The group and I met up again this week to talk about the pre-production phase of our soon to be amazing film Simulation: Renegade. Poor Kevin could not attend due to having his wisdom teeth pulled out, but we improvised by having Facetime. We guided our discussion by going over a few questions:

What locations will your film be shot?

So, we thought of many locations around the Dade City Area, that would be perfect for our opening scene: Kafe Kokopelli, Dade City Transmission, the Jiffy in San Antonio, and a few of the Circle K gas stations.

Who will act in your film, if anyone? Why? What considerations do you need to make for scheduling and preparing your actors for production?

• Kevin Foughty, Fares Eltoukhy
  • The dudes are funny together and already know how to have a comedic dynamic
  • Considerations: Kevin just had his wisdom teeth removed. He’s in a bit of pain. Fares arrives late all the time. 
• We need to make sure we don’t  have conflicting schedules (i.e.college stuff and hobbies).

What will your film look, feel, and sound like? Why? How will you achieve it?

We want to make a film that shows the opposing sides of the two main characters. Since we may be filming in a restaurant, we will need to focus more on the mise-en-scene surrounding the characters than in the setting. We will have the detective wear more muddled colors and the hacker wear brighter, more saturated colors. The colors at first will be monochromatic. It will have science fiction features with the use of technology.  Chiaroscuro will be emphasized. Likely to be shot at night or in the afternoon in an urban location.

Will you record any sounds during production (dialogue, ambient sound, etc.)? If so, how? Will you record sounds in-camera or using a separate audio recording system?

We will definitely record sounds using a separate audio recording system. Also we will record the monologue using a microphone. Since we are most likely shooting at nighttime, ambient sounds like cars passing by, car horns or a sign flickering off and on. Probably going to have non-diegetic soundtrack in the background. 

What is the shooting schedule for your film opening? 

Name/Time	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Fares	Free – after school	Free	Free	No afternoon, not at night	Free	free	free
Nick	Inconvenient to do 6:00 to 6:30 PM, but am Free	Can’t do 4:30 PM to 6:30 PM.	Free	Can’t do 4:30 PM to 6:30 PM.	Inconvenient to do 6:00 to 6:30 PM, but am Free	Free	Free
Susan	College12:30 PM – 6:45 PM	Can’t do	Can’t do	Can’t do	Free 12: 30 – whenever	Free	Free2:00 – whenever
Kevin	Can’t do	Can’t do	Between 12:30 and 4: 00	Between 12:30 and 4: 00	Free after 12:30	Free after 12;30	Free After 12:30

As you can see weekdays are a no go for us and weekends are where all of our work will get done. This is because of college, due to dual enrollment, and hobbies.

What technology will you need in order to begin shooting?

This is an iPhone 11 Pro. The photo seen is a representation of my phone that we will be using to shoot out film opening. Yes, I know, Apple products are quality, so our film will be quality. But, this phone features three different camera lenses. The Wide Camera has a 26 mm focal length and a 1.8 aperture. The Ultra Wide camera lens, has a 13 mm focal length, optical image stabilization, is a 6-element lens, and lastly has 100% focus pixels. The Telephoto Camera has a 52 mm focal length, 2x optical zoom, and 2.o aperture. So all in all, very good camera.

This is a Lavalier Microphone, we will use this to record dialogue and monologue in our film. We have been using just regular Apple corded headphones that have a microphone, they have helped but do not produce a quality sound. So having this microphone, allows us to use it with our phones and it is portable then a larger microphone. The microphone can be found on Amazon: https://learnaboutfilm.com/making-a-film/equipment-for-low-budget-filmmaking/sound-equipment-for-film/

This is a phone stabilizer, that we will be using to place my phone on to. This is to help the camera not have a shakiness to it, producing a stable camera shot. This is like a gimble, but a lot cheaper and fitting our budget immaculately. We will be able to deliver a quality handheld film opening. The stablizer can be found at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Smartphone-Stabilizer-Ergonomic-Camcorder-Livestream/dp/B07TLC2MLB/ref=sr_1_20?keywords=iPhone%2B11%2Bgimbal&qid=1581788781&sr=8-20&th=1

Lastly, we will be using a green screen to have the special effects needed for the science fiction aspects of the film. Again, it’s portable and cost effective, perfect for our film. This item can be found on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/EMART-Collapsible-Background-Photography-Case%EF%BC%88Green/dp/B07S684QZX/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=green+screen+portable&qid=1581788921&sr=8-4