Creative Critical Reflection

This is the end for me


The last post of my career... Thank you and enjoy :)

Here is a link just in case ;)

CCR

The Light at the end of the Tunnel

I present to you... Hemoglobin Canvases

Don't forget to make popcorn!

Let's Look Back for a Moment

Cue The Final Countdown

My project is due in a few days and I want to reflect on this extensive journey and I'm taking you with me.

I'm going to tell you (and maybe even rant) about the whole process. From the beginning, to this moment right now. 

Let's start by saying that I did underestimated the amount of time that would take for me to complete this project. I really wish that I could have had organized my time better, I wish I have planned more days to shoots and re shoot some scenes. 

But I think it all goes back to the planning of this project, now that I think about it I was too vague with the goals and expectations that I had anticipated each week. Instead of specifying what I wanted to accomplish for each weak, I limited myself by dividing the process for this project into three stages: Pre-Production, Production, and Post-Production. Now that I have experienced what is like to create a film opening by myself, I wish that I was more aware about the amount of time that this takes. Obviously it was impossible to foreseen the obstacles that were going to be present in the way (Like the pandemic) but even when I was making the schedule I was not thinking of any obstacles AT ALL. 

I tend to get stuck if something does not go my way, and this project taught me that I have to be resourceful and work around situations and make the most of new opportunities that are presented to me. I had to build locations from scratch and film the same clip like ten times, which was sometimes frustrating.

Even though it was really fun and rewarding at times, sometimes I felt like the deadline was approaching faster and faster and I wasn't making any progress, which created more frustration.

With all of this being said, I'm really proud of what I accomplished in these two months. I could not be happier with the final project and I hope that you enjoy it as much as I did when I first watched it.

Putting it all Together

As promised, I get to talk about editing now.
I have to say that it wasn't as difficult as I thought, but it takes a lot of time. I put most of the footage in order fairly quickly since  I already had it somewhat organized when I uploaded it.
Probably the most difficult part was figuring out the placement of the text. I also have to mention how annoyed I am with Wevideo because apparently I can only use the fonts that they offer in the website... The problem is that I realized that after downloading a bunch of fonts, so I had to settle with the one that you see on screen.
I choose that font mainly because I feel that it makes a good match with the score, it feels elegant and expensive which is something that I was going for in the first part of the opening to juxtapose it with the lack of resources of the character.
I also somewhat struggled deciding if I was going to put the credits during the first half of the second half of the credits. I was hesitant to put them at the beginning since the editing is fairly quick to match the score, but in the end it worked out and in my opinion it looks really nice.

We All Make Choices... Re-Shooting

Hi! I'm completely done with filming... Well, I was. But I had to Re-shoot the final portion of the scene (The Art Store) and I'm going to tell you all about it.

But first, a small disclaimer:
For obvious reasons I had to leave my house to film this scene,. I know that with the Coronavirus happening I'm supposed to stay home as much as I can. Don't worry, I still was careful in my surroundings, and while filming I made sure to keep my distance from other people.
Also, my mom was already going to the store because she needed to buy groceries :)

Now that I put that aside I have to tell you that most of the information that I included above is pretty much useless since i'm not using the original footage, but I'm going to tell you why.
So... I was going over my footage, putting it all together in the editing program (Minor spoiler for my next post) and I wasn't satisfied with how the shots in the store looked like... The background was all wrong and it overall looked muddy.. There was nothing interesting in the composition and the subject was getting lost (I have to admit that this is my fault and my choice of clothing).
Those collections of shots were taken at Walmart and one of the problems is that their prices are fairly low. You may be asking yourself, why is that a problem? If you have been reading my posts you know that one of the themes that I want to explore in my scarcity of resources (economically speaking) of the main character. So having low prices, and I'm talking like less than two dollars, visible on the screen didn't really made much sense for the storyline.
At that point I decided that I had to Re-shoot that scene. I wanted to do it in Michaels because everything there is Fancy and expensive but apparently all of their stores closed temporarily because of the virus. I didn't had a second option so I asked my mom of another store that was similar to Michaels. She gave me two options, either Home Depot or Office Depot. I went with the latter because I think that Home Depot is not the aesthetic that I'm going for with my movie.
The next day we were ready to go to the store (This time with my dad, and I have to mention that he is a much better camera person than my mom) and everything came together.

Original cut (Walmart)

Final cut (Office Depot)

As you can see from the comparison, the two cuts looks really different. At first I thought that dressing the character all in one neutral color and covering his face would help with to create some mystery. Even though that may be the case for the scene I think that he gets lost in the scene. For the final cut I kept the neutral color but I went with a lighter tone and I think that it works much better. Also, instead of covering his face I just tried to not show it and I think that it still works great.
I'm glad that I was able to re shoot that scene because I'm much more satisfied with the final product than with the original one.
I think that the items in the background are much more visible and that helps to tie the scene together.

Double Threat... Title and Score

This is something that I have not been thinking about a lot and I just realized that there is only like a week left so I better come up with something soon.

For the Score...

I have discussed this component in the past and I mentioned that I wanted to incorporate classical music into the opening. More specifically  I want something that starts slow and then progressively becomes a fast paced song.
I have been using different platforms to find music that is Royalty free and I found these options:

Solo Cello Passion
Restless Natives From Youtube's Audio Library
Mysterious Shadows

I think that so far these are the pieces that fit best with the tone that i'm trying to create, I'm going to keep looking just in case I'm not convinced once the film is edited.

And for the Title...

This has not been as easy... I think I have a problem with naming things.
I was thinking of naming my film as the name of a color like "Crimson Red" but I think it's too cheesy and in your face (If that makes sense)
I still have to work on this skill and I hope that by the end of this week I'll have something in mind.

The Happy Little Corner

I want to start this post by saying that this made me realize that I don't have as much space in my room as I thought... Seriously, I had to rearrange everything so I could create a space to film.

By this point I'm like 75% done with the filming process, I just have to get out of the way the scene of the gallery (but I need to finish the artwork first) and the scene in the store (I figured that I'm going to Michaels® since apparently is still open...)

Let's get back to discussing how the filming went... It definitely took longer than I expected but I think it's because what I was filming was not a linear story but rather capturing snapshots of a bigger scene (cue the se7en intro). I still needed to create a setting where all of those moments took place in order to tie everything together... And that is how The Happy Little Corner was born.
Note: This picture was taken after I began filming. I also added some hand-prints on top of the newspapers

As you can see there are many elements and overall the scene appears to be quite full and messy... It is completely in purpose. I want to create the idea that the main character does not take care of his surroundings since he is so focused in completing a specific task. I also added the jar full of coins next to the canvas to allude that he is saving up money to buy stuff and to show the theme of being from a lower class.


I tried to film everything that I could on my own, but for some scenes I had to ask my mom for help (Either holding the camera of moving the lights) I learned that it is way easier to work with a team than by yourself.
By the end of the day cleaning this up also took waaay longer than I would have liked to but i'm done with this part of the opening so now I just have to focus on the other things.

Making Skin-tones was More Difficult than I Expected

Everything couldn't be perfect and it seems like the Coronavirus is trying to intervene once again.
Remember that I was going to become a professional makeup artist? Well... Turns out that the package is going to take a little bit longer to arrive, getting here just a couple of days before the deadline.
I could try to wing it and film the scenes where I was supposed to use the makeup kit when it arrives, but I feel like that is way too risky since during the last few days I want to dedicate my time solely to the CCR. Instead, I remembered that there are like fifty more methods to create those types of visual effects so I gathered all the materials that I could find in my house.
Paint, glue, and paper towels. I needed to make it work, so after what it felt like an hour of mixing colors, I finally created one that somewhat resembled my skin-tone (It is way harder than you think, I even found several guides to make those types of colors).
I also noted that if I'm ever going to use this skill again, I have to make sure that I write somewhere the amount of paint I mixed to create certain color. Because if you have to mix everything again without a guide I bet you are going to have a really fun time.




But anyway, I figured out the skin texture fairly quickly and painting the blood was also easier than create the skin tone since I already had red paint... Obviously.
You may be thinking... Did it work? I think you should judge it yourself.
I think that I have already create too much anticipation so here is the final result....

 

I know that It doesn't look like it's worth a thousand dollars but it doesn't look terrible so I'm proud with the final product.
And with this obstacle out of the way It is time to continue filming..