Posts

Showing posts from January, 2024

Storyboard

Image
  After a lot of hard work and details with figuring out exact plot for our movie, here is our storyboard. ;) scene 1: establishing shot of a house scene 2: girl making breakfast when she gets a call scene 3:  she picks up the phone and knows who it is immediately  scene 4: guy walking to his house gets a call scene 5:  he picks it up and immediately knows who it is scene 6: both the boy and girl realizing they have a new task to complete scene 7: girl runs to her computer to search up the name she was given scene 8: she cant find anything scene 9:  she closes the computer scene 10: guy searches up the name he was given on facebook scene 11: he finds her immediately and finds out she lives in the same neighborhood as him scene 12: the next day the girl is getting ready for work when she hears a knock on the door scene 13: she goes downstairs to open the door but she sees a knife on the counter by the door, she puts it away. scene 14: she looks through the peep hole to see a man shes ne

Our Plan!

Image
  Hey blogger, welcome back! As it is getting closer to the filming period, we need to start planning.  • Schedule We will meet in person every 2 weeks to film. As we are in class we will see each every other day to discuss our plans. • Location We all live in different areas so we chose somewhere we all know we can go to. We will film in Sawgrass Mills Mall. We will find a designated drop-off area for all of us to go to. For the alleyway scenes, we will go to one of our houses and use the back alleyway to record.  • Participants As for participants, it will just be our group and 1 other guy who plays the lead role in the film. That guy will be a friend of Isa's who agreed to be a part of our production.  • Health and Safety The mall is a pretty public place and we all know to stick together when working so no one gets lost. we are all going to be dropped off by our parents at the location of the recording which will be discussed soon. Once we are all together, we will stay

Short Film Research: Unleaded (Thriller)

Image
  The short film Unleaded begins with a black screen, typical from a thriller short. The audience is only given the sound of what is revealed to be a person filling up gas at a station. A woman is shown to be sitting in her car as she looks inside the gas station. She then is shown to be watching two people robbing the gas station inside, one pointing a gun at the cashier and the other holding him down. Another car pulls into the gas station and the women watches the car very closely. What is going on in the car is then revealed. There are two men in the front and a third in the back. The two look to the back and at the third guy as he objects to going inside the gas station. It is not known if they are aware of what is going on inside, but the man who was objecting in car ends up going in, putting on a gray hoodie, and walks right past the robbers. The robbers notice and one sneaks up from behind the guy in the grey hoodie and points a gun from the back of his head telling him to leav

Short Film Research: Oracle (Thriller)

Image
  The short film Oracle first begins with a black screen, only letting viewers hear the noise of, what is revealed seconds later, a carpenter machine. I think this had an eerie effect, which is typical of a thriller, as it gave the viewers a bit of information, but held back the rest. The short then moves on to showing several children, one sitting in the snow, another eating a plant, with a child playing in the snow in the background. What I have noticed in the first minute of the movie is the lack of background noise, which also adds to the eerie effect of the short. By choosing to omit the music, viewers like myself pay full attention to what is going on. This actually almost feels unsettling. The short then moves on to showing a boy go up the stairs, while the noise of the carpenter machine plays in the background. However, the noise is now distorted, which really made me anxious as to what is going on. The boy seems to look at the door, as the distorted noise grows more intense. H

Short Film Research: Porcupine (Thriller)

Image
  In this film it begins with flashbacks of this women when her husband was alive to the present after his passing. This is a common thing used in thrillers as it shows important events in the storyline and increases thrill or suspense. Next in this film, they incorporated the sound of the intruders scheming to break in and rummaging through things. A tracking shot is used to show the women going to her window to see what the sound was. Once she hears more, they used a close-up to see her peaking through the window once again. Multiple times midway through this film the camera cuts from the women on the phone with 911 to her baby crying. This is commonly used in thrillers to show multiple things going on. It also creates lots of activity. A lot of over the shoulder shots are used. It shows the door and the women on the phone and the sounds of banging are heard all the while. Extreme closeups are used to show the womens fear as the intruders are continuing to try the door. Yet another f

Short film research: Amber (2021) (Thriller)

Image
  For further research my group and I decided to watch Amber, an award winning thriller short film made in 2021. In the establishing shot, we noticed that the filter and coloring was very summery and chill. There were also birds chirping in the beginning, making it clear that it was a chill day in the film. There wasn't any talking for the first couple of minutes in the film. In the film, the barber realizes that the guys hair he was cutting was a child abductor that the police were looking for. When we found out and the sound effect of realizing made us know for sure that this was a thriller. In almost all thrillers there are the same sound effects of the sound of  "realization." Then the guy looked out the window and saw the teddy bear the girl he abducted also has. When he saw, there was more scary sound effects. There was also common editing we've seen in other thrillers such as when the barber was cutting the abductors beard, he was getting quick flashbacks to pi

Research: How to make a short film

Image
  Hi everyone! I decided to watch a YouTube video titled,”How to make a short film” . It gave me amazing insight and I thought I would share.  1. Stick to your theme. Make sure that your shots, flashbacks, and dialogue connect to your overall theme. It seems easy to get off track so the first tip the video gave to me was to keep my team and filming on task by creating and sticking to an overall theme. He gave an example of a short film he created where it all went back to the message the main characters mother was trying to relay to her.  2. Don’t be predictable. One of my favorite quotes from the video is,” If your brain is telling you to go left go even farther right.” This is so your audience can’t predict your next move which keeps them engaged in the film. He gave an example of a horror film. There was a specific film his team was working on where the actor was brushing their teeth in front of a mirror. It was expected for him to do a corny jump scare. But instead he waited and di

Comparing Le Jetee, the short, and 12 Monkeys, the full-length movie

Image
  Part 1  To decided research some more films and I watched this video.     I oddly enjoyed the video. Although he explained the plots of extremely dark and chaotic scenes, the narrators voice was so soothing. Le Jetee really embodies the importance of a score in a film. Although it was considered a photo novel, it was the beginning of a transition from photo novels and stop motion films. This dark, psychological thriller was portrayed through a series of black and white pictures. But it managed to tell a cohesive narrative. “12 monkeys” was able to portray a similar storyline but it failed to truly mimic the sensation of watching the heart wrenching photo novel. This will help me to remember that every shot matters. The angles, lighting, and even sounds can build a story and take it to the next level.  Part 2 I also decided to read this article. https://filmicmag.com/2015/12/29/a-comparison-of-12-monkeys-la-jetee/  I agree with the comments the author was making. He was spot on about

Comparing 9, the short, and 9, the full-length movie

Image
  Hi everyone! Welcome to the beginning of my research. I’ve watched both the short film 9 and the full film 9 and here are my thoughts.  Short Film: Honestly, that was one of the creepiest films I’ve seen in a long time. There was non talking. The setting was lifeless and looked as if this animated world had been abandoned. The plot started with these two doll like figures with numbers on their back (5 and 9). They come across this mechanic monster, it was designed like a mixture of a lion and a dog but completely made of metal. It has bright green eyes and a vicious roar. This monster abducts 5 and uses a green portal device to kill him. He begins to embolden his character. The other character number nine was extremely afraid and ran away to go hide. Eventually we see number nine find these pieces of junk that he puts together and makes a torch however, with a lightbulb number nine lures the monster into a abandoned cave like setting, where number nine becomes trapped on a large wood