The Filming Decision

 During Thanksgiving Break, my group and I decided not to film. we came to this conclusion due to a number of factors. The first and most important factor is the ongoing pandemic with covid-19. The pandemic meant that we could not safely film in any public places and could not be in rooms that were congested. Considering that our movie takes place in a suburban home and our need for extras, choosing to film would be a risky move for all parties involved. The second was a lack of time. None of our group could properly set a date and time to meet for filming even if we wanted to film over the break. While it did come as a disappointment that we could not film so soon, our group instead looked at it as a positive. the longer we wait to film, the more time we will have to plan and prepare and make our film as close to the original vision it can be. while it may be multiple weeks until we film, we will be confident in our abilities both as a group and as a filming crew. While with enough planning and rushed preparation we could have completed the film over the break. However, the irritation and the pain from planning a date and the unnecessary danger that the crew would be put into far outweighed the potential benefit coming from filming the movie earlier. in fact, filming so soon could have been rise to much more irritating issues like more retakes than necessary. We, as a group are glad we chose not to film this past week and are excited for filming to the best of our ability in the upcoming weeks. Our film will be much better for it.

Permissions

   As a reminder, our pitch is a group of teenagers who hear a strange noise coming from under the house when they investigate suddenly they start to go missing one by one. We debated upon the three genres for a bit. We ended up deciding on horror. I think it fits the best. Also, it is the one I would like the best. The pace fit the best for the pitch. Horror is fast-paced. This will allow for a very cool action sequence. The action sequences are my favorite to edit. Another thing that I liked about the horror genre is the angles and movements. There is a lot of room for creativity. One of my favorite shots is the over the shoulder shot. It is optimized a lot in horror films. Due to the location we are filming, the common lighting being dim is perfect.  I think this is a great fit for this pitch. There is a lot of wiggle room which, I like. Some of my favorite movies are in the horror genre. I look forward to making this project with my group.  Considering that our movie takes place in a suburban home and our need for extras, choosing to film would be a risky move for all parties involved. The second was a lack of time. None of our group could properly set a date and time to meet for filming even if we wanted to film over the break. While it did come as a disappointment that we could not film so soon, our group instead looked at it as a positive. the longer we wait to film, the more time we will have to plan and prepare and make our film as close to the original vision it can be. while it may be multiple weeks until we film, we will be confident in our abilities both as a group and as a filming crew. While with enough planning and rushed preparation we could have completed the film over the break. However, the irritation and the pain from planning a date and the unnecessary danger that the crew would be put into far outweighed the potential benefit coming from filming the movie earlier. in fact, filming so soon could have been rise to much more irritating issues like more retakes than necessary. We, as a group are glad we chose not to film this past week and are excited for filming to the best of our ability in the upcoming weeks. Our film will be much better for it.

The Marketing of Vacant

We wanted our marketing campaign to be as Wide-reaching as possible. We achieved this by putting our movie on a number of different social media sites. all of the accounts on these sites share the same name so that we benefit from brand recognition. The name of our movie is short and sweet and is a normal word from the English dictionary to increase the chances that we are remembered by people simply visiting our pages. We want the name to stick out and be memorable without being a mouthful. we use many sites such as Facebook and Instagram. reaching out to this many platforms does nothing else but give us more exposure. For the specific form of marketing, we figured that most people will have an account in at least one of these places. The website is simplistic and easy to use. All of the necessary information that one would need to gather a sufficient amount of information on this movie is easy to access by simply visiting this website. The wide reach of our platforms, the accessible site, and the short chipper title are memorable and easy to use. We feel that this social media site will do a great job advertising our movie to anyone who would be interested. we are planning on expanding each site to include more information about the movie. While the number of platforms will most likely stay the same, the information will update with the production of the movie. Hopefully, our platforms are all-encompassing and informational for anyone who would like to see our movie.

https://vacantthemovie.wixsite.com/vacancy

Storyboaring

 My team decided to storyboard our movie make it easier to imagine the movie in motion. The storyboarding process is essential to the flow and the creative process of creating a movie. It allows the people creating the movie to put the movie on a physical medium, without committing to the manhours needed to film a movie. A supremely important part of the movie creating process is the storyboard. This is shown by realizing that almost every movie made in the past decade had at least one storyboard. For the storyboard, we decided to split up the work between us. this made it easier for everyone so that no one person had the task of creating 90 individual storyboard panels. For the storyboards, we did not focus on the quality of the art of the storyboards. we instead tried to focus on the type of camera angle we would use for a certain second of the movie. using this, the day of filming would be made easier on all of us and we could change things quickly if needed. we do not have to write dialogue either, as the script is on a separate document. while it may be inconvenient to have separate documents for these critical aspects of filmmaking, but this allows the separate documents to be as detailed as possible. While art is not my strong suit, I still tried to make the positioning of the characters as visually pleasing as possible. this works around my poor art skills and simply acts as a skeleton of what we should do when the day of filming rolls around. all in all, I am glad we decided to make a storyboard.

Planning Blog

  This blog is the planning blog. That means it will have the following information: schedule, location, participants, health and safety, props, and costumes. To start of is the schedule. By the 13th of this month we will have the storyboard done. For filming we will allot a two week period from filming for the 14th through the twenty-third. The next step is editing which I will be doing for my group. Editing will take place from the twenty-third to the seventh of December. we will then reflect on our video and re-film and re edit for the remainder of December. The location of all of our filming will be at my house. We have a basement which will be perfect for our short film. The participants we have gathered so far are:

Homeless person: Robert

Ally:Me

James: Sean

Connor: Not Determined

Eddie: Trent

The actor for Conor has not yet to be determined but should be easy to find because it has the shortest amount of screen time. For filming we will all take turns because there is not one scene were all the characters are together. Health and Safety is very important to us as a group. There is no big safety issues. We have a scene were we use a knife. For precaution we will either use a fake knife or put tape on the edge so no one will get hurt. We also will be filming in a basement so we will bring flashlights so we don't hit our heads. Overall we will just be extremely careful. For props we will have a knife, random, food and fake blood. The fake blood will be very similar to what we used last year for our end of year video. It will just be water, food coloring, and cornstarch. The costume for Ally, James, Connor, and Eddie are all just clothes you would wear to a party. For example, jeans, a t-shirt, and converse. The homeless person will be wearing dirty clothes that are covered in dirt and ripped. 

this is the fake blood we will be using.

Research 9 the Short

 "9" is an animated short made by Shane Acker for a UCLA animation workshop. The plot is shown to the viewer in a very unconventional manner, with no dialogue or narration to inform the viewer of the plot. Every plot detail in this movie is shown through a purely visual manner. The main character, 9, of which this movie is named after, has his name never specifically given. the only way we can figure out who the protagonist is is through the number on his back. this is true for the other character in this movie, 5. while this may seem simple, it is an effective piece of storytelling and says a lot with a little. within the first few minutes, our mentor character is struck down and the rising action is shown. the passage of time is shown with our hero 9 as the lightbulb given to him by 5 is now a staff, showing he is more experienced. this combined with the zoom out transition gives the viewer a good idea of how 9 is faring without a mentor. The main antagonist is given a bright green eye, contrasting him from the drab colors of the background. the setting is a post-apocalyptic earth. this is implied through human artifacts such as lamps and tin cans. The use of visual storytelling is the most compelling part of this short film. Instead of defeating the monster in a show of strength, the hero's journey concludes with 9 outsmarting the monster instead. this is the perfect end to our villain, as he has been shown to be unstoppable but the more experienced 9 is able to use the tools at his disposal to defeat his foe. overall, a great short.

Short Film vs. Feature Length Film

 In my opinion, the short film was better than the feature-length film. the short film does a number of things better than the movie. for one, the short film does not have any dialogue. while one may see this as a negative, I think it helps the setting. between the two movies, both have similar settings but I believe the short is much more vicious in the presentation. for example, 9 is living in the wild and collecting things to survive on his own, but in the feature-length film, there is a dangerous encounter in the beginning but 9 is then taken to a save haven among the dolls. I think this removes some of the danger that the word had that was implied by immediately giving 9 a resting point. he does leave shortly after, but I still think the damage has been done. I also prefer the character of 5 as a mentor figure rather than how he is presented in the film. in the short, the feeling of a mentor is given through the character's interactions when much is said with simple movements and 5 directing him how to take off a lightbulb. however, a newly born 9 is expected to direct a 5 that has obviously been alive for much longer (workshop, friends, etc.) and 5 is supposed to find solace when 9 tells him to do things. newly born 9. The short gives more of a connection to the viewer in 2 minutes that the movie does in 30. 5s sacrifice in the movie is supposed to be comparable to 2s, but I feel that 2s ignorance in taking the piece with him made me angry with him in his stupidity. all in all, I think the addition of dialogue in the film is a minor detriment but makes me prefer the short film much more.

Shane Acker, Director