First Day Filming

     Vicente and I have finally started the filming process. As previously mentioned, the first day will consist of filming in my house and tomorrow we will go to Markham Park to film extra in case what we have planned is too short. The filming process consisted of two parts: the photos and then acting in the bedroom. 

     The photo part was very easy; all it consisted of was doing a steady pan over a few of my baby photos. The lighting was almost perfect already since it was late afternoon when we filmed. We just used two phone flashlights to create the perfect shot we wanted.  My TV friends were suggesting to me to only use four pans of the photos or else it may get boring.  This may lead to a shorter time than I thought for the film opening, so I'm glad that we're filming some extra stuff tomorrow.  

     For the actual acting portion, the filming went relatively well.  The three of my friends that were used as extras did a very good job acting.  I was actually very surprised at how good one of them was at acting.  My other friend who was acting as the cameraman did a very good job.  After every shot I would look at what he filmed and would approve it, fulfilling my duties as director.  For my acting ability ,however, I was not so great.  I knew going into this I'm not the best actor, so I went in with low expectations for myself.  With that mindset, I did not do too terrible so we were able to get all of the required shots.  Hopefully all will be just as well tomorrow.



     

Film Prep Frenzy

     Vicente and I have finally worked everything out and agreed to begin filming tomorrow.  The filming will consist of two days.  One day will consist of filming all of the intro we plan to use in my home.  The next day we will film in the forest of Markham park to film the second half of the previously posted storyboard.  The stuff we film the second day will only be used if we feel like the first day filming we plan on using is too short, and after reviewing some of the shots we plan to use, it seems likely.  

    The casting has already been handled as well.  One of my friends who has taken this class and is in television production is helping us by filming while both my partner and I direct and act.  I also had two of my other friends who are also in television production to help act.  I decided to use myself as an actor so the photos of me in the film opening match the protagonist.  Sadly, I'm not the best actor, so hopefully I'll get lucky and it will go well. 

        

Fake Blood Bonanza

     As mentioned in my last post, I am creating fake blood in order to make the story of death in the film opening slightly more obvious.  After doing some research, I found a recipe that would result in the correct texture and color to make it look realistic.  Below is a list of ingredients and instructions on how to make it, available on this website with a few other different recipes to make fake blood for several circumstances.

     After deciding that this is the recipe I wanted to use, I gathered all of the ingredients and mixed it as the instructions said.  The results turned out a lot better than I expected; as shown in the photo below, the fake blood turned out to be the right color and looked very realistic.

    The one issue I had was that the fake blood acted too much like a liquid.  Although this doesn't seem like that big of a problem, it would seem off on film.  To solve this issue, I simply added more corn starch and mixed it thoroughly.  This made the mixture the same thickness as real blood, making it much more realistic.  The next time I post, I should have a list of people I will have to act in my film.