Production (18)

 Filming

    Today, we were able to start filming. This time, me and Sophia were unavailable so Amparo filmed Brianas shots of just her. I have learned through this project that it is actually quite challenging being in a bigger group for physical filming projects like this. For most of my projects throughout the year given by my teacher, a bigger group has been nice as we can get on group calls and brainstorm together. I have always seen it as the more people, the more ideas- and the more ideas the better. (In most cases) Being in bigger groups has always challenged and widened my own creativity. As for this project, I noticed a bigger group is hard to all be available at the same time. This is very important when we need to film, we have a schedule to follow and if even one of us is unavailable it throws off the rest of us.

    In some ways it is good to have a group but in other ways we are too dependent on each other and this can contradict the filming process. Anyways, I will insert some clips that we were able to complete today as we have to film the scenes out of order because of each others availability schedules. Everything is coming together nicely and I feel we are handling everything the best we can.

    In this clip, our main character is getting ready to go out with the girls, Vicky and Sophia. She is looking at herself in the mirror, self reflecting the choices she making from her hair being up or down, to which pants to wear. She is looking at herself, doubting her outfit choice as she may not feel it is "cool" enough. The camera pans to the bed of the main character which has a different outfit ready for her.

        In this clip, the main character is having dialogue with her dad before she leaves, they both joke about her getting into trouble. this suggests she is a good kid and has never gone against her parents or broken their trust before, seeing as her dad is only joking and clearly trusts her a lot. Yet, this also foreshadows her late getting in trouble due to the sarcasm and strategic dialogue we chose.

Production (17)

Figuring out props and problems

    Props are a key element in our opening scene. Today, my group and I got together to shop for props that we still need as well as collect anything we have around our houses that we can use. A prop we need for our opening scene is an alcoholic beverage, or something that insinuates one. This was a bit tricky for us to figure out but we found a solution. We decided to use any plastic water bottle or glass liquid container and wrap it in a brown bag. 

    This is the type of image we are going for. This can easily suggest to the audience there is alcohol inside of the bottle without us having to actually have possession of an alcohol bottle. We will pair this with making faces while drinking out of the bottle to further emphasize what is in the bottle.

    This was the last mise-en-scene element we needed to put together. Due to personal reasons of the other actors they could not join me, the actress of vicky, and Amparo, the filmer today. There are no solo scenes of me. So, we decided to get creative and go ahead and make this bottle that we were all unsure how to incorporate.

    This is me and Amparo's make-shift alcoholic bottle. It is a gatorade bottle wrapped in a brown bag similar to the picture above it. We chose to use a gatorade bottle since it is sturdier than a plastic water bottle. This way, it won't make noise when we hold or even squeeze it, making it a bit more realistic. Although we ran into the problem of not being able to film today, we made it work because now we don't have to waste a filming day figuring out how to make one of the most important props. (Since we initially planned to just figure it out in the moment when we were all together)

Planning (16)

 Planning Filming schedule

    Production is starting! For my group, this week will be a bit difficult to kickstart our filming, as we all are available at different times. We are planning our production schedule around this problem we have. We know editing won't take long as that was my stronger area with our last project for filming. We are only worried about our film time. We have this weekend, of saturday march 1, and sunday march 2 to film the best we can. 

    This weekend, it is seeming like we will be able to film the packing scenes which is the first scenes of our film on saturday and scenes of Vicky and Sophia (Me and Ana) on Sunday. We will hopefully get the majority of our filming done, excluding the three main characters all in one shot scenes seeing as the three of us aren't all available on the same day. This shouldn't be a problem seeing as we can work around these shots and shoot out of order, then put them back in order during our post-production process of editing. The weather also is looking good for this weekend for any shots that we are able to complete that need to be outside.

Planning Audio

    As for audio, after listening to the playlist we had put together and viewing our storyboard as well as our script. We all had a group call to discuss what song would fit better. We settled on "walking on a dream" by Empire Of the Sun. We chose this song for the initial starting point of the opening scene because it is up beat but not overpowering and distracting with a strong base or loud vocals. It is a fun upbeat summer song yet it is on the softer side which is perfect for when the dialogue starts and the song can be quietly in the background.

Script (15)

Film opening Script 

Begins in Sammy’s house, mainly her room and bathroom. 

Music plays, Hear specific diegetic sounds like a sink running and certain objects being set down. 

Sammy: (kisses framed picture of her mom) Bye, Love you Mom 

Sound of a car honking 

Sammy: (Runs out of house) Bye dad, Love you 

Dad: Love you too, have fun and dont get into trouble 

Sammy: (sarcastically) yea, IM going to get into trouble 

Sammy and her dad both laugh 

As Sammy runs out of the house she slams the door 

The sound of a car honking repeats 

Vicky: (yelling) Get your ass in the car! 

Sophia: (giggles) 

Sammy opens car door and closes 

Sophia: Could you have taken any longer? 

Sammy: (nervously) I’m sorry, I'm sorry I woke up late. 

Vicky: (dry tone) Ugh, whatever let’s go 

Car leaves to go to the beach 

Upbeat music begins to play 

Arrive at Hollywood Boardwalk and the 3 girls walk around 

Upbeat music playing as montage of beach begins 

Music fades out and diegetic sound of beach and the characters talking becomes prominent 

Sophia: (smiling) OMG! You would never guess who texted me last night 

Vicky: (Dry tone) hmm wild guess... Anthony 

Sophia: (confused) What? How’d you know? 

Vicky: He’s talked to just about the entire school about how badly he needs someone to put him on with you and he basically drools everytime he sees you(pauses) it’s kind of pathetic 

Sophia: (sweet voice and blushing) I don’t know, I think it’s kinda sweet 

Sammy: (smiling) Aww, you guys would be perfect together 

All sit down in the sand on towels at the beach 

Vicky: (eye roll) Whatever. I just hope Lucas remembered to lock up the house before he left this morning. 

Sammy: (confused) Morning? 

Vicky: (Sassy) Yea, this morning, he spent the night. 

Sophia: (excited) Okay, hold on, why did I not know about this?!  

They begin to unpack their bags 

Vicky: (Smiling) I wanted to tell you in person so i could see your reaction. Yea, since my parents are in Italy for 2 weeks he slept over tonight. 

Sammy: (smiling but also uncomfotable) aww 

Sophia: (excitedly) Sooo, parents out of town, are you thinking what im thinking 

Vicky: Oh yea 100%, im throwing a rager tomorrow night  

Sophia: We are so out 

Vicky: (pulls out bottle of alcohol)  

Audio (14)

 Audio

    The audio we will use needs to be teenager 2016 related. I looked on pinterest for vision boards of 2016 teenage beach girl aesthetics and made a playlist that put me in the mood of the film opening scene. I listened to this playlist while brainstorming the storyboard and have added to it ever since. 

    In the beginning scene of Sammy packing her beach bag, the song "walking on a dream" by Empire of the sun will be playing. We chose this song since it is an upbeat summer vibes song. This song will fade out as the dialogue starts. On the walk along the beach, vicky will turn up the speaker and diegetic music will fade in. This audio will be "we are the people" by the Empire of the sun. This is an upbeat song that will fit well with Vicky and Sophia's extrovert personalities and upbeat energy that Vicky and Sophia bring once they enter the scenes.

    This song will match their vibes visually as well, since Vicky and Sophie wear bright colors and pink make up. Sammy will look and feel a bit left out not knowing the words to the song like Vicky and Sophie will. The opening scene is mostly making Sammy look like the odd one out in subtle ways, and suggesting that she is trying everything she can to fit in, even if it includes illegal activity.

mise-en-scene (13)

 Set Design

    Focusing on where we will film and with what props are important mise-en-scene elements to focus on in our planning process. I have thought through our opening scene and have collected some props that will be most significant in conveying the storyline. 

We will use this speaker as a prop that will be seen when packing the beach bag as well as when the three girls are walking along the beach. This speaker is an important prop, since it will also be used to convert from non diegetic to diegetic sound when they turn up the music. 

First off, we will use this purse as a beach bag. We will have a close up shot of this bag when Sammy is packing for the beach. I chose this purse because it is big and can fit the other props, as well as being a neutral color to go with Sammys color pallet.

Tanning oil and lotion will be used in the close up of Sammy packing her beach bag to initially let the audience know they are headed to the beach.

Sammy's mom passed away, so in our opening scene Sammy will kiss her moms photo before she leaves the house. We will use this picture frame but replace the photo inside with a picture of my mom on her wedding day.

Locations

We are going to use my bedroom as Sammy's bedroom. As I have the beach props and not many things on my walls so it will be easy to redecorate the walls that will be seen in the background of our shots to cater to Sammys aesthetic.

This is a picture of the hollywood, FL boardwalk. This is a perfect location to film as this sidewalk is where we will film and the sand and ocean is right next to it. So in every shot the beach will be in the background without us having to have the hassle of setting up a stable camera in the sand or getting any equipment wet.

mise-en-scene (12)

     Hey blog! I started planning mise-en-scene elements I will incorporate into my film opening scene. 

Lighting    

    In my film opening scene I would like to keep the lightning bright and natural. For the beach scenes we will go to film during the day and hopefully we will have the sun as lighting. As a backup, we will bring flashlights to hold up to make the lighting brighter if the sun is covered by clouds. As for the inside shots we will use high key lighting as the mood will be up beat throughout the opening. The lighting color will be white or a bit yellow, we will play around with lighting colors I have on my fan light as well as our flashlights to see what ends up looking best on camera.

Hair and makeup

    For sammy, she will have curly messy hair that she will tie back in a low ponytail. Sophia and Vicky will have their hair straightened and down. This will be a small visual indication to the audience that Sammy is "naturally excluded" from the two girls. When Sammy sees Vicky and Sophia, she will immediately take her hair down, despite her efforts she will still be the "odd one out". This is significant in suggesting what the film will fully be about. Sammy will have no make up on while the two girls Vicky and Sophia have full faces of makeup. Again, discluding her unintentionally and making her look and feel insecure.

The actors

    Ana will be playing "Sophia" a 18 year old popular girl that is best friends with Vicky

I, Veronica will be playing the role of Vicky, an 18 year old girl best friends with Sophia

Briana will be playing the role of "Sammy" a 17 year old girl that lost her mom recently