Music Choices!

Hello and greetings from Washington D.C.!

I decided to create our project on iMovie already, so that Riley and I have it ready to work with when we get back from vacation. We weren't sure whether to work with iMovie or WeVideo, which is what we have been using for our projects this year.

In the end, we decided to work with iMovie, since it's what we both have the most experience with from previous projects. We also already have it downloaded.

I haven't completed much work, since we don't have any footage yet. I did, however, play around with different fonts and styles for our opening screen, which will be a black screen with our production company name ("Regal R & N").

I ended up deciding on the style below, as it is very similar to the style of titles of 1950's movies, which is what we are trying to emulate. 

I'll post more when Riley and I begin filming. I'm very excited!

Change of Plans...

Hey everyone!

I wanted to post an update on the filming dates for our project. Initially, we were planning on filming before spring break, but our only day available ended up not working out.

Since it is currently spring break and Riley and I are both out of town, we won't be able to film until we get back.

Honestly, I'm very stressed about this. We have completed a lot of work on the project already, and we already have the storyboard and script ready, but Riley and I were both really planning on having at least some of the filming done before spring break.


It's okay, though. We have planned out a concrete filming schedule for when we return from break. We will have two filming days upon our return. Since we won't have any extracurricular activities on these days (and there is no school on one of the days), I know we will have enough time.

This schedule isn't ideal, but I know that if we work efficiently, we will get it done successfully :)

Pre-Filming

Hello and welcome back!

I'm very excited to write this blog post, as we're finally going to start the filming process!

I wanted to write this blog post to document the process of pre-filming. Before beginning the project, I highly underestimated the amount of work that goes in just to the pre-filming process itself.

First off, Riley and I finished our storyboard. I'll insert it below:


We also decided on our final outfits: Riley will wear a business casual outfit (dress pants, a plain shirt, and a blazer) and I will wear a red dress and black heels. Riley's makeup will be light and professional. I will have black eyeliner on and a bright red lip. As for my hair, I will curl it, as it was straightened recently.

We also had to collect the props. For props in the interrogation scene, we got a clipboard with random pages to imitate an interrogator's documents. We ended up deciding not to have a cigarette in the film opening.

And now for the fake blood! We ended up making the blood ourselves rather than buying it. This is the recipe we used:

Ingredients
☛ Water, 1 glass
☛ Red food coloring, 1 small bottle
☛ Flour, 1 small cup

Instructions
● Pour some red food coloring into a bowl, depending on the quantity you need.
● Next, add some water to make the formula runny.
● If you want it a little thicker, add some flour, and stir till all the lumps have dissolved.

Thanks for reading and I can't wait to update on the filming process!

Fonts!

And now for the fonts!!

To find fonts for when we display our company name, our movie name, and our actors,
Riley and I have been using this super helpful site called DaFont. It allows you to type

in a sample text and try out a variety of different fonts with that text.

When looking for fonts for our movie name, I took inspiration from the fonts used for

both crime drama films and older film noir films.

I really liked the font used for the crime drama movie Luther and found many similar

fonts to this.

When looking at film noir films, I looked at movies like Chinatown and The Maltese

Falcon, gaining inspiration from the font used for these films.

Updates and Changes

Welcome back :)

Today I wanted to add some updates on our project.

We decided our company name will be Regal R & N. Originally, we wanted Blueprint

Productions, as we both thought it sounded super cool, but there is already a

production company with that name. It’s okay, though, because I really like the

company name we ended up with :)

Also, we have changed the movie name from "The Sirens" to "The Siren.” Originally,

we were going to have the main character, Blair, be part of a woman gang. This

gang would have committed the crime and would be interrogated in the film opening.

We decided later, however, to have Blair not be part of a gang and be the only one

being questioned.

Storyboard Progress

Hello everyone,

Yesterday, Riley and I made a lot of progress with our storyboard.

I'll post it down below!

(as you can see, our art skills need a lot of improvement)

Also, we finally found a potential actor for the role of Gideon Andrews!! His name is John Bradley and he said he wanted to be part of our project. I'm not sure, though, if he'll be able to film tomorrow and Thursday, like we have planned.

Next class, we will finish the storyboard (we're over halfway done), and then film after school :)

Filming Locations

Hello and welcome back!

In terms of planning, Riley and I have discussed filming locations for the scenes after the crime has been committed.

Riley asked her mom, who is a police officer, about our potential filming locations, and her mom said we would definitely be able to film in the police station and in the interrogation room.

Now we have to figure out what location to film in for the flashback scenes - the scenes before the murder. So far, we were thinking of filming in Markham Park. Since the park is huge and has ample space to film, we thought it would be a good idea. We still, however, have to decide who will be playing the characters in the flashback scene.

Since I'm on a field trip this week, I haven't been able to discuss with Riley in person.

Next week, though, we will meet up to finish our storyboard and begin filming :)

Supplies

Hello and welcome back!

Previously I talked about choosing costumes for our main characters. Today, I would like to touch on the rest of the supplies we will need.

We will be using Riley’s camera to film. Since she has used that camera in film class, she has a lot of experience with it and is very familiar with how it works. In terms of lighting, we might have to buy extra materials, like a ring light, for the interrogation scene.



Lighting in interrogation rooms are often very dull, and even though this would go well with the scene, I wanted to have an option available to add extra light if needed. For the interrogation scene I was also thinking of having a soft red light. To do this, I would bring a lamp and red tissue paper to put over the lamp to create a slightly red light.

As for props, we will need a cigarette, a cigarette holder, and fake blood. Since we are both 18, we could buy the cigarette at a gas station. Of course, these would only be used for props and we wouldn't actually smoke them. For the cigarette holder, I found a very cheap one on EBay.


As for the fake blood, I searched on many different websites and a lot of the fake blood I found had very bad reviews. I found one, though, that’s highly rated on MakeUpMania. We might buy this or make our own, as there are many DIY recipes online.



As Riley and I move along the planning process, we might find that we need more supplies. As of now, though, I’m glad we have our list done!

Buy 1920s Slim Long Cigarette Holder Women Gangster Flapper Fancy Smoke Ladies online. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.ebay.com/p/1920s-Slim-Long-Cigarette-Holder-Women-Gangster-Flapper-Fancy-Smoke-Ladies/22019871580?iid=183512250005&chn=ps

Ben Nye Stage Blood. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.makeupmania.com/products/ben-nye-stage-blood

The Murder Scene

Welcome back to my blog!

Previously, Riley and I were discussing the murder of one of our characters, Gideon Andrews, and what we wanted the murder weapon to be. We decided on having a knife as the murder weapon.

Originally, I was thinking of depicting the murder in our film opening. We would film the stabbing scene similar to that of Psycho (1960). I thought this scene was extremely suspenseful and well-done.

This would be very difficult to pull off successfully, though, and wouldn't fit the conventions of the crime drama genre, as crime drama movies don't typically depict the specific crime in the beginning. Having the murder shown in the beginning also wouldn't work with the outline of the rest of our film.




Because of this, we will probably only show Gideon laying down in a pool of blood, and won't show the actual murder.

Riley and I were also thinking of interrogation questions. We found this great website called ChangingMinds and it really helped! I'll list our questions below :)

Opening question: Would you like some water or a cigarette before we start?
Free narrative question: I hear that you were found near the scene of Gideon Andrew's murder. Could you please explain what you were doing there?
Direct question: Did you know Mr. Andrews personally?
Why were you going on a walk so late at night?

Interrogation Questions. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://changingminds.org/techniques/interrogation/interogation_questions.htm

Character name!

Hello,

I wanted to share some additional progress Riley and I have made in planning our project.

In the beginning, Riley and I were unsure of our main character's last name. We knew her first name would be Blair, but we weren't sure how to go about choosing her surname. We ended up deciding on the last name Libra. We chose this because we think it has a nice ring to it, but, most importantly, because we felt this last name would establish the complexity of the character.


According to "GaneshaSpeaks," people born under the Sign Libra "are kind, gentle and lovers of beauty, harmony and peace." They are romantic, charming, self-indulgent, and unreliable. We felt some of the characteristics (especially those of beauty, romance, charm, and unreliability) paralleled traits of the femme fatale - our main character. Some of the descriptions, on the other hand, (especially those of kindness, harmony, and peace) contrast those of the femme fatale. This depicts the intricate personality of our character, Blair, that we wish to portray.

Libra Traits-Positive and Negative characteristics. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.ganeshaspeaks.com/zodiac-signs/libra/traits/

Costuming

Hello and happy Friday!

Today I will be further researching costuming for the femme fatale and the victim.


Femme fatale
The color palette for the femme fatale typically includes red and black. These characters usually wear fancy and seductive clothing. Upon searching for a femme fatale outfit in the 1950's - which is when this character gained popularity and when Riley and I are setting our story - I found the red dress below.The style of the dress would work really well with our character. As for the hairstyle, since I have long curly hair, the hairstyle shown in the gif below would work perfectly for me.

The victim
As for the victim, Riley and I intend on buying a casual men's outfit. This would include black shoes, dark and tight jeans, and a white fitted t-shirt. We chose white for the shirt as it fits the conventions of men's fashion in the 1950's. Since the man, Gideon, will be an innocent victim who was murdered unjustly (the reason for his murder would be revealed later in the film), we felt that the white in the shirt would symbolize his innocence and goodness. In our opening, we will show Gideon dead on the floor with blood all over his shirt. The white in the shirt will make the red (symbolizing rage and danger) stand out more.

For these outfits, Riley and I were thinking of going thrift shopping prior to our filming dates, which are March 20th and 21st. We think that if we go to thrift shops rather than mainstream stores like Forever 21, we'll have a higher chance of finding 1950's outfits.

Storyboarding

Today in class, Riley and I began working on our storyboard. I'll be honest, storyboarding was way harder than I had anticipated! Regardless of the difficulties, it was a fun process and even though we still have a long way to go, I'm glad we have a starting point.















So far, we have two shots decided. We found it difficult to estimate the length of our film opening only from what we have on paper. Hopefully when we finish, our project will be close to 2 minutes, as that's what we're aiming for. If it's not, we'll have to add some extra shots, probably cutaways.

We will begin the opening with a black screen. An animation of our company name - we still need to figure this out - will fade in and out. This will be followed by our first shot: the classic close-up shot of a woman stepping out of a car. The close-up will only show the woman's heels. This will create a sense of mystery and uncertainty, since the audience has no idea who the woman is. For the shoes, I will probably wear tall black heels I already own, or I might buy red ones.



This will be followed by a medium shot of the woman's (Blair's) lower body. She'll be wearing a red dress and, of course, the heels. This shot will show the rim of her dress, her legs, and her heels as she walks toward the police facility. I think it would be interesting if she walks by a row of cop cars before reaching the door of the facility. There may be two issues with this, though; we might not be able to film at this location, and police cars in the 50's looked a lot different then than they do today.




I've been gaining inspiration from Shutterstock clips for some of these ideas. I'll add the links down below:

https://www.shutterstock.com/video/clip-30310240-police-interrogation-room-slow-high-angle-dolly

https://www.shutterstock.com/video/clip-1010825780-empty-dark-interrogation-room-metal-table-chairs

https://www.shutterstock.com/video/clip-24664214-police-going-over-fingerprints-database

https://www.shutterstock.com/video/clip-20703178-girl-apply-lip-stick-looking-mirror-holding

Next class, Riley and I will work more on our storyboard, so I'll be adding those details soon as well.

See you next time!