CCR Question #1

 This first CCR question delves into the conventions of a horror film, and how it represents social groups and issues. For the first two questions I will be doing an interview with a host. This is how I would answer the question in my CCR video...

What makes your horror film, a horror film?

For our film, we followed some classic horror traits, we have the themes of death, dark suspense, and a villain. But we dropped the jump scare aspect, and the heavy gore. We did this because making gore special effects makeup and mis-en-scene elements is tricky and expensive. Usually, horror films start off with a bang, a big jump scare, but starting off slow and building the suspense is something I find more pleasing in films, so we went that way. 

What issues does Haunted Memories touch on?

Haunted Memories touches on some difficult topics, one of them being abuse. It follows the relationship between a teenage girl and her abusive father. No physical abuse is ever shown in the opening, but its heavily hinted at, we focused more on emotional abuse. The rest of the film would have some flashbacks of physical abuse between Olivia and her father Jonathan. Representing this type of a relationship is important considering the staggering statistics we currently have of abused teenagers. One in four girls are estimated to experience child abuse, according to the National Children's Alliance. It’s really heartbreaking and more attention should be focused on resolving this issue. Depression from grief is also something that is noticeably big in this opening, as we see Jonathan struggle deeply with the loss of his wife. It leads him to live a very alcoholic, aggressive, and abusive life towards Olivia. We would continue this message through the remaining of the film by keeping the alcohol bottles around the house, and by having more heavy scenes of Oliva and Jonathan arguing.

What social groups are represented in your opening? 

We represent a broken family, a sad social group. The addiction, abuse, trauma, and loss are all factors that contribute to the falling apart of this family. Which leads to the end of the film where Olivia and Jonathan would go their separate ways, despite Olivia having defeated the killer who was after her and her relationship. Dysfunctional social groups and relationships are common things you can find in films, but what makes them all stand out is the effects they each toll on their characters, and how the relationships effect their decision making throughout the story.

Sources: 

-Click me!

Editing the credits

On Adobe, I've been working on our credit sequence and title. We start the opening off with the credit sequence, and then it transitions into the title, so I thought it would be fitting for me to start with this. The credits are going to be five photos of Anabella and her parents, from her childhood to show the life and bonds they had before the mother passed. Some of the photos are of Anabella and her mom, Anabella and her dad, or Anabella and both of her parents. The photos stay on the screen for about six seconds each, while the credit text boxes roll over them. We wanted to aim for a thirty second credit sequence, so that all the credits can roll, and the photos can sink in with the viewer because they are important establishing blocks. Our credits include, the director, producer, writer, names of the main actors, editors, cinematographer, and the copyrighted music for the three audios I talked about yesterday. We might add some more along the way if we think of any others, but we covered most of the roles that went and are going into this project.

When we learned about this project, and how to create it we learned that our title shouldn't go at the end of the opening, so we decided to have it play right after the credits. Originally, we were going to have the title appear during one of the scenes like the one of Anabella in the mirror, but we ended up with putting it over a black screen after the credits, right before we begin with the father driving home after work. We are still playing around with a few different options for the font of the title. Adobe has a lot of options, and we don't know what to choose, but we want something that looks professional (but kind of scary). 

(One of the family photos used in the credit sequence)

(One of the mother-daughter photos used in the credit sequence)

Editing sounds

Now that we filmed all our scenes, we started transferring our files to a new project on Adobe Premier Pro. We were able to log in and use it for free with our school email, me and Anabella shared the project with each other so we can both edit it simultaneously. We don't have a lot of experience with Adobe, but our teacher did provide us with a lot of tutorials a few months back on how to use it and it’s cool features. We also have had multiple lectures on editing from our teacher, so I have been looking back at my notes to help me plan out this editing process. 

 When we were still in our planning phase, we chose a few sounds, and I shared them here on my blog. We are working with integrating certain clips off those sounds into the background of scenes as well as adding in some of the foley sounds me and Anabella recorded this week during the production days. 

 For our foley sounds, we made one for the dad walking in, the leash being clipped onto the dog, the door slamming shut, the door opening, and some more walking. We did all of these with various things we found in Anabella' house. For the footsteps Anabella placed her hands inside her shoes and stomped around while I followed closely with my phone to catch the audio. For the leash clip noise, we took one of those big carabiner clips and snapped it loudly, with again the phone right next to it to catch the audio. 

 When we integrated these sounds into our project on Adobe, we placed the file of audio over the scenes we chose to go with them. The same was done for the audios that I talked more about in one of my planning blogs. For the editing process, Anabella and I decided that we will both work on it, we both know we don't know how to do certain parts as well so we'll just help each other and divide the work that way. We have been able to call a bit to discuss choices in editing, and to edit together.

I have been really liking Adobe so far, I remember it all looked really complicated at the start, but over time I understood the functions and it became simple. I have re-watched a few tutorials on YouTube to be able to see how to overlay things properly and smoothen the audio over a clip, it's been helpful.

(What our Adobe project looks like so far)

That's a wrap!

 We finished our productions! It was really successful and fun. For this second day of filming, we used all of our props. The photo frame, the mask, the bottles, and the tattoos. We finished making our props over the weekend, for the bottles I ran them under hot water to be able to melt and peel off the pre-existing stickers. I then printed out simple labels of alcohol that I found online and taped them onto the bottles. For the killer's mask, I dyed Anabella's old pink go kart mask black. To do this, I used black fabric dye from the supermarket. I ordered an antique looking photo frame from Amazon, I got a small one because we are just framing the face of the mother. With all of the other props, the tattoos pushed us out of our budget, so we decided to make them ourselves by drawing them on with marker. 

  (This week at a glance!)

We worked on all of the shots that take place inside of the house this week, which concluded our filming. We filmed at my partner Anabella's house, we used her kitchen and bedroom. For the kitchen scene with her and her father, we scattered the bottles around the frame and told Anabella's mom not to wash dishes for the whole day, so the sink was filled with dirty dishes. After we did their argument scene, I followed Anabella to her room for a clip of her slamming her door shut with rage. Thankfully, we borrowed our teachers stabilizer and used it for filming because it made all the shots steady and made it easier to hold the phone for filming. 

In Anabella's room, we did the majority of the content. Before I came over, she set up her room to make it fit the character and use the props we bought. She taped up some of the collage photos she bought, and she hung up the tapestry although it didn't end up in the frame. She cleared her things from the wall and her vanity. We set up the photo frame on the vanity, with a printed photo of her mom inside. She started off by doing heavy eye makeup, with black eyeshadow, thick mascara, and a little bit of purple mixed with red eyeshadow underneath her eyes to make the crying look more realistic. Since she couldn't cry on command, we used eye drops to make it look like black tears of mascara were running down her face. For the costume, Anabella and her dad both wore the same thing they wore last time we filmed. Anabella wore a hoodie and shorts, to resemble she is comfortable and just relaxing at home. Her dad wore something a little nicer, because he had just come home from work in these scenes. 

When I was filming scenes, lighting was a big thing I kept playing around with. On the phone, I would click the frame and adjust the lighting to try and get better shots, it also helped the camera focus on the characters a bit more. Now that we have begun editing we can fix that better, but it was fun to adjust to see what worked best with different angles.

Doorbell

 The final scene we recorded on Friday was through the camera of the doorbell. This was really essential in showing that she is leaving the house, and moving away from the fighting scene with her dad. Ellie the dog, wasn't really cooperating anymore at this point, so to calm her down and have her follow Anabella we had Chloe stand on the side of the house, where she was not in frame holding a treat to motivate her! She was so sweet and cute. 

(Ellie!)

The camera in the doorbell is a little bit different from the one used for the other clips on the driveway, this one has the date and time of the recording printed at the bottom. Since the others don't have this, when we edit them together into a sequence we can either remove it on the doorbell clip, or try to edit and add it in onto the other clips as an overlay, to keep everything consistent. When I was on the app recording the scenes, I tried to play around and toggle with buttons to see if I could enable the date and time at the bottom just like how the one on the doorbell looked, but it didn't work. 

(Doorbell camera)

(Photo from our filming)

Overall, we had a lot of fun, and we filmed the clips well. The walk was smooth, and it looked natural which was perfect. From me and Anabella's past projects we know our acting ruined many clips, so we tried to work on that for this project, to improve it. Obviously, we are not professional actors and developing good acting skills takes a lot of time and effort, but we are definitely trying harder and making adjustments. 

Security cameras

 The two scenes we recorded from the security cameras yesterday where essentially just different angles of the same walk. We positioned the cameras on two different sides of the driveway of the house. One of these angles was really high up, and the other one was at floor-level. We chose these heights so we could have contrast in the same scene, and so we could have more movement when jumping from one camera to another. For the first clip, we placed the camera on top of one of the lanterns outside that sits next to the garage door. 

(Circled in blue is where we positioned the camera for the first shot)

(Setting up the angle)

To adjust and make sure we liked the spot before actually carrying out the scene, we looked at it through the app, and saw what the camera was looking at. We then tweaked it and moved it a little bit towards the left side so we could focus more on Olivia walking the dog. Once we found a good spot, we all moved out of the frame and I gave a countdown, and then clicked record on the app while Anabella walked Ellie right through where the camera was pointing at. 

She kept the same route and movement through the walk since she did the same one for all three scenes. The footage from the camera really resembled a normal security camera footage, it was a little bit grainy and it looked very pixelated. Now that we have the footage, once we go into our editing process we can tweak the brightness, and crop the clip however we need to. 

 Although they were recorded out of order, when we edit the opening, the sequence of these clips would be going from the doorbell camera, to the floor angle, and then the angle from higher up because that order follows the path that she takes with the dog to leave the house and go for a walk. That way we follow her out with different shots and angles. 

The second scene we got was a completely different angle, at floor level that faced the entrance to the house. We placed the camera behind a leaf from a sprouting plant behind it, to show that these cameras are hidden and they are attempting to look natural by blending in with the nature around them. On the footage, a little bit of the plant got caught into the frame which is exactly what we where going for, as we didn't want the whole frame to be covered by the plant. It made it look like you are watching Olivia secretly and discreetly, it really added an eerie touch. 

(Where we placed the camera for the second shot)

This angle mainly focuses on the lower half of Olivia and the dog, it brings in a new perspective of her on the walk. The footage came out the same as the last, with the grainy effect because the same camera was used, but in a different position. The quality is consistent throughout the scenes while it accentuates the authenticity of the scenes quality through the security cameras. I didn't think I would be so excited and anticipating for the editing, but after getting these scenes I honestly can't wait to edit them all together and add all these effects and transitions I keep imagining to make everything flow and make it creepy.

Day one production

 Today we began our production! I was really excited to begin making this story come alive, and see how everything is going to look on screen. We decided that we would start by filming the scenes from the security cameras, that we close the opening with. We started with these scenes because since we have other actors and components outside of me and my partner, we had to make the schedule work for everyone. We chose these scenes because the dog we are using from my partners friend was available, and because my partners dad who plays a big role in the opening was not available for filming this week. We filmed three different scenes from different cameras, and angles. All looking at the same walk that Olivia is taking with her dog, after the fight with Jonathan. 

(Location for day one of production, my house) 

The choice behind whose house the walk would be filmed at came down to the cameras, because my house has them and since no part of the inside of my house is seen in any of these clips, we can film the scenes inside the house at my partners house this coming week. Which is where we had originally decided we would film, and transform her bedroom into Olivia's. 

After school, at around 5:30PM my partner Anabella, and her friend Chloe came and brough Chloe's dog Ellie. Before they came over, I charged all the cameras and made sure they were working. I downloaded the app that connects to them on to my phone, and signed in so I could watch the footage. Originally, we where going to use the cameras that are already hooked on to certain trees and corners of my house, but then we ended up using one of the cameras I removed off the hook so we could fully manipulate and position it to fit the angles we where looking for. On top of that, we also recorded one scene from my doorbell camera. For that one, we didn't move it because its planted onto my front wall of the house, but the spot was great and the footage came out well. 

While recording, we did have a lot of issues with the app and cameras not loading. The wi-fi at my house has been really patchy all week, and because of that and the fact that we filmed outside, which struggles to connect to the wi-fi inside, the app wasn't working well. To fix this, I stayed inside, so I could use a stronger wi-fi, and I was calling them from the inside, so we could communicate about where to move the camera, and when to start the scene as I watched it through my app. 

We had a really successful day one of production, and beside the wi-fi trouble everything went smoothly and we got good shots without having to do many retakes. It would have been more ideal if we could film more this week, but with homework and sports it wasn't possible for us to coordinate more time to get more scenes, especially during the week with school. We are working on finishing props, so that this coming week we can work on the majority of the scenes and stay on our schedule. 

Representation

 Adding on to the mis-en-scene discussed last week, I have one final prop that is important to the representation of the mother in the narrative. Before I get into that, I realized that I haven't been using the character's names in my blogs. I am officially introducing you to Olivia the daughter, Rebecca the mother, and Jonothan the father. The names we chose don't have meaning, we just wanted simple names to keep it easy. In the scenes of the narrative the characters don't really refer to each other with names, they use dad and mom instead, so we didn't think too much on these names.

Going back to the prop, we decided to add this element to show the relationship between Olivia and Rebecca, since it's limited to the photos seen in the credits. The prop will be placed in Olivia's room, on either her desk or nightstand. It will be a small and antique photo frame with a photo of Rebecca in it. This frame is generational and has been in the family for a while. As Olivia was growing up, Rebecca would put things aside for her to eventually inherit. Olivia found this stash shortly after Rebecca passed away, the fame caught her eye. This would be shown to the audience in the film (not the opening) through a flashback of Olivia going through the things Rebecca left behind for her. 

To create this prop, we will take an antique photo frame, from either Goodwill or online like Amazon, and place a photo of Rebecca smiling in it. To get this photo we will use my partners mom, since my partner is the actor for Olvia it makes sense for her mother to play and pose as Rebecca. 

(Some vintage frame examples from Amazon)

As seen in the storyboard, the frame will be zoomed into after we see a mid-shot of Olivia crying in her mirror after fighting with her dad. The zoom in allows the time spent looking at the photo to increase, and for the feelings to sink into the viewer, as the plot of Rebeccas death is still being established. The sequence of the scenes shows that Olivia often looks to her mom's photo for strength, and recently with the arguments worsening between her and her father she has been longing for her mom more than ever. Without the frame, the mother-daughter connection Rebecca and Olivia had wouldn't be seen, as the frame allows us to travel back in time away from the current narrative and explore their relationship.

Audio

For the background of our scenes, it's really important that we have the right audio and sounds to go with the story. Through the website Pixabay, we found three audios we are going to use in our opening. The rest of the scenes will have foley sounds. 

The fist scene with an audio are the credits. This is what we open our film with, the audio is whimsical and upbeat. It perfectly illustrates the warm and happy photos of the family all together. To add this into our opening, when we edit our footage we will embed it into the credit scenes. 

Audio

The second scene with a chosen audio is when we show the tattoos on the killer and daughters wrists. This is a tense scene that really sets the curse into motion, and gets the story going. The audio builds up, and is loud. The build up makes it sound like something is being resolved, or pieced together. Which is exactly what the scene is doing, by going back and forth between the two wrists and giving viewers the realization that the main character does not yet have.

Audio

For the final audio we chose, we decided to pair it with the scene of the daughter walking the dog. This is what we end the opening with. The audio is really creepy, and it goes well with the fact that these final scenes are creepily seen through security cameras. It has an eerie tone, and it ends the opening with mystery.

Audio

For the rest of the scenes, we will be creating and incorporating our own foley sounds. Some examples of where we would add foley audio is when the father is driving, when the father is drinking, and when the daughter is in her room. An example of how we would make the foley of the father walking into the house is by making a recording of boots/heavy shoes stomping onto the ground. Another foley is for the alcohol the father is drinking, we can clank bottles and shake some liquid to make the foley. Just like the audios, the foleys will be added in when we are in our editing stage of the project. 

(Foley sound creation example)

The audios we found are all high quality, and last well over the amount of time we will use them for. They all help tell the story, and pair nicely with the scenes we chose. If we create strong and clear foleys, it will make the scenes smother and make them sound natural. This is all helpful for our editing process of the opening.

Storyboard

Besides the script, we created another form of planning for our opening. We drew and wrote a storyboard, with 15 scenes. The first scene is the longest, it's the 30 seconds of credits. For this scene we drew out an example photo of one of the six photos of the family that will play beneath the credits rolling. It will transition into a black screen that the title "Haunted Memories" will then appear on. 

The second and third scenes follow the father stumbling home after a long day of drinking and working. The fourth, fifth, and sixth scene depict the argument between the daughter and father. The dishes drawn in the sink are important, because that's what sets the father off and pushes his anger over the edge. We included some of the script into the drawing, to show that it will go in those scenes. 

The next two scenes are what happens after the daughter flees the argument, and goes to her room. The zoom-in into the picture frame of her mother is really significant for the consequential scene. Which is the killer on the cameras trying to see if his plan worked, and if he can move into phase two. Zooming in on the frame brings it more attention and gives it the time it deserves, for its significance, since the mother tragically passed away, and has left the family in shambles. 

The tenth and eleventh scenes focus on one of the main mis-en-scene elements, the tattoos. I talked about those on my blog this week, and we chose to show them through a super fast flash-back-and-forth motion. The intercut of the two perspectives will put everything in place with the curse, and keep the visual entertaining. 

We then see the daughter wanting to take her mind off of the argument, and go out for a walk with her dog. The last three scenes tie back to the killer being hacked into the cameras, watching her to make sure the curse has been successful so far. These three scenes will be different angles that the cameras are in, getting the footage of the daughter on a walk. The family has always had these cameras in their house, for security and safety purposes. On the bottom corner of the footage, the time stamps are seen of when the killer is watching the footage.

   (Storyboard)

With the planning of shot types and the consequential order of the scenes I feel prepared to begin filming next week and stay on track with the schedule I made, by following my storyboard. In past projects, I've learned that filming days can get stressful, but having a detailed and guided plan you made to follow is extremely helpful and allows things to run smoothly without letting you forget anything.

Tattoos

After reading my blog about my project summary last week, I think you probably have some further questions about the tattoos that I mentioned. These are a big part of the curse, and they are the main prop in my mise-en-scene. The fact that the daughter and killer both have tattoos is to show that they are related by the curse, almost like being interlinked. 

For the design of the tattoo, I wanted to choose something that would show the curse and it's power. I was initially thinking of doing the two sides of a broken heart, one side on each persons arm, but with my partner Anabella we came up with a better symbol. 

We chose to do a blue infinity sign. The blue is our way of representing that the daughter is feeling sad and blue, and the infinity sign shape shows that this curse is forever unless broken. This tattoo means that the curse is placing an eternity of sadness onto the daughter, unless again, it is broken. 

For the prop, I will buy the temporary tattoos on Amazon. I found these which have a great shade of dark blue, on Amazon. To apply these onto skin, you place them on the arm and go over them with a dampen cloth, and then remove the plastic. The pack comes with a lot of different sizes of the tattoo, so we can play around and see what works best and is seen best through the camera.

(The tattoos on Amazon)

(Approximate placement of tattoo, and size)

With the tattoo being on both characters arms, their bond is displayed and it shows their relationship. Although the two don't meet each other in the opening, the killer knows about the daughter. She doesn't know about him yet, but she finds out about him in the rest of the film's plot. This is why the tattoos are vital to the opening, they provide the context of the future relationship. 

Bottle prop

 A main element in the plot is the fathers alcoholic addiction. This leads him to his aggressive lash outs, and mood swings with his daughter. Besides using emotions and arguments to clearly show this, we brainstormed an idea to create a prop that will help further convey this element.

We obviously can't legally purchase or drink any alcoholic beverages, so we got creative with how we will make our own bottles. We are going to use glass bottles such as the ones from the San Pellegrino sparkling water company. We will remove their stickers, and glue on new stickers we printed out of popular alcoholic names. The bottles will be filled with water, the dark green glass they are made out of makes it really hard to see the substance inside so it doesn't call for us to fill them with anything special.

(Example of bottle)

We will have a handful of these bottles, and they will be in most of the scenes, especially the big argument scene in the kitchen with his daughter. You will see them kind of dispersed, on the counter, floor, table, or in the background. The more we have, the stronger of a message it sends that his addiction is severe and worsening. 

Although, the contribution of the prop bottles might not seem like a lot, they will actually help fill in all the details and clearly show what's happening. To be able to collect as many bottles as I can, I have asked my dad to set them aside for me. He loves to drink sparkling water every day, especially San Pellegrino, I also like drinking them. Overtime, I have been able to collect five so far, and I'm aiming for two or three more. 

One of the bottles will be in the background of the fight scene, and it will be shattered. To show the mess that the father is, and lives in, one of the bottles will be broken next to some other ones. Caps will be off some bottles, and not all of the bottles will be fully filled. This will show that he is actively drinking and abusing the alcohol. 

Overall, with the prop bottles I think we can carry out the narrative smoothly, and show that we have detailing in the film settings.

Character Development

 The character I chose to develop throughout my narrative, is the father. We see his behavior and relationship with his daughter change for the worst through flashbacks and memories. By developing his personality, viewers understand the gravity of the situation and the toll that his wife's passing has taken on him. 

A character development usually starts negative, and grows into something positive, but because of my plot having these aggressive and sad components, I am using the usual character development backwards. The character development will help me get the backstory across, and will bring viewers up to speed on the upcoming scenes. My character development will mostly take place in the first 45 seconds of my opening. 

I will have the credits with the photos of the old memories rolling, and in the photos the father will be included. This will highlight his old tone of happiness, and love. Which will contrast with the following scene, of his fight with his daughter, showing he has developed into a cold and distant father. 

The way the father will represent his happiness in the phots of the old memories is by being really close with the family, but especially with the mother. He will be smiling, and laughing in the pictures, all while looking intensely at his beloved wife and daughter. In some photos, he will look proud, and full of care for his family's lives. The father will also look healthy and in good shape in these photos.

On the other hand, to portray his character development in the following scenes the father will look tired, and unhappy. He will seem to be unhealthy, unstable, and miserable. Craving for alcohol, and full of tiredness. Unlike the photos, I also have the component of a script to present his character development. The script I talked about in my last blog evidently shows his changed feelings for his daughter, and his tone while speaking to her. His word choice is important, it sticks and stings. 

(Representation of the fathers development, the start is his high point, he is happy. He fluctuates and goes downhill when his wife passes. That is when his depression and addiction begin.)

By incorporating all of this, I can show the fathers character development physically, and emotionally. Without this development, the plot wouldn't be able to connect, and bring the curse upon the daughter. The fathers character development is the most important because although he is not the main character, he is the antagonist. His character takes and gives from the protagonist, which builds up the main character (daughter).