Group Meeting

On Tuesday I had a group meeting with 4 other people in our class. We told each other how our project is going and gave each other advice on what they could improve/do next/ ideas. I told my group about magical realism and my concept of a ghost helping a lonely girl feel less lonely in this world. 

Target Audience:

The group all seemed to agree that this sounded similar to the concept and vibes of a Pixar movie (not any movie specifically but the general vibe of one). It made me wish I was an animator because I do believe that the heart of this story would thrive in that sort of medium but, alas, I am not skilled at animation or drawing so I'll have to stick with live-action. This did help me establish that I might want my audience to be kids, which does align with the target audience of my original inspiration, Casper.

My Favorite Pixar Movies:

• Wall-e (2008)
  
• Toy Story (1995)
  
• Soul (2020)
  

Costuming:

The group recommended I could use white/light blue costuming and blue makeup and my actor, which I agree with and I'm leaning on the white so it glows blue under the blue light. Talking about costuming/makeup, one of the people had the idea of having the costuming of the character hint at the way the ghost died. I am worried about how to pull that off while still appealing to a younger audience without coming off as gruesome, but it's something to explore.

Essential Question:

During this meeting we all agreed that one of the most important things to ask ourselves as we write our scripts for the intro is "What is the one thing I want to leave my audience with?" I believe I would want to leave them with a sense of wonder and mystery to what that creature (the ghost is). This is mostly because I do want to play with the lighting and costuming, and focusing on the ghost can give me more creative freedom. The sense of wonder and mystery is also what the intros for both "A Series of Unfortunate Events" and "Hellboy" focus on creating.

Finding the Heart:

The group also pointed out that my story seemed to have a heart to it (a main reason for why it reminded them to Pixar stories, as they tend to be sentimental). Upon further reflection, I realized that this story is somewhat accidentally inspired by the loneliness I felt during quarantine in 2020-21. It was finding one friend in the middle of the madness and isolation that helped bring me out of my shell and feel like the world is not such a lonely place. That is ultimately what my story is about, we need friends in our life, we need people to remind us that the meaning of life is sometimes just to share it with others. 

So what came of this meeting?

I have a target audience, a better direction for the costuming, and I found the heart of my story. All of this will help me as I finish the outline summary of what would be the entire film and start writing my script for the intro. I have fallen a bit behind schedule due to external sources, but I should be caught up by March 11th. 

Why I Love Storytelling

We watched Andrew Stanton's Ted Talk about storytelling in class Today. This is one of the most inspiring videos, in terms of writing advice, that I have watched in a long time (and as an aspiring writer, I see many.) 

My Notes:

TLDR:

• Make the audience care about the story.
• Promise them that it is worth their time.
• Keep that promise.
• Don't spoon feed your audience, let them work for it.
• Every character has something that makes them wake up in the morning.
• Invoking wonder is the purest form of storytelling.
• Draw from what you know.

Overall:

Storytelling advice should work as a guideline not as a rule to always be followed. This advice, although at times almost instinctual though, is helpful. Stories need heart, characters need flaws, themes need to be weaved into the story. I believe that if I remember this advice, if I am able to implement this into my stories, both now and in the future, I will become a better writer, a better story teller. This is one of those videos I plan on rewatching over and over to not forget it's message.

Key take away for this project, the intro has to promise the audience that it will be worth their time to keep watching, that they will care. I have to keep this in mind during all stages of the project.

Magical Realism - Movie Intro examples

Lemony Snicket's a Series of Unfortunate Events (Until 2:30)

This intro clearly establishes the tone of the film. In fact, the most stricking characteristic of this intro is the abrupt tone shift as the fake intro to a colorful movie about an elf in an enchanted forest. Both sound and color scheme are the main factors in this change as the music stops and is replaced with a voice over (after a recordscratch sting) and its almost as if the lights of that colorful bright world were turned off, turning the forest's colors dull and dark. The next image we see also creates a contrast to the enchanted forest, being a creepy cementary at night with the shadow of a man walking through the fog. The man in the VO addresses the audience and directly tells us that this story will be unpleasant and to go to another movie theater room if they wish to see a happy film. At the end of the intro we see the writer himself in a dark room (seemingly inside a watch tower). The writer and his desk is mostly backlit making him look more like a shadow than a person, his desk lamp is illuminating his hands as they type in a typewriter. All three shots after the elf scene are dynamic. The cementary shot zooms in as the man walks into the cementary. The second and third shot both slowly pan towards the right. All three shots are backlit and have a dark color schemes with some hints of a dull blue (or orange in both the first and third shot). All of these componets work to establish a sombre tone and a sense of mystery. It creates questions to engage the audience; Who is the man at the cementary? Who is the person at the beach? Who is the author and why is he writing this story? These questions are meant to make the audience want to keep watching to find the answers. 

Hellboy

Starts with a mostly black and white image of a military group, the only color is the "hellboy" in red. The image flies away into a dark gothic hallway covered in a red light. The camera zooms and turns through the halls and fiery symbols appear and dissapear. Newspaper clippings start appearing as well as what sounds as a news report starts playing in the background. Both of the news sources relate to the existance of a "devil-boy" and the government hiding the truth from the public. The speed of the cuts and editing increases steadily throughout the intro until the title (in flaming letter) appears. The entire clip has a color scheme of black and shades of red. This intro serves to create mystery, what is that creature? What does it want? The red color scheme as well as intense music set an intense tone and the feeling of things being at stake.

Summary

I could make my film opening create the question of what that creature is, (the ghost) or maybe what it's goal is. Like in Lemony Snicket, I can make the face of the ghost be obstructed throughout the intro whether through physical objects (like the fence in the beach shot) or backlighting. Although the fast-paced editing and montage-like collage of newspaper clippings is something I'm not interested in for my intro, the almost duochromatic contrasting colorsheme is something I might attempt to implement but with blue instead of red. I believe the tone of the intro of my film should be more somber with hints of hope. The blue would represent bot the sadness of the girl and the hope that the ghost will bring her.

The Subgenres - A Summary

Coming of age

Coming of age movies usually center around a teen/young adult character going through a major shift/milestone in their life. Commonly explored themes include youth, growing up, and maturation. Character growth, dialogue and social commentary are all major components of the coming of age genre.

Examples:

• The Breakfast Club (1985) 
  
  
  
• Moonlight (2016) 
  
  
  
• Ladybird (2017) 
  

Sources:

Wikipedia

StudioBinder

MasterClass

 

Dramedy

According to tvtropes.org "'Dramedy' is a neologism formed from a combination of the words Drama and Comedy to describe a genre of film and television... blurring genre lines to combine comedy and drama elements in a consistent fashion." It is an equal blending of both genres. Dramedy plots focus on character development and inner conflict/emotions.

Examples:

• La La Land (2016) 
  
  
  
• Juno (2007) 
  
  
  
• The Truman Show (1998) 
  
  
  

So what?

As of now the ghost represents the need to have other people there for you as they grow up and go through changes. The need for friends. The story centers around the girl (I will be naming her soon) and her growing up, hence it would be a coming of age. The story would also merge comedy and drama and (despite the magical realism) depict a realistic life of a teen girl. Life is neither solely dramatic nor solely comedic, and for that reason it could be described as a dramedy. Despite these subgenres, I believe magical realism is the genre I should explore and research the most as it is the most abstract and I expect it to have the more interesting technical trends that could help inspire my project.

Magical Realism

Update, I tried researching the "Supernatural" genre only to realize that most of the movies in that category just simply do not match the vibes I'm going for, being Horror instead of "cozy". After some reflecting, (and comparing it to movies that somewhat fit the vibes) I had reached the conclusion that what I want might be closer to the "Horror Comedy" genre aimed at kids to teenagers (ex. Casper, We Have a Ghost, My Invisible Sister). However, even these examples are too focused on the horror aspect of it. I feel like what I'm going for is like a mix between Horror Comedy and Coming-of-Age. But even then, I wanted something with more drama rather than comedy and less horror. To say the least, I've been confused since starting my genre research.

Then in my AP Lit class we were introduced to Magical Realism.

What is Magical Realism?

Magical realism blends the real world with magic and fantasy. It uses stories, myths and folklore to explore our contemporary world. Characters in this genre do not see the magic around them as supernatural, instead they treat is as a normal part of their reality. The magical realism genre enhances the normal of this reality and is not tied to the rules of this world. 

Examples

• Like Water For Chocolate (2011)
  
  
  
  
• Life of Pi (2011) 
  
  
  
• Halloween (1978) 

• Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
  

Summary 

This is the perfect description for the kind of magic I want present in my story. The magic would be the kind of mystery that is accepted and not something which the characters attempt to solve. Unlike Casper, no characters are trying to figure out the science behind ghosts, the ghost simply exists. To be able to portray the magical in the real better, I will be analyzing examples of movie intros/movies that use this tool. Because this genre is usually more of a subgenre, I will also be researching more about the subgenres that the essence of my story embodies.

Sources:

https://indypl.bibliocommons.com/list/share/1791640509/1819760253 

https://industrialscripts.com/magical-realism/

https://filmschoolrejects.com/a-guide-to-magical-realism-in-film/

What to Focus on (Aka Brainstorm #2)

Now that I have the base of the movie plot idea, I want to brainstorm the different methods I could approach my movie intro with.

Idea #1 Focus on the Main Character

• A scene portraying the main character as lonely but out of her own will while there are hints to the supernatural elements of the ghost (ie. things being moved without anyone touching them, mysterious sounds). She could be alone in her room/house after rejecting an invitation to a social event.
• Develops tone and character.
• Could focus on lighting/color grading to push the dejected/mysterious tone or focus on costuming and props to push the character development.
• Pros: Its my simplest concept so far.
• Cons: Could come off as angsty.

Idea #2 Focus on the Ghost

• Another of my ideas is to make the Ghost represent and be represented by the color blue. (if she's haunting somehting, it's something that's blue/if she's in a visible form she emits a blue light)
• Blues represent loyalty, peacefulness, aswell as sadness, all of which represent the character of the ghost perfectly to me. She is the sadness that the main character is feeling, but she's also loyal to the main character and is ultimately gonna bring peace to her life. 
• This makes me want to name the character (and possibly the movie) after a shade of blue.
• Possibly show the ghost inside the house in a way that the main character cannot see her but the audience can.
• I could play with blue lighting and objects.
• Develop tone and mystery.
• Creates the question of what is going on.
• Pros: I believe I could make the best and most creative choices with this option.
• Cons: I'll have to asnwer the question of how to show the ghost. Could be over complicated.

Overall

I'm clearly leaning on idea #2 but I know I have Idea #1 as a back up in case I am not able to figure out how to show the ghost and decide it's better to focus on the Main Character rather than the Ghost. My next step before starting the script will be to research my genre which I currently believe to be supernatural/coming of age.

Brainstorming

Brainstorming is one of the most exciting steps for me when starting a creative project, there are just infinite possibilities to choose from. Originally, I wanted to make a post brainstorming multiple ideas for this project, however, as I started trying to come up with multiple ideas, I realized that I only had one real option this time (my only other idea was someone making a dress but I had no plan for what the plot could be). So, I thought it would be best to disect this option.

The Idea

• A lonely closed off teen realizes that there's a ghost following her around all of a sudden and befriends her.
• This friendship leads to the girl coming out of her shell and realizing that other people and frienships can add so much to life and is not so scary after all. By the end of summer the ghost disappears.
• Genre: Supernatural/Coming of age.
• Pros: I could play with fantastical colors and lighting as well as special effects.
• Cons: Stereotypical teenage angst.

I was inspired by Casper (1995) in a way, the idea of a teen becoming friends with a ghost. However it is not the same story as I would not want the house to haunted, for there to be multiple ghosts, for there to be a villain, or for the ghost and girl to have feelings for each other.

Details

There's still a key question to answer, something that would probably be referrenced/established in the intro.

Why is she lonely/doesn't trust people?

• Possible answers include:
• An ex best friend betrayed her and now she doesn't trust anyone.
• Someone close to her died and now she's scared of getting attached.
• She was bullied as a kid.
• A mix of these.
• This answer is key for the story to not come off as too stereotypical and instead be authentic.

 

What's Next?

I'm excited to see how this idea turns out and to hopefully be able to play with the colors of the lighting. I need to brainstorm what kind of intro to make for this idea (ex. what its meant to establish/what would be happening on screen)

Establishing a Timeline

If there's one thing I've learned with time and through this class, is that making a timeline as soon as possible and sticking to it is one of the most important things when completing a long-term assignment. So, I thought it would be extremely helpful to do this first.

Breakdown

Let's start with breaking down this assignment into it's major components.

1. Initial Research 
• Researching and analyzing examples of film openings within my chosen genre.
• Researching and analyzing movie plot examples within my chosen genre.
2. Planning
• Coming up with entire movie plot idea.
• Scripting 
• Find music (if needed)
• Storyboarding
• Finding actors/crew members.
• Choosing location and date for filming.
3. Production
• Filming scenes
• Recording foley (if needed)
• Recording VO (if needed)
4. Editing
• Editing the footage together
• Include title card and credits.
• (Re)record foley and VO (if needed)
5. Revisions
• Review and analyze current version of the video.
• Either make edits or re edit entire footage (if needed)
6. Critical Creative Reflection
• Research information relating to the reflection.
• Create the reflection.
• Edit and review CCR.

I have exactly 7 weeks from the time I'm writing this until the deadline. I want to plan to finish the project a week early to have a week of buffer in case of any delays. 

Timeline

(aka basically the same list but breaking it down based on time)

Week 1 (2/13-2/19)

• Research
• Start plan
• Movie plot plan
• Script

Week 2 (2/20-2/26)

• Finish plan
• Storyboard 
• Find Locations
• Find actors
• Set filming days
• Production
• Possibly start filming

Week 3 (2/27-3/4)

• Production
• Continue and filming
• Record VO (if needed)
• Start recording foley (if needed)

Week 4 (3/5-3/11)

• Editing
• Start and finish first edit cut
• Record any new foley/VO

Week 5 (3/12-3/18)

• Editing
• Analyze first cut
• Re-edit in a different direction
• Revisions
• Compare both versions and choose the most effective one

Week 6 (3/19-3/25)

• Revisions
• Compare both versions and choose the most effective one
• Creative Critical Reflection
• Research information relating to the reflection.
• Create the reflection.
• Edit and review CCR.

Week 7 (3/26-4/2)

• Buffer week.
• In case there are any delays.

Now What?

I'm going to try my best to stick to this schedule and update it if any unexpectedd roadblocks occur. I know that managing time has been one of my major challenges in previous projects, so I want to hold myself accountable now to better guarantee a sucessful result. Roadblocks will inevitably occur so I want my plans to account for that.

An Exciting Time

Today is the beginning of our portfolio projects. We have 8 weeks to produce and document (through thus vlog) the production of a 2-minute intro for a feature film. I am still brainstorming my specific genre or possible plot for my intro, however, I'm leaning towards coming of age, romance and drama since those are the genres that I am the most familiar with.

We learned that there are multiple different approaches to film openings.

I am leaning towards developing the characters, especially if I chose a coming of age or romance films since those tend to be character driven, and making the audience connect to the characters early on in the film helps to guarantee that the audience will be engrossed in the story till the end. If I were to pick this approach I'd mainly have to focus on the mise-en-scene through the costuming, makeup and props, and the dialogue and interactions of the character(s) being introduced. All of these choices should be extremely purposeful to who the characters are and what their purpose in the story is.

Another option would be to focus on establishing the tone, especially if I chose to go through the drama film route. This choice is especially appealing to me as lighting and color schemes are crucial to setting the tone of a film and I particularly enjoy lighting and playing with colors when completing creative visual projects. I find it fascinating how certain colors elicit and are connected to emotional responses, such as red signifying both love/lust and anger since both emotions come with passion.

Overall, I am extremely excited to begin this project and I cannot wait to see how it turns out.