AICE MEDIA STUDIES

 I am happy to say that today was a success. I got a large portion of the filming done for. There is only some small scenes that need fixing. I have a couple scenes that I left out. The scenes with dialogue with my mom need to be adjusted. There were a couple with bad background noise. Also a couple of the scenes she wasn't in the right place. I got done with most of the walking scenes. There is still one dialogue scene between my mother and I that needs to be filmed at night. It is difficult to film in groups of people without catching people talking or background noise. For instance, in the exchange with my mom and I, the TV is on and you can hear it. In the very next moment, because there is a cut, the noise from the TV doesn't align. The same applies to when my brother or father are talking. Inconsistencies like this make it difficult to make the film align properly. In addition to this, the dialogue ended up taking up more time than I anticipated. This creates a problem be...

 After getting the establishing shots done, I had confidence that I would excel in the filming process. I had a vision that I would get through the majority of filming within a couple hours. This was not the case, however. I started the day at an abandoned house in my neighborhood, shooting all kinds of shots. It was daytime and very hot and sunny. It was difficult to be out there in the heat for so long, just to get some perspective shots of the house. It is surprising how much better it looks out in the daylight. Despite the broken glass, cracks in the wood, dark colors, and plants growing through the house, it looks quite pleasant. It was what I wanted. Very unsuspecting looking house. I went back later to get the shots of the house at night, but it was a little too dark to pick much up. I may go back and film there again just after sunset. It gets dark very quickly though, so I will have to hurry. Another possibility is using a filter, or video editing to lighten the clip more....

 Coming up on April, we have a lot of sunny, beautiful days here in Fort Lauderdale. So, it wasn't too difficult to find a day to film the establishing scenes. I always liked horror movies set in summer settings. Here, it is difficult to escape the good weather and vibes, so we had to work with it. I feel like getting the viewer nice and comfortable in a nice setting, allows for a jump scare to occur more naturally. When you expect to be jump scared, there is no real fear. However, if the viewer likes the character and is content with the setting, they will not be ready to be scared. So, I set out on my skateboard to take some nice clips of the area. Going down my street, there is a lot of greenery, and given the palm trees and buildings in the background, I got the idea of driving down the street, putting a camera through the sunroof of my car. I drove up and down the street doing that. Next, I went to an abandoned house down the street, and filmed how it looked pleasant during th...

 It is hard to watch the time go by knowing it could be better spent. I have come down with strep throat and the timing is not the greatest. I was planning on getting filming done on these days. Despite this, we have been once again pushed back for health concerns. The news was pretty devastating because I have been trying to get this project done for so long. If this had happened in the initial planning stages it would not have caused such an effect. I am currently on antibiotics, but will have to wait at least 48 hours for the contagious period to pass. I was hoping to film over the weekend, but I have to take a trip to Utah with my father because he has work obligations there. While I am there I will be looking at a college that I have been accepted into. I hate to have to push back the project again. It makes me anxious to wait everything out so long. I also recognize that I will find a way to get the project done, and there is still plenty of time. I want to have the filming d...

 It has been difficult for me to plan filming on the weekends. I have soccer games, church, and family commitments that are holding me back. In addition to this, my friends, Miguel and Camilo also have commitments throughout the week and the weekends. This makes scheduling to film unideal. I am instead just going to work with my other friend, Tekla Henriksson. She is in A level media and will be an actor in my film. I helped to fill a part for her in her movie a couple weeks ago. She is more than happy to reciprocate and her schedule better fits mine. I believe that making this adjustment will help to create more opportunities for filming. Spring break is coming up. I am planning on doing a large majority of my project then. It is difficult to make time with class and sports going on. Over spring break, I will dedicate the first few days to film. I checked with Tekla, and she is going to be available and in town for Spring Break. My parents and I are staying here for the break too....

 So, I am now back in Fort Lauderdale. My trip to Louisiana slightly delayed the filming process. I wanted to start this weekend, but now that is not possible. I have been exposed to COVID-19 playing soccer, so I can't be out filming during this time. I am planning on getting tested soon so that I can get back to what I was doing. I do not feel ill, and I believe I may have contracted the virus back in December. My dad brought it home from work and my entire immediate family tested positive. I was the only one who did not test positive for the virus, but I think I may have passed it to them. I would believe that I still have immunity, but my mother who is our health and safety coordinator, advises that I wait to film. I am slightly upset by this, but I also understand that if I were to pass the virus to anybody helping me with the film. We would have to wait even longer and be backed up too far. What I may do while I am kept up is take some establishing shots around my house. These...

 I've been working on getting everything together to start filming soon. I am currently out of town in Louisiana looking at colleges. This is preventing me from doing any kind of filming work towards my blog. All that I can do at this point is think about the next steps. I am planning on filming next weekend once I get back. This is perfect because my mom and my classmate who are working as actors in my film will be available then. I am finding it difficult to get time to work on everything and progress my project forward. I believe that I am in a good spot as long as I can free up a couple of days to film within the next couple weeks. It would be ideal to get everything out of the way as soon as possible. I have done all of my storyboarding though, and know that all I have left is to film and edit the project. I want to get the filming done as soon as possible. I will do this to make room for reshoots and more editing time. I do not anticipate needing any reshoots. I hope to have ...

Before filming, I decided to take inventory on everything I needed. I wanted my friend to dress up in a Red Morph Suit. I've had this for many years as it was worn on a Halloween a long time ago. This suit was somewhere in my closet. This doesn't sound too hard to find, but my closet is the messiest pile of junk known to man. I searched for over an hour for the suit. Digging in drawers, emptying bins, it was nowhere to be found. That is until I asked my mom. As a wise man once said, "If your mom can't find it, it's lost." And she did not find it, but instead told me that she gave it away to Goodwill a few months back. I was pretty annoyed to have spent all that time for nothing, but it wasn't too large of an obstacle. I decided I would dress my friend in black and have her look like an evil spirit. She would wear makeup on her face to give her an undead look. It wasn't what I planned, but the black outfit could better blend into the night environment. ...

I have a lot of ideas for my film. Ten sheets of storyboarding sounds like a lot at first. I kept everything very broad throughout. It wasn't until I got to the end that I realized I needed to slow things down. I have a vision for how my story is going to play out. This is the main idea scripted in my storyboard.  Upbeat music opens the sunny beach scene. There are people walking, cars passing, and kids running around. There is a beautiful green neighborhood. A car pulls into a mysterious house. A boy exits taking a box into the house. The boy brings the box to a bedroom. He lays down on the bed. He is called on by his mother. He throws a pillow in frustration. He goes to talk with his mother. She tells him to put his stuff away. He goes back to his room. He puts books away. He sits down to play video games after. A monster walks out of his closet to harm him. The monster hears a knock on the door and flees back to the closet. The monster accidentally knocks books over in the close...

 The opening credits will showcase bold, all cap letters in a typical, readable font. IT WILL LOOK LIKE THIS.   There will be a title accrediting everyone involved for every establishing shot I take. They will go against the background, contrasting very visibly. The working title will be displayed at the end of the establishing shots, as the scene closes in on the house and flickers to nighttime. The credits will follow the same, but the establishing shots will be at night with a contrasted white text. The working title as of now is The Red Phantom. It will appear in red at the end of the beginning credits like this THE RED PHANTOM. The titles will remain up for about 2-3 seconds each. The last one, the working title will display for about 5 seconds. All of the titles will be centered on the screen. The names will be in a slightly different font than the titles. The working title will be larger and in different, bolder font than the rest of the titles. There will be an upbeat ...