We Overcame The Obstacle And Recorded

As mentioned before, our group was at a temporary halt for meeting up with each other due to the outbreak that occurred. However, we found a library that was open and met up with each other. Our group's plans paused temporarily until one of our group members, Rejoice, found a library that was not only open but as well had a study room where we could record freely. Our group met up with each other on Tuesday, March 17th at Sistrunk Boulevard within the African American Research Library. Our group was able to rent a study room in order to record first the CCR and then the last remaining scenes of our movie. First, our group recorded the CCR which was supposed to stand between twelve to fifteen minutes long. Rejoice, one of the group members, recorded the whole segment while me and Melshida answered the questions in length. The whole CCR was orchestrated in an interview style where my sister asked me and the group members the questions that goes with the CCR. The video recorded for the CCR had to be done twice since there were moments where we were sidetracked and had to redo it to make it seem like it was a serious interview session. Right after our group finished recording the CCR we began to film the last remaining scenes of our movie.

To start off, the very first scene our group recorded was the part where it shows two phones on the table and one of the devices receives a message from the kidnappers. This particular scene had to be done twice since Rejoice recorded the scene sideways with her phone and everyone later agreed that the scene should have been recorded with the phone straight up. Afterwards came the scene where my character, Brooklyn, runs inside the study room to warn the other friends about the kidnappers and their missing friend. This particular scene was recorded twice since everyone was caught off guard during the first take. Next was the scene where one of the friends was researching where their missing friend could be. This particular scene was supposed to fulfill our missing eye match and low angle. For the last few scenes we did not use as much props as we did for the first filming session. The only props we used for the last few scenes were the books provided within the library and our cellphones for the shot with our phones in it. As for the costumes/attire, I wore the same exact sweatpants I wore for the first filming session and I brought with me the matching sweater. In the end, our plans were temporarily at a halt but we were able to find a public library that was open and record the very few scenes we needed along with the CCR to accommodate.

Our Filming Schedule Has Met a Large Obstacle

As the weekend of March 14th-15th came by our group did not film any new content during the weekend. But originally, our group settled on recording the last two/three scenes of our movie in Central Broward College's library. We even agreed to meet up with each other around 2-2:30 p.m to start filming. Our main goal was to finish recording and editing the movie before the due date, but a big obstacle came in the way. Before the spread of the Coronavirus, our group had everything planned out and we were just waiting for the upcoming date of our filming. But over the weekend, most schools and colleges closed down due to the rapid outbreak of the Coronavirus. Because everything closed down our group had to cancel, as of now, the day of our filming. In the beginning, Central Broward College stated that they were gonna start closing on March 23rd due to the outbreak. But, plans changed and the closure of the school came much earlier than expected. Now, our group is trying to find other locations that we could use to film the last scenes of our movie.

The closure of all Broward schools and colleges pushed us back a bit and now we are at a halt for answers. Our group had everything planned out for the upcoming day of filming, but now is canceled.  Our group tried to look for other locations that are currently opened so that we all could meet up and finish our film. However, most of the locations we found were either closed or were not sufficient enough for us to film in. One of our group members, Rejoice, is still searching for locations but as of now our group has no immediate backup plan. With no backup plan, our group is stuck on waiting for the next available day of filming and for any location to open up. So in the end, our group did not film any new content for the movie. Additionally, we still have the remaining two/three scenes that are missing from the final project that still needs to be recorded. Plans have changed and the outbreak has placed us at a temporary halt for now. Hopefully, the outbreak would clear up and things would get back to normal so that everyone could resume their normal schedule. 

*Camera is ready but plans got changed

Re editing Our Movie

After the whole class went through a peer review session, each student was given back feedback regarding the movie. As of our movie, only a few changes had to be made to make the film more appealing. For starters, our group still have at least two or three scenes left to record in order for our entire project to be finished. The last couple of scenes will take place in BC, Broward College, Central Library. Our group still needs to add at least one action match, one eye line match, a shot-reverse shot and a low angle. The day our group plans to shoot the remaining scenes left is on Tuesday, March 17th, 2020. On that day, our group will try to finish up recording the missing scenes of the movie in order for the final task to be completed. The feedback will help guide us as to what necessary angles, movements, and sound are missing from the movie that needs to be incorporated. After receiving feedback from peer review day, our group noticed what scenes needs to be recorded in order for the movie to be edited further making the final task close to being completed. Once when the final missing scenes our added, our group will continue to edit in order for the scenes to flow together smoothly.

Next, after our group discussed about the scenes that needs to be added we tried to fix the audio from our movie. Based on the feedback we received, our movie needed to adjust its audio in order to better hear the dialogue in the movie. For a couple of times, our group watched over the movie in order to fully understand where the audio needs fixing the most. At first it was quite difficult to make out where the problem was since the classroom was a bit noisy and it was quite difficult to hear the audio. So, our group tried placing the volume higher to hear the audio better but as it turns out the movie became too loud. When our group turns the volume down slightly it can be quite difficult to make out the dialogue, but when the volume slightly goes up the movie becomes too loud. In order to hear the audio better, our group came up with a plan to watch the movie in a place that contains little to no noise. If the audio is still out of place even with the change of location, we will try to do a voice over for the scenes that contains any form of dialogue. If the voice over is recorded then we will incorporate the recording within the movie to fix the audio portion of our movie. All in all, our group is currently trying to see how the audio can be adjusted to better make sense of the dialogue deriving from the movie.

No Reshoots But New Improvements

As previously mentioned from the blog, our group recorded the majority of our movie within a parking lot that was located in Lauderdale Lakes. Then flash forward two weeks later, our group engaged in a peer review session. Last Thursday on March 5th, our group received back the peer review papers a fellow student conducted for our group's film. As it turns out, the only concern that our group must look into was the audio for the film. Other than that, our group still has only about three more scenes left to record before finally finishing the entire movie. For the weekend that came, our group did not conduct any reshoots for the movie. The major reason being that our movie did not contain that much criticism only regarding to the audio of the film. Our group did not reshoot any of the previous scenes because no comment made by another student suggested for our group to redo certain scenes. Additionally on that day our group first started filming, with each take the director made our group made sure to look over to see if the scene needed to be redone. Most of our scenes were double checked on that same day we first started to film our movie.

Although our group did not partake in reshoots, our group did however looked back at everything we have done for the movie so far. The one thing our group stumbled upon was our old pitch idea which was "betrayal is like a bed of thorns... it leaves you bloody." When our whole group looked back at the pitch and compared it to the scenes of the movie so far it did not quite match up. The original pitch involved the term bloody signifying that the movie will have hints of blood. However, now that our group recorded the majority of our scenes it did not contain any elements that relates to the pitch what so ever. So Rejoice, a fellow group member, thought to replace the old pitch idea that would match up with the movie we currently obtain. The pitch ended up being a small description, in less than twenty five words, about what the movie is about without giving any spoilers. It was for the best that our group updated the pitch since the old pitch idea was not matching up with the elements of the current movie. Our group had not realized that our pitch was a bit outdated until we all looked back in our notes and saw all of our ideas written down. All in all, our group did not conduct any reshoots for the reason being that our team did not receive any criticism regarding the scenes shown to other students, but our group was able to at least spruce up the old pitch idea and make it closer to matching the elements of the current movie.

Time for a Peer Review!

On March 3rd, 2020, the whole class of AICE Media Studies took part in peer reviewing. Each person drew a random number which dictated who we would peer review. As of our group, we were able to peer review another person's work and give helpful advice. For the most part, our group gave advice that either stated what needed to be fixed or what could remain the same based on the film our group watched. Based on the film our group watched, there were certain elements that could have stayed the same and there certainly were elements that needed to be added as well. Overall, the film that our group peer reviewed was unfinished, so the film couldn't display an exact storyline our group could follow through. The film, for the most part, just showed an actress on screen undergoing a regular morning routine but didn't show the exact motive of the film's entirety. The fact that the film lacked a storyline was one of the major downfall of the person's final project we were peer reviewing. Although the film did not have an exact storyline, the creator of the film was able to keep natural lighting and sound that makes the scenes seem more realistic. Keeping the natural lighting and sound all the way was the main element that sparked my liking to the film.

To go in greater details, the main thing that I would suggest for the student to fix is there storyline.  Overall, the movie our group peer reviewed had a duration of twenty four seconds in total which suggested that the person didn't finish entirely. However based on what our group was given, the student only showed the actress on screen conducting a morning routine of some sort. In order for the film to flow together smoothly, a storyline must be present in order to know what is going on and what will happen within the following scenes. By establishing a storyline, the audience will know how the sequence of events will go together. To look at the positive aspect, the student did deliver natural lighting and sound which managed to be maintained throughout the duration of the film. The natural lighting was used to highlight the brightness of the main bedroom the actress was first seen in. Then natural lighting was slightly used when the bathroom was shown in the film. Additionally, natural sounds were used to convey the realism of the scenes shown on the screen. All in all, our group was able to provide useful tips and advice for the student as to what advancements the film needs and what elements were able to stay.

Starting the Editing Process

As previously mentioned, our group first started filming during the weekend of February 22nd, 2020. When the group got together again in class we officially started the editing process of the final project. Our group did start the editing process but we weren't able to do much just yet. The main task our group was able to fulfill was dump the videos onto the laptop of one of our group members. Our group couldn't do as much editing since the group member whose laptop contained the videos dumped was leaving early for a school trip. Everyone agreed to fully edit starting on Friday, February 28th. As a group, we will try to rearrange the videos in chronological order starting from scene 1 and ending with the last scene. Then, we will try to incorporate titles into the beginning of the film. The scenes our group will edit were the scenes that mainly took place in the parking lot. Our group will try to make the scenes flow together so that it does not end up being too choppy. For the transitions, we plan on using jump cuts for the most part. On Friday, everyone plans on coming together to finally make extra changes to the final project. Our group is making sure most of our movie is ready by the time our class starts peer review. On the day of peer review each student will have the opportunity to critique other students film and suggest changes that needs to be made. Although our group technically didn't begin editing in greater details, we did manage to transfer the raw footages to the group member's personal laptop. It may not be a big step, however we are slowly beginning to transfer to the editing process. The ultimate end goal will be for each scene to be fully edited and ready to be displayed. It was for the best to dump all the raw footages onto the laptop so that no footage gets accidentally deleted. Overall, the full on editing process will begin on Friday, February 28th when most of our group members will be present. For now, the only thing our group did was dump the videos onto the laptop since one group member had to leave early for a school trip. 

Filming Blog: We Finally Filmed!

On February 22nd, 2020, our group met up at the designated location to start filming for the final project. Everyone met up at a local McDonald's, a fast food chain, in Lauderdale Lakes, Florida. Each actor was able to show up on the day of filming except for Jakari who encountered traffic and called ahead of time that he was not gonna make it. First, everyone reviewed the props that was brought and the script that was printed out for each person to have. While everyone was reviewing each item one by one, food was provided in the beginning to prevent anyone from going too hungry later on during the day. As originally planned, most of our film's parking lot scenes were covered on that day of filming, but we did not film in chronological order. The first scene recorded was the part where both of the kidnappers are creating a video to send stating the victim will be released in exchange for cash. The first scene recorded was more in an open area within the parking lot. Then, for the rest of the scenes we moved to a small sort of alleyway in order to not draw too much attention and to not get in the way of cars coming by. The next scene shot was when my character, Brooklyn, receives a message from the kidnappers and runs to warn the rest of the group members. For that particular scene, our group had to rerecord at least four different times since I kept smiling on camera while my character was supposed to be serious at the moment. Next up we recorded the scene where the kidnappers successfully captures the victim, named Rachel, and is dragging her away. For that particular scene, no one got hurt and we made sure that the person playing as the victim was not tugged too hard, rather softly. At least two rerecords were done for that particular scene stated. After, we filmed the scene where kidnapper #1 is shown tying up the victim to a small chair, while kidnapper #2 is setting up the laptop for the ransom video that was previously recorded in the very first scene. Our group made sure that the rope was loosely tied around the person playing the victim to avoid rope burns and any other injuries. Then Rejoice, a fellow group member, recorded the establishing shot in a form of a tilt to show the location right before the scene where both kidnappers are gonna drag the victim comes to play. At least two rerecords was done for the establishing shot since the names of local stores kept coming to the camera's view and we wanted to avoid capturing any names on screen. Finally, the last scene recorded was a small comedy relief where two of the victim's friends are having a conversation while on the mission to search for clues. In the end, our group was able to capture most of our movie scenes and plan to have another recording someday where every scene will be fully captured and ready for editing.

 This was the setting for most of our scenes; this was the scene where my character, Brooklyn, receives a text message from the kidnappers.

As shown from the picture, I am smiling on camera where my character is meant to be serious which called for a retake afterwards.

Before the camera stopped rolling, I couldn't contain my laughter any longer and all the giggles just came out.