Film Music

 When creating the idea for my film, I bounced ideas off of my brother. He really helped me create the idea for the irony in the film. When I mentioned the music and the type of score, he told me that for the film that's one of the essential parts. Having a strong and emotional drive score in the film is what is going to make the film seem real. The music is what's going to make the audience feel the characters' emotions. With proper editing, I could make this come to life. I often don't watch American-made television shows especially in comparison to anime, Japanese cartoons. In anime, I've noticed how much the music really makes the scenes feel a lot more grand or entertaining. So for me, the music that's in my film has to fit perfectly. I know that I'm going to spend a lot of time trying to search or even make the music. 

I know if I want to use music online I have to contact the creator. Or I could just use completely copyright-free music. I'm just not sure about the amount of copyright-free music that's available. Although I assume there's a hefty amount that can be found especially for projects like this. If I can't find anything online I could try and create the music myself. I don't think I'm all that good at creating music using a program, I think I'm decent. I have FL Studios that I could create songs or instrumental. Using FL Studios would be a good way to create a track for the movie. I'll most likely end up using a song from online. Although it would be interesting to try and create my own song for the film so then I'd have a credit in the music production.

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Website Blog

 I've made a website once before this project. And recalling from my memory it wasn't very difficult at all. It was also for a school project in eighth grade. Similar to the website we were told to use this time, the website is extremely user friendly which made everything easy. Although when I started making my movie website I didn't have many issues. Everything on the website was easily customizable to my preference. When I thought of what I wanted my website to look like, I thought of the title of the movie  "Last Chance" to stand out once you click the website. Originally when I set the words on there I felt like there wasn't enough flare. So I decided to create my own logo with a custom background using this free photoshop website. So the first thing you see on the website is the logo that I created. 

I wanted the website to have a dark type of vibe or feel to it because of how I want the movie to feel. Since the movie isn't a happy kind of film but more of a dark feel I made the theme on the website dark. The logos I created also went along with the theme. I made two other logos for social media accounts. I came up with a little quote that I felt fit the theme of the movie. "Last resort, last hope, last chance." It's supposed to represent how the two main characters are looking at this situation as their last chance to do better or better their lives. It's Rickson's last resort and hope to save his brother's life, but it's also Jessen's last chance to prove that he could do better as a parent and/or role model. So I made this quote as the banner on Youtube and Twitter and I also created another logo just for the profile picture on all the social media. I honestly enjoyed creating the website and I'm looking forward to adding to the website.

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Storyboard Blog

 The storyboard part of the filming process is very important. It helps the director to record the film a lot easier. Having a storyboard is a direct guide to what needs to be film. I will say that this process has definitely been the most draining. Especially since I'm the only member working on my project. In the end I feel like the first big hill has been cleared. One of the biggest task is now out the way. Although I'm still kind of nervous about creating the social media platforms. But I do know that the filming process will be easier. Last year when I created a storyboard I didn't follow it as strictly and kind of winged some of the scenes. But this time around I think that now that I know what to expect I'll be more prepared.

Also when creating the storyboard you have to have everything planned out. You have to know the settings, the actors, the costumes, etc. I knew how I wanted most of these but now everything is set in stone. Before I didn't know if I wanted my cousin to play Jessen or my brother. While creating the storyboard I decided on my brother. To make the process easier on myself I created a guide. The guide would remind me what to draw in each box on all 12 sheets of paper. I'd write a brief description of what would be happening in the scene. Then I'd delete whatever scene I'm drawing after completing it. The story is definitely coming to life now, and it's only going to be built up more from here on out.

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Planning Blog

 We're soon going to have to start filming. The planning process is one of the most important steps for some people. Actual filming studios plan the entire movie and follow the plan that they've created pretty strictly. Most of the time I like going with the flow, but I don't think if I go with the flow on this project that I'm going to come out with the best product that I can create. The way I want the film to go was already thought up when I created the script for it. Well, the majority of it was. The entire movie is going to be shot at my house. With different angles, I should be able to get away with making the movie feel natural. The main characters are going to be played by my cousin and me. He's going to be the Rickson and I'm going to play Damian.

I was torn between who was going to play Jesson between my other cousin and my brother for the longest. I think I'm going to have my brother play him since he'll be more available. Although my other cousin fits the role more in my head so I'll try to get him to play the part and have my brother as the backup. The setting for the place that Rickson and Damian are staying at will be my garage. With the angles I have in my head and the editing, it's going to look nice. The costumes are going to be pretty simple so there shouldn't be anything I have to purchase. I will have to purchase a toy shotgun or a fake shotgun or pistol since that's what I envisioned in my head for that scene. Lighting is going to be a huge part of the film. A lot of the scenes are going to be in dim lighting. If I don't capture the type of lighting I want I might be able to change it in the editing process.

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Short Film vs. Feature Length Film

 The short film and the feature film for the 9 were both good in their own categories. I feel like the short was a good way to start the audience off with that the movie could be. And the feature film gave us exactly what was expected. The concept of the entire story is amazing. The short was quick to the point with what Shane Acker wanted the story to be. With such a unique world, the feature film elaborated on what happened and it all made sense. What the short film had that the feature film didn't was the lack of dialogue. The lack of dialogue made the film more interesting because you had to focus only on the animation. With just the animation, the director was able to get his point across perfectly. While also having the outline for the main story. 

The feature film in my opinion was a good extension of the short film. Unlike the short film, it had dialogue between the character. It also gave the full story of the numbers and what occurred in the world. With the dialogue between characters, it's easy to see how each number acts and the role they play within the group. I do like how in both films the beast was killed differently instead of sharing the same way. Out of the two versions of the film I enjoyed the feature film more. Although I did enjoy the short film. The short film really did intrigue me because of the lack of dialogue but because of the director's ability to keep the audience engaged. The feature film gave me the full movie experience. Meaning introduce the characters, conflicts, and ending. Having an in-depth version of the story is what sold me.

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Research 9 | The Feature Film

9 as a feature film was a good movie. I personally enjoyed it a lot more than I expected. From the beginning of the movie, I didn't know what was really going on but just based on the setting I knew that the film would be interesting. I liked how we didn't get an immediate explanation of what happened in the world. Instead, Nine is just as confused as the audience at the beginning of the film. When Nine leaves the first room and sees what the world looks like, I'm already curious as to what happens. Throughout the film, the audience is slowly shown each number without any specific order. Although I liked that, when Three and Four were introduced they never said their numbers so while watching you just had to guess who they were. Another thing I noticed around the end of the film is the character design between all the numbers. Each design created by the scientist was different as if he already knew that he'd have exactly nine numbers in total since Nine looks the most refined.

The story developed quite well in my opinion. When One told Nine that they just need to stay safe and wait until the beast died and Nine refused, leading to the death of Two. It made me think that Nine's drive to end the chaos that was occurring was extremely necessary. If Nine didn't try to kill the Beast, who knows how long it would've stayed like that. I liked how the Machine was tied into the story. It showed the backstory of what happened in the world. It shows that the scientist created what ended the world. For his last act to try to save the world he created Nine with the purpose to destroy the Machine. At the end of the film when Seven asked "What happens next?" it really did leave me wondering what next. The rain was a nice touch to the ending that indicates that life can grow again but is the human population going to come back? If not how do Nine and the other numbers repopulate if they do? It'd be interesting to know what happens next.

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Research 9 | The Short

 9 as a short film was very intriguing. For starters, throughout watching it I was engaged the entire time. That says a lot especially since there wasn't any dialogue. For Shane Acker to create just characters along with a very vague story and keep the audience watching is really shocking. These characters are clearly in a world that looks run down and abandoned. They start off fiddling with a light bulb, then with the actions that they start to have the audience can easily notice that there's something or someone around. One of the characters tells the other to grab the light bulb and run, as he gets caught and his ''soul" gets taken. Then the entire rest of the short film the other character running away from the beast until the beast falls to its death. But there's clearly information that we're missing. It makes the audience wonder where they are, who are they, and what's their backstory. 

The short film does a great job of making the audience care for the characters. Near the end of the film, you see one of the characters jump onto his creation that was shown at the beginning of the film to kill the beast. While watching it I completely forgot that scene happened until I watch it again. In the first watch, I also didn't realize that the main part of the film was a flashback. After the part where the character kills the beast, we see what occurred after he had the flashback. With the device that the two characters had and the device that the monster had, he was able to bring back his friend and/or his friend's soul. There are so many questions that can be asked about the short film. Such as what was that device and who were the other souls that were released? In such a short time span I was fully engaged in the film. I feel like having such an elaborate setting is a big part of why the film was so great. The setting only could make the audience simply wonder, what happened.

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