scribble noises

Today I'm going to be focusing on screenwriting! I have no idea what I'm doing so I figured I'd watch Eighth Grade, a film my teacher recommended I watch after telling her that my main character's desire is to receive validation despite needing to make art for herself. Eighth Grade focuses on a girl named Kayla graduating from middle school and her navigation through adolescence. Validation is also an important theme in this film and it's mainly showcased through Kayla's use of social media. Mrs.Stoklosa told me I should include social media in my film as well, which is something I had briefly thought about before but quickly decided against. Looking back 'm not sure why I did, probably because the relationship between social media and validation hit a little close to home, but after careful consideration I've decided that I will include social media in my opening.

So how do I do this...? I don't know to be honest so I checked out How to Write a Scene in Your Screenplay, an article from nofilmschool.com. In summary, characters need to have desires their denied to create a clear conflict. The article also talks about how to structure a scene but I already know my structure for my opening so this wasn't really for me. The other thing it did was lead me to How to Write a Scene by John August. There are eleven questions August asks when it comes to writing a scene and I answered most of them.

This was good for getting my structure down on paper but it felt like I didn't make any real progress until I wrote a scribble version of the scene.

A scribble version is just a messy draft so I expect this to go through a lot of changes. The red ink, by the way, was written after watching the video How To Write Great Dialogue, which I had watched a couple weeks ago but revisited after realizing that the main thing I had to focus on within my screenplay was dialogue. The video mainly deals with the importance of subtext and making sure that each line serves at least one purpose. It also mentions that writers should aim to make dialogue believable rather than realistic. This way, the audience can feel immersed in what the characters are saying without being bored since everyday, realistic conversation can be rather dull. Although I feel like I've included these elements in my scribble version I think I need to take a step back and reflect. Updates coming soon!

coming up with shots is kinda fun...storyboarding not so much

Hi, hello, and welcome back! Today I drew up the storyboard for the first 48 seconds or so of the opening. As I've mentioned before, I want the opening to consist of a montage of my main character painting with music on in the background followed by a conversation with one of her friends. So, I planned out all the shot for my painting scene. Before I get into showing the storyboard and shot list I want to discuss a couple key elements I'm trying to include in the opening:
Numero uno- Having the painter's movement sync up with the music (I think this'll reflect how when the main character is doing what she loves she's in her element)
Numero dos- Having things throw in and out of frame
Numero tres- A good amount of camera movement
Numero cuatro- Playing with non-diegetic and diegetic sound

In case you're wondering what inspired me to make some of these choices, I'll tell you. I don't remember exactly when, but I saw a youtube video on Edgar Wright and visual comedy within his films (link here.) I found it really interesting so I watched Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and even though I have some critiques for Wright on that film, I loved the way it was made! Since I choose to do a dramedy I wanted to implement some of the techniques he uses for visual comedy. To be honest, I don't think anything will be "haha laugh out loud" funny but I do think it'll add some lightness to the film so  I should be good. Besides, The Royal Tenenbaums didn't make me laugh out loud but I totally see how it's a comedy-drama. Anyways, enough of what inspires me. Let's get to the real stuff.
Here's the messy shot list I was keeping as I came up with ideas:

(less blurry when you click on it)

Here's a cleaner version of the shot list:

MC=main character

OOWO="Oh oh woaaaa-oh" 

1. Start at floor/MC's feet and tilt upwards, revealing costume (earbuds in)

2. Stop at medium shot and zoom in slowly. (POV shot from canvas) Stop when the song says OOWO for the first time. Here the actress would wobble her head a little to go with the music

3. Quick close up on paintbrush being dipped in to paint

4. Close up of brush painting on canvas. Syncs up with beat of song

5. Zoom out from previous shot and do half of a circular dolly shot to get a medium shot of MC's back to the camera. MC's head slightly moves side to side to music

6. Medium shot of the MC painting from the front. Head still moving.

7. Shot of dirty white sneakers with paint dripping on them. Hand comes into frame and dips brush in water

8. POV shot of brush swirling in water from bottom of cup

9. Medium shot of MC examining canvas. POV shot from canvas

10. Quick shot of brush picking up paint from palette

11. Back to POV medium shot. MC steps forward and paints over lens

12. Shot of MC's hand picking up a rag. This is a tracking shot that ends in a medium shot of her painting, sort of from a diagonal. She throws the rag behind her out of frame

13. Shot of the rag landing in pile of a bunch of other used rags

14. Close up of hands wiping off paint on beat to the music

15. Either extreme close up of her eyes or very tight close up with her eyes as the focal point. Pan/tracking shot of her eyes as they follow her painting on the canvas. She'll have to bend down for this

16. Circular dolly shot that reveals someone in her doorway in the back. Person shouts "hey!" three times in sync with the music but she can't hear it so they throw a rag at her and her earbuds come out, music stops. 

Side note: Everything is subject to change

Here's the storyboard:

I think this was the hardest part to plan the shots for because of the music so I hope the rest of the storyboard takes less time. Also I have to admit, I'm worried about the timing; I feel like I have a lot for just 48 seconds but I think if I plan well enough I can make it happen. I've got to cast the MC soon if I want her to learn all the exact movements. Also, I don't think the storyboard will be done by the end of this week, sadly. But on the bright side I now know my main camera movements so I can start getting equipment/researching how to DIY it. I've very tired right now. It's late. But I'm still excited. See you next time.

choosing a song

Time to choose a song! I've decided to start out with one of this week's smaller tasks to ease myself into the work. Plus, I need to chose it soon if I want to get the rights to use it. I also figured that I should choose my song before making the storyboard since the first 50 seconds or so of my opening will center around the song. By this I mean that I want the movements of my main character to sync up with the music while she's painting. In order to achieve this I need a song that includes and accentuated rhythm and percussion instruments. In addition, I want the tone to be somewhat upbeat to reflect the main character's love for painting but not too energetic. Oh, and I want to avoid songs with bold vocals because they might take attention away from what's happening on screen. I think the indie pop or indie rock genre is a good place to look for songs with those qualities, especially those from the early 2000s, so I'll be starting off with musicians like Ariel Pink, Animal Collective, etc. I actually have a playlist with these sorts of songs called "Vibe On✌" on Spotify so I'll start looking there.

Click Here for the link!

Listening....

Listening....

Still listening....

Okay I'm done! After listening to all the songs (I skipped past a lot of them after hearing the first 20 seconds) I've narrowed it down to two: Winter Love by Animal Collective and Two Weeks by Grizzly Bear. They both have fast timing, use percussion instruments, and don't have extremely dominating vocals but Two Weeks is more upbeat than Winter Love. So those are some options but I have to keep looking. Right now I'm going to check out Radiohead and Vampire Weekend so I'll get back to you when I'm done.

...done!
So, Radiohead isn't that big on upbeat music. I knew that going in but I also knew their songs fit a lot of other qualities I wanted so I tried it out anyways but quickly realized that it was a dead end. Vampire Weekend, however, was the complete opposite. I had no problem finding upbeat songs from their 2008 self-titled album. The best song was probably Campus so I'll had that to the list of candidates. Just to recap, the final songs to choose from are Campus by Vampire Weekend, Winter Love by Animal Collective and Two Weeks by Grizzly Bear. I'll have to sleep on it for now but I'll save this as a draft and come back later.

Hello! It's the next day (2/26) and I've made my final choice. The official song is, drum roll please,......Two Weeks by Grizzly Bear! In the end, I think this song was the perfect balance for me. Winter Love didn't have any real change of pace or rhythm until two minutes in but I didn't care for anything after that because it didn't fit the tone I was going for. The first two minutes of the song are too passive and it feels like it's on a loop which doesn't allow me to do that much with the camera movement and choreography of the actress's movement. Campus, on the other hand, had more flair than I wanted and percussion instruments that felt like too much too fast. So, I opted for Two Weeks, which hit a sweet spot. I can actually visualize the scene when I play the song so I feel like that's a good sign. That's all for today but next time I'll probably have more storyboard in the works. See you then!

scheduling time baby!

This week my teacher recommended we make a schedule to keep ourselves organized and on track. Like a lot of my peers, I am highly disorganized so I really took that to heart. Without further ado, here is my schedule:

Week Three (2/24-3/1)

• Complete storyboard
• Start screenplay (shouldn’t be that long)
• Find the song you want to use for opening

Week Four (3/2-3/8)

• Research who has ownership of the song/get permission to use it
• Cast characters (there’s only two, max)
• Research/start figuring out how to get your shots (camera equipment)

Week Five (3/9-3/15) 

• Screenplay should be finished by this week, distribute it to actors
• Set-up location (no need for scouting)
• Have any props/costumes necessary ready by the end of this week

Week Six (3/16-3/22)

• Start filming this week
• Find your font

Week Seven (3/23-3/29) - This is Spring break 

• Finish filming
• Do bulk of editing

Week Eight (3/30-4/5)

• Script and record CCR
• Final touches on film

Since this schedule is specific to my film opening, I'm going to go ahead and give an update on what I've decided for the character and plot. So, like I said in my last post, my main character's need is to stop depending on external validation and her want is to be the best. As a result, I've decided to make her an artist, specifically a painter. Given that I hope to pursue a career in the arts I guess you could say that this film opening is a somewhat open portrayal of what goes through my mind sometimes...but let's pretend like it's not! My character's goal will be to win an award or get accepted into some sort of institution, basically something concrete that gives her proof that she's the best. I want to establish her passion from the start so I've decided that the opening will consist of her painting followed by an interruption by one of her friends. Then they'll have a brief conversation that will allow me to further develop the character.

Comments on my schedule

I'm on my second week right now but week three is where things really start to pick up. I'm not too worried about the screenplay but I've still given myself a lot of time to get it done because I know it's important. The storyboard I'm excited for, but I know that I have to get it done soon since I plan on incorporating a good amount of camera movement. In order to make it look clean I'm researching DIY ways to get stable shots. I expect this to be frustrating but I think it'll be worth it. I also expect getting permission to use whatever song I choose to be frustrating too so I'm prioritizing that as well. Also, even though I only mention getting props on week five I should probably start trying to attain them as soon as possible. I'm trying to not have to buy anything by borrowing from friends who paint but people are unreliable so I should definitely start asking around early on in the process. On the other hand, I'm not worried about location or casting! My childhood home is currently empty so I'm planning on making my old room look like a make-shift studio. As far as casting goes quite a few of my friends can act and are willing to help so I expect that to be smooth-sailing.

That's all for now. After seeing everything I have to do typed up I can't tell if I'm excited or overwhelmed. Probably a mix of both. 'Till next time!

researching character building

Hello and welcome back!

Since my chosen genre is drama, today I've decided to research how to build a great character. I've seen three videos on it so far: How to Create a Great Character, Writing Strong Characters, and How to Create Dramatic Characters, but the third one manages to incorporate information explained in the first two.

Want and Need

The first thing I learned was how every character has a "want" and a "need" and how they work together to develop a character and the plot. A "want" is what the character desires and their ultimate goal. It's specific to the character and it is what drives their actions. One example given was Woody from Toy Story. At the beginning of the film Woody wants to be the best toy and it's reflected through his actions, especially when he's challenged by Buzz's arrival. That brings me to my next point: the character needs to have obstacles to get to what they want. This really has to do more with the plot than the character itself but I thought it was worth bringing up because sometimes these obstacles are what trigger the character into confronting their need.

The "need" is the thing that the character must realize about the world they live in or themselves in order to be complete. If a character is going to change they have to discover their need. Woody needs to learn how to share in order to become a better friend. The emotional themes of movies often lie in the "need" of a character and they tend to be more universal. Everyone should learn how to share, not just Woody. Often times the character's "want" can change once they realize their need. As the film progresses Woody learns how to share and as a result, his "want" changes. Instead of wanting to be Andy's favorite toy, Woody starts wanting to be a good friend to the rest of the toys. The "want" isn't inherently bad nor does it always change, but in this case it does.

So where does the "need" and "want" come from? I'll touch on this briefly since it spills into character arcs and that's a different topic. Basically, at the beginning of stories, characters often have some sort of flaw or belief that prevents them from achieving growth. This belief is what they have to overcome in order to realize their need. They also have to overcome it in order to achieve what they want or realize that they want something better. Don't get me wrong, "wants" are external whereas "needs" are internal so the main obstacles that get in the way of a character's "wants" are also external. But at a certain point a character's "wants" and "needs" come together to build who they are. Quick example: In Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Joel overcomes the false belief that erasing memories of a failed relationship is better than dealing with pain in order to realize his "need." After that, he ends up wanting to keep his memories.

I feel like that was a lot but I'm not even done. Stick with me though.

How to make your character engaging

When it comes to this there's three main components: resonance, competence, and activity. In the first video I noticed that the video maker used the word "likability" instead of "resonance" but after watching the third video I realized why "resonance" was a better word. A character doesn't need to be likable, they just need personality traits that resonate with the audience. For example, a character could be highly intelligent instead of super friendly and an audience could still engage with them because intelligence is considered to be a valuable thing. It's more important to give your character traits that make them understandable and easy to empathize with rather than just likable, although there's nothing wrong with building a friendly character. 

The next component is competence, which refers to how well a character does their job or passion. There's something admirable about a character who  is able to accomplish what they set out to do that keeps people watching. This also applies to the third component, activity, which refers to how much a character perseveres. A character that manages to do well in both of these components, for example, is Batman. This way, he connects with the audience despite not having many major traits that resonates with them. It's important to balance out these three components. If you give a character too many positive traits for the audience to resonate with, make them too competent, and too active, then they turn into a perfect character the audience will never be able to see themselves in. On the other hand, if you do the opposite by giving a character no resonance, no competence, and making them inactive, then the audience will have nothing to engage with.

My Character

I haven't completely decided on what I want my character to be like but after completing all this research I've decided on the following:

-My character will be female

-My character needs to develop self-validation

-My character wants to be the best at what she does out of her peers

-My character will be witty in order to resonate with the audience. She will also be competent but struggle with being active. However, as the plot progresses, she'll learn to do things for herself and persevere

These are subject to change but I'm glad to have established a basis :) Thanks for reading, 'till next time!

film openingsss

Hello!! Now that I've finished researching my genre of choice (drama) and narrowed it down to a specific sub-genre (dramedy), I now have to research film openings! So, I've chosen two film openings that reflect my genre and its conventions.

The first is Forrest Gump.
 
This film follows sweet Forrest Gump and the charmed life he unintentionally leads despite having a below average IQ. It opens on a shot of the sky with a feather traveling through the air. It's also accompanied by the non diegetic sound of soft but hopeful music, which sets the tone for the scene. Through the use of a slow tilts and pans the camera follows the feather throughout the city and eventually ends up at Forrest's feet. These techniques help convey the sense that Forrest's life is determined by chance. As he bends down to pick the feather up the camera tilts upwards, introducing the main character to the audience, which is the purpose of the opening. The costume design (dirty sneakers and school-lunchbox-looking briefcase) give the audience further insight on Forrest's innocent nature as he puts the feather away in a book. Although this opening doesn't sound awfully serious it is still very much a drama because right off the bat it focuses on the main character and begins developing his personality. It also includes comedy elements that set it up to be a dramedy such as the act of having a grown man save a feather he found on the ground in his picture book.

Film numero dos: The Royal Tenenbaums

Sadly, the clip I found of the film isn't the full opening but it's still a good chunk of it and I remember this movie pretty clearly so we'll just have to make do. The Royal Tenenbaums is about the story of a very flawed father who attempts to reunite his dysfunctional family in order to make things right. The film starts off with a brief shot of a storybook titled "The Royal Tenenbaums" and bright red text that indicate that this is a prologue. The non-diegetic sound of a narrator telling the story of the family's history begins as the film reveals its highly produced art direction. This narration lets the audience know that the main focus is going to be on the family rather than the plot and the art direction in the costumes provide an offbeat comedic relief. For example, one of the children wears suits throughout the entire opening. Also, the blocking of the characters in the opening adds another aspect of drama because it reflects the children's relationship with their parents. In the scene where the father, Royal, is informing his children of his divorce, they sit at opposite ends of a long table but in the next scene all of the children closely surround their mother Etheline. This helps further establish the characters and their relationships, which is what the purpose of the opening is.

So, the main things I've learned here that many dramedies balance out drama with comedy by using mise-en-scene and sound design. This way, dramas still get to focus on the characters. I've also seen some concrete examples of how dramedies build their characters without depending on dialogue. They focus on making their characters likable and intriguing to keep the audience's attention and get them to care. Both films have differ greatly in their main characters but both focus on instilling key elements in their characters that make the audience want to follow their stories (Forrest is charming and the Tenenbaums are eccentric.) I can't wait to start developing my characters :)

the drama genre!

So this is the first out of many blogs concerning my film opening project and I'm super excited to get started!! First things first: genre. For my film I have decided to go with the genre of drama since a lot of my favorite films fall under that genre. Also, according to Statistica, it is the third most popular movie genre in Northern America, so I figured choosing that genre would be a nice balance between what I would like to do and what general audiences like to see. In order to produce a successful film opening I knew I would have to do some research so here's what I learned:

The drama genre tends to focus primarily on forming a emotional connection to the audience through its characters. Said characters are often ordinary people who go through a somewhat intense journey due to some sort of inner conflict or motive. However, there are some cases in which main characters are out of the ordinary. At the end of their journey these characters have probably undergone major character development since they are meant to be profound and complex. The plot for these movies tend to be relatively simple, with a few exceptions, of course, since they are meant to focus on the story of the characters. They tend to center around the idea that something is either being lost or has to be obtained/achieved. Similarly, the setting in drama films aren't that important because they're not what makes the film. I've also learned that the drama genre is a very broad genre and contains many sub-genres. Here are some of the main ones:

Romance

Romance dramas focus on the elements of love and its complexities. The plot often builds itself around the idea that our two main characters cannot be together and how they either overcome that or are defeated by their obstacles. A good example of this would be Romeo and Juliet in which both characters are not allowed to see each other due to feuding families.

Dramedy

Also known as comedy dramas. This is the one I'm leaning towards but we shall see. Anyways, comedy dramas are exactly what they sound like: a balanced mix between comedy and drama. The overall plot and essence of the film remains dramatic but hints of comedy are consistently added throughout the entire film. This way, serious topics can be covered without draining your audience by providing moments of comedic relief. A good example of this would be Forrest Gump because although Forrest's life story is very intense he's unintentionally comedic and lovable which allows the movie to be more lighthearted.

Tragedy

Tragedy dramas usually place emphasis on one character and their destructive tendencies, often towards themselves. It follows their ups and downs but mostly their downs and tends to end negatively. This character is normally placed in an extreme situation that causes their demise. A good example would be the story of a struggling drug addict (I was going to list the film Beautiful Boy because it follows a lot of these conventions but then I realized that the main character does end up recovering in the end, you get the point though.)

Political

Political dramas are centered around politics and usually strive to expose the corruption or inner workings of the political scene. Although they are rooted in truth they're not always completely accurate like a documentary and can be completely fictional. A good example of this would be The Perfect Dictatorship, which focuses on how a corrupt politician bribes a TV conglomerate into creating false news stories about him.

Historical

Historical dramas focus on specific historical events or time periods. Although they're based on true events, the event is more of a guideline than anything else given that they exaggerate and/or fictionalize certain elements of the story for entertainment purposes as well as to provide a certain narrative/ point of view. One example would be the film Hotel Rwanda which is based on the Rwandan genocide.

As far as target audience goes I've learned that drama is such a broad category that target audience varies depending on sub-genre. When I first started writing this blog I thought I might want to do a comedy drama but now that I've researched all my choices I think this is the final verdict. As far as comedy-genres go the target audience depends on the content and rating of the film but many tend to be rated PG-13 or 12A.

Sources: The Script Lab and Milne Library

music marketing project

For my music marketing project my group chose the song "Me and Your Mama" by Childish Gambino. This falls under the hip hop/funk genre. After researching two case studies, Brockhampton and Kaytranada, and the record label they're under, we were able to decide what marketing trends we needed to follow. The first was having a visually unique music video. On top of it being an artistic music video it also needed to be promotional because we were introducing a new artist and needed to give her exposure as well as produce something for a lower cost. The music video developed the brand of a chaotic and liberated character along with other marketing tools. These other marketing tools included the use of social media apps (instagram, tik tok, twitter), a website along with merchandise and "fake beef." We used social media sites for obvious reasons: they're highly popular amongst younger audiences and are a great way to spread information/ connect with others. But more importantly, we wanted to take advantage of humor and "internet culture" that stems from apps like twitter to make our artist relevant and build her brand. For the website we chose the color red to reflect the artist's brand and made the music video the first thing available on the site. We chose a thumbnail of the artist crying because it evokes curiosity and could possibly resonate with our semi-melodramatic/angsty target audience and included cheaper products, such as phone cases, for our audience to afford. This project has taught me that every choice needs an even stronger reason behind it, especially for a marketing campaign. Target audience is everything and all choices made during a marketing campaign should stem from there. I also learned how to visually develop a brand, how to produce cool visuals for cheap and the importance of editing/pacing in music videos.