Learning to use Equipment (Planning)

 I was given equipment in order to start production, what was presented was a phone holder that attached to the tripod that was given also. It has 3 straps on the bottom in which can be used to extend the height of the tripod. There is also a turn system to have a center stick go up and down to reach any prefer height needed. 

Picture of the tripod

                                                               Picture of the phone holder
    

What also proved to be used in my film was a mini tripod that was the size of my hand. This would be useful in order to achieve stillness in the homework shot showing Tanek watching a comedian.

                                                               Picture of the mini tripod

The equipment was very easy to learn, additionally I have a microphone we can use. The problem is that the connector is only using lightning. Since I have USB-C then I won't be able to use it yet.

                                                               Picture of the microphone
           

                                                                Showing the lightning port

In the end, Im going to set up the tripod in a location that will be used for a shot in the film. Therefore, I can format my room to what stuff needs to get out of the way.

In this picture above, I put the tripod on my desk so that we can use it for scene three in which will take at my desk. This gives a better idea of where I'm going to record from to know what my shots are going to look like.

Music being used in our film (Planning)

 Music in our film is going to be needed as we need to provide different music for two scenes. Since my film has three scenes, why not have music for the third one? Well, it's a scene in which music is not played because of its shortness and suspense I want to make of what will happen next. Now, some of the music will be gotten from external sources, the other will be made in order to provide some unique music to our film.

The choice for the first scene

In our first scene, we are going to make our own music. The scene itself does describe a tense situation not in a much happy setting. Therefore, we are making suspense music. My sound designer will be in charge for making the music, as I asked him to start making this certain music for the first scene. Its not going to be much of a hyped beat but a slow and soft beat. This is the vision I have for the first piece of music.

The choice for the second scene

The second scene is going to be different from the first scene. Instead of it being serious, its going to be more upbeat this time. A music that would match that I thought was great was...

 

Now my vision saw the whole scene and would best describe to put a Michael Jackson song that is upbeat enough. The song will start as soon as the title of the film appears, in which some parts of the music will stop to some moments of the scene, then return back. I felt like putting this song in the background to convey more excitement into Tanek's life.

Bettering on my Production Proposal Using Storyboards (Reflection)

 Our production proposal is everything for our planner, one main part of the proposal is the storyboard. What a storyboard does is that it shows us a sketch of a certain shot we want to do in our film.

This is the storyboard we had in our production proposal, only 6 shots that were sketched by me. The most critism that came from the storyboard is that there is not enough for how much shots we are doing. 

I made a second storyboard of other shots I need to do in my film. These sketches give an idea of what the base idea of the shot is. I dont want to forget how the shot works and needs, so the storyboard is very useful in that. In the end, I think adding more storyboards in my production proposal would better up the ideas of all shots I have in mind. 

Bettering on my Production Proposal Using a Timeline (Reflection)

 The production proposal is planner in which people use it to show what a certain film contains. The goal is to show how its going to be made, why it should be funded, or be approved. 

Better Planning

My group made a production proposal to know what we were planning. Our goal was to get our film idea approved in order to start production. But now we got ourselves approved by our teacher. Otherwise, there is more that I missed while making my production proposal. My goal was to understand the mistakes I made and what I can do better to correct them and make a better proposal. 

This video showed a series of ideas that a production proposal is needed. One thing that I didn't have the idea of including in my production proposal was a timeline in order to make deadlines clearer. This idea was something I did not think of and something that shows to work as a professional planner for filmmaking. The closest planner I have to a timeline is my call sheet. I do note all recording dates and times but I do not plan the rest of the production. I also dont include anything about post-production and deadlines we have to meet when it comes to editing. In which the timeline does include that part of production. As we didn't see the potential of a timeline in our film, we get to not show and plan the rest after production is done. As we are basically in production, I think making a timeline too late and should have been thought before. 

I made a timeline corresponding with the current situation we are in right now. As pre-production is already done and check marked. This is a rough draft of the timeline, as the real timeline would have more side detail of the objectives needed to do in that stage of production.

Expanding on Film Vocabulary (Research)

Something over time that I show to lack is the knowledge of film vocabulary used correctly. I noticed this while trying to make my production proposal. There are definitely terms I need to figure out and study to correctly use them in order to know what I'm saying. 

Something I said was a "leveled angle", this is not the correct use of a certain type of angle in film and therefore needs to be corrected.

After watching this video, I got a better understanding for the angles I didnt know about. What I meant to say instead of "leveled angle" was eye-level angle. This angle is where the camera is placed at the same height as the subject's eyes. I also did the same thing for when we have to show a hip-level angle. 

What I also saw to not understand much was the use of the sizes of the shots. Although I do know some shot sizes, I don't know every single one. For example, I decided to use "medium shot" a lot to describe something that is a little bit close to the camera.

After watching this video, now I know the difference between all shots. Supposedly there was a other shot called a medium wide shot in which one of my shots contain that was named as a medium shot. The medium shot is a shot from the waist up of the character. A medium wide shot is the mid-thigh up of the character. Not much difference but they are still different terms. I also saw that a medium close-up shot exists, in which showed that one of my shots also contain this certain term. I saw the close up shot as the term to see the shoulder up of the character. 

Now that I know my mistakes of using the wrong film terms to describe the certain type of shots, I can have a better understanding of the shots I need to record.

Creating the Storyboard (Planning)

Storyboards in film are very important before filming. I wanted to make sure the storyboard was staying true to the vision of what scenes need to be presented with the dialogue. Because I am working as the cinematographer and director of the film, I need to present a simple storyboard to know the base of the most important shots needed in the film. I wanted the angles of the shot to match the sketch, but in doing so were very hard to recreate. Trying to imagine a real scene into a flat image is very hard to visualize. So when it comes to filming, I'll look back on the storyboard to get a general base idea of the shot, then to see what notes I had for the shot that needed to be different. I made sure the sketches were best so that no miscommunication would happen on our first day of filming.

Our title: Undercover Comedian (Planning)

 "Undercover Comedian" will be the title of our film. The film being this title does already convey some expectations right off the bat. The meaning behind this title is to show that people don't know that Tanek is a comedian. Therefore, he is undercover as a comedian. It also adds irony to the title of him being an agent. As this film is an action and comedy, I think this title does present the best balance of both genres. 

Title Examples from Popular Films

In some examples of comedy movie titles. They present who, what or where in the titles of the movie. One good example is the movie Keanu (2016). This title presents a certain character that plays a big part of the story's plot. Same idea used for my film, a character that plays a big part of the story's plot. This does put an expectation on the viewers based on the title, how will this undercover comedian influence the story? Another movie that follows this character title is Ted (2012) this movie also presents an important character that will heavily affect the plot. Using these examples, we used the same strategy of knowing our character before the film even started.

                                                                         Keanu (2016)

Ted (2012)

Location Considerations (Planning)

 As we are shaping our vision of the entire film. One thing to consider is the location based on the recording of the film. In order to minimalize the locations based on the film. We decided to make sure that all the scenes are manageable in one location. In order to achieve this, we want to make this location as similar to our vision. 

Our Location

In which the location will be using my own house. Now there are multiple scenes that uses a personal room. In which, using my room we can achieve this type of setting. As we need to fit the style of a lively room that our main character lives in. We will mostly be using my room in order to make these scenes. The other scenes will use different parts of my house. Most importantly, the first scene. We need a long hallway that doesn't look that lively and "still". What I can do about this is the use of my main part of the house. As it goes from the door to the other side to the house without needing to move. This would of course need to be recorded a little late because of the semi dark setting, if we do this in daytime, then too much light would not fit the mood. Next, we have the rest of the scenes, our close ups of objects will be made using my room as a small studio place to record these actions. To be clear, in order to record a paper being flipped, we need to make sure it doesn't look like it's in the wrong setting. I'll be using other sites of my house in order to make the settings different in between these cuts.

I made this sketch of the base locations of where each scene will be recorded.

Choosing Actors (Planning)

 For our film, we are going to focus on three main actors that are shown in our film. This will tell us what possible ideas fit with the possible actors available to me. None of the actors spots have been confirmed yet and is still in progress due to bad timing.

Character 1- Tanek

Tanek is our main character and the comedic agent of the movie. In past references, I envisioned Tanek to be a white American. Tanek will be a confident character that will present to be doing the most minimal actions. One actor in my roster has the qualities that I want as this character. One named Oscar will fit perfectly for this role. They have a passion for being in films and mostly voice acting in which my film does present. I think his personality does match Tanek's. Gathering clothes could complete this character for the use of our film. If I were get a professional actor for this role, it would be Tom Cruise to fit his part.

Tom Cruise in Top Gun (1986)

Character 2,3- Guard 1,2

Guards 1 and 2 is our next actor needed for our film. They will be presented in the first scene of the film. Choosing the qualities of being a guard can be anyone. Meaning there are no limits on who I need to exclude based on qualities. Who ever has the best fitting schedule with my time of recording will fit best of being a guard. The guards will be needing some formal type of clothes, the guards will not be using sunglasses as getting a mystery of who this character is (Tanek). 

My Concerns about the roster of actors

My friends who ultimately are my targets for acting all have a special event coming up. Based on this event, most of them will be out for Feb 28 to March 4. This puts a tight schedule of when I'm going to record the film. Knowing this, I made sure to include parts where not much characters are shown in the film. Which is one thing that saves the film from being late.

Writing the Script (Planning)

 This week, my group has completed our script. This marks a significant milestone as now we have the most important foundation to further build up for out storyboard and shot list. With all the dialogue in place, we can start focusing on how we want our shots to look like. Which makes this step way better than before. As a director, I want to ensure that the dialogue perfect fits for what goes on in the scene. I also gathered ideas from my other member so that we both have the ideas of what the dialogue will be about.

Although our dialogue is pretty much solidified, I want to revisit the script with my group to add some notes on possible improvements. For example, one of the first scenes is Tanek facing two guards. This scene makes it where Tanek passes through two guards by the use of giving candy to them. The guards act calmly that a stranger is going up to them. And the quick grab from the pocket doesn't bring danger to the guards. But I feel the dialogue of the guards did not fit the situation and reaction of the takeout of candy. Normal people would think that the agent would quickly take out a weapon in this situation, I want to convey that reaction into the guards. This would make it a more natural reaction, especially for those who work for outcasts.

To make improvements in this part. Instead of "You, what your business here", we can put more natural reaction and say "Hey, who are you?". This would help give more mystery of the character with the sunglasses. Because Tanek doesn't talk at all in this scene, we need a response relating to the lack of talking. The guards will be blocking Tanek's way, by being side to side each other.

Example of how I envision the guard to be Infront of Tanek

Fully Knowing Our Film (Planning)

 We have a base of what our introduction is going to talk about. Now lets fill in the rest of the holes that weren't covered.

What mission is this?

Our agent is recruited for a mission to get a special microchip that contains classified documents that belongs to the agency. The people who are keeping this microchip are called " The Denouement" meaning the end of plot of a event. The Denouement is keeping this microchip as a way to end this agency acting as its final plot point of its existence. Our agent is hired to get that microchip to save the agency. We are going to go into the introduction of why our protagonist is comedic.

This will be the logo for "The Denouement"

Backstory

Our protagonist was overall smart at a young age and showed signs of a bright future. But was overshadowed by the passion of being a comedian. Growing up they practiced jokes to make people laugh. But never found success in getting an opportunity to be a famous comedian. One day they needed a job in which they signed up for a secret operation for an agency without knowing. They passed over lots of skilled agents by the use of comedy and accidental actions. The actions mostly were sneaking past guards to see who a good sneaky person could be. Which brings us to the present.

Knowing this we finally know what to start scripting and what plans we have for shots to make this into a film.

How We Are Introducing Our Protagonist (Planning)

In our film, we will have to introduce our protagonist. But there are many introduction that don't show much of the character at all. Therefore, we are going something that will constantly give action while giving backstory with comedic focus.

What I plan to show

As the first scene of the film, we discussed what it was going to be and what it was going to look like. From there, we have to introduce a narration of our protagonist. In order to achieve this, we are going to show multiple scenes of our protagonist doing actions that tie with the introduction. We were planning on explaining why our protagonist was intitled into this mission as an agent. In doing so, we were going to show scenes which action happens during the mission. But the mission isn't done yet, and so that's what the rest of the film is going to be about. We also have to combine comedic effect into this introduction. Unusual or funny habits can provide humor to the audience. Explaining backstory events that shows connection of the protagonist's character. Now that we have shown the character and mission of our protagonist. We need to know what to say.

Personality

Our protagonist signed up to be an agent because of his master working skill in sneaking past people. They also wanted to be a comedian growing up but went in the wrong path when they accidentally signed up to work for an agency. Therefore, it's a balance of comedy and action they need to keep when doing their job. Knowing this, we know what type of person our protagonist is and what stupid things will happen in the future with this combination of events.

In the picture above is a rough draft of what I imagined our protagonist to look like. Following a white American person stereotype of being very stupid and funny at the wrong times. 

This is a picture with them having sunglasses on, showing us what they are going to look like in the opening scene of the film. But having a white person as our protagonist does limit my selection of actors who can provide a help in acting as our protagonist. A Sudden sacrifice that we have to take in this film. Now that we know what we have to talk about in the introduction and what this means about our character, we have a better foundation of the film's opening.

Learning Passing Shots (Implementation)

 In order to achieve this passing shot. I need to test the recording I have to do before editing. I will show the two shots that I need to record for the passing shots.

What about it?

The top clip goes first as the second clip is next. As you can see if edited this would turn into a passing shot transition. My editor (Justin) is researching his way into knowing how to edit this type of transition. Taking one shot of the first clip then putting it with the second is one way into making this transition true. Overall, the transition is pretty simple to record. I will make my editor do some trial edits of this transition with the supervision of me. Based on the results will further decide how much work my editor will need to learn this type of shot. Now in the video, of course is a very rough draft of the transition itself. When we shoot, we will use walls or objects to transition between scenes is what I envision. Me and my editor will keep close ties into this certain type of shot the most out of all the shots we are doing. This is the shot I want to excel in order to show meaning of my film while people are laughing. Now that I organized what shots I need to focus on the most, I can start producing ideas using this transition.

Learning Passing Shots (Research)

Another shot I wanted to introduce to my film was a passing shot. I was inspired by how Edgar Wright uses transition shots in his films. I will learn about they meaning of passing shots and a guide to do it.

This video was perfect for showing all editing transitions. But most importantly they go over the passing shot. This shot is to convey the ongoing momentum of the scene. Doing the passing shot is also one way to show a continuous sequence of actions, which is something that we want to include in our film.

The picture above shows a frame of what a passing shot has. Based on me being the cinematographer and not a editor I will discuss this shot that my editor will need to work on getting used to so that they know what to do. As for now, I need to move on the side and cut to a different setting. My editing skills are okay in which I think I can have a rough draft of what I'm looking for. I know that I have to show partially of the setting while it slides. Now I know what a passing shot does and how to do it.

Learning Whip Pans (Implementation)

 After knowing the meaning behind the whip pan and the guide to do it. I will try myself to attempt a whip pan so that I can have the skill needed when filming. Doing so I got my phone and launched the Blackmagic Camera. I'm going to do multiple attempts to see my improvement over time. 

This was attempt 1 of doing a whip pan.

                                                     This was attempt 2 of doing a whip pan

What I learned from this

First of all, doing whip pans with no tripod is very hard to stabilize the camera. Now of course I will use a tripod in the film, but it shows how important having a tripod is compared to someone holding it.

What I can Improve 

When I was holding the phone, I would whip facing down which is something that doesn't make my attempts good. I will try to align the center of the camera to not move up or down. In that way I can have the whip pan leveled like its supposed to be.

In attempt 3, I made sure it was leveled. In result I did slow down the whip, all attempts show a difference of speed of the whip. Attempt 3 was slower and attempt 1 and 2 is faster. I would like to balance in between in speed to make sure it doesn't look bad. Now I know what needs to be worked on and what I expect as of whip pans in our film.

Getting The Best Movie Recording Software (Research)

To even start recording our film, first I need to get a movie recording app to better recording quality of life. I know using the basic camera is not good enough. I will research a better app that is recommended to use for film. 

Why not use the basic camera?

The basic camera on ones phone is not enough to record a film. This is because of its simple features and its use for the average person with the phone. This means that it doesn't fit the complex settings of a real camera used for film. The basic camera app also has little options to fix the camera in someway. The recording also is tied into the gallery of the phone, meaning that importing the video to a computer is harder as is.

Introducing BlackMagic Camera

Blackmagic Camera came as the most recommended free camera used for film. The app itself is a camera with tons of settings that cinematographers can change anytime. I watched this video below which gave me a quick introduction to the tons of options in front of me.

Watching the video told me every use of the possible settings it gives. I have downloaded it on my phone to later use it for filming. This tutorial was helpful in giving me a brief guide of what to do. Now, I know that the camera isn't perfect yet, as there are more settings the video didn't cover. Whenever I need to research a certain type of shot in the camera app, I will try to figure out the potential settings that activate it later on. 

This is the base idea of what the camera in action looks like.

Learning Whip Pans (Research)

 One shot I want to include in our film are whip pans. Recently I had the idea to introduce whip pans because of Edgar Wright. In order to know how to do a whip pan, I need to know what a whip pan does in plot.

How does it tie with plot?

A whip pan is a fast vertical or horizontal movement of the camera. It is mostly used to convey speed and urgency, it also acts as a sudden shift of focus. Whip pans are mostly seen in action, comedy and intense senses. Whip pans would be perfect to show action with the side of comedy, which is our idea. Showing a point A to point B is one the main reasons used, we can use this idea to imagine scene ideas of our character introduction. In the video below is what I watched to gain more knowledge on whip pans.

Learning Whip Pan

Because I am taking the role as a cinematographer I want to show creative shot ideas to give my film the most meaning. Learning the whip pan isn't going to be smooth at first, I was going to need to practice. In the video below is what I watched to learn the whip pan.

This video showed different methods of a whip pan. This video was helpful in giving a detailed guide on whip pans. Me being the director and cinematographer using whip pans will still be challenging but worth it in the end when it works. 

Making Our Storyline (Planning)

In order to start getting a great idea of what we are going to show, we need to start thinking about the base scene of the start of the film. We know we want to do a comedic spy/agent movie, with that in mind our group discussed about it.

Our start of the film

I imagined for our start of the film to introduce our protagonist by having them walk silently with a fancy suit on. Making sure that the protagonist has a red tie to symbolize the expected spy look. Making sure they have sunglasses on to look like they are doing a mission. In this quick illustration that I drew, we can see how I made the protagonist walk to the camera. But there is a bigger question. Why is there an outside and inside version?

Having Backup scenes

I know that when filming stuff will never go in your favor. Meaning if one scene can't be achieved then the other can be made. Many directors have to take fact that not everything will be perfect. Therefore, I made two different versions of the opening. Because this is an action-comedy film I want to present the overall seriousness of the agent. The inside variation will be taken inside a building that light behind the agent can shine upon their arrival building that intensity in an action film. The outside variation focuses more on the hybrid type, you don't expect a spy to be walking outside with flowers around them, that ties into how this won't really be much of a super serious agent movie. There is a possibility that both scenes are possible to be made. In my eyes, I would prefer the inside variation more than the outside variation. Knowing that I started my base of the film's idea this will bring ongoing ideas of what to present next.

Taking Inspiration From Edgar Wright (Research)

 

Edgar Wright

Edgar Wright is a British director mostly known for the "Three Flavors Cornetto" trilogy. These three movies all contain action and comedy. This director is a master at doing hybrids with these genres. Meaning I could take some inspiration from Edgar Wright to later apply in my film. 

These three movies is what made up the trilogy which all include action and comedy.

I will watch the video below to get a sense of what Edgar Wright thinks about when making a hit film, I will use this video to grow on how to master this type of hybrid genre that I can take ideas to use it for myself. This will develop me as a better director and leader. 

After watching the whole video I understand what he thinks during the process. He flips genre by rethinking how comedy works and how it can be combined with any genre if mastered. Edgar Wright uses a script road map in order to have a formula of his movies. He implements visuals and music to combine together into a series of action and music. Edgar Wright continues his story with a paper and a pencil, he draws what is on his mind and later animates to apply further details. Edgar Wright's storyboards are something to take note on. Edgar Wright's editing is something that impresses me. Him mastering whip pans and wipe transitions. Overall, I have learned what a director does and think, great director methods to better the quality of production and scenery. 

Representation in film (Research)

Representation is a big part of what makes films have hidden symbols and meaning. In this film of ours, we want to represent a comedic agent that has an important mission to complete. Using representation, we can show all that in a short amount of time.

Representing our protagonist

Our protagonist will be going through a mission, it just so happens that they don't take many actions seriously. In order to represent that our person is a spy we need to look from what all spy's have in common based on "Hollywood". One appearance in common is the use of well-tailored clothes, this basically is the use of suits that shows its perfection of a spy they are. Ties are also a frequent use of one's style. Spy's also have sunglasses to show minimal identification with calm movements at the same time. This representation is what makes someone look like a spy. The most popular example of this use of fashion is with James Bond. He is an iconic spy that uses the same fashion as any other spy. Having a comedic spy with these clothes will tell us that he wasn't the best one for the job.

Picture of James Bond

Representing our mission

The mission at hand is what further concludes the plot, we need to show what the mission is about by providing sudden action. A fight scene or a stunt is a example of what action movies show. A secret stealth mission would also work towards the plot of the film. A spy in a setting of opposing people around them shows that this mission is not a joke. It also puts us already in the action which brings more intensity to the plot. One film makes a good example of this use of representation. Mission Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015), it starts us out during the midst of the action. Tom cruise attempting a plane stunt shows us how serious this mission is and therefore leads out the plot for the rest of the film. Its not like we are doing to do a stunt like that, but it shows how incredible representation in this scene was to scope out the rest of the mission.

Mission Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015)