Khaleb B Media Blog

CCR Pt. 1 CCR Pt. 2

 Movie Opener

 Now that the project is finished I don't feel disappointed or ecstatic, but somewhat in the middle as while I feel I tried hard, I felt I could do a bit better under different circumstances. While filming I found positioning the camera, then placing myself in the correct location of the frame to be quite tedious. This combined with the fact I had no cameraman to help work with me made this a difficult task to perform & get correct. This combined with the fact that I lacked access to the locations I liked to film in made getting the film I needed to edit more difficult than one would imagine. While the story remained the same, most scenes were recorded at slightly different times of day which affected the lighting a bit in ways I wish I could've controlled. Those were the main issues I faced while trying to gather the film needed for the 2 minute movie opener. Though this task was difficult it helped me learn more about filming such as the positioning of a camera. Strugglin...

 Editing the film has changed much from the original editing post, most notably in the film recorded itself. All the film has been added, cuts have been made to the film, video grahics & text have been added, for the most part editing the film is complete, it just requires some polishing on the timing to the music but other than that the film can be considered done. I would've liked to add more videographics but they felt a little to much when it came down to it so I cut most of them out and even then they still feel a bit much but they also feel like enough to serve their purpose. For the most part editing the film was more tedious then it was difficult since most of it was just matching the film recorded to the audio clip of the music, cutting out a lot of excess film to capture just the important moments was a little exhausting but not to terribly bad. Adding Video Graphics Adding Text w/ Fade Effect Splitting & Compiling Split Layers of Film

 Most that were made towards the storyboard were mainly on the fly. For the most part I made changes toward the film that I came up with during filming that I thought were better or felt better placed than the original ideas I came up with. An example would be how I changed my the close up of Isaiah writing to be him sitting on grass instead of a chair & placing this moment later on in the film. Simple changes to the original ideas I came up with but they affected how I filmed myself in a more than minor way. Another example would be the removal of two scenes to replace them with others as I found new locations while recording & decided they would be more intriguing than the ones I had came up with on the fly. Other changes to the film mostly came from editing as I initially thought from the audio of the music alone that the movie would be to long so I cut back on some scenes in the initial storyboard, but after editing a bit I realized that it would be shorter than I thoug...

 For the lighting, I've decided to go natural & use a bright sunny day as most of my lighting. This use of the sun for natural light not only makes the film feel more natural, the type of bright lighting can also signify the peace & serenity. This is they type of mood I want to capture so using the sun's natural light only makes sense to use it for most of the film when portraying the light side of Isaiah. This lighting was edited a little though to help bring out more vibrance within the film. Use of Natural Light This type of lighting isn't present throughout the entire film as both through weather conditions, & editing, the ladder half of the film features a darker more ominous lighting. This portion of the movie opener portraying the darker side of Isaiah being barely lit helps the viewer catch on with ideas being portrayed without speaking no words. Though I have no current footage from this section, i've heavily prepared for it and I hope these efforts...

 For the most part everything has been fine working alone. I've done most of the work that i've scheduled for my self on time & recording has been very simple for the most part. Even editing hasn't been much of a struggle since I do give myself a lot of time to edit before I record again. I think with my current operating schedule, i'll have what I need for the movie opener done on time. While I initially planned for someone to help with camera work, they lack access to the areas i'd like to record in, so for the most part it's me & a steady tripod doing the camera work. Everything else i've also worked on by myself which at times, can feel tedious but for the most part I don't mind it. If there's anything i've felt really challenged by is the lack of a cameraman to help with the movement as it's ultimately resulted in most of the scenes being static shots whereas I planned for some of them to feature movement. Nonetheless i've pu...

Being a film portraying a deaf character, sound is one of the key elements in my film. Capturing Isaiah with the audio of the film while also keeping the viewers attention on the world around him, is probably one of the most difficult tasks i've assigned myself when it comes to this opener. To somewhat minimize this problem most diegetic sound is from the perspective of Isaiah through a muffled version of the regular sounds heard in the film. For reference of what i'm trying to achieve, i've decided to take a recording of a section in the Spider-Man 2 video game where the player takes the role of a deaf girl named Hailey. This section of the game was a major influence in the entire film so its only sensible to try and use it as a reference for how the audio should sound. https://youtu.be/2TNahAgeXNY?si=ztLn-4AsdZAFw5Kf ^Link to gameplay of the deaf section of the game^ For a somewhat non-diegetic somewhat diegetic sound i've chosen a song from the Super Mario Galaxy sou...

 For editing I have decided to use a combination of Alight Motion and CapCut due to having prior experience editing videos on these apps. Most effects, transitions, and the main overall video will be made on alight while the audio will be edited on CapCut since it's easier to alter & control the audio then it is on alight. Once finished the audio will be transferred from CapCut to Alight then be near perfectly lined up with the main video, creating synchronous sound. Now while this solves the issue of manipulating the sound to fit the film, it also creates the issue of matching the edited audio to the main video of the film as to be synchronous. However a simple solution to this is to simply import parts of the video into CapCut to match them with the video. Editing Film on Alight Motion As for effects & transitions, most of them are simple in nature not only to help keep the calm, simple nature of the film but to also help focus on other aspects of the film that need to be...

 Coloring is a fundamental part, playing in my movie opener. Not only do the actual colors play a role, the brightness of them and their vibrance also help with the scenery of the film. The film includes many colors like yellow, green, & brown signifying a sense of safety, calmness, or serenity to the areas the movie will take place in. Most of these vibrant colors are naturally found in nature but also some colors are made to pop out more than others from editing. In the later half of the film most of the colors switch from being bright & vibrant, to more dark & dim colors to portray the change in mood from happy & colorful, to more a more uneasy feeling. Color is also used to display Isaiah's character without words. The contrast of white & black in his clothing not only helps Isaiah stand out from the background, but also show the inner side of his personality. Color has many uses in my film & I hope to capture a good set of colors while simultaneously us...

Making the title sequence of the film was mostly a simple process. This was due to most of the sequence font, and style of the the title being planned before film. Creating the title only took a simple editing app (alight motion) and the idea I originally came up with to make the title sequence. However while creating the title I toyed around with the editing software and created some other makeshift ideas that I thought would still fit the theme of the movie if I were to replace my original idea with them. But I still decided to go with my preconceived idea of the title sequence for the movie. Title The title itself consists of one section "The Peace &" & the other section "Quiet" with the first being in a more simple font with light colors while the second being in a more harsh looking font with black coloring. This design choice for the title is simply a result of the film/movie opener's major plot point. Other ideas I had created showed something sim...

 While I initially thought there would be a couple challenges I would have to face when filming, the process actually went smoother than I thought it would. Most minor problems like camera placement, equipment malfunctions, roleplaying would serve as a thorn in my side, all those issues weren't really present at all & filming was easier than I had imagined. The only main challenge i'd point to would be the camera. Since I use a Iphone most the lighting and quality were fine but the positioning of the camera was the main issue. The tripod i'm currently using has a slight slant to it which is causing the Iphone to be slanted while recording which messes up the positioning of the camera. I tried for a couple minutes to fix it but it wouldn't budge so I'm hoping to fix this before the next recording session, but if not, i'll use the power of editing to rearrange the clips to be more upright, while still being in frame.

Starting the filming process was a nice experience. Most of things that I needed to set up before hand like props, film equipment, etc., were easy enough to get ready for filming, So far i've only been able to record the 5 parts of the first scene but I plan to work at a efficient rate as to not fall behind the tight schedule of recording every weekend. Since I only have access to most of the areas i'm filming in during the weekends, it's best to get in as much recording as needed so I can later edit the footage during the week. Above are 5 still shots from this filming session. These are what the scenes will look like in raw form before editing to include video graphics, lighting changes, & more. There are some other flaws in the editing of the videos that I hope to clear up with editing and hopefully no reshoots will have to take place.

 The representation in this film is somewhat in a fair balance between a realistic portrayal & stereotypical with Isaiah being a somewhat basic idea of what someone who is deaf might act. However I do hope that when playing the role of Isaiah, I am able to capture how outside of his deafness & bipolar personality, he lives a completely normal life making him more relatable as a character. As for his bipolar disorder i've yet to come up with any sort of representation in that matter. While I have seen in games & in movies how people with a bipolar disorder people are represented, I do still need to research more on this topic as I feel I lack the knowledge to best represent someone with a bipolar disorder in the role I am condemned to play. Isaiah isn't necessarily a character that challenges any forms of representation. He plays into the isolated or "different" person role and is more welcome to these generalizations but he plays into a more unique scenari...

 Keeping it short, there are no supporting characters in this movie opener. This has resulted mostly from the fact that I am working almost entirely on this film by myself (with maybe some help with camera work) but also simply because of the narrative. This movie opener is meant to capture Isaiah's character and how he interacts with the world, but it's also supposed to capture his isolation due to his unique circumstances so as a result, i've decided not to have any characters beside Isaiah to be featured in the film to better capture this idea. However there are still devices that can be used to develop Isaiah's character in the same way a side/supporting character would such as props. The main two props that serve to develop Isaiah and the movie opener's directive are a notebook and headphones. These props serve to display Isaiah's character in a way that is obvious to the viewer but still a bit discreet about his true intentions.

  Isaiah My main character is a 15 y/o guy named Isaiah, he is a deaf person who likes to write, wether it be about his day, his personal life or something else, he carries a notebook with him to write with. Though he is not able to hear any music he wears headphones not only to stoke his imagination of what it's like to hear but also because he likes the wear them to usually signify his deaf status. He's usually a nice person but he has a bipolar nature and usually flips into a more violent & malevolent behavior when alone or even in some cases around others. This further isolates him from others which doesn't bother him but when he's in this anger filled state he is bothered by the fact that he is deaf. This character i've created is mostly from my imagination, most features like his age and other physical features are just based on my own personal features since I will play the role of Isaiah. Other features like his deafness and bipolar nature are things i...

  Costume For the most part the costuming of the main character Isaiah will be very basic by nature. I've decided for the movie opener to wear a white shirt, black pants, & white shoes as well as headphones I will wear. These clothing choices are meant to contrast with each other to further portray the contrasting nature of Isaiah's inner dilemma shown through the bright white of the shoes and shirt contrasting the dark black of the headphones and pants. Though I previously envisioned different color clothings one notable color being beige, I settled with these clothing choices from the sheer accessibility I have to this array of clothing. As mentioned before I will also use props like a notebook & a pen, to write down something. These being the clothing of the main character I hope that these design choices I've made portray the character in the narrative I expect 

Challenges For the most part I have not faced any challenges in preparing my filming, the only major issue is the clothing of the main character Isaiah as I originally thought of him wearing a beige color of clothing but as I no longer own any beige clothing I’ll need to improvise before starting to film. Aside from finding a different costume than originally planned most if not all other necessities needed for filming have been aquired. Unchallenging Most of the setup I need for the film opener has been easy and required little to no effort, I have everyday access to the locations needed for filming, I have a tripod and someone to help with filming scenes and I have the props and music needed for the film prepared and ready. My iPhone should be able to capture all my scenes in a quality that will not diminish the story so that will serve as my main recording device and apps like CapCut and Alight Motion which I have done prior editing on will be what I use to implement music, foley so...

 Storyboard These three images are the story board I have created for my movie board. This story board includes not only the character's name that I have finally come up with (Isaiah) but also the actions he takes throughout the film. One thing I failed to capture in this storyboard however was the video graphics that portray Isaiah's emotions. I was unable to think of any at the time of creating this storyboard but I hope through the creation process I am able to feel what I envision the character feeling in during the filming process. Overall the drawings might be a bit confusing to others but I believe it can be understood on a base level especially with the notes given underneath on how each shot should be portrayed. I think this storyboard helped me better develop how I want the movie opener to go and has also provided me with visual representation if I ever forget parts of the film.

  Above is the mood board to my movie opener. If I were to describe what mood I tried capturing, it would be light and dark, night and day, etc. This idea is portrayed through the background color being split between a bright yellow symbolizing the light, and the black symbolizing the dark. This background color also serves the purpose of showing the type of lighting that will be displayed throughout the movie. The text also try to capture this idea with how they are colored and positioned within the frame of the background colors. Moreover to the actual images it's very simple what they are meant to portray, the bottom right ones being the setting, the top right describing the main character and their costume and the notebook and paper serving as props. This mood board is rather simple which plays further into the simpler lifestyle of the main character and overall I tried to capture every idea I have about the movie and some new ones even developed from making this.