WEEK 6: Week Update

 Hey!!

    It seems like every week keeps on getting more and more productive, which is something I really like because it shows the level of discipline that I am putting into this project. I like this especially because the discipline is not only reflecting on the production, but also on the rest of my life. I am now putting my responsibilities in order to accomplish goals for this class and not fall behind. And in order to do this, I need to plan carefully and accordingly, which is a new habit that I wasn't very good at before this project. I was initially complaining about the formality of this project, but I can't help but be grateful for the good influence it has had on me.

    This week mainly consisted of preparing everything in order to save as much time as possible on filming days. My actors have very tight schedules, and I am trying to make the best of my spring break, which means I need to efficiently plan if I want to get everything done in the desired amount of time.

    If I make any significant changes to the lighting and script that I addressed in this week's posts, I will surely mention them in the coming days. However, I am very comfortable with what I have at the moment, considering that I put lots of time into these two steps of the process to make sure I was as satisfied as possible.

     Next week is my first week of filming, which means I will (hopefully) have lots to unpack about that process, and some snippets of the shots, if time persists.

    That's all for now. Wish me luck this week! See you all very soon.

Santiago Rios

WEEK 6: Finalizing Lighting

 What's up!

    The next step I took this week was establishing some options for lighting, so that way I don't have to worry about it only on my film days. I used a candle, an incandescent bulb lamp, and my filming light that I purchased and wrote about in previous blogs.

    Here are some of the lighting environments that I created with the mentioned materials, as well as commentary about their pros and cons:

Option 1:

I created this environment by only using the LED light. This environment has the right amount of saturation, however, the "flooding" sensation of the lighting source is not exactly what I'm looking for. Instead of creating an ambient, it creates a "filter" texture for the entire space, which is not desired.

Option 2:

Although I didn't take a picture of the alternate angle, I am honestly very satisfied with this environment. For this configuration, I used the candle and my LED light. I definitely think the LED's intensity could be reduced to make a more "private" sensation.

Option 3:

             

This last configuration uses the candle and incandescent bulb. Although it sounded like a great idea in my head, they didn't work as well as I expected on camera. The main issue here is that the individual light sources emit different temperatures of light.

    Option 2 is convincing me the most at the moment, but like I said, every option has its unique pluses and minuses. I should have my mind made up by the end of this week.

Till then,

Santiago Rios

Week 6: Script Comes To Life

 Hello to all!!

    I have great news on this production that indicates notable progress for all of my ideas. As a creator, I always feel a special way when my imaginative ideas come to life and are translated exactly how I want them (I'm a perfectionist when it comes to creating). 

    I have a script!! This is something I've been itching to do after dedicating so much time to forming my characters. This is definitely a rough draft that I will likely tweak before or during the film process. But I'm just glad I have the majority of the dialogue established. 

    The approach to writing this script was mostly centered on the emotions that I feel the characters should represent based on the plot that I wrote. I also kept time in mind during the writing process, because I figured it is equally as important to stay within the "timeframe" of the project as to convey the needed context through the actors in their lines. Similar to exceeding the word count on an AICE exam essay, no matter how valuable the information after the limit is, it will likely not be read by the grader due to the strict rules on the test and will basically mean nothing. Every now and then, I would do a full read of the script (with necessary pauses and gestures accounted for), time it with a stopwatch, and adjust as needed.

Here is my script:

Employee: Well yes, I figured a different approach wouldn’t be bad for our workflow.

Nothing new, man (Chuckles)
Boss: Yes, I understand. But what I’m trying to communicate is a general

disconnect that I’ve never seen in this department for the 22 years that

I’ve worked here. Did you change the proposal?
Employee: With all respect, Jane was not fully aware of what this client wanted.

I was saving time and money for this company.
Boss: Tim. Did you change the proposal? (Hand on face)
Employee: (Looks at boss with confused smile)
Boss: This company has values that you know best beyond anyone else here. You

have failed to maintain these values. You have BEEN failing to meet the

basic values that you helped me lay down from the-
Employee: You can’t be serious. What’s the gimmick here? You make it sound like I

did something you didn’t want. Where’s the fault? 
Boss: I wish this didn’t have to happen. Nobody else wants this to happen. I

can’t imagine anyone else in your place.
Employee: And you couldn’t talk to me before any of this would be necessary. Go

sleep it off, man (Gets up from chair, grabs laptop bag)

Boss: Tim. Look at me. Look at me. When standards aren’t met, you know exactly

what happens. I can’t believe you're making me do this, really. I’d like

to think you’ve known me long enough to understand my limits. You have 48

hours to take your belongings home. 
Employee: (Turns and walks away extremely confused) 

That's all for now. See you in the next one!

Santiago Rios

WEEK 5: Overall Week Summary

I'm back!!

    So I've shared my new ideas and research from this week, but I feel like a general update on the progress I've made (as well as the progress I will make in the future) is definitely necessary.

As I mentioned last week, a large goal of the week was to keep expanding on the characters of my story and develop them according to aesthetics and overall contribution to the plot. I figured wardrobe was something pretty important, so I was able to put together two wardrobes for my characters, as well as gather the necessary props to fit their character's roles.

    Although I haven't started the filming process, I am pushing to try and start this weekend, aka the start of my spring break, but that all depends on their availability. If the opportunity to film doesn't come up, I will at least use that day in the schedule to decorate the set and place every prop where it fits best. I will also start playing around with angles on my camera to acquire the best shots, to save time on the day of filming. But of course, filming is the priority so let's hope everything works out.

    This week, I am determined to write the entire script and deliver it to my actors at least 2 days before the first film date, so I will keep you guys updated on that as well.

    In regards to major advances in my project, that's about it. See you guys next week!!

Santiago Rios

WEEK 5: Filming and Editing Rough Schedule

 Hello everybody!

    Because I want to stay more organized for this project, I have decided to create a brief filming and editing schedule, just to keep myself disciplined for the future, as well as set these days apart from my everyday schedule. I want to do this to avoid any form of procrastinating, which could ultimately affect the overall quality of my production. 

Check it out:

RED: Filming Day

BLUE: Editing Day

GREEN: Final Due Date*

    This schedule was made based on my personal schedule, my actors' work schedules, and the availability of my guest room. Hopefully, I can adhere to this as much as possible. If any changes happen, I will make sure to communicate them in the next posts. Goodbye till then!

Santiago Rios

WEEK 5: Blog Analysis Key Takeaways

I'm back!!

    I've been looking forward to sharing this post with you all the whole week. This week, my media teacher assigned a blog analysis assignment, and I have a lot of takeaways to communicate.

    The assignment basically involved checking out two blogs of our choice from past students in the course who were successful at the end of the entire project. I decided to view two blogs by two students named Ryan and Riley. Their blogs were visually engaging upon opening, which prompted me to select them over the other options.

    I won't dive into an entire analysis of their blogs in this post because that was basically the entire class assignment, but I will add my full analysis at the end of this post in case anybody wants to read more.

    Ryan and Riley's projects showed me what a final product looks like after staying organized from start to finish. Because I have mostly been focused on the production over anything else, this is something I will now take note of and try to better implement for the rest of my blogs, so I am proud of the final product on an aesthetic level, too.

    Something else I really admired from their projects was the use of true emotions and overall mental processes during the production. Although I try to stay as real as possible during these posts, needless to say, I have been juggling many things these last few weeks as a senior in high school. Covid, college of music applications, you name it. This has prompted me to feel a wave of emotions that I have quite frankly not communicated in my blog, and I think it is a fundamental part of this blog to tell about my experiences beyond just creating a film opening. 

    I will start to apply these new takeaways that I received from analyzing these past blogs. See you guys in the next post!

Here is my full analysis response for the class assignment:

        I reviewed Ryan and Riley’s blogs. I really enjoyed that Ryan’s posts captured the most valuable details of the journey of his project. His blog was very to-the-point and that was the element that kept me hooked and gave an overall appeal to his project. Because he remained so organized throughout the whole production process, it translated very well into his posts and they were structured very clearly. I also liked how genuine his attitude was in his writing. If he ran into a flaw, he would blatantly admit it and talk about it on the blog. Riley’s blog was a pleasant experience because of how much visual and informative content was shared on her posts. Almost every post contained some sort of picture or computer screenshot to help the audience visually interpret every step of the process.

        The most engaging kind of post contained genuine internal thoughts and reflections from the producer on certain steps in the process. I really liked Riley’s post titled “Spring Break coming to an end” because she not only updated us with relevant information regarding the project but she also expresses how these decisions relate and affect her life outside of the project. Ryan also had a great post titled “Inner Struggles”. This post was perhaps the most genuine out of both vlogs because Ryan share some real emotions with us regarding his challenge of acting a role on camera, which was an unfamiliar practice to him. These blogs taught me to remain organized and as clear as possible when writing to my audience. Additionally, although it is important for me to communicate the actual components of the project, it is also important to convey my personal thoughts and emotions during this process.

Signing off,

Santiago Rios

Week 4: Location Final Decision

 Hello everybody!!

   I bring all of you excellent news...

    

    I have finally decided on where to shoot the majority of my video! The location will be the guest room of my house. 

    The reason I decided on this location is not only because of its easy access, but also the familiarity that I have with the room as a filmmaker. I figured that I am already learning several new things for this project to work out, and being familiar with my space for filming will only benefit me.

Below are some pieces of furniture that I have at my house (both inside and outside the guest room) that could potentially work as main props for the opening scene.

I will play around with these objects during the week and see what works best.

Santiago Rios

Week 4: Preparing For the Production of Background Music

 Hi all!

    This week I was able to meet with my media teacher, Mrs. Stoklose in order to receive feedback and ask her any questions regarding the current stages I am in for this proejct.

    I heavily emphasized my attention towards the background music, as music is my strong suit and I am very much relying on this element of film to take my project to the next level.

    My teacher recommended that I watch the opening scene for Baby Driver (2017) as a form of both education and inspiration. Because I have never watched Baby Driver, I was enticed to see what this film had in store, as I have heard very good things about it but never got around to watching it. 

Here is the opening scene that I watched:

  https://youtu.be/7ARFyrM6gVs

    Update: I just watched the opening scene. Not once, not twice, but 6 times. This is such a high-quality introduction to a film! And as soon as the scene began, I instantly caught onto why my teacher gave me this scene as a recommendation. The energetic, edgy guitar riffs and vocals that pump into the driver's ear during the whole scene arguably made me feel like him. I could tell that the music is what kept him locked in and aggressive on the streets to succesfully escape the cops. And because I am so emotionally bound to music, I was immersed into the action from the very start and I genuinely felt like I was in the car with him. 

    Although this genre of film and music are nowhere near my ideas for the project, I still got valuable takeaways from baby driver involving the relationship of the characters and the audience through the music, as well as the importance behind using the music to complement the screenplay.

See you guys soon!

Santiago Rios

Week 4: Developing My Characters

  Hello everybody!

    One of the key moments for this week has been my work towards bringing the characters in my production to life. 

    I've been really excited for this step because once I conclude I think it will allow me to dive into the dialogue portion of the opening scene.

This is a rough moodboard for the BOSS character of the film:

This is a rough moodboard for the EMPLOYEE character:

 Here is a list of general character traits from the boss:

-serious

-dominant

-"no bs" personality

-very masculine

-old-school oriented

Here is a list of general character traits from the employee:

-rational

-friendly

-emotional

-obedient

-serious

I plan on continuing this character formation process as I work on the storyline even more, which will allow me to understand ther perspectives even more and there for give them a stronger identity in the film. 

Stay posted for more key updates on this process!

Santiago Rios