THE OFFICIAL STORYBOARD (hopefully)

I hope that whoever's reading my blogs is a very patient human being. I have changed my storyboard approximately 53782 times. I am really hoping that this is the last blog post where I go on a mini rant about how indecisive my group is because I really like the ideas we came up with today and how we combined them on our storyboard. I apologize in advance for my questionable drawing skills. Sorry, I am not Picasso, but I hope you get the idea.

We might still adjust some things but overall I think we have a very doable film opening and we have a lot of cool mis en scene, editing, and camera shots throughout the whole film opening. I know a lot of the other students can't relate but I'm getting excited cause now I feel like we were able to gather our ideas better and I think if we go through with all of them it will come out looking really good. I think our biggest struggle is going to be finding a typewriter for the beginning. I think we can find one in home goods or goodwill but I'm going to make a whole blog post for just the typewrite so I will keep everyone updated.

glimpse into gay activism in the 70s

Why our time period is convenient

When we got into groups with other students, one of the students,Alyssa, did some research on gay activism in the 70's when I told her that my film takes place in that time period.She pointed out that gay activism was very relevant in this time and there were many protests. An article states that ,"The Stonewall riots, which occurred in New York City in June 1969, are generally considered to have ignited the modern gay rights movement in the United States (Canada, England and Wales had already discriminated homosexuality in 1967)". Another source about the Stonewall riots in New York states that, "Those years that followed, the decade of the 1970's, represent a remarkable period of transformation for gays and lesbians, particularly those living in America's coastal cities."

stonewall riots poster

Now that we are aware of these gay activism riots, we are even more excited for making it take place in the 70's. At first I was little worried about the time period because of the technology;  how we weren't able to use the vlog camera. Now that we figured out how we are going to document Lana's  thoughts with an alternative, and we know that this is the perfect time period for this film, I am so excited to film it.

group meeting

getting feedback

If you've been reading my blogs, you are probably already aware that my group and I are very indecisive and we've changed our mind on countless things. This is a good thing and a bad thing because we keep having to change our storyboard. Luckily, today we got the chance to meet with a member of one individual from each group and get feedback for our project or more ideas. I was really excited to do this because my group and I were running out of ideas and we wanted an outsiders point of view on our film opening. 

school scene idea

Before the group meeting today, my group and I changed our whole storyboard idea because we ran into problems with the whole vlogging idea. The students I met with today gave me good feedback on the school scene. They said that a school scene could give a lot of 70s vibes if we do it correctly. I also think we can use more of a variety of shots and show more technique(without overdoing it of course) if we end up doing the school scene. Also, we can still incorporate the band posters we did research on by displaying them in the girls locker like they did here:

bedroom scene idea

Diary:

When I told the people from the other groups that we ran into this problem because of the technology, they gave me some good ideas if we decide to still do the bedroom scene instead of the school one. They said that since I can't using a vlogging camera that instead I could write in a diary and have Lana document her thoughts through there since diaries were very "in" in the 70s. Now I know what you're thinking, "that's so boring no ones gonna read". However, we want to use a voice of effect while we get an extreme close up of the writing on the diary that way it is a lot easier for the viewers to understand what's going on.

Band Posters in background 

diary writing with V.O

Voice Recorder

Another idea is that instead of her vlogging, we could have her record herself on a voice recorder tape thing like the one used in 13 reasons why. This is the type of technology that was used in the 70s and I think it's an easy way for the viewer to understand what's happening, and we can also keep our storyboard ideas the same because it is similar to the vlog idea. 

voice tape recorder

Overall Feedback 

The students I met with today gave me some good feedback. I took notes on some of the pros and cons they said about my film opening so far.

Pros

• it is a girl that is coming out of the closet rather than a guy since it is something that hasn't really been seen before. 
•  very aesthetically pleasing with the pastels of the costume design and setting we create if we do it correctly

aesthetic

• Vintage effect throughout the film to set up the time this takes place in

vintage filter

Cons

• School Scene is going to be hard to do because their needs to be a lot of extras in the background in order for it to look like it takes place during school
• All actors need to fit the time period costume design
• We need a place that has lockers if we want it to look like the typical 70s high school scene.
• All actors need to be willing to stay after school for a little since we need to film in school.

My Personal Opinion:

I personally think that both of these ideas could work and I think we could include both of them in our film opening since each scene only has a small concept that won't take up a lot of time.

key moments

Room Decor

Props

When we realized we should probably use a lot of context to develop the time period that our movie takes place in we did some research. We wanted to make it so that she is vlogging on a camera like I said in my storyboard blog post. Then we realized we have to figure out how we would make that work with the technology they had back in the day. 

the research

We found that the camera people used in the 70s to film and capture pictures was a standard 8mm camera, which we were able to find online for $24.

standard 8mm

Since none of us were really willing to spend that much on the camera, we realized we could replicate it and make one that looks just like it.

Posters

Another thing we wanted to include since the start is band posters. This is something we won't mind ordering online since 2 of us were already planning on buying some to decorate our own roms. Band posters were very "in" during these times so we knew it wad a good idea to include them. To go even further, we decided that since the whole point of the movie is that she has to come out to the world, that we should find bands that supported the LQBTQ community at the time and use those bands. This will show that she likes listening to artists who support her.

Arthur Conley: He was a famous musician in the 1960s who supported the LGBT+ community and was also apart of it himself as a gay man at the time

The Rolling Stones: supported this specific community while also creating popular music.

Cris Williamson:part of the LGBT+ community and was an important figure in the women's music movement. 

CHANGE OF PLANS PART 236478 !:

So we decided that our camera vlog plans was way too complicated. We thought that using a diary instead for documenting her thoughts could solve this problem. However, we realized very quickly that it would not be very visually appealing to our audience since no one like to read. At this point, we felt kind of hopeless because our whole plan has changed. 

We decided that we are doing a school scene instead. When we decided on this, at first I was kinda freaking out cause we had spent so much time planning something that we aren't even gonna do. Even though we are not doing the bedroom scene, I realized that we can still incorporate a lot of the stuff we researched in our school scene as well. Hopefully we are able to come up with some camera and editing techniques in the new storyboard.

changes to project

we're too indecisive :)

Genre change:

If you have read the blogs I made earlier in my process, you probably already know that we are one of those groups that have way too many ideas and we have a hard time picking one. This is more of a good thing than a bad thing. We started off really convinced about doing a horror film but we ended up watching some film openings on coming of age that convinced us a little more. I don't want to think we wasted time researching on horror film techniques because I still find that knowledge useful. But let's be real here, it's pretty clear that we wasted some time whether we want to admit it or not. Such as a simple thing like changing the genre can change everything. However, I think my group does a really good job at working under pressure and getting things done when we realize we don't have a lot of time left. We've gotten away with doing things last minute for other projects but for this one we can't take any risks. Now that we have decided on our genre once and for all, we each gathered a lot of information individually on a variety of techniques used on different coming of age movies like the ones I address in my previous vlog on "movie inspo".  Yesterday we got together and we all made agreements on what we have to get done by the end of the week and we also agree on the whole idea of the story and on our storyboard idea. 

Storyboard change:

If the person reading this has never filmed anything, my word of advice is to PLAN. I think planning is the most important part of the filming process and in any process at all. For this reason , I want to make sure we have all of the items we need to make our film opening a success. At first, we had a pretty cool idea for our film opening to set up the context of the film but cutting from one object to the other. Setting up the context will play a big role in our film opening especially because we want to develop the character and the setting that takes place in the 70s through visuals rather than dialogue. WELL, believe it or not we realized from seeing previous projects that we should do something more different since many film opening set up the context that way. For now our film opening begins with Lana, the main character filming a vlog but im not gonna get tooooo specific because I don't wanna hype up our idea if we can't go through with it. It is very likely that we will change our storyboard at leastttt 8 more times but im hoping that it's less. :)

production process

we're being productive?

Today was honestly very productive. After seeing some inspiration in class, I got a lot of good ideas for shots and for the storyline of our film overall. At this point of our process, we have already gathered enough information to at least come up with our storyline and what we want to include in our storyboard. When my team and I got together, we realized that we need at least a week (this week) to find our props. The reason for this is because we realized that we have to create context through a variety of shots using  different props and mis en scene elements to show in what period of time our film takes place. For example, we wanted to create a scene where there is a news broadcast of a news reporter talking about how "kids nowadays think it's okay to be with the same sex when it is not". This could've been a good way to foreshadow kind of what the movie is about. However, we ran into a problem when we realized the technology we have today isn't the same as the one they had in the 70s. Unless we find an old tv where we can put green paper on the screen in order to use it as a greenscreen and project our fake news, then we are gonna use our backup plan. In this part of the production process, we are planning carefully to avoid any obstacles we may face in the future. We want to make sure we know who will play Lana, the main character, and if we are using someone who is not in our group, we have to make sure they are available on the days we want to film or else we will have to adjust our schedule.Our self assigned homework for this week is to look for any props we can possibly use in our film opening such as tapes, record players, band posters from some 70s bands, or any clothing pieces that will match the same vibe. Today, we also did our ideal storyboard. The reason I say "ideal" is because it's too good to be true and we are probably gonna end up improvising on some parts since there is a good chnace that we won't find all of the things we need to film. If anything, we plan on going to goodwill to look for any potential props for our film opening.

Storyboard:

I want to briefly tell you guys what we have for our storyboard so far. We want to start off with a VHS looking screen of an old camera while we show the credits(we still have to decide on a font). 

Credit Screen

Then we want it to transition to the camera POV of Lana vlogging about her struggles on the standard 8mm camera( one they used in the 70s).

(not this exact format)

Then we want to have an over-the-shoulder shot of her mom as she walks into the room with her dad and a focus pull to show Lana's reaction.

over the shoulder example

To show an even closer reaction to her parents walking in on her talking about her problem, we want another POV medium shot from the camera of Lana's face.

medium shot example

After, we want an over the shoulder long shot of her parents, Chris and Amy (two popular 70s names), telling Lana to invite Harmony to go to dinner with them since that is her "bestfriend".

over the shoulder shot example #2

Then Lana will cover the camera and this will transition to the next scene

covering camera lens example

Harmony's phone ringing (close-up)

house phone in the 70s

Editing technique they use in mean girls to show they are having a conversation

editing technique

storyboard ideas

Some Ideas:

My group and I are pretty indecisive. I wasn't planning on bringing astrology into my blog, but considering 2/3 of us are libras, should tell you something. We are debating between a coming of age type of film or a typical horror film. In my opinion both of these genres will appeal to our target audience. I feel like coming of age can be more interesting and more successful than a horror film. However, if we do end up choosing to do a horror film, I'm aiming for something relating to the movie "Nerve". Now that social media plays such a  big role in everyone's life, I feel like a film that involves social media and the dark web will quickly grab our audience's attention. A coming of age film will be very interesting. One of my team members thinks we should do something involving a mental disorder since that is a topic we all find very interesting. 

Update:

We ended up deciding on a coming of age of film involving a 16 year old teenage girl who deals with the struggle of coming out to her friends and family about her sexuality. Having this film take place in the 70s plays a big role in how much harder it is for her to deal with this all on her own.

Storyboard Camera shot ideas:

After doing a lot of research on different techniques for coming of age films I came up with a series of shots that I want to incorporate in my film opening in order to make sure the viewers know what genre they are watching and more importantly, the time in which this film will take place.

Since coming of age is a transition from childhood to adolescence, I find this shot from a very well-known coming of age film, Stranger Things, that I want to include in my film opening.

"Stranger Things"

Now I know you're probably wondering why I would want such a scary shot in my coming of age film. I do not want this exact shot, but I want to give the film opening a mysterious feel by having a shadow shot in it. Since this movie is all about a teenage girl who "doesn't know" how to show her real self to the world.


The second shot I want to include is a close up like the one in the all time favorite coming of age movie, "Boyhood". Although I haven't seen the movie, when I saw this clip in class I really liked how it almost gave the audience a glimpse into his the boys life. The viewer automatically knows that the film will be about the boys life and that he is the main character.

"Boyhood"

Lastly, another major shot I want to make sure I include is a closeup or extreme close up of the girl looking at her reflection, whether it's on a mirror, or on the classroom windows as she walks down the hallway. I find that that extreme close up shots can tell a lot about the character and I want to reveal the type of person she is through shots rather than dialogue. I feel that an extreme close up shot can achieve this best.

"It Folows"