Filming Blog: We started filming

 The day finally came! Today my partner and I got together after school and started the filming process. We went over to my house and started to film right away. I was really excited to finally be able to start things. It was also very good to see how the film looked like on camera. I had my sister take a couple of pictures of me and Xavi in action so we can upload them to our website and social media accounts. I also showed some of the clips we filmed to some of my family members so we could get some feedback from them. We weren’t able to film all of our scenes today. We wanted to make sure every scene looked good and that made us run out of time. I’m glad we did that because I know the potential our movie has and I want it to be great. My partner and I are trying to figure a date to finish filming as soon as possible. It is very important for us to finish filming fast so we can get started on the editing process. I know we still got some time but I don’t want to be left behind. I believe that we are on the right track and we will succeed. Not many changes occurred from our storyboard to the final product on camera. I was surprised because in my other projects we used to change a lot from our storyboard. I am glad that happened because I really thought that what we had in our storyboard was the best way we could make our short film. Overall I feel like today was a success. We filmed a lot of scenes and took a lot of pictures of the process. I am really excited of what is coming next. 

Editing blog: Why we couldn't edit

 After many changes in our plans we were finally able to set a day to film. My partner and I will be filming our movie tomorrow. We will film and take pictures for our website and social media. I am very excited to finally get things started. We were supposed to film and edit our film during thanksgiving break. Due to a lot of last minute inconveniences we weren’t able to film or edit during the break. It was also hard to get things done because of the pandemic that is going on. My partner and I don’t want put ourselves and our families at risk. We got tested before and waited for the results and that delayed the process. It’s unfortunate that we couldn’t edit over the break. It would’ve been way easier for us to film and edit our film without having to worry about school. It’s going to be a challenge this week but I believe that we can do it. As I mentioned before we will also be taking pictures and recording for our social media. I believe that that is a very important step for our short film to be great. Having good social media and website helps the movie to reach a lot of different people. Social media draws a lot of attention and that’s what my partner and I are trying to do. Adding pictures and clips might not change much but it will make our website look more professional. While we can’t start editing our film I’m doing a lot of research on editing and editing tools. I am not very good when it comes to editing but I’m learning something new everyday. I can’t wait to film and get started on the editing process.

Filming Blog: Why we didn't film

During thanksgiving break me and my partner were planning on filming our movie. Because of the pandemic we had to make sure that we were safe and our environment was safe. We both got tested and waited on a negative result. The result came and so we were cleared to film. The problem was that even though we didn’t have school my partner and I had a lot of extracurricular activities. We only had one day to film so we tried to do it on a Friday. Everything was fine until a last minute emergency forced me to go to a different city and spend the weekend there. We then rescheduled it for the following Monday but both of us were asked to do things after school making it impossible to film that day. Hopefully we will be able to film at the end of this week and finally get things done. When we do film we have a lot of plans of what we’ll do. Since we can’t be together all the time because of the pandemic we are going to try to get as many things done as possible. We will not do stuff related to the film but we will also do stuff to make our social media and website look better. We want to film. While and after filming we will be taking pictures that will be posted on our social media and in our website. We will also get some behind the scenes footage and sneak peeks of our film to post on our YouTube channel. I believe that this will be a great addition to our project and will really set us apart from competition. I am very happy with how things are going for us. Everything that we’ve planned has been working and helping our project look good. I am so excited to start the filming process and to see what the end result will look like. I really hope that we can get to film this next week and start editing right away. It’s good to be done early so we can get a lot of feedback and have time to change stuff that we don’t like.

Storyboard for short film

 Doing a storyboard is one of the most important parts of planning a movie. The storyboard is where the movie comes alive and becomes reality. It is important to have someone that knows the story very well and someone that can draw good. A good drawing really makes a difference because more detail can be added to the picture. A good drawing also helps the actors and directors to not forget any set and acting details when the filming day comes. When doing our storyboard me and my partner had some difficulties. We are both not very good at drawing so that made our job harder. We are also still in quarantine so we weren't able to see each other and discuss scenes in more detail. Even with all of the difficulties I believe that he and I did a good job on trying to interpret the scenes from our heads to the paper. This was a really long storyboard. It took us more than 10 pages to do our story board. It was very hard to do everything because we tried to capture every minimal detail that was in our heads. It is very important to have as much detail as you can so when you forget something during filming you can just look it over on your storyboard. The storyboard will help me and my partner a lot during our filming because we will probably forget some essential details and looking at the storyboard will help us remember to film them. I really enjoy storyboarding because it gives you a feel that your whole movie is coming together and it is actually happening. Me and my partner will try to film as soon as possible to avoid any inconveniences. I am really excited to start filming to see how it will look in the camera. With this pandemic happening the key to success is patience. We don't want to rush things and get sick or someone from our family sick. We will take a lot of precautions before filming and during filming so we are able to get things done safely and in the best way possible. I am really excited and can't wait to get things started safely. 

Planning Blog

 We are approaching one of the most important parts of our project, Filming. Me and my partner already did all of the “boring” parts of this project and now it’s time to have some fun filming. Before filming we have to have a plan first. We will be starting to film during thanksgiving break. It will be easier to film then because we won’t have to worry about any other extra school work. We will also most likely not have any extracurricular activities during the break. We will most likely film at one of our friends house. She’s not in our group or the class but she is helping us with the filming process. She helped us last year to film our movie so we are looking forward to working with her again. Me and Xavi will participate in the filming. We will most likely also add our friend Maya on a couple of scenes. We will make sure we are safe before filming our movie. During this pandemic it is very important that everyone is safe and are taking the proper precautions. We will be wearing masks the whole time. The only time we won’t is when the camera starts filming. We will be using some props. Most of the stuff we use is basic stuff that I teenagers have in their rooms and house. We will be using things like a video game controller, a bed, books, cellphone, papers, pen, pencil, backpack, a car and some other things. The characters in the movie will be wearing basic clothes that teenagers wear and people in the 21st century wear. We will keep it simple because we want to make this movie as relatable as it can be to the average teen.

Short Film vs. Feature Length Film

 After watching both the short film and the movie 9 I’ve decided to compare both of them. I really enjoyed watching both. They both told a similar story and kept everything simple but effective. The plot was really good for both short film and movie. What I really liked about the short film that the full movie didn’t have was the beast. The short film is totally based on the fight between the main character and the beast. I really enjoyed watching both of them fight and was hoping to see more during the movie. There is some fighting against the beast in the beginning of the movie but it is quickly defeated and never spoken of after. The machine was a great villain but I think that the beast suited the plot better for both the short and the movie. What I really liked about the feature length that the short didn’t have was the character voices. During the short none of the characters speak and it was really hard to understand the background of the story. In the full length almost all characters speak and it makes it way easier to tell a story. I get that during the short there is not much time to tell a whole story. I believe that if they added voice to at least one of the characters they could tell a story briefly making it easier to understand the plot. Both have some flashbacks specially the full length movie. The flashbacks are a really good addition because it tells the story of the plot in a very simple but effective way. After seeing both flashbacks in the short and the full length movie I was finally able to understand the story and how it all started. Understanding the plot made a big difference in my opinion. I made the movie and the short a lot more interesting and fun to watch. I really enjoyed watching both forms of media. Although both storylines were the same they both have a lot of differences that makes them unique. 

Research 9, the feature film.

 After a very successful short, the movie 9 was released in 2009. The movie tells the story of puppets that try to survive in a post apocalyptic world. No humans exist in this world after a big war was fought between humans and machines. The movie picks up on the story that was told on the short film. The main character first fights the monster that they call the beast. It is the same monster that we see in the short film. In the beginning of the movie they defeat the beast but end up awakening something worst that turns out to be the main villain of the story. The movie has a lot of characters, each characters has their own number and voice. All characters play a really important role into the development of the story with 9 being the main character. The whole movie is animated and the animation is very well done. A lot of detail is added into each of the characters and it is very easy to tell because of the clean animation. There are also a lot of flashbacks during the movie to tell the background story of the plot. How the war started, how the characters were created, and how the villain was created. All the stories are well told and it is very easy to understand them. Knowing the background story of the plot makes the movie a lot more interesting to watch. The main character 9 develops really fast throughout the movie. At first he was scared of everything and at the end he becomes their leader and helps to defeat the machine. The character 1 also develops a lot during the movie. He goes from always trying to hide and not fight anyone to sacrificing himself for the greater good. I really enjoyed watching this movie. Knowing the story made it very interesting to me, and seeing how everything developed from the short was very cool to see.