Introduction
“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail,” is a popular quote delivered by the revolutionary American founding father, inventor, and scientist Benjamin Franklin. His quote is accurate in the importance of planning ahead, in order for anything to get done. This is a mindset that is crucial in the filmmaking process in terms of notetaking information from research, tips, camera techniques and movement, applying and practicing our knowledge in planning, and finally shooting a film. In the previous blog post, our group applied our knowledge and research on the key elements, important jobs, as well as a brief synopsis on the movie “The Giver,” in which we gained beneficial information that gave more depth to our understanding the intricate elements that goes into film that makes all the difference. Similar to the last activity from the preceding blog post, our group repeated the process of what we analyzed, but instead this time we were assigned to create our own short film.
Planning
First, before
expounding on our movie's main idea, there was a period of time where our
group was unsure of whether or not we should replicate a scene from our current storyboard, but we
figured that expressing what we have learned in a new approach and storyline
would show what have learned so far in a creative way. We began by
considering lessons we have explored so far since the start of our school year
in which we rediscovered topics such as signs and how they affect the message
sent to the audience, Mise-en-Scène elements such as set design, coposition of our school buidling, and styling, and how they contribute to the
development of a plot and how we can include those concepts in our film to clearly
communicate to the audience our genre, and storyline, as well as camera
techniques and camera movements we have previously learned that will enhance
the quality and production of our film. For instance, we produced a full
synopsis and agreed on the setting taking place in our high school bathroom, which
is our establishing shot and composition. Then, we brainstormed all sounds that
are correlated with all the signs, Mise-en-Scène, and genre we decided on, and generated
ideas of camera movement and techniques to complement our ideas. For example, bathrooms
are usually recognized by their tiled floors, stalls with lavatory within them,
and soap dispensers/sinks.
From that, we thought of sounds typically associated with a bathroom setting which are faucets running, toilets flushing, stall doors unlocking, etc. It is not enough, however, to only consider the setting of a story taking place but the storyline’s genre, in relation to the plot, and the atmosphere that one desires to create. Therefore, our group attributed suspense-filled, crescendo, slow-to-moderate tempo music followed by a loud thud noise, and Candice’s (the main character) confused/concerned facial expressions, to indicate to the audience that our intentioned genre for our movie was comedic horror. All the visuals accompanied by sound, dialogue, and the music we added were intentionally used to finally formulate our storyline. Lastly, the only thing left to plan were the camera movements and techniques. We recalled pointers from previous lectures and tips from our teacher, and preliminary activities, which reminded us that tracking/trucking shots are a great option for the horror genre in the sense that it helps to build suspense for an anticipated event, and a static shot in the beginning was to demonstrate that our movie scenario began in calmed/normal environment, right before the camera was abruptly shaken out of its previously still, relaxed state.
Filming
Our process of filming were four simple steps, plus innovative improv by our collaborative efforts in thinking of how we could enrich and improve our movie while on set. To start, we were mindful of the timing of when we went to our school bathroom, to ensure that no background noise or distractions would take away from or interrupt our filming. Then, we adhered to our planned storyline from the synopsis we formulated. While filming our first take, however, when we looked back after shooting, we noticed an accidental shake of the camera which coincided with the thudding of the bathroom stall, and then figured that would enhance the thrill and adrenaline in our viewers by shaking the camera and accompanying it with an alarming sound. We filmed our take once again, and when we reviewed it, we noticed another element we could add, which was to lower the volume of the announcements heard as Candice (the main character) washed her hands, to maintain the initial neutrality of the scene before abruptly being followed by a startling thud noise. Next, we filmed our shot once more to include all our elements, but to add more suspense and tension, we decided on not showing or identifying Candice’s aggressor, and instead lowering the guard of Candice as she exited the bathroom, but was unexpectedly met with an encounter that ended unknowingly, which was intentionally done to leave our audience on a cliff hanger. Once we incorporated all of our ideas into one piece, we were satisfied with our result.
Recording
Furthermore,
we moved on to recording sounds as well inserting sounds into our raw footage,
and putting subtle, suspenseful music in the background as we initially planned.
One element that had to be recorded in advance to our production, was the announcement,
which was done on the Voice Memos application on my phone, in which I asked a
friend of mine to volunteer to voice act a mock- lockdown warning. I used the
voice recording to play as we recorded the first scene in the previous step
(filming). The fade of the sound of the announcement was meant to symbolize
Candice’s unawareness to her surroundings, and as a result, she zoned out as
the announcements blared on the intercom.
Editing
The last,
and final step of our short-moviemaking journey was our editing process. This
step required us to download a high-quality, and well-known editing application
named “Cap-Cut,” to upload the raw footage of what we captured in our filming
process. Fortunately, one of our team members (Peyton P) is skilled and has a
forte in editing, as it is one of her hobbies she enjoys doing in her free
time. To our group’s benefit, she was able to navigate and edit the footage
with ease and efficiency. At first, our editing process was hindered due to an
uncertainty of what clips and moments to cut, due to our primary twenty-second-long
video worth of footage. It took a while to decide what to remove, but we
ultimately settled on shortening the duration of scenes showing Candice washing
her hands and the scenes of her checking the stalls to investigate the loud
noise she had heard from the scene previously. Then, once the video was
tailored to both our desired time-slot and the maximum limit of seconds allowed
for our movie on this assignment, our group felt a sense of pride and relief knowing
that we had achieved what we were striving for all along and completing it in a
timely manner.
Below includes our complete planning sheet.
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1.
Scenario: Bathroom |
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|
Video Synopsis |
A girl named Candice zones out as she washes her hands
in a bathroom of a party, thinking she is alone. Bass-boosting music blasts
in the background, however, is abruptly interrupted by the intercom warning
that the building of the party is on a lockdown due to an unidentified
attendee. Candice becomes unsettled and tries to finish freshening up in the
bathroom, but before she leaves, she hears a noise coming from the stalls.
While hesitant at first, she investigates the first stall which is empty, and
she only slightly looks at the second stall before turning around to make her
way out of the bathroom. Before she could take a single step, a cold hand
aggressively grips her shoulder and drags her as she screams for help. The
camera, then, suddenly cuts away. |
||
|
Film Genre |
Thriller, and Comedic Horror |
||
|
Action line |
Candice is washing her hands in the bathroom, unaware
of the figure watching her. |
||
|
Tone of the Shot |
Eerie |
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|
Camera Shots |
|||
|
Shot Size: |
Medium-Full Shot, Close-Up |
Camera Angle: |
Shoulder Level and Eye Level |
|
Camera Framing: |
Two-Shot |
Camera Movement: |
Static, Tracking/Trucking |
|
Dialogue: (List 2-3 lines) |
Hello? Is there anybody here? What |
||
|
Voice-over |
N/A |
||
|
Sound Effects: (3-4 effects; Ambient, Foley, Hard Effects) Diegetic and non-diegetic |
Door creaking Water running and dripping Footsteps White noise Silence |
||
|
Music: (Score, Incidental music, Score) |
Suspenseful music Crescendo, slow-to-medium tempo |
||
All in all, our group not only had our understanding and knowledge of all we have retained in our Media Studies experience thus far, but also having our knowledge reinforced and backed with our personal efforts, creativity, and wisdom in what we do. Each of our members and I cooperated in a way that we aspire to continue doing in the near future as we prepare for our major movie project. This lesson has demonstrated the importance, and intricate process of planning, which consists of taking what have learned from all the previous blog posts, instruction and activities and using what we know to consider how to use the materials and resources available, our school and home environments to our advantage. Sound has helped to make our visual effects to be more refined, and has allowed us to captivate the audience and surround them in the mood, tone, and atmosphere of our film, which will help us in the future to engage the audience in our film, in the hopes of their entertainment being met (and their boredom being cured).
Our group members Lexi M, Marley Brooks, Peyton P and I each contributed to this activity in our own unique ways that we happened to specialize in. To explain, Peyton P specializes in filming and editing, which is a role she has played for all the previous activities in the school year. It is noteworthy to add, that Peyton P recorded the footage on her phone, saved it in her Photo Gallery, which made it more convenient when the time came for her to edit the scenes to perfection and smooth out transitions and noise levels on Cap-Cut, and we would all say she performed on expert level. Lexi M excels in camera techniques, acting, and in improvising on the spot acting, which at time fuels our inspiration to take different routes in our filmmaking. Marley Brooks and I have a forte of planning, management, doing things in a timely order, and brainstorming ideas while on set (in which our whole group also participates in). Overall, our collective experience in filmmaking, and the effort we put in each project is done with the intention of growing to eventually be exemplary at what we do, and will do in projects coming soon.
WORK CITED:
-www.forbes.com. (n.d.). {{meta.title}}. [online] Available at: https://www.forbes.com/quotes/1107/#:~:text=By%20failing%20to%20prepare%20you%20are%20preparing%20to%20fail.
-Regan, P. (2019). How to Use Suspenseful Music: Mastering the Film Score. [online] StudioBinder. Available at: https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/film-score-suspenseful-music/.
-Scripts, I. (2022). The Comedy Horror Movie: The KEYS to Both Laughs and Scares. [online] Industrial Scripts®. Available at: https://industrialscripts.com/comedy-horror-movie/#:~:text=of%20the%20Dead- [Accessed 5 Apr. 2024].
-Ndsu.edu. (2024). Available at: https://www.ndsu.edu/pubweb/~cinichol/CreativeWriting/323Online/Plotting%20Thrillers.doc#:~:text=Thriller%20and%20Suspense%20Films%20are [Accessed 5 Apr. 2024].
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