Editing My Sweet Melody

        Editing, my sweet melody has proven to be a huge pain. But by far my least favorite part is having to sort through all the footage from the camera SD card on my computer. Looking through all the footage on the card, some videos dating back to 2013, finding all of my footage, naming it, and sorting it into its own folder, was a whole task on its own, and probably took me an entire day. Thankfully, after that got done, I was able to create my project and start organizing my footage. 

         I first started by just cropping and laying down my shots in the correct sequence of events. After that, I realized I had to cut a lot of footage or my film opening would end up being four minutes long… This was gonna be hard. I felt like every shot had its purpose for being there and I had extreme difficulty in cutting shots because of this. Eventually, I was able to shorten my film to two minutes and 30 seconds however, this is still too long I needed to take off at least another 15 seconds, but taking out an entire shot, would mess up the sequence of events and the continuity of the film. So I decided just to cut off bits and pieces from the shots already laid down so that they were much shorter shots with more frequent cuts. And it worked!

        Using the website, YouTube studios,I found this copyright free song Snow Peaks part 1 by Chris Haugen, and thought it perfect for my film. So I laid down the MP3, after the clip of Kai, closing his eyes, and inserted a Crossfade in order to transition into the memory. Between each memory sequence, I used a tip to black dissolve to transition from memory to memory.

Final day of filming

 Wrap on My Sweet Melody

    Day 2 was the final day of filming and it was a huge success. Both of my actors and crew arrived on Sunday around 1pm. We started with filming the tight close up of Fabiana playing the piano, and the guitar. These shots were very hard to get, but also prompted many laughs since Fabiana does not know how to play either instruments, and because her acrylic nails were too long. Since I myself play the piano, I gave her a brief rundown on how a pianist's hands move on the keys. For example, how you sometimes hold a chord down with your left hand while playing with your right, and correct wrist position. The shot came out beautifully despite the unrealistic playing. 

On the left is a picture of myself, Andrea, Santiago, and Fabiana (from left to right).

    After getting these shots, I decided to finish all of the flashback scenes. I have a total of 4 scenes to show. Melody playing the piano, playing the guitar, Kai and melody talking while she plays the guitar, and the two interacting on the couch. These four flashback scenes show the connection Melody had with Kai, and the two's relationship.

 

 

  One struggle during filming I faced was the height of my tripod. While it is by no means short, I wanted to get a high angle for once of the scenes in the memory montage due to lighting issues outside. So here was my solution...using Andrea as a tripod. While she definitely was not the most steady stand since she kept laughing, the shot came out pretty good so it worked out. The photo was taken by Santiago as I focused my lens.

   I then had to finish the shots I wasn't able to get of Kai during day 1, where he packs the picnic. Once this was done, we packed up all our gear including camera, tripod, picnic basket, blanket, and guitar into Andrea's car and drove over to the park. The rest of the filming went smoothly, however it was a bit rushed out of fear of losing daylight. 

But that is a WRAP on filming My Sweet Melody! Below is a little video I took with the cast and crew as were leaving the park after packing up.

More complications with shooting schedule

     Day 2 of filming was marked for 4 pm on Thursday the 23rd. Surprise! Something came up at Fabiana's school and she had to stay much longer than planned in order to finish a group project due that same night. I completely understand her situation, however I would not be able to film without her. So Thursday's shoot was canceled. Day 2 was then re-scheduled for Friday 24th instead. This was the perfect day, because Fabiana did not have school on this day, so we could meet early in the morning finish all filming. 

    Once Thursday night came around, Santiago send me a message telling me he would be traveling to an amusement park on Friday morning.

Consequently, we regretfully had to hold day two off until Sunday the 16th at 1pm. I was really hoping we'd get all the footage necessary. I also contacted my friend Andrea Marcano who would be helping me film and giving me creative advise regarding the visual aspect of my film.

Day one of filming

 Day 1 of filming 

  

    Day one of the filming did not go great. Here’s the story; arrival on set (my house) was scheduled for 2:30pm on March twenty-first. Santiago, who is playing Kai, planned to arrive at 2:30pm. However, Fabiana, who is playing Melody, planned to arrive at 4:30pm because of school. The problem lies in the lack of communication. Santiago did not tell me that he would have to leave at 4pm due to other plans, and I did not find this out until he arrived. As a result, I was able to get very few shots: Kai waking up, Kai washing his face and doing his hair. Since there are very few shots of just melody, I ended up telling Fabiana to simply not come. Despite my filming schedule being delayed, I'm glad we were at least able to get the beginning shots. Day two is scheduled for Thursday March 23, at 4 pm.

CCR Planning and Scirpt

 Infomercial

    I decided to split up my four questions for my CCR with the first three in one video, and the fourth one on technology in another. This is because I decided to do a sort of infomercial for my CCR. I felt like this was a good way to make it creative, and to have fun with it in general. I will do this by filming myself saying my script, and inserting b-roll.

    Below is my script for my first CCR.

Infomercial CCR

Updates and absence

  

 So, I’ve been absent from my blog for quite some time because life has been crazy. I had a three-day school trip for a state French competition, of which I won overall in my level and category (WOOHOO!!), and then during my week of spring break I had a trip to New York. So, here are my updates.  

    First of all, I made some changes to Melody. She's a musician now! I came up with this idea out of desperation, if I'm honest. I was having a lot of trouble finding a song to be "Melody and Kai's" song. I initially planned to have the sing "Until I Found You" by Stephen Sanchez, because the tone and lyrics perfectly embody exactly what I want the audience to feel, and fits the context of the film perfectly.

I went about this by messaging the artist. However, I never received a response.

I later found out that Stephen Sanchez was under a contract with Atlanta Records, and decided it wasn't even worth trying to get the rights to use his song from the company, because I was very short on time and did not have time to wait for a response. As a result, I used a website called Epidemic Sound to look for a copyright free song. But even from there...I didn't find anything I liked. So I thought "what if I just used an instrumental song, and Melody was the musician?" And I loved that idea. I got permission from my friend Sarah to borrow her acoustic guitar, and I even used my own keyboard and decided to include shots of Melody playing the instruments to push the idea that she was a musician. 

Props

• Prop List!!!

I’ve compiled a general prop list. However, it is likely to change, depending on the location, the final location decided for the film, and whatever issues we face along the way

Picnic basket

• 
  
  
  Comb
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Calendar
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Location Scouting

Oh Looking for the perfect picnic location

    Last night I was out on a drive with my mom when I explained to her my idea for my film opening. When I Got to the park where Kai, my main character, goes to a park to set up for a picnic, I expressed my concern for the perfect location for these shots. I told her that I wanted a wide grassy area without any sign of roads or cars in the area, or even other people who may get in the shot. She then told me about two parks in my area that would make for good locations. 

These are photos from the first location, Park A.

While this area of the park would facilitate filming, as it is a flat area, I dislike the trees in the background, and the location is right beside a color field, making it not the ideal location for this.

Location B: 

This location is far more ideal for this such scene, because it depicts a wide spread plot of grass with less of a busy background.

Casting Problems: Part 2

 The film gods must hate me

    So, to start where I left off in my previous casting post, I also considered casting my other friend Santiago, or Santi, as the role of Melody. This option was based solely on the fact that Fabi and Santi are dating, so they already have a preestablished relationship which would translate well on screen during the flashback. However, This decision would clash with my idea for Melody as a character, and my decision to cast Fabi as Kai. It may seem like the easy fix here would be to switch the roles, Santi is a very comedic actor, and I have difficulty imagining him being able to communicate his heartbreak for a camera, which is why I wanted to stick with Ale as Melody.

    Regardless, based on my production schedule in one of my previous posts, I wanted to start filming next week, so I messaged all three actors, Ale, Fabiana, and Santiago, asking which days work best for them to film. And this is where everything got even more complicated. Ale informed me that he would no longer be able to be in my film opening because of his school work load. Which of course, as a High School junior myself, I completely understand and do not blame him at all. However, this will definitely change my characters, if I decide to keep Santi and Fabi as my actors.

Brief Character Analysis

 Character analysis

This is a brief summary of my characters that I will be sending to Fabiana and Santiago, my actors, for them to get a feel for the who these characters are and their relationship. 

Kai (alive):

Age: Early to mid twenties

• The type of love my two characters had was one of deep emotional connection with one another. One that cannot be found in a teenage relationship, which is why I am not making it a teen romance. Making this a teen romance would cause conflict with my story line, simply because I want two very mature individuals.

Gender: unknown

• I decided not to give this character a gender because it is unimportant to the story line. 

About Kai:

• Kai has a history of depression, and was able to confide in their best friend Melody. Kai and Melody had been best friends since they were both 8 years old. Kai had been in love with Melody since they turned 16, but wasn’t able to confess their feelings until age 17. Despite her depression, Melody was a solid support system for Kai. Kai never had a good relationship with their parents because they were never home. With Melody, Kai felt carefree.

Melody (dead):

I decided to name this character Melody, because it makes for a good film title. Since the name of the film will be My Sweet Melody, it makes for a double meaning sing the name melody correlates to song

Age when died: And of teen years to early twentie

Gender: women/feminine presenting 

• I want this character to be feminine presenting, visuals revolving mainly around yellow and green.

Cause of death: genetic illness

• Melody died of an undefined genetic illness. The viewers will only see a brief clip of Meldy lying in a hospital bed, insinuating that an illness was the cause of her death. 

About Melody: 

• Melody was always a very caring individual who loved to make others laugh. Kai meant everything to her, and she had deeply cared for Kai for as long as she could remember. Melody is portrayed as angelic and as a light in Kai’s life.