FILM BLOG

For this film, the most difficult obstacle that I approached revolved around permits. It took me almost 5 weeks to be able to film on Manhattan Beach for this surf video. I had to deal with lifeguards, FilmLa, insurance, school production, and Manhattan Beach to be able to acquire the permits. But although it was a struggle, it was a learning process. I also had some issues when I was filming. During my last couple shots, my GoPro was thrown off of my surfer's board and is now eternally lost in the ocean’s blue abyss. But luckily for me, I brought my computer to the beach and uploaded the shots that I had before the incident happened because the waves were pretty rough. I also had some trouble with sand on my lenses, but it actually gave my shots more of an artistic look. I also screwed up with continuity during one scene with the surfboard, which I tried to fix with editing but I couldn’t. I even had some trouble with music. I thought my original song was royalty free, but it ended up being copyrighted. I tried looking for a royalty-free song for hours that would work with my film, but I couldn’t find anything that really fit the tone of my movie.  Overall, there are some things I would have done differently while I was on set, but I still had a great experience and learned from my mistakes. Plus I’m pleased that instead of giving up on filming at the beach, I pushed through and finally acquired the permits. 

For this film, I was able to use score, which helped develop a very dark setting. I also had to create this film last minute and somewhat on the spot because I could not acquire the permits for my original idea. It was challenging to construct a film in the small area that I had, but I decided to get eccentric with it.  I was told I could do a dinner scene, but that really didn’t interest me. I ended up creating a film about a character trapped in a testing facility where he was forced to drink a bizarre liquid. I color graded it with a very yellow tone to establish an almost contagious or sickening feeling. I wanted to create a dog POV scene, but I didn't know how to create it at first. I ended up having the idea of strapping a GoPro to my head and running on my hands and knees. Surprisingly, it really worked. 

For this film, it was difficult not using the score to set the tone, so instead, I heavily relied on color grading to create an anxious and darker setting. I also relied on close up shots to establish the feeling of suffocation. I even used sound effects to add to the tense tone of the film. For example, I implemented sounds of buzzing from an air conditioner and fan when my actor was in the room and also added sounds when my character blacked out to help relay to the audience what was going on in the scene. I also added a sound of tinnitus when he kept taking more and more pills. My biggest obstacle for this film was trying to decrease the stagnation of the scenes because my actor was mostly in one spot, so I ended up incorporating different styles of shots, such as a dutch angle. 

The video uses a sequence of images to explain a story. The use of color also adds to the short video. I used darker colors when he is studying and more euphoric colors when he is dreaming. Although it is a bit cheesy, it is clear and concise. It was difficult telling a story with still images, but instead of doing something simple, I ended up doing something more bizarre to make it more entertaining for the audience