Comic strip Question 1

 

Podcast Question 3

  Question 3 

Me and my partner filmed a podcast answering the question on how our production skills developed throughout the project.

 Movie Typography Ideas

    We decided it was time to work on the typography and stylistic choices of our film, so we gathered popular films pertaining to our genre for inspiration. 

Avenir Medium Oblique

    John wick was my first selection, as we took heavy inspiration from the John Wick franchise. John Wicks typography is nothing out of the ordinary, and doesn't make a huge impact. Its simple and straight to the point, with a subtle dirty effect over the text.  The typography is very bold and takes over almost a third of the poster, making a statement on what the film entails. We heavily considered this option, but we will keep looking for better choices. 

Fiorello Condensed

    The font for The Batman was another heavy consideration for us, it uses a lot of the same features as the John wick font. Its bold and upfront, giving the audience a menacing feel. Depending on how we want to develop our vigilante, this is a good choice for us to use. It may be too bold and sharp for us, but I like the way it looks on screen, which is why we considered it so much.

Spectre

    The spectre font is completely different from the previous two. It is much more small and smooth, not to overbearing, and fits our film well. It has a nice cut up effect to it, and is very unique compared to any other fonts. For our last two fonts we chose a very big and bold font that is almost intimidating, but we chose spectre incase we want to go for a different route.

    In the end, I ended up going with the spectre font. After considering the others, I found that a more sleek and smooth font would be better for our film. The other two fonts were very powerful and strong, while we want a more controlled and staggered font. I really liked the shakey effect they used, which was overall the deciding factor to my decision

Focus Group Feedback

    After filming, I thought I should splice together all of the footage, and show it to a couple classmates, to collect any criticisms and compliments they had for us.

    Brian had nothing but compliments surprisingly, saying "I like the camera angles and how we never get to see the antagonists face". He also went on to say," The camera angles and shots are very high quality".

    Daniel said," I like the camera work a lot, but I think the lighting could have been much better". This is a complaint we expected, and one that we plan to fix. Daniel also said," The acting is almost funny and not too serious, I like it". This is something that I don't know if its compliment or not, but we'll take it.

    Ryan, one of the actors in the film said," The film is pretty interesting and intriguing. I like the angles and the scenes. I just really think better lighting would make the scenes so much better, so if you get the chance you should edit it."

    Noah, another actor in the film said," I really like the acting and the script that they have. I like the scenes, but I think the mob boss is not as intimidating as he should be, he looks small."

    After reading over all the feedback, I'm happy with what they had to say, and will be sure to use their criticisms to improve our film. Im not surprised with what the focus group had to say, and I honestly expected more criticisms than what we got. I found it interesting how we have some conflicting statements, and I'm happy that the film gathered different ideas and perspectives. For the complaints about the lighting, we do plan on trying to fix it in post, trying out different color grades and filters, to see if it will solve our problem. For complaints on acting and the roles given, I don't think this is a major problem, as we all did our best that we could. Im happy with the compliments on the camera angles, and hopefully its something we can build off of.

 Mobster Costume Design

    While we needed the correct actors and script to fit the role, making them look the part was a huge aspect. We started off by studying mob-related films and TV shows, to gather inspiration for our look. We took huge inspiration from shows like the sopranos, and movies like the godfather, scarface, and many more.

    This image, in particular, was what we were basing our mobster's looks off of, which is why it was important for us to research popular films pertaining to our genre.

Clothing

    For clothing, we decided on each character wearing a black button-down shirt, to match the more serious tone of the meeting they were having. We wanted the mob boss to be in a full black outfit, with little to no accessories, to set him apart from the rest of the characters. Also, instead of just everyone wearing black, we decided on each mobster to very clearly have a personality of their own, which was shown in the clothing choices.

    For Noah (right), we wanted him to be the more scruffy, typical mobster, type look. To achieve this we made sure his shirt was unbuttoned, showing his chest and undershirt. While for Ryan (left) we gave him a floral buttoned-down shirt, to come off as more serious and groomed.

 

Accessories

    For the accessories, we wanted to again encapsulate the mobster look, which is why we decided on heavy jewelry and glasses. With Noah's chain very clearly showing on his neck, we wanted to show that these mobsters were very well off, and have been doing this for a very long time. Showing the wealth that these mobsters had is another way to intimidate the audience, showing a sign of power. 

    As for the glasses, we wanted Ryan, again, to have a more serious look, so giving him glasses to wear was only right. I think the glasses he wears do a great job at this, and they truly separate the two mobsters apart.

 Feedback from day 1 footage

    After finishing our first day of filming our movie, I thought I should collect some feedback from those around me about our footage. I asked both my parents as well as my siblings about the film to see what we should correct next time around, and what we did well. 

    Oddly enough, both of my parents had quite similar responses. The main criticism they both shared was the poor lighting. My mother said the lighting was too "yellow" and it looked out of place, she also did not like the massive chandelier taking over most of the scenes. My dad on the other hand criticized the brightness of the film, saying "it doesn't match the genre". He told me that we should have made the lighting much dimmer, and although it wasn't something we could have fixed at the time, we will be sure to add some color grading in post-production to set the mood.

    My mom was very happy with the storyline and found that our lines really set the intimidation factor for the film. She thought it was good how the mobsters really showed fear in each of their lines, as it tells the audience how important the boss is. My dad also liked the script as well as the acting, saying that " the acting sets the tone".

    For my sister, she pretty heavily criticized the lighting as well, calling it "tacky" and bright". While this wasn't a much different response from my parents, it made me realize how important the lighting aspect is, and how much we need to do better for the next day of filming. She also criticized our acting, saying we look like "robots". This is something I also noticed when watching over the footage, but considering none of us are actually actors, I think we did well for the roles we were given.

    My brother surprisingly did not criticize the lighting as much as my other family members, but he did, however, mention the camera work. He told me that the angles lacked variation and that we should have gone for more variety. But even with that criticism, he did very much like how we hid the mob boss's face throughout the film and found it very clever at times in how we did it.

    Overall I am not surprised with the many criticisms we received, as it critiqued my film very heavily beforehand, and knowing my family, I knew what they would like and dislike. However, I
am surprised with the positives, as I didn't expect the aspects they found good to be noticeable.

1st Day of Filming

    Finally, after days of unexpected plans, dropped cast members, and procrastination, we had our first day of filming. On March 9th, my group met up at around 7:30pm and filmed all of our mobster and mob boss scenes.

    After all of us arrived at our filming site (Aidan's house), we all met up in the dining room and began preparing for filming. We set up our chairs and discussed where we should all sit, who had what roles, and what lines we needed to read.

    Each actor was dressed in a black button-down, with black pants, with each actor having different props. We decided Noah (right) would be a much scruffier and disorganized mobster, leaving his shirt unbuttoned, exposing his wife-beater, a gold chain, and messy hair. For Ryan (left) we went for the exact opposite, a nice collared shirt fully buttoned, a nice watch, and glasses. I, the mob boss (center) was much more well-groomed, and plain, as we didn't want to reveal too much information about him.

        After figuring out each actor's positions, and we sorted out all of the outfits and props, we started working on camera angles and lighting. For lighting, it was extremely difficult for us to figure out how dim we wanted it, what light sources to use, and how it worked with the angles of the camera. We brought out different lamps, coverings, and even unscrewed a few light bulbs, but ended up settling on the base chandelier lighting. Although we wanted a much dimmer, and darker effect, we found it was best to just stick to what we had, as it gave the best lighting out of all the options.

    For camera angles, we had my partner (Aidan) move around at different positions for each scene, as we meticulously positioned the angle for each scene. We knew our main concern was not showing the mob boss's identity, so we prioritized making the mob boss seem as mysterious and intimidating as possible. We positioned the mob boss at the end of the table, in a different chair than everyone else, to make sure the audience knew the importance of his role. 

    Overall, our first day of filming was a success, even considering all of the troubles we encountered. Despite audio, lighting, and camera difficulties, we filmed all of the scenes we needed and finished filming on time.

    

 Timeline Update

    Now that my group has filmed a majority of our movie, I thought I should update our previous film timeline, as the dates previously mentioned are completely different from what actually happened. Due to timing issues, unexpected plans/events coming up, as well as our own laziness, the filming dates were pushed back to March 9th and March 10th. Also, we encountered multiple issues with our cast members backing out right before production, so we took almost 2 weeks to find new actors.

    On Wednesday, March 9th, we finally met up with our mobsters and filmed every mob scene. We met up around 7:00pm and finished production at around 10-10:30pm. Although all the actors were quite upset with the late finish, we still banged out half of our film, and only needed to film the detective scenes.

    On Thursday, March 10th, my group finished up the later half of the film with the detective scenes. Casting for these scenes was much more difficult as we couldn't find someone that fit the role we were looking for perfectly. But we found one of our friends that matched it the best, and we finished up all of the filming. We started a little earlier at about 6:30, so we could prepare our scenes better, giving us more than enough time to film, we finished at around 8:30. There wasn't much of a challenge filming these scenes, but all of us being close friends didn't help it go by any faster.

    Next is the editing portion of the project, which we will complete on March 15th. My partner Aidan will do most of the editing as he is more skilled at it, and has done it for our past projects, but I will be right by his side for moral support.

    Thankfully we have already finished all of our filming, and hopefully, nothing comes up to delay our scheduled editing times.

Set Design / Mis-En-Scene

    Mis-En-Scene is important for our film as we need the set and actors to look the part for the roles we gave them. 

    For set design we decided to go with a dining room table and chandelier for the mob setting. We didn't have many resources to make huge changes to our set, so we decided this would fit the mob meeting the best. With dimmed lighting and a simple background, the dining room was easily our first choice for the set. As for the police station set, we found it best to film in a dimly lit room with paperwork scattered on the tables, as we couldn't find a suitable location for our detective scenes. 

    For costume design, we needed to take inspiration from other mob films that resembled our plot and theme.

    The mobsters were much easier to design as we had tons of examples and movies to go off of. We decided the mobster would be wearing unbuttoned shirts dress shirts, with wife beaters underneath, while wearing accessories such as gold watches, chains, and earrings. We wanted the mobsters to look much less professional than the mob boss, to set the tone and difference between the two. The wife beaters gave the perfect look of a kind of New Jersey mobster, while still not being to trashy.

    For the mob boss, we decided they would be wearing a simple black dress shirt, and dress pants. As we knew we wouldn't be showing his face, we decided to go for a much more basic yet intimidating look. Dressed in all black, it was easy to see the importance, as well as the ill intentions behind them. Costume design for the main antagonist is a very important process, which is why we wanted a more plain and mysterious look, not revealing too much about them. 

    For the detectives costume design, we wanted them to be much more professional and well dressed, to show their level of importance and motives. Simply wearing business casual attire, with a badge clipped on was enough, as we didn't want to complicate the design. Taking inspiration from multiple shows and movies, we noticed we needed to show a working look, maybe having one of them with their tie undone and shirt untucked, could show they were hard at work, and not taking a break.

 Color Grading

    Color grading is something that we could easily utilize, as it fits our genre and film style. We are making a detective/crime action movie, so using a grey-styled color grading over our film could help us achieve the look we are going for. Color grading is a widely used technique used in many films just like ours, so it was quite easy to find inspiration.

As seen above, color can play a big part in a scene's mood or overall feeling. Giving a film a grey or green color grading can give a much more dark and mysterious feel to the entire film. In our case, we want to give as much a mysterious feel as possible, which is why a grey or maybe green color grading could help our film exponentially. While lighting may be important, digitally altering the overall color of the film is the easiest way to achieve a dark and sinister look. Making sure to not over saturate the colors is important, as it can quickly make a high quality scene look subpar.

    The best example of good color grading is Twilight, in this case, the entire movie was given a grey/green color grade. This effect gave the film an extremely dark and shadowy effect, which is perfect for a movie about vampires. Without this color grade, I think the film wouldn't have been nearly as good, as it completely changed the way I viewed the movie. It made the characters fit their roles much better, giving them a more pale and vampire look. Using a color grade in our case could give us the old-time, detective look that we are striving to achieve. 

Film Music

FIlM MUSIC

    Film music is a very important part of any film, it can add a lot to any scene, whether it is suspense, action, or fear. Some of the best films feature extraordinary artists and producers responsible for the film's score.

    A good example of an amazing film score is Batman Dark Knight, which we have been taking a ton of inspiration from. This film's music was composed by Hans Zimmer, who is known to be amazing at producing film scores. Hanz Zimmer's composition in this film allowed for much more intense and intimidating scenes, as well as bringing the action up to another level. For me, the music in this film transcended filmmaking and opened my eyes up to just how much work is put into these movies. Each track is purely unique, and fit for the scene it was placed in, which shows the dedication some people put into these films. Without this tremendous film score, The Dark Knight would not be as critically acclaimed as it is.

    

    For our film, obviously, we cant compose entire pieces fit for each scene, but from what we learned in our last film project, we don't have to. Just simply finding audio on the internet that is royalty-free is just enough to enhance the suspense in our film. After seeing what a good score did to our last project, we will be sure to take our time in finding good music to fit the suspense of our movie.

Film Timeline

 Thursday, February 24th, 8:30am

• My group sat down and began deciding on filming/editing dates as well as film locations. We planned out the order in which we would film what scenes.

Saturday, February 26th, 6:30pm

• We arrive at our first location which is one of our members homes. We will film all of the mobster scenes as they all require that location, we expect to be finished by 9:30pm.

Sunday, February 27th, 7:00pm

• We will meet up at our second location which will be         . We will film all of our detective scenes, where we should finish at around 8:30pm. Afterwards we will review all of our footage from both days ensuring we have gotten everything we need.

Sunday, February 27th, 9:00pm

• We will all make our way to a sidewalk of our choosing to film the final detective scenes. We should finish at around 9:30pm, which will conclude our filming process.

Friday, March 5th, 4:30pm

• We will all meet up at a designated location and begin the editing process. This should take up to 3 hours, hopefully finishing at around 7:30pm. We will finish the entire editing process today to ensure we don't forget.

An issue we encountered in the planning process was what props and costumes we would use. We as a group couldn't decide on what the vigilante should wear, as well as the detectives. While the mobsters should be easy to dress as they are almost completely covered in darkness, the detectives will be fully visible every time they are on screen. We didn't have much time to plan the costumes out which is why it is so difficult.

Film Sounds

Film Sounds

    When it came to sounds, we already had a pretty basic idea of what we would do to further improve our film. Sound is a much more important feature than many think, especially when it comes to our action/adventure film, where sounds can make or break a scene. For our film, we want to further express the mystery and action as much as possible, and try to use sound to make the antagonist much more intimidating. We will do this by adding in background ambiance to fit a dark and dim setting, maybe creaking floorboards, heavy breathing, or slight gusts of wind could add a little intimidation factor to our scenes. While the ambiance may be important, these will only be subtle additions, as we don't want them to distract the viewer, and only want to add to their viewing experience.

    For a much more noticeable and important effect, we will add weather to the background, like rain and thunder. Much of our scenes will be indoors, which can be great for weather sounds, like rain hitting the sides of a window, thunder rumbling the skies, or lightning crackling down. There will be no visuals for these sounds, so we can pretty much add any extreme weather effects that we feel will fit the scenes. Again, we don't want to distract the viewer from the actual scenes, but adding these subtle effects of rain and thunder can help tremendously in achieving a much more mysterious undertone.

     For voice audio, we plan on using the microphone on our cameras/phones, as we don't see a need for an upgrade. While this is just an assumption, it won't be necessary to upgrade equipment, as most scenes will be very close shots of the speaker, where we should be able to hear them very easily. Just in case of emergency, we do have backup microphones and spare equipment on standby, but in the meantime, there is just no need to use them.

 

Lighting Research

    Lighting will be an extremely important aspect of our film as it will enhance the feelings we are trying to portray, as well as give the viewer the feel we are looking for. Using some clever lighting tricks, we can turn our antagonist into the scary mob boss into someone to fear.

    

    We wanted our film to be very heavily based on old school mobster/gangster films. To enhance the noir type experience, we want to have a very villainous mob boss as the antagonist. To make the antagonist more intimidating and mysterious, we want to shroud them in darkness. Not revealing their true identity by covering them in darkness is a very clever way we can make them more intimidating.

    For the protagonist of our film, we want them to be in a much brighter setting, showing the contrast between the two. This would be easier, as we would just have him in a bright setting with many lights. We plan to provide lighting from above the character, like a street light shrouding the charcter in a dimmed yellow.

    Despite the fact that we wanted the protagonist to be lit up, we still wanted to maintain the noir feeling of the film opening. Due to this, we found it best for the film to still take place at night, further illuminating where the protagonist is, and further contrasting the light from the dark.

 

Production Company Name

    It came time for the group to decide what the production company name should be for the film project. We looked to some famous production companies and how they got their names.

    We were specifically interested in the Warner Bros design, and how they got their name; it was pretty simple really. The company's name originated from the founders of the company: the Warner brothers. So we got the idea to combine our names of Ryan Huber and Aidan Tajalli to form a company name.

    After careful consideration and a thorough process, we came up with the genius studio name:

Taber Studios

    It was a clever combination of our two last names.    

 

Actors/Casting Call

    At this point, it's time for our group to decide on our cast and actors. This was a relatively easy process for the team to go through, as we already had ideas on who would fit into what role. 

    There were only really two main characters in the film opening that needed roles to fill, the rest were more of extras. The two characters to fill were the mob boss (the main antagonist) and the vigilante / detective (the main protagonist).

    First up was filling the role of the mob boss. In our last film project, Ryan Huber had the opportunity to play the hero in the form of the heroic cowboy. It was time to pass the torch to someone far more worthy, so Huber graciously stepped down and filled the antagonist's role. Huber's deep, booming voice fits how a dangerous mobster should sound. Also, we won't be seeing much of him, as his character will be shrouded in darkness. The point is to not give the villain a face at first, in order to cloud him in mystery and terror.

    Next up was deciding who the vigilante / detective would be. Aidan Tajalli played the role of a dangerous outlaw in our last film. We decided Aidan best fit the role of the vigilante, as his bright/ happy personality and boyish angelic voice fit the role so well. While Aidan fits the role of a protagonist so well, he can also flip the switch, and be a mysterious under cover detective as well. 

    At this point we ran stumbled into a barricaded bridge. There were still three extra roles to be filled: the two mobsters and the other detective working with the vigilante. And unfortunately a couple weeks ago our lackluster group members switched out of our class, meaning it was just Huber and Aidan. We knew we could rely on our good friend Ryan Ugalde to fill a role; he fit the mobster's role very well. He had the voice and look for it.

    As for the other two roles, we are not sure as to who will fill them yet. We are considering asking our former group members to help us, as they have experience in the film field from being in this class. However, as was stated before, they are lazy and oftentimes give a lackluster performance, so perhaps a secondary route must be taken.

 

Film Shot List

1. Establishing shots of police station room and private meeting room of mobsters

2. Medium shots of detectives and mob members

3. Close up of mob boss and mobsters

4. Full shots of both scenes

5. Wide shots of both scenes

6. Full shot of detective in apartment

7. Medium close shot of detective in closet grabbing suit

Film Storyboard

 

OUR STORYBOARD

PART 1: Introduced to Mafia Boss / main villain, currently in a meeting with two mobsters discussing a problem.

Part 2: Another shot introducing the mobsters, they are informing the main villain of the threat of the vigilante (the hero of the story)

Part 3: The mobsters are seen to be very scared as the boss is getting more and more angry as they tell him more about the vigilante.

Part 4: Cut to another scene in different setting; two detectives talking and sharing new information about the mob boss.

Part 5: Cuts back to mobsters, mob boss screaming at mobsters and banging on desk, yelling at them to catch the vigilante and bring him to him alive.

Part 6: Cuts to shot of one of the detectives, we realize he is the vigilante. walks into closet and stares at costume, then unracks it and walks out of frame.

Film script

Introduction Script

FADE IN 

The film begins with a wide shot of a dimly lit room, behind the throne of the mob boss. There are multiple mobsters sitting on the ends of the table, as they are speaking to the mob boss. 

INT. MEETING ROOM TABLE - 11:30PM

Mobster 1

"Nice to see you sir, why'd you call us in"

Camera gets closer to mobster 1, showing an expression of fear and worry.

Mob Boss

Camera switches behind throne of mob boss.

"You know why i called you here"

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INT. POLICE STATION - 11:32PM

Detective 2

Camera shows medium shot of detectives walking, following them while they drink their coffee.

"We have some new information on the pattern of crimes that have been plaguing this city."

Detective 1

"Do we have any leads we can link to them?"

Detective 2

"Yeah.... we have one."

Camera pans in closer to detectives, getting closer to their faces.

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INT.MEETING ROOM TABLE - 11:35PM

Camera close up of mobster 2 face

Mobster 2

"This guy's been runnin amuck on our operations, and we aint even seen his face!"

Camera close up of mobster 1 face

Mobster 1

"He's cost us millions boss, and word is he's working with the police now!"

Camera switches to behind throne of mob boss

Mob boss slams violently on table

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INT. POLICE STATION - 11:40PM

Camera follows behind detectives

Detective 2

"Each of these locations hit from the past two weeks trace back to him"

Close up of locations on paper

Detective 2

"We gotta catch this guy now, or it will only get worse"

Medium shot of detective 1 face

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INT.MEETING ROOM TABLE - 11:40PM

Camera at end of table, mob boss shrouded by darkness

Mob Boss

"You better find this guy, and bring him to me. I want him alive."

Boss leans in, a little more of his face is revealed

"You know what'll happen if you disappoint me again."

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EXT. OUTSIDE OF POLICE STATION - 11:50PM

Far shot as they walk together on sidewalk

Detective 2

"If we don't get this guy soon.... I dunno what will happen to this city"

Detective 1

"Don't worry. We will."

Detective 2

"Is your friend on the case?"

Detective 1

"...Maybe."

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INT.MEETING ROOM TABLE - 11:50PM

Mob Boss

"On second thought ... this guy's gettin too dangerous. I'm gonna have to handle this myself."

Mobster 1

"But boss, what if you're no match for this guy?"

Mob boss glares at mobster, mobster falls silent

Boss slowly pulls out gun

Mobster 1

"No, boss please!"

Mob boss shoots mobster, mobster dies off camera.

Mob boss

"Let everyone else know. I'm gonna kill this guy."

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INT.DETECTIVE 1's APARTMENT CLOSET

Detective 1 walks into small walk in closet.

Lights flicker on and we can see a dark suit hanging on a clothesline, we realize the detective is the vigilante.

Detective grabs the suit and walks out of frame, epic music playing in the background.

 Film Opening Storyline

Establishing Shot:

The film begins with a wide shot of a dimly lit room, behind the throne of the mob boss. There are multiple mobsters sitting on the ends of the table, as they are speaking to the mob boss.

Introduction of main characters:

The mobsters are introduced as they are talking to the mob boss at the very beginning of the film.

The shot switches over to the pair of detectives revealing information about the mob boss to each other.

It switches back to the mobsters, as they can be heard telling the mob boss information on the vigilante hunting him.

The mob bosses body is introduced, not revealing his identity, as he is asking the mobsters further questions on the vigilante.

The camera switches to a closer shot of the mobsters, further showing the expression of fear in their faces.

Introduction of Vigilante:

When the camera switches back to the detectives, they can be seen walking away while talking about mob boss and mobsters.

Switches back to mob boss, he can be seen slamming table out of anger after mobsters answer questions, slightly more of face is revealed.

The next scene shows vigilante going into closet, showing a costume hanging from closet.

When switched back to mob boss, he is raging at mobsters to catch vigilante.

Vigilante can be seen grabbing costume from hanger, and walking out of frame.

Black screen.