Shooting practice: found footage horror scene recreation

 This post contains a mini project that Kristine, Maisie and I completed in class (Lamiya was absent). Maisie and I were in charge of editing and Kristine was in charge of making the blog.

Lesson description

For this mini project, Mr. Nick instructed us to recreate a scene from a movie based on the genre that we picked for our big project (found-footage horror). The movie that we picked was Paranormal Activity 3. Here is our final product, edited by Maisie and I.

Editing process

In this step, Maisie was trying to put the two clips side by side. At first we didn't know how to do it, but then Kristine told us. Turns out, it was pretty simple. 

In this step, Maisie and I were trying our best to time the two clips identically. We realized that in some moments, the two clips don't align with each other. This was really challenging, but we managed to pull through.

In this step, we tried to put on a filter on our original video so that it looks more orange, like the original video. But, it wasn't possible because then it'd affect the clip from the movie as well, making it too orange. 

In addition to that, at the same time, we also tried to add a timestamp to our video to make it more realistic. We had some difficulties in searching for the template on CapCut, so we had to search online. This video really helped us:

Storyboard

This is the storyboard that we worked on together. Maisie was in charge of drawing it.

Problems and solutions

Camera

Problems: 

1. We had problems with the steadiness of the camera since we used Maisie's hands (the cameraman) to film instead of a tripod.

2. When filming, my legs were accidentally shown in frame.

Solutions:

1. The "HRD" feature on the camera app in iPhone cancels out the shakiness, which creates a smoother and clean finish.

2. We decided to just crop the top portion of the video to cut out my legs.

Next time:

1. We will make sure to bring a tripod for more stable filming.

2. Before filming, we'll make sure to double check the locations of everything to prevent unwanted things to be captured by the camera.

Mise-en-scene

Problems:

1. Controlling the props was a little challenging because we had to make sure the props disappear and appear properly in just one whole take. 

2. The location we filmed at didn't look much like the original so we had to make modifications.

Solutions:

1. We asked help from Mr. Nick to remove all the props in time.

2. We gained permission to borrow some props from the janitor's closet.

Next time:

1. Working with incomplete members was quite difficult, so we'll try to get everyone involved next time.

2. We'll look for a more accurate environment in better circumstances next time.

Edit

Problems:

1. Timing the two clips together so that the objects fall at the same time was challenging to do.

2. The internet was slow at the time so exporting took longer than expected.

Solutions:

1. We used cuts and slow motion to adjust the clips so that they both happen at the same time.

2. We used our own personal hotspot through our phones to speed the process up.

Next time:

1. We will make sure to memorize the timing to minimize editing in the future.

2. We hope our school wifi gets better in the future.

Sound

Problems:

1. The wind was pretty strong so it was difficult to communicate/give signals to each other during filming. 

2. There was another group in the same area who were being loud while filming.

Solution:

1. We decided to use the original scene's audio and mute our original video.

Next time:

1. We'll try to film somewhere suitable indoors to reduce excessive sounds.

2. We'll try to film somewhere more private where there's no one expect us.

Behind the scenes

Reflection

Although we only had three people in our group, this project was really fun and easy to do. Kristine created most of this blog work and Maisie and I enjoyed editing together. All the problems we faced, we found solutions to pretty quickly and we've noted them down for next time. I think this was a good exercise to get us ready for our big project that is coming up.