Portfolio Blog Post WK8 - 4/6 Film Opening (The Ending of Dramamine) 4K

 Here is the final product of the portfolio project, the film opening.  The Ending of Dramamine: Click to here view it!!! I hope you enjoy it!

Portfolio Blog Post WK8 - 4/6 Creative Critical Reflection

 Here is my creative critical reflection of the portfolio film opening project on my film opening The Ending of Dramamine. Click to here view it!

Portfolio Blog Post WK8 - 3/29 (Editing/Final Changes) Finishing project

 I ended up completely rearranging the entire film, and now it flows way better and makes way more sense. Instead of the radio scene first, it's the last. The pill scene should be first because it establishes the MacGuffin and some of who the character is. And I finished the sound editing so now the movie actually has noise in it. You can hear breathing, footsteps, and wind, and nature. It's looking great. 

Also took out the entire killing part of the pill scene, and I made that scene the beginning. I then shortened the road scene. I also changed The Ink Spots song to another one of theirs called It's All Over but the Crying 1947, and I but Blind Willie Johnson's Nobody's Fault but Mine 1927 as the last song. Both songs are under Public Domain, meaning they were published between the years 1926 and 1977, so I can use them. It's finally done, and I'm going to export and download it in 4K.

Public Domain Proof:

https://copyright.cornell.edu/publicdomain

Portfolio Blog Post WK7 - 3/26 (Editing)

 We shot the final stuff today and now we put it together. I kinda edited the film in sections. The pill scene, the road scene, and the radio scene. I switched back and forth between the clips of the scenes but that was the basic outline for my editing process, especially since I pretty much envisioned most of the movie in my head. 

Once I got the footage and nearly ordered it perfectly I knew where to place them and how to alter them. I used the program Davinci Resolve to edit this film as well. I put together the basic sound and got the music I wanted in it.

I may rearrange the order of the scenes now that I have most of it together, and may change the song choice or how I use the songs. I continued with the color grading and sound editing.

I went for a blue tint but also wanted the reds to pop. So I color corrected it first, and I increased the saturation and put a "film lut" (It's like a filter) and adjusted the settings accordingly to get a grungey and rustic-like look. I need to finish the sound and rearrange the order of scenes because the first cut is too rough and doesn't flow well. But we're close. 

Portfolio Blog Post WK7 - 3/24 (Shooting day 2)(Changed and took out shots/scenes)

 We shot the scene with the radio and got extra shots from the pill scene. 

Mitchell and I figured that the entire killing scene would one: be too graphic, and two: we wouldn't have enough time in the video. Plus a to was already happening. The radio shot went well and it looks amazing. And the grunge-like and rustic look is coming out exactly how I wanted.

Portfolio Blog Post WK7 - 3/23 (Shooting day 1)(Changed Name of FIlm)

 I changed the name of the film to The Ending of Dramamine. partly because while I was looking over the footage in Davinci Resolve I was listening to a song of the same name. However, I made the change mainly because Chimera didn't fit, and didn't sound right when spoken aloud. The fact that Dramamine is a drug that is used for nausea,  as well further convinced me that the title change was right. 

We also changed the character's name to "The Survivor"

We shot most of the film today, I'm gonna put the clips into DaVinci resolve and start organizing before the next and probably final shoot.

Portfolio Blog Post WK6 - 3/20 (Test Shoot)

 We got our first couple of shots today, we don't have enough to start making a coherent story but we have finally started. The shots look beautiful, giving myself credit, I think I lined up and chose the perfect shots for what Mitchell and I want to show. I plan to use a lot of wide shots, but right now we first got the road scene and a very important one in my eyes. Mitchell says we won't need it in the event that had too much footage, but I insisted cause I think it helps with isolating the character and I also want to do it just for how good the shots look. Here a couple of the shots we took. The video files are too big for this website so I put pictures a link to a video of them after.

Another shot we took.

We took a lot more, but RAW 4k footage is very large and takes a while to download.

So I'm going to make a file with a sharable link where ill put all the footage

Portfolio Blog Post WK6 - 3/18 (Second Costume)

 I put together the costume for the dead survivalist that our main character kills. I'm going to use my father's old military fatigues, a white t-shirt, worn biking pants, my father's army jump boots, a cowboy bandolier that I got for Halloween and a WWI gas mask that my friend let me borrow. Not all in this picture but it will be shown soon enough once we start shooting. 

Portfolio Blog Post WK6 - 3/16 (Costume Changes) Part 2

 Mitchell came through and we're gonna use his ripped jeans, and we also did a test shoot to see what it would look like put all together. I gotta say, we're pleased with it. 

We're going to begin shooting this weekend and it should go very smoothly. I may make changes to the story.

Portfolio Blog Post WK5 - 3/14 (Costume Changes) Part 1

 Costume Changes:

I made a slight adjustment to the costume of the character, and we decided that Mitchell will be playing the main character. In a previous blog post, I put a picture of the costume, But when putting it on, the clothes seem too nice, and I wanted a rough and somewhat dirty look for the character. Fortunately, Mitchell has ripped jeans and cargo pants. For now We're gonna use the ripped jeans. And we need to find a more ratty and dirty shirt, preferably white. If we can't find one, we'll go to Goodwill or some other thrift store to find a shirt fitting the criteria that we want. 

If the look we get doesn't satisfy us, we may go for a more tactical look for the character. More gear on him, almost military, but we wanna stay away from the typical military look. I did not want to do the old cheesy military survivor, but we may have to change the look to a more geared out and tactical wardrobe. But for now, I believe we will be satisfied with the results. There will be further updates on the jeans and shirt. 

Portfolio Blog Post WK5 - 3/13 (Adjusted Schedule)

The New Schedule:

So Mitchell and I have put together the official Filming schedule. Were going to film next weekend, at least by the 20th. I'd like to use Friday the 19th to film, but I have a few commitments on that day so we will have to see. 

We will be filming in the afternoon most of the time since it will be a cooler and nicer time. The plan is to finish filming between Saturday the 20th and  Tuesday the 23rd. The ideal time to start filming would be around 3:30-4, and use the rest of the daylight we have on that day. I want to film as soon as possible so I have the rest of spring break week to edit and edit calmly. Take my time with the post-production so it turns out nice. I wrote the adjustments in pink.

 

Portfolio Blog Post WK5 - 3/12

Removing Some Stuff(Maybe):

Looking back at the work, Mitchell and I are wondering if we have enough time to film all this for just a two-minute opening. We may cut out some of the shots or shorten certain scenes. But we also don't want to make it feel too fast. So I may have to take some scenes out and lengthen others. 

For example, the fight scene. It isn't really a fight, more like the end of one when the protagonist beats up the bad guy. I'm thinking about either completely removing the beat down and just show the kill. Or take out the kill and just show the final punch, then the protagonist worries about the drugs. I'll have to change events in the script and redo some storyboards but that is one of the main things we were thinking of changing.