CCR#1: How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?

CCR#2: How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text?

 

CCR#3: How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

This is a trailer for my movie if it were a horror mystery film. I used my favorite shots and edited the audiovisuals to show how my skills improved. Credits to Gestalt for the audio.

CCR#4: How did you integrate technologies - software, hardware and online - in this project?

 

My Work and Organization Process (Reflection)

Improving My Director's Title Card (Implementation)

 Hello reader, welcome to my blog. In this post, I'll be showing my process of improving the title card (already made by the Director, Gestalt) for our film opening. Let's get started.

Context:

Most film openings feature a title card. This element may or may not be closely related to the film itself, or it may even offer clues about the movie. For our film opening, my group and I wanted to do the same.

We had already discussed the idea of ​​making it animated, as this would elevate the quality of the film and tie it in with the plot. Since our film's protagonist—Maria—is an artist, and the entire movie is closely intertwined with art, an animated title card would suit us perfectly.

We wanted to create that hand-drawn effect for our title card. My director took the initiative to create it himself using drawing software.

Director's Title Card

My director really did a great job creating the title card. However, I had a few suggestions, as there were two minor things I didn't like. #1: The cursor was visible while the drawing was taking place (I simply felt this wasn't the most appropriate aesthetic choice for our specific purpose, animation). #2: The speed (41 seconds was far too long for our film; and while the process could be sped up, it wouldn't look quite right compared to using a precise number of frames with each letter drawn at a consistent speed).

My solution: I created a new title card in IbisPaintX—a very useful drawing tool with which I was already familiar. I started working letter by letter, stroke by stroke, obviously following the director's instructions. Each image lasted 0.03 seconds, and I believe I used a frame rate of 20–24 frames per second.

Image of the process of animation

The director asked me to focus on the word 'AI' embedded within the title, 'Daisy'—specifically, 'dAIsy'. I did just that; he also requested that I color the word 'AI,' the final stroke, and the daisy dotting the 'i.' I executed this using a color palette derived from real daisies.

Image of the color added

Thoughts: My director was very gracious in accepting feedback—and giving me feedback in return; in the end, we even used my version of the title card. Also, unintentional occurrences (such as having to repaint every element, stroke by stroke) can actually turn out well, since the letters 'AI' ended up animated as if they were drawn with crayons.

Light Adjustment and CPL Lens (Implementation)

 Hello reader, welcome to my blog. In this post, I will be demonstrating my progress in adjusting the lighting in very bright environments with white light. Let's begin.

Context:

For Scene 2 of my film's opening sequence, we filmed in the school library. Despite the professor's warnings about filming in public schools, we went ahead and did it anyway. This led to a few issues—primarily regarding the lighting intensity—which did absolutely nothing to enhance the scene.

The Problem: The light was excessively bright and created glare on Maria's (the protagonist's) hair. Not only that, but there is a specific shot in Scene 2 where we needed to film the protagonist's phone; due to the lighting conditions, the camera itself was heavily reflected in the screen. Furthermore, in the shot filmed from an overhead angle, the light once again created glare on the protagonist's hair.

Connecting to a Planning Blog Post: On one of my planning blogs, I was testing out lenses -something I hadn't had the opportunity to do during my first production. I thought that particular planning post wouldn't amount to anything, since I hadn't actually included the use of lenses in the shot list - because we didn't need them. Yet, after all was said and done, that planning turned out to be perfect.

Solution to the Problem: The CPL Lens

This significantly improved the contrast in Scene 2 a highly advantageous outcome, as it brought the scene into alignment with Scene 1. It also reduced reflections in the protagonist's hair and on the cell phone; indeed, I would venture to say that it even enhanced the appearance of the skin, as well as the colors present in the scene (particularly in the drawings and artwork).

Image of the CPL Lens

Image of the CPL Lens front*

The new problem: the phone holder kept shifting the clip. The clip was quite large. This caused it to obstruct the phone's lens, which, in turn, resulted in dark corners appearing on the screen.

The unorthodox solution: Since we really liked the look of the shots, we decided to keep the lens. What we did was zoom in slightly and keep the shots that way. That way, the dark corners didn't appear on the screen.

Takeaways:

I learned that experience speaks for itself. The teacher was right that the lighting in schools isn't the best for recording movies. I also learned that lenses are very useful, even though I used to think the opposite because the equipment I had looked outdated. But I think I'm not entirely wrong because the clip was definitely too big to use effectively in the phone holder.

That's all for now, reader. Thank you for reading this collection of thoughts.

-Dragorite

CCR: How Did You Integrate Technologies? (Planning)

Hello, reader. Welcome to my blog. This post is a plan for the CCR (Creative Critical Reflection ). Let's begin.

Context:

After researching—and using—the Blackmagic camera (previous post), I realized it was time to plan the CCRs with the things I've done so far. Later, I could add more elements or experiences.

To answer the question 'How Did You Integrate Technologies?' I first need to have an idea of ​​what I'm going to include. This constitutes the tangible (hardware) and intangible (software) parts.

Hardware vs. Software:

Capture Hardware:

For this category, I used the tripod and tripod adapter, as well as the CD lens, a light for the adapter, and its respective charger. I also used the director's cell phone.

Production Software:

Blackmagic camera (mainly) to record the film's opening.

The regular iPhone Camera App to take behind-the-scenes photos.

How do I plan to answer this question?

I've already seen many past CCR blog posts (from previous students) answering this question. I've noticed that this is the question they always answer most simply because it's relatively the easiest. It's also the question they answer using the simplest method.

My main idea is to answer it in a comic strip style. Each element I use (hardware and software) would be a character. I'd have a simple story that introduces the characters and shows their use in our production. Something like a superhero comic. For example: the tripod's powers would be changing size like Ant-Man and having the strength to stabilize things like the Titan Atlas.

Example of a comic with deanimated objects

That's all for now, reader. Thank you for reading this collection of thoughts.

-Dragorite

Recording an improvised coverage shot (implementation)

Hello, reader. Welcome to my blog. In this post, I'll be discussing filming improvised sequences from a cinematographer's perspective. Let's begin.

Context:

As I mentioned before, we're filming our opening sequence in the school's media center. The problem is that it's an unsafe location, as it's not always available. In fact, we can only go during fourth period (study hall) on green days. This is because we have complicated schedules and can only be there after school on very specific days (when there's club).

Recently, the travel and tourism events began. Now the media center is more in demand than ever. This past week was packed with events, right during fourth period.

Since we were filming scene 1—which is in the back of the media center—we didn't have many problems, but there were a few, like these, that we managed to overcome:

Disorganized materials: The Travel crew left a lot of things in disarray, but we used it for mise-en-scène.

Interruptions: We were interrupted constantly, with people opening doors and things like that. But we used it to take a break or reshoot that take.

The problem:

The librarian thought we were the ones who left the mess and that we probably wouldn't be able to film there again. The issue is that we're short on footage, we need to finish scene 1, and film scenes 3 and 4. Also, the actor from scene 1 wasn't available that day.

The solution:

While we waited, our director had an idea: to film some coverage shots. This coverage shot was for the beginning of scene 1. In the script, there was a shot of the boy running before reaching the library, but we discarded it. We used that idea to include it in the scene, but since the actor wasn't there, we had to convert that tracking shot into a POV.

The challenge:

For this shot, I (the cinematographer) had to simulate jumping off a fence and running. All this while simulating the height of the actor (Sebastian) - 5'11" - while I'm 5'4". Compensating for a 20cm height difference wasn't easy. Basically, I had to jump and run with the camera mounted on the tripod with my arms outstretched. It was a difficult shot to film, to be honest. My director usually tells me the camera has to be steady, but this time he said no, so it was weird to film (since you never know how shaky enough is).

Coverage Shot take 3

Takeaway:

Definitely not everything goes as planned; the difference is how you approach it. We chose to improvise instead of staying still. For example: the mess, the change of location, and the interruptions.

Choosing lenses for production (Implementation)

Hello reader. Welcome to my blog. In this post, I'll be choosing lenses to use in our production. This is part 1.

First,

Why are lenses important?

I watched this video to help me answer this question:

According to the video, lenses create mood, can alter the viewer's perspective, and change how the audience perceives space, depth, and emotions.

After this brief introduction,

Context:

*Disclaimer* These memories may not be exact since remembering isn't like replaying a movie, but rather like reconstructing a memory.

In class, our director was checking the equipment because we needed to charge the light for our film opening—since we would be filming that day. I remember asking the professor about lenses. In our previous production, I had already looked at lenses, but we never used them. This time (now with more information), we realized they would be useful for our production.

 I tried several lenses. This are my stills with the Macro lense.

string of my id

strap of a handbag

Fabric of my jacket

Elements of the mise en scene (Implementation)

Hello, reader. Welcome to my blog. In this post, I'll be talking about the mise-en-scène for our film opening. Let's begin.

Context:

The second scene takes place in the main part of the Media Center. Although there are already several things there for our mise-en-scène (library items, and even free extras), we also need to create some prompts necessary for the plot.

What do we need for scene 2?

Since scene two is about Maria M., a frustrated artist, one of the most important things for the mise-en-scène is artwork, pencils, paper, and even books.

Since we didn't have any artwork, creating it ourselves would take a lot of time. I'm in art class, so I thought of asking the teacher if she could borrow some drawings and artwork. She gave me two folders with artwork from students who had left the school, so we had creative freedom to use them however we wanted.

Meanings behind the mise-en-scène:

Our editor had the brilliant idea of ​​using colorful things for scene 2 and colorless things for scene 3. This is because there's a change in the character after finding the book. After using the book, the character loses their creativity. This is reflected in the lack of color in the mise-en-scène and the book's illustration.