Production Day Part 1

 Week Seven: It's Coming Together

What a day! We all woke up bright and early to film. Hannah and Gianna Gomez arrived at my house at ten in the morning. Hannah came bearing gifts, coffee, of course. We couldn't have done it without you, Starbucks! Not to stereotype me, but my room is very spot-on for a grunge teenager (that statement was gross). They entered my room, and I first gave Gianna Gomez a complete run-down on the storyline. When I asked if she could be filmed, I gave Gomez an overview, but I wanted to clarify anything she may have been confused about or uncomfortable with. I then asked Hannah if there was anything in my room that would be out of place for our character Maxx. We took down one item. My pride flag. Unfortunately, there is nothing closeted about having a pride flag in your bedroom, and Maxx isn't out, so it wouldn't make sense. 

My pride flag literally ended up in my closet. How ironic!

I also wanted to point out that I texted Gomez what I needed her to wear on Friday night. Gomez sent me a bunch of options. I knew that I would wear baggy jeans and a band t-shirt with converse, so I wanted a little bit of disparity without making it too obvious. 

Gomez, our Sami, ended up wearing boots, cargo pants, a crop top, and sunglasses. Although Hannah was behind the camera, she came dressed up too. We all looked cute. 

The bedroom scenes were... fun?! We started by taking shots of my room and then moved on to the girls interacting. Having to be both in front of and behind the camera was aggravating. I am a bit of a control freak, so trusting Hannah wasn't easy. There was a lot of bickering. 

Statements that left my mouth:
"Film me at this angle." 
"Okay, let me see."
"No. Twist the camera this way."
"A little higher."
"A little lower."
"Switch spots with me. Let me show you."

Me filming my room scenes.

Hannah filming me reading. 

Me correcting Hannah. Sorry, Han!

And then... the intimate scene. Full disclosure, Gianna Gomez has been my best friend since I was 12, so this scene was a little hard to film, but we both act, so it wasn't complicated. We had to reshoot it a few times because the pillows made our heads look abnormal on camera, and Gomez and I kept laughing. 

Sami jumping on Maxx. 

We got one REALLY great shot of this scene, but it wasn't close enough, which made the moment too distant from a potential viewer; therefore, we had to redo it. I almost cried, but we ended up getting it. The whole process took roughly three hours, and then we drove to the second location. The bike scene (BUM BUM BUM)
I will talk about that tomorrow. Goodnight Shoes!

Overthinking

Week Seven: It's Coming Together 

We film on Saturday and, since we are on a time crunch, we cannot afford to have errors. I am thinking of all the ways to bypass problems. We want the opening to start with the girls biking. It seems more authentic if the shot were to be the front of the bikes rather than the sides of the bikes, that way, you could see the girls swerving and having fun. I am using the front-facing bike riding scenes from Normal People (2020) and Call Me by Your Name (2017) as my inspiration.

Call Me by Your Name (2017)

Normal People (2020)

But these aren't amateur productions. I'm sure they used a dolly, drone, or Steadicam mount. My idea is to have Hannah sit in the trunk of a car (I know this sounds bizarre but bear with me), have a parent drive forward at a very slow speed, and have the girls ride bikes. We will switch to a car scene if this doesn't work, but I think it will work. We will also film extra footage just in case our opening is too short or doesn't flow smoothly. Aside from that, there really shouldn't be any issues. We plan on filming the whole opening Saturday morning at 10 AM. Spending around three hours in one location, the bedroom, and spending three hours in the second location, the outdoors. I already confirmed with Gianna Gomez and Hannah; therefore, we are right on schedule. 

When In Doubt... Do Something

Week Six: Under Pressure

If you tuned into yesterday's blog post, you would know I am upset. I would use more vulgar terms, but this is a school project. So, "upset" will suffice. Since we cannot film until next week, I have been thinking an awful lot about editing. I am a tiny bit scared. Will I embrace the fear? Of course. But why not overthink now? I have been thinking about color grading, making our opening a little bluer than the camera can pick up. I saw a picture from a scene from Joker, and that was it. 

I feel like being a teenager is sad. Yeah, yeah, "hormones." But, genuinely, as exuberant as life can get, it is equally balanced by loneliness and sadness. Maybe that's just my perspective, but considering that I am a teenager and have consulted many others my age, I feel pretty qualified to give my opinion on this topic. 

So, yeah. Blue it is. But a brighter when Maxx is with Sami. Sami is Maxx's yellow and visa versa. We color grade to emphasize a tone and color grade we will. Now, regarding fonts, I was thinking of capitalized and messy letters for the title but more uniform and smaller letters for the credits. I thought I didn't want the viewers to see any "funk" yet. They are two ordinary teenage girls who are friends until they are not, and messy font would give that away too early. 

TITLE

Here were the testers. For obvious reasons, there were flaws.

Now, these. These are darling. I really like the first but they all look very similar, you get the first. It is messy but not scribbles. 

WHAT WE DON'T WANT

This is way too dramatic. Not light enough.

CREDITS

Formal, light, teenage, not too bold.

I feel less upset. Goodnight my shoes :)

I Am Upset

Week Six: Under Pressure

Why does everything have to be so complicated? Were we supposed to film two days ago? Yes. Did we? No. Why? Gianna, our lead actress, had to film her AICE Media Project. Believe me. We tried to find backups, but you want to hear something comical. There was a high school states thespians festival this weekend. So, all the drama nerds (I am one, so I can say it) were gone, Hannah had no friends, and all my friends were at the festival. And any other people we could find out of desperation were on vacation. The good news is, Gianna is coming back next Friday, March 25th, so we are filming on March 26th. I promise. We literally cannot change that. We need to film, or we will get nowhere.  

March 26th we film, there's no changing that. We film it all. It shouldn't take too long since we have our storyboard, and then we begin editing and choosing the fonts and fine details. I am not too stressed... yet. Obviously, not being able to film was a bummer but we TRIED EVERYTHING. On that note, see you tomorrow. I am starting to think of fonts and editing tricks, so I will let you know!

Group Meetings

 Week Six: Under Pressure

I worked with some lovely people this morning to discuss any issues or concerns we had with our projects. It's funny how much you can resolve by simply asking for advice. My biggest problem was scheduling and the bike scene. One of the girls, Hannah, said that she faced the same problem due to daylights savings time and she said that she adjusted her film to fit any scheduling problems. Hannah also recommended that we make a schedule on Canva, which I liked a lot and I will do.  I also learned that Vane is doing a coming of age film with similar LGBTQIA+ elements, it's called Scrambled and it is adorable. Gianna Gomez, our lead actress is going out of town, time to call for a backup? I don't know. 

A photo of my lovely helpers!

In regards to the biking scene, I learned that you can stabilize when you edit OR we can switch to a car scene if we want. Both are suitable options. I'm still hoping to film either Thursday or Friday. I am starting to feel a lot of pressure surrounding this project. There are no issues, just scheduling conflicts.

A Pessimistic Mess

Week Five: Storyboarding and Scheduling

Since our opening is mostly in one location, we cannot film at school, so Hannah and I might have mundane blogs until we do. Call me a pessimist, but I already see some problems with filming. 

I made a list:

• Availability
• Weather
• Camera Movement
• Spring Break
• Bikes

Everyone is going out of town for spring break. How dare they! I know Keira won't be able to film since she is on vacation. So, we have to find a new assistant. Gianna Gomez has to film her AICE Media project, so Friday may not work. It is tricky scheduling around so many factors. Additionally, CAMERA MOVEMENT. We will film on our iPhones, which I don't love because the quality can be poor, and the video's usually come out shaky. I plan on asking our AICE Media teacher to check out either a stabilizer or a tripod, and if worst comes to worst, maybe borrow a camera? We also need bikes. Even though Hannah and I are teenagers, we don't have bikes. Worst case scenario, we change the bike scene to a car scene, but I hope we can borrow bikes from someone. Thanks for peaking inside my mind post-story board. Good night!

Yes, the Storyboard

Week Five: Storyboarding and Scheduling 

Simply put, I am exhausted. I finished West Side Story, so I am back to my part-time job as a blogger. BUT! GOOD NEWS! Hannah and I did the storyboard.

Maybe I'm doxing myself a little bit, but we decided the shooting location will be my house and neighborhood. My room has the misc-en-scene of a grunge queer teenager, and my community has pretty nature sights. I ❤️ Florida! I wanted to note that our video will not be only 16 shots. But, our shot count may be lower since our genre focuses on development rather than quick cuts. The beginning will consist of long shots of the sky, the trees, and a lake. Then, we will incorporate movement by doing a tracking shot of the road, and in the far distance will be two girls riding bikes. There will be a few shots of the girls riding bikes, a combination of tracking shots, mid shots, and long shots. The girls will reach the house, and the camera will stay still, focusing on the doors and the design outside. Once the door closes, there will be a pause to indicate time passing as they go into Maxx's room.

The room scenes are intended to focus on the posters and the objects in the room. Maxx and Sami will be browsing the room. There will be ad-libbing between the two. Eventually, the girls will end up pulling each other to the bed, and the laughter will change to silence, the "It's Complicated." 

That is our storyboard! The next few weeks will be heavy! Talk soon!