The Final Products (!!!!)

 After all the hard work that I've put in to my project, I'm pleased to present to you the following components:

TRAILERS:

-Pleasantville, USA Trailer #1

-Pleasantville, USA Trailer #2

POSTER:

Link: Poster Link

SOCIAL MEDIA:

-Pleasantville, USA Instagram

[@pleasantvilleusamovie]

I honestly don't even care about the score I receive from this. I'm proud of all the work that I've put into this, and it really is a reflection of my state of being at this time. After everything that has happened, this was something that I could always use as a catharsis, pour my heart and soul into when all of my other cups were overflowing. 

I want to say thank you to all of those who helped in the making of this project and contributed. Especially Cathy and Ryan, you never had to spend those hours helping me out, but you did and I'm eternally grateful. And a big thank you to my class, everyone that has made Media Studies this year absolutely amazing. I can't forget about you, Tstok! I don't think I can formulate a sentence that would cover how much I appreciate your teaching and support. 

I love that I produced something tangible that I can always watch, to remind myself what this period of my life was like. I'm really glad I could make something to share with my family in Ukraine. A huge part of my motivation for this project came from them. I don't know if I'll continue posting on this, but I might create another blog. I kind of like sharing my thoughts in this forum. 

I can't think of a better way to leave off than: Glory to Ukraine!

The Critical Reflection

 The trailers for Pleasantville, USA promote the deeper themes of the actual movie in a more cryptic way (as is conventional for trailers), utilizing the conventions of the psychological thriller genre. This engages the target audience with the ideas in an entertaining way so as to promote future viewing of the film. Pleasantville, USA seeks to ask the questions of how stark the difference can be between appearance and reality, as well as to whether escape from the past is truly achievable. 

For this production, I decided that it was absolutely imperative that I use conventions. The conventions for psychological thrillers, ironically enough, lie in the unconventional - otherwise known as the supernatural or the macabre. After watching the trailer for Last Night in Soho, I decided to make lighting a key tool for my production. One of the conventions for the psychological thriller genre is to play with lighting, especially the contrast between the dark and the light. I watched a video that showed certain lighting techniques designed to either emphasize the subject that is being illuminated, or how the director and lighting team can emphasize the darkness as well, playing with proportions to show the conflict between the dark and light. I also wanted to develop a lighting motif, just as Soho did with its neon lighting. 

That lighting convention carried over to the other components of the projects. In the poster, the darkness is supposed to be engulfing the main subject, with those small lights offering a weak protest against it. The lighting technique carried over to my Instagram posts as well, as I made it a priority of mine to play around with the lighting for every single post. I had to adjust the lighting a lot manually for the majority of them.  

Moreover, I determined that the brand that I had to create for this project had to be compatible with my genre. The core of my brand is dark and introspective questioning, so I had to build aesthetics and my tone around my central themes (appearance versus reality, escaping the past). To do so, I toyed with lighting, as mentioned above, and I also employed dark and caustic humor. This can be seen through my Instagram captions and posts, especially when it came to my mascot Bones and my other behind-the-scenes shots. The Instagram accounts for Jordan Peel’s thrillers such as Us and Get Out also tend to use dark humor, so does Soho. Mine is a little more on-the-nose, but I wanted that to be a part of my brand. 

I also had to utilize my genre in order to captivate my target audience. I watched the trailer for A Quiet Place for inspiration for auditory design and conventions for thrillers. I came away with a lot of inspiration, especially in terms of the supernatural-sounding stings in order to captivate the target audience. So the thriller stings and other elements of my suspenseful sound design, paired with the lighting elements, served to engage my target audience within the trailers. I should have incorporated the horror sound elements more for the Instagram page, because the posts with that emphasis on sound design made my audience interact with the account more, especially since my target audience is typically younger (in their early 30s or 20s) and is more interested with the sound design aspect of thrillers when it comes to marketing.

However, the project did hit some snags in terms of casting and representation. The original trailers were going to have a more diverse cast of “townspeople” (aka demons), but, due \to scheduling conflicts over break and during the school week, those shots weren’t able to get filmed and there were others who had to fill in the roles. The original plan was to get the look of a homogenous suburbia through costume design and the seemingly perfect appearance of the setting, but the lack of diversity actually does strike a topic that this film explores (based on the shots filmed for the trailer, at a more surface level): the dark past behind a lot of the “utopian” suburbias in the United States. One of the original inspirations behind the setting and idea of Pleasantville, USA - besides the actual suburban town of Weston, FL - is its movie namesake Pleasantville. One thing that was very noticeable in Pleasantville was its lack of representation (its glaringly all-white and nearly homogenous cast). This was purposeful for that film, as after doing research, the entire setting was based around the actual urbanization and homogenous society of the United States during the late 1940s and 50s. That film did offer up its critique of the homogenous nature of that society (as much as it could for a comedy/fantasy), but Pleasantville, USA strives to take an even darker approach, using a more sardonic lens through the genre of psychological thriller. I researched the history of Levittown, nicknamed “America’s First Suburb”, and the racist policies that went into making it the ideal residence for the conventional white family. Many suburbs in the U.S. had similar policies, adding to racial and ethnic de facto segregation. So though not ideal, this less diverse casting adds to the tense, uncomfortably homogenous feel of the setting and adds a historical layer to the theme of appearance versus the dark reality. 

Upon reflection, after my weeks-long commitment to this project, there are some things that I look back on and know for certain that I could have improved. There were some shots that I could have taken to make the setting even more imposing (including the wide shot of the robotic demon townspeople). I think there is also too drastic a shift in tone of the first trailer. I might just have been better off jumping straight into a tense, unsettling tone after the first 30 seconds rather than taking about half of the trailer time to do so. While I do like how the trailers and the social media page turned out, I do think my poster is a little bit devoid of that sardonic and almost caustic humor that I chose to be a pillar of my brand. Even then, I definitely learned a lot working on this piece and I’m really proud of what I created.

Almost Done!!!!!

I'm making headway into my second trailer, and I'm really pleased with how it's turning out. I want to spend a significant portion of this blog talking about the song selection and that process (which took surprisingly less time than usual) and how I managed to come away with two really great choices. I'll get right to it. 

"Dead Forest" was a great choice for the back end of my trailer. It automatically brings to mind "thriller", so it fit my genre really well. I really lucked out in finding it, because it's not too dramatic, and it doesn't feel too rushed. It brings in tons of suspense and has a more natural sound to it, so I can contrast it with some unnatural sounds for the demons and the demon transformation. I was about to disregard it initially, too, so I dodged a bullet by actually clicking on it to listen. My only critique of the song is that the name is misleading (it doesn't really feel woods-y). It also is almost perfectly timed with my clips already. Pretty much all of the beats fit in perfectly, and I don't have to adjust much. This is one of the few times where I actually like my music selection, so that in itself feels like an accomplishment. I should mention that I found it on the YouTube Audio Library, and that's what this is here. I listened to a few other options on this page and the next few pages (the YouTube Audio Library has a lot of options) and nothing else came close to "Dead Forest" in terms of feel, tempo, and clip compatibility. Again, this is for the latter half of the trailer (yes, I'm splitting up the sections again, but this time it's a little more cohesive). This part of the trailer is where all the best  thriller and horror shots are at. I'm hoping that it'll really be mind-boggling, and I want my music to reflect that. 

Here's the song that I chose for the beginning portion of the trailer:

"Oman Groomer" (great title, by the way) is not as dark as the other song, for sure. Though it's listed as classical and calm, it really does have a lot of hints of suspense. It has the juxtaposition of the higher melody with the darker notes of the upright bass. It just seems as though something is off, like it's telling you not to trust what you see and hear. Which is perfect for the first part of y trailer. For this one, there's pretense of happy atmosphere. It's straight to the creepy and the off-putting. I wanted my two trailers to be distinctly different in their feel, and this goes a long way in helping me achieve that. And for once, I had fun finding the music. That might be because I didn't have to search as meticulously as usual, because I found the songs I wanted pretty quickly this time around. I just fell in love with the two. 

I'm already putting in the other stings and sound effects, I have them all imported, I just need to actually put them in to my sequence. I'm having some trouble picking out other demon noises I can use, just so I don't have to reuse the demonic woman scream. Again, I don't just want to copy my first trailer. I might keep you posted on that, or I'll just leave it as a surprise for later. 

I'm also adding more transitions and correcting more of the audio. With the actual songs picked out, I can do that easier. I've already corrected most of the audio, I just have to finish up with the transitions. I still want to see if I can do something a little more creative with the transitions, or find some way to make them a little more stylized. I want my trailer to include this special sense of style, not just with the lighting, but the transitions, too.

I've also added some markers to remind myself where exactly to put the text cards:

There's some places where I'm still a little hesitant to put them, but I have a more detailed plan now. Unfortunately, I've been changing the text that I'm putting there around so much that I might just scrap what I already have written and start again. I'm beginning to hate text cards. I just don't want it to come off as tacky, but I know that some psychological thrillers use them to present an idea or theme. They might make my target audience more interested, so I'll try to figure it out. 

This is basically it for today. I really should get back to working on the media component and do a little more editing while I'm at it. Really excited for you guys to see it, and I'll be really relieved when I'm done.

 

Editing the Second Trailer

To start, I am extremely tired, so if some of this sounds like complete gibberish, I'm really sorry. Weird way to start, I know, I've just gotta dive into this while it's still fresh in my mind (plus I'm busy later). My first trailer is pretty much set, save for a few things that might need to be corrected, or they might not (that's what happens when you over-scrutinize your work). For my second trailer, I wanted to pick up the pace. Rather than it having that peaceful introduction and trying to confuse the audience as to what genre it may be, this trailer will fully dive into that suspense. The beginning will still be off-putting because of the sequence in the house coinciding with the more mysterious music, but it includes some more traditional elements of thriller. I'll also be trying to stylize it a little more, I wasn't able to do it this round of editing.

And just like the first trailer, this round of editing was dedicated to just putting everything together and correcting some shots. This is some of the stuff that I've worked on so far:

As you can see, I've gotten far along. The second photo, the one right above this text, is actually a shot that I'm really proud of. Just filming it made me uncomfortable, so I'm hoping this one will really please my target audience. I've also started adding effects to the clips to make the transitions smoother or just stylizing them a bit. I still have to do a lot more in terms of stylizing, and I haven't added the text cards yet. I might just completely rewrite them anyways, but I've marked off potential places they should go. There is still one clip that I'd like to fix (make sharper) and it's this one:

And like last time, I still need to do a lot of audio editing. I don't have any stings yet, nor do I have the main music/score to go along with the trailer. I was originally thinking of splitting the trailer into two distinct sections according to the main music like my first trailer, but I might just try to keep it more cohesive and have less noticeable auditory transitions. I'll try to incorporate even more stings in this one, especially towards the end where it gets more intense. I also have to level the clip audio, especially the dialogue. I'll try to pick the main trailer song first so I can fix that accordingly. 

In other news, I'll get that teaser ready soon. I originally planned on just cutting down my first trailer into sections, but I might just do an even more chaotic teaser, to really get that thriller element. I still have to mull it over some, and I'm trying to find even more inspirations. Wish me luck on my search.

Sorry if this is a little short, like I said, I'm drained of all energy and I still have more stuff to do. Catch you next blog post.

Diving Into the Editing Deep End

 I'm pretty much done with the editing of the first trailer, save for a couple of things that I want to adjust. The audio is by far the thing that I wanted to get right. For a lot of psychological thriller trailers, I found that the audio (especially the main song playing and the stings) were important in developing that tone and genre. I still have to fix some of my clips, maybe add in some more effects, so I'll put off my long discussion about audio for now. 

Some of the clips that need to be corrected really aren't bad, it's just that I want there to be more tension within them. I feel like maybe adjusting brightness levels or even adding a little fade or blur could really help. There's one clip in particular that I'm thinking of, and it's the one of Val seeing the first demon appear at TC. I had to adjust the cropping of the shot just a bit as well as the saturation/darkness levels, but I still think that there needs to be something more to really build that tension that's important in that moment, especially because the very next clip is one of the other demon that comes closer. 

I also don't know if the pace of my trailer is really there. I found that a lot of the psychological thriller trailers I watched didn't feel as though they pushed the pace. They more so built tension until it finally reached a breaking point, so that their target audience could get hooked and could really pick up on a few of the themes that the films would present. I don't know if some of my sections are too slow, or if I just stared at my trailer for so long that I'm anticipating every shot and I'm numb to the tension I've created. I told y'all I hate editing, and a part of it is because I pick apart every single little thing to the point where the trailer just feels dull to me sometimes. I might have to take more breaks when editing so I don't just burn myself out and hate the final product that I really liked a couple minutes ago. Maybe I'm just really tired. Either way, I'll probably just down more caffeine before I go to work editing my second trailer. Yeah, you heard me, that's coming out soon. 

Anyways, one of the last things that I want to adjust is the lighting for some of my clips. This might be a bit nit-picky since the lighting actually looks really good for most, I just think that a few could be more accentuated. Maybe get more of a red tint or something else that could make it look really good.

Before I go on to the sound editing, I have one thing to complain about - the font choices available on Adobe Premier. They didn't have the knewave font that I used for the poster title, so I had to choose something similar. But really, they don't have as many options as I wanted them to have. I also am confused about why they include wingdings, as though that's going to be a popular font. I'll see if I can make my title card a little more true to my original poster, and add in some more effects.

Now that I'm done with my little font spiel, time for sound!

I mostly used Chosic to look for good stings, but I also used the YouTube Audio Library, which was helpful as well.  There were some of the choices on Chosic for horror and thriller stings:

I used most of these sound effects in my first trailer. I may have to rely more on the YouTube Sound Library for my second one, just to add in more flavor to the second trailer, especially because it's the one that showcases most of my film's thriller elements. I'm just lucky that a demonic woman scream was one of the stings available. Makes my life just a little easier. 

I just have one problem with the sound editing, and that's choosing the song that's going to play for the tranquil section. I picked out the best one that I found from Chosic, and it's more upbeat and happy right from the get-go. Problem is, my original idea was a song that's more classical rock, happy and energetic but also not completely upbeat. I wanted it just to be a little more tame. I found a song on the YouTube Audio Library that was good for that. Now, I have to decide which would be better, as I've gotten used to the Chosic song in my trailer, but the classical rock song might just add a little more nuance to the beginning half of the trailer. I guess that's what I'll work on now.

My next post will probably be about me starting the editing for the second trailer. I might link the final product of my first trailer as well, I'll just have to decide later. Peace.

Finalizing Filming and My Progress Editing

 I am happy to announce that I am pretty much done with filming!!!! I had a fun time filming with my friends, even if shoots were hard to schedule over break or had to be pushed back for some unforeseen circumstances. I got the majority of the shots that I wanted, with one or two exceptions. I'll go into that a little bit later in the blog. I want to talk about what it means for me to be all finished with the filming first, and then I'll go into editing. I have already started editing the first trailer, so I want to update you guys on how that's going. But before that, filming!

I don't know if you noticed on my Instagram page, but my production now has a mascot: Bones! He's pretty cool. Might be a little small, I wanted the dead and decayed body to be a full-grown adult (the woman in the picture). That would be her dead human form, and now she's just roaming about town as a demon. Getting back to the point, Bones is a little small for that, so I had to play around with the angles to make him appear larger or at least not be as small as he really is. But, he apparently looks somewhat realistic in some lighting, so I would say that it's a success. And I have a feeling it would be a little less worrisome if the skeleton still looked somewhat fake. Just for the sake of those watching and wondering where a media student got a realistic skeleton prop for filming. 

I also got the perfect lighting for my shots at the Graveyard of Souls (and Memories). The shots look pretty and ominous at the same time, which is what I was going for. I also had to park illegally to film there because that site was closed off for cars at the time, so that was thrilling. I may have to adjust the lighting for a few shots, just to make them appear darker and more foreboding, but I really don't think I need to do that much to improve them. Just a few tweaks. 

Moreover, I finished my actual thriller/horror shot sequence. I wouldn't say they are absolutely mortifying, but there are some that are genuinely a scary good time. And that's what my target audience wants, so I think I'm on the right path. And I got to play a lot with the lighting for all of them, and I'm happy how they turned out. Set with some spooky background audio, I think they would really get hit that tense and frightening tone right on the head. Once I put the demon makeup on my lead actress and gave her a knife, I couldn't stand within five feet of her. I was anguished while filming her do her specific staircase scene. Again, that bodes well for the project.

I'd show a few clips, but I want to talk about editing. Before I do, I have a fee qualms that I'd like to share, just about shots that I couldn't get over the break. I still want that shot of the townspeople (aka demons) staring at my lead as she walks by. And I tried to recruit people while filming the Graveyard of Souls shots, but they were looking at me quizzically and I decided to drop it for the sake of not bothering them any further. I may just have to walk around in my neighborhood with my lead Cathy and ask random people to stare at her. It sounds weird typing it out, but that's probably what I'll do. Hopefully it looks good, because I'm vehement about including that shot in the second trailer. The shot that I want to get is a demon running at Cathy, but that's much easier to get (I only need to recruit one person for the role).

Now, let's talk about editing!

This is my least favorite part about this project by far. Staring at a computer screen for hours at a time hurts my eyes, and I can barely sit still for over an hour. I get antsy and excited, plus I need to stretch occasionally. Me being a slow editor tends to exacerbate that problem. I have OCD, so I might just review something ten times over, change it, then review that change ten times over. It gets exhausting, and it just makes me lose just a little faith in my project, if I'm being honest. Watching the clips over and over makes me realize more imperfections in said clips and it blunts some of the impact, especially in my horror clips. This has been my little rant, I need a little catharsis (venting my frustrations and all that jazz), especially because I'm going to edit right after this.

I'll be a little more curt in this post, just because I'll go more into depth about the editing process in my next posting. I've already arranged and formatted all the clips to my liking in the first trailer. I still have some revisions to make, but I have my core structure done. I've also gotten started on the audio editing, so I'll most likely finish that today (and by extension the trailer). I might have a finished product for you by next post. Maybe. Here's some photos as evidence of my progress (in case you don't believe me):

I'll remind y'all that I'm using Adobe Premier courtesy of my awesome teacher, and though I like DaVinci Resolve, Premier is still the more polished editing software. Especially for sound editing, which is something that is going to be important in this trailer. I've already started on my sound editing, but I still have a little bit to go. I've already found this on Chosic, so I've been pretty happy so far with what I've found:

This means I might not have to make my own demonic scream after all (I still might just for fun), and I don't have to worry about creating this supernatural effect with audio. This is plenty creepy and unnatural, just wait until I link my trailer to a post. 

I'm going to stay mum about the rest of the editing process for now, just so y'all don't have to read any more of my writing for the time being. Plus, I've got a trailer to edit, so wish me luck.

My Thoughts on the Near Future

 These are going to be my final thoughts for the week. This will be my shortest blog post by far because I have some other things I need to sort out and catch up on. This will be a good way for me to just collect my scattered thoughts a bit and really see what I need to work on next. 

Shot Thoughts:

So, to start, I want to clarify that I am almost done with filming! I have a lot of the things I need already, and the only things left are really the horror montage shots, which should be the most fun to film. The mirror shots are most likely going to give me the most trouble, but I can work with it and I should have more time to mess around since I don't need any specific lighting other than dark. I might also just mess around with the mirror angles before then just to see what works. Also, I have to figure out which mirror to use. That's going to be interesting, because I have a few options. I originally wanted to do it in a bathroom mirror, but that might be more challenging on account of my reflection with the camera being more visible. Again, I'll just have to mess around with angles and mirrors until I see what works best. 

Another shot that I still want to get is that of Val at the Memory Graveyard. I have a plan for what I want the setting to be (not an actual graveyard). I'm planning more around this area:

It's this bike path that runs along the Everglades, and there's a few spots where people park and fish along the side. There might be some risk to doing this (it's gator season), but I also know that it could make for a really great shot. And it would work well for a Memory Graveyard, juxtaposing the natural (and unnatural) with the comfortable and the urban. It also means that I'll have to drag my Halloween skeleton there, and that might get me some suspicious looks, but it could also serve me well. Who knows?

There's a bonus shot that I've been wanting to get for a while but I neither really need it nor is it really feasible. I talked about it some time ago in a blog post - it's the one where Val is getting stared at by random strangers (really demons). I think it would be really cool, but would require me to film complete strangers who would have to cooperate with me. So, yeah, not that feasible. I'll see if I can talk some friends into it, but this is a busy time of the year, and I still have to figure out a good setting for it. 

Social Media Thoughts:

I really have no clue what I want to post on my account in the coming days. I've thought of maybe having a post that says I've entered into a fake thriller film fest, but I still have to work that out a bit. I might also have a post where I introduce this guerrilla marketing tactic of setting up a sort of "treasure hunt", where I leave a clue on my social media telling of where the next clue is located, so on and so forth. This would ultimately lead to the locations where I was shooting. It could also be a good way to introduce my audience to more of the plot, without revealing too much. 

I'm also planning on making the teaser soon. The only problem is that I don't really know what I want to include in it. I have a lot filmed already, I just haven't figured out my teaser yet, I've been more focused on the trailers. I'll do some more research and watch other thriller teasers. I might just do small thriller montage, or just focus in on Val herself and her transformation. I'll get back to you when I've figured it out. Until then, this is it for the week. I have a lot of stuff to do and little time to do it, so peace.

Back to the Gram

 Alright, let's put our focus back on the Gram, shall we? I've done a little bit more since the last time we left off. For the most part, I've been sticking to my schedule of six posts per week, so I'm getting there in terms of completing the social media aspect of this project. And, I'm sticking to my dark humor for my brand. And I think it's working for my target demographic, since I am getting more followers. I'm a pico-influencer at this point. Even smaller than nano, but that's ok. I'll just say I have a really niche audience at the moment, and I'm growing my brand slowly but surely. This has been a fun and cool ride so far. Long intro aside, let's get into it.

And as you can tell, I'm gaining followers. I'm following more accounts, too, so that has helped me gain access to more of my target audience. Some more fans of film accounts are following me, so that might be a good sign. And I'm keeping the aesthetic, for the most part. Lighting is key here as well. 

I've added a lot more teaser shots and photos, just to keep people interested and I don't want them to figure out the plot, that's why I'm not really saying much beyond the genre. I want my shots to be interesting on their own.

I love showing this off. I don't know why this shot makes me happy, but it does. Also, you can see my brand's characteristic dark humor in the text there. I always had it in mind to share a post with my corpse, but I needed good context and a good description. I also made sure to include the date and the genre, but I think that this post makes the genre a little more obvious. Also, I make a good fake corpse. Just saying it outright. If anyone needs a corpse for their production, I'll do it! You hear me, Hollywood? That would actually be a pretty funny anecdote, saying my job is to be a corpse. Anyways, moving on.

Here's yet another behind-the-scenes post. I told you, I really like them. I thought it would be cool to see the sfx makeup application and the making of it, especially for this production. I also added bonus pictures here of my homemade sfx makeup. That would actually be a cool avocation, too, selling fake blood. Might  look into that. You know, to pay the student loans. 

I'm also glad to say that I got another small production to slide into my dms. And it was about my sfx makeup too, so clearly I know what I'm doing (just putting stuff out there and hoping for the best). I want to interact a bit more with my followers, and I'll comment on more of their posts soon. I've just been busy recently, which is why I'm a little less active on the Gram at the moment. I'll have more posts up soon, so don't fret. I'll take the time to spew some ideas for posts in the next post, because I am at a little bit of a loss in terms of the content that I want to share in the near future. 

See, I told you these posts would be shorter. Now I can get on with my day. As always, be on the lookout for my next post where I share all the things that have been bothering me and my indecisive state at the moment. 

Filming Session No. 2!!!

This was a little ways back, but I've been busy as of recently, so I'm a little behind schedule in terms of blog postings. I just thought it was important to include this because it was a very productive filming session. Plus, I have a lot to talk about, so let's just get into it. I want to keep these next few posts short and sweet, because this is supposed to be my break time. I just like writing these.

My main goal was to get most of my "tranquil shots" finished. Those are the happy sequences in the first half of my first trailer, where the happy couple first come into town and see their brand new house. I also managed to capture some other shots around the seemingly perfect town. I'm going to edit those more to seem even more saturated and bright. Again, I really need the sitcom-y and jubilant tone to shine through so I can heavily contrast it with the latter half of the trailer. Again, this trailer will be my introduction to the film before the second trailer really hits with the psychological thrills. And speaking of the second trailer, I also wanted to film bits of it during this shoot, though, unfortunately, I couldn't due to some timing issues (it got too dark too quickly).

 Here's the quick overview of how this filming sesh went:

-Due to some timing conflicts, we had to film a little later than we originally planned - this meant that we had to hurry a bit in order to get the shots with the quality of lighting that we wanted

-We quickly filmed the sequence of the couple driving into town (I'll show you a few clips from that a little later in this post)

-We quickly had to film the sequence of the couple in the driveway while the lighting was how we wanted it (we had to work with the dialogue a bit so it didn't sound as stiff - capturing that '50s sitcom dialogue is more difficult than it seems)

-I wanted to film the sequence from the second trailer of Val and Steve inside the house, but it got a little too dark, so a reshoot might be needed (I'll talk more about that a little later on)

-The last thing we did was film the sequence of Val returning home and finding Steve has turned into a demon (the dark lighting was perfect for this one and this was the most fun sequence to film)

Here's the cute couple riding around town:

Lighting is vital for my piece, so I'm really going to lean into it and emphasize it whenever I can. I also want to show off my own style as a psychological thriller director, so lighting is a perfect way for me to do this. Again, I might saturate these a little more just to get that really happy feel. The cheerful music will also help with the tone.

This is just a nice shot that I want to show off. Again, that lighting. Props to Ryan Lutwin and Cathy for the acting as well:

So, here's some problem shots that I had. Again, it got too dark for some shots. I tried to edit them a little, see if I could turn up the brightness. This is what I came away with, so I'll have to ponder it for a little bit and see if I salvaged them enough:

I mean, I still like them. The shot above is especially cute. And I still like the lighting, it's still joyful. My only problem with the first shot of them entering through the doorway is that Ryan has his hat on, and that might throw off the continuity. But, I guess it is the second trailer, so it might not even be noticeable. Ugh, hats. And continuity. 

Next post I'm talking about my Instagram page, again, but I've added a lot more so hopefully you'll enjoy it. And big news for Ukraine, we're starting to gain ground around Kyiv. Glory to Ukraine!

Social Media Check-In

I started my Instagram adventure with my film a little while ago, but I've done quite a bit since I've started trek into the influencer-dominated world of colorful photos. I'm glad to say that it's been going well so far. It's been interesting using this social media site in a more professional manner, and hopefully I'm getting the hang of it. I understand the dynamics of trying to reach a certain target audience a little more, and using some of the functions of Instagram to do so. I'll talk about my posts first, and show you what I have so far and the reasoning behind it. I. might also share some thoughts on what I'll post next, since I do have somewhat of a plan. It's really bare-bones, so maybe I can flesh it out in this post. 

Here's what I have so far in terms of posts:

As you can probably tell, I like my behind-the-scenes stuff. It's always been what interested me the most whenever I look at an account of any film or show. I think it's really cool to see it how a film was made, or even what goes into making a film. Costume and makeup design is a part of that, and it's something that I think my target audience will enjoy. 

My first post had to be the poster, I was just finished with it and I decided it would be a great first introduction to the movie. It really shows off the genre, tone, and symbolism of my film well, so it was a perfect way to launch my Instagram page. My next post was the behind-the-scenes of my poster shoot, and a good way for my target audience to interact more with my brand. I want to be more open with them since this is an independent film and I want there to be a closer bond. Same thing goes for the small clip of  me applying the character makeup to my lead actress. It's also a great way for my target audience to sympathize with the lead actress and hopefully bond more with the character to show her as more of a protagonist (before the trailer reveals some incriminating evidence to the contrary). I also showed a small clip that I'm going to use in one trailer, and maybe even the teaser. This is by all purposes a teaser post that reveals the villain of my film - Sigma. There's also a lot of symbolism behind this, plus it's a cool looking shot. Those typically attract any moviegoer, and this more suspenseful clip will hopefully work well on the psychological thriller crowd. 

I also want to share one of my accomplishments so far in terms of networking on the platform. I was really excited when I saw this on my list of followers (I hit 12 for my small independent film!):

It's a small film production company out in Los Angeles that specializes in horror and thriller films. It's awesome to have an actual film company following your school project, and I consider that a social media win (I'm pretty sure the reason that they followed my account is because of my following of thriller/horror film festivals and movies). Here's their Instagram page:

Again, I'm really having fun managing my film's social media account. I'm going to try to stick to 6 posts per week, they might be consecutive or there might be a gap day (I know there's at least one day where I'll be too busy to post anything). If anything, I might up it to a post every single day during the beginning of April. I like my progress so far, and I hope I can continue at this pace.

My next few posts will probably be a mix of stills and character introduction shots. I want to introduce more of the premise, and maybe throw in a few teaser clips. I'll make a post the day before I release my teaser that will hint at my teaser release. I might do the same thing for my first trailer. And after that, I might make a post that will say something along the lines of my film getting accepted by a made-up film festival. Then, I'll really go with the behind-the-scenes posts and really try to engage my target audience in that way. One thing that I have to make sure my brand follows is the dark humor and the sarcasm that I've already implemented in my posts. I might make a few posts that specifically show off that dark humor, and ask my target audience to give my their best fake corpse shots or their most convincing fake blood recipe. This wraps up this week's posts, and hopefully I'll have more clips to show y'all after my next shoot.

Delving Deep Into the Footage

 As I promised, I'm going to imbed some of the clips that I took, mostly the ones that I'm really proud of. I could talk about some of the problems in some shots, or I could just praise myself. Yeah... I have OCD, I'm gonna talk about the faults. I'm going to put up my best clips first, though, so don't you worry, I'll get to the good stuff. And I want to reiterate that filming was a good experience. It was a little awkward in the moment, and I was worried that some of my shots would turn out worse than they did, but overall, I was happy with what I was able to come up with. 

So, let's see what I have.

The Best Clips:

Remember the thing I said about my corpse? Yep, this is the clip - 

I'm glad that my fake blood turned out well. I'd say it looks pretty realistic considering I'm a gore makeup novice. I might actually try this for Halloween, this is pretty creepy? Is it weird that I'm enjoying this clip this much? I'll just chalk it up to excitement that the clip turned out as well as it did. I also like the movement in the background with the water splashing and the green leaves moving. Definitely thriller material.

Here's another one of my corpse - 

I'm not really gonna keep the sound for most of these clips, maybe have them on quietly, but it'll mostly be stings, the main music, and for this scene in particular, maybe some Sigma dialogue. It's going to go over one of these two clips, I'll just have to figure it out during post. And again, my corpse looks freaky. I really like how it turned out, I'm thinking this is looking a little too realistic, but I'm sticking with it. What can I say, it's good stuff.

Going away from the corpse shots, this is one that I'm also really proud of - 

This shot was a hard one to film. I think I had six takes before I was satisfied, and even then I worried that it wouldn't turn out as good. I was mostly worried about the lighting, since my subject (Sigma) was too far away for any close-up lighting with a flashlight. I figured the lamp might be good for that, so I made him walk a little more than he wanted (actors, so tough to work with, and they expect monetary compensation, too - chocolate just isn't good enough these days). Still, the lamp had its problems, and the lighting isn't as good as it is with a mid-shot or close-up, but I actually like the effect here. The darker lighting makes him appear more ominous and mysterious. And it was totally accidental, but I really like the effect with the lamp light. As he walks closer, the lamp dims. Again, I was just randomly playing around with the shot and noticed that when he walked closer, the lamp lights got dimmer. Total accident, but it's really cool.

I can't stick with the good stuff forever. Now, I have to move on to more of my problem shots. 

Questionable Footage:

I mentioned in the last post about a problem that I kept running into while filming in the dark. I would like to take the time to discuss it. And I will, because this is my blog. I'm not the most experienced filmmaker, so that means I don't exactly have the top-notch equipment. That includes lighting equipment. So, I try to use as much natural lighting as possible, because while flashlights do work, they're not exactly perfect at illuminating my subject, especially with a wider shot. But, the lampposts here are particularly bad when it comes to glare. I've noticed this problem before, but I've never really realized the extent of this problem. When I was filming at TC, I really began to notice it. Blue dots would appear from the glare and reflecting rays of light, and those would often ruin shots that I would take. I had to take one shot a total of 8 times because of the glare or some other issues with random people walking into frame. 

This is one shot that I had to trim a great deal in order to not see any of the glare and the blue dots following my lead around. This shot actually turned out great, because it is fast-paced now, and haunting when it reaches the end. I like the constant movement of both the subject and the camera. But, the glare means that I can't use the other segments of the clip of her running. The blue dots were too noticeable, it wouldn't have looked good. I guess I'll try to film away from lampposts next time or try to find the best angles to film at. I eventually learned to cope with this while filming, but it still sucked when I framed a shot nicely and the lights ruined it. 

This shot suffers the most from it. I'm planning on keeping it, because it was the best one I could take. I figure I can just do fade-outs to black or some other quick edits to hide it for the most part. That might be the best course of action, but again, I'll have to work something out when I get to post-production. 

As fun as analyzing my shots is, I do want to surprise y'all with a few in the trailer. I took a bunch more, and maybe I'll reveal them in a later post. Maybe. Bye for now.

My Experience Filming

Just like I promised you, I'm talking about the filming process! I had a blast, even though I did forget to eat before shooting. That was a bad idea. But besides that, filming went well. I had to take the time beforehand to collect all my equipment and all my materials, grab the stuff that I needed at the last minute, and stuff it in an old gym bag. I knew that I would be moving around location-wise, so I needed something to carry everything so I wouldn't have to go back and forth from the car. 

In terms of equipment, I brought an iPhone, a smaller hand-held tripod, a larger tripod, my microphone that I bought for last year's project, flashlights, scripts + storyboards, pieces of colored construction paper for lighting, and some fake blood. Which brings me to this video that I think you guys will enjoy:

Link to fake blood video:https://drive.google.com/file/d/1k18c30aYQ_dT0AL1bUFtzKKDLYRPg-GQ/view?usp=sharing

In it, I make an absolute mess out of my kitchen and make fake blood in the process. My earlier blog post really did help me, as I used that exact recipe with pretty good results. I'll show you next blog post what I'm talking about, and what I meant by "my corpse". I mostly just used corn syrup as the key ingredient for the blood. I mixed in some cocoa powder, corn starch, and hand soap for that texture and to help it leak into crevices on the skin like blood usually does. And I used food coloring, which is no surprise there. I added a combination of red and green food coloring for the normal human blood (it actually looks really realistic, I did think I managed to scare my brother a little bit when he saw it on my hands. I also mixed red with a lot of blue food coloring to make that darker purple, almost black demon blood. I didn't use it for this particular shoot, but I'll definitely use it for the next one. That also looks creepy as hell, so I'm proud of that one, too. I honestly expected the blood-making to go worse, because I originally couldn't find a few ingredients, but I think it turned out well. 

Now, let's move on to the actual filming.

I had to head to my first location with my crew: TC. I knew that the location might be a little populated since it is popular for food and restaurants, and we wanted to film in the evening, so we went to a part that was more secluded. We still had a little bit of traffic coming through, so that was one problem filming. I had my shot exactly how I liked it and was about to record, until some little kid would waltz into the frame and frolic around for a good 30 seconds before moving. I understand why kids like to frolic (I want to frolic more often), but after the third time it got annoying. I'll try to film in less populated locations next time, but I may not have a choice. If that's the case, I. might try to set up a little "filming area", and try to tape off a section where I'm filming, or just try to give people more of a heads up if they want to come through the area where I'm filming. It might be better than forcing a smile and waving people through right when I hit record and get a good shot of some kid running through. It might actually come in handy later, because one of my shots that I want to get is of some townspeople (aka demons) staring menacingly and robotically as my protagonist Val walks past. In that case, I'll have to talk random strangers into helping me with my school film project. It'll be awkward and scary, but it might also be fun.

I also had to account for the time change, and thereby the change in when the sun sets. I needed my setting to be a little more dark, because I got there earlier than I intended plus it was the first day of daylight savings. So I stood around and just planned shots for longer than I wanted to. When it finally became dark enough, I did get some good shots. The lighting where I filmed was perfect and really had that feeling of perfect town mixed with some frightening and dark elements. I'll talk about it more next blog post, but just know that I did finally get good lighting. Here's the proof:

Yes, I did edit the video some (including the brightness and contrast), but it looks good regardless. The lighting in that location was just fantastic, so I got lucky there. There are dark trims to give it that more suspenseful feel, and there's good symmetry, so it is more aesthetically pleasing. I also like the color combination, especially after editing the video and getting it to look more eerie. Here's another video without the edits to show off my location:

It just has a certain look that I really like. Plus, I was able to get some shots that highlighted composition (such as this one) because of this ideal setting. I can really contrast the seemingly perfect town with the pockets of darkness its hiding behind the light. 

Since I'm going in depth with the shots that I took next post, I want to dedicate this little section to my actors/actresses/actor people (especially Cathy) for putting up with me and this project. Filming can sometimes be a pain, especially later at night, but they made it more fun and they were the ones that made my shots better. They held the flashlights and lighting kit stuff while I filmed, they put up with my crazy self, and helped with equipment. I owe y'all more chocolate for sure. 

I'll leave my most persistent problem while filming for the next blog, since I will be going more into depth with that one. So, hope you stick around to read it, and I promise there'll be more fun stuff (and actual trailer footage) next blog post. Peace.

Is It Finally Time to Talk About Filming???

Well... not quite yet. Did I do some filming? Yes, but, unfortunately, you're gonna have to wait a little bit longer for me to talk about my filming experience. That'll be my next blog post, I promise. I'll probably make it a two-parter because there's a lot I want to discuss, so I'll probably just write about my experience filming and some problems that came up while filming in the next post. The one after that, I'll get more into the analysis of my shots, what I managed to get, and showing my corpse. You'll see what I mean by that later.

Now, what is it that I want to talk about today? I just got done with a productive group meeting (just a discussion amongst other media students about our projects), and I want to record this stuff before I forget it. Because I just got some really helpful information, and I know I'll forget it if I don't have it down somewhere. A blog post is as good a place as any.

First, I wanted to figure out where to get more sound effects for my production. Besides lighting, sound is probably the most important element for my trailer. I need to have good stuffs - if I don't, both will come off as cheesy, even if the shots are fine. Bad sound design can ruin trailers, so this was a problem that I really needed to address. Kim came to my rescue, however, and offered up the YouTube Audio Library. 

Here it is:

This has a bunch of free sound effects and music that I can download (free of any copyright). I'll have to use this for any horror stings that I need, which may be a lot. I have some background noise in a lot of the clips that I took that I want to drown out a little bit. I'll have to figure out which ones to fully mute, so that way the sound design isn't too chaotic, but that's something I'll figure out later. For now, I'll just focus on finding stuff on the YouTube Audio Library that could be good for my trailers. I'll also use Chosic for the background music, but I'm sure the vast majority of the stings that I use will be from the Audio Library. It has a lot of sound effects that are completely free, and there are new ones getting uploaded every day. It's more of a wider-reaching platform, so I'm expecting there to be a lot more to choose from in terms of sound effects and music.

Another thing I wanted to figure out was what type of sound effects I wanted to use. There's the conventional horror sound effects, but I want to use something a little more unique. I have a certain style to my trailers/pretend film, so I want the sound design to have that same feel. It might actually help bring some more attention to my film, along with the conventional horror stings that will draw in my target audience. Sabrina recommended that I use some more sound effects that are pitched up to have that supernatural quality. She recommended the parametric equalizer tool on Adobe Premier Pro in order to do that. That might mean watching a video for ten minutes trying to figure it out, but if it'll make my piece sound good, so be it. There are a lot of other tools on Premier that would help me manipulate sound effects and get them to how I want them, so I'll figure that part out later.

I also wanted to know what to do for the demon noises. Again, I want Sigma and the other demons to have that iconic sound. The aliens from A Quiet Place have a distinct sound effect, it automatically creates suspense and scares the living crap out of people watching, etc. etc. I don't know if I'll ever be as creative as the people who worked at sound design on that movie, but I'll try. I might actually create my own sound effects for the demons, so I'll have to get to work on that. I just wanted to see if I could do some foley sounds, but again, I don't have a taser to use on grapes (hopefully you get the reference). I might destroy some fruits and vegetables during this process, but it might be worth it.

I also was given the advice to layer the sound effects so that they sound more supernatural. And again, I could always use the tools on Premier (if I can figure them out) to manipulate the sound effects. I want to try that with the demon noises. I might just make a high pitched scream and go from there. Who knows? As always, hope you keep reading, and see you next blog post (where I finally talk about filming!).

Putting the Finishing Touches on My Poster and Starting Work on the Gram

 Alright, this post may be a little bit shorter than my other ones because this is more for just tying up the loose ends for the week. I'm really excited to share with you guys what I believe is pretty much my final product for the movie poster. I might do some more touch-ups here and there since I do have a little bit of OCD, but I'm really happy with how my poster turned out. I think I put enough detail to make it seem more professional, and I've really added some more dimension and texture to the poster. How about, instead of just talking about it, I show it to all of you?

And here it is. I decided to go with the Knewave font on account of some astute advice from Luis Rodriguez, so shout out to you for your help. I changed the font color to yellow, just to match more with the image, but in the end, I still wanted the reference to the white-picket fence. And even though the font doesn't immediately scream white-picket fence on its own, when I added the mirror to it to add more dimension, I got more of a fence feel always. That was some luck on my part, but I think the font turned out well. This is the first time where I'm really set with my font and I actually like it, so that's probably a good sign. I also like how it looks more centered with this font and not as crammed in. It looks more aesthetically pleasing, which is always nice on a poster (or anything). And it does add some more character to my poster while not being a generic horror font (even though it does allude to the thriller genre). Sorry if I'm talking about my font too much, especially after the last blog post, but I'm excited that I'm finally excited about a font. That might make me weird, but there's some people that dedicate their lives to making unique fonts, so props to all of you! I don't feel as though you get enough recognition.

I also added some touch ups here and there, like adding another layer of cracks on the mirror in Photoshop and adding the splashes of black blood using Canva. I also added the torn hole up at the top left corner just for some more detail and add more texture to it. I like how it forms this off-kilter triangle, which is often associated with the Ouija board (the game that calls spirits or demons, hint hint). Plus, it's a cool shape. And that reminds me, I also put in some time to get the mirror and the offset of the font just right. I made the offset direction to the left, which again, reminds of demons and the devil and such. 

I hope y'all like the poster and at least found parts of the process interesting. I know I had fun making it, and I'm excited to edit some more images to post on my movie's Instagram. Which is a great segue into the next topic for today's blog: the Gram.

I made the official account for my movie a few days ago, but I really started working on it the last couple of days. And this process has been fun, too. I'll give you a quick look at my page as of right now (just to warn you ahead of time, it's pretty plain right now):

Like I mentioned, it's pretty plain so far. I haven't gotten the chance to even post an image of my key art yet, but I'm looking to do that soon. Again, I just finished my poster, and am pretty busy as of recent, but I'll have it up soon, I promise. And yes, I did put a disclaimer in my bio. I don't need people assuming this is an actual movie, even though it would be hilarious. 

And yes, you are seeing it right, I do already have two followers. And I am following 28 others. These are some of the accounts I'm following so far:

I started out with following other psychological thriller movies, just to tap into my target audience a little bit and make my presence known. I'm also following directors such as Jordan Peele and Edgar Wright, who actually both have interesting accounts themselves. Maybe I should follow more directors, because some of their stuff is really good. I also followed some smaller distribution companies, theaters, and film festivals, because I do want to have a limited release for my film, and I need some film festivals to be able to garner more of an audience for my film; on top of that I'm going to need a distributor and places to screen my film. I'm following some theaters around the Miami area, which would be more likely to accept my film since I'm a local filmmaker. I followed some chain theaters as well, but those would be much less likely to screen my film. And, I do have two followers already, both of which are cinephiles and follow the same director and film accounts that I do, so I'm chalking it up to my strategy. I'm also going to follow some smaller film accounts and film enthusiast accounts just to attract my target audience more directly and alter them to the presence of this film. I figure that's easier to do with smaller accounts. I'm also doing a promotional where I follow them back and like some posts, just to interact more with them and get them to potentially interact more with my brand.

That's pretty much it for my social media so far, but just know that I'm planning to do either 5 or 6 posts a week (just depends on my schedule and what I'm able to get done that week). I'm also potentially making a website for my film, so be on the lookout for that soon.

I want to dedicate the rest of this post to an atrocity that has happened recently in my home country. And yes, atrocities are happening every day because of the invasion, but this one is particularly vile (and that's saying something all things considering). The shelling of a maternity hospital is evil and is a punishable war crime. Children and pregnant mothers should not have to die because of this stupid invasion, innocent civilians should not have to suffer through this. I applaud the bravery and resilience of everyone in my country - those defending it, those trying to survive, those fleeing, and those who have already fled. I can only hope for the best for everyone, I can only pray that everything turns out ok. I truly believe that certain other countries could be doing more to help, because the Russian army is only going to kill more civilians and become more reckless the more frustrated their army gets. The killing of the innocent needs to stop. Period. I appreciate everyone that takes the time to read this, and all those supporting Ukraine in whatever ways possible. I appreciate you too.