Script for Hired Gun

I realized I forgot to post our script last week, so here it is:

file://localhost/Users/melaniecrete/Documents/hired_gun.doc

file://localhost/Users/melaniecrete/Documents/hired_gun.rtf

Pre-visualisation Documents for Hired Gun

Our Storyboards & shot list:

file://localhost/Users/melaniecrete/Downloads/2014-04-17%2015-23.pdf

Sound Recording Experience

Lydia, our director in our group, had the awesome idea to do some of our sound recording at the nearby  bowling alley so we went there Tuesday morning to recording as many unique bowling and billiard-related sounds. Ten Pin Alley was extremely generous and courteous not only to allow us to do our recording there but gave us access to go behind the lanes where the machinery was, lent us some pins to create more sounds, and let us get up close by going down the alley and helping us however they could. I feel like we were able to get a lot of unique sounds and we were able to record the majority of the sound effects or clips that we needed that day. All of the extra sound recordings we needed my group was able to record individually at their homes and in the library Wednesday afternoon. Ethan and I learned that we needed to manually control the level at which we were recording a lot of the sounds at the bowling alley because the machinery was extremely loud and we would have blown out the levels. It was amazing (and a little bit annoying) realizing how much sound the mic can actually pick up. For example, when we were trying to isolate and record a few sounds away from the lanes in the other half of the building, the mic was still picking up the loud squeaking/screeching of a man sitting in one of the chairs in the bowling alley area, making it difficult to isolate the sound.

Editing the Master Shot Sequence

This being my first real experience editing a short film project (aside from the very small, silly video projects I had in high school) I was very anxious. I was excited to finally get my hands dirty and work hands-on on our master shot sequence, since this is what I am going to school for, to learn how to make films. Even more exciting was the fact that this was a narrative project and together our group had creative control to interpret the Bran & Park skeleton script however we wanted. I was also extremely nervous since is the first time or my first crack at serious film editing. I have never used Adobe Premiere and am still in the process of watching the Lynda.com tutorials. I feel very inexperienced but being kind of thrown into the program is helping me learn the program a little bit as well. Our first idea was really funny but we ran into too many issues with finding actors, props, etc. for our idea in such a short time. Not to mention two other of our peer groups had similar ideas. So we changed it to something completely different than our original idea (which was serial killer speed dating) yet kept a little bit of the quirky humor in it. Ours is now about two girls who play a prank on their friend while playing with a Ouija board. I haven't had much time working on the editing of our footage yet, but together Adrienne and I have been working on the organization of our shots, synchronizing the audio to the video, and now cutting down the scenes and fine tuning them to be cleaner and more concise. We are  hoping to do more advanced editing today in our class in the lab, yet we still have to record some of the sound later today after class that we have to edit in to our dialogue sequences since it could not be recorded on set while we were filming.

VOX pops & B-roll

Unfortunately because of my work schedule I could not go with my group downtown to the Cotton Exchange to shoot our B-roll and VOX pops but I was able to talk to my group members and we got some really good footage and some relatively long VOX pops. I'm excited to do our group interview on Saturday due to the positive response from my group members!

Production Schedule

We are planned to film our expert interview this Saturday (Feb. 22nd) at noon. Our expert interviewee is Lori who works at The Cotton Exchange in downtown Wilmington. Our original expert interview subject at The Black Cat Shoppe unfortunately fell through and we have moved on to a new subject, still keeping with the haunted ghost tours that take place in downtown Wilmington where we did our original photographs.

Documentary Film Plan

Our Documentary Film Plan:
 As of right now, our groups plan is to interview one or both of the Black Cat Shoppe's owner(s) Kim and John Hirchak which is located in downtown Wilmington, right by the boardwalk/riverwalk area where they begin their Ghost Walk of Wilmington and Haunted Pub Crawl tours. We chose this place because we originally shot our still photographs on the boardwalk/riverwalk right near their shop and thought that they would have some interesting insight and knowledge about the area, having conducted tours here since 1999 and publishing their book, "Ghosts of Old Wilmington".  Our photographs, taken during the last ice storm came out pretty dark and gloomy and pretty haunted looking, which would go right along with our theme and subject. Here are 10 questions I would like to ask our expert interview:

1.) How many employees do you have?

2.) Do you conduct the tours yourselves? Why/why not?

3.) What is your favorite "haunted" location?

4.) Do you have a personal experience or encounter with anything haunted or any ghost stories that have involved you or someone you know?

5.) Is the wizard really a wizard?

6.) What did you do before you opened the Shoppe and published your book?

7.) Did you get to meet any cast members of One Tree Hill and/or Dawson's Creek?

8.) Have you given any tours to any visiting celebrities/actors?

9.) Why Wilmington?

10.) Do you have any hopes of expanding your business someday? Whether it be the store or more tours?

We can do our VOX pops with customers in or around the shop and maybe any public walking on or around the boardwalk/market st. area. We can ask them if they have been on one of their tours or want to go on one of the tours. What is the scariest thing that has happened to you in Wilmington? What is your favorite horror/scary movie?