adieu

TDDUP has officially come to a close! How bittersweet; this project means so much to me and I am happy that this is how I will be closing out my senior year of high school in terms of productions. It has opened my eyes and made me realize that this is what I want to continue doing in the future and I could not be more excited :)

Until next time, thank you for watching!

CCR TDDUP

The Premiere!

Here it is! All my components!!

Short Film:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pem20kBRx1Q

Website: https://andreabriseno.wixsite.com/tildeathdouspart 


Postcard:
front


back

Project Reflection

     My Portfolio Project is pretty much done!! I am so excited to finalize this project and get the chance to view the work that all my peers have created!

     This project and process was definitely different from the portfolio project last year, for starters I was working by myself this time around which proved a bit of a challenge sometimes (oftentimes), I lost access to my actors half way through, then I lost access to my filming locations. Highly unexpected curve balls were being thrown left and right this year which was stressful to say the least, but I think I can safely say that I am happy and proud of the work and the pieces I created with the limited facilities I had available. Do I think there’s a chance that if Covid-19 had not been an obstacle my short film might’ve come out more like I’d envisioned it? Absolutely, but I can honestly say I gave it my greatest effort.

     I learned an abundance of skills and techniques from this creative process. I feel that I went into this project with a pretty low-moderate skill level in terms of production, but I definitely got the chance to hone this craft throughout the process. I can credit that with the fact that this is a completely hands on project and I did PLENTY of googling and researching and learning that I would’ve never done otherwise. Some days I was looking up the smallest things like “how to screenshot on a laptop,” miniscule things that I just didn’t know but now I do that I feel could probably help me at some point in the future whether I decide to continue in this field or not. My editing skills have improved as well, although nowhere near exceptional.

     I’m upset that we didn't have the opportunity to do as many group meetings because I love hearing about everyone’s project and getting feedback for my own project and learning from each other. However, in some way we are all brought together by this shared experience.

     The overall vibe of my project was certainly different from what I’d consider my usual theme and energy, so getting to experiment with new style and going out of my comfort zone is something that I am glad I got the opportunity to do; especially in terms of the website and the postcard.

     My ultimate goal with this project was to create something that I could feel proud in exhibiting to others and I think I achieved that.

EDITING AHH

     On Monday I began doing some editing, I started by changing up some of the colors in the shots; I decided that the afterlife would all be done in cool tones and the “alive shots” would have warmer tones. Then I went through what I already had and took notes as to what I still needed, they looked something like this.

editing notes:
- demonic voices in the first scene make it in garage band ???
- the entire eyeline match of the bible !!!
- add demonic voices to before the video starts
- add somber and suspenseful music to jael making the cake
- missing vo line
- game show music
- neutral working music for making the cake
- figure out that apple scene audio !!
- ding for the timer
- music for the cake eating sequence ???
- credits !!?!??

     I got cracking on those notes by adding the voiceovers I was missing and fixing some audio stuff; unfortunately, I was having trouble with my microphone and my computer was spazzing out so I lost a lot of time restarting and updating my computer three times. Once it was up and running again I decided to stop trying to fix what I was doing and instead moved to the music. I went to one of my favorite platforms, the Youtube audio library and started searching. I found some songs that I liked and wrote them down.

youtube audio library contenders:
- mysteries dan lebowitz (baking)
- etherial choir ascends (eating)
- the evening of departure (eating)
- angus del x - bitter suite (killing)
- jukebox by patrick patrikios(opening/closing credits)
reminder: credit songs in description!!

     Today I picked which songs I was going to use and put them into the film. I went with a mostly choral sound for the music because I wanted the film to feel like a religious ceremony in certain parts. I added some sound effects that I was missing which I got from the audio iMovie offers and then I went back to what was giving me problems the day before. Again I struggled a lot with my microphone, but I was able to get some of the voiceovers that I needed. However, I really wanted to make these layered creepy whispering sounds in Garage Band to put into the film but it was just not happening for me. So, I scrolled through some royalty free sound effect websites and found exactly what I needed, this indiscernible creepy whispering voice, I downloaded it and added it to the movie. I ended up layering this audio a few times in different pitches so that it would sound creepier and like more people were whispering.

I finished the first final edit and showed it to my mom, my best friend and her sister and got their feedback. I was met with some very positive reactions ! They all really enjoyed it which made me so happy! I’m going to revisit editing again later in the week with fresh eyes so that I can take the constructive criticisms my viewers gave me and workshop them. 

Postcard Dilema

     Earlier in the week I made some changes to the postcard; I added a red border and fixed up the bite marks. But, as I was developing the website I couldn’t help but feel like I could do better with the postcard. I completely revamped the back of postcard, I scrapped the photo that was on the back and swapped it with the cake cross icon from the website. I split the card in half so that the left side would contain film festival information and the right side would have contact information.

     I showed the new model to this project's two most trusted advisors, my mom and my best friend. My best friend loved the new model while my mom was more partial to the original. this divide in opinions worried me, I thought it might be because the two of them are different demographics. So, I took to instagram, I created a poll in which I simply asked my followers which version of the postcard they found most appealing. Instagram allows you to see who votes for what, which is highly beneficial in this situation, one postcard may have gotten more votes than the other, but I was more interested in who was voting for which card. If my Instagram followers happened to also qualify for my intended target audience I’d hold their opinion higher. In the end the original design had greater support. After all of that I’m still not sure which one I want to go with and I'll have to revisit the postcard again next week :/ since I’ve already started reworking both versions again maybe my Instagram followers will have to participate in another poll. 

www.ifiguredouthowtomakeawebsite.com

     I hopped back on the website horse with a positive mindset and I think it has really paid off. I figured out what I wanted from my website by looking at projects from previous years and was able to go in with a rough outline of what I needed to do.

     I began by choosing a still from the short film to use as a background; I went with an image I felt was an iconic moment and visual.



     I stuck with my color scheme of black, white, and red for all the pages to further develop the branding I also created a little icon that I think could become part of the brand as well, it is a cake with a cross on top; I feel like these two symbols capture what the film is about well and could work for social media and the postcard which I think will be getting a makeover soon.



     I have yet to finish the last page of the website which is the contact page since I want to actually create a twitter and instagram for the film. Also, I think this page is where the postcard will live on the website, so I need to finish that up and add it to the page. There will probably also be a link to the postcard available on the “screenings” page … for good measure.

The Sloppy Copy

     Today I moved over all the footage I had into my laptop and got to editing. I cut up all the clips and ordered them in their proper sequence. Early on I noticed that a shot that I vividly remember taking, was nowhere to be seen. It’s a small eyeline match, but I believe it’s important to the narrative so I will have to go back and refilm it. Which hopefully won’t be too difficult since it’s a shot of a prop and not one of the characters.

     Other than that shot, the editing process has been going fairly well. I plan to devote the majority of next week to editing. I’m really going to have to work on making all the shot-counter shots in the opening scene flow like a conversation between two different people; I’m worried that it won’t translate well and it’ll end up being confusing as to why the same person is speaking in different costumes. Hopefully I’ll be able to fix it up by tightening the shots as well as with some added sound elements and playing around and adjusting the color grading.

www.idontknowhowtomakeawebsite.com

     I decided to start my week off by delving into the website creation process. My fellow media A level students advised using wix to create the website; I took their advice since I’ve seen some quality websites created there. So, I opened up wix today, created an account, and got to work. I looked up “film” in the template search bar and chose one called, “Film Coming Soon” I didn’t think very much about the template since I knew I could pretty much customize it however I want. I opened up the editor and quickly realized that I have absolutely no idea how to work Wix. I was extremely confused. I ended up watching half the collection of step-by-step help videos that the platform offers to educate myself a little bit; those helped me get a sense of some of the features available and how to navigate the editor. After watching those videos I got to experimenting, I clicked just about every button and icon and to be honest I’m still confused as to how to work most of the features. I didn’t get much done in terms of actually making the website since I began to get a little frustrated and overwhelmed as it kept freezing and logging me out and I was just generally lost in navigation, however I created some if not all of the tabs I want to include in the final product. I plan to come back to the website later in the week once I have finished with the first complete draft of the film itself (which I plan to have by tomorrow) because I want to look for some stills in the film to use on the website. 

     It looks pretty lame right now but, this is the very VERY rough outline of what it'll be in the end.

The Final Film(ing day) !!

     I have finished filming! On friday I turned in some work for school and then got to work on the final scene. I really wanted to finish in one day and I think I succeeded. I began by examining my house to decide on a set; I ended up using the little space between my brother’s bedroom and my bedroom, I figured it was the most enclosed blandish space in the house with drabbish lighting which is what I was going for, and it fit the table and all the rest of the set design products though it was a bit of a squeeze. I will admit I had my brother trapped in his room for a few hours.

     Before putting up the set I did my makeup and highlighted all of the shots I needed to get for each character, organizing them by color so that I wouldn’t miss or forget anything before changing the hair, costume, and makeup. I did all the Jael shots first and then the Demon shots.

     I put up the set which included a table covered in a black table cloth, the baby shower banner, and some balloons (my mom was feeling generous on her Walmart run!). I collected all my props and I got to filming. It took quite a while to get everything done since I was doing everything by myself. Setting up the camera for each angle was a huge pain since most of the time the only spikes I had to go off of were white walls, sometimes I’d put a little piece of duct tape to spike where I though my head would be but that only did so much, so unfortunately, I don't have all the variety of angles that I wanted but I think I have what I need to tell the story.

     I also took the time to take some pictures of each character that I could use for promo or behind the scenes content on the website and such.

     I’ve yet to truly review the footage, I’ll be working on that next week when I get to editing, but filming should be wrapped!

The … Demon

     I needed to come up with a costume for my Demon character who explains to the main character her new situation. Originally I figured I could just order something cheap off of Amazon but I realized later that there was no way I could order it and have it come in time for filming with this pandemic, in addition, I feel morally obligated to be boycotting Amazon in these times so I can be on the right side of history once it’s finally time to eat the rich. Basically, I’d have to work with what I have; I really wanted this character to wear red and lucky for me I hate wearing red clothes so I had almost nothing to choose from. I ended up going with a plaid patterned red skirt that had some red accents on it and a black cropped tank top; I knew I wanted this outfit to be less conservative to contrast the more modest clothes that Jael dons in the short film.



     My favorite part of this character building process was doing the hair/makeup/accessories. I put my hair up into two space buns secured with red scrunchies to mimic sort of devil horns and add a good pop of color. For the makeup I kept the base I had on already for Jael and added some red winged eyeliner and blended some red into my lower lash line, I adorned my brow bone with some little black dots as well as a dot under the center of my eye, I also drew out a little star on my cheek that I debated turning into a pentagram (and then decided against that cuz I don’t mess with demons like that), finally I lightly put on some red lipstick to just slightly tint my lips. I had the most fun filling my ears with different earrings; I have four piercings on my ear, I put a plastic baby on my right ear and on my left ear I had: a red dangly heart, one of Jael’s pearls, and a heart shaped hoop.

Global Pandemic Please Say, April Fools

     Today, after “school” I got to work on filming some of the final shots. The first thing I had to figure out was, where in my house I could stage this to make it appear like I was walking out of the kitchen in my dad’s house. I decided upon utilizing the biggest empty wall in my house, I went with the mindset that the plainer the better; the ambiguity should hopefully aid me in lying to the audience more believably. Today’s set up looked like this.

     I only had three shots for this scene, but for one of them I’d be working with outside talent (my brother) , so I instructed him to put on his costume, black pants and a black shirt and gave him his directions. He’d have to sit there while I cut him a slice of cake. We were done in about 30 seconds.

     And, I was finally done with this prop cake! I’ve never been happier to get rid of a cake. I tried to eat a celebratory slice but honestly the cake was over two weeks old and I’m not even that big of a fan of cake so, unfortunately, I had to dispose of the cake but at least it was over.