script

celtxxxxx

Today we are giving our full attention to the script. The script is really important in any film opening and in any film overall. Although I'm used to improvising at the time that we film, for this project I want to plan ahead that way we can notice any mistakes in the storyline and make sure everything makes sense. The script is not a requirement for this project so the fact that my team and I are using celtx to plan our film opening shows how responsible we are so yeah i'm kinda proud. 

At this point in our process we are almost done getting everything planned for filming. I am expecting that we will need at least 2 days to film since we have two very different scenes in our film opening. In the storyboard and the script we have the bedroom scene first and then the school scene. However, we want to make sure we film the school scene first since corona virus is switching up all of our plans. If the school closes and we don't have the lockers to film with we will have to think of a whole other idea for the second part of our film opening. So far we haven't run into any major obstacles. I think since we only have school two full days next week it would be the perfect time for us to film the school scene at least.

The format might not be completely right but I do think it will get us to understand what we want it to look like.

Font Ideas?

70s Font Ideas

Now I know when you see these pictures you're gonna be like "wow those are such good 70s fonts" but I didn't find these myself I literally looked up cool 70s fonts and I actually found some really cool ones on the website I clicked.

Originally we wanted to make the title font the typical typewrite font since that plays a big role in the film opening. However, I feel like the type writer font is very boring and it doesn't really appeal to the target audience. Instead I want to use a more exciting font like the last two pictures I have. I'm not expecting to find that exact font but this is the ideal look.

target audience

Who we expect to watch our film

Target audience is a very important factor of a film. Since our film genre is coming of age, we have to figure out who is interested in coming of age movies. The reason for this is because we will use this information to determine our distribution methods and marketing techniques.

Typical Target Audiences for this genre

Teenagers:

• Around the age of 12-18
• Find these films entertaining because they are relatable since they are at the age where they are switching from kid to adult
• Protagonist in these films is usually a teenager = relatable
• The viewers are more likely to have a personal attachment to the main character since they will relate to them

More Specifically...Female Teenagers:

Since we are making our main character a teenage girl, we think our tareget audience should not only be teenagers in generally, but more specifically teenage girls. 

Personality:

Lana, the protagonist in our film is going to be an outsider. I don't mean like no one likes her and she as no friends. Lana is going to fit in just fine and she's gonna be a pretty average girl to the worl. But in reality, she's keeping something from everyone and this secret is going to make her feel like an outsider regardless. She thinks she is different than most people. 

Problems:

We know that teenage girls usually go through these struggles in middle school and high school. Fitting in is something that all teenagers go through and I feel like having this be the protagonists' main obstacle will attract are target audience the most.

let's talk about the characters

Since we are only supposed to do the film opening and not an entire film, we had to be careful what characters we want to show. We also have to be careful because we can't reveal too much in just the opening. 

Lana(main character):

Since this is our main character she has to be a female (cause it's about a girl coming out of the closet duh), and we want her to be very feminine. She likes to wear makeup and wear clothes that are in style. She cares a lot about how she looks and it may be cause she is a little insecure.

Jackie from "That 70's Show"

Chris & Amy

When we wanted to find names for Lana's parents, we were extra enough to search up popular girl and guy names in the 70's. These were two of the many names. In the film opening, Chris and Amy play a small role that helps in developing Lana's character. 

Harmony( the "best friend")

Harmony is Lana's best friend who she secretly has feelings for. Although it is not a secret to them two, it is a secret for society because in this time period being homosexual was not as common as it is today. Harmony also plays a big role in this film opening even though she is not the main character.

Billy (the "perfect" guy according to everyone) 

Billy is not that relevant to the overall film but he plays a big role in developing the plot of the film and assuring the audience that the film is what they think it is about. After the bedroom scene when Lana makes a face when her parents tell her to invite Harmony over, the audience already gets the idea because of the way Lana is acting along with the room decoration and other factors. Billy comes in the next scene when he wants to ask Lana to study with him but with some good angles and editing techniques, it is clear that Lana is too busy thinking about Harmony. Also, we want to have to extras in the back giggling and trying to get Billy;s attention to show that he is a guy that every girl wants but Lana is still not giving him attention.

Archie from "Riverdale"

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.