THE PRODUCTION CHRONICLES, EPISODE 2: FILMING DAY 1! YAYY!!

Hello and welcome back super awesome blog readers! HAPPY FRI(YAY)! Being completely honest I forgot it was in fact a Fri(yay) until like an hour ago. Whoops.

 Today has been quite the slow/fast at the same time one! Why has it it been kinda slow, Emi? If you didn't already know, the rest of my group is currently at STN and I miss them very dearly (insert multiple heartbreak emojis and a singular crying face emoji and more heartbreak emojis) so that meant my chemistry and sociology classes went by quite slowly, but of course media went by quickly! Even without them! This class should be 2 hours long, not one and a half!!             

 So what are we talking about today?? THE SUPER AWESOME FIRST DAY OF FILMING! YAYYY!! The very day we filmed was 2/23/25, almost a week ago at Vista View Park, and it was very much a super awesome experience! With that being said, I'll be diving into the shooting process, important shots, and extra fun stuff! LET'S GO!

For the thumbnail! (shoutout to Zach for taking this absolute banger)

THE SUPER AWESOME FIRST DAY OF FILMING! YAYYYY!!

Following our banger ahh storyboard, we began shooting the scenes where Charlotte walks up a hill while carrying a body bag and shovel. As said before, it took a while to do some shots as there were many people getting their morning work out in, but we got all the shots we needed successfully by the end! 

The main thing that we wanted to convey with these shots was the feeling of loneliness and isolation through the open and dry looking setting. Throughout our research, we noticed that Westerns typically rely on showing the setting more than the character to really bring out the fact that the film is taking place in the wild west and further immerse their audiences, so we also wanted to do that here too! Down below I'll show one of the longshots included in the walking up the hill sequence showcasing the setting!

SIGNIFICANT SHOT 1!

About an hour later, we began filming at the top of the hill that Charlotte was climbing on! Once we got up the hill, we immediately stopped our tracks because we spotted burrowing owls (that were enclosed by a fence, its cool guys)! This was genuinely my first time seeing an owl in person AND in the wild, so you could probably guess I was extremely fascinated! My group and I admired them for a moment, and Zach took some pictures of them with his camera (one of them growled at him which was pretty funny). I don't have any of those pictures but here's something similar to what we saw!

The exact owls we saw! 

(found while looking at pictures from Vista View Park after searching it up)

After staring at the owls for a considerable amount of time, once more following our banger ahh storyboard, we began shooting the shots leading up to the burial sequence! The first few shots showed Charlotte walking up the hill from the front, throwing her stuff on the ground, taking off her hat to show her luxurious, amazing, one of a kind hair. While filming these shots, Zach really liked the background of the area I was standing on and took 2 icy cold pictures! I genuinely never felt cooler than at that moment guys.

ICY COLD PICTURE 1

ICY COLD PICTURE 2

 (This was the thumbnail, but here it is again for your amazing eyes to stare at)

Once we finished the first sequence, Nico grabbed the dirt bag we brought to create the illusion of digging, and dumped it all on the ground. At that moment, he thought that we could have brought more dirt as what we had was not the optimal amount for fake digging; but regardless of the amount of dirt we had, it all worked out okay as during the digging scenes I only dug up the small portions of fake dirt that were there and not the actual property! (at least I think so)

Important thing that I would like to mention! In this digging scene, Charlotte is supposed to pull out a picture of Phillip, butttt we forgot to bring it that day, so we plan on getting that shot once 3/4 of us come back from STN!

A significant shot that we filmed on top the hill was an improvised one that focused on a white and purple flower! Renn wanted to implement this, not only because we would definitely break the law if we dug up an actual hole, but to also include symbolism, with the flower on the dirt representing the closeness of life and death with its color conveying purity and life.

SIGNIFICANT SHOT 2!

A bit after we filmed the burial sequence, Zach's camera shut down due to the heat, so as I said previously, we sat down and I ate a super awesome sandwich and stuff! 

Once the camera was back and ready to go, we went on to film the close up shot where Charlotte grabs her cross. As you saw in the last post, my nails were very purple, so our second starring actor, Renn's hands, came to the rescue! Basically what we did is that I gave my white blouse and gloves to Renn and he acted as my hands for a very quiet minute...to be honest it was kind of unnerving, BUT WE GOT IT DONE! Thank you group for turning around when I had to take off my costume (insert saluting emoji).

And the actor of the year award goes to Renn's hands!!! (everyone stands up and claps)  (Oscars are coming up cambridge get hype)

A bit after, we noticed that there was a huge flock of black birds far ahead on the hill and Zach immediately went to go shoot some clips of them, which can possibly be used in the opener! Consider them backup shots!

Live footage of Zach filming the birds!

It was then time to shoot one of the final sequences! It was improvised on set, but Nico requested that we make a cross and stick it on the grave in order to add visual appeal.

Live footage of Nico thinking about adding a cross!

We thought this idea was pretty cool, so we got the appropriate materials (sticks) and used the rope we brought to construct the cross! 

The final product! (It would be pretty funny if it was still there)

A shot that came from this that I would like to include due to its awesomeness is Charlotte tying up the wooden cross that she will eventually plant on the grave of her boss. According to Zach, this was shot from a low angle to create a sense of power over the dead body below Charlotte. Cute, I know!

SIGNIFICANT SHOT 3!

After maybe about 4 hours of hard work, shovels, and sandwiches, it was time to film the final shot of the opener! What's shown here is Charlotte walking away from the cross and proceeding to start her search for Phillip, armed and ready for whatever is coming her way. This shot is my personal favorite because it's just so dang cool, like guys come on its so cool, guys COME ON!!!

Its so cool right cambridge (say yes)

After we finished filming a few shots of the same scene, it was finally time to return to our humble abodes and receive adequate rest from our arduous efforts. When I got back home, I chugged a cup of water, and immediately went to shower. Guys it was so hot by the end of filming, guys it was so hot, guys it was very hot. BUT ALAS! A few hours later while I was hanging out in the living room with my parents writing the character development post, I got many texts from the group chat that showed some of the shots taken that day and MAN, my socks literally got knocked off.

Live footage of my socks getting knocked off

As long as it all took, filming day 1 was so much fun, and so incredibly worth it.

 Thank you group for being awesome and stuff :D

EMI'S SUPER AWESOME CONCLUSION 

What an awesome Fri(yay) it has been! I had band rehearsal until 6 and I played a solo for one of the songs because my other tenor sax buddy is sick and I did pretty good, so much so that my teacher made everyone clap for me! :DD YAYY!!! Band is awesome!! 

After that, I went back home and as my dad and I stepped out of the car, he noticed that some of the planets were aligning! Which is kinda rare!! So we decided to hop back in the car and went to our neighborhood's clubhouse because it has a super awesome view to the lake! I filmed a quick video of the planets, but you may want to zoom in to see the little specks that are Uranus (lol), Jupiter, and Mars! I used the front phone camera BAHAHHAHA sorry chat I was too excited to be conscious about my filming.

PLANETARY ALIGNMENT!  (mars was there, trust)

 That is everything that I have for today super awesome blog readers, I must now drink water and sleep as it is quite late, even for a Fri(yay) night! Good night/whatever time it is for you everyone!

THE PRODUCTION CHRONICLES, EPISODE 1: THE MISADVENTURES AT VISTA VIEW PARK (production obstacles post)

Hello everyone and happy Wednesday to you all!

 Why is it spelled as Wednesday it literally should be Wensday. 

(I wrote this first half on a wensday, sorry if I threw you off cambridge)

HELLO EVERYONE! Guess what time it is??.... PRODUCTION TIME! Today, I'll only be talking about our chosen location and obstacles that came across our way while filming there, so strap in, grab a snack, and get ready to hear about our super epic awesome time at Vista View Park!

For the thumbnail! Will be explained later, swear.

THE SUPER EPIC AWESOME TIME AT VISTA VIEW PARK

Before we get into anything else, I want to answer this question real quick: how did we decide on our final location? Ever since we began the very basic 1st draft of this project, our main worry has been all about location. At first we thought about Southwest Ranches but we figured that the grass was way too green and there wasn't really a specific good place where we could film at as it did not have any hills included and we very much needed that! Florida is unfortunately hill-less...except for one place...VISTA VIEW PARK! Zach and Renn visited this place for a brief moment and settled on filming there, obviously because of the hills, and the grass was relatively dry and not as green due to the fact that it hasn't been rained on in a while, which is perfect for a Western.

It currently looks like this but with the grass being a lot more yellow and dry looking

And with the location established, Renn sent out a message in the group chat saying that we were going to film there on Sunday (2/23/25) at 8 am and thankfully not 5am as the park does not open that early.

So what did I do with this information? I stayed up until almost 1 am working on the character development post from last week....YAY ME! Time management am I right? (no) Luckily I woke up in one piece, quickly put on my costume, ate breakfast and was ready to walk out the door. BUT WAIT! I was missing something...and that was the crucifix necklace. I asked my dad if he had one and "no, go ask your mom" was the answer; I then asked my mom and she told me my brother had one and I could use it but to take THE BEST CARE of it.... or else. And spoiler alert! I did! I'm so very responsible (most of the time) (thanks brother).

OBSTACLE 1: When I was just about to arrive at the park, I got a call from Renn and he asked me if I had any scissors because the group brought a rope and they had to cut it. I did not have any scissors on me but my dad luckily had a small pocket knife!

Literally what my dad had! (incredibly useful) (thank you dad)

OBSTACLE 2: After we got the pocket knife, we successfully cut the rope and were ready to be on our way to find a good filming place! Until we noticed another problem...DUN! DUN! DUNNN!! My nails were purple! They were colored, and cowgirls didn't have their nails painted, we wanted that historical accuracy! So what did we do about this? Did we go buy nail polish remover? Did we ask anyone around us if they had any?

no

Renn grabbed the pocket knife and tried his best to remove them while Zach and Nico used their bare hands to remove all the others...but unfortunately the amazing nail lady that did them was way too good at her job and made the nails very hard to remove (I would also like to mention that my nails were already in a bad condition before this so it was all okay). After a bit, we eventually gave up and decided that in the close up scene where Charlotte grabs her cross, we are going to use Renn's hands instead as our skin tones aren't too far off! So whoops...sorry nails, I promise you'll get a new coat of paint soon.

Bye bye nails! (we tried)

OBSTACLE 3: After this, we walked around the park to try and find a good filming location but HUGE SHOCKER! Many people were out running, walking, or biking on that beautiful Sunday morning! I was very caught off guard about that when I really shouldn't have been because of course they would Emi, come on. 

Squad trying to find a good area (he's off)

After a bit of walking and failing to find a good location, we decided to get into Zach's car and drive around the park instead so our feet don't fall off. Luckily, we eventually found a decent area which was at the top of the park, which had little to no people! We ended up using the hill that leads to the top area to film the scenes where Charlotte is walking up with the shovel and body bag, and the top area itself to film all the burial scenes! For the climbing up the hill scenes, we literally had to wait for the right time to film as there were a handful of townsfolk getting their morning work out in....and it did take a while at times.

Renn filming at the hill leading to top!

Squad waiting for people to clear out! (I danced back at Zach eventually guys don't worry)

OBSTACLE 4: Despite the many people, filming the hill scenes went quick and relatively smoothly! Immediately after, we moved up everything to the top of the hill and filmed the rest of the scenes there. There luckily weren't any issues with people up there and we got our scenes done pretty quick! One little thing that stopped us though was the heat, which made Zach's camera shut down momentarily. So because of that, we sat down on a picnic table for a while; which yes, did slow down the process, but we really needed a break, so maybeee it's okay that the camera overheated. (i ate a sandwich, it was very good)

 YAY FOR OVERCOMING OBSTACLES!

EMI'S SUPER AWESOME CONCLUSION:

That would be all for today super awesome blog viewers! I hope you enjoyed hearing all about the silly little obstacles we had to overcome during the first filming day. Speaking of that...expect a post on filming day 1 soon! YAY! For now I must drink water and study for a chemistry test I have tomorrow! So exciting! (help)

THE ONLY PLANNING POST OF PROD WEEK! THEEE STORYBOARD! YIPPEE!

YIPPEE! (totally not requested by Robbie)

YIPPEE!! (totally not requested by Robbie)

 Hello all and welcome to week 5 of blogs! This post is going to be the only planning post for this week because it's PRODUCTION WEEK! YAY! But before I talk about all of that, I first have to tell you all about our storyboard! So sit back, grab a super awesome snack and let's get on with it!

SO WHAT'S A STORYBOARD AND HOW DID YOURS COME TO BE?

A storyboard can be defined as a sequence of panels that include quick sketches used to pre-visualize the shots that will be included in a production. The storyboard typically goes over the whole script written by the main writer of a production, and is definitely important to the entire process and makes lives a whole lot easier! Our storyboard came to life soon after the final script primarily written by Nico got done, and was drawn by none other than ME! I! EMI!

 As you can probably tell, many long shots are going to be used throughout the opener due to the fact that Westerns typically feature a number of these types of shots while also being very slow paced. I also used the descriptions of the shots stated in the script and wrote out any pieces of dialogue (voice over in this case) that will be said during a specific shot, which to be honest, really helped me understand the script a lot better, which will be very important as I very much have to understand each shot so I already know what directions to expect while acting! To further deepen my understanding on shots, I wrote out little details about some of them, like in the 4th panel of the first page I wrote "hair tucked in" and in the last panel I wrote "She then shovels dirt back!" 

Making this storyboard was quite the arduous effort, but I of course enjoyed every bit of it! Drawing this took me about 2 hours to finish because I'm totally not a perfectionist and wanted each drawing to look good even for a storyboard where stickmen are acceptable. After the two hours, I FINISHED IT! I notified the group and they immediately wanted me to send it, and so I did...AND THEY LOVED IT! What a very happy day that was.

THATS SO AWESOME! WAS IT HELPFUL?

 It has been proven that this storyboard made us a lot more sure about our shots and helped us insanely yesterday during filming as we were able to know specifically what shots were done and what shots were needed to be filmed! During filming, anytime we needed a refresher on a certain shot, we would pull out the storyboard and go from there, and I think production would have been a lot harder without it, so when we film the rest of the needed shots in our opener, we will definitely be using it again! Storyboards will always be an absolutely needed item in filming and I will continue to use (and draw) them until time itself ends! So thank you, storyboard, for all the great things you have done.

CAN I SEE IT?

Yes of course you can my beloved blog viewer, there it is right down below!

EMI'S SUPER AWESOME CONCLUSION:

That would be all for planning this week folks! Be prepared for a whole blast of production that will come to screens near you soon! I must now leave because dinner is ready and I have to eat in order to keep my awesome self alive. Have a great evening/ whatever time it is for you super awesome blog viewers!

REFERENCES:                                         

  Wikipedia Contributors. (2019a, February 11). Storyboard. Wikipedia; Wikimedia Foundation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storyboard

HERE COMES THE BEST PART: CHARACTERS!!

HELLO ALL! WELCOME TO THE FINAL POST OF THE SUPER AWESOME 4TH WEEK!

If you couldn't tell, I'm very excited as today's blog post is a very special one to me because character creation has to be one of my favorite things that ever existed in the whole wide world! Here I'll be talking about our two main characters in our opener, Charlotte and Phillip! So sit back and relax and be prepared super awesome blog readers, because by the time you finish reading this post, you will know these characters better than your own self >:D! 

PART 1: CREATING CHARLOTTE: OUR SUPER AWESOME PROTAGONIST!

HOW DID CHARLOTTE COME TO LIFE? CHOOSING THE LOOK:

I've already went over this before, but Charlotte came to life soon after I designed her costume! At first, the designs were a bit not too simple but due to my awesomeness, I simplified them so Renn can have a more enjoyable time sowing some parts. (update: we ended up not sowing anything due to lack of time. BUT WE STILL GOT THE COSTUME!) To be honest, I spent no time fully designing Charlotte because I'm acting as her so I literally just drew myself with way fluffier hair, droopier eyes, and a cowboy hat. YAY! Charlotte's outfit consists of a white blouse with a dark red vest, a dark brown long skirt (just got changed into dark brown pants instead), and boots. Her colors are going to be darker, with the main color palette being dark reds, blacks and browns as she's a very secretive and mysterious person, hiding the sweeter side of her personality.

Now I will proceed to show the said look of Charlotte that I have been talking about for the past however minutes long it took you to read the last paragraph! The drawings are going to be the same, except one is a colored version done digitally and an uncolored version which I have included because I really love the way it turned out!

THE LOOK! (Colored version)

THE LOOK! (uncolored version)

WE INTERUPPT THIS PROGRAM FOR A VERY IMPORTANT PSA: Our group has decided that Charlotte won't be wearing a long skirt anymore because we want her to hide the fact that she's woman throughout and having a skirt will sort of give it away.

SO WITH THAT I HAVE A NEW COLORED ONLY DRAWING OF CHARLOTTE WITH PANTS!

THE LOOK! (new and improved version)

HOW DID CHARLOTTE COME TO LIFE? CHOOSING THE NAME:

I'll be honest, this one took a while to figure out as my group didn't actually think about giving her a name until I brought it up the other day. After a while, Nico suggested that we name her Zimri after the king featured in the Bible who gave his life away, according to Wikipedia (2025), "[king] Omri laid siege to Tizrah. Finding his position untenable, Zimri set the palace on fire, killing himself." I personally thought this choice was cool and added meaning to Charlottes character as she is willing to give her life away in compensation for killing Phillip's father, but Renn suggested that we instead give her a more historically accurate name instead as this opener does in fact take place in the 1800's and not the biblical era which I can totally agree with (but I still think Zimri is a really cool name, don't get me wrong)! 

King Zimri! (credits go to Wikipedia)

To find Charlotte's potential name, I went on a website that listed popular names from the 1800's! After looking through the female section for some time, these names stood out to me the most: Charlotte, Lydia, Ethel, Clara, and Lucy. Out of these favorites, we eventually chose Charlotte as it was the one that stood out to us the most and to be honest, very much fits her!

THE CHARLOTTE DATABASE: HER PERSONALITY

Charlotte as said before, leans more on the quiet and introverted side, being more reserved, mysterious, and mostly keeping to herself around others. Charlotte can also be described as calm, smart, a hard worker, loyal, kind, organized, and tends to sometimes act on her emotion instead of logic. From this we can assume that Charlotte is an INFJ personality type with an enneagram of 6. I totally did not take an MBTI test in character and got INFJ as the result...nah who would do that??? (me) (I would) 

INFJ INFO! (credit goes to 16personalites.com)

TYPE 6 ENNEAGRAM! (credit goes to enneagraminstitute.com)

Using all this personality info along with costuming and color choices, I've made a mood board for Charlotte that helped me envision her character and vibe a lot better! Here she is in a nutshell everyone!

CHARLOTTE MOODBOARD!

THE CHARLOTTE DATABASE: HER BACKSTORY AND DEVELOPMENT

I mentioned a bit of Charlotte's background in the plot blogpost a few days ago, but this time I'm going to add a bit more detail because this post is strictly about character development and I wanna embrace that :D!

Charlotte is a 25 year old woman who was born in the New England region in 1807, specifically in Vermont, and lived there for at least 3 years of her life before her family began to struggle financially as her father's job at the herding company there wasn't paying enough for them to stay a float. The family traveled all the way to New Mexico via train in 1811 for the father's new herding job at a new company, and stayed to live there since. Charlotte spent the rest of her childhood in the old west, and spent most of it in solitude as she was a very quiet kid who never really had friends at all. The only person Charlotte spent most of her time with was with her father, and he would usually teach her how to herd and shoot; both skills he has acquired from his current and ex job. As she got older, cowgirl got very acquainted with these skills that will eventually lead to her getting a job as a herder! At the age of 21 in 1828, Charlotte met a cowboy named Dallas at the town's local library that she usually went to during pass time. Dallas eventually became Charlotte's husband as they continuously got closer as time went on and the two got married in 1830 and happily lived together, until he unfortunately died due to lung fever (which was actually pneumonia but they didn't know that...it was the 1800's!)

After her husband's death, Charlotte decided to become a cowgirl and took the job of herding and tending to livestock! Since then, she has had to deal with her aggressive boss that always mistreated her mostly due to her gender. One day in 1832, his abuse was so bad, Charlotte shot him purely out of self defense, leading to immense guilt and a bajillion wanted posters with her face being plastered around town. After finding out the boss has a son, Phillip, Charlotte began to travel through the land to find him so he can decide what to do with her, and once she did, Phillip decided to refrain from killing her as he first decides to go on a journey to where his father was born because it feels like the right way to commemorate him. On the journey, the two face dangerous conflicts and become closer because of it, leading to them both realizing it isn't worth it to give up their lives.

PHEW! That was a lot to unpack! Hope you're still with us after reading all that. (you better have enjoyed and found it really cool too)

PART 2: CREATING PHILLIP: OUR SUPER AWESOME DEUTERAGONIST!

HOW DID PHILLIP COME TO LIFE? CHOOSING THE LOOK:

Phillip won't be explicitly featured in the opener because only a picture of him will be shown throughout but he's still a character! And this post is about characters! So I'm gonna talk about him! (there obviously won't be as much lore as there was with Charlotte)

Phillip came to life soon after Charlotte did! I'll be honest, I didn't actually design a costume for him before I drew him but SHHH, Nico already had a costume that we will definitely use to make our lives easier. Just like with Charlotte, drawing out Phillip wasn't too hard at all, as his appearance is literally just Nico with a cowboy hat. This fella's costume has a lighter color palette with beiges, light browns, and light blue, but also has very dark blue vest. As you have probably seen in the costume post, I decided that this dark blue would stand for the grief Phillip constantly carries for his father, similar to how Charlotte's black hat also represents her grief for her husband.

To conclude this section, I will now be showing the full look of Phillip! (only colored this time because it looks better than the uncolored version)

THE LOOK!

HOW DID PHILLIP COME TO LIFE? CHOOSING THE NAME:

For this, I referred to the same website I used for Charlotte that had a great amount of popular names from the 1800's to choose from! From all of the names listed for males, the ones that stood out to me the most were Charlie, Michael, Phillip, and Leroy. Out of these picked names, we eventually decided on Phillip because just look at him! That's a Phillip if I've ever seen one!

THE PHILLIP DATABASE: HIS PERSONALITY

 Very much unlike Charlotte, Phillip leans on the loud and extroverted side! He is a lot less mysterious and intimidating and easily opens up to others. Phillip can be considered as kind, confident, energetic, fun loving and spontaneous, and also tends to follow his heart and intuition more often when making important decisions. Taking all these traits into consideration (and my totally not taken in character personality test results), Phillip can be categorized as an ESFP personality type with an overall enneagram of 8!

ESFP INFO! (credit goes to 16personalities.com)

TYPE 8 ENNEAGRAM! (credit goes to enneagraminstitute.com)

Using all of this personality info, costume design and colors, I've made a mood board all about Phillip! Here he is in a nutshell :)

THE PHILLIP DATABASE: HIS BACKSTORY AND DEVELOPMENT

Phillip is a 24 year old man who was born in New Mexico in the year of 1808 and lived there ever since. As a kid, he was a very talkative and energetic kid who had many friends and spent most of his time adventuring the great outdoors! As you may know, Phillip's father is the owner of the local herding company and accidentally got murdered by Charlotte in  1832. Phillip's relationship with his father was complicated; the two had frequent arguments but still loved each other and just didn't know to express it. After his dad died, Phillip of course became filled with grief and immediately wished he could have told his dad that he loved him before his death. Once Charlotte and Phillip came across each other, Phillip was very much mad at her and obviously expressed that (verbally). As said before, Phillip decides to not kill Charlotte yet and the two go on a journey to his father's hometown and realize on the way that there really isn't any need for either of them to die.

EMI'S SUPER AWESOME CONCLUSION AND THE CHARACTER ART GALLERY!

If you made it through this whole post in one piece, CONGRATULATIONS! You truly are a trooper, here's a gold star my friend. And with that, week 4 is over! This has truly been my favorite week out of all of them so far and had so much fun making all these awesome posts! I'm also very happy to say that my group and I have filmed today and got almost everything done, so stay tuned for next week's production posts!

Now to truly conclude this amazing week, (and totally not because I want an excuse to show my art) I made a collection of all the art I made inspired by this production! You may have seen some of these lying around in previous blogposts while there are others I haven't put here yet, so I thought gathering them in one big place for all to see would be pretty awesome! I hope you enjoy these drawings just as much as I enjoyed drawing them :D! I'll continue to add to this gallery until this project is fully done. YAY!

Charlotte shrugging it off! 

Charlotte without the hat! She looks much friendlier right?!

Charlotte's wanted poster! Totally not made out of impulse.

First drawing of Phillip!

First drawing of Charlotte!

(As requested by Renn) Charlotte with Sylas from the music marketing project that was way back in December (refer to my music marketing blog post if you're curious ;D)! I love my alter egos!

Charlotte and Phillip!

Charlotte and Phillip at the father's burial site! Totally not an awkward moment.

Charlotte and Phillip giving a thumbs up!

Quick drawings of Charlotte after her design change!

dead ahh boss

Charlotte and Phillip running away from bounty hunters! Fun times!

My 3 alter egos in one!! From left to right: Sylas, Charlotte, Peer Perisher

REFERENCES:

16 Personalities. (2024). Free personality test. 16 Personalities; NERIS Analytics Limited. https://www.16personalities.com/free-personality-test

The Enneagram Institute. (2024). Type Eight. The Enneagram Institute. https://www.enneagraminstitute.com/type-8/

AUDIOOOOO!!

Greetings everyone and welcome to the third blog post of the best posting week ever! (I'm really loving every single post that we are having to make if you couldn't tell) It's been an awesome Saturday and what I have been doing up until now is working on the character post, but then all of the sudden my brain was all like "EMI! You have 2/4 blogs done for the week and you realllyyy need to post that third one before tomorrow or you're TOAST!" And so I was like "Oh man YOU'RE RIGHT! Thank you brain!" So now here I am, and what's the topic for today? AUDIO!! So grab a super awesome snack and enjoy all that I have to say for today!

For the thumbnail! (they're at the place where cowgirl buried her boss)

YO EMI! WHY IS AUDIO SO IMPORTANT?

Glad you asked! Audio in film complement visuals, make visuals more realistic, drive character personality, and add emotional impact! (credit for that info goes to myself from the sound project blog I posted in October...YAY ME!) All of these benefits that audio provides factors into the overall immersion of a film and therefore makes it so much more impactful and entertaining to viewers! I know this isn't the genre we are doing, but take horror films for example! Without the use of audio especially during jump scares and intense scenes, these movies would have no impact at all, and can actually be a little funny; like imagine a demented monster popping up on screen without any screams, shrieks, or other loud shocking sounds...I would crack up.

COOL! SO HOW ARE YOU GOING TO USE IT IN YOUR SUPER AWESOME WESTERN OPENER?

Typically, Western films take place in the great outdoors and so that means we would have to incorporate a good amount of nature sounds such as wind, trees blowing, the crunch of grass that's being walked on, digging of the shovel, and the sound of birds or any other animal! 

The great outdoors! From Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)

So how are we going to add these sounds? We plan on using sound effect databases like Pixabay and maybe try to add foley for the walking, grass crunch, and digging if we have the time! Back in October, we learned how to create a soundscape from scratch, and 3 out of 4 members are in TV, so everyone in the group has a good amount of experience with audio! 

We are also thinking of adding music to our opener as well! According to Sones (2023), "Most scores that are a part of the American Western genre are made up of acoustic instruments, from a full orchestral force to traditional folk instruments. These combine to create an expansive yet distinguished soundworld that accurately represents the American West." Since the first 2 minutes are slow paced and not climatic, we are planning on utilizing stringed and acoustic instruments to add to the mysterious and relatively calm vibe of our opener!

Here are some samples we want to use!

SOUND OPTIONS!

EMI'S SUPER AWESOME CONCLUSION:

That would be all for the audio super awesome blog readers! I'm currently very excited because tomorrow is the day we have all been waiting for....FILMING DAY!! If you're wondering, we are in fact very ready! After their STN practice, Renn, Nico, and Zach went to Home Depot and Party City to get all the props, and today I got all the parts for my costume! I'm so happy we are getting everything together and really looking forward to the end product. YAYY!!

I must now continue working on the character development post so see you all later! I hope you also had a super awesome Saturday like I did! :D

REFERENCES:                                                                                                                                                  Sones,Z. (2023, February 27). The Historic Sound of Western Movie Scores - Indie Tips. IndieTips. https://indietips.com/western-movie-scores/

WOOHOO MISE EN SCENE TIME! PART 2: COSTUMES!

Good morning/afternoon/evening/ what ever time it is for you super awesome blog readers! This post will be sort of like a really epic sequel to the last one as I am still on the topic of probably one of the best things in the whole wide world... MISE-EN SCENE!! In this post I will specifically be talking about costumes! Throughout, I'll be focusing on our protagonist as she is going to be the only one who's costume is explicitly shown in the opener! I'll also be discussing a little bit of our deuteragonist's costume because I consider that important as well :D

PART 1: THE SUPER AWESOME BREAKDOWN OF COWGIRL'S COSTUME!

WE INTERUPPT THIS PROGRAM FOR A VERY SPECIAL PSA: Hello everyone it's Emi from the future! I've come to say that I have gotten all the parts for my costume and words cannot express how happy and proud I am with the look right now! HERE IT IS!

Can't forget the gloves!!

OKAY, BREAKDOWN TIME!

All images of the costume parts are mine!

COLORS: Cowgirl's costume will be on the darker side with moodier colors such as deep reds, browns, blacks, and a touch of white. The dark reds will convey cowgirl's strength and power even as a woman in the 1800's, the browns her maturity and softer side of her personality, the white her goodness and purity, and the blacks her secretiveness and hidden mourning over her dead husband.

BLACK COWBOY HAT: As mentioned in the prop post, this hat follows the Western convention of cowboy hats seen almost everywhere. This hat will hide a bit of her face adding to her mysterious character, with the black color emphasizing that even more as it can convey mystery in film!

DARK RED VEST: This vest will represent cowgirl's strength with its deep red color and style, and really make her look like she's not one to mess with! Through our research, my group has learned that historically accurate cowboy and cowgirl costumes usually included vests to add an extra layer of protection and such! Considering that cowgirl is in fact a cowperson (we will give her a name real soon I promise), it obviously makes sense to give her a vest in order to better look like one! 

WHITE BLOUSE: Underneath the vest, cowgirl will be wearing a white blouse that will highlight her good nature and purity as she is fact a religious woman who does have a very pure soul (well ignoring the fact that she killed her boss..BUT THAT WAS AN ACCIDENT! SWEAR!!)

BLACK BELT: This belt won't be so important...it's only use is going to be to hold cowgirls gun (which may or may not be included in the opener). It also adds more to her cowfolk look, as real cowboys did in fact wear belts to hold their ammo and guns!

BLACK GLOVES: Just like the belt, I only added this costume part to complete the overall look and make it pop, and also because cowboys did in fact use gloves to protect their hands from the hard conditions of the wild west!

DARK BROWN VELVET PANTS: The color of these pants will be used to communicate cowgirl's maturity and serious personality as they are a comfortable dark brown color! These pants are casual and convenient for a cowperson like cowgirl (hang in there, I swear the name is on its way) who spend their time traveling the wild west and riding horses! 

DARK BROWN OR BLACK BOOTS: Okay before I talk about the costume piece I actually want to tell you about my little tiny dilemma with the boots at the moment. My mom only has dark brown boots with a relatively high heel, whichhh cowboys didn't really wear back in the day...they weren't THAT stylish (although I really wish they did, I mean imagine strutting around with your heels around the wild west looking like a total diva...LIKE??!?). And so taking this tiny problem into consideration, I went around looking for other boots that did not have heels and voilá! I found black boots with barely any heel! YAY! I also found these big dark brown boots also without a heel but I don't know how that's going to work with the pants...so chances are that the black boots will come out victorious. HOORAY!

Here's some images for the super awesome visual learners:

Historically accurate cowboy boots! Heel was present but not that high.

Unfortunately not historically accurate dark brown boots with high heels (and a bow! I actually didn't notice that until now)

The black boots with tiny heel! (the sequins are going to get covered by my pants so it's okay)

LAST BUT NOT LEAST

ME! oh and the really long boots (they're bigger in person I swear)

OKAY MOVING ON!

 Being a cowperson, cowgirl will be wearing boots because they are a part of the average cowboy outfit due to the fact they were primarily used to make riding horses easier and more convenient (not that she is going to ride one but yeah :D). The darker color of these boots also add to the more serious tone of cowgirl's overall outfit as brown usually can represent maturity.

PART 2: THE SUPER AWESOME HALF BREAKDOWN OF THE SON'S COSTUME!

COLORS: This fella's costume will mainly be using a color palette of beige, light browns, light blue, and very dark blue. The lighter colors like beige represent his bright and happy personality that shows when he is not blinded by grief, while the dark blue (you guessed it!) does indeed represent his grief and sadness over the death of his father.

LIGHT BROWN COWBOY HAT: Apart from the obvious reason of making him wear a cowboy hat for the convention (although I don't think he will be featured in the opener with one on BUT ALAS!), the son's hat, unlike cowgirl's, will be a lighter color and will not hide his face as he really isn't the mysterious and quiet type like her.

SPAGHETTI WESTERN STYLE SCARF THINGY: Taking inspiration from the typical Spaghetti Western costume choice, we decided to include this in his design. The color of this scarf will be beige with a streak of brown running through it, further adding to the brighter look of his costume and personality!

EMI'S SUPER AWESOME CONCLUSION:

Another 3 hour sit down of writing a weekly blog post has been finished!! YAY! I hope you all enjoyed what I had in store for the costumes of our super awesome protagonists and I'm definitely looking forward to seeing them in action once we finish our opener!

It's late but not that late for a Friday so I will now drink water and NOT go to sleep because I would love to work more on the character development post...IT NEEDS TO GET DONE!! LIKE REALLY SOON! 

For now stay tuned super awesome blog readers and goodnight! (or good morning or afternoon or YEAH!!)

REFERENCES 

Jennifer. (2023). Color Theory For Costuming. Tribe Nawaar. https://www.tribenawaar.com/color-theory-for-costuming/

Lamport, I., & Lamport, I.  (2016, May 11). Psychology of the Colour Brown. Inside out Style. https://insideoutstyleblog.com/2016/05/psychology-of-the-colour-brown.html