Postproduction: First Draft- Through Her Eyes (Previously called "Trust Fall")

 Introduction

Welcome dream team! This is our production team's first draft of our film "Through Her Eyes, which was originally titled, "Trust Fall." The reason our movie originally had that title was because the notes we annotated from our instructor's film tips (from the previous blog: idea change- the beginning of "trust fall"), she recommended that our film's hook be something captivating and mysterious such as having our film's antagonist, Christine, as her younger self in a park, picking flowers, and chanting the words "she loves me, she loves me not," and then on her final petal she would utter "she better love me!" This was meant to keep our audience at the edge of their seats. Then, following that scene, our group was meant to film young Mercedes running up behind her and asking if she would like to play the game "Trust Fall" with her, in which Christine would eagerly accept her offer while repeatedly reassuring that Mercedes should trust her (which was meant to introduce the manipulative nature of Christine's character before her bizarre actions occurring later in the film. Towards the end, our group decided to discard our original idea of showing a plot twist of Mercedes being the villain, and then manipulating her friend Lizzy to trust in her plan to torment Christine after knocking her out unconscious. Ultimately, the goal of our original idea for this draft was to depict a perfect loop shifting between different ways one can manipulate others through control, violence, threats, and emotions. Below shows our final decision when creating this film, as our groups only had limited time to complete this task due to certain technical difficulties and our personal schoolwork schedules (we finished recording our footage two days before this assignment's deadline). The lesson we gained from this task was to take heed to tips and criticisms from others, time management, and being open to new avenues and approaches that may not be what was originally intended/planned. Enjoy!

Postproduction: Sound Editing Decisions

 Introduction

Welcome Cambridge dream team! Our group has learned the crucial impact that sound could make on film, and with that knowledge that we have previously gained, we realized that our decisions for music, dialogue, and sound effects are essential in enhancing the quality ad coherence of our film. therefore, this post documents a few of the practices of sound use that we incorporated in our filmmaking process, which mainly consisted of using sound editing software, Garage band, to make the ambient/ incidental music in the videos below, in addition to Cap Cut's free, non-copyrighted music and sound effects. In terms of the dialogue in our film, we exclusively used conversations from raw footage, as we did not plan to use voiceovers. Overall, our group managed to effectively navigate and manipulate the features and functions available to us, to our advantage, and this task was relatively short to complete. 

Garageband:

(First Decision)

The second loop was used in the scene with Mercedes and Lizzy having a discussion.

(Second Decision)

These were extra options I created and mixed from my group, just in case the options from the first decision was not enough, or does not suit/ complement the scenes as much.

Editing effects:

Scene from film:

CapCut offers a range of sound features, and one of their options allows s=editors to use a wide selection of free, non-copyrighted music that creators can use, in which we used that option to our advantage.

Editing effects:

Scene from film:

"She"- by Tyler the Creator, featuring Frank Ocean

Editing effects:

Scene from film (both the draft and final product):

"Tonight, You Belong to Me"- by Patience and Prudence

Reflection

All in all, when our group added the music and sound effects displayed in the videos and images above, our film's first draft improve significantly, and while our group doubted that our film would be satisfactory (as our product without sound or much editing, the quality was not at its best), however, when the music and minor sound effects were added to our film, it make all the different and our team, instructor, and peers enjoyed its final product. The video to our team's first draft is casted in the next blog!

Postproduction: Visual Editing Decisions

 Introduction

Welcome Cambridge dream team! In this post, our production team began our editing process after filming all the shots necessary to piece together the scenes that we have captured so far, and below shows a range of the visual decisions that were made in preparation for later sound, transitions, and special effects that will be added on. Our film used numerous of the features and functions available on CapCut's editing software such as text-overs, editing in the logo (inserting images into the film), glitches, and fades/ black screen. Below are photos and images that demonstrate our group's usage of the CapCut features accessible to editors. 

Our group used our camera editing application to apply shadows to this image, and with brighter lighting to emphasize small details and different colors in the drawing, and background, for a bright, vibrant tone- which contrasts with the horrifying reality of the film.

In this image, Peyton P used her editing skills to her advantage, and due to prior years of experience working with CapCut’s software, she was simply able to apply a yellowish, dark tone to create a subtle unfamiliar, saturated, and unsettling world of film. This scene includes Mercedes being stalked by Christine on her way to the bathroom. 

DAY TWO- Filming Behind the Scenes

 Introduction

Welcome Cambridge dream team! Following the previous blog post, our group resumed filming shots for our film, in which this blog post includes the journey behind creating shots for scenes one and two from our planned shot list. The first shots of Christine in her room were recorded over the weekend (before our first draft's deadline) at my house, in which I printed countless photos, and improvised countless love diaries and poems about Mercedes, in which some of the diary entries plastered on the wall reveal hints about background information we could not include into our final film (because the shots were too long and would exceed the two minute limit). Therefore, I decided it would be best to write about things such as Christine taking great pride in stealing Mercedes's plushie and bracelet, as well as a love poem adoring Mercedes, however, in bright red marker reads "I must end her" as in the poem Christine shared her hatred and jealously towards Lizzy consistently being around Mercedes. These subtle, yet powerful hints reveal characteristics about the antagonist before she is introduced. Next, once our team was reunited in our media studies class, our instructor allowed extra time to craft and film any remaining scenes necessary for our first draft. At this point, our group's only remaining duty was to complete recordings for the bathroom scene, in which Christine lustfully watches Mercedes pass by her to go to the bathroom, which caused Mercedes to grow anxious. Then, upon exiting the bathroom, Christine is shown following after her in a hoodie, while trying to maintain a mysterious, low-key identity to avoid being caught by any potential witnesses of her stalking. It is noteworthy to mention, due to the excessive background noise in the following clips, our group intended to quickly record the bathroom shots to avoid filming possible students who are not comfortable with being recorded, or are making noises that may take away from our focus or the shots we were capturing.

Christine mysteriously emerges from one of the bathroom stalls, while a hoodie covering her face, in which she eventually lifts her hoodie to ensure their are no potential witnesses nearby. Our group improvised a tilting up camera movement to dramatize and emphasize the mystique and stealth that we wanted to build which would then be further built on in the succeeding scenes.