That's all folks!

All these weeks of prep finally led up to this one final product.
Without further ado, here is the movie opening "When We Keep Silent" (for best results, listen with headphones).

Thank you to everyone who followed us on our journey, and I hope you enjoy!
If the video is unavailable, use this link to view our project!

My CCR

Hello everyone! This is my CCR for my film opening!

My Reflection

Hello! My name is Andrea Angulo and I will be discussing the production of my film opening
“When we keep silent” created with my partner Ricardo Martiarena.

Our film is a psychological thriller set in the 70s. The main characters are Trevor Mazzanti which was
portrayed by Ricardo, and Trevor’s victim, Eddie, portrayed by William Pritz.  

For this movie, we drove inspiration from many different films, but most specifically Taxi Driver, American
Psycho, and Split.

Ricardo and I loved Taxi Driver’s style. The use of light, color, and aesthetics really spoke to us. We
attempted to recreate the aesthetic somewhat in our film. We stayed close to a red and brown color
scheme in order to immitate the 70s. However, we didn’t have the time or budget to completely fit in all the
visuals, but our mis-en-scene was largely inspired by the film. Trevor’s costume was similar to Travis’s
costume here, following the neutral- colored, jacket-and-pants outfit. We also attempted to have a dull
background to fit in with the 70s theme.

American Psycho was another one of the main inspirations for the bulk of the movie. Christian Bale’s
acting, especially in this scene, was what we wanted to model our script and actions based off of. In this
scene, Bale’s character, Patrick, is extremely energetic and happy, right before and during the killing.
Although Trevor isn’t necessarily enjoying the killing, it is modeled off of Patrick in the way that the
emotions of the killing are different from the violent nature of murder.

The film “Split” was also a main influencer in this movie- especially this scene. This scene is where you
learn about the main character’s “past”, and in some parts sympathize with him. This was extremely
crucial, because the whole plot of our story was to get the audience to somewhat sympathize with
Trevor. In the whole film, Trevor is portrayed as lonely and sentimental. The audience is made to pity him,
the murderer, the same way that we were made to pity the murderer in Split. Although Ricardo and I
did not get to film the entire movie, we were able to use what our intentions were in the entire movie to
plan and make our film opening.

One limitation was trying to convey so much in such a short time. Our movie, if taken only from the
context of the introduction, may not convey the entire plot we intended to show. We hoped to make
Trevor the antagonist and protagonist simultaneously, however, conveying this in two minutes would
be impossible if not rushed.

I felt that within the two minutes we were able to get, we did a pretty good job.

My personal favourite aspect of shooting movies is the set and costume design. It allows me to show
creativity and have a lot of fun creating a whole new character and a whole new world. Even the tiniest
detail such as moving Ricardo’s flower portrait from one side of the bathroom to another made a
difference. In order to get the 70s aesthetic, heavy research was done. People in the 1970s wore
neutral colors, and had very natural or puffed up hair. It was great that our movie focused mainly on
men, because men’s style has not drastically changed as much as women’s style had. We included
details, such as the glasses, that alluded to other very similar types of movies. The glasses were
similar to ross lynch’s glasses used in “My Friend Dahmer”. We knew we were spot on when Ricardo’s
sister, upon seeing Ricardo in costume, asked if he was portraying a serial killer because of his
resemblance to Ted Bundy.

In our movie, we portrayed Trevor as the typical representation of killers and loneliness. We showed
how loneliness could ultimately be destructive and how it could drive people to extremes to get out of
it. Trevor tried to befriend and sympathize with his victims to be friends and get rid of the loneliness.
He keeps the boxes as sentimental items to remind him of his “friends”.

In many ways, we both challenged and used typical conventions in our film opening.

Most movies like ours use low-key lighting to show eeriness and darkness. However, we strayed from
this. Our movie was mostly light and used natural-looking light. This represented a sterile environment,
and also showed how this was a casual affair for Trevor, an everyday event.

We also did not use any music in our film opening. Although music is great at creating moods and
adding suspense, we decided that silence would be even creepier. The silence is almost uncomfortable
to watch and bare, especially since it immerses you in the movie even more. Our camera movements
were also slow compared to the quick movements used in horror movies. We relied on the actors to add
movement and focused on their body language.

There are some conventions we did not stray from either. We stuck to the traditional “loner” and “weird”
serial killer trope. Our themes and characters are also trying to find themselves and their place in
society,and their relation to other people. This emphasizes the unstable or delusional psychological
states of our characters. The domestic setting such as a home bathroom makes it feel more personal.
It also makes nods to the many scary scenes that have occured in bathrooms. Lastly, the muted colors
and then bright colors draw a lot of attention and make it visually interesting.

Our film also stays true to the typical audience of psychological thrillers. Making the gore and violence
very hidden but implied makes it available to more audiences than just adults, but it still would not be
appropriate for children. Many horror movies are usually filled with jump scares, but this movie focuses
on one person and their psyche. If this was in theatres, it would be rated PG13 or R, depending on the
rest of the movie and how gory we are willing to go.

As far as distribution would go, neither Ricardo or I know large distributing companies. Therefore, it
would be best to submit to film festivals first and grow from there. Film festivals are becoming
increasingly popular and are a great way to get your film out there. Once many people view our film, it
would be amazing if a large company put our film on the big screen.

Throughout this journey, I learned several things. First, time management and planning ahead is
extremely important. We had to extend filming from one day to two days mainly because we had
ordered the fake cigarettes too late, and they arrived late. We had to postpone some shots just to
shoot it with the props. I also learned more about makeup and set design. For example, it is important
to underestimate how long makeup will last. I had spent half an hour creating a wound just for it to
melt off once we added the fake blood.

As this was the first time using a camera, I learned tips and tricks to help me get better shots. For
example, Ricardo kept stressing about the 180 degree rule, which was extremely helpful in keeping
fluidity and aesthetics.

Ricardo and I used a google drive to share ideas and information we did not want to lose.
We also collaborated on the script on writerduet.  Ricardo did much of the editing since he is more
familiar with the editing software, Premire. We used Ricardo’s camera, a Lumix G7 which was
incredibly effective and easy to use, even for me.

Overall, I would consider our film opening to be a success. It was so much fun to make, and I learned
valuable skills that I will use in the future of filmmaking.

Editing

We went waaaaaay over with time.
With all that we had to fit, it was extremely hard to cram our entire introduction in under two minutes. Therefore, we had to speed up, cut, and cram multiple shots in order to just reach our time limit.
So far, Ricardo and I only have the video together. We have to record sound over it and create Foley. This Tuesday is a Super Testing Day at our school, and it is not mandatory for Juniors to attend, therefore I will meet up with Ricardo to wrap up editing before I go to work.
Ricardo is using Premier in order to edit, which  unfortunately lags and crashes on Ricardo's computer.
So far, we have created our title as well. We placed it after Trevor walks out of the room and the entire screen is only white doors.  We are still discussing design and other important components.
However, Ricardo and I do have the visual part of the movie edited, with scenes cut and fitted into 2 minutes. We will also work on making sure nothing in the movie appears rushed, which may be a problem. Although everything may fit, it is hard to sacrifice the time for fluidity. Furthermore, future editing will consist of sound, checking fluidity, color editing, and much more.
I am excited to finish the editing process because after that, our intro will be finished. We have worked so hard and put a lot of effort into this project, and it is satisfying to see our hard work pay off.

It wasn't all smooth sailing :(

Although I believe shooting went relatively well, there were many problems we faced on set.
First, as previously discussed, the cigarettes arrived much later than was expected. this delayed our shooting by a day, and the day that we did shoot, Ricardo and I were both in a time crunch, and had to hurry production. The ashtray we used was filled with real cigarettes, which stunk up the room. The lit fake cigarette also ignited the dead ones, and after every couple of minutes, I would have to leave the room to have  breath of fresh air.
Our actor was also available to shoot for only a limited time. Therefore, we weren't able to get shots of him and Ricardo's character together, which was disappointing. The only shot we got was of Ricardo's hand reaching towards the wound.
Many times, shots were ruined by the lighting equipment accidentally getting into the frame. These takes, however good they were, had to be scrapped. It was disappointing as well as annoying as we had to keep moving the light around to avoid shadows and to get usable shots.
The fake blood we used, since it was made of syrup, messed up the wound makeup and made it look terrible by the time we shot it on camera. It also made almost everything on set extremely sticky. It was great in terms of aesthetics and realism, but terrible for practicality.
Another problem was that Ricardo couldn't cry. We tried multiple times for him to cry, but the tears just wouldn't come. Ricardo used onions and held them up to his eyes, watch the intro to UP, and put eye drops on his eyes in order to make it seem like he was crying. In the end of the day, we had him angle his head lower so people wouldn't notice his lack of tears.
We worked through all of the problems we encountered and I am excited to see the final result.

Shooting

Overall, shooting was a success.
It was a two-day process but we got plenty of footage. Ricardo and I fear we might have too much, but that will be fixed in editing.
The reason why shooting took two days was because we were waiting for a package to arrive, and we had to film the final two shots with it.
Our actor, who was from Orlando and attending the University of Central Florida, drove nearly 4 hours and shot all his scenes in a couple of hours. We also shot his scenes first so that he would not have to get back so late. This created a huge limitation as we couldn't get a shot of them together to show their relationship, which was such a big part of the plot.
Other than that, shooting was relatively smooth. The camera I found was easy to use, and I found creative ways of getting great shots. For example, in Ricardo's emotional scene, I first slid down the wall of the shower, and as he stood, then shifted to the other side of the bathtub. The shot ended up looking great, and I was impressed with my camerawork.

Makeup

I had spent additional money on makeup materials in order to make everything look realistic and amazing.
However, one error I committed which I completely regret is not using spirit gum.
I used Graftobian modeling wax in order to create the wound, as seen here:

I had used this wax before, but for some reason, it was incredibly hard to use the day of filming. The makeup took me half an hour because I had to keep re-doing the wound. The wax would stick to me, the spatula, or anything except for the actor. It became even worse when chunks kept falling off and I would have to keep re-sticking it.
At the end, once I had fixed everything, it looked pretty good! I had added texture and blended it into the actor's skin with NYX "Stay Matte but Not Flat" powder foundation. However, that did not last long. One the actor got into the tub, it all went pretty  fine until we put the fake blood on him. Then, the would literally fell off of his skin. It ended up looking like this in the final cut:

In my opinion, that looks absolutely terrible. However, we did not have time to re-do the wound. Therefore, before shooting, we kept putting more fake blood that was dark enough to cover it up. Although you can see it in the opening, it is not too noticeable that it is destroyed. It is also very much implied that there is a wound where the blood is dripping from. 

Next time, I will be more careful and buy spirit gum. I suspect the corn syrup we used in the blood may have caused it to slip off.