Research CCR Question #3

 Q. How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

A. Tunnels was an interesting experience for me because this was my first project where I had to actually plan out a whole movie. When our teacher first introduced us to the project and the expectations. I immediately got excited to start the project. I initially wanted to do a romance, but my partner and I agreed on choosing a darker theme and went for a psychological drama film. I also wanted to integrate color theory from the beginning, and did a whole research on color techniques, lighting

So the main idea came from my partner, who was heavily inspired by her friend, who overworks herself with school, so she wanted to create something related to that. During this time, I was also going through a similar situation; I was thinking too much about school and putting too much on my plate. So we both agreed on the main plot and began thinking about what we could do for the film opening

At first, I pictured the opening scene of Ana doing homework in her room. I wanted to show how she worked all night and eventually fell asleep. This way we show how she is obtaining unhealthy habits to be perfect 

We had the first minute setteld but we didn't know what to do for the 2nd minute. After a group meeting, my partner suggested we could do a therapy session. I liked the idea, and we adjusted so that the therapist was a school counselor. 

After we made the storyboard and script, we scheduled production day for the opening scene. And well, I didnt go as planned. Our biggest issue was lighting. We started the production a little late, so when we finished setting up the set, the sun had gone down. I started filming with my camera (insert picture of camera), but it was my first time using it, so some of the shots came out unfocused and like this.

But our biggest issue was lighting. We tried our best to take advantage of the lights that were on in the room, but it was too difficult to find one that had a balance with the blue light. (insert picture of light) And every shot we did seemed to have a shadow or a reflection of the lights. 

After seeing this footage, we knew we needed to re-shoot everything. So we wouldn't have the same problem. I researched and used a camera app called Black Magic and tested the features like focus and unfocus (insert video of Black Magic feature), and other ones like whitebalance and shutter speed. 

We started filming again, and everything went smoothly. 

We positioned the lights better (insert pictures of re-shoot production day)  

On the day of the therapy session, we went to our local library at 10:00am and waited for the study room to be free. When we got in, we arranged the room to look like an office. (insert timelapse of rearranging the room) After that, we started shooting. I already had experience shooting a conversation between two characters, so I used the 180-degree rule. (insert pictures of productions) We also used microphones and hid them in the set out of sight of the camera.

Overall, I think what I learned from this project was that this happens in a set; not everything goes to plan, and there are a lot of stressful times, but in the end, we always found a solution to fix it. 

Looking back to my first projects, I think I've come a long way. Now I'm more experienced in lighting, working with actors, getting permission to use songs from artists, and especially in sound. My first project in sound was... I little bad; most of the sounds sounded fake and didn't feel like they belonged in the environment. (show example of project) So I'm very proud of the soundscape of the Tunnels film opening. I think I did a great job.