ೃ⁀➷INSPIRATION*ೃ༄

 

Hello everyone! Today I will be discussing the inspiration for our film movie.

The first inspiration we had for our film opening was the movie "Tarot". When we were discussing our ideas, Aleena brought up how we could do a game like Mafia, that ends up happening in real life. She got this inspiration from Tarot, where characters have their horoscopes read from a deck of tarot cards, and what their fate suggests is how they die. We used this movie as out inspiration for the overall topic of our film opening, and instead of the killer being superstitious, we made the killer a real person. We also made the cards not resemble anything, and rather the choices of who gets killed by the Mafia that determines who kills them. This goes into the topic of what really controls your fate.

Another inspiration that we had for our film opening was the TV show "Pretty Little Liars". During filming, I brought up how the pilot episode of Pretty Little Liars gives off the same mood and vibe as the film opening, as the girls in the show are having a sleepover when suddenly, one of their friends go missing. I then showed the group the clip of the first 2 minutes of Pretty Little Liars - and we began to use it as inspiration. The lighting In the pilot, they have dark lighting, and used candles as their main lighting. We then took inspiration for that during filming, and used candle light as well. They also used flashlights, but we did not have any, so we could not use that. We also loved the sound, it had a suspenseful part to it, but it was not full on "SCREAM" like horror sounds. However, instead of Maddie going missing, we had her getting killed. Also, in Pretty Little Liars it is unknown for a few seasons what happened to their friend Alison, and that is the main plot of the story. However, in our film we had it known to the audience that Maddie is killed, the real mystery is who killed her.

Here are some Pretty Little Liars Pictures:

Here are some Tarot Pictures:

ೃ⁀➷WISHLIST*ೃ༄

 

Hello everyone! Today I will be discussing my wishlist for my movie.

ACTORS

To start, I would have more actors to play in the film. We were only able to have 3 people and the 4 people in my group. If we had more actors, it could possibly be a bigger friend group and the Mafia game will go on longer. Also, since we are not professional actors, and are not really good at acting, I would also have experienced actors as the characters. This would make the audience able to understand the characters personalities more, and notice little "hints" of who the killer is. An example of actors I would want for the movie is the Pretty Little Liars actors. These actors are very good, and show "suspense" during scenes, and they also look the part of teenagers. Another example of actors I would want are the actors from the "Scream" movies. These actors are very experienced, however they do not look the part of teenagers.

COSTUMES

The costumes we have for the film opening are just pajamas that each person had at the time of filming. However, if we had a bigger budget, I would buy a pajama set for each character. Each character would have a matching top and bottom pajamas, that somewhat correlated to being in the group. For example, each character could have the same design of pajamas, but the color would be different.  Also, I would have more accessories of the characters, and buy props for each character. For example, I would have liked to buy a sleeping bag for each person to show that it is a sleepover. I would also have an eye mask on certain characters, and have some characters wear eye patches to show that they are about to go to sleep. Also, for the killers costume, I would add a mask and a "ghostface like" suit. We had only a black hoodie and a black glove, and I feel as if this doesn't give a horror movie vibe as much as a costume like other horror movies.

SETTING/LOCATION

One thing I am sure I would change is the location of the movie. The location of the film opening was Samantha's house, and due to this we had limited time to film. I would have the location be a more secluded place, so that we could have an establishing shot of the atmosphere, and this would create a more suspenseful mood with the audience. I would also want to have a backyard where the pool is covered or has a roof in the backyard, that way it could be easier to film even if it begins to rain or has lighting.

LIGHTING/SOUND/EDITING

For lighting, I would want to have a bigger light that has the same features as the tiny color changing light we had. The light was able to change the intensity, saturation, color, and also had effects! I believe that if we had a bigger budget, we would invest in a better light that would be easier to manage. The lighting was a huge struggle for us, and I would want to invest in having less of a struggle if we had a bigger budget. For sound, I believe our sound was fine. We had a good quality boom mic from BECON-TV, and this was really good for the sound. I would invest in getting songs in the film opening, rather than using non-copyrighted. If there was a way to reduce uncontrollable noise I would invest in that, but the sound was fine either way. For editing, I would definitely hire editors to edit the movie for us, editing is taking a lot of time, and for beginners it is very confusing! I would also invest in a more expensive app rather than Premiere Pro.

ೃ⁀➷SPECIFIC CAMERA SHOTS AND ANGLES*ೃ༄

 

Hello everyone! Today I will be talking about the camera shots and angles in my groups film opening.

The first camera shot I will be talking about from my project is the CLOSE-UP. The first time this is seen is during the candle lighting scene, and is used in many other scenes, such as the title sequence, the scenes of the characters flipping over their cards, and the characters reacting to their cards. We chose to use these scenes because we want the audience's attention to be focused on specifically the subjects in these scenes. With this, the audience will not be confused on why the character is reacting that way, or wonder what card they get during the montage. It is also used to emphasize certain things in our movie, such as the slamming of the cards and me saying "Let's play mafia" This makes the slap of the cards emphasized to the audience.

The next camera angle I will be talking about from my film opening is the OVERHEAD SHOT. This camera angle is used when my character is passing out the cards to everyone. We chose this camera angle because we wanted the audience to see the entire group. This angle also emphasizes the set of the movie, and enhances the setting of the sleepover. The viewer gets to see all of the blankets on the floor, and the audience gets the reminder that the characters are just teenage girls having a fun sleepover.

The next camera shot, and the most used camera shot in our film is the mid shot. This shot is used in most scenes, such as when Zara was choosing who to kill, or when the characters are simply talking to one another. This shot is used to make the audience feel as if they are in the sleepover with the characters. This also makes the audience focus on the characters body language.

ೃ⁀➷ EDITING POST 2 *ೃ༄

 

Hello everyone! Today I'll be discussing the process of editing my groups film opening.

Today, Sofia began editing the title sequence of the film. She used premiere pro, as stated before, to edit the title sequence, and this will be used to edit the rest of the opening as well. She began to add all of the clips and notified the rest of the group if she saw any issues while editing or had any questions. While she was editing, Samantha was also trying to get onto Premiere Pro and edit as well. However, she was struggling to get online. They were also struggling with getting onto the same project file to edit on Premiere Pro, so they are currently working on fixing that. The main people involved in editing are Sofia and Samantha, however tomorrow Aleena and I will log onto Samantha's account on Premiere Pro and help edit as well. In order for this to happen, we have to figure out the issue of connecting onto the same file. 

As I mentioned earlier, Sofia notified the rest of us if she saw a mistake during editing or had a question. The first thing she asked was questions about the shots we took. During filming, we took multiple shots (you have to take a lot of shots to get the good one!) and she asked the group during editing which shot looks the best, and added her opinion to the discussion as well. She also noticed that during the last scene of our title sequence (the mafia card pan), one of the shots are out of focus- the shot where the cards zoom into the King Card and flicker. She looked at how the clip would look without that scene, and notified us about this. She also asked whether we thought it looked fine without that particular clip, or if we should just add it even if it looks blurry. We had a little conflict over this, but overall decided that we should no longer have that clip. We also can not re film that scene as we are dropping off the equipment soon. We also have not added the credits such as producer, executive producer, etc. to the title sequence yet, and we are working to add those ASAP to the title sequence and move on to editing the next part of the film. However, the opening is currently looking great, and I can't wait to see how this ends up!

Here is a picture of Sofia's editing screen

And here is a picture from the title sequence of the two editors!

ೃ⁀➷ UPDATES ON FILMING *ೃ༄

 

Hello everyone! Today I will be talking about the updates in my film opening.

For one, we have decided a new day to film the rest of our opening. This Thursday it is a Professional Study Day, meaning we get out of school early. We decided that we will film on that day. Due to events directly after school ends, we have decided to film 2 hours after, to give everyone time. The tuesday before, Sofia got the equipment from shortcuts TV, who we recently borrowed film equipment from when we did the first days of shooting. We received the same equipment from the past time we borrowed (YAY!), so the process of getting the lighting right and setting everything up will be much easier. We ran out of time using it and needed another person to pick up the equipment, as I did last time and the same person can not pick up the equipment twice. Aleena will be dropping it off after we are done filming. 

On Thursday, we will be filming the montage of the girls playing mafia, and the dialogue scenes. As I have said before, for the montage scene, we will just set the camera up while playing a regular game of Mafia with the group - to make the scene more natural. If we have leftover time, we might redo the overhead shot of everyone flipping over the cards - during editing we realized the lighting is very different on certain places. It will overall be an easy day to film. We do have a limited time of 3 hours - it is a school night and we cannot stay at Samantha's house for a long time!

ೃ⁀➷ REPRESENTATION *ೃ༄

 

Hello everyone, welcome back to my blog! Today I will be talking about the representation in my class.

The "Theory of Representation" by Stuart Hall states that producers can represent a group of people or events in various ways. It also states that stereotypes can be created through a disparity of power, where excluded groups are classified as "different".  In our movie, minorities are portrayed and represented in a variety of ways, either positive or negative. 

However, our film is very stereotypical with our characters. We represented some genders and races in a negative way which enforces a stereotype. For example, my character, the "killer" of the group, is portrayed as aggressive and psychotic. When we developed her character, we also wrote her to have schizophrenia. Doing this, we followed a stereotype of schizophrenia that is usually portrayed through films - that schizophrenic people are violent. This shows how we reduced Maya to a single trait, which is that she is violent. Not only is this a stereotype of schizophrenic people, but this is also a stereotype of black females.  Like other horror shows and films, we also used the mentally ill character to portray them in a negative way, and make them seen as "evil".  

Additionally, another stereotype we follow is the "helpless victim" stereotype. In our film, Maddie is the first victim (and only victim) of the killer. We created a stereotype of female victims, and reduced all other traits of Maddie to only one trait - that she is powerless and weak. In horror films, such as Scream, the first victim is usually a female, which creates the stereotype that women are weak and powerless. Although this goes along with the regular representation of horror films, it also goes against it. In a horror film, there is a "final girl" trope, where the woman who is expected to die survives and defeats the killer. Instead of having a "final girl", we have the "helpless girl". The other girls in the film could also be seen as helpless and needing to be saved, as they are unaware of the crimes going on (they're sleeping at the time of Maddies death), which enforces the traits of women being innocent and defenseless.

 Although we use stereotypes, we all understand that they are bad and that representation of people and things should not be based off of stereotypes or reduced to certain traits. We are a filming group of all girls, and we understand that the stereotype of helpless and weak women is wrong. We are also a diverse group with minorities and understand the consequences of creating stereotypes. We did not intend for our movie to be stereotypical. We have decided to not make any changed to our characters, as we would have to change the roles of our characters, and that would mean refilming every shot we have taken, even the cards each character receives! We do not have the time to change and refilm the entire film opening. 

ೃ⁀➷ FREE BLOG POST: PROBLEMS *ೃ༄

 

Hello! Welcome back to my blog! Today I will be talking about problems my group faced during creating this film, and our solutions to all these problems.

To start, the first problem we faced during this process was filming. When we were discussing when to film during December, we realized that the time we wanted to film - which was during winter break, was unavailable for us. During winter break, some of the members (including myself) went on vacation, and there was no day we could film without someone missing. I have mentioned before that each group member is vital to filming - with one of us missing, we wouldn't be able to film! Luckily, we were able to find days to film during weekends, and our extras were able to film during these days as well. Another problem we faced was during the first day of filming. On our first day of filming, we spent WAY too much time on one shot, it almost took 20 shots to get the clip of Samantha walking out right. We noticed so many things about the shots - the sound and lighting especially. However, we continued to push through, and we all were very happy with the result!

On the topic of lighting, we had a problem with the amount of people we had helping us film. We had the main characters + the side characters, however we did not realize we should have asked other people to come over and help us hold the camera, or hold the light. We all had to be in the scenes of playing mafia, and there was an overhead shot we had to film. Our solution to this was having Samantha's parents help us out - her dad held the camera for some shots, and her mom held the light. We had Sofia look at the framing and lighting first and make sure it was right, then we had the parents hold it the exact way she described. The last problem we faced was deciding who to get the camera equipment, as the place was very far, and we were all busy. However, we ended up deciding that one of us will go drop it off, and the other will go pick it up. This way, we all have to spend equal time, and each person has to put work in.

Although we faced many problems, which is inevitable during filming, we managed to find a solution every time.

ೃ⁀➷ MAFIA UPDATED STORYBOARD *ೃ༄

 

Hello everyone! Today I will be talking about my update storyboard for my film project "MAFIA".

Some changes that we have made are: The title sequence change, as we were not able to film the "sorry" scene, and decided to film a replacement scene, which was the candles being lit. While we changed the scene type, we did not change the sound on the scene for the title sequence, or the lighting. This change was out of convenience and due to the other scene not working out. Another change we made was the writing on the letter. Originally, we had the credits placed on the letter, but now we have a "creepy" letter written on it. This slight change was also due to availability, one of us brought up writing a letter instead of credits and we decided it worked better for the opening. Now, the credits will be fading in and out on the bottom right corner of the screen. This adds more mystery to the film opening, and the name being crossed out makes it harder for the audience to guess who the killer is - and who sent the letter.

Another change we made was removing the scenes/clips of my character waking up to Samantha leaving the house, to go for a swim. We decided to change this because it would make it obvious who the killer was, and the genre of our opening is horror/mystery; we would not want to reveal the killer in the beginning! We also removed the scene of Samantha's character, Maddie, taking off her clothes and diving into the pool. We removed this due to the scene not "feeling right", and we felt as if we were doing too much and would rather just start with Maddie swimming in the pool. We also added text to the beginning of the film, with the actors names fading in and out as they show on the screen. We added this because we liked that the audience would know who places each character as they are watching. It also means we do not have to have a lot of text in the title sequence, and it can be more spaced out.

ೃ⁀➷ GROUP DYNAMICS *ೃ༄

 

Hello everyone, today I will be discussing my groups dynamics.

My group has been working very well together. Each member has had an important role that affected the process of filming. Samantha provided us with the setting of the movie, and her parents also helped us with holding the light during scenes where everyone needed to be in the shot, such as the scene where I pass out the cards, and the scene where everyone flips their card over. Without Samantha, we would not have a place to film. Sofia provided us with assistance on lighting and camera framing. She was the main person to decide the lighting, and determined how the characters should be placed. Without Sofia, we would take longer to decide the shot and prepare for the shot, and the filming process would be much slower. I got the camera equipment for the film opening from BECON-TV. Without me, the group would not have been able to get equipment and the filming would not have happened. Aleena contributed the ideas for the project and also helped with directing. She was the one who came up with the Mafia theme. Without Aleena, we would not even have the idea of the film opening!

Even though I worked in a group, we did face challenges or obstacles. For example, on the first few days, we spent A LOT of time just talking or going off topic. This was also an issue when the extras came over, and the challenges were heightened. Another challenge that was inevitable, but also helped us grow was disagreements with camera framing or lighting. We all had different ideas of what the lighting should be, or how the camera should be placed, but we still ended up compromising and growing a greater bond as a group. 

ೃ⁀➷ 2ND DAY OF FILMING*ೃ༄

 

Hello everyone! Today I will be talking about my groups second day of filming. In this filming day, we filmed the title sequence and finished the pool scene.

On this day, none of the extras came as they were not needed and some of them were not available today. Today only had me, Samantha, Sofia, and Aleena filming. The first thing we did was film our title sequence, as we did not need it to be dark outside to film it. The first clip of the title sequence that we filmed was the "Mafia" card scene. This scene was pretty easy to film. We had a little trouble deciding which cards we wanted to be flipped over, which was discussed in my title sequence blog post. But, we eventually decided which one we wanted to do and filmed it. We took a few tries due to not being happy about the speed of the pan, and also in the process of getting the pan right, we added the flicker of the lights and zoom in of the King card. Next, we filmed the polaroid scene. This scene was also easy like the mafia cards. At first, we wanted to do crime scene photos, but when we took the polaroid pictures of the pool, the pictures were too dark (almost pure black) and decided to not waste all of the film on that. We then took pictures of the four of us and did a pan shot of that as well. Once again, we needed different takes due to disagreements of the speed of the pan. But we got the shot done and moved on to the next scene.

The next scene we filmed was a fail and had to be replaced with another shot. The original shot was meant to be the "sorry" word from the storyboard, dripping from the wall. We used ketchup and strawberry jelly to resemble blood and put it on a clear foil because we did not want to ruin Samantha's houses walls. This did NOT end well. The foil crumbled up and the jelly/ketchup all fell on Samantha's floor (we rushed to clean it up). To replace this, we filmed a scene of candles lit over a pile of cards. But before that, we filmed the paper burning scene. For this scene, we wrote a letter of a girl inviting her friends over to a sleepover. It had a little bit of an eerie motive to it, for example some quotes of the letter include: "P.S bring a flashlight. Sometimes the power flickers during the night." and "Just make sure you're ready to play, because once we start, there's no stopping.", these all add to the eerie atmosphere of the movie. Also, to make more mystery not knowing who the killer is, we scratched the name of the letter so the audience does not know who its with. Then, we had Samantha hold the paper, only showing her hand, and we originally burned it with a lighter, but it wasn't burning as quick as we wanted it to, so we burned it with a match. We also dipped the paper in tea and burned it so it cold seem "old". We then filmed the candle scene, and that was easy and we got that done quick. We then moved to the pool scene.

In the pool scene, we only had to film the killing of Samantha. We attempted to do this before, but we ran out of time. At this point, Sofia and Aleena already left, so Samantha's mom was the hand of the killer instead of me so I could work on the lighting, angle, and framing of the shot. We took multiple shots so when we started editing, we could have a few clips to choose from. We also added a scene of Samantha floating, to show she's dead, and a scene of the friendship bracelet floating, to show that the killer is a person in the friend group.

This day was very successful filming wise! 

ೃ⁀➷ LIGHTING *ೃ༄

 

Hello everyone! Today I will be talking about the lighting in my groups film opening. 

The lighting we used for the project is relatively low-key lighting. We did not do any 3 point lighting in our film opening, we usually only had one light source (besides the one clip with the candles being lit, then it would be 2 sources). We chose to have lowkey lighting because it gives off more of an eerie atmosphere, and it creates a sense of mystery. Lowkey lighting is also used mainly in horror/thriller films, so it makes sense for us to use lowkey lighting as well. Like most lowkey lighting films, we only had one source of light and it was near the characters.  The lowkey lighting also depicts the characters personalities, by showing that they all have a "dark side", and that even though they are friends, they are capable of doing harsh things, such as killing. This also makes it seem like the characters are suspects of the murder of Samantha. 

If we had a higher budget, I would change the lighting by getting a light with a higher intensity. We would also get a bigger light, preferably with a stand. The light source we used was great - and had effects as well, such as the candle light effect that made the color slowly flicker, just like a candle. The light also changed color and saturation, and it made the color more of a warm yellow instead of a bright yellow. If we had a higher budget, I would continue to use this light, and also use a light with similar qualities as this but bigger, and with a stand. 

ೃ⁀➷ EDITING *ೃ༄

 

Hello everyone! Welcome back to my blog! Today I will be talking about the editing in my film opening.

The editing software we will be using is Premiere Pro. Samantha and Sofia will be editing this, and they have access to Premiere Pro due to another class they are enrolled in. The transitions being used in the editing process are mainly cuts, except for one part of the opening, where there is a montage/ jump cuts of the friend group playing the Mafia Game, and in that part, there will be a dissolve transition in between clips. Some video effects we will use is the enhancing of the lighting. 

Some problem we faced while editing is the video effects. In some clips, we faced issues trying to keep the lighting the same in all the clips. As there was a difference in lighting, it made the opening look a little low-quality. At first, we set the settings to different levels, focusing on making the lighting look good and not the same. However, we fixed this by ultimately deciding to keep the settings the same. We also faced an issues with editing the audio and video, and trying to sync them together. We want certain effects to be increased in volume, to create more of an effect in the audience, but we struggled trying to get the clips directly in sync. We solved this by finding out that we can merge the clips, setting the synchronisation point as audio, and then extract the audio. This led us to getting the audio and video perfectly synced. 

This is what the editing software looks like.

This is Sofia and Samantha - the two people editing the video. Samantha is in the second photo, and sofia is in the first.

ೃ⁀➷ TITLE SEQUENCE *ೃ༄

 Hello everyone, welcome back to my blog! Today I will be talking about the title sequence of our film opening. 

When we did our storyboard, we decided on the clips for our title sequence. Originally we had these four clips in mind for our title sequence; a clip panning over polaroids of the friend group, a clip with "sorry" written on the wall in red, a clip of burning paper, and a clip of "Mafia" spelled out in cards, with the King card being the only one flipped over with the face shown, to resemble the fact that Samantha, who had that card, has now died. However when we filmed the title sequence today, we went over some other options and altered the title sequence a little. The credits of our title sequence will be displayed over each scene, in the "Gastroline Signature" font. it is linked below.

When we attempted to do the clip of the "Sorry" written on the walls, we failed terribly. So, we decided to replace that clip with candles burning on top of a pile of cards - this makes the deck of cards engraved into the watchers brain and make them remember that this is a very important prop in this movie. We also went through some options with the last clip, with the cards spelling out the word Mafia. Here are pictures of the ideas we went through. The differences are shown in which cards are flipped over. I will explain under each picture.

OPTION ONE:

In this option, we wanted the Joker card to be flipped over, to show that the one controlling the game and ultimately the fates of the characters is the narrator - who owns this card. However, we decided that this makes it obvious who the killer is, and defeats the mystery.

OPTION TWO:

In this second option, we wanted the Joker card AND the King card to be flipped over, to not only show who controls the game like in Option 1, but to show the deaths of the characters. We also decided to not do this for the same reason as Option One - and  thought: "why reveal the killer at the beginning of the movie?"

OPTION THREE:

In this option, we wanted the cards of the main four to be shown. This makes sense as they are the main four of the movie, and they were the characters with the special roles and cards in the Mafia Game. However, we decided not to do this as it did not fit well with the movie, and we wondered if the audience would ask why the other friends cards were not shown.

OPTION FOUR:

  

In this option, we wanted all of the cards to be flipped over. This does not give any hints to deaths, any hints to who the killer is, nothing. We decided not to do this option because it seems too bland to us. Which leads me to the Option we chose...

OPTION FIVE (Chosen)

In the option we decided to choose, only Samantha's card is flipped over (the King card). This resembles how she is the only character who has died so far, and implies that later in the inferred movie, more cards will be flipped over. However, we did not leave it at just this. At the end of the pan, when the letter A is shown with the King card flipped over, the lights will flicker, and suddenly the camera will zoom in on an X over the King's face on the card. Then the lights will flicker on and off again, ending the opening in pitch black. This establishes that Samantha has died, and also adds an eerie twist to the end of the opening to leave viewers shocked.

Link to font:

https://www.dafont.com/gastroline-signature.font

ೃ⁀➷ SOUND *ೃ༄

 

Hey everyone, welcome back to my blog! Today I will be discussing the sound in my film opening.

The sound will be added using Premiere Pro, which we are also using to edit the video. The two main people who will be editing the sound portion is Samantha and Sofia, as I said in my "Changes In Film" blog post that they will be editing the opening. Although they are editing the sound, me and Aleena will still be able to request changes. We will be making most of the sound effects, and adding them via Premiere Pro. In our opening, we mainly have diegetic sound, such as the matches being lit, the sound of the matches burning, the sound of the cards being passed out, and the dialogue between characters. These sounds will be emphasized during the editing stage of our project. 

For the non-diegetic sound, we struggled trying to find music to play in the background. For non-diegetic sound, we decided to use music to play in the montage scene of the friend group playing the mafia game. We were looking for "up-beat" music, but not so upbeat that it takes away the eerie part that is made by the lighting, and the past clips we took.

ೃ⁀➷ DAY ONE OF FILMING *ೃ༄

 

Hello everyone! Welcome back to my blog! Today I will be describing my first day of filming.

The first day of shooting was difficult at first. Before we even started shooting, we needed to get the film equipment. So, right before we started shooting, I went to go pick up the film equipment from BECON-TV.  The first clip we filmed was the first scene in the film opening - which was the lighting of the candles. For this scene, we needed to do a rack focus, with the shift of focus from the candles lighting to the rest of the group in the background. This clip took a while to film, as we faced many problems doing this. The first issue was the lighting - we did a test run at first, to see how the lighting would work with just the candle lights, but it was too dark even with the candles to see the girls behind it. So, we had to add another light that would be in the middle of the group. The next issue was doing the rack focus which I had a little trouble getting it right. However, we ended up getting the clip right and we were all proud of it! We began to film more clips and it went smoother from there. We had to take a break in order to charge the light, but overall the process went smoothly.

The sound and the lighting was one of the roughest things to deal with during filming. The boom mic picks up a lot of things, and even the smallest detail could mess up the clip. For example, for most of the clips with the group where no one is talking, we had everyone hold their breaths (it seems odd, but it worked). For example, in one clip where Samantha's character Maddie is sneaking out of the house, we had to around 15 retakes because we would either hear an out of place noise, such as Samantha's nails hitting the door, or we had to retake because the door moved to slow, or the camera shook from the vibration. For some clips we also took variations of clips to decide which one looks better during editing. For example, there is a clip where we show what card the main characters get, and we took two variations of that clip; one where the card is flipped over, and one where the card is not flipped. We will be filming again this Monday to film the rest of the opening. I have no doubts that the filming process will be great. Here are some pictures me and the group took during filming :)

ೃ⁀➷ CHANGES IN FILM *ೃ༄

 

Hello everyone! Today I will be using my free blog post to explain the updates my group has made in our project. 

The first update that we have made is that we have decided our names for our characters. Sofia's name will be Evelyn, Aleenas name will be Zara, Samantha's name will be Madison, and my name will be Maya. This changes the story board as we labeled the characters as our names originally because we did not have names before. Another update we have made is that we have decided our roles that will show in our credits:

1. Director - Aleena

2. Writers - Aleena, Amaya, Samantha, Sofia

3.  Producer - Amaya

4. Executive Producer - Amaya

5. Lead Cast - Aleena, Amaya, Samantha, Sofia

6. Supporting cast - Haaniya Imran, Valerie Baez, Nicole Iglesias

7. Director of photography - Sofia

8. Production Designer - Samantha

9. Editor - Samantha and Sofia

10. Costume designer - Amaya, Aleena, Samantha, Sofia

Another update that we did is that we changed Sofia's role in the Mafia game. Originally in our script, she was meant to be a citizen. But now, we decided to change her role to the Doctor. We believe that this would make more sense as the core four will all have major roles in the game. 

ೃ⁀➷ SUPPORTING CHARACTER ANALYSIS *ೃ༄

 

Hello everyone! Today I will be talking about the supporting characters in our film opening. The supporting characters in our film opening will be Emma, Lily , and Angela.

Emma:

Emma is the funny one of the friend group, sort of like the "personality hire" at a job place. She has long brown hair and wears glasses. Her costume is pajamas which is a comfortable shirt and pants. Whenever someone is feeling down, she would help everyone feel better by joking with them. While she is funny, she is not the brightest, which is why when they play the mafia game, she just accuses a random person. Her only prop is the card she gets, which is just a regular number card. Her mental state is relaxed, as she does not care about winning the game but rather just to have fun with her friends and make them laugh. Her motivations are:

- To have a fun time with her friends (succeeded until Samantha dies)

- To figure out the killer (neither succeeded or failed yet)

Angela:

Angela is the quiet one in the friend group, she doesn't talk much and sometimes it scares the other people in the group. She has long dyed blonde curly hair, and wears glasses. Her main costume is just like the other group members, which is pajamas. She acts sometimes as if she does not want to hang out with her friends, and that the group forced her to hangout with them. Her social battery runs out very quickly, and she does not care much about winning the game either. Her only prop is the card she gets, which is the citizen number card. Her mental state is relaxed as she does not put much thought into winning the game, and just wants to get alone time. Her motivations are:
- To figure out the killer (neither succeeded or failed yet)

Lily:

Lily is the smart and ambitious one in the friend group. She has long black wavy hair, and wears it down. She is very focused on school, and wants to get good grades. She is also very analyzed and loves to read, which shows she has a large imagination. She has two props: Her book and her playing card for the mafia game. Her book shows how she has a desire to read all the time, even when at a sleepover with her friends. It shows how she can focus in any situation. Her other prop is her playing card, which just like the other supporting characters, is a number card. Her costume is pajamas, just like the other characters. Her motivations:

- To excel in her grades (SUCCEEDED)

- To figure out the killer (neither succeeded or failed)

ೃ⁀➷ COLOR PSYCH *ೃ༄

 

Hello everyone! Today I will be talking about the color in my film opening. 

The costume of the killer is fully black, with a black hoodie, pants, and gloves. The color black shows the mystery that the audience has of not knowing who the killer is. This also shows the power the killer has over the other characters, as they are controlling their fate (by the cards). This also shows that the killer is evil, and has dark intentions. While the costume is being shown in scene, the lighting is also lowkey, and it is dark out. This also adds to this mystery genre of the film opening, builds suspense and makes the audience frightened. Before the killer comes into the scene, Samantha is shown swimming. The lighting is still dark like the past scene mentioned, but the feeling is different. The glow of the blue swimming pool shows peacefulness and safety. This can show the audience how Samantha feels safe when she swims, and that she swims to clear her mind. This makes the audience feel safe, and the sudden switch from safe and peacefulness to evil and danger gives off a message to the audience that no character in this film is safe from their fate. In the beginning of the film opening, the candles are being lit one by one. The candles are the only light in the room. The candle lights show warmth in the room, as the friend group is excited to play the game of Mafia and is happy to having a sleepover with their friends. The lowkey lighting shows mystery, and suspense in the film.

ೃ⁀➷ MAIN CHARACTER ANALYSIS *ೃ༄

 

Hello everyone and welcome back to my blog! Today I will be discussing the main characters in my groups film project. The main characters of my groups film opening is the "main four" of the friend group. The main four consists of Evelyn, Samantha, Amaya, and Aleena.

Madison(Samanthas character):

Madison, with a nickname of Madi, is the sporty one in the friend group. She is on the swim team for the school and she has long black hair, that is usually put up in a ponytail or bun to keep it away from her face when she swims. Her hairstyle shows how organized and put together she is. On her wrist, she has a lot of hair ties and this shows not only how she always has her hair up, but it also shows how she is very prepared in case someone else forgets their own hair tie for sports. This shows her generous personality, and how she is always thinking about others. A prop she has is her sleepover bag, which is a sports bag with her bathing suit and other things. While the audience will not see everything that's inside, it is implied that there is a lot of things inside as the bag looks packed and heavy. This also adds to her prepared personality, as it looks like she made sure she did not miss anything she needed for the sleepover. Another prop is the card she receives when the game of "Mafia" starts. The card is the king - meaning she's the sheriff, and sheriffs are usually physically fit, just like Maddie and need to be very reliable, which Sam also is because she is always prepared. Her mental state for most of the film opening is very concentrated, as she tries to figure out who the Mafia is in the game, and she needs to be concentrated when swimming. However, at the end when she gets killed, she then turns very scared and panics in an attempt to survive. 

Her motivations are: 

- To remain good at swimming, which is why she swims in the night (SUCCEEDED)

- To survive the attack of the killer (FAILED)

Zara(Aleenas character):

Zara is the more creative one of the friend group. She is in the creative arts club, and has long brown hair that usually has some accessories in it. In the film opening, she has one costume - her pajamas, which just like Samantha, is a comfortable shirt and pants. In her hair she has two hair clips, in bold colors, which shows her creativity, and how she is able to use anything and style it. A prop that she will have is her coloring pencils and a paper that she is sketching on while waiting for the game to begin. This not only shows her creative personality, but also how she is can concentrate very well. She will also have a lot of jewelry on, which show she is confident and outgoing. The last prop she will have is her Ace card, which shows she is the mafia. To be the mafia, you need to be calculated and smart to observe other characters and get them to be on your side. This shows how she is not only creative and outgoing, but she also is very smart and notices the behaviors of other people. This makes her suspicious to the audience, as since she won the Mafia game, it shows she is able to trick her friends and be a possible suspect to kill Maddie. Her state of mind is concentrated during the film opening, as she is focused on winning the mafia game. 

Her motivations are:

- To win the game of Mafia (SUCCEEDED)

- To figure out the killers identity (neither succeeded or failed at yet)

Maya (Amayas character):

Maya is the more outgoing one in the friend group, and she has mid-length brown hair that is wore in a half up-half down hairstyle. In the film opening, she has two main costumes, however only one costume is confirmed to be worn by her. The first costume is the pajamas worn during the sleepover, which like the others, is a comfortable shirt and pants. The second costume worn by her is the black hoodie and pants, which is worn when she is killing Samantha. There is also a glove being worn by her. All of these parts of the costume are meant to hide her identity from the audience. A prop she will have is the pen in her hand, which she continuously fidgets with,which subtly shows how she is anxious while playing the game. Another prop she has is her card that she receives, which is the Joker card. To be the narrator, you have to be able to create stories and ideas on the spot, and you also have to be entertaining, just like the Joker is. Also, since she the deaths that happen are recreated in real life, it shows how calculated she is and how she tries to think "2 steps ahead". Her mental state during the beginning of the film opening is relaxed and concentrated, because even though she is not playing a role like the other characters, she is trying to come up with the stories of the deaths that will later come true in the future. When she kills Samantha, her mental state changes to rage and concentration as she is commiting a horrible act. 

Her motivations are:

- To blend in with the friend group and be outgoing to not seem suspicious (SUCCEEDED for now)

- To think of deaths in the mafia game (SUCCEEDED)

- To kill Samantha and not get caught (SUCCEEDED)

- To not get caught as the killer (Succeeded for now, may changed as movie goes on).

Evelyn (Sofias character):

Evelyn, with a nickname of Eve, is the nicest one in the friend group. She has long, brown, curly hair that is worn down. In the film opening, she has one main costume: the pajamas being worn in the sleepover. Although her pajamas do not show anything about her personality, her hair being worn down shows how she is very easygoing, and relaxed. A prop she has is her eye mask, which is near her when they played the mafia game, which shows how even though she as seen as "laid back", she does prioritize herself. Another prop she will have is the card she gets during mafia, which is the Queen card which means she is the doctor. This shows how she is very caring, and she also holds herself up high, just like a Queen does. Her personality is seemed as "non-caring" or "nonchalant" on the outside, but you can see through her props that on the inside, she is someone who cares alot and prioritizes herself. Her mental state during the film is a mix of neutral/rested and concentrated, as she is trying to win the game. However, she does not win the game, and even says she "couldn't believe it was Aleena". 

Her motivations are:

- To figure out the mafia (FAILED)

- To figure out the killers identity (neither succeeded or failed yet)

ೃ⁀➷ COSTUMES*ೃ༄

 

Hello everyone! Today I will be discussing my groups costumes for the film project.

To start, our first costume shown will be the pajamas, since the scene is taking place during a sleepover. Although when people think of pajamas they usually think of a pajama set (such as matching shirt and pants), the friend group will be wearing comfortable shirts and pajama pants. We chose these costumes because they resemble what teenagers would wear to a sleepover, as many teenagers wear comfortable shirts and pajama pants to sleep rather than a pajama set. While the pajama costume does not add to the characters individually but rather makes them seem relaxed as a group, the hairstyles of each character will show their personalities. For example, Zara will have her hair in clips to show her artistic personality, and the colorful clips show her creative self. Evelyn will have her hair down to show her carefree personality, and how she is sort of careless as she does not do stuff to her hair. Maddie will have a ponytail, which shows her organized and sporty personality. Maya will have a half up-half down hairstyle, which shows how I am trying to fit in with the group and not seem suspicious of my activities later.

The next costume that will be seen is Maddie's bathing suit. It will be blue, which is her favorite color. We chose this outfit because she is about to go for a swim, so she is in a bathing suit rather than just regular clothes. It also shows she did not go in the pool on accident or by force, it was her own idea. She will keep her hair in a ponytail, to keep her hair out of her face while she swims. Although Maddie is unaware of it, it makes her easier to identify as she swimming because her ponytail sticks up. This still shows Maddie's athletic personality, and how she cares about her wellbeing as she did not just leave her hair messy but rather put together and clean.

The last costume I will be talking about is the black hoodie and glove worn by the killer. We chose a glove as it will hide the identity of the killer to the viewers and bring mystery that will keep the viewers hooked. Also, the color of both the hoodie and the glove is black, and that color adds to mystery and evil. This adds to character by making the killer seem evil and shows their power of the characters and basically controlling their fate (as they are the ones going through with the games killing). The hairstyle will not be seen, but it will be a pulled back hairstyle because showing hair would give away their identity.

A little accessory that characters will have is the matching bracelets of the characters. This shows how they are a close friend group.

Here are pictures!

Example of a comfortable shirt and pant pajamas

Example of black hoodie and sweatpants

Example of black gloves