Second day of filming for "Super-Hero": What went wrong?

 Welcome back bloggers. Today, I will be discussing our first serious challenge with filming for our movie opening, "Super-Hero". As discussed in the blog where I described our first day of filming, our second day of filming was scheduled for January 17th, but a string of untimely events foiled our plans.

Other photos from Day 2:

Power-Man gets a little sloppy with remembering to wear his mask sometimes!

What goes on inside his head?

Live footage of a robber about to witness his operation go completely south!

    Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances that were revealed to me just hours before filming, I was going to be unable to film for an unknown amount of time. On top of that, we had found out days prior that one of our group members was going to be gone the whole weekend. With these sudden occurrences, my group decided that they would try to make the most out of what little resources they had available to try and film SOMETHING for January 17th. We had even come up with an emergency plan where we'd drop the cast to include either only 2 robbers or to remove the Homeowner as a character in case my absence was longer than expected. With all that in mind, filming continued with a group member missing. Luckily, we were all dressed for filming already (me included), so my group was able to set up fairly quickly. Additionally, we kept all the props on location so that we wouldn't lose anything between filming days. With all this in mind, you'd think we'd be able to adapt to unexpected circumstances easily right?

 Wrong. Day 2 of filming for my group ended up being a TOTAL and COMPLETE disaster. For starters, our filming took place after a school day, so we were exhausted and didn't have the same energy going into filming as we did the first day. As such, they were only able to manage a few takes before getting fed up and worn out. Additionally, remember the mis-en-scene I discussed from my post about lighting? Since it was late in the day and the sun was setting, we had to turn on the lights in the house because the footage got too dark, which just made our scenes look awkward on playback. Finally, we realized that having only 2 robbers just didn't feel right at all for the film itself, and that a third criminal was absolutely necessary for what we were envisioning. With that, my group called it a day fairly quickly into our scheduled time, and we decided it was no use.

    So what happens now? The good news is, we have a new film date ready, that being February 1st and 2nd. We aren't letting one bad string of events stop us from getting this opener filmed to completion. We decided that filming on weekends was our absolute best move to make, since it was obvious after-school filming hindered us too much. The other good news is, the scene we were filming was right after where we left off on Day 1, so when we get back the robbery scene should be done in very few takes. Finally, of course, we'll have a full cast ready to go this time. Power-Man may not be super, but we sure are! And we'll prove it by moving on from this blunder and making Day 3 our strongest filming day yet!

Representation in "Super"-Hero!

Welcome back bloggers! In today's post, I will be going over a unique aspect of our film opener, "Super"-Hero: Representation! In Layman's terms, I will be going over what kinds of demographics our film would appeal to if released.

How does our film fit into the stereotype of a kids' action comedy?

    In terms of who our film appeals to, the first answer that comes to mind is young children and pre-teens. After all, this is a superhero comedy! A film like ours wouldn't exactly appeal to elderly or middle-aged audiences, especially not with a character design like Power-Man or the robber with a unique mask. Since our main goal going all the way back to brainstorming was to keep this film within the spirit of a traditional kids' superhero show (or in our words, something that would appear on Nickelodeon), the film is fairly stereotypical of a generic action comedy. The only twist here, of course, being that the protagonist is not as super as they're cracked up to be and is defeated easily by some fairly unimpressive robbers. This appeal to younger audiences is also why so much work was put into costuming and props in addition to our decision to only shoot during daylight hours. If we chose to film at night and kept our costumes dull in color, it would give the characters and film serious tones that would hinder the film from appealing to these younger audiences. Instead, it'd become some ugly mess that would appeal to virtually no demographics. 

    On the contrary, having a colorful bright costume for Power-Man, a silly mask for one of the robbers, and the prop items being in complete disarray keep EXACTLY the mood we want for the opening. Additionally, the characters are scripted to act in such ways that put emphasis on dramatic effect and are not meant to look nor act realistic, reinforcing the appeal to young audiences with fictional and unserious elements. As far as whether our film challenges any sorts of stereotypes or representation, it doesn't and isn't meant to. The only sort of stereotype it could challenge is the norm of the superhero always obliterating the bad guys in kids' shows, but it isn't like that decision impacts our viewing audience or any other demographics. At the bottom line, it is an opening that appeals to young children and pre-teens and won't have much appeal with older audiences. This is ALSO why we don't feel the need to make tweaks to any of the characters in the film. They behave exactly as they are supposed to: Comedic, unserious, and TOTALLY unrealistic!

What else does our film represent?

    Although our film obviously was designed to be representative of a generic superhero comedy, that begs the question: What ELSE does our film represent? According to Stuart Hall's "Theories of Representation", one of the main ways media can display representation is through stereotypes! Although I already stated that our film doesn't break many stereotypes, I haven't yet stated what stereotypes it DOES fit! For example, Power-Man is meant to be a goofy and physically inept character, and that is shown through our actor choice: Yulian! On the big screen, a viewer wouldn't look at Yulian in full costume and think he's exactly the strongest man alive - they'd think he's the Paul Blart of superheroes! His out-of-shape physique, his costume that looks like it was purchased off of Etsy, and ESPECIALLY his totally unserious mannerisms all obviously contribute to the idea that Power-Man is, in fact, not powerful! In terms of our other characters, our robbers are meant to fit the robber stereotype in both appearance and demeanor: Black long sleeve shirts and pants, black beanies, black eye masks, black gloves, prop money bags, and a random assortment of various break-in equipment all convey the idea that these are, well, robbers! Our Homeowner character is the only character that doesn't exactly fit any sort of stereotype that I can directly name. If he were put into another genre, like a sitcom or a drama, he'd probably play the role of a suburban dad who's commonly seen as the comedic relief character, similar to George Sr. from Young Sheldon. However, due to his limited role in our film and lack of any actual characteristics aside from him being asleep, it is hard to categorize him into any name-brand stereotype. Finally, the house we chose to film in has marble-white floor, glass roundtables, old paintings, and an AWESOME pool out back. These elements help to convey the idea that the Homeowner is rich and lives well for himself, therefore making his house seem ROBBABLE!

Alternate ideas for the plot of "Super"-Hero!

 Welcome back bloggers! In today's post, I will be going over 2 major alternate ideas we explored regarding the plot and progression of "Super"-Hero during filming, as well as which one we went with and which one we threw right out! 

Idea 1: Having Power-Man emerge victorious!

    In my post about representation in our film, I mentioned how one of the only ways we were breaking the stereotypes of a kids' superhero comedy was having Power-Man be defeated. Well during filming, we thought about the idea of changing things up so that Power-Man would, in fact, be powerful! This change would have had Power-Man simply knock out 2 of the robbers with 1 to 3 punches, and the last robber standing would have tried running away before slipping on something and falling down. Power-Man would then have gotten the Homeowner back awake and then walked into the camera all heroically to conclude the film. This sounded like a feasible idea at first, but that would have meant the only real quirk in our film would've been removed and we would just have a basic superhero comedy even more generic than before! Since we want to have at least something original in our film, this idea had to be shot down. Additionally, since our actors for the robbers are quite larger in size compared to our actor for Power-Man, it would have been a silly idea to make Power-Man knock out 3 taller robbers, in all fairness.

Idea 2: Alternate idea for filming the Homeowner being knocked out

    Our second idea, which DID make it into the final cut, was another way to  film the Homeowner being knocked out by the robbers. Originally and in our first storyboard, the camera would simply follow (dolly shot) the robbers running from the door and into the homeowner's room, with the homeowner being knocked out on the way and being shoved into a nearby bathroom. It would then have cut to a high angle static of the robbers ransacking the room. However, when we finished the initial entry scene, my group came up with a much different and more exciting idea: We would start by showing the Homeowner walking out of the bathroom by positioning the cameraman in the hallway. This would then lead to a robber facing the Homeowner, and then knocking him out with one swing. Next, the film would cut to the Homeowner's knocked out body, then whip-panning to the robbers moving over him and into the bedroom, and then continuing along as planned. We liked this idea more since it gave us the opportunity to use some unique shot types, as well as allowing for some comedically awkward moments in the opening. So, we decided to use it for our film! 

"Super"-Hero's New and Improved Storyboard!

 Welcome back bloggers! In today's post, I will be showcasing and talking about our new and improved storyboard for our film opening, "Super"-Hero! 

Storyboard V2

        What changed?

    This storyboard is a BIG step up from our first one, as it is not only based off an actual semi-finished product this time around, but also reflects some of our new ideas that we implemented into the final product. One of the biggest changes, which I hinted at in previous blogs, is our decision to scrap the robbery scene completely. We did this for two main reasons: Firstly, our film was already approaching a minute long by the time we reached the robbery scene, and adding on another big scene would leave us with WAY too little time for Power-Man. Secondly, filming the robbery scene was much more difficult than we thought, as we thought our acting was too forced and came off as awkward at times. In place of this scene, we came up with a brand new idea: Change it so that the robbers are JUST ABOUT to begin the robbery when Power-Man lands! To do this, we changed it up so that the Homeowner was asleep instead of getting bonked, with a shot showing his feet as the robbers charged across the window. Next, we had one of the robbers go off-screen while he other robbers moved into the bedroom. We included a scene with the robbers peeking out one-by-one, and then their crowbar peeking out as well because why not? The robbers are then shown staring at the Homeowner absolutely dozed off, and just as they're about to knock his brains out, POWER-MAN ARRIVES!!! We also made some smaller tweaks, such as elliptical cuts as the robbers are rushing through the house, removing one of the robbers' accents, and modifying the confrontation between a robber and Power-Man to be a little more ridiculous [BA-DUM TSS!]. 

        What's the same?

    As much as we wanted to try out new ideas, there were some things that were either good enough as is or there weren't any viable alternatives for filming. For starters, we had an idea for changing up the scene of the robbers first entering the house by including a trucking movement showing some other houses before watching the robbers break into the main house. Unfortunately, this would have taken up too much time and would have worked better if the film were just a robbery. So, we kept the idea from the initial storyboard where we'd just have a still of the house and then cutting to the robbers moving in. Next up, our Power-Man confrontation scene came DANGEROUSLY close to being changed drastically, but in the end we were able to keep it. Our main issue was that every single attempt we made at filming this scene wasn't good enough by the SMALLEST bits, and our actor for Power-Man began getting fed up with all of the miniscule tweaks. In the end though, barring some minor changes to Power-Man's demeanor and actions, we were able to keep the base scene that we envisioned for the storyboard in the actual film!

Enough about "Super"-Hero: How's our group doing?

 Welcome back bloggers! Today I will finally take a break from talking about our film, and dive a little into how our group has been getting along throughout this project.

Three goofy goobers... (Yulian, myself, Pedro)

Can't forget Pablo!

    Even though we may have had some recent blunders with filming, there's no doubt about it that our group is fundamentally sound! Everyone in the group has been pulling their respective weight when required, and so far we have been cruising right along! Although, this wasn't always the case. Particularly, during the storyboard phase, the main contributors to the film opening had mostly been me and Pablo. Pablo was already set to be editing and having his house be the main filming location, and I was busy with the storyboard creation itself as well as planning out how we were going to film. Obviously, the question of what Pedro and Yulian were going to do got raised, and initially we didn't really have an answer. Everybody was going to be in the film, so just being an actor felt kind of cheap, but there wasn't much we thought we could have them do. Eventually, though, we came up with some fairly simple fixes.

    After a somewhat heated discussion, it was decided that Yulian would supply costumes, and Pedro would supply props! Or, at least, that's what we planned. Yulian ended up also getting money bags for the robbers, while Pedro picked up some props and some... interesting masks to use if we wanted. The only other real stump we've gone through involved our group member Pedro. He had been absent for all of winter break and a critical weekend in January right after our second day of filming, so he had put us in some tricky spots scheduling-wise. However, in all fairness to Pedro, those incidents were out of his control, and he has delivered excellently on set and also in planning for future film dates and ideas. All this goes to show that, once again, we will not let a couple of roadblocks stop us from making this film opener look as good as we possibly can!

The Homeowner!

 Welcome back bloggers! In today's post, I will be talking about one our biggest outside help to the filming of "Super"-Hero: Our friend Sebastian!

Sebastian's On-Screen Work

Sebastian volunteered his free time to play in our film as the Homeowner. In doing this, he saved us a lot of time and trouble in looking for supporting actors and allowed us to keep our current cast of robbers unchanged. Sebastian's acting skills, although not the best, gave us ideas for how we could shake things up during our 3rd and 4th days of filming (which will be discussed very soon!). In particular, Sebastian was EXCELLENT for one of our newer ideas, which involved the Homeowner being asleep when the robbers arrived. Without Sebastian's inclusion in the film, our plans with the Homeowner may have been much smaller than they turned out to be, possibly with us just not including the character in our film at all! For simply being a volunteer, Sebastian gave it his all on-screen, and made the Homeowner a memorable piece of our film. However, his contributions to the film didn't stop here.

Sebastian's Off-Screen Work

Behind the scenes, Sebastian's contributions were probably greater than they were during acting. He was constantly coming up with new ideas, some of which we actually tried and a few of which we implemented! From different camera angles and movements to straight up changing the plot of the film itself, Sebastian was an innovative force that we desperately needed during the beginning. One of the biggest changes we made with Sebastian's help was figuring out how to film a new scene that would replace the robbery. Without his help in laying the groundworks for that scene (which we will discuss later!), we would have been stuck in a major roadblock for a long time. Additionally, Sebastian was a big source of morale boost when we were becoming exhausted, particularly during the 3rd and 4th days of filming. Specifically, Sebastian was able to motivate our actor for Power-Man, Yulian, after he began becoming exhausted after nearly 5 straight hours of filming. It's because of Sebastian's contribution in keeping up team morale that we were able to COMPLETELY finish filming on Day 4!

The light within "Super"-Hero!

 Welcome back bloggers! In today's post, I will be discussing a VERY overlooked element of film media: Lighting! Specifically, we're looking at lighting in our film opener: "Super"-Hero, but not just from our first take. We actually tried a different filming plan in our last film day due to unexpected circumstances, and I will be examining the lighting in BOTH takes!

Photos from the January 11th shoot:

    With the shooting from January 11th, every scene was filmed during the daytime. As such, many scenes have something called high key lighting, which is essentially just shots with a lot of light, manmade or not. We had this kind of lighting due to the natural light outside, that being daylight. Earlier in my Preparing to Film post, I'd mentioned how my group made the decision to not use any sort of special equipment. This includes using any sort of lighting equipment that wasn't already provided on location, those being the lights in the actual house. We felt that going through the extra trouble of getting special lamps or tools to light up certain parts of the frame just weren't necessary for what we wanted in this film. With that in mind, the daylight actually worked in our favor, as it allowed us to keep the goofy non-serious mood of the film fresh. After all, this is a superhero comedy! It makes no sense to give Power-Man the same kind of dark lighting as Homelander if all he's doing is dropping some witty quips and getting knocked out with a bat. 

Photos from the January 17th shoot:

    For the January 17th filming, my point earlier about how day light portrayed the mis-en-scene we wanted for the film can better be shown. This filming session took place in the evening, so daylight did not last long for us at all. We ended up having to turn on lights throughout the house so that we wouldn't be shown covered in total darkness. Although we hadn't realized it at the time, this did have an effect on the mood conveyed in our film as well as how the characters were presented. Specifically, it made the scene with the robbers intruding into the bedroom seem way more hectic and thrilling than we had intended. This opening should come off as goofy and silly to audiences, not tense. Additionally, the scene where the homeowner gets knocked out just seemed awkward when filmed with darker lighting, or low key lighting. Once we compared the footage together, we unanimously decided that our film MUST be shot in the day, because when shot at night it just looks ENTIRELY out of place!