Filming My Intro Shots (Part 1)

I was able to film this time around and get some pretty got shots. I wasn't able to film my entire opening, as both my partner David and I did not have a lot of time to spare that day. This day was more going to be capturing my introductory shots (most importantly my establishing shot) to really set the happy tone in the beginning and introduce my setting. And I'm pleased to share them here and describe my process:

This shot is most likely going to be my establishing shot. It shows off the setting quite nicely, and gives the happy and tranquil tone right out of the gate. Now, I did already edit this shot (along with the others I took) in post production. I saturated the blue hues to where I originally wanted them (the blues pretty much match those of my mood board, so I'm happy). The over-saturation and warm hues are meant to say that this is where Maya feels most comfortable. 

As I put in the title, this is the part 1 of my sharing of how I filmed the intro shots. I will share my other clips that I filmed for my introduction for my next blog post. This is more meant to be a little teaser for some of my other shots that I have filmed. I will also share more of my feelings and my actual experience and thoughts on filming in the next blog posting that I do sometime later this week. I decided to share the shot above because it is the one that is most likely going to end up as the establishing shot. And quite honestly, it's also the only one with the actual audio. I did not use my mic during the filming of the shots (this was the phone audio, wanted to conserve the mic for when I'm filming the dialogue). So I thought this would be a good opportunity to discuss some of the challenges of the filming process and some things that I will have to consider the next time I film.

Some Challenges:

Let's just pretend I haven't mentioned wind yet. So......definitely wind. But it wasn't terrible when I was filming, the phone audio was actually able to discern many other sounds (wind distorted it a little bit here and there, but that's why I have my microphones). Wind is still very much a factor, but with the right equipment I think I'll be able to get some pretty good audio and not have to add in the character audio in post.

Shadowing and the positioning of the sun (and maybe even the sky) is another big factor. I could retake the shots if there is too much of a discrepancy, but overall this was something that I hadn't thought of before. I also don't want a glare on the shots, so I might have a little shade or covering over the camera and position the characters where there is no glare. 

A little inspirational/educational video that I found:

This video is just something that I came across that really helped and continues to help me during my filming process. This is the same channel that made the video on how to film Westerns (included in one of my earlier blog posts). This video is really educational for me. Just seeing someone else's mistakes 

when filming shows me what not to do and also that mistakes happen and are okay. The main thing that I took away from this video is that mistakes are common and that your ideas can definitely be a little too grand. You can expect too much sometimes, and if something goes wrong or is not how you planned it to be, you have to be ready to improvise. This will be especially important for me to consider as I am filming in an environment that I cannot control, so I will most likely have to change or completely scrap some shots.

Music Dilemma + Solutions

Instead of talking about some of my other tools that are going to help with my filming, I thought a more pressing issue at the moment was my music choice. I have the song picked out already ("Train in Vain", of course), but the difficult part getting the right to play the song during the film opening, as I do not want to commit copyright infringement. To get the rights for the song, I'll send an email to the record company that holds the rights for The Clash's music: Sony Music. 

I looked on their website for some contact information, and I found it easily enough. I'm now in the process of writing them an email, and it's a little intimidating if I have to say so, mostly because of the fact that I'm so worried they're just going to flat out say "no" or ignore the email. The latter is more likely just because they are such a large company that owns the rights to many artists' music. In any case, I'll try to lean into the overeager student angle to get them to respond. I'll try to message the Chief Executive Officer of Columbia Records as well (Columbia is the daughter company). The Clash songs are mainly licensed under Columbia, so I'll try to find that contact information as well. I figure if I'm persistent enough, I'll get someone's attention. I might even type up and send out an actual physical letter, as I have also found the Sony company address through their website. 

- I have found some contact information for Columbia Records through: https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/columbia-records

However, if my email barrage does not work, I do have a plan B for the music. My teacher talked about a website that another student had found that has a lot of copyright-free music. It's called https://www.chosic.com and it has a large music library. I looked through it pretty thoroughly, and I found some good replacements if I don't have permission to use the song of my choice. It's a pretty simple system for downloading too, which I really like. I can easily add the song to my computer and will most likely have no trouble getting it onto DaVinci Resolve. I know DaVinci Resolve also has its own music library, but I'm not sure if they have anything resembling 80's punk rock. 

I did find one called "Cherry Metal" which does replicate a lot of that 80's rock feel. It'll be a pretty decent replacement if I don't get permission to play "Train in Vain". The song will be one of the later things put in during the post-production process, but I wanted to figure this out now. I'm really excited to start filming soon. My next blog posts will most likely be discussing that process and sharing my clips.

Some New Hardware For Filming

I'm keeping my promise from my last blog post and I'm showing off the new equipment I got for filming. This is not professional grade stuff (but it's still really good). And as a bonus, I got it at a pretty good price. So, without further ado:

This microphone, from what I've tested so far, picks up sound really well and the sound is clear. This is something that I've really wanted, because I've always found the phone microphone to be of much lower quality (especially picking up sound from further distances). I also got this mic because of the protection (the little fluff that keeps the wind from affecting the sound too much). I can always put on the regular mic covering for sound purposes if I need to, but wind will most likely be the X factor when it comes to filming at the beach so I wanted to be prepared. Some other great stuff about this microphone is that it comes with the hand-held-tripod hybrid. The legs can fold and it has pretty great grip so I can hand-held shots or I can switch to the tripod for more fluid camera movement (I also have a taller tripod that the mic and phone-holder can connect to). It does make my filmmaking job easier and allows me for some more equipment to play around with (I'll definitely play around with this a little bit more before filming).

I also have some smaller mics lying around (found them recently, didn't know I had them). The audio quality is not as good as the other mic above, but it is still much better than regular phone audio. I might use these if I really need to (maybe during the shot/reverse shot sequence during the conversation between my two characters). This mic is not exactly difficult to hide, but I do need to carefully plan my shots around these so they are not visible when filming. I really do not want to do many retakes because the small mic is visible on the costumes. Really want to limit my amateur filmmaker mistakes (I know I'll probably make plenty, but not this one). The extension cord that plugs into my phone will also be something that I will have to work around, but I'm less worried about this. I figure it's something that's easier to work around, especially with mid shots and close-ups. 

I still want to test the mics before filming, make sure there's not any problems, but I really do think they will be extremely helpful. I have already shared my complaints and all around general anxiety about the wind multiple times, but I'm just gonna do it again. Wind sucks. It's just not cool. That'll be all for my complaining about wind, but I'm a little less nervous now because of my new sound equipment. Next blog post might be about some other materials I'll try for filming, it might not be. Haven't decided yet.

Shot Changes and Troubles With Shooting

 I was going to start with the shot changes, but I just changed my mind. I figured I got easily segue into the shot changes because of my experience "filming" (I'll explain why that's in quotations in just a second) and how visiting my planned setting is how I actually thought of my shot changes. So here goes:

Florida is weird. Florida cannot make up its mind about whether it's going to be sunny, or cloudy, or windy on any given day (and sometimes, it changes its mind halfway through the day). I went off on this tangent because Florida randomly decided to be really windy the day I went to my setting to film. This filming was mostly going to be done as prep, as these were going to be the introductory shots that establish the setting. They ended up establishing that Florida is very windy sometimes. I filmed maybe one or two shots before realizing that I would not be able to use these. The surrounding foliage clearly showcases how windy it was, and my actual filming of the characters (which I'm doing soon) is hopefully not going to be on a day as windy (hopefully there will be no wind). The discrepancies between footage is going to be bad, and I want it to be as professional of an amateur film piece as possible. 

The footage pretty much looked like this (even though this is a bit of an embellishment)

So, long story short, I did not get the shots I wanted. But, it did lead me to developing some more shots for the introduction and completing my storyboard (I now have pretty much all of the shots picked out).

These are the updated intro shots. Again, I'm not the best at drawing, but I think I did manage to capture what I want out of the shots. Like in many dramedies (and as told by Lulu Wang in one of my other blog posts), there are times when there does not need to be camera movement, the movement of the objects within the shot captures the attention of the audience and makes for a great shot. That's why I wanted to focus my establishing shots on the movement of the waves in the ocean, the breeze gently sweeping past palms and tall grass, and the small movements of the buildings along the beach (many are older, and look more working class but have interesting designs). I also wanted a pan of a bird flying past, but that all depends on if I get a bird to go flying past (I'll just ask my partner to scare some birds, I'm sure he'll be fine with it). This opening sequence is going to last maybe 10-15 seconds (including the shot of Maya or Dallin stomping on the water), so as not to take too much time away. I still think the setting is really important, but I want to be able to focus on my characters as soon as possible. 

These are the illustrations of the final shots of the opening. I just wanted to create a smooth transition of them getting into the car, turning on the music (with the song being diegetic at first), before using the sound transition back to the ball floating on the water. I also put the title card there hesitantly (I might have also figured out which font I want for it, but that's going to be decided later). The list at the bottom is so I remember the costumes and the props. I've already mentioned it, but I'm going to be filming soon and I'm really excited, but I also want to be prepared. That's all for now, my next blog will probably be on an exciting piece of equipment I'm getting for filming, so stay tuned.

More Production Prep

I still have to gather some of the props and get my costumes together. I'm not shooting anything with my characters this weekend, so I have decided to move on to the prepping my actual editing software and playing around with the different color schemes and LUTs so that I can already start adding my own personal filmmaker touches to the film (color scheme can be very important, just ask the Coen brothers or Wes Anderson). I want to add a little stylistic flair, as my film opening is going to be a little more simplistic. Now, I am keeping in mind that I might not go with any of the things I like right now. I'm using some test footage, as I haven't shot any of the actual film opening yet, to see which color scheme I most want to have for my opening. This is just going to be a little more prep before the actual filming, and maybe a part of me wants to get reacquainted with my editing software so I don't have to spend time later remembering how to do stuff. In any case, let's move on to the actual details.

I'm using DaVinci Resolve (https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve/) as my editing software. I have already used it for previous projects, and I already have a LUT pack downloaded onto it. These are Western LUTs (what I'm mostly going to toy around with for the color scheme) and they're the color schemes taken from a lot of famous Westerns (such as 3:10 to Yuma, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, etc.), but I think that some can translate to other genres really well. Some have that more gritty color, while others seem to accent some brighter colors. I don't know which would be better yet, which is why I'm doing this.

I found this random video (shot in portrait mode, unfortunately). It's not the same setting, but it has most of the same colors as there would be at the beach. There's a lot of green vegetation at my setting, and the sandy browns and blues are what you'd expect at the beach. Now for the fun part, playing around with the LUTs.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid LUT:

There's not a lot of difference in the overall color, but the hues of the sandy brown and blues are sharpened a little bit more. I actually really like it. It's not too much of a difference, but it provides some more style and emphasis on the blue hues (something I want for my opening).

No Country For Old Men:

This LUT sharpens the colors even more, with the green and the blue gaining more of a neon. I don't like this one as much, mostly because it's a little more dramatic of a change.

The Assassination of Jesse James:

This color scheme keeps the sharper blues, but mutes some of the surrounding greens and tans. This resembles some of the color schemes of other dramedies that like to mute some colors to make others stand out. I don't know what this particular LUT will do to orange, but if it sharpens it and emphasizes it I will seriously consider this one.

The Hateful Eight:

This one refines the colors a little more. It brings out the blues as well as the surrounding colors. I like the style, it stills seems more of a color palette for dramedies, but one that brings good contrast between colors, muting some of the green while keeping the blue.

The two that ended up being my favorites are the Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid LUT and The Assassination of Jesse James. I'll still keep all in consideration, but these two are the ones that have more of the style I'm looking for, keeping some of the dramedy aesthetic while adding the necessary emphasis on the blue hues.

Shooting Schedule and Mise-en-scene Prep

 This blogpost is going to be more disorganized in comparison to my other ones. It's more of me trying to get myself organized for the upcoming filming I'm doing for the opening. And I've decided to do my shooting schedule here:

03/07 - filming more of background shots (introductory, some wide shots of ocean); mostly going to use this day to lock in my shot choices (see what works in the area and what doesn't) and final setting prep 

03/13 or 03/14 - actual shooting day; will film majority of shots; could be either day. or both depending on the weather

03/20 - could be used as a re-shoot day for any shots that need it 

Now that I've gotten the shooting schedule out of the way, I'm moving on to the mine-en-scene preparation. I really want to focus on costumes and props as of right now. I'll start off with costumes.

Of course I'm starting off with the orange shirt. It's an eye-catching color that means I won't need to have to make the background a lower depth of field on the two-shots. I still most likely will, as a lot of dramedies play with the depth of field during two-shots so the characters are more in focus. I'm also toying with the idea that she also has a camouflage jacket. It's another reference to The Clash and their album Combat Rock and will make the character seem even more eccentric. The jacket that I have is more beaten-down and worn, which will be helpful in presenting the characters as more of the working class. I do not want them to have any expensive clothing or items. Again, really need to sell to the audience that they are of the working class. This means the costumes might be more beaten down or worn (especially if it's more workout clothing). I might have some other accessories that add to the characters (like a cool necklace).

         

 

Just showing again how the two colors can really mix well and are really vivid. They are more calming, especially the hues shown in the bottom picture. I still have to decide which shade of blue I'll use for Dallin's costume, but I'm thinking more of the brighter (but still relatively calm) blues. Later in the movie his clothing and the color scheme would become more of a dull grey as the pair's relationship soured and Dallin begins losing himself (but I'm not going to be able to do it for the film opening).

I'm also planning on having the close-up of the small basketball floating on the ocean be the final shot of the film opening. I might change it though to be the second to last shot, as I could also add an insert of a much wider shot of it floating along, to represent huge possibility and intimidating vastness. 

This does not really have to do with mise-en-scene, but I thought I'd squeeze it in here. I made a slight change to ending (with one of The Clash's songs playing) that really impacted the entire project. I will have to get the rights to play the song at the end from Columbia Records or its parent company Sony Music Entertainment. This will be slightly challenging, but I do want to be able to play the song (without breaking any copyright rules) during the end sequence. Hopefully either of the two record companies will grant me permission.

                                                                               

Full Screenplay and Commentary

 I am now finally revealing my screenplay in its entirety. I didn't want the opening scene to have too much dialogue (there's still a good amount, since it's a dramedy and I wanted to set the humorous tone early). I timed it out so that the dialogue takes a little less than a minute. This does not include the cutaways, but I did time it out with some pauses. So here it is (some of my commentary will be between pages):

The first thing you'll notice is a change in the title. I already had the idea of a Clash song playing during the final seconds of the opening scene (the two siblings love the band), so I thought looking through their songs to find a good movie title was my best bet. And I turned out to be right, the song itself has the themes I'm looking for in my movie, with the song (alternatively titled "Stand By Me") being about sticking together through harder times (and one person not standing by the other, hence the lyrics "stand by me, or not at all"). It's a good title and a reference to a Clash song with a lot of meaning. Now, before I go on to comment on some more of my script, I need to address what my target audience is. I'm definitely trying to make it as accessible as possible, with viewers potentially able to relate to the siblings' relationship. But, I do want to zero in on those who are in their later teens to late 20s. This story really is a lot of coming-of-age, with Maya going through her own struggles and figuring out her place in the world. And the wry humor might work well for those in their late teens and all the way through to those in their 60s or 70s. There is not a specific target audience for the wry brand of humor, but it sort of contains one in and of itself. Now, back to the script:

I made sure to add some of that wry humor. I really wanted my dialogue to capture the bond between the two, so I made sure there was some sibling bickering (and by some, I mean the entire thing). I wanted them to each have their own speaking style (though they both are very sarcastic). I made it more colloquial (there is definitely some cursing) and I made sure to add some of the paralinguistic features and prosodic features during their conversation (not sorry for incorporating my AICE Language knowledge into this), but I do want my actors to naturally include some of their own tendencies when speaking. Again, I just want the conversation to be as authentic as possible. And I did take note of the way some of my Midwestern family speaks, and made some corrections according to that (the two siblings are originally from Wisconsin). 

I'm happy with how my screenplay turned out. My next step is mine-en-scene planning (mostly props and costuming), and I'll share my final storyboard later on in the week.