Filming For Our Short Film

 

       The next step for our short film was to film. To do this my group and I discussed a schedule. We observed days of school we had off that we would all be available for. After checking we saw that thanksgiving break would work. We planned on filming the weekend after the holiday. We communicated and made plans, arranging rides and times. Everything seemed to be in place and we were ready to bring our short film to life. Unfortunately, we encountered some problems. These led to us deciding to push up the filming dates.

     The first problem we encountered was the fact that it was so soon after a holiday. My group and I didn’t think about how our families might want us home. A holiday is normally family time and our parents wanted us to be with them. Now knowing this my group and I wont schedule our filming so close to a holiday. Another problem we almost encountered was a group member not having a ride. One of my group members lost their ride because of their mom having to go to work last minute. This wasn’t a road block because we had already decided not to film due to our other problem, but it could’ve been. After this occurred, we decided to form backup plans for rides. We found a way to have rides no matter what. This plan consisted of carpooling or taking an Uber. Even though we couldn’t film and this caused our film process to be pushed back, we now feel more secure in the filming process. We haven’t discussed a new date, but we hope to film soon.

Finding Sound For Our Short Film

 

      The next step in our film was figuring out sound. This is very important for our film because theres not much dialogue. Due to this we focused on when it would be diegetic sounds or music. We then decided on a good balance. This would help give the film contrast. The diegetic sound will consist of natural sounds. For example, a pill case rattling, the slamming of a door, footsteps and more. This sound will be taken while the scene is shot. This helps to keep the film feeling as real as possible. The next decision was on what the background music was going to be.

     Our film has different moods to it and we wanted that to be portrayed through the sounds. We also wanted the music to be strictly instrumental. This decision was based off of a few factors. My group and I firstly understood how hard it is to receive the rights to a song. It’s not always guaranteed, so it’s safer to go with copyright free background music. My group and I also felt that having a song with lyrics would be too distracting and wouldn’t relate to the film. My group and I then decided on having light and playful background music in the beginning of the film, and then switching to sad and dramatic music toward the end. This music would tie into the plot. It will make the change in the film also more dramatic and obvious. Now that the sound is picked we are ready to start filming our short.

Marketing For Our Short Film

 

            In order to get this film out to the public we had to market it. This consisted of making social media pages. These pages would also help our film look more professional. This step was enjoyable, but also came with its difficulties. The first difficulty we encountered was making the pages similar. We wanted the usernames to be the same so that when searched, all of the pages could be accessed the same way. Since we were making a website, youtube channel, facebook, instagram and twitter, they all had different rules. For example, we could pick the username for the youtube, but for the facebook and twitter the names were randomized. While, they still related to the film, they weren’t exactly the same. This made my group and I a little frustrated, but we carried on with the process and everything else went smoothly.

         The website was difficult but came to be our proudest media form. The website was a little tricky when trying to put in the other links for the socials. Sometimes the links wouldn’t open. But through trial an error, everything worked out. The website has a theme related to our film. For example, the page goes from light, bright colors to darker ones. This is shown the further you scroll. This relates to our film because of how the lives of the three girls are further shown as lies and not as pretty as they’re displayed. The other forms of social media were easier to make. These consisted more of a name, a bio shortly explaining the actors and a coming soon date. After this was done the medias were complete and we were happy with our finished products. 

Storyboard For Short Film

    Storyboarding was the next part in getting our short film planned. Storyboarding is very important because of its visualization. My group mates and I made sure to talk about our vision as a whole for the film before making our storyboard. We split the drawings up for different scenes to make sure each one of us got the chance to be creative. Although drawing is very clearly not our strong suit, we tried our best to share our vision. Storyboarding will save us a lot of time in the long run because it helps plan out our entire film. Although this process can be long, carefully planning out each scene is very necessary. The storyboard is also a good way to see our film fully through before we start filming. The pictures help us see what each scene will hopefully look like. The sentences below each box are also very useful because they tell anyone reading what kind of shot and camera movements each scene will have. 
      This step is also useful because no time will be wasted on the actual day of filming. Storyboarding gives everyone in our group and out of our group a clear idea of what shots we want. An advantage of storyboarding is that we can find out what ideas we may have had that would work and what may not work. For example, we can try out multiple ideas or shots using the story boards and then see what we like best. Another advantage of this is that it can be easily changed depending on any new ideas we may have. Storyboards allow us to work out problems at an early stage before actual production takes place. This storyboard also helped give us an overview of the timing and rhythm of our short film. I think this part of planning is really tedious yet beneficial. Storyboarding has many advantages and will help our film in the long run! We are very excited to continue this project.

Planning Our Short Film

 

  1. Location- We will be filming at four different settings throughout the short film. The first setting is at a park. This is where the opening scene takes place, all the characters are introduced here. The next three settings are at each of the character's homes. There are three characters, Grace, Salem, and Chloe. These locations will be used to get an insight into each of the girls' personal lives. This location is actually huge for the plot of our story since each home is filled with the character's individual issues they face. 

 2. Health and Safety- COVID-19 is still a problem so we will need to take extra safety precautions to ensure everyone is safe. We will do this by social distancing when we are at the park and wearing mask anytime we are not filming. As for the scenes that take place in homes, we will all quarantine on our own so there is no risk of us having the virus and transmitting it to each other. A parent will also be around incase of any sort of emergency.

 3. Props: We will need a pregnancy test, pills and a pill bottle, a plate of food, and headphones for each of the girls.

4. Costumes- When we are filming at the park, we will be dressed casually in jeans/shorts and a t-shirt. These costumes will remain the same for each of the characters throughout the short film.

5. Schedule:

November 9- November 13, 2020

Planning/Storyboarding

November 23rd, 2020

Filming

11:30 am- All of us will meet up at the park. We will shoot there from 11:30 am to around 12:30 pm.

12:30 pm- We will make our way to Sophia's home to film the scenes taking place in homes.

1:00 pm to 2:00 pm- We will go over all of the scenes for Salem's character and film them.

2:30 pm to 3:30 pm - We will go over all of the scenes for Chloe's character and film them.

3:45 pm to 4:45pm - Film all of Grace's scenes and go over them.

November 27th- December 4th, 2020

Edit short film

December 5th, 2020: Re-film

December 6th, 2020: Re-edit