Camera and action.

 When we first started working on the project I had no idea how I was going to be filming, I wanted good quality but I don't have any cameras in my house. However, I remembered one of my friends has a camera and took a photograph course on favs, so she will be filming my movie opening. She told me that she is not sure her camera is best for filming but we will see how it works, if anything I can use the cinematic setting on the iPhone camera, that to be honest is super good too. I was not sure if I wanted someone else to film it, as I know how I want it to look like, and I know all the shots and techniques best, but none of my friends wants to act on it yet so I know I am going to be playing the main character and then I will get two of my friends to be the other two characters that literally don't speak and they appear for less than a minute. Before starting to film I will teach my friend all the shots and techniques I learnt in class so that she has a background, moreover, I will be telling her while we are filming how I want it to be done, and probably the parts that I'm not acting I will be filming them myself.

this days I will be researching different songs that would fit the opening, because it is crucial for the filming to have the main song already picked as the main character will vibe to the song in one part. Also, I feel like listening to different songs will inspire me more and let me be more creative when filming, as I will already know how the vibe will be with the song when I finish editing it.

After that, next week I am going to try to start filming, I still need the confirmation of two friends but someone will help me, I hope. Then I really hope that arranging one day to film will be easy, as all of my friends work or have different activities during the week. The filming part might take longer than expected, but I will start to pick the songs, shots, and angles before so that I can be more advanced with work.

The settings I picked for the movie are all located in Weston, as the setting is not really going to be shown as much. the whole movie opening will be focused on the inside of the car mainly, even when they are driving it will all be showed from the inside. The only parts when the setting will be shown is when they are robbing a bank, where the bank will be showed from the outside and very quickly.

Costume design & props.

 For this film I portrayed the girls wearing all black, however, I don't want them to be wearing all black and their costumes in the beginning as I want to create a contrast between the first scene, being the girls having fun and joking around in the car, and then when they get to the place to start robbing the bank.

So at first they will be using casual clothes, and then they will change to their actual costumes that will indicate the moment of the robbery. They will all wear full on black and I want to add black sunglasses to the costume, looking something like this: 

Also I want them to be wearing a very light makeup but very coquet at the same time, they are thieves but they are stunning! I was thinking of letting one be wearing a red lip gloss to indicate danger and she will be putting it on before going out. The costumes will focus on being super fashionable but very sober considering they are thieves and they should pass without no one seeing them. 

I want the film to be seated in the 2000s so I will try to implement different props in order to let the audience know an approximation of the year. This props will be taken prom an old box I have in my house full of old stuff including cellphones, iPods and headphones that are all very vintage. 

Over all I really took inspiration from the early 2000s era which will be portrayed not only in the use of props and the makeup, but also in the music choices I will make. 

Research & Reflection.

 To create this movie opening I got inspired from three different movies, taking some aspects and approaches from each one of them and portraying them in my story. 

One of them being the movie "Baby driver":

https://youtu.be/7ARFyrM6gVs?si=0gTRk9jr0sHH9RZs

From this opening I liked all the "robbing" and the driving part, as well as how they played with different sound effects and songs to add some comedy into the scenes. Moreover, I enjoyed how they contrasted the seriousness of going to rob a bank, and the foolish and funny dances the driver was performing, it was kind of absurd but it fitted perfectly, showing the personality of the main character, being much more innocent and funny, but  most importantly the audience can empathize and even like the character even if he is a delinquent. 

However, the parts when they are escaping and driving fast is not going to be in my opening for budget reasons, as well as the part when they are inside the bank fighting and robbing with weapons, that would be pretty much impossible to do and it would be an exact same copy of that opening. What is different from my opening to this one is the fact that all the characters are going to be females and other scenes are going to be added. 

The next movie is called "Italian job":

https://youtu.be/cgJuVOrXv68?si=cQE1KEWTyoaxu1BU

From this movie opening I loved the car shots they implemented and how they contrasted the pacific environment with all the nice music, with the explosive event. Also, I liked the way they put in all the credits and the movie title, including them with the driving parts, which I am definitely doing that in my opening. I am going to add the credits in the first scene when they are driving to the bank, when the audience is not expecting anything bad to happen, when the environment is chill and they are just driving and enjoying their time. 

I am not going emphasize on the setting like they did in this opening, everything is going to be centered on the inside of the car and how the girls interact with each other. 

The last movie I inspired from is called "Set it off":

https://youtu.be/0dfYUjB7pPQ?si=Tf7W00rQRrSm27nj

This movie opening is very bloody and intense, it shows how they are robbing the bank and killing people, they are a group of black males with weapons threatening to kill everybody if they don't get the money. I got inspired from this scene in the "robbing of a bank" aspect, however, in my opening the robbing part is not going to be explicitly shown, the audience is going to infer it from different shots and sound effects.

Story Board

 Today I put together all my ideas and created a story board to arrange them and see which ones were good and fitted the film and 2 minutes.

I decided that the credits are going to be flashed during the first scene when they are driving and the girls are interacting in the car, before they arrive to the heist. Then the heist is not going to be showed but the audience is going to infer it by the use of sound effects and different shots. After that, the title (which I don't have yet) is going to be showed when the driver is blasting the music, there is going to be a shot from outside of the car and the title is going to be displayed. 

I had other scenes in the end, that the characters would arrive to a parking lot and they would come out of the car dressed normally like nothing happened, but for time purposes I don't think it will be possible, however if I have more time in the film I will definitely consider that scene.

Actors & Mise-en-scene.

 This days I've been thinking a lot on how I want the cast to be composed, if I want it to be mixed or only one genre, and I came to the conclusion that I am going to also be acting so I am probably going to pick three more women around my age to be acting. The reason for picking only girls is that I want to add like a feminist twist/message that is going to be pretty different from the action movies you commonly see, as most action movie's cast is primarily composed by men. This "girl delinquent" vision was initially inspired by the series "Good girls" and the "Bad blood" music video by Taylor Swift, that is what I am reaching for talking about mise-en-scene and the whole theme.

here is what "Good girls" cast looks like:

They all look very innocent, each one has their personalities and style, but they all work together to steal.

and here is what the "Bad blood" cast looks like:

They look extremely cool with their unique style, but some how they look harmonious as they are all wearing the same color. they portray the power of woman and they look great doing it, each one with very different anatomies. 

 

Conflicts with the opening

 Today I was thinking a lot on how the opening was going to look like and if I was going to be able to actually make it. that is why I came to the conclusion that the car intersection scenes were probably going to be very difficult to make, as I don't have the tools and the set up to do it, also it is very dangerous to film a car intersection were they are going really fast and the two cars are chasing each other, also where I was going to get a cop car?

that is why I decided that the cop car is going to be represented with sound effects, blue and red lights, and the editing, also I am not going to show explicitly the car driving fast and everything. with the use of sound effects, editing, and different shots of the car, I am sure I am going to do a great job representing the situation. this are some examples of the different shots of the car I am going to do:

I am still trying to make that opening I have in my head happen, it is not going to be easy, but I have a great idea of how I want to implement the sound effects, the different shots, angles, and editing techniques to create an action piece that also incorporates a little of comedy as a sub topic. I will soon make a storyboard to paste all of my ideas and organize them to be realistic and fit the 2 minutes margin. as this is not a simple concept, I will start to pick the actors and the setting, as well as the costumes to make sure this will be possible.

Time line approximation

This will be an approximation of the timeline and the peace I am going to have for the project.

Week One (2/8-2/11)

-research different genres

-watch different film openings to get inspiration


Week Two (2/12-2/18)

-Pick a genre

-decide what the opening is going to be about

-have an outline of what the film will look like

-pick main characters


Week Three (2/19-2/25)

- make a story board

-select the camera I am going to use to film and test it

-start collecting all the mise-en-scene elements 

-get the actors

-pick the different settings

Week Four (2/26-3/3)

-select the main song not copyrighted 

-have the props and costumes
-start filming

Week Five (3/4-3/10)

-continue filming 

-after having all the footage start cutting the scenes and editing them

-writing down all the edition needed before starting


Week Six (3/11-3/17)

-research on editing programs and apps

-find not copyrighted audio material or make my own 

-start to edit the footage

Week Seven (3/18-3/24)

-finish editing

-make the final touches 

Week Eight SPRING BREAK

-just post blogs and make final touches



Week Nine (4/1-4/2)
- post the reflection

-upload the video on blog 

Research on action genre

Although I knew I wanted to do action, I wasn't sure what were the basic principles, I knew there had to be fast cars, fights and persecutions for sure, but with the basic knowledge I had not many original ideas were coming to mind, and I think I am also going to combine the action with a little bit of comedy, as I don't have the budget to have a great car persecution and be able to film it.

The car scenes is something that is going to be very difficult but I am exploring certain ways that I could maybe have a good approach and be able to film it as best as I can, as I don't have the tools to do it either. 

this video helped me see different approaches that I can have on the topic:

https://youtu.be/qNbTBI_hmSk?si=00liakTIVgBoJEM- 

What I learned through the research on the genre, is that it basically consists on chase sequences, fights, explosions, shootouts, and stunt work, also I learned that it is a pretty new genre as most action movies were created after the 2000s. I know that most action movies have plenty of special effects and explosions, however, I am probably going to focus on a robbery, followed by a car sequence.

this is the website I used to research the genre:

obo-9780199791286-0157.xml

The beggining

 As soon as I was told I had to do a film opening, I knew I wanted to be an action movie but I didn't know exactly what about. After researching some movies like fast and furious (which didn't help that much) and a couple of other movies that are very well known, I clicked on a movie opening that I never heard about. This movie is called "Baby Driver":

https://youtu.be/7ARFyrM6gVs?si=Rd0vtFzPMEzVrmo-

I loved how without saying anything they were able to let the audience know that they were robbing a bank and they probably have a double personality. The car scenes are very difficult to film but are very important to give the movie action and adrenaline.

I am probably going to be inspired in this movie, I was thinking about an opening with the car part, the robbing part (which I don't know what is going to be robbed yet), and the music part for sure. I loved the final moment when they changed clothes and appeared like ordinary people again.

The car scenes are probably going to be very difficult to recreate but I will probably going to skip some parts and use sound effects to make it believable.