"Vacant" filming: Part one

 Today we began the production of our short film "Vacant." Our actors were scheduled to begin arriving around 1:30 although the majority of them arrived between 2:00- 2:30. We probably should have scheduled our filming to start earlier. While we wee waiting for the rest of our actors to arrive me and Trent drove to the store to grab some food dye. Once we returned, the rest of our actors began to arrive. We had an arsenal of prop weapons to choose from so, it was Trent's job to choose which weapon seemed the most realistic for a homeless man to be carrying around. The options were a kitchen knife, a hammer, a sickle, and the prop gun we used last year. In the end, Trent chose the hammer because it is likely something a homeless man would be carrying around. It is a versatile tool that could double as a lethal weapon in need of self defense. After this, we got all of the scripts and storyboards together and began filming. We started with the park flashback scene since we just wanted t get it out of the way and it would be a good warm up scene since we don't have to maintain straight faces.

Filming Rescheduled

 We have officially rescheduled filming for Monday, the 21st. Everyone has confirmed they will be available on that day. We chose this day for multiple reasons. One, it is close to the beginning o winter break so many people might not have plans yet (which no one had.) A second reason is because we wanted an ample amount of time to edit since we weren't confident in the componence of some of our actors. Although, it is ironic I say this since my acting skills aren't that strong in and of itself. One of my biggest fears are that we might have to do some refilming since we may have some unsuccessful takes. Unfortunately, we d not have this commodity since a handful of our extras are only in Florida for winter break and will leave state soon after the da filming. To compensate, we will try to get as many takes as possible on the day of filming. We can only try our best to ensure that we will have enough time to capture enough takes and that all of the audio will come out crisp. If not we might have to resort to having actors do complete voice- over over their own voices.

Filming cancelled

Today we had to cancel our filming plans. Not all of our actors were able to make it. There must have been a communication error because our actor stated that he was unable to make the time he previously agreed to. There is nothing we can do about it now, however. We will just schedule our filming for a future date. This may have been a blessing in disguise since I have recently come to discover we are lacking the majority of our props. Hopefully we will be more prepared. To mitigate the threat of having to reschedule for a second time, I made sure we would have extras in case someone doesn't show up. Two actors outside of the class have been contacted along with three extras who will be contacted. When we do schedule our filming, it will likely be some time next week, this will be when everyone is on winter break and everyone is available. We will now have to ask everyone which days they will be available. Then we will be able to schedule a day.

Planning filming date

 Today I have set up the plans to film. Everyone in our group will be able to come but, we need at least one more actor, preferably two. We have arranged filming to be set on Friday afternoon. Everyone should be available since mid-Terms will be finished and no one has scheduled any other plans. We intend on inviting two friends who have either worked with us before or have previously taken an AICE media class. Are props will be minimal: we will need tattered clothes (the homeless man character), prop weapons (a hammer), and fake blood. Making fake blood shouldn't be too hard for us since we made some in our last film. It is simply food dye, water, corn starch and xanthan powder. After that we heat it in the microwave to thicken it even more. Safety is our number one priority so, we have made sure all of the ingredients in our fake blood are non-toxic and easily digestible. We will be filming at three main locations: in our house, our crawlspace and a park down the street. We have already made sure all of these locations are cinematically pleasing.

Final prep: over- the- break

This blog is going to be about what we were able to accomplish over the break. Over the break, we weren't able to get much done. We planned on meeting up with the cast but, this never happened. Instead we simply did more planning for the film and social media. This included searching for music and trying o decide if and what we should post. The poster we seems like more of a concept design than anything else since it is lacking the majority of the cast. So, we will only be using it as a temporary as a temporary profile picture. Hopefully, we should be able to meet up with the cast next week. Then, we can take some pictures for our official profile pictures and posters. We will also be able to plan out some shots we can film. For the most part, Eva did the majority of our group's work over break. The only main things we needed to get done was tittle design. Eva was able to complete that.

Soundtrack

 

Today we searched for the music we are going to use for our film. We need at least two songs. One is going to sound spooky and the other is going to have a cheerful, upbeat vibe. Our best bet would be to find a small artist and ask for their permission to use their OST. An alternative however would be to simply find a royalty- free track so we don't have to ask for permission. This will most likely be what we do. Each track will have to be at least two and a half minutes. Preferably, the tracks will go over two and a half minutes so they can be altered if needed.

Eva has found a happy song which is royalty free. This could act as the song that is played in the exposition. Although the song is only two minutes long, our short film is five minutes. This song seems like it could work, given it is unlikely that is will be played through the whole first half of the movie. If this song doesn't work however, I'll attempt to find another song we can use ( but it most likely will.)

Final prep for our film: marketing

 Today our group developed our website and social media accounts. This is a crucial step in the marketing process of our film. Eva did the majority of the setup for the website and social medias account. We now have our own twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube account for our movie. I planned and modelled for our first movie poster. The design is crude and put together quickly, but this is our first poster and it is more of a concept design than anything else. Our original plan was to get the whole cast together to take the photo for the poster, but this proved to be more challenging than previously predicted. Instead, we settled for a more simple design. This poster design was added to our movie's social  medias and website. For the photoshoot for our poster, we went down into the crawlspace where the majority of the movie is going to be filmed and took some medium shots and close ups. In the end, we chose the medium shot. For the lighting of the picture I held a lighter. This worked well because it illuminated my whole body but kept the majority of the background details out of the shot. Eva tuned up the photo and took out any impurities in the background so the poster would give off more of an ominous effect. Overall, these last couple of days have been very productive and we have made a lot of progress for our movie's preparation.