Planning the Production

Up to this point, we have only planned when we are going to start producing our project's film opening. In this blog post, I will plan how the production process will be carried out. This includes deciding where the filming will occur, building any props, creating or buying any costumes, and acquiring any cameras and microphones we may need.

Location

4 main locations appear in our film opening, the experimentation room, the emergency response room, the hallway, and the forest. For the experimentation room and the emergency response room, the room doesn't need to fit perfectly with our needs as we will make sure these rooms are kept dark only highlighting the important things in the frame. For the hallway, me and my partner have decided on filming in my school's hallway. However, one downside to this is that we can't reserve a hallway in the school so we have to be quick with our shots to ensure we don't get anyone else in frame. For the forest scenes, we will film at a nearby national park. I called ahead to make sure it was ok to film there at night and they said it was fine as long as we don't disturb any of the other guests.

Props Found/Bought

The props we need to find or buy are a laptop, a projector/screen, lights, cups, papers, pens, and clay to form the shape of the monster (we will only be using the silhouette of the monster so it doesn't need to look the best. Thankfully, we have most of the props we need except the projector. I asked one of my aunts who is a professor at a local community college and she said she might be able to lend it to us if she doesn't need it at the time we are going to use it. If we aren't able to obtain a projector, we can just use a screen instead.

Props Built

The props we need to build are the double-walled tank and the monster figure that will go inside. In my previous blog post, I described the plans for a double-walled tank. The materials needed for this are two wooden disks, two layers of pliable plastic walls, and metallic grey paint. I have ordered all the materials that are needed and they are scheduled to arrive in two days. The monster figure that will go inside the tank will be made out of clay and aluminum foil. Thankfully, because the tank will be filled with a murky liquid the figure inside doesn't need to be too defined, just a general shape of the monster will do fine.

Costumes

The costumes we need are two white scientist's coats and a military general's uniform. The costumes can be bought at various stores such as Walmart, Target, and Party City. To add more life to the characters I would like to acquire a pair of fake glasses of the Dr. Nathaniel character.

Recording Equipment

    For the recording process, we need a camera and a microphone. We can either find a high-quality camera for clearer shots or we could just use the cameras on the back of our phones. For the microphones, I bought some wireless clip-on microphones that we can clip on our clothes. Ideally, we clip it underneath our clothes so the audience doesn't see it.