FILMER'S BLOCK

I have reached that part of production where I am stuck in a rut. Here are reasons why:

1. I have one more weekend to film because the due date is next weekend and I have to edit throughout the week
2. The girl who was filmed for half of my film is not available this weekend so I have to use a whole new character because her face is shown
3. Literally NO ONE is available this weekend(because on such a short notice) to film
4. I have to cut a whole lot of scenes because it doesn't fit the time allotted(2 minutes)

So basically at this point, I feel the need to start all over again. And it is frustrating because of the short amount of time I have to figure everything out. These are a couple of ways I can solve these problems:

Plot:
Annalise is a girl with a tortured past along with a couple of other "acquaintances" who were with her on a terribly eventful night. As Annalise and these "friends" partied the night away playing stupid dares, Annalise drove over a girl and killed her and her and her friends quickly ran away from the scene. Surprisingly, they were never caught and all collectively carried the guilt over the years. 2 years later, Annalise finds out someone was watching her and her friends and witnesses the whole murder scene. This witness never confessed and took the consequences on themselves and decided to go after these kids, planning to kill Annalise, first. Annalise is getting notes such as "I know what you did," and "I wouldn't go in that pool if I were you" and gets killed in a pool, by the witness. The other friends get a note from Annalise saying "This will explain why I was murdered and why you are next."

My next step is to find music and then figure out what my two minute opening plot will be.

Character Development: Annalise

A goody two shoes girl who never took risks in her life. As soon as she took one risk, she changed for the worse and became rebellious, edgy, and filled with angst. One of the main character of the film, was the driver of the car when the horrendous accident happened- killing someone her own age. She is the first victim who died- along with the other kids that will soon come. Annalise has figured out that someone has been out to get her when she started getting messages from an unknown harasser saying that they know what she has done and that they are out to get her. She writes letters to the other classmates but she does this too late and the kids get these after her death.

Plot Development

Taking some time off and letting my thoughts wander, I decided it is better to know what I am planning to make my whole film so I can design my opening much better. So here is the plot o the whole film to carve my way for the film opening:
Entire Film:
Annalise is the daughter of two negligent parents, Richard and Anne, and this makes here tend to take her own path and do her own things. On the last day of summer between 9th and 10th grade, Annalise went to her first high school party. She felt as if though she didn't belong with people at school and she found out people used to call her names such as "Bambi" or "Goody-two-shoes" and this is why she went to the party. At the party, she found herself in a group of people playing stupid games such as Truth or Dare. When it got to her turn for the 5th time, one guy in the group, Mike, asked, "Dare or Dare? You can't choose truth six times in a row, Bambi." So the dare that she went along with was drive a car blindfolded, alone, but what Annalise didn't know was that someone will be in front of the car. Inevitably, Annalise hit the teen- hard- and the teen passed away on impact. The rest of the kids ran away and Annalise took them in the car and drove home as fast as they could. Little did any of them know that there was a witness lurking in the background, and this witness's goal was for these kids to get justice for what they did.

Filming Progress

I have filmed 14 out of the 29 scenes written on the last post numbers #4-18. I made some changes, including brushing teeth in between waking up and putting on jeans, removing alarm clock sound and  decided for the character to wake up scared and from a nightmare. Also, when Annalise is dropping backpack on the floor to show she isn't going to school- she crumples up the note and throws it into the garbage can to show her emotions. After putting it all together- the time became more than seven minutes. Knowing my opening is supposed to be two minutes only and I only filmed half of the content- this is a problem. I will need to cut stuff out and or make the speed fast yet the content understandable to fit the two minutes. People giving me feedback know that I am trying to squish too much into a short opening yet I want to stick with the basis of the idea I have. I am thinking of removing the scenes of the different actors finding the reason behind her death and just leaving the ending to where she dies in the pool.

Shots, Angles, Composition, Movement, Sounds, Editing, and Mise-en-sc'ene

In the my original storyboard I didn't include many different types of shots, angles, composition, movement, sounds, editing and miss-en-sc'ene I wanted to use so this is what I have in mind:
Shots/angles/movement/editing/mise-en-sc'ene
1. Establishing shot/ long shot of girl from behind
2. POV shot diving into pool
3. fade out to black, diegetic sound of alarm clock, edited title scene
4. steady cam wide shot of girl waking up in bed
5. close up of feet/ tilt moving up as girl puts on pants
6. close up on feet/hand held camera movement
7. Mise-en-sc'ene of note in background(Hitchcock's rule) close up of milk being poured into a glass
8. tilt up of girl drinking milk/ close up of hand holding note and tilt up to read
9. extreme close up of note
10. close up of annoyed expression on girl's face
11. tilt down of backpack dropping to floor
12.  hand held movement of girl going upstairs(rapid)
13. mid shot of bathroom door opening
14. mid shot of legs going to bedroom
15. extreme close up of sunglasses
16. close up of spraying sunscreen on arm
17. hand held movement running downstairs
18. mid shot opening backyard door
19. same as #1
20. same as #2 except includes fake blood
21. edited siren noises, faded to black
22. edited black screen "a week later"
23. two shot of mom and daughter talking about death
24. close up of finding note
25. close up of person #2 finding note
26. close up of person #3 finding note
27. person #3 flips paper over and extreme close up of back
28. extreme long shot of all people coming to markham park
29. tilt of one person bending down to find note in pocket

As for sounds: I know diegetic sounds I want to include such as the alarm clock sound(Marimba) and siren sounds but I have to research music on Youtube Audio Library to find non copyrighted music that will fit the tone and mood of this title sequence.

Looking back at my idea, I realize pouring blood right in front of camera doesn't make sense because if it a POV shot, it will look distracting. I was thinking instead to do the same POV shot but have my actress sink lower into the pool(in the shallow side) and have a pool of blood there to show that. Also, I can edit some stuff and make it look realistic.

Filming Updates

I have changed the amount of people for doing the scenes where they find letters from Annalise explaining why she was killed due to small amount of willing actors/actresses. Filming is still scheduled for this Saturday in the morning. Locations will include my house(bedroom, kitchen, staircase, pool/pool area) and Markham park to film the last couple of shots. Researching how to make fake blood I found this website where it teaches how to make edible fake blood! I tried out making it last night and these are some pictures on the ingredients used and how it came out:
 

Some mistakes I made were a larger amount of red food coloring than I should have.

I started looking up on how to make people look dead but everything that came up was makeup, something I am not entirely good with. For now, I am thinking of making my actress wear torn pants and a white shirt with fake blood all over to give effect. I will continue to research to see what is realistic yet looks very deadly.... 

Changes!

I have cancelled my order for the GoPro head strap on Amazon because I found it online on Walmart available for pickup any day, for exactly the same price. When I ordered it on Amazon, it wasn't arriving late but I did not want to risk it because I definitely want to film the whole film this weekend. This is the link for the head strap at Walmart: Go Pro Head Strap at Walmart and this is a picture:

Six Feet Under

I have underrated the complexity of the title sequence of my movie "Six Feet Under."This is because the main character, Annalise, dies six feet under water.  Spending the weekend letting it settle in my mind, I ordered the head piece for Go-Pro's to film the POV shot of Annalise diving into the water(both with the fake blood and without the fake blood.) The reason I am nervous for filming is I find the plot good but too hectic for a title sequence. I decided to remove some scenes such as the last one where Annalise's dead body's eyes open abruptly because asking some opinions I found that it makes it very confusing, cluttered, and gives it a horror movie vibe instead of thriller/mystery. I am also planning to make some of the scenes including her pouring milk, going upstairs, and changing into swimwear a bit more rapid to actually fit this whole thing into two minutes. My movie opening seems to be very different and unconventional in the way that it presents a lot of content in a short time instead of just credits(which I will have) but I want to stick with it because I personally like my idea and feel I can make it work. I am planning to start filming this coming weekend once I receive my head piece and film at my house and start editing the week after I shoot.

The Process

While brainstorming, I came up with an intricate storyboard which isn't completely finalized but I decided to watch some mystery movie openings on Art of the Title just to make sure my the idea I have in mind is plausible. Watching the openings to the TV show Dexter directed by Micheal Cuesta, I was shown not a detailed scene, which is what I was imagining, but instead many images of slicing images and liquid, many times foods such as oranges and eggs, to imitate murder and the blood that comes with it. Also, no dialogue is used, unlike I imagined I would include. I watched some other title sequences including Se7en and Gone Girl directed by David Fincher and all 3 title sequences watched were given very simple plots but they were edited in a professional manner especially Se7en. Knowing I don't have many much access to professional editing and what little access I have won't be able to make it too professional so I have decided to go with a plot-based opening, as of right now that is. My current idea for my opening is shown in the storyboard below(rough draft):

"Art of the Title." Art of the Title. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Mar. 2017. <http://www.artofthetitle.com/>.

Writer Alexander Ulloa Interviewer Ian Albinson Editors Alexander UlloaIan Albinson Published September 27, 2010. "Dexter." Art of the Title. N.p., 27 Sept. 2010. Web. 10 Mar. 2017. <http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/dexter/>.

Writer Ben Radatz Interviewer Ben Radatz Editor Lola Landekic Published July 10, 2012. "Se7en." Art of the Title. N.p., 12 July 2010. Web. 12 Mar. 2017. <http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/se7en/>.

"Gone Girl." Art of the Title. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2017. <http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/gone-girl/>.

Introduction

Hello everyone! My name is Sarah Parbtani. This is the blog for my Foundation Portfolio Project in which I will make a two minute film opening and a creative critical reflection(CCR) at the end of this project. When I started brainstorming, I was in between the three genres of horror, mystery, and comedy, but now I have settled on mystery. The entire film, Six Feet Under,  will follow the life of a girl who was murdered and her best friends finding out secrets of the girl's past which led to her murder.