience is very important to market a film. Anna and I decided that for our target audience should be young women, ages 13-25, in the upper-middle socio-economic status. We think this target audience will bring in the most exposure and revenue to our film. 

    Motion Picture Association of America states that in 2016, three of the top five grossing films attracted mostly women. Females have taken the lead of frequent moviegoers, 52%, while male frequent moviegoers is at 48%. Also in 2016, young people, aged 18-25, went to the movies about 7 times a year, which is an increase from the year prior, and teenagers aged 12-17 went about 6 times a year. These two groups are the highest attendance per capita of all other groups. Between the age groups 12-17 & 18-25, the percent of tickets sold has been 29% which is greater than other age groups. Robert Levin, president of worldwide marketing at Sony Pictures Entertainment. ''A while ago everyone was really focusing on the young male audience: young male action movies, young male comedies. Now we're saying, 'Wow, there's really a young female audience out there that we must be attentive to.' '' Our target audience has the grand potential of bring in lots of views and revenue for our film.

   Titanic is the highest-grossing film in the Romantic Drama genre, making $659,363,944.  

''When we tested the first trailers, the young girls were the highest quadrant in their interest in seeing the film. And when we screened, the girls were one of the highest-testing groups who enjoyed the movie.'' said Robert G. Friedman, vice chairman of the Paramount Motion Picture Group.
This quote shows that young women are interested in romance films and the revenue supports the claim.

   The Fault In Our Stars  is another example of a Romantic Drama targeted to young women that has been very successful and grossed $124,872,350. This enchanting love story stuck with the viewer because of how relatable it was and the representation of sick teenagers. The young couple attracted the younger female audience to watch the film. The couple lives their relationship out until the male character dies because of his illness.

  Paper Towns grossed $32,000,304 which is significantly lower than the prior examples but it is still quite successful. Like The Fault In Our Stars, the couple, or should I say almost couple, are teenagers and this is very relatable to other teenage girls. The female character feels like she doesn't fit in, which resonates with lots of teen female viewers, and runs away. With this the male character goes looking for her with her friends.












Citations:
“Paper Towns (2015).” Box Office Mojo, www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=papertowns.htm.

“The Fault in our Stars (2014).” Box Office Mojo, www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=faultinourstars.htm.

“Titanic (1997).” Box Office Mojo, www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=titanic.htm.

Weinraub, Bernard. “Whos Lining Up At Box Office? Lots and Lots Of Girls; Studios Aim at Teen-Agers, A Vast, Growing Audience.” The New York Times, The New York Times, February 22, 1998, www.nytimes.com/1998/02/23/movies/who-s-lining-up-box-office-lots-lots-girls-studios-aim-teen-agers-vast-growing.html.

 "Theatrical Market Statistics (2017)" Motion Picture Association of America, https://www.mpaa.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/MPAA-Theatrical-Market-Statistics-2016_Final-1.pdf

Genre

Hello!

I will be discussing and researching genre in today's post. My partner and I chose to do romantic drama as our genre because we felt like the rom-com and chick flick genre didn't really pair well with our vision as they are seen as "cheesy". 

Research

• Romantic drama is a fusion of the romance and drama genres
• Romantic drama films revolve around a central issue that keeps the lovers from being together.

Romantic drama conventions

Shots:

• The most frequently used shots in romantic drama are: over-the-shoulder and close up. These two types of shots show the viewers what the characters emotions are directly and also helps create an intimate relationship between the viewer and the character. 
• Close-ups get up close and personal with the character and the viewer can see the character's emotions and reactions. 
• Over the shoulder shots have the viewer feel that intimacy of being in the conversation.

• This close up in the film Call Me By Your Name is an example of a close-up that captures the character's emotions and evokes emotion in the viewer.

• This over the shoulder shot in Titanic demonstrates the conversation going on between Jack and Rose and gives the viewer the sense that they are watching the conversation.

Editing:

• Editing in romantic dramas is usually slow which represents the slow nature of this genre of films.
• The editing can pick up the pace when scenes are more dramatic like for example an argument scene. This entertains the viewer with not only the dialogue but also with the quick editing pace. 

Mise-en-scene:

• Spending on time frame of the film, the mise-en-scene differs, for example in Titanic, it is set in the early 1900's so the mise-en-scene would be different from that of Call Me By Your Name. 
• Photos or video can be used as looking back on past memories of a previous relationship. 

Setting:

• Settings are usually in light outdoor spaces such as the beach, a park, or watching the sunset. These are typical date spot that are romantic and usually have a light, airy, and romantic connotation.
• Another typical settings are at restaurants or cafes for date spots. These settings allow for development of story/characters.
• In this scene in Dear John, the two protagonists are at the beach.

Plot:

• Begins with two people meeting each other, development of relationship, obstacles faced, then ends in a happy ending.
• The story is supposed to make the viewers escape their own lives and for the duration of the film be engulfed in the love story. 

Citations 

Romance film.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, February 28, 2018, .https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romance_film 

Steele, Shania. “Romantic Drama Film Conventions.” Prezi.com, February 11,2015, .https://prezi.com/c_dumcs4-o_s/romantic-drama-film-conventions/ 

Film Trailer Conventions

Hello, welcome back!

In today's post I will be researching trailer conventions. Embracing trailer conventions will most likely lead to a well promoted and successful film. Although challenging conventions can be fun and unique, embracing conventions, at this point in our film career, will show we are well educated about what works and what doesn't.

Film Trailer Conventions

Text in trailers

• First things first, the film rating. Film ratings are very important because the display the films intended audience. If a movie is unsuitable for younger audiences because of sex, violence, etc, the parent is warned during the trailer.

• Usually, trailers start with the film production company logo. This helps create a brand for the production company by having the company be associated with a certain type of film and also have the viewer recognize the company and have an immediate incline to watch the certain movie. For example, if a viewer watched Moonlight, an Academy Award winning film, and really enjoys the film, then later goes into the theater and sees a trailer for Lady Bird and recognizes the logo of A24, the viewer automatically associates the two films and has underlying inclination to the film. 

A great example of this is A24 production company. A24 specializes in independent films rather than any other genre. Popular movies that were produced by A24 are Lady Bird, Ex Machina, Moonlight, The Florida Project, and so on.

• Other forms of text that are shown during the trailer are other film producer/ distributors, director's name, and actors' names. This, like the production company logo, creates an underlying inclination to watch the film. If a viewer sees that one of their favorite actor or even musical artist makes a cameo, this make the viewer want to go watch the film.

• The last piece of text in the trailer is most important: the title of the film. The title of the film comes at the very end because it needs to be remembered by the audience. If it is placed at the beginning or middle, not only will it not make any sense but it will not be memorable. The purpose of the trailer is to promote the film and have viewers come out and watch the film, so it is very important to have the title in a place where it will be memorable.

Sound in trailers

• Some trailers have either a voiceover from a narrator or a character in the film. This gives the viewers a sense of familiarity when they go watch the film because in the trailer they heard the narrator or main character speaking. 

-  I, Tonya is a great example of a trailer that uses narration in the trailer. Throughout the trailer the sound consists of clips from the film and narration from the main character, Tonya Harding.

•  Most film trailers have either a song from a soundtrack or score of the film. The soundtrack or score usually reflects the mood of the film so that the viewers can get a glimpse at the mood of the film. 

  - Dunkirk is a combination of the two sound techniques in the trailer but the score is much more poignant than the voiceover. The score in incredible because it evokes an emotion from the viewer to feel that anxiety that the soldiers were feeling on that beach.

Editing in trailers

• The editing in trailers consists of important clips from the actual film to interest the viewer to go watch the film. Trailers are usually quite fast pace due to the fact that it is kind of like a compilation of important clips. These clips aren't put in any sort of sequence so that the plot isn't given away.

Duration of trailers

• The usual duration of a film trailer is from 1 minute  to 2 minutes and 30 seconds.