DAY 19: finishing up my editing

 Now that i have added all the special effects i wanted. I thought it was smart to apply backgrounf music to further solidify the mood of the video and to represent what the character is feeling. I made to sure to not hide other natural sounds that are apart of the video, so it could still be realistic. However, i did have to delete a few of the first clips and last clips audios because it was pure white noise and just didn't sound good because of the wind.

What I do to import a youtube video's audio to adobe Is i copy and paste the link of the video then search up a youtube to mp3 generator, then download, and import. 

https://youtu.be/IVeAs0ZUsMk 

I chose the above song because it didn't sound cheesy and it fit the video so well along with the beach scenes. 

After adding the music i wanted to add sound effects to a few clips. the video shows many times the mom calling the character. There was already a shot that i used for my video that had the diegetic sound of the phone ringing. So, i just searched up on youtube the same iPhone ringtone and added it to other clips that had a phone ringing. 

DAY 18: trying after effects pt 2

 I decided i wanted another effect and that was the transition to the flashback. I wanted to make it clear that this was before everything so with a black screen i wanted to write "3 months ago". My idea was to do a type writer effect so it doesn't bore the viewers with a still text and black screen. I looked up on YouTube how to do the effect of a type writer. 

I however, did not use the same font. Once I correctly followed the steps I achieved my desired effect. 

What I did to get this effect was I added an animator effect and applied key frames so that it was blank in the beginning then continued to type until the end.

Day 17: Color Grading

In the beginning of the video it shows the main character refusing to go to the funeral, I wanted to evoke a sad tone to the clips so I decided to color grade. I made the video a more blue tone and lowered the saturation. 

I played around with the amount of blue hues i wanted to add because I didn't want to risk it looking artificial, thats also another reason why I altered the saturation. 

I also did the same to the last clips to represent that it was in the past and wasn't in present time. To show that it was a flashback. 

DAY 16: trying out after effects

 I already put all the clips for the film intro together, now i want to play around with after effects to elevate the title of the video. I had a clip where the beach shore rises and falls and I wanted my title to go under the water when it rises and the water washes away the title. I began researching various youtube videos on how to do that effect, however i couldn't find one that would work for my video. 

However, after various failed attempts, I found a cool text effect that kind of achieved the look I wanted. 

In order to achieve this effect I applied a Basic 3D effect on the text layer to make it look like it laying on the sand. Then I applied the effect of the dissolve melt. I then just imported from Premiere the after effects clip.

DAY 15: beginning of post- production

After finally refilming the beginning part of our film intro, I can begin the editing process.  Right now I am editing the first few seconds of the film intro. However, there is a clip of the main character's dead friend shown as a way to show the character reminiscing on how things used to be. My idea was to have the dead friend slowly disappear and fade away to show the audience that she was not really there. 

So, i filmed 3 seperate shots in hopes of layering then playing with the opacity. I filmed one shot of both characters together and another 2 shots in the same composition with each character alone. 

 

Through this technique I am showing how the character really feels about this death. We also have a part where she is speaking to her mom in Spanish (to show latin representation) and she says that she can't do it anymore and she doesn't have it in her to go to the funeral.

This indicates the start of her drug and alcohol abuse problems and what lead her to not be able to control her addiction.

More blogs about the editing process are to come!!

Day 14: TITLE

Sooooo me and Selene have been discussing what to name our production since we still don't have a name. And we have finally decided...

ELATION!!

Elation means great happiness and exhilaration which is opposite of how she feels considering that she is depressed. It is ironic because of that. It is also what she wishes she was feelings so she gets that sensation from drugs. 

We got the idea of this name because it is a synonym for euphoria which is a show about drugs too.

We were also thinking about calling it Seventeen since that is the characters age or maybe the main characters name but neither of those had a deep meaning like "elation" does. Elation is also a word that one doesn't hear often so it makes it more memorable and unique.

DAY 13: actual filming

 The day of filming my partner and made it clear that wouldn't be able to show her face. However, in some shots we filmed her side profile and a cclose up of her eyes. And so, since we did have to manage to keep her face out, we accomplished it by just placing the camera in a certain position/angle. 

Overall, re-filming has set our project into the road of post production. 

DAY 12: On Sight Location problem

     In our film intro, we had decided to begin it with the girl not being able to go the funeral and mourning the loss. We decided to film in a local town center instead of an actual funeral home, as we believed it wasn't necessary because we would only be filming outside rather than inside the funeral home. 

However, when we arrived at Town Center there was a car show, causing the place to be extremely populated. It was hard to find a spot where it would be quiet enough and no one would be interrupting. This place ended up benefitting us. Our desired look was accomplished since, the sun was out and in some shots we would film  against it. 

Additionally we wouldn't directly tell viewers that she wasn't able to go to the funeral by wearing all back.

 

DAY 11: A Bump in the Road

    Me and my partner came across a big problem. The actress in our film intro had informed us she wouldn't be able to film. The day that we had scheduled to re-film the first part of our intro was the only day me and my partner were able to, due to spring break rolling around the corner. With this problem we had to figuire out a solution quick. 

While planning on how we were going to restructure the beginning we realized there was a way to change actresses but not making it quite obvious. Our shots would consist of close ups and back shots of the actress facing her back towards the camera. We even wanted our shots to be against the sun to create a sillhouette and melancholy look. 

DAY 10: Teacher's Advice

 After meeting with our teacher, my partner and I have decided on changing a few things. At the start of our project we had agreed upon making the beginning about the girl not being able to see her loved one's grave. However, with later discussion and having already talked about reshooting, we decided to make the beginning on the day of the funeral rather than the loved one already being gone. Our teacher also recommended us to have something at the end that shows the audience what happens after because e will behaving a title at the end rather than the beginning. So, with that information we had decided to make it a flashback of the Main character being with that person right before they're death.

One of the reasons we decided to change the beginning was the practicableness of it all. in order to film without the problems of uncomfortableness or disrespect, we would call a funeral home and ask which days they're off so we can film outside the place. Another reason would be the difference in Mise-en-scene, to correctly portray what is happening (as she would be wearing all black) and make it clear on why the mother would be madly calling their daughter as to why she didn't show up to the funeral. 

DAY 9: Filming Day 2

For the second part of my film intro, my partner and I had planned to have the character wake up randomly at the beach. Making it obvious that she is very confused on how she got there or why she is there. She wakes up with pill bottles and a wine bottle right next to her. Emphasizing how hung over she is, we have her grab the bottle and just walk towards the shore to show how she has given up on life.

While planning to film this part, we planned on either waking up early to see the sunrise or staying late to see the sunset. However, the only place that has sunsets is hours away from us, so we decided to wake up before the sunrise and  film the shots. We wanted to achieve the orange hues that the sun would give us as an advantage for some really cool shots! And that's what we got. We filmed varied shots of her walking towards the sunrise. We made sure to film against the sun so we could get more of her silhouette against the sun rather than visual details of her. One of my favorite shots from the beach was a shot that showed the phone ringing that her mom was calling her (representing how no one knows where she is) and the phone's reflection showed her walking into the sunset. 

My partner and I made sure to not repeat the same mistakes we did on day 1 of our filming. This time I made sure the camera was fully charged and the location was going to beneficial rather than harmful. Having the camera helped so much with these shots and this proved to me that we do need to reshoot the day 1 filming parts. 

DAY 8: Filming day 1

 Today we filmed the first part of our film intro. Our film intro begins with A girl arriving at a graveyard, hinting that someone close to her has died. She doesn't dare to enter and see the tombstone, showing her pacing back and forth. We later show her going back in her car and receiving a call from her mother asking where she is in Spanish, the girl hangs up and proceeds to leave the place. 

I had acquired a camera for the production of the film introduction, however, when we arrived at the location, I found that the camera was dead. So, I had to film on my phone. The quality decreased, but we still made it work. 

We filmed a variety of shots to make sure the audience will not get bored with the same medium shots. For example, when showing our main character leaving the graveyard, we displayed a  close-up shot from the ground only showing the tires as they drove away.

We did regret our decision on choosing the graveyard as our location because we wanted to avoid disrespecting anybody and it was also hard for us to see it. It was also getting dark and we did not have a light kit, which added a grainy effect to the video, which we did not want. 

Overall there were many errors. Our plan is to refilm and possibly change the beginning of the film intro.