The Process Behind Making a Film Opening: CCR

 Here I’m reflecting my experience during this project and I talk about what I learned doing it. I also reflect the techniques I used to create a more effective opening. 

The Process Behind Making a Film Opening: Final Film

 We finally finished the project! I'm really happy with this experience, I feel like I learned a lot and I'll be able to apply it to my life in the future. 

The Process Behind Making a Film Opening: Updates

So... why did we have to make changes?

It's most likely that in everything we do, our plan isn't going to go perfectly. For example, when we were planning our opening we had the idea of adding more scenes and making the scenes longer, we even recorded these scenes and shots but we couldn't add them because of the time limit. Another reason we had to make changes is because we couldn't get an actress in the scenes that we wanted so we had to cut off the scenes that is actress. At the end we think that if we had a bit more time in  the time limit we could've had a better and more effective opening because we would've been able to add the amount of shots and the scenes that we wanted to add but had to cut off.

What scenes did we have to cut off?

The most important scene that we had to cut off is the girlfriend scene. We felt that this scene added a lot to the opening since it showed that Dave wasn't even happy when he was with his girlfriend but was happy when he was making music, foreshadowing problems further in the film. We couldn't add this scene because we couldn't get the actress to go according to our schedule so it was difficult to film and we didn't want to rush this scene because it was important, so we decided to just cut it off. We also had to cut many shots from all the scenes that we wanted to show in the finished product. For example some shots from the studio scene that would have made it look better.

The Process Behind Making a Film Opening: Editing

 How did we edit our film?

Our main focus while editing was to show the contrast between Dave's life at work and his life when he is making music. In order to show this contrast we lowered the saturation in the scenes where Dave is getting for work and the scenes at the office. Lowering the saturation shows the darkness of his life during this time, which contrasts with the studio scenes in which he's enjoying himself. We then had to added the credits which we decided to use a font and color that would match the color of the hat that Dave is wearing at the end to have the same color scheme. The hardest part of the editing was matching the sounds with the video but we figured out a way that if we made it like a song it would be easier to fill the empty spaces without sound.

What issues did we have while editing?

Editing our opening was one of the most important part of the project and since we have to use technology for it and technology isn't always reliable, we had many issues. The first issue we had was that many of the computers that we were trying to use wouldn't allow us to open Adobe Premier Pro which is the software that we wanted to use. We solved this by burrowing a computer from someone, however, this person needed their computer back before they left our city, so we had to finish editing before he left. Another issues that we had was that the sound didn't match what was displayed on the screen, so we had to make many edits in order to make this work.

The Process Behind Making a Film Opening: Filming Part 2

 Me and my partner are finally done filming!!!

This week we were able to follow the schedule that we had planned and finished filming. We filmed the studio scene in Tuesday after school, and we knew it was the most important scene so we made sure that our shots were good quality and showed what we wanted to show. In this scene we decided to use a lot of color because it brought brightness to the scene, showing that music is what he likes doing. We used an LED lightbulb that changed color to make the scenes look better and more artistic.

Then after recording the studio scene, we wanted to be finished with filming so we went to the set for the office and filmed the office scene. We wanted to make this office look boring so we made sure that the desks and office as a whole was plain white and cleared so that it didn't show many details about Dave.

The Process Behind Making a Film Opening: What I have learned so far

 What did I think about this project before starting it?

Before I started this project I thought that it would be easy, that if I followed my plan, I would be able to finish this without any stress. I thought that my ideas were going to look exactly like they looked in my head and that it was possible to do every idea that I had in the span of two minutes. I also thought that two minutes seemed like a long time and it was going to be hard to get to that time and finding a plot that would give me an opening that would say the plot of the movie in that time.

What have I learned so far?

After planning and working on my film opening I have learned and realized many things. One of the main things I have learned is that time management is key in the success of a film. I also learned that for a film opening two minutes was really short, I had planned a very long opening that I had to cut many of the things we filmed because it was way too long. Another thing was the fact that many of the things that I had planned to do I couldn't do because they were too difficult to film or edit, so next time I'll have to think more realistically.

Overall I'm glad I made many mistakes now because it makes me better for my future projects and helps me learn to do a better job at solving and avoiding problems.

The Process Behind Making a Film Opening: Schedule for new week

 Why do we need a new schedule?

My partner and I have been having issues staying according to schedule due to traveling and other activities that have prevented us from doing so. Next week we will have to follow the schedule we planned because if we don’t then we won’t be done before the due date. 

What’s the new schedule?

Day 1: March 30

Work on CCR script in class

Film studio scene in the afternoon.

Edit studio scene and morning scene

Day 2: March 31st

Film office scene 

Finish editing studio scene and edit office scene

Day 3: April 1st

Work on CCR script in class

Film girlfriend scene

Edit girlfriend scene

Add sound to everything

Day 4: April 3rd

Record CCR and submit project and CCR.