Whats left

  all right so I’m not done, but I’m really close and I just wanted a blog out on my schedule for the week is going to be. Tomorrow I’m going to record a song with my band that’ll be fine for the opening, and record of many Foley sounds. I think with the biggest thing my opening is missing are those sounds elements. There’s so much empty space appoints that make what’s being seen feel awkward. One of these things is right when I’m about to go on stage, I want the music to be heard, I want to hear cheering when the door opens, and hear it get muffled when the door closes. Sound really is a huge part of getting the environment correct. Especially because it would be nice to have a bustling atmosphere, that I wasn’t able to have due to lack of actors, I could put tons of paper shuffling people murmuring all around the soundscape for when lemon is walking around the backstage area.

I also have to do the credits I know exactly where they’ll be and I know what they’ll say and I know what fun I’m gonna use. I’m not gonna make an original font because honestly I just don’t think I have the time, it would be cool but I just can’t do it. There’s a couple rock ones I’ll show you next week when I decide which one are use, but that’s an easy thing I know how to do that in Adobe from here.

The last thing that I’ll have to do is the CCR soon as my project is fully done I’m going to mark that right out of the way. I’m thinking of doing a podcast for one, and a TEDTalk for another. Oh my gosh as I’m typing this I just had a great idea I could do hot ones as my CCR,. I saw Grill do like the 70 questions thing from vogue as her CCR and it’s pretty cool, and I think hot ones would be so good I would get sweaty I would actually hot stuff and answer the questions oh my gosh this answer is genius. To be quite honest I’m really not feeling well, and that’s why I’m scheduling instead of taking action. However, I know that this week I will be done, and I’m not stressed about the due date.

So close I can taste it

  The project is looking great, I finished editing all of the clips together. Here is a look at what I have so far. I think that the edits I chose are very natural and allow the seam to flow, which helps that constant time is real feeling occur when you’re watching the peace. It definitely took me a while actually figuring out which takes I was going to use and getting them to the right to ration, but I’m very proud of how it came out. My favorite part is the scene of me in the dressing room because I feel like the editing is very natural and although the takes are different it really does feel like it’s one cohesive story. 

The video

What I’m most proud of is how I was able to keep the use of drugs an insinuation. it’s definitely important part of the opening, because it puts the plot right in your face and make that promise like Andrew Stanton said. with the use of editing it hides the actual usage of drugs from being seen. My character is seen snorting something but it’s not showing what and then with an edit that goes to my character being shown in the mirror you can see him rubbing white powder off of his nose. Clearly it can be insinuated what the performer is doing, and yes it could be shown but 1. this is a school project and 2. it doesn’t have to be shown it’s better for my nose either way I didnt snort baby aspirin, which by the way is what they actually use in the movies. I read it in an article on the film Babylon with Margot Robbie. 

Proggers, editing begins

  hey blog. I finally started to edit, and I decided that I would start with editing the outside portions. One of the biggest issues that I found was that there is a huge fan or AC unit that is going off in the background that is literally ear plowing . The people who had helped me film ren and Virginia did not bring microphones so we kind of just worked with the camera… Also I’m not good at this stuff this is my first time really being behind the camera just me. I knew that there would be a way to fix this in adobe premiere. I found this YouTube video that really helped me see what I could do to remove background noise. The video told me how to access the audio workstation, and showed me tricks to highlight the dialogue of my characters like turning up with the denoise and the dehum. 

still though the audio became very underwater-ish, and I wasn’t satisfied with the quality of it. As I was looking around the workstation I saw a preset option, and then this preset option I had clicked balanced mail just to try it, and though it didn’t do much to do a little. I toyed with the D noise and Dion moving them up and down again and it did lower the underwater feeling of the audio. I went back to look at the preset and what I found that was great was there was an option called dialogue with noisy background. I applied this and immediately the sound became much better, the thing is it just got a little quiet because I think when I was trying to take away the background noise it also lessened the speakers volume. I decided that I would finish this export it, and put it in my final draft or another draft where I would be able to treat it like an individual clip like one that I had filmed. To get the volume up I turn the decibels almost all the way up for the entire beginning except for the wide shot that is strictly no dialogue and just a hum. Nobody needs to hear a hum absolutely raging in their ears, and there was really no point since I was only adjusting audio so that dialogue could be better understood. here are the final settings that I left at. Although challenging and frustrating at the beginning, I definitely found my way around the issue and learned valuable audio skills.

Editing planning

  all right so I am on a trip right now and I don’t really want to focus on the editing process just yet, because I’m gonna have all of spring break and that’s where I’m really going to edit everything and finalize my opening. I’m giving myself a due date of March 28, but I’m hoping to be done by the 26th. One of the things that I am interested in is learning how to make my own font and I am going to do so with a website called the font generator.

with this website I want to see if I can make a fight with jagged bubble letters on loose leaf paper with pencil outlines. I think that this is a very rock ‘n’ roll type feeling, without being too bold. Also the theme of the full movie will be dealing with the artists, and the fact that the font would be looseleaf paper would reinforce the creative aspect. I would like to sketch the font on genuine looseleaf paper, and then assign the letters to the character that it falls under in the English alphabet. if not I will take existing fonts and put them together to create a rock font that is not too distracting.

for my actual editing I’m going to use adobe premiere. I have edited on this platform before, but editing is not my strong suit. There are many YouTube videos that help show color greeting and audio fixing that I am sure I am going to use as I got it. As I get it I will be providing updates as to what I am going to be editing any problems that I face and the choices that I make as I edit. hopefully again, both of these tasks will be completed before the 26.

Set design

  so at school for our shows I am the head set coordinator. I love when cassette can be made believable with extreme detail, a set can be one of the best ways to help develop a character even more. Yes we filmed in a place that’s already built and established, but in one location I had such an opportunity to take creative set design and incorporate mis en scene elements through set-dressing props. The shot is of me in the mirror where it’s insinuated that I am doing drugs. 

    In this image there’s a lot to break down. Some of the biggest most noticeable things are the water bottles, box of tissues, and yarn flowers. because my character is the lead singer I wanted to make sure that there were a couple of water bottles in my dressing room space, there is one that’s already empty and there are two still filled. There is a box of tissues, which would be provided by almost any kind of dressing room ever but my more selfish character would definitely take the whole box especially because he’s seen as vain and cares about himself. there are many scattered tissues around, because honestly as someone who’s been in stage make up and prepared for a show tissues are very helpful and useful to get any kind of Schmeer off to help blot sweating, they help prevent any kind of impurity before you go on stage. Also for somebody who is doing the kind of drug that is insinuated in the video you would probably have a runny nose, so tissues also help him force that. My favorite touch in this shot is the yarn flowers. Though not spoken about, the flowers represent a character that will be shown later after the opening. They are from Kurt’s girlfriend for his big show. I thought that this would be pretty accurate because those flowers are from my girlfriend that she gave to me for our show Legally Blonde. it shows care, and specificity because it is a very intricate creation of something that is usually temporary… Most flowers die after a little but this is the trope of the flowers that never die, but it’s not cringy it’s crocheted and cute. There are more minute details that also help fill the space and provide a realistic mirror. To show Kurt as creative, there is a notebook and a marker that has tons of doodles and an expo marker. what are social roles as creativity and choices is the white tank top that is off on the dresser, I know it was a performer that there is the back-and-forth between certain costume pieces and the do I do this do I do that geez I don’t know kind of feeling, so the white tank top there helps emphasize that. To help enforce Kurtz drug use, there is a roll of dollar and eyedrops. To show that this is an every day type thing and just put things that are definitely used by you know everybody that show that this dressing room is kind of his living space before the show there is deodorant a gum wrapper and a box of mints. These mis-en-scene elements truly represent Kurt, but also the atmosphere he is in before getting pulled by lemmy.

  what’s up blog. I got all of my filming done yesterday, but I don’t have the actual footage yet. I just wanted to come on here and give everybody an update as to what’s going on. So yesterday I filmed, we got there at like 530 and we left it like had to be 8 some thing . here’s a picture of the finalized cast.

so everybody came at the beginning except for sussman I told sussman he could come later because I wanted to get his shot when it was darker and it was gonna be the last thing that we recorded. so the agreement that I had with my Director at the theater company would be that I can go but it kind of sucks because all of the kids were on the stage. I really wanted to get some of the shots of leading up to the stage I want to use cool lighting with the light booth with my friend andrea, but the kids were doing choreography on the stage so there was no way that I was going to be able to get them off. That caused another big problem as well. The script is 100% vulgar, and is already R rated or at least PG-13 in that opening scene. The fact that there were kids all around meant that we had to be very very discreet about cursing, about scanty costumes, and about the drug use. We were able to get around that, I just had to tell lemon to tone it down a couple of times. 

not being able to use the stage definitely got me upset and definitely slow down the process. I felt kind of bad because it was like an hour before we had even used justin or Geo, so I try to get them in as soon as we are finished the scene with me in the dressing room. That was the first thing I’ll be there I just wanted to make sure that that’s what we did because it called for the set to be dressed. also as soon as we realize that we couldn’t use that stage all of the shots kind of had to be tweaked, but it was figured out. there’s these two doors in the loading dock that could definitely open to a stage the way that the door on the side opens up to a stage . If I had the film right now I would definitely be showing you said doors, but I don’t. I’ll probably update my blog post after so if you see it then know that it’s edited. It took a while really figuring out how we could do it but it 100% works and it’s pretty much the same concept, it just would’ve looked a lot more believable if we could’ve done it with the stage. There would’ve been really nice shots of me getting on the stage, or of the reactions of the other band mates seeing me get on stage. also because of having to tweak and fix and make sure that everything could be filmed yesterday, I really did not get any behind-the-scenes footage which I’m upset about. I’ll ask any of my buddies if they got some of the stuff but I’m pretty sure the only things that I will have from shooting are going to be the actual videos. However everything got done, now I just have to figure out how I’m going to edit, the song, fix audio errors, and figure out the font.

CCR

 The other day in class we learned what the creative critical reflection was, and though it’s not my priority right now I wanted to share what my ideas are. The creative critical reflection is practically two media pieces that show the entire creative process and look back for the film opening. I always like stuff like this I find it somewhere to an interview, and I have ideas on what to do already. Here are the four questions we can answer, we only have to do two.

i’m almost 100% sure that the first one that I’m going to answer is how did your production skills develop throughout this project. Here I will talk about how I was the only one to use for this project and how I had excelled at script writing and characterization and acting before, but that now I had to go through the editing the shot choices the cinematography the costuming just everything that I typically would not do how I had to do it. I’m sure the biggest thing that I’m gonna learn with will be editing. The second question I will answer is how does your product user in challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues. I’m gonna talk about how I represent social issues with addiction and the foreshadowing that it’s going to have with the relationship of Kurt and drugs. Also I will talk about how it represents does hedonistic environment and how it falls into the comedy drama genre. I will mainly talk about specific choices that I made that challenge the conventions, and why I went that route. Especially with Lemon’s character being younger and not the old sleazy trying to profit type. 

what’s the most interesting about this is that there is tons of creativity in the reflection. Our teacher told us that many students do talk show interviews podcast a whole bunch of different ranges of media to show what they’ve done. One of the ones that I like that she showed in class with somebody did the vogue 77 questions and it works pretty well and was very engaging. I think I am going to excel at doing something creative and already have two ideas, but have back ups if they do not work. One of the ones I will do is literally from my research and I’m going to be an Andrew Stanton type and that would be for the how did my production skills develop throughout this project question. I’m going to do a Ted talk about myself and even do that black background white text thing exactly from the Ted talk and try to keep it as accurate as I can to the presentations. I’m going to use TEDTalks engaging elements in my own which I feel like it’s killing two birds with one stone cause it’s also pretty funny since I’m going to satirize my Ted talk. for the idea with genre conventions and representation once I get permission I’m gonna see if I can do it as my teacher. I would use her board and give the presentation to our genuine class or those who said that they would like to be a part of it, and even use them as like interaction to build my conversation and presentation the same way the teacher would.

Opening song

  One of the factors that’s going to be involved in a movie that deals with music is going to be the soundtrack. because it is only an opening I only have to worry about one song. I was at the gym the other day where I wasn’t even thinking about what song I was going to use, where I was listening to life in the fast Lane by the eagles. before I even keep going I would like to mention that I am in a band and that I don’t have to worry about using copyright free music because at the end of the day me and my band will record a cover. I thought life in the fast lane would be a great song because it is very very rock like but still fun. it’s not too heavy of a song and instead is more enjoyable and able to be enjoyed of all ages. The lyrics of the song connect to the theme that’s going to be explored for the rest of the movie which is Kurt dealing with this rockstar life, his life in the fast Lane.

The other song that I was possibly thinking would be motley Crue‘s kickstart my heart. The song has a wailing guitar at the very beginning which could be played during the moments leading up to before Kurt gets on stage and before the song has its explosive moment he could do either a spit on stage or a yell, but it has great opening elements. The song features lyrics about getting high on speed, riding motorbikes, ladies from outer space, and getting caught by the cops. Everything that symbolizes a rockstar fantasy. also the song is called kickstart my heart which I feel like is a great song for an opening literally based on the title, like kickstart is great.

Also if it came to it, I have an idea of what we would do if the music was strictly original. there’s a couple songs that we have written that I think would fit the aesthetic of what I’m trying to go for, but if worse came to worse I think we could come up with some thing on the spot. if it’s something that we come up with it’s going to be chugs of two notes at the beginning similar to like a Chili’s lead up type thing especially if their song can’t stop, but could be tons of different things. I am planning on recording whatever cover or original the week I come back from states which is during spring break. That week we’re also recording our song Top This so it’ll be perfect. It’s not gonna be too bad because the song is playing only at the end of the opening either way.

Storyboard

  I decided to storyboard what I have of the script. I wanted to make sure that I visualize some of the shots, especially because I am not going to be the one behind the camera for this process. I have mixed feelings about acting in the project, but it’s something that I really wanted to do and the only way that I can do this is by having people that I trust be the ones behind the camera filming. Another reason that I am able to do this is the fact that I am not the lead part of this project. The only time where I have to be mainly on screen is before Lemon catches me, and what follows. before I get on screen I’m gonna be back with Virginia and ran the whole time seeing what’s on their camera and making sure that everything is going according to plan.

I first began with storyboarding the opening. I wanted to make sure that it could be known what I was going for with the bouncer, and how the shots would flow going into the building. there is a very specific way that I want this captured and I know that Virginia and Ryan will be able to assist me with this. As I began story boarding though I realized that there’s a lot happening in these frames and that I’m not even really trying to get the specific shots, but I’m trying to show what’s going to be happening during the shots and try to make work I want to happen make a little more sense to those behind the camera. This storyboarding process is not one that is for me to see all of my shots listed in the order that I want to see them, and doing so would not make sense and will be a waste of time especially when the location is one that is very specific and is going to matter to those behind the camera.

The next thing that I wanted to do with something that wasn’t even scripted but it’s just very specific to idea I am trying to capture. It’s the shot that shows that my character abuses drugs for his performance. I needed to just see what it would look like and how it could be achieved so I sketched it out. The other segment I did this with was with the entrance of Kurt on stage. My theatre director said it’s all about the moments, and I think that this is one of my favorite parts of the opening. After the entire fiasco of trying to find Kurt, he still doesn’t even immediately go on. He goes to run back in the wings, drink something, kiss lemon on the forehead then run on stage and have that rockstar opening scream, and then lemon says ”that kid’s gonna kill me”. That line is THE LINE. That line makes the promise like Stanton said, it gives something for the audience to look forward too without giving too much. Also, that lines a subplot about the relationship with lemmy, but still shows the plot that Kurt will go through.

Writing process begins

 Alright so this week I’ve been trying to really just start writing the script and getting the characters established.  So far, my character hasn’t even come up yet, but I’m proud of what I have so far.

Red plus denotes where I need to lengthen

Script cont.

The name of the manager I’m keeping is the nickname of the kid who’s playing the part in real life. I think it fits very well. We all call him lemon, my character will call him Lemmy. It's something that I’ll show that they’re close in the opening. Most people will call him lemon but you know the different people in the band and different people working will call him different things to kind of show their specific relationship with him. I started with another part that’s the part of Aaron I wrote about. She is kind of a tomboyish techie who works in the sound department but obviously she’s close to lemon because she’s the person that he calls.

I’m pretty sure for the bouncer I’m gonna have my friend skyler be the bouncer he’s a pretty big guy or foreman all black he won’t budge when lemon tries to get in and I know that he would have a good stern facial expression during lemons rampage. Aaron could be a bunch of different people but right now I’m kind of thinking that it would be my friend mya. I think she would act the part well and even though it’s a little thing she would definitely get the the kind of sharp whip that she has to lemon in her one line and the kindness to the bouncer I don’t know I just think that she would be great, but it’s a part that could be played by a bunch of different people.

Skyler

Mya

What I just did to kind of check it and see if it feels natural as I put a timer and I kind of read the lines myself. I kind of made it not that much dialogue because I was worried of time running out but it is going very fast. I have time for this. I like the start that I have with my script, I’m gonna adjust what I have written so far, but I want to start getting a storyboard and that way I can send it to Virginia and Ryan so they understand what I’m going for and can even give me feedback or what they think about it. I also want to see what they have to say about lighting. I'm gonna do some more research. I'm pretty sure I have a good idea what I would like to do but hearing something from my peers in an area that they accelerate would always be beneficial. My next plan is a storyboard and just kind of go with it. I don’t want to do something totally strict with a storyboard but just kind of lay out different scenes that I know will happen and then I’ll fill in the rest later. I don't need it to be exactly in order and if anything I will number the boarding accordingly after.

 

All right so scrap what I kind of said about my schedule the day that I’m going to film is going to be March 13. I got permission from my Director at inside out theater company to film that Monday because she has rehearsal with the junior kids from 4 to 8, and the show that’s performing there that weekend is going to be loading out that Sunday , so I’m not gonna be in anyone’s way. i’m still going to try and follow that schedule, but I could be more lenient I just need to make sure that I have everything done on the schedule before Monday.

Robin's confirmation!!!

That Monday I already know who I want as one of the characters and that’s my friend jack leventhal. I want him to play the manager, so I already let him know the day that he would have to come. I also got my friends ren and virginia to help me film on that monday, and I am very thankful they’re gonna help me out.

Jack's the furthest on the right. Me in the middle, and Skyler on the left. This is at Tyler the Creator's concert.

i’m going to start writing the script, and I know the premise of what it will be. My buddy jack would be a great fit for the manager part, because he kind of looks older than the rest of the people in the band and he has a huge funky hair which I think is very accurate for a character like the manager for the band. He dresses pretty bold so I know he’d have the costume, and I know that he would be able to act the part well under my direction. The part is a Saikewicz type part, and he is a younger version of a manager. He’s not some old guy mooching off of these kids he’s somebody who is genuinely involved in their project, and cares about the people in the band. I’m sure at a point and one part of the movie he’ll get cut for some bigger better manager. The opening is actually going to be more with the manager and his experience with getting Kurt the lead singer on stage while he’s late, and shows the relationship between the two showing the struggles that Kurt is going through. The opening will develop or at least showcase the dynamic between Kurt and the manager and the behavior of Kurt.