Reflection

   This is my reflection of my project the Mantis. This is a story about a couple living dangerously. We had to integrate technology like the imovie software and the scenes filmed on camera. We had to use a dolly to help with filming to make movement more smooth. This project pushes the conventions of dedicated couples to the extreme. A couple willing to go 110% and more to be free and stay together. The audience is engaged by the dialog and mystery. Under the mysterious conditions, it makes the audience watch more. Especially when they find out who is in the trunk. The audience then wants to watch more and find out the rest of the story. This would be distributed in real media text by all outlets.  That will create a demand. My production skills personally improved because I learned new things to do. I learned how to properly convert a file and how to edit better. I figures all the little effects you can add to a film. I learned so much and have new tools to  use on future projects. This was an amazing project to be a apart of and i'm appreciative that I was given the opportunity.

Final Project

   I got all the files converted and watched them. Nick is now watching them to see which ones he thinks are good and bad. We are seeing which shots look best. Thats why we took multiple shots of one scene. Now after all the scenes are chosen then we put it together and edit. I have to convert them again because some of them were cut short.

    It's really funny to see of the scenes that didn't go by plan. The good scenes are awesome and thats why they will be in the final piece. 

  Still no response on the song and thats really sad and upsetting.  I am going to send another email to bother them. We are now going to plan B and using a non-copyrighted song. Its going to be funny when they email me after the project is over.

   Not only that problem, but now we ended up missing a line in the film. We are missing a scene where Nick is saying his line. We are going to either cut it out or implement it with narrative. Its not big of a deal because its not important to the scene. Kim will fix it with her awesome editing skills. Until next time when we are editing and finished.

     We picked all the files that we are going to use. I will add a clip for you to see. They are good and Tomorrow we will edit. We just have to improve some audio and cut some scenes. We are only over 2 minutes by 20 seconds, so thats some good space for cutting. Thats all, thanks for reading.

   Editing is the most fun anyone can have,Except for me. Its a good thing Kim is going to be editing most of it. She will be working her magic on it. I have no doubt it turn out great. Fingers crossed I don't mess it up. Of course there has to be problems because if there weren't then it would be easy. We cant open the video files. We tried converting it, but it still wont open. I'll have to try and open them at home. If it doesn't open then a file conversion is in need. I can't wait to watch it come together.
   It takes forever for files to convert especially when you have 85 to convert. Thats right 85. I have working on this for about an hour and I'm still not done, close but not done. Tomorrow we will see the awesome work I did and watch the clips together and edit. Yay!

    Yesterday was the first and last day we filmed. It was good, but I wasn't able to stay for long because I had to work. Thats why we should of had a set schedule, but the manager said only Sunday. I was only there for 10 minutes and got a lot done in the ten minutes. Nick said everything went well after that. Everything is filmed and is going to be edited soon. Before we filmed Nick sent me a list of items we needed. This is the list:
Kim's camera

Chris's camera

Tripod(s)

Rolling thing.chicken and waffles

my car 

two forks two knives

Back up SD cards

  Not a lot right? Everything in that list is super vital to the project. Everything was brought and worked perfectly. We started at 9 in the morning and went until 11. It didn't take long. In either the next post or after I will put a small clip.
     I have some bad news. The music company didn't get back to me yet. I have went to a different song in our list Dream on and emailed them. Hopefully they can actually email me back. We really want to use the first song, but things come up. Thats why we have back up plans. Its a good thing too because the project is due sunday. Nick is probably going to have me send emails to all the other songs we had as options.

  I have a surprise for you. Its important to this film and was posted here before. Can you guess what it is? Its the script all typed up. Just show you can read it and maybe, probably not, give feedback on it. Here you go:

Script:

INT- A busy diner (bellini) in the early morning.

The camera follows the waiter of the diner as he walks to a table with food in hand. He places the food down on the table and walks away. As the fork and knife reaches for the first bite the camera moves from close shot of the food to a medium shot of the female character.

She picks up the food and bites into the waffle. She looks to the man across her and sees his distress.

Jude: (with a faint smile, offers a bit of her food) You want some?

Alex rejects the food and Jude retreats from her offer. She goes on speaking to fill the silence. She speaks with her mouth full.

Jude: To be honest (takes another bite of chicken) This isn’t the worst thing I’ve put in my mouth (faint smile trying to break tension).

Alex watches her chew, still irritated, he tells her how he feels about the situation.

Alex: (reacts to her ignorance) Why did we have to do this now?

Showing the profile of both characters and Jude being irritated.

Jude: What?

Alex: We had planned for a week, I had a car ready...In a WEEK.  

Jude slams her fork.

Jude: (Looks away from Alex, chewing and swallowing her chicken. She faintly whispers to herself) A week…(She looks to Alex) I couldn’t wait another week.

The shot shows Alex’s reaction to Jude’s outburst. He knows he’s awakened the Dragon.

Jude: You don’t understand what I have to go through...The troubles I have to face.

Alex struggles to be mad at Jude and looks down to the emptiness.

Jude: You think I enjoy having a father who doesn’t love me...Who prefers Jack Daniels over his own daughter.

Jude Begins to raise her voice making Alex feel like shit for putting her on the spot.

Jude: So I apologize if i needed to get out as fast as I could. I’m sorry I wanted to run away with the best thing that has ever happened to me...you. I didn’t mean to inconvenience you.  

Jude looks away from Alex, Hiding her face as Alex looks at Jude, wanting to fill the silence.

Alex: (nervously chuckles) (peers over to her and then looks down) So you think your dad is going to be looking for us?

Jude looks up with satisfaction knowing she has gotten what she wanted. Alex tries to get a straight answer.

Alex: Jude seriously, I need to know if he’s going to be looking for us.

Jude takes another piece from the food and is very excited.

Jude:Don’t worry...where we’re going...nobody will find us.

Alex looks blantly into Jude.

Jude:(leans close to Alex’s face) Even if they tried.

Alex: So what do you wanna do (grabs some of Jude’s food) When we get there.

Jude: What the keys? (grabs food) We can do whatever we want there...that's the whole point.

Alex: (Smiles) How long is that going to be?  

     Its not that long, but long enough. I think it will turn out great in the final stage, which is coming up soon.  Now we film tomorrow. Let me know what you think. See ya in the next posting.

   More about the research I did to find who to email about the song involved Google, a lot.It was the only album from Derek and the Dominos. Eric Clapton is the only one still alive also. I thought there was no hope, until I typed in magic words into Google and I found out that Atlantic Records owned and produced the song Layla back in the day. WarnerBros Records owns it now though. Thats why I emailed both. Nick is still looking to find a contact for Eric Clapton, but instead of an email he found his previous address. That was a little weird even though it was a step in the right direction. Not really I had to give him positive motivation. Also I received an email back. Not the email I expected though. It was an automated email from a computer just saying that they received my message. That was a little disappointing. Nick found something! He found the writer of the song, Bobby Whitlock. He may not own, but he should know who does if we got it wrong. Nick is sending an email to him right now. Nick got an email back from Bobby and they said to email Warner since he doesn't own the song. Thats good because we did that already. Since We haven't heard back yet from Warner, We are going to pick a non-copyrighted song as a backup.
      Nick is going to call the manager of an Italian restaurant today to see if we can film there. I know it should of been done already. I already talked to him about it. We should know by tomorrow though and if we can shot there then we will begin Saturday. The manager got back to Nick and we start Sunday morning at 9:30. Sadly I wont be helpful there for long because I also have to work. Thats why we need set schedules, but it was because the manager got back late and said only Sunday we can film. I'm just happy that we can shoot there.

 (n.d.). Retrieved March 31, 2016, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Whitlock 

   The struggle is real. The song that we chose, Layla, we need to get the rights to use it. We sent an email to the Atlantic and WarnerBros records because they own the song. Here is the email:

Atlantic Records,

Good afternoon, My name is Darren Naville and I am contacting you in behalf of my AICE Media Studies group. I am emailing you to ask if I can use the song Layla, by Derek and the Dominos, for a non-profit school project. This project is for the AICE media studies class at Cypress Bay High school. I hope to use your song in our film introduction which is the main component of our assignment. We would like to obtain rights to use the song for this one time only, as it is the only way we can use this song for our project. This video is for educational purposes only and we have no means or intentions to make a profit off of it or the song, we hope to use. As a sincere fan of the song I hope you consider granting us written consent to use it in our assignment. The assignment will be turned into our teacher and the Cambridge board for grading and will not be sold for material gain. Once again I hope you consider granting us consent to use your music and I hope to hear from you soon.

Thank you for your time,

Darren Naville

It was hard to find out who to email first. I also went to the Eric Clapton page to see if there would be a why to contact him to ask. There was no email or anything on the website. Hopefully I emailed the right person and we get the rights to the song. In the email we wanted to make sure they knew that we weren't going to gain any money from using the song. I'll let you know if we get it or if we have to choose another song.

 Eric Clapton Official Website. (n.d.). Retrieved March 31, 2016, from http://www.ericclapton.com/ 

   I told you there would be another post today. You didn't think so, did you? I am really excited to start filming next week. I know that is kinda late, but that's when everyone is together. The story board, script and enthusiasm are all ready. Nick and Kim have informed me that the cast is all drawn up and is good to play the parts. They probably got some drama kids and friends that helped on previous projects and they were good, so I have no worries at all. There are great writers on this project that can adapt to anything. When we start filming I will vlog some of it so that you can get a preview and behind the scenes look at the project. Hopefully there are no problems, but we are expecting at least one. That is why we have a plan B and C. Look forward to some good looking content. Peace out. P.S. Sorry for no links or pictures.

  Hello People of the Internet. Everything is going according to plan. Not much to tell because everyone is away for spring break, but the show must go on. So I will continue to talk about the story. I have already disclosed that we want it to be like a Tarantino film. I think it will be most like the Hateful Eight, which was just released not too long ago. It starts off with the semi end and with a problem. That's how we want the opening to be like. We want to start off with the couple having a conversation in a diner with a man banging on the trunk of their car. That is the problem and is starting in the semi end. That is probably the best I can give today there will be more tomorrow.

(n.d.). Retrieved March 24, 2016, from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3460252/?ref_=nv_sr_1

    Today wasn't that event full. All that the group did was finalize the plans and double check that everything is ready for the next phase. Tomorrow we are going to look at areas to film in and talk to people about acting in the film. Nick and Kim are most likely to be acting in it, I on the other hand will only be in if I have to. I'm not that good at acting. I will still practice and be prepared to go in. It's a good thing I know the script like its the back of my hand. We choose to use a restaurant in Weston, I forgot the name though. It looks nice and it can work. We are going to ask the manager and see if we can film in the morning before too many people get there. Nick says that they will say yes, so we have no worries.

  I don't remember what day it is, but lets still continue moving forward. We didn't do much today. All that was done was the script, which is very important especially for a dialog driven opening. It has to be intriguing to bring the audience in and keep them there. Here is a picture of the script:
Its a little hard to read.

 This is the first part that starts the conversation. It is strong,but I wish it could be better. I think it's good enough though. It will show who and how the characters are. It goes hand in hand with the shots and angles. That's why on the storyboard under the pictures there is a word to show where in the script it is happening. So that we don't lose our place. The second page is underneath and is the non-ending of the conversation because it ends the scene, but not the conversation. They still continue talking while the camera zooms out to outside the diner. Even though you can't hear them. The conversation will continue later in the film.

     Welcome, its a new day. Yesterday we meet up in groups to discuss our projects to others and get input. I showed our first storyboard, but we made a new one today. Here are pictures of both. There isn't much difference between them. The second one is just more detailed. Under each picture is the line from the script that the shot happens. So we can keep up with when everything happens. I got good tips on how I should take the future of this blog. I need to elaborate more and give more detail. No more of these short posts.
    My reflection of storyboard is that I like it a lot. It is detailed and makes sense. Not the best of drawings, but thats what to expected from a group of high schoolers that cant draw.

 

We all agreed on the storyboard and how it's going to look in terms of shots and angles. I really think it's going to look great when we are finished.

   Today, we were trying to find out what song to use for the opening we each choose 5 songs. My five songs weren't the best they were what I thought would of worked for the opening. The final decision was the song Layla. The audio is an important decision because the audio reflects the mood and tone. There is case study about how if you listen to a horror film with no music then its not scary at all. The case study was by John Syme. I thought it was an interesting experiment to do and it makes perfect sense. Now back to the main subject, all the songs we choose are on Kim's blog.

kimberlymediaproject.blogspot.com

 Horrors! Music Professor Studies Why-and How-Music Makes Us Scream. (n.d.). Retrieved March 17, 2016, from http://www.davidson.edu/academics/film-and-media-studies/music-in-the-horror-film 

We meet up and discussed the plot and how the film should be laid out. We want it to have a             Quentin Tarantino feel to it. The film is going to be driven by dialog. We know that we have to get good actors for that, but we will.

Here is what we have for the plot so far:

        This film will be about a young woman, in her teens, who is having a bad time,per say. Who needs an exit strategy; an experience that most teens go through. Her and her boyfriend(Names undecided yet) decide to run away and go down to the Keys. On her mission to runaway she ruins the people around her, she manages to achieve her happiness on the price of others. We want to portray to the audience that even though there are situations where their heart might be in the right place but it doesn't mean they might be doing the right thing. It may be right to your personal morals, but to everyone else. Some people may learn something.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000233/

We have decided that we would like the title to look similar to the one in Moonrise Kingdom. We would like it to be popping out and present to all.
We are going to have it with a mantis in the middle

just like the house. Not the same font though. We
were thinking about having it bold and block like.
Sadly I didn't do much research today, but I will
defiantly do some tomorrow,maybe.








http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1748122/

Welcome to my blog. My name is Darren.This is where I will be posting details about my project Mantis.