CCR

FINALLY! After many weeks, I have reached the end of my project. In retrospect, all this time, effort, (and money) was all worth it because the final product came out just like how we envisioned it.

Here I leave you with my Creative Critical Reflection:

Link: https://youtu.be/jSmHcCd4j_A

In The Back of Beyond

Get your popcorn ready, here is the short film, In The Back of Beyond! After weeks and weeks of planning and executing that plan Taylor and I have finally reached the end to our long and arduous project. Don't get me wrong, this project was fun but definitely a lot of work. And after a long time of waiting here she is!

In The Back of Beyond:

Link: https://youtu.be/kbThv-fAZYI

Film Google Drive Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gZBpZaUHjmfey-uvsWWltY2nrZzVKnwB/view?usp=sharing

I also spent all of last week working on the website to get it looking professional and have a logic flow. We also decided to create a QR code (using this website) in order to better help distribute the film. This QR Code (below) would be used on marketing material so tech savvy consumers could better access the film with quickness and ease.

Website Link: https://backofbeyondfilm.wixsite.com/mysite

Website QR Code

And last but not least here is the post card for our short film:

Front

Back

Post card Google Drive Links:

Front: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1w3fNVOMYxZM6BcTaSBpd7nV4oqvw6XlG

Back: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1JmbqWIvlOH0UPFcIy-G8K3spgwY370X0

Final Comments

Wow, what a llooooonnnngggg project. In hindsight, this project felt like a lot more work in a short period of time than last year's AS Level project. I am going to be completely honest in this post. When I first started this project, specifically up through week three I procrastinated a lot. I did do some research here and there, but I was not doing much in the planning phase. I really only left myself only a week and a half to do the storyboard, find props, find talent, and wrap up the script. In the long run, everything ended up working out, but it could have gone wrong very quickly.

The good part about the final result is that we planned our filming day to the minute and filmed everything we needed to. We made sure to write a good script. During the writing process, I told Taylor to number each line of the script so I could match the storyboard with the lines on the script. Talent wise, we specifically chose to only have one main character because we knew it would be easier to film and it would help achieve that post apocalyptic feeling. From the beginning, Taylor and I envisioned someone being alone, knowing that it would be very possible to film.

All in all, this was a very fun process and a great learning experience right before I go to college and do bigger and better things. Would I do it again? mmm Yeah. Would I learn something new if I did it again? Probably that's a yes as well. I just want to take a moment and thank everyone involved that got me to this point, now, I feel like I am ready for the real world. Let's see where the road of life takes me.

Peace - KV

YouTube Red (Distribution)

We ended up going with YouTube Red for distributing In The Back of Beyond for multiple reasons. Typically short films have been distributed on YouTube for free, but Taylor and I really felt like that market is really saturated and overcrowded as many people are doing short films. For the most part, I left the task of finding the most suitable distributor to Taylor since I was doing the heavy lifting with the editing but she explained most of it to me.
Taylor's Distribution Research

 For distribution there are three different types: transactional (iTunes, etc.), subscription (Netflix, Hulu, etc.), and advertising (YouTube). She believed that YouTube Red was the best distributor for In The Back of Beyond because it is a new streaming service that is on a platform known by most people. The reason we ended up going with YouTube Red in the end is because it is a relatively new streaming service (released in 2015) which primarily only has mini series. We knew that introducing a short film to the service would create a disruption on the service, creating new attention due to the heavy dominance of mini series on YouTube Red. Since we ended up going with this distributor, we decided to follow conventions of a video that is released on the service by including the YouTube Original intro in the beginning of the short film:

YouTube Red Intro. (2016, June 23). Retrieved March 18, 2019, from https://youtu.be/0ACmc7SjmgU

Starting the CCR

Remember how I said that the end was near? Yeah, it really is. I started working on my Creative Critical Reflection today, which is one of the final components for this portfolio project. Which is something exciting and sad at the same time. Exciting because I know I am finally reaching the end, but saddening as well because I think this project was fun and a great learning experience. I also feel like I showed an improvement compared to my portfolio project from last year.

I am going to write an outline for my Creative Critical Reflection, which is what I did last year, because I feel like it is much much much better than going off of the top of my head. To start off, I am going to write an outline for my CCR. Afterwards, I will write a script and do a voiceover for my CCR. Once I record my voiceover, I will add broll to complement my voiceover and call it a day.

My CCR will actually be quite dense, at least I hope, because there was a lot that went into the development and ultimately the execution of the final look for the short film. For my voiceover, I plan  one writing about three to four and half pages, which will take me to about the five minute mark.

Things I plan on taking about in my CCR, include (I will probably add more as I go along):
  - the planning phase
  - getting props
  - creating props
  - the day of filming
  - editing
  - the website

Working On The Website

Today I am beginning to work on our website. It's going to be a work in progress. My teacher provided us with some examples from previous years of what worked and what didn’t. I wrote these down and some were quite useful. I noted a few things here and there, I want to take some elements from different short film websites and kind of make ours into its own. Now, I don’t know how to code a website, which probably would have been a bad thing a few years ago but now thanks to different free website templates I am able to pick from a template, customize it, and make it into my own website, all without having to code anything. Once you are done you can publish your website and make it public for everyone to see.

I chose to go with Wix to build my website. I have made websites with both Weebly and Wix before but I feel like Wix gives you a bigger variety of templates and more options to customize your website. I counted myself and found that Wix has 44 (I counted them all) templates that are designed for videos specifically. Here is a screenshot from the Wix website of a few "video" templates:

Taylor also gave me a folder full of pictures for the website that she took during the shoot and edited for me to use for the website. There are a bunch of pictures she edited, 23 to be exact, that I will choose from to include on the website. I still don't know if I want the website to have individual pages, or to have scrollable links so everything is on one page. Hopefully I will get the website done by the end of this week so I will have enough time to write and create my CCR. 

As far as the website goes, I plan on including these things (and more as I go along):

  - Pictures of the Cast and Crew

  - Summary of the short film

  - A contact page

  - Screening information

  - Reviews of the short film

  - A mailing list

  - Soundtrack (Hopefully)

  - Behind the scenes pictures

  - Social media links

Wix Video Templates:

https://www.wix.com/website/templates/html/video

Beginning of The End (Finally)

Today I finished rough editing the short film. In all honesty, I thought it would end up going over five minutes. Luckily, it didn't, it just ended up being five minutes roughly. Now since I gave the entire project to Taylor she is going to change up a few things here and there. This is what my timeline looks like (below picture) now that the initial rough editing is done. We still need to do a few things before it is done though, such as color correcting, adding music, adding the voice actor, (potentially) adding foley sounds, and fixing audio. Now I say this is the beginning of the end because all of the hard work, is FINALLY complete.

The editing process actually went a lot faster than I thought it would. Thanks to our good planning, I was just able to refer to our script and storyboard for quick references the flow of the short film. Organization also helped out a lot. Like I described in my last blog posting, I organized the clips corresponding to the scene to which it belonged, allowing to basically edit in a chronological manner.

Front Side

Taylor and I already completed the postcard last week, as seen on the right. For the most part, she did came up with the whole idea and design of both sides, I just offered my input. On the back side, we had some contention because we went through multiple design ideas that just didn't seem to work. We ended up coming to the design you see on the back. Taylor had to end up photoshopping the clouds out of the background picture because it created too much distraction, not allowing the reader to focus on the text.

Back Side

Since we already finished the postcard, I really feel like we are making good use of our time. This week I am going to focus on the website, and most likely get it done and Taylor will finish editing the short film. So that leaves us plenty of time before the week after (our last week) to work on any last minute things and complete our Creative Critical Reflection (CCR).

No small task

Today we filmed the last part of In The Back of Beyond. Now that everything is filmed we can go ahead and complete the short film. I started editing the short film, and I am currently at the two minute mark. No small task is a short way of putting it. Once you take into account all of the things you have to take care of as an editor (line edit, audio, coloring, story, etc.), editing is actually a grand undertaking.

Current Timeline

I did some research and came across this nice article, explaining different tips on how to speed up your editing process. The ones I particularly took note of were tips 6-10. The last tip which I had not previously used before was changing the workspaces. As you can see above, I am currently editing in Adobe Premiere Pro using the Assembly workspace. This has allowed me to rough edit the short film a lot quicker. What the Assembly workspace does is put your project bin (video clips) along the left side of the editing software, giving you a full list of clips that is in that bin.

In order to also help organize the clips, since we shot everything out of order, I put all of the clips into  different folders depending on what part of the script they belong to. What I did not think that this would do is organize the folders chronologically. Since all of the folders have the same names, except for the numbering, the folders organize alphabetically. This will make my life easier because now I can just edit by going to each folder and edit it according to the storyboard and script without having to search through all of the clips. After all, having to look through over 120 clips every time I would want to add a new clip would be a pain in the a**.

After realizing the big undertaking that this is. Taylor decided she would chip in a little more and help out in finishing editing. Previously, we had agreed that she would just work on audio and coloring. Now, I am just going to rough edit the short film, give it to Taylor and she will go ahead and put together the finishing touches (including audio and coloring). Once she is done, she will give me the project again and I will go over it to make sure there are not any editing mistakes or inconsistencies.

Beginning To Edit

Today I am going to begin the editing process for In The Back of Beyond. As of now we still have one more scene to film, the one at the very end, the control room scene. We were not able to film that scene on Saturday because the control room we are going to use is in our school, which is only open during the week. I uploaded some pictures of the control room in a previous posting. We are either going to film this last quick scene tomorrow or this Friday. 

For now though, Taylor and I are going to take advantage of our time and begin editing. The first thing I have to do is organize the clips by putting them in different folders according to the scene it takes place in. We have to do this in order to make the editing process easier for ourselves. I am going to try to get the whole thing edited this week so we can work on adding any finishing touches next week while also leaving time to fix audio and work on coloring. 

My only primary concern is sound design because we have to create music or find suitable royalty free music. Other than that, I am not too overly concerned because we left ourselves plenty of time to work on the major task (short film) and the minor task (flyer and website). We decided to split the minor task, me doing the website and Taylor doing the flyer. Taylor took plenty of pictures during the shoot we should have some good pictures for the flyer.

All fun and games aside, now is the time to begin to put the real hard work in. This is the hardest part in creating any film because now you actually have to take an idea and make it into something that can feasibly represent that idea and represent it accurately. I thought I would give you a look at what my project looks like so far in the picture below. Yeah, I have an empty timeline, and, yeah I realize I have a lot of work to do.

Filming Day Update

Last Saturday was the big day! The filming of In The Back of Beyond! We spent the whole day filming from 9am to 7pm, a rather lengthy day. I think it was just long because we went to many different locations, and even returned to some throughout the day. I am glad we did everything in one day though because it takes s huge weight off of our shoulders. Not only that, but it helps with continuity as well since the actor is wearing the same thing. Well, I guess that only works for our short film because Alex is always wearing the same clothes.

The day began with me arriving at Taylor's house at 9:00am with talent arriving at 9:30am. It was a rather eventful day, ranging from Taylor and I coming across a snake, getting sunburned, or driving by someone who had just gotten into a motorcycle accident, not even mentioning that our main actor, Julian came face to face with an alligator. My first mistake was not putting on sun block because the sun was BEATING down on us on Saturday. But other than that, everything went according to plan.

Throughout the day we took out some shots from the storyboard and added others. We primarily took out the ones that weren't necessary such as some drone shots. On the other hand, we inserted some, primarily during the first initial scene. We realized that we needed high angle shots to imply that Alex is being watched, which was not planned for in the storyboard. Of course, the script helped tremendously as well because it told us the dialogue that we needed to get. For the most part though, we referred to the storyboard during the shoot for framing and stage directions. The stage directions that I wrote here and there told the actors what to do when they were on camera.

The weather was also in our favor the entire day since the sun was out the entire time, not a common occurrence since it does rain here a lot (I did end up getting a sun burn). The only issue that we had was that we were filming in the Everglades park and from time to time airboats would start up and create a lot of noise. We had to end up waiting for them to pass so we wouldn't pick up that audio in our NAT sounds.

Here are some behind the scenes pics:

Last Minute Prep

 So tomorrow we are going to shoot the ENITRE short film, in one day. Taylor and I feel pretty comfortable that we will be able to get the entire thing done in this day since we have planned this very well, and for a long time. We took the day today to make sure we could plan our filming day as best as possible and so we would not miss anything from the storyboard

On our last planning day we went ahead and created a final prop list and created a shooting schedule in order to best prepare for the shoot. These two documents are actually quite important because it will help us on the day of the shoot. In all honesty, we probably should've gotten these two things done a bit earlier, but we got them done in time. An important reason for having the schedule done is so we can budget our time accordingly and have enough time to film at each location. Since Alex, the main character, is seen throughout different times of day, we made sure to come back to certain locations in order to film since lighting changes throughout the day. If you can tell, I also added a "Script" column in the schedule because we ended up needing to film the scenes out of order. If you refer to my script posting, you can see that we added numbers to each section. This was done so we could refer to the script easily, while on location.

Shooting Schedule

Final Prop List

On this last day I also made sure to get the costume ready for Alex. I bought a new shirt and throughout different steps, tried to add age, use, and wear and tear to the shirt. At first I put the brand new white t-shirt in unsweetened tea and coffee in order to stain the shirt. Afterwards I was not too sure on how to make the holes so I put researched information on this. I found this wikiHow article on how to make a t-shirt look worn and liked the cheese grater idea. So I ended up using a cheese grater to make holes in it and applying some make up to the shirt in order to add a dirty look to it. Here is the process of me making the shirt for Alex:

... ANNNDDD The Storyboard is Done!

So it took me about a week to complete the storyboard but it is finally done!  At first I wasn't very sure how it was going to turn out since we had a lot of issues with the plot, discussed in my last posting, but after everything was resolved I was able to go ahead and base the storyboard off of the script.

Now please, don't bash my drawing ability, I was able to get the job done. One issue that I addressed in the storyboard that wasn't addressed in the script was implying how Alex was being watch, since we decided to not show the government control room until the very end. As you can see in page 4 and 6, the shot of the drone itself and the government agent are how we are going to imply he is being watched. The only thing I have left to do is to number the storyboard according to the script so it matches, this will make it easier for us to follow along both during the shoot.

There is still a few more things we have to take care of in order to be ready for Saturday. Tomorrow I am going to be working on the shirt and make it dirty. In short, I bought a new shirt and have to make it look old, used, and post apocalyptic. Taylor and I are also going to take advantage of tomorrow by finalizing our shooting schedule and all of the locations. Since we live on the west side of the South Florida metropolitan area we are going to take advantage of the uncivilized nature of the Everglades in order to film the post apocalyptic scenes.

Here is the final storyboard:

Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

Page 5

Page 6

Page 7 

Page 8

Page 9

Page 10

Page 11

Page 12

Page 13

Page 14

We finished the script!

Taylor and I have been using this week very efficiently and have been working diligently to do any last minute preparations. Our shoot is only a few days away! During our last class we worked together to patch any plot holes, of which there were many. We had to come up with feasible solutions and work around certain issues. For example, we had an issue with implying that Alex was being watched (by the government) throughout the film. Since we didn't want to show the government control room until the end of the film, we decided that we would insert a government agent that appears periodically in the corner of the frame. Throughout the last few days we solved issues like these in order to progress further with the script and complete the storyboard.

Here's the completed script:

1

Alex has a serious face, walking around, continually watching for anything that could be following him.

2

Alex’s eyes continue to travel to his walkie talkie, making sure it doesn’t say anything as it flickers on/off.

3

As Alex continues to walk, he sits down at a table, going through his backpack to know his provisions.  

4

Alex

1, 2, 3.  1, 2, 3, 4.  I’ll need to stop at the next town over for more food.

5

Alex writes down this information, keeping track of what he had just counted.

6

Alex also takes out his constellation map, tracking the date, and how far he has travelled since the last time he had checked, also writing that down in his journal.

7

Alex

Only a few more miles and hopefully only a few more miles until another person.  Haha.

8

Alex laughs to himself, a small smile on his face, trying to make light of the situation.

9

*Flashback*

10

Alex is on the road, driving his car with the windows downs as he drives during sunset.

11

Alex

*singing a song that will be need to pick* (maybe a country station or something)

12

*Flashback*

13

Alex wakes up, packing up his stuff to continue to walk to his destination,

14

As Alex walks, he looks around while humming, trying to get his mind off of the heat.

15

Alex takes his backpack off his shoulder, looking for his water bottle, drinking the last of the water that is in there.

16

Alex

Well, that’s depressing.

17

Alex veers off his path, heading for a stream to fill up his water bottle.

18

Alex stays there for a little, admiring the scenery before he gets back on his path, making sure to get a certain distance before setting up camp for the night.

19

Alex falls asleep, dreaming about his past.

20

*Flashback*

21

Alex is smiling, playing fetch with his dog.

22

Alex wakes up, still smiling from his dream.  Alex packs up his stuff to keep moving to his unknown destination.

23

Alex is walking and it is already midday, when he hears his radio turn on by itself.

24

Radio

Don’t spe...ak to...m...e like that...I..d...on’t….und...er….stan...d you.

25

Alex freezes, shocked to hear voices and grabs his radio, hoping to get a response

26

Alex

HELLO?!? IS ANYONE THERE?!

AGAIN:

HELLO?!? IS ANYONE THERE?!

27

The radio switches off right after Alex gets off, leaving him in silence.

28

This continues to happen throughout the day, different pieces of a fight being broadcasted from the radio.  Each time Alex hears no signal radio sound, his shoulders slump a little more and he walks slower and slower.

29

Alex

I was that close, that close to having another person to talk to.  After months of being alone, I go and ruin my chances. *exhale of breath*

27

Radio

W...e...al...ways get…..in...to...these….fights….a...nd...I….m….sick…..a...nd….ti...red...of….it

28

Alex begins to run, seeing a car on his way.  Knowing he’d get there faster. In the car there is a gps with an address with the destination already set.  Alex drives, listening to every direction that the gps gives him.

29

Radio

Do….n’t...ev...en…..come…..nea...r…..m…..e….right….n...ow

30

Alex is driving faster and faster until he gets to his destination.  The gps brought him to a house and in the living room window he sees the couple that he has been hearing.  They are fighting, and their voices are muffled but Alex can tell they are yelling. Alex sees the couple and he runs out of the car, leaving the driver door open.

31

Alex runs out, waving his arms towards the couple and yelling, hoping that they hear him.  His heart is beating fast as he continues to run to the front door, slamming it open and running towards where the couple is.

32

When Alex gets to the room where the couple was, he sees that no one is there.  He runs throughout the house, hoping to see them.

33

He leaves the house to go back to the car, falling to his knees and covering his face with his hands, crying because he was so close to having human contact.

34

As the camera pans out, it fades into a tv showing the same shot, with two people sitting in front of the screen.  As they see Alex dropping to his knees, they look up, staring at what he is doing. The guy on the right looks at the screen and then looks down, reaching for the phone.  He picks up the phone.

35

Guy

He’s passed the test.

36

The phone is put down to end the call.

Now of course, we are going to look over it one last time, with the actors of course, and revise anything if necessary. We decided to number each line, or important sections, of the script so we could match it with the storyboard. So the thinking behind this is that we are going to number each frame on the storyboard that corresponds with the script so it becomes easier for us to follow the script and storyboard simultaneously.

Since the script is now pretty much finished, I have tried to work ahead and finish the storyboard. As of now it is looking pretty good in length, currently at eleven pages. When I finish the storyboard, I will scan it on my printer at home and upload it here. Once I upload it on my next blog post, you will notice that there are stage directions on some of the frames, indicating what the actor should do. Personally, I think that the storyboard is more important that the script, for post production purposes, because it is what I am going to rely on for editing.