Vacant CCR

 

How do your products represent social groups or issues?

The two main social groups/issues being represented in our movie is mental illness awareness and discrimination due to social status. Our film does this by showing how out of control someone who has an untreated mental illness can become. The teenagers are unwilling to talk to the homeless man simply because of the fact that he is homeless. They take him as a joke and think he is disgusting.

How do the elements of your product work together to create a sense of branding?

We created a sense of unity between our separate films by using the studio name “Meyler sibling Studios” we found this name to be very catchy and memorable so, we decided to use it again. We also wanted to create an expanding universe in our film similar to Quentin Tarantino’s films. We did this by making the movie the friends were going to see a movie Meyler Sibling Studios made. For our post card, we used a picture from one of our original posters. This was one of the main characters, James, holding a lighter. We wanted to show consistency throughout the movie, so we attempted to stick to the general aesthetic shown in the poster. For editing, we want the Meyler Sibling Studios editing style to be easily identifiable and almost iconic. Because of this, we used many similar editing techniques to those we used last year. We wanted to use a reoccurring actor in the Meyler Sibling Studio films but, we had difficulties contacting him and trying to find a time to meet up with him so unfortunately, we were unable to use him. Instead, I had to be the only reappearing actor across all the Meyler Sibling Studios films. For the filming itself, we like to use the Pov shot, we used it extensively in our two-minute opening project but minimally in Vacant. Nevertheless, I feel as if our cinematographic style is something that represents our branding.

How do your products engage with the audience?

Our film tells the tale of what happens when someone messes with the wrong person. Albeit this topic is a little overdone especially in the horror genre, I think we have put a unique twist on the sub-genre. I have never watched a horror movie involving a murderous homeless man. I feel as if this scenario could quite possibly happen since many people who live on the street have some sort of mental illness or are addicted to drugs. Although it would likely require more than refusing to spare some change and scoffing to cause a man to go on a killing rampage, it is never out of the possibility. Unlike many horror movies, our villain isn’t too unrealistic and exaggerated to add fear. The fear comes in the fact that this could happen, even if not under these exact circumstances. Aside from the plot, the fact that much of our editing has been done in no more than two weeks is no small feat. My sister’s editing skills are impressive to say the least.

How did your research inform your products in the way they use or challenge conventions?

1)      How did research affect the film?

2)      What conventions we used (horror: choppy editing dark lighting)

While researching the conventions for the horror movie genre, we decided we didn’t want to follow the mainstream design of many horror movies. Because of this decision, we gave our characters more comedic, likeable personalities. This differs from many generic horror movie characters who you almost root for to die. One convention we did stick to however, was that or characters would make dumb decisions. This would be the easiest way to continue the plot as quickly as possible. Decisions such as Conner entering the crawlspace seem questionable at best, this seems almost comedic. It seems very implausible that a friend at a party would be so willing to enter a crawlspace all because he heard a noise. Lighting was a convention that we followed when it came to the crawlspace portion of the movie. The lighting almost appeared to be in a found footage style. The only difference being that the cameras weren’t being carried around from our characters.

 

Vacant Post card+ video

 

Refiming scene

 Today we refilmed our opening scene. We wanted to do this because we weren't satisfied with how it turned out. Something about the scene just didn't seem pleasing to the viewer. We switched the positioning of the camera and changed the shot where I was walking to an over the shoulder shot. Now, we could see the messages that James is receiving on his phone. We did however, keep the low angle showing James reaction to receiving the message. Something we are struggling with is the opening music. We want it to be cheerful but, not too exciting. Yet at the same time, we don't wan the audience to feel completely relaxed while viewing the opening. We are also debating on how the music should change when James gets jumped. Should it be an immediate change? For example, a high e piano key. Or, should it be something that builds up to the scare. A slow eerie build to the jump. As for me, I think a sudden change in toe would be more fitting. Another topic being debated is how the audio should be once Conner and Alex hear James get jumped. I think silence would make it feel suspenseful. Although, we don't want it to be an awkward silence. We might settle for a low pitch rumble or low pitch horn sound for this scene. This adds the suspense we are after but, it also doesn't feel forced

The Audio

 Eva has finished editing the clips together. She has found a soundtrack but was not satisfied with it. She has put me in charge of finding a new soundtrack. The par Eva was having a problem with is the cheerful music in the beginning. We are looking for something cheerful yet, calming and welcoming but not something that would get you excited. We also didn't want something that was too boring to listen to. Eva was really struggling to find the right music but I had the idea that we could use Christmassy piano music since there are Christmas decorations in the background. In theory, the friends in the movie could be having some sort of Christmas party. As I applied the audio, it seemed like it would fit nicely but, to get the full effect, we will have to alter the track for it to fit our needs. As for the horror aspect of the soundtrack, we had no problem trying to find something that fit. I wasn't needed for this part of the audio editing since there are so many royalty- free horror music options.

Editing

 My editing skills are only strong in Photoshop and Illustrator so, I am leaving the majority of the editing for Eva. I can however edit the audio so, that is what I will most likely be doing. Eva created a new project in Premiere. I then imported it. The first thing Eva did was line up the clips. This took much longer than I thought it would. Last year it was much quicker. This was because they were only two minutes for the film last year. The hardest part, according o Eva, was lining up the conversation shots. This is because they all look the same. So, she had to watch all of the clips multiple times just to get the order. Currently looking at the footage I fear that we don’t have enough to get to five minutes. I am currently at 2 and a half minutes. I already used a bit over half of the footage.

Update: I finished lining up all of the footage. With place holders for the main titles, it made it to exactly five minutes. This is exactly where it needs to be. This was a great start to the editing process. Now that everything is lined up I have to add transitions, effects, and finish the titles.

Filming process

 This blog is a continuation of yesterday's blog. Looking back at the filming process it went very well and smoothly. A few things we did differently from last year is the amount of planning we did and the quantity of dialogue. The planning helped make sure everything went smoothly. I think my favorite scene was when Eddie scared Sean. I think it was a nice funny scene that lightened the original mood of the movie. That offered a drastic contrast to the ending. One thing I was not a fan of was filming under the scenes under the house. It was fine when we checked when we were scouting where we filmed. I did not anticipate how uncomfortable crouching the entire time we were filming would be. Eva seemed to be slightly bothered by the amount of bugs under the house. I on the other hand was expecting this.

I haven’t thoroughly reviewed all of the footage yet. I will be doing that tomorrow.  But, from what I can see the lighting was good throughout. One thing I am now worried about is making sure it is not choppy. A lot of the scenes were filmed separately and we have not done a film with heavy dialogue. But, I am confident that it will turn out well. I can’t wait for editing because I feel like our acting had much to be desired.

Vacant filming part two

 Today we filmed. Before everyone started showing up Eva made the fake blood. Eva mixed cornstarch, water, and food dye. I instructed her to microwave it so it would be thicker. With no surprise, It turned out great and was quite thick. At first, I thought there was going to be a repeat of what happened on Friday. Two people canceled on us once again. It was already two o’clock and I thought we would have to postpone again. But, I already had extras scheduled to arrive. This meant Eva did not have to act and she could be solely the cinematographer and director. It also means we had another person to check for any issues in the background of the shot. We changed the name of Allie to Alex to fit the gender of the extra person. The cast ended up being:

• Sean as James
• Andrew as Connor
• Michael as Eddie
• Esteban as Alex
• Trent as a Homeless Person

Filming started at roughly three o’clock. We filmed slightly out of order. We started off filming the flashback scene because it was the only scene at a secondary location. So, we walked down to the park. This scene took roughly twenty minutes, including walking there and back. We filmed the rest