Quick Update

I got approval from my building to film there! I was only allowed Friday of this week to film, which works out perfectly since I have no school as well. On Friday, I also hope to have a small photoshoot with certain poses that I would be able to incorporate later into other portions of the project, like the social media page and the poster. 

Also, today I will be going to a few thrift stores with my friend to find some extremely distressed clothing. My hope is to find an XXL tan, blank T-shirt because I really want to keep a consistent color palette. While I do have a lot of stuffed animals myself, none of them are extremely distressed or at least do not look that way, so I will also be looking for that prop as well. I am extremely excited to get moving along with this project. I can not stop envisioning the final version in my head, I can't wait to make these visions a tangible reality.

Setting the Scene

From the beginning, I knew I wanted a project that would allow me to film safely, either alone or with one other person, so naturally, I thought that filming in my room would be perfect for this project. However, as I look around my room and look at my vision for the trailers, I do not think my room is the best place to film.

My vision revolves around Jane being in a completely empty room. Even if I were to completely empty my room, just the presence of the carpet flooring ruins the coldness I want to portray. 

My sister actually suggested that I film in the garbage room at my dad's apartment building sometime late at night. Surprisingly, the garbage room is a massive garage and the dumpsters only take up one small portion of the wall. The rest of the room is open concrete, and at night there is only that yellow fluorescent lighting. Today, I am going to ask the leasing office if I have permission to film there as long as I do not disturb anyone. I hope I get the approval because it is honestly the most accessible and fitting setting!

Shot List for Today

As excited as I was, I am not content with using Boords for a storyboarding tool. I do have all of my ideas down, but now as I am reviewing to post it, it looks more like a shot list. Without any pictures of any drawings or existing shots, there is no other way for you to create a true storyboard. However, I do have another idea that will hopefully suffice. My dad does have one of the iPad Pro's with the Apple Pencil that he uses for work, so if all goes well, I will be able to use that to finalize a visual storyboard by Wednesday at the latest. However, I did want to still share my shot list to help give an idea of what my ideas are. I have a feeling this might change as I do have another group discussion in class on Wednesday, but I think it will be fun to show any drafts as well as final products within this blog. So, without further ado, here is my shot list:

1. MPAA Rating Screen
2. Extreme close-ups of bruises on her body and tears on her face
3. Pan around the room to show the emptiness
4. Extreme close-up of Teddy
5. Wide-shot of Jane with Teddy and talking to him
6. Black screen flash transition to indicate a change in time
7. POV shot of Jane Doe waking up
8. POV of Jane looking around the room
9. Mid-shot showing Jane bang on a locked door and crying
10. Close-up on a speaker to show the source of a male voice
11. High-angle shot of Jane
12. Montage of Jane around the room trying to find things to do
13. Close-up of the appearance of Teddy
14. Close-up of Jane talking to Teddy
15. End Screen

This is only for one of the trailers, but my plan for the second one is to reveal different aspects htorugh the voiceover and dialogue and emphasizing different portions of each shot. 

Beginning to Storyboard!

As I mentioned in my planning post, I am trying to minimize how much paper I use. One activity that I used a lot of paper and pages in my journal for was storyboarding. Not that I consider myself a perfectionist, but I tend to get extremely obsessed with my handmade drawings being perfect, which resulted in a lot of ripped-out pages from my journal in my trash can.

I remember last year, in a discussion with my fellow classmates about our projects, that one person used an online storyboarding tool, but sadly I can not remember the name of the tool. With a quick Google search, I was able to find a few free ones!

1. Canva

I love Canva, but I never thought about using it for storyboarding! I used it last year for some of the graphics in my project, so I am extreme,y comfortable using this tool. I think the way that this article is thinking of using is by using the slideshow or presentation feature and their free stickers of people and objects. This option is also free, but I do not exactly see myself using Canva for storyboarding, it seems extremely foreign to me.

2. Boords

Oddly enough, the article is from Boords and is promoting other storyboarding tools, but I do find that respectable. This option is free, web-based, and the interface looks very easy to use. I did open up an account and 'begin' a project just to see how it looks. One of my favorite features already is that it allows for notes on the image that connects to what the action, sound, lighting, and camera would be in the shot. I love how detailed it would allow me to get with the storyboard, in comparison to what my hand-drawn storyboards look like. 

3. Plot

This tool is similar to Boords in the way that interfaces look simple and easy to navigate, but the features are different. This tool allows you to still draw your scenes and connects your images to certain parts of the script. The screenshot is not from my own project but from the video on the initial page on their website showing the tool, but I think it shows the main features extremely well. One aspect I especially like is that it connects to the script and the full script is then to the side with footnotes to each image.

I think that I will begin with Boords, as it seems more simple, but as I finalize my screenplay, I will use Plot to have an extremely clear image as to what I want each of my trailers to look like. Hopefully, they work out!

Color Schemes

I absolutely love studying color and color schemes in films, especially regarding color theory. My initial thoughts on color schemes in thrillers is that there is a lot of dark, cool-toned colors, to imitate the impersonal and cold personalities within the film. However, I also find that cool-tones can at times be calming and nurturing. The duality of the cool-toned color palette is what attracts me to this genre and to incorporate it into my own project.

Pinterest has been an amazing place for finding inspiration and analysis of color schemes in certain movies. Here are some examples that attracted me.

I think I subconsciously mimicked a cool-toned palette when creating the mood board for Teddy.

The little circles in between each image highlight the most dominant tone and color in the connecting images.

A tool I enjoy using to create color schemes is Coolors.co!

While the mood board was a small exercise in investigating what colors I want to highlight, this scheme will be much more finalized and fine-tuned. The goal in creating this is to create a consistent tone and pattern between the social media page, the poster, and the trailers themselves, for consistent branding.

One tone I wanted to add because of its versatility is a red one. Not only for the pain and hurt that will be extremely clear in the trailers, but also the passion and love that precedes the timeline. 

Quick Update and Apology

 Hello,

I come bearing bad news :(

As you may have noticed, there were no blog posts at all this week, and it is my fault. I was trying to use the scheduling feature on Blogger but I accidentally clicked the wrong dates. I was so convinced that this week ended with the 20th, but I was wrong. Rookie mistake, so I have heard.

All of the blog posts that I meant to be posted this week will be up soon. Looking on the bright side, I have time to revise and tweak any mishaps within them to provide better quality posts!

Sorry again!

Organizing the Next Few Weeks

My major fault at the beginning of this project that I have yet to mimic from my last project is organizing and setting deadlines for myself. Especially with all that is going on right now (preparing for exams, end of the third quarter, college decisions, work, and regular schoolwork), I have found myself slacking on maintaining deadlines for myself and organizing my posts.

First to step to this: laying out what I need to do and my strict deadlines.

To-Do: (in no particular order...yet)                        Major Deadline: whole project due Apr. 12

• storyboard and screenplay
• beginning filming
• poster
• social media page
• editing both trailers
• further research
• critical reflection

To organize my deadlines, in my effort to reduce my paper usage, I will be trying out Todoist.com. My dad recommended it to me, and he is the pinnacle of organization and time management in my eyes. Another thing to note, similar to last year, the timing of this project coincides with my spring break, so I have decided to utilize that extra time to begin filming and finalizing editing. A major difference between this year and last year is that I now have a job, which definitely poses some obstacles to the idea of "free-time", but these deadlines will definitely be ever-changing whether it be due to work or other limitations.

Here is a small snapshot of what is to come for the next week regarding blog posts and project progression. I hope to escape the major research phase as of next week in order to get ahead of the game. Of course, this is subject to change, but I am very excited about being organized and planned again, and to use Todoist for the first time!
 

Spotify Playlist!

 I did this with my last project so I feel that it is fitting that I do it again. I made a Spotify playlist! For this one, I wanted to capture more of a 'vibe' and less of a story. I also made a mood board which is the "album cover" of my makeshift album for the film. The songs are subject to change, but like last time, the order is important. So if you want to give it a listen, I suggest in order, but the songs are all good so either way works. 

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/55qidQJaaNIs0jGbWJnLWo?si=tq_FZO_IT-anEGZ5FSkvbA

Split Trailers

 Continuing my research, a friend reminded me of the film Split (2016), where three girls are kidnapped by this one man with 26 distinct personalities. While I have yet to watch the movie - it is definitely on my bucket list now, even more than before - I think the trailer might also give insight on what to do for my project.

Split (2016)

Directed by M. Night Shyamalan

One of the main differences between Split and Room is who the focus really is on. In Split, the focus is the kidnapper himself, and less on the victims. This is heavily portrayed in the trailer as the scenes that are not of the kidnapped and the man are about therapists and DID experts discussing his condition. Additionally, more is revealed about the man than of the girls. Since I am tasked with two trailers, reviewing this one gave me the idea of having two distinct trailers with distinct focuses: one focused on the kidnapper and one focused on the kidnapped girl.

Another difference I saw between this trailer and Room's trailer was that Split's trailer seemed to give more footage from the beginning and middle of the film, and less of the end. This is more of a conventional choice, as I mentioned in my last post. Another option for my project would be to have one trailer focused on the aftermath and one focused on the beginning and middle. However, since there is not really an escape in my story or clear aftermath, I do think that this option is much less likely. For now, the working plan is to have one trailer focused more on each of the characters. 

Room Research

 As I mentioned last time, the idea for "Teddy" came just as I rewatched Room the other day, so I think it is fitting to segway into more research regarding this specific genre and beginning with Room.

Room (2015)

Directed by Lenny Abrahamson

Focusing mainly on the trailer for this post, I would like to point out a few features that I found interesting. Typically trailers feature footage from the beginning and middle, and very rarely from the end. However, this trailer really focused on the aftermath of what happened and showed fewer clips of their experience in "Room". I think this is mainly to create the suspense of what actually happened while the main character, Joy, was kidnapped. I also noticed that the trailer initiates with a short monologue coming directly from a portion of the film and the footage shown was extremely unclear and shaky. Once again, I think this is to create the feeling of suspense but also of isolation and confusion that the characters most likely felt when they were trying to escape. 

Since my film does not end in escape and freedom, I do think that my trailer will focus mainly on the conditions of the kidnapping and less on the aftermath. Similar to how this trailer created suspense, I plan to include a variety of shots, some much less clear than others, to create a similar feeling. Additionally, I loved that the trailer began with the voiceover of a short monologue, so I think I will incorporate that into my trailers as well. 

I'm Conflicted Again!

I know I said I would post my finalized idea for my piece but in between publishing my last posts and beginning to write this one, I came up with another idea!

First, I'll introduce my initial idea that I alluded to in my last post.

Faeth

Genre: Fantasy

Summary: Mason's home-life was never easy, stable, or comfortable. He never wanted to be home, where he would constantly be subjected to the yelling between his arguments or those directed to him, and his place of solace was deep in his backyard. Mason never really went deep into the backyard, heeding hr advice of his mother to always stay close to home, but after a rough day, he was fed up and delved deeper into the wood than he usually does. He cries near this majestically strong and tall tree, to the point that he rests his head on his backpack and takes an untimely nap. He wakes up from the soft noises of fluttering and giggling circling around him, only to awake in a panic that the sun had begun to set. Consumed by the anxiety of getting home, he rushes to collect his belongings and bumps into the source of the sounds, a fairy named Ria. Ria is in awe of Mason, but her curiosity stalls Mason's trek home. To calm him, Ria offers her knowledge of the forest to help Mason get home in exchange for information about humanity. The rest of the story follows their journey back to Mason's home, as they encounter magical obstacles and grow their friendship.

My thoughts: I initially revolved this idea around the possibility of doing fun fantastical makeup on either myself or another, and the possibility of filming in Markham Park, a massive nature park near my home. However, my doubts stem from my inability to create special effects (an integral part of making the world realistic and the fantasy genre) and having to film with others during the pandemic. While the trailers would only revolve around the two characters, and them being outside most of the time, I am constantly trying to limit my own exposure to others for the safety of myself, my friends, and my family.

Teddy

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Summary: A teenage Jane Doe has been kidnapped and put in an isolated bedroom she does not recognize. To console her, her kidnapper gifts her a visibly old and used stuffed bear she names Teddy. Stuck in isolation, she goes crazy and begins to revert to a childlike state as she plays with Teddy, acting as if it was real, similar to how children have imaginary friends. However, one day when she tries to escape, her captor catches her and punishes her by cutting her ankle ligaments. She wakes up from the pain of her injuries to find that Teddy was mutilated in a similar fashion to her, and she has a breakdown. Jane Doe begins to try to befriend her captor, thinking that it is futile to escape, speaking through the speaker and microphone set up in her room. During unsuspectedly informative conversation, it is revealed that the kidnapper's motivation revolves around the passing of his daughter, who he is futiliy trying to replace. Teddy used to be her stuffed animal, hence the signs of use, and has been a gift from him to each of his captors. To test her loyalty, the captor enters her room and asks if she would like to stay and get new room or escape without punishment. Jane Doe admits that she wants to leave, believing his promise, but is ultimately murdered as the captor feels betrayed by his "daughter". The film ends with the image of another girl in the same room, being gifted Teddy once again.

My thoughts: I think that this idea came to me through a culmination of my love for the film Room, the psychological thriller genre, and for the need of an idea that would allow me to work solely by myself. The only obstacle I could think of, however, with this idea, would be either making my room appear completely empty and cold as I had envisioned the set of my film, or finding a place to film it. 

In the end, I think I am going to settle on the film "Teddy" as it is something I can achieve more safely and without the anxiety of the pandemic. I also think that this would allow me to play with gore-y special effects makeup, something I would love to practice and incorporate into my mise-en-scene. My next step would be analyzing the conventions of the psychological thriller genre when it comes to trailers and understanding their social media marketing. While this was not a genre I initially considered, I am content with this decision. I hope I can do this idea justice and create what I have envisioned. 'Till next time!