Complications

I'm very stressed about the production of the film opening because I'm going away to Europe early for spring break and I wish the filming process was a lot easier. But, I just have to remember the difficult process is what makes the final product worthwhile.

I will be gone for thirteen days in total. This makes our shooting days fall on March 30th and the 31st, leaving us with seven days for editing and room for improvement. Knowing this information, I planned somewhat ahead by having a lot of things ready for when we come back. I helped Kyra with the beginning of our script and will continue to help her out throughout my trip via text or email. Luckily for us, things like hair, makeup, and costumes are very simple and can be done with little to no help.

I just wanted to share my worries and hopefully things will turn out smoother than expected!

Actors

Kyra and I so far agreed on our friend Leah to play our main character. We believe she has the perfect personality that will translate naturally onto the screen. I previously said that I thought the main character should mirror characters like Leslie Knope and Alex Russo due to their unapologetic confidence. Kyra and I have a group of friends more than willing to help us shoot the film opening, so they would play as the group of characters at the end that reveal a glitch in the universe.

I was thinking the other secondary character should be played by my friend Jonathan. I haven't finished discussing this part with Kyra yet, but I believe my friend would be a really good actor for the part. He takes film seriously since he has written his own short film.

I want to do a kind of audition for my friends but if that were to happen, Kyra would take over and be the judge since I am going on a trip very soon. But, I don't think it's necessary to do an audition since I've seen all of their potential.

Storyboard

In class, I completed a storyboard to put my ideas to paper and overall make the entire shooting process easier. Kyra and I are working on a script at the moment and so far we agree with almost everything and we really like our idea. The storyboard does not include the brief detailed shots that will be in the opening. Most of the storyboard should stay the same. I absolutely love our story so much! I'm just worried about the complexities of it.

Details

I wanted my film opening to be one that kind of tests the audience. Because our plot is set in stone, I'm now picking out the small details I want in the film to portray the theme very well. For example, in the storyboard, the film opening has more than the normal amount of behind-the-shoulder shots. I wanted to do this reinforce the theme that someone is always watching/following. More small details I am including is that the majority if not all people at the end of the film opening will be wearing black. The black outfits won't be too revealing of the suspicious activity and will be just simple black outfits. Additionally, I really want to make sure the car the main character will be in is noticeably beaten up compared to other cars seen on the street.

Of course, all of this seems amazing in theory but I am also confident it will be just as amazing on screen. Although I'm not guaranteed to have one beaten up car and the rest being nicer cars due to budgeting and what Kyra and I are capable of, I know I can substitute that with a less complicated detail.

Production Design

It is most likely that most of/a big part of the film opening will be shot at Markham Park and will take place in the afternoon/evening. I want the production design to match the park, which is a very foresty/outdoorsey with bugs and trees. The area should give off the feeling of being abandoned.

I want to take away the most things that are green; the setting cannot look healthy in anyway. This creates mystery for the audience since after that point, she will be in normal places of setting. The order of one strange place will allow the audience to explore the possibility that something is not right or normal. The setting should also be shown to be large in order to emphasize the character's isolation in the forest-like area. I want to also add props that look as if they were abandoned. For example: she should notice a ripped shirt on the ground, a sock, anything suspicious.

For other parts of the production design, when she is in the car with a driver, I want the car to be old or look like it's broken in some way to match the driver's unstableness. In normal settings like a grocery store, I want to add things that look either too clean or too perfect. Extras (depends on how many we can get) should look too perfect in this society, creating suspicion from the main character.

Title

I had a couple ideas of the name of our film opening, but Kyra and I haven't decided on one yet. Some titles I had in mind: Unnatural, Today, 1440 Minutes. My favorite title is 1440 Minutes becuase of its vagueness and impact. 1440 minutes equals twenty-four hours, which is the amount of time the main character takes to explore this uncovered secret in the entire film. Of course, the film will only cover part of that twenty-four hours.

I feel like the title Unnatural, although I love, gives away too much to the plot and cuts some suspense and question the audience would enjoy. Frankly, that title is boring and is only my backup if Kyra and I disagree on everything else. The title Today is just as boring, being too vague, which is on a different spectrum than the title Unnatural.

All in all, I think Kyra and I should leave deciding on the title for post production since that's when we'll have an easier time understanding and working it out together.

Theme

With our genre being psychological thriller, we wanted our theme to resonate with our audience, having them ponder on it for a long amount of time. The film opening touches on the hinting of a controlled society and the main character, so naturally, I wanted the audience to ponder on the theme of the complexities of masks and how far they go to manipulate people. This theme works best for us since Kyra and I knew we wanted the film opening to be deep with a good amount of complication.

In this case, the film opening is showing how the world we have always known is revealed to be unnatural and a controlled society. With how it'll all be shot including creepy details, I believe the theme will shine through. The theme reminds me of how the movie The Truman Show (1998) is displayed. Jim Carrey's character is led to believe the life he has always known is actually a false reality set up by the once-trusted people around him. Although the genre of that movie was a bit different, I want to go about the same theme with a scarier and creepier approach.

A still from The Truman Show: 

Peer Evaluation

Today in class we had a peer evaluation on our foundation portfolio. I received valid information that I will most probably include on the final project. I was told that my theme is a little convoluted and should be more organized. I agree considering I have so many ideas, so when I explain it I lose the order within the plot.

I got the advice to think of the entire film first and then the opening, not vice versa. I'm going to do this but I also want to keep the central point of my film, which is the main character discovering an organized or constructed society/utopia.

In all, minor (maybe major in the end!) changes will be made in order to make the plot less complicated. For example, I'm thinking of scrapping the Uber part of the story and she will probably get a ride from another stranger.

Main Character

Deciding on the main character could take countless blog postings, but I just want to begin to talk about it now. Kyra and I agreed on our main character being strong and outspoken. A confident main character will also add to the story's conflict. She should be opinionated and proud, not insecure in any way.

I'm thinking of a mix between Leslie Knope from the show Parks and Recreation and Alex Russo from the Wizards of Waverly Place. Both these people know how to act in high-pressure situations and aren't afraid to think of alternate solutions to problems. Both characters are also very free and have the certain attitude for this kind of problem-solving. They never give up and always end up finding a way to get what they want, which I always admire. The main character should be smart but shouldn't understand everything in her universe yet, to add tension.

Although these characters are typically placed in comedic films, they have shown amazing problem solving. I'm only trying to adopt several characterisitics they have into one character, and they both easily fit together. The strong characteristics of this character will also challenge the idea of horror movies always attacking the weak.

       

Research - clothing

A very important factor of filming an opening is clothing, it can reveal so much about a character or scene, like tell a viewer a character's socioeconomic status or current situation. The only character's outfit I'm set with is the uber driver's. I want to make him look insane to the audience, with a white tank top that can be bloody, showing the driver to be unstable to the main character and the audience. For the rest of the film opening, I would love for everyone to where very cool black clothing like from The Matrix. Kyra and I wanted to show that there is something off about the universe or state the people are in by their clothing. It automatically makes one think of an organized society or something similar, something I want the main character to realize; it adds uniqueness. This will make the main character even more confused and give her more of a reason to think something is off before figuring it all out. Maybe she won't even notice at first and she questions the clothing later.

I don't know if I want the clothing to be an obvious factor of the film, or something that comes to mind when it ends. However, I know I do want it to affect the main character and audience somewhere in the film. Here is a picture of the clothing I'm talking about. 

Planning 2

In figuring out where Kyra and I will shoot the film opening, I've had so many locations in mind. I want our main character to wake up in either a forest-like area or a highway-like area. I prefer highway-like but with our budget and abilities, I understand why the forest-like energy would be a better choice. Although will we hit other locations during the film opening, but where it starts is vital to the film. I feel like the opening finalizes the show's genre, horror or psychological theatre and honestly, a part of me wants to work in the genre of horror.

I feel like the main character waking up in an unknown place immediately shocks viewers at the beginning and swallows people down a messy upcoming plot. I want most settings for this film opening to be foresty or just plain lonely, showing how creepy the project will be. Other settings include casual everyday places but from a car's perspective since she will be in the uber. I want there to be small things going wrong in the uber but are unnoticeable to the viewer. Driving in the highway is super important since it's the perfect area for something to go wrong and an issue we have is having enough extras to film a scene where something goes wrong.

Basically, Kyra and I decided on the character waking up at Markham Park, but I still think we need to set it up to be more rural and less organized.