What other sounds to use?

 Hello again! So today I'll be ranting even more about the sound editing process and what other stuff I found in the past 2 days. 

So, for background music, I was able to find some royalty free music which kind of gives off an action feeling with a bit of horror. Obviously it has to be royalty free music, which was kind of challenging to find on Youtube. I've been told about a website called "Chosic", which offers royalty free music, as well as regular music from other music platforms. And I was very impressed with the options the program had to offer that it was almost kind of hard to choose. For other resources, I obviously looked through Youtube, where I found some potential options. I also got a little trick for the music that isn't royalty free, if you want, you can contact the record label or owner of the music for the certain song or sound you want to use, and you can also give credit to the owner of the track by putting that the rights for the certain song goes to this artist and this record label. 

https://www.chosic.com/ 

Here are some song ideas I found online:

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoqMpJC0tZY

Sound Research

 Hello everyone! So today I'm enlighten you with my presence with some more research!! Yay exciting! So while Amy is doing the editing, I'll expand my research with sound and foley and all that jazz, and I'll let you ta along, since these things could help you as well.

So I did some research over what sounds and foley items I could use and came up with some ideas. I also was able to find some videos of other foley artists and the objects they used to create sounds for known films and how they got it to how it sounded on screen. In one of the videos I watched, I saw how many items they used and the way they used those sounds to represent not just what the characters are doing, but also the way the sounds portray the character's emotions. I also tried around my house and see what things I could use to make foley sounds. For example, I found some celery to make he bone cracking sounds with, and I also found some dried up leaves in my backyard to make the figure's footsteps. I'm also planning to re record the steps on the grass in my backyard which I'll share how I did my foley sounds later. 

Down below, there are some videos that I watched as inspo and hope they help you guys as well. See you in my next post, bye!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_tqB4IZvMk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EB6Wjty-MNk

Actual Filming Day!!

Hello again! so today was our film day and it all went better than expected honestly. we ended up filming everything in just 2 hours! if that’s not good timing, I don’t know what is. i honestly thought we would’ve taken way longer. but, there were no issues except some likely mosquito bites haha. 

We even got some extra help from other friends with lighting and another girl to play the random bystander, instead of Amy so she could be more in control of the camera and our shots. So since amy would be too busy with filming, we decided to use someone else besides her and it was a pretty good decision. We also decided to record our dialogue into a mic just in case any background noise disrupted what we were saying. For our recording, we used an app called Garageband, which is a free app that comes with Apple technology where you can play different instruments and as well as recording, like what we did to record our lines.

 Also, we ended up using the stabilizer Amy got, a tripod i brought, which is what we used the most, and also used our own hands. Although, I’m a little worried about the lighting since we filmed while it was still getting dark. The darkness in the footage looked kind of iffy with the lighting, which is kind of concerning, but we did the best we could. But it shouldn’t be anything we can’t fix in editing, I'm pretty sure we can find ways to make the footage a lot better. Since we're using Premiere, I think we'll be good and if we don't, we'll look up videos to give us a hand.

Well, that is all I got for today, we finally got the second hardest thing over with. If you're wondering the hardest, it's the diting and all that, since it'll affect the final product which you guys will see in April, Oh My God in April!! Anyway, I'll see what in the world I'll be writing about next, since most of my blogs so far were me ranting about filming. I'll most likely talk about sound and foley I'm doing. Anyway, I'll figure it out. See you guys later, bye!!

our lil recording corner

our filming location (while it was still sunset featuring one of our leads)

What are we doing now?

Hello everyone! i just wanted to pop in and give you guys some updates about the opening. over the past couple of days, we have had to change some stuff in the opening. Since ya know not everything goes according to plan.

As you may have seen previously, we had to change the film day to monday instead of friday. But on the bright side, Friday was a good chance to meet all our actors and visit our locations too. But then we saw that our location at town center most likely couldn’t happen due to the amount of people there. we might go back or have someone go there Monday to see how it is at the same time, since Fridays are usually the most busy. Good news, everyone said they could make it on Monday and we got a time and i think we’ll be able to finish everything the same day since we already know what we want to do and the how which is important. since the sun sets later now, we’ll have to slightly darken the shots and they’ll most likely look the way it was shown on my last post.

 
Also, one of my friends, who is also a lead character, told me we could use her recording equipment to dub our dialogue in case the audio is too loud. Which is a really good idea, due to any possible inconveniences with noises such as planes, birds, and cars.

And that’s pretty much it, we’ll see how filming will go tomorrow and let’s hope and pray there’s no more surprises or rain. see you guys tomorrow for filming day!! bye!!

What we still have to do

    Hello! Okay so this is what's happening. I'm still learning my lines over the weekend to be all ready to go for Monday. One of my friends of the cast also gave the idea of recording our dialogue just in case any background noise disrupts the dialogue while we're filming, which is actually very smart. We'll be doing that on Monday as well either before or after filming. 

Regarding post production, Amy started putting the shots we already filmed into Adobe Premiere and start adding stuff as we go. We'll also be meeting up during the break when we have time to so we can make sure the editing is going smoothly and we agree on what is happening. On days that we can't we'll send each other pictures of our progress or even Facetime. I'm also planning to start working on the foley sounds on Monday. I'm going to use some dry leaves for the stepping on leaf noises and most likely some celery for the bone cracking noise.

The reason we decided with Adobe Premiere Pro, was because it was a software we have both worked with before and also kind of know our way around it best than any other editing software. 

Filming day!!

 Hello everyone!! How are you? It's been a while. Ok so today was the first day of filming and it was definitely eventful. Me and my partner met up, as well with the rest of our cast. But. we ran into some issues because things don't always go as planned. First of all, we completely forgot about the daylight savings thing, which means the sun wouldn't set until later, so filming was a little delayed. Second of all, once of our actors had to leave early, so that was fun. But on the bright side, we were able to film 2 shots out of the twenty something shots in our storyboard, and we're also filming the rest on Monday. But due to now filming from sunset to night, we would have to darken the shot in post production, which shouldn't really be a problem. We also did some slight changes to the script, where we made the characters tipsy instead of completely drunk. So they could at least have more consciousness during the opening. 

Also decided for Julia's costume to be changed from gray to burgundy, since it seemed way more fitting for the character, which represents more intensity and individuality in a way. 

 

Here's one of the shots we did and meet our mysterious figure

Casting complete at last!!

 Hello and welcome back!! I got some exciting news to report and if you have seen the title of the blog... We have found the remaining actors!! It was all finalized by Friday but I wanted to wait a little to make sure both actors could make it, and they can which is good. I actually asked one of my friends that isn't on my theater class before even asking my class if she was able to and she accepted, and then when I asked my class, another girl who is also a good friend of mine also agreed, and I'm so happy that a huge chunk of this project is complete.

But on the bad side, bot of them can only film on Friday so we'll have to do everything in one day! No pressure. I think it'll be a little challenging but I think it'll be fine since we already know what we want to do. So I'm not too worried about the timing we're filming at, which will even be in my neighborhood, I just hope we don't get delayed by any joggers with their dogs passing by.

We're also still planning on editing during Spring break, with at least a day off of course. It's not called Spring Break for nothing. We're also planning to meet up and edit together and make sure everything is perfect, from the lighting, to the shots, and even the sound. And once we finish all that, all we have to do is our CCR and we have finished everything. I'm also planning to add bloopers cuz why not? We'll see. Anyway that's all for today, and I hope you're still excited to see this opening because I know I am!! Bye!!

Script sneak peek & official title!!

 Hello everyone!! no time no see! Boy do I got news for you this fine afternoon, for me anyway, I got some updates for you guys regarding our script, which is still in progress, and our official title!! Yayy!!

So the name of our film is going to be, "Can You See Me?", I know it sounds so dark and mysterious. I actually was the one that came up with the title and I literally just said it randomly while I met with my partner on Wednesday and she was like, "That's actually really good" and then I quickly thought about the reasons why she thought it was fitting. First of all, it completely fits with our plot since the 2 main characters, Julia and Olivia, are being followed by a mysterious unknown figure which only they seem to see and nobody else, so it seemed fitting. So yeah that's pretty much why we decided to stick with that title. The title itself in the form of a question seems very intriguing for the audience to know the answer to the question the title is displaying.

So right here right now, I'll show you a sneak peak of our script!!! Obviously won't be showing all of it since there are things that we wanted to keep in the dark for now. But also you guys saw the storyboard so you already know what it's going to be about. Now without further or do, the official sneak peek of our script!!

For the making of our script, I used a program called "CeltX". Which is a software that pretty much lays out a script in the correct format, and it's also great since it includes the chance to make storyboards, but best of all, it's completely free!

Update about casting and other stuff

 Hello again! It's been a while, well more like a week but still feels like a while. Anyway, there has been a slight issue regarding the casting process. Obviously since we're in quarantine it's kind of harder to find people. But do not fret because I got a plan, so I'm planning to ask my theater class who's interested and see which 2 people would be interested. We also have an official filming date of being next Friday March 19 and Saturday the 20th, since there's no school Friday, since it was the best time for both of us. I'm kind of worried about the timing since it's so close to Spring Break and it might include doing the editing and other post production during the break.

But on the bright side, Amy actually ordered an iPhone stabilizer to help us film since neither of us have quote on quote, "professional film cameras" to work with. I think it would be very useful since we can have a lot more control over the camera position that we want and it comes sometime next week I think around the 18th so the timing is perfect. I also have a tripod we can use just in case we need more steady shots too.

In other news, we started our script! And we're almost done and it'll be easier since we have the storyboard to go through the whole storyline and it should be at least 2 pages long since it's just an opening. I'll even show a sneak peek of the script to get you guys excited so stay tuned to my next post and I'll see you guys later. Bye!!

Soo... What's next??

     Well since we have already finished the storyboard, which is huge chunk off our backs, what's gonna happen next? Well actually it's time to finalize the script and start filming finally!! Sadly, we wouldn't be able to film this weekend due to our busy schedules with family and school work which really sucks, but hey that's just student life especially being so close to graduating in about a year. But the good news is we'll be able to start filming like next week or the week after since we have to finish the script and cast some characters, since I'll be one of the girls, while we also need someone to be the other girl, the myserioys figure, who has to be tall, and the stranger. Amy told me she wasn't as comfortable being in the film itself, but she'll still be filming the scenes behind the camera instead.

Since I got the most experience being in front of the camera and/or on a stage, I decided to be one of the characters. While my partner Amy has had more experience with film and creative photo, she'll be the one filming. We also decided to split up the editing in the post production process so it's easier and less time consuming. We might actually meet up during post production so we know and agree that this needs to happen or that has to have this effect or that sound, etc. 

My partner also found this video, which actually explains some techniques to get some shots, and it's very good so props and thanks to her for finding this video. So if you're looking for good techniques for shots to look better, this is the video for you!

https://youtu.be/sKAACWcbzu8

The Storyboard!! Hallelujah!

     Hello folks and welcome back to another blog, and I got some exciting news for you guys. The storyboard has been finalized!! Yayy!! Well it's pretty much a rough draft but still confident it's the official storyboard. Told you guys I'd have it sooner or later.

For the ones that haven't read the last post, you definitely should. But for a quick recap, I met up with my partner on Tuesday (on Facetime of course) and we discussed what suggestions we got from when we met up with random groups last Friday and that's when we decided to slightly change up our plot. We decided to make the character all black, and is only a character both Julia and Olivia can see, and be seen as invisible or as another object to everyone else. The new scene would include a stranger walking by and seeing both girls beating up the figure, but the stranger only sees the girls beating up a random object, but the girls are the only ones that can see the mysterious figure. Which gives the audience question, "Why are they the only ones seeing the figure?" or "Is this all an illusion because they're drunk?", and that's what makes the audience want to see more.

Now without further due, here is the storyboard!! We had to slightly change it like I said, since we originally only had 20 boards and decided to add 2 more. But don't worry we still split up the job. Amy added a new picture (#11) for the first half and I redid the other half. Hope you guys love our vision.

 

Don't judge our drawings, we're not artists lol

 

Update about plot...Again

 Hello and welcome back! so I have yet another slight change into our plot. Today, I Facetimed with my partner and we spoke about what we talked about with our groups, which I mentioned last week, and the advice we got from the members. We sort of got the same answers to our questions and we even edited our storyboard, which I thought I lost my half of by the way, almost had a mental breakdown, but it's ok since we changed the plot of the story anyway.

So what I told her, was basically how I discussed with my group our idea for the plot of our opening and the questions I asked, especially the beat up scene. And I told her how one of the members recommended using tighter shots and some jump cuts to make the beat up scene more realistic, and mentioned the movie, "Psycho" for inspiration and showed her a clip of the shower scene, which is an example of what I had in mind, minus the knife part of course. Anyway, I'm happy to announce that the storyboard is about 85% done and I should be posting the storyboard in my next blog post either tomorrow or Thursday, depending how much longer it takes since we're still organizing our shooting schedule and our script, in which the schedule will be posted later in the week and the sneak peak of the script will be sometime next week hopefully as well, but we still got a rough draft for it don't worry. 

 

Psycho (1960)

But... we got another little thing we wanted to add. And that is that we wanted to include a stranger, just a random stranger walking by and sees the 2 girls beating up the figure. But with a slight twist, the stranger sees the girls beating up a branch, not a person, which is funny when you think about it, since they're drunk and the audience doesn't know if the figure is just the girls' imagination from their drunk state, or is it a figure that only they can see and no one else can't? We wanted to add that since it'll definitely bring a lot more mystery and make people want to see more of whether this figure is some sort of illusion, or a real deal? 

But anyway that's all for today unfortunately. But the good news is, the storyboard is coming out in less than 2 days!! Yayy!! I hope you guys are looking forward to it just as we are and after the storyboard, I'm showing the shooting schedule, sound good?? I know so. See you guys in the next post, byee!!