FINAL OPENING!!!

SOSOSO HAPPY ALL THE HARD WORK HAS PAID OF!!!!!

OUR FILM OPENING: 

google drive link:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/176ku3PfavFIJdPYpPhu8q1cccz7Ttblt/view?usp=sharing

CCR!!

FINALLY FINISHED!!!

Our editing process is going pretty smooth the only thing is that our video was cut too short a few seconds. As a result we had to find new ways that we were going to contribute to the opening by demonstrating the person Elena is by adding clips of some objects in her house. We decided to use a Colombian shirt and a note from her mom.

 The Colombian shirt will demonstrate her ethnicity, and make an emphasis on that.

The use of the note is to express a feeling of familiarity and since it's in spanish it emphasizes on that as well. 

Editing Issues (Resolved)

AUDIO


The video taken during the conversation has audio that isn't that clear due to the background noises. Since the actual conversations were being overwhelmed by background noises, we tried lowering the music, but that did not change anything. As a result, we had to obviously lower the music, but another thing we did was change the video into an audio file and overlap it so that it would be clearer.

The official music we decided to use was the TIK TOK trap that was mentioned in an earlier blog post. This constant beat contributed to Elena's determination and drive.

In the image above, you can clearly see the audio file that has been inputed.

This is the platform we used to input the audio so that it could be overlapped with the rest.

Reflection

During the duration of my portfolio project, there have been several challenges we have been faced with. When we began the project, we originally had many parts to the opening, including her injury that she eventually recovers from in time for her race. After consulting with our teacher we decided that it would be better if we shortened it and only focused on introducing the main character, Elena. Another challenge that we had to face was Corona. Due to this, we had to make some modifications to the scene with the counselor. We did this by having a phone call between the coach and Elena instead of a conference face to face. Our project along the way has undergone quite a few changes, but at the end it has all come together in one piece. These changes were done in order to introduce Elena and her current situation with college, as well as her love for track.

Production skills throughout project

At the beginning of the project we had many original plans regarding the film as a whole. For example, we had originally planned on using Ms.Boroom as our coach at the end of the opening when she is consulting with Elena. This obviously changed when COVID-19 became a major issue for everyone across the globe. As a result, we made accommodations and we decided to have a phone call where it was clear what Elena was talking about with her coach. Every decision made was to keep the original plot and not have any major things affecting the entire opening and film as a whole.

When we first were deciding to make the plot, we included a major part of the rising action in our opening. This changed after consulting with  our teacher who believed that we were adding too much to the opening and we weren't going to have enough time to execute it properly. As a result, we decided to only introduce the characters and her current  financial condition.

Challenging Conventions/ Representation

Some conventions that are present in a sports drama are having a sports competition, an athlete, a narrative, a constant state of emotion, disruption, resolution, success, and failure. We do not challenge these conventions but we do comply with them.

In the film there is a sports competition which is the state finals where all the scouts are going to be. We also establish characters and create an emotional connection between the viewer and characters. We do this by demonstrating how Elena is financially unstable and is struggling. This connection will drive the viewer to be more attached and have her success in the ending to become a lot more impactful. 

Although the other parts are not being included, we comply with the genre conventions by having her go through an injury, but recovers right in time fro her competition. Obviously, like most sports dramas, it would end with a positive ending; Elena winning states and entering the college of her dreams.

Editing/ Problems

So since we finished filming, we have no started the editing process. There are some issues with the music we chose. It is not downloading correctly, which can possibly cause major issues and for us to backtrack. We have already started looking for new music just incase we cannot fix this problem, but we are trying our best.

Another issue that has arose is the problem of omitting background noise in our video. We filmed this in a park so obviously there is going to be background noise, but we want there to be more of a focus on the main character, Elena. There are some applications that can help with this. The names of one of these application are "Babble labs clear cloud."

Update On Music

Like I said before, we are looking for hispanic upbeat music. We thought this would be good since it would go with the energy of the film and would work best with the cuts. This was probably one of the hardest tasks since the music has to be non-copyright. There is one song I had in mind which was "I Like It" by Bad Bunny, J Balvin, and Cardi B. I dmed Bad Bunny asking for permission, but like expected he did not answer. Therefore, we decided to look for some non copyrighted music. We came across the sound "TIK TOK (No Copyright Sound) Rap on Beat HamburgHood Records - (FREEMUSIC, Trap, Instrumental, Beat). This fits the the vibe of the music and is upbeat.

Bad Bunny is ignoring us )):

Film Day 2

Today, we finally finished filming. We went to two locations. The first one was at a trailer park. We decided to film in this location specifically since we felt as if it were a safe location and would picture Elena's financial state. This location was near home and and was able to portray Elena's financial state effectively.

Trailer park photos:

The picture below is from filming day 2. We filmed the second part of the opening in Savannah. We decided to do this so we could have a change in scenery. The main area where we filmed the second part is near the rinks at Savannah Commons. This area was also covered with caution tape which helped contribute to Elena's profile.

Here are some pictures:

Script

The final part of our opening would be Elena on a phone call with her coach. In the clip, we can only hear Elena talking, not the coach. Despite this, we can assume what she is stressed about college. We also made an emphasis on FAFSA and her financial state.

Script:

-Oh, hey coach!
-Yeah, I'm actually training right now.
-Yeah i know...this week is really important
-Actually, I've started filling out the FAFSA last night, but I haven't finished because I'm so stressed.
-No don't worry, I'm not overtraining... okay bye coach

Film Day 1

Today we were able to meet up at one of our friend's houses and we started filming! Everything worked out and we were able to get all the footage we were planning on getting. We only filmed the beginning part of the opening where there are only still shots being used. We did modify part of them. Instead of having completely still shots like we had before, we decided to use slightly moving ones. We thought this would seem better and since we plan on using up beat music, we believe it would fit our video best if we made it like this.

So far everything is looking good and I'm happy that we finally started filming since editing is a long and tedious process that requires time. Hopefully the rest of the filming process goes this smooth, can't wait to film the rest!!

Finding Props

Like stated before, Elena does track and for the beginning we decided to have shots of her room and these would establish her interests and her financial state. Thankfully, my dad has several medals from triathlons and marathons so there was no shortage of props implying that she does track. We also not only used medals, but we also used race numbers, the one that is worn during races, making it more realistic and to emphasize on that aspect of Elena, her love for track.

Medals:

Running #s:

Another prop we created was the financial aid papers and the "past due" documents. For the financial aid papers, we printed out a FAFSA documents which is what students use when they are not financially stable and need help paying for college. We partially filled this out to show she is in the process of figuring it out and to demonstrate thats her biggest obstacle at the moment. We also created ourselves "past due" documents. We did this with enveloped and papers we receive from colleges from a daily basis. We wrote "past due" on every one of them and also opened and made it seem like a mess so to show how stressed she is and how she is also in the process of figuring it out like I said before. 

FAFSA:

"past due" documents:

How The Corona Virus Has Affected Our Project

Recently, due to a worldwide epidemic, the corona virus, many have been affected. Not only are numerous people being rushed to hospitals, but everyone is being quarantined or at least practicing social distancing. As a result, this has affected our filming as a whole. One of our partners is not allowed to leave the house so as a group we decided to film part of it with just the two of us instead of us three. We are still working on the technicalities regarding the rest of the opening since we were planning on having our guidance counselor play the part of the coach.

We believe that our project is manageable and can be easily changed. For example, without our counselor we were deciding whether to have a phone call or one of our parents. Clearly, this issue can be easily resolved and all communication will be done through group facetime for the most part. 

From this chart, it is obvious that this outbreak is rapidly spreading and even though it has affected many of our projects it is important that we help the world by staying at home. This would prevent the virus from spreading to others and possibly save many lives. We are greatful for having a very versatile idea and have found ways to cope with this obstacle.

How We Plan On Distributing

Since we are new to the industry and aren't under any big distribution company such as Sony. As a result, we decided to use the platform "FilmHub." This platform not only requires no money in order to use, but it also comes with several benefits. You also keep you r rights to whatever film you decided to distribute and the reporting is transparent. This is very important especially to producers in order to protect their product and not allow anyone to steal anything.

Some other benefits include the 80% profit going to the creator with no deductions or fees. FilmHub is also very helpful to producers informing them when it's best to distribute and what to promote. This is one through the use of analytics that they provide to aid in the distribution process to receive the most interaction with the film. There's also no upfront fee and payments are consolidated fast. The uploading process is also very efficient and easy, not requiring any application process.

As a whole, FilmHub would be very useful and easy for us to use since we are new to this process and would be very helpful throughout the process. Obviously, when we receive a wider audience, we would change distributors that is more well known and help us grow as a whole.

Target Audience

Although it may be pretty obvious who the target audience may be through the use of the characters in the opening clip. We decided to officially present the target audience to establish the goals that we have. The target audience is very important to establish so we can focus specifically and grab the attention of that specific demographic.

In our opening film, our target audience are teenagers and people who are in a low socio-economic class. The film's main character, Elena is 17 and a senior in high school. This will be very relatable to younger audience, making out target audience 14-25 years old. This film will depict Elena's life, demonstrating all the challenges she faces on a daily basis. Many who attend school no matter the grade can relate to the amount of stress one can receive. The struggle and pressure to do the best you can is applicable to everyone, especially to the ones entering college. Not only this but there is a great emphasis on her socio-economic status which many who rely on financial aid can relate. 

The use of a target audience is vital in the creation of the film since many decisions are based on this. Since our target audience is 14-25 years old and people of low socio-economic status, we will make sure to expand on this and make the film more marketed to this group through several decisions.

Costume Design

Our main character, Elena does track and is not financially stable. Our actor playing the role of Elena will be wearing average running attire. This would consist of a pair of running shorts and a nike hoodie or dry fit shirt, depending on the weather of the filming days.

Here are some examples:

In the scene where the coach (Ms.Boorom) and Elena are discussing her future, Ms. Borom will be wearing wearing formal attire since the scene will be taking place in her office. This attire would make her seem more professional and have a sense of power. Elena would also be wearing casual attire since she is at school. For example, jeans and a shirt.

Possible Filming Locations

Since Elena is not financially stable, we decided the scene where she is going to be running in her neighborhood we will be filming in a trailer park. This way the viewer is aware of her financial state without explicitly stating it. In our film, there will be many implications regarding her financial state. By doing this it make it obvious and would allow them to know the main issue in the film from the very beginning. 

Kings Trailer Park

Sunshine Village Mobile home park

Cheron Village

Title Fonts

I believe fonts play a big role in portraying the "vibe" of a film. As a group, we want to find a font that are sporty. We used the site called "Font Space" to find the font we needed.

Here are some fonts we came across:

We decided to use the first font, "Thunderbold" since it literally screams track. Option three is to serious and option to has too much going on. Not only this, but option one is a lot more simple than the rest and simplicity is key.

Casting!

Since our main character, Elena is hispanic we decided to use me as the main character. Every one of us in our group is hispanic, but as a group we collectively decided I would be the one to play that role.

The other character that would be featured in the film is her track coach. We have decided to use Ms.Boorom. She is the guidance counselor at our school, specifically for athletes. This would work out nicely since she is a very energetic person that would contribute to the personality of her role; a coach. Her room is also college themed and has a lot of sport themed decorations that would also play a part in developing her persona as someone who is dedicated to being a coach.