Filming Day 4 (Guard at the Gate Scene)

Today is Friday January 8th, and today we completed our 4th day of filming in which we detailed the guard at the gate scene. As per usual however, I want to include a re cap of our filming progression. As discussed prior, in the  previous 3 days of filming we had completed majority of the larger scenes, which make up 85% of the entire film. The first day of filming involved the car rolling shots and the beginning of Scene 1. Scene 1 involved the main characters entering their new vacation home, and shortly realizing that there is a very "quick-spreading" virus going around. We had filmed on the last school day before Winter Break, on a very stressful week of midterms. The second filming date during the winter break, and a rapidly approaching new year. Many of us had logistical issues, but we recognized the need to film another day to maintain on schedule for the January 5th due date. We scheduled a time between 2 and 4 o'clock and decided we would dedicate ourselves to getting as much done as we could. And we did! On this second day of filming we were able to complete the first scene, and various parts of the third and second scene that would connect the plot development throughout our short film. Finally only recently did we choose to film our 3rd and 4th day consecutively, with the 4th day being today. On the third day of filming we completed the grocery store scene in which there are some discrepancies which hint at the fact that Ryan, myself, is hallucinating. 

Bringing me in today’s blog, Scene 2 the guard at the gate scene is the largest hint to the fact that it is likely Ryan is hallucinating. When we filmed this scene, we made it so the guard, Herb, seemed puzzled by some of the words that Ryan was saying. For instance, the guard questions Ryan for saying we and us, when in reality it is only him in the car. He then asks if anyone else is going to be Ryan, but Ryan seems to signal he is already with a group, he is hallucinating. The storyboard and script were very helpful when filming this scene as we were on a time crunch and needed to have our lines and the shots we were going to use memorized. In total it took us roughly 30 minutes to film, and allowed us to discuss options for the coming days as we prepare for the release of our film. Overall once again I’m really proud of the dedication and time my group has put into this feature film, and look forward to releasing it this coming Tuesday.

Filming Day 3 (Grocery Store Scene)

Today is Thursday, January 7th and today we have just completed our 3rd day of filming. With a rapidly approaching release date, January 12th, we are coming into the crunch time for the amount of time we have to film and edit. On the previous 2 days of filming we had completed majority of the larger scenes, which make up 75% of the entire film. The first day of filming involved the car rolling shots and the beginning of Scene 1. Scene 1 involved the main characters entering their new vacation home, and shortly realizing that there is a very "quick-spreading" virus going around. We had filmed on the last school day before Winter Break, on a very stressful week of midterms. The second filming date during the winter break, and a rapidly approaching new year. Many of us had logistical issues, but we recognized the need to film another day to maintain on schedule for the January 5th due date. We scheduled a time between 2 and 4 o'clock and decided we would dedicate ourselves to getting as much done as we could. And we did! On this second day of filming we were able to complete the first scene, and various parts of the third and second scene that would connect the plot development throughout our short film. With this being said there was still a lot of "gaps" in our plot and we knew we would likely have to film at least one m,ore time, possibly twice due to demanding schedules. 

Bringing me back to today's blog once again we had to juggle very demanding schedules in order to determine a time to film. To cut it simply, we decided we would film between our 2 and 3 period classes, which were Study Hall and our AICE Media Classes respectively.  We then also decided to meet at a local grocery store, GVS, that was centrally located around our individual houses. We had originally planned to film at our local Publix, but determined there would be too many shoppers around to film. Additionally there was a privacy factor, because each persons face who was in the film might have to be blurred out or we would have to ask for permission. In total at GVS we filmed about 6 different scenes. These included but, not limited to: the car pulling in, the shoppers grabbing a cart, main characters talking, grabbing water. grabbing toilet paper, and walking out the door. Overall, I am happy with today's filming experience and look forward to our next day of filming. 

Importing Footage into Final Cut Pro X

 

Today is Thursday, December 31st and today my group and I have begun the importing and post production process for our feature film, 2020 Vision. In the previous blogs I have described to you, the audience, the production process of the film. This included the Day 1 Filming Scenes as well as Day 2 Filming. Day 2 Filming was in fact only completed yesterday, but the results have been spectacular when considering that we only had 2 hours to film. In total on day 1 filming we collected about 10-12 minutes of footage. This is compared to Day 2 of filming in which we collected around 5 minutes of total footage. This difference can be attributed to the use of the iPhone solely, as compared to the drone, the go pros, and our phones. In the previous blogs I described how we dumped the footage. As a basic review, the first step involved  the footage being brought from the camera (the GoPro and Drone to be specific) to computer, also know as dumping. What we had to do was take out the SD card, put it into the SD reader, and plug it into the USB port on our computer. From there we opened the DCIM folder and found the folder containing our footage from a certain time. Then we created a desktop folder on our laptops, making sure to label each individual scene, and it’s significance to the film. A similar, yet significantly different process was used to transfer the IPhone footage. The process involved using Apples specific ability to “AirDrop” footage, without a cellular connection. This made sure the data did not lose quality when being transferred. From there I was able to airdrop my footage from my phone to my computer, since both of my devices are Apple. In total the dumping process took about 20 minutes, but was essential to this blog, which is importing the footage into Final Cut Pro. 

In order to do this. I had to first create a new project. I made sure to name the project "2020 Vision Feature Film," and selected various settings to ensure we got the production quality and product we wanted. From there I went to the top left of my screen, selected "Final Cut Pro X" and viewed the drop down menu. From there I selected the "Import" button. This brought up the Finde tab, and from that I was easily able to locate my "2020 Vision Footage" folder. Then I used the select all command "command + A" and clicked select. This then imported the footage into the tab on the left side of the Final Cut Pro tab (see photo). Finally, I am now able to drag footage from this library of footage onto the time track at the bottom of the tab. This time track is the sequence that the movie will play in real time. Overall, I am very happy with the production and post-production progression we've made on the production film "2020 Vision."

Entering the Vacation Home Scenes 1 and 3 (Filming Day 2)

Today is Tuesday, December 29th and today my group and I got to together too complete our second day of filming for our production film, 2020 Vision. Customarily, I will provide a review of previous blogs to ensure you stay provided with current and relevant news. On Friday, December 18th my group and I got together to complete our first day of filming. Our goal that day was to complete the opening scene, the car rolling shots, and the first scene. Despite this reality, due to some logistical errors we did not end up completing the first scene. Then, on December 22nd my group and I discussed our arabilities and the possibility to film another day towards the end of December. After all was said and done, we agreed on Tuesday in the morning since it seemed as if everyone's schedules were open. However, this couldn't be further from the truth. The Monday before, it seemed as if a lot of plan were made impromptely and 2 of our group members were unavailable. So we obviously had to reschedule. We agreed on today, December 30th, but with a very narrow time frame of 2-4pm EST. This meant we had to complete 2 scenes in a matter of 2 hours, with the hope of 0 distractions. 

Brining my back to todays blog, I can safely say everything went well and I personally believe it was the most progress we've made in the shortest amount of time. Surprisingly the first scene our group completed was the third scene. This scenes involves the main characters turning on the television and learning from a breaking news report information about the virus and the possibility of a vaccine. The characters know they need to get supplies and socially distance themselves from others to prevent the spread of the virus. We knocked this scene out within 45 minutes and moved onto our scene 1 filming. Where we left off in scene 1 involved the characters walking into the vacation home. Then they all have very different stances on the house. For instance, Sabrina seems to be very disappointed, Skye seems to love the house and is overly energetic, and Jordan seems to remain neutral. This scene took us about an hour to complete, and gave us the reaming 15 minutes or so to discuss further filming/editing dates, in addition to blog ideas. Overall, I am really proud of the progress we made in these 2 hours of filming and it has pushed us back onto schedule. 

Planning for Day 2 of Filming.

Today is Tuesday, December 22nd and today my group and I discussed the possibility of a second day of filming. As per usual, a slight recap of the progression of our film is necessary. First of all, we have completed  a basic script and storyboard outlining the overall plot sequence of our film. This has proven to be a great aid in the production process as we do not have to come up with scene pitches, but rather have our planning to fall back onto. The next step that we completed in the production process was our first day of filming. On that Friday morning we were able to complete all of the opening scene, the car rolling shots, and a significant portion of the first scene. This first scene involves mostly the main characters descending on the house for their vacation. They lay out their stuff and begin to get settled. Despite this reality, when they turn on the news they learn of a shocking virus that has begun to infect the world. However, much of that scene, such as the characters turning on the television, was incomplete due to schedule complications. For instance, I had to leave at 2:00 to go home and help my family with an ongoing situation and later travel to Miami. 

Back to the purpose of today’s blog, those schedule complications left us slightly behind schedule, and we still needed to film. Even our schedule had outlined us to begin full on editing of the film, and only re shooting next week. However, this obviously just did not work for our group. Appropriately, we once again held a Group FaceTime call to discuss possible limitations for when we could film. Some key factors brought up were scheduling at work, Christmas Eve and Day, and New Years Eve and Day. However, we all agreed on either Tuesday or Wednesday to film continue filming the first scene. In addition we also plan on filming the third scene, which involves the characters learning about the scientific breakthrough with a vaccine. We plan on filming from 2-4 and this would have us almost 75% with the production end of the film. 

Dumping Footage

 

Today is Monday, December 21st, and today we began the editing process of the film. While in the previous blogs, I detailed the filming process of the film, the post production process is a much different. It involves tweaking, editing, and minipularing the footage capture in the production process and organizing it in such a manor that you form the film. However to recap as to what we have filmed is a good place to start with the editing process. First of all we have completed the opening scene, the car rolling shots, and a significant portion of scene 1. This was done on the Friday before winter break, and I blogged about it in the previous 2 posts. In total, we captured around 10-12 minutes of film, just for these scenes. This was spread across 3 different devices aswell. Including, but not limited to: a DJI Mavic 2 Pro Drone, Go Pro Hero 8, and an IPhone 11. What the use of these different forms of equipment meant is there was different ways we needed to upload our raw takes, to edit as the scene. The first step involved  the footage being brought from the camera (the GoPro and Drone to be specific) to computer, also know as dumping. What we had to do was take out the SD card, put it into the SD reader, and plug it into the USB port on our computer. From there we opened the DCIM folder and found the folder containing our footage from a certain time. Then we created a desktop folder on our laptops, making sure to label each individual scene, and it’s significance to the film. Then, we transferred all the footage from the SD card to the folder on our laptop but using the select all command, and dragging it to our desktop. In total, it took us about 10 minutes to transfer all the footage, but it was a very important step in the post production process. Afterwards, we safely ejected the SD card by right clicking on devices and selecting “eject”. This made sure no data was lost on the transfer on the device. A similar, yet significantly different process was used to transfer the IPhone footage. The process involved using Apples specific ability to “AirDrop” footage, without a cellular connection. This made sure the data did not lose quality when being transferred. As such however, we all needed to get the footage to blog and edit about, so we decided to use the original phone and airdrop everything to everyone. From there I was able to airdrop my footage from my phone to my computer, since both of my devices are Apple. Finally, I once again brought the footage from my downloads to the folder with the specific scene headings to ensure we were able to keep track of all our footage. 

Vacation Home Filming (Filming Day 1)

Today is Sunday, December 20th and I am pleased to say once again I am happy with the progression of our film. While we may not have had the most immediate success in terms of planning, filming and editing, there has been a healthy progression, which has meant steady success. For a recap, on Friday the 18th, my group and I decided to film around 10am to 2pm EST. Our goal that day was to accomplish the jeep drone filming as well as scene 1. Scene 1 details the main characters, including myself as Ryan, Sabrina, Jordan, and Skye walking into the house, and critiquing their new "Air B&B". However, Sabrina, a character in the film whose supposed to come off as snobby and spoiled, seems to be unappreciative. At the same time, Skye, an overly energetic and outgoing person, seems to love the house and the friends she is with. Planning of the script and the storyboard really seemed to aid in the process of filming this scene. The script for example, covered almost 2 pages of dialogue. Additionally, there are heading detailing a very general description of the actions in each scene. In terms of the storyboard, it also proved to be a great aid to reference when filming. It showed us the camera angles, shots, and techniques that e needed to use in each scene. For example, we mad great used of mid shots, over-the-shoulder shots, wide shots, and two-shots. 

In terms of a specific scene we filmed, it involved myself, and the other characters, getting out of the Jeep, and then walking through the main door. The initial getting out of the car we had to recruit a camera man in order to ensure we could have all four of us in the scene. We ended up recruiting Hillery's, "Jordan," brother who stood near the door, while I pulled in the car, and we all got out. While we did have a great deal of success there are some things that we did not complete in the first scene. The most important thing that we did not finish was Sabrina critiquing the houses and Ryan turning on the news. Specifically, the turning on the news is a huge plot development for the story and allows the movie to continue to flow. As such, we are going to need to schedule another day to film these scenes, in addition to other scenes such as the grocery store. But overall, I am happy with the progression of the film, but we still need to complete other work to remain on track.