15

All Over:

My film opening.

04_19_19

The culmination of this blog is here. Without further ado, "Catharsis."

CATHARSIS

-f.s

14

I Talked to Some Friends:

Group Collaboration 02 

03_15_19

Within my classroom, we are having semi-often group meetings, in which students group up with others and discuss their projects, any ideas or frustrations or triumphs they are facing.

We discuss ideas that may not have come up without hearing an outside opinion. Often when you stare at a problem, the solution gets precluded within the mess. Taking a step back is usually the best way to find something, and so hearing from others who have not spent time thinking about my work yields different, interesting suggestions. Sometimes, they’re outlandish and sometimes they're obvious, but they always lend a positive effect.

This time I brought to my peers a loose version of my last blog post. I discussed my affinity to realism, and my attraction to quiet, emotional pieces, such as Ozark. Within my group, I heard two stories of abductions, each one unique from one another, and a science-fiction plotline.

When telling my peers my story, I spoke to them about my struggles finding a culmination or path to my plot. I have the essence and structure of my story, but not the whole substance. They focused on the development of my character, in order to ensure a connection with the audience. I was told to develop a background for my character to help find an ending to my opening. Establishing a full character profile can be extremely helpful when determining motivation and intentions, even if all of the details are not shown on screen. I am gonna do that.

Thanks for reading.

-f.s

13

Stage Notes:

A shot by shot summary of the beginning of my film opening.

03_13_19

Begin with sweeping drone shots of the area, with Ritt Momney song playing (“Something, In General” or “Phoebe”)

• Shots of homes in a neighborhood, suburbia.
• Camera movement, forward on a long road (South Post) keeping the road in view while moving forward.
• Camera moves in front of my window, maintaining that position for a couple of seconds.

Timer goes off, prompting cut inside, with no music. Same framing as drone shot, but inside the window. Protagonist enters frame, quickly pours coffee into glass, and continues to get ready. Mid shot, as he enters, does not track as he leaves.

Cut to tracking shot exiting kitchen, following prot to bathroom. Leave coffee on a desk on the way to bathroom.

Mid-shot off of a mirror of protagonist, brushing teeth, applying cologne, brush hair, etc. Quick cuts between each task from same angle, not showing each task to completion.

Shot of protagonist looking into mirror, close up on expression. Zoom?

Quick cut to prot leaving house, shot from inside the house. As the door closes, move camera slightly so the coffee in the foreground, resting on the desk where it was left. Let the shot have for a moment.

Cut to inside the car, whether prot is driving somewhere. Close up of his face, from perspective of the windshield. Music from intro is back again, but it soon begins to fade out as interview audio fades in, creating a sound bridge.

As sound bridge fades in, prot remains stoic, except for a few nervous ticks. Hand movements, checking mirror to see himself etc. Should appear as if audio is perhaps his thoughts, before the cut.

Cut to over the shoulder in interview, facing prot from behind interviewer. Still have to write this monologue. Still questioning whether or not to include interviewer questions.

That will be all for now, everything else is still loose.

Thanks for reading.

-f.s

12

Some boring planning:

Working through some logistics(& documenting them). 

03_10_19

I think I will act in my film. I think I will act for 3 reasons: 1 - I honestly don’t really trust other people to do it well. I don't want to put the main character of my film in jeopardy, so I have to put it upon my own shoulders. If I am not doing well, I know exactly who to blame and I know that I need to improve. 2 - I know what I want my main character to deliver. More so than I could ever really express to someone else, there may be a certain vibe or essence I want to come across in my protagonist that I may be able to capture. 3 - I have a good friend that I trust with a camera.

There is only one problem with my reasoning thus far: I don’t know just how good I can act. Honestly, I’d give myself a 7/10. I’m no Oscar winner, but maybe like Kids’ Choice Award, you know what I mean? We’ll see I guess.

For the supposed drone shot, I’ll be using a DJI Mavic Pro, supplied by another friend of mine. That’s really good. This is entirely unrelated, but I got a demo of the drone before its release while attending a summer program at Carnegie Mellon. Super sick.

I may use one of my aforementioned friend’s house to film, just because I want some windows to be able to transition inside with, and my house isn’t great on that front.

I have camera gear at my house, but I may want to look into renting from the local library. My audio equipment isn’t nearly good enough.

I need at least one other character, an adult male, for now. Not sure if anyone else is going to be necessary. Maybe a dog? A loyal companion could add some depth to the character, similar to how it’s done in I Am Legend. Either way, I have a dog. That would work.

This is by far the least eventful and creative posting I will ever put up. I just had to run through some things in my head, and I figured I would put it on here. If you read this, thank you and I’m sorry. It will all come together in the end, I promise. Even all this.

Thanks for reading.

-f.s

11

Getting some inspiration:

My thoughts after watching another film I enjoy. 

03_07_19

So, in my last entry, I detailed my experience watching Nightcrawler, and how it pertains to my project. Honestly, I really enjoyed it. I have never watched a movie looking to implement something from the film into a work of my own. Well, until earlier today.

This time, I re-watched my all-time favorite movie: Good Will Hunting. I hadn’t watched the movie in a couple of years, but unlike Nightcrawler, I was honestly starting to forget why I liked it so much. A refresher was in line.

I realized very quickly what enticed me so much about the film: it’s writing. Every relationship, every character is executed to perfection. They feel so honest and intimate, following a character arch that makes perfect sense to the viewer. From Will’s group of Southie friends to the group of MIT professors, the dialogue in this film is written exceptionally well. The focus is always placed on creating real, sincere characters and allowing them to interact in a fluid way. Nothing in the film feels contrived, it is entirely natural. Every character’s motivations and goals are clear for the viewer.

If I’ve taken away anything from the film, it’s to invest serious time into writing real, believable characters, dialogue, and plotlines. Obviously, I won’t have time to flesh them out, but having a clear idea of my characters’ profiles would really help to sell an honest story.

Thanks for reading.

-f.s

10

Getting some inspiration:

My thoughts after watching a film I enjoy. 

03_07_19

In my last entry, I said that Nightcrawler has some interviews at the beginning and that I should watch it for inspiration.

That’s exactly what I did.

When I watched it a couple of years ago, I loved Nightcrawler. The direction and color grading were incredibly well done, but what sold the film for me was the thrillingly dark story and Jake Gyllenhaal’s performance as Lou Bloom. We watch as a man within the grips of desperation claws his way to relevancy, trying to cling to a profession that earns him money, as well as a sense of self-worth. He gets his break as a news reporter, but his lust for recognition ultimately leads him down a dark path. No spoilers here, but it’s a really good film. Go watch it and come back here to finish reading this.

In my last post, I remembered that Lou goes through interviews, pleading for a position, similarly to how I imagined my protagonist will do. Although the film does show these scenes, this is not how it begins at first. After a few scenic shots of the area, we are introduced to Bloom by watching him cut wire from a fence, hoping to sell it. He is stopped by a cop and assaults him. We watch him drive away with the wire, fiddling with his new watch, one that used to belong to the officer. Immediately, the audience is shown the measures the Lou is willing to go to accomplish his goal, as well as the position he is in. This immediately provides the protagonist with a motivation and a moral compass for the duration of the film.

I definitely like this better than simply beginning with a struggle, which, in this case, is a job interview. A slight insight into a character can go a long way.

Thanks for reading.

-f.s

09

Concrete starts wet:

Beginning my product w/ some very loose planning 

03_05_19

I like the idea of starting off with a drone shot.

Kinda like sweeping over the area very quickly, and stopping in front of a window, through which we see our protagonist. Have some music on that shot, but then have something to prompt a cut inside, with there music is gone, and the viewer is brought closer to the protagonist. I really like when diegetic sound becomes nondiegetic, or vice-versa. For example, someone in the narrative world plays a song, but that songs then seeps into the other scenes as sort of a background track. Maybe I'll incorporate that.

Following an introduction to the environment comes the character's first actions. Maybe they're getting ready for the day or something, maybe in the kitchen, and what prompts the cut indoors is an accidental cut of his finger, or a timer going off, like coffee being ready or something. He gets in the car, maybe the music picks up again, just a shot of his face. Voice-over starts to come in of him talking perhaps in an interview, saying like I really need this job or whatever, and then after leading in with the audio, we cut to an over the shoulder of the interview, as we see our protagonist talking to a presumed superior. Later, cut back to the protagonist sitting alone outside. Didn't get the job.

Nightcrawler has job interviews at the beginning, watch for inspiration.

What happens at the end? Turn to desperate measures? Find someone? What's the point?

I’m not entirely sure what the point of my plot will be. What happens to my protagonist? Why does he want the job, why is he desperate?

Honestly, I’m not sure about any of this. Hopefully, by the end of the week, I’ll have some sort of plan. Maybe some of this will translate into solidity. After all, even concrete starts wet.

Thanks for reading.

-f.s