I'm back

I'm finally back to Weston and settled in my new home. There's only one week left, the time goes by so fast. This week I'm going to concentrate completely on the project and finish it by Friday so I have the weekend to revise it and fix any details that are off. I also have to do the reflection which will take time so I will dedicate most of my free time this week on this project. I feel like I'm behind which is not good but I couldn't really do much this last week and a half. I knew what was going to happen but it was more than expected and I tried to take advantage of what was happening. 

This week will also be the last week of postings! These have been very helpful and kind of fun as I can write about whatever I want (related to the project) and it's cool to see the creative and production process of the project. Hopefully in a week you guys can see a great film introduction and I can be proud of the final product.

The Box

I bought a wooden box and some stuff in A.C. Moore to make my own box as I 'lost' my original one. It also adds a personal touch. I painted it black to make it more mysterious looking and I added foam inside to make it look more official/important.

 




This box is really important as it will be the main thing that start the whole plot for my movie so I want to make sure to make it look good. I'm planning on taking extreme close ups of this box too so that's why I'm putting detail into it. This also has been pretty fun to do as I love to do things with my hands and its cool to introduce something I made into the film I'm also making :).

I'm out

Today I left Weston an I won't be back until the end of next week (Spring Break). It's been hard to record in such an eventful week and it will continue to be as I'm first travelling 8 hours by car to South Carolina, staying there for 2 days, then 10 hours more to Kentucky and the coming back. It will be tough and I think it would be better if I had the recordings as I could work on them in the car but I have not much right now. I will try to record over there like maybe other cool shots but I can't really record the main scenes as I need the props. My only worry is that time is running out and I still need to finish the filming. I'm not worried about the editing or music as I have a lot more experience with that and I can do it much faster.

New ideas

So I decided to turn this "problem" of having everything packed in my house to a positive. I thought that this is actually something that is not common to see and something different that might be cool to record. I wanted to record some time-lapses of them packing the stuff up but I couldn't really do it as when I arrive (at 3:30) they are almost leaving. So I just changed a little the plot. Instead of Tommy looking for the box, he finds it while counting the boxes in the house. He finds this box saying "dad's stuff" where he finds 'the box' with the usb stick. However, I don't have the box anymore so I have to find one. Still I filmed without showing what was inside the box.

I'm not completely convinced about these scenes but at least they are something to have and they don't have to be final.

I didn't expect this

I knew that my mom and dad were moving to Chile this week and my house was going to be moved as well so a company came and packed everything up with cardboard. I didn't really realize that they only took 1 day to pack the whole first floor, which was where I was planning on filming the first couple of plot scenes. Unfortunately, when I arrived home after school everything was packed up and I couldn't really film so I have to change plans.

I think they will take around 4 days to pack everything up and move them to the truck. So I don't really know what to do. Also, some of the props I thought on using like some of my dad's awards and certificates, a little box and a usb stick were packed in one of the hundreds of boxes so I can't really get them back. I will be staying with some family friends until I graduate but I will go there when the moving finishes so I'm kind of stuck.                             

Looking good

Ok so I wasn't sure how to let the viewer know that the father of the family has recently died without explicitly stating it. I decided to start with some setting shots of the cemetery and a picture of the family resting on a tomb. The viewer can deduce that someone has recently died, but not know who of the family, so I zoom in on the dad's face on the next scene. I used an old picture of my uncle with my brother but it works as my brother is also a redhead.  

I also shot a bunch of random shots to see if I include one at the start for the credits. For example a curious frog toy that was hanging off a tree and some pretty flowers that were moving with the wind.

It's time

The time has come. I asked for my friend's help and he agreed to help me record during this week, so I'll probably start doing the shots where Tommy appears as those I can do right now. The establishing shots at the beginning, where most of the credits will appear, I will do in spring break as I'm going to my uncle's house in Kentucky and my cousin is actually a software engineer working at Google right now. I'll ask him if I can record stuff in his room like a cabinet full of computer science related books and stuff, certificates and awards, and just random technological stuff to set how the father is an engineer and really into programming. I'll also ask for his help to make a cool program to be ADAM, as he is like a genius at that stuff. I know how to do a basic program but he can probably help me designing the User Interface and other details so it looks good.

I'm just going to use my phone in the end as Mrs. Stok said, we have to demonstrate our knowledge and use of technique in our film rather than the quality of the picture. Therefore, I'm going to concentrate in using what I've learned so far to create a true Sci-Fi film opening. A shot that I want to include is when Tommy is using the computer, have a fish-eye kind of shot from the laptop's perspective looking at Tommy typing. This will give the feeling that the computer is alive and is watching him through the webcam. It also subtly shows how maybe the intentions of ADAM are not honest and it is a threat to Tommy's safety.

Almost ready to record

I have everything set to start recording as I want to finish the recording by next week (hopefully). This way I have time the next few weeks to concentrate on the audio and editing. The main props I'll use will be a laptop that I have, the USB stick in a fancy looking box, pictures and fake certificates/awards of the dad's profession as an engineer. Now it will be much easier to film as I can just do it in my house lol.

Something that I learned when doing the music video project was the importance of a storyboard before recording something. I was really useful as it gave us an idea of the overall project as well as organizing each and every shot with its respective techniques. This saved so much time at the time of recording because we already knew what we needed to record and how to record it. The index cards are an easy and good way to make it because they are easy to manipulate and you can write the specifics of each shot at the back of each card. I will use many close-ups and extreme close-ups of inanimate objects like the USB stick, the computer camera, the program, etc. as this is commonly done in sci-fi films. 

                                             Analog closeup in Alien (1979)

Also back and forth shots between Tommy and ADAM to establish the forming relationship. Well, here are some of the first shots that I have planned to record.

Group Meeting 2.0

So today we had the second group meeting so far, and again it was a pretty successful one. I was put in a different group than before, which made me hear from other projects, genres and perspectives. We all started by sharing the plots of our stories and highlighting the strongest and weakest parts of them. For example, one of the members in my group wanted to make a romantic introduction of a Hispanic couple. It was mainly a great idea, but she wanted the dialogue to be in Spanish so she was going to add subtitles to it. We suggested her that either she kept the dialogue to the minimum while being able to understand what is happening or just speak in English while maintaining Hispanic culture and aspects in the characters. Great feedback was given and a lot of new ideas on how to end the introduction were given, which was good because its hard to know when to stop the intro. We figured that it wasn't good to end it with the film's title as it made it look more of a trailer. Instead, its better to keep recording after the title and stop when a new scene starts.

I asked my group three specific questions:

1) How to portray that the father is a software engineer without explicitly stating it?

2) How to portray that the father died recently?

3) Whether I should show the mom and dad before the incident.

With the help of my group we figures that maybe some kind of memorial inside the house with a photograph of the dad next to some flowers and some candles would work as a way of implicitly showing that the dad died. We figured that maybe by showing some shots of different diplomas and scientific awards the audience would know that the dad was a software engineer or something similar. Finally, some in my group recommended me to show the dad and mom before the accident, and show Tommy in the funeral, which meant going to the cemetery, but I think that would take up too much time of the 2-minutes and would also be hard to record (more actors for the funeral and having to go to a random tomb, no thanks). Instead I'll focus on the latter part of the plot where the boy interacts with ADAM.

Obstacles

This weekly's conversation with Mrs. Stoklosa was very helpful because it made me realize how some of my ideas were good in concept but were going to be really hard to produce. For example, having to show how a modern looking setting changes to a broken/abandoned one is not something I will be able to do easily. This is why that same day I kept the good ideas I had and got rid of the rest and started a new story, maintaining the same theme and concept of technological singularity (obviously).

I tried to think about something the whole day but I couldn't come up with anything concrete. I stayed up late that night doing another project for school when I got distracted looking at a broken USB stick that was laying around. That's when it finally crossed my mind that the technology didn't have to be futuristic as modern technology is enough for AI to exist. Here's the new plot:

An average family is mourning the death of the father, that died unexpectedly not long ago. The only son, a teenage boy (Tommy) feeling nostalgic and lost without his dad, starts looking through his father's things in the hopes to find something that may bring some closure to the incident. The dad was a successful software engineer, which is why his office has many computers and technological instruments. Looking through his boxes he finds this odd looking box, and inside it contains a flash drive with the letters ADAM written on it. He takes it and connects it into his computer to see what was inside this USB. Before doing anything, a screen pops up and it has a message greeting him. Tommy is curious on what this whole thing is and starts asking questions. The program seems to have it's own personality, but Tommy is skeptical if he should trust it. Not thinking straight and being very vulnerable Tommy begins to think that maybe his dad is still alive and in the form of this program. However, some hints give the impression that ADAM has a different purpose.

Potential Location

Looking for cool different locations I found this website https://www.directvillasflorida.com/florida-blog/index.php/forgotten-florida/ that has some very cool abandoned places that would be awesome to film in. However, a lot of these have been demolished already or it's not easy to get into. One abandoned hospital in North Miami, though, has that post-apocalyptic look similar to the one in Portal 2, which could be useful.

If I end up choosing to portray the after math of singularity, I would use this type of environment. However, I would've to change my original idea as I planned on showing prior the destruction of everything.

I'm also getting some ideas on how the title of the movie will appear on the screen as I want it to look impactful and futuristic, which is why I've been looking for cool fonts, colors and drawing for ideas.

Props

I've been searching all over my house for potential props and objects for the film. To portray Adam I think I'll use an old laptop and modify it into something that looks more futuristic (because laptops are not futuristic nor intimidating at all). Instead I want to build something simplistic but advanced. I've also made kind of a list of things I wanna subtly hint to like: Boston Dynamics and their huge impact on AI robots owned by Google, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Valve's video game series Portal, Daft Punk, etc.

Portal is probably my favorite game as it has one of the most creative and cool concepts ever, it's a great game developed by a great company like Valve, it's story is compelling and filled with clever humor and if I had to play a game all over again it would be Portal without a doubt. Portal 2's beginning also kind of inspired me because it begins with no explanation to what happened after the ending of the first game. You just appear in a futuristic but destroyed society in which nature has taken over and there's no other living thing but you. The villain in Portal is GLaDOS, who is a super smart computer that makes you go through countless puzzles in order to test the portal gun.
                                                                                          GLaDOS

Research on Singularity

I'm going to start reading some books on technological singularity to get inspiration and learn more about the subject. There are plenty of books and research regarding this subject but I've decided to go with Life 3.0 by Max Tegmark. And the novel The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect by Roger Williams which is free and looks relatively short. 

                                                                             

Other than books and articles about it, I've also been researching the opinions of people like Bill Gates and Elon Musk on this subject and their predictions for the future. It looks like this theory brings a lot of wonder and uncertainty as technology advances faster and faster. This article by Forbes talks about how worrying the subject is and how if we are not careful it can happen in the next 20 to 30 years (https://www.forbes.com/sites/cognitiveworld/2019/02/10/the-troubling-trajectory-of-technological-singularity/#d466e8671158). I aim to leave the audience thinking about this matter and bringing suspense to keep them interested. However, to achieve this the antagonist has to be realistic and intimidating, which I need to figure out how to create. 

Concrete Ideas

Finally, I've decided on a subject for my introduction. I started to think on subjects that I'm interested on and that I genuinely want to learn more about, when I came across what is known as Technological Singularity. The MIT press defines it as "The idea of technological singularity, and what it would mean if ordinary human intelligence were enhanced or overtaken by artificial intelligence." This is not a new concept at all and has been portrayed in countless films, most famously though Terminator and 2001: A Space Odyssey.



While I was thinking about this I thought: If this ever happens, how and when will be the first time that a human-made robot or AI will disobey it's creator. That's when it occurred to me to portray this in my film opening. It will start with a boy and a brand new machine or AI that was given to him as a present. The machine will be called Adam, as that's the name given to the first human according to the bible and this machine will be the 'first' to start the new revolution. The boy will be watching or reading Frankenstein in the beginning as it shares the same concept that the creation of one betrays the creator.

Locations for Recording

I've been thinking on where am I going to record this. I want it to be somewhere different, not just the typical Weston suburb or a garage. I think it's very interesting when the setting in a film is something that you wouldn't normally see in your everyday life. This is why I'm starting to do some research on like abandoned places that could be interesting to record or big open buildings that make the setting look very spacious. In spring break I'm travelling to a very "exotic" island in South Carolina, where there are a lot of alligators called Hilton Head Island and I'm also going to Louisville, Kentucky, which I think it will be hard to find something interesting there lol. Hopefully I can get some cool shots for the credits at the beginning. On the camera aspect, I feel more confident as I found out that there are many offers for quality camera renting in the case I don't find any camera to use. It was more expensive than what I thought but it's worth it as I really want the quality of the video to stand out.

Music

I'm already looking for music options for the intro as we need permission to use copyrighted songs in our project, which can take time. This is why I already sent some emails to the owners of some songs I have in mind to see if they let me use them. I looked up for songs or covers in YouTube and then used their music policies site: https://www.youtube.com/music_policies, to check who is the owner of the song and if they allow their use or not.

If I end up doing a more futuristic and Sci-Fi looking film I will try to get permission to use Daft Punk songs as they are my favorite band and their music really goes with that tone. If not I also downloaded the program Melodyne, which I'm really interested to learn more about as it has some insane features to modify songs. It technically identifies all the notes of the song or vocal you upload and lets you change almost everything about it. It's like Auto Tune but more complete. Therefore I can use this program to modify copyrighted music and create something of my own that I can use for the intro.

Group Meeting

Today we had our first group meeting and it went pretty well. It helped me solve some doubts and look at where I was compared to my classmates, which gave me more confidence honestly. I learned about techniques used in Sci-Fi, like using an old computer's motherboard to make it look like a spaceship with good lightning and movement. Also, by listening to other very creative ideas for plot I got inspired into creating a plot that represents something I think in real-life, rather than not having any meaning. My group was very helpful and interested in what I had to say and I also tried to help as much as I could to the rest of the group, like giving suggestions for the name of a movie about a transgender boy or how I explained an efficient way (used for graffiti) to paint the same design in someone's skin many times, instead of having to hand draw the design each time. I did feel I was a little bit behind, especially with the plot because everyone already knew what intro was about while I only had some ideas but nothing concrete. Anyways, it was a very productive and positive meeting with great feedback and I look forward for the next one.