First Individual Meeting

Monday, February 27, 2023

Hey guys, 

A bit of a change in our plot... Thanks to our teacher's feedback!! We are truly able to deliver our thoughts for our production more smoothly now.

    So today my partner and I met with our teacher to discuss where we currently are and the details of our project. We were given some feedback that allowed us to develop a better opening and to be able to approach it a bit differently. Although the majority of our opening is remaining the same as discussed in the previous blog posts, we plan to change the ending a bit and make it more suspenseful and to make it make more sense.

    We were called to the back of the room and began discussing how we plan to film our project and gave a background of our developed character, Carinne Sylvaine. The first minute of Carinne being chased or followed down the dorm hallway is going to remain in our opening as she is followed by the killer. Since the killer is not going to be revealed at the beginning of the opening because that's the whole point of the opening is to kind be a teaser for what is going to occur in the remainder of the film, we are going to ensure the killer is masked in a dark costume which was developed prior to this posting. 

    Were questioned about how we plan to incorporate the nightmare Carinne was having and how that is tied to the male character with which she ends up falling in love with. At first, my partner and I did not really think or visualize the importance of the male but now we look back on it and he is pretty much just as important as Carinne. 

    We plan to develop that character a bit more in this post since the killer is the significant other of this male character. Instead of having Carinne's mom call her and wake her up, we plan to have the male character that she is infatuated with call her and wake her up which will then transition into the ending scene of her door being knocked on by him which would be the last few seconds of the film opening. At first, we wanted to display the poor relationship Carinne obtains with her mother but we realized that having a shattered frame of her mother in her dorm is a pretty good symbolic representation of that.

    Meet Luke Taylor...  a University of Miami football player that is born and raised in Miami and is very well off financially.

Some shot ideas!!

Sunday, February 26, 2023

Hey guys, 

Happy Sunday! 

So today, I am going to brainstorm some shot ideas so that this week when I create my storyboard, I will be able to hopefully put my thoughts and ideas on paper. 

It will begin with a tracking shot of Carine walking to her dorm casually so the camera person who will maybe be a friend who knows yet, will follow Carine down the hallway for about 10 seconds. Then, Carine will turn around and look at the camera which would be the killer that she is looking back at. The shot that captures Carine looking back at the camera will most likely be a medium shot. 

There may even be an over-the-shoulder shot of the killer eyeing Carine from afar right before he begins to chase her to her room. As soon as  Carine begins running to her dorm through the dark hallway and is chased by the killer, a point-of-view shot from the killer who is chasing her will be captured.

There will then be the transition to the next scene which will be probably a medium shot of Carine waking up from a bad nightmare and a point of view shot her looking at her phone after being woken up by her mom's call. 

Since Carine was waking up from a bad nightmare of being chased down the hallway by the killer to a call from her mother which woke her up from this bad nightmare the last few seconds will probably be a zoom-in to the shattered frame of her mom to distinguish to the audience that there is some trauma there and how it would be all interconnected throughout the film.

More ideas to come in the next few days and I will post a storyboard next week of it all on paper!!

Stay tuned...

Our schedule ...

Friday, February 24, 2023

Hey guys, 

The post for today is going to be short and sweet but continue reading! My partner and I decided to create a schedule to plan accordingly on how we plan to spend the next few weeks doing our project. With that being said, see below how we decided to organize ourselves. The dates are subject to change however, this is an overview of how we plan to spend the next few weeks up until the deadline of our project.

February 27th-March 3rd: gather mice-en-scene elements clothing, props, etc, and work on Storyboard

March 4-6th: film our project at the University of Miami Campus

March 7th-17th: get feedback from others, edit/finalize our  project

March 18th- April 3rd: complete Creative Critical Reflection 

April 3rd- have everything finalized, perfected, and turned into Cambridge !! :)

Stay tuned for the next few weeks, because things will probably change ...

First Group Meeting

Thursday, February 23, 2023

Hey guys,

    Today, I met with different peers in my class to discuss where we are as of today. I met with different classmates such as Matthew, Ana, Hayden, and Dylan and we were all able to pitch our ideas and how we plan to move forward with our projects. I was able to pitch my partner and I's idea to the group and allow them to critique and give me feedback on what I should do differently, or tips on how to make my opening more suspenseful. My partner and I shared a few ideas on how we plan to make our opening but we were not entirely sure how to do it. With the help of my peers today, I was able to have a better idea of how I plan to create my opening with my partner Sydney. 

    Hayden gave me some ideas on how to create my introduction to the opening scene. He suggested that I have a tracking shot of Carine walking to her dorm casually and then turning around and looking at the camera which would be the killer. Carine will begin running to her dorm through the dark hallway and is chased by the killer with a point-of-view shot from the killer who is chasing her. This is definitely something to consider as I feel like it is a great way to open up the scene.

    Matthew gave me a few tips on having a shot of Carine's mother in a frame cracked to symbolize the poor relationship she obtains with her mother. This shot would be captured at the end of the opening to show the audience that there is some turmoil there and that there is some trauma that is being endured by Carine. The transition to the next scene would be Carine waking up from a bad nightmare of being chased down the hallway by the killer to a call from her mother which wakes her up from this bad nightmare.

    Ana and Dylan gave me some tips on adding foley sound to the scene where Carine walks down the hallway. Layering breathing sounds with the footsteps will allow the audience to feel the fear and suspicion of what is going to occur next. The breathing sounds will increase as the killer gets closer to Carine showing that she is being followed. Right as the killer is about to reach Carine, she wakes up from the nightmare to a ringtone coming from her phone from a call from her mother. A close-up of Carine will be captured with heavy heartbeats in the background.

    Lastly, the transition shot may be a shattered image of Carine's mom to symbolize the poor relationship they have. Say hi to my group !!! :)))

Meet Carine Sylvaine

Wednesday, February 22, 2023

Hey guys, 

    Today, I will be introducing our main character. As of now, she is still being developed but I have some good news! My partner and I have some ideas that I will be introducing today to you guys. We still do not have a name just yet... but I am going to research some names and find the one that suits her best. I went on google and looked up a random name generator to help generate the names of a female that is from Berlin. 

                   

    After some time generating names and looking at names of females from all over the world, we found one that caught our eye!!! We were able to see names ranging from countries such as  Hungary, Indonesia, and France to China, Europe, and Africa! This allowed us to really figure out which specific country fits our character and we choose Berlin!!

UPDATE!! We have a name for our main character!!  INTRODUCING... Carine Sylvaine 

    Carine Sylvaine is a 19-year-old sophomore attending the University of Miami pursuing her career in Psychology.  Carine has decided to come to the United States to study abroad and leave her life in Berlin behind. She wanted to have a new beginning and start a new life in the states and ultimately escape her mothers' psychological abuse. 

    Carine plans to devote her life to helping those that suffer just like her. Carine suffers from PTSD and anxiety but seems to mask it pretty well and is able to persevere and commit to her studies despite her personal struggles. Although Carine has some internal issues, she is ready to meet new friends and find people that can be by her side. Social isolation is something that Carine has become accustomed to in the states, but is trying to branch out and meet new people. Although she is having difficulty fitting in and creating genuine friendships with the other students at her college, she is willing to open up and connect. Due to the struggle, Carine was facing at home in Berlin, coming to the United States was to allow her to find people she can connect with most...

    Her constant feeling of being overwhelmed is going to be depicted in our film through a contrast of dark and light colors. At the beginning of our opening, we plan to show how two characters obtain a connection based on their mise-en-scene elements such as costume design. We originally planned to have a male be the killer, however, we decided that a female character would carry more meaning. In most horror films such as the first and fifth Scream film, the boyfriend was the killer. We plan to change that perception of males and show that females could also be evil and commit heinous crimes.

Carine Sylvaine: 

The Killer: 

Campbell, Mike. “Random Name Generator.” Behind the Name, https://www.behindthename.com/random/.

 Sunday, February 19, 2023

Hey guys,

So, today was a bit of a busy day but after speaking with my partner we shared some more ideas on how we plan to put our film together. In order to make it the best we possibly can, an idea Sydney and I shared was having a teenage girl that is running  down a hallway with several jump cuts edited into our film so that footsteps are the only thing that would be heard and breathing before anything is shown to the audience. 

Since foley sounds are such an uncommon topic of discussion but such a prevalent part of the filming industry and have been an important part of this course,  my partner and I plan to create our own foley sounds throughout the entirety of our film. Whether it is created  with shoes clapping  back and fourth to create a sound of someone running, or blowing into a straw to make breathing sounds, we plan to evoke a sense of fear.  This is used to create suspense in the audience and a sense of fear. 

Some ideas for our production.... 

We plan to take advantage of dark lighting to make it more scary and edit several of our foley sounds like breathing or even sounds that create heart beating noises into the film to make it more intense. Additionally, another way we can create foley sounds would be using  shoes and hitting them against each other. We plan to have the main character be a teenage  girl that runs through the dark highway and does everything she can to get closer to the door at the end of the hallway, however it is locked and we plan to create a killer or a monster (we still are not sure yet) chasing her and then editing a jump cut  to someone waking up in their down thinking it was a bad nightmare. 

Planning our set...

Saturday, February 18, 2023

Hey guys,

After figuring out where my partner and I are going to film our project, we decided we are going to film on the University of Miami campus. In order to ensure our elements of mise-en-scene create a sense of fear in our target audience (15-25-year-old males), there are certain color schemes and props we are going to utilize. 

I needed some inspiration, so I decided to go on Pinterest to find some color palettes that I feel would best match the aesthetic of our film project. Additionally, I went on canva and created a little mood board documenting images of things I plan to incorporate into our film.

Since it is only the first week of the project and we still are brainstorming ideas on exactly what we want to include in our film, I feel like the more I create mood boards, the easier it will be to pin down my ideas.

Through a dark color scheme, we are hoping to convey fear, curiosity, and suspense. Although we are not entirely sure about the plot of our story, we want to have a female as the main character that is fighting some sort of mental disorder and is struggling in some way. 

Be back soon with more information!! Stay tuned...

Lugz Stagger High-Top Work Sneaker - Free Shipping | DSW. https://www.dsw.com/en/us/product/lugz-stagger-high-top-work-sneaker/549570.

“Dark Soldiers Color Palette.” Color Hex Codes, https://www.color-hex.com/color-palette/2610.

“Dark Hallway.” Dark Hallway - Vietnam, https://www.twoguysaroundtheworld.com/photos/vietnam/photo587.html.

“Wallpaper Flare.” Photography of Forest at Night Time HD Wallpaper | Wallpaper Flare, https://www.wallpaperflare.com/photography-of-forest-at-night-time-wallpaper-169760.

Get Anxiety Treatment | Zocdoc. https://www.zocdoc.com/doctors/anxiety-treatment. 

Thoughts...

Friday February 17th, 2023 

Hey guys,

So today my partner and I felt by creating a google document we could add some ideas of a particular location we were thinking of and add days that we had other commitments to schedule days that we are available.  We felt this was the best way to organize our thoughts so we collaborated on a google document and listed some possibilities. Below is a location, and ideas we plan to incorporate into our film.

Did this help my partner and me out? 

100% although it is short and sweet, I now have a better idea of exactly where we are going to possibly produce our film and the dates that I need to mark off to prevent filming on those days. This allowed my partner and I to be on the same page and to have a better idea of how we plan to go forward.

• We cannot film on the 7-10th or 16-19 as Sydney isn't available
• We have a location!  
• Sydney's sibling attends the University of Miami and since we are producing a horror film dorm hallways always carry a little suspense in them 
• We are going to research some songs and contact any production company for those songs if needed
• We are thinking of utilizing songs with suspense 

P.S. As of now we do not have a camera, so I am practicing on my phone to capture shots and improve on my photography skills!!

The Horror Genre...

Thursday February 16th, 2023 

Hey guys,

So this week, I was looking for a partner to work with and I finally found her!  After we both communicated, and spending some time researching different genre's, we decided that we want to do a horror/ psychological thriller film. We both agreed that we want to make our audience feel a sense of uneasiness and fear. So, what better way to do that than create a film with a horror/thriller genre? 

What exactly is a horror film? I know you are probably thinking one to only make you scared, but these films have so much more hidden meanings behind them. Aside from jump scares, gore, and gothic elements horror films are able to deliver such powerful messages through these little sprinkles of intensity and fear. The target audience of a horror film are males that range from 15-25 years old and paranormal horror is seen to be  distributed among both of the genders.  Although we have not figured out exactly what we are going to do, we want to truly create a film that will leave our audience not only thinking but feeling a sense of curiosity and suspense.

Here are some films that helped spark that interest and gave me a better idea of the feel I want to create with my chosen genre!

 Watcher (2022) 

Directed by Chloe Okuno

A great example of a horror film would be  the Watcher (2022). This film is about a story of a serial killer that stalks the city and is fixated on a young actress who just moved to Bucharest, with her significant other. This film is not the typical paranormal film but tries to cater the male audience and having a female ultimatly fight off her stalker.

The Shining  (1980)

 Directed by Stanley Kubrick 

 The Shining (1980) is another great example of a horror film and is about a gifted psychic named Danny and his abilities to read people are labeled as "shining".  Jack Torrance who is named (Nicholson) is recovering from alcoholism who had accepted a position at a hotel and the manager Stuart Ullman advises Torrance that his family had been killed in the same hotel.

 

Skinamarink (2022)

Directed by  Kyle Edward Ball

 Skinamarink is a Canadian experimental horror film in which uses a child's fear of the dark and produces a paranormal film that contains shots that are captured showing dark hallways allowing the audience to question what they are seeing and why they are seeing what is right in front of their eyes. It creates a sense of confusion and uneasiness in the audience as they are not entirely sure what to expect next.

“Skinamarink.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 15 Feb. 2023, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skinamarink.

“Watcher.” IMDb, IMDb.com, 3 June 2022, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12004038/.

Michel, Lincoln. “The Scariest Horror Movie of All Time Is on Netflix.” GQ, GQ, 22 Oct. 2018, https://www.gq.com/story/the-shining-netflix.

Olivia's Writers Block

 Sunday, February 12, 2023

Hey guys, I'm Olivia !!

    Today is the start of one of the longest projects I have ever taken part in throughout my entire twelve years in high-school but I am honestly so excited. Although right now, I can say that I have absolutely no idea what I want to do and how I plan to do it, but this will surely be an experience I will always remember. I am thrilled to begin and so excited to take you guys on this long but beautiful journey. The goal here is to put my heart into this project to make the audience think to themselves  "OMG, this is incredible!"
    I am going to conduct some research on some genres I am considering to narrow it down to the one that will suit my project best! With that being said, this week, I intend to consider, investigate, and select one of the project-related ideas I may have. I am going to have a few of my friends help me brainstorm the best direction to go with my project and use their perspectives to help build upon mine. 
    I'll have a pretty clear vision of the movie after doing so, and I'll be able to start the additional work such as the storyboard, looking for the greatest soundtrack, and writing the script and of course, updating you guys every week... Disclaimer: I will probably struggle and encompass failure but it is all apart of the process. Stay tuned for what is to come next...

See you in a few!

Music Marketing Blog Post #2

 Feburary 8th, 2023

After my group and I got together to discuss how we plan to do the project, we created a group chat so we could communicate quickly and effectively which worked out very well for us. When one of us had a concern or comment like, for example, how we plan to decorate the presentation we all wanted to make sure we were on board with the theme of our project to appeal to our audiences, a quick message went a long way and allowed for us to all be on the same page.  Each of my group members, Miguel, Hayden, and Abhiram  answered quickly and knew exactly how we were all going to contribute to the project and ensured we all did our parts.

Additionally, when creating a storyboard as a group, it gave us all the chance to collaborate on how we plan to incorporate  the shots in the most effective way without confusing our audience.  Since the plan was to incorporate various shots into a music video, some of the shots some of us including Hayden and I had in mind differed from the way Abhiram and Miguel perceived it so we made sure to collaborate as much as possible to prevent any confusion or conflict.

By drawing different shots on our storyboard paper, it allowed for us to truly see what suits our message the most and which can convey the most powerful message. Our storyboard was one of the many ways we approached and planned this project and truly gave us a visual representation on the way we can begin recording our  video. This allowed for an effective yet engaging way of all shots to be designed and written out to later be created in real life. We decided to create visual mediums that could strongly represent and depict our story without confusing the audience. Sinc, all of the lyrics to  our chosen song, She Will Be Loved by Maroon 5, had various different messages behind it, we decided to create a story of a how a guy so infatuated with a girl that was so fixated on another guy which corresponded with the music video to convey a strong yet meaningful message. 

We wanted to build our brand to match Maroon 5 but instead we named ours Maroone 4 and began to film and had two guys in the video along with an 18 year old girl. Since our brand is targeted towards 15-25 year olds we wanted to make it as a brand teenagers or adults could relate to. We customized a brand and designed merchandise to match our brand so others could wear it and show it to their friends. We made social media posts to promote our brand and upcoming songs that would be releasing so everyone can come on board and enjoy our songs!

As we planned and brainstormed together how we plan to organize ourselves, we made a schedule of due dates to ensure we stay on track. I felt this was the best way to stay on track to ensure that our group is not procrastinating and to make sure we are all able to come together during days that are most feasible for one another to truly work together. Some of the issues we encountered were finding days where we could all work on our project together, however we were able to accommodate each other's needs. After, we needed to combine all the footage and put it into a music video along with creating a visually appealing presentation to present to our consumers in the best  manner we could.

    Ultimately,  I learned a lot from working on this project with my group. I learned how to move my schedule around to accommodate the schedule of others and to be more flexible in general. I have always been a very structured person, but I have learned to be more flexible with myself and with others. I have learned to take my time and trust the process! At first it almost felt like this project was going to be very very difficult but in the end, it was really fun and I really enjoyed working with my group and filming. I also learned how to become more comfortable behind a camera, I have never really been used to it but now I could say it's not as bad as I thought.  I feel the aspects that would be the most beneficial in developing my Cambridge Portfolio is truly the ability to be myself behind a camera and not try to be someone Im not. Additionally, the ability to work with others and become more flexible will allow me to be patient with others and myself to produce the best project to my ability.

Our Schedule:

Storyboard and Chart done by Monday January 23rd

Record video 1/28/2023

Finish editing video 1/29/2023

Finalize presentation 1/29/2023-1/31/2023

Practice presentation  once finished 2/1/2023

Research Chart:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Yx3XmdKNrqDerKsulGw5BY1LzzRLR6_5iyVyz0i_7to/edit#heading=h.llpbleo2yfn7

Music Video: 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AN0SdfnN77iAzZ7q31iZJAgUkpmZfdYa/view?usp=drivesdk