LAND HO!

Hello, you can call me Dabloon Bruja. I am feeling like a pirate explorer who can see a shining mountain of gold in the horizon. We are so close to the end goal but we still have a ways to go. We filmed most of the garage scene on Monday and started right after school until 10:00 pm. We had our man tied up in the garage and our bruja stirring her magical liquids. It was the longest and most interesting Monday of my life.  It went very well and I am so excited to see the final product come together.

There was a little bit of a struggle using colored lighting because the quality didn't look as good. But then I remembered reading about white light in my research and how it can help with this if you combine it with the colored lighting. So, as the kids say, we hit that nae.

We used the lamp shades to shine the light in specific direction as well as a light diffuser at times.  We also placed them strategically to make eerie shadows that would add to the witch's mysterious and powerful feel of always hovering above the tied up man. The multiple shadows created also represents the darkness within her conflicting with the love she holds for her dead lover.

We still have to finish the ending shots for this scene to be complete but I am worried about the 2 minute time limit because we got a lot of footage. We will also use the next day of filming to fix anything we may need to.

I also want to show off our set up for the props because we may not have enough time to show the whole thing. Here is our child his name is Timothy:

Here are some more beautiful moments from the shoot:

LET THERE BE LIGHT

From live performances on stage to fashion photoshoots and film, lighting can play an essential role in creating a desired mood and look for a production. We have been planning to use colored lighting as the scene moves from the kitchen to the garage. At first we thought to use blue to contrast with the yellow from the kitchen scene, but now that I've researched lighting more I think we may use red. But we are also thinking, "Why not take me to funky town and combine red with blue and black light?" Play that funky music, am I right?

I have found inspiration in an interesting film by Dario Argento called Suspiria (1977).

These stills show the funky yet eerie feeling that the two contrasting colors create.  We believe that using this color lighting technique will create a very intense feeling and give off a more deranged mood for our witch's violent actions.

We will also use hard lighting to create a dark and shadowy effect within the scene. Zacuto.com defines hard light as "very directional and casts definitive shadows on the subject". An example of the kind of the lighting we want to create is seen in the image to the right from a scene in Vertigo (1958) by Alfred Hitchcock. According to Videomaker.com, "By taking low-key lighting to extremes, you can deliver spooky, mysterious and menacing feelings. In this approach, you reduce bright areas to the minimum needed to understand the image or, for extra suspense, even below that minimum. This makes the audience strain to identify that huge shape that is lurching toward the plucky heroine."  We believe that using this lighting will definitely add to the mysterious feel of the scene. It will help connect the audience to what the man is feeling, not knowing where he is or who this strange witch lady is. We want the viewers to think "Oh hullo? What happened to Sheril?? What is this grim reaper/casper the friendly ghost looking lady doing floating around the room like a shadow??" We believe this will have them on the edge of their seat and wanting more. 

To learn more about hard versus soft lighting you can watch a quite cheesy but informative video I found here. 

I also had a Raven Baxter moment and saw a vision of the ending..

After our witch gathers her ingredients from the tied up man (his hair, finger nails, tears, blood, etc..) she stirs the potion together and puts it in a nice little flask (AKA one of the fancy perfume bottles I found in my home). She then goes in the middle of a circle of candles and starts chanting some spell while having the pendant that belonged to her lover in front of her. She then drinks the potion and pauses. The candles around her all blow out except the one in front of her..

She then opens her eyes and blows out the last candle. Everything goes dark but u still see the smoke of the candle on the right third of the frame....

Then the title ...

LOVE ABLAZE

Anna. Suspiria-133. Digital image. Film Grimoire. N.p., 10 Feb. 2015. Web. 26 Mar. 2017. <https://filmgrimoire.com/2015/02/10/suspiria-1977-do-you-know-anything-about-witches/>.

Anna. Suspiria-212. Digital image. Film Grimoire. N.p., 10 Feb. 2015. Web. 26 Mar. 2017. <https://filmgrimoire.com/2015/02/10/suspiria-1977-do-you-know-anything-about-witches/>.

Anna. Suspiria-214. Digital image. Film Grimoire. N.p., 10 Feb. 2015. Web. 26 Mar. 2017. <https://filmgrimoire.com/2015/02/10/suspiria-1977-do-you-know-anything-about-witches/>.

Blowing out candle. Digital image. Giphy. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2017. <http://giphy.com/gifs/black-fire-dark-L5bUTUzhM6pWw>.

Farley, Jason. Vertigo (1958). Digital image. The Film Spectrum. N.p., 29 Oct. 2011. Web. 26 Mar. 2017. <http://thefilmspectrum.com/?p=6832>.

Machado, Robert, and Jeremy Le. "Film Lighting Basics: Soft Lighting and Hard Lighting in Film." Zacuto. N.p., 22 Mar. 2017. Web. 26 Mar. 2017. <http://www.zacuto.com/film-lighting-basics-quality>.

Mendoza, Richard. Cast the Circle. Digital image. Pinterest. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2017. <https://www.pinterest.com/pin/451767406344337032/>.

Rodrigues, Britney Goldfield. That's So Raven. Digital image. Andpop. N.p., 25 Apr. 2013. Web. 26 Mar. 2017. <http://www.andpop.com/2013/04/25/23-things-we-miss-about-thats-so-raven/>.
Stinson, Jim. "Light Source: Lighting for Mood." Videomaker. N.p., 1 July 2004. Web. 26 Mar. 2017.
<https://www.videomaker.com/article/c13/10216-light-source-lighting-for-mood>.

What do you mean. Digital image. Giphy. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2017. <http://giphy.com/gifs/what-do-you-mean-swe0OZMILbXPy>.

A potion's a-brewin'

Zoe has concocted our witch's potion that will be used in the garage scene. We did research on different edible liquids that could glow and found that tonic water would be our best option. According to Scientific American, "Under an ultraviolet 'black light,' the quinine in tonic water makes the water fluoresce a brilliant, bright blue.."  We tried it and accomplished this magical result:

What kind wizardry?!

Zoe then added some green food coloring and got this:

What a magical looking bowl of liquid

We were also thinking of adding a boiling effect to the pot by adding a little bit of dry ice to it as well. Dryiceinfo.com says, "Dry Ice when combined with hot tap water can produce vigorous bubbling water and voluminous flowing fog." This is a common characteristic of witch potions seen in film, one example out of many being Disney's Hocus Pocus.

In the garage scene we also plan to switch from the previously seen warm tones in the lighting to a cool tone like blue. This will also blend well with the use of black light for the glow of the tonic water. Can I get an amen? AMEN

Buddies, Science. "Shining Science: Explore Glow-in-the-Dark Water!" Scientific American. Nature America Inc., 14 Aug. 2014. Web. 25 Mar. 2017. <https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/shining-science-explore-glow-in-the-dark-water/>.

"Dry Ice Fog and Special Effects." Dry Ice Fog and Special Effects. N.p., 6 Oct. 2015. Web. 25 Mar. 2017. <http://dryiceinfo.com/fog.htm>.

Hocus Pocus. Digital image. My Daily News. Disney, 4 July 2014. Web. 25 Mar. 2017. <http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/tina-fey-star-witch-movie-disney-article-1.1855459>.

HONEY, I'M HOME

We finally started filming the kitchen scene on Wednesday. After making a long traffic filled drive down to Kendall to use Ash's aunt's house, we came to discover that none of us were prepared for the Sahara Desert of Death that was this woman's home. It is also a known fact that one should never touch the A/C in a Hispanic home unless you want a sandal (AKA La Chancla) thrown in your face.

Despite this struggle, I believe our filming went very well. Our main character was also looking extra spicy in her costume and 50's up-do. One problem that did arise is that we realized her nose ring was not one that could be easily taken out. Because of this our shots were mostly of the other side of her face.

The Fresh Prince of I Love Lucy 

The props we found also worked very well with the time period we were trying to set this in.

We also threw in a little suspense to clue in the audience about the future events in this scene despite our previous thought of not adding any. We felt that adding foreshadowing and some clues was inevitable and also adds more excitement to the scene. According to Authors Craft, "Foreshadowing adds dramatic tension to a story by building anticipation about what might happen next." We believe this will keep the viewers on the edge of their seats and more immersed in the scene. They will want to pay more attention because they will get the feeling of something fishy happening but won't know exactly what.

I don't remember this scene in I Love Lucy 

We plan to film the garage scene on Sunday. Our Bruja awaits.

"Author's Craft." Author's Craft - Narrative Elements - Foreshadowing. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Mar. 2017. <http://udleditions.cast.org/craft_elm_foreshadowing.html>.

Abuela bruja comes alive

I have finally created the photo of our main character's lover that will be used in the picture frame and the locket. After researching online I found this tutorial on Alfoart.com that explains step by step how  to create an aging effect on Adobe Photoshop. I did use this as a tool to guid me, but being in AP photo has taught me a trick or two.

To make sure that having this photo would make sense in the first place we researched the date that the first photograph ever was taken. According to the Harry Ransom Center, "The First Photograph, or more specifically, the earliest known surviving photograph made in a camera, was taken by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce in 1826 or 1827." This meant that our main character's lover would've had to take the photograph in the Victorian era (1837-1901). We also wanted to make it apparent in our that the main witch has been extending her life and that despite her youthful appearance, she is over 100 years old. This means we would set their tragic love story around the start of the Victorian Era.

Knowing this, I researched common styles for women in the Victorian era. I found that women's dresses usually covered their chest up to their necks. According to lovetoknow.com, women usually wore "detached collars and under sleeves".

Victorianchildren.org

Luckily in the crevices of the rainforest jungle that is my closet, I had a dress that would fit this look perfectly. I had to wrap a black cloth around my neck and chest and put it under the dress to create the illusion of wearing a detached collar. I also found a pendant to attach to my collar because this was commonly seen in women's fashion.

photographer: Koller Károly

Here is my final product:

When I showed this photo to my grandma she thought it was an old photo of her mom.

My job here is done. 

Fomicheva, Alexandra. ""OLD PHOTO, VINTAGE EFFECT"." Alfoart Graphic & Web Design. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2017. <http://alfoart.com/jaguar_car_1.html>.

Harry Ransom Center. "The First Photograph." Harry Ransom Center The University of Texas at Austin. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2017. <http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/exhibitions/permanent/firstphotograph/>.

Károly, Koller. Portrait of a young lady. Digital image. Flickr. Yahoo, 1883. Web. 19 Mar. 2017. <https://www.flickr.com/photos/23912178@N08/7667146620/in/photostream/>.

Price, Paxton. "Victorian Dress and Victorian Style Clothing." Victorian Children. N.p., 8 June 2013. Web. 19 Mar. 2017. <https://victorianchildren.org/victorian-dress-and-victorian-style-clothing/>.

Sandeen, Del. "Victorian Fashion History." LoveToKnow. LoveToKnow Corp, n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2017. <http://womens-fashion.lovetoknow.com/victorian-fashion-history>.

The road to success

Weeks	Tasks
Week of March 13	Kristen - Get actors Bernie and Nate? Take old pic Get Nate’s costume Ash - Get Location Zoe - Script Make up Storyboard Foley All - Go thrift shopping Plot Pick day to film
Week of March 20	Kristen - Directing Lights Ash - Make up Zoe - Sound All - Film at location 1: My House
Week of March 27	Kristen - Directing Lights Ash - Make up Zoe - Sound All - Film at location 2: Weston
Week of April 3	Kristen - Critiquing and improving editing Ash - Critiquing and improving editing Zoe - Editing
April 9	Turning it in!

So far all of week 13 has been completed right on schedule. We have the stars of our project on lock. We also have our locations chosen and our story planned out. Yesterday went to American Thrift and bought the main character's costume and some props.

Bernie (AKA our witch) and the perfect fit

The effects of finding scarfs for the house wife look

Zoe and our witch's pot

We chose to go with a red dress for our witch's look because it is an extremely powerful color. According to Colormatters.com, "[Red] is the color of passionate love, seduction, violence, danger, anger, and adventure." We believed this to fit our story line perfectly. The color of her dress will be used as a tool to symbolize the passion for the lover she lost in her past as well as the anger towards her lover's husband. It will also represent her violent and dangerous nature. 

We also chose to use a large scarf we found as an apron to fit the 1950's idealistic house wife look. The yellow of the apron will be used to trick the viewers into believing that our story is a lighthearted and happy one because of the symbolism associated with this bright color. We are using warm hues at the start of the intro for this reason as well. 

Morton, Jill L. "Red: The Meanings of Red." Color Matters. J.L. Morton, n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2017. <https://www.colormatters.com/the-meanings-of-colors/red>.

CRIKEY, what a beauty

G'day mate. I've been journeying through the dangerous jungle that is my home and have found some beautiful prop possibilities for our set. Have a look at this little beauty would ya.

NOICE.

I have found a whole family of perfume bottles in the dark corner of a forgotten cabinet in the middle of the desert, also known as my mother's bedroom. Have a look at them in their natural habitat. 

CRIKEY.

We are planning to have these around the dark room that our main character uses to cast her spells. With a good tweaking we will make these look like potion bottles. 

WHAT A BEAUT.

We have also been on a safari journey to search for the typical look of a 1950's home to inspire our set's look. According to GlamorousHouseWife.com, "In the Fifties kitchens were considered the heart of the home." Because our intro does start in a kitchen, we plan to have our set to fit this typical look. We would like to use Ash's family friend's home as the source for the kitchen set because her home is in miami and houses there tend to have a warmer feel than ones in the suburban swamp bubble that is Westón.

ISN'T SHE JUST      

                                                     GORGEOUS.

Righty-o, mate. See me next time wrestling the beautiful croc that is this project. This is Steve Irwin signing off. 

Adrienne. "Home Decor Of The 1950's." The Glamorous Housewife. N.p., 25 Dec. 2013. Web. 16 Mar. 2017. <http://theglamoroushousewife.com/2013/09/home-decor-of-the-1950s/#>.

Victoria. Potion Shelf. Digital image. Etsy. Etsy Inc., n.d. Web. 17 Mar. 2017. <https://www.etsy.com/listing/55953092/reserved-for-murphee>.

SIKE, Scifi who?

Pardon? Science Fiction? I don't know her..

We have scrapped the sci-fi idea and have started thinking of a story that could fit into a dark fantasy type of genre. According to Filmsite.org, "Fantasy films often have an element of magic, myth, wonder, escapism, and the extraordinary." Many fantasy films include mythical beings and magical stories. It is also common to see fantasy overlap with genres such as horror. In these films, the supernatural forces are mostly intended to scare viewers. Dark fantasy is a sub-genre that portrays the fantastical elements of a story as evil and usually in a grim like manner. According to Tvtropes.org, in the dark fantasy genre "Magic Is Evil and often The Corruption..There is a good chance it's directly obtained through a Deal with the Devil, powered by Blood Magic or involves Human Sacrifice..Sometimes magic is kept on a low level, hard to exploit or of highly limited usefulness. This way the setting avoids the fancifulness of a Standard Fantasy Setting ..." This genre also sometimes tells the story from the perspective of the "monster" or presents the story of the mythical being in a way that audiences will sympathize with. We are planning to add similar characteristics to our story. Some dark fantasy films include Edward Scissor Hands(1990), and Maleficent (2014), Crimson Peak (2015), Pan's Labyrinth (2006), and possibly all other Guillermo Del Toro's films. 

Crimson Peak (2015)

Pans Labyrinth (2006)

Fantasy films rank number four in top-grossing creative film types according to Thenumbers.com. This helps us believe that the dark fantasy genre is a good choice for our intro. Most fantasy films target young adult audiences. Horror films also usually attract a younger audience as well. We plan to use a young adult female character as the main role in our story to appeal to this age group. We will also use costuming and other plot characteristics to target younger audiences.

Thenumbers.com

We plan to center our story around a witch who is mostly portrayed as evil in the beginning of our story. So far we have the story set in the 1950s/60s. The main character is a powerful but conflicted bruja who is fueled by Blood Magic. Her motive will most likely be based on her past. She will have had a witch lover that was murdered by her husband on account of him finding out what she was. Our inspiration for the bruja's look include I Married a Witch (1942) and Black Sunday (1960).

I Married a Witch (1942)

Black Sunday (1960)

So far my vision for our film intro includes the present day 1950s/60s setting and our witch entering her home. The shots will not focus on her face at first but her attire and actions. The audience will be led to believe it is just an average house wife coming home to her husband with a "Honey, I'm home" kind of feel. But after putting down her groceries and gathering other questionable tools she approaches a door. Once she walks through the mood will shift from lighthearted to eerie. The lighting will become darker and more dramatic. The room will have a man tied up in a chair next to a big pot. She uses this man as a source for the ingredients of a potion she is concocting. The rest of the details are still being discussed.

We want to use the music as a contract to the visuals of the witch's violent acts toward her hostage. We plan to use an old song like Jeepers Creepers by Paul Whiteman's Swing Wing. This scene will be  similar to one featured in Insidious (2010) where Tiptoe Through the Tulips by Tiny Tim is juxtaposed with the evil demon sharpening his knives.

                           Tiptoe Through the Tulips- Insidious (2010)



"Dark Fantasy." TV Tropes. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2017. <http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DarkFantasy#>.

Daza, Juan Luis. Crimson Peak. Digital image. Hotdog. N.p., 23 Oct. 2015. Web. 12 Mar. 2017. <http://www.hotdog.hu/mozifilmmagazin/filmtartalmak-elemzesek/biborhegy>.

DianaCDT. Black Sunday (1960). Digital image. Listal. Listal, 19 Oct. 2012. Web. 12 Mar. 2017. <http://www.listal.com/list/top-10-greatest-witch-movies>.

Dirks, Tim. "Fantasy Films." Filmsite. American Movie Classics Company LLC., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2017. <http://www.filmsite.org/fantasyfilms.html>.

"Domestic Movie Theatrical Market Summary 1995 to 2017." The Numbers. Nash Information Services, LLC., 2017. Web. 12 Mar. 2017. <http://www.the-numbers.com/market/>.

Rocha, Pedro. I Married a Witch (1942). Digital image. Tumblr. N.p., 27 Oct. 2016. Web. 12 Mar. 2017. <http://antipahtico.tumblr.com/post/152382389536/veronica-lake-i-married-a-witch-1942>.

Snider, Eric D. Pan's Labyrinth. Digital image. Mental Floss. Mental Floss Inc., 29 Dec. 2016. Web. 12 Mar. 2017. <http://mentalfloss.com/article/79882/14-fantastical-facts-about-pans-labyrinth>.

Ward, Beck. "FINAL GENRE - Gothic/ Horror Fantasy." Prezi. Prezi Inc., 21 Nov. 2014. Web. 12 Mar. 2017. <https://prezi.com/fx2abgvrrpkd/final-genre-gothic-horror-fantasy/>.