Recording

Last Tuesday, Mariano and I went out to record since we had all the shots and storyline organized. We decided to wait until nighttime for a scarier setting. Some issues we encountered while recording were camera quality, chasing scenes, and the number of helpers. I believe that if we had a third person while recording, the video could have been more successful. 

The first part of the recording was filmed at Mariano's house. His dad helped us record the first shot since Mariano and I were in the shot. Zach Simpson is a friend who has also helped us during part of the filming. I decided that Zach could be a good assistant because he has taken the class in the past and had a dog we could use for filming. In the opening Zach's dog was used to introduce the shapeshifter, his dog didn't give us many problems and we manipulated his movements with treats. 

Since it was nighttime while we were recording, the camera quality was a little blurry. To counter this problem, we decided to add light from a phone flashlight. This problem gave us a good idea: lower the lighting so the dog "shapeshifter" could look more menacing. A technique that really helped me during the recording was to put myself in the audience's spot. This way, I can tell what feelings the audience is experiencing.

Lastly, we made so many changes to the original plot of the story due to the reality check. Our original idea for the introduction of the shapeshifter would of been to show a dog with poor lighting convert into a human but after 7 tries we decided it would be better if we introduced him a different way. One of the problems I didn't see coming was my imagination vs. reality. When I was planning for the opening, I had so many great ideas, such as introducing the shapeshifter, but they all came down once I started recording them in real life. This problem did critical damage to our original idea of the opening, but it we countered by walking around the neighborhood and thinking of new ideas. Walking around the neighborhood helped me come up with new ideas because I could put myself in the setting Frank is in and let my imagination run wild.