Today we continued filming our opening scene. We decided to include an establishing shot of the house that our main character lives in. The house will be the first thing that the viewers see following the opening credits. Our plan for the opening credits of our movie is to film a shadow over grass, and have dog tags on the grass. The dog tags will have our names and the roles of the people involved in the movie on them. We have yet to film the opening credit scene because we need to purchase dog tags.




Following the opening credit scene there is a picture of the house that the main character lives in as shown above. This is to show where the main character lives. After this is shown our film has a clip of a close up shot of our main character being waken up by his alarm clock. The scene ends when he wakes up, then there is a cut to him brushing his teeth/ getting ready for school.

While our main character is brushing his teeth, the audience hears him ask google to play the mornings news. Google responds and says here is the news broadcast for 7:01 A.M today. That is when we play our broadcast that we produced for the film. This audio will be placed in the background, while our main character continues getting dressed for school. There are close up shots of our main character putting on his clothes and brushing his hair.

We stopped filming today after that scene, as it concludes the first 30 seconds of our opening scene. Because of this we have decided to only include one day of our characters life instead of two because of time issues.

Yesterday was the first day we filmed our project. Alex and one of my friends named Michael recorded the scenes. When they first arrived at my house we talked for about an hour about what device we should use to record. We decided to go ahead and use the IPhone8, which happens to be my phone. The first clip of the opening scene that we recorded was the main character getting up and getting dressed, etc ready for school. We filmed the main character getting dressed, brushing his teeth, eating breakfast, and getting into his car. Remember our film utilizes the same routine twice, so the first day is conveyed as everything is normal. It was kind of tricky getting the camera man out of some of the shots.

We have yet to edit the clips because we would like to get all the footage possible that we can before we begin editing. Instead of waiting until April 2nd, to film our main character at school I think that we can go ahead and change that idea. I haven't consulted my group about this idea yet, because I am writing this a day after Alex and I met up. But if we go ahead and agree on it will allow us more leniency on where to film. As long as our main character repeats the same actions both days it will work the same way.  There will be more time for us to film this as well, since we could just go ahead and utilize the time we have effectively.

We have decided to include the date before each day in green letters and a black background screen. The first day will be June 6th, and this will be written on the screen in dark green. We want to add an element to the plot which is to make it our main characters birthday. Right now things are a bit confusing because we only have two minutes maximum for our opening scene, once we film all of the footage necessary hopefully it will become less challenging. We are struggling with whether or not we can include two days or one day only. Our next meeting will be on Tuesday with Alex and I, we plan on calling Justin that day to consult him on what's running through our minds. We will also update Justin with our current progress on the film. We are still open to making changes to the plot, and will edit and adjust our film based on timing.

Today was the first day we filmed our movie. Just kidding, today I couldn't make it to school because I became sick. We couldn't film today because I didn't want my other group members around me. We have decided to go ahead and schedule a filming session on Saturday, things have been changing constantly. The schedule for filming that I put together in last weeks blog is inaccurate. Justin leaves for vacation tomorrow (Friday) and comes back Thursday of next week. However, I leave to Boston on Thursday and return Sunday of next week. Since Justin leaves tomorrow Alex and I will be alone for Spring Break and Saturday's filming. Justin got surprised by his family to go to California for a trip. Therefore we will be without him on Saturday.


As a result of Justin leaving to California tomorrow, I called one of my friends up to see if he could help us out on Saturday and he agreed to help. Saturday is when we will begin filming, and we will get the clips of our main character getting out of bed and of him going through his daily routines. Except the scenes that take place at school, and at the baseball field. We have all the camera and angle shots we want to use on our storyboard that we completed last week. There are only a couple clips for our opening scene that we can use from our first shoot which will be of our main character in the morning, and of him returning from school. Basically all the shots that are going to be taken Saturday are going to be the scenes of the opening scene that can be taken at my house. Alex and I will continue to film next week, with the help of some of our friends.

We talked to Justin about this, and he said it's fine that we film without him. We will send him all of our footage and get his opinion on it. There is a little over three weeks left for this project, which is plenty of time. Since Justin can't help with the filming part hopefully he can make it up and edit the video for us. Unfortunately, I don't think that will happen because I usually edit most of our projects as a group.

Since last blog, quite a few things have changed. One of our group members has canceled the filming days this week. Which means the majority of our filming will take place towards the end of this week and next week. This news broadcast is a part of the opening scene, and will appear the first or second day of our filming due to time. This is a crucial part of our opening scene because it presents the conflict in our film.

 Today we finished making the news broadcast for our film. I ended up recording my voice and using it for the news broadcast, and I made the script. If there's anything wrong with the voice I used we can always find somebody else to voice the news for us. The script for the broadcast is very important, and it has to sound professional.  It will be used to inform the audience of the war that broke out between the U.S and North Korea. Our plan is to have close up shot of the radio turning on, and have our main character drive a car. There will be an over the shoulder shot and close up shots of his reactions to the news. Also, we are going to use editing to synchronize the radio broadcast with the movie, so right when the radio is turned on the broadcast begins.This way there the audience can focus more on the broadcast rather than the other things happening during the film. The broadcast will be formal, and direct. The script for the radio is listed down below.

"Hello and welcome to the 7:00 edition of America's News. There is breaking news this morning, it has been stated this morning by president Trump that the United States has declared war on North Korea. I repeat the United States has declared war on North Korea. There will be a military draft by selective service to fulfill efficient troop numbers, the first since 1973. "

This news broadcast will foreshadow the event of our main character getting drafted into the Army. It also provides the audience with much needed background information of the world that our main character lives in.

Today we discussed our schedule for filming the movie opening. We have created a storyboard to include the different angles and shots that we want for each scene. The list below are the days that we will meet up as a group outside of school. During those days we will film the majority of our project, for the first day the plan is to get as much footage as possible. That way we can make sure we have everything we need. Next week, we will begin filming the parts in school that we need to film. Such as our main character sitting in a classroom, and the bells ringing. 

3-21-18 5:00 P.M 

3-24-18 7:00 P.M

3-25-18 2:00 P.M

3-28-18 4:00 P.M

The first two days on our schedule are going to be for only filming. The next two days will be when our group meets up to do the editing of our project. Editing is an important thing in this film because we want to maintain the audiences attention. Since it's a war movie, the opening scene will be a little bit slow compared to other films. This is because in war films the climax doesn't usually happen until the battlefield scenes. Unfortunately in our case the opening scene can only be up to 2 minutes, which doesn't allot enough time for any action/battle scenes. As of right now, I have one of my friends who announces baseball games working on the news broadcast for us. He will be the person who voices that North Korea and the United States are in a war.

Today we were put into groups and discussed our projects among each other. I presented my group members with my idea for my film, and they gave me feedback. Some of the feedback I received was about introducing the idea that my main character had just turned 18. Another idea was I could include my main character playing with army figurines at the beginning of my movie. However, I didn't think this suggestion presented was something I would interpret into my film. I would like it to be more of a shock and don't want to have any foreshadowing about our main character going into the military. I may include the part about my main character turning 18, that way the audience would know he is eligible to join the army.

I was asked what my film title was, and I gave them two ideas. Either dark green which is the army color in the infantry unit that my person would belong in. For example it could be 202nd Infantry. One of my group members asked if I had been inspired by any film I had viewed previously. I told them A Christmas Story, yea the classic... unfortunately nobody had seen it. I went on and explained about the idea that maybe we could have a narrator explaining what's going on, and he could potentially be the older version of our main character in the film. All he's doing is looking back on the past and explaining the main characters current thoughts in the movie. They said that it was a good idea, and maybe I will incorporate that into my film.

One of my other group members Justin also received feedback. They suggested that when our main character comes out to grab the mail, it could be raining to foreshadow the event. The rain would set the mood for the scene, because that's the scene our main character would be drafted into the Army.

Today in class we met up as a group, and began the storyboard for our film. Last week's blog had said something about us filming during this week, and that just isn't realistic. I was getting too ahead of myself, because in order to begin filming we needed to create a storyboard. A storyboard allows us to put our movie opening on paper, and discuss the ways that each shot should be taken. For example, our main character hitting an alarm clock should be a close up of his arm hitting the clock. My group feels pretty good about everything so far, and the movie is planned out well. Right now it comes down to how well we can execute the planning.

We also began discussing how we want to put the credits in our film. We think the best way to do this would be in green font in the bottom left corner of the film opening. This is the most simplistic way, and sometimes the simpler the better. The green font will be the same colors that the Army uses in their logo. We will also be using the Army font to put our credits with.

We discussed what our film title should be named, and I had come up with the idea of Dark Green, because that is the Army's color. Justin and Alex came up with the title Draft Day, however I immediately denied that because there is already a movie titled that. Next class, we will be meeting up with other groups, They will present us with their feedback about my film.  Hopefully next class when I meet up with other groups, they can give me their opinions on my movie title.