Reflection on Film

     Today we had group meetings in class, it was also ASL Deaf Day and as the ASL Co-Secretary and an ASL Two student, I participated. ASL Deaf Day is where all of the students in the club and class go a day only signing not speaking, some students even are wearing earplugs so they do not hear. 

Plot Reminder:

A psychologist named Patti is haunted by the memory of her dead daughter, Meredith. Meredith committed suicide by drowning. Patti feels it was her fault for not being able to help her, therefore she became a psychologist to help others and atone. The film starts off in Patti's organized and cute office with her staring at her notes, not listening to the patient in front of her, who is unnamed for psychological privacy reasons. The patient's voice is muffled to represent that Patti is zoned out, thinking of something but the audience does not know what yet. Patti the focus is surrounded by happy-looking items such as self-care books, bright colored pictures, and signs that have words such as love and hope. There are also family pictures. The opening credits would be displayed during close shots of the items surrounding Patti. An alarm goes off, signifying that the time is up, and Patti is snapped out of her trance. As the patient is leaving, we see a jump cut of the same room slightly off, a person is in the corner of the screen, and Patti gasps, obviously shaken. The scene goes back to the real room, the patient asks if she is ok, Patti says yes but looks at a photo of her daughter as the patient leaves. Patti looks shaken up and is comforting herself rocking back and forth. The scene goes back to the imagined room. Close-ups are shown as they were prior, but this time with dark, emotional items. As the different shots are shown the ghost person is seen. The noise of a door opening back up is heard as the patient enters the room due to forgetting something, jump cut to the real room. The psychologist is seen trying to calm down but still in panic so fast-paced edits from real to imagined room are shown as the patient asks if Patti is okay. Patti tells the patient not to worry and hopes that the therapy session will help her. The title "Can You Help Me" is shown as the patient leaves. Patti stands up, saying "I'm ok. Everything is ok."  She sits down at her desk to organize notes and sees a longer flash of the girl we now know is her daughter. She tries to continue doing her work, but her papers are now soaked. She quickly stands up and walks out of her office, rushing to the bathroom to dry her papers. As she walks down the hallway there is water leading to the bathroom. She bumps into someone who asks if she is ok. She says yes and walks faster. Now she is in the bathroom. She puts the papers under a dryer and goes to the sink to wash her face. She washes her face, but when she looks up her daughter is standing behind her. End. 

My Group:

    I typed up everything I wanted to be said, and my group member, Miguel Parra, was nice and read it aloud for my group to hear. Everyone enjoyed my blog, especially my vlog! They enjoyed the number of multimedia such as videos and pictures I used on my blog. Like myself, they were shocked that Asthmatic Kitty Records responded the way they did. No one seemed to have any real critiques but this may just be since it was somewhat short of a discussion due to my no talking. They did not really discuss the plot/opinions on the plot, I will check in with Julie to see if anyone in her group has more of an input and will add that here.

Julie's Group:
    Julie also received positive feedback and like me thought about reshooting scenes. She also received the idea of filming at the library, they have small study rooms that could look like an office, but I do not think this will work as we will be filming for a long period of type and have props we want to use to make the office feel real.

Editing Update:

    Well, my editing is not fully complete, but I wanted to share the current version with Tyler so he can gain inspiration and start the creation process of our music. He leaves Friday and his break ends Monday, he says he will start once the filming is done.

Tyler's Thoughts:

    Well as I said prior my brother will and did tell me when things are better. He thinks the match shots could be better and would look cleaner if all filmed on one day. He explained there are easier ways to film if we film all in one day. He loves the makeup of Meredith but thinks it should be a little more, in some of the long shots you can not really see it. He thinks the lighting we should add the difference to the imagined room during the editing process and not during the production process. He thinks our mirror scene could look like one from "Last Night in Soho" directed by Edgar Wright. I love this idea and will be attempting it!

  He also loves the blood oozing out of the sink, he thinks this hits the target of psychological thriller very well. Overall his help was tremendous, since I had to be silent during the group meetings today I did not exactly get many opinions, so I am thankful he is home. 

Moving Foward:

    I have discccused the idea of reshooting with Julie and she is not opposed. I would like to shoot Thursday, it is a school half day, but Friday or sometime over the weekend will work too.  I would like to see if I could get a friend to help us film, I think it would be easier with another set of hands. If not, we can make it work.

    Editing wise my crappy edit did help as I now know what shots look good and others that do not. I also will be able to easily direct the filming process as I know very well the order of what we are filming.

    I would like to film all bathroom shots, then bedroom, and lastly hallway.

    Wish us luck blog... we may need it!