Me and Graces final cut was finally completed after some minor changes. We cut the music at the perfect spot for the song to flow into the next song. I added transitions so the clips would flow and Grace even added a slow motion effect to one of the clips to add suspense.

As I began writing my CCR Plan I wanted to answer all the questions so I wrote down word by word what I would say in my video. The first trial for filming the video was a bust because it was way too short so I had to add more and take my time when I spoke.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eYP2GAavpoFFydtcn_krqAX8GzT6edk0plHSsTMxfFo

Editing = Mission

We got our mission statement across with the editing of the truck pulling up and all of a sudden Sawyer disappearing. We had a tilt shot into a close up to show the mothers emotion of shock and basically a freakout when she realized her child was gone. There’s a slow motion clip to add suspense into the film. Also, we didn’t want many strangers in the film so a lot of the times we had to wait for strangers to get out of the frame in order to film.

Technology + iMovie + Youtube

We filmed on an iPhone 11 pro max and used iMovie to edit and combine all the clips. I did research on youtube to find out how to edit and how to use the app in general. We didn’t use any other prop ups, for example like a tripod or stand. I walked around filming each clip trying to get as many angles as I could.

Transitions + Editing + Titiles

At first our film was choppy so we had to research on how to smooth each transition out. Our title sequence was made by my partner Grace and worked well with out thriller theme. The drama part was brought into the film by the daughter going missing and the unknown factor. We decided to put the credits in white lettering in the beginning of the film and the title in black to catch the audiences attention better.

Examples

Originally we were going to keep the actors real names but Sawyers mother didn’t want her real name to be used in the film. It’s not a big change but definitely a change. Grace told me mid project that we had to change her name and made is confusing while writing future blogs.

Another change we had was the timing of the song we wanted to use and the speed. We slowed down the song to fir the clips better and flow into the more suspenseful song better. The song “Crowded Places” was already a slow innocent like song to start with but slowing it down made it more drama filled and give a happier aspect since it was used in the clips where Sawyer was playing.

Ah-ha Moment

There was a clip where Sawyer walked straight up to the abductor and it was the perfect shot. I remember screaming because I was so excited to have captured that clip. Once Sawyer got comfy she wanted me to play with her and that made it really easy to get the clips we needed.

Another Ah-ha Moment was when the music was finally finished. We got the two pieces to flow perfectly into each other and it was a great feeling.

Difficulties

At the beginning of filming Sawyer wanted to always be with her dad and didn’t want to play on the playground so it made it really hard to film. I had to try and get natural shots but she kept running away so it was really difficult so get shots to fit our storyboard. Another difficulty was agreeing with my partner on how we wanted the movie to be edited but in the end it all worked out and the film turned out perfect.

While filming our opening scene the main actor didn’t feel as comfy as we thought. She always wanted to be near her dad (the kidnapper) and would start to cry if he wasn’t near. This made it difficult to film and we had to spend more time help calm her down than actually filming.

Diary

Working with my bestfriend was a good idea because were both comfy enough to speak our true opinion. At the same time it was hard to always stay focused and we would always goof off but it was a difficult time getting stuff done. With self dicepline we got the clips done pretty fast and the blogs done pretty detailed.

Me and my partner Grace used a side by side comparison with the film “Kidnap”. Directed by Luis Prieto. This mothers son was taken at the local park while she wasn’t paying attention. She goes on a hunt to find her son and goes on a chase with the car that contained her son. The opening scene’s of our films are similar with setting, actors, lighting and plot.

Both child actors willingly left with the kidnappers leaving the parents in shock. We went to the park not knowing how Sawyer was going to act so the fact that she gave us the clips that she did was great.

Both films had a mission of getting the point across to watch your kid at all times. In the film “kidnap” the mother watched the abductors drive off and decided to fight back. In our film, the scene cut off right as the mother noticed and the abductor already drove off.

During this process I learned about production technologies and how we have to be in control. For computer aided technology we used Graces Imac Computer. There’s an app called iMovie where we edited, created sounds, and collected all our clips. We didn’t need to make any extra sounds for our film, so we just needed to find the perfect music for the background.

We used Youtube to figure out how to use iMovie. We didn’t know how to edit all the clips but Grace’s brother knew how to use iMovie really good from when he was in high school. iMovie was our best option by being free to use and has everything we needed on one platform.

Scheduling

To me and Graces benefit, her brother took off the whole week of work so it was easy to get Travis there. Sawyer didn’t have school on Wednesday so it was easy to have her be in the film. Grace and I both get out of school early as mentioned before so we have more time in the day to film than others.

Technology

To film our opening scene we used the most advanced iPhone. On the phone, there are tools where you can zoom in really close and also give a really wide view. Our film was put together on iMovie on my iPhone and edited on Graces lab top.

Our film will feature a little girl playing at the Zhills park and suddenely go missing while the mother was on her phone and not paying attention. We wanted there to be a suspenseful feel to a respectful extent. There had to be a sense of wonder, so we couldn’t show the girl kicking and screaming. The audience would see the man walking off with the girl but not the girl drive off with him or the girl screaming for her mother.

Sounding

We had to remove the actual sound from the video and add suspenseful music. In the very beginning with the actors names, there was music building tension so the audience would be made to think something big is about to happen. The sounds being used are sirens in the background, natural wind, and suspenseful music.