So at the beginning, I wanted to use both my dad's and brother's voices in the shots in which they were speaking in Japanese. However, I thought it would be more interesting if they were shown to be the same person within the digital realm by having the same voice (mine). This also allowed me to put my dubbing and editing skills to the test.
At first, I wanted to make this project a little more ambitious by having an actual budget, purchasing a green screen, and having my uncle make the music/beats. In the end, I had to sample various instruments and sound effects to create original Frankenstein beats and ambience music.
This whole process has been difficult, with written reflections and blog posts proving more difficult than the creation of the final product.
Also, I had originally planned on getting help from more people other than my brother and dad. I have an uncle who has a recording studio and could've helped with audio and filming since he has some cameras. However, due to him working on other projects this was not possible.
Sunday, April 7, 2019
CCR
It's here
Written Podcast
Hi, I'm Omar Villasana - writer and director of the film opening 'Aged Reflection'. Today I will be discussing various aspects of my project and hopefully answer some questions.
I will begin with briefly explaining what my project is about. In the year 2267, humanity has made it possible to digitally clone a brain and run it 10 times as fast in a virtual environment. This has allowed members of society to 'meet themselves' from the 'future' in order to gain insight on what direction their life should head in.
As a science fiction movie it breaks conventions by introducing more personal, individual psychological questions that are not usually touched upon in most science fiction movies dealing with issues such as dictatorship or conformity. In this society, your own clone decides who you are, which asks the question of what make you 'you'.
The question that the movie is posing is "Who am I", by offering an easy solution to this question via the digital cloning of a person so that it answers the question for them.
The film could be watched by anyone whether young or old. Because since life is a process, people are constantly changing and asking themselves "Who am I", regardless of the stage of life in which they find themselves in. This also differs from other Sci/Fi movies dealing with 'rebellion' that may positively engage with more younger viewers such as teens and young adults.
Aged Reflection is an invitation to a philosophical discussion directed at people in general.
Before this project, I already had some experience on video editing and sound design. On this project, however, it was the first time that I had ever created music by having instrumental samples from various different songs as well as digitally created beats that would blend them all together. Some animal noises were used and edited to create the eerie soundtrack as well.
This was also the first time I had added dubbing into one of my films. Inserting audio that you recorded is quite easy, but to have it match the lips of someone who had already said it - well.. I found it to be somewhat difficult and took me various times to re-record and adjust the way I had placed the audio in the editing software.
There was very very little that I had taken from online, and everything that I had taken was thoroughly changed to make it my own and properly add it to the film while making it fit and look nice.
The film's logo seen at the beginning was taken off a website that offered to create logos for other people and was copyright free. I adjusted the image using the software adobe photoshop and inverted the colors as well as added a couple of touches to make it look even more sci/fi than it already was.
I had integrated physical technology such as my camera, microphone, headphones, and phone to create the audio and raw footage for the film. While I used a variety of software and applications on my phone and computer to change the nature of the material that I had collected. Garageband was used for the music samples and beats, some iMovie for the editing, and adobe photoshop for the changing of the image's color and brightness.
Something that I feel I could improve upon if I remade the opening or produced the film as a whole, would be to spread out information instead of condensing it into a small segment of voice-over as I had done.
The way in which I had begun to think about the idea was too ambitious and not helpful for the creation of a small two minute. I had created a whole universe inside my head. A world with rules, boundaries, customs, and history. Different ways in which technology had directly impacted the people on this world, and how their society functioned very differently from ours.
These people had an opportunity for the meaning of life to be revealed to them by a wiser, established counterpart of themselves. The existence of the digital clone and the information it disclosed to the person about themselves gave them drive, direction, meaning, purpose, and eventual fulfillment. The key to a happy life.
What the challenge was, in my case, was to be able to zoom in from this broad concept and convey a story that takes place within this universe. But most importantly, my goal was to share the profound nature of it with others. This is where I think my opening needs improvement. Since there was a lot of information I wanted to insert into the video I was unsure of how to go about it or create the proper context for what the viewers were seeing on screen to make sense.
And at the end of the day, there was only so much I could put into the clip. So, I decided to make the opening show the story of a boy who was meeting his digital clone for the first time.
Written Podcast
Hi, I'm Omar Villasana - writer and director of the film opening 'Aged Reflection'. Today I will be discussing various aspects of my project and hopefully answer some questions.
I will begin with briefly explaining what my project is about. In the year 2267, humanity has made it possible to digitally clone a brain and run it 10 times as fast in a virtual environment. This has allowed members of society to 'meet themselves' from the 'future' in order to gain insight on what direction their life should head in.
As a science fiction movie it breaks conventions by introducing more personal, individual psychological questions that are not usually touched upon in most science fiction movies dealing with issues such as dictatorship or conformity. In this society, your own clone decides who you are, which asks the question of what make you 'you'.
The question that the movie is posing is "Who am I", by offering an easy solution to this question via the digital cloning of a person so that it answers the question for them.
The film could be watched by anyone whether young or old. Because since life is a process, people are constantly changing and asking themselves "Who am I", regardless of the stage of life in which they find themselves in. This also differs from other Sci/Fi movies dealing with 'rebellion' that may positively engage with more younger viewers such as teens and young adults.
Aged Reflection is an invitation to a philosophical discussion directed at people in general.
Before this project, I already had some experience on video editing and sound design. On this project, however, it was the first time that I had ever created music by having instrumental samples from various different songs as well as digitally created beats that would blend them all together. Some animal noises were used and edited to create the eerie soundtrack as well.
This was also the first time I had added dubbing into one of my films. Inserting audio that you recorded is quite easy, but to have it match the lips of someone who had already said it - well.. I found it to be somewhat difficult and took me various times to re-record and adjust the way I had placed the audio in the editing software.
There was very very little that I had taken from online, and everything that I had taken was thoroughly changed to make it my own and properly add it to the film while making it fit and look nice.
The film's logo seen at the beginning was taken off a website that offered to create logos for other people and was copyright free. I adjusted the image using the software adobe photoshop and inverted the colors as well as added a couple of touches to make it look even more sci/fi than it already was.
I had integrated physical technology such as my camera, microphone, headphones, and phone to create the audio and raw footage for the film. While I used a variety of software and applications on my phone and computer to change the nature of the material that I had collected. Garageband was used for the music samples and beats, some iMovie for the editing, and adobe photoshop for the changing of the image's color and brightness.
Something that I feel I could improve upon if I remade the opening or produced the film as a whole, would be to spread out information instead of condensing it into a small segment of voice-over as I had done.
The way in which I had begun to think about the idea was too ambitious and not helpful for the creation of a small two minute. I had created a whole universe inside my head. A world with rules, boundaries, customs, and history. Different ways in which technology had directly impacted the people on this world, and how their society functioned very differently from ours.
These people had an opportunity for the meaning of life to be revealed to them by a wiser, established counterpart of themselves. The existence of the digital clone and the information it disclosed to the person about themselves gave them drive, direction, meaning, purpose, and eventual fulfillment. The key to a happy life.
What the challenge was, in my case, was to be able to zoom in from this broad concept and convey a story that takes place within this universe. But most importantly, my goal was to share the profound nature of it with others. This is where I think my opening needs improvement. Since there was a lot of information I wanted to insert into the video I was unsure of how to go about it or create the proper context for what the viewers were seeing on screen to make sense.
And at the end of the day, there was only so much I could put into the clip. So, I decided to make the opening show the story of a boy who was meeting his digital clone for the first time.
Thursday, April 4, 2019
Film's Music
The music or type of music found in this opening is inspired from various shows and represents a general aesthetic.
Starting the filming process
I have now started the filming process. The way in which I have developed the idea for this science fiction film has been very interesting. Before starting the shooting process and setting up props (or the lack thereof) I had no idea on how I wanted to go about actually filming it.
I had created a universe in my head along with a fictional society and rules. However, once you begin to film you begin to understand what you are able and unable to do. Taking these limitations into account, you form an idea in your head of what you will actually do.
And once an idea is formed you start from there. Although there will not be much budget in the film, you work with what you have and convey as much as possible with the use of editing.
Sunday, March 10, 2019
Comparison with Inspiration Films - 'The Matrix', and 'The Truman Show'
The Matrix is a story where humanity became enslaved by robots who used them as living batteries by placing them in small capsules where they would live out their lives in a virtual reality program called the "Matrix" where they co-existed with other humans who were connected to the same reality.
The Truman Show takes place in a dystopia where the life of an unwilling participant became broadcast on television as a show. Truman lived in a world that was heavily monitored and entirely controlled by the studio and director. It was as if he lived in an existence all by himself. With everyone around him being hired actors, he was the only one who truly experienced the world that was being presented to him. Although this film is not
My story will incorporate elements from both of these films. The setting will be in a virtual reality for the majority of the opening and approximately half of the film.
Unlike the Matrix, there will be no other inhabitants or human minds in the main character's world. Similar to The Truman Show, there will be computer AIs that act as elaborate NPCs that would emulate the non-existing actors in my story.
My story has the element of outside observation that is present in the Truman show and not in the Matrix. As well as technological aspects from the Matrix that are not present in the Truman show.
Sci/Fi Aspects of Film
Science fiction is almost always characterized with imagined future or technological advances that have a major social change and display a changed, usually dystopian, civilizations. This film is no exception.
Virtual reality has always been a subject that has both intrigued and scared me. And I'm not talking about the "virtual reality" that we have access to today, but rather, TRUE virtual reality. A state of consciousness most similar and comparable to a lucid dream with built in UI.
This, and the idea of being able to transfer one's being/brain onto a computer, or live in a completely digital state where no organic material is involved.
My story takes place in a time where virtual reality could only be experienced through digital cloning. They had not yet been able to truly transfer a brain from flesh to machine in the same way one can get prosthetics for certain organs or limbs that function exactly as their organic counterparts. In other words, no born human can manifest as a machine.
What they are able to do is take the brain of a living person and copy it exactly as it is down to individual neurons firing. The brain, to them, is essentially a biological program that is predictable and closed circuit.
Virtual reality has always been a subject that has both intrigued and scared me. And I'm not talking about the "virtual reality" that we have access to today, but rather, TRUE virtual reality. A state of consciousness most similar and comparable to a lucid dream with built in UI.
This, and the idea of being able to transfer one's being/brain onto a computer, or live in a completely digital state where no organic material is involved.
My story takes place in a time where virtual reality could only be experienced through digital cloning. They had not yet been able to truly transfer a brain from flesh to machine in the same way one can get prosthetics for certain organs or limbs that function exactly as their organic counterparts. In other words, no born human can manifest as a machine.
What they are able to do is take the brain of a living person and copy it exactly as it is down to individual neurons firing. The brain, to them, is essentially a biological program that is predictable and closed circuit.
Psychological Aspects of the Film
This film both conforms to and challenges what people think of psychological thrillers in different ways. The film places an emphasis on a character who's emotions are not only unstable, but intense and unchecked. Like other films in the genre, it incorporates elements of mystery, drama, action, and horror; this one with a Sci/Fi twist.
The film delves into what's essentially the mind of a person and how they interact with the world that they inhabit as well as the choices that are presented to him.
The main character is basically being tested to see how he reacts to different stimuli. His entire life became a case study on despicable human behavior once his traits became apparent to the spectators.
The film takes as a whole joins the conversation in the psychological 'Nature vs Nurture' debate where certain aspects of human behavior are either attributed to genetic predisposition to environmental factors or combinations of both.
In the society where the protagonist lives in, they believe that 'evil' can be bred out of the human experience and will look for certain patterns in individuals so that they can eliminate all those who reflect habits present in serial killers or criminal. However, the film establishes that the observers have influence in the protagonist's environment and may even instigate reactions to further study their subject.
The 'Death' character is revealed to simply be an AI that is the only outside observer influence that directly interacts with the main character, assuming the role of a higher being that will guide and give structure to the subject's apparent time travel.
The film questions free will and the essence of the human experience.
The film delves into what's essentially the mind of a person and how they interact with the world that they inhabit as well as the choices that are presented to him.
The main character is basically being tested to see how he reacts to different stimuli. His entire life became a case study on despicable human behavior once his traits became apparent to the spectators.
The film takes as a whole joins the conversation in the psychological 'Nature vs Nurture' debate where certain aspects of human behavior are either attributed to genetic predisposition to environmental factors or combinations of both.
In the society where the protagonist lives in, they believe that 'evil' can be bred out of the human experience and will look for certain patterns in individuals so that they can eliminate all those who reflect habits present in serial killers or criminal. However, the film establishes that the observers have influence in the protagonist's environment and may even instigate reactions to further study their subject.
The 'Death' character is revealed to simply be an AI that is the only outside observer influence that directly interacts with the main character, assuming the role of a higher being that will guide and give structure to the subject's apparent time travel.
The film questions free will and the essence of the human experience.
First Draft for the Film
The film opens with a black screen. After a couple of seconds, a very fast series of images and videos could play showing the start and end of a person's life. The duration for these images would be short, and after they are finished playing, the screen returns to its black state.
This is meant to represent the course of someone's life as events happening in a chronological order in which time is strictly linear.
The two black screens are the state of the human soul before life and after death. They are black because they are undefined and unknown.
After the introduction of the film, this will become a relevant plot point and serves as foreshadowing when placed in the opening of the film.
Once this is over, the film will truly open with the main character dying or in the process of dying in the near future. It will be established that he has done some reprehensible things in his lifetime that he regrets deeply. Or things he wanted to do that he thought he was unable to.
Once his final moments arrive he starts an inner monologue and as he draws his last breath - He dies. The screen returns to black and for a second, the monologue stops. But then it continues. The main character realizes he's not really dead. Then, a strange voice speaks out to him. He explains that he is a supernatural being called a God of Death/Grim Reaper that allows him to re-live some parts of his life.
Once this is over, the film will truly open with the main character dying or in the process of dying in the near future. It will be established that he has done some reprehensible things in his lifetime that he regrets deeply. Or things he wanted to do that he thought he was unable to.
Once his final moments arrive he starts an inner monologue and as he draws his last breath - He dies. The screen returns to black and for a second, the monologue stops. But then it continues. The main character realizes he's not really dead. Then, a strange voice speaks out to him. He explains that he is a supernatural being called a God of Death/Grim Reaper that allows him to re-live some parts of his life.
Sunday, March 3, 2019
Equipment and Location
There are a couple of places that will be easy to film.
1: My house
2: The school (maybe)
3: The park
4: Any other public place.
I could also film using green screen or heavy effects to make up for the fact that this film is low budget. The green screen could be made from a green blanket or could be bought for cheap online or at the nearest arts and crafts store.
For the equipment, I have a decent camera and I could ask to use my uncle's microphone. I could also film in my uncle's studio and record audio there for the film. Depending on whether it's needed for the plot, filming could take place there as well.
Actors that may participate in Filming
So there's a few people that could help in being actors for my film.
Immediate family
-Brother
-Mom
-Dad
Friends
-Nicholas
-Diego
-Isaac
-Christian
-James.
Plot of the film
Various ideas for this one.
I'm fluctuating between either a convict who has had various events lead up to the eventual execution/death in a cell.
Or, the life of a normal individual that has a limited amount of regretful moments.
The basic premise of this film is to show how a combination of certain series of events affect a person on both a conscious and subconscious level. Combining elements from films focused on the psychology of the characters combined with a plot device hailing mainly from Sci/Fi films.
Towards the end of the main character's life, they will be presented with a choice of being able to travel back in time with the ability to change various events in their lifetime.
The basic premise of this film is to show how a combination of certain series of events affect a person on both a conscious and subconscious level. Combining elements from films focused on the psychology of the characters combined with a plot device hailing mainly from Sci/Fi films.
Towards the end of the main character's life, they will be presented with a choice of being able to travel back in time with the ability to change various events in their lifetime.
Idea for the opening scene.
So when deciding to create a science fiction film opening, my first concern involved the budget of the film. I currently do not possess anything other than a couple ideas for how to go about filming for this project. I own a camera and may possibly purchase a decent mic. If not, then I can always use my phone as audio when placed near the actors.
Usually, a sci/fi movie will require some sort of budget due to the concept or idea that the film is exploring. However, a film about time travel can have a low budget and take place in a common setting. What I believe ties together a good time travel story is the writing and the editing of the scene with the performance of the actors coming in as a bonus.
Time travel can be a tricky or easy subject depending on how it's handled. The main theme for the opening scene will be regret.
The Film as a whole:
The protagonist of the film is someone who has made many mistakes in their life. The first thing seen when the film begins is the moment where the person about to die.
Time travel can be a tricky or easy subject depending on how it's handled. The main theme for the opening scene will be regret.
The Film as a whole:
The protagonist of the film is someone who has made many mistakes in their life. The first thing seen when the film begins is the moment where the person about to die.
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