Production: Creating the Detective Board

 We want the detective board to be as authentic as possible, so we are creating the board ourselves. We made a list of the things we want to incorporate into the shots as well as other things to include in the background: 

• missing posters
• pictures of different settings/people
• news paper clippings
• post-it notes/index cards with detective's notes
• names (film credits)
• string connecting all the elements

I had some cork board material left over from an old project from years ago, and my partner had string so all we had to go was print out pictures and create the notes. We were going to use the school's newspaper to fill in the background. The missing posters will be the same used in the actual filming. 

We want to have as little empty space as possible because all the boards we look at are full of notes, papers, and more. We don't want to only include what we will film because it takes away from the realistic vibe. 

Decisions

Before we started, there were different things we had to consider. For example, we had to pick a color for the string. We chose purple because it represents mystery and we knew it would stand out compared to the other things we were including. 

In addition, we wanted to incorporate blood in some way, so the danger in red would already be brought out. We had to carefully consider what would be emphasized by the blood to be sure the audience would notice it in comparison to the background. 

Recipe for Blood

When we were creating our opening, we had to use fake blood in one of our scenes. The blood we used wasn't the most realistic, but it worked since it was in the dark. Because we knew the detective board would be filmed in a brighter environment (taking place indoors) we had to make the blood look a little more realistic. 

We mixed together maple syrup, red and green food coloring, and coffee to create a deep red color and thick consistency that made it look the best it could. It didn't smell the best, but it worked how we wanted it to!

Incorporating the credits into the board wasn't difficult, but the hard part was deciding how to put the elements into the board to fit what we wanted the film to be like. 

Details

We had to put a lot of thought into the specific elements of the board, not knowing where the audience might end up looking, to make sure all pieces matched the overall theme. We highlighted words and phrases from the newspapers to be sure those were the things read, we wrote times and places on papers, we even used the blood to make fingerprints for different characters (which took a lot of failed tries to get right). We wanted to make sure it would follow the story, so we didn't use the string randomly, connecting the elements we displayed with those they were supposed to connect to. 


Lighting

We decided to film outside, away from any harsh lights and shadows. However when the clouds came over it cast a grey tone on the video that didn't fit what we wanted. We had to use our phone flashlight to follow the other filming to give the best results. 

Overall we had a lot of fun and really enjoyed making it. We don't want to throw it away because it turned out better than we could've expected. We're both so proud of how it turned out and I personally think it's one of the best parts of the entire opening. We put so much work into all the details and I'm so proud of it. 

Pictures of the creation process!