His Journal Final Film Production

 

His Journal Creative Critical Reflection

Post Production

 Editing Process

As of now, the only draft of editing is my personally edited film. Each person in my group had to individually edit our film. We had to edit our film during school on the computers. The editing software we chose was We Video due to how easily accessible it is. We Video was also very easy to use and had no difficulties uploading the videos onto the computer. I didn't have to watch any videos on how to use the software, overall a very simple and easy editing software.

Our film is a voiceover, so overall the sound is plain. What I did was mute the shots audios and added the voiceover, over the shots. At this point I just needed to trim the clips in order to fit the voiceover. For our shot transitions, it was mostly straight cuts, so I made sure there weren't no gaps between each shot. 

Revision

What I believe I need to go over the film is the quality. Maybe add a filter and slow down a few shots in order to give the film a natural look. My group and I will need to redo a few of our shots like our close up on Darren and a finger was covering the bottom left of the shot. 

Difficulties

The main issue we ran into during editing was the editing software. Our primary editing software was going to be Adobe Premier but, no more than 3 people can edit in a account, uploading our clips into the software was very difficult, and our computers couldn't support the software so, instead we chose WeVideo. 

Production

 Technology Used

The most reliable and easily usable technology used for recording was our phones. The best quality camera was my I-Phone 11 Pro. What I learned while filming in our shots were the lighting. We would have to shoot facing down towards a stairway and some stairways were darker than the other. So we would have to position our actor towards a light source.

Difficulties

A main difficulties while filming were security. Me and my group wanted to film in a stairway, but our school security wouldn't allow us to film in the stairwell even though we had a pass. So me and I group had to improvise by filming in the main school stairwell.

Planned Stairway

Improvised

Group Schedule

 Scheduling 

My group and I have put together a schedule for our filming throughout the next two weeks.

To begin our film process, we would start with the most common locations to film in first like the hallways. With each day, we would have a time window of about a hour and 30 minutes so if we needed to redo a shot, it was possible.

The Stripboard

The Schedule

Film Pre-Production

 Group Film Locations & Actors

My group and I chose to make the film in our school (Coconut Creek Highschool)  because our school has all the sub-locations in it. We plan on making our shots in the hallways, stairwells and in the classroom. At first, our group member Tristan was supposed to be the main character during the film. But due to recent events caused by covid-19, our other group member Kendrick will fill in his spot. My group and I will have to discuss the voices for "Syretia Adams" and "Mal Jones". We plan on making the shots during school hours. 

Atmosphere/Mood

The film will build a calm atmosphere in which slowly turns into a panic. By doing this, we will use mise-en-scene in order to create a balanced/ neat composition. We would use props like the characters journal, posters and symbols to hint the change in composition. Once the composition changes we would make it obvious by making the scenes feel faster like a rush. My group and I plan on recording atmospheric sounds like Darrens panting and Darren shuffling inside his book bag. My group and I decided to use the mics that our cameras come with and the voice overs will be inserted once were in the post-production stage. 

Film Schedule

We have currently 2 weeks to film (today February 14) our opening. We plan on filming during our 3rd period of class which gives us the time window of about 30 minutes to a hour.

Sci-Fi Film Shot By Shot Analysis

The following is a shot by shot analysis of the Sci-Fi film "Spider Man No Way Home"
 

Shot 1

The film starts off with the credits of Marvel Studios, the company who created the film.

Shot 2

It starts right where you left off of from the previous film, a behind the back long shot of Spider Man watching the billboard. This shows one of the main character

Shot 3

Next shot is a medium close up to Zendaya surrounded by the crowd of people who found out she is Spider Mans girlfriend. This is one of the main characters

Shot 4

Next shot is a close up of Spider Mans face as he realizes Zendaya is getting swarmed by the upset crowd.

Shot 5

Next shot is a close up to a heckler in the crowd asking her if she is Spider Mans girlfriend.

Shot 6

Next shot is a close up on Spider Mans reaction as he see's Zendaya swarmed by the crowd.

Shot 7

This shot is a low angle long shot of Spider Man jumping down from the lamp post to land in the crowd.

Shot 8

This is a medium long shot of Spider man going through the crowd to get Zendaya. This shows one of the conflicts as the crowd begin to swarm him as well as Zendaya.

Shot 9

Medium Shot of the 2 main characters swarmed by the crowd showing the conflict to the viewers.

Shot 10

High angle long shot of 2 characters swarmed showing the viewers there setting during this conflict.

Shot 11

Close up of a heckler pushing them. This creates tension to the viewer as her action is so aggressive with bad intent.

Shot 12

This shot is a medium long shot as it shows the 2 main characters moving through the crowd as they continue to clutter them. 

Shot 13

This shot is a low angle long shot as you then see the 2 zip away Spider Mans web. This motion breaks the tension as the 2 main characters leave the crowd/ leaving the current conflict.

Shot 14

This is a close up of the two's escape. This shows the reaction of Zendaya as she is freaking out flying through the air in there escape.

Shot 15 

This shot shows close of both the characters faces as Zendaya's hair covers Spider Mans eyes covering his view.

Shot 16 

This is a extreme long shot showing the setting of New York as well a the billboard showing Spider Mans face with "Public Enemy #1" this could show that the film wants to make Spider Man as the antagonist.

Shot 17

This is a medium long shot of the two's new setting as they land on a high beam.

Shot 18

Medium shot of Spider Man answering his phone call

Shot 19

Medium close up of Spider Mans reaction of what happened during the phone.

Shot 20

Medium long shot of Spider Man with Zendaya in the background asking for assistance while balancing on the beam.

Scriptwriting Notes

Things that's in a typical script would be like character, setting/location in the current scene and the characters lines. The following is the information I have gathered about script writing. 

Steps to Starting a Script

To begin a script, you will need an idea. You will need to have some type of idea of the story you want to create. You will also have to create a world for your characters. How's the technology in your world? What's there form of communication? How's the nature/climate? What's the history there? What food they eat? What cloths they wear?  Like every other story, it will need a exposition of the characters and the place they live in, rising action/ the events before the climax, the climax/ the turning point in the story, falling action/actions and events after the conflict and the resolution/life after the conflict. A script would need the setting of each scene in the script and time/weather.

Script Components 

-Scene Heading

-Character Name

-Dialogue

-Extensions

-Transitions

-Title

-Scene

Characters, Plot and Dialogue

-Your characters should come to life

-The characters have to face a problem

-Need to think about presenting the plot with the setting

-Need convincing dialogue

The following is an example of how a script should look like. The script is for Spider Man No Way Home.

Sources

-https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zqwycdm/revision/7

-https://deadline.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Spider-Man-No-Way-Home-Read-The-Screenplay.pdf

-https://writebetterscripts.com/how-to-write-a-script/

No Way Home Case Study

 The following case study is about a Sci-Fi film called "Spider-Man No Way Home"

History/Target Audience

History

Spider Man No Way Home is a sequel to Spider Man Homecoming from 2017 and Spider Man Far From Home 2019. Spider Man No Way Home is the 27th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Target Audience

The overall targeted audience is to anyone who watches PG-13 movies from ages from 6 to 50. Young kids love superheros and older viewers grew up with the characters.

Production

Spider Man No Way Home was produced by the following companies:

-Columbia Pictures

-Marvel Studios

-Pascal Pictures

Distribution

Spider Man No Way Home was distributed by:

-Sony Pictures Releasing

Marketing

For marketing, Spider Man No Way Home was seen almost everywhere. A form of marketing would be bill boards, T.V ads, and pop ups on social media. People would also spread word about the film on social media in which attracted more people to view the film.

Source:

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider-Man:_No_Way_Home

Funding, Production, and Distribution for Films

 For creating a Sc-Fi film or any film in general, it takes a lot for funding the film, producing the film and distributing the film. Big films with big followings also have a high funding so one can imagine how much a company can fund.

Production Companies

-Paramount Pictures

-Warner Bros. Pictures

-20th Century Studios

-Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 

-Columbia Pictures

-Universal Studios

-Walt Disney Studios

-Dreamworks Pictures

-Miramax

-Dream Works Animation

-Netflix

-Marvel studios

Sci-Fi Production Companies

-Dimension Films

-Magnolia Pictures

-American International Pictures

-Amblin Partners 

-Constantin Films

-RLJE Films

-Hammer Film Productions 

-Gorky Film Studio

-Troma Entertainment

If I would personally would make a film and would want a specific company to produce it, it would be Disney because of how large they are. The overall worth of Disney is over 255 billion dollars and have multiple hands in streaming platforms like Hulu and Disney Plus. So Disney is quite a large company.  Not only that but Disney could put my film on those streaming platforms like Disney Plus so people who are fans of Sci-Fi can watch the film and can enjoy it. Since Disney is mostly targeted towards children, a way filmakers can have there film produced by Disney is if its a child film or an E for everyone film. Disney is known for its family friendly persona so if a film is r rated or isn't of age for children, then Disney might not finance it. So if I would want Disney to finance my film, I would need to make sure its rated E for everyone and doesn't contain gore.

A good distribution company for my Sci-Fi film would be Magnolia Pictures. Magnolia Pictures has been the lead independent film distributor for almost 20 years. Magnolia Pictures is the theatrical and home entertainment distribution arm of the Wagner/Cuban Companies, boasting a library of over 500 titles.

Source: https://www.magnoliapictures.com/science-fiction-1

Sci-Fi Research

 The Genre

As I stated previously, the genre me and my group will be working in is Sci-Fi also known as "Science Fiction" the following is my research of the Sci-Fi genre.

Conventions

A Sci-Fi film has many conventions. The most common ones is the Iconography, Characters, and Themes. The following is what I have found.

Iconography

-High tech 

-Holographic Images

-The use of CGI or Special Effects

-Weapons of mass destruction like laser guns

-Spaceships

-Laboratory

-Teleportation Machines

-White Lab Coats

-Robots

-High Tech Costumes

-Metal and shiny 

Characters

-Aliens

-Robots

-Humanoids 

-Test Subjects

-Protagonist

-Antagonist

-Artificial Intelligence

Themes

-Paranormal Abilities

-New Discovery of planet or new species

-Time travel

-Space Travel

-Fear of unknown

-Realm out of present society's stereotypes 

-Revenge

Setting

The world around the protagonist is usually around the following:

-Spaceships

-Space/ Planets

-Earth or Alternative version

-Parallel Universe

-Dystopian land

-Different Dimension

-Futuristic

Representation 

As the years past, the Sci-Fi genre has changed a lot. There is usually a male hero and a female hero but that seems fragile or weak. Like in the first film "Terminator" when the women are seemed as passive and insignificant while the male is powerful and goes on a journey. For the new “Terminator” film however where women are represented as bolder and more powerful than the previous “Terminator” film. This further proves that over time, Sci-Fi films have changed. Aliens and robots are represented as strong and the antagonist. They are also represented as emotionless but will fight back.

Intended Audience

There are no specific group of people that watch Sci-Fi films. Sci-Fi films age ranges from 25-40 years of age. For gender, mostly equal due to the fact that Sci-Fi films are known as for “geeks” so really anyone can enjoy a Sci-Fi film.

Titles

Sci-Fi films usually have there titles in a thin lettering in a encrypted type font. Usually have little to no lighting to give off a space/ alien feeling to the audience. There is also to a light to give off new life or new beginning. There's sometimes a dark shadowy planet to give a mystery for the island.

Sources:

-https://www.slideshare.net/SGurung-MediaStudies/the-generic-conventions-of-scifi-films

Portfolio Introduction

 The Film Genre

Today in class (January 27) I joined this group that had a film idea. I personally enjoyed the idea and further joined them. We plan on creating a Sci-Fi film. Since I joined the group late, I will have to work extra in order to catch up with them.

The Film

The film my group and I are creating is about a boys life as he tries to prove the existence of aliens. I personally enjoyed there film idea and thought that we should continue the idea. Sci-Fi films is usually involed with alien life so it would stick with the film genre. 

What I feel about the Project

I personally enjoy the overall idea of the film. I feel a bit nervous due to the fact that this film will be on my portfolio for colleges to see. Knowing myself, I will try my best to make the film perfect and try the best I can. None the less, I will try to keep a positive mindset and overall have a fun time.

What we want for the film

My group wants to follow the traditional conventions of a Sci-Film. (Artificial intelligence, Computers, Robots etc) My group want to follow the common theme of Sci-Fi films involving alien life so we made it the plot point. We also want the common "Mad Scientist" to the films story.

Researching

Our group strictly analyzed Sci-Fi movie openings as this is why the project is assigned. Our assignment was to make a at least 2 minute opening for the film. I plan on analyzing Sci-Fi films like Space Jam, Alien, Star Wars etc, and take notes from reliable sources about the Sci-Fi genre.