Reflection

Hello everyone! My name is Sophia Jauregui and I was a part of creating the film opening for

“The Call”. My partner’s name is Giuliana Ribas, she and I have worked extremely hard on the entire production of this film opening. To specify, our film opening is based on this popular teenage girl who watches a news broadcast that states an ongoing problem of mass-suicides. The problem is that when somebody answers the phone, a demonic spirit enters their body and makes them want to kill themselves. At the end of the opening she is seen performing the ignorant action of answering a phone call which automatically makes her a victim to this problem.  

Since the start we knew we were going to do a film in the horror genre because we knew a lot about the suspenseful shots that we could include. In the horror genre there are two movies and two shows that we got inspiration from. The first movie we got inspiration from was Bird Box, from which we obtained the idea of using a news broadcast to state the problem we were going to cover in our film opening. Another idea that we got from it was the issue of mass-suicides and the apocalyptic vibe from the movie. The next movie we got inspiration from was Scream, which is where we got the idea to use the phone as a way for the demonic spirits to enter the body. The show Criminal Minds is what inspired us to make our film opening one scenario of the problem that is happening during the whole episode, but before the episode starts, in this case before the film begins. From the show Vampire Diaries we used the way that a vampire’s face turns all veiny and black, and applied it to the main character’s face when she answers the phone.

Moving on, our film opening follows genre conventions by using the sub-genre of apocalyptic horror, mostly through the use of the news broadcast since it is very informative and used in many horror films to state the occurring problem. We made sure to make our news broadcast look as realistic as possible with formal outfits, the setup of the props, and the editing to make the headlines. Our film opening represents the stereotypical popular teenager because she is on her phone constantly and she is very ignorant to the world around her.

Moving on, our film opening has a target audience of ages 13-24 and since horror films like ours contain a substantial amount of suspenseful scenes, it attracts viewers that love movies having to do with a sort of end of the world feeling. Our film opening engages with our audience because it is depicting the age group that most of them can identify themselves in, which would make them more interested in watching our film. It also gives them the anxiety and stressful feeling that they get when watching horror films. If we would ever distribute our film opening as a real media text we would probably enter it in our school’s film festival since it would be a way to bring attention to it and it would work out really well since a high school’s age group is from 14-18. We also have to keep in mind that it wouldn’t be realistic to choose a huge distributor since we are so upcoming and we aren’t professional movie directors.

Now to talk about my production skills that have improved substantially during this whole process of filming and editing. In the filming portion of this film opening, there were a lot of techniques that we applied, like camera shots, angles, and movement. We had to really think and plan out all of these different aspects on our storyboard to be prepared for filming. We used extreme close-ups, over the shoulder shots, close ups, and establishing shots. We also did some creative shots like having a small depth of field in the first scene of the film opening with the control remote, and using a pull focus with the over the shoulder shot of the main character watching the news broadcast. Another thing that we did when actually filming the movement of our main character was using a tracking shot beginning with a high angle and followed her into the bathroom as she turned on the shower and then answered the phone. Lastly, we had to make sure that our camera movement was really stable in order for it to look as professional as possible.

In the editing portion of our film opening, we had to place all of our video clips in order and make sure that they all flowed smoothly and that there were no continuity errors. Then we had to create our sound effects manually by recording with the voice memo application on my phone. Then we also found suspenseful music and added it throughout the whole opening so that it wouldn’t be a silent film. It truly created the suspenseful atmosphere that the audience is looking for when watching horror films. Moving on to the tedious part of editing our film opening, which would be the text-message conversation. Since the start of developing ideas for our film opening, my partner and I had planned to use the editing application After Effects to create a conversation on the screen while showing the main character texting on the side. But when we began to use this application, it was extremely difficult and complicated.  What we ended up doing was using an app on my phone to create a fake conversation and then using iMovie to overlay this on top of a video of our main character texting that we filmed using the rule of thirds knowing that this clip of the conversation would be included on the left side. Overall, we did have many editing problems including continuity errors and the film being too long, but now we know how to fix these problems and how to deal with them in the future.

We integrated the use of many technologies to fully create our film opening, such as the software. For the software we used the application iMovie because i have been using it for a while now and I am most comfortable with it. I wanted to make sure that I would be successful in creating this project by using what I know best. For the hardware we used my sister’s computer since my computer low on storage and my partner’s computer doesn’t work well with iMovie. Lastly from an online website, we obtained the suspenseful music sound effect which aided in giving our film opening a dramatic feel to it.

So that was it for my CCR, I just wanted to thank Cambridge for helping me improve my production skills and giving me this opportunity to explain my whole filming and editing process, Bye!

The Call- Film Opening

Hello! We have finished! This whole project took hard work and effort in order to make sure that it turned out as it did. My production skills have definitely improved and I am really happy that I got to experience and have this opportunity to make a film opening. Located below is the link to the film opening for The Call. Hope you enjoy it!!!

https://youtu.be/sRYTT2OmXGk

CCR

Hey guys!! Welcome back! I have completed my CCR or Creative Critical Reflection and I couldn't be more excited to share it with you. This will show the whole process of the production of our film opening. The link to it is down below, hope you like it!

https://youtu.be/L_5nQyqa0aU

Editing CCR

Hey everyone! I have finally finished the script to my CCR or Creative Critical reflection! Here is the beginning part of it located down below.

It took a lot of thinking and retracing of the steps I took in order to create the entire film opening. I was trying to record my audio for the video by reading off of the script, but something terrible is happening to me at the moment. I am having an allergy attack. I cannot stop sneezing. I have tried about 8 times to record my voice and I keep sneezing in the middle of it. I really wanted to get that part of the CCR today so that tomorrow I could focus on adding videos and screen recordings to it to make my CCR more entertaining and informative. I guess I am just going to have to do everything tomorrow, sadly. 

UPDATE:

It is the next day now and I have recorded my voice. I am really happy with how it turned out because I was scared I was going to mess up. I am now inserting many different videos and images into it so that it I can explain myself better, and show what I am saying. This is a screen recording of how far I am with the editing, I asm almost done, I just need to make some final touches.

Recording/Editing our Film Opening

Hey guys! Ever since the day we started thinking about our film opening, we planned on using the first shot as an establishing shot. This would be showing Lucy's living room and the news broadcast would be playing on the television. But when we started filming, we realized that we should start it off with a more appealing shot like the one we did. We started it by using an extreme close-up of the remote control, with the camera focused on it, and the background would be blurred out. Down below is the shot that we decided to use for the beginning of the film opening.

Something else that we didn't do from the storyboard was the use of the tracking shots that we planned on doing. We didn't do these shots because of the fact that we didn't have a tripod to make the shots stable and professional looking, we were doing them handheld, which is very risky. What we did was we used a combination of different shots of Lucy's walking from and to different places from different angles. We did use a tracking shot though, when Lucy went into the bathroom and turned on the shower and then her phone rings, all of this was one continuous movement of the camera. We did a one-take shot which took several tries, but then we finally got it. Down below is this tracking shot that I mentioned above. 

Now moving on to the editing portion of the film opening. I have been using iMovie for years and I am very comfortable using it since I know how to do everything. First of all, we had to place all of the clips in the correct order and then shorten the beginnings and ends of them in order for the video to be continuous.  When Lucy was walking to the couch from one angle and then when it would switch to another angle, we had to make sure that the actions flowed. Then with the tracking shot we didn't have to worry about the continuity since it was taken all in one shot. But then, at the very end of the film opening, the clip where Lucy had her eyes closed and no makeup, and the other clip when Lucy suddenly has the veins drawn on and she opens her eyes and she has the red contacts on, needed to be precisely connected so that there wasn't a noticeable cut in between the two. 

Next, this was by far, the hardest and most annoying part of the whole editing process. This was making the text messages pop up on the side of the video. Since we knew we were going to include the text conversation on the screen on this video, we made sure to use the rule of thirds to make sure that Lucy was to the left of the screen and leave an empty space on the right side where the text messages would be popping up. Since the start, we knew that we were going to use the application After Effects to make the text-message conversation appear on the screen. SO, both my partner and I signed up for the free trial and began playing around with it in order to make the conversation. After an EXTREMELY long time trying and trying, we realized that it was too hard to use this application. We thought it was over and we were getting scared. But then we thought of searching up on YouTube how to do use this complicated app, but we still had lots of difficulties. Thus, we decided to try a different way. We decided we would use a app on my phone called Fake Conversation in order to make the fake group chat. In this fake group chat I was able to add images to each name and name the group chat "Girliesss" with many feminine emojis at the end. I saved this screen recording and then layered it over the clip of Lucy texting. Then I placed the conversation to the right of the video to make sure that both of the sides were visible. Down below is the final product of the text message conversation. 

Moving on to the music and sound effects. For all of the sounds that were made in the video, we remade those sounds and recorded them on my phone. For instance, the sound effects of Lucy typing, the typical iPhone SMS messages sound when they send or receive, the typical iPhone ringtones (Marimba), and the shower turning on. We recorded these sound effects ourselves by recreating them because it was more efficient than having to search online for royalty free sound effects and they might not even sound realistic. What we did is my partner would perform the action of the sound effect and I would record it. Such as, she would turn on the shower, or she would type on notes to get the texting sound we wanted. Then, we placed these sound effects in iMovie and aligned them perfectly with the part of the video the they needed to be in. The hard part about this was having to align every single message that was sent and received with their specific sound effect because they would go really quick and the alignment needed to be perfect. We muted out most of the real sound from the videos since the background noise would have been too loud and it would take away from the tension that the silence creates in horror films. The only video clip where we left the actual audio in is the part of the news broadcast because we wanted it to sound realistic.  After rewatching our film opening over and over again, we knew that there was more potential for it. Yes, it sounded really spooky for the film to silent most of the time, but we felt that with some suspenseful background music, it could sound even better. We searched and searched online for royalty free suspenseful music, but there weren't any that we truly thought fit for our film opening. So, we heard some of the iMovie music and found the perfect one, it is called "Drone Dark Suspense 1" for the background music throughout the whole opening. The last sound effect that we added was at the very end when Lucy opened her eyes and became possessed. We used the sound effect  "Creepy Transitions (152)" from the website  https://www.soundsnap.com. Lastly, we added our title "The Call" to the end to the film opening. We left the sound effect of the shower until the title on purpose. This is because it leaves the audience with tension and wondering what happened to Lucy. 

Coming up with our Movie Title

Hello! We have been thoroughly thinking about the title of our Movie. At the end of our film opening we will be including the title of our made up Movie. We have researched names of scary movies and we have found the pattern that most movies in the horror genre have one or two words as the title. The titles are almost always simple and short. Some examples are "It", "Us", "Get Out", "The Nun", "Sinister", "Insidious", and the list goes on and on. Thus, since our movie is mainly based on mass-suicides that are caused by receiving a call from a "friend" and that is when the spirit gets inside of you and makes you want to kill yourself, we came up with the title "The Call".

Moving on, we have also gone through many fonts and colors for the title and we have come up with the perfect one for our film opening. For the font, we were looking for a font with letters in all capital letters because it makes the words stand out more and it makes them more dramatic. We also were inspired by the movie titles of "The Nun" and "The Conjuring" because they are both very successful and well known horror movies. The titles of both of these movies include all capitals letters and different sizes of the letters. We also applied this to our title because it adds to the creepy and disturbing vibes. My partner and I used the website https://www.font-generator.com/.

This is the first font that we created, it doesn't really have all capital letters or different sizes, but we thought that the first T had a really unique look to it. The letter h is in lowercase and I HATED that.  We then thought of all of the other letters and ended up not liking this one at all, because it is really simple and the only good part about it was the first letter. 

This is the second design that we came up with. It has ALL capital letters and the creepy different sizes that we wanted. The only thing that we didn't like was the color of the background and the color of the font. But we learned how to fix it and we adjusted it to how we wanted.

THIS IS IT. This is the title that we will be using. It has all of the aspects that we want in it and more. It is red because the color red is associated with death and blood which you can't go wring with when dealing with a horror movie. It also is red to match with our lead actress's color contacts which will be the last thing the audience sees before the title is displayed. It also has a black background which will help in blending this image of the font into the black background of the ending of the film opening.


We will be including the title screen at the end of the film opening, and there's an explanation for that. When the lead actress, Valentina, answers the phone in the last part of the last scene, she will be looking down. Then, we will have her open her eyes and do a close up shot of the red colored contacts that she will be wearing. She will then collapse to the floor, and the screen will go black. This is when the title will appear. The red will pop out with the font and the contacts, which adds to the horror genre aspect of our movie.

Finalizing Main Character's Appearance

Today we filmed most of our film opening. Our main character Valentina, or Lucy (her name in the film), wore our Regina George inspired outfit. She wore a black short skirt, a pink short sleeve with a pink blazer over it, and some black flats. I think we totally nailed the popular girl look!

Another huge aspect of her appearance was achieving the possessed look with makeup and the red contacts. I ordered the red contacts on Amazon, and payed for next day shipping so that they could arrive by the filming date. Of course, our luck wasn't very good. The package got lost and we had to end up returning it without it arriving.

SO we had to think of a solution to this HUGE problem. We thought, we can't film this opening without the contacts because they totally complete the look.  So we thought of looking for stores around where we live that might sell them. We called over sic different stores, and they all said that they were available online, but we had no time for that. Then, I had the AMAZING idea of using a snapchat filter. Snapchat is a social media platform that has many different filters that change the appearance of your face. There are also COLORED CONTACTS, the usual ones that people use are blue or green, but we searched up RED colored contacts, and they were there. PROBLEM SOLVED. We were so excited and relieved because this possessed look is what truly completes the film opening.

Another small issue that we had is that Valentina didn't really want us to do the possessed makeup look on her, at the end she let us though. We struggled in putting all it on her, but in the end it looked extremely realistic. We started off by putting a layer of brown eye shadow under her eyes, then some dark red and lastly, black. We added some eyeliner in the shape of branches for the veiny look.  Here is the process down below.

As you can tell from these pictures and videos, she wasn't very excited to have all of this on her face, but as long as we got the clip for our film opening, we were set. We started off with some problems when using the snapchat filter because when you tilt the camera sideways the contacts wouldn't show up on her eyes, so what we did was he started off placing the camera vertically and then tilted it sideways slowly to make sure they wouldn't misplace her eyes. Then we filmed the ending to our film opening and it was exactly what he hoped for.