Filming!!! Part 1

 Hey blog!!!

So, if you couldn't tell, Arantza and I are quite behind schedule... We ran into many problems including forgotten trips and unexpected illnesses, but nothing that we cannot overcome (please send help). Today we finally started filming our opening. We only filmed the 2nd half, though, because a cold front came out of nowhere and it was way too cold for our actors to wear sleeveless shirts while riding bikes outside. So, we decided to film that part on Thursday and focus on the scenes inside my house today. 

I believe it is also worth mentioning that we had to switch a scene we had planned where Lily's mom reminds her to take her medicine, played by my mom. You see, the issue was that my mom's accent did not match with Lily's, who does not have any Hispanic background, and whenever she said her line, she sounded too excited and happy for a mom reminding her (sorry but dying) daughter to take medicine. So! We changed that scene to add in Lily's annoyed younger brother.

So, today we filmed everything from Lily and Jackie entering the house; the conversation with Lily's brother, played by my brother; and the pills scene, before we finish the opening. 

Here are some behind the scenes (+ a sneak peek???)

Setting Up Meds Before Filming

Filming Final Scene

Filming 2nd to Last Final Scene

SNEAK PEEK (unedited)

Our production company logo

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So, one of the requirements for our opening is that we must include a production company logo, more specifically OUR production company logo, which is often put at the beggining of films to show who was in control of creating the movie and as overall promotion.

To be honest we struggled a little with this one because we had absolutely no idea what to name it and what logo to use but we finally decided on one. Our company, SAFC Productions, is a combination of our name initials (wow, I know, how original), but the logo fits with the flower theme of our film that we randomly began to religiously follow after finding our first character's name, Lily. Sometimes, film companies change their logo to fit the overall aesthetic of the film they produced, obviously making sure they always keep their name the same. One example of this is "The Lego Movie," where the Warner Bros. logo is built entirely by digital legos. And the colors we chose are simply our favorite colors, purple (mine) and red (hers).

For the actual animation of our logo, we plan to use an effect called "Scrapbook." Arantza (who made the logo) divided the logo into 4 separate elements, "SAFC," "Productions," the top of the flower, and the bottom of the flower. Then, with this effect applied, each element jumps into the middle of the screen with abrupt and jerky moves, overall giving this logo sequence a nostalgic and fun look.

So here is a picture of our logo:)

 

Costuming 2.0 (the actual thing)

 Hey blog!!!

So, we have decided official costumes!! Unfortunately the outfits we had planned either we (or our actors) could not find or simply wasn't in our actors' size. So we had to switch a few things around but we made it work! So Lily will wear a pair of jeans with a long flowy 2000s tank top I own that sort of has layers of fabric (the picture is shown below). Jackie will also wear jeans and the same type of tank top, just, instead, it'll be dark blue with a flower pattern in a different material than the rest of the top (which we found in my moms bag of clothes to be donated). Both of them will be decked out with jewelry that matches their personality, Lily wearing a gold butterfly choker/necklace and Jackie using multiple dark colored and long necklaces. They will also both be wearing a lot of bracelets that I have and our actress for Lily will wear her hoop earrings, Jackie her small circle ones.

Here are some links to pictures and videos of Arantza and I working with the costumes before handing them off to our actors.

Here, Arantza and I are digging through my mom's huge bag of clothes she no longer wants and wishes to donate. We are looking for the style we want and the sizes of our actors.

Link: Vid of Bag Searching

Link: Pic of Bag Searching

And here, we are trying to see what jewelry looks good stacked together and matches with the shirt we chose for Jackie.

Link: Vid of Trying on Jewelry

Actually making our college acceptance letters

 Hey blog!!!

So, we finished making Jackie and Lily's college acceptance letters!!! For the envelope itself I found some paper-size white envelopes that my dad had stuffed in his office, however it had the name of the company he works for printed on it, so we had to cut out and glue some paper to cover it. Then we printed out some NYU logos, the university our characters will be accepted to, and made up some addresses, typed them up, and printed them out. We also typed and printed out the address of the NYU admissions office and glued everything on the envelope in the layout that they were printed when colleges still used mail for this. 

Inside, to make both envelopes full/thick, showing that they were accepted to NYU, we put in a few magazines Arantza had and random white and purple papers. We also put in an actual college acceptance letter in Lily's envelope which she will open in the mailbox scene. For that letter, we searched up a real acceptance letter from 2005 and basically copied what it said with a few changes, not only ensuring it corresponded to Lily, but also making it interesting and our own, which made it more entertaining for us to write. 

Here are some links of pictures and videos of us making the envelopes and letter:))

Pic of Original Envelope (Before) 

Vid of Me Typing Up Addresses and Finding NYU Logos to Print

Really Long Vid of Me Cutting the Papers we Will Glue

Vid of Arantza Writing/Creating Acceptance Letter

Pic of Final Acceptance Letter

Pic of Final Envelope (and After)

Finding Fonts (alliteration intended)

 Hey blog!!!

So, we are currently looking for fonts to use in the title sequence of our opening. We want to ensure the font fits with the theme and content of our film along with the title itself, which could look weird or difficult to read if typed in certain styles. Which reminds me, I never shared our film's title. So, cue drumroll

The title of our film is....

"When the White Seeds Fall"

We would like to use a swirly font that illustrates the fun of summer and growing up. However we must also keep in mind that the film focuses on deep and dark themes and emotions; therefore the font must reflect that as well and cannot be too whimsical. 

So, here are some of the options I found for the font of our title (which, by the way, are all on Canva)...

Alice:

Alice is a very cute font that I often use for my projects. I love how this font gives off teenage girl having fun in the sun vibes while simultaneously keeping a sort of serious enough tone where the small swirls won't take away from the deepness of this film.

Della Respira: 

This font definitely gives off the seriousness of the themes in our movie with the almost eery and skinny letters. And while I do like it theme-wise, I still feel it is missing some swirls to make it feel more flimsy and warm. This font does, however, remind me of the fonts of film titles I grew up watching, so the nostalgia factor is in there.

The Seasons: 

Truly no reason for this one, I just thought it looked nice. Might be missing some swirls, again, to make it a more fun title, but I like it how it is and still think it gives a big enough teenager summer tone without them.

Amatic SC: 

This is another font I use often. 

Sunday: 

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Sound?

 Hey blog!!!

So, we've been looking into the sounds for our opening and have decided to use Pixabay, a website with copyright free sound effects and music, for our background noises. I will also be recording a few foley sounds with my bluetooth earbuds as mics if I don't find it on Pixabay. And we actually decided what song we want to use for the iconic bike scene. We knew we wanted it to be happy and upbeat, but still soft, summer vibey, and overall cute. So! We found this song called "This is a Restart" by StudioHeta, and we thought it fit perfectly!

Here's the link:)

This is a Restart

Prop Research: College Acceptance Letter💌 + Meds💊

 Hey blog!!!

So, obviously in the 2000s, technology wasn't as well developed as it is now, so physical college acceptance letters were sent through mail rather than email and website inboxes. Since our main prop in this opening is the acceptance letter, I thought I might as well research about it to ensure that it is done right and accurate to the time period. 

The late 2000s is when colleges began to shift from physical acceptance letters to online ones. What I've seen the most throughout this research, though, is the thick and thin envelopes serving as a way for students to know whether they got into the college or not. Typically the acceptance letters came in a white paper size envelope with the the school logo, stamps, and address information. If accepted, the letters were usually as thick as a magazine because it included various forms regarding financial aid, housing, contact information, and more. Inside, they also put flyers and brochures promoting statistics of the school and future events that could help convince students to actually attend the university. But if a student received a thin letter that feels like it only contains one paper, it was very likely that they were rejected from the college. All schools are different, though, some using fancy seals and others only using thin letters.

PICTURE SENT TO ME BY ARANTZA

Arantza and I plan to make these letters ourselves though, using the thick and thin envelopes to make this opening more time accurate. We plan on using a big paper envelope and either printing or simply drawing the information on its exterior. For the inside, we will very likely just stick in random papers and add an acceptance letter we wrote based off of Arantza's college acceptance letters. That letter will be taken out of the envelope by Lily's actress and is what she begins to read out loud at the beginning of our opening, right after our title sequence. 

PICTURE SENT TO ME BY ARANTZA

+ Meds

This is a very simple prop, but since one of our main characters, Lily, is... well she's dying... she needs to be taking pills to at least attempt to get better. Her swallowing some pills is also a scene in our opening, so for this, we chose to use an empty pill container and print out some writing that we can stick on it so it actually looks prescribed to Lily. Inside, we plan on putting Altoids mints so that the actress playing Lily doesn't have to actually swallow a random placebo pill or crumbled piece of paper, and can just take a mint. And to make it more realistic, I have many pill bottles that we can add to the background to make it look like there is a lot of medicine Lily must take.

Prescription pill bottles and pills. (n.d.) [Photograph]. https://i.sstatic.net/5ox7Tm.jpg

Sources:

Thick College Envelopes: A Thing of the Past | Ivy Coach. (2024, October 31). Ivy Coach; Ivy Coach®, Inc. https://www.ivycoach.com/the-ivy-coach-blog/college-decisions/thick-college-envelopes/

‌Communications, D. J. (1997, December 12). Size Doesn’t Matter When It Comes to a Notice of Admission | Newswise. Newswise.com; Newswise. https://www.newswise.com/articles/size-doesnt-matter-when-it-comes-to-a-notice-of-admission

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