This week, after getting all of the footage from what we filmed on Sunday, I was able to combine the clips to get a basic idea of how the film opening would look.
I didn't add every voiceover, as I was just trying to get an idea of the videos. When I give the video to Lucia, it will most likely only include the sounds from dialogue; everything else she can add through foley or a sound effect library. Next week, we'll come up with every sound effect to add and where, so the editing process is much easier.
My problem is after cutting a few of the clips, it actually turned out to be under 2 minutes, instead it ends around 1:45. This is ironic, since originally I was worried everything would add up to be too long and look rushed. However, what I also noticed towards the end is that we FORGOT to add a clip in between Mara staring at the mirror and Valerie walking into the bathroom! I said I was going to come up with a way to fix this and never did. After discussing with Andrea and Lucia, we came up with making a more obvious reference to Mara's letter in between, implying that the letter has to do with what is about to happen.
Even though this is another problem that we faces, it helps with the other problem. With this close up, it adds to the time. If this clip doesn't get us to two minutes, I'll simply extend a few of the clips that we already filmed. The reason why it's shorter than I expected is because I cut the videos by a lot to make sure it's not too long. Extending the video will simply make the video a slower pace, which is honestly not bad at all.
Now that we're in post production, I'll need to research the best fonts to use for our opening and where we should put each text. With this, the text messages, and Lucia's audio editing, we'll most likely be finished soon!
Yesterday in class, we took notes on how to do your creative critical reflection after finishing your film opening. I didn't realize it would be this big, but I believe its a great way to show your personality and creativity while also talking more about what you made. Here are the notes I made for it, breaking down each question.
Since the schedule we had for the entire film opening project included making time for the CCR, it won't be a problem when it comes to time management. As long as our group finishes the entire opening before spring break (3/25-3/29), we'll have that entire week to film our individual CCRs. It's recommended to do two of them, and I already have something in mind for one of them. I've always loved listening to podcasts, so I'll definitely do a podcast for one of them. My idea is to make a podcast episode of two film producers or directors (one of them being me), and they both discuss certain films and their own productions. I'll create a script for one section of the podcast where the other person asks me about my film, "Dear Mara". Through this video, I'll most likely answer two of the more detailed questions.
In a lot of the podcasts I listen to, they post a video along with it of the person speaking. So, I'll incorporate that along with additional images, film examples, and clips from my opening to keep the audience engaged. When it comes to sound, I'm not sure what I should do. Not many podcasts include sound effects or music, but I still don't want audiences to get bored with just my voice. I'll need to think deeper about this, along with what other media product to create to fully answer the questions. I'll update on this later in the month!
HI BLOG! Today's a very exciting day to talk about, but it was also really stressful. Yesterday. Andrea, Lucia, and Gaby (a friend of ours, playing Bella) met up to film our project. I took place of Andreina, playing Mara. We filmed a total of 93 videos! They're mostly retakes of the same shots, though. We mostly stuck to the shots in the storyboard along with a few others that we thought were better at the time.
The script file Andrea wrote is linked here. She focused on how we usually all talk as friends. However, during filming, we changed a few parts of dialogue that made it flow more naturally. We also cut out an entire part of Valerie asking Bella where Mara was, since we were worried about time. Instead, we decided to make it offscreen while Mara is in the bathroom. Andrea created voice recordings with Gaby for the parts that will be offscreen.
We faced a few other problems, too. I brought a tripod that I borrowed from my cousin, but there were a few angles, such as very low angles, that the tripod couldn't hold. This led us to holding it by hand, making it shaky and looking like a handheld shot, which wasn't what we were going for. We even tried holding onto each other for support, but it didn't help much. If we ever end up reshooting, we can think of ways to fix this. We also had a lot of limited time, as it was a Sunday (school night!!) and we really wanted to keep the use of natural lighting. Luckily, we were able to focus and get it done before the sun set.
The final shot of the opening, where we were able to use the tripod
Lucia holding onto Andrea to get a stable, high position
I'm posting this pretty late, but I just wanted to show that most things went well, and we most likely won't redo the whole thing. We'll edit everything together, and if there are any problems, we'll meet up again to reshoot. I know I said I didn't want to have this mindset, but we have time! I'll update with editing and others soon.
As I mentioned before, we decided to film in Andrea's house, as it has two equally-sized rooms and is simply a place that we don't need permission to film at. Andrea took pictures to show where we'll be filming.
Valerie's room
Another possibility of Valerie's room
We have two possibilities for Valerie's room. While the first room is the same size as Mara's room, the other room has more lighting about uses more white, which could help with contrast. However, I think the first one would look better, as it adds more personality to her. Valerie shouldn't be introduced as completely bland as the audience should somewhat connect with her (a common part of coming-of-age films).
Mara's room
Although this room has LED lights, which can help with lighting, we decided to keep them off while filming. This will keep the consistent use of natural lighting. Also, stronger blues typically create a feeling of peacefulness or loyalty, which isn't what we're aiming for with Mara. We will use greyish blues through Mara's clothes, instead.
Where Valerie will open the door for Bella
We're officially filming tomorrow!! Unfortunately, our friend Andreina, playing Valerie, can't make it Sunday. We were originally going to reschedule, but doing it during the week or next weekend would just put us even more behind. So, we're asking a few of our other friends to see if they can make it. If they can't, I'll just take her place. This is bad last-minute problem that probably could have been avoided, but we're trying to make it work. I'll definitely document our filming process and the script!
Today in class we discussed mise-en-scene and dialogue. However, we also needed to figure out what exactly we were going to do with the final shot before we start filming. We couldn't tell if we wanted to show Valerie in Mara's position, wearing her sweater or in her room, or if that should be later in the film. We also considered if she could be reading the letter that was written to her. However, we feel like this would be rushing the film, making it look messy. Valerie would look extremely different and it would look too confusing. We also thought of her looking through Valerie's room, as a form of acceptance.
The word "acceptance" made us think of the well-known "5 stages of grief". Why not structure the film based on her five stages of grief? This is when Lucia came up with the idea of setting the film up into "chapters", inspired by La La Land breaking the film up into seasons. I also liked this concept; it reminded me of different parts used in Everything Everywhere All At Once. It establishes different points throughout the film, which we could definitely use for ours. We can document Valerie's feelings through each stage, separating them through a black screen and text.
These 5 stages, originally written by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, are made for people recovering from the death of a loved one. I was able to find an article discussing it here. It showed that the stages are broad for each person, they typically go through different changes, some bigger than others. So, for our film opening, I don't want Valerie to change completely. She would be going through the first stage, denial, and would progress throughout the film. Since each stage would most likely be over 20 minutes in the film, I don't even want to show that much right away with the first clip. I looked for an article (found here) that goes into more depth about denial. Here are some common characteristics I found.
shock
emotionally numb
confusion/disorientation
shutting down/forgetting about the loss
staying busy
mindless behaviors
I feel like with this, we can make a singular clip that has a similar composition of the shot that we were going to put the title slide in, a medium shot of Mara. We can have a medium shot of Valerie, staring and feeling numb about everything. I'm not sure if we should put music in or not. It would fill the silence, but maybe silence is what is needed in the moment. We could add white noise like what we were going to do with Mara, or add slight music. I was also thinking of keeping Bella in the scene. It shows that she will be a great help during the film. I'll need to discuss this AGAIN with my group. I'll update soon!
Mise-en-scene is a very broad topic to research when it comes to making a film. However, based on notes I took earlier in the year, they can be narrowed down to a few aspects. This film, based on the plot, will be realistic.
Lighting
Set Design
Costume Design
Make-up
Color
These elements obviously defer depending on tone, context, and characters. For my group's film opening, this is one of the most important things we need to focus on to create contrast between the two characters; even our peers during group discussions pointed that out. We can use all of these elements to contrast.
Color
Before I begin thinking of the other parts of mise-en-scene, I want to focus on which colors work best for each character. As each color develops different meaning, I want to establish a single color for each person.
I'm hoping to ask my teacher next class if I should mix different hues in the film or if its a bad idea. While warm hues represent excitement, cold hues represent calmness. Shots that center around Mara will obviously have a cool hue, but I'm wondering if I should make shots focused on Valerie a warmer hue, as she is more positive and enthusiastic. Warmer colors consist of reds, oranges, and yellows, while cool colors consist of greens, pinks, blues, and violets.
For Mara, I've always pictured her with desaturated blues. When it comes to psychology through American representation, desaturated blues can mean sadness, depression, and negativity. Valerie, on the other hand, is more complex. I see her more with pinks, representing tranquility and comfort, and violets, representing beauty and inspiration. We could also incorporate whites when it comes to her to show innocence, which will most likely change throughout the film. This is also making me realize - how do Valerie's colors change during the time jump?
Lighting
Just like the hues, I'm not sure if adding too much contrast in lighting will make the film look good. Something subtle that I do want to add is Mara's bedroom lights being off while everything else is turned on. However, I also want to keep natural lighting from the sun in Valerie's room, as it feels more refreshing than a room light. This means that I would have to just make Mara's room a little bit darker than Valerie's, but still make it visible enough for people to see everything in the beginning. So, lighting could be pretty difficult in this opening that involves a lot of detail, for not much effect. I'm not sure if I should use that or just keep the lighting neutral for all of the rooms. I will need to discuss with my group about this.
Set Design
Set design develops the setting to create an intended atmosphere, and attempts to make the set look lived in. We also need to pick a specific location. As the story is intended to take place indoors, as long as we have a house to film in, the specific city or location doesn't matter much. We want to film the opening in Andrea's house, as she has two bedrooms similar in size that we can use along with a bathtub.
Set design should especially be incorporated when it comes to the contrast between Mara and Valerie's rooms. Obviously, when I googled "how to make a room look messy", the exact opposite results showed up. So, I took this to my advantage and looked for things that the articles would say not to do. With articles like "5 Things That Are Making Your Bedroom Look Messy" (found here), I was able to create a list with props and other aspects that can make Mara's room look given up on and a mess.
clean or dirty laundry
open closet
cluttered surfaces (with items on it)
a lot of pillows
singular shoes
I also looked for inspiration from other teenage rooms in films, using an article that ranked them from worst to best. (found here).
Along with articles, I also simply looked for images of common messy teenage bedrooms, as that as specifically what I am looking for when it comes to set design. Using the image below and others I found online, I listed more items we can bring on the day of filming.
papers/schoolwork
backpack
books
sports equipment
stuffed animals
plastic bottles/wrappers
photos/posters
Our group also wanted to add a physical picture of Mara and Valerie together to be displayed in a shot during the credit sequence, to show they are close at times and not absolute enemies. We will take the picture this week.
When it comes to Valerie, I want to make it perfectly organized and nice. We can do this easily by cleaning everything up, making the bed, etc. There's not much inspiration needed, as most clean bedrooms online pretty much look the same. Valerie's room won't be displayed much, so all I want to focus on is organization and maybe a bit of color incorporated, especially white (emphasizing innocence). Overall, I want the colors in their rooms to be mostly neutral colors to add balance to the film.
As seen above, many "clean" rooms rely on whites and natural lighting
Costume Design
This is where I think most of the color should come in. For Mara, of course, I want to focus on desaturated blues and greys. I've noticed in many coming of age films with sad or anxious teenagers, they use navy blue sweaters and very neutral colors.
Melinda from Speak, struggling to make friends after going through a traumatic situation
Charlie from The Perks of Being a Wallflower, grappling his friend's suicide
They have a common trend of wearing navy blue zipper sweaters, very comforting yet casual clothing to blend in with everyone else. This fits Mara's character well, as she won't even be the main character later on in the movie. Below are two pictures I found that would fit the character. I like the idea of sweatpants or pijama pants, showing she doesn't try much anymore.
If you haven't guessed it already, Valerie could use a light pinks, purples, and white in her outfit, as I believe it would showcase her personality the most. As I was looking for outfits from coming-of-age films to take inspiration from, I realized that the contrast between Valerie and Mara is really similar to the contrast between Nadine and Krista, two best friends from The Edge of Seventeen.
Krista from The Edge of Seventeen wearing light pinks
compared to Nadine, wearing dark blues to show
that Krista is the more positive, enthusiastic person.
From there, I found some outfits on social media that we could use for our film, that fit more common standards today.
Although these outfits are still casual, they feel more put together. These combinations of neutrals and color make the film not feel too over-exaggerated; there are already many aspects of the film opening that are emphasizing their contrast. We could also add accessories and jewelry to Valerie, such as earrings, bracelets, and necklaces, to show that she is put together to see a friend.
Make-up
To be honest, I don't know much about make-up in general. However, I feel like for Mara, we don't need to add much, or we can maybe even emphasize lack of sleep by coloring under her eyes. Valerie could be wearing nicer make-up. If this is discussed within our group, I'll write more about it soon.
After doing research on costume design and color, I believe that for the last scene, Valerie can put on a dark grey or navy blue sweater/shirt. It would show the impact the suicide took on her emotionally, eventually leading her to even change her wardrobe. The make-up could also become a lot less, maybe even none at all. Also, due to scheduling issues, we can't film on Wednesday, March 6th. I'll dedicate this time for more researching and blogging. See you then!
It's crazy to talk about this now after already having it done for almost a week, but I wanted to dedicate this post on the storyboard I created and how I can apply past research I did to my overall opening. This doesn't mean I'm gonna stop research, I still want to have more details on how to make every aspect of my opening have meaning. I posted the storyboard in my last blog, but I'll show it again here for reference.
(Also, the project name was just "Film opening" at the time because we still didn't have a title in mind.)
Mara's Room
These sequence of shots was an attempt of following the outline of the opening. There are a few frames, like the medium and long shots, that might be changed if I can find out if there's a better way to display them. I don't want to just add a huge variety of shots that don't have much meaning to them. For the first scene, of Mara in her room, I cut down the amount of shots in the storyboard because of space. I'm thinking I can make a separate storyboard to display just that part. There will be a variety of shots establishing the room (the mess, the note, a picture with her and her sister) while also showing the credits. That's the most important reason why I need to have multiple shots in the room. However, I still also have that problem with time during the film. I'll need to see how I can limit it.
Also, I want to add that we decided to get rid of the flashback idea. It simply takes up too much time and could add some confusion and mix of mood. It also won't give too much away in the opening. We wanted the letter to be really noticed later in the film, after Mara's death.
Interaction between the two sisters
Moving on from that part, when Valerie walks in to Mara's room, I simply used long and medium shots to focus on the dialogue between the two characters. A shot-reverse-shot will be used between their conversation. I'm thinking of including a contrast in lighting between the open door in her room, emphasizing the mindset between the two characters and how they feel about each other. The script isn't finished yet (I might still need to do research on that too), but this is where most of the dialogue will take place. The sisters have a strong bond, but as most siblings are, aren't afraid to point out their flaws. From there, the focus shifts to Valerie, she closes the door and (maybe) the lighting could become brighter.
Graphic Match
From here, I wanted to incorporate both graphic matches and crosscutting, also known as parallel editing. These techniques, of course, show the contrast in what they're doing and how they feel about their daily lives. During this part of the scene, to help with time, I could add any credits that I don't have enough time to add for in the first scene. When the camera tracks Valerie to her room, I could use the same shot showing Valerie's room compared to Mara's room. However, for this to work the way I want it to, it would be best to have the rooms similar in composition. Since we're filming everything in one house, we should probably look for bedrooms of the same layout or size.
For that specific shot, want them to both be on their phones. To avoid unnecessary detail, I don't think I'll edit any text messages onto the scene in Valerie's room. When it cuts to Mara's room, Mara will be on her phone, and text messages revealing the blackmailing are going to be shown, since it actually is needed to understand part of her character.
Crosscutting
This section of the opening was also cut down in the storyboard, but the concept of it is there. While Valerie is seeing her friend Bella, Mara begins walking to the bathroom. This is where I also want to add a contrast in noise; music and many sound effects when showing Valerie, but silence when showing Mara. We can implement white noise to fill in the silence.
This is the second part of the opening that will include most of the dialogue. Because of this, I don't want to show that many complex shots during interactions between Valerie and Bella, so dialogue is heavily focused on. When it cuts back to Mara, she is in the bathroom, staring at herself in the mirror. This is another section that I'm worried about when it comes to time. The clip from Thirteen that we took inspiration from took around 30 seconds to fully take effect. For our opening, we'll definitely have to shorten it, maybe to 10 seconds. I also want to add another shot of Valerie before walking into the bathroom, just so the time pass isn't immediate (this part isn't included in the storyboard).
Valerie's Reaction
Valerie walking into the bathroom and finding Mara is one of the most confusing parts for me, and I definitely need to clear it out before we begin filming. As someone who's never witnessed a suicide, this will be harder for me to know which exact emotion Valerie should really be expressing. Should she immediately be in shock, or disbelief? So, I researched different film scenes of reactions to overdose, as this is the best way we could find an accurate reaction.
I found a scene from 28 Days and from Pulp Fiction that I think work the best in this scenario.
These two scenes display two very different reactions depending on their personality or relationship with the character. The first video begins with shock, then as soon as she slaps her, she snaps into reality, and she feels horrified when she realizes what is actually happening. The scene in the second video, however, uses more of an aggressive tone with an immediate responsibility to save her instead of showing distress.
What I don't think I should do, however, is show her actual dead body. Although they're both shown in the clips and in many other videos I found, I simply don't think it's a good idea for us to do, as its a hard process to make it look good, including the makeup and other aspects to make it look realistic. Even though it's what Valerie witnesses in the scene, I believe it's too graphic for this film.
In the second video, I really liked that they used a single shot and a voice over to show the reaction of the character. I believe for our opening, it'll match with the shot of her staring at her reflection in the mirror. Also, if I'm being honest, I don't have many ideas for what to put in the "fast cuts" I wanted to use originally in this scene. We thought of an open pill bottle, Mara's hand reaching out and a close up of Valerie's shocked face, but besides that, there isn't much to show without making it seem repetitive. So, with inspiration from Pulp Fiction, I think it would be cool to just use one shot with a voice over of Valerie saying something as her reaction. We can include the pill bottle in the right third and Mara's hand reaching out in the left third. This is just an idea that I want to share with my group.
After??
Once that scene cuts to black, this is where we're thinking of putting the title Dear Mara. I'll do more research on fonts possibly soon or during post-production. From there, our group needs to come up with a scene of Valerie a few days later, by also implementing the date.
Next class (next Tuesday), we'll need to discuss our final ideas for the filming of the project as we are planning on filming it on Wednesday, March 6th, as juniors need to take the SAT, and everyone in our group isn't going to school that day. We think setting it to one day will limit ourselves from that "we have plenty of days to finish" mindset. After that day, we can schedule another day to film everything again, maybe with a few changes that we want to make after reflecting our original clips. Before this, I definitely need to research mise-en-scene elements for the opening so we understand exactly what to bring and prepare for beforehand. I also want to include that we have set actresses for our characters! My group member Andrea looks very similar to a close friend of ours, Andreina, so they'll be acting as our two sisters. Our other friend Gaby has agreed to playing Bella. I'm already excited to film!
