We Are Watching
This was my second time creating the 'We are Watching' video for the GROUPS Scholars program. I had been doing some practice using a program called DaVinci Resolve and had expressed a desire to learn Blender and Adobe After Effects. I was running into issues of not having any footage to use when trying to learn these programs and so I brought a vision to my supervisor Cedric Harris. A vision of an RA waking up from their sleep, putting on a mask, climbing up the side of the residence hall, and watching a group of students as they left the building to go to a party. The RA would then use numerous gadgets to pinpoint the location of the students and watch from afar. Watching from trees, drones, and other various technologies. Cedric loved this idea and told me he would stay on the lookout for various creatives that would be good to assist in brining this vision to life.
Establishing a Team
India Young, Film Production Major
India wanted to gain experience in what it takes behind the scenes to create films.
Zack Diaz, Comprehensive Design Major with a Minor in Interior Design. Zack had an interest in graphic design and 3D design work.
Amir Pierre- Louis, Psychology.
Amir was interested in writing scripts.
Jastin Nolan, Media.
Jastin had experience in creating a full feature-length film called Sunday.
Cast(Established by Divine)
Naomi Young, Can use other people's Eyeballs; Has the power to see through the eyes of others; Name Nay-Yo
Lorenzo, Various Roles ; Electric Teleporter: Zo
Kenny, Random Student
Savanna, Telekinesis: Name LaZ
Alinase Mzmura, Manipulate Reality; Has the power to rap things into existence: Name Radio Rebel
Flor, Teleporter: TLFO
India Young, Lie Detection ; Has the power to detect when someone is lying
Jastin Nolan, Object shape shifting ; Name Jastin
Zack Diaz, big ears ; Super hearing ; Has the power to hear things from far away ; Dumbo
Avery, Student
Amir, Student
Miguel, Student
Liz, Student
Jalisa, Student ; Air Bender ; Name Undecided
Dajaun, Super Strength
Deleecia, Super speed ; Name DD Quick
Moses, X-Ray vision ; Name XMan
Esther, Walk through walls ; Name Undecided
Eric, Camouflage ; Name Undecided
Alexis, Has the power to absorb people’s energy/ vibe ; Name Undecided
Mila, Mind Reader ; Has the power to read minds ; Name Undecided
Camille, Shapeshifter ; Name Undecided
Kendall, Speak through people ; Name Undecided
Anthony, Aquaman like character?
Kiya, Strechy ; Name Undecided
KTB, Illusion ; Name Undecided
Divine Gregory, Vigilante; Batman like character; Name Icarus
Cedric W Harris, RAVengers Commanding Officer ; Nick Fury Type; secret power of Sonic Scream ; Name Undecided
Carley C Cruz, RAVengers Commanding Officer ; Has the power to communicate with all RAvengers telepathically ; Name Undecided
Dedric Dennist, RAvengers Commanding Officer ; Has the power to intercept radio waves ; Name Undecided
Ring Te, RAvenger’s Officer
Sierra McDowell, RAvenger’s Officer, Hill type
Escarvar Tatum, RAvenger’s Officer, Coleson type
Troy, Lyft Driver
7EVEN, Superdog
Link to Full Script
Pre-Visual
Filmed by Amir Pierre-Louis
Shot Composition David Gregory
Edit David Gregory
Actors: David Gregory & India Young
The purpose of the pre-visual was to give the actors a shot by shot rundown of how lines were meant to be delivered and what scenes were supposed to look like prior to shooting and production.
Filming Process
Live Script Reading
The first day prior to filming I conducted a live script reading to see how each person would conduct their individual parts in the buildup before the song starts.
This also gave those with more substantial speaking parts a chance to memorize and familiarize themselves with them.
The script was not complete and was instead a working script.
This allowed us to adlib the musical number and focus on creating cool shots and focusing on solid performances.
Filming
The filming process took about a week.
We would start @ 10:00pm every night and meet up to start filming at 11:00pm.
Filming would last until around 2:00am.
All of the equipment involved in the filming process was personally owned.
I would lead cinematography while Cedric Harris and I would take turns directing.
Other members of the production team would do things like hold lights, record audio, and get the set quiet.
There would be active pauses for script checks, lighting reconfiguration, sound checks, and movement of the camera.
Whatever was not shot outside was shot within the dorm or on a green screen that was set up on the last night.
Scene tracking was done by actor and script writer Amir Pierre-Louis between shots after shooting days.
Challenges
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Working with 30 actors
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Keeping morale high
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Making everyone feel vital to the film-making process
Locations
The video was shot on IU's campus; at Read Quadrangle, At the Indiana University Sample Gates, and along the path between Read and the Sample Gates.
Editing
Our first day of editing was for the most part a waste of several hours as we attempted to find a way to split the editing responsibilities and share a project between 5 people.
This was not possible as there was no file sharing methods.
Instead one person would complete their editing and pass on the project file.
While editing was taking place reshoots and additional photography was being conducted by Jastin Nolan.
Much of the additional photography would get cut as there was a significant difference in vision and much of it looked like a different film.
The production team had planned to do a majority of the VFX using Adobe After Effects and Blender but due to time restraints this transitioned into whatever could be done practically just using Adobe premiere pro.
VFX shots were tedious and took a long time to fine tune. Youtube was a big help in mastering Adobe Premiere Pro as well as free luts that were available online.
Amir, Zack Diaz, and myself worked on VFX.
Zack color-graded the entire video.
Jastin, Zack, and myself worked on cutting the video.
VFX Shots took significant planning to pull off. The ones that were planned well with a clear vision were out together with no issues. Such as the VFX shot of Deleecia Griffin running off using her super speed. Other VFX Shots of her doing her superspeed were cut however due to time constraints. The shot linked to the right is the completed shot before lighting was added to the scene. This scene was practically using lights, excellent direction, and a clear vision given to the actors.
After much stress and approximate 50 hours the video was completed.
