Second Group Meeting

Today we did our last group meeting, and I received very helpful feedback. I primarily focused on what sound I should incorporate through out the scene. I was questioning weather to include instrumental music without lyrics in the back ground or if I should rely on the diegetic sound that comes from inside the filming environment.

In the group meeting, my classmates advised that to make my film opening more engaging I should use non-diegetic sound. They also told me that a good option for my film would be to include an instrumental version of a song. The song should be in a happy tone, with the beat that resembles the tone trying to portray. The beat of the music should coincide with the movements of the shots and the film.

By incorporating music throughout the film it will make the opening more intriguing. It will attract the viewer to our piece by making it more engaging. We also thought of having a voiceover explaining the situation and conflict at hand. The voiceover would begin after the black screen shot, showing the title as well as the crash scene sound. It will be overlapped with the scene of the main character struggling because of her new circumstance and lifestyle. My group and I have already started in writing the script for the voiceover. If everything goes as planned, we will begin recording the voiceover this week.

Finally Filming

Since we already finished the whole story board and have everything set up, we decided to begin filming. Even though we had a slight problem, finding the content of the film, are right back on schedule as planned.On some of the shots we had some difficulties doing but after playing around with it for a little we were able to make it work.

For example, we tried doing a point of view shot of inside the mailbox, reaching for the mail. We made the shot work by placing the camera on the selfie settings inside the mailbox and reaching for the letters. I attached the shot below, illustrating how we created it.

This point of view shot is used to show the action begin performed in a creative fashion. This shot helps explain what is going on in the scene, as well as first introducing the main character. This is the first shot that the viewer sees the main character's face. 

Back On Track

Today, my group and I met up and discussed our problem and how we are going to solve it. Together we shared all our ideas of what the new content of our film is going to be. We concluded that our film is going to be about a girl that gets accepted in to her dream college and as soon as she is going to share her good news a tragedy happens and she looses a limb. The film will be about the internal conflict she goes through to accommodate to her new lifestyle.

I first began planning by creating a whole new story board, as I attached below, The storyboard describes step by step the process of teh film opening. It will begin with the moment that the main character, receives and opens the acceptance letter of her dream school. Then she will rush inside the house and get her car keys, to go to her friends house and tell her the good news. As she is driving she looks at her phone, the screen turns black and gets int a car accident. The next scene shows her at her desk trying to write with her left hand as she gets frustrated and throws everything on the floor.

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Additional Research for Film Opening

While I was surfing the web I came upon a website written by a Sony Pictures script reader/ story analyst that stated ways of creating an efficient film opening. Below, I attached a sample of the article, it explains the film opening of the movie "The Big Chill". This example is helpful because it is from the same movie genre we are working with, therefore we can use some ideas that were used in creating this film's opening.

This article had helpful tips of how to create a film opening and the components needed. Some of the main components are introducing the main characters, setting, and date. For our film opening we decided that will be explaining the main conflict of the drama, as well as focussing on introducing the  main characters. 

Miyamoto, Ken. "Movie Production: What Qualities Make a Strong Opening Scene for a Film?" Quora. N.p., 25 Jan. 2011. Web. 23 Mar. 2017. <https://www.quora.com/Movie-Production-What-qualities-make-a-strong-opening-scene-for-a-film>.

We Have a Problem...

This week we had group meetings where we presented our ideas to our classmates and received feedback accordingly. Unfortunately the feedback that my group received was mostly negative. Our classmates believe that the content of our film, being of immigration, is not interesting and doesn't have a strong conflict throughout the drama. Also they said that the location where we would film the opening would not be the most efficient, that instead we should film in the airport. Unfortunately, filming in an airport is not the best idea either because we can't control the setting and it will be too chaotic.

Aghhhh... So now we decided as a group that the best thing to do, is to alter the content and topic of the entire film.We would be staying within the same genre, drama, but changing the content. We were first trying to figure out an interesting conflict for the film, which will shape the storyline of the whole film, including the opening.

The ideas pending are...

- A city girl that gets into an accident and her life is changed instantly. She looses her vision and now she needs to accommodate her life to the new lifestyle.

- A girl gets into a bike accident and is stranded injured in the middle of a forest where she has to try to find help.

- An internal conflict of a girl with anxiety and paranoia. She believes that there is someone out to get her, and that she is in danger. (investigating the web, walking through the streets with anxiety, etc)

- A girl with a psychological disorder (OCD, depression (bullying), paranoia, eating disorder, phobia) and how she deals with her problem, or an event that challenges and makes her fight her disorder.

- begins with a flash forward of a girl in an interrogation room being asked questions of a crime she is accused of committing. Then resumes to the day the crime was apparently committed.


Flattum, Jerry. "What Is a Story?: Conflict - The Foundation of Storytelling." Script Magazine. N.p., 24 Sept. 2016. Web. 23 Mar. 2017. <http://www.scriptmag.com/features/conflict-the-foundation-of-storytelling>

Planning

Now that we have the basic idea of what we are going to do for the film, we began by planning the film opening. My teammates and I have had trouble communicating with each other, as well as having all our ideas communicated properly and being able to combine our thoughts. We decided to each start planning our ideas therefore when we meet up it will be much easier for us to combine the scenes and come up with an overall opening piece.

The first few shots will be displaying the production company and the title of the film. Afterwards, the opening is going to begin by introducing the main character of the story. The beginning scenes will be showing the main character going through her house getting ready for the trip.  It will consist of multiple close-up, long, and medium shots with pan and tilt movements. The use of multiple close-ups and mid shots is a creative way to introduce the plot, by showing objects and scenes that correlate to the situation at hand, such as suitcases, an empty closet, and clothes.

Below I attached a sample of my storyboard. I apologize in advance for my artistic abilities. The illustrations aren't the best design but the idea is well displayed, and that's what matters right!

Schedule

My group and I created a schedule to keep organized and get on track on creating the project. We wanted to begin shooting the film opening as soon as possible so we have sufficient time to finish and edit the video without rush. After we decide the content on the film and create the story board we will begin shooting. According to the schedule we will begin shooting starting Friday March 24, 2017. This way we have a week to have everything set up for recording, including the actors, the costume and set design, and the props. We are planning to finish ahead of the due date (Sunday April 9, 2017) so we leave time for any errors that may occur throughout the production and have time to fix it.

Important Dates

Organizing components (actors, props, set/costume design, content):
Saturday March 18, 2017 - Wednesday March 22, 2017

Filming:
Thursday March 23, 2017 - Saturday March 25, 2017

Editing:
Sunday March 26, 2017 -  Wednesday March 29, 2017

Planning for CCR:
Thursday March 30, 2017 - Saturday April 1, 2017

Begin CCR:
Sunday April 2, 2017 - Friday April 7, 2017

Finish Everything:
Saturday April 8, 2017

Due Date:
Sunday April 9, 2017