Ruby Lips Shoot (Solms Hall)

In our student film, there is a scene where we have to shoot in a "Police Station". Being the resourceful students that we are, we used an office in one of our on campus buildings to do the shoot. The characters that were needed for this shoot were some cop extras, London (Clementine's sister), and some other extras that were needed to establish a police department.....a hooker, a drug addict, and a homeless person. I had a blast doing make-up for the hooker, and the drug addict! For the hooker I dressed her up in a mini skirt, and I had her showing off her bra as well and have a blue over sized shirt tied in the front over her exposed purple/black bra. I also had her dress in boots that went up her calf, and I had her pull up her thong on both of her sides so that it could establish how open she was to showing off her "money maker". For make-up I darkened her skin with some of my make-up. Her skin was of a caramel complexion (after the application of the make-up) and i applied some blue and purple eye shadow on her. I darkened in her eyebrows and I made sure her hair was full and had some body to it.
As far as the drug addict went, I originally dressed him in over sized clothing to establish that the drugs made him lose a lot of weight. After consulting with the director, he suggested that I apply makeup on his arms to show that he stuck needles there. I was scared at first when he told me this because I had never done special effects with make-up before. Once taking the drug addict extra back to the actors holding room, I started to apply the make-up on his arm, and I couldn't believe how real it looked (considering this was my first time doing this!) I then went over bored and applied makeup under his eyes to show that he was strung out on drugs, and by the time I showed his off to the director, he gave me nothing but a thumbs up!

"Ruby Lips" first Production Meeting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In class our professor had delegated positions to each member of the class for our student film "Ruby Lips". We also assigned a date for our class to meet up so that we could have our very first production meeting. Mrs. Boner, our professor, told us that she wouldn't be there at the meeting, but the producer, Jessica Armstrong, would be the leader as far as making sure that everything was covered that needed coverage. First we talked about how the audition process would go, and then we further discussed what types of materials would we provide if the auditonees didn't have a prepared monologue. We set a date for the audition, and then after we talked about what the requirements were going to be for each character in the film. This topic was one that set everyone into a heated debate. Everyone had their own ideas about what the requirements were for the roles, and how we should narrate our ideas down on paper. Because everyone was so focused on getting their point of view across, i saw that instead of listening we were just jumping on top of one another. 

Eventually we regained some order during the meeting, and we semi-listened to other people's ideas. Once we covered the requirements for each one of the characters, we then went on to discuss funding for our student movie project. In our budget we set apart money for costumes, make-up, props, and food. The funny thing is that later (after the meeting and later into filming) we didn't even abide by the guidelines of our budgeting.  90% of costumes were pulled from dress shop in Jenkins theater, 5% of costumes were used from the casts very own wardrobe from home, and the other 5% pf costumes were purchased. Mrs. Boner used her very own money on food and beverages, and within the first couple days of shooting she spent hundreds of dollars. People were very wasteful with the purchased goods that were provided to cast and crew on set, which led to more money being spent. All in all the meeting was a success, but it took almost 2 hours for us to exchange ideas. 

Ruby Lips Film shoot Day 1

As apart of our class Video Production 2, our assignment was to shoot a student film that was written by one of our classmates. Each person was assigned a position for the production of the filming process and mine was costuming/make-up. Our film "Ruby Lips" is about a girl, Clementine, who was murdered, and detectives Parks and Owens, have to figure out who her murderer is. During our first day of filming my goal was to make sure that everyone was properly dressed for their characters. I had to go around and make sure that everyone's hair, and clothes looked appropriate for shooting. Make-up was provided for those that didn't have any, and for those that didn't have the time to do their make-up my services were provided for the application process. Out of all the film shoots that we had to do, the first one was the longest! We shot Clementine's body discovery at our very own campus pool near the recreation center. We used a very high tech camera called "The Red". This particular camera is used to film Hollywood movie productions, and its very EXPENSIVE! Our DP's were from SCAD, and were very helpful during the shooting process.

When it came to providing food for the cast, as well as crew, our professor Mrs. Adrienne Boner spent hundreds of dollars on food, and for that she was truly a blessing. She made sure that everything ran smoothly behind the scenes, along with our two wonderful producers Barbara Sue and Jessica Armstrong. Even though tensions ran high throughout this busy time-consuming process, everyone was a huge helping hand, and throughout it all we finished strong with our student film. CONGRATS CLASS!!!! WE DID IT! Also I would like to give a special shout out to Jonathan DeBoer. He was the writer for "Ruby Lips". 

Pretty Little Liars: episode 2

     In this episode, of Pretty Little Liars, we find out some more information. we find that the man that Aria met in the bar last weekend was the new English teacher at her school. When she walks into her English class, for the first time that year on the first day of school, she is appalled to find to that she had made out and flirted with this man that would one day be grading her assignments.  As this show progresses we also get to see the relationship buil rather quickly amongst the four girls. they start reminiscing on their last friendship with their best friend Allison. Some things that the girls tried putting behind them in the past start coming back up in their lives. Spencer remembers a fight that she had with Aliison, and believes that her death was her fault.
      The police are all over town trying to find out how Allison died. They were also hopeful that they would find suspects to blame for the crime, however no has any concrete evidence amongst anyone at this time. the only thing in this episode that happens is more flashbacks of the past, and also assumptions of who the murderer could be.

Prettty Little Liars: episode 1

     A teen series, written by Norman Buckley, is definitely a huge hit on the ABC television network today. While watching the first episode I automatically fell in love with the show and the actors in it. The storyline is very mysterious, and always leaves you wanting more, wether that's accomplished before a commericial, or leaving you at a cliffhanger before the next episode. In the beginning episode you get to figure out the main characters, and in the beginning you get to get a taste of who the girls are and semi- what they are about.
     There is this girl named Hannah. She has the best of everything when it comes to material things. she is very much about her image, due to the fact that she recently overcame obesity. There is another girl named Spencer. She is the intellectual friend, who fell for guys very easily due to their appearance. She grew up in a house full high expectations, and now she is just looking to let loose a little bi, but her indiscretions come out as time goes on. Emily is another one of the main characters in this show. She is the athlete friend who struggles with her sexuality. Being that she grows up in a family with strong morals, she was afraid to let her inner self show, therefore she walks around looking a little bit depressed. Last but not least is Aria. aria is the most plain gain girl of them all that is the most simple. She grew up in a family with her parents, however things, that we find in the show, start falling apart at home. this causes her to leave home at night and go out. While at a bar Aria comes across this guy who is much older than her and finds through conversation that they have a strong connection.
     In this episode we find that there is a girl, Allison, who dies, a girl that used to be best friends with all of these girls. Before Allison died, the girls stopped talking and during this episode they end up being drawn together by a mass message being sent to girls constantly by this mysterious person known as, "A". "A" seems to know all of these girls secrets that they keep amongst each other, and it's "A"'s mission to reveal all of the girls secrets, and make their lives a living hell. The girls se the only ones who know about "A" and they assume that "A" was their best friend, Allison's killer.

Wee Willie Winkie Video Project

    Dring this course, Video Production 1, we had been given a variety of assignments; however there was a lengthy one that was assigned to us. Our teacher assigned everyone in the class to come up withconsiders concept from a nursery rhyme and then to make that concept a student made movie, and then later the class will come up with their favorite concepts for the movie. From the favorites chosen, the teachers chose four groups to go with along with teams for each one of them. The group that I was assigned to was Nathan. Nathan's movie concept steamed off from the original nursery rhyme Wee Willie Winkie. In Nathan's pitch there was going to be a cast of three people; a mom and her two children. As time went by, our group held production meetings. We made a finalized script within a couple of weeks, we picked out our actors, and then finally we picked a location. During this process we faced a lot of issues with meeting. Evryone in our group faced busy/hectic schedules, and therefore we hardly were ale to plan time to shoot our movie. Two shooting days were canceled because other things got in the way of people comings to shoots. Only one person in our group had an excusable reason for not being there, and that was due to him getting married. As time was drawing near the deadline for the project our group had yet to establish any shots, yet set time for a shooting date.
     As time went on my partner and I were the only ones putting in anytime to our project. We even had to go to our teacher and ask for an extension. For this I felt horrible, but I knew that after aking to an extension that my group had to get their shit together! From that moment on my partner and I sat back down and went back to the drawing board. We ended up splitting all the designated jobs for the assignments between us two, we set a shoot date, and we were able to shoot in one day, and edit all in one day. It was a hectic process, but the end product made us very thankful that we were persistent in getting things done.

Movie Review: Set It Off

     After watching the movie Set It Off many years ago, I decided to write my very first blog on this movie. For starters I love this movie. I love the character differences between the main characters I this film. The director for this film, F. Gary Gray, did a wonderful job casting. Actors Jada Pinkett Smith, Queen Latifah, Vivica A. Fox, and Kimberly Elise, were stunning in this film production. Eveyone of these women had a character in the movie that had a story that viewers naturally sympathized with.  It was easy to feel a heavy sense of emotion for each one of the main characters because their characters we're so relatable; each one of them had a sense of grit to them which made their struggle seem so real, and it also made their decisions in this movie seem like the only way out of their life struggles.
     In this movie there are four friends that live in poverty in Los Angeles, California. One friend loses her job, another loses her brother. A son is taken from child protective services by another woman, and the other friend strives to earn more money. Due to their hard life situations the women decide to make to rob several banks within the LA area. The LAPD suspects the women and later finds out that some information that might convict the ladies to the crime they committed. Eventually after the girls rob one of the biggest banks within the area, it draws the police closer to them and ultimately their fate is in jeopardy after that point.
     Jada Pinkett Smith's character, "Stony", was the level headed person within the click that had values for her family and at one point in time herself as well. She was the character that faced a lot of internal struggle within the movie. Due to the hardships that she faced during the movie, you as the viewer felt internally happy for her when she came across true happiness. When it came to Queen Latifah's character, "Cleo", I thought that her persona was needed within the film. Cleo  was the nonchalant girlfriend in the film that had a hood swag to her, and liked to have a good time whether it was listening to music while joy ridding other people's cars, or by smoking marijuana. Cleo was the character that lived in a shell and couldn't see herself leaving where she came from, the projects. If anything Cleo was the most tragic character throughout this whole storyline. "Frankie", Vivica Fox's character was the confident, firy, business woman that wanted to be a career woman. Without Frankie this entire crime committed in the film wouldn't have happened as smoothly as it did. Since Frankie worked in a bank she knew the ins and outs of the system. Frankie's strong will and determination to rob the bank was the start to the huge drama that took place within the film. Last but not least is Kimberly Elises's character. "Tisean" was the soft spirit within the group of girlfriends that kind of dissipated with all of the other girls' strong personalities. However her demeanor starts to change when her son is taken by the CPS and her urgency allows for this to happen. All in all I must say that I was satisfied with all of the girls' characters.