FILM OPENING

 

    FILM OPENING - GONE

    

    IT'S DONE! (thank god)

PROCASTINATION IS MY SECOND ENEMY AFTER ADOBE

 

    Leaving everything for last minute is my specialty. It doesn't seem like it, as I've keep track so far of the project...but really I'm being productive because I'm avoiding doing other parts of the project. Like the CCR. I don't know why but that seems like the most intimidating part of this entire project. Perhaps it is because of the format, and the fast that I have to answer the question as myself. It's not like I'm playing a character like I've done in other stages of this project.

                                                           

    Either way, I know it is a part of the project I have to complete. No matter how terrified I am to appear on video so focused on me and what I have to say. So it's safe to say I will be going with a format which allows me to not appear on camera. I'm hoping it will help with taking some of the shyness away from me. I'm very nervous, and dreading having to work on it. But it's not like a have an option so...see  you with an update on that!

SOMETHING IS GOING...RIGHT?

 

    Well, not everything is a struggle like editing and shooting and scheduling as been, I guess. Some good thing have come out out the darkness! One of them being the narrated voice-over. I weirdly enjoyed acting with only my voice, even if I still cringe like i would with a video. Because yeah, the narration comes from the character of Jocelyn, played by my sister, but she is my sister and her kindness only lasts until she gets something out of it. So I couldn't rely on her help for the narrated voiceover. Thankfully our voices are extremely similar, according to the people around us. So it's not like it's a huge deal.

    Trying to down like a man, that's the funny part. I would've asked my dad, but as he doesn't speak english, I'd taken longer spelling syllable by syllable than just doing it myself. So I did, voicing the police officer holding the voluntary interview for Jocelyn. Although I tried deepening it, I just sounded like I was making fun of someone' voice. Instead, I recorded my voice as normal and then added voice effects to it. As I didn't know how to do this in Adobe, I went to another app, CapCut so I could edit that and then transport it back to Adobe Premier and finish editing. This is how the sound editing portion looked on CapCut:

    

    The ones that say "Deep" on the top left are the altered voices to sound like a man, and the other is Jocelyn talking. The extra line at the bottom is the soundtrack, which of course is non-copyrighted music if we were recording.

ADOBE PREMIER IS MY ENEMY

    The most dreaded part, after acting ... editing! It's not like I don't enjoy it, because I actually really do. I find it relaxing and kind of mind numbing after importing all of the clips. But that's where my headache starts. Adobe Premier NEVER does what I want it to do when it comes to importing. For some unknown reason, because I already tried to investigate, Adobe on my personal computer refuses to import the clips correctly. It just imports the audio with a blank screen. And obviously I can't do anything with that. But, desperate times call for desperate measures, right?

             <- (actually footage of me working)

    So I threw a tantrum like a five year old after hours of fighting with Adobe.

    After that I was fine though, and I ended up editing on my dad's computer. Which would've been fine if he didn't work from home and I literally only have the evenings to edit. But it's okay, thank god I chose for a simplistic editing opening scene instead of anything experimental. If I had gotten creative, I would be suffering the consequences hard. But the good news of using my dad's computer is that it works. Literally the only good thing because since it is an entirely different computer from mine, I feel like a cute little old lady trying to FaceTime her grandchildren. Except the keyboard is also in Spanish and for some reason that's supposed to mean that none of the universal demand like Control+C don't work. It's frustrating, and definitely an obstacle I didn't need, but I'll get by ... I guess

WE'RE ON SET!

 

    Shooting went great! At least, I'm pleased with all the shots I got and the weather was working in my favor that day, thankfully. With my script and storyboard, I was scared I wouldn't have enough footage and that I had overestimated how long each take was going to be. But by just glancing over the clips, I think I have to cut some scenes out!

    Although everything didn't go super smooth either. The park and area we were in for shooting was empty, so that didn't bother me. What I'm annoyed and worried about how it will look by the end is any of the car scenes. The lighting wasn't working in m favor inside the car, and the camera was extremely shaky despite being in a tripod. Adding to that, I had shots outside of the car in the park's parking lot but the cars kept coming and going so you can see the messed up continuity. It's not that big of a deal, and it's not like I could ask people to move their cars, especially when the parking lot was full. But small details like that bother me the most when it comes to projects.

    Something I dreaded though, was acting in front of the camera. Neither me or my sister are any good when it comes to acting, so every shot took several takes for it to come out right as we couldn't take ourselves seriously. It was fun, but I'm still not prepare to die of cringe when I start editing. An unexpected enemy turned out to be the bees at the park. I'm completely terrified of them, so when I saw one when trying to shot something I couldn't help but sprint the other way. Thank god none of them stung me, because that would have made me stop everything to go cry.

MORE PROBLEMS!

 

    It's frustrating when the problems in form of you are out of your hands. In my case, my problem is being unable to film this week due to not having time. As I need two girls in my opening scene to act, I casted my sister as Jocelyn and myself as Cassie. I thought it was perfect because as my sister, she couldn't really say no to me. But I think I underestimated how busy she was going to get when having an internship to get done. So her time to film was either very limited, which turned into barely anything. Or being already dark when she's available.

    I've been attempting, but failing, to cage her in right when she gets home so we can record. But that's also difficult since I work after school and have overall conflicting schedules. Fortunately, we manage to squeeze in a day over the weekend to record. I wouldn't have all the time in the world, because she likely only made herself available for two hours. So now I know I'll have to have everything prepared for when I go shoot. 

    From experience in the other project we've done, when there is a time crunch, the easiest way to record is to do it chronologically. This helps with continuity, keeps order of clips that helps when editing, and it's easier to keep track of. I've seen several famous movie productions shot the same, even if it is for another variety of reasons. It has worked well for them, as nobody can deny the success of E.T. (1982), The Breakfast Club (1985), and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) are some highlights!

NAME REVEAL!

 

    After much consideration and debating, I finally choose what to name my opening scene. But first I think I should trace my thought process, as it has probably been the hardest decision to make throughout this weeks. But maybe that's just me being indecisive.

    When I first started this journey four weeks ago, and still thought I would go forward with my opening scene taking place eon the beach, I had an immediate name that I thought as perfect, Buried In Sand. I felt like it fit the initial theme of the drowning scene, mystery, suspense, etc. But with the change of setting, the name really stops fitting my project. 

    Now I have to take the new setting and changed in plot into account when thinking of a name. Taking place in a park, I think of trees, greenery, animals, picnics, etc. What I initially had as a name is good, but if I wanted something similar I had to translate it into the new scenery like the rest of my opening scene. Problem was, I didn't like anything I came up with that way. 

    So throwing away any resemblance to the first name I came up with, I had to connect it to something else. The characters. What they say, how they act. And as I have my complete script, I have landed in a name that perfectly summons the theme of my opening scene:

Gone.

STORYBOARD!

 

    My storyboard has been...tragic. Only because I'm terrible at drawing, so it's basically all doodles nobody can understand. So to make it easier, I used one of the websites given to us in one of our earlier projects to create storyboards online.

MISE EN SCENE!

 

    One of my favorite parts to plan has definitely been everything to do with the mise en scene. The props, location, and costuming have been something I wanted to be well though out. Since I have changed the initial location of my opening scene, from the beach to a park, I have had to rethink where I'm going to shot my project. The park I'll be using is close to the school, called Vista View, it has a lot of space I can think of to shoot as I've been there before. But, the part of the mise en scene that contributes to the storytelling is the costumes.

    For each character I have an idea of what colors each of them would wear. Mostly to foreshadow, as the project focuses only on the opening scene of a film, the costume colors I chose are meant to give a hint of were the story would go. For Jocelyn, wearing light blue colors symbolize calm and trust, but I also see it as foreshadowing her future isolation as she processes the events that took place. And for Cassie, the color white of her top symbolizes purity and innocence, as she died at a young age.

    Some picture to visualize:

 

OUTLINE...AGAIN!

 

    This new outline going over the altered storyline is shorted than the first. Mostly because I tried to focus on following the story and not shot by shot as I've done before. I realized I didn't need to detail each shot in the outline, as it would be showed in the storyboard anyway. And the storyboard would focus on each shot instead of following the story. I feel like that way everything is easier to keep up with and more organized.

When I wrote down this outline, I still hadn't decided on the characters's name. So I think I should say now that Character #1's name, the girl who takes a nap and the main character, is Jocelyn. And Character #2's, the girl who dies, Cassie. Given that I chose to keep the storytelling simple, I also decided to a voiceover narrated by Jocelyn. Not explaining the situation, but to explore her train of thought. I know narrations are cliche on opening scenes, but otherwise I feel like my video would be too boring and it also wouldn't make sense with some sort of context.

CHANGES !

    I've come into some issues with what I had planned so far. First, after getting advice, I realized the actual difficulty of making underwater scenes beyond what I was capable to do with a camera. It also raised question on safety, which is the most important part. After that, I was advice to focus more on the other parts of the story and not so much on the drowning. Even if that is what led me to come up with my story line. And last... well, I realized that scenes on the beach would prove very difficult given the time of year, and the unbearable heat.

    Thankfully my problems have solutions, and they all narrow to changing bits of the storyline. First, I decided to change the location to a park/woods as it is easier to film there. Of course, the hazardous drowning scenes wouldn't take place either. The same premise of the story will remain, changing a few shots to fit the setting. Overall, I think the issues I've faced were easy to resolve, especially with guidance on how to tackle them. I'm excited to keep working!

THE OUTLINE!!

 

    The outline for my film opening is...well there is no lining in it. It's more of a brain dump of how I want the story to develop. And a guide to how to construct my storyboard. I'm also unsure on how to end the film opening, but I'll have to ask from my peers and instructor's advice for sure.

    Here's a screenshot of the outline I have for my film opening:

    What I’ve been conflicted about is the ending. I’m not sure if I should leave it like I have it on my outline, or include an scene in the funeral to explain further. Let me explain, the film opening shows character #1’s death how character #2 remembers it. Character #1’s death is claimed an accident, as it would be revealed in the eulogy. But character #2 would question this as they are friends and she knows how her friend was a good swimmer. I’m just not sure on how to reveal the last part, through conversation or the eulogy.

WAIT…WHO’S WATCHING THIS AGAIN?

   

    My incentive to think about who will be watching my film opening came about as my sister told me the would never watch a movie like my film opening. She didn’t mean it in a bad way. It’s just because she's scared of everything even at her 20 years living on this earth. But it did make me question who will be my film opening targeted towards?

    The audience for it would probably remain between adults and older teens of any gender. The thrilling experience geared towards viewers that want to engage in a cinematic experience, focusing on the suspense and mystery of it. Trying to figure out the plot’s twist and turns will probably attract people who enjoy crime dramas and horror. The thriller genre usually also appeals to audiences who want to explore complex morality and ethical issues. Definitely the thriller genre is not for people who enjoy lighthearted fun to watch, or to people who are literally scared of the word earthquake like my sister.

THE TECHNICAL ELEMENTS OF THRILLER

 

    So, the thriller genre has a need to create suspense and tension to the audience. To do this, the technical elements help develop the story beyond the script. The cinematography, editing, and sound design are the three elements I’ll be relying on apart from writing the story. 

    The cinematography is one of the most important elements, as everything seen on the screen matter. Some techniques I will incorporate on my short opening are tight framing, which creates a sense of intimacy and claustrophobia. Which I think would be a great way to transmit the feeling of drowning beyond the acting. The lighting is also an important element in my film opening, as there will be scenes with low lighting and others with bright lighting. The former to convey mystery and danger, and the latter to convey a false sense of security. Those are just some ways the cinematography will help me with my film opening, but there are way more details to the cinematography.

    Continuing on, the editing of it bring a lot into how the thrill translate to the audience. This is especially relevant on how I will be using jump cutting. Jump cuts are supposed to jumo abruptly from shot to shot. Which will help me create a sense of disorientation, and unbalance. But more importantly, I will help me demonstrate how the chain of events in one of the main characters is missing something from how she remembers the chain of events. Cross-cutting will also be super important in the editing progress. Creating tension between what is happening to the two different characters in my film opening.

    Those are just the main two technical elements of the thriller genre my film opening will be relying on. As, of course, there are mire like sound, set design, writing, etc.

EVERY MOVIE NEEDS AN AESTHETIC

 

    I have a clear idea of what I want to do with my film opening scene now. I haven't gotten to storyboarding or writing the script, but I do know how I want my opening scene's aesthetic to look like. Which, being honest, is my favorite parts of the pre-production process.

    My film opening will consist of two different color palettes, given that it is from the point of view of one of the two main characters. This is because there is a life-turning point for that character, which is what the film opening will cover. So to make it easier to understand for now, I named this two different points for the character/film opening as before and after:

    

    Most of my film opening will take place at the beach, and just the last scenes of it could be identify as the "after." But, even it is for a short time, the change in tone there will be is still significant.

LITTLE TIME AND A LOT TO TELL

 

    Upon researching the genre of thriller and having an idea of what my film opening will be composed of, I realized that the idea I had stormed in my brain might be too much to tell in two minutes. I don't want to divulge too much before having anything set in stone yet. But, the original storyline my opening scene involved too many "emotional" scenes in a short amount of time. Not only would it be tiresome to see, now that I think about it. But I, nor anyone I know, have the capabilities to give a good performances that wouldn't look goofy on camera.

    My solution was to go back to the root of the genre, and actually think of this project as just the opening of my movie. I closed my mind to what the rest of the movie, the endings and the plot twists would look like. Upon my research I came across this article that talked about the anatomy of a thriller, although it touches upon writing it I still found the advice useful. Explaining the three C's all thriller were composed of, I realized how I just needed to focus on the first C, the contract. 

"The contract, an implied promise you make to the reader about what will be delivered by the end of the book. It’s crucial to keep every single promise you make, no matter how trivial."

    With this I learned I needed to make my film opening about the ending of the film, without giving away the mystery of it. It made things simpler, now knowing I didn't need to cram everything into two minutes but I would just need two scenes of all the ones I had brewed at the beginning. I needed the tragedy and the mystery.

RESEARCH INTO THE THRILLER GENRE

 

    While researching the genre of thriller, I realized how many sub-genres it has. From mystery to romance and religious, they all have one defining trait that allows them to be a sub-genre of thriller. They all draw out the feeling of thrills. In the article that helped me dive into this genre, a quote from James Patterson was quoted, and it really gave me clarity not only in the thriller genre but on how I would approach my own film opening scene:

"What gives the variety of thrillers a common ground is the intensity of emotions they create, particularly those of apprehension and exhilaration, of excitement and breathlessness, all designed to generate that all-important thrill. By definition, if a thriller doesn't thrill, it's not doing its job."

     This quote made me understand what needed to be my entire focus if I wanted my film opening scene, surrounding a drowning of a girl to work. I needed to build on the moment. It's advice I've received before when working on my own projects, but it wasn't until now that I realized how important it was for the specific genre of thriller. Staying in the moment allows the audience to make assumptions, to fill in the blanks left on purpose when building the suspense because they just can't wait for the shoe to drop. 

    So with this research I learned how the thrill comes from the unpredictability of the scene. I have to show what is happening enough for the audience to care, but not enough to answer all their questions and maintain the sense of uncertain tension.

PICKING A GENRE

     

    Picking a genre for this project has been hard. Mostly because there's so many opportunities and ideas of what I could do that I get overwhelmed. But, looking at iconic movie scene openings, like the one from Jaws (1975) reminded me of my own personal experiences in the ocean, or more especially, drowning.

    Inspired from Spielberg's Jaws, I knew I wanted my film opening scene to feature one. Not only are they easy to film, having the right equipment, but they also open doors for lots of different shots for me to experiment with. Shots like close ups, low angles from under the water, long shots from the shore. It will definitely be a challenge, given my budget and lack of experience, but I'm up for it if it means learning in the process. 

    Knowing a little of what I wanted my film opening scene to look like, even if I still lack a detailed plan, I decided on the genre of thriller. Even more inspired by Spielberg, I also want to experiment and learn more about what audio can bring into a scene. With thriller, audio can give the same scene completely different meaning and feeling, as building the suspense is an important factor to making a good thriller film. So, I need to research the thriller genre and what elements either make it or break it so I can create my film opening.

Stay tuned!

THE BEGINNING OF A JOURNEY!

    In 9 weeks, I will need to turn in my final project for this class. I would like to say I am not nervous, but I am totally already feeling the pressure of everything that needs to get done. But I can't say that I'm not excited to do this. The challenge, as terrifying as it is, is kind of exciting. So knowing myself, I will need to set myself a schedule if I want to stay on track. 

WEEK 1:

• Brainstorm

• Planning

• 1 blog post

WEEK 2:

• Genre

• Research

• 4 blog post

WEEK 3:

• Continue research

• Outline 

• 4 blog post

WEEK4:

• Storyboard 

• Script 

• Plan shooting

• 3 blog post

WEEK 5:

• Shoot! 

• Research editing, sound, etc

• 3 blog post

WEEK 6:

• Edit !

• Edit !

• And edit !

• 3 blog post

WEEK 7:

• Shoot CCR

• Edit CCR

• 3 blog post

WEEK 8:

• Get details done

• Finish anything needed last minute

• ⅔ blog post

WEEK 9:

• Ccr post !

• Vieo post!

  
  

  Hopefully I am able to follow my schedule. The idea of it is to let me focus on one thing each week and not get overwhelmed by anything. There's a lot of research, planning, shooting, and post-production to get done and the best way to go at it is by compartmentalizing the work load. If anything comes up, I did give myself the last week with nothing specific in case something got set back.

MUSIC MARKETING

 

THE MARKETING OF A DEBUTING ARTIST:

BRAINSTORMING:

PLANNING: