Production: The Live

In the film, we wanted to utilize the fact that we all heavily technology and social media in our day to day lives. During the conflict of the 3 mean girls and Dariah, we wanted a bystander (student) to come in, "filming" the whole interaction on Instagram. Towards the end of our opening scene, we wanted to the last seconds to be viewed through the perspective of an Instagram live. Achieving that without opening an actual public Instagram live was very simple. In this generation, there is ai for everything, so it was very easy to find a app that create fake social media lives with ai generated comments and viewers to make it seem as realistic as possible. I used Parallel Live: Fake live and it was very easy to use for our film. Taking advantage of technology for our film had to be one of the most effective methods for us.

A screen shot of script, stage direction for the Instagram live

       A screenshot of Parallel live, App Store

A still of Dariah in the perspective of the fake live

A still of how the conflict looks in the perspective of the fake live 

As you can see, it worked perfectly.

 Production: "the 3 mean girls"

Taking heavy reference from our model film, Mean girls, we were able to implement the 3 antagonists or "mean girls" look into scene 4, where Dariah (main girl) gets bullied by 3 popular students. We placed the main antagonist, Natalia, right in the middle, with Reagan and Quincy placed on either side. This is replicated from most scenes in Mean Girls, but in specific we tried to replicate the scene where Regina, Karen, Gretchen and Cady are walking in the school hallway.

                                                    

                                                    Still of "The Plastics" Mean Girls Google

                                   

                                                  Still of "The Plastics" Mean Girls Google

                                        

                                                  Still of "The Plastics" Mean Girls Google

                                             

                        A still of the 3 main antagonist or "mean girls" utilizing the rule of thirds

 I noticed juxtaposition was used when Cady, even though she was already accepted in their clique (new and improved wardrobe) was distanced from the three and walking right into trash can. We can infer that she is still consider "less than them" even though she was already socially accepted and she improved her appearance. The point that was put across in that scene was that Cady still wasn't enough to be one of the "mean girls". 

Still of Cady walking with "The plastics" 

We wanted to try and implement a bit of this by showing Dariah reading a book that is about not feeling socially accepted.  Following that, she immediately bumps into the "mean girls" and drops bellow them, looking up to them. The 3 antagonists looking over Dariah shows that they have power and she does not; telling the audiences that they are greater than Dariah in terms of social hierarchy.

A still of the 3 mean girls looking down at Dariah and establishing their power

Production: The mall montage

Using our other model film Clueless as reference, we wanted an intro to establish who Dariah, the main character, used to be; along with her previous lifestyle to show a stark contrast from her previous lavish life and her now, meek and simple life. By doing this, we decided to do a montage similar to the one in the opening scene of Clueless. The difference between the montage in Clueless and the montage in our film is that we decided to utilize stills rather than actual video shots. The reason we have decided to do a still montage was to be efficient on timing in our film, so that it does not take up a long portion of our film. This is how we implemented this idea of a montage in our film.

Clueless opening scene- skyMTV Youtube

A still of Cher shopping in Clueless, used roughly as refence

A still Dariah shopping, viewing clothes

Another still of Dariah Shopping in Lululemon

I wanted some stills with Dariah and her friend that she brought with her to shop in the film, using several different locations just to show them having a conversation like Cher and Dionne in this mall scene in Clueless. I am glad to say that we really took advantage of our location as we were able to get plenty of great stills in different sceneries to add to the mall montage.

References:

A still of Cher and Dionne in the mall, Clueless

What we got:

A still of the two chatting in Lululemon

                               

a still of second scenery used was the escalator, for visual variety

A still of third scenery used, having them both sitting on the top hotspots

A still of fourth scenery used, making sure both stayed in between two hotspots

A still of fifth scenery used, utilizing the rule of thirds with both sitting on a hotspot

A still of sixth scenery, focusing on the luxury brand, Prada 

A still of the two trying on clothing

A still of them smelling luxury perfumes, utilizing rule of thirds

We took advantage of the props, especially luxury name brands, to add to the narrative that Dariah old lifestyle was lavish and plentiful. (Definitely don't want to spoil to many of the stills)

Production: House party scene

 House party scene 

As stated in my "Planning: New found representation and location" blog, we decided to add more representation into our film; representing teens who struggle with substance abuse and peer influence. Along with this new representation, we created a new location to add into scene 2; this location is where we will film Dariah (main character) at a house party, getting notably drunk ( I discussed more about this in that blog). I also spoke about how we should use lighting, using the show, Young Royals, as reference.

In terms of achieving this:

Narrative- I strongly believe that we achieved the "drunken state" Dariah was supposed to act out. Using stage directions, Shaunae was able to play a drunk and confused person; using the rule of thirds, my cinematographer made sure to align Dariah with the right hotspot and the bystander's phone with the left hotspot. The scene starts with a close up on Dariah's face and zooms out to show Dariah's full drunken state. We want to leave the audience shock, denying their previous assumptions of Dariah's character. We want the audience to see a character they assumed was a sweet innocent girl, because of her ideals, be involved in such activities. 

Screenshot of the script, the house party scene, with stage directions Shaunae was told to follow

 

                    Stock photo of a intoxicated girl                        A still of what we achieved

Comparing the two, the only notable difference is the locations and background. Rather than using more people to fill in the space, we put the camera in a certain angle so that the viewer would only see Shaunae and a little bit of her surroundings. The state of her body is very similar to the stock photo; having her body slumped halfway on the ground with her head sitting in an uncomfortable position proves to the viewers that she is drunk. Moreover, we took advantage with the symbolism behind the red solo cup, keeping our film appropriate by not using an actual liquor bottle like the one in the stock photo.

Lighting- We didn't get to achieve the lighting we planned while filming. Because the location was outside in my backyard, strategically placing colorful strobe lights and sudden white flashes was not an easy task. Instead, we were able to provide lighting so that the audience can see the actor (since the scene takes place at night). Using a powerful LED stand and an overhead light, we created a base for the lighting. We hope that in editing we can create the illusions of strobes lights in the background, but for now, we did not achieve the look.

The video we took reference-

                                                      Snippet from Young Royals S1 Ep1

What we used-

A still showing our cinematographer playing with the light stand

How it looks- 

                                    Two stills showing the lighting  

 Mise en scene through costumes: 3 "mean girls" 

Planning costumes was very important as we wanted to implement how costumes and mise en scene was created in Mean Girls. For the "Plastics" or 3 mean girls, they always had a way to match their clothing, whether they all wore pink or all wore skirts , they always managed to match. I wanted to follow this idea for our 3 main antagonists by having them all have a piece of clothing that is the same color. I decided on Red as the main color, with black supporting it. The red would contrast the bland beige color that Dariah ends up wearing. Through mise en scene, the viewers can understand that the main antagonists have higher power than Dariah, since red symbolizes strong emotions like power, passion, and anger.

A still of the "Plastics" matching in both pink colored clothing and skirts Mean Girls

                                                 

A still of the 3 antagonists matching in terms of red and black clothing

Mise en scene through costumes: Main character Dariah

 Mise en scene through costumes: Main character Dara

For Dariah, I wanted to contrast her appearance from the 3 main antagonists by having her wear muted colors, like beige and light wash denim. In terms of mise en scene, beige symbolizes calmness and simplicity which represents her new found character, and starkly contrasts the power and attitude that the mean girls represent. I also had the costumes be baggier compared to the antagonists, who wore more fitted clothing. Replicating the outfit Cady wore in mean girls was not ideal as the difference in outfit trends is huge between now and 2004. So we used this picture as inspiration and utilized  clothing that would be worn nowadays.

            

                           A screenshot inspiration Mean girls           The implementation in our film

Mall Montage scene:

Another outfit we had to consider for Dariah was for her mall montage scene. I wanted her to wear something completely opposite from the outfit she wore for Scene 1, 3 and 4. Rather than muted neutral colors, I wanted her to wear a bright color, so I opted for hot pink. In mise en scene, hot pink represents femininity, innocence, and beauty, which describes her past lifestyle (besides the innocent part). In comparison to the baggy clothing, I wanted her to wear something more fitted, preferably with a brand name for her to show off. 

A still of Dariah's contrasting outfit

A still of Dariah shopping in Lululemon

I really wanted to advantage of the fact that there is Lululemon store in the mall that we went to, which was convenient for us because the brand Dariah wore in that scene is Lululemon, so it makes it seem like she constantly shops in that popular store.

Even for the old friend, casted to be with Dariah for the mall montage, matched her by wearing Lululemon, which signifies that she has similar taste and status as Dariah.

A still of Dariah and Old friend shopping in Lululemon

House party scene:

The last costume I had to create for Dariah was for the house party scene. Because Dariah is showing a different "rebelling" side to her in this scene, I wanted her to wear something somewhat similar to the mall montage outfit but to also go with the "party" vibe. I believe bold text on her top would really catch the audience attention, so I opted for a top with words "wet" in bold caps. I came to find that the word played perfectly for the scene because another definition for wet is to show a lack of strength or to be feeble and weak, which is essential the state of a person under the influence. I still wanted to add a lot of color so I decided to have her wear a multi-colored sweater to tie it all together.

A still of house party scene outfit

Production: altering the script and shot list

 Altering the Script and Shot List

Throughout production, a lot of changes were made to the script and shot list as me and my cinematographer thought of new ideas that best fit our film. I had to make a few adjustments to the script while she made creative changes to the shot list, mainly changing camera angle and movement. In this blog I will be focusing on the changes I made in the script while my cinematographer will be discussing the changes to the shot list, you can see her blog @ https://underc0verspy.blogspot.com/.

Script: 

The first change I made to the script was to accommodate our main talent, Shaunae, who plays Dariah. The original script shows a major conflict between Dariah and Natalia, who is played by Tatiana;  I have mentioned before, is not in friendly terms with Shaunae in reality. The specific stage direction of the original script tells Natalia to drop a book on Dariah's head as she verbally insults her. 

                Screen shot of script that states Natalia dropping the book on Dariah's head

My main talent expressed to me that she was not completely comfortable to get a book dropped on her head by this person in specific and I completely understood. At first she assured me that she would be fine and but I understand that she wanted to change her mind. After speaking with the rest of my crew, I decided to just have Natalia drop the book next to Dariah rather than on her head, Dariah would then flinch in response. This was script change #1

Screenshot of script change #1

While filming scene 4, we ran a few test runs of Tatiana dropping the book next to her and I ultimately came to the decision that it would be best to remove it completely. I did this for the main reason that it just did not end up looking right during filming and didn't make sense with the previous shots. We ended up just leaving the book on the floor as it was in the previous shots and leaving out that part of the shot. This would be script change #2

Screenshot of script change #2

The next change I made to the script was in scene 2, where Dariah speaks on her past and ends up talking about the traumatic event that led her to switch schools. At first we planned to do a still of her houseparty scene, but after a few contemplations s of the entire film and envisioning how it would look like after the mall montage, I decided that doing a full scene would work better with the montage stills that occurred beforehand. After discussing that idea with my cinematographer, I created stage directions for Shaunae to follow while we film the houseparty scene. This would be script change #3

                                                        Screenshot of script change #3

I am so glad that I decided to change the still to an actual shot as it adds more to the narrative. We added sound in the background to add the affect of an actual party, and even added a bystander to film her so that the audience can make the inference that the video taken will be posted to the public, ruining her families reputation.

Production: Audio complications

Audio Complications

The microphone kit we attempted to use:

A still of cinematographer filming with mic plugged in

Audio was one of the top 3 complications we had throughout the film; "Are we or are we not using a microphone kit", was a question that was running in my head. My assistant director informed be that using the microphone kits could be tricky and is not the most reliable thing to us for audio. He warned me that there could be a good chance that all our video's audios could turn out bad if I only relied on the microphone kits. I came up with the solution to make two takes of everything: take 1 with the microphone kit plugged in AND take 2 without the microphone kit plugged in. We decided to only test this out for shooting day 1 so that we can decide which method would be best for the remaining of the film. 

After listening and comparing the two audios, we came to the quick decision that filming without the mic was the better option. When my cinematographer got home, she listened back to all the shots to ensure that the audio was clear and loud after exporting and I received report that it was good and effective. Currently I do not have any recordings of the audio with the microphone to show a stark comparison with audio without the mic.

                                    

                    A still of my cinematographer filming without the microphone plugged in

Productions: Complications with the schedule

Complications with the schedule

February 15th, at Barnes & Noble, was the first day of filming; we only had 2/4 talents show up, which is extremely inconvenient as all the actors were required to be there. Koran, who plays "Quinton", is a less crucial character in the film, who has only a few shots that focuses on just him; majority shots in this scene requires Koran with the other two missing actors. Due to this setback, we had to create more filming days, where all talents are available. This was very complicated to do as we only have a limited amount of days to finish filming, and February is an extremely busy month for everyone. We all came to the conclusion to have a 2nd day to film the Barnes & Noble scene on the 17th, which was a holiday. 

                                                      Still of actor 1/4: Quinton Malone 

                                                       Still of actor 2/4: Dariah Clemonte 

Feb 17th

February 17th was the designated day to continue filming the Barnes & Noble scene. I had the expectation to complete the entire film that day because all talents needed for scene 4 will be present and on time. Unfortunately, I got the unwanted message from Koran stating that his rehearsals for the Emma musical got moved to 4:00, which was our call time. Ultimately we had to film with 3/4 talents, which is better than the 15th, but still caused us to be behind on scheduling. This caused me to figure out another day to finally finish filming scene 4. Because time is so limited we would have to film in March, which was something I was trying my hardest to avoid. As a director, I understand the role I have to take to ensure that everyone will be available because we cannot afford any more schedule changes.

                                            A still with the main antagonist 

Productions: actors not showing up

 Actors not showing up

This will be a short blog as I will only discuss our first obstacle during production. Actors not showing up. 

For our first production day, we planned to film all the talents at Barnes & Noble, call time at 4pm. Our goal today was to totally complete scene 4 in one day; that was just wishful thinking because our expectations were not met. The first downfall was when I received notice from my newly casted talent that she would be unable to make it due to unexpected engagements. This did not sit well with me as she is one of the main characters who claimed she would be free. However, I did not let this ruin the potential of getting most of scene 4 filmed. Me and my cinematographer had to analyze our shot list to see what shots we can achieve with only 3/4 actors present; luckily our shot list was accommodated for that. We ultimately decided to spilt production for scene 4 into 2 days rather than one, the second one calling for all talents to complete scene 4. 

Unexpectedly... only two our of our 4 talents ended up showing. Both showing far later than call time, which caused us to finish production day an hour and 30 minutes later than planned. The 3rd talent that was supposed to be there, ended up not showing due to work, which is at some extent understandable as she did inform me of her working schedule way before, but we still planned for her to squeeze in at minimum 20 minutes to film her singular line. As a type c person, this triggered be a lot, as I heavily depend on organized, structured scheduling for the entire film; that includes pre-production, production, and post-production. It was frustrating trying to move around inconveniences when I myself felt that I was on a limited time crunch, with not much room to spare for absences and accommodating for those absences. At the end of the day, I had to remind myself that scheduling complications is very common and normal in the film industry, and it's something as a director, I should not let intimidate me, we shall find another way around. This also caused me to fix my call sheets.

Nevertheless, I appreciate those who did manage to show up the first day of production. We took advantage of what we had to filmed a good amount of shots for scene 4. This ultimately leaves us with less to do for Scene 4 day 2.

 

Test Audios 

 I want to run some test audios that will be recorded for the narrator scenes in our film. I got a few advice for composing the best quality for voice overs so that the sound gives the audience a good listening experience.

Using a closet:

I've learned from many youtubers who had a rough start before all the good equipment that a closet is the most assessable place to record audio. The enclosed space, when properly treated with sound-absorbing materials like blankets over head, naturally helps to minimize echoes and reverberations. This creates a more controlled and focused sound for my voice over by absorbing sound waves bouncing around the room.

Just to be sure, I went ahead and did some test audios on my own, reading a few lines off my script into a basic recording app. To get peer feedback on it, I will send the audio to my cinematographer and a friend for a second ear. They will use ear covering headphones (which produce better quality than EarPods) to experience the best quality.

If I do not end up receiving good feedback from the closet, this is my alternative:

Sound equipment:

Luckily, our producer (our teacher) mentioned that a good last minute resort would be to go to him a request to borrow proper sound equipment, like a mic, to record said voice overs. It would probably be simpler to just start with this option, but I prefer being creative and really want to experiment with the "closet audio"

I will do the same thing to receive feedback from my peers, ensuring good quality for our film. Especially since half of it is a voice over.

Test audios

Closet: Cannot upload due to complications. But what I have received from it was decently well played audio. As long as we keep the surrounding enclosed, perhaps placing blankets over head to block off more reflective sound, we can create a great environment to record the scenes that require voice over audios.

Cast Test Audios:

Additionally, I personally worked with my main character as she had a few questions about the register and tone she is supposed to have. For more convenience, she study certain pieces and sent me voice memos of her attempts. There are certain parts where I coached her on her tone of voice, her use emphasis, and use punctual pauses where pauses are necessary.

Attempt 1:

Voice recording: Attempt 1 dariah

The biggest issue I picked up was that she sounded very mono-toned all throughout; her sentences sounded to be a bit run-off with a lack of pronunciation for punctual pauses. Additionally, there was a limited ability to switch tone with each sentence since every sentence portrayed a different mood that she was not capturing. I also hear a lack of enthusiasm when stating her family name, which should be said in a more honorable tone. I discussed these issues with her and sent back a voice memo: a clear expectation of what she should attempt to sound like. 

What I sent back:

Voice recording: Director feedback

Attempt 2:

Voice over: Attempt 2 Dariah 

From this attempt, I recognize her attempt for punctual pauses and emphasis. However, more work is needed to portray different tones (because certain sentences have certain moods) and essentially sounding less mono-toned. We will continue to work on this as production day for audio approaches.

Afterwards, I sent the audios to my cinematographer to closely listen to with her noise canceling headphones. There is a drastic difference between listening to audio with headphones versus speakers. Headphones (noise cancelling to be specific) provide a more focused and detailed sound experience by delivering sound directly into your ear, effectively blocking out outside noises; while, speakers  can be affected by room acoustics and sound reflections. We want the most precise listening experience to ensure our viewers are receiving the same thing. After receiving feedback, I can alter how I want to use our audio.

Production: Casting complications 

During our first week of production, I was sent news from my main character that the style of her hair may change during production. I expressed that we must figure out another way, any drastic change with her appearance could distort our footage. At first, we thought of moving our first production date until after her hair changed, but this would have set us back way behind and that is the last thing I wanted. Ultimately, I presented her a deadline to inform me what she is planning on doing by the end of the day. Before the day ended, she informed me that she will attend to her hair situation before our intended production day which is Feb 15th. Hopefully we can stay on track, we cannot afford any more diversions that will guide us off the intended schedule.

Less crucial but similar, our actor for the Old friend 2 informed me that she would not be available for our only day to shoot the montage scene at Boca Mall. Fortunately, her role is very easy to replace as she has no lines. We are currently working on finding someone allegeable to fill in her role. 

More over

Replacing actors:

We came to the point where I have realized that certain characters are just not available and working around that would be extremely inconvenient to our schedule. I may have to face the fact that I would have to replace a few actors. Our main mean girl, will be busy on the only day where everyone is available. Working around a different day or splitting scenes for different days will be extremely complex and may end up not working out. The best thing to do is to find a replacement. Luckily, I had a suitable replacement who was more than eager to join; these are the reasons why I decided on her 

Role- Natalia Harding      Original Actor- Sanika        Replacement actor- Tatiana H.

Tatiana:

• Taller height around 5 foot 6
• Decent acting skills
• Higher availability 
• Suitable appearance for the role 

Downsides: The biggest downside to Tatiana replacing Sanika is that Tatiana and our main girl Shaunae have a difficult history. There is a big chance that conflict can occur; however I ensured to get full informed consent from both of them. Both girls responded with saying that they can put their odds aside for my film. Hopefully they can put personal issues aside but if any conflict does occur during production, I will be sure to resolve it immediately.

Intro to sound designing

 Production: Intro to sound designing

Due to the sudden inconvenience of my sound designer/technical director dropping class, I had to take over the role. This is a lot of my plate because just being the director alone is taking a toll; however, I shall overcome as I already committed so much. Because I am new to this role, I had to do quick research.

Videos I took reference to:

How to SOUND DESIGN- Artlist 

                                                The Power of Sound in Movies- Paul E.T.

After assessing the videos and received assistance from other sound designers , I was able to get a good idea of how I will capture music, dialogue, sound effects, loudness, timbre, pitch and etc. to create the sound design. I discussed more about what I assessed in my sound designer statement document:

A screenshot of my sound designer statement

Test shots featuring cinematographer

 Test Shots feat cinematographer

As we are nearing the end of our foundation portfolio, getting greenlit and starting production, I encouraged my cinematographer to request a few days from our producer to borrow camera equipment for test footage runs. It is extremely effective to get comfortable with the camera and its many settings before production. Learning different camera movements and techniques are all the job of the cinematographer, but if it is one thing I have learned, as a director I should follow along in that journey, hence why I asked to receive all the test footage she attempted.

In this case, I will only use this footage 

Test footage received from cinematographer

What I have assessed from this test footage is that we would have to play around with lighting a lot in this film. For scene 1 & 3, we are filming exterior shots, therefore timing and weather are two major confounding variables in shooting. If it is too close to the afternoon, we can accidentally shoot during sunset, which in this time of the month is during 6-7pm, extremely early. Therefore, it is smarter to film earlier in the day, but weather can also play a role in altering this. Cloudy skies can affect lighting terribly and  random flashes of exposure can disturb mise en scene. A quick solution is to bring a white poster board and manipulate that to use it as a makeshift reflector. This helps bounce sunlight onto the actor, effectively filling in shadows and creating more even out lighting. I feel like natural light may be harsh at noon, so using the board to act as a large, portable light diffuser to brighten up shaded areas improves mise en scene. Other than that, the quality is quite nice and my cinematographer has continued informing me of her accomplishments in getting familiar with the camera. 

Working around a production schedule

The biggest issue we encountering with our cast is availability. As the director, I documented the weekly schedules of all my talents and I am trying to construct a filming schedule that best suits everyone. It will be difficult and messy but I believe the best way to go about it is to carefully look through our shot list, and materialize everything we did during pre-production. To get a proper understanding, I briefly watched a video giving a descriptive tutorial on how to effectively create a production schedule.

How to Make a Production Schedule for Film- Cine Pandemia

Cine Pandemia first explains how to "line" your script into 1/8 of a page by using a ruler. By doing this you can number how many sections each scene takes up. For example, scene 1 on his script took only 7 out of those 8 sections, meaning it takes of 7/8 of the page. This method is very effective to measuring how long things take on set. From there he suggested that I open an excel to create a stripboard. He explains how the entire schedule should be built on locations, actor availability, and complexity of shots. Unfortunately, I can barley work excel so I consulted my cinematographer to create a more simplified version. By the end of this I should be able to properly create my call sheet and send out a proper schedule to my cast to keep production running as smooth as possible.

My attempt at the stripboard method:

                                    A still the stripboard version of my script

From there, I shared these pictures with my cinematographer, who is creating our shot list, and discussed how to integrate this method into our shot list. When making the shot list, we need to make sure to match up each number if each shot description.

Finalize casting: new actors

 Finalizing Cast list: New actors

Finally, we found our main character. As previously states in my past blog post about my actors, I have struggles to find someone to cast as the main character. I had two people in mind and was waying in pros and cons to determine who should win the spot to play the role. I went through with the mini auditions idea as stated in the "Our Cast: Who we've found" blog post, and it actually was pretty effective in deciding who to choose. I went with the person I felt fit her the most, then went through the process and choosing with my cinematographer to get her opinion and she openly agreed. We have now casted Shaunae as Dariah Clemonte, the main lead protagonist. 

We also made another decision to replace the original person casted for the main lead antagonist. The original person was not per say "a bad option"  but she was not enough to fulfil the role; in other words, I was not fully satisfied in my choice. Luckily, I have stumble upon the person actor for the role during class. Sanika, overheard my conversation about looking for a new actor and offered her help. The reason why I believe she is to be the perfect person is her look and her attitude. She is a master at makeup, having someone who is conveniently good at makeup is a huge advantage. She has a very intimidating, domineering look to her that makes you believe she is a mean person. In fact she is very nice and friendly, but just the fact that she looks so intimidating sold it for me. Not only that but I have a extremely good feeling that she will be a good actor and that I will enjoy working with her to create this film. More on appearance, she is 5 foot 9 so she has a lot of height on her compared to the main protagonist which is exactly what I wanted. I have worked availability with her and although she does works on weekends, we have managed to find a way to have her attend the shooting days.