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.