Lights, Camera, ACT!

Today, my partner and I planned our final outlines to begin filming this weekend. This way, it is easier and we can jump right into filming, being well prepared knowing exactly what to do. We found our other actresses to be in our film besides my friend. The "victim" character is going to be played by my friend Vernie, who I mentioned before is currently on a full ride scholarship for acting and theater, so she was a perfect actress to find. Up top are some pictures of Vernie acting on stage for American Heritage School.


Also, I know she wont laugh while trying to act and I know she will take her acting seriously. With this, I know me and my partner can get our work done and straight to the point which is going to work GREAT with timing.

I'll also be one of the actresses, along with my mom for a scene at the end of our opening. My partner and I wrote down where the setting is going to be for each scene. We also wrote each actresses specific costume design scene by scene. Additionally, we were thinking about having the first opening scene begin with the kidnapper/stalker looking through pictures of the same girl (which would be different pictures of Vernie, the victim). For Vernie's costume design we were thinking about having her wear different colored bright clothes in each picture the kidnapper is looking at. We were thinking of her wearing different colored sundresses that represent each characteristic about her. For example, we were thinking of having Vernie wear a white sundress (representing her purity and innocence), a pink dress (for femininity), and a yellow dress (representing happiness... well before she gets kidnapped).


The kidnapper is going to wear dark clothes representing the total opposite of the victim. At first, we were thinking of having the kidnapper wear darkish jeans, casually strolling through the park until she sees the victim. But instead, we crossed that idea out and wanted to make more of an excuse of why the kidnapper was at the same park as the victim, so we thought....why not make the kidnapper wear dark running gear? So now, the kidnapper is going to pretend to be on a jog when she sees the victim.


My mom is going to be playing the victims mom towards the end of the opening when she finds out her daughter is now missing. For her costume design, we want her to wear a blue top (representing sadness) with messy hair, not looking put together because of what happened with her daughter.


Down below is our actresses/actors, location, and costume design for our film opening.





After that, my partner and I started working on what each actress/actors hair and makeup should be for each scene. Down below is a picture of each characters hair and makeup throughout the film opening.

Storyboard WHO?!

Because my partner and I already have our story line and shots list done, we decided not to create our storyboard because it will just waste more of our planning time for our video. The shots/angles and writing for our whole story line is the same thing as to what we would be putting down on our storyboard. It wouldn't make sense to replicate the whole storyline for the storyboard because we already know what exactly is going on. throughout our opening. Since we are almost done with planning for our film opening, we decided to create a schedule on specific dates to officially begin working on our opening. Down below is our schedule for the next couple of weeks.



3/4-3/10


-Find actors and actresses for our film

-Find locations to shoot our film

-Design costumes/ hair & makeup

-Focus on: color, time period, and location.

-Begin filming




3/11-3/17


-Continue research (if necessary)

-Search for no royalty sounds and music

-Finish filming





3/18-3/24


-Create Foley sounds needed

-Begin editing





3/25-3/31


-Ensure to have all shots needed

-Finish Foley

-Finish finding no royalty music

-Finish Editing

-Begin working on creative critical reflection (CCR)





4/1-4/7


-Finish and post CCR

-Post Film opening

-Finish editing blog

A little peer review...

Today in class, I talked with some of my other classmates about my film opening and they gave me really good ideas that I hadn't even thought about. One idea that stuck out to me that one of my classmates had mentioned was timing. From the story that I am trying to carry out, they mentioned that there is just too much information that I am giving the audience just for the opening. When I first discussed the story line with my partner Ariana, I was more focused on how to conform with our thriller genre and mostly thought of details that can make the story juicer. But only with two minutes for the film opening, all of those little details can add up. After talking with my peers I realized that there are just too many scenes in a short amount of time, so now I am thinking about cutting some scenes out, therefore, giving Ariana and I more time for our film opening. I am even considering taking a whole day with my partner just to focus on how we could carry out our video just in case some ideas we have do not end up working, for back up.



My classmates also mentioned the use of props. There were many unrealistic ideas that I had, and I didn't really think about how hard they are to actually carry out. For one of my ideas, I wanted to get a cop or a group of police officers for the ending scene, but realistically, I do not know where I would find a cop to be in my video at the specific location I need them to be in. So, my classmates gave me some prop ideas and said that I should use blue and red flashing lights to indicate that there are police without actually having any there.

The Shots...

Today, my partner Ariana and I came up with the shots list for our opening video and correlated them with each number on our story outline. We carefully thought about which specific camera angle/ shot would interrelate with each screenplay. We both discussed and thought about so many different camera angles that can fit into each shot in order to enhance our thriller like story. We even wrote multiple camera shots in one line, so that when we film we can take those camera shots and see which shot we would like to have in our film. Down below is a picture of our shots list.





We correlated the shots list with our story line by having a certain parts of a scene have the same number as a specific shot with the same number. Some numbers of the list will have multiple shots because while we're filming we want to take as many shots to see if it can make our film more engaging. This number also allows us to know what happens chronologically throughout our entire film opening.



STORY LINE





SHOTS LIST






Now that we have our shots list and our story line done, our next step is to work on our storyboard using the shots/camera angles listed above.

Plan Plan Plan...

A couple days ago, I asked my friend Vernie if she would like to be an actress in our film opening and she said yes. I specifically asked her because she is on scholarship for a theater program at her private school. So today, while planning with my partner Ariana, we have created a story line outline for our film opening. In the story line, we have included my friend Vernie and outlined exactly what she should be doing throughout the video. Down below is a picture of our story line.




For our film opening, we wanted to introduce creepy, suspenseful elements for our thriller genre opening and we thought... why not introduce a stalker to the film? At first we were thinking about having the stalker be a guy, a typical guy stalking girl film opening. But then after talking today about it, we wanted to change how fundamental our scene was. We thought about changing the male stalker character to a female character. Switching up the normal standards on what gender is expected of a typical stalker.


Tomorrow, Ariana and I are going to make a "shots list" that corresponds to each number that is on our story line outline. After we are done making the shots list, it will be feasible to proceed to work on our storyboard.

Research

Another film opening that truly inspired me was the film opening to the movie JAWS directed by Steven Spielberg. The link down below is the film opening to the movie JAWS.

https://youtu.be/yrEvK-tv5OI







From the film opening I could tell that Spielberg took a lot of innovating to pull one of cinema’s most famous opening. Spielberg used a lot of planning and special effects in order to portray a monstrous, great white shark. The actress Susan Blacklinie had hooks attached to her legs so that divers could pull her down to get that "jerked by a Great White" effect. In my film opening, I am definitely using special effects and stunts to portray something greater than normal, could be a creature of some sort or an extensional crisis. I am also going to do a lot of innovating (exactly what Spielberg did) to really have my audience engage in my film opening. I am already planning some ideas that I should follow and stay consistent with throughout my opening video:


Film opening planning ideas:

1. Use of special effects to portray something greater than normal

2. Use of stunts to portray something more realistic and exaggerated

3. Use of high/low angles to portray greater/smaller characters


Spielberg also used amazing camera shots and angles to portray an effective "predator’s eye view" to put the audience inside the point of view of the hungry mind of the Great White shark. In JAWS, Spielberg’s camera mostly occupies the perspective of the creature. In my opening, I might want to do a point of view shot to have the audience see in the eyes of a character to create more intimacy between the audience and the film.




In Peter Benchley’s bestselling book "JAWS" a few of the opening lines reads,


“The great fish moves silently through the night.”


“At first, the woman thought she had snagged her leg on a rock or a piece of floating wood”


“There was no initial pain, only one violent tug on her right leg. She reached down to touch her foot, treading water with her left leg to keep her head up, feeling in the blackness with her left hand.”


Then comes the realization...


“She could not find her foot.”

-Peter Benchley





I would love to have this type of anticipation in my film opening. This movie includes a lot of anticipation and wanted expectations that really helped me come to that decision.

The Research

To create my film opening, I have decided to do some research into what kind of genre I would like to include. Since I had done previous research on Comedy's and Action genres for films, I have decided to research another genre (horror genre) in order to know what feel I exactly want for my audience. Aside from comedy's and action movies, I have researched the horror genre to step a little out of my comfort zone and dive into a whole different area of entertainment. Through my research, I have learned that horror films are designed to frighten and to invoke our worst fears. Horror films often provide a cathartic experience and the use of a terrifying and/or shocking beginning, in which I want to do for my own film opening to truly engage my audience. Horror films are also very flexible films in terms of story and genre which makes the process more feasible, which means I can basically pick out a random setting for my opening, any setting I want, and just have to make it somewhat suspenseful. Most traditional horror films include certain themes such as serial killer films, zombies, murder films, and traditional folk tales such as sea monsters and vampires. I wanted to step outside of those traditions and do something raw and new.

I have looked into one horror film in particular, and its film opening truly inspired me. After watching the film opening from the movie IT directed by Andy Muschietti, this showed me that I should really have my audience on their toes for my own film opening. The link below is the film opening for the movie IT.

https://youtu.be/DJWJ6RP55nU



In the video above, I could tell that Muschietti gives away little hints that the young boy is going to be in a lot of trouble, but it doesn't verbally state it so that the audience can ask questions as they are watching the opening, thats what I would like to incorporate in my own film opening. In the film opening for the movie IT, it shows that there is a helpless young boy gracefully running down the road to get his little paper boat that he made. The audience can tell that he is so nonchalant because he doesn't know what is about to happen to him by the way he smiles and runs down the street laughing and skipping. The rainy opening scene gives a bit more to the gloomy and sad state that the little boy will potentially be in. When the little boy notices that his paper boat floated down a drain, there is a close up scene of the boy trying to look down the drain, showing that there is something else that is in that drain besides the paper boat. I can tell that there is something else down the drain by how the music suddenly stops, and I can only hear the diegetic sound of the rain in the background, focusing more on that rain and the trouble it may bring forth. And yes, it does bring forth trouble when you see a creepy clown step out into the faint light from the drain, eventually grabbing the little kid and taking a chomp out of his arm.

This film provided an out of the box opening with its sounds, lighting, and close up camera angles in which I would like to include in my film opening.