CCR

Film Opening

Reflection

After this long and taxing journey I’m proud to say that we as a group have finally completed the film opening. We had amazing chemistry and great ideas, but that’s what you’d expect when working with some of your closest friends. The overall project was a pain because we had to change so much to deal with Covid-19. None of us were allowed to leave our house and that basically made our originally idea which we were all very excited about, have to be thrown out. Instead we came up with another idea which I honestly forget because it lasted about one day until we eventually came up with the idea that we filmed and have completed. I think this project has shown me what it would be like to be involved in the filming of a movie or television show in some way. A lot of planning goes into every little thing and every detail must be perfect. In truth if we didn’t have Ryan directing, the outcome probably would’ve been totally different. The planning was fun to do in group calls and talking in our group chat all the time. This is the only project where we’ve been really just given freedom to do whatever we’d like. The group really likes the original idea so we are probably going to do a short film on it this summer or whenever we have time and that excites me a lot. We did the best we could under the circumstances and I don’t think anyone could complain about the work of art we’ve created so I’d like to say thank you to my teammates Ryan, Edward, and manuel. Great job guys pleasure working with you.

Storyboard

The storyboard is now complete and we have a layout of what we are going to be filming. From what you can tell in page one you will basically be seeing Jordan's  house and then a few things causing him stress. You will eventually see a his backpack then a series of close ups of Jordan packing his bag with clothes, snacks, toiletries, etc. then him leaving the house and frantically looking into every direction to see which he should run in. He eventually will choose one and then run away from his home, leaving his house to fade out into the distance.

Target audience

We are aiming to make a teen movie pretty much so the target audience will most likely be around the ages of 14-19. This age group is more typically more likely to run away and have arguments with their parents because they are still growing up and do not have the knowledge or respect that an older person would. At these ages you want to live by yourself but you don't have any of the experience and you have no clue what to do in these situation. So, if they were to run away they would most likely realize that they can't handle it and end up going back home. This can help them relate to the main character in our film who runs away and realizes he isn't cut out for it and then returns home.

New opening idea

The new opening is basically about a teenager running away. It is going to be where you see the kid packing his bags and getting ready and in the background you can here his father/father figure just yelling. The kid will eventually realize that he isn't cut out to run away after he notices that he is hungry or something. Ryan is currently writing a script but we are avoiding making it a voice over because those are typically really bad.

Target Audience

The average target audience of a horror film is between the ages of 15-25. We would like to have one similar to this because these are the typical ages of people who would watch a horror film. Adults and older folk are very unlikely to watch something like this. From personal experience I know that a lot of teenagers watch horror/suspense films.

Schedule

This is the new schedule we will be sticking to due to the fact that no it is hard to meet up due to the virus. Most parents aren't allowing their kids outside of the house to meet up so we have been resorting to only using discord and whatsapp to text and video chat.

New genre

Due to changes in our lifestyle with the COVID-19 virus we have had to make some changes with our entire project. We ended up scrapping basically the entire thing and came up with a new idea with a new genre. The genre is horror/suspense now. The scene will basically be the main character relaxing by the lake and then hearing a loud scream. Being the curious man/woman he is he gets up to investigate and then sees a dark trail in the woods that he approaches. The scene would basically end focusing on a figures legs who is holding a knife.

Budget: $17-21 Million
Box office: $340.9 Million

Budget: $21,000,000
Worldwide: $113,118,226

Corona and how it's affected my life

My parents are freaking out and not allowing me to leave the house so for the past few days I have only been reading books and watching some of the things from recommended viewing list. The group has been talking via whatsapp and discord deciding how we should proceed with the project. We have decided to join our discord server and talk everyday and figure how we are going to film our project and how to make sure this doesn't affect our project down the road.

Distribution

Being a small new film company that we are. We don't have enough merit to put a movie out and expect people to watch it so we have to think of distribution methods that would work with our target audience and the genre of our movie. The target audience 17-25 are primarily young adults, these people use social media a lot throughout their daily lives. It is essential that we promote our movie on social media outlets such as twitter, snapchat, instagram, youtube etc. With snapchat we could make a filter for the movie that people can use and they can post on their stories or send to friends which they can then use and spreading to more and more people enticing them to watching the movie. On instagram we can make an account just for the movie posting behind the scenes clips of the actors and having constant Q/As to keep the audience involving with the movie maybe even letting them decide between certain aesthetics or scenes. We can post trailers of the movie on youtube for more people to see also. 

Corona Time

Due to the spread of COVID-19 in broward county and all around the globe, schools have been shut down. Besides schools being shut down, travel has been banned and many restaurants have closed. On top of all this parents are not allowing their kids outside of their house. Most of my friends are stuck home all day and not allowed outside. This is making it very difficult to meet up with the group and is proving to be a challenge with the project.

Target Audience

The group was thinking about what our target audience should be and we decided that our target audience should be around the ages of 17-25. We decided this because substance abuse is a problem that can happen to anyone, so it is smart to start getting the image into the brains of young adults that it is something horrible that can ruin lives. I researched similar films in the same genre and their target audiences and most of them shared the same ones.

Requiem for a Dream is an example of a movie that did fairly well in the box office that has a similar target audience and genre as the film we are trying to produce.

Box office: 7.4 million USD
Budget: 4.5 million USD


“Requiem for a Dream.” Box Office Mojo, www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl2473428481/weekend/.

 

Scheduling Pt. 2

We changed our schedule for the project. We now know when we are meeting and the days everyone is going to be gone. I am no longer leaving from the 18-25th but instead the 26-29th which gives us more time to film all together. I am very excited to be able to film next weekend with the group. It is going to be very fun driving everyone around and we will probably go out to eat at a restaurant and brainstorm some new ideas. This Monday or Tuesday we are going thrift shopping for clothes for the project because something came up with Ryan because it was his grandpas birthday so we decided it would be better just to do it tomorrow when we are all together.

Peer Advice

We recently received advice from our group review session in aice media about our film opening. Tomorrow morning Ed, Manuel, and I are going to embark on a journey to buy clothes at a thrift store for our project and scout locations to film.

I was recommended that we film in the Cypress bay drama room or the stage in regional park by the ymca. Black curtains were also recommended to use for a backstage/dressing room type vibe we can use for the opening.

Group Reviews

On March 3, 2020 we partook in group reviews in class. The group reviews were fairly simply, we basically just got in groups of 5-7 and everyone had to give a detailed description about their film opening. I described the information about our film idea with the struggling actor and the drug problems. I got a lot of positive feedback and so did Ryan, Ed, and Manuel. I got a lot of input that could be helpful with the project such as potential film locations and filming techniques. Someone recommend POV and over the the shoulder shot when the manager is speaking to the actor. Another shot that could be cool would be a high angle to show that the actor is sort of losing a power struggle in his life and is less superior to the manager who actually knows what he is doing and has his life on track. Other than that the group spoke today of when we could finally go shopping for the outfits needed for filming, and also location scouting. Everyone decided that Saturday would be the perfect time to actually scout and buy the needed outfits.

Screenplay

Ryan has just completed a rough draft of the screenplay. After reading the entire draft I think it is pretty solid. I think how Cole Pines acts like a parent to Keith works really well. Keith has basically given up on his life and doesn't really care if he fixes it. It makes sense to have a character whether it be a manager or a best friend who genuinely cares about Keith. Having this type of relationship can be a sort of moral compass that Keith so desperately needs. 

Towards the end of this picture of part of the screenplay, you can see how it says "Keith pulls out a flask of liquor out of the inside of his coat and drinks it." Personally, I don't think this works well. I feel like it should be more of Keith just listening to Cole but not paying attention. A sort of in one ear and out situation. The idea is that Keith does something stupid during the interview and gets kicked off the set. I feel as if it would be better if he pulls out the flask during the 10 seconds before going on air where he is standing around in a daze and looking baffled. In this situation it's an immediate red flag that could be ignored by the interviewer and people in the crowd, but this would make them feel uncomfortable and add a lot more tension to the scene.

Disco Fever

Our film is the story of a struggling actor who abuses drugs and alcohol. The story is set in the 80's. This decade is probably the mos memorable decade of all due to the disco fever that spread across the nation. People started to care more about what they wore and how their image looked, because of this people thought that having the right clothes and brands made you better than others. It was a time of materialistic values and flaunting ones wealth. 80's fashion was basically "big and bright". People had weird hairstyles and weird clothes. Spandex and other fabrics that are smooth like silk were often used.

Clothing brands such as Reebok, Nike, and Adidas became really popular in this decade. Sunglasses became a craze in the 80's especially Ray Ban Wayfarer and Aviator sunglasses. Actors, musicians, and other celebrities started to help endorse brands that sponsored them. High tops became popular due to stars like Micheal Jackson. This really helped the shoe industry and shoe companies such as converse started to be worn by a lot of people. Everyone thought that if a celebrity wore this then it must be good and everyone has to buy it. 

With fashion being so heavily influenced by actors and other celebrities, it is important in our film that we use some of the 80's stereotypes. The main character of our film is an actor named Keith Floyd, he abuses drugs such as cocaine. A effect of cocaine is sensitivity to light so it wouldn't be unusual for him to wear sunglasses even indoors. This is one part of his outfit that we could have. Jeans were very popular in the 80's also along with high top shoes. Keith could wear a bright designer shirt with jeans and high top Nike sneakers and ray ban aviators which would be a common outfit from the 80's and him being a celebrity would certainly help because he could be endorsing these popular brands. 

Source: Guestblogger. “The Complete Guide to 80s Fashion.” TPS Blog, 12 Feb. 2019, www.thepearlsource.com/blog/the-complete-guide-to-80s-fashion/.

Lighting techniques

Lighting is a very important element in making a film. The lighting can change the mood of the scene drastically. There are 13 different types of lighting that one could use. They are as follows, Natural lighting, Key lighting, High key lighting, Low key lighting, Fill lighting, Back lighting, practical lighting, Hard lighting, Soft lighting, bounce lighting, chiaroscuro/side lighting, motivated lighting, and ambient lighting.

This picture from the joker movie is an example of Low key lighting. Low key lighting is used to create ominous and suspenseful moods. This would be useful in our film opening when the guest of the talk show host says something out of line and there is an awkward silence before the host kicks him off the stage. 

Hellerman, Jason. “13 Film Lighting Techniques Every Filmmaker Should Know.” No Film School, 24 Oct. 2019, nofilmschool.com/film-lighting-techniques-and-examples.

Schedule

Everyone in the group besides me is always available. I have band practice on Mondays and rugby practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with a game on Saturday. On top of all this I have work so It makes it hard for us to get together to film. We are probably going to start filming in the next week or two on a Saturday night and possibly all day on Sunday.

During spring break me and ryan are going on vacation and will both be gone for about a week. The dates are March 10-15 for Ryan and March 18-25 for me. Due to this we have to find a way around this so we can all film and meet up together when we are all here.

Film opening plot idea

This Thursday in Aice media my group had a brainstorm session where we took notes about possible plot points for the film and how we should do the opening. We decided on having it be where the main character does cocaine and he gets on the air with a talk show host and says something offensive or stupid and the host gets mad and kicks home off the show. I'm going to research the affects cocaine has on the human body and mind to see if there are any special angles we can use while filming or what type of lighting we should use.

Short-Term Effects

Short-term health effects of cocaine include:

• extreme happiness and energy
• mental alertness
• hypersensitivity to sight, sound, and touch
• irritability
• paranoia—extreme and unreasonable distrust of others

on, Institute. “Cocaine.” Drugabuse.Gov, 2018, www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/cocaine.

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Dutch angles could be used to show the paranoia and mental alertness. Using bright ligths to reflect off the lenses of the camera to show something resembling camera flares could be interesting to show the hypersensitivity to sight. Brights lights and noise would probably be a nuisance to someone on cocaine. The main character could flinch or act weird when he goes on stage reacting to the loud sounds from the crowd cheering. 

Drama Genre Research

Ryan recommended that we do drama because of the different range of different film stories we could tell. Dramas do very well in the box office. For example, the movie 'Titanic" is one of the most famous films in recent years. Dramas are mostly romantic or have a lot of suspense. Though some dramas could be comedic and have a lighter tone than ordinary comedies and have a happy conclusion.




Ford V Ferrari is a drama that came out this year that was very good and grossed $117.1 million in the united states and Canada, $107.3 million in other territories. The movie is about how Ford joined the Le mans race and had a challenge to build a better car than Ferrari had at the time who was currently winning every race. Ford created the Ford GT with the help of Shelby.



Joker (2019) is an amazing movie about the mentally troubled comedian Arthur Fleck and how he is mistreated by society and becomes Batman's main villain. Joker (2019) made $96,202,337 on a budget pf $55,000,000.

Picking a genre 2/16/20

With the Aice media project slowly approaching my group has had to come up with a genre for our film opening. So far we are thinking of doing suspense or drama or maybe a mix of the two. Currently we are just watching film openings to try and find what makes a good film opening. To do this each of us are watching different film openings for a variety of movies that could have a different genre. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8OUxsMHySo

This is one of my favorite movies so I naturally watched the film opening and saw that their goal was to tell a story that was so interesting you'd have to watch the rest of the movie to find out. They mentioned a rivalry with another main character and something about the opening wants you to continue to watch to see his point of view or to see how their relationship works and develops.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ARFyrM6gVs

The opening to baby driver is my favorite movie opening of all time. I think it is interesting because of the music that is in the background. There is a young teen who is sitting in the drivers seat of a red car and you see the passengers enter a bank and start to rob the place but the whole time he is in the car with sunglasses on and listening to music and dancing. I think music is a very important part of a film opening because it sets the tone that proceeds the rest of the film.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwDH3BpaCQI

In Ferris Bueller's Day off a teenage around our age is faking being sick so he can skip school. This is an interesting approach because the film is trying to appeal to a specific target audience by being relatable and I thought this would be something cool to incorporate into our film opening.


We are still currently discussing genres and what not in a group chat we made on whatsapp where we share ideas.