It’s Coming Together

I had an online meeting with Mrs. Stoklosa today and her insight on my project gave me the reassurance I desperately needed. She actually even told me that she thinks my new idea is much better than my old idea, it made me 😁.

Under her suggestion, I have decided that I am going to not fully portray the concept that she is being held captive in my opening as I had planned. I will still have a man off-screen demean her while she is recording her YouTube video, but I will leave his identity and the whole situation she is in more ambiguous than I had planned. The man behind the camera could be a boyfriend, a family member, her father, etc. - I want to leave most of it to the audience’s interpretation. This makes the storyline much more realistic than going full-blown Room on this poor internet personality.

Props

For my opening I was planning on showing the youtuber recording her video, and inserting shots of her talking to a camera in front of her. Luckily, I have 2 DSLRs in my house so I will use one of them as “her camera”.

Additionally, I want to include various items with the YouTube logo which I will make early next week, such as a pillow with the red play button logo, and awards the youtuber has won such as “creator of the year”. Youtubers win special creator awards from the company itself for reaching certain subscriber counts, so I aim to recreate them as best as I can. I tried looking for a replica of these to make my life easier, but I couldn’t find any :(

Casting

As I previously mentioned in this blog, I have very limited choices regarding casting, so I will be using my older sister as the YouTuber. She looks young and gives off that bubbly vibe so I think she is a great fit.

I am having difficulty figuring out what to do regarding the part where she speaks to a person off-screen who is holding her captive. I figured I should not actually show this person to increase the sense of mystery. Additionally, I had envisioned using an adult male for the role since the voice would be more dominating and unsettling, but this is unfortunately impossible regarding the situations I’m in. I was thinking of having my adult brother who lives in Seattle record a voice memo saying the lines so I can use it for the project,  but mixing the audio and making it sound right would be a challenge. So worst case scenario, I will step in and use my voice to play the captor, and sound as unsettling as possible lol.

New Outline!

Day 13 of quarantine and I have finally come up with a new general concept for my film opening.

It will revolve around a successful youtuber who is being held captive by a company/group of people, being forced to release content every week under their watch.

The film opening will consist of her prepping to film a youtube video, more specifically her applying makeup and curling her hair. I thought close-ups of her doing each process would be visually appealing. I will also include cuts of props that make it clear to the audience she is a youtuber. It will then cut  to her filming in front of a camera, about to review a product. Everything will appear normal until a voice off-screen begins to critique and taunt her, telling her that if she doesn’t finish the video by today she will not get to eat.

I still have much to figure out, but really I want the opening to have a strong sense of mystery regarding the current situation the youtuber is in.

Let's Tech About It

Excuse me for the horrid pun.

Throughout this project I will integrate various forms of technology:

Software
I will be using Adobe Premiere Pro CC to edit the entirety of my film opening and CCR.

Hardware
As I mentioned in previous blogs, I am filming on my Canon Rebel T6i. I will be editing on my iMac desktop. Additionally, in school we are provided with Lenovo laptops to work on our blogs. I plan to also upload exclusive behind-the-scenes images from my iPhone 8 Plus.

Online
Mrs. Stoklosa uses Canvas as her main source of instruction for this project. Here we can access all the directions and powerpoints necessary. This past week, we also utilized the conference feature to have an online class meeting and discuss our projects.

A Partial Brainstorm Sesh

With all this glorious free time COVID-19 has provided, you would think I would have developed a greater sense of direction for my new film opening, but I in fact have not. However, I will inform you of the options I have in front of me while I am in self-isolation.

In terms of the cast, I could use:

• My parents
• My sister
• Myself 🤭

Or, I could choose to create a film opening with no actual people in it as Mrs. Stoklosa mentioned to us in our online meeting, such as the opening to the movie Se7en (1995). Even if I cannot create an elaborate mise-en-scene or find enough interesting props in my house to pull this off, I realized that many opening sequences without people tend to have flashy and alluring credits. I will definitely experiment with this concept in order to make the most out of my resources.

For the setting, I shockingly only have:

• My house
• My large backyard
• Sidewalks in my neighborhood

I am envisioning using outside settings if I opt to go with the people route, as I feel it would be more visually appealing, but of course it depends on the story. It's all about the story. By the end of next week I plan to have my new idea all mapped out and hopefully begin filming!

Back To Square One Folks

My last two posts were as fun as being self-quarantined, I apologize. Yesterday, Mrs. Stoklosa had a totally normal online meeting with us media studies children. We got the opportunity to ask questions and received various updates regarding the project.

She kindly informed us that we can either:

• Adapt our original idea
• Completely start from scratch

As I discussed Tuesday, there are simply too many obstacles with the cast and setting for me to adapt to the current issues with the coronavirus. It pains me to announce that I will have to develop a new idea and story for this film opening. I was very passionate about my original story, but this situation is completely out of my control.

For my new idea, I plan to stay within the drama genre since I have already carried out research on it and have the widest range of possibilities regarding developing the actual storyline. I am proud to say that I am definitely not doing a film opening about a global pandemic because that would be too predictable for my taste.

Basically, the entire world is in shambles and I have to come up with a new idea for my film opening ASAP.

What a time to be alive.

Distribution

The method of distribution I utilize for my film is crucial in order to gain exposure and reach the desired audience. Since I am a small independent filmmaker, I must put forth extra effort to gain recognition since my options are rather limited. Local film festivals are a realistic choice due to the ease of access I would have to them. I discovered some in South Florida such as, Outshine Film Festival, Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival, and Miami International Film Festival. I would use this website to submit my films to these festivals at a reasonable cost.

Additionally, I would take advantage of platforms such as Vimeo, a common website aspiring filmmakers utilize to post their work. YouTube would also be used since it also a free watch site and can reach a wider range of people.

These social platforms would greatly assist in reaching my broad target audience since over 90% of 18-44 year old American internet users watch videos on YouTube. I could also post the links to the sites on other social media sites such as Instagram and Twitter.

Sources:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/296227/us-youtube-reach-age-gender/

Target Audience

The target audience for the drama genre tends to be as broad as the genre itself. These films attract both young and mature audiences of both gender due to the strong narrative they have to offer. Therefore, I do not have to tailor my project to a specific gender and can reach a wider range of people.

My film would most likely deal with distressful situations and thematic material that may not be suitable for younger children, so the target audience in terms of age will be teenagers/young adults and older. Specifically, around the 15-60 age range. In terms of socioeconomic status, in recent years viewers of drama films have been more skewed to the middle-class according to the BFI.

Since my film is purely a drama film, I do not have a sub-genre such as romance or crime and am therefore allowed to cater to such a wide variety of audiences in terms of gender, age, and socioeconomic status.

Sources:
https://www.bfi.org.uk/sites/bfi.org.uk/files/downloads/bfi-statistical-yearbook-audiences-2018-12-17.pdf

Pandemic! At The Disco

What a year this week has been.

Due to the ongoing situation with the coronavirus, my project has encountered various challenges. Since we are highly advised to practice self-isolation, I am unable to meet up with my cast to film this week, which was when I had originally planned to film the party scene. Additionally, the CDC announced yesterday that "all U.S. events of 10+ people should be cancelled", so it would be irresponsible to gather a large group of 20+ people to film my project.

In my household personally, I live with an elder who is at a higher risk for the virus, so I truly cannot leave my neighborhood at all under any circumstances.

To make my life even more difficult, the fake doctor's office I was going to utilize for the hospital scene was going to be filmed at my sister's medical school, which has been closed for the rest of the spring semester as they are conducting the rest of their classes online.

Of course there is large uncertainty concerning this matter with new information being released by the news outlets each day. It is extremely unfortunate I am not able to film currently, especially since I already ordered my rotating disco ball from Amazon :(

As of now, I plan to adjust my schedule this week into researching more information for my CCR.

I would upload a picture of the coronavirus but I think she's gotten enough attention this week.

Sources:
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/large-events/index.html

Shoutout Sony! (Song Permission Update)

Recently, Sony Music got back to me and I am euphoric.

I was informed by a representative I could use the song Call on Me as long as it was for personal use. She also advised me on what to do if I wanted to upload my opening to social media, which does not apply to me since that will not be a form of distribution for the actual project (more on that later). In this email she also provided a link to the Facebook/Instagram Terms of Service in case I wanted more information on the matter:

Equipment

What I Have :)

I will be using my Canon Rebel T6i to film the entire opening. Since the party scene will be shot in a dark environment with flashing lights, the camera would be super useful in this case since it has more low-light potential than my iPhone 8.

Additionally, I will also be using my manfrotto tripod for the entire shoot.

What I Don’t Have :(

I do not have a stabilizer, which I thought would be necessary for the tracking shots I will be doing at the party. Specifically, the lengthy tracking shot of the red solo cup being picked up and brought onto the dance floor. Mrs. Stoklosa advised me that I don’t need one to pull off the tracking shot, and can use any rolling table or object. Since I am filming at someone else’s house, this may prove difficult, so I might end up renting a stabilizer.

Time to Party Hardy

I’m just kidding it’s actually prop time.

While discussing my opening with Mrs. Stoklosa the other day, she assured me that my opening was very doable and would be fun to film. Alas, she was right. I essentially just have to plan a house party.

Order of Business: Drinks

The most crucial aspect of the party scene is also the simplest. The red solo cups.

She’s such an icon. A staple in American culture. This prop will really allow me to set the mood of the scene due to the extreme association it has with house parties. I might incorporate some beverages (non-alcoholic of course because we are children) to completely immerse the audience into the scene and add on to the realism. Take a shot every time I’ve said the word realism in this blog yikes; but it truly is important in order to display the conventions of the drama genre.

Let’s Get Lit

Another neat detail I can add to the room would be an LED rotating disco ball, which are sold on amazon for a reasonable price. The lights would contribute to the subtle dream-like feel of the scene, and give me some really beautiful shots:

Last but not least:
For the hospital scene, I did an extensive google search on images of comatose patients. I concluded I will only need an oxygen mask, which I already have in my house, along with white surgical tape to place on the hands of the protagonist where the IVs are supposed to go. The white surgical type can easily be purchased at any pharmacy store, but for the tubes of the IVs, I will investigate if the doctor's/hospital room I am filming in has any thin tubes I can use just in case I cannot find any in my house.

The Location Scouting Continues.... *sigh*

I realized that an integral part of my film opening is the inclusion of a working heart rate monitor to introduce the second scene in the hospital.

These are definitely not sold on amazon.

Additionally, the doctor’s office room that I previously posted on my blog does not have a functioning heart rate monitor. My sister whom happens to my favorite human being right now, offered to ask her medical school if I could utilize a room that more closely resembles a hospital room since it would have all the props I need.

Above is the email she sent. She told me that even if we do get permission to film inside this room, she is uncertain that they will permit my actress to get in the hospital bed since they are already occupied by expensive dummies. If this is the case, I will probably just use this hospital room for a close up shot of the heart rate monitor, and continue using the fake doctor’s office for the actual scene. 

Here is a picture of a hospital dummy because they are very frightening and quite possibly the death of me right now:

Shots Shots Shots

In class today, we had a group discussion which gave me more clarity with specific aspects of my opening.

I came up with a rough shot list: (subject to change)

1. Close up shot of red solo cups
2. A film by Lucia Perez
3. Close up shot of lights
4. Close up shots of hands in the air (of the people on the dance floor)
5. Tracking shot of red solo cup being picked up by an extra walking onto dance floor
6. Long shots of crowd on the dance floor
7. Medium shot of protagonist dancing
8. Music tones down and protagonist starts chatting with friend
9. Protagonist’s phone starts ringing
10. Cut to heart rate monitor in hospital
11. Protagonist is shown in bed
12. POV shot from the protagonist in bed with the two doctors hovering over her
13. Over-the-shoulder shot of doctors conversing
14. Medium shot of doctors
15. Track in to unconsciousness protagonist
16. Cuts back briefly to the party occurring in her dream
17. Close up of unconsciousness protagonist
18. REVERIE

In the very beginning I might add more close ups of other party-esque items, such as bottles of soda or a pool, just so I have more time to smoothly incorporate the names of the actors within these shots.

Song Permission

While envisioning the party scene which accounts for most of my film opening, I pictured the song  Call on Me by Eric Prydz. Besides being an iconic dance song, I thought its gradual build up would be perfect for slowly showing the opening credits. The beat drop goes on for approximately one minute and then the song slows down, which is helpful for fading the audio out when I transition to the next scene. I found the publisher of the song on this website.

I proceeded to fill out a synch form in order to request permission:

I will keep you updated on the response!