Anna Akatherine

I was in charge of the storyboards, overheads, and the shot list. Storyboarding was fun because I got to visualize the sequence of shots in my head and think about how I want to reveal the information, and the overheads and shotlist appear to be pretty straight forwards. I have an idea for the editing where all of the dialogue is shown solely in close-ups at first, so the audience is unsure of what’s happening, intermingled with ominous sounds of ropes being tied and the river rushing and crows, until the final line, where Bran (the witch) says she might need it (the dead language) someday, and then it cuts to a long shot of her about to be drowned, and it’s revealed what’s been happening. I think this editing style might add some humor to the situation, so I’m hoping that it can work well with the shooting style meant for coverage.

I’ll be fulfilling the role of director for our master shot scene. We talked about ideas and one that my producer had that I think we’ll go with is to shoot the dialogue as if it was between an accused witch and the executioner during the Salem witch trials. I’ve seen a lot of short films use this script, and the delivery always came off as inevitably awkward to me, no matter how the actors tried to say the lines, so I think setting it in an already awkward and slightly humorous interaction might suit the tone better. I found an actress to play our witch (Bran), my friend Mack - she has really large and wide eyes, so I think the likability and innocence of her face will work well on screen as the accused witch. I’ve scouted the location of the Carolina Beach State Park twice - once with my producer - and we’ve decided to shoot there to work with the creepy, swampy, feel of the trees and river.

We visited a Saberfit Club meeting on Monday night to shoot our Vox-pops and B-roll. We decided to include B-roll of the club practices in the background of our Vox-pops to give it some playful movement. I’m glad that our director chose to go with a shallow depth of field for these vox-pops, so that the lightsabers almost created bokeh in the background of these shots. We interviewed club members as our population, and they provided quality material I’m sure we will not struggle to use in the editing lab. As producer, I got all of the talent release forms signed as well as coordinating the checkout of equipment and returning it on time. I’m gaining confidence in handling forms and I scanned them to my google drive so I’m positive about the organization of them. It was interesting to watch the Saberfit practice - I didn’t expect their lightsabers to actually light up, so it was fun to watch, especially outside at night, where they look even more luminous.