Picking a title for our film

Picking a film title in a group of four people is never an easy process. Constant debate, and brainstorming is an important aspect of the process of critically thinking in a group. It was no mystery that we wanted our title to represent our entire film, but also be simple in every sense.
   In order to pick the title that we felt best represented our film, each member of our group brainstormed titles until we found one that best represented the aspects of our film in the best manner. A lot of titles were suggested including "The Outlet", "Skate", "SB" until finally a title we all instantly agreed on was picked, "Friction. The title was instantly a hit due to its double meaning, the idea of friction with feet on a skateboard, that anytime a person skateboards would feel. The other meaning is symbolism for the home situation for the character in our film that is abusive, giving us idea of friction at the house.
    We felt that this title fully represented the multiple aspects of the film that we wanted, helping to create a create the tone we initially envisioned a film touching on the harsh topic of abusive family's should have.

Reviewing the footage

In film making, a vital lesson i learned early on, was the importance of over-filming to an extent where you can choose from a variety of footage instead of being forced to pick. When we were filming, this idea was prominent, recording multiple takes of each scene was important for creating a film that we had the ability to pick and chose from the best clips, keeping in mind prominent ideas such as continuity and importance of each shot.
  As we begin editing, specific ideas were kept in mind, such as developing the story with editing techniques that develop meaning and overall contribute to making a story with meaning. We plan on using popular editing techniques such as eye line matches, crosscut editing and cuts to properly edit our film to become cinema quality. Editing will help create meaning in our film and with the use of picking the best clips will help us create the best film opening that we can.

Having fun with our film

 After the day of the shoot, we were luckily enough to get a full tour of CNBC, the amazing television station that produces many famous Soup Operas. This tour helped fuel my love for television, as besides having amazing food, our private tour showed us sets, and control rooms of the news station. Our entire group was extremely lucky to have the opportunity to tour the amazing station and learn about what makes many of the channels run, and how the news works in our modern society. It was a great inside look of a news station, something i had never thought about the inner workings of.
  More than anything, the news station motivated me, showing me the future i could have, if i continued with film. Overall, being able to have insight into a professional news station helped me to have motivation for my future and showed me the wonderful life of film in ways i never imagined.

Acting in a film

Acting has never been my strong suit. With that being said, the immense pressure of becoming a main actor in a film was a tough role to fill. Although i watched numerous Youtube videos, with the hope of becoming the next Will Smith overnight, i still felt unprepared for my role. However, the day of the shoot i had a lot of faith and confidence to play my new role, with helped me when the pressure was on and the lights were in my face.
   The ideology of molding myself to become a character I was not, was ultimately not as hard as i originally believed it to be. Once i put myself in the head-space of becoming the character we wanted for the film, the job instantly became easier and I worked to become the actor our film required. Skateboarding has always been my talent, and much of the film was written by myself, with the intentions of creating a film i truly believed in which pushed me to become the best actor i could be.

Filming in wynwood

    Filming in a good location, is what will push a film to have the setting that appeals visually and hooking the viewers. Wynwood, miamis art district, is a great area centered around progressive street art that has a look that is artistic. Creating art with meaning was a main idea of our film, and we chose Wynwood for a shot for the fact that Wynwood has the visual aesthetic with street art, paired with the miami look was essnetial for our film. Wynwood is both beautiful, and under construction, a city that will never finish creation but will always continue to evolve. Our film was created with the intention to represent skateboarding as a hobby that is art. We can always grow and become better at most skills, and skateboarding is a prime example of something that most people dont see in a positive light, but challenging social perception was never an issue for our group. Wynwood enveloped these ideas and thats why we chose to film there.

filming locations

 Settings are an important part of any movie, that can set a mood or tone without any dialogue or actions being displayed. A rich house will have certain stigmas immediately correlated to it, while a poor house will have other stigmas paired with it. Brightly colored houses will envoke happiness and joy, while inversely monotone houses have a boring and sad stigma attached to them.
  Picking a filming location for our movie, was a difficult job, due to the fact that nowhere that we lived would stimulate the idea that the movie required. This set us on a journey, to get a filming location that would perfectly embody the house we wanted our film to be set in.
   Ideally, the main character in the film would be born in a lower income house, and that was an issue as many of the places that we could film at did not have an old and broken vibe, but instead had a modern and wealthy feel. We ended up picking a house in North Miami to use as the main boys "house" for the film. The house, and surrounding area all had the aesthetic and feel that would be vital for creating a film in a lower economic area.

shot composition

 It is no secret a great film is filled with a bunch of great shots, each with deliberate placement and meaning, that pushes a bunch of videos into a movie. Several rules are very important in order to create a film that is visually pleasing. The rule of thirds is an important element of film composition that can create visual stimulation with the use of placing the subject in one of the thirds on the screen. Creating an overabundance of lines going every each way on the screen will create the feeling of chaos and unease, while straight lines going vertically will envoke a calm and controlled mood.
   This weekend, when we were filming our movie, shot composition was one of the most important aspects. Creating shots with specific lightning and depth helped us envoke feelings with the audience. The kind of warm feeling we wanted to be paired with the film caused us to carefully take account of lightning and saturation, as well as camera focus, making sure everything was in check with our intentions.