AaronMAICE

     Bad Deal is deeper than just being an action thriller film. My film is about a criminal injustice, a mafia crew negotiating a “bad deal” with an individual, thus how the film acquired its name. Everyone knows the general concepts of crime and unlawful manners that happens in everyday life, but some do not experience it. This can disconnect people from crime which they can become oblivious to. This is where my film comes to life. Bad deal represents crime in which the audience go on a journey with the mafia and witness all the crookedness behind the scenes. For example, in the first scene where two of the actors were bonding, laughing, and being jolly followed by one of those actors, Shelly, being kidnapped and Marcus making the attempt to retrieve her. Viewers had the ability to sense a feeling and reflect on this scene as their loved ones or themselves can be taken away at any given moment unfortunately. This is displayed when Marcus begins to grieve at that very mo...

    The wait is over!!! I present to you, my website, postcard, and last but not least my short film! Website: https://aaronmaharaj9.wixsite.com/aaronmaharaj     Postcard: https://www.canva.com/design/DAGA7Zsvzxk/RMSuK7RsWBv7w1PgDgFMEg/view?utm_content=DAGA7Zsvzxk&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link&utm_source=editor#2 Film: https://youtu.be/T7KWjNZbiYI     Words cannot describe how thrilled I am for this thriller right now! My team and I finally completed it, the short film is oficially done. It has been a bumpy rollercoaster to get to this point but I am glad with how everything turned out. But let me stop yapping, I hope you enjoy.

    Hey!! Remember when I was telling you about how I was gonna get professional and go all out for this film? Well it is safe to say I got it done. Yes, I did it, but the process was not so simple. I began working on the website, for this I used a website builder called wix.com to assist me. This was my first time working on a website yet using wix in general. It was definitely a learning experience. I started by adding in the background and title page for the film this was the easy part. I then decided start inputting information when my website wanted to start glitch out. On of the tabs one of the groups was not deleting that was unneeded. Wix tends to come with templates in which assist you for your website, sometimes these templates come with groups which are not needed depending on the scenario. In mine, I did not have a use for it and attempted to delete the group several times and it did not work. I decided I can actually utilize this group instead and remodel the page...

      Welcome back!! I hope you did not think I forgot about this cinematic masterpiece that we have been talking about. In my last blog I finished editing as you may already know. Now some people may just simply export this film to youtube and call it day. But, if it is one thing that I learned from making a short film is to add seasoning. Allow me to explain, after post processing, editing in other words, it is easy to make a few unknown mistakes in which the editor would be blind too. This is due to the overloaded abundance of viewing the same content at one time which can lead to a few mistakes needing to be adjusted flying over my head. It has been a while since I last viewed the film. That is why today I rewatched and edited draft of the film and added the "seasoning." I hope I am not making you hungry. Thankfully, in my viewing of the draft I saw clips that were unaligned with scenes and could have been transitioned better into one another. I did not see this oppor...

Welcome back to part two of my editing struggles! Just joking, editing is going smoothly there is just a little hurdle that I need to get over. I know I teased you a little on my last blog about what the hiccup was, as you may have guessed, it was the finger being in the camera frame. I took an absurd amount of time trying to figure out ways and methods to pursue in order to remove this obstacle from the frame but I could not seem to find one. I searched on YouTube  and Google throughout today on learning how to mask objects in a video clip and tried it. Unfortunately this ran me into another problem. My computer ran out of storage from the project auto saving. At this point, I decided not to stress but rather clean up storage and make space on my laptop by deleting unwanted apps and moving them to my other hard drive. I did this process pretty quick and begun back my ediitng journey. After hours of trying to perfect the mask on this singular clip I decided it was just best to crop...

     Wooohoooo! Editing time has oficially begun. Let me give you some insights on what happened today. I begun by importing the footage from my iphone in which all of the scenes were shot onto my computer. I did this process how I always did it, through email. By doing so, I was able to simply download each clip the same way I had them organized from my phone. Now it was time to load up and import my clips into my editing software, Adobe Premiere Pro. It has been a while since I last used this program so it took a bit of time to get back into the groove of how tools operated. Then, it was time to begin editing. First things first, drag all of the clips onto the timeline putting them in chronological order. The first clip in the sequence was mainly dialouge, but torwards the beginning I had to cut some length as the camera was rolling before we begun acting. This meant that about 30 seconds of the first clip had to be removed which was calculated previously with the requi...

     Greetings! As you may know from my previous blog, filming is finished! The second day of filming was very exhausting and lengthy. This was because the scenes left were action intense, and contained dialogue. In order to perfect these it took multiple takes to shoot each individual scene. There was a fight scene in which we were able to make pretty realistic after several goes. Do not worry, no one was harmed. Despite the time consumption, it was safe to say I way pretty satisfied with the results. I finished wrapping these scenes up and get ready to head to home, it was already midnight. Today I reviewed all of the clips from my phone and organizing them by the scenes that will be used and trashed. I did this by using the favorite tool from my phone and compiling the clips into a seperate folder for easy access. From this point on it will be easier to import them to my computer for editing. When carefully viewing each clip of footage, I pinpointed each minute detail ...

 Everyone, I did it again! That’s right, my team and I was able to meet up and finish filming. My plans went exactly how I expected them to go. We were all free of activities and school on Monday meaning my brother was able to drop me off by Nandika’s house and start production. In my previous blog I mentioned how we already filmed almost half of the film. This consisted of the car and outdoor scenes, mainly being dialogue between the characters. This left us with more than enough time to film the rest of the film. I began the continuation of the scenes from inside of my teams house. I decided that it was best to use their entrance door, living room, and bedrooms for the settings. The lighting throughout the house is not significantly bright which made the fit for my thriller genre perfect. Lighting tends to be a little dismal and dramatic. The first scene was myself walking through the door abruptly attempting to locate where the mafia was. I ran throughout the house and entered t...

      What's up, its been a minute! So, in my last blog I talked about how one of my main actors, Nandika went on a trip out of the country. If you were wondering if she has finally came back the answer is yes. That only could mean one thing then, we filmed today! I am back into my regular schedule with minor tweaks. Filming was an overall success. We were able to film half of the short film and to leave the rest for another filming day. We filmed about 5 different scenes. By the time I started filming it was already night time which was perfect for the plot and scenery for the film. Firstly, I filmed the car scene. This was dialogue between the two mafia members about their suspect named Marcus. I went into the trunk of their van and recorded an over the shoulder shot which came out better than expected. Ajayesh and Vjayesh did great as actors in this half, they put on a heavy Caribbean accent which added more emphasis to the scene The next scene that I filmed was with N...

    Sooo, it is me again. As you may know from my planning blog, today was supposed to be my scheduled film day. Based off the title I am sure you can already tell that I was not able to film today with my actors. I know I know, now it is getting repetitive but I can explain. From my last blog I mentioned that Nandika is going to be in Trinidad for a week. The issue with this is that, she is one of the main actors as well as me using her house as the filming space. Fortunately, she wont be gone for long, about a week. This still leaves me plenty of time to still plan and film. Although, this means that both of the originally desired filming dates have been compromised. With bad news always comes good news. She will be coming back on February 15th in which we are both available to film the day after, the 16th which is a Friday. I have checked in with the other actors and the designated videographer and that date is looking promising.      I know it might have bee...

What is going on! Right now, I am trying to organize all my actor’s schedules and meet up at Nandika's house. We will be able to film majority, if not all my clips there. Although, the thought of everyone being free on a certain date may sound easier than the true reality. My actors all attend to university and still must prioritize their schoolwork extracurricular activities with their daily life duties. With their packed school schedules, everyone has classes at different times and dates which makes it harder to plan one day or two for all dedicated to filming. Not only does it make it difficult for my friends but, its also my responsibility to balance school and my daily life. My car is currently in the shop meaning that I would have to get either Ryan my brother, or my parents to drop me off by my friend’s house to film. Fortunately for me, my brother gets off at school at around 4:30 p.m. which leaves me the entire day to travel to Nandika's house and begin the filming pro...

    Hey, what's going on! I cannot wait to start filming. As you may know by now, I will have some friends to participate as actors in my short film. This means that I will have a desired camera person to get all of the designated and desired shots for this film. As of today, I have contacted them and let them know what roles they will take in the shooting of this film. I have made it clear to them how each scene will take place and what is going to go down in them. Although, scheduling for this filming process is may be a little difficult. My actors and I schedules look very different from each other. Due to school, and other extra curricular activities it is difficult to even find time for oneself. We are still settled on our desired date to film. However, I will be creating back-up plans and dates just incase we run into any obstacles on that date. When I was in AS level creating my film I found that working in a group does not always go as planned, especially in terms of s...

                  

   Hello!! Time to begin scheduling for this film. To recap, my film will be about people on the mafia conducting business deals when suddenly one of their members are kidnapped. It is now the mafias job to retrieve one of their members, when unknowingly the kidnapped member is against them the entire time.      Yet a simple plot, but makes for an interesting plot twist. This will leave viewers puzzled at the end and at the edge of their seat throughout there viewing experience. To accomplish this, I will have the help from some of my friends and family. We plan to use their rooms and house as it has dismal lighting for opening scenes and so on.       When recording these scenes it is important to take precautionary measures before and after hand. I will provide hand sanitizer, cleaning wipes specifically for the props, etc. There is not any extreme circumstances that we will be threatened under so no need to worry we are and I will ensure th...

      Hey welcome back!! Did you get enough of this short film research? Well good news, I have researched one last thriller film, Porcupine. This film is directed by Clifford Miu and is inspired by a real-life story. The inspiration for this film originates from a real-life story. A tense-tale involving a mother, an intruder, a shotgun, claustrophobic quarters of a trailer, and a police operator. At the beginning of the film, I noticed scenes started off slow then increasingly got more intense. The film puts the audience in the mindset of the petrified protagonist. The mother, as an example, puts on display what she feels, hears, and understand every decision she makes. Doing so creates a more interactive appeal to the viewers amongst the film resulting in a more immersive experience. The director shot in a multiple of long takes then broke them up in post. This strategy is very effective as there can be a wider range of decisions that can be made in the post emphasizing...

 Hey! For my second short film research I will be reviewing the thriller unleaded. This film is directed by Luke Davies. Unleaded is about three thugs attempting to rob a petrol station whom are then suddenly interrupted by the unlikeliest of heroes, a group of stoners. Common conventions is the dreary dismal lighting of the gas station. This lighting creates an environment of suspense and mysterious essence to the viewers. The lighting alongside with the robbery fit perfectly in the tense feeling of this film. Actors in this short film are also wearing dull colors, hoodies and a biker jacket for the robber. Similar to the lighting, clothing also played a sense of intense activity throughout this movie, establishing each characters role. The “stoners” wore hoodies as he walked into the gas station in which his vision and hearing, due to headphones, is impaired. He unknowingly prevents a robbery from occurring. Throughout these scenes camera shots and angles varied, establishing the...

      Welcome back! I have done research on a short films, this being on the movie Gridlock by Ian Hunt. Gridlock is the same genre as what I am planning to film, thriller. This short film is about a little girl going missing on a country road from inside one of the cars in a traffic jam. Her father goes on a vicious hunt to find her and soon everyone becomes a suspect. The vivid camera work seen and consistent pressing rhythm of the editing made it seem as if the audience is in the center of the events unfolding. In the film an accident regarding a horse is what causes the traffic jam. An extreme close-up of the fathers eyes staring at the horse's body lying dead in the middle of the street. This creates intensity and suspense within this scene which was then followed up by the realization of his missing daughter. All of the bystanders and constant accusations making everyone a suspect is a convention that leaves the viewers on the edge of their seat. With all the well-t...

 Hey, welcome back! I have watched the video on 'How to Make a Short Film' and gathered some key points that I can utilize in my film. One of the first tips that stuck out most to me was, do not go with your instinct, regarding the plot. Most likely if I am anticipating a scene to make sense I can predict the others and what will occur afterwards meaning that the audience may be to. This leaves no room for suspense or the element of surprise putting the viewers attention at risk. Instead using theme to dictate and guide the story in which influence how the characters act is best. In addition, not only does film sequencing come to light when needing to make a superior film but the actors too. If the actors in the film do not give their best effort it can look sloppy and lazy. For example, a character running through a forest. They must be giving it their all, not just jogging. All intricate details will pop up on the camera revealed to the audience so it is vital to give it your...

      Hey guys, welcome back to my blog. I will be going over and comparing the movie 9, the short and full lengths films.   Short Film:      Today we're going to be looking at the short film "9" by Shane Acker. This film is about a story of a ragdoll living in a post-apocalyptic world, terrorized by monsters taking the ragdoll's souls. Due to the short length of the movie this lead to a simple plot focused on three characters with no dialogue. These three characters were the ragdoll's 9, 5, and the monster. This film was also made with CGI but poor quality because of the low budget. It is clear to intel what is happening throughout scenes even with the lack of dialogue. The diegetic sound comes from the characters weaving in and out throughout the setting and other creaks and effects of the creatures movements. Conventions of this short film consist of a simple storyline, variety of strong emotions, and special effects also known as CGI. Editing ...

Hello and welcome back! Today I will be reviewing and comparing films Le Jetee by Chris Marker and the full-length film by Terry Gilliams. Both films contain their similarities and differences. For instance, in Le Jetee the acting is different to that of the 12 monkeys. Instead of characters actually playing their part, it is in the form of photos and non-diegetic sound. On the other hand, full length film, 12 monkeys has dialogue and actual scenes not photographs. For them to be the similar, 12 monkeys would need a narrator to do a voiceover of the film as well. In order to pay tribute to the movie, 12 Monkeys also reworks the plot, topic, and concepts from La Jetée. In addition, La Jetée is a picture-based narrative about a World War III survivor who is transported back in time to prevent the planet's destruction in order to preserve humankind. With the photos being shown in black and white alongside the use of reverse shots, clean cuts, cross fades, and dissolve create a powerfu...