Creative Critical Reflection

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I hope you enjoy.

Film Opening

After long hours of hard work, the day has finally come. Here is the link to my final product for the film opening. I hope you enjoy watching it just as much as I enjoyed making it!

CLICH HERE TO WATCH 

Music courtesy of www.bensound.com

The end is near

As time winds down and I am adding some final elements to the film opening, I have been thinking about different ways on how I can incorporate my title at the end of the film opening. I am an Adobe Certified Associate for Adobe Premiere Pro CS5, so I know how to manipulate text in a pretty cool way, but I think that I could make it even cooler in After Effects.

I am not too familiar with After Effects, so I spent a majority of this class period looking up multiple different techniques on how to incorporate text into objects filmed on a camera. I ended up finding this great tutorial that shows a really cool example on how to do so.

I also found another website that offers another effect such as the one used in the Netflix original, House of Cards, specifically the scenes where the characters are texting, and the text messages appear on the screen and track the phone as the character walks.

I will be positing some information later today noting some of my progress within my After Effects experience.

Font Decision

After further research and a long thought process, I have officially decided to use the font entitled, Pyjama Party. (courtesy of dafont.com)

I chose this font over the others because it met up with most of the guidelines set by Videomaker. For instance. It is very clean and clear to read. There is not much going on within this font but it definitely includes a small element that flows well with the story. It is a somewhat thin font, just like how the story is. You are not going to see too much throughout the film opening, so it really marries well with the idea as a whole.

Font Options

A major element within a film opening that is sometimes overlooked is the style of the font that is being displayed within the opening credits and the movie title. Fonts add an artistic element to the opening and adds that final piece to the puzzle. I wanted to use a font that really flows with my plot line and setting.

These are some options that I have chosen (courtesy of dafont.com):

While trying to decide on a final font to use, I found an article from Videomaker magazine that gives great insight on things to think about when choosing a certain font. I will post sometime tomorrow letting you guys know which one I picked! If you have any suggestions, please put them in the comments section below this post.

Suspense and Dramatic Elements

As I am sitting in class today, I am researching a couple more tips on how to make a great suspenseful and dramatic scene. The first link I found broke it down to me in six simple steps. I would say that 5/6 of these steps apply directly to my vision, while one of them not so much. I am only making a film opening with a maximum time limit of two minutes, so my first scene is going to be about 30-40 seconds. An example I would like to bring up is step four from the website. It states, "Avoid showing the most dramatic scene first. It will make the tension rise dramatically, but only temporarily, so if you present it too early, you've lost your momentum. It is OK to show it just barely to get the audience's attention." This whole scene starts dramatically and ends dramatically. Remember, this scene takes place in the present, and the rest of the movie takes place one day earlier, so showing this scene to its most dramatic and action-packed potential is essential from both the beginning and end.

 Another link I found offers great tips to think about when making an action movie chase scene. Most of this information is not really new to me, but some of it definitely reinforces some of my thought process on how I am going to compose some of my shots. For example, in Method 2: Filming, a kety tip that stands out is trying to get a lot of different camera angles even if some of them won't even be used. Having a wide variety of shots and angles can really help out in the editing process because you have so many options to choose from.

Looking forward to getting home today to film the first scene of my film opening! Be on the lookout for some raw footage coming soon!

Production Schedule

Finally! The storyboard is complete and I am just about ready to enter the production phase. I cannot wait to take all of my visions that I have written out and express them through the lens of my camera. Here is when I am planning on shooting:

Since Friday (4/1) is the only day there are going to be clear skies, I am going to film that first scene that afternoon/evening.

On Saturday (4/2), I will begin going over those shots I filmed on Friday just to make sure everything is well lit, and I mastered all of the shot compositions that I wanted to. Also, I will also get some input from some of my classmates to see what they think so far.

On Sunday (4/3), I will be filming part two at my house. Since I am home, I have easy access to all of my lighting/technical equipment.

I am very excited to begin filming and cant wait to show you all some of the raw footage later on!