Opening Scene to Behind a Pretty Face:

Here it is guys!
Hope you enjoy :)

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Creative Critical Reflection:

Here is my CCR, explaining in detail everything behind the project!

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Reflection:

Hey guys, so I am going to quickly talk about the key moments, changes, and other important things about my project:

Some of the key moments for me were the group meeting that we had during the production of the film. During class, I was put into groups with other kids in our class were we all shared the progress of our project and our input. Some of the people in my group suggested to make the main character a girl so they could finally see something different. I thought it was a great idea for that reason we chose Lucia to be the main character and show some representation of women in the thriller genre.

We faced some adversities while making this film. For example, the day it rained on us we had to change the time and a little of the location of where we filmed. Also, we did not anticipate that my bed would not allow us to shot all the different angles we wanted, but we fixed it by creating and editing zoom ins and outs, which created suspense and helped the overall presentation of thriller.

Finally, I just want to lastly mention how much fun it was to work on this project. My partner Lucia did an incredible job acting, and I feel we both collaborated on this project amazingly. We would meet up even during spring break to film and edit the video together. I am so glad I picked such an amazing partner. I cannot wait for you guys to see the final product!!! :)

Our Target Audience:

Hey guys, many of us watch thriller film, but did you know that the age group that mostly consumes this media are 15-21 years old?
Which made it our target audience for our film as well. This was one of the main reasons we chose my partner Lucia to act as the main character. She fits in the age group and young woman killers are not seen every day on the big screen, which made us want to add her to create representation and challenge conventions.
I believe it was a nice twist making the main character so different to what is seen in normal thrillers films, this way it makes it more intriguing and interesting to watch

Conventions of Thrillers:

In order to create a piece that really embodied our genre, Lucia and I needed to do a lot of research to understand the conventions used and how to portray them in our opening film. For example, based on our research thriller films always have non diegetic music playing in the background, which helps set the scene.

This is one of the songs we used
for the film.

For this reason, we specifically looked for music that gave that suspenseful feel and it was not too upbeat, so it would not disrupt the flow of the film. This music continues throughout the entire opening scenes in order to maintain the same tone.  Also, silence is a very important aspect in thriller films. So we decided that the first few shots should only be diegetic sound of the leaves and wind, consequently, keeping the mood of creepiness and making the audience uncomfortable about not knowing what is going on. In addition, based on our research, many thriller films do not add music and have a lot of silence in order to make the viewers anxious and keep the "on the edge of your seat" feeling.




Furthermore, another convention important to the thriller genre is the lighting. Most thriller films use cool tones and dark rooms to create a sense of creepiness and the stereotypical believe that comes that in the dark bad things happen. For this reason we shot before the sunrise.

Also, many thrillers show the weapon of choice of the killer, we also incorporated next to the pink chair that the main character sits on, which is the bow and arrow. This is a subtle hint of how she kills the victim. Most thrillers also show a lot of violence and blood. However, we did not want to do that so we wanted sho show that message through the very red lipstick the main character puts on.

Finally after researching close ups and zoom ins are very important to create suspense in thrillers. That made us want ti choose a series of close up as the beginning and add a slow zoom in and out when the main character is looking at herself in the mirror.

We tried to incorporate as many thriller conventions as we could, but also giving it our own twist :)

Citations:

Keating, D. (2015, May 07). The weapons men and women most often use to kill. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/05/07/poison-is-a-womans-weapon/?utm_term=.6a77bf3eb767

Mac, L. (2016, April 14). Conventions of the thriller genre. Retrieved from https://www.mindmeister.com/685037204/conventions-of-the-thriller-genre

Summerfield, D. (2013, January 01). Target audience for a Crime Thriller. Retrieved from https://www.slideshare.net/DanaSummerfield/target-audience-for-a-crime-thriller

Almost There:

It is almost done!!! After a lot of days of hard work and editing I am very excited about this project. Lucia and I have put a lot of effort on it. Between going to sleep late editing, waking up early to film, or paying subscriptions to editing and animating application to make our opening scene as best as possible. I really hope all of this has payed of when you guys see the film opening.

In addition, I wanted to mention that we came up with a name for a movie. The movie will be called Behind a Pretty Face, which I believe it is very appropriate. The thriller (as mentioned before) is about a girl who is burying what it looks like the body of a person, then it changes to the same girl in her room getting dressed and ready to go out. One can see the contrasting images between these two scenes, and one can see that this girl that portrays herself as innocent and girlie has another truth and is none of those things. For this reason, this name gives the audience an insight about what they will learn about the main character throughout the movie. They will learn that behind that pretty face is a murderer.

I am excited, nervous, and sad to see this project come to an end. It had been quite an adventure to take on, with many challenges and fun memories.

Music:

With the help of my partner we were able to find music that we were both happy with. Finding the right music was very difficult specially since our film opening had a voice over. We needed to find music that gave the film that suspenseful creepy tone, but also not distracting so it would not override the effect of the voiceover. After careful research, Lucia and I found some music that was royalty free, and fit the scenes perfectly. Lucia recommended Purple Planet, which is the website that allows you to use royalty free music. If it was not for Lucia that she had previously used that website I am pretty sure that the process for finding the music would have been much longer and harder.

We plan to incorporate the music as soon as the viewer sees the main character, the first few seconds of the film will be sounds of leaves and trees to allow the audience to know the setting better. Also, once the main character is in the bedroom the music will change again to another suspenseful piece.

I truly recommend checking this website out, it was really helpful for me:

https://www.purple-planet.com/

Second Day of Shooting:

The second day of shooting as eventful... to say the least. The day right after we shot the scenes in my room we went to a park nearby called Peace Mound Park. Lucia chose this location because she knew the place, and she knew not a lot of people went there, which was perfect for us since we needed to be in a place with a lot of trees at night.
Before going to the park we made sure that we checked the weather and the time the sundown was. However when we got there around 8pm there was still a lot of light outside so we waited in the car. Around 8:10pm we got out with the tripod, bag, and shovel, and started walking towards an area that we had previously seen.
Lucia was carrying the bag and shovel when a woman passed by and saw us, she was so freaked out (as anyone would be when seeing someone carrying a shovel and a big black trash bag), so she actually started running away from us. Lucia and I just bursted out laughing because it did seem like we were doing something wrong, and that is a moment I will remember forever.

A picture of inside the car waiting
for the rain to stop

Anyways, when we got there we filmed the first shot and it immediately started raining :( . We ran back to my car and waited for around an hour, but the rain did not stop. Defeated, we went home. We decided that instead of filming after sundown, we would film before the sunrise. The next day, I picked up Lucia around 6:30am, and we went again and finally finished filming.

During this process I learned several things. First , to even though you check the weather, it can be unpredictable, and always have a back up plan. Also, to make sure to waterproof your equipment (the tripod and my phone got really dirty and wet). In addition, we learned how to adapt our film to the adversities we faced. In the end, I really like how the opening was shot during the sunrise because usually in most thriller films about homicides a murderer hides the body at night.

Props:

Hey guys, so I want to talk very quickly about the props that we used for the project. I have already mentioned a little about this during the mise-en-scene post, but I wanted to specifically explain each prop used. In the beginning of the film we used a black trash bag filled with pillows that Lucia will be carrying. This is to infer that she is carrying the body of the victim. In addition, on her other hand she will be carrying a shovel which will allow her to hide the "body". In the second part of the film, Lucia will be putting on red lipstick, this is meant to represent the blood of the victims. Since we decided to not show any blood, we thought the red lipstick would be the perfect item to symbolize blood. Then, the bow and arrow next to the cute pink chair is supposed to demonstrate the contrast of her two personalities.

First Day of Shooting:

So I wanted to share my experiences during our first day of shooting the film. First of all we decided to shoot the second part of the video first since it was easier because it would be in my room. In addition, Lucia would play the main character and I would be the director because Lucia has a little more experience on camera since she previously had a youtube channel, and also because I was the one who know how to work the tripod.


We decided to put the tripod in a way that we could film the mirror and Lucia, and the mirror would not be seen. At first it was hard finding that position, specially because my room is somewhat small, and I have a very big bed that takes up a good portion of the room. As I was filming Lucia sometimes I had to jump back and forth on my bed to get the shot and angle that we wanted.  Also we had to rearrange my room a couple of times so we could get the mise-en-scene just how we wanted the room to look like.

This is me getting the camera in the position that I wanted to film the scene

I think that this first day was very helpful because I got comfortable shooting and using the tripod and directing Lucia what to do, and Lucia got comfortable in front of the camera.

Mise-en-scene:

Hey guys!
After researching more about film productions I learned the importance of mise-en-scene, so let me talk to you about the different things my partner and I did to create the perfect set for our film. Before filming anything, we had to be very specific of what will appear on screen and how. For the scenes that would be in the main character's bedroom. We first started by cleaning up my room :), then we decided that  the main character will be putting on red lipstick, and to show that she has a very cute and girlie personality, she would have a lot of make-up close by.  In addition, We managed to switch my mirror to where my dartboard used to be and vice versa. We wanted to put the dartboard close to my pink chair, because we would place Lucia's bow and arrow next to that chair. We wanted to make it seem like the main character had a lot of experience in archery, further implying but not actually stating the weapon for the murder. Also, we decided to put the dartboard and bow and arrows close to the pink chair not only because the main character would be sitting there in the film, but also to show the contrasting images of something very girlie (the pink chair) with the tough and intimidating images that comes to ones head when one thinks of archery.
Below are some images of the set:

The green circles show the key elements
of the set which are the make-up and
the bow and arrow

Shows the shows that the main character
will be putting on during the opening
scenes

Production Name:

Like any good film production company, Lucia and I thought it would be cool to create our own company name. After some research we found out that the name should be related to the type of genre the films one produces are usually about. For this reason, ours had to be thriller related. After some talking and based on what our film opening will be about, we decided to go with the name "Dead Flower Productions". We both agreed that the name was interesting and fitted well with the story that we will be portraying. Which is the story of a pretty girl that is doing something that is wrong. The flower symbolizing the girl, but and the word "dead" showing how inside the girl is not "pretty".

Above is a preview of what will be added in the film and show "Dead Flower Productions", I feel that this will add to the overall feeling of suspense to the opening scenes. I am glad that we found this program called "VideoScribe", which allowed us to create this sequence and animate the name. This way it creates a more realistic feel to this film.

I totally recommend using this application for animating even the most simple tasks:

https://www.videoscribe.co/en/

Citations:

Tatiana. (2017, June 20). 50 Film Production Company Names. Retrieved from https://reelrundown.com/film-industry/production-company-names

Voiceover:

Like I mentioned before, my partner and I decided to have a voiceover narrating during the opening scene. We decided to do this mainly because of our research in the importance of voiceovers in films.  Voiceovers are successful in any type of genre of film. Also, filmmakers use voice overs to  tell stories, narrate, and provide an intimate look into the mind of a character. For this reason, it creates a connection between the character and the audience. Some examples of movies that utilized voice over narrations successfully are for example: Lovely Bones, Memento, etc.

Which is exactly what we want to create with our film. In addition, this way the audience can clearly understand what we want to show and portray in these opening sequence. However, we must be careful so the narration does not spoil too much, and makes sense without taking the excitement out of the film. Because of this we want to create a juxtaposition between what the audience hears and sees. This way it will keep the narration interesting yet relevant to the story.

Citations:

Mendez, J. J. The Importance of a Professional Voice Over in an Explainer Video. Retrieved from http://go.yumyumvideos.com/blog/professional-voice-over-in-animated-explainer-video

Voice Over and Its Use in Film. Retrieved from https://ctlsites.uga.edu/nvgf/ethans-article/

Equipment:
In order to film the different shots that we want to create for our film, we had to carefully choose our equipment, but also keep in mind that we do not have a lot of money to spend. For this reason, we used a tripod that my father allowed us to borrow for the time we were shooting. Also, we used my iPhone since is a newer version compared to the one my partner Lucia has.

This is the tripod we used to film everything, and also allowed us easily film pans and tilts. In addition, we could adjust the height of the tripod, so it could fit any position.

Final Storyboard: 

Last week Lucia and I finally came up with a storyboard that we were both happy with. I am very excited as I truly believe that we were able to combine all of our ideas together in a way that will make the film interesting an exciting without making it too over the top and still making sense. We worked very hard on it, mostly because we wanted to be very detailed with it, so in the moment we went to film we knew exactly what to do. But also, it took us a while to complete it since neither of us are very good artists, and drawing is not one of our greatest talents :), but I still think it came out very well executed, and makes perfect sense.
In the end, we had around 24 flashcards, which means that we have around that amount of shots planned to film. However, as we film we might add or remove shots accordingly how we see it fits the film. I am very excited because I feel that we have a good storyboard that will help us create a great film opening!!!

Storyboard:

    During the last week and a half, my partner I created a storyboard, and we have revised it several times. Now I think we finally created a final storyboard that we are both satisfied with.

Storyboard drawing

This was the original storyboard we a had created. Lucia and I decided that drawing the different shots on separate flashcards would make the editing process much easier. For this reason, I decided to use a white piece of cardboard to place our flashcards, this way we could she what the story would look like. Also, the flashcard method allowed us to draw out a picture of the shot on the front, and on the back add a written description so we would not forget exactly what we wanted to do in the moment of filming.

Storyboard with drawing

Clearly, we still needed to add a variety of different shots, and we also had to finish narrowing down our story. Up to that point we had only the first minute of the story and only a vision in our heads of what we wanted the second minute to look like. Every time we met in class we worked mostly on the storyboard, so we would both have a product that we are happy with.

Group Meeting:
      Exactly one week ago today out teacher had us sit in groups (different from our own) to discuss about the progress of our project. We showed each other our blogs, and we gave a small summary about our projects and our visions for them. In addition, we were able to get feedback from our peers of how to improve or change things about either the film openings or magazines.
      After talking to the people in my group, I got some great feedback. For example, one student suggested that mise-en-scene could play an important role in our film. We could have our main character dressed in really "girlie" clothes as she is doing all these terrible things, such as hiding the body of one of her victims. Also, as this is happening, have really upbeat music in the background, which could be a juxtaposition from what the viewer can see, but what the main character is feeling. Also, another student suggested that the voiceover could also be the girl talking about how exited she is about what she has just done, this would allow for the film to become that more creepy and thrilling.
      I do believe the comments I got from my peers were encouraging and helpful. I definitely feel that my partner and I will take several of these comments into consideration, and incorporate them in our film opening.

Research:
      For our thriller film opening, we want to create an instant connection with the main character and the audience. For this reason, throughout the first minute or so of the film opening there will be a voiceover of the main character narrating her thoughts directly to the audience. Lucia and I thought this would be an interesting approach that would spark curiosity in the viewers since this is not done a lot specially on thriller films. We took our inspiration of narrating in the first scenes of the movie from films like The Prestige and Lovely Bones
      Lovely Bones is about a little girl who is kidnapped and then murdered by a man. Throughout the entire film, she comments on events that are happening, after she is dead. In this way, the audience is able to connect even more with the main character and get to know her inner thoughts, making the story of what happened to her even more compelling and sad. In our film we intend for the viewer to be able to understand the main character more and feel sympathy for her and why she did what she did. I feel that this idea is a unique yet it will keep people interested without telling too much about plot of the film.

Research:
      I really want this film opening to be able to exactly represent this genre, even though we are stepping a little outside the usual by making the main character a teenager and the serial killer. My partner, Lucia, and I started looking for films that also centered around the idea of a woman serial killer. One of the films that constantly came up was the movie Carrie directed by Brian De Palma in 1976.

                       









      This movie presents a teenage girl who is very shy and who is constantly being controlled by her extremely religious mother. One day she discovers that she has this supernatural powers,and the day of her prom she unleashes these powers after being humiliated in front of the whole school.
      Carrie, is a thriller film with a main character who is a girl. She is presented as this innocent soft girl that is bullied by other students. In films that are thrillers, horror, or suspense, a woman usually gets to have "rich emotional lives". Most of the times the play victims who are incapable of saving themselves and most of the times the end up getting killed. However, in this film, Carrie, uses her powers to dominate over those people who had humiliated her, and even ends up killing some of the students at the prom.
      For our film opening, we want to first show a delicate girl that no one would think anything wrong about her, but towards the end the audience finds out that she has murdered several people. By researching about this film, Carrie, I now have a more clear image in my head of how the storyline of the opening film will unfold, and how to show the main character in a way that will leave the viewers on the edge of their seats, and wanting to keep watching.

Citations:
Jeslip. “Horror Movies With Female Killers.” IMDb, IMDb.com, 1 Aug. 1969, www.imdb.com/list/ls031962008/.

Berlatsky, Noah. “Carrie at 40: Why the Horror Genre Remains Important for Women.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 3 Nov. 2016, www.theguardian.com/film/2016/nov/03/carrie-stephen-king-brian-de-palma-horror-films-feminism.

I am back! :

      My apologies for not being able to post as often as I should have, I have had some trouble with uploading my posts and with the internet, but I kept all of them on a google docs document, and now I can finally post them.

      After meeting with my partner we have finally decided what we want our story line to be for the film, and more specifically what we want to show during the opening scenes. We decided that we want to base our story about a series of murders of a serial killer. After researching about thriller films, we noticed that most of these films that presented a serial killer were mostly men. For example, American Psycho, Seven, and  My Friend Dahmer, however, we wanted to branch out of that stereotype, and for that reason we made our serial killer a teenage girl. In addition, we want to make the serial killer the main character, and show everything from the perspective of this character, and make the audience sympathize with this character.

      In order for the audience to be able to feel sorry for this serial killer, and try to not make the audience hate her, we want to create a connection between the audience and the character. For this reason, we thought a voiceover about her expressing her thoughts directly to the viewers will create this effect. However, to be able to execute this idea properly I need to do a whole lot of research that will allow me to fully learn how to create this project in the best way possible.