Final Reflection of this Project

 This project has by far been the longest and most tedious project I've ever done, there were days where I was just thinking about how I'd rather swap classes than do an 8-week project, but by the end of the 8 weeks I honestly enjoyed myself a bit, I was able to record something entirely my own with my boys, and we had a ton of fun recording it and adding some little inside jokes in the film opening. 

I was inspired by some of my favorite crime/mafioso movies and did research on the openers and the credit sequence. The research step of the whole project had to be the most important part of it. These blogs I've created throughout these 8 weeks show the research I've done on everything. I created draft scripts, shot lists and timelines. They all contributed to my final result which I am proud of and helped make the process easier to keep track of. 

The Monsters We Become

INT. HOUSE – NIGHT

A quiet street. One house lit.

INT. BASEMENT STAIRWELL – NIGHT

Muted voices below. The NARRATOR descends the stairs.

BASEMENT – NIGHT

A group of MEN in dark suits stand and sit in silence.

Smoke lingers.

NARRATOR (V.O.)

Everyone here had a role.

The narrator scans the room.

ON LOUIS 

Restless. Leaning against the wall.

NARRATOR (V.O.)

That’s Louis. He never handled pressure well.

EXT. ALLEY – NIGHT (FLASHBACK)

Louis stands by a dumpster, breathing fast.

He looks around. Nervous.

He throws a body bag into the dumpster.

INT. BASEMENT – NIGHT

Louis steadies himself.

CAMERA ON SECOND MAN 

Seated. Papers on the table.

NARRATOR (V.O.)

Some people keep their hands clean.

Money moves quicker.

CAMERA ON OLDER MAN 

Still. Watching everyone.

NARRATOR (V.O.)

Others don’t need to say anything at all.

The older man meets the narrator’s eyes.

CAMERA BACK TO NARRATOR

NARRATOR (V.O.)

I grew up thinking this was normal.

That this was family.

WIDE SHOT – BASEMENT

The men talk quietly.

NARRATOR (V.O.)

Turns out, not everyone does.

FADE OUT.

My original Script

Of course, with every task comes its problems and I think my biggest change was my script and my new film script. My original script was too hard for me to achieve since I needed a lot of actors which would have complicated a lot of things, I would have needed to make a script where voiceover is majority which I didn't like too much, and I would've had to set up a date for all these actors to come to my home and record. I changed my script to only have 3 actors instead of 5+ which made the whole process a lot less stressful. I also made my new script dialogue focused which felt better for the film opener I was trying to achieve. 

-----

I had minor setbacks during my filming progress, I had to delete some footage since I added too much footage that went over the time limit by 20 seconds, and my teacher helped me decide what to delete. I also had problems recording certain scenes where everything needed to be perfect like for example the scene where I walk towards the garage. I played as the main character whereas my friends played 2 side characters one a supplier and one a cousin of the main character. 

Overall, I really like how everything turned out and how I improved as a producer, editor, and actor in a film opening! This project will allow me to have less problems with similar projects like these in the future since I've already been through the whole process in a very efficient way. Even though I hated this portfolio at the beginning, by the end I enjoyed it and realized how important this was to improve my skills and really learn something valuable.