CRITICAL REFLECTION

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Yi202poQ_E

FILM OPENING

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bz4vPiB_WWEdZEN6R3NDSXBnY0U/view?usp=sharing

Flashbacks

Yesterday was the final day of filming, and I am proud to say that our film is looking great. Lucie and Danny finished filming a short 10 second scene yesterday, that we are going to include as a flashback our main character, Johnny, has. We discussed that we should film around 7pm when the sun sets because we wanted the scene to display an unknown man places Johnny in the trunk of car and closing it. The point of view would be Johnny's, from inside of the trunk. So by having this filmed during the sunset, this would allow a silhouette look that wouldn't allow the viewer to distinguish who this person is..

Contemporary Folk Music?

  A few days ago, I met up with Lucie to finish up editing our shots and begin the search for the perfect song that fit with our opening. While editing we ran into a couple of problems... the first was that in one of the scenes, our actor Diego (the homeless man) had his legs dangling from the train while sitting on it, but when continuing onto the next scene his legs heisted and crossed onto the platform of the train. We had a couple of other shots that we could replace it with, but this was our best and favorite shot so we decided to leave this minor error in order to include our best take.      Another problem was our homemade credits scene. While filming this continuous scene of garbage on the train tracks, the camera was taped on a metal bar which covered the screen on the camera. Because of this, I couldn't really see what I was filming so I did my best to make sure all of the credits could be seen on the cans and garbage.  While blindly filming, I was also stepping over train tracks and gravel which caused the camera to shake quite a bit even though our camera was somewhat stabilized with the metal bar. With these factors involved, this made our credits scene shaking and hard to read. We (sort of) fixed this issue by slowing down the footage on IMovie to create a more stable and visually appealing scene. 

    After resolving these issues, Lucie and I move on to looking for a song to play during our credits scene. We looked on multiple royalty free music sites, before finding the perfect website that didn't require an account and also had numerous song options. We wanted a song that wasn't too serious, but also not a joyful, upbeat song. After around an hour of searching and arguing over which song we should use, Lucie and I finally found a song/ genre we agreed on... contemporary folk.

GLD PRODUCTIONS

We also came up with a filming production company name which not only looks amazing, but it's clever as well. We took the first initial of our first names (G, L, and D) and placed the initials in a light bulb, then put the word "production" after it and bam! Company name complete!

     You will be able to witness this amazing logo in the opening of our film, which was all created by hand. We scavenged a couple of empty cans, water bottles, and newspapers, and wrote down our production name, directors, and actors on these items. It was difficult to film each item because it was all placed on gravel and rocks, which made it hard to walk and keep a steady hand while filming each object. We solved this by taping one of our phones to a flat piece of metal to create a tripod sort of contraption in order to make the camera more steady. So far the opening is my favorite part of the film.

Scar made of latex in order for it to look like a chip was implanted

Finally filmed today!!!!!! Lucie found a very isolated and unique location in Hialeah (quite the drive..) . We found a couple train tracks as well as an abandoned train cargo which was not part of our plot at all, but we improvised because of how much we liked the location. So instead of waking up on a roof, Danny (who plays Johnny), wakes up on a set of train tracks, while our homeless man, Brian, lives on the abandoned train cargo. Crazy how much we were able to change the story on the spot, but it ended up working very well. Lucie was also able to bring latex to create Danny's scar on the back of his neck, which was supposed to look like a chip implanted in his skin (shown below). So after around 3 hours, we were able to finish filming our entire project!! Now it's time to edit and put it together....

 Due to the fact that I have not been in town all of spring break (as mentioned previously), it has made it incredibly difficult to meet up or even get in touch with my other group members, Lucie and Danny. Although over text message we exchanged a couple of ideas for our main character and the plot, not much progress has been made since it is more complicated to express ideas and concepts over the phone versus in person. Luckily, I will be meeting up with my group members at school tomorrow to see if we can finally finish our plot and possibly start our story board!

       Sorry I haven't been able to post for quite a while, I was in Atlanta all spring break for a volleyball tournament and just got home today. On the flight home, I was thinking about a class discussion we had earlier back in the week, in which a couple of classmates gave me a few tips and ideas for my groups film. I had shown my peers my idea for the opening of the film which would have the cast names and directors hand written by chalk on a rooftop versus being edited into the film. My peers suggested that I go with a different idea, such as writing it on pieces of garbage  on the roof or magazine clippings, because chalk presented more of a childish and fun vibe rather than our theme of crime and mystery.
      One idea, mentioned by a classmate, struck me in particular, as being unique and interesting to work with. This idea revolved around the fact that a man had woken up on a roof to discover that something, or some sort of device, had been implanted inside of him. Further into the opening, we reveal that the device embedded into him can self destruct with the push of a button. The person behind the button is unknown, but is manipulating the man to do whatever he wants, or certain tasks, and if he fails to obey, the device explodes. I like this idea because I  think it is original and will be an interesting opening for our viewers.

     Our group has decided to make the film opening which previews the staring cast and directors by physically writing out the names, instead of the usual editing of the words onto the screen. I feel that this choice is interesting and visually appealing to the audience. One idea of how this concept would be executed was that the names of the cast and directors would be written out in chalk on the rooftop. The camera would then film from an over the top shot, and pan around the building, showing the various names. Another idea would be multiple shots of medium and close up shots of garbage on the rooftop, which would display the names of the directors and actors on the projected garbage (ex. wrappers, cans, styrofoam cups, etc.)

    Just yesterday, our group met after school and discussed more ideas concerning the concept of how our main character ended up on the roof. One idea was that our main character had taken a new drug that made him do unexplainable actions which led him to forget the previous night. Upon awakening, the film goes on his journey to find out what he did last night and how he ended up on the top of a building. This idea seemed like it had a boring plot and not much of a story to it., let alone have anything to due with our chosen genre. 

    My group and I have found it to be pretty difficult to come up with an interesting plot that is original, and interesting, especially since our plot is starting from the ending and moving its way up to how it got there. Another concept was that our main character was kidnapped, but we couldn't come up with a reason for the abduction, without making it a stereotypical kidnapping movie. The search for a riveting plot continues...

   Hi, my name is Guste Janusauskaite. I will be documenting and discussing my progress on my film for the next six weeks! So far, my group and I have discussed various genres and ideas for our film. We have decided to think of plots that relate to the crime and mystery genre because we are all interested in this genre and think it will be fun to film. As of now, no plot has been fully developed, but we are starting off with a man who wakes up on a roof dazed and confused.
      Lucie and I believe that a man waking up on a roof would be an interesting opening which would lead the viewer to want to continue watching in order to find out how this occurred . Danny, on the other hand, believes that the opening should consist of a detective (main character), that reveals a  scandalous plot twist about the main character. I feel like this idea is unoriginal and almost replicates the series "Dexter", in which a blood spatter analyst  is also a serial killer. Therefore, we will further evaluate other scenarios to try and compromise an idea we all agree on.