Designing the Set

    Now, that I showed the filming process in the last video I want to talk about the set design and the difficulties that came with it. 

    

    For our first scene which involved being in the park, we had to make sure all the materials that Asher used were properly organized so it would develop his character like we wanted to. For example, in the picture to the bottom we set every piece up in a specific way so it would add to Asher's character. This was pretty easy to do, but with the wind coming in every one in a while we had to redo some parts sometimes. Also, since this scene was out in a park our setting was pretty much set and we didn't really have much to do in terms of how this scene was organized other than the things on the table.

    Then after this scene was done we transitioned into the next scene which was the more detailed scene. Here we needed to find ways we could maneuver things so Asher could be represented through his belongings. As Asher enters his house we noticed that originally there was too much light that would construct a more lively ambience that we didn't want, so we decided that almost every curtain would be closed except the once's near the living room which helped bring in a little cool light. When recording we did feel that it was too dark so to combat the closed curtain we felt that it would be good to have Asher turn on the lights in his house when coming in. This helped with the lighting of the whole place and overall set a nice cool tone as Asher through.     

After this part we come into Asher's room, where we, once again, made Asher organize all his materials in a specific way. We also removed things that Brennan had in this room beforehand to give it a more realistic view into Asher's home life. Then for the lighting in this scene we put a ring light in a place that was hidden away so when he came in the room it wouldn't be so dark inside. This helped in creating a little contrast in the shot so it wouldn't feel so dark and closed. Also, when setting this scene up we cleared Asher's desk to make it seem like he is solely focused on his work and things related to his computer. 

    Overall, the experience was fun, but frustrating at times especially when dealing with the troubles nature can bring with either wind or light. 

The Shooting Process

     Today was the day we got all our filming done. We began around 1:30 and ended at 5:30 and personally it felt like a very long day; since I was the actor for Austin I needed to wear a black hoodie with jeans in 80 degree weather which was horrible. I was sweating the whole time and the sun was facing directly at us, but other than that I'd say it was a pretty fun day.     

    During the first scene which was outside, we felt that there was some things that didn't line up. For example, the original setting for where Austin and Asher would have their scuffle was taken up by some people so we needed to pivot and decided to go to some tables on the other side of the park, which actually ended up working better for us that if we used the original tables. At this new spot we weren't in the way of people coming in and out of the park, so it was very helpful when people started coming through during the shoot. 

    For much of the beginning scenes we had a very successful run in terms of efficiency due to there not being any dialogue, but then we started shooting scenes that involved speaking and things started to get more complicated due to laughing or generally just messing lines up. Thankfully, we navigated through this and instead struggled on getting the right angles since we felt some shots in the storyboard worked better closer and further away. This was really the only thing that made us struggle after the dialogue, although I did feel that when filming the scene where Asher runs up to kill Austin we had to do many takes since a lot of the time the shots felt awkward and unrealistic. However, we were able to get the perfect shot and even some backups incase of any issues.

    Now, we transition into the second scene that involves Austin entering his house into his room. Here we originally had Brennan's mom screaming to Austin, but due to difficulties and unavailability we couldn't add that too our scene, but personally I think this better develops Asher. Why? Well I think that him coming into a home that has a dark cool tone to it with no parental figure around helps attribute the fact that Asher is someone who struggles mentally due to no reinforcing figure around to help him. Pivoting, into the actual shooting of this second scene; there was a lot going on between us as a group in terms of how we were going to film this tracking shot. We felt very iffy and unorganized at first but through the process of taking so many takes we were able to have everything and every idea down. The part in which Asher walks into his house was annoying to film since we kept bumping into things and we had no idea how to close the door after Asher entered the house, but by deciding Asher would come back to the door almost like he forgot to close it, it would look natural and that's what we did. Another thing we noticed when filming this scene was that the lighting was off so we made Asher turn on the light when coming in the house.

    Then, as we finished the tracking scene into Asher's room we noticed there was a lot of depth missing, so we as a group decided to add some shots right when Asher turns on the lights in his room, here we would show Asher organizing his materials in a specific way into a close up of all the things neatly put together. And that's it for out filming, I thought it was definitely a learning experience and it helped me put into perspective the dedication it takes to craft art like this into something great. 

Logo

     For the logo/name for our production company we felt that it should have some back story in order for the company to have some sort of history and meaning. Due to this we struggled on choosing a specific name that would make sense to the group in general. Many ideas flowered from different companies and we studied them to understand how these company names were created. One that specifically stood out to all of us was Walt Disney Pictures, because it originated specifically from Walt Disney himself. This got us thinking that we should have one of the members names as the name of the company. So, this lead us to Brennan's last name "Briggs." We felt this name was unique and definitely  had a story behind it since Brennan told us that we he was younger he had come up with a production company himself, which we felt spoke a lot of what the company's goals are about, like expressing and making films from people who are passionate about their art. It all went smoothly and we landed on the name, Briggs Productions. 

    Now, that we settled on the name we focused on the logo next. We wanted to keep our logo simple, yet we wanted it to follow conventions between other logos like DreamWorks and Columbia Pictures, which are both simple but also effective in representing the company. DreamWorks keeps a simple yet iconic design that is very well planned out and executed; on the other hand, Columbia Pictures follows a simple design but also has an image on the right of the logo that develops the brand and its goal. So, with all this in mind we felt that our logo should obviously say Briggs Productions but also have a picture somewhere near the words. This lead us to finalize our logo into Briggs Productions with a pair of glasses at the bottom of the text. These glasses are meant to focus on two things the fact that me, Brennan, and Vanessa wear glasses, and also to show the time we have been putting into this piece of work, since glasses are normally used long-term. 

BRIGGS PRODUCTIONS LOGO:

   

    This is what our logo looks like, and honestly I really like since it's not really overcomplicated in any way and it keeps it simple yet effective through different fonts. Another thing I like too, is the glasses which are to me are very essential in terms of what the company means.

A Blueprint for Our Story: The Rework

     So, previously in one of my post I talked about my storyboard and the general idea of what me and my group are going to do. However, we decided as a group to rework certain things, like the interaction between Asher and Austin, as well as, the second scene that shows Asher several days before the incident.

Original

    Here I want to compare our previous storyboard to the newly made one. On this first page of the original storyboard we have don't really have an establishing shot that gives us an idea of where these characters are at. It also gives in to a very cliche interaction between Asher and Austin, which doesn't really introduce us to who both of these characters are. Another thing is the lack of detail between different shots that does not help develop these two characters. 

    Because of these issues, we decided in adding an establishing shot in order to give the audience context on where our characters are located. Another thing we change compared to before was to make Asher sit down and do work instead of walking, so the scene feels more believable, where as Asher just walking around doing work would seem unrealistic even for someone as smart as him. Then, we thought about how Austin would interact with Asher by thinking of a way to avoid Austin bumping into Asher; this is where we thought that since Asher is already doing their work Austin should sneak up on him and talk a little bit and then attempt to take away Ashers work. 

Rework

    Now, for the second page of the storyboard is where Asher gets to his tipping point and decides to kill Austin with his pencil. Not much changed for this part except, honestly, the how Austin provokes Asher, since we felt it was pretty tame beforehand. Also, we felt that there was not much attention to the weapon in the first storyboard as in the second we focused more it. Something that our group got suggested to do, which we thought was great, was to add a shot where Asher is sharpening the pencil in order to have the best shot at killing Austin and to develop Asher's messed up character.

Original

Rework

    For our third page of the storyboard, this is where things start to become a bit more developed compared to before. In the original we cut to a black screen that comes in place as Austin gets killed. Then shot cuts to the evil eyes of Asher that are followed up into a match cut to Asher's eyes but several days prior to the incident, which pretty much sums up the page. 

Original

    In the reworked version we show Asher jumping towards Austin, into the black screen which is also the title card, into a medium shot of Asher's back facing the floor, to a shot of Asher's bloody pencil, which then finally cuts into the shot with Asher's eyes to the match cut. Overall, I feel that this creates a bit more understanding for us as a production team and also it develops more meaning into the story for the audience. 

    

Rework

    In addition to all of the different things we changed, we also added the second scene of the film that wasn't even started in the original storyboard. In this scene we begin with the eyes of Asher from the match cut, which then zooms out of his eyes into a tracking shot of Asher walking into his house, to his room. This scene is meant to work as a look into Asher's personal life, that describes a little bit more on who he is and what his environment feels life. It always works as a great way to continue the film since the end of this scene is concluded by entering Asher's room where there is a computer that has very important information regarding the story.

Audio Time

     While visuals are critical in developing and creating meaning in a film, sound is just as important. Sound builds the characters, environment, and structure of how film is perceived by an audience. This is why, me and my group are going to focus and have attentive ears on what we develop in the films audio.

By Jackson Lee Nesbitt

    First of, I want to talk about the score of the film, which we mostly just have an idea of what it'll consists of. Right around the time in which Asher kills Austin we want intense music, likely violins, to build up suspense right up until the title card, then when the title card ends we start once again with some more music up until the match cut with Asher's eyes. The whole point of this is to build suspense and to show the build up of all of Asher's emotions taking place and turning him over the edge. Which personally, I feel would be a great way to develop more of Asher's character without the use of visuals. 

    Then I want to focus on the dialogue, The dialogue is going to obviously be based on the script, which I'll be talking about in a later post. In this dialogue we want to build emotion and character, so we want to have both actors, me and Brennan, to be solidified and hyper focused when filming so we can get the right emotions out and properly adapt the audio into the film. Also, while I know this is not the best thing to do, if anything goes wrong we plan to use voice overs just incase. Another thing that we want to do with dialogue is incorporate while the camera is on someone that is not speaking but instead receiving so it feels as if the character and the audience are getting the same message together. One last thing, that I want to mention is the fact that we will be using microphones so we can have seperate layers when filming so we can adjust the voices properly. 

    Finally, we get into the foley part of our audio. Here we want to incorporate foley in instances where Asher, is working on his paper or when Austin is walking towards Asher. This will heighten the suspense since the audio will be more in tune with what is going on. Then, we also want to use foley for specific sounds that are hard to come by. For the environment, we are going to have a mixture of both sounds made by us and sounds found online from websites such as, Pixabay. Our reasoning for this is quite simple, since it better helps us find sounds that cannot be recorded without interruption of there sounds and since it allows us to have more control when editing. 

    With everything mostly planned out, we fell that we have a very good understanding of the things we'll do in terms of audio and quality as a whole. 

The Locations

    For our project, our scenes contain only two possible locations, a park and a house. We've already established these location from our knowledge of places around the area. 

    First of the park. We decided we would go to a local park called, Indian Trace Park, which is a very reliable park since it is close proximity to all of us. This park is normally crowded depending on the time, but we already established that this scene would take place between 2-3 PM, where, from experience, there is normally not many people around due to the heat. So, because of this we felt this part was perfect as well as it having tables which is critical for our first scene. 

Indian Trace Park

    Then for our second scene which involves the home for Asher, we decided we would make it take place at Brennan's house since it'll be easy for us to incorporate Asher's mom, which would be Brennan's mom in this case. It's also reliable since it's one of the home's of one of our group members meaning we have a little bit more freedom in what we can do. Additionally, this environment will help us by already having an understanding of where everything is going to be at. 

    With everything already being established, we feel that these locations will work best due to not only reliability, but also visually due to the tidiness and comfort that these places bring. 

Meaning in the Light

     In order for me and my group to capture the emotional disparity within Asher we felt that colors/lighting was the perfect way to represent Asher.

Taxi Driver - 1976

    We want our film to have a cool tone that doesn't have many vibrant colors that could distract the audience while focusing on our protagonist, Asher. This cool tone is meant to resemble the difficulties and challenges that Asher goes through within the film and it capitalizes on this in the very first scene. It's meant to create an atmosphere that follows the emotional state that Asher is in, which contrast his physical appearance. This contrast between him and what the audience sees visually, in terms of color, acts almost like in similarly to Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver, where the main protagonist begins in a more normal state and with the films colors he turns into a mentally messed up character. We want to create a similar environment and have a tone that plays into Asher's emotions. 

    For the first scene where Asher is given a hard time by Austin, ultimately leading up to his murder, Asher will be wearing clothes that highlight his "innocence" and the tone of the film will tell the audience that there is something wrong in the atmosphere which leads up to Austin's end. It also works in a way that symbolizes his home environment, which is very depressing. 

    Then in the second and last scene, where we get a glimpse of Asher's home life, we are going to use darker tones that give into the idea that while Asher is this intelligent, oddly organized man, he still struggles with his home environment. In this scene he has some unusual things going on around to resemble him going through "Murphy's Law" and these darker tones will reveal the depressing ambience that follows him in his life. The lighting here, once again is darker than usual, so even though he's at his house we're going to likely add a tint with the use of Premiere Pro and tools like color grading, which is something I forgot to mention we will do in the first scene as well. It'll allow us to have more control over what our colors will look like, but we'll also focus on incorporating physical products/items that give this sense of tone in both scenes. 

Ray Ouladi - Color Grading Essentials in Premiere Pro