CCR

My final thoughts...
    https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_QeNQHCxX8eOvcGnRdLjJWwDGpV-_Eeb/view?usp=sharing
Thank you for listening and following me through this process,
Larissa Sallowicz

Film Opening

Good morning,
     I finally finished my portfolio piece. Below is a horror/thriller film about Charles, a mentally ill man who doesn't know how to take no for an answer.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1F9hR99p5b2r52dCcooSNh6ugjuYRq5H0/view?usp=sharing

I hope you enjoy,
Larissa Sallowicz

Reflection

Good afternoon,

Now that I have finished this process I believe it is important for me to reflect on how it went and the overall project.

For my portfolio foundation piece, I produced a horror/suspense film opening which I aimed to leave the viewer wondering what happened next. My film is called “Uninvited” and it is based off a man named Charles in a coffee shop who prays on his victim, a female young adult is known as Mia.

   My male Charles is based off a mentally unstable stalker which desire stems from rejection. This character is a product of the basic stalker ideal due to where his desires stemmed from. Charles represents the issue of stalking and preying on victims, whether it be a female like Mia or just an individual in harm's way due to others which cannot control their desires and urges. I believe that the character Mia is also in tune with the basic female victim which is represented often in media, she is being kind yet assertive and is trying to get away due to clear discomfort. For the most part, I stuck to basic stereotypes and conventions represented in other media and did not stem too far out of the norm in terms of my characters roles, who they represent, and the way they played the characters

     When I consider how I wanted to engage my audience I focused on making my main character, Charles, someone who would leave a lasting impression on my viewers. I wanted chills to go down the spine of those who watched my film opening leaving them wanting to see more, however, I am not sure I was able to fully achieve this. My only concern with regards to my film is that I was not able to achieve the level of freight that I wanted to. Due to the fact, my film is supposed to be scary and suspenseful I would choose specific means of distribution to get it out. I would focus my ads mostly on social media getting the attention of young adults as well as ads which show the eerie creepiness in Charles and the vulnerability in Mia in order to further grab the attention of the audience.

       As I look back from the start of this project to where I am now, my production skills have developed greatly. I believe the skill of mine which has developed the most is my film and directing skills. Before I never had directed individuals on how to act or what to do in front of a camera, however, as soon as I needed to I became a natural. I was quick to tell my actors what to do in a clear way that left no room for discrepancies. Furthermore, my prior filming skills using my iPhone camera were always quite shaky and unprofessional. However, looking at the film I made all of the shots which are meant to be still are, as well as the camera angles and film quality itself is better than anything I have ever done or made. Without a doubt, in comparison to before my skills have increased greatly, and as I continue into the world of film and media I only see them improving.

       To produce my project I used a variety of technologies. Starting from when I was writing it. I used software such as google docs in order to produce my project both at school and from home. However, when it comes to the actual production of my film I used the basic apple iPhone filming software. Once the film was already recorded I used iMovie to edit as well as the free trial of Final cut pro in order to add any final edits which I was not able to implement with iMovie. Besides the online software of Google Docs, I also used Blog spot in order to keep track of my process along the way of production.

       Overall, the production of my film opening taught me a lot from start to finish. I was able to develop my film, production, editing skills. I feel that I did a good job and am proud of my finished product although it is still not up to the standards I had set for myself in my mind. Looking back on my film I see opportunities of clips I could have filmed and added however I was already over the time limit which restricted me in many ways as well. Even Though I believe there is room for improvement in my project I feel that I succeeded in the task at hand and I hope I left my viewers looking behind them for the rest of the day as well.

The challenges of editing

Good Afternoon!
     I am currently in the Pittsburgh International Airport at the gate waiting for my flight to arrive. The weather took a bit of a turn as it began to snow so I hope my flight doesn't get delayed. But, either way, since I had a bit of free time I decided to begin editing my film and write a bit on my blog.
    I was able to get all of my film clips which I recorded transferred to my computer with ease due to airdrop. Then I put all of my clips in their necessary order on iMovie and saved the project. That's all I was able to do in my free time earlier, however, now I think it is time for me to actually begin editing and deconstructing the parts of my film opening.
    I am a bit worried as without any in-depth editing my film opening is longer than 3 minutes. That means I need to cut a good minute or more for it to fit the requirements. This makes me quite nervous as I feel every clip is necessary, I am just hoping that I am able to cut down on each clip enough to reach the time restraints.
     Another concern of mine is that I have no audio. My audio I planned to record all after as I wanted it to be voiceovers of only my male actor speaking. However, as the deadline approaches this makes me extremely nervous that I will not be able to get it all put together in time. However, my entire flight I am going to be editing my film along as writing up the lines I want my male role to record saying so that way I am as ready as possible.
Wish me luck,
Larissa Sallowicz

Filming Day

Good Afternoon,
   It's about an hour after I finished filming all of the shots I needed for my film opening. We ended up filming a day behind schedule due to the fact Ana my actress playing the female role could not make it on Wednesday. Due to this little set back I felt extremely nervous that I would not be able to finish it all. However, all of the filming is done for the most part. I believe that I just need to add a few establishing shots that I can go back later sometime this week to film.
   I leave for a flight to Pittsburgh tomorrow at 3am so this will give me plenty of time to do most of my editing on the flight there and flight back as I will have that time left over. Hopefully, the editing will not be too cumbersome or take too long but I have a feeling that it will.
   Overall though, I believe the filming went extremely well and I am feeling good about my project thus far. I am not sure, however, if it is exactly7 what I had in mind or if it will turn out up to my standards. I believe I will only find this out once I fully edit everything and get it ready to be turned into my teacher next week.
I hope it turns out well,
Larissa Sallowicz

The Plot Thickens

Hi, yeah I know it's midnight...

      But somehow binge watching my favorite shows has paid off again. Now, I don't know if you guys remember but back in my old blog posting's I mentioned how I was inspired by the Netflix series "YOU." Well, I got HULU and once more found myself binge-watching some other tantalizing television series. This recent show led to a complete change in my plot, let me explain.

       I was watching the show "9-1-1" which is an American drama series which captures the lives of the first responders. As I began to watch more and more of the episodes leading to me finishing the series an hour ago, I realized that there was a reoccurrence in almost every episode. Whenever there was some sort of traumatic incident occurring the camera shot would focus on one thing, such as the victim or perpetrator. Even though the camera would be on the incident the audio would be muted or have music behind it. In addition to the speech of the actors involved in that given scene. 

       This made me think of how well that concept would work for my opening, especially considering the level of spine-chilling I want to achieve.  I thought to myself instead of the male and female both having dialogue it would be mostly the male. I say this because when Ana is speaking she will be muted and instead the audio will just be Blaise's current thoughts about her character.  This mute to her audio along with the alarming ideas running through Charles (Blaise) head. I believe this will give me the best shot at pulling off the unhinged stalker role I am aiming to achieve.
Let's see where this leads!
Larissa Sallowicz

Film Crew... CHECK! Equipment... CHECK! Script...CHECK! - Time to begin

HELLO!
   Sorry for the loud welcome but I'm just exuberant considering I have finally found everyone who I want to be in my film. Now I know you might be thinking... "It took you long enough!" But I think it was just in time.
    Wednesday morning bright and early around 9am, I will be meeting with Ana and Blaise from my AICE media class to film all of the scenes I need. We are planning to meet there around 9:30am and be done before 12pm as Blaise has somewhere to be so he can film his opening. Taking this into consideration, I am quite nervous to see how that plays out. In order to save time, I have prepared everything we need on film day as well as printed out copies of the tentative script. I feel confident that I will be able to get most of my filming done focusing on the important shots and angles that require both of my actors. I will leave the shots which do not have the actors in them in my opening, such as establishing shots, for the end just in case we are running short on time.
    I'm excited to finally get this project started and get to my favorite part of production... Editing. Now you may be thinking I'm crazy as editing can be extremely cumbersome, I really enjoy it. I'll get to that later in my future blog posts, hopefully, this weekend while I'm traveling. The next step for me now is just to do a great shoot acquiring all of the shots I need and to get this wrapped up as soon as possible.
Stay Tuned!
Larissa Sallowicz