Here it is in all it's glory
Sam's Film Nook
Home stretch
Tear It To Shreds Please!
I love getting criticism. Actually no, truth is, I used to suck at receiving criticisim for a real long time and I still struggle. What I do love is being able to improve my work, and that usually means, getting second opinions. I made a line edit of part 1 of the opening so I could show it to anyone that'd be willing to watch. Especially since I've decided to cope with the footage I have, I want to make sure the main message of the opening still stands. Here's some of the feedback I got.
I showed it to my actor Wade first and he liked it! "You made it sound worse than it was." he says. Truth is, I didn't know how to feel about the first edit and I expressed this feeling to Wade before he watched it. He suggested I make the sequence of destroying the paintings a bit faster. The only problem with this, is that I'm scared the credits written on the paintings won't be legible. When I expressed this concern he brought up that I may have to sacrifice the potential impact for the sake of legibility.
Then I sent it to my good friend Isa (an alumni who took AICE media) and they loved it! Unlike Wade, Isa had not read my blog and was completely unaware about the goal for the opening and any planning that went into it. So I was able to get a completely raw opinion. Their two main critiques were to fix the mask a bit so Male can't be seen walking behind Wade and that the opening seemed rather final for an opening. I agree with the finality of it, but I feel with Tai's scene which I have yet to edit, it should alleviate that problem. Fixing that mask and not murdering my computer is gonna be difficult but not impossible so I will be doing that!
Lastly, I showed it to Sabrina, another alumni who took AICE Media and their response was not at all what I was expecting. They sent me a 3 page handwritten analysis on the opening which was SUPER HELPFUL. While they did give many pointers on technical issues that could be fixed the main points I spent the most time thinking about were the elements she asked about that I hadn't thought of initially. The shadow can be seen at the beginning of the opening which I though just helped show the artist is in the spotlight. However, Sabrina asked if there was more to that shadow, maybe an alter ego? Or maybe it's their consciousness looming over them. She also asked if the artist cutting up the paintings was a break from reality. I always thought of that part of the opening having happened in real life along with the artist hurting themselves, but we only see the paintings, because that is what the artists mind fixates on. I like Sabrina's interpretation though and it fits the message really well. The artist was so consumed with their work that they've lost their grasp on reality and have therefore, lost themselves. Lastly, Sabrina mentioned that it's interesting how the artist rips the producer credit. It subtly hints at the art worlds part to play in their downward spiral. While it did cross my mind the way the credits being torn would be shown, I didn't realize how well it tied in with the message of letting your artwork consume you, because even those around you fuel that unhealthy connection through praise or penalty.
It's funny how decisions I gave less thought to in this production ended up working so well with the final product I'm trying to achieve, and I'll definitely be more mindful of those subtle details moving foward.
Aggravated Assault: Electric Boogaloo
Having the footage at my disposal, I was eager to start the edit. I downloaded the song and started to edit the sequence to the beat of the music. Everything was going well until I realized one major issue:
WHERE ARE THE AWARDS?!?!?!
They are barely visible in some of these shots, let alone the main painting. Theres there, but how in gods green earth is the audience going to be able to interpret it as an award and not some random object hanging off the painting. Yeah it's that bad, they don't even look like ribbons.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
These paintings have been through enough violence for me to just give up now. I have two options: scrap the painting footage and refilm or cope. Refilming is tricky. It would likely mean remaking a lot of the paintings that were torn, which will be time consuming. On top of that, remember the filming schedule? So that's changed slightly, On top of getting kicked out of a parking lot for filming and having to reschedule times and days with certain actors, things haven't exactly gone to plan with wades short film. So being able to find a time that he's available to redo scenes would be a bit difficult especially since theres less than two weeks left for this project.
Aggravated Assault: Part 1
Today is the day I filmed the rest of the opening and guess what, I got it done in one day! This means I have the remainder of spring break left to edit! I checked the footage and everything looks good so refilming is not necessary, at least for now. No one was hurt in the making of this opening but it sure does look like they were.
Filming was hectic at first. I asked my friend Male and my sibling Quinn to be the hands putting paint on Cam. Call time was at 5 and by then my room was almost completely decorated (thanks to my lovely mother who helped out) and I had already set up the black backdrop and the spotlight. Male arrived first and I gave her the rundown of everything she'd be doing and Wade arrived second with the equipment. We set up the camera on the Ronin and I did a few test runs making sure I could get a smooth push in (especially since the Ronin is real heavy and can only account for so much shakyness). After that I called my sibling from they're room and we did a test run where they'd turn on the spot light and both Male and Quinn would pretend to come in and put paint on Wade as I walked in. Wade suggested we come up with a counting system to make sure everyone knew they're cues. Quinn would turn on the light and I counted to ten as I walked closer to wade. At 5 both Quinn and Male would run in with paint on their hands, At 9 male would crawl behind Wade. At 10 Male would pretend to snap his neck. Time was ticking as we did these practice runs and eventually male had to leave so we just had to go for it. The practice runs proved to be successful since the shot was almost perfect! We said our goodbyes to Male and Wade and I began to film the second scene in my room. Remember the wide angle lens I talked about? Well that came in clutch because it achieved the exact effect I was looking for. I tried to move fast since it was already 8pm so I set a finishing time to 11pm. Wade (being very skilled at lighting) was nice enough to help me light each shot which helped a lot in creating a dull look. The assault on the paintings had begun and it hurt my soul with every slash and rip, especially after I had spent so long working on them but anything for the shot right? Man it was brutal. I also painted all of the credits on the paintings except for two that I'll add in post.Collaborating
My main actor, Alex (some people call him wade) also has an AICE media project he's filming over spring break! While this may seem bad since this could mean he's busy and can no longer help out, we struck a deal. We'll both act for each others projects and help each other film! We'll also share the equipment from Becon so we're not fighting for the same stuff.
We came up with a schedule that fits our needs for filming. I'm thinking of pulling a Skills USA and doing it all in one day but that depends on how long the first shot takes since it's the most elaborate. So, on the schedule, I split up filming into two days just to be safe. Wade is making a short film so naturally it's more elaborate and requires more filming time which is why the shedule has more filming days for him. I feel this schedule will keep up fairly organized that way we can get everything done for our respective projects.Side note, I was talking to Wade about my opening to get some advise and he some interesting things. He mentioned how easy it is to get caught up in making the opening without having thought about how the rest of the story would play out. Now, while I have a vague idea, I had never delved too deep into it. So I took today to do so. I had quite a while to think about it on the plane ride and I figured, the film could follow Layla's story moving foward in time, and Cam's story moving backwards in time, that way the parallels between both of them become even more apparent as we follow they're stories. I feel it will also create suspense for the audience given that their prior knowledge of Cam's end will make them fear for Layla's fate.
Having this figured out helps a lot with solidifying some of the choices I've made for the opening. It adds a bit more context to the first time we see each character. We first see Cam's end, then we see Layla's beginning. This also helps in solidifying Cam as a main character which will make it easier when deciding on opening titles.
FILM OPENING
Here it is in all it's glory
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