Lilac - Film opening

Hey guys, here's the final product!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AouQ19Va7gw

Creative Critical Reflection

Hey guys! Here's my creative critical reflection! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQP0xHdcQgo 

Reflecting and remeniscing

Hey guys, It's been a ride doing this project and I can't believe it's over! I've taken some time to reflect with you guys about the film Lilac.  Our film production, named Lilac did not challenge the conventions of representing the females. We got many of these ideas from horror films. The girl usually tends to be the innocent one and is  the victim throughout the whole film. An example of this would be Scream, Halloween, and Friday the 13th. While watching those films, I noticed that the girl is the killers main target. For our film, Angela and I decided to go with that type of cliche, but we also decided that the girl should be played by me. In one of my posts, I mentioned that the protagonist should look innocent and sweet, and all of my friends agreed that I should play the protagonist. They said that I had an innocent, girly, young persona. Normally, in real life, women tend to be the victims of stalking , assault , or rape. Therefore, it's stereotypical . We didn't go against any forms because obviously we went with that idea. In the beginning of the video, while I'm driving the car, I'm listening to pretty and happy music. Later, when the film progresses, the music turns dark and dreary. This is a turning point for the character because it's also showing a shift in mood. Her spirit will eventually break and she will not be as innocent anymore because she's looking at life in a different perspective. Not having a happy view of life, but a more paranoid,  sad view.
 Our project has attracted various amounts of people, but it engages with the audiences ranging from 15-23 years of age. Usually, even though it's not a rated R film, it would require people who have a mature understanding of assault, rape, stalking , and assassination. Even though all of these components are not shown in the film opening, they would eventually appear later. Also, thriller and suspense films tend to target younger audiences.This type of film would be viewed as mainstream, because now a days many films tend to be like this. This film, even though it fits in the suspense/ thriller genre, it's not like the traditional scary films where people are demon possessed, there's ghosts, or weird paranormal components. This film can fit more appropiately in the lifetime films I've seen in channel 27. Those films fit in the suspense genre, therefore some of them had to do with kidnapping, assault, dark family drama, and stalking. Like our film, they could go a little bit to the extreme, making it more intense than it should be because even though events like these could happen to anyone, we exaggerate them through cinema. That's what makes them desirable to our audience.
 My production skills definitely did improve throughout this film. Since the beginning of the year, Mrs. Stoklosa has taught us different techniques that could enhance and make a film spectacular. She also taught us how these techniques could create meaning throughout the video, but it depends what you use.  We've been watching many excerpts throughout the year, and the whole class has analyzed how the techniques and edits have given meaning to the film. I've learned to edit more and use technology more often. Before i didn't dare use the computer for anything else , other than just printing h.w. .  I think that Mrs. Stoklosa has prepared us well enough by giving us constant production projects. Like that we've been able to integrate our knowledge about film making and use of technology. In our film opening, Angela and I used a lot of mid shots, close ups, high angle, low key lighting, etc... Since our film is suspense/ thriller, it opens up with a neutral beginning and a tragedy at the end of the opening.  In the beginning of the film I'm supposed to look innocent, neutral, and happy, therefore we used a couple mid shots. For the audience to see everything in the protagonist's perspective, we used point of view. Close ups were also used to show facial expressions, long shots were shown to shown body movement and power, and high angle was shown as a sign of weakness. The high angle shot was used after I saw my dead sister on the floor, and it's supposed to put me in a vulnerable and weak position. All of this was used to convey meaning throughout the whole entire film. These techniques were most importantly used to allow the audience to relate and experience the film and " messed up adventure" with the character. One of my major weaknesses was editing. Long ago, my friend and I used to make short films when we hung out and were bored. We would both act in the films, but she would edit them. I had no interest whatsoever to edit, acting was enough for me. Taking this nice media course hit me with the fact that I had to start editing. Since it's one of my major weaknesses, I technically tend to ignore it. This year I edited a few of the project I've done with my partners, but for this one it was different. Since we decided to shoot the scenes in my house, we decided for it to be easier to start editing in my mom's mac computer. It wasn't the portable one, so we couldn't carry it anywhere and we could only edit in my house. Because I didn't want her to do most of the editing, I started by myself. It wasn't that bad, like O my gosh I hate this, but it was definitely frustrating because there were many little flaws  that bothered me. Every time I tried to change something I didn't like, I would delete a scene and I would start freaking out. I literally had to search up " How to edit in iMovie". It might sound pathetic because I should know right about now, but either way I wanted to look at instructions incase if something misfortunate happens while editing, and I don't make it ten times worse.
 Angela and I integrated various technologies in our film. First of all, instead of using an iPhone for filming the scenes, we used a professional camera. It wasn't necessary, but since it's a really important project, we wanted to make the video have good quality. This did come with consequences because Angela's camera died and we didn't have batteries, but mean while we took a few shots with my phone. Since it's an iPhone 6, the camera had many effects. For example, the camera had the slow motion effect, backwards effect, the " cheetah effect", which technically speeds up the videos, and it had many shades of lighting. Like that I was able to send the videos to my google drive and like that I was able to download the videos and save them in my uploads/ documents. We used my mom's mac computer and the app that we used to edit the whole opening for the film Lilac was in iMovie. I know that Mrs. Stoklosa recommended us to use a different app, but right now I don't remember the name. Anyways, I felt more comfortable using the iMovie even though I didn't use it as often. To keep up with my portfolio and keep people updated with what's going on, the whole class had to make an account for blogger. I named mine Steph's blogs. Simple as that. I would try to go in depth with my blogs by exaggerating on my storytelling, making videos, posting pictures, and writing quotes. This blog had many fun components to it and it also kept me updated on who read it and where they were from. For many of the posting I used homemade videos, and I edited them in iMovie as well. To post them I had to upload them on youtube or mp4 player. Angela helped me with that. For some of the movie trailers that I posted as well were from youtube. We also used iTunes to see some of the music that we wanted to download. We eventually had to email the companies that were rightful owners of the song. We also had to search on various websites and find non copy write music to find suspense rhythms or songs. Then again we would have to download it to put it in iMovie.

If the story kept going, what would happen?

 What would happen if the film continued? Would the killer come after the main character? Most likely, but why? Turns out that the killer is actually the protagonist's stalker and her name is Lilac. In the film there's a reason why he comes after her loved ones. Maybe he's trying to make a statement to profess his love for her or to show her that he's a complete psycho and that he needs to get over her. My dad usually says that this type of " love" is " un amor platonico". This means that it's a one way relationship, where one person has deep, intense feelings for the other. The other person may not be aware of this. It's a fake type of love. Eventually, the stalker, Chuck doesn't want anyone to " tear them apart, no matter how big or small they are". He will kill anyone in his way if he thinks that they're shattering them apart. The continuation of the film would be pretty obvious. She would eventually find out that not only her sister was killed, but her boyfriend Luke, her friend Sam, and her mom and dad . They fell into his interest and were assassinated. The film would be a continuation of Lilac Gilmore running away from her long time stalker and getting justice/ vengeance against him.

Editing is fun!

 Hey guys,

Today we decided to finish editing the whole film. Normally, someone would think that editing is boring, but I actually think that it's a lot of fun. While vlogging, I will like to explain to you the different components that our film has, and how we enhanced it to make it look better. Overall, our film has about 100 different shots, but we have to edit them to make it look better on screen. An important task that we have to complete is adding the credits throughout the film opening. We thought it was really funny that we only had 2 characters, which was Sara and I. We made up a character for the killer. His name would be Chuck. Also, putting the title in the movie maker was difficult because we want to leave it long enough for people to see. It wouldn't last long enough! Ahhhh! The struggle, right? It took a while for us to fix it, but eventually we did. We also fixed the lighting because the day that we filmed, it was too bright outside and rays of light were shown on the camera too often. We had to dim the lights. We did folly sounds as well. My car normally has a soft beep when I try to lock it, so it sounded weird in the video. We had to use my dad's car because it had a more " masculine sound", from what Angela told me. Well that's it folks.

part of our edits

Lilac

So it's official!!!
For a while now, Angela and I have been thinking of a name for the film. Would the title impact the film in any sort of way? Does it have to be related to the storyline? In the process of making the movie, we thought it would be best to wait till the end to name the movie because our ideas would be changing constantly, and if we already had a name it probably wouldn't match up with our new idea. I think it's hard enough naming a thriller, but naming the movie after filming is harder in my opinion. While doing the final scene, Liz gave me the idea to name the movie Lilac. She came up with this after seeing the flowers that I just bought , which is ironic because I didn't really think of that. Sara (the victim), was wearing a lavender shirt , and this encouraged Liz to say that Lilac is a perfect name for the film. What a coincidence, right? Angela and I decided to put the letter L to represent the logo for the movie. Maybe Lilac could be the killer? Could it be one of the victims? The world may never know until they've watched the whole film.

Possible songs

Hey guys,

Angela and I are currently looking for music to include in our opening scene. We thought of looking for many upbeat songs.

• Sugar we're going down, by Fall out boy.
• She's the tear in my heart, by Twenty One Pilots.
• Be ok, by ingrid Michelson.
• Where you lead, by Carole King.

  These were our top favorites at the time. When I listened to these songs for the first time, I felt a happy vibe. It's those type of songs that you want to listen over and over again till you get sick of them. We finally chose " Be ok", by Ingrid Michelson. We thought it would be good for the plot because she would turn out not being ok at all. This song would be a contradiction to the story because like I said in my older post, the film opening should look like the total opposite from the thriller. The audience would probably be thinking that it's a happy film until the girl enters her house and the suspense music starts playing. We decided to contact the management to guarantee us their permission to use the song. Angela emailed them and stated that the song would be used only for school purposes. After 2 hours of anxious waiting, they replied and gave us permission to use their song . We were really excited. Once we inserted the song in our film opening, we knew we chose wisely. Here are some of the songs so you guys can listen.

                                                               Be ok- Ingrid Michaelson

Where you lead- Carole king

 

Sugar we're going down - Fall out boy

She's the tear in my heart- Twenty one pilots

"Sugar, We're Going down." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar,_We%27re_Goin_Down

"​twenty one Pilots – Tear In My Heart." Genius. Web.

http://genius.com/Twenty-one-pilots-tear-in-my-heart-lyrics

Michelson, Ingrid. "Be Ok." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Be_OK_(Ingrid_Michaelson_song)

King, Carole. "Where You Lead." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where_You_Lead

Lights, Camera, action!

Hey guys,

I'm really excited because I have a behind the scenes video for you guys. It was actually a lot of fun to make. Even though I was acting childish and silly for the whole  bloopers video, the actual opening for the movie took a very long time to film because we contributed many different shots, we had to set up the room in a specific order, making it look messy as if someone broke in, and we also had to apply makeup on Sara. When  Liz and Sara arrived we didn't immediately start filming, but instead we started making her " neck injury". Since we didn't have latex and didn't have the time to buy it, we made our own. In the beginning of the year, Mrs. Stoklosa taught us to make fake injuries, and Angela and I have never been so grateful. In a part of the bloopers video, you will see a part where I burp(sorry for that). After that, I said that the vase with the purple lilacs would be important element in the video. A while after both of my friends came, we had to destroy the vase because it would portray as the main weapon. It was funny to me that Lizzie was trying to break the glass by smashing it into the grass, but it wouldn't break at all! The only way we got it to break without it crumbling into a million little pieces was by gently hitting it with a rock. Later we dipped it in fake blood and we placed it in different parts of the house. It was a very sticky situation and we ended up staying at my house an extra hour just to clean up the mess. Great way to end the video!

This is Sara ready to play dead

"How to Make Fake Cuts." W ikiHow. Web.

http://www.wikihow.com/Make­Fake­Cuts 

Learn from your mistakes

Hey guys,

Yesterday, after leaving class I realised that I've made reckless mistakes along the way. While doing yesterday's  journal, I had to read " Time management on long term projects", and this website not only gave me  some pointers on how to make my portfolio project better, but it also had a list of weaknessess that anyone can make. I learned that I should gather all the concerns I have about the project and write it down, instead  of holding it in my memory. I also learned to determine specific deadlines that can be a step forward to reaching my goal. Some common problems that they've listed and that i can relate to are these:

• Lack of Sleep
• Not honoring the internal deadlines that you’ve set
• Disorganized or Misfiled Information
• Inability to focus; easily distracted.

I definitely realized that I should work on my weaknesses. By doing so, I would be helping Angela more often. I could help her by editing the video more often. This will lead me to contribute more in the project.

Well, that's it folks! See you later. 

Student Academic Services. "Time Management on Long Term Projects." ­ Academic Skills Center: Study Skills Library. Cal Poly, Web. 
http://sas.calpoly.edu/asc/ssl/timemgmt­longtermprojects.html  

How Angela made me cry :(

Hey guys,

Today we filmed part 2 of our movie. I've never done something so fun and exciting than what I did today! We filmed Sara's death scene, and it was really a dramatic moment. Angela had to shoot the scene where I see Sara laying on the floor dead, and I was supposed to approach her and get all sentimental.The only problem was that I wasn't crying, but instead I was laughing. What Angela suggested  me to do was to watch the final scene of "How I met your mother". The reason for this suggestion was because every time I watch the final scene of this show I start crying profusely. I usually tend to get attached to the characters, so when the show ends, I get all upset and I go through the stages of separation. One of them is crying! Anyways, after I started crying, Angela thought it was the perfect time to shoot the scene. Later, after watching the videos, we thought that it looked great and natural; not posed. That's it guys! Hope you enjoy!

This is a video of me crying

First and final scene of "How I met your mother"

“How I Met Your Mother.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_I_Met_Your_Mother 

It's alive!!!

Hey guys, since I couldn't find  fake blood and didn't really want to spend money buying it so Angela and I decided to make our own. Here is a picture of our trial, and here is a list of the ingredients. We used cocoa, water, syrup, and food coloring. To make it darker, the site recommended adding some green or blue food coloring. The website also said that the cocoa powder adds to the depth of the color.

This is the fake blood

We also finished the storyboard, and we started filming the opening scene to our film. It took a few tries because we wanted to get different angles. It was a fun process. While putting the different clips together, we learned a few editing techniques that would be helpful throughout the film. That's it folks. 

Storyboard

Storyboard

Storyboard

"How to Make Fake Blood." WikiHow. N.p., n.d. Web.

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Fake-Blood

Sara's makeup

Hey guys,

Angela and I recently decided that it would be easier to use Lizbeth's sister as the victim. Using a mom would get too complicated. Yesterday, I was putting makeup on Sara, and I realized that she would be perfect for the part. We're trying to create a makeup effect that makes her look as if she had bruises and cuts on her face. The only thing that was missing was the fake blood, but Angela and I could get that later. Hopefully this looks realistic enough.
That's it folks!

Mise en scene

Hey guys!
Today I want to give you an overview of the films mise en scene. I want to go in depth by giving a description of the setting,  the props, and the casting of our characters, other than the protagonist, whom I described in my last post.

Setting- I was thinking that the plot should take place in a suburban city. A family oriented city, where you would normally think that there's no crime. Currently, Angela and I were debating which house we should shoot the opening for the film; hers or mine. Either way, we would have to make some edits along the way. We also want to show that the girl was from the upper middle class.

Props- When the protagonist enters the house, she will notice that there's something wrong. The house will look like a mess. For example, there would be papers on the floor, shattered glass everywhere, and books on the floor. We would also use fake blood and scatter it in different areas of the house.

Antagonist- The antagonist would be wearing all black, so the audience wouldn't know who it was.I have an idea that I got from the show Pretty little liars . The character Allison is someone that the protagonists haven't found for a very long time. When the protagonists see someone wearing all black, they have the letter A sown on their clothing, or they find a threatening note nearby. This would be considered a clue. Therefore, I would like to add a letter to the antagonist's clothing. It doesn't have to be necessarily an A.

"Pretty Little Liars." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1578873/

Casting

Hey guys,

Today Angela and I decided to pick a day to film the video. We finalized our decision by going with the simpler plot line; the one that I explained to you guys in my last post. I'm really excited, but I'm nervous because we're going to start casting our characters. Here's a list of descriptions of what I want the main character to look like.
 Main character:

• Young. About 16/17 years of age.
• Brunette hair.
• Gentle features. Tends to look innocent.
• Clothing- soft, pastel colors. Almost childlike.

Plotline for our film

 
Hey guys,
right now I'm introducing to you a list of ideas for the plot line of our film. It's certainly a different approach from the original idea, but from the help of other groups, we were able to come up with an even better story line for our suspense/ thriller.
-The beginning scene would start off with the character driving home. There would be happy, upbeat music playing.
-High key lighting
-Energetic music
-There will be a change in tone when the character enters her house and notices that there's something wrong.
-There would be low key lighting and the music would sound dreary and suspenseful.
-The house would look messy, therefore the protagonist would notice that there was something wrong.
-The back door could be open to imply that there was a break in.  There could be a sound and a slight view of a person leaving through the back door to infer that it wasn't a suicide attempt.
-Protagonist runs and sees their mother.
-The mother would have bruises in her face. This shows that they were most likely in a fight with the intruder before getting stabbed.
-A zoom in to the character's face to show that she was in shock.
-Folly sound of a heartbeat. This indicates that she's nervous to what she's going to see.
-The screen can fade to black and the title can appear.

Ideas

I'm currently trying to come up with ideas for our opening scene. There were two websites I was advised to look at, and they were 15 common mistakes that amateur filmmakers make and how to write a thriller. One of the most impacting advice I got from both websites is that you should keep away from cliches. Angela and I are coming up with more ideas that will make the audience think that it's not just another scary movie. Friday was the day that I met up with other students who were working on film and magazines as well. One of them suggested that we could start the film with really happy music and then we could suddenly change the music to sound dreary and suspenseful. I really liked this idea because I remember watching a film called he loves me, he loves me not in french class, and it relates to what our classmates have said.This film starts off with really happy and lovey dovey music, making me think that it was going to be another love story, until it turned out to be the total opposite. She ended up being a psychopath who was terrorizing a man and his family for a very long time. The part where my classmates and I noticed that this wasn't another love story was when the music changed from exciting and jubilant to creepy and dramatic. That's another factor that both of the  websites have advised me on. Music and sound can really be a  major factor for the film because it could either keep the audience really interested or bored.That's it for today folks!

"How to Write a Thriller." Creative Writing Now. N.p., n.d. Web.
http://www.creative-writing-now.com/how-to-write-a-thriller.html

Renee, V. "15 Common Mistakes Amateur Filmmakers Make." No Film School. N.p., 11 Mar. 2015. Web.
http://nofilmschool.com/2015/03/15-common-mistakes-amateur-filmmakers-make-fix

suspense/ thriller: our storyline

Angela and I decided to pick suspense/ thriller. We have combined many ideas and have gotten those ideas from the films, scream and premonition. The opening scene would start with the introduction of the main character. For example, the character would get ready to go to bed, and in the film premonition and scream, the opening scene also starts by introducing the characters. For example, they're going about on their daily routine, and for that reason, Angela and i decided to show our character in their nightly routine. Our story is about a girl who was kidnapped as a child, but was rescued at 13 years of age. Her abuser was no where to be found, therefore implying that
he's on the loose. The protagonist has ptsd disorder and is scared that her abuser will come back for her. I think that a good plot twist would be  for the protagonist to get revenge on her abuser, but if we go with the original idea, the last scene will include a close up of a dark room where the stalker/ abuser would be looking at photos of the girl ( we're not able to see their face) and then it fades to an audience to show that it could be anyone.Another really important detail is that we want the audience to get the feeling of the character and for them to feel sympathy for her, therefore I'm doing research about the symptoms of a person living with ptsd disorder, the characteristics of an abuser, and facts about kidnapping. This will allow for both of us to get more involved in creating the character from scratch. I'm really excited about the genre that i've chosen with Angela and I hope that this storyline could keep people on their toes.

This is the trailer for scream, and even though it's a horror film, it's also a suspense. This is an example of the tone were trying to set in our film

"Characteristics of Abusers." Characteristics of Abusers. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2016.

http://www.ilrctbay.com/upload/custom/abuse/content/abusers.htm

Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2016

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kidnapping

Mayo Clinic Staff. "Ptsd." - Mayo Clinic. N.p., n.d. Web.

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/post-traumatic-stress-disorder/basics/definition/con-20022540

"Scream/ Horror Film." IMDb. IMDb.com. Web. 16 Mar. 2016.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117571/

genres/ideas

Hi! I'm Stephanie, and I'm really excited that you decided to take a look at my blog. I'm actually really nervous to start this project, but Angela and I will lead you throughout the progress. I recently started looking at different types of genres that can be good for the video. For example, Angela and I looked at romantic comedy, suspense/ thriller, and drama
. Examples of those types of movies can be "She's the man", " White chicks", " What dreams may come", and " Final destination". At the end, we decided to have the opening scene to be suspense and thriller. With this topic, you don't necessarily have to do a murder/ mystery type of film, but you can do a variety of things with this topic. For example, Premonition was a suspense/ thriller and it was about a woman who's husband dies one day and the next day she wakes up and he's alive. Some people might think that she's crazy, but others might think that she has a chance to change her husband's fate. Eventually, his destiny was to die, but throughout those short course of events, she did replenish her marriage with her late husband, Jim.

I also am very interested in the type of music that film openings have. The opening scene could start off with suspense music just enough to catch the audience's attention . The only thing Angela and I have to figure out is a story line for our genre.

West, Raw Den and Kelly. "The 30 Best Romantic Comedies Of All-Time." - CINEMABLEND. N.p., 22 May 2014. Web. 02 Apr. 2016.

"Thriller and Suspense Films." Thriller and Suspense Films. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2016"Drama Films." Drama Films. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2016

"She's the Man." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2016.

Sony Pictures. "White Chicks." White Chicks. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2016.

"What Dreams May Come." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2016.

"Final Destination." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2016.