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Thursday, March 30, 2017

Equipment

 
I haven't really posted too much about the equipment that I plan on using to conduct this project! I have done work with filming before, and have done some other creative work in the past, I definitely welcomed this project with open arms!

So to begin, we have the camera setup. It's nothing special, and I really am trying to save up some money for a new camera, but as of now, I am rocking a Nikon D3100 with a 52mm Nikon DX lens. By today's standards, this camera isn't anything special, it has a rather outdated 14.2 megapixel CMOS sensor, but can record in full 1080p HD. One of the main things I like about filming on a DSLR, is the ability to manually focus. As opposed to a phone camera, which lacks a physical way to focus, DSLR lenses provide this functionality in a much more convenient way. I've also got a 16GB SD card in the camera, which allows me to shoot for a longer duration, and the camera will be sitting on a tripod for most of the shooting.

Next is the general editing setup. I have 2 main computers that I plan on using for editing this project, a laptop and a desktop. The laptop is a 2011 MacBook Pro, with a 2.3GHz i5 processor, 16GB RAM, and a 512GB SSD. This thing flies, and is a more than capable portable laptop for editing this project. One of the main positives to using a laptop is it's portability, allowing me to record and edit on the spot, and in class. The desktop is a maxed out 2006 Mac Pro with an 8 core 3.0GHz Xenon processor, 32GB RAM, 6TB of storage, and a AMD R9 280X. This desktop is an absolute beast, and can tackle any task a throw at it. The best thing about using the desktop is it's sheer power, it can crunch through the rendering of a video in a very short time, allowing me to make better use of my time. I will more than likely be storing the video files I like on a USB drive, along with the main timeline file of the project for quick and easy access across all of the computers. I plan on using Adobe Premiere Pro to edit the video, a program I have been using for a while now.

Well, that's it for my ranting about the equipment, hopefully I haven't bored you too much... Until next time!!

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Final Planned Report

 
So, its been a while! Over the course of the week, my group has mainly focused on the final planning of our project. Our original filming session didn't go to plan, and we then decided to try again. I was busy with a Model United Nations event last weekend, and this weekend I am having family in town. Darrah also has a conflict for this upcoming weekend. We eventually decided that we are going to finalize filming on Monday.

One of the main concerns that I have with filming on Monday, is the fact that we are only going to have around 3 hours to record everything... I have been on more complex time constraints in the past, but I want the final product to be as good as I can make it.

Well, this was just a short update, and I guess I'll be seeing you around next time!

Thursday, March 23, 2017

Further Planning.

 
One issue we encountered on the last planned recording day, was one of our group members not being able to attend. I believe that this did slow us down a bit, but as we began early, we will have more time to work out any kinks we will have in the future.

So far we have recorded much of the "news" scenes. The general idea of having these present is to help set the stage, and progress the main plot of the film. Darrah's part is done, and so is mine, all that is left is for Joel to finish his part.

Next thing that we need to finish is the intro credits. We finally decided to settle on the second option, which incorporated the "green text" that is present in many hacking films. This is to further our plot, and also make it more visually interesting.

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

More Inspiration

 
Another resource that I focused on was the TV show, Scorpion. The show mainly revolves around the actions of a hacking/computer engineering team, and I thought that this would be a great basepoint for some more ideas. 

Scorpion is said to be the last line of defense against complex, high-tech threats around the globe. Drawing on a diverse set of skills and experience, the team tackles a variety of problems, many of which are extremely complex. While they are frequently called into service by the Department of Homeland Security, they also accept work from private individuals and organizations.


I used this information to begin drawing more plot lines for our film. Also, the main title of Scorpion appears like this, </Scorpion>, which in programming, is a common format. I took this as a main inspiration to our film too.

Monday, March 20, 2017

Some Research

 
So, In my quest for more information/inspiration, I turned to Google. First up on the List is "The Matrix"

The Matrix is a 1999 science fiction film written and directed by The Wachowskis Brothers. The Film starred Hugo Weaving, Laurence Fishburne, Keanu Reeves, Joe Pantoliano, and Carrie-Anne Moss. The film is about a future in which reality as perceived by most humans is actually a simulated reality called "the Matrix”. Which was created by machines to use the human population as an energy source. Computer programmer and Hacker “Neo" learns about this and is dragged into a war against the machines.

One of the main concepts that I found alluring was the fact that the main character was a Hacker. This can be seen throughout the film, in the “hacking green” text colors, among other things. I took the color choice as a main inspiration to our film, and am hoping to use more resources from the film in the future.

Saturday, March 18, 2017

Recording Day!?

 
Well today was set to be the main day for recording, Joel couldn't come, so it was just Darrah and I. The day started off fine, I thought we were most productive at this time. We discussed what our opening credits were going to look like. We debated between either me writing a program that would output the names of the actors in our film, or do a typing opening, where someone would type the names on the screen. After showing Darrah both options, we settled on the second option, the typing opening. I wanted to take an inspiration from the film, "The Matrix" during the opening credits.

Next we wanted to tackle the actual filming. I wanted to have Darrah go first, saying her parts of the script that was included in the previous post. This ended up taking MUCH longer than I originally expected. She couldn't seem to get her lines down, and for around an hour, through that classified weapons and blueprints were two separate things... After all this, we did end up getting a solid clip from her, and I began the editing process. I just need Joel's clip done, and the rest in in my hands.

I know this post was a bit short, but today was mainly designed to be a filming day, and that is what we focused on. Until next time, see ya!

Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Wednesday Meeting Summary!

 
So, as stated in the last post, our group decided to meet on Wednesday (today), in order to discuss our plan of attack for this project. We drew up a short list of things we want to record, along with a script for one part on Google Docs. I guess this is the part where I release the main plot of the film....
"Beginning
Code
Cut to news
Photobooth blake
Joel: Breaking news
Darrah: An unknown hacker
Blake: know as “iP”
Joel: has leaked crucial government information
Darrah: pertaining to the United States of America.
Blake: This information contains classified weapons blueprints,
Joel: Nuclear launch codes
Darrah: along with citizen’s personal data
Blake: This is the largest leak of information
Joel: Since edward snowden in 2013
Darrah: This concludes our special broadcast"
So that was a bit of the Google doc that we wrote out today. As you can tell by the script, along with the title and main theme of the blog, out film opening is about a hacking event. I really enjoy computers and computer programming, so this was right up my alley. Both Darrah and Joel liked the idea too, so it wasn't just me controlling everything. Hopefully in the next post I have some good news to report from Saturday!

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Genre Selected!

 
Last week we decided to choose our genre. I wanted a genre that would be interesting to plan around, along with one that would be fun to film. We ended up settling on the genre of thriller/suspense, the two are grouped together in this case due to the fact that I believe that they are quite similar. We are planning to meet on Wednesday of this week to finalize our ideas and wrap up the planning, and then film some pieces on Saturday.


I did conduct some research on the genres we selected, and according to thescriptlab.com, a website dedicated to screenwriting, "Thriller Film is a genre that revolves around anticipation and suspense. The aim for Thrillers is to keep the audience alert and on the edge of their seats. The protagonist in these films is set against a problem – an escape, a mission, or a mystery. No matter what sub-genre a Thriller film falls into, it will emphasize the danger that the protagonist faces. The tension with the main problem is built on throughout the film and leads to a highly stressful climax."

I mainly wanted to focus on the aspects regarding a mystery when dealing with the plot of our movie. Maybe I am being too dedicated to the suspense genre, but I'm still going to keep the plot of out film secret! Anyhow, we wrote a very basic "script" of what we plan to film, and techniques we want to use when filming. 

Sunday, March 12, 2017

Day 3

 
It is day 3, and my group is beginning to formulate ideas revolving around the way we are going to record the film opening, along with the main plot line. As stated in the previous post, we want to create a sense of confusion in the first minute, and then reveal a serious implication to the plot. We are planning on using elements of news recordings to advance the plot. I know the last 3 posts have been short, but I don't want to release TOO much about our film at this point. The next post should (hopefully) be regarding research of the genre of film we selected, I want to get the ball rolling on that so we can get a plan together and record everything.

Wednesday, March 8, 2017

That Didn't Last Long...

 
Well, in the previous post, I announced the forming of a group with myself, Alec, and Antonio. As reference to the title of this post, the group didn't last long. Alec opted to working alone, and so did Antonio. I therefore joined a group with Darrah and Joel, and we began working. Today was much more productive than the first, as we decided on a genre and bounced ideas around about what our film opening will be about. We ended up agreeing on a film within the genre of thriller/suspense, and it will be about a massive hacking event. One of the main goals is to create suspense and have the viewer question what is really going on.

Monday, March 6, 2017

Welcome!

 

Hello everyone! Welcome to the blog for my foundation portfolio! My name is Blake, and I will be posting to this page around 3 times every week! Today was the first day of the project, and I organized myself into a group with Alec and Antonio. We have worked together before, so there should be some good chemistry here. I took the day to situate myself, and am going to begin work on planning out the project. To begin, we chose the film opening route. I, along with my other group members have recorded things before, so we thought this would be the best option. Anyhow, this was just a quick introductory post, and I will write back if there are any more developments!


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