Day 1 of Filming

We finally started filming our project, and filmed the bedroom scenes. Overall, it went pretty well, however, we had some challenges filming certain parts.


To begin, we had the shot of the alarm clock, and Parker, my partner, had the idea of cutting from the alarm clock to the bully's eye, who I am playing, to create a smooth cut. We found out that moving the camera closer to the subject creates a higher quality shot then simply zooming in. After these, we sat down and decided how to create the bruises on my arm. We could've had real bruises, but that would've hurt! We decided to take a painless approach and use my moms makeup, who she put on my arm. Thanks mom!

                                        

                                            This is how they turned out.

After this, we hit our next roadblock. The mirror shots. We struggled with not having Parker in the shot, holding the camera. We eventually figured out an angle that had him not visible, and allowed him to get the full shot.

Overall, we had a pretty successful day filming, and we will film soon to film the shots for when the bully arrives home.

Shot List

 

A shot list that is well- organized is essential for planning our movie intro. When he wakes up, we have a series of close ups when he's waking up, showing how he doesn't wanna get out of bed. We will include shots of his tired eyes, his hand grabbing the hoodie, and the bruises on his arms. This immediately creates interest from the audience. When he looks at himself in the mirror, he looks sad, letting his true feelings escape.

When he arrives at school, we utilize medium and wide shots, showing how the bully dominates the other students. After he bullies the students, we use a close-up to show how the student is un bothered, and then cuts to his weak smile, showing how the bullying is ineffective for both people. The camera style also shifts when he gets home, to include more tight shots, to demonstrate how he feels trapped in his room. The shots will demonstrate his anxiety and fear of his parents. The film ends when the door swings open, cutting to black, leaving the audience with fear, and a feeling to know what happens next.

Shot list I created.

Lighting

The lighting increases the emotional depth in this movie intro.

In the opening scenes, where the bully wakes up and gets ready for school, we can use dim lighting. By using this, it represents his internal struggle. We can include soft light shining through the curtains in his room, contrasting with the dark lighting in his room. This represents how he is in real life, tough on the outside, but soft on the inside. We could also use lighting to focus on the bruises on his arm, showing the audience a small, but very important detail. With the POV shot of him driving to school, it could be more dim, as the sun could be covered by clouds, showing his sadness.

This is something like we could go for, dark lighting, but
bright lighting from the window.

He gets to the school after, and we will use brighter lighting, copying the effects of normal hallway lights. By shifting from dark to bright lighting, it shows how much his personality really changes. There is no darkness in the hallways, showing how his classmates don't know of his true pain. When he eventually arrives back home, the lighting goes back to being dark, but a little lighter, has his public persona is wearing off. The final cut to black after the door swings open cuts to black, leaving the audience shocked and uncertain.

This use of lighting really shows how no one is aware of the bully's true pain, and the bright light symbolizes his "true self" leaking through.

Sound

The use of sound in our production plays a vital role in developing the vibe, atmosphere, and emotional depth.

In our bully's room, we can primarily use diegetic sound. For example, we will have an alarm clock going off when our character wakes up, immediately adding sound from his every day life. We can also include muffled sounds of the parents arguing, provides a clue to the audience about his tough home life, foreshadowing the later party of the film. The other use of diegetic sound will be at the end, with the banging on his door, representing the character's freight and vulnerability.

Non-diegetic sound, which is sound that is not from the character's world, will also be used in our production. A slow song can plat while he is picking out his hoodie to wear and when he is covering his bruises, showing his inner pain. While he is driving to school, in the POV shot when he is driving to school, we can shift the score to a more unsettling audio, representing how his life quickly changes around other people. 


However, silence can also be used effectively. For example, when the camera cuts to black after the door swings open, this can be used to add more meaning to our shot. This choice greatly increases the amount of shock and leaves the audience on a cliffhanger, making them eager to know what happens next. 

These sound elements all come together to create a emotionally deep film that pulls viewers in to our bully's complicated life.

A sound similar to want we want to add,
aggressive door knocking.

Set Design

 The set design for any film is crucial, as it helps communicate the character's personality and traits.


When the story begins, the bedroom will feel messy, yet personal. It has clothes all over the floor, bedsheets all messy, and the walls covered in posters, showing how he acts. The blinds are closed, with little light allowed through, creating a gloomy and dim atmosphere. The small details hint at his internal conflict, such as the hoodie with long sleeves, and the pain killer bottle left out on his dresser. The diegetic sound of his parents speaking loudly adds to the atmosphere.

When he is driving to school, we can see him transitioning his personality to his public self. While he is driving to school, it feels cramped, adding to the feeling where he feels trapped. The POV shot of the car window displaying the title, shows a dim, cloudy sky, adding to his isolation. When he arrives at school, the hallways are bright and crowded, showing the harsh contrast between his home and school environments. In the hallways, we include small details, such as students whispering about him, showing his role as a bully.

    

            

Crowded school hallway, what we can base our scenes on.

                                                

Character Bully Design

For any movie, character development and design is a necessity for films. It is vital that the audience immediately gets ideas about the character, to get them hooked on the film.

Our character originally appears as a traditional high school bully, fitting with the stereotypes and social norms of one. However, later in the film, we learn about the cause of his actions, and who he truly is as a person. When we continue watching the intro, we learn that the bully isn't a bad person, and is simply a victim of his poor home life. We learn that he simply is reflecting his internal conflicts onto others.

We will first show his home conditions, him covering up the bruises when he's getting ready for the day. He covers up the bruises to hide his true pain. When gets to school, he exerts his pain on others, in order to feel more powerful. After he does this, we see how it doesn't make him truly feel better, and it is only temporary. He seems to have regret after, and is just trying to make himself feel better.

                                Typical High school bully, from Back To The Future

Storyboard

 Here is our completed storyboard.

Project Idea

 This is the our idea for the movie introduction. We created this with help from each other, and the in-class group meeting.

The movie would begin with our character getting ready. Waking up, undesired to get out of bed, and goes to pick out his clothes for the day. However, he specifically picks a hoodie that has long sleeves, to cover the bruises on his arms. This gives the audience questions, and grabs their attention to continue watching. While he's driving himself to school, a POV shot of the car window appears, showing the title of the movie.

When he arrives to school, he bullies other students, making him feel more powerful then other students. However, the students he bullies doesn't give him a reaction, and makes him question why he is doing this.|

The emotional conflict appears when he gets home. After he enters his room, the atmosphere changes. His dominant personality at school quickly shifts to a sense of fear and vulnerability. The sounds of his parents yelling and his door banging builds tension. When the door finally swings open, the camera cuts to black, ending the movie intro.

This intro challenges the traditional high school bully stereotype by showing the causes of why he acts like how he is. It shows his hidden pain, and how someone's environment can impact their action. This intro encourages viewers to think twice when a person is acting like this.

Notes that helped me create this idea.

                            

Research Post: Todorov's Narrative Theory

Todorov's Narrative Theory of Equilibrium explains how a story goes through three main stages, equilibrium, disequilibrium, and new equilibrium. In the first stage, equilibrium, the audience is introduced to the new characters. The disequilibrium stage introduces a conflict that creates a challenge for the main character, and the new equilibrium phase either the character has resolved the conflict, or they have not.

This theory is important because it gives viewers an easy way to decipher how stories change and grab audiences' attention. By following this format, it allows storywriters to create a story that has meaningful character development and emotional investment. This challenge forces the character to change, making the character confront the conflict and eventually leading to a conclusion, which can be positive or negative. By utilizing this theory, it ensures that the audience enjoys a well-developed character.

                                                    Graphic visualizing the theory.




This theory is also very useful for our project, because it helps design the emotional development for our main character, a high school bully, and gives us guidelines and how to write the story. We first start in the equilibrium stage, with him being confident at school, bullying other students. This makes him feel powerful, and better then everyone. This changes however in the disequilibrium phase, where he soon realizes what he's doing is wrong, and no students actually care about what he says, creating an emotional conflict. Finally, in the new equilibrium, we reveal his abusive parents, showing the reason why he acts like this.

By following Todorv's theory, we can ensure our story successfully develops our character's emotions, and gives details about his internal conflict and reason for it.

Group Meeting

 In class on 2/11, one member from each group met with members from other groups to discuss our project progress, and tips on how to improve them. Our group consisted of 5 members, including me, with each member being from a different group. The main focus of the meeting for me, was to find a solid movie idea. My partner for this project and I have been struggling to come up with an idea, but we want to do a coming of age movie.

Thankfully, my group members worked with me to help create an idea. We are torn between two options, but both revolve around a popular guy at school. The first idea would be a popular guy in school, who is known as a bully. He goes around bullying random kids, but the kids don't seem to care, and don't give him a reaction, and just seem confused on why he's doing this. He does this since it makes him feel stronger then he actually is. Eventually, he realizes what his doing is wrong, and turns to become a better person.

The second option would resolve around a kid who seems all happy in school, but inside, he's depressed. He covers this up by being kind to everyone, and always smiling. However, behind all the happiness, he deals with abusive parents, who are horrible to him and are always yelling at him, and beat him. This would be evident in the opening scene, as he would be getting ready for the day, he would wear long sleeves to cover his bruises. The scene would end with him going him going home to his room and his parents beating on his door, cutting off when the door eventually opens.

We will discuss with our teacher with option to choose, as this is a large decision for our group.

The notes I took during our meeting.

Research Blog

 To create our intro to a coming-of-age film, we will need a strong opening scene to introduce our character. We can use visuals and small details, which is more effective then repetitive dialogue. We need to demonstrate their personality immediately, such as in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, when he is shown faking sick to his parents. This shows what type of character he is.

To make the scene feel more authentic, our group will focus on lighting and mise-en-scène. We would want these to align with our characters personality. For example, if we wanted out character to feel careless and energetic, we can include handheld shots and natural lighting, such as in the movie Boyhood. For the mise-en-scène, it would reflect out character's nature. If our character is lazy, they could have a messy room with papers everywhere, or have a room filled with posters if they are a teenager.

                                        How lighting is used to enhance a scene

Music also plays a key role in setting the mood. The song chosen will needed to fit the main character's emotions. If the character is excited, we could include a fast, upbeat song, which could highlight a positive tone. Also, we believe that some scenes can benefit from a lack of audio. If the character is deep in thought or sad, having no music could make the scene more powerful, by demonstrating the emotional connection to the character.

By including all of these elements, we hope to create a movie intro that will grab the viewers attention into the main character's world. We want the views to instantly click with the character, and be hooked on the movie.

Schedule

If there is one thing experience has taught me, it is that an accurate timeline is crucial for the completion of any long-term project. Having  one will definitely keep on course and avoid last-minute stress by delineating each step well in advance, with enough time for revisions. So, I'm setting up my timeline now in order to keep myself accountable.

Instructions for this project that I used to make the schedule.

Here is the schedule:

Week One

• Research  Genre
• Create Plan
• Plan intro script
• Write Script

Week Two

• Complete movie plan
• Draw Storyboard
• Filming Locations
• Actors For Characters
• Decide when we film

Week 3

• Intro Creation
• Continue (if started)
• Recorded character audios
• Record Foley Sound Effects

Week  4

• Begin Editing
• Produce The First  Cut
• Make sure all needed Foley sounds are recorded

Week 5

• Continue Editing
• Create another edited version
• Compare the two styles to find which best suits the film

Week 6

• Begin CCR
• Start beginning research for CCR question #1
• Analyze Post Production

Week 7

• Continue   CCR
• Research questions 1-5
• Write the CCR
  
• Edit and Review

Week 8

• Finishing Touches
• Complete blog posts
• Extra Time
• For anything unexpected

With this timeline, I can work on trying to follow it, making any necessary adjustments along the way. Time management is something I've struggled with a bit in the past, and I want to stay disciplined, making sure not to miss deadlines. Of course, unexpected bumps may arise, but with this schedule, I'll be ready to deal with them effectively.

 

Credit Sequences

For our project, I have been researching opening credits from other coming-of-age movies, to give me inspiration on what to do for my film opening. Throughout my research, I have learned that character design can impact the opening credits and how they are shown, and how editing is used to support this.


From the movie Boyhood, the film decided on an interesting approach for the opening credits. To display them, the film opens with a shot of the blue sky and clouds, symbolizing the young child. After the shots are displayed, the opening credits are displayed on the screen. but are showing being written out, in messy handwriting. This shows how the child has character, and sets up his personality for the rest of the film.

The beginning of Eighth Grade takes a more traditional approach to opening credits. The credits are displayed in bold, clear letters in the bottom-left of the screen. While these credits are rolling, the main character is arriving for her first day of eighth grade, showing her getting ready and going to class. With the rapid cuts from scene to scene and close-ups, this hooks the audience to the movie, and intrigues viewers to keep watching.

The Breakfast Club begins with bold, yellow text on a black background. This creates a minimalistic design that represents the film's style of storytelling, which focus on individual characters. By having a simple title sequence like this, it reflects the raw emotions explored in this movie. After the title sequence, it follows with shots of the school, developing the story for viewers to enjoy.

Film Openings

 

Ferris Bueller's Day Off

The first intro of Ferris Bueller's Day Off effectively set the tone and introduce viewers to the film's themes and protagonist. The scene opens to a shot of Ferris laying in bed, with alternating between close-ups of Ferris and POV shots of him talking to his parents, convincing them that he is sick, and needs to stay home. He eventually convinces them, and is staying home for the day. This immediately develops the plot of the film, and sets up the movie for his unforgettable day off.

Wonder:

The introduction for the movie Wonder, establishes the film's heartfelt tone and introduce its central character, Auggie Pullman, with warmth and sensitivity. It opens with a close-up of Auggie's face as he playfully wears an astronaut helmet, symbolizing his desire to escape the judgment of the world and his love for imagination. This opening immediately sets up themes of acceptance, resilience, and challenges of standing out in the world that do appreciate any kind of conformity. By focusing on Auggie's innocence and his family's love, the sequence immediately embraces the audience, catapulting them into his story of courage and self-discovery.

Mean Girls:

The first 2 minutes and 30 seconds of Mean Girls establish Cady Heron as an outsider on her first day at a real school. Her parents, research zoologists who have homeschooled her while they lived in Africa, awkwardly baby her, making sure she has milk money and knows her phone number - treatment more fit for a five-year-old than a sixteen year old. via voice-over narration, Cady acknowledges this, but explains unique background. Dropped off across the street from school, she hesitates before stepping into the unfamiliar world of public high school; close-ups emphasize her nervousness as the indifferent crowd surrounds her.

Portfolio Project Post 2: Genre Choice

 As Parker and I develop our portfolio piece, we have discussed two options: a comedy and a coming-of-age drama. Two have an abundance of narrative and style to work with, and both can make our opening sequence memorable and exciting.

The comedy genre is marked with its lighthearted humor, quick wit, and absurdity of scenario. Comedies such as Dumb and Dumber and Ferris Bueler's Day Off use humor effectively in order to win over an audience and have a strong narrative base. With a comedy, we will have to work with comedic timing, memorable characters, and an accessible but over-the-top premise in a manner that will have an audience laughing and wanting to see more at its start.

The coming-of-age drama, meanwhile, is a character and emotion-based narrative. Examples such as The Breakfast Club and Stand By Me explore individual growth, identity crises, and unfiltered emotion. With a coming-of-age, we can have a real and powerful opening sequence that appeals to an audience through strong character work and an intimate narrative style that doesn't rely on humor but can use emotion effectively in a similar manner.

To make a decision, Parker and I will analyze both genres' most memorable opening sequences, break down conventions, and see whose work best with our skillset and vision. Whatever direction we go, our opening sequence will have to be immersive, exciting, and striking in its visuals.

Transitioning into the Cambridge Portfolio Project

As I begin my film with my collaborator, Parker, I'm anticipating challenging ourselves with creating a successful opening sequence for our film. With our portfolio project, we will have a chance to present our narrative, technical, and creative work. For the following several weeks, I will blog about our work, documenting development through planning and production, including post-production.

Our first stage in working with the project is thorough investigation, selecting a genre, and researching expert opening sequences for an inspiration source. We'd ideally have our opening sequence serve not only our purpose creatively but engage our audience, too. Parker and I will begin researching two possible genres, a comedy and a coming-of-age, researching their conventions and selecting one best representing our vision. Completing this stage, we hope, will give direction for our project, and have a basis for moving onto the next stage in our production journey.