CCR

So below I have my creative critical reflection. I hope you enjoy and learn a bit from what we did as a group.

This has been Joaquin Pacheco and Baba Studios. It has truly been a pleasure.

-JP

GOOGLE DRIVE LINK

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-jb3i4QCNuHSjkxdWxzUzRSZ2s

Final Project

So here is our final two minute opening that we have been working on for a countless amount of hours. My group and I are seemingly delighted with our final product. Hope you enjoy!

GOOGLE DRIVE LINK

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-jb3i4QCNuHa2dTY0E5Z2s4UlE

Editing and CCR

We are now very near the end of this project. As our initial editing is done, we still have a bit of specific editing and finishing touches to add to our film. As we have used non-diegetic sound, our song will just be playing in the background. Consequently, our sound is non-diegetic but it does go in tune with some of the cuts we use (when the 3rd trumpet sounds we always did quick cuts to another shot). As the video below is one of my friends video and it is completely irrelevant in terms of genre and what not, the technique he uses by incorporating the cuts with the music is where I got the inspiration of making the cuts in this specific way. I have also started to write the script for my CCR. I will try to make it very descriptive and try to establish how representation and everything else was established. Editing for this video was a bit intense and time consuming. I realized that something that I thought would not be doable was able to be done with the effort me and my group put in. The feedback my group gave me and the feedback we gave each other really tried to fix the flaws that we saw in our video.

Heres the video I mentioned above.

Music Rights

As we have yet to receive an answer from the label company and all people who have rights to the song, I was able to get in touch with a vinyl store that one of the artists on the song we are using owns. As our artist was not the one who answered, the manager that I spoke with did tell me that he was in touch with Statik Selektah and that he would reach out to him for me as soon as possible as he would be in the store soon. I am very optimistic about this because the manager told me that he would be in the store sometime this week/weekend. As emailing both artist's has taken a great deal of time, I almost sure that it has all paid off.

UPDATE: APRIL 9
We got the rights to use the song!!!!

Everything happens for a reason

So as we started our opening in Miami we wanted to end it there so the mise-en-scene could be understandable and accurate. As the initial cuts we show are the skyline of Miami, the opening ends with the whole skyline of Miami viewable in the background. Inclusively, we included a taxi scene that was a bit hard to recreate because of our lack of lighting and control over what was happening around us, but from my POV it came out nice. On top of that, I tried to tie some of the lyrics of the song with what was being shown. When it said "boulevard of dreams" I showed a graffiti of a child's face on a boulevard. These were just little thing we did, but these little touches are what add originality to our opening. Below I have attached a part of our storyboard that show the amount of angles we tried to go for when we were in the taxi. As we thought the footage in the taxi was going the be very cool because we could create something that looked semi-professional, we thought out the angles and composition of the shots thoroughly. Everything in our opening happens for a reason. We'll see if you all can decipher what things we did and for what specific reasons we did them.





This scene from Deadpool is also where some of our inspiration came from, but we added a twist to it.

Filming and Storyboard

We have now started to film. As we are making great progress, there a very small things that we need to change to reach a perfect opening and most importantly reach our vision. As we filmed the most complicated part already, we have to now go to Miami and create a whole new scene to be combined with the one we created on the isolated road. Below is our storyboard for our scene on the road which truly sets the foundation for opening. The beginning is what we know will completely intrigue the audience because they will know that this movie is going to be a rollercoaster ride. Our filming this week will conclude our filming for our opening. Once we are done filming, we will begin heavy editing for our opening and talk amongst each other on what we should change and what we like. Patience is key.

Song rights and permission

So we found a song that would sort of complement the gangster vibe that we are going for. The song is called Miss Fordham Road 86' 87' 88' by Action Bronson. It has a really nice tune that is sure to get the crowd a bit hyped up. We found this song because Carlos listens to a great variety of genres of music so we knew he had the perfect song. Below are the emails I have sent to the manager, record label, and booking agency. We are still awaiting an answer.

Final Idea and Production

We have now reached the final days of filming. After a handful of arguments and countless hours of trying to come up with something, we finally got our final idea. We did not get this idea on our own. By discussing with classmates in school, we got a lot of feedback that has helped us really create a final vision for our opening. We decided to do our opening in a particularly stranded side road in which our main protagonist is disposing of a body. As he is not being very discreet about it, you can hear the cars in the background. One of our classmates mentioned to me that we should film from the front of the car. The moment she told me this, I automatically said nah VIBE. As I wanted to do a shot that was a bit different I decided to consult my group. Carlos came up with the brilliant idea of doing a shot from the back of the car. I automatically fell in love with his idea so I did a bit of research on shots similar to this one and found that it has its own way of being perfect. We also wanted to establish mise-en-scene through our shot and wanted everything to seem organized and a bit isolated. I will continue to update everything about the progression of our opening here. Stay tuned.

Video I found to further deepen my understanding of the car scene from the backseat.

Prop$

As we have now got our whole idea set up we have chosen our props and actors.

Lights

Sunglasses

Dark Pants and light shirt

Abandoned House

Gun/Weapon 

Camera

Trash Bag

Car (Old)

2 actors 

We have gotten all of these props and people at the moment. The next part is all about execution and we are very confident that we will execute this the way we want to and with a production that is identical to our vision. 

Production Company

As we are beginning filming this week we have also created a production company just for our movies. It will be called Baba Studios. As we do not know if we will incorporate it into our opening yet, we have decided to choose this name. As it does not seem like a good idea right now, we are a bit optimistic over what we can do with this company name as it could be incorporated into the mise-en-scene we are trying to get across. A lot of new updates to come soon.....

Final Idea?

So as a group we have now decided to continue our bank robbery idea/smuggling. We decided to continue with this idea because we have a specific vision that we feel we can accomplish. I also really like this idea because we have the right props to accomplish it. After receiving feedback we are now at a point at which we have a strong foundation for our video. Our film opening is basically going to show someone who is going through a lot and finally decides to break out and live his life on the edge. We have now found an actor who we think is appropriate and fits the the script. As we know exactly how to end the opening, we are not so sure as how to start. Let's see what we can make. Let's see. Let's see.

Decisions. Decisions. Decisions.

So we have narrowed it down to 3 story plots:

1. Kidnapping
2. Past loved one
3. Something to do with time/trippy/cool/deep theme/scary drama/, etc.

We have narrowed it down to these three types of dramas. As movies like Taken have done great in the box office, kidnapping could always be an option. Past loved one seems a bit cliche but if we do it right we will be able to pull it off. The third choice is really unpredictable. We do not know if it is going to work out for us or not. We are going to decide towards which plot to go towards based on our stylistic approach to this opening. My group and I really want to do everything different and sort of create a new window for imagination. All our ideas and scenes want to appear as original as possible. Inclusively, Juan mentioned that our characters have to have a much deeper story to them so the viewer could be much more intrigued. As mentioned in The Script Lab, drama adds a personalized and realistic experience for any viewer. It is almost as any person that watches a drama can relate to the main protagonist as the scenes and actions that are occurring are real life events. "Drama films aim to tell an honest story of human struggle."

 In this image there is a lady running with a child. There seems to be a lot of fear based on the angle it is taken from. This could be one of our scenes if we decide to do the kidnapping opening.

Research + Teamwork = Progress

As our second week of planning began, we encountered a few obstacles. The first one was deciding whether or not we were going to do a drama because research showed that the top grossing movies in history have been adventure/action movies. I decided to take Carlos's side to make a drama because I felt that he made valid points for why a drama fit our budget/vision. The next obstacle we encountered was deciding where we were going to film. As we wanted to make our original opening at a bank, we realized it would look extremely cheesy and super low budget. As we have no exact location at the moment, we have looked into some abandoned places that fit the vision we have at the moment. We are trying to achieve a drama with an artistic twist to it. Our final obstacle was deciding what type of conflict the main character in our opening would have. We are leaning towards the idea of a character vs character conflict but also have a bit of fait in a  character vs self conflict. We also got into an argument about what type of lighting and camera movements we were going to have. As we are still arguing about the lighting, we have decided to use typical drama camera movements and styles. We plan on using pans and horizontal camera movements combined with occasional zoom-ins and zoom-outs. We also plan on using a combination of both horizontal and vertical camera movements to add a more artistic look to our opening.

This music video shows a bit of how a combination of different camera movements and artistic elements can make a true masterpiece.

                                     

    

Schedule

Week One:

1. My fellow group members and I will have completed our first blogposts
2. Brainstorm
3. Genre

Week Two:

1. Watch critically acclaimed good and bad films
2. Outline
3. Shooting Schedule
4. Brainstorm
5. Create title

Week Three:

1. Research on camera movements and angles that relate to specific Genre
2. Write and memorize script
3. Get location
4. Acquire camera equipment and props
5. Start filming
6. Production Process

Week Four:

1. Complete filming
2. Start film editing
3. Show final cut to peers for feedback
4. Make final changes after feedback

Week Five:

1. Make final touches
2. Review our work
3. Send to Cambridge

Drama?

My production team and I are moving towards the drama genre for our movie. As we are on a very low budget right now, we plan to do things that are very creative but do not require stunt doubles. Drama can be tricky at times so below i'm going to explain how to make things a less bit tricky.

How can one define a dramatic movie ?

Simply stated, a dramatic movie can leave the viewer feeling the emotions that the person in a film is experiencing. A dramatic film is composed of many different elements. But the question is, what really makes a dramatic film, dramatic? Well, a film like that certainly is ought to include a realistic problem with a rising tension. This transition can leave the viewer with a sense of anger, sadness, or even fear. The problems encountered in a drama usually show conflicts with one self, with others, or with forces of nature. But, once the problem is solved in a drama, the viewer is left with answers because these movies work to show humans at their best and their worst. Drama movies are the most realistic movies in terms of showing everything in a sequence of events (Rising action, Climax, etc.).

The perfect example of a drama is The Great Gatsby. (Our movie will be of no story line near this.) Just by watching this one can sort of assume what is going to happen at the end (Someone is going to get hurt because of love.).

In our two minute film opening we plan to give the audience something that will leave them intrigued for what is to come. In other terms, a little appetizer before the main entree.

2 minute film opening.

2 minute film openings are used for pretty much every major Hollywood movie. They are typically what every person sees before watching a movie and they are also what initially intrigue's any movie goer. The 3 examples below are just a couple movie trailers that I simply think get the message that " You need to go out and watch this." across. We plan on creating a 2 minute film opening that will not only want to get the average person out to go watch it but that will also create a feeling that "Yo I have to watch that trailer again. Wow.". 

10/10 opening. Introduces a wicked opening to a movie sequel that everyone has been waiting for.

9/10 opening. Not 10/10 because I haven't watched it yet. Plays amazing music and seems to be a newer and better version of a classic movie. 

10/10 opening. Movie about a book but wow. This trailer seemed to trigger all types of emotions when I watched it. It sort of gave me goosebumps at one point and truly exceeded my expectations for a movie about "love".

Joaquin Pacheco. 18 years old. 1 dream. 1 movie. 1 team.

As my production team and I have yet to decide what it is that we are producing, we sure do have a ton of ideas. Before I start mentioning these ideas I just wanted to give a little back story to what it is that we are doing here. We all have one dream and it is to create a movie. We plan to reach the largest amount of people in slowly but sure manner. As we plan to produce and market the movie ourselves, we will also have to create a production company. As we are trying to go from rags to riches, we do not want to rely on anyone for help and it is because of this that we want to execute our production this way. We want complete recognition for everything we do.