CCR Research Question 3

CCR Question 3 Research: 

How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

Research/Main Improvements

My skills developed a lot throughout this project. When I was just beginning this project I was extremely nervous as I had little to none filming experience as I had never filmed anything or done something like this before. However, as I spent more and more time my skills improved. I learned how to research more extensively whether it be through researching films in the mystery genre or gaining new inspirations for the plot and the characters. I also learned how to visually plan out my film through the use of a storyboard which helped me create the image I wanted for the opening. I learned that there were so many different types of shots and techniques all of which had a purpose and meaning behind each one. I learned about lighting and the importance of taking different variations of each shot to select which one looks the best. I learned about all of the different editing techniques such as cuts and the importance of reshooting shots to make sure they look better than before. (Especially since I had to retake the entire opening because I filmed it all in portrait mode without realizing it.) I learned on how to take advice from other people through our group meetings and incorporate their suggestions into my opening.

Script

Hello, I am Andres Ortiz and this is my response for CCR questions 3 and 4. The first question I will answer is how did your production skills develop throughout this project? I feel that throughout this project my skills have developed a lot. Before starting this course and project I had almost no experience with filming. As a result, I was extremely nervous during the beginning of this project. But as I kept working on this project and spending more time on it, I slowly learned and my skills improved as a result. After reviewing what I needed for the opening I split the process into four stages; research and planning, filming and production, editing and retaking, and reflection to make it easier for myself.

For the research and planning stage I learned how to research films more effectively. I spent my time researching films in the mystery genre for inspiration on my plot and characters. I also researched and analyzed how they create suspense in their scenes and develop their characters which helped me a lot in the actual production of the film. Additionally, I researched films that weren't in the mystery genre but had interesting concepts like National Treasure, Persona 5,  and DC which were all major influences on the design of our opening and Shade as we came up with the idea of the Calling Card through those inspirations as I posted in previous blog posts. 

A skill that I developed during the planning stage was how to plan visually. I learned how to use a storyboard to map out how my opening would look and how all of the different shots would appear and impact the viewer. This helped us out by a large proportion as it served as a type of guideline that we could follow to film our opening.

For the filming and production stage I learned several important skills and facts about filming. I learned to consider which shots and techniques to use for each take including factors like lighting which can heavily influence the mood and tone of a scene. I received advice from several different people including the people in my group meetings and my teacher about what shots, props, and lighting to use with them saying some of my shots were too dark to see anything and recommended to brighten it. When I was filming I also learned about the importance of teamwork as I had to coordinate with my partner Marat and friend Lucas Chen to take good shots and get the lighting right for each one because if we didn't then the shot wouldn't come out very well.

For the editing and retaking stage I learned the importance of cutting down on time, transitions between shots, and retaking shots. After filming all of the shots we wanted to use and uploading them into ClipChamp we realized that we were way over the time restriction and scrambled to shave off one entire minute of time wherever we could to make sure it fit. I learned that transitions such as cuts can be used to smoothly connect scenes together to make it appear more appealing and natural. I also learned the hard way that sometimes you have to reshoot scenes if they don't turn out the way you expected. In fact, I had to refilm my entire opening because I accidentally filmed in portrait mode instead of landscape. This set us backwards by a ton but it also helped me learn from my mistake and even improve the end result as I could add new ideas that I had or replace scenes with ones that could be better.

Overall, this project helped me learn about everything that goes into filmmaking and makes me respect the amount of dedication and effort that producers and directors provide.