Aice Media Studies (Group Meetings 2#)

 Group Meeting Number 2!!

On the Monday of this week, the 10th of March, 2025, our teacher had split the class into groups, separating us with our project groups in order to communicate with our the classmates.

Class Group Members: 

• Kailen
• Gaby
• Anabella
• Aneesh
• Adil

Help:

    While talking about our projects, I was able to get critics on my project, understanding the quality of my shots and my project so far. I was able to hear good comments on the quality of the fake blood me and my project group had made, as well as getting the confirmation to that other eyes, the blog was actually viewable, and comprehendible that the action is occurring. This made me happy now knowing that the shots I made with the intention of highlighting the darker atmospheres mixed in with the low-key lighting were actually visible. I reexplained my entire opening, story, and idea behind the movie. One of my prouder moments was showing my storyboard, helping them understand more the context of the story, as well as getting feedbacked. I was specifically able to ask questions about their editing software, getting responses like Imovie, Capcut, and also the same one I'm using, Adobe Premiere Pro. We were able to address issues within our projects in which we all faced and were either able to get past or are still struggling.

Issues

Gaby: One of her actors had flaked on her and didn't appear for her filming last second, she had to rewrite her script.

• She told us that this greatly set her back, struggling and needing to fill that hole, then resulting on needing to cut back an entire character

Anabella: She had to borrow an entire dog for her project. The dog wouldn't cooperate that well for her project so she still need to spend hours trying to keep he dog controlled and kept. 

• This causes problems since the dog isn't always listening, it causes their shots to constantly fail, needing them to spend longer on taking the shots, even leading to them 

Kailen: When she first started acting she only had one available actor, making it harder for her to film this projects and had accidentally not filmed it correctly, needing to refilm the project entirely.

Aneesh- He's already filmed but is struggling to correctly convey his story the way he wants, we were able to give him some tips during our meetings in order to let him know what times were best for filming the type of atmospheres he wants.  

• The bad thing is, after we helped him, he'd explained to us his story about a stalker based off a video game, but since one of the rules is we can't do stalker-related prompts, he has to try and change his plot WITH only 2 weeks remaining in the class.

Adil- It's been hard for him and his partner to find available times in order to continue filming their project, making it kind of hard to film on specific days.

Aice Media Studies (CCR 1# Preperation)

 Time to start CCR preparations.

Not too long ago, my teacher had gone over the different CCR questions and what we should and shouldn't do, I was able to take notes on descriptions of the instructions for each question, so I think I'm fine for the knowledge department. First, let us start off with the first question.

How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues

• Overall Idea:

For the first question, I really want to make a TV Broadcast type sequence in order to answer this question. My idea for this was to have two of my fellow group members out of the three act as TV reports or news anchors, whatever the preferred name was to pretend like they had just gotten out of giving analysis on the news for the day. Still recording live in their set they would transition to a popular story. "Surprisingly one of our reporters was able to get their hands on one of the leading directors in the film-making world!" To not make it harder for me to edit photos to the video showcasing my process of answering and my process of making the film and stuff, I'll make the news reports state that I wouldn't be able to answer the questions live so that I'd sent them that video beforehand. I didn't wanna make it seem weird in the context that randomly on live TV they'd have all the pictures ready to show on the news interview. Also on regular news channels, whenever popular actors or figures get added to the shows in order to be interviewed, they're normally just floating characters offering insights on their experiences, ideas, and advice. This is also an excuse to have the interview pre-filmed, I really DON'T want to make the majority of my CCR question just a floating head answering these questions. 

• How to answer the question:

                     - Genre Conventions: I want to answer the question by both implying why and why I followed some genre conventions. In both Horror and Psychological Thrillers they aim to keep their viewers on their toes, but have their own individual ways to express this idea. In horror, these films often rely on the explicit, graphic, and supernatural elements that are used to shock the audiences. I want to use this, including the gore between both deaths of the mother and father dying, making these explicit, unwanting but depictable images of horror, offering elements like zombies. I've been implementing visual techniques like darker lighting, fast-paced shots, and costume designs like blood and darkened silhouette beings to showcase these horrific events. In psychological thrillers, these files dive deeper into the character's mental state, using techniques like trauma, paranoia, confusion, uncertainty, and more subtle displays or elements of horror. I want to use this in my film opening to show how the traumatic experiences of watching his wife's death occur in front of him to pledge him into deeper thoughts, mentally damaging him, causing him to inevitably be caught by the zombie. As well as in the film, I want the witness of both his parent's death to affect Owen in the future by causing him trauma which with the added horror experienced by the barbaric actions of other people causes him to lose his sanity.

I have no idea if this counts as a genre convention, but there is one thing I want to highlight. In regular zombie films, the setting is regularly posted at the very beginning or a bit years into the zombie apocalypse. Still, in my film, I want to set the setting almost 2 decades into the future. The main reason I want to do this is that I want the social structure and civilizations of humankind to still be intact, but barely with some little-known surviving civilizations still alive. Due to these dwindling social structures, after the death of both Owens's mother and father in the film opening, as mentioned in the previous paragraph, I want Owen to experience how people are mainly affected by this apocalypse, causing them to go rabid, crazy, wanting only survival in a destroyed world. I want to resist common zombie norms of making the zombies the biggest threat known to people, but instead make the biggest threat to them, themselves.

                    - Representation: Many zombie movies represent social groups by showcasing their divisions, showing different civilizations by race, gender, and even class. They always depict how these different groups react to these apocalypses, showcasing conflicts and tensions. There are always examples of these different types of reactions like how those of richer and more higher class groups would respond differently to an apocalypse than someone of a different and more adaptable background. Zombie movies always represent different ideas on how things are run, social standards, morals, and ethical reasoning. For example, in The Walking Dead, there are some kinder civilizations with morals of helping and providing other groups with safety, while others only focus on survival, having their little groups to steal and kill other competitors. In my film, I mainly want to focus on the idea that people are always fighting each other, in groups, or individually, having their own ways of stability and survival in a zombie apocalypse. They'll give representation to those who strive for peace, freedom, and structure while representing those who only care for resources, themselves, and/or others. 

Hopefully this blog did well, to give an overall idea of what I imagine within the first question of the CCR post.

Aice Media Studies (Post-Production 2#)

 The next day, another Post-Production!

With the next post-production post, instead of talking about the editing techniques, I'll actually be talking about the editing tools I plan to use.

• Adobe Premiere Pro 2025: 

This is an editing software which has been recommended by my teacher. I've used this same software on many past projects, like my music video project, as well as my sound project, and one-word film. Adobe Premiere Pro is a video editing software application, accessible through the Adobe Creative Cloud set GUI of applications or can be downloaded individually. 

                - What can it do: Adobe Premiere Pro can be used for the editing of all common videos, allowing for the production of high-quality filming. This can be used in importing videos, audio, and graphics, as well as offering a way to create newer, edited versions of videos that can be exported to mediums and formats necessary for distribution. With the use of this software, various videos and images can be edited together, allowing for titles to be added to videos, as well as filters and other effects like transitions. 

Smith, C. (2024, May 24). What is premiere pro. Training and Classes at American Graphics Institute. https://www.agitraining.com/adobe/premiere-pro/classes/what-is-premiere-pro#:~:text=It%20is%20a%20comprehensive%20video,Mac%20OS%20or%20Windows%20computers. 

• Our process so far: 

So far we're at a decent pace, we're more than halfway through filming and I've been incorporating the scene into Adobe Premiere Pro, testing out transitions, and seeing the lengths and what needs to be edited and changed throughout the film. I'm editing right now and not when we have everything filmed so that I'm not overworked and piled with scenes in need of editing. 

Currently, as of this moment, I haven't added any sound yet. I'm still looking around various websites and apps to find the sound effects I want to use. One of my group members already volunteered to want to create the foley sounds, Nic. As mentioned in one of my earlier blog postings, I'm still very fond of the website  "Pixabay." Another soundboard that I'm actually very used to is "Soundboard Tuna" This is paired with a free downloadable voice mod app. I've used this in the past for gaming and the utilization of comedic sounds. Although it's free and I like using it, it's VERY limited. It has over 150,000 different sounds that are posted by users, but it still becomes a struggle when you're trying to look for that one specific sound. 

Aice Media Studies (Post-Production 1#)

 Today we start Post-Production posts!

Okay, okay. We were able to get more shots done this week since we finally completed the blood, and with some shots completed, I've been able to start the editing process with the film, adding more and more shots as I go. We were able to get a lot of filming done, not all of it, but a lot, being able to get 12 shots out of our 22 shots down, on our next filming day we plan to be able to complete the rest of them. 

• Lighting:

Like me and my group said we would, we followed up with the entire purpose of the darker atmospheres. We would place our light sources in specific places in the room, in order to make it look like it's a source from within the narrative world and avoid the idea of somebody holding up a flash light or phone light. We intend to make the light sources seem like they're from outside lights that pass through windows so that they can illuminate the room. In order to not make them too dark, I made sure I would edit the clips adding a bit more brightness, as well as upping the contrast, while still making the clips seem like they were filmed with that natural amount of lighting. 

• Shots:

There are many shots I'm going to incorporate in this film opening (like we're supposed too, duh), and also plan to use a good amount of editing techniques throughout the film, the following: Pov shots, eyeline match, inserts, shot/ reverse shot (shot/countershot) and possibly jump cut.

                    

                    - Pov: a grand majority of this film will be shot in the first-person perspective of Jason Gray. ( the MC's father) This is meant to show viewers the events that will be shown throughout the opening through Jason's eyes, seeing how he feels in the entirety and the trauma he experiences. This is also meant to build a connection with the character, offering viewers to believe he's the main character and like most main characters, would inevitably survive the event portrayed.

                    - Eyeline Match: This will only be used in a singular shot, but it's an important shot that is used to add a big amount of terror and horror to the already horrific events portrayed. In the scene where Jason runs out of the room, leaving the mother, I plan to make him be posted on the wall parallel to the room the mom is trapped in, catching his breath. I plan to add a shot to the scene where the camera turns into a close-up, as well as a focus pull on his eye as he looks upwards to the room he was previously in before the one the wife was killed in. As he looks up feint clicking noises will be heard, growing louder which will then cut to a shot depicting the first zombie's arm crawling out the room door. The eye will be matched with the moment of the zombie's arm, as well as focus pulling the shots from Jason's eyes to the arm. 

                    - Inserts: I plan to use this during the entire sequence of Jason running out of the room where the mother is being eaten in. It'll be multiple shots showing him running back, and closing the door, with following angles of this traumatic moment. 

                    - Shot/ Reverse shots (shot/countershot): I'm only using this for one shot where both the parents will be having a small conversation in the second room when they were by being able to hide from the first zombie. 

                    - Jump cut: The only reason why I have this marked as a possibility is because I'm still choosing whether I really want to use this technique or not. There are two instances in which I would see myself using this. In the scene where Jason is running away from the monster, as well as the scene where the camera slowly transitions to the son's eye. For the first mentioned scene, I would use this in order to add a sense of madness, but I feel like the scene would be too fast-paced for the scene, as well as the hallway being too short, so I'm still thinking about it. For the scene showcasing the son at the end, I feel like it would be a good idea to use this technique to be able to show a sense of madness to add layers to the trauma this scene is supposed to cause for the little boy, but at the same time, I feel I could make the same effect if I just did one long mastershot. 

These are all the editing techniques that I have planned so far, but I have no idea if I'll add more or not. 

Aice Media Studies (Production 4#)

 More Production posts!

In this production post, I'll discuss the costume design we've been planning for the final filming.

Use of Blood:

• As previously mentioned, one of the main components to the costume design for both parents is the use of blood. We wanted to showcase that they'd gone through battles, having to kill or stop any zombies or people that had gone in their way.
• I want to place it on their arms and necks, as well as on props in order to further solidify this idea.
• We want to use this blood in order to emphasize the severity of what's occurring, adding a fear factor, while showcasing the severity of the situations that the characters will be going through.

The zombie:

• In one of my past blogs, I mentioned how we wanted to use an all-black fit for the zombie, so that they would appear more darker, blending with the dark atmosphere that we want to develop throughout the opening.
• I'd originally planned for this costume, an all-black, latex costume that we could purchase off Amazon. The problem is, I'm not the zombie, Nic is, so when I pitched him this idea of maybe being able to pitch in money in order to buy one, he already had a costume similar to what I wanted!
• Luckily for us the Halloween of 2024, he'd bought a Grim Reaper costume for the event, so we'd chosen that would be the best fit for the costume.
• 
  
  
  
  
• For the costume we won't be using the gloves since we don't want the zombie looking like a skeleton.
• Also, we'd chosen that we wanted to cut off the bottom part of the sleeves that show the flaky long ribbon-like appearance. (I have no idea what that's called)
• We don't like how it look on the character, striving away from the general idea of what you imagine when you think of a zombie, although we are using a grimp reaper type costume we want to film it in a way where it doesn't look like the costume design is meant for the grim reaper.

Jason Gray:

• 
  Like the zombie, I've also mentioned on past posts what I wanted for Jason Grays costume design to be like.
• I had portrayed him with darker, raggedy, and baggier clothes.
• I want these clothes to help represent the character, originally portraying him as a confident, more laid-back character. 
• I specifically make his pants lean more toward cargo to show that he's ready for anything in this setting, always being able to carry stuff whenever needed.
• This outfit, although looking simplistic helps convey the type of character, showing emotion in their and personality in the type of clothes they wear.
• I went with this more simplistic design because I want to show how even characters who would seem to have things controlled, with confidence can be traumatized, lunging into darker aspects, filled with fear, and uncontrollably terrified.
• I of course show this in the series when I portray the husband's moments of despair after witnessing his wife's death, as well as in the final chase scene.
• The character will also be wearing a golden cross chain, to show his religion, giving a further feeling of desperation of how not even God can save you in these situations.
• I also want to show him wearing a watch, a Casio watch, one that I already own.
• It's meant to symbolize practicality, offering this idea of him being laid-back, yet practical and confident, which I strip these personalities from his character with the events.
• I want to then finish this off with dirty, not completely worn out, but used-looking shoes in order to show that this still takes place many years into the apocalypse, and even though society isn't ruined yet, and people can still dress themselves that they still need to be ready and vigilant for anything. I want to include this to maybe add some sense of adventure, always outdoors.

Owen Gray:

• Honestly, for Owen Gray, (the son) I don't really plan anything, we're only going to show his eyeball or maybe face for a quick few seconds, not really needing anything planned.

Heather Gray:

• For Heather Gray, we were really planning an outfit that consisted of a white shirt with black pants
• I wanted to go with this mixture to show parts of her personality that the clothes would represent.
• For example, when I throughout of the black, I was thinking in a more professional and sophisticated type of view on her character, which like the father would also be tossed aside as the terror provided in the story would show her true fear.
• For the white, I was thinking of a more pure and simple tone to show she's more casual with her own types of elegance.
• With the suspension being built throughout the story, I want to show how the story affects her.

This is an outline of how I wanted the characters to be portrayed, to show their costume designs, as well as a background to the personalities I wanted to show in some.

Aice Media Studies (Production 3#)

 Again, Again, and Again! More Production Posts!

In this production post, I'll be highlighting the issues and obstacles that me and my group underwent this week for filming our project.

Not having the blood ready:

• Stupidly, this week when we decided to film on Wednesday, we didn't have the blood ready.
• Hannah didn't have any more fake blood from her Halloween costume, and I hadn't bought any. 
• Since we didn't have the blood ready we were unable to film a large majority of the films. Since our genre is horror, in addition to the dark atmospheres I try to convey and elaborate with techniques like low-key lighting, we wanted to add blood. For example, we wanted to add blood on items like the knife that would be shown at the beginning as it shows how both the father and mother had gotten out of a tiresome battle with the zombies before they'd climbed up through the window. 
• The blood is also used throughout the rest of the film on their arms to help solidify this opinion, but the main technique I want to use for the blood is splatter and puddles. I want to use splatter to show when the father and mother are getting eaten, and how the blood rushes through the air. I also want to include slowly growing puddles of blood to show detail in how gruesome these characters die, leaving audiences using imagery to depict the appearances of these carcasses. 
• I plan to buy this blood with my group at a Walmart or any other store to take pictures and film our process in buying this, and maybe to add it to a production blog in the future. 

This is what I have in mind for fake blood, nothing of thicker consistencies like ketchup.

Not planning the set correctly:

• Although this was kind of an issue, it was a very minor one. 
• in the storyboard, I'd drawn out and depicted the hallway as both sides being compete walls.
• Instead, when we actually went to film in person I'd been met with the realization that I'd drawn the landscape wrong, Instead one of the hallways was actually a complete wall, while the other in half like a view. 
• I'll show images to show what I mean.

• I think you can tell what I mean.
• As well as for some of the doors, I'd accidentally placed some bit more back, as well as missing some entirely.
• The landscape is similar, but different in their own ways which made it somewhat challenging to figure out how I wanted to play this out.
• In the end, when we actually filmed the scene of the zombie appearing, I filmed it with the same idea and still liked how it came out, even with these differences.
• The landscape and setting of the film a very important components in the process of the film as it help convey emotions, atmosphere, and vibe to the overall story you're trying to convey.
• I still like the hallway that I have at my disposal and still think I'll be able to complete this project with my group, with the exact same mindset I had beforehand.

These were really the only problems I had with trying to film this project on Wednesday, although the set change wasn't much of problems, the fact that we didn't have the blood prepared really cost us a delay in our production. From now on, I know I'll always have to be ready and can't push these key details aside. 

Aice Media Studies (Production 2#)

 Yippee! Another Production post!

In this production post, I'll be talking about the shooting process me and my group were able to do this week. 

2/26/25

• On Wednesday my group and I were able to film some parts of our film, like 3 shots due to us being crunched on time.
• I'll be showing pictures where I circle the scenes we were actually able to film that day. 

The Hallway (scene 3):

• The scenes I circled were the only scenes we were able to film on Wednesday 
• We filmed it at night in order to be able to capture the eerie dark atmosphere we're trying to convey. 
• As chosen in the planning blog post, I'd mentioned who'd be playing what scenes.
• For the first circled scene where the zombie walked in, we had Nich in a full black fit, consisting of a black hoodie and a black pair of pants so that he could blend in with the darkness. 

• I like how the scene came out, we were able to show a darker atmosphere, with low-key lighting as it sets the hallway as a key point in the set.
• I think Nich was able to do a good job, of acting mysteriously and threatening as I don't want the viewers to think of the main threat as a zombie, yet, making it look more humanlike while being able to ensure fear. 

The Bathroom peak (scene 5):

• In this scene, we highlight how both the father and mother were able to escape, hiding successfully from the first zombie in the room beside them. 
• The whole point is to give off a sense of relief from avoiding such a big casualty, leading audiences to believe that both parents could actually survive.
• We chose that it'd be best to have the light source from inside the room so that it would make the zombie more viewable to audiences. 
• To add context, the reasoning behind the room being a light source is, that because the mother and father had climbed into the room from a window, there would be lights outside that would gleam and illuminate the inside of the hallway.

The father's loss (scene 11)

• In this scene, the whole purpose is to highlight the father's fear and state of shock while witnessing the death of her love, her wife. 
• While filming this scene, Hannah and I (she's our camerawoman) tried various different places on where to angle the flashlight, or phone light as a source so the audience could tell the types of emotions I was trying to convey with different facial features.
• If I'm truthfully honest, I'm not that proud of how this shot came out, I think the time crunch that we had, having done this on a school night really affected how impatient I was to get this done. 
• I want to try to redo this shot, attempting to convey more emotion than before just so I can include the audience more in-depth in the events of the story.