Count Down: T-Minus........2 Days.

Naaaaaaah. I'm terrified of Sunday, scared of how everything will turn out. Ideas are always so great in one's head but how they come out in reality is a scary thought that affects how the whole project goes down. I've been very excited about the new idea that I have had and how it will transform into something beautiful, yet there's always a chance that the film will be too short or that the idea wont play out well on film. 

I think my idea will turn out well. Last time I went to work, I left and directly went to A.C. Moore to look for something that could be used as a trolley. I finally found something but I wasn't convinced about the item. So, instead of buying the semi-useful "trolley", I decided that I would rather use the selfie stick I had already at home. 

I bought the pictures as well that very same day, the pictures that I decided would be layed out around the room and that would be used to write the credits. The pictures I picked out very carefully and I decided on ones that either had my whole group of friends, Laerke, my younger brother, and I, or Laerke and I, Laerke by herself, or me by myself. 

These are the selected pictures.

SO, having chosen the pictures, the only thing left to do is to actually film. As I get ready to press the red record button, I'm scared things wont go my way but hopeful that everything resolves itself.

Well......Change of Plans

Sike! During the planning of a project as big as this one, it requires a both going forward and backwards. Sometimes things go right; other times things just don't work out. What do you do when the latter happens? Well, you find a way around the problem and use the solution to the best of your advantage.

Having already offered the job to Megan, I soon realized that there was no vialble way that we could schedule around to filming. To keep on schedule with the timeline, I need to record by this weekend in order to have the first half of next week to record and edit while the second half to revise and make any small changes necessary. 

As it turns out, Megan had to work all the way up to Friday because she was taking the whole weekend off to go camping. Although I was excited for her to go camping, I was slightly disappointed to lose my main actress since she was going to be out of town and I have to film by Monday of next week. 

So, in order to move along with the schedule, I decided to ask my best friend, Laerke, if she would be willing to play the part. I was very relunctant from the very beginning to ask her to be in any part of my film because she is working on her own film with her group and I didn't want to take her attention away from her own production. Laerke was always a possibility for my actress. She is a very charismatic person who can show the emotion that has great control over her emotions, which is something I definitely need. Still, from the beginning of this project, she told me to not even consider her because she didn't think she would have enough time to do both. Although it was hard to keep my best friend out of mind for a chracter I knew she could play, once it was obvious that Megan would not be able to do the film, I just had to ask, even if the answer was no. 

I texted Laerke today to ask her if she would be willing to be in my film; I wanted to record on Sunday afternoon in order to have all footage by Monday. Surprisingly enough, when I texted Laerke, she told me that she would love to be in my film opening! She didn't have anything planned for Sunday afternoon and she would be able to come and record the video with me.

I'm glad that this change came so early in the filming process and not the night before or the day of. It's just so surreal to think that a mere few months ago, this project was an idea, a simple jumble of thoughts from which a film opening would've never actually sprouted from. In a week from now, I'm going to have all of the footage done; in a week from now, the collaborative part ends and the rest of the schedule and editing is on me. Up to this point, I'm still depending on friends and family to be ready to film and to allow me to film. Next week, how everything goes down is up to me and only me. Keeping this in mind, I'm terrified of what comes next, yet the fear is mixed with excitement.

-EC

Where Will I Film.........Where?

Oish! I have been thinking about where the perfect place to film is for the past couple of day. The most convinient place to film this, since it has to be a bedroom, would be my own room. 

My only problem with the filming occurring in my bedroom was that my walls are blue and blue is a very masculine-associated color. In my research, I found that blue is actually a feminine color in the mind but, since the 1800s in France, the color has become associated with the male gender. In my first invisionment of the setting the main actress was going to be in, the room had a girly feel to bring to attention that the main character was a female. However, I have thought long and hard about it and I found an explanation for the "boy colors". 

This is a picture of the design of my bedroom wall.

                                                                     
In my new explanation for why the room's walls are blue, I have 
decided that the charcater who Megan will be playing will not be in her room. Rather, she is laying in her deceased boyfriend's bed, having fallen asleep out of complete devastation and sorrow from the grief she feels. Also, this new approach of thoughts helps to uncover why the letter for her that she hasn't read before is there for her to find. This could also expain why she is having dreams about his death: She is in his bedroom. I am really glad my bedroom walls are blue. 

I have decided that this new adaptation to my original idea makes more sense rather than less and will allow my film opening to contain more meaning and layers, as well as make the filming simpler for me. Although it will be weird for everyone to see my bedroom in the final product, it is the best and simplest thing for me to do in order for my film opening to turn out as best as it can be. 

Now, sense I have to use my room and actually record in it, I have a lot of organizing to do. Until next time, thank you for reading this far. 

-EC

Refernces:

Galvin, Sarah. "Why Is Blue Considered a Masculine Color?" Quora. N.p., 10 Sept. 2016. Web. 24 Mar. 2017. <https://www.quora.com/Why-is-blue-considered-a-masculine-color>

Extra, Extra.......Actress. Found.

Yikes! It's really stressful to see how time passes so quickly and, although you get things done, it still seems like there's so much to do!

Since my last post where I discussed my schedule, I have asked my friend Megan to be my actress and she said yes! 
Over on the right is how it went:

While finding out Megan could be my actress for the film was a source of huge relief, it also arose a slight problem. With both of us going to school, working, and having family get-togethers in the following weeks, it's going to be really hard to schedule a time to film with her. 

The good news is that filming should not take more than one hour, maybe an hour and a half, if all goes according to plan. Then, finding one afternoon in which we can meet up and film will be easy, I hope. As I am writing this, I realize that one of our mutual best friend has their birthday on Thursday next week and her having a birthday dinner means that neither one of us work that day and that we will have the afteroon off before dinner to do whatever we want. I'm going to ask her if she thinks that she will have time to film then and, maybe, just maybe, we'll find it simple to film in that time slot.

So, after texting Megan, I decided that I need to have some music in the film. I want to add a light sound to the film to give the audio depth and importance in order to make the change between the voicemails very highlighted and outlined. 

A repetitive piano key will do the trick and I think I am going to ask my younger brother, who is madly in love with playing the keyboard, to let me record an audio of him playing the keyboard. Below is a video of him playing the keyboard: 

Today we will be going to talk to our peers about the project and the feedback we will receive will only help me succeed. I hope it helps me and allows things to work out for the best.

-EC

Materialistic......Literally

Bam! I have figured out the supplies I need for my project to succeed.I'm going to actually go out and get them next week but at least I know what I need to get and an estimate of how much everything will cost. 

I decided that I'm going to need, first of all, a type of trolley to move the camera without shaky hand movement. For this, I'm going to go to either A.C. Moore, which is the closest craft store, and buy a plank of wood and a set of four wheels to build a small car-like simple object to pull along with some string, or Toys R' Us, which is the biggest toy store around, and just buy an actual truck and place the camera there. 

I want a straight camera that doesn't shake because I don't think that this film would be well-made with a hand-held camera movement. Since the camera will be moving everywhere around a bedroom, I believe that the trolly movement is the best to portray the images I want. The trolley will allow for the audience to get a still image of what is meant to be portrayed, it will allow the pauses by each picture to be subtle and clean, and it will also give the desired progressive change from organized to messy.

Next, I'm going to print out pictures of Megan and I in order to make a sort of "opening credits" type of thing. The pictures are going to be laid out on the floor along with tissues to exemplify the sadness and also give faces to the people in the movie, as well as to infer to who the voice that is leaving the voicemails belongs to. I have chosen to do this because I think it is a great way to give names to the actors, display the faces before the actual reveal of the main character, and also provide with a fun sequence before the storyline is introduced.

I estimate that the whole project should cost around $15-$20 for all of the supplies. Now, as I am writing this, I realize I still have yet to formally offer the role to my friend Megan, so that's next on my to-do list. I will blog back after I do that, but, for now, thanks for reading! 

-EC

References: 

This is th link for my first image: <http://www.tpub.com/journalist/14130_files/image434.jpg>
This is the link for my second image: <https://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view;_ylt=AwrB8pTAVthY3wYAqwaJzbkF;_ylu=X3oDMTIydmttcGJiBHNlYwNzcgRzbGsDaW1nBG9pZAMzM2RkMzgyNjRlOGFhZWNhODkxMDk3ZDBlNThhYzk2NwRncG9zAzcEaXQDYmluZw--?.origin=&back=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fp%3Dhomemade%2Btoy%2Bwood%2Bcar%26n%3D60%26ei%3DUTF-8%26y%3DSearch%26fr%3Dtightropetb%26fr2%3Dsb-top-images.search.yahoo.com%26tab%3Dorganic%26ri%3D7&w=570&h=427&imgurl=www.blog.designsquish.com%2Fimages%2Fuploads%2Fdiy-car-toy-russia_thumb.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fkatoronozap.xbizhost.com%2Fwood-toy-car-designs-free.php&size=33.5KB&name=%3Cb%3Ewood%3C%2Fb%3E+%3Cb%3Etoy%3C%2Fb%3E+%3Cb%3Ecar%3C%2Fb%3E+designs+free&p=homemade+toy+wood+car&oid=33dd38264e8aaeca891097d0e58ac967&fr2=sb-top-images.search.yahoo.com&fr=tightropetb&tt=%3Cb%3Ewood%3C%2Fb%3E+%3Cb%3Etoy%3C%2Fb%3E+%3Cb%3Ecar%3C%2Fb%3E+designs+free&b=0&ni=96&no=7&ts=&tab=organic&sigr=11tuedq5n&sigb=14v7b484g&sigi=125sloovf&sigt=11eqn2id3&sign=11eqn2id3&.crumb=xm1sp85G1sD&fr=tightropetb&fr2=sb-top-images.search.Yeahhoo.com>

What's Next.....? Right: A Schedule.

Eek! I'm using this blog post as an organizational overview of production. As I begin to think about the weeks ahead, I am already gaining anxiety about the time contraints. In order to complete the film opening the way I want it to turn out, as well as have enough time to edit and cut as desired and to make a rough draft and a final cut, I need to organize myself. 

Why do I really need a schedule? I believe that a schedule will allow me to become more organized with my work. It will allow me to maintain a steady pace and to create the correct pacing guide in order to achieve success with enough time to analyze all aspects of the film. In order to get all of the work that is needed to be completed in such a short amount of time, this project will need me to dedicate each week to something very specific so that the project will be safely finished by the due date.

As I read the webpage MindTools, their section on how scheduling makes one's life easier, it all became clear to me: In order to be successfully on time and ready to have the project done how I want it done, I need to be specific on what I need to get done every week and try follow the schedule as closely as possible. 

After checking out that site, I moved on to WikiHow and decided to find out the best strategies to making and following a schedule. Interpreting the instructions and applying them the best I could to be best applicable to my film time budget, the following is the schecule I have created and hope to stick to: 

This is the schedule I have composed and will try and follow for the remainder of the filming, blogging, editing, and finalizing of the portfolio project.

Well, I really hope that this scehdule is something I can truly follow and that it helps me maintain myself organized and on time with everything. I will blog back again in a few days everyone, but, before I go, I just wanna thakn anyone who is reading this far. 

-EC

References: 

"Effective Scheduling: Planning to Make the Best Use of Your Time." Time Management Training From MindTools.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2017. <https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newHTE_07.htm>

WikiHow. "How to Make a Schedule and Stick to It." WikiHow. WikiHow, 19 Mar. 2017. Web. 19 Mar. 2017. <http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Schedule-and-Stick-to-It>

Finiding the Target.....Audience

Hmmmm! Knowing who your target audience is can be extremely beneficial for all aspects of the production process. Knowing who wants to watch your "stuff" will allow the executive decisions to be carried out flawlessly and they will only help your content flourish further and faster.

The first thing I watched in order to establish my ideas was the video linked here. Although not all tips were validly appiclable to my film opening and the objective of this project, due to the fact that there's no actual product being sold rather a film opening needing to appeal to people, I took most of what I could gather from the video. What I learned was that I cannot underestimate my audience and assume their response to the film opening. As a producer of the movie, I have to be willing to expect my audience to react in any way, and, therefore, I need to be ready for criticism and, if done right, praise. For this to go my way, I had to pick a worthy enough target audience that would appreciate my film opening for everything it has and not for what it could have had.

For the production of this project, my target audience will be young adults. Why did I pick young adults as my target audience? Well, firstly, the heartbreak that will be portrayed by the character's surroundings and the character herself is a vessel for the grief. The grief will only push the idea of the desperation for the reading of the letter and the helplessness to do anything that can heal the pain. The voicemails will appeal to the younger people because it highlights the way that dating has not only remained physical and in person, but it also has gained a technological and has expanded throughout the last few decades immensely. 

I believe that the people who would appreciate my film opening the most would be both girls and boy between the ages of 15-24. I believe that the people who will most likely enjoy watching this film opening will be middle to higher social class people in the pre-mentioned age range and this is because that is the kind of genre currently out right now for these age groups and they enjoy to watch those films so they will for sure enjoy this. 

The mystery in the film opening will encourage both sexes to gain interest in the film and the creative juices will allow for great depth of desire and awareness for the film.

The film opening I'm creating will be perfect for young adults because it will allow for the audience to experience young love. The film opening is great for young adults because it will allow for a mystery to be the closing of the film opening, a mystery that will entice the audience and leave them wanting more.

When thinking about what I wanted my target audience to be, I thought about who would be the ideal people to enjoy my production most. I doubted children would enjoy,  understand, a story opening this complex with underlying themes and foreshadowing mystery. Older adults might not necessarily find the movie drawing or interesting because it's a breaking a stereotype about starting the movie with a happy couple and then striking tragedy while my story will begin with thoughts about happiness and the idea of comfort while then stripping it away with one phone voicemail. This mere break from the norm, I believe, will push older audiences away rather than draw them nearer.

-EC

References:

EntrepreneurOnline. "10 Ways to Learn About Your Target Audience." YouTube. YouTube, 17 Mar. 2016. Web. 19 Mar. 2017. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSSEZw3Kepw&t=3s>

Genre Identity...... Get It?

Aw! This project is developing step by step, slowly but surely. It's quite surprising how much can get done in one mere week of research and thought process. It's also quite interesting to see the support and feedback that you get from yourself once you're set on one idea and you know you can develop it. 

In the past couple of days, I decided that I am going to push forward with my idea and develop it, for sure, into my film opening; I decided that my genre is going to be realistic fiction, as I mentioned at the end of my previous post, and now I am going to explain why.

What is realistic fiction, you may ask? Realistic fiction is a fictional story in which the characters or the subject of the production portrays an event that could occur in real life, yet it hasn't, and, therefore, is fiction. When researching about what realistic fiction truly is, I found a website meant for kids about realistic fiction, yet, no matter the target audience for that web page, it really did a great deal for me! The website describes all the types of things that the genre of realistic fiction should have and how to make it work efficiently and powerfully for the advantage of the producer to produce and the audience to identify. The elements described in this site helped me clear my main focus of the scene and how I want to approach my film opening and they were the following:

• The characters are engaging and believable. 
• The dialogue is believable. 
• The plot is fresh and original.
• The setting is true to life.
• The problems faced by the characters are honestly portrayed.
• The resolution makes sense.
• The theme grows naturally out of the action of the characters.

When I think about why I chose this to be the genre for my film opening, the answer is simple: the type of film opening that I'm producing is a story that could actually happen but it isn't someone's story that I'm retelling. I believe that the death of a loved one is an extremely defining event that affects all family and friends, as well as the surrounding people who live around them. Then, the calls to a girlfriend and the call from the police officer are both things that actually happen in real life. Finally, the dream and the letter represent the real-life events, like the actual dreaming that a person goes through and how powerful a dream can be that the imagination could recreate how we think something went down, as well as the letter just mirrors love letters that people send to one another. 

My inspiration for the letter, which I finally understood why the idea felt like it was sure to work, came from Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, both the opening scene and the ending scene inspired me to initiate my film because it really inspired me to show the kind of film that this would be. I really like this idea because it will express just enough mystery and show enough to play with the audience and leave them wanting more.

-EC

References: 

"Realistic Fiction." Realistic Fiction. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2017. <http://www2.nkfust.edu.tw/~emchen/CLit/Realistic_fiction.htm>

Lionxl5. "Guardians of the Galaxy Clip: Opening Scene (HD)." YouTube. YouTube, 06 June 2015. Web. 18 Mar. 2017. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMcnXlgc_eE>

"Guardians of the Galaxy Letter Scene." YouTube. YouTube, 28 Apr. 2015. Web. 18 Mar. 2017.<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAr1isS1M6A>

Advances Advances......Let's Keep Them Coming.

Phew! My last post was so liberating. Prior to the sudden wave of ideas that hit me this weekend, I felt like Atlas, the Titan from Greek Mythology, having to carry the weight of the world on my shoulders. However, following my great realization, I feel like a giant weight has been lifted off of me; like I've been relinquished from carrying the weight of the world. The issues that worried me last week have been vanquished; still, the factors and the process that awaits the next several weeks terrify me.

The first thing that I did about this project during the time following my revelation was to picture who I wanted for my main actress. I decided that one of my close friends, Megan, would be perfect for the part if she would be willing to be my main character. This is because Megan has the vibe of a girl who is ready to set off on an adventure and she is also who I imagine when I picture my main character. I made these choices because, for my friend, she fits the part perfectly! Megan is the kind of person who has no problem in portraying the emotion that she needs to when the time is right, which makes this project more powerful, at least in my mind, because from the moment we see the main character, the emotions are the most vital part of the film opening. Megan has a nice blonde shortish hair and her expressions are perfect for the character that I want to portray. For the male asynchronous voice of the dead boyfriend, I chose to give myself the part. When I decided to use myself for the voice message narrations, I did it with the idea in mind that the voice messages would have to be an exact length to allow the images to match the voice narration perfectly, and, me being the one who speaks the messages allows me to have the flexibility to make the appropriate changes according to my personal schedule.

The next thing I did was to go on Garageband and play around with the sound editing options. I chose Garageband because I know how to use Garageband from previous experience and I find it easier to move that sound into iMovie which is the video editor I know how to use best. After playing around for about half an hour, I finally found that the "Megaphone" setting sounded really similar to what I need for a voicemail-machine sound. I played around a little and even recorded some test runs of the recording I wanted to have.

Finally, I added an idea to the film opening that I chose to do. Instead of just having the main character open her eyes the moment that the voice message from the police department finishes, I decided to add a small scene that can either be taken as a nightmare or as a message from the beyond in which the main character sees her boyfriend in the way he looked before he died. Then she is going to jolt awake and begin to cry. After all of this, she straightens up, walks over to the box, and the scene continues as planned. I got the idea for this scene from the first couple of seconds of the trailer to the television show Proof. I want to do this because I want the audience to get a view of the boyfriend and to get an image of what actually happened to him. 

I have decided to label the genre of this film opening as a realistic fiction because the film opening is about a story that hasn't necessarily truly happened but it's possible that it could in our world as it exists. I also have decided that my target audience are teenagers and young adults, most likely from the age of 15-25 years of age.  

So far, I think my project is showing a lot of promise. I just hope that soon all my ideas will be put into place and that the actual filming, which I am so thrilled about, will actually commence. 

-EC

Reference: 

Tvpromosdb. "Proof (TNT) Official Trailer [HD]." YouTube. YouTube, 16 May 2015. Web. 12 Mar. 2017. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_wK6P0DJr8>

Epiphany......Finally!

Ha! Eureka! I think I have solved my problem! I don't need to fix my ending to the latest film opening idea that I blogged about because I got an even better idea. Ideas do come from the weirdest places but I guess that gives it an extra sense of pleasure when they sneak into your mind and explode your brain, making your heart race with excitement.

Here's what happened: 

I was out with my family and we had gone to see a violinist, Itzhak Perlman. My parents were really excited to see him; I wasn't elated to go but I wasn't really discouraged either. Once we arrived, we took our seats, got ready to listen, and, as soon as the violinist played the first note of the theme from Schindler's List, my minded drifted elsewhere. I began to imagine myself running through the woods in the park near my home. I was running: running fast; running far; running for my life. Then, I tripped over a branch and fell, and, while I got up, the figure chasing me caught up to me. I could hear the branches moving, the wet leaves, every single one of them, dripping droplets of water. Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. Then, I was outside of my body. I saw my figure blurred in the background as a dark figure got closer and closer to me, yet the focus was on a single dripping leaf. As the final drop fell, I was back in my body. I stared straight ahead and, the moment that I stared at my opponent- Nothing.

I couldn't bring myself to think about that for one more second. It was an interesting story, but I would not end it that fast; therefore, I had two choices: 

1. Cut the chase scene into a shorter version in which an extended ending I hadn't come up with would have to be created with greater success.

2. Come up with something completely different. 

I went with option number two. 

The new story that I thought of goes like this:

Really soft music playing in the background will introduce the scene along with a beeping sound will begin to play back a set of voice messages. The camera will begin recording a bit after the sound begins. Then, the screen will fade in from black to a single-colored bedroom wall viewed from the floor. As the camera begins to move away from the wall, the floor will be seen as completely bare of anything. However, as the camera keeps backing up, the floor becomes more and more messy, filled with tissues and such. As the camera continues to back away and circle around the room, pictures of a happy-looking couple looks into the camera on printed images that lay on the floor. As the camera continues its full circle around the room, the clutter becomes even greater. While the whole room is being shown from the floor, the sound plays back "cute" messages from a male voice that is gathered to be the male in the images. Then, as the camera begins to rise onto the bed, the message playing finishes, and, right as the camera focuses in on the person laying in the bed, who just happens to be the girl from the pictures, a new message is played. The message is from the captain at the local police department and he is telling the girl about how sorry he is to inform the protagonist about the death of her boyfriend and that he hopes they can talk soon to try and lead an investigation with her collaboration. At the moment the message finishes playing, the girl opens her red, puffy eyes and looks straight into the camera, all noise, even the dim music, having had gone away. She sits up on the bed, giving the audience a semi-full view of the bedroom, and then she stands. She walks over to the other side of the room, kneels down on the floor, and opens a box. From the box, she pulls out a letter and, as she opens it and you see her eyes staring at the letter, the camera behind the paper, the voice of the boyfriend sounds inside her head saying "Dear _________". Then the introduction to my film will end.

The biggest influence I had when thinking about this idea, due to the fact that I didn't get any inspiration from any actual source of media but rather from music. The moment that everything clicked into place was when the violinist started to play the main theme from Schindler's List. That moving and highly emotional song made me want to make something about a person who, despite the death around them, manages to get up and begin the process of grieving and moving on through life. This song really helped my thoughts flow the most and they helped me focus more on what was going on in my head.

-EC

Reference: 

XXm4n0jXx. "Best Soundtracks Of All Time - Track 35 - Schindler's List Theme." YouTube. YouTube, 17 Aug. 2010. Web. 11 Mar. 2017. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VorGotjeLjM>

Martyprod2. "Theme From Schindler's List Conducted by John Williams (featuring Itzhak Perlman)." YouTube. YouTube, 14 July 2011. Web. 17 Mar.2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPRkZxlBAqI>

Jumble of Thoughts is the Best Way to Start......Right?

Wow. I can't believe we are starting already. It's incredible how fast time passes when you're learning something that sparks interest; it seems like just yesterday we were learning about the different shots and angles, as well as viewing cuts and composition. Well, here we are as I begin to write my initial post to our final project. The date is March 10th, 2017. The time is 8:20 A.M. I'm ready; I'm excited; I'm nervous; I'm ready to accept the challenge.

When I first began to think about what I wanted to do for my film opening, I was headset on having a science fiction film about what happens after death, both to the people who stay and the ones who depart; this entire thought process began in October 2016. I imagined a room filled with people: mourners, family, friends, all gathered around a podium, and, on the podium, a body. Throughout the opening, the people would be seen while they went through the service and, at the end, the room would be empty, the color would change, and the corpse would jolt awake and say, "Hello?" I chose he genre of science fiction at the time because it was the Jewish holiday, Yom Kippur, and one of the main themes during this time is being thankful for everything that we have and to reflect on the year that has passed; when I began to think about the year behind me and the project ahead of me, I made a link between the death of my grandfather and the idea that I wanted my project to be a closure for myself about how my grandfather could be in his afterlife. This idea intrigued me a lot, making me think that the audience would be left hanging about happens next and be left to wonder how the story will play out, yet, thoughts change so much in such little time that my idea was bound to change by the introduction to this project.

Just as I predicted, a mere few months changed my whole view on everything. By the time that I received the "Go" for this project, my world had changed so much; so many things have happened in the last few months that my film opening itself had made a complete flip. I wanted to change my film opening to an action film, and I wanted to do this because my life is so fast-paced at the moment that action seems to be the only thing I'm taking; between school and work, friends and family, it seems like I don't have a moment to stop and breathe, and, if I'm being quite honest with myself as well as with the readers who are reading this, I honestly like the rush of my life. By the time that this idea changed to an action film, I was leaning towards a first-person-view film, something amongst the lines of the Disney film Earth to Echo, that would center around a dark area, also deriving inspiration from the children's book Skeleton Creek, by Patrick Carman, for a darker twist. Then, the camera would take the audience to a dark room where an interrogation that would follow the theme of the scene from The Avengers, where Black Widow interrogates the Russian mafia gang members for information, would play out. By the time I got to these thoughts, however, I was discouraged. 

Yet again, I shifted to another idea. Still sticking to the action genre, I imagined a scene played out in park near to where I live that has the creepy woods feel that I wanted, and, drawing the idea from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, I was gonna have a spin on the type of chase that occurred in the woods in the rising action of the movie. Then, a scene from the show, Arrow, was gonna be used as a guideline for the way that I wanted my scene to be executed. In the first episode of the third season of Arrow, "The Calm", a mysterious killing of a beloved character, Sara Lance, plays out; this death was strange because just as Ms. Lance turns around and recognizes her killer, she calls out to the unseen figure as she receives three arrows to the upper torso; then, she falls off of the roof, dead, leaving the audience without the brain-drilling information of who the killer was. I was gonna play around with this, doing a similar scene in which the main character turns around after running away from her persecutor, but I wasn't going to kill the protagonist because I wanted to leave it at a cliffhanger, tempting the audience to want to watch more. I wanted to do this in order to express, yet again, a feeling of rush and persecution, as well as a fun experience and an intriguing finale. Still, this ending still doesn't make me happy, however, and now I am left to swim in my river of thoughts in order to find the perfect film opening to present to my teacher, and to Cambridge, in order to represent the vast variety of techniques and various ideas that we have been taught throughout the year. Will I figure out how to fix this film? Will I come up with a better idea? If one thing is for sure it's that I know I will figure something out. The question is simple: When?

When?

-EC

References: 

MovieclipsCOMINGSOON. "Earth To Echo UK Movie CLIP - Where You Live (2014) - Sci-Fi Adventure Movie HD." YouTube. YouTube, 14 July 2014. Web. 10 Mar. 2017. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcFpsXzFqDE>

"SKELETON CREEK by Patrick Carman." SKELETON CREEK by Patrick Carman | Scholastic.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Mar. 2017. <http://www.scholastic.com/skeletoncreek/videos.htm>

MovieClipsXD. "The Avengers - Black Widow Interrogation Scene." YouTube. YouTube, 27 Feb. 2015. Web. 10 Mar. 2017. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dB4__mvTyL0>

Pa2593. "The Snatchers Chase Scene [HD] (Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows Part 1)." YouTube. YouTube, 31 Mar. 2011. Web. 10 Mar. 2017. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYbkRq6Iw7I>

"Arrow 03x01 - Sara Lance (Black Canary) Death Scene." YouTube. YouTube, 08 Oct. 2014. Web. 10 Mar. 2017. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_j3tCdOqO3M>