Yasmin Shehadeh's Blog

 At our first production day we decided to cut the talking, but at our second production day we thought it would be more interesting for the audience if we added a little bit of talking. My group and I decided the beginning of the opening would be better without any talking and the end would be better if we added talking. This way we can give character to the actors. Also, Meadow crawling up the hill in pain was an add on to make the cage scene more believable. It also would keep the audience intrigued and asking questions, this way if there was more to our movie then just the opening, we would have the audience hooked so they would keep watching. In our class meetings we discussed that since this was the second day of filming, continuity was a very big part of our second day of filming. We all had to make sure we looked the exact same as we did on the first day. This meant the same shoes, same hoodies, and same pants. Also, our hair had to look as close to the same as it did on th...

      Our second production day was on Monday February 26, 2024. Peyton, Meadow, Ella, Sydney, Ella's dad (Clayton), and I arrived back at Big Cat Habitat to finish our filming. We all arrived at 4:30. The equipment we ended up using again was just the steady camera holder. We decided to arrive around the same time to make sure the lighting would look close to the same as the first production day. The first scene we started with was with Ella's dad jumping out and confronting us. Since that shot was filmed as a Point of View shot in my character's point of view, I stood behind a fence that was off-screen and signaled to Ella's dad when he should pop out. I would look at where the girls were stepping and when they were close to a line on the pavement in front of the gift shop I would signal a thumbs-up to Ella's dad to jump out. Then we filmed the chasing scene at different angles for the next 30 minutes. After we went to shoot the scenes of us locking ourselves into...

Things don't always go as you planned it. Once we got to Big Cat Habitat, we decided the way to achieve the most mysterious mood was to limit the talking. This resulted in us going completely off script. Our plot and whole concept stayed the exact same, but we did not add the talking we had originally planned on. As I mentioned last week, we decided not to use ski masks because we mainly didn't have the time to go get them. Instead, we used black hoodies (flipped inside out). Back in class, before we arrived at our meeting spot on the first day of filming, we made sure everyone knew how to get to Big Cat Habitat and knew the time we were meeting there. The days prior (Monday the 19th, Tuesday the 20th, Wednesday the 21st) Ella and I also were looking for good ambient sounds that would work in our movie. I searched YouTube for good sounds that would engage the audience and keep them on the edge of their seat. Sound effects will help our movie not be super ordinary for the audien...

 We had our first day of filming this week! We were supposed to film on 2/19 and 2/22, but Meadow couldn't make it on Monday the 19th, so we only filmed on Thursday. We changed our second production day to be on Monday the 26th. We are filming our opening at Big Cat Habitat. We arrived at 4:30 on Thursday the 19th to start filming. All of the actors (Peyton, Sydney, Meadow, and I) wore black hoodies with the hood up, black/ dark colored shoes, and black pants. We were shooting to look like people breaking in. We achieved this look fairly well, and we looked pretty real. We made sure to walk into the habitat after we broke into it. We walked in an orderly line. On the Friday (the day after filming) we started to try and gather our clips together. Some special moments that happened during our first day of filming is that Meadow brought all of us Starbucks! Having a sweet treat definitely gave us all motivation and energy to get to work. There were many moments when our skills were re...

  Our first day of filming was on Thursday February 22, 2024. We filmed at Big Cat Habitat in Sarasota, Florida because Ella Mowrey, our director, owns it. We all arrived at the habitat around 4:30 to begin filming. Sydney, Peyton, Meadow, and I are the actors in our film "Caged." Ella is our lead person that does the filming. First, we started in the truck and filmed us walking up into the front entrance gate. Then we filmed a close-up of the lock breaking. After, we filmed us walking through the habitat from different angles. We then filmed the ending as Ella's Father, Clayton, had to go to a meeting, so we decided to film the scenes we didn't need him for. We got us running into the cage and locking it, but we need to redo Peyton locking it because we wanted a different shot.  We started to edit the clips the next day on Friday. This is so we stay productive and on top of getting our filming done. We are going to film again on Monday February 26, 2024. The equipmen...

 Next week (week 4) we are going to have our first day of filming on 2/22/24. My group and I are using week three as a way to go over our pre-production plans to make sure everything is done, and we are happy about it. The biggest key to success is making sure we feel confident in our work. It will help motivate us during production to do our very best. I am passing around the storyboard through our group and everyone is thoroughly looking over it. This way I can go back in if someone has a suggestion and change it to fit the opening better. I am doing this to make sure everyone is happy with our product. I uploaded it to OneDrive so our whole group can upload it to our blogs. Our main focus this week was basically making sure everyone had what they needed to film, our storyboard, and our script. Next week Ella and I are going to be getting our sounds and have our first production day!

 Now that the storyboards are done, my group and I have to finalize makeup and costumes. In order to thoroughly portray a mysterious character, we need to make sure everything is on point. In the beginning we were leaning towards ski masks, but we didn't have the time to buy them, and it was hard to find. Some brainstorming had to happen to find what we could replace ski masks with. It had to be convenient and easily accessible for all actors. Finally, we came upon a great idea. The actors would use black hoodies. This way their face was covered, and they would be fully covered in black clothing. Meadow and I's whole goal was to have as little skin showing as possible, so it helps to hide them more than a normal black shirt. Their heads would also be covered by the hood. Our costume problem was solved! For makeup we barely did any to make it more of a natural look. It was faint because we didn't want to get a very good look at our actors' faces.

  WEEK THREE: (2/12/24 - 2/16/24)   Equipment needed:   6 microphones for dates 2/22/24 and 2/26/24   Steady camera ho lde r   Lighting    After having an in-class discussion with my group (Peyton, Ella, Meadow, and me) we have decided on what equipment we will be needing. My group and I decided on 6 microphones (there are 5 characters, but each microphone pack comes with 2 microphones, so we need to get 3 packs which equals 6 mics in all). To make sure Ella has a smooth filming process we need a steady camera holder, so she doesn't have to worry about keeping her hands super still (she still needs to be still, this just makes it easier for her). We also are going to get a light that connects to a tripod. I am not sure if we are going to use it or not during filming, but it is good to have it just in case it gets too dark when we're filming to use natural lighting. The only prop we are going to use I believe is a lock that we are going to put on the...

This week I am finishing up the storyboard, and making any additional changes that are necessary to reach success. We were supposed to wear ski masks and long black sleeve shirts to film, but we changed it. No one in the group could find a black ski mask in time to start filming, so we decided black hoodies (flipped inside out to make sure nothing is on it) was perfect to use as we were people breaking in. It made us look sketchy. We used the black hoods on them to cover us up and look more mysterious instead of the black ski masks. Also, my group and I worked out our schedule, so we are filming on Thursday, February 22 and Monday, February 26 (instead of on the 19th). We are going to have two production days to get different angles and scenes. That way it will give us plenty of time to make sure we are happy with our outcome. In class rides were discussed to make sure everyone had a way to get there. Rides were not a problem as we all had a way to get there on time and a ride to pick ...

The storyboard is one key part in making sure our opening has a successful filming/producing experience. So many different technical elements go into making the storyboard. Of course, it is a rough draft to what will become our actual finished product, but it is just as important. In our storyboard I have to include what kind of shot it is, the camera angle, the shot type, the kind of lighting, and sound elements. Since our whole opening is filmed at a Big Car Habitat, I decided that whole lighting is going to be natural since everything is going to be filmed outside. Multiple characters are going to be in scenes, so I decided that there are definitely going to be wide shots to include everything into the frame. As of right now I am more than half-way through our storyboard. I just need to complete the panels that represent the running scene, and the scenes that happen in the cage. My group and I's next step in our project is figuring out what equipment we are going to need to film...

 I am starting to work on our storyboards. In order to film a storyboard is crucial to making sure the opening will flow good and our ideas are fully developed. I have already completed the script that we are going to use. In total I have added 9 lines of dialogue because I decided that we don't want too much talking. the less talking, the more the mysterious mood will be portrayed. Also, during our midterm project instead of our opening being one minute it ended up being 4. A big part of that was there was too much dialogue which made the scenes drag on for too long. In our script I made sure to add when we would cut, when the running scene will start, how we are starting the whole opening, and sound effects that will be happening. Obviously not all sound effects we will have will be portrayed on the script, but it is just to give my group and I a basic idea of what we want. The start of our opening will be a shot from each side of the car showing the break in people getting out o...

      Now I am onto week two of our final project! This week I have started our story boards, and I am beginning to write our script. In order to start our storyboard my group and I all decided the script needed to be finished first. Before I could start to write the script, my group and I had to figure out the characters and how they were going to act. In the end my group and I decided on making me the nervous character, Sydney was going to be the aggressive character telling me to suck it up, and the other two weren't going to be scared or confident, more on the neutral side. We also decided we were going to film on 2/19/24 and 2/22/24. This way we have two days to make sure we can get the shots we want. Our costumes are still the same as of right now. The plan is still black ski mask, black pants, black long sleeves, black long pants, and black/neutral-colored shoes. Meadow and I are both planning on the characters showing the least amount of skin possible. This way it...

WEEK TWO: Postings   Costumes : Ski masks, all black clothing   Scheduled film date: 2/19/24 , 2/22/24   Script:     *Two people exit out driver side of car and three people exit out passenger side of car*   * Establishing shot of Big Cat Entrance*    *People whispering indistinctly as they walk in*   Yasmin- “Guys I don’t if this is a good idea.”   Peyton- “It’s fine we’re not going to get caught.”   Meadow - “Yea don’t be lame.”   Yasmin- “If you say so”   *Cuts to everyone continuing to walk*   Meadow- “Do you hear that?”   Zoo Keeper - “WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?”    *Everyone gasps and runs in the same direction*   *Running scene*   Meadow- “ We’re about to lose him. Let’s go into this cage, it looks empty.”   *In cage*   *Peyton closes the door*   Meadow - “That was a close one.”   Yasmin- “I told you guys this wasn’t a good idea!”   *Growling nois...