THE MASTERPIECE

CHECK OUT OUR FINAL FILM PRODUCT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ec_rflhTBOs

Throughout this project, I had the amazing opportunity of learning new skills. This project taught me new camera angles and movement, along with editing. When we started this project, we had no idea that no one in our group knew how to edit. I took it upon myself to take all responsibility for learning to editing. This has been a skill I have been meaning to learn throughout the year but never was forced to use (I was put in groups where I had partners that were familiar with editing). 

Just like every project, many conflicts did arise. We had to re-film multiple times due to shots not looking the way we pictured them. Luckily, we were smart enough to create a schedule that left us enough time to fix any mistakes that came up. Also, it helped us a lot that the due date was extended, we can now make any las minute changes if it is necessary. We also had the problem that we could not find the right music. In class, we were told that the best website for downloading free music was purple planet.com but our group searched and searched on that website and could not find a song that fit out beginning. After searching for hours, I did research and found bensound.com. This website has an amazing selection of music and we were able to find a song that fits our beginning sequence perfectly. The last problem that occurred during our editing was the voiceover. It was difficult to make the voiceover sound both professional and at a good volume. We did not want our voiceover to stand-out too much but we also did not want it to not be heard and understood. After writing the script, it took us a few tries to get it right but we finally accomplished it. I also did researched and realized that iMovie has special effects for voiceovers. I was able to silence all sounds around the voiceovers voice. 

Overall, I enjoyed this project and would definitely do it again. 

CHECK OUT MY CCR: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pS82ofnLYvs&t=107s

BIG change

The opening credits came out nothing like how we expected. As we were recording our opening credits, we thought they were coming out perfect. As soon as we put them all together to edit, we realized that they did not go together AT ALL. Our original idea was to place pictures of different little kids receiving awards or fulfilling their dreams. THAT idea was scratched as soon as we realized that we did not know that many little kids so that idea would not work.

From there, we came up with the idea to record different careers with the names of our actors and directors on important items used at each job. We had recorded that idea and it took very long. In our heads, we were all very excited to see how good they would look when we put them together. Unfortunately, we realized that the idea was TOO MUCH!! We had too many things going on at once and it did not look professional. The cuts were choppy and the shots had no techniques included in them. We decided that we were not just trying to get this project done, but instead we were trying to get it done the RIGHT way. What is the point of spending so much time on a project like this if you are not gonna put your full potential into it.

Since we gave ourselves extra time from the start, we did not need to rush to re-record. When we recorded again. We could not come up with an idea, our minds were blank and no ideas were flowing. We got worried that the beginning was going to end up looking bad if we did not think fast enough. Then, the idea came to us. When we recorded our second idea, with the careers, we loved our idea that was used for the lawyer. The idea was easy to manipulate and would look very sharp. When it came to editing this idea, it was fast. Every shot was fast and sharp, exactly how we wanted them. Also, we all decided that we should use a high angle for this scene due to the significance of the names. Each and every name mentioned in the beginning of our movie played a large role so we wanted to show the audience how important they truly were. The high angle gives the impression that the names are important and should be focused on.

I am very very very happy with how the beginning turned out & i am excited for everyone to see it!

Learning 2 Edit

I started this project knowing anything about editing. I decided to watch a video on youtube, which helped me a lot. I knew that if i began to play around enough with imovie i could learn new things, so that is exactly what i did. Personally, i did not think i was capable of editing the film opening but hey, guess i am!! As we began to put the movie together, we decided that none of us were experienced at editing (not good!! UH OH). Camy, Sam and I all agreed that out of the three of us i had the best computer to edit on, had the most previous knowledge on editing and would probably have the most free time to play around with it.

A couple new skills i learned to do on imovie are: fading in and out background music, making shots look sharp, stabilizing a shot, creating a stop motion shot, how to make a voiceover have no background noise, how to control audio volumes, and how to speed up and slow down a shot without making it look completely obvious. 

To be completely honest, at first i did not think i would be able to edit the whole film by myself, but looking back at the project now i am extremely proud of all the new skills i learned. From learning how to edit, I also learned how important editing is to a film. When the timing for a shot was wrong, it would literally change the entire meaning of the shot. If a shot is meant to look slow then, its edits better be slow, if not the message will not be conveyed the way it is supposed to be. After editing this project, I realized that i would have loved to edit all of my past projects. It is very very very time consuming but at the same time entertaining to learn new skills. Youtube has tons of videos to watch to learn how to use Imovie but what i learned throughout this project was that it is not the most efficient way of learning to use it. I personally am a very hands-on learner. It was easier for me to play around with Imovie rather than watch videos of other people playing around on it.

Stay tuned, final project coming soooooon!


References
Bai (2017). Imovie 2017- Full Tutorial for Beginners [General Overview].
Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqNXhDEFgEk&t=43s

UH OH!

We started to put all of our shots together and we ran into a problem!! After putting in all of our raw footage into imovie, we realized that the scene of the office man pulling into the parking lot and getting out of his car looked very choppy. We also realized that we forgot to film an establishing shot for our first shot.

Luckily, the actor is a good friend and was willing to re-film. We decided to make the shot a long shot leading from an establishing shot right into the guy pulling into work. The shot makes the film flow better and even though it took up a lot of time to re-film, i am happy we took our time to do.

Also, we had to re-film the guy getting out of his car. This we because the shot we took the first time was only a close up of his foot stepping out of his car. The shot going from him pulling in, straight to his foot did not connect well. Re-filming caused us to make sure the actor wore the same exact clothing and had the same look he had the last time we filmed.

QUICK LIST!

Things we have done:

• Picked our cast
• Planned our film
• Purchased a tripod
• Filmed office scene
• Bought props for introduction
• Filmed sold sign scene
• Filmed Blake's part (man that is stuck-up)
• Filmed the artist scene
• Filmed lawyer scene

Things we need to do:

• Film part where main character is introducted
• Film the teacher scene
• Film the doctor scene
• Edit.EDIT.edit
• CCR

We are hoping to have everything except our CCR's finished by FRIDAY

Filming

FINALLLLLLY!!!!
We started to film and I could not be happier. We started off by filming our office scene.
WHO? Danny Cooke, Ben Eiglarsh and Sam B.
WHAT? We recorded danny walking into work, dressed as a professional businessman. It is shown that he is loved by everyone he works with
WHERE? Ben Eiglarsh's dad's office
WHY? This setting was perfect because it has large halls where we could record and a perfect entrance.

We thought this scene would take the longest to record but honestly, it did not take very long. By using our tripod, it was easy to keep the camera stable and to love it around. We attached the tripod to a rolling chair, which helped us add some movement to our film. Our group chose amazing actors for the part. This part of the opening has the most dialogue and it turned out great. Danny and Ben were able to memorize all of their lines and movements.

What's up next?? We will record Blake, Juan, and the beginning sequence next! We are hoping to get all of the recording done by Monday afternoon and start editing so we can finish by Friday. After that, we will have plenty of time of our individual CCRs and any last minute changes.

Seeeee you guys soon!!

Change of Ideas

Our original idea for the beginning sequence of our film was to introduce who our film starred and the directors. We were going to present this information to our viewers through a montage. The montage would consist of multiple pictures of little kids accomplishing their goals or dressing up as a career such a doctor or firefighter. This idea would have presented how little kids "dream" to grow up and accomplish their goals.
Although that idea would have portrayed the message we are going for, we only know about 3 little kids. We changed our idea to something a little more complicated but hopefully it comes out better. We will be filming actual careers. We will be showing a doctor, realtor, lawyer, teacher, and an artist.

Our Ideas for each career:
Doctor- The doctor scene will show the name of our production studio. This shot will have the background of someone wearing scrubs but will never show their face. A close-up of the person putting on their gloves will be shown. Then, the gloves will turn and the palms of each hand will say "CCS productions"
Teacher-  The teacher scene will show a teacher at her desk (not showing her face) and then zooming into an apple on the teachers desk. The apple will say "Danny Cooke"
Lawyer- This scene will be quick and sharp to show how professional the career of a lawyer is. It will be a case file slammed onto a desk titled "lawsuit" and then opened where the names of Blake Buffa and Ben Eiglarsh are shown.
Realtor- The realtor scene will use the prop of a sold sign being put into the grass of a front yard. The sold sign scene will be for Juan, our main character. We chose this for juan because it symbolizes his life being "sold."
Artist- The art scene will be for Camy, Sam and I. This will be a very artsy shot with a nice view. We will be taking it at Peace Mountain park in Weston. We will paint on a canvas all of our names.