Editing (cont.)

Hello again!

We have not met up since we met on Tuesday but we divided the work so we have less to do next week. Alexia will finish editing the scene that I showed on the last blog post while I work on editing the color scheme of certain scenes. I have not had a chance yet to do so, but I will get to it this weekend. The reason for editing the color of certain scenes is to maintain the same mood throughout the opening scene.

The brightness in these scenes are too bright for the dark and scary mood we want to create so I will be using the VSCO video feature to edit the colors to fit our story better. I will update the blog with the results of the edits next week. Even though right now our progress has been really slow, once we are back in school I know we will be back on track to finish by next weekend!

Editing Day 1

Hello! 😁
I met with Alexia on Tuesday at Panera to begin our editing process. I was playing around with the DaVinci software that was recommended to us by Mr. Guarasci from Becon TV. I hated it! It lags so much😡 The program is incredibly slow, and it wasn't because of the Panera Wifi (we connected to Alexia's phone's hotspot at one point) Not only was it slow but it was extremely confusing to use and was not user-friendly at all. It has more features than WeVideo but they were completely useless to us since it was impossible to figure it out. It was so frustrating because the software wouldn't even play back the video we had uploaded to start editing, so we just deleted it from my laptop.

Afterward, we shifted over to WeVideo and began working there. I don't know if my laptop was acting up or the wifi became really slow because WeVideo was taking forever to load the videos, but was still 100% better than DaVinci. We barely got anything done because of the lagging and that I could only be there for a little. At least we had an idea of what one of the parts of the video would look like. We began working on the part when the pictures build up, right before the title pops up.

It's very rough but it will look better once we clean it up and add sound effects.

Still break

Hello! I talked to Alexia so we can plan to meet up on Monday afternoon so we can start actually editing! Since yesterday, I have not come up with more ideas on how we can go about editing. Right now, it's a little hard to visualize everything without any editing taking place, so it's challenging to make decisions.

We are going to test out the editing software that Mr. Guarasci from Becon TV recommended to us which is called DaVinci. My friend told me that the software works well but it lags a little bit, but it's still better than WeVideo. We use WeVideo in class for our projects but I have had some problems with it because it doesn't let you edit a video at the same time as another person so any work you do just gets deleted. It also lags a lot, especially when you need to move a video down from one side to the other. I hope DaVinci works for us and that it's user-friendly since we're both beginners in film production.

Spring Break

I'm back! So we started Spring Break this weekend! YAY!

We haven't worked much on the project since we have just started break, and I had to go out of town for a family emergency. However, I have been thinking of other features we can add to what our story looks like so far. I was thinking specifically about the scene of the date. Originally we wanted both parts to flow into one scene but now that the title will be introduced between both parts, we have to treat both scenes very differently. I have an idea already of small details such as the sound of the cars and people chattering that will go in the very background of the overall sound. I was also thinking of the type of music we can add. Since she's about to meet her next victim, the music should have an ominous sound to it. The only thing about the sound in this scene that I'm unsure of is that their conversation will be muted, (to add more suspense), but how will it flow into an entire movie? Will this scene be simply a fast-forward into what's supposed to happen? Will the movie tell the story about her next victim or of how it all started? I will discuss these questions with Alexia when we meet up this week because they are very crucial to how we will edit our opening scene. Until next time!

Peer Review Pt.2

Hey friends! We had another peer review yesterday in class!

I love peer feedback because it helps to make sure our ideas are on track and that other people can visualize it, so I was super happy. I shared my blog posts and the footage we recorded last weekend along with an explanation of our storyboard. Everyone in the group loved our idea and they thought the shots we filmed were very well done, which made me even happier!😆 Ana, one of the members of the group, loved the lighting we used and thought it set the tone very well for the movie.

Finally, I asked their opinion about where they think the title should come in: after the sequence of photos of the victims or after she reveals her identity at the date? They agreed with what I had thought of which is to make the first scene the opening credits, followed by the title (which will pop up with a BANG sound) and then the scene of the date with her next victim.

Movie title

Hello!😃 I don't have much news so far since it's only the beginning of the week. I discussed my idea for the title of the film with Alexia. I had the idea of naming it "Black Widow", like the spider since it goes with the whole idea of the woman serial killer of husbands. However, Alexia pointed out that it sounds like a pop song of the same name so it might not cause as much suspense. Plus, we never hinted that her victims were her husbands, making her a widow so we discarded that idea.

Alexia wanted the title to show up in a handwritten font with a one-word title to be more impactful. She came up with "ASESINA", which is a female assassin in Spanish. I then thought of maybe using lipstick to handwrite the title and take a picture of it to add feminity to the film since it's about an unconventional serial killer, so we want to emphasize that. I saved the pictures of the victims that we used for the film so we plan on using them to recreate a frame for a mirror or a blank surface, so the pictures surround where the title would go.

What's ahead

Hello friends! I'm super excited for this week because we will officially begin editing!😝 As I mentioned in the last blog post, we began looking at how we can edit our footage to create our opening scene. In addition to cuts and sound, I also began looking into possible film titles and how we will do the opening credits. Even though to most people the opening credits don't seem important at all, they are what set the mood for the entire film. The font and colors must match the film or they look completely out of place, confusing the viewers. We haven't looked at specific fonts yet, but we will be researching different suspense films to find inspiration. The colors will have to be neutral or colors that are correlated to thrillers and suspenseful movies such as red. Finally, I think a good title for the film is "Black Widow" because the main character is essentially like the black widow spider, and it matches the opening scene perfectly. I also think just "Widow" is a good fit and might be more impactful since it's only one word.

I also was reflecting on past research to try to think of other factors we should consider for our opening scene. I remember looking at the Jaws opening scene which is considered to be one of the best film openings in existence. The music that is particular to the presence of the shark is introduced in the very beginning and is a constant motif throughout the film. I was thinking maybe we can also incorporate this idea to our character, who we still need to come up with a name for. Since in the opening scene, she also appears in the second part, I think it would be interesting to incorporate a specific theme song to her reappearance to build tension. I haven't shared this idea to Alexia yet so we will discuss everything on Monday so we begin editing.

Ideas and more!

Hey guys! So after filming, Alexia and I began to review the footage to start planning to edit, which we will be starting on Monday during class. We have come up with different ideas of what could work on our film to tie everything together. For example, I thought of maybe having a voiceover of our actress, Valentina, sing to add a creepy and haunting tone to the film. It would go great in the beginning when she is almost admiring how many victims she has.

We also began to imagine ways we can transition from the first scene onto the next one since they have completely different moods. We filmed her walking heels into the date, which is the same way we started the opening to create uniformity in the movie. However, the title of the film may be a better way to transition, leaving the first part as part of the "opening credits".

On Monday, we will also be looking at how to incorporate sound into the film, since we plan to mute everything that we filmed to create suspense. Synchronous sounds will be very important to accentuate certain parts of the character, such as the clanking of the heels, as well as certain actions. The music we select will be extremely important in how we build suspense since music is what builds tension in most suspense films. I will keep you updated in our choices for editing throughout the week.

FILMING DAY!

Hello guys! We finally filmed today!😁😝😍

We wanted to film in the darkroom in the school that they use to develop photographs for the photography class for the scene of the main character in her "lair" as she contemplates her victims. Alexia was able to get permission to use the room so we scheduled to film there after school on Friday. We prepared everything for the film, buying the necessary materials and printing the pictures of the "victims".

Since we both have 8th-hour privilege, we came back to school with all the materials and equipment and met with our friend, Valentina, who would be our actress. The darkroom was really cool and was exactly what we were looking for. We instantly got to work since we still had the date scene to film that same day. I set up the camera and the lights while Alexia painted Valentina's nails red since it's the signature feature of the character. We then hung the pictures on a red string with clothing pins, to recreate the look of a "lair".

As we filmed, we focussed on the shots, movements, and lighting to then incorporate mise-en-scene. We did many different shots and movements to have extra footage to have more flexibility when editing, especially with the types of cuts we will do. We also kept in mind how it will look together to stay on track on how the whole film is supposed to look like.

After we finished filming in school, we met with my friend Francisco in the town center to film the scene of their date. We were given permission to film outside of a restaurant that has cafe-like tables that were perfect for our scene. We were able to finish filming by 6:30, right before the sunset. We managed to film everything in one day, for a total of 4 hours, which is very alleviating since now we have three weeks to edit and put together our film opening.😊

Back to square one

I went to return the equipment at Becon TV on Monday, sad that we weren't able to film anything over the weekend.😞 I became stressed since other groups had already rented out the equipment for the other weekends so we didn't have a way to use it at any other time. I finally figured something out with my classmate, Ana, who was renting out the equipment from Wednesday to Sunday but was only filming on Sunday so we were able to use it on Friday.

Alexia and I continued developing our new idea that we came up with on the peer feedback day and began a storyboard with as much detail as possible to be able to have a clear idea of what we needed to shoot so we could get it done in one day. We will first focus on the shots and movements to then incorporate sound and mise-en-scene into the filming. We plan to film more shots than just the ones on the storyboard in case one works better than the other and we have more footage to play, so it serves as a guide to help us know where to start.

Filming... or our lack of it

Yesterday, Saturday, March 9th was our scheduled first day of filming. We planned to meet at 1pm and we had already confirmed with our friend, Valentina to act in it as the main character. However, I had a volunteering event in the morning and I didn't get back home until 1pm and I needed to shower and I was extremely exhausted. I called Alexia to let her know I was running late and also clarify what we were exactly filming since we had liked the idea from the peer feedback from the day before. We soon realized that we really had no set plan on what we were going to film since we discarded the idea of the confession booth in the church and we had nothing planned for the new scene with the pictures of the victims.

Alexia and I started to freak out because we needed to film during the weekend since we weren't going to have the equipment during the week. We decided to meet in the town center at 3pm to film the date scene since we wouldn't need to prepare a set for it. I contacted my friend, Francisco to see if he could act as the man in the date scene and he was available at 4pm, which was perfect since it gave us time to plan each shot and movement of the scene before they arrived so we could shoot the scene as fast as possible. However, Valentina was not available for the rest of the day since she had plans at 3pm so we didn't have a girl for our film. Neither of us wants to act in it unless we absolutely needed it. We realized we wouldn;t be able to fil on Sunday either since everyone was busy. We will have to return the equipment without having had a chance to use it but hopefully, it will be available for check out soon so we are able to film.

Becon TV!

Hello! So after school on Friday, Alexia and I headed to Becon TV in Davie to pick up the equipment we were borrowing for the weekend. We met with James Guarasci who gave us a lesson on how to use all of the equipment. The camera he lent us was very user-friendly for beginners since neither of us has any real experience with cameras. He showed us how to control features on the camera such as the shutter speed, to experiment to get the best results for our opening scene. Mr. Guarasci also showed us how to use the lights and control the brightness and temperature to control the lighting. We didn't need any audio equipment since our main sound would be sound effects, music and a possible voiceover.

We were very happy to have reached out to Mr. Guarasci because he was very helpful and gave us really useful tips and advice on how to film our project and encouraged us to experiment with the different features on the camera. He even told us about an editing software called DaVinci Resolve which is apparently very easy to use and makes videos look very professional. We will definitely check it out and see what editing software we like best: WeVideo or DaVinci. I signed an agreement to bring back the equipment on Monday since our plan was to film on Saturday and finish on Sunday.

Peer Feedback

Today we did a peer feedback activity in class to receive input from classmates about our ideas for the portfolio project. I explain our ideas and storyline to my group, supporting it with the research we made. They all thought it was really good, but it was too much for the opening scene and could cause some confusion.  One thing they really liked was the idea of keeping the woman's identity hidden completely. One of the people in my group noted that it would require an extensive amount of editing to achieve what we wanted to do so we might want to space out our workload as much as possible. They proceeded to bounce ideas back and forth to help me better develop our story or come up with a different way to present the story.

After some brainstorming, they helped me develop a new storyline which I instantly liked because it felt me put together than our original idea. The opening scene would take place in the woman's house, in a dark room where she hangs up pictures of men that have an "X" marked on their faces, indicating they were her past victims. Her face is never shown but her red nails are clearly portrayed, which would be her signature feature. The scene would then shift into a normal day where a woman joins a man on a date but neither of their faces are ever shown. and they clank wine glasses and the camera focuses once again on her hands, revealing it's the same woman from before. We remain hiding her identity but we have something that distinguishes her.

In this story, she would be a serial killer, which doesn't follow the genre conventions of wife-killing-husbands movies but I believe it will be an interesting choice since these types of movies don't have specific guidelines like other types of suspense movies do. It's based on the idea of a black widow, which everyone understands.

Chicago

Hello! I'm back with some updates! Even though we had established a somewhat detailed storyboard for our opening scene, I was still thinking of ways that we can successfully transmit our idea to our audience. I was talking with Alexia on the phone when I came up with the idea of maybe incorporating a voiceover into our scene to give some context to our story so it's understandable. She suddenly thought of making it into a jail scene where she is recounting the details of how she killed her husband, but not explaining why she did it. Instantly I thought of the film Chicago (2002) dir. by Rob Marshall and the scene of Cell Block Tango:

I couldn't believe I had never thought of using this movie as an inspiration when I first started doing research. The whole movie follows two women who killed their husbands and has an entire song dedicated to women in the Cook County jail singing about who they killed their husbands. We would like to incorporate the persona of the women in this film who unapologetically admit to their crimes, especially Velma's, who has a very strong and powerful personality. Although in our original idea we wanted to keep her identity completely hidden, we believe this is a good incorporation to build our character.

Storyboard!

Through our research, we've gathered information that has helped us make decisions on how our opening scene will unfold.

Our scene will start with a black screen that will transition into a close up of church bells with the synchronous sound of the bells. The scene will jump cut to a close up of a woman walking in heels, along with the sound of heels and jump cuts once again to a medium shot, revealing the church in the background and introducing a woman dressed in all black with a veil over her face, walking into the church. She walks into a confessionary booth and begins talking but the dialogue is muted. The confession is cut into parallel cuts with a crime scene that is revealed through fast-paced close-ups. Close-ups would include bloody handprints, blood dripping (to the rhythm of the bells, which will continue playing quietly in the background), a broken frame of a married couple on the floor, the weapon used and the face of the man that was killed. 

Although we have most of our idea planned out, we are still missing several factors. The wife is supposed to take revenge on the lover of her husband, but we don't know how to hint that into the opening without giving it away. We are also not sure if the idea we have now is clear enough without having to reveal who the woman is. We want to keep her identity hidden since she's confessing to the murder, so as to build up suspense. 

We will finalize our ideas at the beginning of this week so we are ready to film on Saturday. Our only concern is that it will seem like it's a short film and there's no continuity to the scene. I will keep you updated on what we come up with this week!

Representation of women in film

In films, the woman is typically portrayed as delicate and gentle. In horror and suspense films, the woman typically takes on the archetype of the mother, which generally does everything in her power to protect the ones she loves, even if it means sacrificing herself. The woman also has the role of the wife, which is generally loyal and loving to her husband.

However, directors sometimes choose to break the representation conventions of women in films. Focusing on the horror and suspense genres, screenwriters may choose to do the exact opposite of what's expected of a woman. As discussed on the post about the research of films of women killing their husbands, the woman is first portrayed according to the genre conventions to make her look innocent, adding to the element of suspense. As the plot unfolds, these qualities turn to evil ones. We intend to do the same with our main character by making her look incapable of killing her husband.

Honeymoon (2014)

Filming schedule

Alexia and I made a schedule for ourselves in order to stay up to date and actively work on our project. The schedule details all of the days for the next month that we are available to work on the project, whether that may be for planning, filming or editing. We won't necessarily meet up every time we need to work on the project, but this schedule will make it easier to coordinate times to meet when it's necessary.

We plan to start filming on Saturday, March 9th and try to get as much footage as possible. Although it's not on the schedule, we are willing to sacrifice time on Sunday, March 10th to finish filming so we have the rest of the time to edit. By filming early on, it gives us more flexibility to make any changes that will require reshooting certain parts of the film. Neither of us is going away for spring break so we have that entire week to edit.

We will email Jim Guarasci from Becon this week to borrow equipment to film this weekend.

More and more research!

As we continued to brainstorm the storyline for our plot, Alexia and I decided to do more research, specifically for movies where the wife kills her husband. What I discovered is that there aren't really any specific genre conventions for these types of movies, however, they help in the development of our main character.

The first movie I studied was The Girl on the Train (2016) dir. by Tate Taylor:

The opening scene allows the reader to understand who the character but at the same time it leaves her with an aura of mystery. Why is she so observant of the couple? Does she know them at all? Furthermore, the opening scene leaves the viewer intrigued by how her life will be intertwined with the life of the couple or whether she will remain an observant of their lives.

I also took time to read the synopsis of the film to understand where the "wife killing husband" factor came in. In the opening scene, there was nothing in her behavior that could entail that she would kill her husband. It turns out that at the end, she kills him for revenge of what he has done to the other characters, serving justice. Unlike male killers in horror films, she doesn't have any psychological disorders.

The second film I studied was Kill Bill (2003) dir. by Quentin Tarantino:

In this opening scene, the main character, The Bride, is left to die by her ex-lover, Bill, on her wedding day.  She is on the floor completely helpless, overtowerd by a man, whose voice is the only thing revealed about him. The wedding dress she wears gives her a touch of feminity, playing with the idea of a damsel in distress. However, she vows to seek revenge on Bill and his friends for trying to kill her and her unborn child and embarks on a journey where she hunts them down, killing them one by one. The character goes from being helpless and weak to being a killing machine, driven by revenge.

Even though the films have very different plots and the characters have very little in common, they both transform in order to fulfill their mission of seeking revenge and serving justice, their main motives. Unlike movies of similar genres such as slasher films, the killers aren't mentally ill and their actions don't reciprocate past traumas. Their victims are their husbands/lovers, which are the source of their abuse and trauma, not innocent people. The main theme is revenge.