The beginning of the end

The production is complete. It was very fun and I enjoyed creating this project. It was very challenging in many aspects, but in the end, it went very well. I went through challenges such as timing, production, and especially the crew. It was hard to manage a lot of people, especially the first two days. I was all alone these two days and my "assistant" was supposed to help but could not show up those days. Regardless I managed to get the scenes done and properly and it went well, although not smoothly. It was also challenging to stay on topic with the film. I had to talk to people who continued to change the script and would try and add their own variations. Everyone was on set, but many people got bored and started to sit down and not do anything in the meantime, but some did manage to continue to study their parts. 

I believe I had to create more of a schedule for each person specifically. I added to the schedule the scenes, but I did not add the people to be involved and had everyone come in and show up same days. This could have been prevented and I could have had more of a reasonable schedule for them. Regardless it came out great in the end with filming and everyone tried their best to even help while waiting. In the end, I think this was one of the most challenging portions when it came to the filming of the project. Everyone came with their outfits and props and it was all good when it came to the set. People learning their lines, or the actions they had to perform also went very well and there were minimal errors and reshoots which helped a lot with the schedule and to keep everyone on their feet to not be bored and walk off the set. 

The Oscars

 Today the Oscar’s were on, this is right after I watched it. I got to see all the beautiful movies and nominees for the movies. It really inspired me for what I have done. Not only that but there was a special feature by some actors for the movie “The Godfather”. This instantly made me think of my film opening because it is mainly based on it. I was happy to see the people come out and speak of their thoughts on the movie and to see others perspectives. It really made me think I did well for my film opening and it has a meaning in the end.

Critique

 Today I received critique in my video and took them all into consideration, I have to now implement them into the video, and see if it works for the main message and theme I am working on. Otherwise the video will be complete and all ready. I’m very excited to see the final outcome!

Brink of completion

 Today I finished my editing process completely. Only need to add a few more details and it'll be complete. I am also going to ask some people for advice, including those from my class, and those who helped me with the characters. Once I get the feedback and take it into consideration, it should be complete. 

Pain of editing

Today I began editing, and I was going to post an update of how it is all going so far, but... there was an accident. My wifi went out at home and the footage was not saved so recently since it was just opened, and all of the editing was gone except for the footage that was already in place. I am using adobe premire pro to edit the footage together and using some small cuts and little edits such as dip to black for some transitions. I have more editing to do, and since the footage before was lost I cannot put the progress. Tomorrow I will give a full update of the project so far.

Reshoot

 Today I had to reshoot some scenes due to camera issues, and audio quality, it was very frustrating to fit into the scehdule but in the end I made it work. I had other ideas to work on today, but this reshoot had to be done so it was extremely important. In the end I had to work extra hard and will post full progress tomorrow of everything I worked on tomorrow as well.

Progress...

     Everything went good this week with filming, and I got to talk with some friends about the topic. I recieved a lot of help and I was able to see what I can do. However an issue did occur, which I will discuss on tomorrows post in order to explain it further, and to officially find an answer to the issue as well. This issue is not a big deal, but does have to be resolved with. 

Cameras on set!

     The first two days of filming went excellent. The cast knew what they were doing what to say and it was perfect. There was one area that troubled me and i beleieve I need to look into it, but overall it went fantastic and I think we won't need any reshoot days so far. Hopefully the other days continue as well. All we are missing is the final scene where it'll be a shot counter shot type, and to try and see any shots that were missing or anything that may help in editing. 

What's my line?

     Today was the day I officially finished the screenplay. I had many variations of it and none of them seemed to work out. I had to modify it a couple of times but I finally finished it, especially since filming was about to begin. I am going to start filming tomorrow, and I'm so excited to begin. There are many shots that I am so happy and excited to try out. Hopefully, it all goes well tomorrow and other days. 

Here's a sneak peek at some lines I had added to my screenplay so far. 

Lights on set!

  Representation is a key aspect of this film opening. It has to be established that this family has a mafia-type family style. The main ways to do this are:

-Color

-Costume

-Set

-Lighting

Lighting is what I will discuss today. Lighting will help for everything, it will make sure that the color, costume design, and set pop out. Since I will have various colors into the theme I need to come up with a main lighting and color tone that I can fit the rest of the colors into to fit the overall theme. The main colors I want is going to be orange, brown, black, and red. The other colors that will need to be used to fit have to be yellow, or light yellow in this case, white possibly, and also some purple areas as well. I will mainly focus on using lighting from the house and windows rather than a light kit, however, I will have one on standby with yellow and white filters. 

What to wear.. What to wear..

 Representation is a key aspect of this film opening. It has to be established that this family has a mafia-type family style. The main ways to do this are:

-Color

-Costume

-Set

-Lighting

Today I'm talking about costume design. The costume is important to the characters and establishing who they are. The main area I'm looking into for costume is going to be a more classy, formal, business look for both the males and females. I don't want to make the females all in dresses to make it a party, instead make them wear more of business attire since this main scene is supposed to involve more business approach and not a party approach. 

This image is from "Goodfellas" and the costume design looks perfect for the males. I plan on having the males wear button-down shirts, with some people being more formal and business and others being less formal. The more adult characters can be the ones wearing more formal outfits including a suit and being more covered, while the younger characters can have more rolled-up sleeves and not covered up as much or wear multiple layers on them. The color scheme mentioned before will still take place by having different colors for button-downs, ties, hats, or even shoes. 

This image is from "Mob Wives" and along the business side of the attire, there is also the side that can represent more of a powerful tone to it. Some of the older females can wear fur coats and rounder/larger earings and wear a bit of a business attire under it but mainly show the coats. This can also set the atmosphere for the setting as well. The coats show that the older females are wearing this attire only. 

Similar to the costume designs of the males, the females will also be correlated to their age, and since the older women would be wearing fur coats or more covered up like the older males, the younger ones can wear different types of clothing. Some can wear a dress-like outfit, but not too much to make it a party-themed setting. Some can also wear button-up shirts along with a skirt, or leggings as well to show a more business approach. The main characters will however stand out more in a business manner even wearing maybe a tie. The color scheme for the females can be through the dress, or the makeup they wear as well, making it small and subtle but enough to make the main theme for color work well for the main purpose.  

Color it in

Representation is a key aspect of this film opening. It has to be established that this family has a mafia-type family style. The main ways to do this are:

-Color

-Costume

-Set

-Lighting

I'm going to talk about color today. With color, the main representation between mafia movies is orange/reddish tone. That will be shown with lighting. The lights will make the set pop out more in that color. Since the mafia movie has some more old representation of the house, the color will fit since the house is also an orangish tone. 

This image is from "The Godfather" and it is shown to have an orangish tone, not just to the set but the props too. The food has a lot of orange sticking out, and the brown around the table with the wood allows the orange to pop out even more. This means that I'm going to need some orange-type food or props, and to make sure the furniture is more brownish and fits the orange color. 

This image is from "Mobster" and it is clear to have a red color scheme to their film. The red allows it to pop out and seem more attractive to the eye, especially to the table, drinks, and the girl in red. Not only that, but it allows the person in white to pop out more since the red blends in with the black that everyone else wears. I will also try to incorporate red into the main areas I want the audience to focus on, but also on characters.

The costume will also be good for color design since I plan on giving it main importance. The characters that are related to each other and close to each other will have similar color patterns. Some may be wearing black with a hint of green, and another with blue, but in the end, the green and blue clearly establish that they are different families and that to the others wearing similar colors there is a correlation. I will also make sure the characters pop out that I want to be the main focus, for example using red. All of this will ensure I establish a clear color tone and make sure I can use color more effectively for the story rather than just the set. 

Fonts and Fonts and Fonts

     Today I took some movies and decided to research their title cards and their credits within the opening of their movies.

I researched many movies and these were ones that inspired me most:

After researching these main areas I decided to create some drafts for fonts and this is what I came up with:

These are some I did in order to have an idea, and I hope to use these in a way incorporated to the actual film and to create nice transitions with them.

Time...Place...Date

  I had to decide on a location to start filming, which obviously needed the setting of a mafia area. That made me wonder about the type of location I would be using. I saw many movies that used locations such as a city, especially New York. I didn't have much of the outside for the story, so I tried researching it a bit more to try and find a good location that can be used. I saw a bunch of types of city-like structures, but eventually one caught my eye. It was a normal house, that looked semi-old, but it was very fit with the theme and time. It was like a family house with bushes and trees and a fence. It was more of a running area, and instead of just a city in the dark, it was lit up in the day. I thought I can use this type of house for the shots outside, and use the inside as well. My aunt's house was very similar to the type of house shown, so I decided to ask my aunt if I can film at her house, and she said yes. The environment is perfect for filming inside and has many rooms I can use in order to film, and also show as well. 

City-like buildings

Old-like house (exterior)

Old-like house (interior)

Later on I decided to do this during the day as in that movie as well. The movie was "The Godfather" and it was shot during the day with outside scenes, meaning if I was inside I needed to to make sure the windows showed it was day and not night, meaning I need to get these shots during the day and the lighting had to be perfect with the direction of the sun.

Wearing the fit

     For costume design, I had to think about a lot of costumes. This was extremely easy... for the men. Most movies only have men as the main characters when it comes to mafia styled movies. So finding costume designs for the women was hard, especially since the main character was most likely to be a female. Although I couldn't find much on the females, I did have the costume designs for men. I found that the main guys usually wear more of a suit outfit. For example, "The Godfather" has the main guys wearing suits with bow ties. 

"The Godfather"

    I thought later into the opening, there will be some characters that appear in the background, so essentially background characters. They usually wear something that appears natural and the same as all the other background characters so that they are shown to not be important like the main characters. One movie, in particular, caught my eye. "The Sting" is a movie made in 1973, and its costume design seems very natural and loose. I saw what the people were wearing under, and saw that they had normal button-up shirts and some ties. I thought maybe these background characters can have this type of costume design. The characters can wear button-ups with rolled-up shirts and maybe a hat as well to show they are just there as minor characters. 

"The Sting"

    I then had to think of the other main characters, who are not as important. Going back to "The Sting", I saw that the main person has just a vest on and a tie. I thought, "maybe they can have something similar." So I decided that the characters would have a variety of things to wear, that'll make them stand out. I thought it would be best if everyone had different style choices. These characters would be connected to the main characters wearing suits, so I decided to make them wear similar color schemes, and to also give them similar attire. For example, if one character in a red suit was wearing a hat, the character related to them wouldn't wear the suit but would wear a red outfit (button up preferably), and would also wear a hat and put the two close together at some point. 

    Researching the men, eventually, I found some more costume designs for the women of the film opening. They have similar costumes as men, for example, suits. The main difference was these were suits for females. I thought maybe the older and more seen characters would wear this type of suit as well. Which relates to the main characters who are wearing suits. So it would be a matching outfit for the family or one side. This mainly came from the movie "Bonnie and Clyde" a film made in 1967 which does star a female. This helped show what can relate, and the schemes do match with the outfit. The white on one character makes her stand out, showing her as the main target, but it matches the hat that the man next to her is wearing, so I can most likely accomplish a similar goal.

"Bonnie and Clyde"

    I found another movie called "The Gangster Squad" that has a female star in it as well. Although she wears more dress-like outfits, some do match the contrast of the suit. Then I thought, maybe the side that is opposing the main characters can be wearing this type of outfit, which shows how there is no connection to the business, unlike what the main characters are trying to achieve. This can show then contrast between the family and address the conflict using different means as well. 

"The Gangster Squad"

    I thought I was done, but I realized that I have to make my character stick out. Then I thought of something that can show both meanings, and make the character stand out to the main purpose of the character. I can do something similar to what the men are gonna wear. Just like a son will wear similar clothing to the father, this character will do so too. Since it's an all-female side, and one does need to come up eventually and stick in, she can wear similar outfits to the males, and show more authority than them by wearing more suitlike clothing, that the men would wear, and relate the schemes to the father. In the end, all costume designs will have meaning behind them, and try and are attractive to the audience to focus on the main characters.