Group Meeting #2

On 3/11, we had our second group meeting. When we shared our idea, the group suggested to to talk to the teacher as we did not follow her instructions.  Our project was about a creepy looking guy kidnapping the protagonist and trapping them inside. After the meeting, we discussed our new idea with the teacher as we are at the verge of just getting the project done/going back and fixing all of our blog posts too. 

I also got suggestions to make my blogs better as most of my blogs talked about the original topic itself and not how I can incorporate those contexts into my project. So starting today, I plan to re-film the shots without stalking/kidnapping. And also plan out my CCR's as the due date is less than 2 weeks away. 

We filmed again today. It's more of the protagonist being curious of why his friend is always on his phone. We added shots of me being on phone and the protagonist getting intrigued on to why. The location switched to outside my community and my garage. 

   

Leftmost : Anabella

White Hoodie : Me (Aneesh)

Middle : Kailen

Blue Hoodie : Adil 

Luis

Kailen

 Research for CCR question #1

As March 25th approaches, my anxiety levels skyrocket. I still need to refilm a couple clips and wrap up on editing. Anyway, here is the research for my CCR#1

Conventions

• I used suspenseful outdoor shots. The shots were shot outside on a nice day, but there are pov shots that look suspenseful.

• POV : There are POV shots and close-ups. Which immerse the audience/make them feel as if they are in the protagonist's position

• Jump-Scares : The protagonist gets caught peeking at the phone suddenly by the protagonist. Making audiences get scared without them predicting what would have happened next. 

• Effects : The suspense sounds create unease in viewers. Similar to found-footage horror films. 

Challenge Conventions

• Despite the film being inspired by a video game, we created the characters from from scratch. I acted as the protagonist and tweaked the outfits. We also used few props, or my friend's phone that died. 
• Starting with a shot on a nice sunny day to a dark garage.

Social Groups/Representation of Conflict :

Fear of being watched : The protagonist feels watched/haunted, reflecting scopophobia, or the excessive fear of getting stared at. The protagonist fears other people looking at his own phone. 

Curiosity --> Danger : The protagonist, curiously goes to see what was going on But, ends up in a huge conflict anyway. 

CITATIONS:

Rincon, Meenah. “Horror Films: Reflections of Society’s Deepest Fears and Cultural Anxieties.” Horror Films: Reflections of Society’s Deepest Fears and Cultural Anxieties | ASU News, news.asu.edu/20241028-arts-humanities-and-education-horror-films-reflections-societys-deepest-fears-and-cultural. Accessed 9 Mar. 2025.

Martin, G Neil. “(Why) Do You like Scary Movies? A Review of the Empirical Research on Psychological Responses to Horror Films.” Frontiers in Psychology, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 18 Oct. 2019, pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6813198/.

 

Editing Day 2 - Audio

 Editing Day 2

Today is our second editing day. We are blurring out addresses and putting audio together.  We are utilizing premiere pro as our main software and built in phone editors. As per the sound effects, we gathered them from pixbay, and recorded our own. We recorded gasping noises, footsteps such as walking on grass, concrete, and running too. We used the door closing sounds that are naturally recorded in our clips. We also downloaded a phone pinging sound effect from pixbay.

   

 Editing Day 1 

Today, we started editing by organizing the footage and, and trimming the unnecessary parts to make the sequence smoother. Since we had to re record most of our clips, trimming them and keeping necessary footage makes adding additional footage/effects easier. It was originally 3 minutes with everything put together so we had a ton to trim off. 

After organizing raw footage, we removed parts of awkward silence, background direction, and retakes. We also added transitions and cuts for better storytelling and make the video flowing. 

Filming

 Filming Day 1

We were supposed to start filming last week , but I got sick from the flu. Then our idea and plot needed some adjustments. So we just filmed everything in 1 day. 

- My project partner plays the role of the curious protagonist. Here, we filmed the shots of the protagonist simply walking around he scans his surroundings while his friend was texting on his phone by a tree.

- This is a back shot of me texting on the phone by a palm tree, completely unaware of my surroundings. 

 - This is a closeup shot of me leaving/forgetting the phone on the garage table. 

Then, we filmed a pov shot of me realizing I forgot the phone, ran outside the door only to find the protagonist trying to grab it. Lastly, we filmed a mid shot of me trying to stop him. 

WATCH THE CLIPS HERE