HI BLAWG! I'm back and alive again after spring break :D Just as you recall, it was a great one!! I personally got a whole ton of work done both with this project and C3 Global among many other things!
And now I have some updates!
Lemme spew them out real quick before I dive into our first few prod days!
For the thumbnail! Me and my team after filming day 1 :D
For this short lil sesh, I'm gonna enter serious emi mode, because genuinely the feelings I've had these past couple days have been quite strong, and I am now gonna let it out:
Over spring break, I designed costumes, bought them, came up with a name for the film, started the social media page, made 3 posts, 2 more blog posts annnddd that's all I could have done! Cause by the end of spring break we didn't have a final script yet! Why storyboard with no script?? I made sure to message my group every other if not every single day about this project so nothing can be forgotten, especially looking out for the script that still had yet to be sent.
now it's the week after spring break
and i really wish we got at least some filming done last week
ARGHBHJKHKLLDL
last media class we had graded group meetings with tstok to discuss progress with our project and after it, the three of us knew that we had to step up our game. Since I rely on my team a lot and make that very obvious with the messages I send very frequently to the group chat, I was quite glad this group meeting happened, even if we didn't feel too pleasant after it. I love wake up calls. Mine sent constantly in the group chat were at a normal volume, but Tstok's was LOUD.
look, I love my group, they are my friends, but I HATE procrastination. And I am no saint! I have been a victim of procrastination many more than twice in my life, but when the project is high stakes? When it takes up a huge portion of your grade? When it's something that I'm gonna put my name on and have other people watch, anticipating something amazing? THAT'S WHEN I GET ON LOCK!! Before the graded meeting, I was already kind of worried, especially for my team, and after our meeting with Tstok, I really began to WORRY. What if we won't get this film done in time? What if we end up with something we're not proud of?? What if it sucks??? What if? What if? WHAT IF. My brain became an intrusive, living whirlwind, and for a moment, I genuinely doubted what we were doing.
but y'all know
if you're a dedicated follower of this blog you know
MY MIDDLE NAME IS PERSERVERANCE
I AM. PERSERVERANCE.
100000 EMI'S VS BIG FILM PROJECT WHO WINS
THE 100000 EMI'S.!! ALWAYS AND FOREVER!!!!!! AGERHRHAEGRHAHHAAHAHHAHAHA
I do not CARE how much I have to suffer, if I have to stay up till ass o'clock I WILL, if I have to dedicate all my energy to this project I MUST, if I want our film to end up being KICKASS, I will ENSURE THAT IT WILL END UP KICKASS. IT WILL BE AWESOME. THROUGH THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP, WE WILL PREVAIL!!!
Even though there have been a fair share of obstacles along the way of this project, I know myself and my friends, and I know damn freaking well that with enough hard work, passion, and drive, we will be able to get this done okay :]] I'm not as worried anymore now that we have 2 days of filming down, and feel a bit better that some other groups in my class are in the same exact boat. This project is hard everybody, this is definitely not something I'm not completely used to as I've never made a short film in my entire life. But through anything I succeed :D We succeed :DD!
Now with all of the past week's business out of the way, LET'S GET INTO THINGS!
PROGRESS MUST BE DOCUMENTED FOR YOU ENGLISH LADS!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OTTO KANE FROM KENTUCKY: FILMING DAY 1
So since we couldn't get any filming done over spring break, we decided on locking in the SECOND we got back. We decided on pulling up Tuesday to film since the script was supposed to be completed by that day and we were all available :] We got sent the one of the final draft's of the script at about 4:45 and finally had a stable foundation to work off of. Joaquin added an extra scene with the priest character which I thought was pretty funny, but one thing that really stood out to me where all the fucks flying around which is something that I suppose you Cambridge folk are not too crazy about, so I asked Joaquin if we can make some changes with that and they said sure :D More on script changes soon, but for now I continue on yapping about filming!
On Tuesday we only really focused on the opening portion of our short film which included no dialogue so it was pretty nice and breezy! We also triedddd filming a bit of the first scene of Otto and Annie interacting but only got like one shot and called it a day cause Andrew had to go back home. The shots from that scene filmed on Tuesday probablyy won't be used in the final film but it's good that we got some experience and preparation under our belt!
One thing though that made me feel a little wonky donky about our first filming day was the fact that we didn't have a shot list nor storyboard to work off of. Fortunately, since we have insane,clear imagination in all of our brains, it wasn't so bad :] Still though, for the big filming days coming up this weekend, I WILL have a storyboard alll drawn for every single scene of our piece. So far I have the entire first scene and a bit of the second done and will spend literally all I can today to get it done.
Storyboard aside for now though, we got some pretty nice shots on Tuesday! I still have yet to put together some of the clips in Premiere Pro but I'm pretty confident nonetheless! I do really have to see how these clips work together though, probably most likely well but a girl has her anxieties. The opener was only like 4-5 shots of Otto in front of a church, standing while holding a rosary and looking at the cross at the top. She then loosens her grip on the rosary she's holding though and it falls to the ground. Spiritually lost, and physically alone, Otto walks away from the rosary, and that's when the title is supposed to come in! I liked what we did here! The pic below is a reshoot from the second day but shh shh shhhhh pretend it isn't this was the shot the whole time shhh
One little thing that needs to be addressed before I get slimed! I am indeed aware that a rosary is pretty sacred and important to many people, so instead of slamming it on the ground or doing anything insane with it, the only thing we did was have Otto (in reality Joaquin behind the camera), drop it gently and leave it out of focus since Otto no longer finds any use for herself in Christianity. The shot isn't saying "ARRHGHHR CHRISTIANITY BAD YOU MUST LEAVE IT NOW" nah it's more like
"Yo Otto's kinda bummed out and literally doesn't know what to do with herself so Christianity is out of focus for her and she'll then find another external factor that'll fuel her hunger for power and will end up working with the devil cause she's a dum dum."
A quick little confessional, I tend to overthink our short A LOT since I'm not too familiar making things touching on or basing on sensitive topics. It's okay that we're touching on religion but it's also important that we don't cross any ethical lines in this film like promoting satanism or saying Christianity sucks, that's something I made clear since we first started brainstorming our idea. I'm Catholic myself! But then again this is a dark comedy! Of course it's going to be strange, absurd, and touching on the taboo while also being very funny! I always forget that bro, it needs to be engraved into my head.
da devil bad, making deal with devil bad, devil no good
Buttt yeah! That was pretty much all we focused on filming day 1! Quite a success I would say! It definitely made me worry a little less but of course we still had a whole ton of other scenes to take care of so the load wasn't entirely lightened. It's still kinda heavy! But kinda heavy is miles better than AGRGRGRHGRERGRRHEGAGAEHSH HELP ME
Also we got some nice BTS :] I'm gonna share it with you Cambridge lads cause I know you like em. You never told me that you do but I just KNOW IT. Isn't my blog your absolute favorite like all the time ever, England? You answer BETTER be yes.
OTTO!
old rosary shot! we scrapped it cause there was a big "BINGO!" banner.
Didn't know the church did bingo but heck yeah we love it long live holy bingo :D
what happens when 3 weirdos make a movie together
The Scourge: A Wildlife Documentary
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
HOLD UP!!
that was a huge reference i hope u caught it
Before I continue on to filming day 2 I would like to touch on a bit on the script because I bet some of you are wondering a bit about it :D A couple hours after filming day 1, with getting Joaquin's permission first, I opened the second draft of the script and began to edit some of the dialogue to make better sense for the actors and crew alike to work off of, also to develop the characters a little more and make some story beats hit harder :] I sent the revised script at like 12am and that was that! The day after the day after during media class we went over the revised script and edited any more things that we didn't see as fit and boom bam pow we had a 4th, final draft version of the script up and ready to go for the rest of our days! I'll link it right down below ya :D
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OTTO KANE FROM KENTUCKY: FILMING DAY 2
Filming day two was on Thursday, 3/28! Originally Joaquin and I were planning to meet on Wednesday same time same place just without Andrew cause he had work, to reshoot some things in the opener along with the first Otto and Annie talking scene. This got pushed back to the next day however since I had a dentist appointment that would take up most of my time to plan out some things before filming. I still had a lot of storyboard to get done, so we decided on Thursday and used Wednesday to get prepared for the important scenes that require dialogue and such!
Wednesday was a very productive day, I got so SO much of the storyboard done and felt very ready and more confident after finishing up drawing out the Annie and Otto scene! Wahoo!! To your right you'll be able to see some of the storyboard I cooked up :] I lobe storyboard :D It gives me excuse to draw :D I lobe draw :DD
So then on Thursday, Joaquin and I met up at the church and went right to reshooting some of the opener scenes along with filming some new ones, and it went pretty well! We didn't really have to do much except reshoot the rosary shot along with adding a mid shot of Otto looking up at the church so it was very nice and breezy! I loved how the rosary shot turned out (we're gonna invert it in post so it can flow better with the location Otto is going to after the scene), but think the mid shot we got might have been a bit too dark due to the fact the building created a huge shadow over us, but if we do want to put it into the final film, it could work. Buttt we'll see!
aforementioned rosary shot
midshot of Otto that mightt be a little too dark but it might work
Right after we got these shots, Joaquin noticed and told me that their camera was on low battery so then we were like oh shit (!) and started to look around the place for any charger outlets. Unfortunately, there were none outside so Joaquin went inside to go see if there were any outlets there where we could charge for a bit. And fortunately there was! WAHOO!
After Joaquin set the battery to charge, we sat outside on the curb for a couple mins waiting waiting and waiting and after like 5 minutes, Joaquin went back inside and came out the entrance with what seemed to be a fully charged battery! We were back on track! Joaquin and I then gathered all of our stuff and began moving to the outside of the church to film our very first full scene of our short! We sat on the grass and rehearsed a couple lines from the script first to get used to things and then got to shooting! For protective measures, we went to film the entire scene in one take as one big mid shot and I gotta say that was pretty challenging BAHAHHA I have acted a whole bunch in the past, but this is probably the time I have had to speak the most! We eventually got it down though with no problem...........welll except one!
joaquin's battery died
AAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHJAHHFJhahhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!
JOY!
This time around, we did NOTT have the power of the lovely church to charge the battery since mass was beginning and we didn't wanna interfere. We stood there for a while all like "awww man what do we do??" until Joaquin told me to stay sat and began going to their car to check if there were any outlets in there that supported his battery charger compartment thingy butttt unfortunately there weren't any! CRIKEY! This meant that we had to cut filming short that day, ending at about 6:45-6:55 instead of our scheduled 7:30. Rip filming day 2 you would have loved Annie's postcard! Fortunately, we had the rest of the weekend to lock in on other scenes for film and I have a strong feeling we will end the week with a lot of footage and more confidence on our hands :]
For this filming day, despite how short it was, I gathered A LOT of BTS with my lovely Rebel T7 and could not be happier with the funny moments I got :D! One of my favorite things about these types of projects is having a good time with the people you're working with and getting closer with them as a result :] Yay for the power of friendship! I shall now show you my
Bangtan Boys!
emi rehearsing lines while waiting for
joaquin to get my mics from their car
ANNIE CHRISTOPHER WITH THE BITS
rehearsing lines together before shooting!
annie christian with da cam
testing the Otto, Annie shot
while jamming out to some
random car's music :D
different angle
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alrighty super awesome blog readers! That should be it for today's post :] And a wrap on our first two days of filming! We feel much more secure and confident now in what we are doing and I know that confidence will definitely increase by a long shot by the end of this Sunday! So stay tuned! I have another super awesome prod post comin up for you all to enjoy!!! As for now though, I must make some social media posts, drink water, and uhh like idk eat crackers or something :D
booooaa noite mis amores eu te amos muitos!!
%20(better%20version).png)
I then went on to show my group some of the social media posts, specifically the meet the crew/cast to give them a clear demonstration of my brand along with the people we have chosen to act for each character (literally the 3 of us + my bestie westie Isa as Mable :D)! Along with those posts, I also showed off my very first post that went up on Insta, that being the super duper awesome promo art showing Otto smiling sinisterly with "THE SCOURGE" in a sick font right on her side. 
I primarily demonstrated that post to my group to make clear what type of font/typography we were going for with our film and again, they thought it was really cool :] I love these group meetings, because genuinely they make me feel so much less alone and make me just trust the process much better. We will be just fine, and that is something that I really took away from this second group meeting :] To anybody in my group currently reading this, I'm wishing the best for your project and hope it turns out the best it could possibly be! Thank you guys for hearing me out and offering nice feedback on everything I had to show!
%20(1).png)
%20(better%20version)%20(4).png)
%20(better%20version).png)
%20(better%20version)%20(3).png)
