Scheduling/Planning the Script!

Ah, yes, the part I am most excited about, scriptwriting.  I've said this in previous posts, but I genuinely really love scriptwriting, and have been really lucky to have gotten to do so for  several projects this school year.  I know I said in a previous post that I want to start writing March 7th, which I will, but I think I should definitely start to plan!

First, I know that I will be heavily relying on the storyboard to write my script, and I have given myself six days to write the script, so here is the plan as follows:

Days 1-4: Write the script based on the first four pages of the storyboard!

                           Days 5-6: Revise and edit.  

Obviously, this will be much easier said than done, but as far as dialogue goes, there won't be much considering that Lilly will be alone for the majority of the time, the script is going to have a lot more stage direction than anything else.  

I plan to add Lilly thinking out loud, like for example, since she's going to be writing poetry, maybe have her say some of her lines out loud.  Also, she'll call her boyfriend, and she'll also say goodbye to her parents. 

One thing that I may be able to add is Lilly talking to her dogs, I don't think I added that in my character descriptions, but I in real life have two dogs, and I can definitely find a way to incorporate them into the opening.  Considering that this is going to be a horror film, maybe some viewers will be wondering if the dogs will be okay by then end of the movie, which, spoiler alert, of course they will be!  Again, this allows for some dialogue.  She could call them, or just ask them what they think of her poetry.  Who knows?  I know that I have plenty of ways to add dialogue to the script even though the majority will most likely be stage direction.

Can't wait to start writing!

The Layout

Hello, so today, I want to focus on the layout, and because I will be filming in my house, I will insert pictures and then talk a little about them!

Let's get started with the dining room table.  I thought that I would start off with thins, since this is where Lilly is going to be for a lot of the time.  She'll be writing her poetry on her laptop, and waiting for her boyfriend.  What I like about this area, and the majority of the downstairs area of my house is that it is very open, which will allow me to get a variety of shots and angles throughout the opening.

This is the front door area where Lilly will hug her parents goodbye.  And we see how close it is to the dining room.

Here is the driveway, and this is where we will see Lilly's parents drive off.  I want to focus on the bottom two pictures here.  The main thing I am using these shots for is to create distance between Lilly and her parents.  It's almost as if we see that she is so close, yet so far from her parents, or, better yet, so close, yet so far from safety.

 Not only that, but this can also make Lilly look smaller, make her seem more vulnerable, since we know she's home alone, and then later going to be attacked.

This is the view from opening the front door, this is where Lilly is going to face her attacker in her dream.  

Finally, this is Lilly's room.  This is where Lilly will wake up, but also, end up at the end of the opening.  Her room is her private space, where she's alone, and this will add onto her vulnerability. Since she chooses to go there instead of to her parents' room, which is right next door, we go back to the idea of being so close, yet so far from her safety.  Again, this creates distance.  Which alludes to what could happen in the rest of the film.  Will she survive it, etc.

I am really excited to film here, and can't wait to see what it looks like when it is done!

Lights, Camera, act- wait... when?

Hi there!  So, for today, I thought I would talk about my shooting schedule for the opening.  Considering, at least for the most part, it'll just be me in the opening, I know that I've to start on Spring Break, mainly because at the moment, I have a lot going on and I want to make sure that I have plenty of time to focus on filming the opening.  

According to the school calendar, Spring break starts on March 18 and ends on March 28. This gives me 10 days to film and start editing, maybe even finish editing?  I know I'll definitely need to start filming on the 18th, and I plan to finish on the 20th.  I don't think that it'll take two days, but I'd rather over-estimate instead of underestimating.  

I know that this week I can start working on my script, and I plan to have it done by March 11th.  I know I'm going to be using my storyboard to help write it.  

Again, I don't think it'll take me that long to write the script, but with everything I have going on for other classes, I want to make sure I allow myself plenty of time to have it ready.

I also think that maybe from the 12th to the 17th I can work on getting any sounds I may need.  One thing I did last year to help with my friend's film opening was record all of the dialogue ahead of time with my microphones.  I want to say it took us roughly an hour, but at the same time, I know that I need to get more than just dialogue, so I can split it up into those six days.  For example, on the first day, just work on dialogue, the second, maybe get anything that comes from the dining area, on the third, anything that comes from the kitchen and backyard, on the fourth, get anything from the front door or front yard, on the fifth day, get anything that comes from the two bedrooms, and on the sixth day, work on fixing any that have any issues, or that I genuinely wasn't happy with.  

Then, on the 18th to the 20th, start to film.  On the 18th and 19th, I can focus on all of the shots that are in the downstairs area of my house, because that's where the majority are.  On the 20th, I can get the ones that are in my room and parent's room.  

From the 21st to 28th, I can work on putting all of the shots together, and start to edit them.  I know that while I record audio, I'll also do some more in-depth research into editing because as I've stated in my previous post, editing is not my strong suit.  I also know that if anything I can do reshoots from the 21-28 as well.

So far, that's what I think is going to be the best plan for me, but who knows?  That may change, either way, I know that I have plenty of time to make changes if I need to.

Change of plans...maybe?

 As the title suggests, there may be a shift in my film opening.  I though I would just get right into it.  

The original:

This is what I started with, and I liked it, it's definitely a concept, but I think one of the bigger issues with it was that the story wasn't really leading anywhere.  There was some sort of build up, but nothing too crazy, so I sat down in class today and worked on this:

This is the new and "improved" storyboard.  It's still not necessarily where I want it to be yet, but the idea is there.  I think I want to do a mix of both my old storyboard and my new storyboard.  They are fairly similar, which will be easier for me when I get to finalizing it.  Anyways, here's the new one.  It's a lot more than the last, so I feel like I should break it up into pieces, page by page.

Page 1:

Starting off, we can see two people walking down a driveway with luggage.  These are Lilly's parents, and they're going away on a trip, maybe just for the weekend.  Then we see Lilly waving goodbye, and locking the door.  The main point of this is to establish that she is alone.  Next, she gets on the phone and starts to call her boyfriend, it's hard to see, but at the same time, she is opening her liquor cabinet.  Again, we see that she is alone, and taking the opportunity to be a rebellious teenager, so she'll poor herself a drink and get to writing on her laptop.  Similar to the original storyboard, she'll get a text from an unknown person, look confused, and open it to find pictures of herself in her current position.

Page 2:

Onto the next page.  Again, this is very similar to the old storyboard, but she'll look around and see her window door open, so she'll get back up to close it, and continue messaging the unknown person.  Then, her doorbell rings, and at first she's confused, but realizes that it's her boyfriend, or so she thinks.

Page 3:

Lilly pours a drink to have ready for him, goes to her bathroom and checks herself in the mirror to make sure she looks okay, and then will get up to get the door.  This is when she opens the door to find a masked villain, who's name I have not yet figured out, nor the look of the mask, and they stab her.  She looks down at herself with blood on her hands, and wakes up.  She is wearing the same outfit.  She thinks she dreamt it, but she then opens up her phone to get a text from an unknown person, the same villain, saying "sleep well?"

Page 4:

On the last page of the storyboard, she gets out of her room, and walks into her mom's room.  There is luggage there, ready to go.  Lilly tries to say something, but walks out the door and decides not to talk to her.  She decides to sit down on her bed, in which she'll get a text from the same unknown person, and it'll say: "Too scared to talk to mommy?" Next, we'll see a shot of her, and she'll say, what the hell.  Finally, we'll see her locking her door and going back to her phone, trying to figure out what she's gonna do about it, but at the same time it's like she's brushing the situation off her shoulder.  Maybe I'll add in some cameo of the masked villain at the end for a small jump scare?

I know I only have two minutes of time, and maybe I have a lot sketched out, but I know that I could easily make changes if I needed to.  I do really like the story I have for right now, and I can't wait to write it!

The Gameplan

Now that I've gotten some of the key elements for my film opening figured out, it's time to come up with a plan for how I want to create this film opening. I have 6 steps:

1.Storyboard

2.Script-write

3.Audio

4.Film

5.Edit

6.Submit

StoryBoard

I already started working on my storyboard, but I definitely need to change things, and finish it.  The reason I'm starting off with the storyboard is because I am a very visual person.  As I was coming up with my plot, I could see it in my head, and I couldn't really put it into words at first, so I started to draw it out, and then everything fell into place.  I used it to describe the plot of my film opening in another blog post and it also kind of helped me to develop the characters.  There will be more on the story board in another blog post.

Script-write

I love scriptwriting, and am excited to get into this portion of the process after I complete the storyboard, or I may even go ahead and start working on it while I do the storyboard.  Besides the fact that I am more of a visual person, I also haven't started working on the script just yet because I am currently working on several others for other projects, and I want to ensure that I can fully focus on this one as soon as I finish the others.  I can't wait to write this one, and see where the film opening takes me.  I remember when I was a part of my friend's film opening last year, I continued writing the story from what I believed would have happened.  Maybe once I finish writing the opening and the project overall, I'll probably continue it for the full thing just for the fun of it, maybe even film it over the summer before I go off to college, who knows, but I think this is the part that I am most excited for!

Audio

By audio I mean recording any dialogue ahead of time before I film.  This is just in case any of it isn't heard in the opening itself, or if anything else happens to it in the opening.  I have a few condenser microphones, and a few lavalier mics I can use for this when I film and record audio, so I know I'll be ready for that.  I also have to think about what other sounds I'll need for the film.  At first, I wanted my film opening to be silent, but now I feel like, audio is probably going to be one of the bigger elements for the film opening considering that it'll just be revolving around one character the majority of the time.

Film

I am excited to film the opening.  I know I'll most likely be the one starring in the opening, and I'll most likely have my parents play Lilly's parents.  Yes, it will be hard to be the one on camera while also being behind the camera, but I know that my little sister could be a big help since she took film in middle school, but I also have tools like a tripod that will make setting up the camera easier for me.  Honestly, I think I can get the filming done in one day, three days max.  I think the best time for me to film would be over Spring Break, as it gives me plenty of time to work on the storyboard, script, and audio ahead of time, and I'll have the full week to film, even though I only think it'll take a few days, in the case of any footage being lost, or anything else, I have plenty of time to film.

Edit

Ah, yes, editing.  I will be very honest here and say that I am nervous to edit my film opening, but I know it's something that I'll have to overcome.  I don't find editing to be my strong suit, but I know that there are plenty of resources out there for me that will help me edit the opening.  I know I'll definitely want to create a few different versions of my opening, which I know will take some time, but I will figure it out as I go!

Submit

The final step: submitting.  I'm excited, nervous, and a little sad to submit the final film opening.  I've been looking forward to this project since I got to be a part of one last year, and it's kind of sad that it'll be over when I submit it.  I think I want to make a blog post with the different versions of my film opening and see what some of my peers think about them by using a poll, and I'll use that to help me make the decision on which film opening I will submit.  

Creating Characters

 Today is my 18th birthday.  Yay for me, but I'm going to explain why that's important.  Eighteen years ago, my parents gave me a name, something I wasn't really planning on doing for my characters in my film opening.  I never realized how important a name could be for a character, especially in horror.  

The first thing you think of when you think about a person, whether you realize it or not, is their name.  A name is what represents a person, and I also think a name adds vulnerability to a person.  A name can be something special to the parents.  For example, when my little sister was about to be born, my parents hadn't had a name picked out for her, until they heard the song Noelia by Nine Bravo playing on the radio.  They took the song as a sign, and named her after it.  

Considering my opening is going to be for a horror film, I need to find ways to make my main character vulnerable, and that starts with a name.  I believe this was used as the weakness for the demon nun in The Conjuring 2.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wMYAHq-IQM

Before Lorraine starts trying to figure out what the nun's name was, she was picking a part a riddle from the old man haunting the house.  The riddle says "I am given and I am taken.  I was there are your first breath, but you didn't ask for me, but I will follow you till your death."  Your name sticks with you from the moment it's given to you, until forever.  Even after you pass, it's how people remember you.

With all of this in mind, now I have the task of giving my characters a name.  So far, I only have four names to think of: the female character, the mother of the female character, the father of the female character, and the name of the villain for the story.  I feel like once I have the names, then the rest of the characters' details will come to me.  

For the female character, I need a name that's sweet and simple, something that would work for a damsel in distress, as she's going to be the film's "final girl," this means that she's the one who our villain preys on and taunts throughout the film.  I think, a name that would be suitable for the character would maybe be Lilly.  The name Lilly is that of a flower, and flowers are beautiful and pure.  They blossom and grow, and generally people admire them.  Lilly, is a sweet girl, she's 16, and from Florida.  Florida comes from the the word flor which is Spanish for flower.  Lilly's life is pretty normal, she goes to school, gets good grades, has her nice group of friends, and has the perfect boyfriend.  She's an only child, who receives all the love in the world from her parents.  She's a poet, and likes to spend her days on the beach writing poetry in her journal or on her laptop.  She loves reading her poetry at open mic nights, and her friends always want to hear what she has to say.  All of that came from just thinking of the name.

For the flower theme to keep going, I think I want to name the mother Rosalie, after roses.  I don't think that the mother's name would be mentioned, but I think that if it were, maybe viewers would catch onto the correlation between the names.  The reason for a name to be inspired by roses is due to the fact that roses have thorns.  Roses are beautiful flowers, and to me, they symbolize love.  My mom always says that there is no love like the one a mother holds for her child.  There is no other bond like that of a mother to her baby.  Whatever the baby feels, the mom feels.  The worst fear that a mother holds is losing her baby, and that's what the thorns can symbolize here.  Considering that my film is going to be a horror movie, maybe Rosalie fears that with what's going on with her daughter, if she ever finds out, could be endangering her, and possibly cause Rosalie to lose Lilly.  Lilly is Rosalie's everything, and a life without Lilly for Rosalie, is a life that is not worth living for her.

Now, onto the father.  His name is going to be one that has more meaning to me rather than have any symbolism.  I decided to name the father after my dad, Jorge.   The reason for this is because every daughter needs her father, and without my dad, I don't know what I would do.  I've always looked up to him, and he's always been my number one supporter.  I feel like Lilly and Jorge would have that same bond with each other.  Lilly is his and always will be  his little girl.  He'll always support her biggest dreams, and be the first to read and enjoy her poetry.  Jorge's life is all about Lilly, and there is nothing in the world he wouldn't do for her.  He would go to the greatest lengths to protect his daughter, and when her life is being threatened, those lengths will be tested.  

Finally, onto the last character, our villain.  Much like their character, I really don't know much about them.  I don't know their name, their motive, or even why they choose to taunt and possibly attack Lilly.  They remain a mystery to me, which is fitting because for the majority of the film, their character is a mystery that needs to be solved.  One thing that I know for sure is that I want them to wear a mask.  Maybe something similar to that of Scream's "Ghostface".  The mask is simple, but it's scary, and stays imprinted in your mind.  We, as in the fans of the SCREAM franchise associate both the Ghostface and the Brandon James mask (from the series) with the franchise.  You see that mask, and you know that there is trouble ahead for Sydney and Emma, so I want to create something that is simple and scary, that also signals trouble ahead for Lilly.  

That's what I have for the characters at the moment, but I feel like as the plot develops, more of these characters will shine through.  

The Plot Thickens...

 Welcome back!  Today, I think I settled on the plot for my film opening.  I just spent the last 20 minutes working on a story board for my idea.  It's definitely not done yet, but I feel like I have a solid foundation for my opening.  I feel like it's just much easier for me to explain what I want to do after having some sort of visual representation for it.  

                                           

So, I want to talk about what's being shown here in the storyboard.  So, with the first shot, we see a person, in this case, my story will focus on a female character, waiting by the stairs, and her front door is present.  Then, we see her hug her parents, followed by a shot of the car being loaded up with luggage, to the parents driving off.  We then see her locking the door to her house.  The main focus here is to establish that our character is alone.  

Next, we see the character go on her computer, maybe she's working on something, to then putting something in the microwave, which would symbolize that her time is running out, to her then opening the window door a the back of her house, to her finally sitting back down to work on what she was initially working on.  This again shows that she is alone, but her leaving the window door open leaves a window of opportunity, no pun intended, for something to happen to our main character.

Then, as she is working on her computer, we see that she gets a text message notification from an unknown person.  She's confused for a second because the message doesn't fully show, but she goes to open it to find pictures of herself working on her computer, that seem to be taken from her backyard, where when she opened the door to, nothing or nobody was seen.

                                         

The female character will then get back up, close the window door, close the curtains, and sit back down.  She hears something, then looks around her house to find that her door is unlocked and her window door is open again.  

That's all I have so far with this portion of the plot, I know it leads somewhere, but I'm still figuring out how it's gonna end.  I still definitely need to figure out what will happen with these mysterious texts and the female character.

One thing that I want to do with it is show that the female character was dreaming, but when she wakes up, she's wearing the same clothes as she was earlier in the opening, showing that something's wrong, and that she can't tell if she's dreaming or not, but she's still gonna get texts from this mysterious person.  This will allude to the rest of the film.

There are still some things to work out and figure out, but maybe as I develop the characters, I'll put the pieces together!

Genre, genre, genre

 There are so many genres out there, that having to pick one for my film opening feels very nerve-wracking.  Do I want to create something scary?  Do I want my viewers to put on their detective hats and solve a mystery?  Do I want them to fall in love at first sight? Do I want them to laugh until they cry?  Do I want them to run out of tissues? There are so many more to choose from, but the question is, what am I trying to achieve with my film opening?

I want my viewer to want to know what happens next.  I want them to ask "where's the rest of the story?"  The way to do that I think starts with the kind of story I want to tell.

I've always been a lover of romance.  It makes sense, I was born in February, and the color pink practically makes up my personality, but the thing about romance is that it is so hard to avoid the clichés.  Practically all romance movies are predictable and end in the same way.  No matter what obstacles are presented, Prince Charming always gets his damsel in distress.  

With romance not being my top choice, I though about horror.  I always love a thrill and a little bit of a scare, so why not take those elements and create something myself?  I am a fan of the SCREAM movies, and own all of them, except for the fifth because it hasn't yet come out, on DVD.  I also am a fan of the The Conjuring movies and the other movies that exist in that universe.  

I especially love the film opening of the first SCREAM movie.  It immediately tells the viewers that there is a psycho-killer on the loose, and gives the fans a good scare before getting into the rest of the story.  The question is, how can I do something like that, but in a shorter amount of time?  The SCREAM opening is five minutes long, whereas, my film opening is up to two minutes long.  I think first I want to figure out what my story is going to be now that I know I want to do something horror related, and then figure out how to do the opening.  I know I will figure it out soon!

Time to Start With the End!

 Welcome back!  As the title states, it's time to start with the end, as in, the final portfolio project.  I've been so excited, nervous, and ready to do this project ever since I was a part of my friend's film opening last year.  I remember filming everything in one day, and then having to return and start all over again because of the lighting.  It was a lot of fun.  My friend and I got ready together, recorded audio in her room, and finally filmed together.  We also recorded a table read for the fun of it, but I sadly lost that footage.  Anyways, here's the film opening I was a part of!

https://youtu.be/lbsNguBVO4c

I remember thinking of all the ways the story could have continued between the two characters, I even started writing a script for it, but I later deleted it.  Now, it's my turn to think of what I want to do for my film opening, and I couldn't be any more clueless.  

Over the summer, while all of my friends were traveling, I wrote ten scripts for fun, following a story of a group of friends trying to find one of their friends who went missing.  I never fully finished the tenth one, but I enjoyed being able to see it in my head how it all would play out and then putting it on paper.  

About two weeks ago, I had to start writing a script for one of my online classes.  For the project, I had to watch a tv show that was set in a different time, and I picked Luis Miguel: La Serie, which is on Netflix.  The show is a biopic based on the Mexican singer,  Luís Miguel.  Anyways, we had to write a one act play that is in the same time period as the show we watched, so mine was set in the 80's, and since the show goes back and forth between two time periods in Luís Miguel's life, I decided to make mine go between the present, and a memory.  The plot of my play is of a girl who get's cheated on, so she decides to write a song about it, and as she writes it, she goes back through the memories of her relationship seeing how it all led to where she was.

I don't know too much of what I want to do just yet for my film opening, but I do know that as of right now, I am pretty comfortable with script writing.  Let's see where this takes me!

Music Marketing Round 2!!

 Well, we're back and done with the music marketing project.  It felt like a long two weeks, but at the same time, they could not have gone by faster when working on it.

On the first day I started working, I remember we primarily focused on the case study.  We researched Universal Music Group and studied Adele, Beyoncé, Da Baby, and Lil Wayne.  I mainly focused on Adele, talking about how she titles her album on her age and how her song "Easy On Me" blew up on Tik Tok.  

Next, came working on the video itself.  Our first challenge was coming up with an idea.  The song my group had was "Cmon Talk" by Bernhoft.  The song itself opens with the verses "C'mon and talk to me/I will try the upmost try to be honest with you//Try to be honest with you/Every single//Work/Imma gonna talk to me/I will try the upmost try to be rhythmical/Try to be rhythmical".  This repeats four times in the beginning of the song.  With that in mind, we decided that a storytelling video would be the best for the song.  We used those repeating lines to show the events that preceded the song, and then used the remainder to show what's going on in the present.

Once we finished the video, we focused on the presentation.  This is where we were all coming up with ideas on how to market and grow our artist, Charlie Jay.  For example, I was in charge of the social media accounts.  I made an Instagram, Twitter, Tik Tok, and YouTube account for Charlie Jay.  I also made a fan account on Instagram for him.  The reason for the use of these platforms was that they are the biggest platforms at the moment, and they all served different purposes for his growth.For example, YouTube was for his full music videos and lyric videos, while Instagram would be used just to post pictures and give fans behind the scenes content of interviews and more.

Finally, it came down to the presentation.  Boy, was I nervous.  In class, I was keeping my fingers crossed hoping we wouldn't go.  Not because we weren't ready, but because I was super nervous that day for no reason.  Then, no group volunteered, and of course with my luck, my group gets called to present.  I.  Was.  Shaking.  I don't know why I was so nervous for our presentation, I typically do well with presenting in front of my peers.  Anyways, we went up, and as soon as it was my turn to present about social media, I started to blank on the inside, but then used what I knew about the platforms, and talked about things that would differentiate the use of the different platforms, since Mrs.Stoklosa had made a comment on that to the group before us.  But before I knew it, I was done talking, and could relax a little bit.

In the end, the project was fun, and makes me think about what some of the biggest names in music went through to get to where they are today.  I learned that there is a lot more than just one person behind a big name, and it takes a lot to be successful.  I also learned that strategy and creativity are key to trying to create and grow an artist.