Entry #19: Creative Critical...

Mood: Bittersweet

... Reflection. I couldn't bear to ruin the theme that I've been using for my titles; the alliteration is a part of my soul now.   

Anyhow, my CCR is here! Additionally, this is my last blog post. :( I remember that when this project was first assigned, I was slightly annoyed that I would have to document my entire process of producing Borderline; however, looking back at it and reading my posts, I am so glad that I did. This project was one of the most rewarding things I have ever done, and I'm so grateful for it. Not only was this project extremely fun to do, but it was a learning experience. I learned about myself, others, and media in one in-depth project. I could not ask for more out of any "assignment."

This project required a large amount of dedication and hard work, and I'm so proud that I did it, but I am happy to have a small break. This last entry is bittersweet for me because, after 6 weeks, this project feels like a part of me, which I guess it is in a way.

But, this is not the end; you will see me and my work next year in AICE Media Studies A Level, so there is that to look forward to. Thank you for accompanying me on my exploration of media, as well as of myself. Please be sure to check your settings to ensure that you're watching this video at the highest quality!

Have a FANTASTIC day!
~Cheyenne, official media creator

**Here are the citations for all of the sources I used in my Creative Critical Reflection:

"Audio Library." YouTube. Google, n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2016. 
     <https://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary/music>. 
Dunham, Deborah. "Here’s What the Media Is Doing to Teenagers Today." The 
     Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 30 June 2014. Web. 9 Apr. 2016. 
     <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deborah-s-dunham/ 
     heres-what-the-media-is-d_b_5541462.html>. 
"Fast, free screen recording." Screencast-O-Matic. Screencast-O-Matic, n.d. Web. 
     7 Apr. 2016. <https://screencast-o-matic.com/home>. 
Fuller, Faith. "Distributing Your Film." Desktop Documentaries. 
     Desktop-Documentaries.com, n.d. Web. 8 Apr. 2016. 
     <http://www.desktop-documentaries.com/distributing-your-film.html>.
Zeke. "Get Your Independent Movie on Netflix: What You Need to Know." New York 
     Film Academy. New York Film Academy, 11 July 2014. Web. 8 Apr. 2016. 
     <https://www.nyfa.edu/student-resources/ 
     get-your-independent-movie-on-netflix/>. 

Entry #18: Final Film!

Mood: Pleased

Hey! I'm a bit sad knowing that this is going to be the last time I write about my crazy journey to create Borderline. I've had a great time experimenting with skills that I've never really given thought about, and I'm so glad that I did. AICE Media is a class that means so much to me and has completely changed the way I view the world; for that, I'm extremely grateful. Throughout this learning adventure, I've learned a lot about myself and others and that information will stay with me forever. I thank you for exploring the media world with me, and I sincerely hope that you enjoy the film opening because I know I enjoyed producing it. Please be sure to check your settings to ensure that you're watching this video at the highest quality!

Until next time!

Entry #17: Difficult Distribution

Mood: Energized

Hey! Today, I'm tweaking my script for my CCR and adding information from a few sources. For one of the questions, I was asked how my film would be distributed, but I realized that I don't know much about the process itself. Therefore, I went to Google to help me learn more about how new films find their homes.

On this website, distributing a documentary film is discussed; although our film is a drama and not a documentary, the website was still helpful because different genre films go through similar processes in order to gain recognition. One of the first steps to be taken is submitting the film to film festivals because they are a great way to build support for a good film. People at the festival may have connections to large companies that would be interested in a film. Also, people who enjoy the film can review it and start a buzz through word-of-mouth, social media, and blogs. 

Additionally, that source discusses how films can be submitted for awards, again gaining a large foundation for support from a variety of people. This way, when the time comes to get a deal with a major company that markets towards a specified audience, it becomes easier to label a film as successful since it has garnered a few awards.

Equally valuable, this next source from the New York Film Academy explained how to get a film onto a major streaming service like Netflix. The article detailed the steps needed to gain the attention of such a large and popular company. These steps include:

1. Find a distribution company capable of getting your film onto Netflix's database, where they choose what films end up on their home page.

2. Create a demand for the film through supporters. Having a large social media presence is extremely useful in getting the attention of a large service like Netflix. Showing the company that your film will be profitable and is in demand by the public can gain a higher status of the film on Netflix's database.

3. Try to get the film reviewed. Research has shown that when trying to get a film noticed by Netflix, a film with good ratings on popular websites such as Rotten Tomatoes or an authentic listing on IMDB are more likely to get chosen for Netflix's home page.

Now, I have an abundance of information about the process of distribution which is great for not only this project, but hopefully for in the real world when I enter the media scene.


Zeke. "Get Your Independent Movie on Netflix: What You Need to Know." New York Film Academy. New York Film Academy, 11 July 2014. Web. 8 Apr. 2016. <https://www.nyfa.edu/student-resources/get-your-independent-movie-on-netflix/>. 
Fuller, Faith. "Distributing Your Film." Desktop Documentaries. Desktop Documentaries.com, n.d. Web. 8 Apr. 2016. <http://www.desktop-documentaries.com/distributing-your-film.html>. 

Entry #16: Creative Crisis

Mood: Optimistic

About the title: It's nearing the end of this project, and I'm running out of title names... The things I do for good alliteration. *Sigh* Anyhow, back to the topic. 

Today, I looked over the questions for the Creative Critical Reflection, and I'm actually excited to answer them. All of the questions are interesting and ask about topics that I enjoy talking about. I'm going to start my CCR today, as my workload from this week is finally lessening. I am confident in my ability to create a comprehensive look into the process of creating Borderline. For now, I'm trying to find the best programs/websites to make my director's commentary. Students from last year generally used Screencast-O-Matic, iMovie, or VoiceThread, and I'm considering each option. After previewing some of last year's students' CCR's, I am adamant about including both audio and visual elements in my CCR because those that didn't were boring and lacking; they were honestly difficult to watch. Therefore, I am hoping to produce an interesting commentary that keeps my viewers engaged.

So far, this website has been helpful. Apparently, if I use iMovie, then I can record myself speaking and answering all of the provided questions and layer the audio over Borderline, which will be muted in iMovie. That way, I will be able to add freeze frames, discuss specific images, or talk about how a scene was shot while it plays. Well, that's all for now; I'm going to go get started on my CCR, wish me luck!

"Fast, free screen recording." Screencast-O-Matic. Screencast-O-Matic, n.d. Web. 7 Apr. 2016. <https://screencast-o-matic.com/home>.  Fryer, Wesley. "Moving at the Speed of Creativity." Speed of Creativity. WordPress, 27 Oct. 2011. Web. 7 Apr. 2016. <http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2011/10/27/have-students-create-an-actors-commentary-video-playingwithmedia/>.
"VoiceThread Home." VoiceThread. VoiceThread, n.d. Web. 7 Apr. 2016.  <https://voicethread.com/>. 

Entry #15: Finally Finished

Mood: Nervous-Excited Hybrid

Gasp! Can it be? Are we really finished? After hours of editing, we have finally created our finished product. It feels SO weird to not have any more concrete work (besides the super fun creative critical reflection which I am now working on) to do. I'm a little wary about being finished with the film intro, and I've probably watched it 100 more times trying to find any technical flaws.

We had a draft of our final product about 2 days ago, but neither Srish nor I liked how a few parts looked in the sequence, which was unacceptable because this film is our baby; we created the ideas, did the work to film (twice), and edited for extended periods of time, so we needed to love it. We thought about filming again and changing the idea for the Grace and Lindsay scenes, but we knew that it wasn't an option. Instead, I went home and played with the scenes, adding in different ones together that seemed more natural. I changed the levels of the suspenseful music and added some dialogue from extra scenes that were in the background from when the intruder is in the house, maintaining a realistic sound perspective. After 3 hours of constantly replaying the same scenes, I finally liked how the sequence looked put together (albeit, I got very tired of watching our film opening). The Grace and Lindsay scenes, which always seemed to give us trouble, appeared more natural.

This amazing website gave me an idea of what I should be looking for when editing, which allowed me to make our film intro of better quality. The site suggested cutting out the lingering parts in dialogue, since they can often be overdramatic (trust me, we found that out the hard way), making clean cuts, and showing a variety of angles during a two-person conversation; these tips helped me decide what scenes to manipulate so that I could create more interesting scenes.

Then, we had the issue of timing. Our film opening was 2 minutes and 15 seconds, yet there is 2 minute limit. Cutting out 15 seconds of a film opening is a lot harder than I would have ever thought because every second feels so necessary. However, after reforming the original draft of our opening, I found that cutting out extra scenes made the film stronger. Our final time is 1 minute and 59 seconds. Success! I will be posting the film opening shortly, and I am extremely excited (and nervous) to show it because we have spent so much time fostering one little idea into this cool production.

All I know is that I throughly enjoyed every aspect of this project, even the stressful parts because it was part of my journey. I have learned so much about the filmmaking process, even though we only created the film opening. I have to give props to all of the filmmakers out there because the process is arduous, yet extremely rewarding. I'm so glad that I had the opportunity to participate in this long-term project because it has taught me much about the time management, cooperation, and creativity skills that I didn't even realize I possessed. Thank you!

Peters, Oliver. “12 Tips for Better Film Editing.” Digital Films. Wordpress. 16 Dec. 2008. Web. 4 April 2016.

Entry #14: Endless Editing

Mood: Swamped

Wow, there is only one week left until the deadline for this project. I've got to admit, that prospect is a little scary because I want our film opening to properly reflect our skills, so Srish and I have been working diligently to ensure that the scenes are cut smoothly and that the sound is well-adjusted. As I've touched upon in previous blog posts, the main issue with sound has been adjusting the ambient sounds within each clip. Some clips have the sound of an airplane flying overhead while some don't, so we've had to lower the sound level in order to make smoother, more natural cuts (which ultimately is the objective).

Oh, and I almost forgot to blog about it, but our credits sequence is complete! Since opening credits are a common convention in a drama/mystery films, we knew that credits had to be included somewhere. I've never had to create credits for anything before, so I referred to this video again for tips on the process. Because I felt extremely limited while working with iMovie's credit options, I decided to use Keynote. For example, the titles in iMovie could not be moved from their fixed positions, and one text box could not contain multiple fonts. On Keynote, I had a variety of options at my disposal.

To create the sequence, I added several slides, each with a neon green background; this was so that the credits could be inputted directly onto the scenes of our film using the green screen/blue screen option offered by iMovie. It took some time to create the sequence because I had to figure out a good length for each credit, how long the sequence should last, and where I wanted to put them; eventually, I found what worked by playing with the timing and placing the credits in different segments.

As of now, each credit shows on the screen for about 3 seconds. Instead of using a bunch of fancy transitions, we decided that it would be best that our credits were simple, yet bold, popping up on the screen and abruptly disappearing afterwards. To make the credits stand out, I made the title (i.e. production company, "Starring," etc.) a dark red and the names a contrasting white, which I think looks good.

Gabrielle Marie. “Drifting Text Effect iMovie.” Online video clip. YouTube, 30 Dec. 2014. Web. 15 Mar. 2016.

Entry #13: A Barrage of Barking

Mood: Content

Hey! Yesterday, Srish and I filmed the last scenes needed for our film opening, which was super exciting! Now, I have all of the shot and sound editing to look forward to, heh. With one week of class time left and a little more before our projects are complete, it's kind of crazy that this project is almost over.

We had a few obstacles to overcome yesterday as we filmed. For example, there was a dog that kept barking next door and interrupting our scenes, but that's not all; the dog's owner was BARKING TOO. Like, the guy was screaming and barking with his dog. It was never-ending. After the neighbor finally quieted himself and his dog, we were able to get through our scenes. 

This time around (the 2nd shoot), we recruited my friend Kassidy to be Lindsay, a sassy character, which worked out extremely well considering that she is naturally a sassy person. After reviewing the footage, Srish and I agree that she was a great casting decision. She embodies Lindsay perfectly with her ~~inner sass~~.

In order to prevent creating super boring scenes (like last time), we tried to incorporate more movement and more interesting dialogue. We are hoping that the Grace and Lindsay scenes will turn out well, but we haven't been able to find any music that truly captures the mood during the scenes. That's one of the main reasons that the scenes seem so quiet. Above is an example of one of the scenes where we tried to add movement, but it still might not be enough.

As for the editing, I searched for tips on editing and found a few helpful pages that I added to the "Research Resources" section of my blog. These resources briefly outlined the best steps for editing. I created a rough draft of what our film would look like by adding all of the scenes that we wanted to use. For one part, we scripted a phone call between Lindsay and her mother, one with plenty of sass; however, the scene ended up being too long, so we could not incorporate it into the sequence. We decided to improv (this can be SO dangerous for us), and Lindsay instead texted her mother, the scene coming out much shorter and useful.

Entry #12: Serious Sounds

Mood: Cooperative

Hey! Today, Srishti and I decided to edit the intruder scenes together, since they are mostly completed. I thought it would be best if we made these decisions together because the film needs to match both of our visions, which are luckily in sync (thank goodness we work so well together)! 

After doing the usual trimming, splitting, cutting, and adding of clips, we shifted our focus to sound. A lot of the sounds of footsteps, opening of doors, etc. were evident in the footage, so the addition of any sound effects and foley will be left to a minimum; we will only add effects is they seem necessary to convey the purpose of the scene.

Then, we had a small issue with the transition of sounds. Filming at night, we had a large amount of ambient sounds such as crickets chirping and airplanes flying overhead; however, these sounds were not consistent through every shot. As a result, the transition from one intruder scene to another was not as smooth as we hoped because the sound changes were noticeably abrupt. To remedy this, we played with the sound levels and tried detaching the audio and moving it around, seeing if we could make everything cohesive. Greatly to our benefit, it sounds a lot more natural now that we've edited it (how ironic...). 

With that taken care of, we looked at the music that we found a while back from YouTube's audio library (check it out here if you need a refresher). The first song, Chase Pulse Faster, was intended for the intruder scenes. Originally, we added the song to the beginning of the intruder scenes, but it was way too intense for the introduction of the character. Srishti and I burst into a fit of laughter at how ridiculous it sounded while the intruder was just sitting in the car because it was unnecessary at that point. Instead, we added the song to later footage, where the intruder enters the house and is on a mission. In order to make the background music less overwhelming, we lowered the sound level to about 30%. I'm excited about how good it sounds because I'm not very skilled when it comes to sound editing.

When we begin editing the scenes with the girls, we will consider adding another song that we found. I will update once that happens!


"Audio Library." YouTube. Google, n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2016. 
     <https://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary/music>. 

Chase Pulse Faster by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100384

Artist: http://incompetech.com/

Entry #11: Scripting with Srish

Mood: Talkative

Hey there! I'm in a great mood seeing as Srishti and I have begun working on our script. It's such an exciting thing because it looks so professional! Creating dialogue is a lot more difficult than I had ever thought it to be; it takes tons of creativity to produce dialogue that flows, sounds natural, and accurately represents the character speaking. I have taken all of these aspects into consideration when writing the voice for two of the characters, since I have to convey, through dialogue, the personalities and traits of these characters.

We have only scripted the parts for the two girls, Grace and Lindsay, since the intruder has no dialogue and almost all of those scenes are completed. All of these lines are subject to modification, of course, because if a scene does not look or sound natural as we're filming, then it has to be altered. Again, this is all trial and error for us, as we've never done this type of project before. 

We timed the lines for the two female characters, and they took about one minute. That's a little nerve-wracking considering the intruder's scenes take up 1 minute and 17 seconds, and our limit is 2 minutes. We're going to have to see how everything plays out once it is all filmed, edited, and arranged. 

Behold, our first draft of the script for the Grace and Lindsay scenes. Look how professional it is! :D

Entry #10: Real Remedies

Mood: Productive

Hey! Today, Srishti and I talked about all of the problems we were having with the footage, editing, etc, and we are on the same page. I'm so happy that we can both see where improvements need to be made with our work!

Dark, Blurry Footage:
Much to my relief, the footage that was too dark and blurry was actually only that way after being transferred from one platform to another. The scenes that I had in my iMovie library were not the original shots; instead, they were edited together by Srishti and sent to me as a whole. This is where the quality of the shots lessened. Now, I have all of the individual scenes so that I can edit the greater-quality footage.

Irrelevant Scenes:
Srishti and I reviewed some of these scenes together, and we agreed that we needed to rescript and reshoot them. They are supposed to establish that the main character and her partner are working on a project, both girls completely oblivious that there is an intruder in the house. However, we could not capture a natural and realistic depiction of this, and it does not come across well. The girls are supposed to be intelligent, but they come across as ditzy and foolish. We are hoping to redo the scenes this Saturday and edit diligently throughout the weekend.

Scripting:
Through my 17 years of living, I have never once written a script that is meant to convey a tone and set a foundation for characters that will be seen throughout the film. Although our film opening will only show a portion of our film idea, it is still important that it establishes what needs to be known for what would be the rest of the film. I'm actually extremely nervous to start scripting since I don't know much about how to do it and how to do it well. In order to get some tips on this topic, I used this website, which was really helpful in explaining the kinds of information that should be included in our script and how it is best formatted. I'll be sure to update soon about how the scripting process is going.

"How to Write a Script." WikiHow. WikiHow, n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2016.
     <http://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Script>.

Entry #9: An Accolade for Animating

Mood: Mixed Up

Hey! This is going to be a shorter post as I'm in the middle of a few tasks for this project and do not have a ton of things to update about. I still have to wait a few days to discuss all of the project's problems with my partner; until then, there's not a whole much that I can work with.

Creating the Film Title:
As I have previously mentioned, the name of our film is Borderline. I posted an entry that showed a few of the title animations I was playing with on Keynote, which is what I ended up using for this new graphic:

The neon green background is there so that when I import the clip to iMovie, I can click "green screen/blue screen" and make the background transparent. Therefore, the title will be shown directly on some of the footage shot by Srishti and I. So far, this is one of the best animations I have created, but I'm still working on finding new graphic design websites to play around with. 

Placement of the Film Title:
Our next order of business is figuring out where the title should be revealed in the film opening. Since the editing isn't going very well, we still have no clue where the title would be the most impactful. Determining where to show the title is vital to the tone of our opening, so I'm hoping we can get it right. If we put it in the beginning, I feel like a creepy mood would be set early on which is good for the suspense. On the other hand, I feel like putting Borderline at the end of the opening, after the intruder has left the object in the house, can leave the viewer wanting to continue the film.

I should be updating my blog in a few days with news about how the editing is going and the official graphic for Borderline.

Entry #8: Intro Info

Mood: Determined

Hey! Today's outlook is pretty positive since I'm researching and learning, some of my favorite things to do (honestly, no sarcasm here. I'm a teenager that actually enjoys learning)! I'm trying to figure out which elements should be included in the introductory credits to a film, since it is something that we will need to include in our opening.

According to this Wikipedia page, there are several typical components in the opening credits of a film. Since the integrity of this database is often questioned, I decided to check the information myself. So far, my best luck has been in studying examples of drama films such as those listed below:

In Se7en's film opening, I copied down the sequence of credits and made a note of what each name was representing. The opening credits are for the people who had the biggest influence on the development of the film such as the director, producers, actors, editors, and designers (both set and costume).

I also did this with the opening credits for Memento, a thriller/mystery film. I found that many of the components included in Se7en's opening also appeared in this opening sequence.

After researching and going through the above examples, I have narrowed down the credits to some of the most relevant elements: crediting the actors, directors, editors, and studio.

Laura Boland. “Memento (2000) - Opening Scene” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 25 Nov 2014. Web. 26 March 2016.

Vaslav Tchitcherine. “Se7en | opening credits | 720p” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 18 Nov 2011. Web. 26 March 2016.

Wikipedia contributors. "Opening credits." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 10 Mar. 2016. Web. 26 Mar. 2016.

Entry #7: Frustrating Footage

Mood: Annoyed

Hey! Sorry about my mini hiatus, life has been getting crazy on me! I didn't realize how busy I would be this week, so I'm a little off track with the work I wanted to be doing for this project. Anyhow, I'm back and ready to resume working.

It's. So. Long.

For this post, I am going to discuss my progress going over the footage. *Sigh* To start out, I'm unsatisfied with our work, and it's definitely not the result of a lack of effort. We have plenty of cool shots that look great individually, but when all of the shots are put together in a sequence it looks, well, crappy. Just look at this list of things that need to be changed! 

Although some of these changes are fairly minor, I know that every little thing carries weight when it comes to creating a *masterpiece.* Some of the common problems with the footage are that some of the shots I loved so much before now come across as too dark, too blurry, or too shaky. I'm not sure if the quality was lost when transferring the video clips from the phone to the laptop to iMovie, but something has changed. We definitely need to figure out what happened and see if there's anything we can do to fix it without having to reshoot those shots. Hopefully this is something that can be remedied.

I'm using iMovie to edit and arrange the footage we already have from our shoot last week.

Next, I'm concerned that some of the footage we do have is irrelevant, which means that there are scenes vital to the flow of our intro that are missing. When watching all of the shots put together, the sequence doesn't completely add up. I feel like we need to entirely redo the scenes where the two female characters are ignorantly working on a project while the intruder enters the house. Their actions seem to be random and frankly, scripted, despite our efforts to make it seem natural. Ughhh.

Anyhow, when Srish returns from her trip I'll be sure to discuss all of our problems with her and see what we can do to fix them. I'm just hoping that we're both on the same page... I'll be sure to update about how editing is going when I've made some headway. See you soon!

Entry #6: Mystical Music

Mood: Jammin'

Hey! After filming all the good stuff, we looked into YouTube's audio library, a place filled with copyright-free music and music that the creators have given permission for people to use. We found two possible songs that we think would create a great atmosphere in our film opening. 

The first song, called Chase Pulse Faster, is for the scenes related to the intruder breaking into the house. It will definitely add an eerie feeling to the scenes, which I'm excited about. It's so interesting to see how all of the sounds work together to convey a feeling to the viewers! Something that I loved about our footage is that the natural ambient sounds created the mysterious vibe we were going for. The creaking gate, plane flying overhead, crickets chirping, and grass moving all helped to establish the intruder's vibe.

The second song, called On the Table, is an upbeat track meant to establish the youth and obliviousness of the two teen characters. We want to use it as background music as if they were playing it themselves because it is a normal thing for teenage girls to do. We want the scene to seem as relatable and natural as possible because so many films incorrectly depict teenagers.

"Audio Library." YouTube. Google, n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2016. 

     <https://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary/music>. 

Chase Pulse Faster by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100384

Artist: http://incompetech.com/

Entry #5: Filming Fun

Mood: Exhausted 

Hey! Spring break just started and lasts for two weeks, so Srishti and I decided to film some scenes for our opening. She's leaving for almost the entire break, so we wanted to get as much done as we could last night.

As I think I've previously mentioned (or not), the premise of our opening is that an intruder is breaking into the main character's house while she is working on a group project with a girl from her school. The unsuspecting girls are busy talking when the intruder enters the house and leaves an object inside of the house. All of these scenes take place at Srishti's house at night. We were super scared about having to film at night because we know how unreliable flash can be with our phones, but we hoped for the best. One of my favorite shots from our 5 hour (yes, FIVE HOUR LONG) filming session was when the intruder opens the gate to enter the backyard of the main character's house. It came out super creepy, which is definitely the vibe we're going for. Here it is:

It was pretty interesting getting this shot. We were playing with a few different angles and lighting "techniques" (aka me holding a bunch of flashlights up while Srishti filmed) until this shot came to life. The creaking of the gate also added to the overall suspenseful mood, which is super convenient; that way, we don't have to add random sound effects to make the scene come together. 

This is the object left behind by the intruder.

For our opening, we needed to find an object that we could draw a special symbol on from the intruder (reminder: the intruder leaves an object with a symbol in the house). The symbol is something we found online at this website and knew that it fit our film. We were walking around her house and, alas, found an old medicine bottle that we could use as the object to place the symbol. Another thing we had to do in order to film was create an ideal "set" to do a mugshot of the main character's friend (we can call her character #2), a shot that we thought would be fun to add since these two characters are busy working on their own film project, how coincidental. ;) Overall, we created a few items to film, and we learned how to make everyday objects work for us to create a cool product.

***Side note: Filming was an absolute blast. Not only did I get to dress up as a crazy intruder since our recruited actress could not stay for the whole time, but Srishti's neighbors found us lying in the street, filming, and dressed as intruders at 1 o'clock in the morning. What an unforgettable moment!

"The Magick of Candles." HubPages. HubPages, 7 July 2011. Web. 18 Mar. 2016.  <http://hubpages.com/religion-philosophy/TOOLS-OF-THE-CRAFT-CANDLES>. 

Entry #4: Tangoing with a Title

Mood: Explorative

I may have forgotten to mention a recent development with our project… We decided on a title! Our film is called “Borderline,” a reference to a character that wants to be noticed by the few people who have had interactions with her. She is on the borderline with everything in her life: After a childhood full of neglect, this character (still unnamed) only wants some attention before she *possibly* makes her exit from the world. As many say, she wants to “go out with a bang” and wants spectators so that she doesn’t feel so alone. She is so close to changing many lives all at once. She is the character that reflects the title of our film.

As of now, we are focusing on how to create the title visually using font, size, color, and position of the letters. Since neither Srishti nor I have ever created a title graphically, it will surely be a learning process, as much of this project is. I am starting to research effects with titles in iMovie.

Since I’m a newbie and have access to only a few programs, I looked up some tutorials such as this one about how to apply effects to titles using Keynote and iMovie. Here are some photos where I was playing with the effects and fonts.

On Keynote, I also found some really cool effects under “animate” that I think can really help us with creating the title for our film. I’m currently exploring the different effects, trying to find one that fits my vision. Here is a short clip of one of the cooler effects:

I like the movements, but I’m still searching; this one isn’t as, I don’t know, creepy as I pictured it? Anyway, hopefully I’ll have a cool title to show in my next entry. Until next time! 

Gabrielle Marie. “Drifting Text Effect iMovie.” Online video clip. YouTube, 30 Dec. 2014. Web. 15 Mar. 2016.