youtube is my new best friend

 I am officially done with filming, and the editing process has begun. I have little to no experience using Adobe Premiere Pro so I have been watching YouTube tutorials like a madman. Here is a little sneak peak for you guys:

dolly zoom life hack

Do you want to include a dolly zoom in your film but lack the fancy equipment to do so? Luckily, you have come to the right place. Here is another one of my shooting life hacks... All you need is a skateboard (or something stable with wheels) and a box of some sort and ta-da you're done! 

(me and my makeshift dolly)

stills from the first day of filming

 Here are some stills from the dream sequence... I'll break them down for you (what they mean, the supplies used, and my thought processes)

This is the first scene in the dream sequence. It hints at the causes of Claire's nightmares, which are generational and a result of unresolved family trauma. The old images seen are from the 1940s. Sara and I sorted through old family photos and procured these. The floral background that the candles and photos are resting on is an old scarf with floral details. I thought the combination of these three things would be visually appealing, foreshadow Claire's fate, and hint at a backstory.

While I was filming this and watching over the footage I was so disturbed (how did I even come up with this???) I talked to Sara about using hair in one of the shots for the dream sequence. She had cut her own hair over a year ago and for some reason she kept it (lucky for me!) In this shot, Claire slowly pulls hair out of her mouth. The harsh green lighting was inspired by Suspiria (1977).

Now this is where the fake blood came in handy! For mise-en-scene I chose to line the walls and floors with plastic drop cloth that I bought at Home Depot for $3 a roll. In my head I wanted to film this scene in a sterile lab-like environment, but with Covid-19 restrictions I knew I had to improvise. Nevertheless, I'm pretty satisfied with how it turned out.

filming day two: set design is so fun

Set design time! On the second day of filming, I shot scenes of Sara (who was acting as Claire) in her bedroom. I brought two blankets, a comforter, and pillow cases to her house to redo her bed setup. I also gathered posters/pictures/record sleeves to decorate the walls with. I stuck with a neutral color palette to contrast with the heavy and dramatic lighting techniques used in the dream sequence. The items on Claire's wall also give a profile of what she's interested in (specific artists, artwork, etc.) A character's bedroom is like their inner world, and tells viewers so much about them, which was my goal while creating this set.

the promised fake blood tutorial

 Here is the long awaited fake blood tutorial! Due to the blender mishap, we had to use a bowl and spoon to mix the solution, but I highly recommend using a blender. Okay let's get started!

Materials you will need:

• Confectionary sugar
• Water
• Cocoa powder
• Red food dye 
• Blender (or a spoon and bowl if you don't have one)
• A container
• Good estimation skills

(The steps and measurements are based on estimation and eyeballing it... Adjust the measurements based on how much blood you will need)

Step #1

Combine confectionary sugar and some water into a blender. Blend until the ingredients are mixed.

Tip: The mixture shouldn't be too watery. Use a spoon to test the consistency and add sugar/water to your liking. 

(please use a blender for this step)

Step #2

Pour the mixture into a container. 

Step #3

Add as much red food dye as humanly possible (aka until the mixture is completely saturated)

Step #4

Add cocoa powder to your liking. This is done to deepen the color of the red (color theory yeah!)

Step #5

Add more food dye or cocoa powder to your liking. Basically just adjust the measurements to your liking. And Voila! You're done!

equipment used

The picture below is a flat lay of all the equipment I have used to far when filming this project.

• Canon EOS 60D
• Tripod
• CAT Hurricane Flashlight
• Plastic binder dividers (cheap and easy substitute to gels... which are very pricey)
• Plastic garbage bag (dilute the intensity of the flashlight)

 

filming day one: mistakes were made

 Today was the first day of filming! I went to Sara's (who is playing the protagonist) house and we began filming the dream sequence. 

I got there relatively early to prepare some of the supplies that I needed for the scenes. The first thing I did was sort through Sara's old family photos and pick out the ones I needed for the candle scene. 

these were the photos I ended up choosing

Then we made fake blood (I'm going to post a recipe tutorial soon) and boy did we make a mess... We forgot to take the spoon out of the blender when we were blending the powdered sugar with the water and this was what happened:

yeah it's bad... sugar water everywhere

After that minor setback, we got to filming. I was pleasantly surprised by how well each of the shots turned out. I haven't uploaded the clips to my computer yet but here is a sneak peak of some of the shots I got. 

I underestimated my ability to bring what I had in my mind to life and in front of the camera. I thought a lot of the scenes would end up looking silly or cheesy but let me tell you... I was genuinely freaked out by how creepy these scenes were (not to mention Sara is an amazing actor and really helped me bring my ideas to life).

aggressive typing sounds

Here is the first part of my screenplay (subject to change and editing). 

While writing, I didn't make any significant changes from my storyboard and outline. It begins with the dream sequence and inserted in between, is Claire tossing and turning in bed. I did this to show that these scenes are just a dream... Now looking back at this I might want to remove that in order to create more intrigue from viewers. After all, sooner or later they will find out that it was a nightmare. 

names names names

Coming up with a name for my project wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be. I did some research on how to properly title your movie and there were a couple of things I took away from it. One of the tips I made sure to consider was to keep the title short and sweet, while also hinting at the genre of the film. Since my genre is a psychological thriller and I have taken a lot of inspiration from Italian Art Horror films, I decided to emulate that in the name of my project. Here are some of the names I came up with before finalizing on one: 

Phantasma: this means something that exists in perception only (which is exactly what my film is about)

Fantasma: same meaning as above but translated to Italian

Candela: this means candle in Italian (fits with the opening scene with the candles surrounding the family photo)

Today in class, we met in groups of 5 and I was able to ask for feedback on my project. I liked all of the names I came up with and I asked the group which title they liked the best. They all agreed that Phantasma best fit the mood of my project. 

I think Phantasma best fits this project as well. I came up with this by skimming the dictionary for synonyms of "nightmare" and "apparition" and I came across this word. The meaning of the word perfectly fits the plot of the story without being too obvious. Now that I have my title, I'm going to play around with fonts and work on a title card.

Sources:

https://chrisjonesblog.com/2011/07/top-ten-tips-for-titling-your-movie.html 

SYRO

This is a short blog post but I found a new song and I thought I should share anyway. I still have to send out the emails requesting permission to use the songs (which I'm going to do tomorrow after school). My friend introduced me to Aphex Twin and I listened to their discography and found this song: aisatsana [102] I was stressing out about choosing a song because I still didn't feel like any of the ones I had picked perfectly fit what I was trying to achieve in the dream sequence.

Suspenseful music with synthesizers and string instruments are a genre convention in Thrillers. String instruments can hold notes for a long time, which is unsettling to viewers. This song is relatively calm and isn't as jarring as the other songs I initially put together. It reminds me of the score in Suspiria (2018) by Thom Yorke, especially during the opening credits. I think the juxtaposition between the slow music and the jarring nightmare sequence will create a sense of doom.

Source: https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/film-score-suspenseful-music/

fire walk with me

 I've been consuming a lot of media recently and here are some of the pieces that have heavily inspired my film opening so far. 

Twin Peaks (1990) by David Lynch

The use of the color red, the obscure dream sequences, the score, and the atmosphere of this show has heavily inspired me during the creation of this film opening. 

Kicker by Alex G (Music Video)

The "memory" box given to the boy inspired the idea that the overarching cause of Claire's nightmares are from a family heirloom. Also, inspired by the use of hair in this music video. (I love Alex G... if you're reading this listen to him right now!)

Fallen Angels (1995) by Wong Kar Wai

Wong Kar Wai makes highly stylized films, something that really drew me into his work. His unique camerawork techniques and storytelling are some things I want to emulate in my own opening (of course... in my own way)

Twin Peaks and Fallen Angels both inspire the color palette of my film opening.

(p.s. the title of this blogpost is a quote from twin peaks)

gathering supplies and finalizing shooting location

 Today I finished gathering most of the supplies I need for the nightmare sequence. I picked up 6 unscented pillar candles from Target, 2 rolls of plastic drop cloth from Home Depot, and LED light strips from my friends house. I plan on using the borrowed LED light strips as an easy and inexpensive way to light Claire's entire bedroom red. 

I also finalized the shooting location. I will be filming the bulk of this project in Sara's house (she is playing Claire). She's letting me have full creative control and allowing me to rearrange her entire bedroom/dining table. We plan on filming this week either on the 17th, 18th, or 19th (or maybe even all three days).

a messy storyboard

Like I said before, I 100% prefer using paper and pen over technology when brainstorming ideas. I spent quite a bit of time working on my storyboard and figuring out how I wanted to create suspense and confusion throughout my film opening and I think I've finally got it. Here are the scans of my storyboard... some scenes may be subject to change and I might also add more scenes in. It's messy but it's done!

i finally watched guadagnino's suspiria

Let me just begin by saying this. I was so disturbed. I can't get Olga's dancing scene out of my head. And it was hard for me to fall asleep that night. Guadagnino's adaptation was haunting, nightmarish, but painstakingly beautiful at the same time. I do have some criticisms, but that isn't the purpose of today's blog post.

Since my teacher recommended me to view this piece as inspiration for my film opening, I decided to take some notes. Here are scans from my notebook:

I was having some trouble coming up with how to create successful nightmare sequences and this film definitely helped me with my brainstorming. Here are some scenes from the Susie's dream sequences that inspired me:

(I would link more videos but unfortunately 

they're age restricted on YouTube)

Here are some more stills:

I plan on filming the bulk (if not all) of the nightmare sequence that occurs that the beginning of my film opening this week. 

chosic is a lifesaver

A good score is a key component to a successful Thriller. I've made some tweaks and I've decided to combine the opening credits with the nightmare sequence at the beginning of the film. This also means that instead of two songs now, I'll have to choose one. 

Finding haunting music was a little more difficult than I thought. I wanted to refrain from choosing songs that were specifically made for movies and shows that already existed. So, I turned to my lifelong friend Chosic. Chosic is a website that helps you find similar songs to a song you enter into their search bar (I sound like an ad right now). It provides songs that are similar based on BPM, energy, danceability, and more. This was how I came up with a list of potential songs I could use in my opening. Click HERE for the playlist. 

I am leaning towards using Six Underground- The Umbrellas Of Ladywell Mix #1 by Sneaker Pimps or A Forest by The Cure. I think there's a higher likelihood that Sneaker Pimps will respond because they are a  significantly smaller band compared to The Cure. This week I will be sending out emails asking for permission to use these songs. To play it safe I'll probably ask for permission to use other songs too in case I don't get a response from these top two choices.

mbtis and enneagrams

I have decided that instead of the protagonist living with their parents, she's going to live with a roommate. This would also make the filming/acting process easier because I won't have to find adults to act. 

Here is a scan of my notebook aka me brain-dumping

brainstorming + explaining the MBTI types

Using MBTI's and Enneagrams to help develop my characters. The last time I worked on developing characters, I used archetypes, however I found this to be quite limiting. It felt like I was trying to fit the characters I was developing into these confined boxes. This time, I took personality tests from the perspective of each of my characters in order to create their personalities organically.