Tuesday, April 11, 2017
Friday, April 7, 2017
Media Representation
Following most psychological thriller conventions, the protagonist has some sort of mental illness - most commonly schizophrenia. I found this interesting article mentioning a review of 41 movies released from 1990 to 2010 that featured one main character with the mental illness who engaged in dangerous and violent behavior. Obviously, movie producers intensify the negative stereotype of schizophrenia in order to attract an audience and give films more substance. Reverting back to this WebMD article which I had linked in a previous post, most schizophrenia patients are not necessarily violent. They prefer to be isolated and withdraw from any social contact. Even though some patients do experience psychosis, it is not as common as the entertainment industry makes it out to be.
With that said, I know understand why schizophrenia is so commonly associated with horror and thriller movies. For the purpose of the project, I followed the guidelines any psychological thriller would normally follow, hence the hinting at suicide and violence.
The purpose of this film opening is to establish the character of Pandora as exhausted, confused and easily manipulated by her illness. If the film were to become reality, the story would go alone the lines of her trying to battle these evil forces and ultimately finding her true self.
Sources:
Psychiatric Services 63:655–659, 2012. "Portrayals of Schizophrenia by Entertainment Media: A Content Analysis of Contemporary Movies." Psychiatric Services. American Psychiatric Association, n.d. Web. 07 Apr. 2017. <http://ps.psychiatryonline.org/doi/abs/10.1176/appi.ps.201100371>.
"Schizophrenia: An Overview." WebMD. WebMD, n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2017. <http://www.webmd.com/schizophrenia/guide/mental-health-schizophrenia#2-4>.
Thursday, April 6, 2017
Creating Sound
Since the auditory hallucinations is what comprises the majority of my audio for this film opening, I decided to do more research on it and how I can emulate voices for my project. I found this interesting video on YouTube and it is basically an examination of different voices that a schizophrenic patient can hear. The voices are deep, emit echo, and vary on tonal range. In other to achieve this, I need to gather a whole lot of friends with varying octaves.
What in the world will I have the voices say during the two minutes?
In this previous post, I mentioned how auditory hallucinations are usually angry voices that scream and laugh, often bullying the host and go as far as provoking murder or suicide.
I then took my creativity to GarageBand. This app allowed me to record myself and various others emulating the "voices". What really intrigued me is that GarageBand comes with vocal modifiers, and I was able to select a couple of effects to layer with the voice recordings to achieve that scary and echo-y effect. Another technique I used in order to create depth and perspective of the different voices, was to layer different vocals so they overlap, making it seem like they are talking over each other.
After I laid out all the vocals for the film, I felt like something was missing. All I had for sound was of course the voices, and a couple of action sounds like the scissor cutting, toilet flushing and pills rummaging. I was missing that eerie, suspenseful music that gives thrillers life.
I went back to the drawing board and began playing with different sounds, adding different effects in order to achieve a sound I liked. Somehow, someway I began snapping my fingers at timed intervals with the "Delay Vocal" effect and achieved an ambiguous, echo-y sound that I thought gave the film more structure and mystery.
Besides making my own sounds, I took advantage of the royalty-free sound effects provided on iMovie. I incorporated "Ambient Effect 2" for the "Arabella Productions" opening credit and "Mystery Accents 02" for the establishing shots.
Sound was probably the most important element in my film opening, as it sets the mood of the entire video. I'm pretty satisfied with how I was able to manipulate different resources to come up with authentic sound effects to liven up the footage!
Sources:
"Auditory Hallucinations - An Audio Representation." YouTube. N.p., 13 June 2011. Web. 06 Apr. 2017. <https://youtu.be/0vvU-Ajwbok>
What in the world will I have the voices say during the two minutes?
In this previous post, I mentioned how auditory hallucinations are usually angry voices that scream and laugh, often bullying the host and go as far as provoking murder or suicide.
I then took my creativity to GarageBand. This app allowed me to record myself and various others emulating the "voices". What really intrigued me is that GarageBand comes with vocal modifiers, and I was able to select a couple of effects to layer with the voice recordings to achieve that scary and echo-y effect. Another technique I used in order to create depth and perspective of the different voices, was to layer different vocals so they overlap, making it seem like they are talking over each other.
After I laid out all the vocals for the film, I felt like something was missing. All I had for sound was of course the voices, and a couple of action sounds like the scissor cutting, toilet flushing and pills rummaging. I was missing that eerie, suspenseful music that gives thrillers life.
I went back to the drawing board and began playing with different sounds, adding different effects in order to achieve a sound I liked. Somehow, someway I began snapping my fingers at timed intervals with the "Delay Vocal" effect and achieved an ambiguous, echo-y sound that I thought gave the film more structure and mystery. 
Sound was probably the most important element in my film opening, as it sets the mood of the entire video. I'm pretty satisfied with how I was able to manipulate different resources to come up with authentic sound effects to liven up the footage!
Sources:
"Auditory Hallucinations - An Audio Representation." YouTube. N.p., 13 June 2011. Web. 06 Apr. 2017. <https://youtu.be/0vvU-Ajwbok>
Tuesday, April 4, 2017
Editing
The deadline is inching closer and I'm getting anxious!
With much disappointment, I resorted to iMovie. Much more simple, much more limited, but I somehow made it work. I downloaded all my clips and pieced them together referencing my storyboard and changing a couple of things here and there as I went through the process.
The first thing I did was color correct the clips to give them that mysterious and eerie feel. I did thing by lowering the brightness, contrast and saturation of each clip. I also added a vignette to add focus to the different scenes.
Then I worked on the transitions. The most common used transitions in thrillers are quick cuts, fades, and the occasional cross dissolve. You can already have an idea as to which transitions I chose. I left the fades for the beginning and end of the film, as to isolate the story more from the juxtaposition of the production company credits and the director credit at the end. The quick cuts were the most used, as it provided fragmented transitions from one frame to the next. I decided to also include various cut on action cuts and graphic matches to add a sense a continuity within the fragmented frames and just bring interest and uncertainty to what might happen next regarding the sequence of events.
Putting the film opening together and seeing my hard work come alive is truly amazing. I had never before done a project like this, and I really liked how this blog made the entire thinking and creative process easy and efficient.
The film opening is coming soon to a blog post near you!
The first step I took before tackling editing was which software I was going to use to make my film come alive. My dad, being a technology fiend, advised me to use AfterEffects as it is a powerful editing tool and could make my film look really professional. I spent hours on end watching tutorials on YouTube on how to work the basics of AfterEffects but I eventually gave up. The software allows to manipulate content in many different ways, and with the deadline being so close, I had virtually no time to learn how use it; much less create a "good" video with it.
With much disappointment, I resorted to iMovie. Much more simple, much more limited, but I somehow made it work. I downloaded all my clips and pieced them together referencing my storyboard and changing a couple of things here and there as I went through the process.
The first thing I did was color correct the clips to give them that mysterious and eerie feel. I did thing by lowering the brightness, contrast and saturation of each clip. I also added a vignette to add focus to the different scenes.
Then I worked on the transitions. The most common used transitions in thrillers are quick cuts, fades, and the occasional cross dissolve. You can already have an idea as to which transitions I chose. I left the fades for the beginning and end of the film, as to isolate the story more from the juxtaposition of the production company credits and the director credit at the end. The quick cuts were the most used, as it provided fragmented transitions from one frame to the next. I decided to also include various cut on action cuts and graphic matches to add a sense a continuity within the fragmented frames and just bring interest and uncertainty to what might happen next regarding the sequence of events.
Putting the film opening together and seeing my hard work come alive is truly amazing. I had never before done a project like this, and I really liked how this blog made the entire thinking and creative process easy and efficient.
The film opening is coming soon to a blog post near you!
Saturday, April 1, 2017
BTS
Finally.... Filming day!!!
Before I begin I want to thank Maria V. Rodriguez for starring in my film opening and Sammy Klopman for taking time out of her day to help me film today.
Around 1:30 PM, Maria arrived. She already owned a shirt similar to the one in my previous post, but unfortunately we were't able to find a black skirt so we opted for black jeans instead. I immediately gathered her hair up and put the wig on ( it looked AMAZING; super realistic for an inexpensive wig.) Then I proceeded to begin her make up: a bare face, brown shadow and red lipstick around the eyes to emulate the exhaustion. I also coated her lashes with mascara to intensify the look. After hair, make up and costume was set, we had a small photoshoot session to capture the full essence of Pandora.
For props, I found ordinary, big blue scissors that Maria could use to cut the wig. Then, for the antipsychotic medication, I printed the label I attached to this post and taped it around my dog's old medication container. Furthermore, since using real pills wouldn't have been the best of ideas, I purchased a box of white TicTacs and filled the container to mimic pills.
I think the hardest part about filming in front of a mirror, is trying not to catch your reflection in the shot. Sammy and I contorted our bodies in many different ways in order to catch the perfect shots. Lighting was not an issue as there was only one constant source of light above the mirror. Since Thrillers usually have dark tones, I plan on lowering the brightness and saturation of the clips to better fit that convention.
One of the funniest things today was the struggle to film the aerial shots. Maria is tall, and I on the other hand, am not. I had climb on top of one of my kitchen stools in order to capture appropriate shots. (No stools were harmed in the making of this video.)
My favorite part to film and witness, was the cutting of the wig. I had anticipated this moment since day one and it felt amazing seeing it happen live. The wig I bought worked perfectly because it looked extremely messy as Maria snipped it, giving the character a more crazy and desperate look.
While filming the last scenes, the funniest thing happened. The ending scene comprises of Pandora failed on the floor, surrounded by all the loose hair. The wig is made in such a way that it can only be placed on top of the head, and any sudden movements would make it turn and potentially fall off. As Maria was positioning herself on the floor, the wig slipped off her head, and the face she made was absolutely priceless.
All in all, the filming process ran smoothly. It was fun going along with the storyboard, and seeing how I could change things around to create better content. Directing is hard work, especially when you don't know what you have until you download all the footage and see if it was a successful shooting day, or if you need to go back out there for round two. I personally think it was a successful day and I am excited to see how the editing phase will go!
Before I begin I want to thank Maria V. Rodriguez for starring in my film opening and Sammy Klopman for taking time out of her day to help me film today.
 |
| Getting Maria's hair ready for the wig cap |
 |
| Make up time! |
Around 1:30 PM, Maria arrived. She already owned a shirt similar to the one in my previous post, but unfortunately we were't able to find a black skirt so we opted for black jeans instead. I immediately gathered her hair up and put the wig on ( it looked AMAZING; super realistic for an inexpensive wig.) Then I proceeded to begin her make up: a bare face, brown shadow and red lipstick around the eyes to emulate the exhaustion. I also coated her lashes with mascara to intensify the look. After hair, make up and costume was set, we had a small photoshoot session to capture the full essence of Pandora.
For props, I found ordinary, big blue scissors that Maria could use to cut the wig. Then, for the antipsychotic medication, I printed the label I attached to this post and taped it around my dog's old medication container. Furthermore, since using real pills wouldn't have been the best of ideas, I purchased a box of white TicTacs and filled the container to mimic pills.I think the hardest part about filming in front of a mirror, is trying not to catch your reflection in the shot. Sammy and I contorted our bodies in many different ways in order to catch the perfect shots. Lighting was not an issue as there was only one constant source of light above the mirror. Since Thrillers usually have dark tones, I plan on lowering the brightness and saturation of the clips to better fit that convention.
One of the funniest things today was the struggle to film the aerial shots. Maria is tall, and I on the other hand, am not. I had climb on top of one of my kitchen stools in order to capture appropriate shots. (No stools were harmed in the making of this video.)
My favorite part to film and witness, was the cutting of the wig. I had anticipated this moment since day one and it felt amazing seeing it happen live. The wig I bought worked perfectly because it looked extremely messy as Maria snipped it, giving the character a more crazy and desperate look. 
While filming the last scenes, the funniest thing happened. The ending scene comprises of Pandora failed on the floor, surrounded by all the loose hair. The wig is made in such a way that it can only be placed on top of the head, and any sudden movements would make it turn and potentially fall off. As Maria was positioning herself on the floor, the wig slipped off her head, and the face she made was absolutely priceless. 
All in all, the filming process ran smoothly. It was fun going along with the storyboard, and seeing how I could change things around to create better content. Directing is hard work, especially when you don't know what you have until you download all the footage and see if it was a successful shooting day, or if you need to go back out there for round two. I personally think it was a successful day and I am excited to see how the editing phase will go!
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