Editing + Refilm

April 04, 2018

Hello! So this week I've been editing my film a lot  to get the visuals just right. Hopefully I'll finish the process between today and tomorrow. I'm hoping to re-film the bathroom footage I have, which is where Leo looks at his watch and goes back in time. The reason being is that the footage I have now is really poorly lit. The watch I used for the film is also really awful, and you can barely see the image on the face. Look at this snippet from the shot:


To fix this problem I tried experimenting with the exposure on iMovie, but it simply doesn't make the cut. I think today I'm going to re-film in another public restroom (since the location doesnt really matter for that) with better lighting. I'm also using another watch (an Apple watch) which is what I had originally planned but couldn't get ahold of one last minute. Hopefully the footage will come together better this time.

Besides that, all other aspects of editing are going pretty smoothly. I just need to work a lot to make sure my 5 min time frame is perfect!

X Maria


Casting & Costuming

April 03, 2018

So for my film I casted a group of about 5 people, all close friends of mine. Here I’ll give some details on their outfits/look for the film:

Jay; Spencer Levy


Seen wearing black jeans and a white shirt, a pretty plain and basic outfit. The reason I chose Spencer for this role is because I really wanted a quirky, decent looking boy for my main character. I think he also gives off a kind of "french" look, which is perfect for the given storyline. 

Main girl; Ambar Ramirez


Seen wearing a white shirt and jeans, with gold hoop earrings. I always wanted Ambar to play this role, since she's cute and quirky but also can play a feisty character. Her and Spence are a good physical contrast too so it made their interaction more interesting within the production. Spencer and Ambar both come from hispanic backgrounds, so I'm mostly focusing on this minority group within my casting.

Barista; Isabelle Miller


Seen wearing a black blouse and pants, with black lace-up boots. I knew from the beginning that I didn't want to use a barista from Undergrounds, since I already had Isabelle's image in mind. I don't know exactly what it is, but she just has this typical barista/coffee maker look. She's more artistic-looking if that makes any sense, so I knew she'd play a good role for hosting this small coffee shop. Although she's only featured in one or two scenes, it's a good look!

Boyfriend; Cesar Larez


Seen wearing khaki pants, a white shirt, and a jean jacket, Cesar plays this role with a lot of confidence. Cesar is the boyfriend of the girl who Leo has been desperately trying to talk to. He comes and whisks her away, and Leo realizes that all his work was for nothing.... or so he thinks.

Other girl; Taylor Sweeney


Seen wearing a black tank and a jean skirt. I wanted Taylor to be wearing something way more laid back and sort of flirty. I was hoping that she would give off a more relaxed and approachable vibe. After all, she knows exactly what Jay has been up to this whole time.

So that's it! a really general rundown for casting/costuming choices. Their personalities will be better seen throughout the production :)

X Maria

Storyboard, FINALLY!

April 01, 2018

FINALLY, my storyboard was completed. (Like 2 weeks ago LOL). I used this extensively to film, so I though I would post it here too.

Enjoy my messy little charts~



X Maria

Filming!

April 01, 2018

So since I didn't go to film on Thursday, I decided to film for about 4 hours instead on Friday. My crew and I headed to Ft. Lauderdale bright and early, with everything ready and a common goal in mind: to produce an awesome short film. We got there about an hour before Undergrounds Coffeehaus opened, so we decided to get a head start on the outside shots. When they finally opened up though, we got straight to work. 


Although everything went pretty smoothly, we did bump into a couple obstacles. First off, I planned about 50% of my shots on bar to be BEHIND the bar. But when I asked the barista if I could place my camera behind it, she declined :( we had to improvise and instead made the shots from a sort of back angle; I think my original idea would have made my production much better but we tried to make it work to the best of our ability. We also decided to experiment with some high angles instead of the behind-the-counter shots and they worked pretty well too. 

Another problem we encountered was the lighting for the watch. My dad lent me his digital running watch for the main prop of the production, which was supposed to depict a hand-made face that had a button saying *go back an hour*. Unfortunately the face was really hard to see since the watch has poor lighting, so if the shots are awful I might try to go and re-film either at the coffeehaus or at another public restroom (which is where the scene with the watch takes place). We'll see this week when I start editing. 

Besides those two little bumps in the road, the staff at the location were very kind and we had little to no disturbances filming. I think going early in the morning was a good choice, especially since not a lot of people were around. I'm really excited to edit and see what kind of footage I'll be working with.

X Maria

Blog Absence

April 01, 2018

Hello everyone! For the past week or so I was away on vacation in another country, but then came I had to come back to a family emergency on Wednesday. I haven’t been active at all on my blog,  but I’ve still been consistently working! I’ve already filmed too so that’s a big step. Tonight I’m going to post all the drafts I had for the previous week or so, since I have a lot of progress to talk about. My life took a bad turn the past week and I’ll be regularly posting for the next two weeks of this process!!!

With love,
X Maria

Good News!

March 18, 2018

Hello all! So this week I'm leaving to Colombia on Thursday, so I'll be blogging a lot before I go and lose my wifi.

If you've been following along, I've run into a small problem that really defines a lot about my production. I ----

As I was writing that ^ I actually called Undergrounds Coffehaus to see if I could get in touch with the manager. What I was GOING to say is that I was having problems with finding a set, since the people I reached out to never got back to me. However, I spoke to Mrs. Liptak, the owner of Undergrounds, and she gave me permission to film!!! Yayyy!!!! I'm excited to film and I'm glad that I have a confirmed set in place. Now I need to officially cast and prepare for filming ~

Mrs. Liptak also confirmed my schedule for filming, which will be
March 28 (Wednesday) from 12:00-3:00 pm &
March 29 (Thursday) from 12:00-3:00 pm.



This week I'll have everything in place for when I come back to film. I'm pretty excited, but a little nervous. Keep checking back for more updates!!!

x Maria

Film Website and Updates!!

March 18, 2018

Sooooo this is I think the third week? This is going ways too fast it's quite overwhelming 😧 But I think I'm on a pretty good track so far. The one main thing I have pending is the set of my film. I'm going to try to revisit the potential locations soon, and if those don't work out, I need to start planning my home-made set. For now that's pretty much my biggest concern, the rest is pretty much on track! I still have Starbucks on the line, but I think I would rather create my own set at home.

 I switched two things up in the schedule- the recording in French and the casting/costuming. Yesterday I recorded the script in french, which will be naaaratinf my entire film! It was so fun to work with my family friend, Eric Louet, and I’m even more excited to put the audio over the visuals. My friend Spencer (who is helping me with all the audio for my short), brought all the supplies over and we recorded everything successfully. Now we just have to clip the audio here and there and enhance the audio a bit.Everything is coming together slowly, but of course actually filming is coming up soon and I want everything to be perfect.




So since most of my film is coming together, I've decided I need to start working on my website! I really like the freedom and facility that WIXSITE gives users so I'm planning on using that platform. Since I haven't shot anything yet, I won't have a lot of visuals on it for now. The website will always be linked on the header of my website or you can check back here for updates!

Link: intropictures.wixsite.com/indefinite 


lovely little french film

March 15, 2018

Hello! So I've been delayed on posting my storyboard, mostly since I haven't had full access to a scanner - I did mine hand-drawn. However, I finally figured out a name for my production! 
Indefinite or Indéfini (in French)
I've also written a script which I'll post below. Keep in mind that this is the narrated portion of the film, and that it will be shown in english as subtitles and spoken in French. For now I'm posting the script in english, but I'll update this post in a week or so with the translated version.

Script:
*The numbers coordinate with the numbers in the corner of each storyboard shot

1-“This is Leonardo. Leo for short.”
“This is Leo’s watch.”

2- “Leo was given the watch when he was about 10 years old. His grandfather told him to use it wisely, as it had been more detrimental than beneficial in his life. His grandfather loved coffee, which is what always reminds Leo of him besides the watch.”

3- “Everyday he comes into the coffee shop. But today is no ordinary day.”

4- “He’s never seen her here before.”
“He’s also never seen anyone like her before”

5- “She seemed so gentle: pink soft lips; slim, long fingers; deep, mysterious eyes”

6- “He decides to attempt a conversation, trying his best to keep his composure.”
“But as soon as he opens his mouth, nothing seems to come out, he’ stuck.”

7- “Then he has another idea.”

8- when looking at watch, it’ll say “go back one hour” in French on the face

9- “He makes the remark about them sharing the same drink, but the comment doesn’t seem too hopeful. He then asks what she’s reading, which happens to be a book by an author he’s never heard about.”

10- “This time, he remembers that he read this book back in high school, and claims he loves the author. He quotes from the book, thanks to his quick online source in the bathroom. Things seem to finally spark.”

11- “He continues to try with her. Again, again, and again.”

12- “He decides this is his one last opportunity, since he’s used every possible tactic available to him. However, he seems to make a lot of progress, and their conversation actually begins to blossom”

13- “He thinks about grabbing her hand, about feeling her soft touch against his skin.”

14- “They talk about ___, ____, and _____”

15- “He comes to the conclusion to be honest with her. He tells her how beautiful she is and how he’s been trying to grasp her intention all day. It sounds kinda funny considering the situation, but he hopes she gets the memo”

16- “Leo, defeated, has just been introduced to her boyfriend.”

 *updated: Here is the French version! I don't trust google translate so I sent it to my authentic French family friends and they worked on it together :)

 1- "Voici Leonardo. Leo en raccourci."
"C’est la montre de Leo."

 2- "Cette montre a été donnée à Leo quand il avait environ dix ans. Son grand-père lui avait dit de l’utiliser avec sagesse, comme elle avait causé plus de tort que de bien dans sa vie. Son grand-père adorait aussi le café, ce qui, comme la montre, lui rappelait aussi toujours son ancêtre."

 3- "Tous les jours, il vient au café, mais aujourd’hui n’était pas un jour ordinaire"

 4- "Il ne l’avait jamais vue ici."
"Il n’avait jamais vu quelqu’un comme elle avant."

 5- "Elle paraissait si douce, des lèvres roses et lisses, mince, des doigts longs ; des yeux profonds et mystérieux."
6- "Il tente d’initier une conversation, tout en essayant de conserver son calme."
"Mais, dès qu’il ouvre la bouche, rien ne sort de ses lèvres. Il est coincé."

 7- "Puis, il a une autre idée."

 8- "En regardant la montre, elle va te dire « recule d’une heure »" en français sur le visage

 9- "Il fait une remarque à propos de leur même choix de boisson mais le commentaire n’a pas l’impact espéré. Ensuite, il lui demande ce qu’elle lit et il se trouve que c’est un auteur dont il n’a jamais entendu parlé."

 10- "Cette fois-ci, il se souvient qu’il a lu ce livre au lycée et il dit qu’il adore l’auteur. Il cite une phrase du livre grâce à son escapade dans les toilettes pendant laquelle il a regardé sur internet. Finalement, les choses commencent à prendre une bonne tournure"

 11- "Cette fois-ci, il se souvient qu’il a lu ce livre au lycée et il dit qu’il adore l’auteur."

 12- "Il décide que c'est sa dernière chance, puisqu'il a utilisé toutes les tactiques possibles. Cependant, il semble qu’il y ait du progrès car leur conversation commence à s’animer."

 13- "Il considère prendre sa main, sentir sa peau douce contre la sienne."

 14- "Ils parlent de ­­______, ________, et ________."           

 15- "Il décide d’être honnête avec elle. Il lui dit ô combien elle est jolie et comment il a essayé d’attirer son attention toute la journée. Cela semble presque amusant en considérant la situation mais il espère qu’elle comprenne son message."

 16-  Leo, déchu, vient juste d’être présenté à son petit ami…



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