Movie Opening Blog Post #16

Obstacle/Issues

I wanted to start the first parts of recording my movie opening and I already ran into my first problem which will probably be my biggest problem for the rest of this project and that's why I'm making a blog post about obstacles and issues that I encountered. 

So, my main problem so far is that I'm only able to film when the sun goes down. The reason is that since I'm making a horror movie I already planned out how my lighting is going to be and my specific lighting is only able to work when it's dark and I require no light to get my specific lighting. My lightbulbs in the bathroom change colors which is why I'm able to get any lighting I want but the lights only make a difference in the dark.

This is how my scene looks in the light-

As you can see, there isn't much of a horror vibe when the sun is up. This is really just a huge problem because that means that with the already limited time that I have to make this project, my limited time just got cut in half because of the fact that I can only film at night.

I think that I can make all this work out since the sun goes down at 7pm that means that I can film for around 3-4 hours each day but there might be days where I'm tired at that time and I can't have my peak acting if I'm tired. Ultimately what I'm going to have to do is I'm going to have to make myself a whole new schedule for my filming process so that it can work with my schedule as well.

Movie Opening Blog Post #15

How to create specific effect

In this blog post I will be talking all about how to create the most important effect in my movie opening since this effect is going to be what really even creates my movie opening.

The Double me effect. I'm going to be talking about how im going to make a doppleganger version of myself using a tripod, a phone, a mirror, and premier pro. 

At first, what im going to do is im going to setup my tripod and place my phone there, im going to make sure that the camera doesn't move at all because if it does move, even in the slightest, it will ruin the whole thing and I won't be able to make the effect of a "double me." After I setup my tripod and my camera I'm going to film 2 different clips, one of the real me doing normal things, and one of the doppleganger version of me in the mirror doing weird, creepy things. I'm going to film myself doing something normal 3 times and I'm going to record myself 3 times doing something simply just weird in the mirror, which is my "double self." 

After all this, I will import my favorite out of the 3 NORMAL shots of myself that I took into premier pro,  Im going to select this free draw tool that is going to help me outline the part of the video that I want to remove and keep. Once I use this free draw tool that is going to KEEP my normal, non-mirror, version of myself in the video. After this im going to have an empty space right where the mirror is supposed to be, AND where im going to put my mirrored, double version. Before I can add the other mirrored doppleganger version im going to feather the clip of my normal self so that when I add the mirrored version there won't be any visible shadow lines or crop markings that show that the movie opening is fake and filled with obvious edits. After, I'm going to drag the mirror part right over the clip that has the empty space so the the mirrored, creepy part can marge with the normal part and it will have the effect that both "me's" are doing different things.

Here's a Youtube Video Link To make It Easier To Explain-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wo6kj3XX0og

This is the exact section that contains the pen tool that is being used-

Movie Opening Blog Post #14

Planning Post Focusing On Mise-en-scene Element -

In this blog post I will be talking about the setting, the lighting, Lukes "Costume," and only around 2 main props that will be added within the movie opening. There are not many props that I could add other than the Jewish items that I mentioned In my last blog post because the movie opening takes place in a bathroom and the main prop that is used is the mirror since the mirror is going to be what introduces Lukes Doppleganger.






This is going to be the exact mirror that I'm going to use to introduce Lukes doppelgänger and its the mirror that Lukes doppelgänger is going to be in the whole time until there is not even a reflection of Luke in the mirror and Lukes Doppleganger "escapes" and ends up behind Luke.




Lukes going to be wearing these glasses from the beginning of the movie opening and the reason that I want Luke to have these glasses on is because I don"t want the doppelgänger to have the glasses on so that people can see that the Doppleganger isn't necessarily an exact version of Luke but just an extremely similar replica.





These two pictures are the setting of my movie opening. It's a pretty spacious bathroom so there IS space for me to move around but I'm not going to be moving around that much because if I move to much then it is going to be hard to add my doppelgänger in the movie opening since I need a still camera that's setup on a tripod to add another me or I guess another Luke.




This is going to be "Costume" that Luke is going to wear the whole movie opening. I chose a casual fit for Luke to wear because he just got out of the shower and it's going to be night time which means Lukes going to be going to bed soon.

Movie Opening Blog Post #13

Planning Post Focusing On Mise-en-scene Element -

There isn't really a lot of important items that I could've incorporated before my last blog post but because of my last blog post I have some extra things to add within my move openings. All these Items are items that I've found on amazon and that I've already purchased but I can't take pictures of them in my had because they haven't arrived yet.

All these items that I wish to incorporate within my movie opening are related to my previous blog posting because of the reason that Luke means Light-Giving, and in Judaism it means, "Light To Shield Against Darkness," which in the movie opening would mean that Luke is the light and the doppelgänger is the darkness. Since those are the Judaism meanings, I wish to have some Jewish items within my movie opening to express that Luke is Jewish and I especially want to have the Star of David necklace around Lukes neck to maybe hint at the fact to the viewers that the reason nothing is ever happening to Luke is because of the special meaning that his name has and the fact that he's Jewish.



The main reason for the incorporation of this Star of David necklace is because I want it to seem as if Luke has a type of protector within himself and this Star of David necklace really helps maybe hint that there is something up with him and that's why he can only be haunted and not attacked by this doppelgänger that IS haunting him.

This is called a Menorah and I don't have any specific reason of adding this to my movie opening other than I wanted to have more Jewish items to really push the fact that Luke is Jewish and have the viewers think and put the pieces together that there is more to the movie than just a doppleganger.


This is called a Mezuzah and there is a good reason for why I have added this item. This item has a purpose, "Biblical commandment: A commandment from Deuteronomy 6:9 to "write them upon the doorposts of thy house and upon thy gates" and also, I got this info from google but, "mezuzah began to be interpreted as an apotropaic device, protecting the house from forces of evil,"
A Mezuzah is to be put on the right door frame and the purpose of it is that it will be on the bathroom door that I'm in, and the Mezuzah will be the reason for which Lukes "Mom" can't come in the bathroom. The only reason that Lukes Doppleganger can be with him at all times is because Lukes doppelgänger is a part of Luke.

Movie Opening Blog Post #12

                                     Planning Focusing On The Character Development-

         NAMING-

 

The Process of giving my character    the name Luke. For the first week or two I didn't even think about what my main characters name would be, I don't know why, It just never really crossed my mind because to me I didn't find it as important to give my MC a name as it was to figure out how my movie opening would. Ultimately finding my characters name wasn't hard at all because Luke is a fake name that I use for everything when I dont want to put my actual name, no idea why, I picked Luke as a fake name one day and I've just went with it for everything else that required a fake name ever since. I actually just decided that I want to give Luke a last name because I feel like It just adds more of a personality to Luke and makes him seem like a real life person, not just someone in a movie. I also have a specific fake last name that I use, which is Lakes, so Lukes full name is going to be Luke Lakes. I'm going to have another character In the movie opening, which is Luke's mom, but Lukes mom won't be visible once in the movie opening, you will only be able to hear her voice from behind a door which is why Lukes mom won't have any name other than "Mom."

         The Making Of Luke-

I recently found out that Luke means Light-Giving, and in Judaism it means, "Light To Shield Against Darkness," which in the movie opening would mean that Luke is the light and the doppelgänger is the darkness. In a way Luke is a shield against his doppelgänger that's after him which means the doppelgänger can't hurt him, but it can haunt him. Luke has no idea about that. All this is why the doppelgänger never takes action against Luke during the movie opening, for example, attacking Luke in any way. What I will do to really represent this statement is I'm going to put a necklace around my neck the represents Judaism so that some viewers could possibly put the details together and there could be a little more to my movie opening than just Luke and his doppelgänger. Luke has a pretty nonchalant personality at first since he "hasn't been feeling like himself lately," and how "something feels off" which I mentioned in my script, however, really soon after Lukes personality shifts completely. Luke goes from being nonchalant to being terrified, especially after the second time his mom knocked on the bathroom door saying the EXACT same thing as she did the first time she knocked AND her saying nothing after Luke asked why she said the exact same thing.

Movie Opening Blog Post #11

Planning Post Focusing On Audio- (In a previous post I mentioned that I will only be using some specific website but it seems like I didn't research that website enough and turns out that the website doesn't have the sounds that I want, so I've decided that I won't use one specific website, I will use a variety to make sure I can get the best of the best sound effects)

Websites that Im using-

https://uppbeat.io/

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Credits Scene Music-

https://uppbeat.io/sfx/mystery-horror-music-loop/13061/31851

Some Sound Effects That Im Using-

Im going to be taking out parts of this sound to implement into my movie opening because there are some parts which I think would be good to put into my opening and some parts which I just don't really like. Reason that I like this sound and i'm going to be taking some parts out of it is because some parts really build suspense and get the viewers scared even when nothing is happening just because of the music effect-

https://uppbeat.io/browse/collection/suspenseful-horror

Im gong to be using this sound for the very ending of my movie opening because the very end of my movie opening is going to be where my doppelgänger "escapes" the mirror and ends up behind me and this suspenseful sound effect is played when there is a close up shot of Lukes face after its shown that no reflection is in the mirror and the last 3 LOUD beats at the end of the sound effect is when the camera angle gets switched and the doppleganger is shown behind Luke.

https://uppbeat.io/sfx/cinematic-tension-riser-stutter/8735/25142

This ScreenShot that I've just uploaded Is a playlist of suspenseful sound effects that the website uppbeat offers and I will be using a lot of the sound effects that uppbeat offers because they are fully copyright free and their sound effects sound like those of actual horror movies.

Sounds like the "heartbeat and transition riser" and "horror string suspense" are perfect for what im doing because they both scare the viewers and bring suspense, making my movie opening scarier, which is exactly what I want.

These are the links of the sounds in the screenshot that I mentioned ("Heartbeat and Transition Riser," and "Horror String Suspense")-

https://uppbeat.io/sfx/heartbeat-riser-transition-intense/12676/28955

https://uppbeat.io/sfx/horror-string-suspense/8101/23958

Movie Opening Blog Post #10

Editing softwares-

In this blog post I'm going to talk about the editing softwares that I'm going to use during the development of my movie opening. Using the right editing softwares is really important since different editing softwares have different functions or have less features than others which can make the editing process way more difficult. Me personally, I prefer to use all adobe products rather than anything else just because I've been working with/using adobes products for the last 3-4 years and I find using adobe as easy as speaking. The Adobe Products that im using for my movie opening is going to be Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe Fonts, Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe After Effects. Th reason that im using after effects and photoshop is so that I can incorporate the sfx and vfx effects that "Lukes Doppleganger" is going to have, for example, disfigured face, pitch black eyes, and possibly having the doppelgänger floating which im still deciding on because I need to attempt to do an example one to see if I can even do since in the movie opening im going to have to have a doppelgänger so I have to replicate myself, the doppelgänger is with pitch black eyes, and also floating which isn't going to be easy at all. The final reason that im using all Adobe Products is because since im in the Aice Media Studies class I get free membership to every single Adobe Product.

These are the Adobe Products in the Creative Cloud App which contains all the Adobe Products.



These are the exact Adobe Products that I'm using

Movie Opening Blog Post #9

MOVIE OPENING SCRIPT-

I've decided that I wanted to make a script rather than a story board just because I find it way easier to follow a script with the basic directions of what I'm going to have to do rather than having to follow some pictures with descriptions. Even though, without either a storyboard or a script I would be somewhat clueless since I wouldn't have any directions to follow even though I would know what to do in my head it would just be way to difficult to film based of memory. My script just has all the basics that any normal script would have, it has the dialogue, what the characters do, where they are, and how some shots should look, without a script the whole thing would be way to confusing and everything would automatically be way harder.

This is my script that I wrote using the website https://www.writerduet.com/

Movie Opening Blog Post #8

Research Post About One Media Theory






Levi-Strauss's Opposites Theory
My movie opening doppelganger is a horror action movie and I had the idea for it when I was watching short horror films on youtube. The scariest thing about my movie opening is that I have another me which is a person who is just like me but not me. for me to make my movie opening more interesting I will use Levi Strauss Opposites Theory.

How Opposites Make Horror Better

Levi Strauss idea is that stories are built out of opposites that make tension, in my movie opening doppelganger the biggest opposite is me and my other me, I have a version of myself that is not right and that is what is creepy

Some of the big opposites in my movie opening are

Real vs fake, when I look in the mirror and my reflection does not do the same thing as me it makes people wonder what is real.

Light vs dark, the normal light scenes will be more calm but the scary dark ones will make the environment itself scary.

control vs no control, my character doesnt have the power to stop whatever is going on and that just makes it scarier.


Using Levi Strauss opposites theory my movie opening doppelganger will be more scary and more exciting, the difference between normal and scary scenes will make the move opening more exciting and have the viewers scared.




This is where I was able to get my info about the opposites theory from

Movie Opening Blog Post #7

Project idea summary

This blog post will be a summary of my project and everything that will go towards my project.

My projects genre will be horror and action, I got these ideas by scrolling on YouTube one night and randomly clicking on one of those short horror films and then the ideas just started coming in. My movie opening will be called "doppelgänger," and the reason that it will be called doppelgänger is because I want to make a doppelgänger of myself in the movie opening and that will simply be the whole horror idea of the movie opening. Within my movie opening I will have a good 20-25 seconds of credits at the start with some copyright free horror music in the background to make it scary from the start and the reason that I picked copyright free music is pretty obvious, less trouble, during my credits scene all that I will have is my name repeated over and over again for each any every credit because this is a full solo project, except maybe my moms voice for one singular line but her names not going to be in the credits scene. I want my movie opening after the credits scene to start simple but scary, within the first 30 seconds my doppelgänger is guaranteed to appear and I've decided that my doppelgängers first appearance will be in a mirror. I look in the mirror and myself is quite literally just not looking back at me which would obviously be my doppelgänger. Within my movie opening mainly everything will be editing because that's just the only way that I would be able to create 2 of me and I will also be using vfx and sfx effects on my doppelgänger to make my doppelgänger look more frightening later on in the movie opening, I will only be using adobe programs since I have memberships with adobe and I've been using adobes editing software for the last 4 years for many different things including personal hobbies.

https://pixabay.com/music/search/horror/

This is the exact website that I will be getting my credit scene music from and the background music for when the actual action is happening.

Movie Opening Blog Post #6

Horror Film Openings Research

1. The Ring 2002 - The movie opens when two girls are talking in a dark house one of them tells the other a scary story about a videotape that is apparently cursed and according to her if you watch it then you get a phone call and in seven days you die. They make a joke about this at the star but then sketchy things start to happen like the tv flickers on by itself one of the girls starts acting really scared like she knows something isnt right then without and typa warning she screams. That scene scary because it's just so real, its just two girls chilling telling ghost stories so like its normal but then it builds to something worse,  the slow buildup makes you feel uneasy like something bad is going to happen but you dont know when, then, when one of the girls screams you don't even see what happens it just cuts off. That makes it even scarier because your brain basically just fills in the blanks of what happened

2. A Nightmare on Elm Street1984 -The movie opens with a creepy montage of freddy kruger making his razor glove, its dark and the metal scrapes together and you can hear his heavy breathing, then it cuts to a girl running through a creepy steamy boiler room she looks terrified but nothing chases her yet but then freddy pops out of the shadows and he got this creepy grin and he has these long sharp claws and then he swipes at her but she wakes up cause it was only a dream... she looks down and there are actual slashes on her nightgown this is a way more scary opening since it mixes realities, the girl at first thought she was safe waking up, but sh really wasnt. The thing that really makes freddy creepy is that he gets you in your dreams where you cant even escape and everything just feels weird with the music and lighting. From the strart the movie shows you that nowhere is safe.

It Follows 2014 - 
The movie opens with a quiet suburban neighborhood at night, a teen runs out of her house crazy scared in her pajamas and heels, she keeps looking back over her shoulder likesomething is chasing her but there is nothing there, her dad calls after her obviously confused she says everythings okay but its obviously not. She runs to the beach sat on the sand, the camera stays in one place watching her while she's crying, leaving in a scared voicemail toher dad that she loves him. The next morning her body is found just twisted and broken. It works because this is just one of those scenes where your just wanting to see what's happening and its not like there is any explanation its just who or what is chasing her and why can't we see it, the movie lets you think before showing you anything

Movie Opening #5

 Editing Process-

My movie opening is going to contain a ton of editing since I'm going to be using vfx and sfx effects within my movie so that I can make it more horror like. Im going to be doing multiple things that horror movies contain, for example, looking away from the mirror and then looking back at the mirror but my own reflection isn't looking back at me or my reflection isn't even there, removing myself from the mirror and putting my Dopplerganger self behind me, so ultimately making two of me, ill be disfiguring my dopplegangers face into a monster like face so that the movie opening could seem way more genuine and horrifying. Not only am I going to have to film each scene at least 2-3 times each so that I could select which one would be best but I'm basically going to have to film double that because in order to have 2 of myself or my other me doing something else in the mirror or removing my reflection from the mirror I'm going to have to record more clips of other me doing something different so that I can merge the clip of me and other me together to have the effect of "2 me's." I haven't starting with editing my movie opening but I did started testing with Premier Pro to see if I'm even able to accomplish what I want to do and it turns out that I can do it, YouTube tuts and working with Premire Pro for the last 4 years has helped me to be able to do this. There are a ton of YouTube tutorials that will allow me to do all of these things that I have mentioned in order to create my horror movie opening.

I will be listing multiple YouTube tutorials that gave me ideas for what I want to do, not all the YouTube tutorials will be what I want to incorporate into my movie opening but I still want to list them just because they gave me idea for some of the things that I want to do.

Jaw Drop / Wide Jaw Tutorial

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_LsAbXxyE0&list=LL&index=3&t=12s

How to make white demon eyes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nuc9ziUt6lI&list=LL&index=4

Reflection does something different in the mirror

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAn9cpgffeU&list=LL&index=7

Haunted Mirror Effect

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wo6kj3XX0og&list=LL&index=8

How to clone yourself in a mirror

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zw6WgM6yQBE&t=1s

Movie Opening #4

 1. Scream (1996) - The opening of Scream is really scary but at the same time very uncomplicated. It starts off with only the sound of the ringing of the phone which is not scary at all then this creepy music kicks in and one knows that something horrible is going to happen. Next thing the name of the film flashes in big white letters and then the screen just flashes red. It looks to make it so much more intense, everything looks and sounds so nervous even before the first scene begins it is a great way to let the audience know that they are going to watch a scary movie.

 2. Halloween (1978) - Halloween has one of the most famous horror movie openings ever

It just focuses on one glowing jack lantern for the entire time with the camera continuously zooming in closer and closer, the pumpkin is super creepy since the light inside it makes its face distorted in every direction cause of the flickers but the thing that actually makes it scary is the music, it makes you feel pretty nervous. Nothing bad happens during the credits but everything just seems and sounds so creepy that you just can't help but feel like something bad is going to happen. but it is pretty smart to get the audience scared before the movie has even started.

3. The Conjuring, 2013: This opening is more different than a lot of the other horror film because of the realism that they tried in the conjuring, they started with showing some black and white pictures of very old haunted things.

In the background some creepy music is playing and the words explain that this movie is about real paranormal investigators who study ghosts which is even scarier because it seems that it could have really happened. The words on the screen look kind of old and serious like an old newspaper or something from a history book which all makes it seem even more real, its the way that everything is put together that makes you feel like you're about to watch something terrifying. 

Movie Opening #3

Movie Opening Schedule:

Project Plan

I want to stay on track and avoid rushing at the last minute, so I am spreading out the work over several weeks.

Step 1 Pick an idea and research (Feb 5 - Feb 9)

Think about different ideas and choose the best one.

Watch a few movie openings for inspiration.

Write a simple outline of what will happen.

Step 2 Write the script and the plan (Feb 10 - Feb 14)

Write a basic script (it doesn’t need to be perfect)

Make a list of everything i’ll need 

Sketch a rough plan for how scenes will look.

Step 3 Get ready to film (Feb 15 - Feb 19)

Prepare the recording setup

Have all the recording materials ready

Make a filming schedule so I stay organized.

Step 4 Film the project (Feb 20 - Mar 1)

 Film all scenes at least 3 times each over multiple days.

Check footage after each session to make sure it looks good.

 Re-film anything if needed.

Step 5 Edit the video (Mar 2 - Mar 10)

 Put all the clips together into a rough version.

 Add sound, effects, and any text.

Watch it through and make my changes.

Step 6 Final changes (Mar 11 - Mar 17)

Watch the full project and check for any problems.

Make last edits to improve visuals, or sound.

Get feedback from someone else.

Step 7 Finish and submit (Mar 18 - Mar 23)

Write any required reflections or explanations.

Do a final check for mistakes.

Submit everything on time.

Final-

This plan spreads out the work so I dont fall behind

Aice Movie Opening Blog 2

 MOVIE OPENING BLOG 2

A lot of thinking has went into how I want to continue with my movie opening, I have not started with any of the recording with my movie opening because I haven't even fully finished with my layout at the moment. I have finalized the decisions of using vfx and sfx within my movie opening, there will definitely be a lot of editing that will go into the movie opening and I will be using premier pro, adobe after effects, and photoshop. The main reason why I want to call my movie opening "Doppelgänger" is because within the movie opening there will be "another me," and that other me will be the demon during the movie opening. I plan to use a lot of shots that will make the movie be filled with suspense and fear, for example, a shot where the camera would be in a closet looking at me doing my things which would make the viewers automatically think that its a monster or demon that's watching me. The main setting of the movie would be a bathroom in my house, the bathroom is pretty big which would allow for space to setup a tripod and it would also allow for me to be able to move around freely without getting cornered by a wall or anything like that. At the moment I'm really trying to figure out how I should end my movie opening because I want it to end in a scary way but I don't want the end of the movie opening to feel as if its the end end, I want it to feel as if there's a whole story left after the movie opening that's missing. As of right now this is all that I've figured out with my movie opening and I'm planing on starting the actual recording sometime this week.

My movie genre is obviously going to be horror and out of all the horror movies that I've seen, the one that resembles my movie opening the most is a movie called "US" and its a horror movie solely based on Dopplegangers, I can't say that my movie is going to be just like "US" because its not, its going to be a little similar just because of the Doppler ganger part but In my case, its not going to be the same kind of doppelgängers, my doppelgänger is going to be a little more "monster like."

The movie "US" starts with a little girl who goes into this eerie, mirror house and eventually find herself face to face with her doppelgänger and that's somewhat similar to how I want my movie opening to begin but instead of being in a haunted mirror house, I'm going to be in a bathroom that has 2 mirrors and that would allow me create the doppelgänger version of myself within the mirror at first until my doppelgänger "escapes" the mirror. The movie "US" has a lot of action within it and I don't plan to have that much action in my movie opening since it will take place solely in a bathroom so it's going to simply be straight horror and jump scares.

I can't really seem to be able to find any other movies that would be able to relate to my movie opening so "US" is going to be the only movie that I will list here.

Aice Movie Opening Blog 1

MOVIE OPENING BLOG 1 (I wrote this blog on a paper a couple days ago I just forgot to post it until now)

I Plan to make a Jaw dropping, movie opening. It starts with a really Short Credits scene to make sure not to much time with the opening is lost

- If I dont want to lose to much time with the credits scene then why don’t I incorparate the credits during the opening or at the end?

Because ive made a Scratch version of the Movie in my head & I feel that having the Credits Scene at the beggining allows for a Smooth transition from the credits to the beggining of the opening. I plan to make even the credits Scene thrilling by incorparating music that will have the viewer scared before the movie opening even started.

As the credit scene ends, It will fade into the title of the movie opening, Which would then fade into the actual movie opening.

• The movie opening will be called "Doppleganger" 

I plan to use a lot of editing and vfx effects

by using After Effects, Premire Pro, and Photoshop

To get My fonts I will be using Adobe Fonts