Spring Break? More Like Spring Work!

     It's the day right before I go home from a long, arduous and emotionally draining trip. It's just hit me that I still have work to do! Heres the To Do List: Finish paintings, rearrange/mise-en-scene-ing my room for the part of the opening I like to call Cam's Demise. Set up a void scene. Check out equipment, figure out a spotlight, figure out blood, and figure out hands. 

    Finishing the paintings shouldn’t be terrible. I have my mother who has graciously offered to help and we plan to have a painting day on Tuesday the day after get back! I estimated to need about 30 paintings to fill up the walls of my room. Not a terrible amount since i already have 7 made including the main one from tai’s shoot. Also one wall will house only one painting and the back wall is the main one that needs to be covered. I’m glad I chose a abstract style though cause making 20+ paintings that i’d have to worry about details for would’ve been it’s own kind of hell. 

    Rearranging my room and turning it into an art studio is probably gonna be the hardest part. I plan to take out some of the cabinets and the keyboard I have so that there’s a bit more space. I’ll also likely have to change my bedsheets to something a bit less. . . pink. I also have to find a way to put up all the paintings without damaging my wall. My art supplies can be used as props to set out on the floor and tabletops. In order to not damage the hardwood floors I’ll probably find a tarp that I can set on the floor. This I feel will fit in as though the artist has something to protect the floor from paint spillage. 

    Setting up a void won’t be too hard. I’d like to thank my father for doing photography as a side hustle and having a black backdrop I can use! I might have to mask some of the surroundings in editing to keep it black since the backdrop isn’t as large as it could be, but that shouldn’t be a major issue. For the spotlight, I plan to use a cob light with a cone that will direct the light a bit more, but I also plan to ask Jim (the guy from Becon who's letting me borrow the equipment) if he knows of any better options for it.

    For the blood I’ll probably have to make it. I know a recipe that only requires corn syrup and food dye so that the blood is somewhat viscous, especially since I want it to flow slower for more flexibility when filming. 

    I know for the hands I'll need two pairs minimum, more would be great but more difficult to deal with especially since I have to make sure the bodies of the people aren't shown. This whole take needs to be a one shot too so a whole lot of coordination needs to go into it to make sure the hands come it at the right moment as I push in with the camera.

    I'm hoping that nothing goes wrong that cannot be managed at least. I've spent too long preparing for these moments.

Making a Trip Useful

    So this TV trip has been quite. . . interesting, to say the least. Ok being honest it's been terrible. Which is why I didn't expect to gain much usefulness from it. During one of my off days (I wasn't competeing in any competition that day but other teams from my program were) I decided to go to some of the workshops that the competition hosts organized. Most of the workshops I went to had a lot of industry proffessionals with probably a lot of interesting things to say, but they only really touched on basics I learned 4 years ago. That was until I went to the very last one for the day, titled "Film Aesthetics" 

    Having been through 2 somewhat useless workshops, I decided to hold my expectations low for this one. It started off with the presenter talking about some concepts I already knew (he mentioned the typical things you'd expect with mise-en-scene like lighting, color, set design, etc.). But then it started to get interesting. I never really though of how camera lenses can effect the audiences perception of a shot. I always went with what I thought looked good and was convenient. For example, I knew if I was shooting in low light, I needed a prime, (usually 50mm lens) since I can open up the aperture a whole lot to let light into the camera. However, I didn't often think about the effects of lens distortion on the audiences perpective. 

    The presenter asked for two volunteers from the audience to get a close-up of a person sitting in the front row. He mentioned that the lens was a wide lens (around 24mm-35mm). The close-up, ended up distorting the subjects face, making it appear a bit longer and more blown out. Then, he asked for two more volunteers, (I was one of them :) to switch out the lense for a 50mm. which is normally considered the lens that emulates standard human vision. Then we had to use it to get the same close-up of the subject. The presenter mentioned that the wider lens required that the camera be closer to the subject. To the audience, this distortion makes the audience feel as though they are uncomfortably close to the subject. It feels more intimate, or intrusive depending on the context. Meanwhile the more zoomed in lens required that the camera be placed farther from the subject to achieve the same close-up. In tern, the audience will feel like they're at a conversational and comfortable distance from the subject. 

    Now I already knew I wanted to use a wide lens for a shot or two, since I want to show the whole room. But now this gives it's use a whole new meaning. By having the camera be forced to move uncomfortably close to Cam, it'll make the artist feel uncomfortable. Which will give the opening a more unsettling tone (which is what I want given it's a psychological thriller). So now I have a a better idea of how to make the use of this lens, and other lenses more purposeful. 

Thank you workshop, for making my trip a bit more bearable.

Decisions Decisions! Decisions

    After having a conversation with our teacher, we realized we're on the right track with our progress (besides the whole filming late thing). This means that a lot of the decisions we have to make about how we want to go about doing certain things comes down to us. Yay! I love making having to make decisions about things I'm completely unsure about! STN is in less than a few hours so I won’t have much time to think about this film opening which means we need to make these decisions now or never!

    Decision number 1 is whether or not the awards will glitch between first and other places or if they’re stay stagnant with 1 award being first place and the others being lower places. Both options convey different messages which means I have to decide which message I want to convey more. The first option, would demonstrate Cam’s imposter syndrome as well as his low self esteem. He’s so incased in his own perception of his work that he literally cannot see the true recognition he’s been given for it. Meanwhile, the other option would show the artists frustration with the lack of recognition they feel they’re getting. 

me asking

    Decision number 2 is whether or not to splash the artist with paint in the first shot, or have hands cover them in paint. If we splash the artist with paint, it would likely convey the artist being overwhelmed with their job. If we have hands cover the artist with paint, it would likely convey how they're art has a literally grasp on them, controlling their life in a way that's toxic and destructive. The second option I prefer since it fits with the general theme of the opening a little more and I feel it will add a bit more impact to the second artists part. But whether or not my actor would be confortable with that is debateable. So, I asked! 

    Last decision is a silly one and that's whether or not I want to use a fog machine. Now, hear me out. It would be used for the opening shot of the opening when the spotlight is on the artist. The goal is not to make it look like theres fog, moreso to create a bit more atmosphere especially since this is a void shoot. It would hopefully show the rays of light coming from the spotlight which would emphasize the theatrics of it all, making the old artist look exposed. But would this be too much? I've never used a fog machine like this before so I feel this will require further testing. I'll get back to you on this.

    So two of my 3 decisions have been resolved making the rest of this a little easier. I'll likely have the awards glitch out, since I prefer the imposter syndrome narrative. Not only do I feel it's more relatable for my target audience, but I also feel it fits the overall tone I want to set for the opening of what the story will be about. Also, (after recieving permission from my actor) will likely have the artist be covered in paint by hands to convey the art consuming the artist rather than overwhelming the artist. Fog machine is still up for debate.

The Easy Part

     We finally filmed! Wow this weekend was busy. So we knew we wanted to film Tai's parts this weekened since Tai was going away for spring break. So we decided Sunday was the best day possible since Friday we had school and a meeting after school which would cut down daylight time and Saturday we had a 9+ hour practice from 7am-5pm which we both knew we'd be dead tired from. Sunday was the only off-day. So heres how it went!

    I woke up that morning knowing I had other homework on top of having to go film. The plan was to wake up at 9am and finish one of the two assignments before having to leave at 11:30am to meet Tai at 12pm (Tai lives a half and hour away). Scrap that plan because I was exhausted and fatigued from yesterday and just wanted to sit and watch youtube and drink coffee (I didn't get any work done). An old friend came over to pick up a cake from my mom, we struck up a conversation and OH LOOK it's already 12 and I'm not at Tai's house. I say goodbye to the old friend, grab all of the necessary items, throw them in the car and bolt! I got there at 12:30 miraculously and we immediately got to work!

    The paintings didn't have signatures on them so I decided to use some of  Tai's black and white paint to quickly add a signature as well as a symbol saying "REPLICA" Then we hung up all of the paintings on an empty wall in the room as well as printed out some fake news paper clippings of the artist to hang alongside them. The actual filming process went smoothly. A lot of shots needed to be done handheld because of they're movements but I do with I had either the Ronin from school or from Becon which would've garanteed a bit more steadiness. I'm really hoping the handheld doesn't look terribly shaky, checking in camera for that is not always reliable. 

    The finaly shot of Tai looking out the window may need to be refilmed. The camera was battling between the bright sunlight hitting the window screen and the dark interior of the room. My lights weren't powerful enough to keep it bright. I'll have to see when I check the footage how bad it truly is and if refilming ends up having to be the plan. 

    Overall the day went smoothly and quickly. We did everything we needed to do in about 3 and a half hours which was one of the faster filming days I've had. I'm hoping the footage turns out well!

So? Who is Doing The Silly Funny In Front Of The Camera

    So we have everything planned! Now who's gonna act? Luckily, we only really need 3 actors. 2 main actors and 1 background actor.  This makes it a bit easier since we don't really need to rely on a whole cast of people being available at the same time and day to film. Tai and I can play two people and then we'd only need 1 more person. 

    When thinking of Cam, Tai and I immediately thought of our friend Wade. Cam needs to show a lot of expression, both in their face and body movements. We thought Wade would be perfect because he is quite good at physical expressions. Also he claims to "know how to fall" so that should come in handy when he has to collaps on the ground. He won't have to say any line of dialogue which will let him focus soley on his physicality. He is also someone we've worked with before on many other projects, and has acted in projects such as these before. so we believe he'll be a good fit for the roll, as well as someone we know we can rely on and work well with. he claims to know how to fall

    For Layla, we were thinking Tai could play that role. They're already good on camera and can act pretty well both physically and with line delivery. Also she already has a pretty strong handle on the character which helps in the sense of having to get into character. 

    For the one side character, we decided I could play that role, out of convenience and practicality. It's a small role with only one line which isn't much I'd have to be doing, especially since I don't trust my own acting abilities. Now having actors solidified, we are one step closer towards making sure everything is ready for filming.

What A Wonderful Week :(

     i've just had one of the worst weeks I've ever experienced and we're only halfway through! Wooo! Tai and I had a really lovely, totally wonderful, not stress inducing at all, and completely calming conversation about this goofiness and it totally didn’t make my blood boil and fill me with immense rage. I’m at a loss for words with sillines I’ve had to deal with and it’s honestly burnt me out. I’m tryin not to let this fatigue get in the way of the project. So here’s a progress update. 

    Painting is. . . Slow. I haven’t gotten much progress into it with the immense amount of homework I’ve had this week. The canvas’s from Amazon arrived and they were smaller than expected, so on Friday I’m going out to Micheal’s and getting the large one needed. Friday will be my designated day to finish all the paintings. Remember how I mentioned painting is a form of therapy for me? We’ll it’s really gonna have to come in clutch this 

    I messaged good ol’ Jimmy G (Jim Guarasci) the executive producer of BECON about checking out equipment with a list of what we potentially might need! Luckily, he said it should all be available on Tuesday 21st (which is the day after we come back from STN) for us to check out. This is perfect with filming set to be during spring break.

    Filming has been set to happen this weekend, but only the second half of the opening. But wait, I haven’t checked out from BECON! Good thing is, some of the equipment we need is available in the CBTV closet, which won’t  be open for spring break but is open for this weekend so we plan to snag that stuff. Tai is going away for spring break so filming at least the second half this weekend will help us avoid having to delay any more progress.

    We've done a lot to prepare for this so nothing theoretically should go wrong, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

     

    

    

Painting As A Form Of Therapy

     A part of me felt the need to procrastinate the painting process. I was exhausted from the responsibilities the week had bestowed upon me and all I wanted to do was lay down on something comfortable and turn my brain off. I knew at some point I had to get started. So while procrastinating some other class's homework, I prepped the paint, grabbed a cup of water and a brush, and started painting. 

Pablo Picasso: The Tragedy

    I forgot how much I loved the hobbie. It's been a couple months since I had really sat down to paint for leisure, so it took me by surprise how theraputic it is. I played a youtube video for background music and immersed myself in the artform. I stuck with mainly cool tones for the paintings since a lot of them are supposed to reflect the state of mind of the old artist, but I did make a few warmer colored paintings that can be both used for the old artists earlier paintings that may be up on his wall, and some of the new artists paintings. The cool blues I feel help to associate the old artist with a negative state of mind. I took inspirations from Picasso's blue period and Van Gogh's Starry Night. Picasso mostly used blue's during a period of immense depression which I feel helps to had subtext to the state of mind of the old artist. Van Gogh's Starry Night also uses a large amount of blue tones, and the style of showing prominent strokes I feel helps to demonstrate how meticulous these artist may be.

Vincent Van Gogh: Starry Night

Sam Perez: Silly Little Paintings

    

    We still have a long way to go with the amount of paintings we need to make, but at least we already have a starting point. I'm excited to paint some more!