Kyle Becker's blog

Planning CCR 3 and 4 Now it is time to plan out CCR's 3 and 4 to try and create a digital product that is presented in the most engaging way possible.  For CCR 3 the question is How did your production skills develop throughout this project? For this question it is more personal questions because it is specifically about me and my experience with filming and the development of my skills. In doing this I decided on a YouTube style Q&A. This is a really fun and engaging way to answer these questions. I will write down all the questions that need to be answered on a piece of paper and cut them out into individual slips. I will then put them into the hat and draw them one at a time to answer. This adds a source of randomness to the picking which adds excitement to the product. I will not have a script but I will write out brief notes for each question so I have an idea of what I plan on saying. After each question I will cut the video so I have time to regroup my thoughts and make ...

 CCR Planning 1 and 2 Now it was time to brainstorm and plan out the creative critical reflections for my blog. This was stressful because the deadline was coming up and I have been so focused on the main project and editing that I hadn't really thought about my CCR's. I looked at the four questions and had to decide what form of media did I want to answer each in.  I am going to look at CCR 1 first. The question is How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues? The formatting I plan on using for this creative critical reflection is making a PowerPoint with my voice over it to explain it. I think a PowerPoint will work effectively for this question because the question is asking key elements that are very important to mention and talk about so with a presentation it will allow this to be done while also using visuals to further explain the conventions of horror. I will make sure to have some references to current social co...

 Cutting Down the Clips After I compiled every clip I planned on using I had a huge issue. The full length of the film was 3 minutes and 21 seconds which is way too long. I need to cut it down to around 2 minutes. Luckily a lot of clips can be seen as repeated so they aren't as important to add to the final project. Some clips also go on for way too long that I can definitely cut down the seconds on some of them. By the end of most of the editing and cutting down I got the time to about 2 minutes and 13 seconds. This was very difficult to do because I felt I was deleting a lot of shots which I took time to film but that is just a part of the process. I should have planned it out better with the shot durations so I could've fit what I wanted to in. I went through all of the clips over and over again to cut down every millisecond I could from wherever I could find. The thing I deleted the most of was him walking. I had filmed various scenes of him strolling through the streets in...

 Movie Credits I have previously made the opening credits that appear at the very end of my opening that showcase the title of the film. Now I needed to create opening credits that were in the beginning to introduce the actors, company logo, and myself as the director and cinematographer. The scene the credits would overlay is when Bob is walking down an aisle at the store and used a POV shot because it flows best with the text on the screen. This is apart of a small montage that shows him shopping. The logo I previously created was bold and used the colors yellow and white so I wanted the other parts of the credits to match. Originally, I tried other colors like red or blue but it turned out the original concept of yellow and white worked best against the background of the store anyway because it was most visible. It was really difficult finding a color that fit because there is so many unique objects on the shelfs with all colors so finding one that didn't mesh with those was har...

 Title Card At the end of the opening once it cuts to black the title card will appear. I will test if I like a straight cut to be more jarring or a fade transition to have the camera linger on Bob's face for a couple extra seconds. This will not include the main credits with the directors and producers as those will appear in the opening credits earlier in the opening. It needs to be bold and dramatic to create the greatest effect on the audience. The most important part is the color and font of the text. For the color of the font I decided on red against black text. The red mirrors the horror that has just taken place seconds before and pop most to eyes. For the Title font I chose was Viner Hand ITC. I picked this font because it is jagged, raw, and has a mysterious feeling with all the sharp edges. I also decided to use all capital letters because it allows the letters to stand out more and create a sense of boldness and authority to the title. I tested different shades of red b...

 Color Grading Scene in my film opening: Establishing shot of store.  Here is my first time experimenting with color grading. I will be using color grading in many scenes to build the atmosphere I want. For this particular example of the store, the original shot was taken in daylight and is generic. I wanted to create a warm mood to the beginning. This is the very start of the movie so the audience should feel welcome and wanting to continue. It is meant to influence their feelings. By pushing the golden glow the mood completely changes. The colder blue tone the original image had creates a feeling of isolation and coldness that isn't as appealing for an audience. I have made a vibrant setting that acts as the calm before the storm. Inside the convenience store there are bright lights and it serves as a good transition into that lighting. This also adds to the narrative journey I will be taking the viewer on throughout my opening. I plan on the beginning to be bright and vibra...

 Sound Effects  Sound effects will play a pivotal role in establishing the atmosphere and tension of my film opening. These are all done in post-production to enhance the quality of the film. In my raw footage there is casual background noises that may be heard if someone is paying attention really closely. However, the noises are hard to hear and I need the visual narrative to be at a max. I thought for a long time and brainstormed what sounds I needed. I wanted to use a lot of sounds but I also wanted it to be realistic so too many unnatural sounds may take away from the film. To find these sounds, I will find high quality audio clips on YouTube and convert them into MP3 files, which allows me to easily import and organize them in Premiere Pro. I want to build a complex soundscape by overlaying non diegetic sounds as audio. The first noise that will pop up is convenience store sounds. This will be things like people talking or the scanning when someone checks out in the back...

 Start of Editing My editing will be done on Adobe Premiere Pro and it has been difficult. I have used it for a few projects before but I did simple edits. With this film I want to include deeper edits like color grading and fixing the lighting. I have loaded all the clips in Premiere Pro and sorted them out into the correct order. I have the ability to edit at home and at school but will do the majority of it at school to prove I am the one actually editing. I find premiere pro kind of confusing because there is a lot of options and tools that I have little ideas what to do with. The start of editing is just dragging the clips into the editing space and clipping them down to the correct length. Some of the clips were out of order so I went through them all and put them where they should be. My film is longer than the time limit so I will have to decide what clips are less important and which ones drag on. I need to find parts that can be cut without removing important portions of ...

Spring Break It was Spring Break this week and I wanted to enjoy it but also needed to stay on track with my movie opening. I appreciated the break as I just filmed and it was a whole process but I didn’t want to fall behind so I continued working on it. The film was on the top of my mind and I was really interested on how it will all come together so i needed to go through raw footage. My grandma, who was one of the lead actors was the most excited as she asked me multiple times over break if I was done with the film. She thinks I did a great job directing and thinks it is a potential field I could go into. I am not sure if I did that good of a job but she was probably just being too nice. I knew I planned to edit once Spring break was over so I had to sit on the footage for a week and see what I liked about it. I have looked through all of the clips and started to plan out my future blogs. I’ve been taking mental notes with all scenes, but specifically the back and forth interrogatio...

 Compiling the Clips This is when I will be getting all the video clips from my phone onto the computer. I had a lot of clips for each shot for the retakes and at different angles so I had to go through every single clip and see which ones were good. This was difficult because I had to watch them over and over again to ensure I selected the right one. This was also tedious because I needed to make sure I didn't delete any I wanted to use on accident.  Once I figured out what clips I wanted to keep I needed to transfer them onto a computer. I used my phone to send them to a folder in OneDrive to keep organized. After I had to put them on my flash drive which took a while because I had to download one clip at a time from OneDrive to my flash drive. 

  Filming Reflection I finished filming my movie opening and I had the role of Director and Cinematographer. I set up the camera to film the entire thing and told my actors what they needed to do. It was frustrating because I had the idea in my head but it was hard to communicate with them. I had filmed on the correct days that I marked off and it mostly went smoothly. I had multiple locations including a garage, store, and a street at night. I worked with a small cast of three people as my actors and it helped with focus. Each scene used different actors which made it easy for behind the scenes work such as camera as I had extra hands available to help set up lights while I filmed. Each scene took a different amount of time. I filmed the garage scene first and this was was the easiest to set up but the hardest to complete. This was due to my actors having a hard time memorizing their lines. I had send the script to them before to prepare but because it was in one take it was hard ...

 Reflection on Key Moments I filmed on three separate days and each day had its own stories and core moments that I will remember. The first day of filming the interrogation scene was the most memorable. It took the most amount of people to get production done so we each had to be on our game. The most memorable part was the set up. It was fun because my actors weren't knowing exactly what to expect when I got there so it was funny having them figure out what was going to happen. Setting up the garage was where my skills had to be put to test. There was a lot of clutter in it so I needed to decided what to keep to make the garage seem natural but remove so it wasn't too messy. I needed to set the tone and they each gave ideas that do so. One idea was having I got was including the axe in screen during the entire duration of the video. Initially I wanted the axe to be off screen and it being a shock when he grabs it and attacks but I was suggested to have it loom in the backgrou...

  Risk Level I just wrapped up the filming and it is important to access the risk level of production. The health and safety of all of the actors throughout the shoot was at a high importance. The first potential risk in my opening is that it was filmed at night. Low light conditions can create logistical challenges with the safety of the actors. I filmed in a dark neighborhood with lots of houses where we couldn't really see where we were walking which creates risk in tripping. To reduce this I had looked closely at the concrete when scouting locations to ensure there weren't any holes or major cracks in the pavement. Another risk factor was the cars. When I scouted before, the streets weren't too busy but it turned out cars loved to drive during filming. There were various instances where in the middle of a scene a car would come and we would have to quickly move the equipment out of the way. Luckily, since it was night time, the cars had headlights so we had a good head ...

     Company Name and Logo Design Production company Name- Silent Screen Studios To develop a professional identity for my film, I need to create a company name to be showcased during the credits. I first composed a list of potential studio names. This ranged from various options that could give a corporate feel to the studio. During this brainstorming phase, I wanted to find a name that accomplished two things. First, I needed it to fit the horror genre. This is essential because the name needs to be attractive to the audience and set an expectation for the film. I wanted to avoid names that felt too safe as they don't align with the nature of a horror film about a kidnapped victim. To achieve this I focused on words that were threatening and dreadful. By leaning into horror tropes I can establish my brand and make it easy for the audience to know what they will get. The second thing I wanted was to focus on alliterations because it creates a memorable name that sticks i...

  Changes To My Project I finished filming and had to make many adjustments during shooting to make the best presentation possible. The first change I had to make was to the script during Bob was talking to his mom. In the original script he had longer sentences he would say to his mom. He was having trouble saying it all so he improvised on the spot which I felt worked because it felt more real and allowed him to express the emotions of his character than just reading straight off of a script. The next change I had was the general filming location. I picked a street to use that had a lot of streets connected so I can have multiple changes of sceneries so it looked like he was actually walking from one place to another. I got told the day before shooting that that there was a Bobcat spotted in a neighbors backyard from my Grandma. I needed to keep this same general location but I moved to another street to film the majority of the project. I was on the look out for one the majority...

       The Final Shot List Based off of the story board, here is the list of shots that will take place in order. A shot list is important because it allows me to keep track of what I have captured and what I still need to film. This is subject to change based off of what occurs during filming days.  1. Establishing Shot 2. Close Up behind shelf 3. Mid Shot- show him revealing himself by removing item 4. POV Close up shot 5. POV Tracking Shot 6. Mid Shot Low Angle 7. Wide Shot, Zoom in 8. Pan from the side, wide shot 9. Behind the Shoulder tracking 10. Wide shot 11. Mid shot 12. Wide shot- camera follows phone 13. Close up POV shot  14. Mid shot- Behind the shoulder- track 15. Mid shot from the front while walking 16. Eyeline match to POV shot- zoom out 17. Mid Shot waist level 18. Wide shot while walking 19. POV shot- camera in phone is high angle 20. Extreme close up- including full emotions and worry 21. POV close up shot of phone 22. Close up of keys in...

  Costumes Costume design is important because it is an essential part of the storytelling. It establishes the characters identity by building their appearance before speaking a word. In the horror genre, the visual interest is amplified to build the atmosphere of fear and suspense. By manipulating and changing what the actors wear the meaning changes. These choices are pivotal for storytelling in the horror genre especially because a contrast between good vs evil needs to be easily recognizable. In my film, this contrast is achieved by using everyday clothing for Bob and having killer be in dark clothing to make him more a threat. In general, the costumes will determine how audiences perceive the actors in my film.  There are three main costume designs in this film.  Bob- Bob is a normal teenage boy. He is the everyday man that I want the viewers to sympathize with and relate to. Younger audiences should be able to see themselves in him. To create this feeling I needed c...

  Equipment and Props Selecting the right equipment is crucial for establishing the style and atmosphere of my horror film. For my opening, the gear used will allow for a blend of high cinematic footage and suspense to be built. These technical choices are key or the film will turn out low quality and difficult to watch. Equipment list Phone- My iPhone 13 will serve as the camera during the entire opening film. There is a lot of walking scenes so the portability of a phone. Lights- I will use a multitude of lights to manipulate shadows and create lighting in scenes. This include flashlights, lamps, LED lights, and streetlights. Tripod- Necessary for steady shots of the interrogation to make it seem like raw footage. Will be used for close up shots to best portray Bob's facial reactions. Microphone- I will use small microphones connected to my phone and their clothes to capture diegetic sounds and allow for clear audio throughout.  Editing software- My chosen editing software i...

    My Film Schedule  This schedule will be what I follow to ensure a smooth filming period. I have conversated with my actors to make sure these are open dates to allow for the best filming possible. By establishing clear timelines and expectations I am able to maximize production quality and minimize scheduling conflicts.  First filming: February 28th- Film the garage scene with interrogation between girl and killer. Will take approximately two hours Second Filming: March 6th- Film Bob walking and discovering the phone in the street. This is a bulk of the filming. Will take about two hours Third Filming:  March 7th- The convenience store scene and introduction to Bob's character. Will take approximately 30 minutes. My plans for editing: Once I have all of the clips I need I will tackle the editing into different sections. This includes things like clip adjustments, sound adjustments, color grading, and transitions. This will start in class once I can compile t...