CCR

https://youtu.be/LDYB91Jjn3I

• Hi, my name is Alicia Contreras and my film opening is called “the codes” and the genre is mystery specifically, suspense. The plot behind the film is a girl, Hazel, enjoying her normal everyday routine and randomly receiving odd messages with some sort of coding to it from an unknown number. She tries to ignore it and meets up with a friend, Nari, for a workout and while they were spending that time together they were wondering where the other member of the their trio group Allister is because Hazel has an uneasy feeling not hearing from him in quite some time. Nari convinces her to let it be that it’s nothing. As they leave, hazel received a phone call that caused her to be shocked, she got news that Allister has gone missing, while she is still taken in this worrying information, she got a notification of messages from that same unknown number that is now taunting her with her missing friends whereabouts and giving her coded messages along with it. Mystery elements were used to capture the audience attention such as placing eerie music to appeal to the viewers senses, adding missing gaps to the back story so the audience wants to find out what happened later into the story and how it ends. Some other ways that there was connection towards the audience is the direct view of the main character in each scene giving the audience a sense of proximity to the event. The film opening represents social issues showing the negative aspects of advanced technology and how people with bad intent can use this mean of technology for harm. People have little privacy and information hidden nowadays that anyone can find the weak points of someone. The unknown phone number knows who hazels friend was and how to play all the right cards to cause her to feel fear knowing those details about her. Throughout the filming of this intro, my skills developed significantly because before this, i had no clue in using premier pro or what it was for, I relayed completely on my friend to help me understand what was even the first step to take in premier pro that by the end of it I didn’t have to rely on her as much as before, I could actually get pretty far into the editing before asking her what I needed to do to get what I wanted. My filming got better as well, at first I was very shaky and could never find the right angle but having a lot of try and error I figured out what worked best for each scene and what didn’t. I included technology by embedding multiple phones in different scenes for example in the actual scenes one phone is recording while hazel is using the other when getting the messages and phone call of the news. Then later into the intro, i embedded a screen recording of messages so the viewers can connect to the plot. The video as a whole, engaged with the audience by showing the scenes either from 3rd person point of view, focusing on the main character as well as showing scenes that are things that the main character only sees such as the messages and the phone call. 

Final cut

https://youtu.be/Dz04Fc0SJfk


The changes I make was adding music in the background, and cut the first scene. I chose to make only these changes because other changes would have made little difference in the overall concept of the video or have no influence.  I wanted to add background music before but I didn’t have the time and saw that having the background music mad a big difference in the video especially in showing the overall genre of the intro. Making a change in the first scene wasn’t something I noticed that needed changing until I took the time to actually watch it over and over again and after various attempts I chose to cut the first scene out by completely because it would make the video a lot smoother for the audience.

Q4 Weeks 1 and 2 - Edit & Publish First Cut

Movie intro video: https://youtu.be/P1VDsUJIOSQ

Filming (week 2)

Further into the filming, the biggest problem we had even though it doesn’t involve that many people was time coordination because most of us especially myself was busy whenever everyone else was free or vice versa. I decided to make a group chat and try to manage the meeting times well and decided that the best way to get things done would just meet up with one or two people for certain parts they had for a few mins and getting the small part over with and slowly getting everything filmed.

When I got to filming my part, it was a little tricky at first to get the hang of using both of my phones to text one another as the “unknown” number because I’d get confused and try using the wrong phone or just confusing everything but after a few times I got the hang of it. 

filming (week 1)

In the picture, I’m trying to show the main character seeing the anonymous message for the first time but while filming I realize that it isn’t as simple as it because both people have to work together and the people around can’t be overwhelming what the people are trying to film.

In the next picture, I’m trying to film the messages themselves so the viewer can see it as well as seeing it in an angel that makes it seem as if they’re the character themselves. What I noticed was that it a fairly simple to do until we get to the part where the main character types because I had to do that part alone and it was hard to balance both and pay attention to everything I was doing. 

Preparing to film

This week in preparation;
actors: I will be using my friends to be in the video to portray a certain character that best fit their personality to make it simpler to record.

costumes: we wont be wearing anything designated for the video rather just something casual to fit the setting of the movie opening.

props: The type of movie opening im creating isnt focused on having a lot of props to create a story so I'll most likely buy certain things for small details.

locations: It has to be in a living room, outdoors in a public setting, as well as an eerie place to be able to create the mysterious vibe I'm trying to create.

dates and times: Will be working on it in the next two weeks and by the end of this week, we will make sure what time is best for all of my friends to record with their role decided on.

scripts:Working on my script already amd have it doe by this week in order to have it sent to my friends so they can be prepared and make the process simpler.

film equipment:  I will use my Canon camera and tripod.

Storyboard

Summary: I created this from reading a foreign short story that inspired the concept I did my storyboard on. In the first shot, it slowly focuses on a random phone simply laying there and has complete focus on it when it receives a message from an unknown phone number. Its a straight cut into the main character grabbing the phone confused on who is this random phone number and what they're saying. It transitions with a fade in on the conversation on the phone and how bizarre it is. The main character realizes that the conversation is getting anywhere and leaves it be then, it shifts to the main character having a conversation with a very close friend asking about their best friends whereabouts and having a medium long shot on them with low background noise emphasizing the value of what they're saying. The conversation continues with the main character asking their friend if they happen to know this unknown number and them not knowing to suggest that both things are somehow connected. In scene 5 it's a gradual transition back to the phone the main character find out unsettling news that changes everything, his best friend is missing and as the camera focuses on the reaction the main character has attached with suspenseful music causing the viewer to know that there's more to the story than is shown, it switches with a quick cut transition to new messages from the unknown number with a an extreme close-up showing even odder messages and thesuspenseful music escalating in volume rapidly and suddenly stops with an image of his friends beaten up face. and the screen turns black.

brainstorming

summary: From watching other examples I see what most openings have and emphasize certain details that are deeply connected to the rest of the movie. Watching other students film opening it led to decide to have the audience as if they are the main character themselves, some odd occurrences and being felt like they are being watched with eerie background music to further push this feeling that was created. Also, from watching other peoples videos that a tripod is needed as well as not having or very little dialogue rather letting the images created speak for themselves.

what inspired me?

The reason I chose to work on mystery films is that I have always had an interest in the stir of emotions not knowing what is occurring until you get clues and piece them together and then seeing the end and how all it all folds out. Some examples of mystery films that appealed to me were Taken which shows the dark parts of society when an ex-celebrity security guards daughter is suddenly kidnapped by enemies of his and has to figure out the clues in time to save her. The opening is about this singer who he is guarding and after her show, there is a dangerous mob and protects her by using his combat skills and helping her escape harm. Throughout the whole movie, I was sitting at the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen next in rescuing the daughter and who was the one behind it all. Another film I enjoy is Divergent because it brings light to the way our society works with a different world in which everyone is divided into sections based on their personality traits in order to keep the peace. The opening is the main character narrating how the society she lives in works and what each faction consists of and ends with how she didn't quite fit in like the rest. The opening was engaging because it reminded me of the way our society could be heading to which appealed to me even more. Another movie I was interested in is "now you see me" because it is all revolved around illusions that are considered magic. The main characters are hidden and at the same time, they are living an illusion as well because they are told by an anonymous person and follow their instructions willingly and throughout the movie, they try to secretly find out who is the one in charge without them being aware. The opening of now you see me is one of the main character's, Daniel Atlas explain the true reason why "magic" works which that we are interpreting and filtering what we think we are seeing. It changes to the city of Chicago with Daniel doing a card performance and truly showing his out of the box magic skills to the crowd and the viewers but in the last second you see a person in a typical black hood hiding his face from the people acting oddly suspicious by never turning his back to be seen. It jumps to a different setting where you can immediately feel the tension, a girl is attempting a trick which very difficult; its to be in a tank with her hands locked in chains and needs to get out of the tank before 10 mins end or else a hunger piranhas fall on top of her. it ends badly and everyone is scarred witnessing the death of this magician attempting a trick that ended her life. Overall, mystery gives me a feeling no other genre gives me because it plays the strings of the viewer's emotions.

My Film Opening Project - Genre & Group Members

The Genre I chose for my film opening project is Mystery. Also decided to work individually for the project.