Portfolio Project - Editing Process

Intro:

When working on our portfolio project today, we did not film any new clips or segments at all. Today was solely focused on editing. We had used our previous clips to combine them and make a new product. As mentioned in my last post, we had used the software ClipChamp to do our editing processes. These processes had included: compiling clips, adding audio, and adding after effects to some clips. Whether they were too dark, or too bright, making some necessary touches when needed.

Editing:

The first step of editing was to find the appropriate clips that would be used in the product. This meant sifting through all raw footage and finding the footage with no flaws. No blur, no shaking, only intended behavior that represents the scene. After, we had put together the passing clips in the proper order, as represented in the story board. Then, we had added in a black screen that we had in mind for our scene. This was for the car crash scene; in order to not film an actual car crash, we filmed the build up to one and played the audio over a black screen. Finally, we had added layered sound effects to the entire piece. These included the actual sound of the crash, tires screeching, and the ambulance coming after. We also had some dialogue in between which was a part of the sound scape in our piece. Overall, we had spent today using ClipChamp to compile our raw footage, add sounds, and add after effects to our product.

Picture of my editing process in the ClipChamp software.

Portfolio Project - CCR Preparation

 Intro:

For todays blog, I will be writing about the lengthy research I did in regards to the CCR part of the project. After my teacher told me how important the CCR was to our overall project, I wasted no time and got started right away planning what I would do. She showed us various examples to get us comfortable with the concept, and explained why certain projects lost points or gained them. For that part of the lesson, I took lengthy notes of what should be expected in the CCR. Today is my research on 2 of the questions that had stood out to me initially. Obviously, I will be covering the remaining two another day, possibly in another blog post.

Skills:

The CCR question relating to skills was "How did your production skills develop throughout this project?" Originally, I thought this question was going to be rather difficult; however, doing some research had cleared some uncertainty around it. It made the improvements clear to me. During the filming process, I had originally been complacent with trying to film the entire piece on an iPhone, by hand. As I progressed through this process, it had made me realize the importance that proper preparation and equipment had on producing a good final product for my film opening. Because of this, I had begun to utilize equipment like stabilizers and mounts going forward. The project had developed my filming skills as I tried to create my best possible product.

Technologies:

This CCR question was "How did you integrate technologies -software, hardware, online- in this project?" While this one was a little more difficult to answer at this early stage, I had still noticed progress in these categories as is. After gathering our raw footage, we each edited it to our liking and compared it later. In doing so, we all improved our integration of editing softwares in our project. These included software like ClipChamp and Adobe Express. We had selected these because they were readily available by our schools resources and given to all students via a login portal. We integrated it by using them to combine the raw footage to our liking to begin to shape up our film opening in its earliest phases.

Portfolio Project - Shooting Process

 Intro:

This week, my group and I had finally begun our filming process. It turns out, most of the conflict before was just communication issues. If we kept at the same pace as yesterday, the day we filmed, we would be just fine for the rest of the project. Besides all that, our main goal for yesterday was the filming of our first scene, the car segment. Personally, I was very excited for this part because I really enjoy driving and doing stuff like that. The goal was to get as much footage as possible of the car stuff. That being said, once we had gotten to the location I had mentioned in one of my previous posts, we had realized we were thoroughly unprepared. The shots we had written on our storyboard were actually extremely difficult to set up in real life. Once we had come to this conclusion, we had to figure out a way to film those shots. We came to the conclusion that the best solution would be to purchase this mount from Amazon to mount a camera to parts of the car. However, Amazon is not instant and the product would take at least 1 day to arrive. Because of this, we had divided up our shots into 2 categories.

Film:

Shots that would require the mount, and shots that would not. By doing so, we were able to effectively film as much as possible without rushing our process and sacrificing nicer shots just to be done with it. The shots we filmed included simpler scenes like outside shots of the car. We have a few of the car going down a street filmed from outside on the street. These shots were relatively simple and did not take many takes. Not to mention, the planning that went into picking the location had paid off, since we were able to pretty much have that road to ourselves. Once we compile those shots, it will be easier to tell whether we need more shots of the car to keep the scene engaging since a 10-20 second scene of a car would be quite dull and boring. Working in a group of 3, we had 1 of us standing on the sidewalk filming the other 2 flying by in the car. We were all happy with how it came out, but it may need to be more visually engaging in the final product.

We were also able to film the death scene of Sarah, Adam's partner. This was really fun for the entire group since we got to use the makeup that we had practiced before for the actual film itself. (To see footage of the makeup production, please refer to below.) We had also made an attempt at depicting the crash as well, but I am not really sure whether that will make it to the final product. For this, we had a group members car parked and with their headlights on full blast. To simulate the crash, I was in charge of driving head on into her car as quickly as possible before steering off course as late as possible. This part was especially engaging. But, for everyone's safety I obviously maintained a safe distance and safe speed throughout the entire thing.

Portfolio Project - Special Makeup

 Overview:

As mentioned in the previous post, I mentioned issues pertaining to the project. These included the issues with scheduling and filming; however, we had made some progress in overcoming said issues. We had decided that we would delay filming until the upcoming week. That being said, we could not waste a day not doing anything. For today, we decided to practice the special effect makeup that would be used to film the crash. I personally had less of a major role on this than in the logo creation. One of the other group members handled this while I helped and took the pictures.

For this picture we had applied makeup to a willing volunteer around the head region. This was meant to represent the full look post crash. It included both cuts and bruises, which are elements expected to be shown in a crash. This had been the refined outcome after many attempts we finally gotten the result we wanted.

This photo represents the makeup we had done to practice our blood effects. To "master" this look we had done many attempts and relaized that we had to us both a red background of makeup paired with the blood splatter to make it look more realistic. 

This picture combines the experience gained from both trials to create a visual cut. We used a lot of layered makeup for the cut and then covered it with some blood to make it more realistic. This was one of the more difficult ones to create since making a cut from makeup would be a difficult task. Reflecting upon it, we might have wanted to add some more of the deep red blood from the first image in the actual cut itself to represent the open wound.

Portfolio Project - Problems and issues

Filming:

When we made our idea, we had never originally spoken about when to film. As time progressed, we knew we had to film sooner than later. This created an issue as all three group members would have to come together to film. Towards the start of the project a group chat was created to keep in touch between all members; however, as time progressed, the chat had become less and less responsive. This proved to be extremely inconvenient for the filming process for obvious reasons. After we were able to agree on possible dates for filming, we would not get together near the planned date. In fact, at the time of writing this,  we still had not gotten together to film. The worst possible outcome is that the project would be delayed and put off and rushed, especially since I would like it to look nice and not rushed.

Gathering Ideas:

As mentioned above, the three members in my group had created a group chat to stay in touch. This was needed to be able to bounce ideas off of each other and keep in contact. Also, our instructor had regularly allowed time us time in class to get together and work on our projects. Everything was good at first, but then some of our members would not show up to class for multiple periods. This has made it very hard to solidify our concept since in the planning phase, things were always changing and we all had to be on the same page. Not to mention, when we texted in the group chat, it would take a long time to get an answer from everyone.

Overall:

The only major problem we have in our group is communication and accessibility. I do not know what to do about the situation since it is kind of difficult to manage. Ideally, something changes soon so we can all focus on our project; especially since we used to work quite well before the sudden change in their behavior.

Portfolio Project - Logo Development

 Intro:

Separate of our actual filming and film opening, we needed to develop a production company that would be distributing our film. The company would not have to be very intricate, but would have to have the basic elements of all companies. The name and the logo. When coming up with the logo, we approached a creative roadblock in our effort. To overcome this, we simply combined the first letter of our names into a string of characters then attached media at the end of it. A.C.K. media. Addison, Chase, Kamilla Media.  When making the logo we decided to use Adobe Express, as it was easily accessible in our schools suite package. I also have had previous experience on the platform itself.

The Process:

The circle I had used for the initial backdrop of the logo. I had stylized the circle in many ways. First I had added a 6 pixel border around the circle and gave it a 60% opacity value. After I had set the color to a blue and grey gradient.

After, I had added the production company name and centered it both vertically and horizontally. I used the liberation serif font for this part.

I then felt like the circle was a bit empty so I added a background to the text and made sure everything was centered. I used a purple and blue gradient for this piece as shown above. 

After showing my teammates the previous progress point, they said they felt as if the logo should be in darker red themes to represent a more psychological horrorish genre. They took inspiration from existing production companies like BlumHouse where the logo is representative of the type of content they produce. So in this change, I switched the background gradient to a red and black color, and the text background to the same color as the border.

We still were not happy with how it looked as it looked lacking and light. After some fidgeting around on Adobe Express, I had found out that the first opacity value I changed in the first step had changed that value for all layers. Reverting this back to zero has darkened the whole logo back to the intended colors. We also changed the border color to solid black, as well as the text background. Also, the text in the center had been made the same color as the red in the gradient to match it and make it more visually pleasing.

Portfolio Project - Location Scouting

Intro

After solidifying our original idea, our refined final version had included scenes in 2 different settings. The scenes in the first half would be shot on the road outside, while the scenes in the second half would be shot inside a room. The first half would include the scene on the road containing the speeding and the crash; that being said, choosing a street of adequate length that was also relatively isolated would be difficult. However, the inside room location would be far easier to find. We actually already had a location in mind from when we made the idea. Below are pictures of locations along with descriptions explaining why we chose them.

Location 1:

Room we would be filming in

We chose this room for the indoor scenes for a multitude of reasons. Firstly, it has dark walls which would be perfectly representative of our main character Adam's emotions post accident. This would also support the overall color scheme of the entire project post crash. Elaborating on this, before the crash, Adam would be seen smiling and laughing, wearing bright colors and things of that nature. Sarah, Adam's lover, would be seen wearing bright clothing with unique patters to draw attention to her during her scene. After she dies and is removed from the narrative world, the overall color scheme would transition to a much darker theme. Another reason is that is a relatively empty room which means we would be able to fill it up with props.

Location 2: 

Road we would be filming on

We chose this street for the road scenes because of it checks all required boxes. The street is right behind a school, which may sound like a downside, however, since we our planning to begin shooting this weekend, a road near a school would be perfect since it would be empty on weekends. This emptiness would allow us to film the crash scene where the car would be stopped in the middle of the road and we show Sarah with prop blood on her post crash. Another reason is that it is a very long road which would make it very easy to create a realistic driving scene. This is because preceding the crash, we would be showing a very calm scene of the couple driving along the road, listening to music, and smiling and laughing. Those elements would also contribute to the sharp transition in the tone of the scene. Finally, this road is extremely accessible since the school is around 3-5 minutes from my house, making filming extremely easy and allowing us to prioritize on the final product.

Audio

 Audio is one of the most important components in the film design. This is especially true in the psychological horror genre, where things are conveyed via implication rather than direct mention. Ambience is a tool used in these films which is the underlying tone of the scene. This can be used to create tension in scenes where it is supposed to be silent. This is used in a plethora of horror films during intense chases, reveals, and other suspenseful moments. 

Moving on to more direct sounds, our film opening will use loud sound effects to build a serious tone in the piece. This would include sounds like an ambulance siren which would instantly reveal that the crash could possibly be lethal. On the mention of crash, we would also include a loud crash sound to put emphasis on how serious the crash was. These are just a couple of examples of sound effects that we can collect and compile in our film opening, obviously there would be many more!

Character Design

 Character design will be a very useful tool for us to use in our piece. Many films use this to convey a characters emotions and beliefs in their own films, which is an effective way of doing so subtly. This means a characters mental state could be shown without the use of dialogue or anything of that nature. In our case, this would be effective to show the characters declining mental state post-crash. We could depict them with unkept hair, dark eye bags, and other defining features of a depressed person. Eye bags would be extra effective to show how our character had been crying a lot and mourning the loss of their loved one.

Us (2019)

Above is a picture from the film Us where they use character design to reflect a inner change within a character. The change is noticeable compared to a before and after of what the character had looked like in the past. They used to be an upbeat happy young girl, to a terrified girl surrounded by blue hues to show her negative emotions. This is a very effective method since it uses character design to explain a characters emotions without using words or direct dialogue. Which in most cases of a psychological horror, emotions are better displayed silently rather than direct. 

Addition example from the movie Him (2025)

Mise-en-scene

 Although the title of this post is quite vague, this post will be focussing on the set. Since our idea will be a psychological horror about the grief of losing a loved one, our set will reflect the mental strain it puts on them. After the 1 year period post death, the character will be struggling mentally and physically in their day to day life. The scene where we will see this will be the characters room, which is why set design is so important. The room will have to be in deep chaos with objects scattered around the room, maybe unpacked laundry all over the floor. It will reflect the mental state of the character whom it belongs too. Using mise-en-scene in a piece like this is so important because it conveys what we want said without words, which is the struggle our character is going through. We could also show pills and other negative stuff scattered around the room as well. This would also show that the character has not been able to overcome what they have been burdened with, which is that death of the loved one as mentioned before.

We could also use mise-en-scene in our set design to create that horror aspect as well. We can use clever editing techniques like fast cuts or loud stings to create tension and anxiety in the audience. We can design the set and shot to be able to show small details in the room that are indicative of mental hallucination. We can maybe show like false memories of the loved one haunting the survivor, or the survivor can do things that remind them of the victim. We can pair these set choices with sound techniques to create fear in our audience. This is a very common technique used in horror movies up to today. This also represents the psychological horror side of our genre since all of this would be taking place in the survivors head and not in reality.

Scene from Smile (2022)

Above is a scene from the film Smile which is quite similar to what I was explaining about above. The 2022 movie used careful set design choices to create a dimly lit horror-like environment where they could show a hallucination of a character that has been tormenting the survivor. This is just one example of a technique commonly used in some of the biggest productions in the world.

Character Development

 Once we presented our instructor our original idea, she had a plethora of suggestions and revisions for us. Upon hearing these, we had improved our plot idea and came up with a new story. Our original idea had issues with the plot and brought many complications with how it would be filmed. Our instructor also said that the concept was very repetitive, referring to the knife-murder plot.

Our new plot had two people who had been involved in a lethal car accident. More specifically, about the effect of said car accident on the survivor of it, since one would die and the other would not. We would represent character development by showing how happy and upbeat the “survivor” is pre-accident. After the accident, a 1 year time gap will take place. The character development would be represented through the effect it has on her. This will be shown through hallucinations like seeing the dead companion in the corner of the room, and seeing things that are not actually there.

The character development we aim to show is the effect of losing a loved one during a tragic accident. We will do our best to represent the emotion that matches our project most: grief. Our character will represent the “film opening” segment of a film because it sets up the rest of the piece to dive into how our character overcomes this grief and moves on. 

Portfolio Project Storyboard

 

Portfolio Project Plot

Media Theory

 The media theory that I would like to incorporate in my project is Stuart Hall's reception theory. It states that the interpretation of a piece of media is based on how the audience subjectively views it and how the producers intended. This would be easy for our project since it is more of a psychological horror. This means that some scenes would have meaning that are more open ended in terms of context. The audience would be able to draw conclusions between certain scenes. This interpretation paired with the suggested way the scene was supposed to go, is very telling towards what the film is intended to be

The reception theory dictates how fans interact with their favorite pieces, and how it works. Under this theory, the reading of the media text is directed by the audience and the producer at the same time. That being said, media theory is a very important concept in the film world. It will almost be a necessary concept for films in the future since it provides valuable depth needed in a film.

Group Meeting #1 - Reflection

The group meeting that us students had with each other provided very valuable insight to all students involved. It allowed us to present our ideas to each other in a way that had reinforced our idea as a whole. Getting the opportunity to put our portfolio project ideas in words gave us the opportunity to see what was flawed and what could be improved. The group members who were listening to the presenter of the group had been instructed to constructively criticize any flaws in the presenters idea, which helped the presenter refine their idea.

One of my favorite projects amongst my group was by one of my members, Felipe. His idea was one similar to a previous idea I had drafted, a racing scene. Because of this, when he presented his idea, I was able to effectively deliver criticism and propose what I thought to be the biggest challenges in his approach. For filming a racing scene, these challenges consisted of making the shots look fast paced, interesting, and have variety in the shots. Felipe had already thought of these however, and brought up unique things like the use of drones while filming. He had explained that with drones, he would be able to capture top down shots similar to one of his favorite films, Too Fast Too Furious. This was one of the many excellent ideas presented in my group meeting.

Psychological Horror - Film Openings

Smile 2

The Smile 2 film opening captures the psychological horror genre perfectly in every way. It uses lower lighting to establish those dark tones right from the get go. It pairs this with what’s on screen by introducing a character at the same time. It displays this character to be in distress and going through a conflict, which builds up tension in the audience through the film opening. It also uses loud sounds and stings to create dramatic effects to support what is being shown on screen. These sounds are also effective in creating fear in the audience, strengthening the horror genres aspect.

Barbarian

Barbarian takes a very different approach in its film opening than that of smile 2. Barbarian does not directly display any conflicts, but builds tension in its audience in a different way. It uses sounds to create an uneasy feeling in its audience while showing tamer scenes on screen. It uses the perfect combination of awkward silence and loud noises. It draws attention to certain sounds that people would normally not pay attention to. The question is: why? Barbarian uses these sound techniques to make the audience know that something is surely wrong, without directly mentioning it. This is a very effective technique that is representative of the psychological horror genre.

Him

Him also uses a very interesting approach in their film opening. It shows what would usually be a very usual scene and takes a terrifying twist. Almost like something you would see in everyday life, except something is terribly wrong. This is incredibly effective at developing tension because it does not directly state that something is off, it is only implied. The tension this creates in the audience is extremely representative of the psychological horror genre since it plays mind games with the audience during it.