Beginning of the CCR Creation (#1)

 I can't believe its almost time to reflect on our portfolio project. But before we do ANYTHING, we have to do some research!! Let's start with question #1: How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues? 

Woah, this question is asking for a lot. So, I broke it down into different part so that it's easier to answer. Let's see how we can answer the first part: How does your product use or challenge conventions?

First, IDENTIFY the genre and its' conventions! Well, this is easy! I already know what my genre is and we did research on the conventions of sci-fi films before we even started any planning. Here's some information that I summarised from that research post. In the science-fiction genre, there is often focus on technological advancements and the presence of alien species. Key elements include world-building and relatable characters. World-building is very important here because it establishes that the new setting of the world is not what something the audience would be used to. This genre has evolved to attract both older and younger audiences, being more attracting to tech-savvy audiences. The sub-genre, dystopian fiction, exhibits conventions such as societal control or the world after a catastrophic event. 

Secondly, in what WAYS does our product (the film opening) use/challenge the said conventions! Well first off, the film opening did NOT focus on technological advancements or presence of alien species. However, it did exhibit other sci-fi film conventions such as an event causing a pivotal change in society, isolation and survival, and exploration on human nature. 

Now, onto the second part of the question: How does it (your product) represent social groups or issues? 

Well, Mila's character shows struggles through hardship and isolation, which represents how individuals deal with hardships alone. I wanted to highlight the significance of Mila's isolation. This could symbolise the loneliness that people feel today, which brings emphasis on problems like mental health or social disconnection. 

Editing Process: The Start

Before I began editing, I realised I was missing a VERY important part of my film opening. THE CREDITS!!! So I started doing my research and collection of different fonts I could use. Here below, I've written down all my credits. 

1. Production Company - BURNIKE Presents

2. Director - Written and Directed by Taryn Fung

3. Main Actors - Starring Claire Sun

4. Producers - Produced by Taryn Fung

5. Editor - Edited by Taryn Fung

6. Cinematographer - Cinematography by Taryn Fung

7. Writers - Written and Directed by Taryn Fung

8. Production Design - Production Design by Taryn Fung

Now we can start editing. To be honest, this process was a lot more difficult than I expected it to be. First of all, I couldn't get my Adobe Premiere Pro application to open but a friend of mine helped me with that issue. The second problem I ran into was that the current computer that I'm using (a relatively used MacBook Air) didn't have enough storage space for the app. So, I told my dad about this issue and he suggested that I use his new MacBook Pro to download the app and edit. This worked so well and I'm so glad I found a solution for this. 

Anyways, enough of this setting up talk, let me share the ACTUAL editing process with you! I was incredibly confused when I first opened the app and started a new project. There were so many buttons everywhere and I wasn't sure how I should start. Obviously, I went on YouTube and searched for a beginners guide to using Premiere Pro. This helped me so much with getting started. I imported all of my recorded files from my phone (there were 170 videos) which took about 15 minutes and finally started editing! 

I didn't start with my production logo, instead, I started by importing my opening to the opening scene and I realised that it wasn't as stable as I hoped it would be. After watching a few more tutorials, I discovered the effect called Warp Stabiliser, which basically helps you stabilise your footages. I also learned how to colour grade!! I definitely needed more saturation and warmth in my videos, so adding this made a huge difference. 

Group Meeting #2

 I absolutely adore group meetings, even though they make me nervous sometimes. I thoroughly enjoy these meetings because learning about what my classmates are working on as well as their progress makes me realise that I'm not alone in my problems. The part I loved most was listening to how everyone has doing in this project. Now, allow me to share more of what I learned from our meeting. 

First, we have Julia!! You guys might remember Julia from our last meeting, it was by complete chance that she was in my group this time too! She finally solidified her idea for her project (huge step since our last meeting) and she already has all her props ready to go. Next we have Meliyah, who I actually worked with on our Music Marketing Project, so I was very excited to hear what she's done for her project. She shared that she filmed on the beach over the weekend (just like I did!) and she experienced some problems that I also experienced. This made me realise that I'm not alone in my problems and having another person to relate these problems to really soothed my anxiety. Her film is a psychological thriller/drama with a bit of suspense. It's a story about a sister mourning and reminiscing her dead sister. Her partner, Cami, was in my group meeting last time and it was so interesting to see how their project is coming along. I'm most excited see how their project turns out because Meliyah is an amazing editor, I can't wait to see it!

This meeting was quite different from our last one because everyone mostly just shared their project plot and what they were working on instead of asking for suggestions. This was probably because everyone already had a solid idea on what they're doing for the project, and now it's just the technical aspects of filming and editing. Super excited to see how the projects look in the end! 

Filming Day 2

 DAY 2!! I am exhausted after filming today, I wanted to be DONE with this whole process already but I still have to do my flashback scene. Good news everyone, I have completed all the shots that I need for all the beach scenes, yay! Alright, let's break down everything that we did today. 

I don't think I could ever put my relief into words when I arrived at the beach and saw there was barely anyone there. It couldn't have been more perfect. I rushed to get my tripod that I borrowed from my grandma and began filming the opening of the opening scene where we can see the quiet beach. I was so excited I was practically skipping everywhere. 

Everything was going so well up until the very last scene, where Mila returns to her little hide out tent. At first, we weren't sure where would be the best place to set up a tent, but we decided that the tree with a wooden support plant would be the best place. Now that we've found a suitable place, it was time to build the tent with the curtain that we found. Here's the issue, the curtain was too small, it didn't fit well onto the tree and couldn't cover much. We also ran into problems with anchoring the corners with sticks and rope. In the end, we made a very small tent and decided that a change of angle would make it look different. Otherwise, that was the only problem we ran into. 

For the last few seconds of the opening scene, I wanted to show where Mila dwells at sunset. However, because of how small the tent was, it became very difficult to film quality shots of her living there. So, I've decided to make the flashback longer so that I could cut the tent scene shorter. I've added an updated version of my script on the same document: CLICK HERE.

What worked out best for both of the filming days was that it was clear that there was time passing, and I was very glad that everything worked out for the best in the end. That'll be all from me this week. Updates on the flashback filming as well as the editing process coming soon! 

Filming Day 1

 Look at how far we've come since the beginning of this project! It's time to put all my pieces of ideas together and create this opening! Although this process seems exciting, I was very stressed out because I was worried that there would be a lot of problems with natural forces like wind, rain, and sunshine. Let's break down what happened on our first day of filming. 

I ran into my very first problem when my original actor had to cancel on me last minute because of family plans. I was panicking to find another actor who also had a sibling to act as the younger sibling. Alas I could not find an actor who also had a younger sibling with an appropriate age difference. So, I decided as a last minute decision to remove Lenny from the production completely. This decision might seem rash, but it was reasonable considering my situation. Now, allow me to introduce Claire, my actor for Mila. Claire is a dear friend of mine who's currently in her last year of middle school. She's very hard working, which is why I chose her out of many volunteers to be my actor. We discussed plans to meet at Dania Beach and I sent her all the information about this project to her. 

After gathering everything I needed, we left for the beach, HURRAY! But as soon as we got there, I realised that I've overlooked a very important aspect. There were hundreds upon hundreds of people almost everywhere! I panicked, not knowing how I was supposed to film a narrative world where everything was quiet because most people have already died from an illness. Claire and I sat down together and we brainstormed ideas together. We decided that we could separate the scenes and film over several days. The new plan would be to film all the parts leading up to the flashback today, and film the rest on Sunday, when there's hopefully less people. We started with the scene where Mila searches for resources because there was a small patch of grass/sand where you couldn't really see anyone in the background. The natural sounds of the beach was overwhelmed by the loud party music, so I would have to work harder to find sound effects for this scene. We began filming and I began feeling more relieved about our progress. 

Thankfully, we managed to film everything we needed. However, I shared my concerns about the restrictions of location with Claire and she agreed that we could re-film some scenes that might've been better without so many people. I'll update you guys on how tomorrow's session goes! 

Looking for Costumes and Props

 Since I wanted my character, Mila, to have a survivor-like costume, I decided to find some old clothes at Goodwill to find a perfect fit. I was looking for some neutral colours, such as light green, light blue, beige, light brown, brown, etc. These colours look more natural and makes Mila blend into her beach surroundings better. Furthermore, the dullness of these colours give the clothes a faded look, which could help the audience better understand Mila's situation. I also had a very specific size of the clothings in mind. First off, I didn't something that would be too tight, I wanted something loose-fitting because I believe that best fits the scene. Another aspect that was really important to me was the texture of the clothing. I needed something that could be stained easily, so that we could add some make-up product to make the costume look worn and dirty. Let me show you some of the clothes I found and what I got in the end!

Since I found two shirts, I was thinking maybe one of them could be a vest/jacket because realistically, Mila would get cold at night. I was thinking of cutting up the loose green shirt (on the right) right down the middle so it can be worn as a loose jacket. 

Not only did I find my costumes, I also found some pretty cool props that I could use for the scene. One of which, is this glass jar. This jar was considerably used and dirty, making it a perfect prop for Mila's environment. My dad was helping me with finding the things I need for this project, and he stumbled upon some big curtains that I could use to build Mila's "home" tent with. While we were in that section, I discovered this thin blue blanket that could be used to create Mila's sack that she carries around. 

Production of the Production Company Logo

 Silly title, I know. Let's dive straight into it! The first thing I had to do for this part of the production is to research how professional companies make their production logos. So, I searched "production company logo" on YouTube and watched several videos that included these logo intros and animations to see what kind of logo I want to make. I was inspired by simple themes like the beginning of the SONY company logo. 

At first, I wanted to use the FlipaClip application (with my iPad) to draw out an animation. However, my plan changed after my teacher came over and informed me that Canva also had an animation feature. Since I'm so familiar and comfortable with using Canva, I decided that this would be the easier route for me. 

I clicked an animation blank template in Canva to start my creation process. I looked at the side to see the type of animation templates Canva provides and used those templates as inspiration. I saw some animation that I liked but I didn't end up using any of the templates because they didn't feel like something a production company would use as their logo/intro. 

In the end, I picked out a bold font that I liked, and added some film tape in the background (to establish that this is a film production company). This finalised my production logo and I added some cool animations to make the final product. Here is is! I hope you like it. 

Sound Elements

Sound is such an important element in my film opening because there's not a lot of non-diegetic sound that's going to be added. I want the opening to be quiet, with only a few sounds here and there. Such as the soft sound of walking on sand, and the rustling of clothing. Here are some ideas from me!

- Clothes moving sounds: fingers retying hair, braid sliding through fingers, fabric rubbing when she moves.
- Beach sounds: wind over sand, wood hitting each other, sound of waves, walking on sand. 
- Foraging sounds: leaves brushing, twig snapping, looking through bushes. 
- Newspaper sounds: rustling, wind blowing on it. 

Mila's Costume Design

 An essential part of building the mise-en-scene for this opening would be designing our main character's costume. As I've shared in previous posts, I want her to have this ragged look. Since she's been out in the wild for a year and a half already, she obviously won't have any clean clothes. Her clothes should reflect her past life subtly. We know she was only about 12-13 years old, so her clothes should be quite small on her. I might want to give her a big t-shirt, because she could've gotten clothes from her parents. 

After doing some brainstorming, I decided that I want her to have baggy clothes with very neutral colours. I feel like having neutral and "bland" colours would make more sense because of her survival situation. Someone who's living on the beach in an abandoned world wouldn't be wearing bright orange or neon colours. Here are some inspiration I found online. 

I really like the left-most outfit. Both the top and the pants have a very baggy look. The colours are also dull, but for Mila's costume, I think colours like blue, green, beige, brown, and white would fit best. Her costume should "blend" into her environment in a way. 

That's all from me! Stay tuned for more. 

Who Is MILA?

Let's dig into the details of our main character, Mila. Developing her character and personality is essential to the film opening. 

Basics:
Name: Mila
Age: 14
Family: Has a younger sister, Lenny. Two parents, deceased, but alive at the time of flashbacks. Had two amazing parents, was an only child. 
Current situation: Caretaker of Lenny, they're surviving together in a makeshift camp on the beach. Lives alone on the beach, trying to survive through isolation and the fears of being alone in an empty world. 

Physical and practical details:
Build and look: Very lean, strong from constant movement and work. Hair is usually tied back in a bun, ponytail, or braids that leaves it out of the way when she's working. Dirties clothes, wrinkled and layered. 
Tools: Small backpack, a small folding knife, an old blanket (in her tent), a family photo.
Skills: Foraging, basic first aid, making shelter, reading simple maps, starting a fire. She has very nimble fingers. 

Personality and character traits:
Core trait: Protective and resourceful. She is very resourceful. Mila is very protective of Lenny and feels responsible for her. Her care for Lenny determines her every choice. She's smart and knows how to solve problems. 
Emotional character: Very cold and distant to strangers in fear of transmission of disease, fiercely loyal to those who have proven her trust. She acts tough, especially in front of Lenny, and hides all fear.  Was a joyful and outgoing child, thrived on social environments. Isolation has kept her from her past lightness and shows how she maturely handles hardships. 
Habits: A habit of scanning the horizon and listening for people or animals, hoping for signs of life near her. She likes to retie her hair often, as it helps her think and concentrate. 
Moral values: Very emphatic towards human needs. She's always willing to sacrifice for Lenny. 

Backstory:
Pre-apocalyptic life: Grew up in a small city with loving parents who taught Mila what she knows now. She was young child with bright future ahead of her. Mila was smart and popular in school, she had a near-perfect life. She learned that family was important, and that she needed to help take care of Lenny. 
Survival: When the disease got to her parents, she knew she had to protect Lenny and run away. Mila became the adult in the situation and took Lenny far away from people. After her parents sent her away to be safe, she learned to ration her food, scavenge for resources, and improvise when needed. 

*EDIT: made strikethrough changes because some of her characteristics don't apply anymore. 

Script!

I'm not the best at drawing, so I decided that writing a script would be something much easier to do than creating a storyboard. To accurately write a script for a film, I did a little research to find the right formatting. I went onto YouTube and searched for videos that were beginner friendly for script writing.  Writing a script allows me to bring practical elements into my project, so that it transforms from just being an idea to being something I can start working on! 

The script has the same elements an actual film script (that actors are provided with) has. There might be some things that might seem off, but I tried my best to stick to the guidelines. Let me know what you think! CLICK HERE.

Integration of Media Theory

 Now it's time to integrate a media theory into my project. I am planning on integrating Todorov's Narrative Theory of Equilibrium. This theory suggests that every narrative has distinctive parts. For the purpose this class, only three of the five parts will be discussed. 

Equilibrium is when the audience is introduced to characters and the beginning of the story. The narrative world is in a state of stability and normalcy, where the characters go about their lives as they would. Then comes the Disequilibrium, an event that causes a disruption in the stability of the protagonist's lives. As the protagonist recognises the need to solve this problem, they will strive to find a solution to repair the situation. Lastly, the New Equilibrium leads to the end of the narration. The conflict is resolved (or not, usually due to a good reason), and the narrative world reaches a new state of stability. 

This theory can easily be integrated into my project because it highlights the narrative qualities of my plot. Although the equilibrium and new equilibrium won't be shown in the film opening, it is implied to the audience that some sort of stability was once present and will be reached once their living conditions improve.

Project Idea and Inspiration!

The group meeting we had on Monday (Group Meeting #1) helped me a lot in solidifying my ideas. Here's a breakdown of my final idea and where I got my inspiration from. 

I want my setting of the scene to be at a beach, where two girls are situated in a little self-made tent they've created for themselves for shelter. The older girl, named Mila (names are subject to change and will probably not be mentioned in the film opening, this just helps with me explaining the scene), is about 10 years old (also subject to change) and she's in charge of taking care of her little sister/brother, named Lenny (gender neutral name for now) as they live together, trying to survive the post-apocalyptic world. The scene opens with her walking alone along the beach, foraging for food (like coconut or berries) and other resources (like dry wood to build a fire). As she is picking up sticks for their fire, she sees the corner of a piece of newspaper flopping in the wind. Curiously, she walks over and picks up the semi-ruined, but still readable newspaper from a little more than a year ago (I'm planning to show this timeline by stating the month and year at the start of the scene). The camera focuses on important words like "disease," "[a number] of people killed," and "no cure," which leads to a cut to Mila's eyes. When she blinks and her eyes reopen, she's taken back to her house where she is sat holding Lenny tightly and listening intensely to the radio, while her parents are frantically trying to pack their things (a flashback). She is clearly disoriented and doesn't enjoy the memory, so she shakes her head and closes her eyes for a brief moment, and she is back to the beach when her eyes open. She puts the newspaper in her backpack and walks out of frame as the title appears. As the sunsets and night approaches, Mila returns to their refuge area and we see Lenny playing in the sand by the tent. Mila tells Lenny to return to the tent while she piles up the sticks. She uses an old lighter thats running out of fuel to light up the newspaper and throws it in the fire as she fans it with her hands. We see that she uses a small knife to slowly cut open the coconut over the shell of another coconut (this might be unrealistic, subject to change). Scene can end at any moment. 

A lot of the parts might need some adjusting, since its based on natural sounds; and mise-en-scene elements such as costuming could be difficult and might need changes. I incorporated some ideas suggested by my classmates that I thought were really helpful, and I'm very grateful for that. I'll post an completed script soon, so stay tuned for that!

Continuing, I need to figure out a name or title for this project. I want the title to be something unique and memorable, something with a "wow"-factor. I thought the best way to approach this would be to actually name this unknown disease, but then I realised getting everything scientifically accurate would be too difficult. So, I've decided to create something that would describe my two main characters. I went ahead and used the random word generator to find some interesting adjectives. I came across this new word, evanescent, meaning to soon be passing out of sight, memory, or existence; quickly fading or disappearing. The word itself carries some sort of elegance to it. I think this is the word I'll use for my title. Evanescent also inspired an idea for my unknown disease. The cure of this disease is evanescent, which is why so many have died from it. I really like this new idea, I think I'm going to stick to it. That's all from me!

Group Meeting #1

  Our teacher gathered my class into groups so that we could receive and give out constructive criticism to our peers. I got to hear about the projects that my classmates are planning on doing, and the different ways they're accomplishing it. I thoroughly enjoyed this process because everyone's ideas were unique in their own ways. I also got inspiration for ideas and it was very refreshing. Here are some of the things that my classmates shared! 

Most of them shared that their chosen genre was thriller or drama. Sebastian's idea was really interesting, he wanted to create a film opening showing this mysterious object that puts people who looks at it in a trance. I can definitely picture this taking place in a thriller/mystery film, but he shared some challenges he faced, like creating the "mystery" effect and finding a way to show the "tranced" look. Andre provided a solution to this by suggesting a fog machine, or something else that could create a smokey look. I thought this was really creative and it would work well. 

Julia wanted to create a drama film based on grief and/or loss of a loved one. However, one of her biggest challenges is discovering the plot. She was very unsure of how she wants the film to play out, so we offered her some suggestions. I remember a story from a book I read named If He Had Been with Me by Laura Nowlin, it was about a young couple whom's love story is as complicated as their past. This relates to Julia's idea of grief because the male main character dies in a car accident, causing the female main character to feel overwhelming sadness and grief. However, she did mention that she didn't want to incorporate romance into the story, but I think that the loss of a sibling could also work well in this plot. 

When it was my turn to share my idea, I got a lot of wonderful and creative suggestions back. Even though my idea for this project isn't set in concrete, but I do know that I want to create a sci-fi film. Although no one else in my group was doing a similar genre, they were very helpful with some ideas I could include. I shared that I wanted to do something that happens in a post-apocalyptic world, with a pair of siblings living together in the natural world, trying to survive their new reality. Here are the things that I wrote down from their suggestions: 

- News flashback (to show the TV or radio broadcasting), so that the background of this new world is established. (Suggested by Juan)
- A disease (that caused the apocalypse), or a natural force (because aliens and foreign enemies are hard to create). (Suggested by Juan and Sebastian)
- Inspiration from A Quiet Place (2018), a horror/sci-fi film: starts with a quiet environment (only natural sounds, because there's little to no people around, then ends opening scene with loud sound to create suspense. (Suggested by Andres)
- Finding an old piece of newspaper on the floor while foraging for resources. Shows the title of the opening scene on the front cover of the newspaper. Burn newspaper in fire as fuel later on. (Suggested by Andre)

I love all of these ideas, and I think I'll try my best to incorporate all of them because the suggestions matched my idea very well. However, I'm not sure if I want to leave off my opening scene with a loud noise because I'm not that interested in creating suspense that early into the film, but the quiet environment idea is definitely something I want to use. I think I have a well-constructed (enough) idea of my film opening, and this meeting really helped me solidify and join my ideas together. I'll be sharing more of my plans soon! 

Analysis of Three Film Openings

Since inspiration is clearly needed for this project, I've found and analysed three different film openings from both the sci-fi genre and the drama genre. I'm still conflicted on what genre I want my final project to be based on, so I did some more research. 

The first film opening I found compelling is from the 2024 production of Fly Me to the Moon, directed by Greg Berlanti and written by Rose Gilroy. I especially admired the way they formatted their credits. Since this movie is set in an environment filled with technology, the font that was chosen to display their credits was very suitable. It's corporate and thin, giving it a sophisticated look. This film opening is also based on character development, showing the personality of the main character and how he interacts with both the world and other characters. The colour scheme of the opening also seems to match the business-like, serious environment. 

Moving on to the analysis of the second film opening, I've chosen a sci-fi film. This is Dune: Part 2 (2024), the sequel to Dune (2021). The opening begins with ominous music, setting the mood for the upcoming story. The narrator speaks of the past events that have led them to their current situation, providing information and background information about their unknown world. By opening with this narration, it hooks the audience by making them want to know more about the situations of the characters. 

The last film opening I will be discussing will be The Hunger Games (2012). The title was included in the beginning text narration introducing their world. This is a sci-fi film based on a dystopian world set in the future, where the world is separated into sections of the rich and the poor. By introducing the world through the background storytelling, the audience is able to understand the main character's situation better.