Romen Basu A Level Blog

 It is extremely important that I edit the current state of my YouTube channel, as that is where my final shortfilm will be published, and honestly it is extremely unprofessional. The audience I have built now expects a standard in quality from me, and a consistent branding. Here is what my YouTube channel used to look like. As you can see its all over the place, with a channel name far too long, and a profile picture and banner with nothing to do with my film. Another reason I have to change my channel is due to its name; when you are trying to find my channel with the title "Romen's Awesome Videos Tavern" you have to type in each word correctly or else the wrong video/ channel would be suggested. For example literally typing in only "romens awesome videos taver" would give you completely random videos. Here is my rebranded channel.  The look is much cleaner and more organized, with a banner extremely similar to my poster- further embracing the brand I have cre...

 This is really just a one shot, but on my story boards I had it split up between shot 2, which I might cut this up when editing it but for now its a full one shot. We filmed on Tuesday February 24th. -last day of filming -last shot! As per usual with the more complex shots, I like to go over my original scene plan by myself and with the actors Gavin and Lauren, so that we can plan it out in the physical space, get some rehearsals/ trail runs it, and hopefully nail it within the third try on camera Dillon walking through the hallway - Close up - Tracking Dillon walking through the hallway while Anna watches him - Mid/Two shot - tracking I wanted Anna to be lurking in the background like a horror movie killer, stalking their victim before killing them, in this case asking them out - hinting even before we meet Anna that she is malicious. Dillon checks his phone and drops it - Mid shot - Tracking Anna picks up the phone for Dillon - Over the Shoulder - Tracking Like the previous part...

 Before I get into filming the scenes, I have to address a change I made to this part of the film; I decided to cut Scene 2 entirely; which is where Dillon walks into school, and gets made fun of for his nails. I cut this for 2 reasons, 1, while we were table reading everyone agreed it was a bit weird and not really something people would call you out for, and 2, I can communicate Dillon getting to school in much more efficient ways; for example I could simply put a school bell sound on the transition from Dillon leaving his house and the sound effect and hallways are enough of a cue to indicate hes at school. Anna watches Dillon walk - Long shot - POV - Canted angle - Handheld In the script/ story boards I only had the first one at he top planed, however I added the one on the bottom, where Anna is also running, to add a more suspenseful or imposing scene, hinting at her affiliation with the cult. Anna askes Dillo is she can give him her number - Over the shoulder - Handheld This ...

 This is the final shot I did before day 3, I already documented my planning for this shot in  Blog #36 . To get this shot set up, I had to mark where Gavin's head was when he was lying on the ground  in the scenes leading up to this; inwhich I just put a distinct leaf behind his head, so that I could remember, and it wouldn't get on film.  Here are the final results Im really happy with how this one turned out, it actually took 3 hits for me to break it this time, maybe I was hitting on a better spot on the test because that one broke open on my first hit. But now that I have 3 hits, i can use all of them, 2 or them or just the final one, and Im thinking of maybe using the very first one, and then cutting to Anna(Lauren) and cutting back and shattering the skull. the aftermath This actually took by far the longest to clean up simply because of how dark it was. I have dogs, and I cant have tiny sharp pieces of plastic with corn syrup and jello on them, so we spent pr...

 I have already gone over preparing this effect  Blog #41 , and now that filming for Day 2 had finished I could now shoot my practical effects. First I worked on the Stabbing effect, making sure to have all the proper lights on/ off: patio lights on, kitchen lights on, and weightroom lights on. I also went back into my shots, as Lauren was wearing some bracelets while she stabbed Gavin/Dillon, so I got my own bracelet, and put it on the hand I would be using to stab the rig. Here is the final set up for it once again. There is a bloodbag inside the chair behind the shirt, and I will be sitting on the table and shooting the film on the tripod on the table, and I will stab the blood bag through the shirt, capturing a POV shot of Anna stabbing Dillon in the stomach.  Here are the results: I am happy with them, at first I really didnt like them but it does look good, the shirt ideally wouldve been a light color, but the black was important for the story and messaging. Th...

 My film from the surface is about a highschool student being stalked by a cult, and then invaded by them and killed by them - it is, at least from my perspective, a great metaphor for feeling consumed by expectations and the opinions of others, issues and anxieties all the more common with our social media focused society, people making comments and posting pictures of themselves online. the metaphor of a cult works really well due to Dillon being stalked while he was unaware, just like how many kids on social media can easily get consumed by it, and subconsciously try to be someone they are not, unaware of the effects it has on themselves and their mental health. And of course the other side of the cult metaphor is my interest in horror films.  The main reason I want to analyze my cult, and so late into production - its already be filmed, is because these elements will primarily be added in post production and editing.  still from Osgood Perkins': Longlegs (2024) To go ...

 This is the final shot in my film, so fittingly its a one shot, after Dillon is killed, the cult members including Anna all group in the middle of the yard and join hands in worship of their deity. This is a slower and more dramatic shot bringing in a supernatural feel to the cult, while expanding on the theme and messaging while doing so.  Dillon dead on the floor, all 3 cultmembers(including Anna) walk into the middle of the yard. - Master shot - Pan I used the lighting in this shot to show the black being the color of everyone else, of 'normality' and I used the light as Dillons personality/ true self once again, and I used the light to make it appear almost as if Dillon is bleeding, lying in a puddle of his personality/ true self; a puddle of light now that he has hidden away who he is. Cultmembers continue to walk into the middle of the yard - Three shot - Pan Cultmembers reach the middle of the yard - mid shot  Cultmembers join hands in worship as a gust of wind hi...

 Scene 10, Shots 1, 2 & 4 are what will contain scene 10, shot 3, my big gore set piece of the film, so I must make sure these shots work very well together, and I must also make sure the lighting is completely controlled, so that when I shoot the practical effect later, the set will look identical, and the time difference will not be noticeable. One slight issue is that filming is now outside, so natural lighting is everywhere, however it is already nearly pitch black while filming these scenes, and it will be even darker afterwards, which should not be visible on film at all due to my lighting coming from my patio which I set up to shine onto Dillons face.  In these shots the cultmember (Robert) walks back outside, kneels down next to Dillon (Gavin) and smashes the hammer down into his face, cutting to Anna watching. Simple shots but like the previous scene , I have to use my technical skills and post production editing skills to keep these shots engaging and interesting...

 Scenes 8 and 9 both come together to show Dillon (Gavin) being dropped on the ground outside, one of the cultmembers (Robert Sokoll) grabbing a hammer, and walking back outside. Sounding fairly uninteresting and boring after the very energetic and climactic previous scene  where Dillon was stabbed and attacked, so to keep the energetic nature from the previous scene, I need to use similar techniques to their fullest extent, to turn something kind of uninteresting into a natural and fast paced follow up to what came before it. Both cultmembers drag Dillon outside and drop him on the floor - Three shot - Tracking Dillon hits the ground - Close up - Handheld Cultmember grabs a hammer - Close up - Handheld Cultmember leaves garage with hammer - Midshot - Pan - Tracking Cultmember opens garage door - Midshot - Handheld Cultmember walks outside - Midshot - Handheld These shots in particular heavily contrast the consistency of the one shots in the beginning which had fluidity and ha...

 Scene 7, shots 2-8 is truly when the climax of my film kickstarts; the killers reveal. The last couple scenes in my film have been revealing cultmembers, in a way taking suspicions off of Anna, leading the audience to believe, "no these guys were the villains the whole time and Anna truly loved Dillon", but in true Billy Loomis fashion, that just wasn't the case.  Dillon points out his knife is missing - Two shot - handheld The killer is revealed! - close up - handheld (shots where Anna stabs Dillon) - I wanted to point out how the stabbing gore effect is not in this batch of scenes, as I filmed them at different times, offering a hand double for Lauren so she could avoid getting the fake blood all over her, additionally on set I made sure to include blood on the knife and the floor for a realistic and believable effect Dillon tries to escape but a cultmember tackles him - long shot - over the shoulder - handheld In these shots I used handheld to follow Dillon as he trie...

 Scene 7, shot 1 follows Dillon and Anna inside Dillons house, just going about their day, talking to each other like a normal couple, but in the background of the shot, the cultmember who snuck inside(in the POV shot) is revealed. One thing I had to keep in mind while filming this scene, was that, at least for Dillon, the characters are still in their state of harmony, and the malicious force has not done anything to them or revealed themselves yet, so even though so much has been set up, and its just about the climax, I have to keep the camera very still, as if its on a track or a dolly; so that I can properly convey how the characters feel. Before filming on more complex shots as usual, I like to go over my scene plan: After going over it with the actors, assigning action phrases to Robert(the cultmember), which since I do plan to use the audio from this shot, the action phrase for Robert, ended up being to start walking 5 seconds after Gavin(Dillon) and Lauren(Anna) start talki...