Lights, Camera, Action (part 1)

Our first day of filming went fantastic! We found the most perfect spot of the park called the “fitness zone.” This part of the park has exercise machines and benches, but the best part is that it is located right next to the forest I wanted to film at. Through our amazing find, we had to improvise and change our story line a bit. At first we wanted to begin our film opening in a car. However, the car idea would be difficult to lead into the forest, which is vital to our entire story line. So we changed the initial location to the the “fitness zone.” We used the exercise machines to our advantage.

We also had to make a few changes to the script since they followed the original story line. Look at the picture underneath for new script:

The distance between the “ fitness zone” and the forest was on point. It made complete sense why she would run into the woods from where she was originally sitting, which was one of my biggest struggles. The woods were perfect only a little bit of light shining through, making the location look mysterious. There were a lot of low branches which allowed us to take cool shots behind their leaves. The only bad part about the forest was all the spider webs and creaking sounds all around us...I swear I felt like something was gonna jump out and attack me. I really don't know how I used to enjoy to spend time in there as a child.

Overall it has been a successful day of shooting. Working with Vernie and Sofi has been super easy and fun. Vernie and Sofi had great ideas which bettered our project. One filming location down, two to go. Stay tuned!

Call me ranch cause I’m dressing (the actresses)

Each character has a specific look in Sofi and I’s mind. It is important that the clothing suits the what the character stands for and who they are. Through the use of color in our costumes we have been able display the characteristics, subtly. 

For the victims character, we have chosen to dress her in colors such as white, pink, yellow and some red. We chose white to show the innocence and purity of the girl. Pink was chosen because we wanted to show the characters femininity. Yellow is symbolic for happiness, so this color will be used during the happy period of her life being filmed. Lastly the color red to symbolize desire as the kidnapper desires her. The character will be seen wearing very closet girly clothes such as dresses and flowy shirts. 

For the kidnapper, we have chosen to design the colors of the clothe to be dark. The color black will be prominent in the costume design for this character. Black is symbolic for power, mystery, and fear. Which is what we want the character to stand for. The character will be seen wearing exercise clothing. This type of clothing was chosen to adhere with the story line of the kidnapper “jogging” through the park. 

Lastly, for the mother we have chosen to use the hues of the color dark blue. The color dark blue is symbolic for sadness. The reason for this color is to express her feelings towards losing her daughter. The blue hues will be paired with semi loose and “ lounge wear” type clothe as the mothers depression, will be reflected on her lack of care for her appearance. 

Actresses found...check, location… check, costumes done...check. Filming… stay tuned !

On the hunt... for a location

When Sofia and I created our shots list we decided that we would shoot at three different locations.

For the first part of the film opening, we envisioned it in a secluded woodsy park. As we wanted the chase to lead into a forest. So we sat down and brainstormed what location nearby had the look we were going for. I then remembered when I was in middle school during my summers I used to go to summer camp. This camp was located our very own Markham park ! During my time at summer camp we used to go on “ nature hikes.” The forest that we went on the hikes is a PERFECT match to our vision. The forest has moss on the floor and the trees are lush. The trees are so tall that the sun barely reaches into the forest, which gives a mysterious vibe.

The next location has been troublesome to find. On my previous posts I have spoken about my original vision for the “kidnappers hiding place.” At first I wanted an all white room, then I considered using a walk in freezer. However, the walk-in freezer is a no go. My boss said no to filming in the fridge, what a party pooper!! So Sofi and I played with a two ideas, one was to film in her garage and make it seem as if she were actually trapped in a confined space. However, we have made the decision to film the kidnapper hiding place in my closet. This closet is the length of my stairs so the closet is narrow and long, it will give the illusion of being trapped.

The last location where we are filming is in the savannah commons. This location is going to be for the the part that focuses on the mother. We chose the savannah commons because they have a bulletin board which is perfect for the scene we are planning. Also it is in the same neighborhood as where Caroline lives, which will make it easier to film with her. 

Little by little we are getting closer to reaching our goal of filming by Sunday. Stay tuned! 

Calling all actresses!

A stress has been take off our chest… we have found our actresses ! This has been a mission, as there were specific characteristics we wanted out actresses to have. We also had to assure that the people playing these roles could convincingly convey the part. However, after two weeks of our mission we have cast the best women possible for the role.

Our first concern was to cast a teenage girl that had acting experience for the role of the Victim. This victim would have to convincingly be able to show deathly fear and play off being injured in a realistic way. We decided to go with Vernie Rikes. Vernie has been acting since middle school. She has played the lead in several of her Falcon Cove Middle School and American Heritage High School plays. We are very excited to work with an experienced actress, and are very confident that she will be able to bring our ideas to life!

Next part to cast was the kidnapper. We wanted the kidnapper to be a girl to break the stereotype of the typical male. We chose to use our very own Sofia Chifari to be our actress for this part. It was important that the actress playing this role was slightly taller than Vernie, to give a stronger sense of intimidation. Sofia and Vernie have been friends since middle school, so they have established chemistry already. This chemistry will allow the subjects to be comfortable and give their best performance.

Lastly, for the role of the Mother we have chosen to use Sofia’s mom Caroline. For the mother role we wanted to get a real 40 year old as a teenager playing a mom would seem unprofessional. We want our film to be they’re most realistic possible. Also, Sofia’s mom has a more open schedule which will be easier when trying to make a shooting schedule.

Now that we have our actresses set, we are officially on track to begin filming on Sunday ! We are so excited… stay tuned !

We call the shots

In my previous post I discussed the fact that my partner and I have created our story line for our film opening. The class after we pieced our story line together, we created a shots list. On this list we have matched the numbers from the story line to the numbers on the shot list to easily distinguish it during filming. 

Below you will see the shots list. If you are curious to which shot goes with what scene, you may refer to my last post, “ Story line time”: 

When choosing each one of the shots, we took into consideration the meaning each one of them would add to the story. We choose to use a lot of two shots to set up the relationship between the kidnapper and the victim. We also took into consideration the use of close up shots to allow the audience to fully understand the emotions the characters are feeling. Lastly, we decided to include dutch shots on our list to establish confusion and madness occurring in the scenes. You also may notice that some numbers have multiple shots listed next to them. For those scenes, Sofi and I are planning on experimenting with different shots to see which suits our film the best. It's always better to overshoot than undershoot! Am I right? 

Sofi and I have decided against creating a storyboard, because in our opinion it would feel redundant. We believe that we can work of of the story line and our shot list to create our film opening. Now that all of our planning is done we can move one to costumes, actors, scripts, and filming! We got a couple things done but there is still plenty to do… Stay tuned!

Story line time!

A couple class periods ago, Sofi and I sat down and came up with topic for our film opening as we have figured out that our genre for the project will be crime thriller. 

We created a story that revolves around a stalker and a kidnapping. However, we didn't want it to be like any ordinary kidnapping movie… we wanted to make ours a bit different. There will be three characters in the film opening: the stalker/kidnapper, the girl being kidnapped, and the girl’s mother. However, rather than the stalker/kidnapper be the typical Caucasian, adult, male, we decided to make the character an obsessive, young adult,female. We want to make our film stand out from other kidnapping films, while still following most of their genre conventions. We decided to choose kidnapping as our film openings topic through our investigations of crime thrillers, when we came across The Call and Kidnap. 

On the photos below, you will be able to see the step by step story line of our film opening (excuse my handwriting): 

One of our favorite scenes in particular is 25-27. We decided to show the victims fist banging on the wall and then cut to the mom banging on a stapler putting up a missing person flyer. This scene is very powerful because it shows the connection between the mother and daughter. We also decided to end with this scene to allude to the audience that there is more to come, and that the story is not just about a girl being trapped. Rather its more about the mothers journey to find her. Just as in The Call, it was about the 911 operators journey to find the missing girl. 

Now that we have our story line set we are able to actually go to work. We are very excited to bring our ideas to life within the next 7 weeks ! If you are wondering what kind of shots we will use to bring this to life… stay tuned for my next post!

The Enlightenment !

Hey guy, how has your week been going? My week has been enlightening! In my last media studies class my teacher set up group meetings...with a twist. Instead of meeting with our partners, we met with other people in our class. In these groups, we were with 4 people other people with the the same project. Each one of the students was able to present their ideas for their film opening and their blog with the group. 

When it was my turn to present, I directed the people to my blog. I was so glad that I had decided to design my blog the night before! It still needs a little work, but it is starting to represent who I am. I chose to begin from my first post, as I explained the schedule I set up for Sofi and I. They believed that it was a great idea that I created a set schedule since in past projects we worked in we found that we were tight on time, as we want to do the best job possible. 

The next post I directed them to was the one about genres. I talked to them about my journey to find the for the perfect genre. A Lot of them also found that the Horror genre would be hard to execute properly. Lastly on my blog I spoke to them about my love for the thriller genre. They also expressed that they were doing some sub genre of thriller as well.

Finally, I got to explaining my ideas for my film opening(which you hear about next post). They allowed me to develop my thoughts and better them. I was stuck on figuring out where one of the locations for my film opening would be. For this specific scene I envisioned it in a bright white room, as it is considered to be a torture technique. However, a room like this would be difficult to find and even harder to build. 

So we talked through it and they gave me an idea.. to film this scene in a freezer or in a fridge. This would use a natural setting as a hiding place, kind of giving the hiding in plain site effect, just like in the netflix series YOU. This was perfect because guess what… I work at a restaurant! I'm going to ask my boss for permission to allow me to film there, lets see what he has to say. 

This group meeting was extremely helpful in the development of my project and I am so excited to put their critiques into my project… Stay tuned for the next posting!