The Final Cut

CCR

Hi guys! This is the CCR or critical self reflection for my final project “Look Who’s Stalking?”. In this video, I will be telling you guys how I participated in this project and the entire process of making the film opening. Hope you enjoy!

↓ CCR ↓

https://youtu.be/pwCOGUfJQkY

Postproduction: Technology

          During production we used an iPhone 11 to film. The majority of ambient sound that can be heard in the opening was recorded with the phone's mic, other sounds such as dialogue and music, were either recorded or uploaded from YouTube's audio library. I had no idea that YouTube had this feature, after learning about it in class and playing around with the different sounds, it was really interesting to see how important a simple song can be to a film's overall tone. Trying to find a mysterious tune to play in the background of our opening has been tough, but I am hopeful that after more searching we will find the perfect one.

To edit the clip, my group decided to use iMovie. iMovie appealed to Josie and I because it was the technology we were most familiar with. The app was also already downloaded on Josie's laptop, and we found that keeping with apps affiliated with Apple made editing less complicated.

         Personally, I did not know much about iMovie. I had some knowledge about the app from previous school projects, however I have never used it to edit a video. Thankfully Josie knew a lot about this technology, which cut down on the time we would have had to spend learning about iMovie instead of editing. There are not going to be any special or FX effects in our opening, Josie and I thought that we might need to include one earlier in the project: however, after filming we found that special effects would not be suitable with our film's aesthetic. Currently, we are still editing the rough cut of our film. 

"A-ha" Moments

          There were many ups and downs during the shooting process. I knew that production was going to be the hardest part of this project, but the problems we encountered were so unexpected. While planning, my group did not put in enough detail to the storyboard which led to some issues during filming. We also tried to include way too many shots to the beginning of our film opening that left the clip looking messy and unorganized. It really hit me after watching the edited version of our shots that we needed to come up with a better plan. Instead of drawing up another storyboard decorated with stick figures, Josie and I wrote down each shot we wanted to film. We reviewed the first rough cut many times before deciding which shots should be kept and which shots could be taken out. Below is a picture of the elimination process we went through:

          After we had a clear vision for our film opening, reshooting became much easier. The first time we filmed it took Josie and I almost 1 hour and 30 minutes, whereas reshooting took about 30. The time difference between the first and second time we filmed really showed me how planning thoroughly can make the production process much easier. Apart from the planning, the importance of mise en scene was emphasized during reshooting. My group was lucky enough to have our peers review the first rough cut of our film, and they pointed out that not having other students on campus made the setting appear very artificial. Deciding to shoot during the actual school day was probably the best decision we made, having students in the background dramatically improved our opening. Here, you can compare the setting of the scene:

I would say that these two events were the “A-ha” moments my group experienced when filming. We were able to fix our mistakes thankfully, and honestly I’m happy they happened. The second version of the clip looks cleaner and is a better reflection of the effort Josie and I have put into this project. Just for fun, here is a look at the first version of our rough cut (WARNING: It is indeed very rough).

Postproduction: Editing

The filming process resulted in almost 50 clips. We recorded the film on Josie's iPhone 11, so she had to upload all of the clips to her laptop for us to edit. Josie used her MacBook for this project, and the iMovie app is what we used to edit the film. Since there were so many clips to choose from Josie and I reviewed all of the footage and made sure that the quality of the shots was there. There were a couple clips that got deleted because of small issues, such as the lighting being off or changes in the background.

Black pants (1st take)

Khaki pants (2nd take)

For example, the differences in the Stalker's costuming from the first time we filmed to the second time made any shots from the first take unusable. Josie and I caught this fairly quickly, and decided that using shots from the waist up of the character from the first take, were not worth the discontinuity. To preserve continuity, Josie edited the clips to flow in a logical order. Here is the shot by shot plan we used to guide the editing process:

Out of our group, Josie is the most tech savvy when it comes to editing. There was not much we had to change about the shots, however there were a handful we deleted from the clip that were in the rough cut. We are currently finding the sounds for our opening, and are testing out these sounds with the clip to see what fits best. The hardest part, ironically, is finding the perfect scream. The scream is an important part of the video, and we wanted to incorporate that classic scream that plays in every horror movie.

Josie and I were using YouTube's audio library to find a mysterious tune that can play in the background of the first couple shots. Our idea was for the noise to start quietly when the Stalker is in the frame, and for the noise to grow louder as Brittany approaches her car. To add some humor Josie came up with the idea of playing "Every Step You Take" by The Police on the car radio, strategically cutting to the lyrics "I'll be watching you" during the mirror shot. Luckily, we were able to capture the quality ambient sound of students chattering in the hallway.

Production: Diary Entry

March 4th, 2020

          This week we move into stage 5 (postproduction). Josie and I will be trying to finish this stage by the end of this week. Our film opening is mostly complete, I think that the video flows smoothly and that the editing is not noticeable. Out of the next stage I think that the sound and color correction of the opening is going to be the most difficult to do. On the bright side, Josie and I have found the font we want for our title "Look Who's Stalking?" By the next post I will post an example of what the title looks like! Below is a short shot by shot analysis of the film opening.

In this tracking shot, Josie held the camera in front of her while walking backwards ahead of me. This angle appealed to us because we wanted the audience to get a mid shot view of Brittany walking through the halls. The students in the background of this shot also showed off the setting of the film.

For the Stalker's costuming, we wanted to keep it simple and stick with the traditional clothing. The actor (Cody) was dressed in all black attire from the waist up, wearing a black hoodie and baseball cap. Josie and I took inspiration from the hit Netflix show "You", the character's costuming also concealed the Stalker's identity and made him appear mysterious.

I was unable to insert this snippet of the video into the post, but if you watch the rough cut posted in the previous entry you can see this tilt shot in action. I was really happy with how good this shot came out, the cars in the parking lot again emphasize the film's mise en scene. When discussing sound for the film, Josie thought it would be funny to play "Every Step You Take" by The Police. 

The action peaks in our opening during this shot, when Brittany realizes that the Stalker is hiding in the back of her car. In postproduction I'm hoping that a "sting" will amplify the jump scare Josie and I wanted to create.

The Rough Cut

Here is the rough cut for our film!

          After watching the video, I could immediately tell a change in the effectiveness of the film's mise en scene. The lighting remained consistent throughout the entire shooting process, which will make color correction much easier in post production. Josie and I still have some things to fix in our opening, such as the differences in the Stalker's costuming and the jump cuts that include other students. I think that the addition of sound over the clip will help set the tone for the film and enhance the jump scare placed at the end of the scene, I'm really happy with the footage we captured! Today in class, everyone had a chance to show their rough cut to another student, and was able to receive feedback on what is great and what could be improvised in the rough cut.

Below is the peer reflection for "Look Who's Stalking?":

1. What is the setting (time and place)? How can you tell?
PHS, Modern day (present day). It is at the school, smartphones. “Push to start” car.

2. Who are the character(s)? How can you tell?

The first is an innocent girl and a super creep that is following her. I can tell because these are the only characters that are focused on.

3. What is the movie going to be about? How can you tell?
A guy that creeps on girls, the film establishes that there is a guy following a girl which implies that this has happened before and may happen again.

4. What genre is the film? How can you tell?
Mystery/Thriller. The lack of any climax and the ellipsis after man appears in the car do not just tell the viewer what is happening.

5. To what extent is it readable as a film opening?
The film starts out as a normal day for the main character and we are given an idea on what the film will be about. And the bell can be recognized as the sudden start to a movie.

6. Overall, how might the clarity of meaning in the video be improved?
There’s some shots where it goes from people being there to no one being there (jump cuts).

Production: Diary Entry

March 2nd, 2020

          Today we started reshooting. After first period, we asked if my partner, Josie, could leave class a little early to position herself for our first shot. We planned for Josie to stand outside the classroom door, and to film all of the students coming out of class before Brittany (Me) makes her grand entrance. Josie proposed the idea last week while we were planning the shots, to have Brittany be on the phone with someone for the majority of the scene. I think that adding the phone as a prop was a great idea, since it shows the audience the tine period the movie is set in and also gives reason for Brittany to be distracted from her Stalker. Filming this shot was interesting, after the bell rang there were many students walking in the halls to their next class. I thought that this setting might be a problem at first because of the amount of students that would be in the frame, I was worried that people would get in the camera's way as Josie filmed the tracking shots and would block the view. However, we quickly solved this problem by waiting till the end of the passing period so Josie would have a clearer path for filming. 

          We also decided to use the steep set of stairs we have on campus more, this new setting helped establish the transition of our characters from the school grounds to the student parking lot. Josie filmed a couple of shots similar to the ones used in the first take, however we altered these shots to have better angles and to help preserve continuity. To make the last shots of the scene scarier, we made our Stalker (Cody) position himself closer to Brittany. In post production, I'm hoping that adding some sharp toned music will help amp up the jump scare factor we were trying to achieve. Some issues we faced while reshooting were the differences of our Stalker character's costume between the 1st time we filmed and today. Josie fixed this issue by suggesting that we film this character from the waist up, so that we could use the shots we wanted from the 1st shooting day. I think that today's shooting went a lot smoother, and that the addition of other students on campus and in the parking lot really helped enhance our film's mise en scene.

Production: Changes and Revisions

          As mentioned in the previous post, shooting did not go as planned for the film. Josie and I decided to re-shoot, and luckily we had extra days in our shooting schedule to do this. We are going to shoot again tomorrow, and have created a more detailed shot plan for our opening. It also came to our attention that the mise en scene of our film was not looking how we wanted it to be. After looking over all of the footage, we found that the lack of other students or "extras" on campus during shooting made the film appear awkward and did not make sense. We figured that by shooting the majority of our takes during the school day/passing period, the addition of students walking around the school campus would help our film's narrative come across much clearer.

          It was also decided that we would be taking out some of the more unnecessary shots from the beginning of the opening, and that in re-shooting we would focus more on having smooth transitions to preserve continuity. That being said, Josie and I chose to not re-film the locker scene we intended for our film to have. We felt that this particular action did not flow with the rest of the opening and would be much more of a hassle to re-shoot again. However, in order to add some humor to our film Josie has written up a new script that allows us to included different types of dialogue for our main character, Brittany. I am much happier with the new plan Josie and I have in mind for re-shooting, and I feel that this plan will make filming much easier and will result in a higher quality product. Wish us luck, again!

Production: Shooting day

          On Tuesday, Josie and I began filming for Look Who's Stalking? We filmed for about an hour and a half, and ended up with a variety of video clips. We ran into some issues during shooting, such as noticeable changes in lighting, unplanned shots, and improvised camera angles. It has also come to our attention after watching the rough cut, that Brittany being the only student on campus doesn't make sense. After discussing what was wrong with the shots, Josie and I have agreed to reshoot the film. Reshooting would be tough, considering that everyone involved in the film has conflicting schedules. However, in order to get the best quality we can for this project we would need to reshoot the film and cut out a majority of the shots recorded previously. This dilemma has caused me to realize how important a detailed storyboard is to the production process, and how thoroughly planning shots can help reduce problems such as the one my group is facing. Below, I will reference some of the shots and clips in our opening that will need to be fixed during reshooting.

This shot was added in the film last minute, and it didn't end up how we imagined it in our minds. I think that the reason this shot didn't turn out how we wanted because we didn't experiment with more angles, although this shot is difficult to achieve when filming with an iPhone camera.

The lighting differences between the two shots can be seen very clearly here. Using two still frames from the clip, the changes in lighting make a big different in the tone of the scene. On the top, the shot is much more clear and vibrant; while on the bottom, the shot is tinted yellow and is slightly blurred.

The security camera shot, didn't come out exactly how we wanted either. In order to correctly get the angle required for this shot, Josie would have had to get up on a very high surface such as the roof. While Josie contemplated doing this for a minute, as a group we decided that the shot wasn't worth the potential injury. We tried to manipulate the angle by filming from the second floor of a building, however, after watching the rough cut we chose to keep this shot but change the camera position.

Blog Peer/Self Evaluation

        In class today, we did a worksheet that asked us to grade the blogs of other students in the class. This worksheet was split up into two parts" peer evaluation and self evaluation. I found this assignment really helpful, as it highlighted the strengths and weaknesses in my current blog posts. I also liked that the assignment called for us to reference evidence from one another's blog, this made it easier to see what I was doing right in my blog and what I could improve on.

        Overall, I was very pleased with the evaluation I received from my fellow classmate. She spoke to me about how she liked the research I did into the horror genre and that my shot by shot analysis were well done. I was very proud she noticed the extensive research I conducted at the beginning of this project, and I am happy I enhanced my knowledge on the horror comedy genre and the horror tropes used in film. This section of the rubric (AO4), is probably the most important part of the project to me; by obtaining knowledge on your film's genre, this helps the project become easier to complete and not as stressful. However, I was surprised I scored highly in the AO3 section since these posts weren't as thorough as I would like. As far as the AO2 section, I found out today while Josie and I were shooting the film that I could have planned the shots out much more. Our basic storyboard guided us along the way, although we did have to experiment and add in shots we did not think of when drawing up the storyboard and script. 

Ft. Josie's cut out of Lizzo

As mentioned above, Josie and I began filming today! It took us about an hour and a half to get all of the shots we needed for the "rough cut" of the film, but I am so excited to show you guys what the (almost) finished project looks like!

Preproduction: Sounds

          During production my group hopes to record some ambient sound since this is hard to recreate artificially. Luckily we will be recording outside, this will give us the opportunity to capture some noises such as the wind rustling the tree branches or the footsteps of our two characters. The footsteps may need to be recreated during post production depending on how loud we want the steps to be, and if we change our mind on the shots used to show the characters walking. I want the sound for this project to add authenticity to our opening, and I think that using real life ambient sound or background sound would be much easier than recording it in post production.

          As far as dialogue, I am sure we will have to record the majority of the conversations between the characters later on in the project. Even if the characters voices could be heard during the rough cut, the wind and other noises might take away from the characters discussions. While Josie and I are not planning on recording much dialogue for our opening sequence, we do have a few humorous lines that are important to the scenes. These lines pertain to our main character, Brittany, the Stalker in the film is not going to speak at all to add some mystery to this character and to make shooting easier overall. There are some on-screen sounds however that may need to be individually captured, like the sound of the locker smacking the Stalker in the head or the notification noises that originate from Brittany's phone. Basically, the way we have our film set up the most significant sounds will be recorded after shooting (typical for most films). Josie and I are so excited for the next step in our project, we start shooting "Look Who's Stalking?" tomorrow (let's hope we get it all done)!

Preproduction: Technology

          Josie and I are going to begin shooting in 2 days, we are almost halfway done with our project! We also decided that I would be playing the role of Brittany, and our good friend (Cody) will be playing the role of the Stalker. After searching for actors to play our role, we realized that we don't have enough time to wait for applicants. Personally, I have no acting experience however I have the best acting coach of all time: Josie. I'm hoping that we can get all of the filming done in one day, and I think that with our detailed storyboard and shot plan this will be easier to accomplish. For filming we will be using Josie's phone, which is an iPhone 11.

As far as technology, my group will be using an iPhone 11 for shooting. This phone has not one, but TWO cameras on the back! Further details about the camera are listed below:

• 12-megapixel "wide" camera with f/1.8 aperture with optical image stabilization (OIS)
• 12-megapixel "ultra wide" camera with f/2.4 aperture and 120-degree field of view
• Uses the same 12MP ultra-wide camera found in the iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max

The iPhone 11 is also said to have "improved video stabilization, same video capture at 4K resolution at up to 60 frames per second on all cameras." With such great camera quality, filming with this device makes shooting much easier compared to a bulky camera.

Sources:
Wong, Raymond. “IPhone 11 Review: More 'pro' than It Looks.” Mashable, 17 Sept. 2019, mashable.com/feature/apple-iphone-11-review/.