Making the Knife- Implementing

Making the Knife: 

In our film we need to show the dead body of the person in yellow as our catalyst, the start to the plot. To make the knife memorable, we need to show blood dripping of the blade. Using my research from a past post: The Procedures of Media. The learn how and making of a Film. 2025: The murder weapon-the knife: how to make- research, let's make the knife!

Rejection:

In the research leading up to this post, my suppliers took the Styrofoam idea and put it out the window of a car in a high-speed car chase. I had to pivot, to a more time-consuming task of wood carving. I can still take the same principles from both and make it better. 

Gathering the Supplies:

In the two researched ways to make a fake knife, we needed to gather supplies beforehand. So, I went into the garage and looked for supplies. The similar supplies in both are:

• A Mold/Outline
• Material (which is carving)
• Paint of any kind
• Protector (Painters' Tape)

The Gathered Supplies

With these supplies I have confidence in carving the knife out of wood, but I wish I had thought of this when making the last blog post. I do have experience in refurbishing furniture and making trinkets out of wood, but painting is a slight worry.

Carving the Wood Piece:

I started by using the trace of the knife on the paper and putting it on a piece of wood. After we traced the outline, I cut the wood piece into the general shape of the knife. then started to sand the wood down to get the angle and smoothness right.

The Pre-Painted Knife

This knife has the shape and is ready to paint.

Adding Color:

I started by covering the handle with painters' tape (to protect the wood,) and then I spray painted or primed the knife, for further painting. I did not cover the handle to the best of my abilities, so there a bit of specks on the handle and lumped paint. This problem can be fixed by sanding them down a bit more.

The Primed Knife

With the primer set, the final part of making the knife (not handle) is to paint. I used the only grey I had, which was darker than I wanted. (Paint is expensive.) Now the handle, I wanted to reflect the house by either doing a mat black with the gray nail or using the wood with darker accent frowned in. I chose the wood due to the grey knife being too dark for black. I burned the wood and added a urethane stain to get a shine on the paint and to make the wood not dull looking. 

The Finished Result

My Personal Take Away:

With the finalization of the knife, the majority of the props for Scene 1 (originally scene 2) have been completed. My main worry is that the knife does not have enough metallic look to it. I tried to replicate it but it does not look right to me. However, the knife will have some blood on it so the metal will be covered up. Overall, this has been a good experience, and I am happy with the lovely murder weapon.

What Type of Knife Should Our Film Use- Planning

Background-

When doing research on how to make a knife, I kind of skipped the prosses of deciding what type of knife I should make. With me realizing this mistake before making the knife, here is the prosses of me deciding which knife to do.

The Requirements:

In our film, the knife needs to be tangible in the time frame. The main knife that is taken out through that is Sci-Fi and fantasy-based knives. No lightsabers. The knife for the film is based on the director's vision. The vision is a stab-based weapon. With the book of Agatha Cristie's Murder on the Orient Express giving the description I feels fit the death: "The blows seem to have been delivered haphazard and at random... frenzy stuck blindly again". This adds to the overall effect of the murder happening due to a drunk or crazed accident. With the 1974 version having the same colors as our film but for different reasons.

The Murder on the Orient Express (1974)

What type of knife can do this damage? Well, all knives without a serrated edge work; due to excess friction. So that narrowed it down to two types of knives: switchblade and kitchen.

Switchblade:

This knife requires more parts to make but has the right size, shape and fits into the time frame of the film. But is too small.

Switchblade

Kitchen Knife:

This knife naturally has the easiest shape and color to make, with many handle types another of that nature. My director, who wanted to make this film to have horror elements, mentioned Micheal Myres Knife as a reference for this. With a quick synopsis the reason this horror works is because it is just in a suburbia with the weapon commonly found there. Which she wants that fear to be in our film (for some reason). Here is a picture for reference:

Micheal Myres with his knife

This knife has promise but I am worried that genre convergence of access would affect our film. Even with this problem, the knife could just come from the house.

Take Away:

Look at the images above and broad search for our film. The common kitchen knife fit to the film, a lot better than a switch blade. With that decided the next post will go over the process of making the knife. With also easy to access schematics.

Kitchen Knife Anatomy - Element Knife Company

Setting Up Props Scene 2 Shot- Implementing

 Setting Up -

In today's post I will be setting up one of the most intracule props for our film. These props will be used in Shot 1 Based on the research provided in this post: The Procedures of Media. The learn how and making of a Film. 2025: Using props effectively-research and The Procedures of Media. The learn how and making of a Film. 2025: Placing down Cups: Research, I can set up a comprehensive layout format for our film. To keep track of the moving props and lets me practice more without getting the shots in the way. 

The Set Up-

Using the research given, I was able to set up the props. I do not have all the red solo-cups yet, so I used cups around the house. The Clue board game was set by just playing the game to get genuine play. So here it is:

An overhead shot of a table to get prop placement.

Scene 2 Shot 4

The positioning of the cups was set up with the intention to show relation, and this picture accomplished that idea. But without the red cups, the 60:30:10 rule cannot be applied like I wished for this scene. This rule was discussed in an earlier blog post: The Procedures of Media. The learn how and making of a Film. 2025: 60-30-10 and Color-Theory Cinematography: Research. When Amazon delivers the cups then we are full sail ahead. To continue the idea of props, Clue the board game. This boardgame's card blends too much into the tablecloth. This could be fixed by using a different darker, but not to dark, tablecloth. Maybe blue? To get more of the 60:30:10 rule, that was just mentioned.

A Revelation:

When taking this placement shot, I realized that this shot was good. So good in fact, it could work for our film. This overhead shot could show the host picking up after the party with more emphasis and entertainment compared to the original idea. With this new shot in mind, I need to get a better positioning of the camera.

Take Away from Setting up Prop Scene 2 Props:

The prop set up was a success with many of the positions able to work while someone picks it up. Along with that, the balance of colors is not harsh, and the cups showing people's relationships with each other. The revelation that an overhead shot will add more to the overall film than I expected.

Placing down Cups: Research

 Red Solo-Cups

In our film our director decided to use red solo cups to show there was party-maybe with alcohol. In this post I will look how people can place the cups to get the positioning right for one part of the set. 

Solo-Cups relationship with parties

American Pie (1999)

In American Pie (1999) this film depicts the solo cup in multiple of the scenes with a heavy emphasis on alcohol and parties. Which is what my director wants from our party. So, the murder could have been drunk when he killed the person. Who knows?

Distance: 

How to Tell If Someone Likes You: The Cup Effect Psychology Explained - Whypeopledo tells us about the distance of the cup to how they find you attractive. To summarize:

1. Intimate zone (0–18 inches): For family, romantic partners, or very close friends.
2. Personal zone (18 inches–4 feet): For casual friends or dates.
3. Social zone (4–12 feet): For coworkers or acquaintances.
4. Public zone (12+ feet): For strangers or public speaking.

Labeling:

In most parties people usually use have some indicator for their drinks. ON red solo cups it a Sharpie to cup and name. This can show trust, laziness and other characteristics of a person.

Take Away:

I can adapt this through the seats of each player when playing a board game at the table. Closer friends sit next to each other and when you do not like the person next to them put the cup away. This can foreshadow conflict later in our film which I feel can be interesting. Show Motive and personality.

Practicing movement based Shots- planning

The Practice before the Storm

In today's blog I will start making practical set up. This is because, like before, I am not having the best time visualizing the replication of the film. So, I decided to make the screen play on set without the human actors to get angles and other things of that nature. But compared to the last blog post these are the movement shots.

Practice Shots:

Scene 2 Shot 6

Scene 2 Shot 2

What worked well:

In these shots the actual motion is similar to how I want to put it in practice the shot itself. The to the right movement is a metaphor to progression, which was unintentional, but my director pointed it out to me so it can contrast to the pan down to the left when the body comes into play later on. With the position being in the right area but there is always adjustments when the actors come. 

The Problem:

These tracking shots have me a bit worried when it comes to lighting. The glairing problem is the glare on the camera due to the intense lighting of the house. This can be fixed with dropping light intensity or having less lights on. The problem can easily be reminded.

Take Away:

The motion is right but can easily be smoothed and less intense light then we got this.

Practicing Each Shot as a Still-Planning

 The Practice before the Storm

In today's blog I will start making practical set up. This is because, like before, I am not having the best time visualizing the replication of the film. So, I decided to make the screen play on set without the human actors to get angles and other things of that nature. These are the still shots or shot where I do not have a movement-based shot.

Practice Shots:

Scene 1 Shot 2

Scene 2 Shot 1

Scene 2 Shot 3

Scene 2 Shot 4

Scene 2 Shot 5

Scene 2 Shot 7

Scene 2 Shot 8

Scene 2 Shot 9

What went Right and Wrong with the Practice Shots:

Before we go into the details of the individual shot, I would like to preference this by saying these were all hand-held shots so, if the shot were leaning a bit to the left that is why. Along with that, the time is all wrong. However, with all of the issues that were out of control, I am happy with all of the shots. Scene 2 Shot 4 being the best output when it came to the angles and positioning with it actually having the props/focus being there. Shot 9 I put the dead person there in post because the room is not clean and to get an idea of person position, but the idea of it being a P.O.V shot not having an angle down will make you miss the body. A necessary chang to the scene I will add now. Shot 7 has an interesting interaction of a reflection at later times of the day which is something I did not account for. However, with this problem the idea still works for the position of the shots. Shot 8 has no notes it has nice use of mise-en-scene of vertical lines and pop of light to draw your eyes there. Shot 5 has the most problems out of all the scenes having the background having too much focus, going to draw your eyes to every detail but the person walking out due to color, but the frame in a frame does work. Shot 3 is boring without props and movement, a way to fix this is a pan-tracking shot.

Take Away:

Most of the shots work with a few issues of idea with Shot 5 being too distracting needing shallow focus. Shot 3 is just boring. Shot 4, 8and 9 being the best and already fixed issues I notice when setting it up. Scene 2 Shot 1 need the actor to make it work.

Slow-Mo: Cinematography Research

Cinematography of How to Properly use Slow-Motion?

In our film the first 2 shots are composed of Slow-Motion. According to multiple sources there are two ways to apply slow-motion through Cinematography (Cine.) and editing. As a Cine. I will naturally use the method of Dropping Frames Per Second (FPS). But our phones haves an extra variant of the FPS. In this post I will look at each variants and how/when to use it. Here are some sources: 

FPS:

The two versions that I can consistently use is 30 and 60 Fps. Using 30fps vs. 60fps: Which Is Better For Videos? - CameraGurus as a broad research source, I was able to find out to reasons to use the other over the other.

60 FPS:

• Smoother motion
• Faster Shots

30 FPS:

• Choppy movement
• Slower Shots

When you switch between the shots, they add a Slow-Motion or a speed up. Disturbing balance by the change. From this source I was able to gain a better understanding of the purpose to each version of FPS outside of video games. This will definitely help our film with the first two scenes.

How To Use FPS on a Galaxy-Phone:

Samsung Galaxy S24's: How to the Set the Camera Video Auto FPS to OFF/30 FPS Only/30 & 60 FPS Videos

This video and trying out on my phone, I was able to figure out the kinks to the FPS for filming and to make one be automatic. With me sticking to UHD FPS for this to keep a high quality of pixels. 

Overall:

To be able to make a slow-motion shot you have to change the FPS of the shots. Taking inspiration from other murder mystery films, the establishing shots will be in slow-motion to add emphasis to the location.

Using props effectively-research

Using props effectively-

In film the props from what I learned, prop can enhance environmental storytelling and the cinematography. According to these sources: 6 Ways You Can Use Simple Props to Make Your Films More Interesting | No Film School and...

5 Tips for Using Props Effectively in Your Next Production

With both of these sources mentioning 2 things to do to:

1. Transition
2. Metaphor

I want to focus on Transitions. Transitions can be used through the cutting and/or blending to the next scene, or to cut from one another to show a character's existence like in the murder mystery of 2019 Knives Out:

Knives Out (2019)

This scene contains multiple eccentric statues, awards and books; effectively informing the audience towards what the owner of the house is and does like. The use of red and murder imagery has a seconded message, foreshadowing his death. A metaphor. These combined make a visually pretty film. Which Is something I would like to apply, and my director agreed with this idea. 

What I learned from this:

In filming the use of props can tell a story by showing which is better than just telling it. The use of metaphor and symbolism can make people. 

The murder weapon-the knife: how to make- research

 The Knife:

For our film, we have chosen the knife as the murder weapon. There are many styles of knife to make so in this post I will look at two different types of knives types to make. The chose of the knife was dictated by this blog post: The Procedures of Media. The learn how and making of a Film. 2025: Genre Research: Props.

Switch-Blade Knife:

This type of knife, used in action films allow for fluid motion and to be concealed; not very dramatic. Which my group wants a flair to the iconography of the film. I still want to look at it for the prosses of making it according to Make a Realistic Prop/Fake Knife : 6 Steps - Instructables. With this prosses having a lot of semi-dangerous prosses of making it.

The tracing the knife on a CD

This way of making it would go agist movies by destroying a CD player to make which makes me move away from this idea.

Foam Knife:

DIY Michael Myers Knife Prop Replica STEP BY STEP + GIVE AWAY

As this video for basis we can make a Styrofoam mold and cut it into the knife of choosing and it is easy to paint to. But it is harmful for the environment as it does not decompose and is indigestible.

What will I do with this knowledge:

For the film I will use the Styrofoam method so I can make the knife more customizable compared to accurate.

Tracking Shot: Research

 Tracking Shots

A tracking shot is when the camera follows a character, setting or movement. These shot according to The Tracking Shot in Film — Ultimate Guide. This article and others stated that most of these shots need a dolly to do most of the shots. With this post I will break down how I can do all of these without a dolly or any equipment. I will use this source as a base of the post: Handheld Versus Stabilized Shots — Pros, Cons, and Best Uses.

Steady Mode:

This mode is a way to make a handheld camera have smooth and stabilize the footage creating equilibrium to replicate a smooth dolly. This can be used in conjunction with type of movements. But it requires a large amount of light and lowers the quality of the film. I would like to look the most resent film I watch with steady cam: The shining

The Shining (1980)

This film was the one of the first to use the steady cam. With the shot establishing the location and feels calm, low to no tension, it is calm. This is the feeling we are trying to get with a few of the scenes but on a horizontal plain.

Hand Held:

This mode does have shacks and cracks allow for tension and dis-equilibrium. This can also allow for the audience to go into the mind of the main protagonist with the cinematography. But adds a low quality feeling to it. This can be seen in the original hunger games film.

Hunger Games (2008)

What will I chose?

For the most of the tracking shots they will consist of steady cam until the body is found then hand held.

Making of Shot List-Implementing

 Shot-List

This post will cover the process of making the shot-list for our film based on the story board and script with combining these elements together to make a detailed list of what we need from each shot in the film. There is a natural devil when it comes to the script. Starts outside establishing the house and characters except one, the dead guy. With credits appearing above each of the heads this process has lend to helping our director to revise the scripted to make a more fulfilling story.

The last portion of the Shot List 

The Story Board that matches the shot-list

These pictures are half of the filming time and with a visual way to tell direction and give a solid idea to put the actors and props with the shot-list creating a more solid order. The most important is the idea of creating of leading lines to the door in shot 7 of the storyboard.

How Does This Effect the Film?

With the shot-list and story board combined I can get my visual medium of our film, well visualized. Through words and pictures, I can express these ideas together and organized them so when filming I can apply the order of operations so that my editor can put the shot were the shots need to go.

Making of Golden Hour- Planning

Golden Hour Attempts:

With looking at the surroundings of the filming location, the evening golden hour time is 17:41 - 18:11 according to my eyes and Sunrise Sunset | Fort Lauderdale. This time frame last up to 30 minutes which is a tight window to make a production. But this challenge will be entertaining to do. 

Here is an example of golden hour at set:

Even though when taking the photos for reference, it was cloudy outside which is something that I need to be aware of. It was cloudy at set all week so the pictures will not be 100% accurate to the vision.

Scene 1 Shot 2

Scene 1 Shot 1

These shot that I took with the times was too close to the actual time to use golden hour, sun is too low. Shot one you cannot really tell the time based on the sun, but you can be based on the lack of light, and the angles were close but is letting me feel out the scene that could be. Shot 1 is way to close and was following the ground slope. Adding something else for me to worry about.

How Does this Idea Work?

In my personal opinion this idea can work but needs to be more precise, not adding with testing of angles and others without golden hour so that we can just go when golden hour happens. If golden hour is too precise after sun set could work, but it would affect the natural lighting and make it harder to film.

Here is example of the vision for the coloring that I took during Christmas:

A photo of golden-hour, 4 miles from set

This looks more appealing that what I took and the colors can add to life going to death.

Golden Hour: reasearch

 Golden-Hour in Filming:

Golden hour is a time of day when the sun's light is in the perfect position to the sun perfect for filming. These times are at the first and last hours of day light. This can exaggerate the natural high lights and shadows. In this blog, I will learn how to plan to use golden hour so in the next post I can practice how to use it properly. This all according to When is Golden Hour? How to Capture the Perfect Light. This is a tight window to film so pre plan to the practice is important. 5 Tips to Film Golden Hour | No Film School state the same things as the first source to create synthesis:

• Look at the surrounding in the time window 
• to judge the sun effect on shot
• Watch out for glare of the sun
• Check weather for clouds
• Experiment

Golden-Hour/Sun Sets External Meaning

In multiple medias forms a sunset usually indicates the end of the film. This could set up a book end for our film, if we wanted, but sunsets also represent the ending, of life. As day which mean life in western cultures. Which can be seen in the day of the dead celebration. This further the correlation with death. The sun set also cast striking shadows and after the sunset is night, both represents darkness, cold and death.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

The final scene of Rogue One ends on a beautiful golden hour or sunset in the case before special effects took place. This however let their story end, with their death to continue the one of The Resistance. Even if our films share little to no genre. The symbolism still takes place to adapted into our film.

Why Does This Matter to Our Film?

Our film, which takes place at sunset dictates that we need to be aware of the sun while filming. So, I wanted to take advantage of the sun while filming and how to work around it. So, why not use golden hour?

My Personal Take Away:

The use of the sun in film is vital in symbolism and enhancing the quality of a film that I would like to implement even if it requires better quality.

60-30-10 and Color-Theory Cinematography: Research

 Color Theory Cinematography:

When researching film I came across the use of a rule called 60-30-10 rule. This rule as found in What Is The 60-30-10 Color Rule in Filmmaking? | No Film School state the percentage of what the color and example can be seen in this scene below, but it looks pretty right. I would like to implement this into the film, but I will have to work with a not fully manipulatable area. As scene in the picture below with 60% yellow, 30% blue, 10% gray.

 

'Mad Max: Fury Road' Warner Bros. Pictures

This source The Psychology of Color in Film (with examples) | No Film School go over the purpose of each type of color and the meaning. 

Colour In Storytelling

For the actual film we have 3 forceful colors: 

• YELLOW – wisdom, knowledge, relaxation, joy, optimism, idealism, imagination, hope, sunshine, summer, dishonesty, cowardice, betrayal, jealousy, covetousness, deceit, illness, hazard. 
• BLUE – faith, spirituality, contentment, loyalty, fulfillment peace, calm, stability, harmony, unity, trust, truth, confidence, conservatism, security, cleanliness, order, sky, water, cold, technology, depression.
• WHITE – Yes, protection, love, reverence, purity, simplicity, cleanliness, peace, humility, precision, innocence, youth, winter, good, sterility, marriage (Western cultures), death (Eastern cultures), cold, clinical, sterile

With the list now available, yellow for what we're going to twist it is with the betrayal, the murder; the exterior of the house foreshadowing the 'betrayal'. The color blue, this will probably be cold and or depression; interior. The color white as the list gave eastern cultures with death. These will allow me to give an emotional present to the filming. With the normal to me at least feeling being positive, this can subvert expectations. This is to subvert colors.

Discussion over The Story Board- reflection Add script detailes

 The Comparing of Scripted to The Storyboard:

This problem arises due to a change of scripted due to it going agist the requirements she made. So, the story board had to be adapted from a script. Which there is a comparison of ideas. I will walk through the script and those requirements that the storyboard should have followed. Here are the requirements:

• Feedback
• Show don't tell
• Tension

Did I develop these requirements let analyze the most important scenes and to see if I did it properly:

Shot 1:

This shot in mystery is to establish relation with the setting and environment, which is a purely show do not tell sequence. This scene is also will be slow-motion shot with intense music. "EXT. THE LEMON HOUSE – EVENING Focus in the area around the house- EVENING GOING ON NIGHT"

Shot 1

Shot 5:

This shot with a Dutch shot is to add uneasiness or known as tension and rack focus to change focus to add dread. "A little freaked out they walk into the room to find “DEAD PERSONS NAME” dead on the floor with signs clearly showing that this death was no mystery. "

Shot 5

Shot 6: 

This shot with a frame in a frame leaves the tension with a POV shot to add the person that we are following reaction shacky and shallow focus. To add dread.

Shot 6

Does This Follow?

Yes, the does follow the requirement by the director for this film. This is mainly through tension and show do not tell.

Story Board adapting the scripted- Research

The Story board adapting our Scripted

In the scripted for our film, the director gave me a few criteria to make the story board. So, this will allow me to start to make a story board, but I have never made a story board based on a scripted. With director impute (and my stubbornness) I can make the story board to the best of my group's capabilities.

This helps me when the make the shots come into place. With a post of how to make a good story board not it is time to implement the research

Each Type of Still Shot:

1. High level, establishing shot & deep shot
2. Head level shot & deep shot
3. High level, low angle, deep focus
4. High angle, shallow focus
5. High angle, Dutch shot, rack focus
6. Pov shot, Shallow focus

Each of the shot listed are the main important ones. With them appearing once throughout the scene and today I will be making these scenes using a thing in pre-production called: storyboard and this will be phase 1.

Shot 1

Shot 2

Shot 3

Shot 4

Shot 5

Shot 6

Why does this matter:

These shot as mentioned before will give me a template for making the film especially for the shot list. As a group is one shot breaks up the flow are is to much we can easily cut it from the film. Which allows the director to see If her scripted will allow the idea to present.

How to make a good story board- Research

 How to make a good story board

A story board is a visual story telling device that is a series of sketches to prepare the setting. In this post In will learn how to effectively make a story board. There are 3 types of according to What is a Storyboard and How to Build One | A Beginner's Guide | STBA:

1. Beat Board
• A type of board to map a beat of a film, more about cinematography
2. Continuity Board
• To map movement and emotions
3. Pitch Board
• a beat board that is cut up for an entire film

Before this film we will make a Beat Board, because this makes my job easier.

What makes a good story Beat-board

To make an effective use of a story board you need to be aware of aspect ratio: the size that appears on camera on screen, next the movement of the characters and objects, then continuity and ultimately mise-en-scene. These rules I have learned in the past. The video summarizes the ideas better:

Storyboard Basics With Sergio Paez Pt1

How Will this Effect my Film Planning?

The entire research was mainly for my benefit so I can make a proper shot list and communicate my idea for the film.

Risk Recce Report- Implementation

 The Risk and Recce Report

This is to assess the environment of where we are filming the film, my house. This will let us look at the talent or actors as seen in the finish report.

The Risk and Resse Report

The prosses of making it:

This report was made with considerations of any actor that would show up to filming because I know the director is going to have backups after last time issues. So to cover my bases I looked at other film and reports of neighborhoods. These have the tiniest of any issues with a lot of potential as seen in the picture below.

An example of Risk Rease Report

This allowed for a slightly different version with a better understanding.

What could go wrong in our film?

• Potential Alegrias/food
• Cat
• Knife
• Gardening Tool
• Pool

This was detailed more in the first picture. Now we can warn the actors a head of time about these issues presents in the home.