A Level Media Blogs

 While looking over our film, we noticed some stuttering in the dialogue between the characters. So, we went ahead and refilmed the opening scene and Elle's argument between her and her mom. Since these are the more dialogue-based scenes, we had some difficulty nailing lines. First, we went back and rehearsed. Simply just sitting and repeating lines to each other. We found it is so hard to not giggle! After a few tries of that, and when we thought we had mastered the lines themselves, we went to go practice on the scene.  We started with the scene at home. We practice the lines again with my mom, who was acting as Elle's mom in the scene. After a few shots, it seemed as if we got the perfect shot. We noticed we were able to get the scene to flow more and get some more drama out of it. Then we went to film the opening scene. Alex and I practiced for a little while before. Because of our practice, we actually were able to finish the refilling of the opening scene quite quickly. F

 For the second phase of editing, it was time to add in the titles and sound. You can add the titles all through the opening scene of the film, in a sp ecific order. I referred to my Opening Scene project from sophomore year to try to remember how I incorporated the titles. For that project, we also were doing a horror-thriller movie. So, it gave me the inspiration to do similar titles to add to the mood. In my opening scene project, I started off with an establishing shot of the house being filmed at, where the title of the film was displayed. This gave me some inspiration to maybe go film some of these "filler" clips to be able to add better titles. We also added some soundtrack to the film. During Elle's car ride home, we added some low-paced alternative music to establish to the audience Elle's mental state. The low music over the bustling city around Elle shows how crowded her mind is at the moment.  After som e final touches of editing, it seems that Alex and I

    We also started the beginning of our editing journey. I think editing is the most fun part of creating a film. For the first round of editing, I just put together the pieces of the film in the correct order and decide which clip will fit perfectly for each scene. When you go out to film, it takes multiple tries to get a shot that seems reliable. The next thing you have to do is watch through the film and fix the seams. When you watch through a rough film, you will see inconsistencies that you will need to clip out or shorten. Even with background noise from the surroundings around filming will have to be adjusted and quieted. Creating a seamless film, and ridding the film of any gaps or errors makes the film more enjoyable to watch overall. During the first round of editing, I also played around with editing the brightness of the film. Due to certain circumstances, while filming, the lighting can vary due to the exposure on the camera. This can be tampered with on Imovie though. E

     For a certain portion of the film, we use the darkness of nighttime to create a thrilling aspect. Of course, it's not as easy as filming in light. How do you find the perfect balance between clear and dimmed vision? Alex and I faced this problem during the second stage of our nighttime filming. One article states, " As children, darkness held everything that made us fearful of the world around us. Horror filmmakers know this, which is why they use it to terrify us in our adulthoods like the sadists they are." When we filmed indoors during the nighttime, that artificial light from indoors is enough to portray the time of day. You can also play with light and colors with lamps and LEDs. For example, draping sheets over lamps to create a softer and dimmer light. We played with all these elements with our filming. For me, filming at night was more interesting than daytime filming. I feel that you can really get into your creative side. The audience, during these scenes,

            We started to film our project. It is wonderful to realize how certain ways you film can impact the message you want to relay to the audience. Our movie is more suspenseful, so we want the shots to relay that mood and tone. We started to film the scenes that were in daylight first. With time and sunlight being something that goes by fast, it was difficult to take time with getting the right shots, as well as insuring the light situation would allow the plot to flow. It was so much fun for me and my partner to collaborate on such creative projects. It's so unusual to work on something that has no bounds. When it comes to filming, you can do whatever your inner director wants. Like filmmaker Wes Anderson said, " I have a way of filming things and staging them and designing sets. There were times when I thought I should change my approach, but in fact, this is what I like to do. It's sort of like my handwriting as a movie director. And somewhere along the way, I t

  Alex and I delegated the props and costumes we will be using for our film. For the opening scene, we did not have many things we needed to purchase. We wanted to keep the colors of their outfits simple and neutral. Colors like navy, white, black, and grey will all be utilized to maintain the film's neutral color palette. In the opening scene, Kayla will be wearing navy while Elle is wearing white and black. As the scene progresses to indoors. Household items will be used as props to set the home. We are using a location that is already furnished, which makes that aspect simple. As Elle moves into her room, a melatonin bottle and a vase will be used as props. I can bring these items from home since I already have them in my possession. For Elle's nighttime outfit, she will change into something more comfortable. We used sweatpants and a long sleeve for this outfit change. Luckily, we also already have this in our own closets at home. During the scenes of more action, we will u

 I have never made a short film before. So, I thought it would be adequate to do some research on how to make the perfect short film. I'm sure some pro's wish there were some things they could go back and do to their first films, so why not research to get a head start. I'm going to list 7 tips for me, on how to make the perfect short film.           1) The shorter the better. This tip says to keep it simple. They write that it is easier to produce and more time-efficient. Don't add extra stuff that doesn't seem needed. Just Show what has to be shown.          2) Make it Visual The film is about expressing a story through pictures. Create visual backstories for the characters. Give the audience something nice to look at and interpret.           3) Find moments A short film usually is telling the story of a moment. By doing this, you create tension for an audience. Make them sit at the edge of their seats waiting to find what will happen next.          4) Engage the

 We created an email for our social media called deceptionthefim@gmail.com. After that, we went to create our socials. We started out with Facebook which proved to have some difficulty. We could get my partner's name, Alex Kuroda, off the front of the page. We would have liked to have the film name for marketing purposes, but the film creator's name will do. We created Twitter with the user @FilmDeception. We noticed that we had to come up with different names for each account since some would be taken on other websites. The youtube page was also created under the name 'Deception the Film'. Even with Alex and I collaborating, we found to have a difficult time creating the Instagram page. Even with the fresh email we created to make the accounts, it said our email was already being used for an account despite us making one. We intend to fix this issue as soon as possible. Once all of the accounts we live, we wanted to create a description of them in order to tell our aud

 I started to study Imovie so I can easily edit when it comes time to edit our short film. I learned a lot of tricks that will help me when editing. I have already delved into editing when I completed the AS level opening scene project. I took on most of the reins when it came to editing the film. Since I'm not a great actor or don't necessarily have a great eye for cinematography, I feel like I have most of my talent in editing. For this project, I wanted to see what I could learn to take my media to the next level. Below I'm going to list some of the tricks I learned about by doing my research. Crop to zoom in To zoom in on a clip, highlight the clip in your timeline and then click the crop button above the preview window in the top right. Select crop to fill or Ken Burns and drag to select the portion of the clip in the preview window that you want to crop. Click the checkmark button in the top right. Split clip If there is an overly long clip, the audience could lose in

 Alex and I started to pick the non-diegetic, and diegetic sound that will be used in our short film. Our film has many different scenes. Meaning there are some in public areas, some in private, some in the morning, and some at night. Therefore, the music will be necessary to carry the plot along and allow the audience to interact with what is going on in the scene. Without sound in a movie, especially a short film, it will basically be impossible for the audience to become engaged in the film. According to some research I have done on sound in short films, most directors say if they could go back and change something about their early films it would be the sound quality. It is easy to get involved in the cinematography of the film, and completely forget that the human sense of hearing is very important too. Some even say the soundtrack of a film is more important than anything else. Some movies or shows that have an amazing soundtrack directly correlate with the success of the film. T