Storyboard Planning

I am filming on Thursday (officially, I have no excuses) and I have the full storyboard plan. It's a lot, bare with me, but the vision is so clear for me. The script is a little bit different from the storyboard but that can be fixed with editing. Wishing I had a 70s phone but I have to work with what I have :( (which is a lot so I am grateful!)

This storyboard will make no sense to anyone else but me. That's ok I guess?

Inspo for the makeover scene during monologue: 

There are four outfits I need:

- a workout outfit 

- 2 tester outfits (random seventies style)
- official night out outfit

workout outfit!

style!

hair!

Setting up the room tomorrow and recording the audio sooo more to come this week!!! See you soon blog! 

Fixing up the screenplay!!!

This. Right here. Is the hardest part of the entire project.

I have the visuals down, the actors and the idea. But the writing is so difficult. I want it to be unique and overall original without being extremely predictable but still coming-of-age. Do you understand the struggle??? I have been staring at my screen and searching up film openings for way. too. long.

While researching 70s workout videos, I came across this video. That's it. That's all. I'm still laughing. Anyway, here she is. The final screenplay and I am beyond proud of it.

It is a monologue style that I am going for but mixed in will be shots of her getting ready. I also recorded the monologue and it's a minute and 5 seconds long and then with the opening scene it will be 2 minutes exactly which is perfect! Now, I need to record three voiceovers:

1) the workout audio, making it sound "old" like

2) my "mom" yelling

3) the entire voiceover acted out perfectly

Also, I need the storyboard and research of workout outfits from the 70s. Until next time <33 

Quarantine Diaries: Room Decor

The days of quarantine seem to be blending together because I cannot tell which days I did what. This staying at home thing is a lot harder than I thought, especially with a project like this one. Anywayyyyy, today I printed out some pictures of main celebrities from the 70s to add to the walls of my room along with the other posters:

(also realized through this project how cute Mick Jagger was...... much to think about)

(I also created three other posters, using one of my print outs to use as a poster that I found on Pinterest)

BTW if you're curious, here is my pinterest board I created for poster inspiration :-)

(for your satisfaction needs)

Then, with the help of my sister, put all the posters up and some additional pictures to pull everything togethaaaaa:

(A picture of "Harmony and Lana")

It is coming together!!!!! Still waiting on the typewriter and will be fixing up the script along with the storyboard (thank miss corona for changing all my plans!!!!!!!!!!) 

See ya tomorrow ;)

Finally a film title!!!!!

So proud of her :,) Our official film title is....

It Must Be Love

How freaking cute??????? Now, we look at fonts! I want our fonts to reflect the movie of course (beginners aice media learning) and for it to be aesthetically pleasing. Here are a couple of options:

Texted the group chat and we are all leaning towards the third option.

I love them,,,,, so much. I also think the color will be an orange or light pink, but that will be decided while editing!! Patiently waiting for the typewriter to arrive!!! :)) 

A lot going on

It is in moments like these, right now, this very moment at 5:22 pm on a Sunday afternoon during a global pandemic where I have already searched the whole wide web for all possible inspiration and decided, it's time to get my shi!t together. Just texted Sydney to drop off the typewriter at my door or for me to go pick it up because soon neither of us will be able to move from our homes.

While waiting for her response, I decided to film myself ranting about my storyline, hoping to develop it better and come up with something better.

Going slightly insane

I wouldn't say it was successful but I wouldn't say it was a complete failure. Some things the video included:

1) my phone microphone turning on and off. So, note to self, when i start to film, I am using my dads phone (glad I recorded because I would not have known that!!! would have sucked)

2) my dad calling me from the whole other side of my house for god knows what the second I started recording

3) Lana should be writing a letter to herself or to her friend about coming out

4) Lana's family is Christian, making coming out a bigger issue for her

5) I need to start filming, asap!!!!!!!!!!!

Next, I decided to Google some songs from that 70s that hinted at being gay, for a potential movie title so I can begin looking for fonts. Made a playlist of them:

So far for movie titles I like: I feel love, Take me I'm Yours, Walk on the Wild Side and It Must Be Love

Update: Sydney texted me back and said it will be here on Wednesday, so until then I will preparing my room and fixing up the script

Until next time! :)

Quarantine Buddy 

Update: Put two and two together and I realized I have one quarantine buddy (aka Alex),  and thank god she agreed to play Harmony!!! We can definitely work around the script even with no school scene, and I'll make those adjustments soon. But for now, I have two potential actors for my project, my sister and Alex, which is really good!!

This is Alex :-)

So, Alex and I decided to create this 70's playlist to get inspiration as to what to add in the film opening to make it more interesting, since it will most likely only be a bedroom scene because that's the only place I could film. Maybe this worked out for the better, because an issue my group thought about while writing the script was that it would be rushed and also too long to have the school scene included.

This could work and I am feeling better about it !!! Yay!!!! :-)

- irene <33

Quarantine diaries: DIY

Hellooooo blog! As you know, quarantine has been a little stressful on the project and its production. However, Stoklosa did an online meeting and informed us that the due date has been extended, which honestly helps a lot. I'll have some more time to film regularly rather than film under pressure. I am wayyyy less stressed out.

My inner Picasso skills have come out during quarantine since I have absolutely nothing else to do but paint. So, instead of paying too much money on posters online and them not even delivering because of the current crisis while also having too much time on my hands, I decided to make them myself.
Started off with this pamphlet:

So um, let me explain. I saw this while watching That 70s Show one day and I had seen it again on instagram recently, so I knew I had to do it. I guess Lana is a smoker? Sure, why not. I am thinking that she'll have it on her wall or her desk ironically. 

These are the rest of them (all handmade with love by me :)) :

This actually worked out for the better, I am so much prouder of creating these and putting in the effort to make this perfect for the time period. (I will also may or may not be keeping these up on my wall, they are too cute) 

So, blog, one thing I have learned from this coronavirus experience (which is nowhere near being over) is always! be! prepared! & everything happens for a reason. Yes, I should have maybe filmed a little bit earlier but I do feel better about my work now that I have taken the full time to make something I love. :)

More blogs coming soon about more artwork I will create and corona updates! 

Coronavirus update ://

This pandemic will definitely be something I can complain about and feature in my CCR. I have a lot to say. This will be the most difficult obstacle for our group to overcome, since most parents are super paranoid and want their kids to quarantine as much as possible. Soooo, what does that mean?

1) We film, even with the high risk of one of us being infected (even if we’re asymptotic)
or
2) One person films, one person edits and one person plans or something.

This also means that our school scene definitely has to be taken out.
I am honestly freaking out. I thought my group was gonna go smoothly and everything would work but um, someone had other plans.

Poster buying :/// Did not go as planned

Going to make this short and sweet. Went to AC Moore to buy random arts and crafts for this coronavirus self quarantine crisis. You know, the usual reason you go to an arts and crafts store. Anyway, I found three posters. Two were pretty successful but one was a waste of money because AC Moore is extremely rude and tricked me!!!!!!!!

On the package, it says "John Lennon and Paul McCartney." I thought "Great! Perfect! So fitting!" This is what I pictured since you cannot see the poster until you open it:

This is what I got:

What the hell am I supposed to do with a stupid bird????? 

The other two posters are a lot better thankfully, but my expectations were way too high for AC Moore. P.S. This coronavirus is gonna drive me insane, I honestly do not know how I will be able to get this done while in self-quarantine :// At least I'll have something to talk about in my CCR!

Target Audience Distribution

The main distribution method of small coming-of-age films like LadyBird and Booksmart, are through indie websites and film festivals in order to connect with their target audience. If our movie was ever to be published out into the media, the sources should be accessible to our target audience and relate to them as well. The first and obvious one would be YouTube,  our group has found that over 63% of teenagers watch YouTube on the daily and 64% of teenagers send videos they find enjoyable on YouTube to their friends and family. As our target audience shares our product with more people, we are able to reach larger platforms and a larger group of individuals. 

Another possible way to release our film is through a website called NoBudge. I had no idea this website existed but it is such a cool way to connect with other film makers and put your film out there. 

The website gives you an option of looking at movies by genre and whether someone wants to look at short or regular films. It is super easy for our target audience to immediately find our film. The website has a lot of diversity, which our target audience is about.

Local film festivals are also ideal for releasing our short film. Miami Short Film Festival, Miami Dade Film Festival, and LDUB Festival are all great examples of well known film festivals that are realistic for our movie budget of course. 

Writing of the script 

Starting to write the script and include some 70's slang without overrrr doing it. Used this website to look at some iconic words from the decade but I think most of them are too cheesy. But some could be potential movie titles,  I'll have to look at some songs from the Beatles or Pink Floyd to get movie title inspiration. Anyway, this is our rough draft of the script (and some shot ideas), changing it up as we go along:

Update: Coronavirus has changed the plans of our film opening, I do not think we will be able to film the locker scene!!!!! Ah!!!!!!!!! Stress!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Feeling stuck 

This project has definitely been a process. Feels like I am chasing my own tail. Just going in circles. Round and round and round. That's all part of the process, right? Everyone is feeling like that, right?! Maybe I am just a perfectionist or I have too many ideas. Or both. Probably both.

I am gonna keep it real with you, being a 17 year old girl without a car, a license or a job makes projects like these pretty difficult. Having a big busy Greek family is also difficult to create these kinds of projects. All I can do now is perfect the project before beginning something I cannot finish. It's all about the planning!!!!!! My group is also very indecisive, which does not help, but that just means we are passionate.....right?

Also, can you tell I like visuals? That is basically my entire blog.

I am starting to research more of what colors we are going to be working with which is obviously green, orange and yellow for the 70's but I am not sure what color overlay to put while editing. I do not want to take away from the actual scenes but I do want to create the vintage feeling and the idea of a youthful girl in a coming of age film.

  

PROPS

We. need. so. many. props. Thank you Jeff Bezos for Amazon Prime. Would be lost without you man.

So we need posters and magazine clippings, for Lana's room and locker:




A typewriter (or a decorative one that we can pretend actually works):



Costumes!!! For the extras and obviously the main characters: 



A male actor (or a high school senior by the name of Jesus) that will be playing the "cool guy" that Lana is not interested in:



So unfortunately we cannot start filming until we have the props and everything is set up so we are a little bit behind :/// But staying positive!!!!! AH!!!!!!!!! Overall, we've been weighing our pros and cons for the film and it's all based on props and actors, just like any other film. But I highly think our end result will all be worth it and we'll have an amazing film opening that we will all be proud of!! That's always the goal :)

Changes in storyboard

Ok,,, now things are looking clearer. FINALLY!!!!! So my group and I changed up the storyboard a lottttt and it's actually starting to feel like a solid film opening. Here are the pictures for the new and highly improved storyboard:

                     

Most the shots we are gonna incorporate are still shots and her doing things typically done in the 70s (record players, looking through magazines, writing in diary, etc.) (obviously those things can be done now but you know what I mean) and most of the opening will be a voiceover. The two scenes will go by quickly because it is only a 2 minute film so I'm hoping the movie doesn't feel rushed or not cohesive. I am glad that things are making sense. YAY!!!!! <33