Wrapping it up

For now we are in the process of wrapping up our script. We nearly have the full skeleton and a good portion of the scenes have been completely written, but we need to fill in the rest of the scene. Add  more detail and whatnot. Than we will do some "briefing" on the actors/actresses that we've inquired the aid of because up to this point, they have nearly no idea of what's going on aside from the movie title. Once we're done with that, we'll dive right into filming. I'm just hoping I can get the same determination and zeal out of everyone. I've got consecutive days of filming in mind, but the realistic side of me...

I'm scared of what the final outcome of the film will be. I always have to remind myself that this is the first time (whatsoever) that I've even remotely attempted to shoot a serious film, let alone with other people with zero experience and with nothing but a mediocre DSLR in hand. I knew from the start lighting would be crucial but I had to give up on that hope once I realized the camera we had couldn't be manually focused and adjusted in video mode. I'm tempted to ask a friend of mine to borrow his camera but I'm hesitant as I would not loan such a nice camera if I were in his position.

Pew Pew. Shot!

At last. Paper has gone to film and we have shot our first scene which is actually our last scene. However to be honest I am not satisfied with the quality of it, but nothing can really be done in terms of better equipment. It wasn't the brightest idea to go into this without a real video camera. One that allows for manually adjusting exposure and whatnot. And with no crew, I can't get a "boom-micker" or do very much with the lighting. It's as ghetto as it gets.

I did get a nice feel really shooting for the first time. It was a fun time with the guys. We have not edited yet but I'm hoping we can really pull through with that and use our editing wizardry skills on the footage. Again my fear of not being able to execute what I believe is a above par plot and execute some absolutely golden ideas have resurfaced. But we are in it for the long haul and there's no bailing out. We will continue working hard and putting our all into this to produce a wonderful film (once the "zero experience" fact is factored in).

Scene 1. Check!

We have finished writing scene 1 for the most part. We'll come back after the whole writing process to tie loose ends and touch up the planning but other than that, we're moving on to the next major scene. The problem that we confront in this scene however is working around the setting of the scene. In this scene, Brandon's girlfriend has died so it will consist of shots at the cemetery among others. In an effort to respect the deceased, we put a lot of thought into how we would get the necessary cemetery shots.

It will consist of various setting establishing shots. Broad sweeps of the cemetery. No harm there. We will use areas around the cemetery, away from other graves, and shoot above the actors' torsos. And for scenes where we need to see a gravestone, we have obtained permission from Patrick to use his aunt's shared urn memorial. I will be taking bokeh-style shots with a macro view of the memorial and Brandon in the background similar to this shot here:

Finally i was thinking of implementing a transition effect where the camera is on Brandon who stands motionless in front of the grave mourning silently (hard, broken, and bitter). The camera briefly shakes and it transitions from noon to dusk as a way to say, "Hey. This guy must be pretty darn heart-broken if he's willing to stand there for hours upon end."

Script

We have made some headway with the script. Enough to start shooting the first scene. This will be where the real work comes in. Organizing the actors, getting a good performance from them, and actually being able to capture what we scripted will definitely be difficult. But we hope to learn a lot from all of this. Luckily we only need three actors for this scene. There will be no dialogue either. So that will make this first take easier but at the same time give us enough experience to prepare us for the bigger stuff. However, with no dialogue, our use of music, the shots taken, and the actors gestures very well might make it or break it.

Our script is going to be bare minimum: an outline that gives the actors a goal but allows them creative liberties on their journey towards that goal. There will be no set lines but we will specifically state what we want from the actors in the particular scene. The script will consist of a description of the scene and the events that are to enfold. Where needed will be some basic lines. But other than that, what comes from the actor will truly be from the actor.

Do Work!

In the midst of writing all these blogs, I realized that I had not read either of my partner's (Patrick and Brandon) blogs. Of course being a team we need to have insight into each other's thought processes and see if they correlate. It was interesting to see that Patrick noted my involvement in the group prior to my joining. However, I could not find Brandon's blog on the spreadsheet but I'll be sure to get to that. I will encourage them to do the same when we meet again and get things rolling again.

I have created a Google Document (something long due) and we have decided to invest at least half an hour EVERY day into the project. Our productivity has been too on and off so this scheduling will balance out the work load over the course of this. So let's get crack-a-lacking!

Day to Night Conversion

As you all know this is a near zero budget film project coming from the hands of three adolescent kids. As a result equipment is our largest physical obstacle. Of course with experience, a great film can come about with little equipment but at least experience is free.

We at first planned to purchase some can lights and bulbs to light our set but Brian has some crude outdoors lights that will suffice. However, I am studying up on day to night editing in order to compensate for our lighting issues. By recording in the daylight, the footage quality will be very high, as I would not need to compromise grain for exposure. If I am able to avoid the pitfalls like lens flare, catching reflections, and the such I'll be able to retain a lot of detail so that I have more to work with in the editing process and end up with nicer quality. Of course there will be scene in which I have to record at night like on the streets (as we'll have to see the cars' headlights) or at the "Boomer's scene" where I'll need the lights form the ferris wheel to be on.  I'll be able to work on color correction a lot with this. Of course I'll be working on this in tandem with Patrick who is the designated editor. 

This is a very useful video tutorial that teaches us not only to change it day to night but also add certain realistic touch ups like the headlights to a car.

Celtx

Now that we are in the process of writing our short film, mapping out the shots, and the whole shebang, we went looking for an application to help us. We happened upon Celtx. The advertisement video that we were met with was absolute gold and we bit. It was a tasteful use of crude-ish humor that we loved. We were planning on jumping right into the writing process but the plethora of functions led us on a journey, exploring the nooks and crannies of the application.

However, we did make some progress with the first scene. The biggest problem we've encountered is not coming up with ideas but putting those ideas into words. I can imagine the shots beautifully in mind but not portray it. I can feel the atmosphere but I can't express it. I have flashback to movie scenes that perfectly epitomize what I want to show but I can never put my finger on where the scene came from. The little snippets that I try to emulate are always just out of reach.


Another challenge is keeping myself from spoiling the movie in my blog. But here goes:

So how we are starting our film off without audio. In my mind there's muffled, disembodied audio but whether we can pull it off with the sound gear that is available is highly doubtful. Little short scenes of good times. A dash of cheesy, lovey-dovey romance to set up the empathetic connection to come. I feel like it is also going to be difficult to find a balance of lighting. The whole movie is going to be low key so I probably can't pull off making the first scenes high key as the transition will clash. I also see a lot of "stock footage" type shots going on throughout this film as it's basically no budget and highly constrained in terms of manpower, experience, and time. These shots will serve to fill space and set up the somber mood.

CHOICES trailer

WEEK #6

This is the teaser trailer for our short film CHOICES:





I think we did rather well at maintaining the teaser feel of leaving the audience in the dark while at the same time invoking interest. It was, in my opinion, sufficiently entertaining. An informal poll I took showed that my friends wanted to see the final result. Our goal was to create a trailer that did not reveal the plot yet be able to present the idea that we wanted to relay to our audience.

We weren't exactly trying to be subtle with what we were trying to get out. The intro, narration, and title makes it painstakingly clear that the film is about choices. But that is all we let the audience know.

We did not have lighting equipment yet so the scenes were pretty dark. We are thinking of filming in the day from now on and applying some day-to-night editing magic. I don't find that the darkness detracted too much from the teaser considering the dark, mysterious tone that we wanted to invoke.

I think the music did absolute wonders for us as well as the timing of the scenes to match up with said music. The ending sound track was sort of clashy, however, and I think we should have just stuck with the one track. The ending was too abrupt too, adding to the clash, but these are minor kinks that can easily be worked through. We need to be on the lookout for more tracks that'll fit our film.

For our next task, we really need to solidify the plot. We've had a lot of discussion on the matter and moved some things around, but we need absolute, concrete decisions soon. Some of these changes have been rather drastic to the integrity of the plot. In one point of the discussion, the plot consisted of visions, time travelling, and a good handful of other confusing twists and pradoxes. I'm getting a creeping feeling of getting in over our heads but that's something that's pushing me to get crack-a-lacking as soon as possible.

Teaser Time

Week #5

Our group got together today to work on our Friday Presentation which will be composed of a brief introduction of our film and the teaser trailer we have been working on. I had high hopes and those hopes have been met. We got a lot done and even had time to scout our sites for our next shoots. Ideas were piling up. How were we going to shoot this scene? What angles are going to be awesome? We are continuing to establish and develop our plot and characters. It is proving rather difficult finding a balance of simplicity and creativity that will not go over our heads.

We have been working together very well. Decisions are made smoothly, and we respect each other's opinions in the editing, filming, and directing.

We have all our shots for the teaser trailer and a rough outline has been patched together. We will continue to work towards fine-tuning the editing and also work towards developing scenes for the rest of the movie.

We have decided to name our production group Syncopate Films (after the font), and we have designated roles among ourselves.

Patrick Huynh: Editing/media manager
Brandon Huynh: Plot/cast manager
Benjamin Nguyen (me): Camera/set manager

These will be what we are in charge of, our "specialities." The cool thing about it is not only a fair division of labor, but in the process of gaining knowledge and experience in our field, we are able to relay the what we learn to each other, essentially becoming a mentor to the other two members.

We are still deciding on what kind of budget we can handle. We are speculating it to be roughly around $150 ($50 dollars each). With it we can purchase props and set rigs.

Lights. Camera. Action!

Week #4

I made a switch to an existing DIY project group consisting of Patrick and Brandon Huynh. I was initially involved with them. We were planning to shoot a short movie. I took another path into programming however, and the short run I had actually proved to be more productive than I thought.

During the two weeks or so that we were working on our separate projects, I was still loosely connected to them. I pitched in my ideas here and there, and as I did I became more and more interested in their efforts. They were making great headway, and I wanted to offer my services as the cameraman. I tinker with cinematography and photography on a regular basis. I also already had a sizable knowledge base on the subject so they accepted me into their group.

I was familiar with the difficulty of executing the ideas from script to film. They had great ideas. I was always there to constrain their ambitions. "That's too complicated," I'd say, but to no avail. They went ahead and did it anyways. And I'm glad they did. Goals unattainable are goals to be attained. I admired their zeal to create a short despite absolute budget insufficiencies and little experience.



This film is call "CHOICES." It's going to be a mysterious, somber film, so I'm expecting it to have a lot of dark films. I notice their lack of gear (i.e. tripods, jibs, lighting, etc.) and I knew I could help with that. The first thing on our shopping list, for cinematic purposes are is going to be can lights (cheap and practical). I cringe at the negligence lighting tends get, I had didn't want our film to come out a grainy mess.

I see this going a far way, but even if it doesn't, it's going to be a huge experience as a first attempt at making a film. The creativity required is going to be overbearing: music selection, timing, animation, editing, etc. It's going to be a long and taxing process. But in the end, it will be worth it!

Computer Programming

Week #3

I'm still retaining my initial goal of learning to code, but I've shifted from HTML coding in order to create a website and instead have move towards learning to computer program. I'm not going to claim that they're one in the same, but coding, whether for one purpose or another, still adheres to a set of guidelines and a flow of logic that require the same mindset. Despite the differences, the characteristics are similar enough so that this divergence isn't anything too drastic. And in the end all coding can go hand-in-hand and be incorporated with each other.



"Everybody in this country should learn how to program a computer...because it teachers you how to think." -Steve Jobs

The above video is one of the largest factors that swayed me. I mean, who wouldn't listen to the advice of the world's must successful and wealthy people of which include Bill Gates (Microsoft), Mark Zuckerberg (FaceBook), and Chris Bosh (NBA player). But an infallible argument they present is a growing technological industry that is in constant need of coders. Their use of extremely wealthy men reinforce this argument of financial viability. I'm not above seeing this as a huge advertisement campaign by the whole of the computer-related industry, but it simply indicates there desperate need for computer programmers.

Again I've enter some courses on Udacity.com concerning Computer Science, one of which is a progressive walkthrough that teaches you computer programming by helping you create a simple program of your own. And there are still plenty of online resources that will help me.

This is my finalized DIY project: creating a computer program. I'll get an idea of exactly what program to create as I learn more about computer programming. The example of codes and the complex algorithmic process makes the task rather daunting. I may only get to creating the program from the CS 212 Course considering it's an "Advance Course."

The Goal

Week #2

How am I going to apply this knowledge on web development?

I'm going to build a website for my father's small business. His current one, in my opinion is insufficiently appealing and if it's in my power, I'd like to change that. Now it's going to be a long work in progress and I'm going to need to crank a lot of hours into learning and actually coding, but I think I can pull it off.
It's a transit service company, so I will have to implement schedule pages, policy pages, and a method to set reservations (and link it to an email). I'll reference and emulate the websites of large transportation businesses like Greyhound as I go along. What I aim to do here is not make a blog site with just text and minimal interactivity, but a practical website with heavy utility. Looking pretty far ahead, I can also move on to making a mobile site because I've noticed the poor formatting of my dad's current site on a smartphone browser. Furthermore, it'll be an ongoing project. One that I'll have to maintain, update, and improve upon. It's not simply learning HTML coding, but in my opinion (in this modern era of technology), a necessary life skill. Of course there are professionals, of which I've talked with, but there hefty prices of $600-1000 for just a "decent" website is rather off-putting. At the same time, if they are actually justified in charges these rates, I'm sure the task ahead of me is going to be a rocky road.

From what I've learned about HTML coding so far, it's based on a very technical and logical flow but there's a bunch of nooks and crannies for me to discover and implement. Even once I understand how the whole shebang works, I am still going to need to acquaint myself with the nearly endless list of tags, attributes, and so much more. Still, I'm in this for good now, and I'm going to make the most out of this. Whether the website comes out gorgeously or unusable, it'll be a nice little milestone to my journey towards web developing.

The Concept

Week #1

Web design has been an interest of mine for quite sometime now. The beauty of this DIY project is that it give me the little push to submerge me into this whole new field of learning, as I'm sure was a goal of my instructor in assigning this. It fascinates me how much a website does for a company. Content means next to nothing with an aesthetically-sound  presentation. The design of a website represent, say a company, could mean a potential customer depending on whether or not the website catches and holds onto the visitors attention. We've entered an age of simplistic beauty. Take for example Google, the multinational corporation whose blogging website I'm using right now. Google.com: the search engine that we visit at least 10 times a day. The website is a simple arrangement of the company name in the iconic red, yellow, blue, and green against giant slab of white with a black strip of extra options lining the top. No fancy font or overbearing color gradients. Simple. Easy on the eyes.

Without an appealing website, these visitors, turning away from your website, would flock to another superior website. The classic example: Facebook vs. Myspace. I still remember the days of Myspace. The speed that it died out was rather surprising but why did Facebook destroy it so quickly? Myspace's interface was a cluttered, confusing mess. Facebook on the other hand mimicked the same things that won it for Google. The colors were light and limited (not the neon nonsense of Myspace), and the interface was accessible to the most inexperienced of minds. The logo: Facebook in a simple yet bold font against blue. That's it. It is so plain yet can be picked out of a list of logos at a single glance by any user.

The first step though is learning a medium of coding. I have chosen HTML (HyperText Markup Language) coding, the most popular method of creating web pages. On Blogger, this blog website by Google that I'm currently typing from, it gives two options while in the text edit: Compose and HTML. Compose is simply for inputting text and dragging in pictures. You can click a couple button up ahead in the toolbox to complete additional tasks too. In HTML mode, everything is translated into code. If you had an embed code, this would be where you'd paste it into. This option is made available to the more computer-savvy bloggers (of whom I hope to be part of as a result of this endeavor) who need the flexibility of that coding makes possible.

I have a rather experienced friend who has created website professionally that recommended using Udacity.com in my learning process. The website includes video tutorials ranging from beginner intro courses to the more advanced freaky-deaky stuff. Most of my resources will be found online including programs for creating and simulating HTML codings. This friend of mine will be on hand to help when I'm in need.

With a plan of attack, it's time to start learning the art of HTML coding.