The Start of Editing

Welcome back my lovely readers, today marked the start of editing. I have to be honest, editing is my least favorite part. I don't enjoy it that much and usually my group mates take more of a lead in it. I still suggest ideas and sometimes think about editing while filming. One thing that Ashleigh, Britanique, and I did for editing was watching back the videos to make sure they are viable. It would have been terrible if we started editing and realized that one of the clips has messed up audio. Going back to refilm is possible, but not ideal at all. Fortunately, this wasn't an issue. I want to mention some of my editing suggestions. The first suggestion was using the same transition from each scene to the next. I think this has a good look to it and is a small, but important detail. I'm not picky about what transition gets used, just about them being the same. My next suggestion was to use matching colors in the titles. The titles are the names of production companies, actors, and production staff. For example, my name is included since I was an actor. Also, written by... and directed by... as well as many more titles. I think the titles should have a clean look to them. Having a theme of colors, and even fonts, accomplishes this. I don't get as involved in editing as others in my group, but I always try to contribute where I can. I like to pay attention to the small details and find myself noticing them more than bigger things. 

The Entire Process of Filming

Welcome back my lovely readers, my past few blogs felt short and rushed. So, I decided to go over filming one last time and truly analyze it. Filming was my most important task for production as I played the main character. To break down the group's schedule: 5 scenes, 4 different days. Day 1: Scenes 1, 5, & 4; The Parking Garage & Downtown Las Olas. Day 2: Scene 2; The Beach. Day 3: Scene 3; The Downtowner Bridge. Day 4: Scene 1; The Elevator. Each day had different challenges but the largest challenge was continuity. By this I mean wearing the same outfit and accessories, if my hairstyle changes then it needs to happen on screen. Filming was a hectic process, most of these places were quite crowded so scenes got interrupted. At Las Olas, two families had come up to take a picture with the chair. At the Downtowner Bridge, I thought the bridge might go up and make us stuck on the other side. I want to discuss props since I never really did. The movie had quite a few props, since each clue was on a prop. From the poster, to the seashell, to the ticket, and then to the jewelry box there were a couple. Ashleigh was mostly in charge of props and had brought them with her to filming. At the Downtowner Bridge scene, all three of us were cutting out tickets to be used in the scene. When we got to that shot, Ashleigh and I had to scatter them in and around a trash can. All in all, filming was a great process and taught me a lot. Ashleigh and Britanique paid attention to detail very well, which will make editing much easier.

The Elevator

Good morning my lovely readers, yesterday was the conclusion of filming for the movie. After filming 5 scenes over four different days, filming is done. I enjoyed the process of filming, but I'm sad to no longer be able to do it. The scene filmed was part of the first scene, the elevator part. This is the scene where Sam and Riley first interact. Sam just makes it on the elevator, then she notices the poster about the treasure hunt. She mentions it to Riley and asks Riley to join her on the treasure hunt. Of course Riley said yes and the treasure hunt commences. The elevator was definitely my favorite scene to film because it's where the story starts. The garage is like the prologue of a broadway show, but the elevator was the first actual song. Excuse my metaphor, but I wanted to convey how the elevator is the true start to the movie. Ashleigh, Britanique, and I filmed in the closest elevator that I found. Well, it was actually two different elevators. Back at the parking garage, it was very busy so occupying an elevator to film the scene would have been very difficult and selfish. So, the elevator shots got saved for later. Since the parking garage was concrete, Sam needed to enter an elevator with concrete. So, the first elevator had concrete. However, the interior of that elevator wasn't ideal so a second elevator was needed. This elevator worked out nicely and it was quite big. But, there was a slight problem. Riley already has the elevator button pushed when Sam gets on and this elevator only had two floors. Basically, the scene needed to be cut into separate shots because there wasn't enough time to get all the lines in. It ended up working out nicely, and I loved filming the scene.

The Downtowner

Good afternoon my lovely readers, today was the second to last day of filming. It was the filming of the scene right in the middle of the movie. It was the downtowner. It was near the bridge and the water. So, let me tell you all about it. It was a bit of a time crunch, as I had something to get to after filming. The first shot was on a bridge. I was trying to rush Ashleigh and Britanique because I kept worrying that the drawbridge would go up and it would waste so much of the already limited time. The location was perfect for many of the shots that were used. There was a perfect use of aerial shot as well as a wide shot and many other shots. Since it was right near water, Britanique was able to be on the opposite side of the water, and the use of such large shots will be so useful in the movie. In the movie, it is supposed to seem as though Sam and Riley are searching through the entire city. The location did this with ease, and it made filming more fun. As filming had continued, it was Ashleigh, Britanique, and I walked around near the water and using so much space. In the very first scene that was filmed, the space was confined and filming had been such a struggle. By the time that three of us were filming this scene, filming was much easier and was more enjoyable. The last shot filmed was focused on continuity for Sam. In one shot I had to put the ticket away, let my hair down, and put on my jacket. It took a few times but it was important to establish continuity as best as possible for the movie. By the end, the scene was finalized and it became my favorite one to film.

The Beach

Welcome back my lovely readers, today I am going to tell you about filming at the beach. The second scene of my film was at the beach. Sam and Riley have the initial poster and have to search for the next clue. After running around the beach, they find a shell which leads them to the next clue. The first thing that was done was make a plan. Filming went chronological, so it was important to know exactly where each shot was beginning and ending. For the first shot, I had to fix my hair to help with continuity. Also, in a later shot I had to take my shoes off before going onto the sand. There were a lot of moments while filming where it was Ashleigh and I holding a pose while Britanique moved to the next angle. As we went on with filming, we got into a groove and it went very smoothly. Eventually, we got to the shot of a time lapse showing Sam and Riley searching the beach for the shell. Ashleigh and I were talking back and forth during it since it won't be seen in the movie. It took a few tries to get it right since the three of us weren't quite sure how it should look. At first, Ashleigh and I just walked around. Then, Ashleigh and I looked around a little bit more. On the last time, Ashleigh and I made it really dramatic with looking around all over the place. A little bit more filming was done, and in a little bit of time filming for the scene was over. Ashleigh, Britanique, and I watched over the videos to make sure they were good. It was smart of us to do this, because another shot had to be refilmed. After a hard day of filming, the beach scene had worked out and now the movie was halfway filmed.

The Big Red Chair

Good morning my lovely readers, I must tell you about the second part of day one of filming. This part was at a different location. It was filmed in Las Olas, near the big red chair. One thing that was important was noticing any wardrobe difference between this scene and the first scene. I wore my jacket for this scene, so I need to remember to put my jacket on in an earlier scene. For filming this scene, the prop we used had some issues. The first was that it was see through, so I placed a piece of paper inside so the audience could not see through. The second was that for the final shot, it could not show what was inside the box. There wasn't actually anything inside, but the audience is not supposed to know that. Once the prop was fixed, it was placed on the chair and filming had commenced. This scene was filmed slightly out of order. The first shot was Riley and Sam walking through a crowd. However, Ashleigh, Britanique, and I decided it would be best to film this after the other shots. Once the other shots were filmed, the focus went to the walking through crowd shot. To do this, we had to find a crowd to walk through. Las Olas was empty near where filming was going on, so I had all three of us walk around to find a crowd. [16] Every time a crowd walking by, my group tried to film the shot. There were many takes, but many of them didn't have a big enough crowd. [18] Eventually, a few large crowds walked by that were used in the shot. By the end, all the shots were filmed and filming worked out nicely.

The Parking Garage

Welcome back my lovely readers, today I am telling you about the process of filming. For the movie, the first and last scene are the same exact but with different endings. The character that I play, Sam, is the focus of both scenes. For the first scene, Sam makes the elevator allowing for her to meet Riley. This continues the story of the characters going on a treasure hunt. For the last scene, Sam misses the elevator. This means Sam and Riley never went on the treasure hunt. To prepare for filming, I made sure to dress in a way that could be replicated every time we film. This is because filming occurs over multiple days but the movie occurs over one day. Therefore, my outfit needs to be the same along with my hair. For filming, it was important to follow the script exactly. Otherwise, there becomes inconsistency between the first and last scenes. While filming, I parked my car near Ashleigh and Britanique (my group members). They were parked near the elevator, so I had used Ashleigh's car as the car for filming. While filming, I was acting, Britanique was filming, and Ashleigh was making the call. The scenes go as Sam talking to her mother, walking to the elevator on her way down to the beach. One of the issues of filming in the parking garage was the noise level. There was a lot of waiting for calmness, so when it was calm and quiet there was a short time to film. All in all, it took many takes to get the best takes and a variety of methods were used. By the end, filming for those scenes went smoothly and the result will make our movie look great.