A Musical Breakthrough!

     Hello again! I'm excited to share with you some news concerning the opening's music, provided generously by Mr. Alexander Evergarden. While I've been writing the script and drawing up storyboards, he's been travelling and simultaneously creating the theme for the film, which I am very appreciative of him for. 

His update on the music from a few days ago.

    A few days ago, while he was on this trip, he texted me letting me know that the progress on the music had been steady, and that he was halfway through the production of the theme. I was glad to hear about this, especially since it would allow me to write my next iteration of the script with an idea of how the background music would sound, instead of leaving writer's notes in the drafted script.

However, when I awoke today, I was greeted with some spectacular news from him: the track had been finished! While he announced it very casually, I made my excitement clear...

        After he sent a link to his completed project, I listened to it and was very satisfied on the chill vibes that it gave off, matching the casual vibe that I requested from him. According to Alex, it was his first time creating a "casual" track, which, while similar to his usual forte of making ambience music, proved to be a challenge for him. I assured him that I enjoyed the track, particularly the ending, where the notes become more distorted and out of tune to match the ending of the opening, which will contrast the cheery, relaxed aesthetic of the rest of the film. I thought it was a nice touch to add, serving as a sort of unspoken story told through the music.

Showing some much deserved appreciation :)

        When he asked me if there was any edits I'd like done to the track, I asked if it was possible to lower the volume of the  piano in the song, since I know I'll keep the track on fairly low volume during the opening, since the characters have to speak over it. My concern was that if I had to lower the volume of the song so the piano wouldn't interfere with the dialogue, the background beat would be lost. In order to avoid this problem, we decided to lower the volume of the piano to match the beat, so that you could hear both of them if the volume was lowered.

Also, here's the logo for the film that I designed in 10 minutes.
(So I could post the image on the song link)

                                                                                  I'm pretty happy with the end product, and through this link, you should be able to hear it as well! Enjoy, and I'll be making sure to see you around this week when I post my storyboards!

And yes, I did have to make the 
hand sanitizer bottle from scratch
on MS paint.

Draft #1- Complete!

 Hello again! I'm back (after some brief radio silence) with some great progress on the opening! Moving forward, my blog posts should be more specific to certain topics, like music, storyboarding, and shooting, but for this blog post I wanted to lump in a bunch of progress I've achieved in the last few days!

    I took a few days from my previous daily posting through the week in order to work on creating my script (or at least a first draft) so that I can storyboard, cast, and start reaching out to people for favors to call in (for location shooting, borrowing some equipment, all of that). While this script may have some flaws in it, such as corny dialogue, which I absolutely despise writing, it helped me understand how much time is being taken up by the exchanges between characters in the opening, along with fleshing out how the story flows in real time, instead of just reading through it in bullet points that I have on my planning document.

How I feel after writing two scripts
in the span of one week

    It wasn't easy writing a script, this was my second time writing one ever (and my first time was just a few days ago), meaning that the process would likely be a drawn-out and arduous one. I think the most notable flaw in this script was the almost non-existent referencing to what shots and camera angles I would use while the dialogue is occurring. This is because I've only had experience writing scripts for theatrical plays, meaning that my script focused more on stage direction and dialogue than visualizing the shots in which the story takes place. However, my justification for this fluke is that I'll be planning out the shot types and the such in the storyboard I will be working on tomorrow, and that planning out the shots now would be redundant and draw from my time working on the story and dialogue.

    Additionally, I'm more used to writing in either strict prose or a more loose, poetic verse. Writing a script was like dealing with some bastardized mixture of the two, following tight conventions while also being much looser and naturally flowing than prose would. This was probably  the biggest obstacle I had in writing this script, since I had struggled with writing a script a few days prior to working on this one, and was still unsure if I was doing it right. However, in the end I felt comfortable calling it a day on this iteration of the script, as I know for a fact that I will eventually make a more polished version.

If you want to read the script yourself, here it is!

I'll see you next time, where I will be going over my storyboard of the opening!

Some Hiccups in My Progress

         Hello, I'm back again with a much shorter update blog to inform you on what I'm currently up to. The blog posting schedule has taken a bit of a dip due to a busy workload from school this week, in addition to personal events that I had to put time into. This isn't to say that I haven't been working on the project, however, it's just I've had less time to work on it this week in particular, making my progress more of a "chipping away" than a huge breakthrough. Despite this, I've have made progress on some interesting fronts:

Soundtrack

    Since my last blog post, I had contacted my music producer friend to discuss the theme for the opening, and how we will work on it. I explained how the story of the film would develop from this opening, as well as elaborated on any questions he had on the self contained story told in the opening. Towards the end, he asked what the "vibe" of the song should be, and I said this: 

My rough explanation for what I'd like

    I also provided a song that I had in mind when coming up with the story, Kevin MacLeod's Hard Boiled. I am a fan of some of his other songs, and when writing a story about two friends having a casual conversation around town, I couldn't help but envision a light-hearted, jazzy tune backing up the film. However, this song lacks the ominous finish I'd like it to have, so instead of using it I opted to use it as an example for what I'd like it to feel like.

However, problems soon arose...

    At first, he only let me know about the hardware issues he was facing, which was understandable, as it is out of his control. However, he very sweetly offered to make the track anyways with replacement headphones, to which I thanked him for. Unfortunately, the next day he was reminded that he is currently travelling, and would not be able to give his best work for the project, and so after discussing it, I gave him a deadline of next Thursday, which is the absolute latest I could take the music, as I'd need to see if I have to reshoot any scenes to better fit with the original music, along with giving myself enough time to ask for changes if I deem them necessary. Thankfully, he agreed to these terms and is off traveling in Africa.            

I hope he gets inspired out there!

Story

        The good news: the story for the opening is fully fleshed out! After taking a couple of days to work on writing and visualizing the opening, I've made some stellar progress, particularly on the script. It's not currently finished (I'll likely change that either later today or tomorrow), but I'd say I'm 60% complete with it. Rather than post snippets of it on this blog, however, I've elected to instead push to publish the next blog with the entire script attached to it as a PDF. Additionally, today I came up with my (current) title for the film: Clean Kill. I'm still unsure if it will be my final title, but I am rather fond of it, no matter how corny it might be. I've been asking my peers if they think its an appropriate name and so far the feedback has been pretty divisive... so much for getting a second opinion...

Besides all that, I don't have much else to report on for today. I've been waiting to make storyboards after I've finished the script for the opening, in order to allow myself to focus more on what each shot will look like instead of worrying about how the story will flow. Same thing regarding the casting: I want to have everything written out before I start involving other people. I'll see if I can have the script finished for tomorrow's post. I'll see you then!

Deciding on a Final Draft

         Hello! Today's blog post will likely be a shorter one, since most of what I have to report on for today pertains to a meeting I had with my media teacher, in which we discussed my story that I had at the time, and addressed the flaws in it. While this is a shorter post, the information and progress gleaned from this discussion was invaluable, and will greatly affect how I will continue working on this project.

Do We Need to Keep the Murder?

     The first detail we tackled in our meeting was in regards to the murder included in the opening. According to my first draft of the story, the opening would start with two friends making up stories for passerby, then show a montage of the duo spying on a particularly strange guy they jokingly accuse of being a murderer. The opening would end with the friends parting ways, only for the camera to approach a dingy alley, where the audience would witness a murder happen, and reveal the identity of the killer to be one of the two friends the opening introduced. 

    When we talked about the story, my professor pointed out this ending as something that stood out as flawed. I had shared these doubts on the need for a murder scene, but had ultimately left them in the draft because I was unsure how else to reveal the identity of the killer to the audience in the opening. We deliberated on how to replace / cover up this sequence in the opening since we agreed that it would be difficult to shoot and felt shoehorned into the opening, not quite fitting with the more comedic tones of the prior scenes (which was the point to an extent, I wanted to end the light-hearted opening with a darker, more dramatic scene to set up the conflict in the hypothetical rest of the film,) due to the scene feeling forced and sudden, rather than ominous, as I had intended it to be.

    At first, our solution was to replace the crime being committed. What if instead of being a serial killer, the culprit was actually responsible for a series of robberies that had been spreading throughout the neighborhood? This solution would've dealt with the difficulty of shooting a murder scene (which would've involved fast-paced editing, special effects, and
lighting issues since it takes place in an alley,) instead replacing the murder with a break-in, which would be easier to film since it'd be indoors, as well as not requiring an abundance of editing, which isn't particularly my strong suit. However, I scrapped this idea, since it strayed too far from the original idea for the story, and was much less exciting; the stakes were minimal in comparison to a loose serial killer. And so, the robbery solution failed to replace the murder.

Using the "aftermath" solution,
I can just dedicate time into
producing mise-en-scene, in a similar
fashion to this image.

    However, after more thinking, we came to the idea that maybe we didn't need this sequence at all. Instead of wasting time and resources on shooting a whole crime scene, I could just as easily skip the process of the crime, and jump straight into the aftermath of the crime. Using this solution, not only did it get rid of my need for a crime sequence, but it also cleanly allows me to focus on the other scenes and developing the story without having to explicitly state what's happening, fitting with the common film advice of "Show, don't tell". This solution was ultimately the best choice for the story, and is what I will implement into the final draft of the story.

Dealing with Time Limits

    Another pressing issue was the time limit of the opening. The entire film opening, including opening credits and all, should span the length of about two minutes. However, my first script was packed full of different ideas and scenes, including the car conversation, the spying montage, the murder scene, and the identity reveal of the killer. This felt like a lot was being compressed into a short 2 minute runtime, which would impact the quality of the overall product if each scene was pressed for time. By cutting out the murder scene, I had already recovered a bunch of time from the strained runtime, but I still wanted more time to play around with. 

    I discussed the inclusion of the spying montage with my teacher, and she brought up the question of why I wanted the montage to be included in the first place. I replied by explaining that I wanted to include a bunch of graphic match shots focused on hand sanitizer, but had no other way into working them into the plot without a montage. I wasn't very satisfied with including a montage in my opening, but had accepted it as a sort of compromise with myself to keep the graphic matches, which I was really passionate about. 

After some deliberation on how to work around the montage, once again we came to the decision to cut out the montage as a whole. Instead, the new story would revolve around the two friends' conversation, which starts from the car, following them to a gas station, and ends at a convenience store. I can utilize graphic matches of hand sanitizer to transition from each setting smoothly, while also providing some foreshadowing for the twist. This was once again the perfect solution to my problem, which had been fixed by simply cutting out what wouldn't work for the project. I had realized that my main issue had come from committing myself to a certain idea when in reality I could've chosen not to stick to it, which ended up being the right move.

All in all, it has been a productive day for the writing of the story, allowing for me to eliminate the hiccups in the opening while also cementing what will end up being the plot. After writing this blog, I'm going to reach out to my music producer to inform him on the story changes, since the music has to follow the flow of the script, which had just undergone massive changes. Hopefully, I should have the music done by the end of this week, if all goes to plan. Though this has been a shorter update, I hope I was able to translate my excitement for fixing the story through my writing, as I am really quite enthused to start work on the writing of the script, casting, and eventually the shooting of the film. Until then, however, I'll continue to plan ahead!

Looking for a Fitting Genre

 Hello again! I'm back with some research on how to stylize my film opening to better fit into a genre, in order to facilitate the hypothetical marketing of this film. However, instead of adhering to just one traditional genre, I want to look into a fusion of two types of film, so that the film doesn't fit into the mold too much. In my research, I will describe conventions and give examples of each kind of genre opening I aim on stylizing my film after. These genres will be comedy, horror, and the creatively named "comedy horrors".

I chose these genres to study because of different aspects in my film opening that would fit with each genre, and resulting in a mix of both comedic and horror styles. The start of the opening starts with two friends just making fun of people, and follows them throughout a comedic sequence of the two spying on the suspect killer. I plan on borrowing comedic techniques for this section of the opening, while I will take inspiration from various horror techniques to shoot the end of the opening, which takes a darker, dramatic turn as the audience witnesses a murder happen before them- and also unveiling the real identity of the serial killer. It is through my research on film openings from these genres that I will find techniques that I can implement in my own film.

Comedy Study- 21 Jump Street

Cinematic poster for the film

The first genre I chose to study was comedy, and for an example film, I chose to study 21 Jump Street. The film centers around two police officers (played by Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum) who are tasked with infiltrating a high school drug operation, leading for them to go undercover and relive high school, allowing for them to try to fix the mistakes they made when they originally went to school. Throughout the film, the pair grow closer together and become more skilled in different fields, all while going through hijinks and ridiculous scenarios in order to not get busted as undercover cops. The film is an adaption of a television series from the late 1980s, and would receive a sequel movie 2 years after its massive success at the box office. You can find the opening for the movie right here.

In the comedy genre, there are a variety of techniques and conventions that are typical of most comedy films. The most notable of these conventions is the film's focus on characters. Comedy movies tend to make the main character an example of a stereotype, like a antisocial nerd or a bumbling jock, because of the jokes that can be written around these characters' flaws. In other cases, films introduce a cast of characters, instead of just one main character, that are all flawed in one way or another, or also all caricatures of certain types of people, which allows for characters to bounce off each other and have funny interactions between them, as well as providing stark contrasts between characters, which may be comedic in of itself.

Additionally, comedy films tend to open with very public settings (for example an office, school, or party), either setting the tone of what sort of humor the movie will contain, providing context for how the main character(s) may interact with others, and most importantly, providing the main character for an opportunity to embarrass themselves, which is a typical source of humor in a lot of movies. A personal detail that I've noted in comedy movies from my own observations (I love comedy films and consume them almost exclusively) is that cinematography is not used as a major way to tell an unspoken story, unlike other genres. In comedies, most shots are typically medium or long shots, not playing with the angles of shots to illustrate dynamics, and camera movement doesn't really evolve past your typical tracking shot or dolly shot. I've interpreted this decision as a director's attempt to keep the film feeling "real", because people can find more humor in ridiculous characters doing hilarious things when it is presented as something realistic, from a realistic perspective, rather than through an artistic lens.

The differences in their respective characters
is illustrated by costume design in addition
to their interactions.

These techniques are all utilized and sometimes highlighted in the opening of 21 Jump Street. Obviously, the film taps into the "stereotypical characters are friends"  cliché, since the main character duo consists of the average loser nerd and the stupid popular jock. The film initially pits the two against each other, highlighting each of their flaws, and they are both robbed of their prom as a result of their unique problems. However, years later, when they are both presented with another shared problem (passing police school), instead of once again pitting them against each other, the film has them both help the other out in their respective stronger fields, building a friendship between the two and allowing both of them to pass police school. This opening is stronger for it, as it establishes the foundation for their relationship, which is a main focus of the film. while also addressing the flaws of each character in a comedic fashion. The setting of the opening switches from a high school to a police academy, which establishes the background for the connection the main characters have, and also foreshadows their return to high-school, where most of the jokes and humor in the film will then take place.

I'm going to be following some conventions of the comedy genre in my opening, primarily in the beginning, as it focuses on establishing the characters and the setting they are in. Similarly to 21 Jump Street, the main characters in my film will be contrasting archetypes who have become good friends, though instead of showing the process of how they came to be friends, I will be skipping ahead to them already as friends, since their relationship is not the focus of my film. I will also make sure that the setting for the movie is established (mostly taking place in a school) through the part of the opening where the two characters are making fun of other students in a car. Additionally, though it isn't a typical comedy convention, I will also be using a montage to exhibit some funny moments as the plot progresses. However, instead of montages being used to illustrate the growth of a friendship, its primary use will be to show time passing and plot progression without taking too much time in the opening.

Horror Study- IT (2017)

(I hate horror movies... this was painful to research …)

The second genre I decided to research was horror, which was after a long deliberation on what genre I should adhere to when producing the ending part of my film opening. While the hypothetical complete film would follow more of a mystery/ detective feel (cat and mouse chase between the friend who wants to solve a mystery versus the friend who is secretly the killer) or better fit the suspense genre (friend doesn't know that he's friends with the killer while the audience has this knowledge from the start), I didn't really like the stylization of these genres, feeling as if they lacked the impact that I wanted to end the opening with. With this in mind, I turned towards a more horror-inspired ending to the opening, since they typically have a buildup of suspense before releasing it with a scene that would hold the "punch" I want my opening to have.

Official poster for IT (2017)

The example I chose to research as being an example of the horror genre is It (2017). The film revolves around a group of kids, dubbed the Losers' Club, as they investigate and are hunted down by a supernatural menace, a man-eating clown called Pennywise (played by Bill Skarsgard). The children get terrorized by Pennywise, investigate the disappearances around town linked to the clown, and mature from children to teenagers through their shared hardships. This film is a remake of a 1990 movie of the same name, and would be followed in 2019 by a sequel (IT 2), and are all based on Stephen King's novel that came out in 1986.In the opening for this film, which you can find here, focuses on the story of Georgie as he follows a paper boat down to a sewer grate, where he meets Pennywise and shortly after, his demise.

Horror movies have a whole slew of conventions specific to the genre, many of which are so striking that an audience can immediately identify the genre of the movie based off of how it looks and sounds. Sound is actually one of the key factors in horror productions, whether it be pertaining to suspenseful scores, shocking stings of audio to scare the audience, or the suffocating loudness of natural noise. All aspects of sound in horror are designed to either keep the audience on edge, or to scare the socks off of them with a sudden blaring sound effect. The score in a horror movie usually vary between slow, menacing, and foreboding tracks and very fast, frantic shrill music, usually played during chase scenes or when the monster/killer is doing their thing. The loudness of sound effects is meant to get the audience to be overloaded my sensory details, by hearing every footstep, every creak in the floor, and every raindrop in a puddle, the audience is put on edge and on alert, captivated in suspense.

Pennywise shrouded in the twilight
of the sewer drain.

Another huge convention in horror movies is lighting.  Almost every horror movie works in darkness, blanketing the entire scene in black and shrouding their monsters with shadow. Darkness in horror movies is crucial to keeping audiences scared- it invokes the basic human fear of the unknown. Horror films usually keep their villains in shadows because of this idea- if the audience has no knowledge on the capabilities or appearance of the antagonist, their own imaginations conjure terrifying images without relying on the film to show the monster itself. And when the full monster is eventually revealed, it serves as a satisfying payoff to the omnipresent suspense that lingers throughout the viewing  of the film. 

The opening to It (2017) perfectly illustrates all of these clichés of the horror genre. The score at first is whimsical and full of childlike wonder as Georgie chases and plays with his paper boat in the rain. The splashing of his steps in the rain is loud and clear as he traverses the street, and when he bumps his head on a sign, the bump is shockingly loud, making it feel much more serious than its played off to be. However, when Georgie meets Pennywise, the music suddenly stops. In this case, silence is deafening, creating an uncomfortable environment as the audience watches a child interact with a figure cloaked in darkness. 

Pennywise as he bites into the boy's arm,
the payoff to the suspense of the opening.

As the clown starts speaking to Georgie with more confidence, a slow, ominous theme starts playing during their conversation, conveying to the audience that something is not right, creating even more suspense as the audience starts to get concerned for Georgie. Then, when Georgie finally reaches his hand into the sewer, we get the loud, brash payoff of the scene, with Pennywise brandishing his terrifying maw and ripping off the boy's arm, accompanied by echoing, deafening music to highlight the horror of the scene, mixed with his sobbing cries for help. He is soon dragged into the sewers with the clown, with the music fading away and the sound of rain fading back in, producing the feeling that what just happened was instantly covered up, and forgotten.

After watching and analyzing this excerpt from It to connect it to aspects of the horror genre, I can safely say: I don't like watching horror movies! I am not a fan of the genre, but that doesn't stop me from appreciating the art. My main takeaway after watching this opening was a newfound respect and understanding of how influential lighting and sound can be in a production. The score of a film can tell an unspoken story warning an audience before something happens, and the lighting can keep them scared of the unknown. I will definitely place an emphasis on sound effects and integration during the post production of my film opening. Maybe I will communicate my thoughts with my music producer to have my own unspoken warning in the score of the opening? A personal favorite detail I noted from the opening of It was its use of point-of-view shots from Pennywise's perspective, really nailing the portrayal of how helpless Georgie was against the clown. I may use this technique from the killer's perspective, coupled with some high angles, to sell the idea of the killer triumphing over his victim in my opening.

(Finally, I can stop looking at that demon's face...)

Horror-Comedy Study- Zombieland

The official poster
for Zombieland

And now for the combination of genres, the aptly named horror-comedy genre. For my example of what a horror-comedy film might entail, I chose to use Zombieland (2009), which stars Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin as the main group of characters. The plot revolves around this group coming together during a post-apocalyptic road trip to the last area in the United States left untouched by zombies. The movie would soon be followed by a sequel (Zombieland: Double Tap) a decade later in 2019. The opening follows Jesse Eisenberg's character narrating a montage of people dying in the apocalypse, pointing out each one of their mistakes that led to their demise and organizing them into a set of rules for survival, and then launching into another montage led by heavy rock music as it shows various slow-motion scenes of death in the apocalypse. You can find this opening of the film here.

Since its named after a combination of both horror and comedy genres, one could reasonably assume that most clichés in this subgenre are borrowed from its parent genres. And while this is mostly true, there are certain techniques unique to the horror-comedy genre, as well as adaptations of conventions from other genres. 

Namely, the use of sound and music stands in stark contrast to its application in horror movies. While in horror movies, the score is used as a  narrative device, serving as a sort of harbinger to the violence and horror that will scare audiences, horror-comedies use music as a comedic device to trivialize the horrors the audience is beholding.    The juxtaposition of violence and terror against the ridiculous background of a cheesy pop song or other music genre contrasts the darkness of what the audience hears versus what they can see, which as a result makes the scene less scary, and more comedic.

Example of a slow-motion shot
in Zombieland's opening

Zombieland uses this concept masterfully, coupled with Eisenberg's voiceover, to create a comedic feeling around scenes clearly out of a horror. However, these scenes don't feel nearly as scary because they've been stripped of the typical shrill, intense soundtrack that audiences are accustomed to seeing, and instead being replaced with awesome rock music and a voiceover with a very matter-of-fact tone. This is what sells the idea of the movie's opening being a sort of guide compiled by the main character instead of just a loosely connected montage of violence.

The film also borrows from its horror genre roots with its cinematography, using low angle shots of victims to illustrate their weakness against the zombie onslaught. Moreover, the beginning of the opening even starts with a point-of-view shot, capturing the perspective of a zombie victim and putting the audience in the shoes of someone who's doomed by a zombie attack. The film plays around with perspective and camera movement constantly, showing several angles to almost every scene, giving the impression that Eisenberg's character has
extensively studied and analyzed each of these scenarios to find where the victim made a mistake, providing a good bit of characterization. Most notably, however, is the use of slow-motion shots during the opening credits, giving the audience brief insights into microcosms of post-apocalyptic hijinks, involving a lot of chasing, death, and zombies. This unique stylistic decision is evident of how horror-comedies like to take their horror seriously, but not too seriously.

What I learned after watching this film's opening is how to put together every technique that I've picked up on from the previous genres, while ensuring that these aspects of each genre are blended together without leaving room for awkwardness. Zombieland shows how to take the importance of music and sound from horror films, completely change the way they work for the film, and still manage to keep it meaningful and powerful. While it doesn't give the audience a proper introduction to the main character, the dialogue in his voiceover helps the audience produce an idea of what he's like, and how analytical and nerdy he can be regarding the deaths of random people. 

The use of lighting is also unconventional for the horror genre, trading dingy, dark claustrophobic rooms for the brightly lit outdoors, introducing an aspect of horror that is out of the shadow, fixed on killing you, that is just as effective as preying on the fear of the unknown. If I had to take a lesson from this film opening, it would be that you can venture outside the clichés and styles of your typical horror movie while still being scary, and that you can mix genres that are seemingly completely different to form a interesting, dynamic new genre.

All in all, this has been an intensive analysis on genre conventions with examples that has been extremely informative and educational for me. The research for this blog post spanned over several days, and I don't regret a minute of it, since each new level of understanding of these genres will translate to mastery over the conventions of genres in media and how to succeed in utilizing them in unconventional ways.  I'll be back soon with more news on the creative end of the process! See you then!

Writing What You Know... And Then Some..

 Hello again! I'm back once again to update the blog with some progress on the story for the film opening. Despite still not being finished with the overall writing of it, I thought that I'd share the process of coming up with this story, including early iterations of the plot as well as mentioning other completely different ideas I had for what the opening could be about. 

The advice "Write what you know' echoes in my mind constantly, after having heard the importance of it from my teacher. However, as a sheltered teenager living in suburbia, there's not a whole lot of excitement in my life. Immediately, my initial thoughts turned to documenting some unique person who I know and how they might have an experience worth talking about, though this idea was short-lived, since it still didn't fit with writing "what I know", and additionally the prospect of writing about someone else's stories doesn't really appeal to me. I ended up trashing this idea, due to its poor integrity as a source of content, along with just me finding it personally boring. Next, I turned to dreams of making a whole story based on finding the beauty in suburbia, and how one can find excitement and adventure in even the most bland of places, yet once again I rejected this idea after some thought, as I thought it was too corny and I didn't really believe in the message it would preach. 

Some other scrapped ideas for openings were:

-A piece about two lovers who, after discussing their estranged families, realize that they are in the same family.

    (I honestly liked this idea, because of the dark comedic spin I would put on the romance, but I ended up adapting it to be a short play for my creative writing class, and I didn't want to recycle material.)

-Some sort of fantasy-inspired landscape

     (I don't have the budget to make my own massive set pieces. Plus, there wasn't really a story, it was just focused around establishing the world the story takes place in.)

-A story told mostly through flashbacks and voice-overs, about a son visiting his absent father's grave, reflecting on the man that his father was, only for it to be revealed that this is a dark twist on beloved children's character Waldo from Where's Waldo. 

    (I loved this concept, and almost stuck to it, but realized a couple of flaws with it. Mainly the fact that Waldo is a licensed character who I didn't have the rights to, as well as the fact that this is a self-contained story, instead of the opening for a larger plot. Sadly I had to abandon the Waldo script, but maybe down the line I'll revisit it....)

-A buddy cop intro about two guys who ignore duty calling to get donuts, only to find that the call came from the donut store.

    (Honestly I have no idea what I was thinking, this movie would suck.)

To be clear, pretty much none of these follow the advice given to me by my teacher. I just allowed my imagination to run wild, and jotted down any idea that came to me (There was very little quality control during this brainstorming session, as you can tell by the mere existence of the cop idea). However entertaining or interesting these concepts were to me, I had to acknowledge that I had pretty much no experience with anything involved in these stories, which felt disingenuous and not right. Therefore, I cast them all aside to find the perfect story for this project...

What I Ended Up With

Now, after a long and arduous brainstorming process, I had finally settled on a story. The opening for the film would begin by following these two friends sitting in their car, pointing out passerby and making up absurd backstories for each one. The radio broadcast in the car describes some active serial killer on the loose, with several disappearances around town.. After a few, their attention is turned to a boy of their age, suspiciously shuffling around as he lugs around a large bag. This opportunity to jest does not escape the two boys in the car, and they immediately pin him down as the "definitive murderer", making comments on his appearance, the suspicious bag, and all of it. It should be clear that they are just joking, when one of them proposes that they track him down to catch him in the act of murder, just for the fun of it. After going through a brief montage of them monitoring his strange habits (especially his obsession with using hand sanitizer- will be highlighted through the use of graphic matches throughout the montage), the duo comes to the conclusion that he might actually be a murderer after all. As they part ways for the night, the camera tracks one of the guys as they walk home during the night, with the camera freezing on a shot of a dark street as the boy continues walking. The camera will then dolly down the street to capture a murder happening. The act is quick, quiet, and most notably, clean. When the deed is done, the camera should be fixated on an over the shoulder shot of a hooded figure crouched over the body, and the camera rises with them as they get up. A close up shot of the hands of this person then shows that the person is cleaning the blood off their hands with hand sanitizer. The opening ends with the person taking off the hood, revealing themselves to be the other friend. The final shot should be of the concrete floor, showing the dripping of hand sanitizer next to the body, and then the killer walking away, with the scene fading to black, and the title of the film boldly standing out against the black (title TBD).

Why This Story?

     After going through my past ideas for the openings, I found myself preferring the ones that blended dark themes with slight bits of comedy (Lovers realizing they're related, the whole edgy Waldo script). Once again, I set out to come up with an idea for this opening that fit in this sort of dark humor field, while also appealing to the phrase that had haunted my entire brainstorming session-  Write what you know. Like a previously mentioned, there's not a whole lot that I know that would be interesting to have a film about. One of the few things I do know, however, is the close friendship that's exhibited by the two main characters. When I was thinking for ideas on a story, I suddenly remembered countless days spent with my best friend as we sat on the porch together, dreaming up impossibly wacky stories about our town and the people within it to pass the time. I feel like this kind of relationship is something that most people can relate to, which is why I believe this scene is a good way to start the opening. It makes the characters relatable while also conveying a comfort and closeness with each other that is conveyed solely through the nature of their conversation, and not by other cues. However, I then had to come up with an idea on how to make a hypothetical film based on this interaction. That's how I brought the sense of twisted humor into the story- What if one of those wild fabricated stories you made up with your friend turned out to be true? And how would I make this fabricated story between two friends into a plot device? By having them joke about some random guy being a serial killer, I set up the conflict in the larger film. And to make sure that this callout doesn't seem too out of the blue, there's a radio broadcast playing in the background of the scene, either subconsciously or purposefully serving as the inspiration for the joke made by the two friends. While the middle bit of the story needs work and fleshing out (I mention it being a montage for now, ideally I'll be able to develop a script that doesn't require a montage, but for a first draft that's how I'm dealing with a less developed middle part of the opening. I did make sure to include the motif of the hand sanitizer, adapting it in the montage to be connected through graphic matches instead of having it be a detail in every scene that could be missed. The ending is probably the most suscptible to change, as I've flip-flopped on it throughout writing. Several iterations had the person being murdered being one of the two friends, and other iterations had no twist of the killer being one of the friends. As of now I'm still on the fence about it, however it's possible that I switch some things around in order for aspects of the story to make more sense (Maybe the friend will be the one with an obsession with cleaning their hands, so that keen-eyed viewers will see the end of the sequence and know the identity of the killer before it's revealed, instead of being used as a red herring to subvert the expectations of the audience cheaply.) Though these changes would be pretty big and important to write.

While this story is clearly a work-in-progress, I wanted to share with you the several failed film ideas to illustrate the behind-the-scenes work that I'm putting into this project. I want the brainstorming phase of this production to be well documented so that you can understand my creative process, throughout all the quirks and retcons I employ in the final script. What I described in the section discussing the first draft is to clarify that this is what the story stands as for now: a rough, rough draft. While the general idea is there, I may change a lot about the characters, plot, and maybe even the genre, but I wanted to share the first complete documented draft for the film opening, even if it will change drastically over time.

Next time, I aim to research genres that could fit my film opening concept well- maybe through the research I can come to a deeper understanding of what conventions in the genre I can implement in my script to work around some issues in the script! 

Until then, I'll see you then!

An Unforeseen Success

         Hello again! I'm back with some surprising but incredible news, thanks to a long shot that paid off. However, before I can share my success with you, first I must provide some context for my elation. When we were reviewing the film opening instructions during class, I noted that there were certain details and conventions that were found in almost every submission that I had seen. While I have not yet settled on a concrete story at the moment (I actually had a pretty solid concept this morning on the drive to school, but after bouncing it off my friend, I came to the conclusion that I'll review and revise the idea a little more, so I can have a polished idea), I am pretty sure that my film opening will be character focused, meaning that its main purpose is to establish the main character for the rest of the film. However, character-focused openings are a common idea among other people working on their own film openings. As a result of this, I knew that to stand out from the sea of similar openings, I would have to strive to change aspects of my opening. While I aim to have a unique visual style, and I hope that my story (when it's confirmed to be my final draft) is unique enough to stand out on its own, I found myself wondering what facets of film openings I could change for myself that weren't commonly thought about by others. After a long time pondering this dilemma, I finally came to an answer: soundtrack.

        In AICE Media AS, a staple of projects submitted to our professor is the seemingly omnipresent royalty-free music that permeates every single submission. While there's nothing wrong with using royalty free music, and websites offer vast arrays of music that appeals to different styles and vibes, I found myself thinking that it would be a little boring to use a song taken from one of these websites. The quality of music wasn't my main concern, instead it was just the prospect of taking someone else's work and using it in my project that just didn't sit right with me. This project was meant to allow our creativity to manifest something of our own, something original, not constrained by limitations or guidelines. It just felt like a waste to mess up an opportunity to make something myself. And so at this moment I had a thought: what if I had an original soundtrack?

        Now you may not personally know this, but I have absolutely zero musical talent. I had never been someone to pick up a guitar or play the piano when I was younger. The extent of my musical ability peaked in the third grade, as we took recorder classes. Unfortunately, I didn't see myself reviving the recorder playing for this project, nor did I think it would fit particularly well with the story I have in mind (no spoilers yet). Instead, my mind turned to thinking about who I know that does have significant musical talent. Almost immediately, I thought about Alexander Evergarden, (online username: DR_ALEXZANDR) , who is a South African music producer that I came to meet through Twitter. I knew that he had a SoundCloud page, which you can find here, where he posts semi-frequently. Pictured below is the home page of his SoundCloud page.

       Alexander typically produces a mixture of trap music as well as ambient tracks, in an EP that he released a few months prior to the writing of this post. Going through his previously released music, I could identify potential for a song that fit the vibe I wanted my film opening to have. I naturally gravitated towards his ambient tracks, since their quietness would allow for any dialogue to take center stage, while providing a nice, smooth undercurrent that compliments the audio of the film. Once I had listened to enough music to make a decision, I took a leap of faith and messaged him directly, inquiring to see if he still produced music (I was unsure, since his posting schedule is somewhat erratic), and if he would be able to help me out on this project. To my great surprise, he actually agreed to it with the sort of excitement that I could appreciate in a colleague.

Pictured above: A leap of faith pays off.

        It was at this point that I was ecstatic to hear this, and thanked him for his generosity. I filled him in a bit more on the nature of the project, namely the time limit, where I was in the production process at the moment, and what my plans were for the future of the project. I mentioned that I had no concrete story as of then, since I didn't expect a response so quickly, but I promised to have a working concept by the end of the week, so that he could work on the song as soon as possible. However, it was here that we found a hitch in an otherwise perfect plan: he was not currently in a state to produce music. I quickly sidestepped this issue by assuring him that we were far ahead of schedule, and that he had time to work on the project after attending to his own life.

Pictured above: An obstacle in an otherwise perfect plan.

    As of right now, that is where we left the conversation. Since we live on opposite ends of the globe, time zones will likely be an obstacle to our communication. However, I think that this will turn out alright. I'm just happy that I've already confirmed one of my dreams for this project to be in the works: an original soundtrack. I'll update this blog tomorrow to discuss my plans for the story of the opening, including my initial thoughts, early concepts that ended up in the bin, and some completely different ideas that I left out in favor of the story I ended up sticking to. But until then, that's the end of the news for today.

See you then!

Productive Peer Discussion

         Hello again! As mentioned in the post prior, I am starting a new phase in my media productions career: a film opening of my very own. I am enthused to begin work on this project, as it is not common for classes to grant students with complete freedom on a project, allowing for the cultivation of creativity that's oh so rare from my experiences in high school. Before I had started any pre-production processes (storyboarding, writing script, etc.), I had decided to have a conversation with my good friend Alexander Duque, and we shared a 30 minute chat discussing our thoughts on the project, bouncing a few loose ideas for stories off each other, and consulting each other on areas that we might not be too familiar with.

                                           Pictured: Alex and I sharing some fast food, 

                                   which is characteristic of good friends (which we are)

Addressing Our Problems

            The first thing Alex and I discussed was the topic that loomed closest to the front of our minds: the obstacles we faced as film producers. While we shared a few common issues, for example our present lack of a story, we each had our own unique problems, and so we sought advice from the other. When discussing the absence of a story for both of us, we came together to build a sort of schedule to help organize and motivate ourselves into working on the story in a timely manner. By sharing a calendar, not only would we be able to compare the progress of our projects alongside each other, but we would also be able to hold each other accountable for falling behind on our progress. This was an effective solution to our shared time-management problem. A problem I personally found myself facing was my discomfort as a director, as I much prefer the writing side of production to the more involved, active role of a director. With some helpful advice and words of affirmation from Alex, I found myself to be a little more comfortable with the idea of taking a more assertive role in production, which was a large internal roadblock for me, having affected my confidence in directing past projects and leading to me getting pushed around a bit by other collaborators. Thanks to this conversation, however, I feel that I won't be intimidated as easily, which will allow me to properly translate my creative vision from the pages of the script to the screen. We also briefly touched upon our thoughts about casting for the film openings, and how it might be dangerous to mix our friends into the cast for our films, in case that the shooting sessions don't get taken seriously. While toying with the idea of recruiting students from the local drama club to help in the production, we didn't end up with a definitive solution for casting, for today at least.

Asking For a Helping Hand

            An important distinction to be made between the two of us is that while he is already well-established in the film/ TV scene, serving in the school's own TV program as well as being an avid participant in competitions, I am not associated with these arts nearly to the extent that he is, since I prefer writing in prose and studying literature. Therefore, I am not as familiar with certain aspects of cinematography and photography. A big part in the conversation we shared was me asking about cameras and image quality, not knowing the difference between a phone's lens versus an actual camera. Thankfully, my buddy Alex is well versed in the subject, and was able to clarify my confusion on the subject (for those wondering, cameras and modern phone cameras are decently similar in quality, however camera-shot pictures and videos typically have a natural sharpness that pops more than images from a phone.) I thanked him for his insight, and made sure to take notes of his information. This was a pretty big learning experience for me, as I knew that cameras were "better", but wasn't sure why they were better, and this may influence my choice on what I will shoot the film opening with, now opening my mind to the benefits of cameras.

Brainstorming With the Boys

           While the majority of this conversation was very educational for me, and productive for the both of us in dealing with problems, by far the most fun we had while talking was through our sharing of ideas for what we would shoot for our video. Especially since neither of us had a concrete idea of what we would film, we were both privy to a direct flow of consciousness brainstorming from the other, offering great insight into each of our creative processes. I shared my idea for having a character that is constantly washing their hands, and gave him insight on the infinitely many interpretations this trait can have (whether it be that the character is a neat freak, constantly dirty, or metaphorically trying to wash away the sins of their past,) which seemed to entertain Alex considerably. We further discussed possible plot points of the opening, which were half-jokes, half actual suggestions. We would then repeat this process, but this time referring to his film. When venting about our writer's block, I suggested the idea of coming up with the title of the film first, and writing a story around this title, to which he drew a comparison to a director who has a similar creative process.

        Unfortunately, we then had to end our conversation, since he was driving back home from the grocery and I had other work to attend to. However, this was an extremely productive talk, benefitting us both and also opening up a relationship to which we can both peer review our projects as we continue working on them. I'm very happy with the end result, and with any luck, I should have some pretty interesting news tomorrow, so make sure you tune in for my next blog post! See you then!

Moving Forward..

     Hello again! I'm writing to let you know that the focus of this blog is transitioning from my music video project and moving on to the centerpiece of this blog: my film opening project. I'm thrilled to start brainstorming and researching in preparation for the production, and I'm ready to employ some lessons that I've learned from past experiences working on similar projects.

    While some lessons have been learned to avoid negative outcomes, others serve as reminders of what works well. Primarily, I have elected to work solo on this assignment, both to maintain full creative control on the product as well as to avoid butting heads with others during production, essentially having "too many chefs in the kitchen". Additionally, I am going to be meticulously planning out the process and details of the process ahead of time, in order to save me time when shooting and editing, and so I have a clear picture of what I want this film opening to look like. I want to have the entire process go over smoothly with no hitches along the way, leaving me room to adjust and fix any minor mistakes or changes I make as I progress in making the film.

While I have some vague ideas for what I want my film opening to be about, I'm still on the fence on a lot of the details I want to include. There are certain props and ideas I want to have as a part of the film, which are non-negotiable, but the way I tie these concepts together is still clouded in uncertainty. The way I'm going to tackle this issue is by extensively writing out everything I want as a part of the project: whether it be plot, characters, set design, music, costumes, shots, and other factors I haven't calculated yet, I want it all documented and saved, organized and stored through various folders and posting through this blog. For example, I want to make this a character-focused opening, but I haven't yet decided on the sort of character I want to introduce. However, one detail that I have nailed down is that they are obsessed with cleanliness. Whether I write the rest of the character around this trait, or if I end up having to manipulate the rules of whatever character I write to accommodate this trait, is still unknown.

However, this unorganized state of mind is not a sign of lacking enthusiasm for the assignment, but rather evidence for my overwhelming passion for the film. I have so many ideas, I just need to hold onto one and build around it. I'm very excited to start work, and what I lack in knowledge (at the moment at least) I shall make up for with enthusiasm!

Until next time!

A Retrospective on Making a Music Video

Hello again! I'm back to offer a review on my experiences making a music video and marketing plan. This post will discuss the overall experience, my personal reflection on what I could've done differently, and what I've learned as a result of this project.

Research

    Before starting work on my own production, I first had set out to research the music genre I was making a music video for in order to understand and compare different marketing strategies as utilized by industry giants and influential labels.

     Through my research on the Domino Recording Company, I had picked up effective audience interaction tools from the marketing techniques of Dirty Projectors and Arctic Monkeys. While Dirty Projectors provides fans with a one-stop-shop for their band, serving as a hub that links to new merchandise, new music videos, new songs, and concert dates, Arctic Monkeys opts for a more personalized fan experience by inviting dedicated fans to meet the band through VIP areas in their concerts. Both of these techniques illustrate a strong, healthy connection between artists and fans, and moving forward with our own marketing plan, we ensured that our artist's website could also serve as a hub for media related to them, along with adapting the VIP meet-and-greet idea from Arctic Monkeys into Instagram Live sessions where the artist and fans could interact in a real-time setting, while simultaneously making it more accessible to fans and cheaper to maintain.

    My research on Interscope Records only added to our potential ideas for marketing our artist. Through extensively researching artists under their label like Tame Impala and Lana Del Rey, our team had gleaned a few more ideas for our marketing plan. The most important of these ideas had come from Lana Del Rey, who had made a stage name for herself in order to get her name out and popularize herself. It was clear to the team, specifically in a genre like indie rock, that our artist have a name that is attractive and stands out from other artists, leading to our decision to brand our artist as "Flameheart". It is our belief that having such an unconventional artist name will allow them to differentiate themselves from other artists in the genre, hopefully allowing them to foster their own fanbase.

Brainstorming/Planning

    After the research was done, we had to write and produce our own music video to serve as our artist's debut. After being assigned the song Fire by Beth Ditto, I had set out to make a story representing the rebellious, fiery (pun not intended) sentiment of the song, one that seemingly captured a bit of the teenage spirit, so our target audience of 16-24 year olds could relate to the video. I wanted to capture the rebellion of adolescence and translate it into a story of someone overcoming their oppressive authority figures, and maturing as a result of this. Since I didn't have the budget nor the actors available for this story, I instead opted to tell this story of maturing through symbols, which ended up being the bicycle that the protagonist uses throughout the video and the car that she eventually drives away in, illustrating the transition from the childish bike to the mature, adult car as a result of her escaping the authority in her life. Once the idea was agreed upon, I set out planning out several storyboards [One is pictured below] in order to visualize how the story would look like in video form.

After going through several iterations of the storyboards, including a list of timestamps for each shot, meticulously crafted over time, we had settled on a final draft and stuck to it, which is the one we used to model the video we filmed. If you are interested in this process, I go more in depth on the writing process in the post made before this one.

Production

On the day of filming, we had all gathered together at 7:00 in the morning, freezing wind cutting through the ill-prepared team's jackets. Though it was early, once we had all arrived at the location, we went straight to work. Prior to this day, I had driven over all parts of town looking for a suitable place to film. We had two conditions to be met: a long stretch of road, and that it must be empty at nearly all times. After a few days of scouring our suburban home for a fitting area, we settled on an abandoned road, chosen specifically so we didn't disturb others during our shooting, while simultaneously ensuring that we would not be disturbed either. On filming day, we went through all of our shots in chronological order, a process that was facilitated by the extensive planning we put into the storyboard and shot list we compiled before. While at first I worried about how much time we had to shoot everything, we were soon finished collecting footage in a matter of hours, proving the power and efficiency of planning everything before going out to do it. While unfortunately we had to cut out a few shots due to technical and practical reasons (among the cut shots was the idea of strapping a camera to a wheel, capturing  the perspective of the bike), I was very pleased with the tracking shots of the bike and car chase, as it was a concept that we weren't sure would loom good in practice, but ended up being the cleanest-looking shot in the production. Overall, I am satisfied with the majority of the end product of the video, despite having a few shots that I wince at the sight of, knowing that I could recreate them in a more professional fashion if given the opportunity. 

Post-Production

Due to the majority of my involvement in the video being the writing as well as directing of the video, the job of actually editing it together was delegated to another group member, who did a good job. My contribution to this phase of the music video's creation was mostly working with the editor closely so that they understood my vision for the project. This was done through several conversations with him, offering advice, specific instructions, and criticism when needed. Though some errors remain in the final product, it is a testament of both of our efforts that the video itself was able to be completed in a matter of days, thanks to our frequent interactions and planning.

Presentation

When presenting the marketing plan and video, I discussed the marketing through social media aspect of our marketing campaign, specifically how our decisions to network through certain social medias facilitated the marketing to different age ranges of our target demographic. Additionally, I also compared similar strategies for audience interactions between our artist versus other popular artists in the genre. Finally, I was also tasked in explaining how our music video related to the artist's persona and why it is a fitting debut video, along with getting to break down why we made certain choices in the video to better fit the story we told. After the presentation, though feeling like there was room for improvement in many aspects of the presentation (most notably to me was the aesthetic design of the slideshow, it did not seem visually interesting and paled in comparison to the presentation of other groups), I am still satisfied with the overall product of our time and effort spent working together.

Reflection

This project was very interesting to me as a concept, since I have long toyed with the idea of producing, writing, and directing my very own music video. My mind was filled to the brim with burning passion and ideas that could barely fit in one video. However, this fiery passion for the video was somewhat dampened by the constraints put upon me, whether they were intentional or not. While I enjoyed the brainstorming and writing process a lot, it took a lot of time from our planning phase, as I was savoring the creative liberties I had to make something of my own. Or at least, that's how I perceived it at first. The time limit we had on producing the video was frustrating, but I knew it was not only necessary, but also realistic for the expectations I would find if I pursue a job in the film industry, which is dominated by deadlines and due dates. However, I was able to work through this because I enjoyed putting time into working on this video. The same could not be said for my interactions with group members, who were consistently apathetic and indifferent to the fate of our video. I had initially expected to have some creative input from others I worked with, or at least some pushback from more questionable decisions in the story, but I was met with no resistance. While it was nice having an unchanged vision, it felt lonely, as there was no other creative minds that I could work with. These issues would leak into the shooting of the video, where I found that their lack of energy for the project was mirrored in the lack of energy for acting. I do however appreciate them for being patient as I adjusted the script and what to keep in the video accordingly, and overall being supportive and positive to be around. I think my biggest lesson learned from working on this project was, for my next project, to surround myself with like-minded individuals who have a passion for the project we work on. The group I worked with on this project was efficient and productive, but it lacked heart, at least in my perspective. I am eagerly anticipating the next assignment for the class so I can prove to myself that I can produce something better than this, and that I can learn from my mistakes in this video to ensure the improvement of my craft.

I anticipate the next time I post on this, so see you then!