Film 4 Thought

In Georgia now. It is pretty late, but the car ride up made me restless. Alienating myself from social media and from my friends for a bit has made me realize how special my bonds with my family are. Those kinds of bonds cannot be summed up in an instagram post or twitter mention. They mean something. The kind of bond between the Man and the Woman in my film will be like that. Enigmatic, yet clear-cut. Stressful at points, but a fun ride. Focusing on each other rather than oneself is what is important. I cast an already married couple, who are best friends, in my lead roles. The kind of bond they have is extraordinary. I have known them since the dating stages, the engagement, and the wedding. Soon, I will watch them move away to the city of their dreams. I cannot wait to channel that bond into my characters.

Once I film and edit, I will be finished with my project. I don't have a lot of time to finish, and I am pressed for time, so I'm hoping I can effectively manage my time so I can get the best shots I can. I leave for Georgia to see family on Wednesday, and I am using it as a time to relax from social media and from my social life a bit. I mentioned in last week's blog post that I had one of the most stressful and mentally exhausting weeks of my life. Every teenager says that about any given week, but last week, it felt as though I and everything around me would crumble at any given minute. I was shaken by teenage drama in my social life, threatened by grades I was struggling to get up, and I was getting little sleep. This is going to be the trip that I unwind. Georgia is one of my favorite places to go, between my Aunt and Uncle's small town and the historic city of Savannah. I am always captivated by the contrasting landscapes of Florida and Savannah, which reminds...

I already have a finished script. I have finished casting. But I haven't started filming. I have to work around busy schedules and film in various spots. I am definitely able to get this film done in twenty days, but dates always seem closer than they appear. This was only a rant.

I have only been referring to the main characters as Man and Girl, mostly because I didn't have names for them yet. Now, I'm beginning to like the idea of just calling them Man and Girl, or maybe even initials, to create a sense of detachment. I'm skeptical of it, but I think it could work. This  article  gives twenty examples of movies with unnamed characters, all of them relatively successful. This also enhances the thriller aspect. This is a short one.

I've never needed a break more than I need right now. The last two weeks have definitely been some of the best and most fun of my life, but coming back to Weston meant dealing with personal issues I had put aside and making up mounds of school work- with the quarter ending three days later. Dealing with my own issues made me realize that complex characters should have obstacles, whether mentally or physically. I decided to do some research on obstacles I could potentially use in my characters. Mental illness was the obvious choice. There's also physical ailments, financial issues, supernatural restrictions (not for this movie), legal inhibitions, etc. In Wonder, the main character's plight was the facial deformities. In Split, it was a mental illness. In The Conjuring, they had supernatural influences.  I wanted to explore the idea of the Man having a mental disorder, like bipolar disorder or depression. I feel as though this would increase the inner conflict and de...

I just arrived home from Florida State Thespians competition at about 4 am Sunday morning. As expected, I have neglected all of my homework and left it for the day before its due. I very much so regret it. I haven't thought about this project at all in a week because I was enjoying myself in Tampa, but I am now back home and getting the wheels turning again. I was thinking a lot about color schemes and color psychology when it comes to the film, and I decided to start picking filters and costume colors in specific scenes. This website I found contained a  chart  that broke down different colors and their hues into different emotions or feelings. The red colors portray amorous feelings, and contrast with the blue feelings of isolation and green of evil. I'm thinking that the male color scheme for the main boy will start in the opening wearing red to represent how in love he is with his fiancee, peaking at the final scene, but would then shift to dark blues and greens as the...

This post will most likely have no research. I just need to get my ideas out in a way that makes sense. I have been thinking a lot about what I would want this movie to be if it were feature length. Obviously, it starts with the found footage opening of the two lovers who are engaged, and the ending of the opening contains the attack on girl in the relationship, and her husband finding her. After this opening, the title shows, and we hear a heart monitor, which would morph into an alarm clock or ringing telephone. We see the stale, messy, unlivable conditions the Man is living in- apartment scattered with dirty clothes and dishes, take out boxes, furniture rearranged and partially wrecked. The Man has been driving himself insane. It has been two months since his fiancee has been attacked and he is barely holding a job. The Girl is in a coma, and will not wake up. Doctors watch over her as she recovers and ponder whether to try a new treatment or leave conditions as they are. After ...

Characters I care about make me return to viewing movies and reading books I have read before. The connection I feel as though I have to the characters makes me invest my time and money into them. I want the audience to be personally connected to my characters in the same way I have felt towards other characters. I could never exactly pin point why I feel drawn to certain characters, so I decided to do some research into them. I found  five steps  to making audiences love your characters, and decided to take their advice. The protagonist would be the man in the relationship, and his main goal is to find his fiancee's assaulter (I don't think that's a word... Oh well). The love for his fiancee is what drives him.  Hopefully people will recognize his motivations as pure and necessary and root for him as he goes on his journey. “5 Ways To Write Characters That People Care About.”  Writer's Relief, Inc. , 14 May 2014, writersrelief.com/blog/2014/05/write-ch...

Life's been all over the place lately, and so has my mind. I decided to ground myself today by doing some research for the film- I'm temporarily calling it "As Long As We Both Shall Live". I found a really cheesy  wiki how article  and I don't think I'll follow the advice, but it was funny to look at. I found a few YouTube videos to go off of with helpful tips, such as readjusting lighting to make home footage appear more visible, and to use actor's actual clothing to make them feel more comfortable. The research helped me develop some more ideas, but I'm still developing. That's all for now.

I started my script! I actually wrote further beyond what the opening would be to try and get a stronger concept of my story, and flesh out all details before embarking on such a task. This post is going to be short because all the news I have for right now is a drafted script. Enjoy! As Long As We Both Shall Live Into Camera First black, and then we see Girl and Boy Girl We’re engaged! I can’t believe it Boy Believe it. I love you. Girl I love you more. Black Then another camera video In a store, looking at items to put on wedding registry Girl Honey? Where is he… Babe its not funny, where are you? She approaches an aisle and walks down skeptically Suddenly, Boy pops out and scares her. Girl screams but is soon overcome with laughter, like Boy. Girl AH! Jesus, babe! Begins to laugh uncontrollably Boy goes in for a hug and covers camera. We see black Next shot On couch. Boy holds camera facing Girl. She is sobbing watchin...

Today, I was able to cast the leads in my opening. They will be played by my mentors and teachers from my community theatre company, who just so happen to be married in real life. The chemistry between them will take no effort at all and will show up clearly on screen, which will make it easier to focus on other elements during filming. This  article  shows prime examples of onscreen chemistry in La La Land and other films, and the fantastic chemistry is what I hope to capture in my opening. Having believable chemistry is something that plants the seed for the audience's investment in a film, and I believe that is how I will achieve success.

I want to make the found footage love-story themed opening. I have been imagining the story in my head, and I decided that maybe instead of the whole movie being a romantic drama, the beginning introduces the conflict of an action/thriller. I looked up the most popular movie genres of the past few decades, and found  this . The popular genres are action, adventure, and drama. In my other post, I talked about the genre blending of "Baby Driver". I think it would be interesting to genre blend with other genres. The working title I came up with is "As Long As We Both Shall Live". The "working" synopsis of the movie opening would be: The film opens with a bunch of homemade clips, from phones and cameras, and focus on the beginnings of married life of a young couple. The clips show various moments of their lives. The final clip in the opening consists of the Boy setting up a surprise one year married anniversary dinner for his wife. He sets the camera ...