Final Project

CCR

FInal cut

Okay so i'm, pretty much done with this editing stuff. Ive started the color grading process and its going really well. Ive put a sort of blue tint on all of the videos. The only difficult part of this was making all of the shots look the same color wise. I also added this sort of fog look to make it look more apocalyptic. Overall the shots look good, but I need to fix a few minor videos. Im also having trouble using the warp stabilizer as it trims, crops, and makes some of the shots look like jello. Others than that i'm pretty much done. I saved the music for last as well so that I can choose a song that fits. I also left the title for last as I wanted to see the final product before coming up with one.

Turn up the volume

Ughhhhhh. Audio is the most annoying thing to work with. It took me HOURS to add in footsteps that matched the timing of the video. I recorded these by going outside, gathering a pile of leaves and crunching them up. This worked with the video because it was in a forest scene, otherwise I would have done it differently. The natural scene also inspired me to do other forms of sound that could be found outdoors.  For example,  I found a non-copyrighted overlay of birds chirping that is played on loop throughout the video in the background. Much of the audio had bits of people in the background, which was rather bothersome, and at some points I had to lower the original volume, so that they could not be heard.  
As for the foley sounds, thus far I only included one where the zombie was banging on the door. I created this sound by banging a book on the side of a plastic cabinet. I did this because the camera was too far from the wall to pick up the sound of the actor banging on it.  I also filmed the audio for the conversation between the child and his mother, I also found some radio sounds that I mixed into the conversation. 
I am yet to find the music or the zombie noises for the film, which are the most important parts of the audio. I am getting the music from Killer Tracks, but i have not found out where I am going to get the zombie noises from.  For now I am going to keep mixing the audio and using the most amount of original audio possible. 

Listen out for more!!

   

Lights, Camera, Action!

I finished filming!! I went back to Markham to film again, but this time I dedicated a full day to filming and I think it went well. Sadly, my camera died, but I got my main shots done and I think I have enough time to make the film. I stuck to a small spot away from people, which was difficulty because, there was a huge biking event of some sort and booths were set up throughout the entire park. I ended up finding a nice secluded section of forest that had a lake in the center which was perfect for filming. 
The only issue was that some voices and boats can be heard in the background of the videos, but with inputted audio, that could be solved. I've already played and organized all of the footage and inputted them into Premiere Pro, to start editing. I have the larger shots where I want them to go and now i'm just going to add in the smaller ones to fill in the space and add extra time. After that I am going to start trimming the rough edges so that the video flows. Once that is done i'll start editing the footage and audio (color correction, warp stabilizer, music, sound effects, graphics, etc.). Im fairly happy with how the shots came out, many of them are composed nicely, with only minor errors such as: shaky video and blurriness. 

This is a raw capture of one of my shots, to demonstrate the video quality. In the sunlight the shots did not come out this nice, but they aren't awful or unusable either. I can also correct some of them with color grading. 
You can also see the scenery here as well, which I am pleased with, as it adds that abandoned and dismal feel, that many of the zombie movies include. I think I captured that well, so thats a plus for me. I also got some shots of just the scenery so that I can include it in some of the blank spots. 
This is only the section of the film that comes after the first scene, which I filmed just before the forest ones. That part includes the main character waking up in a scare, as a zombie bangs on the door. Then the main character gathers all of his things and makes a radio call to his mother, who is in the city. I haven't recorded the audio for this part yet, but it is essentially a conversation between the whereabouts of the two. Then after the call a long shot shows the character leaving. This is where the forest shots will be played, acting as the journey to the city.  The main focus is actually on that scene so, the forest shots, wont have a lot of appeal to action and or adventure, with the exception of the a close encounter with a zombie that sends the main character on a run. 
Editing is pretty much my next step, and although I am looking forward to it, I am also dreading the load of work that it takes.

See you next time!

Attempted

So today I went to  Markham Park to film my project, but ended up being cut short because the sun went down.  I got some good shots and i'm not totally angry because it helped me understand how the shots were to be filmed and some good spots to film. I don't mind making another trip out there because now I know what I want and it will be much easier and go by a lot faster. A lot of the shots were also blurry, but now I think I have a better understanding of how to use the camera and the focus on it. The tripod shots were very steady so I was pleased with that. I should have no trouble inputting the graphics into the steady shots, although I do not know whether I am even going to use these clips in my actual intro.  Many of them are dark because I got out there at around 5 and only had about 2 hours to film. Overall this was more of a learning experience more then anything so i'm happy I at least got out there. 
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I found this really cool spot to film. A trial leads up to this so it would be perfect for filming. Its also very secluded, I didn't see one individual while I was out there. I think that the openness gives it a sort of post apocalyptic feel by itself, because of the wide, lifeless, plot of land.  There were many other cool spots in the forests, where I mainly focused my filming on.  I have no doubt that the location is a good choice for the film. The swamp area provides a cool look as well. 

This is another area that I want to film in. I planned out where I would want the graphics in the lake. The trees are also visible in this photo. As you can see they are dense and look rather abandoned.  If i can find a shack of some sort next time, I might not even have to go to Holiday Park to film, this place has it all. I plan on going back out there to film within the next few days. I have junior privilege every other day so I am allowed to leave school 2 hours early, which gives me some time to film.  Im excited to get back out there!

Until next time....  

No time

It is Wednesday and I have not started filming...This time it wasn't because I procrastinated, but because every time I wanted to go out, I either had no ride, or no one to help me film. The weekdays are incredibly hard for me to work out a good day, because my parents are working and a lot of my friends either don't have cars, or are on vacation. I still have a few more days left to film, so i'm not particularly concerned, but I want to get filming soon. 

I guess an upside to the magazine, would be that I wouldn't of had to go out of my way to complete it, because mostly anything can be done from home which is so much more convenient. I feel like I already have most of the aspects in line and I don't really have much to work on now, except filming and editing.  I think the only part thats still in the air is what i want to film where so here it goes: 

For starters i'd like to film the beginning in Holiday park, because there is an abandoned shack there that is a good location for my waking up scene. There are also some nice dirt trails around that area, so it would be easy to film the main character's journey to the city. Markham has excellent spots for filming forest scenes, which I mentioned is very popular in post apocalyptic films.  I could get a lot of long shots of the character in the forest and I also want to film the running scene after the boy sees a crowd of zombies. This is perhaps the hardest part, because I will need someone to run behind me while filming, which is almost certainly going to be shaky. As for the other shots (with the exception of the very beginning) they will be filmed with a tripod.  There is also a large lake that makes a good filming spot, not for any particular reason. I also want to add some PNG pictures into the water, such as a sunken boat, or bones of some sort. Vista View is my last choice for filming as it is not necessary to filming, but if I do not have enough clips, then it is always my plan C.  I honestly don't even think I need to go there, unless absolutely necessary, seeing as how this is only the intro to a film. 


Time to get out there and film.....