DEVELOPMENT OF IDEAS
initial Secondary research - 28.Aug.2018
The purpose of this is to conduct secondary research of already existing and successful films to gain experience and inspiration for our own.
> what makes a title sequence work good. credits. no time, get the story started, godzilla, that tells the story, TOUCH OF EVIL (1958) the best one take fillm. enough narrative, enough time to read, tells the story.
> foreshadowing title sequence, deadpool, FIGHT CLUB (1999) it doest only hint at macro, it also tells the macro of the truth, uncertanity, tension.
> human landscape, se7en, the humming bird, LOLITA (1962), shows a bit about human and the theme of the moivie.
CASE STUDY - Saul Bass (30.08.2018)
1. Who is he and why is he famous?
Saul Bass was an American graphic designer and Academy Award-winning filmmaker, best known for his design of motion-picture title sequences, film posters, and corporate logos.
2. Write a list of 10 of his most famous works.
"Around the world in 80 days." "Vertigo." "Anatomy of a Murder." "Ocean's Eleven." "West Side Story." "Seconds." "That's Entertainment, Part II." "The Age of Innocence." "Casino." - from, the IndieWire
"The man with the Golden arm." "The Seven Year Itch." "Around the world in 80 days." "vertigo." "anatomy of a murder."
north by northwest." "west side story." "seconds." "Cape Fear." "Casino" - from, the Guardian.
3. Watch 3 of his pieces of work. "Catch me if You Can." "The man with the Golden arm." "West side story."
4. Choose one of his pieces of woks and using the Film Opening Checklist explain whether it is successful?
Catch me If you Can (2002), included paper-cut out movements, seems like graphic animation, before it was literally cut out of paper and was recorded as it moved on. The opening title sequence uses graphic animation to familiarize the audience with the movie itself of the theme of Frank Abagnale running away from Carl Hanratty in different disguise ranging from a doctor to a pilot.
challenge: explain what makes his style different to other film openings you have seen.
Saul Bass is an American graphic designer in the 1900's which worked for film openings, so the main difference in style from other film openings I've watched in the 21st century would be the focus of the entire sequence. Saul Bass intertwines usage of text/typography that shows the opening credits along with graphic animation which sets the stage in a metaphoric manner. He used to create logos with represent the topic of the movie, for example the Man with the Golden Arm." The image of a crooked hand is used to correlate to the idea of clashing or joint existing of the broadcast. He used to make the logos for ad campaigns but they were then good enough to be included in theaters. With the addition of motion and sound makes the title sequence more 'alive' and was able to set up the mood of the film. As a highschool student, I have more interest in recent movie releases which most of them are quite short with opening credits and titles, and just straight into the video. But the main difference in 'style' I'd say is the importance and the value each producer focuses on the title sequence. I'd say Saul Bass pays a lot of attention to making the opening as great as the film it self and sometimes even better. It has all the elements of a successful film opening and the art (graphic) he includes also shows the artistic and creative/expressive side of his work rather than just 'making a opening title for a movie.'
Summary:
We have looked at many other films and this was the first lesson we had in Media Studies. It opened up to so many different aspects which I have never thought about. It helped me learn a lot despite it being just the opening.
primary research - 18.Sept.2018
We have set up a questionnaire for our Media Studies students to research on our target audience and to have a clear idea on our target audience.
https://jiwonll.typeform.com/to/TkZtkE
Analysis:
age: 16 - 5 , 18 - 2 , 17 - 3
7 - female, 3 male
3 byron, 3 suriyothai, 2 churchill, 1 sonakul/nehru/keller
most fav genre comedy, drama, fantasy. least scifi.
no.1 hugh jackman, jennifer lawrance,
most attractive, plot, least attractive, actors/actress.
favourite opening least fav opening
60% western, 40% eastern movie preference for same genre
out of scale 0-10 from least to most,
4 people chose 7, people also choose 3,4,5, 8 and 10 but 1 choice each.
Findings:
Our main target not going to change, it is still going to be females and mostly older teenagers. Our film is romance comedy but with an addition of 'drama' being one of the most liked genres, we do not mind putting some drama in it to make it more attractive. As for the actors, most of them seem to prefer Hugh Jackman or Jennifer Lawrance which have experience in acting in a lot of different genres from romance to fantasy so I would like to summarise it as all-round actors which have experience. As for our casting, we have casted some that have experience in going on stage and performing (both music or acting wise) before. I believe it would suffice our audience's need. I can see the need to make the plot for our film most important because most of our respondents find the plot in the movies they watch most attractive. The most attractive film opening they found was the opening from Penny Dreadful which didn't show much opening credits but used a lot of imagery of snakes and scorpions which were metaphors or foreshadowing of the film and also some of the human landscape as they introduce the actors and some of the actors kissing. One of the metaphor that stood out was the fly being caught in the spider's trap; which holds the meaning of being trapped and lured by evil. The least favourite opening as voted by the students was from The Kingdom which starts of as a real documentary-style timeline showing real-life footage of series of things happening between Arabia and America after the discovery of oil. We now now that we should focus more on the imagery part of each film opening rather than focus on the story line or the words or credits. For the 9th question, we found that most prefer western plot/movies of a similar genre, which I believe plots and storylines are more straightforward and there isn't really much deep or hidden meanings in the story; it mostly relies on the screenplay such as the actions/acting or the visual of the movie. I feel like we could make our plot line obvious but as our film opening has inspirations from Korean dramas, we would add some twist for our self.
Summary:
This box of research was spent on for more than a month along with audience research. I did learn a lot of new things that I've never known about before so this is the first step I've took in the media world. I do wished we might've spent time on finishing this faster so we've got time to do the rest of the pre-production. But it was very meaningful as first lesson.
initial idea spider diagram - 18.Sept.2018
With the help of the All Pre Production Help document, we made a spider diagram to layout our base foundation of our film opening and what it's about.
This is the basic layout that we followed when drawing our initial idea spider diagram. We tried to include every sub category in it, such as the target audience, idea/film techniques, inspirations, genres, meaning and platform/duration. It was clear for us that the time limit was 2 minutes for our course work, but we kept our ideas going.
Even though a spider diagram was not new to us, the below videos taught us what to include (as well as the picture) in our spider diagram when it came to creating a story.
Main Idea: A short romance comedy film about high school love.
Development: Something clique yet unique - most characters in other films have unique characteristics that we remember them for, so the unique-ness for us are the characters trying to portray a similar and frequently heard message about Love.
1st idea. A not so perfect protagonist. Along with a partner that fills up his imperfection.
2nd. Relationships clashes and chemistry. A childhood love story, a teenage love triangle.
3rd. Plot twist - enemies becomes lovers.
Video of development
Finished development
Summary:
It helped us in a way that we could keep our ideas on a written paper which shows evidence of what we've done before we could process it further in our brains or develop it on our blogs.
statement of intentions - 20.Sept.2018
The next stage of our development is to write our Statement of Intentions, so that every member of our production remember our original intentions when we started making our plan.
Summary:
It helped me in a way which made my job clear and also our goal clear. It made me feel more determined about what I'm supposed to do.
audience profile - 22.Sept.2018
This audience profile is to make sure to help us identify our target better and focus in more detail of how we can attract our target better.
We were aiming to show our film to Harrow students age around 14 to 18 but this film can be viewed by all ages and lifestyle.
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target: mainstream audience - but could be niche in terms of ethnicity
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lifestyle: school students, from secondary to high school to college. lives a happy life, with free time.
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class: medium class
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age: mainly teenagers, but available to view for all ages. 13 to 21 target.
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gender: females.
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ethnicity: asian, east asians, could be thai.
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spending power: people on budget can watch.
- diversion (the need to relax and escape)
We aim to make it funny and relax escaping the stressful real life while laughing and cringing. As much as we say we make it different for the audience to relax and escape, the film is something taken from real-life.
- personal relationships (using the media to fufill their personal relationships with friends, becoming part of a social group)
This is about high-school life and relationships so I think it could spark some conversations about how it's being relatable or not.
- personality identity (using media to find out more about yourself)
The characters are made to tell a story so they are not all perfect or made in great depth/complications like all humans but I hope some could learn something about themselves or just human nature in general.
- surveillance (using the media to find out what is going on around us)
We take place in a current situation in the current era so I think it should really reflect on the things that goes around us. Even though the theme of love and romance does not change; it could have the same logic and sense of meaning for everyone throughout all eras.
screen grabs of similar movies with similar target audience profile
Summary:
It didn't change much from the primary research summary I did previously but it did help us imagine our target audience much better. We're making a general film that many can enjoy and relax to but our target audience is still females of young adults/teenage which have some sense of humour to understand some of the clique of our film.
presentation - 24.9.2018
We are doing the presentations to gain ideas and knowledge from our colelgues as well as gain feedback on our own opening. We are to share what we have done so far and get advice on how to improve it.
BE THERE FOR YOU
WHAT WENT WELL:
- detail explanation of the storyboard of our opening
- explanation of our genre, synopsis, etc. summary of our film
- sharing of methods used and difficulties
EVEN BETTER IF:
- include method of typography
- think of methods to make our film stand out and unique
- usage of showing the opening credits
US
WHAT WENT WELL:
- detail explanation of the storyboard of our opening
- good planning of characters
- unique plot for psychological thriller
EVEN BETTER IF:
- include method of typography
- color grading decisions
THE STRANGER
WHAT WENT WELL:
- finishing the presentation
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EVEN BETTER IF:
- more explanation on the story board
- how to make it more unique
- location decisions
ATTACHED
WHAT WENT WELL:
- very detailed plans (characters, location)
- a different genre from the rest
EVEN BETTER IF:
- needs better camera angle/techniques
- think of more than music in the background
Summary:
We have learned that we should be able to plan faster and come up with finished planning and understand more efficiently about the importance of what to include in openings. We did not fully conventionally used every knowledge we learned. We now know what we need to improve more on and hopefully it will also help us in the future and the film it self.
genre research - 24.Sept.2018
Our main genre is Romance Comedy so we conducted research about the history of the genre, camera angle and colour gradient that is in most romance comedy films.
History of Romance film Genre
"Romance is a genre which revolves around the love between two main characters as they endure the highs and lows of love."
Some of the most common things that are correlated to the theme of romance genres are:
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kissing , love at first sight , tragic love , destructive love , sexual and passionate love , obsessive love , sentimental love.
The first romantic film was said to be created in 1896 by Thomas Edison and was only 18 seconds long. It was called the May Irwin Kiss and was famously shown on screen for the first time on Edison VitaScope.
The first movie for each genre:
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Romantic Drama - Casablanca (1942)
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Chick Flick - Terms of Endearment (1983)
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**Romantic Comedy - Trouble in Paradise (1932)
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Romantic Thriller - Sleeping With the Enemy (1991)
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the first homosexual film - Different from Others (1919)
https://www.slideshare.net/StephWebb/history-of-romance-films
ROMANTIC COMEDY
"Romantic comedy is defined as a movie or play that deals with love in a light, humorous way."
In a typical romantic comedy, it includes the two character not able to be with each other but through obstacles, they find a way to have their own 'happy ending'.
History Of Romantic Comedy
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The oldest type of romantic comedy to evolve were "comedies in manner" where the two characters would be of totally different class. An example would be It Happened One Night (1934) where a wealthy woman and a poor working man fell in love. In those times marriage between two totally different classes were only to be dream of. Movies like these gave hope to those who were poor and say money is not everything when coming to love another person.
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Soon there was the emergence of Screwball comedy during the Great Depression. It was named after the baseball term screwball because of the unexpected way the movie takes place. Mostly it consists of fast-paced dialogue or slap stick comedy and gives unexpected turns where females could be the main protagonist or the hero. Female empowerment was rising in this era. An example would be Bringing Up Baby (1938).
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Later the public view on romantic comedy starts to change as more sexual contents starts to get involved. People were now open to talk about sex or innuendos openly. Sex comedies mostly include two rivals going against each other but in the end wanting each other. Sooner or later, most movies were not about two protagonists getting their 'happy endings.' They soon start to focus on their personal happiness such as in the movie Annie Hall (1977) with the realization of love does not solve everything.
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The most modern and common romcom movies would be Neo-traditional romcoms where it follows the traditional structure of where the boy and the girl meets but they lose each other, but then again gets their happy ending. But in this 'neo' tradition, the partners engage in a trouble and has lesser emphasis on sex culture like back in the 70's. That's why it's more family-friendly and more users are now able to engage with the genre.
".. romantic comedies reflects the society we live in. Whether the story takes place in the modern world we inhibit, the futuristic world or the era of the long past, the moment a movie is made, it shows the current society's general feelings on love."
https://www.slideshare.net/KieraTolhurst1/history-of-romantic-comedy-81719937
MODERN REACTIONS TO ROMANTIC COMEDY
The couples in the video didn't have much knowledge on old
movies such as As Good as It Gets, etc. so they did not
have much visceral reactions compared to the more recent ones.
They mostly loved the whole film because of the acting in it
and the comedy and slap stick the movie creates.
similar inspirations : korean romcoms
They are all fairly famous and trended world wide for their iconic scenes, acting, dialogue and screenplay. They've captured the hearts of most youths and manipulated the minds of most young females into falling head to heels for the actors and actresses. Most of the films here are fantasy-based movies where each protagonist falls in love with a super/non human character except for Boys Over Flower where it has a 'reverse harem' theme which means there are a lot of boys surrounding one girl.
camera angles in romance and romcom
Romantic comedy use camera shot in order to make the story more simple and make the audience understand the plot easier. The list of the angle that romantic comedy use is over the shoulder shot ,Two shot, Mid shot, Longshot, Extreme long shot and the most shot that they use is the close up shot .
color gradient and gratification
Most of the romantic, comedy and drama films uses the similar shades of color. The most popular shade is the greenish and yellowish shades which gives us the mood of happiness, playfulness , gentleness and feelings of the freshness.
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Summary:
It helped me more about learning the techniques they use in the genre we're going for. We learned a lot about the history through research and we got to know a lot about how the genre have evolved through the years and how it came to be what is it today. We also got to know the frequent camera techniques used to in romance comedy so we had something to refer to which was good. The colour gratification theory would really help us out a lot when planning the location as well as editing.
topic research - 25.Sept.2018
We are researching similar films and movies with the topic that we chose from and see what are the characteristics of those films and what's mostly included as well as the genre involved.
Our main topic is about high school romance which mainly involves youth and immature love and the discovery of the meaning of love.
In my opinion, most people see high school love and romance as childish or maybe a bit annoying but I believe showing how each youths develop through the stage is important for everybody to realize it. Most high school films are pretty cringe-y or cheesy with very heart-wrenching acting but I believe that's what is most effective to relay the message to the audience.
I would mostly be talking about Korean high school romance comedy because they are which our team mostly get inspiration from.
Western Examples
Korean Examples
Hi! School Love On (2014)
average 3.5 out of 5 ratings. - google users
The plot is very average and it seems as if the writers stretched it too much for as long as 20 episodes which seems like they were talking about the same thing after 9 episodes. But what attracts the audience is the actors in it and the theme of an angel falling to the earth. The acting seemed to have stood out along with the OST.
- taken from K-drama Amino.
Sassy Go Go (2017)
7.6/10 - iMDB
It was like a typical high-school story plot with all other movies mixed in together, but it never gets boring as the relationships and the story is always heart-tugging. The movie revolves around two opposite groups coming together to form a cheerleading team (spoiler). This show does a good job of relaying the message of teamwork, how adults interfere young innocents, and sincerity of love; be it romantic or parental love.
- taken from thefangirlverdict.com and K-drama amino
Dream High (2011)
always stayed in Top 10 rating during air time in SK - wiki
One of the original high-school, music centric, idol-studded casting which attracted A LOT of fans to watch and became one of the Hallyu wave across the globe. Each 6 character have their star characteristic whilst also having their own flaw. How each character traits works around each other was the main point of this show involving the theme of music and passion as high school youths. It also tugged the hearts of many and the catchy original music soundtracks and remakes gained popularity worldwide.
- taken from dramafever.com
In conclusion...
The main (and also the easiest) way we will represent this topic is by centering around high-school students and high-school lifestyle. We would try to make the visual representations (environment, clothing, actions) look youthful and 'hippy' so that it represents the theme of youth. It is very common during the period of 'puberty', there are very high chances of developing 'crushes' and 'relationships' so along with the idea of it being 'high-school' themed, I believe it already annotates with the topic of immature/under developed feelings of love.
Summary:
We're going for these kind of look but I know it's hard to make it popular because of the amount of budget and casting is very difficult to manage but I hope we will be able to attract most of the main stream audience. We now know what kind of components we have to add in our film opening.
fresh and unique research - 27.Sept.2018
As our film genre is very common and clique (it was on purpose), we still have to make it original and fresh-off-the-oven. This research is about some unique things we found on the internet and how we can adapt and get inspirations to make our own.
camera angle - constant angle
music video - Dean - instagram
the camera angle from the beginning to the end always remained straight which focused on the main singer. the only variation was the shot started close-up then slowly zooming out to show his whole body and then a wide-shot of the entire background. then the editing work takes place, being cut through with a black screen before it goes the reverse in the end. the camera slowly zooms in at the same angle as before to end at how the began.
short love film - story of me and you
this is another film with it's uniqueness being the camera angle ALWAYS being bird-eye view; probably only being filmed from the ceiling/above. the short film does not have any memorable dialogue but it goes through the process of the relationship between the two lovers. it's as if we were from the perspective of God looking down on humans and the story of their life. the message was also very cleverly shows as a metaphor of the guy cleaning up his room. he cleans his room in the beginning of his love live, and at the end once again after suffering from post-breakup.
As for us, we are doing a totally opposite style from the research I did above. We want to have as much various shot as possible; long shot, mid shot, close-up etc., to show the imagery of the unstable minds and hearts of the youths and the busy body of the protagonist and the characters that follows. It will follow the life of a high-schooler and it will have a lot of cuts and angles and it would be a bit fast paced as it shows a lot of motion as well as setting the background/environment to make the audience feel at ease and more drawn into the opening.
short films based on true stories
This Youtube channel called Dingo K-drama takes stories of it's viewers and anonymous writers and turns it into short films that we can enjoy and relate to. Most of them are romance stories and most includes some funny and comedic moments. The unique point is that since it's based on a true story (and it show us too), we as viewers feel more part of the film and relax as we sympathise or laugh at some of the relatable parts. I, personally, think I learn about relationships and what happens during them. Each one of them have their own simple meanings and scenarios which are unique from one another. It's a great way to share experience to people around the world.
Our film is inspired by Kdramas. However how can we make our opening be more fresh and different to the original film drama?
As you can see the opening of the Kdrama use lot of cinematography to introduce the character that was important to the films. One of the example that can be seen from is 'The Empress ki' where it shows the use of shortcut and introducing a title at the start of the film.
In contrast, we decided to make our film different by introducing the characters by for shadowing the main scene and shows the audience when or where the characters met. Ordinarily, kdrama usually use text at the start of the films but in our films we decided to use text(credits) set in each scene. which there will be black screen that we still thinking of putting the producer name on it.
In additon to the Logo of our production.Our creator Lingling designed our logo to suit our name company which is called BLINX. As you can see our logo is inspired by the movie called WINX where group of fairies help each other to protect their land. Nowadays, many company doesn't use techniques on creating shapes on the logo name but for our production we use it to describe how we work in teammate.
There are many ways we can make our film unique and different to other people. Firstly , our camera shots will be different from others as we will use many varieties of camera shots such as mid shot or close up shots.
Moreover, we will also be making our own mashups song for our film product. Not just a mashup, but a duet between me and my team member which would be really cool to be using and recording our own voices and put them in our media product.
Thirdly, most of the Korean drama's female actors often have a bright, cheerful and easy-going personality, but it will be different from our media product as we decided to make our female lead having a very stubborn personality.
Summary:
I have learned through this research that it's actually pretty difficult to come up with something completely original because there are cases where our idea may already have been used by someone else. What ever we created is because we've seen it somewhere on the internet. But with the brains of all team members combined, our different ideas clashes and creates something new hopefully enough the surprise the audience and judges.
protagonist research - 29.Sept.2018
Our main protagonist, also know as The Sport Guy among us, has characteristic of an anti-hero, or a protagonist of a greek tragedy. We are researching our main character on what kind of person we want him to be, how will he help us relay the message that we want to say.
name: Tan Wonggusongit
nicknames : Aiden, the Sports Guy
birthday : April 4 2002
zodiac : aries
blood type : A
figure : tall, always styled hair, style jackets
personality summary : result from mbit test
E S T J - A
Extravertated , obServant , Thinking , Judging , Assertive
heavily revolves around the word 'together' or 'unity'
likes the oversee a community and acts as a overseer
role : the main guy who really doesn't have much friends as he acts cold, but as a sports person, he knows what he has to do with the team to win. winning had always been his priority. even winning over the girl he likes. he has a best friend who's totally different.
characteristic summary :
appears to be cold outside but actually cares (is warm) inside.
full biography blog link :
https://www.asianfanfics.com/blog/view/1265401
(inspiration from here)
profile walkthrough
Films inspiration
Reference: the irony in the character; seem to be perfect, wise, mature but on the inside Aiden is still a child and needs love and attention.
Another main inspiration: WonGeun from Sassy Go Go.
similarities: smart, is top of the school, handsome, tall, sporty, grabs girls' attention, have a best friend.
difference: being cocky, naughty or playful.
Main inspiration for character: Go JunPyo from Boys Over Flowers.
- similar characteristics: rich, assertive, tall, popular, pushing parents, high school student, obsessive with the girl
- difference: Aiden is not childish or is reckless about decisions, Aiden is smart and a model of a 'perfect' student, where as JunPyo relies hugely on his money and the fact that he's rich.
Reference: aggressivness and characteristics when playing sports, or anything Aiden is passionate about.
Summary:
it helped us build our character profile in dept and detail which was fun because even though we made the character ourselves, it made us know more about the character we're creating and the meaning we would like to creating using the main protagonist.
antagonist research - 29.Sept.2018
Most people believe the antagonist is usually the bad guy, but there is no bad guy in our story. Here we'll be showing the opposition of the main protagonist, who's known as the Music Guy among us. But also addition to it, we'll be adding what is actually the 'bad' thing or theme that's in our story.
name: Gun Leechaiyapornkul
nicknames : Eric, the Music Guy
birthday : October 19 2001
zodiac : LIBRA
blood type : O
figure : height is relatively average, when he smile it could melt hearts, very innocent look.
personality summary : result from mbit test
E N F P - T
you can also see from the personality result that the protagonist and Eric are really different. Extraverted, iNtuitive, Feeling, Prospecting, Turbulent. Both of the guys are extraverted and are easy get along with but apart from that they're different. But they say, "the opposite attracts". Eric enjoy giving life to other people in a social event, in his case through his music and performance.
role : the second lead who acts totally opposite as the protagonist. he have always known Aiden since they met but as two polar opposites, there are times he cannot stay patient. there are instance in the rest of the story, where the two fights over the same girl.
characteristic summary :
very warm and friendly most of the time but can get serious (very) at things he cares about.
full biography blog link : refer to Aiden's biography link
profile walkthrough
Film Inspiration
This is the character we referenced from; Lee Shin from Heartstrings - the idea of the character being music centric and have the warm yet chill image. We also get the inspiration for possible plot twist that could arise with Eric.
Yonghoon from Are You Human? is to reference the friendship Eric (the second lead) has with the protagonist as best friends.
Chasik from Page Turner is to reference the character being light hearted, have a un-wealthy background, and have the goal of playing for somebody.
This film reference is the same as the protagonist, this is Jihoon from Boys Over Flowers. This character is also the second lead, different from the protagonist, music centric and a warm image.
negative theme research
In conclusion.........
The 'antagonist' of our film is going to be the flaw of the characters which are mostly self centered-ness, clash of opposite personalities, stubbornness and over assertiveness of one side; or in summary imbalance of individual characters. The story involves learning of the young youths about how their actions affect others and why or why not they should continue to do it.
Summary:
We learned about not always having a bad character in our film . It could just be a theme. Or it's always that the antagonist always have their reasons for acting the way they are opposing the protagonist. Our antagonist in our film is more of a second-male lead which most Korean high school / romcom centers around.
driving action and surprise research
The driving action originates in an event or incident that serves as a catalyst for the story. The catalyst focuses the protagonist on his goal. It causes the protagonist to act. What the protagonist wants to accomplish draws or pulls the character forward.
For our film, we plot that the Sport Guy is naturally attracted to the Girl as he continues to stay observant. He would feel uneasy sensations because it's not an everyday occurrence to him and he would start acting different as his body and mind changes back to the way it was when he was just a child. He have moved away for better education and change himself for the better as forced by his parents. His action is trying to make the girl fall in love with him as he falls into the evil trap of his inner childish calling to make him turn back to his immature self. The main drive would be his sudden feeling of enlightenment when he meets the girl on the road while the sound and the memories from his necklace rings back.
The story itself should hold a few surprises for us as well as tell us something. Incident - an incident is a rapid change in circumstances for one or more people. The change in circumstances should involve highly contrasting conditions.
Summary:
This made us think more in depth of our film and think about how we can make our story more attractive and manipulating to the audience.
environment research - 1.Oct.2018
This task will help us set the scene of every shot of our opening and make each scene count and professional. We should take some Location Scouting form and take 1st person test shots. All pictures used are from the Internet and are not our own. Credits to the owner.
first scene - flowers / country side / barn / yellow / blue+cloudy skies
"have you ever broke up on a bright and sunny day? it hurts even more than on a rainy day." - VIXX , love equation
What you will see :
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a country side scenery / some mountains (no to little high buildings) / a farm or a very wide field
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trees in the background
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a field filled with yellow flower and greeneries
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a sunny blue sky / some clouds
What the colours represent :
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yellow - the colour of brightness, positivity and happiness, additional to the child character representing innocence.
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green - feeling of contentment and playfulness, goes along with the colour yellow in the field of flower. playful childhood innocence.
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brown - colour of the earth, representing home and wholesomeness. it shows that the place they're in is their birthplace, the place where they're originated from.
What you can hear:
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windy - wind caught up in the microphone, to show the characteristic of the area.
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faint sounds of animals and motorbikes - the area is mostly surrounded by nature and there are no cars, only small vehicles to get around.
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wind getting caught in the leaves - a close up recording as the breeze pass by the leaves, plants and trees.
How we're suppose to evoke the feeling of contradiction of happiness and sadness :
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the acting and the script will totally oppose the environment we're filming in. i wish to confuse the audience and deliver the message of breaking up on a sunny day being more hurtful by showing off the actor's acting.
second scene - basketball / street / audience / young blood / aesthetic purple skies / the evening setting sun
"everything we do, is beautiful, we can light a fire, watch it ever glow, we won't burn out." - Martin Garix & Justin Mylo, Burn Out.
What you will see :
-
a basketball match - in which the protagonist in playing in
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a busy park - a place with a lot of different people mixed in; they've all came for different reasons.
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trees and lakes - as part of the park's characteristic
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a group of fans and audience - they're spectating the match; the girls are here for their high school hottie.
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a late afternoon/ early evening sky - this is when the match takes place.
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a sunset - can mean a failure (by the sun going down), but it is also very beautiful. the downfall of the protagonist is foreshadowed from here.
What the colours represent :
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orange
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purple
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dark blue
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red
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green
What you can hear :
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sounds from the basketball match
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sounds from the background at the park
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loud cheers from the fans
How we're suppose to evoke the feeling of youthful energy :
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the sound of the people cheering loudly for the game
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the fast-paced basketball match taking place
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the use of bright 'hot' colours.
third scene - street scape / buildings / walkway / daily landscape / brown beige
"Miracle on the everyday road."
What you will see :
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the evening setting sun
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the busy traffic road from the end of the day (going home)
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lit up buildings and shops
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the grey-ish brown-ish colours of the pavement and the buildings.
What the colours represent :
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dark orange/red (from the setting sun) - the feeling of dark angsty strong feeling, the feeling of going down, hamartia.
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brown - the recurring feeling of the first scene, feeling of home
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grey - the feeling of urbanisation which contradicts from the first scene of nature.
What you can hear :
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the noises of the car and traffic and maybe the BTS train.
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the voices of the people passing by
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the noises from shops that is passed by.
How we're suppose to evoke the feeling of heart-fluttering mystery:
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the colour scheme used in this particular enviroment is supposed to make the audience feel familiar yet different
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this is where the main protagonist Sport Guy passes by the Girl
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the feeling that the audience feel is supposed to reflect the feeling of the Sport Guy as he feels a strange sensation of familiarity yet difference from the girl he just passed by.
last / fourth scene - full focus on music guy / empty stadium / piano / music scores
"Silence is Golden."
What you will see :
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the Music Guy alone working in a pile of his instruments and scores
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a stand alone grand piano in the middle of the room
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empty seats of the hall
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concert hall lighting is mostly bright and the floor reflects the colour of brownish yellow.
What the colours represent :
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the Music wearing black shirt and black pants represent formality and reflects on his personality
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the colour of the lights in the hall is supposed to display the characteristic of the concert hall
What you can hear :
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small humming noises from his music player
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his piece of music played through his instrument (the guitar)
How we're suppose to evoke the feeling of enjoyment in solitude:
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it will be displayed all through the acting of the Music Guy.
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he is sunk into the dept of his music and composition that he does not care about his surroundings.
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as this takes places in an empty hall; a place where there is supposed to filled with people but is not, it heightens the feeling of loneliness in the area as the Music Guy is there alone.
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but we can see him enjoying the work load as he takes them on with passion.
Summary:
This really helped me describe the environment I want in my film better and it made me think deeper on writing the meaning behind each of these environment. It added dept to my research.
theme research - 2.10.18
Theme means the underlying meaning of the screenplay, what you are saying about life. This task is supposed to help us identify the theme of our film.
Our main theme is Love. This includes idea of 'love at first sight', slight 'obsessive love' and 'immature love'. The theme of immature love is based on the other the theme of Youth or more the theme of Coming of Age.
Some would think about the 'Loss of Innocence' when thinking about 'coming of age' because it shows the story of teenagers (most of age 18) losing innocence as they learn the dark side of 'having fun' such as alcohol and smoking (worse even drugs). The best example I can give is 13 Reasons Why which talks about a really dark theme of suicide as a result of bullying at school; it is something which is happening in reality and not many people are caring enough about the situation to stop self-harm and suicide.
But our film do not include any dark themes of such sort; our main focus is the age of '16' which a lot of people think of it as 'sweet 16' but I believe being 16 is the most awkward time period (as currently experiencing). Considering the daily life most students are in, our film like to show the part of life where a person grows from being like a child to actually starting to be treated like a little grown-up and mature. In terms of love, we like to show the message of how we cannot stay immature and make childish promises that does not have any depth behind it.
"I can't be with you forever like I promised, I'm sorry. But I can make a new promise that I'll be there for you, whenever you need me."
"When your tears fall down on your pillow like a river, I'll be there for you. But you got to be there for me too."
All of our film members are from 16 to 18 so I believe we put our personal experience and thoughts into this, so it'd be great if it feels really 'real' as we wish to gain sympathy from others our age or people who have experienced it before.
Another additional theme we would like to add is 'A Battle' or a 'Conflict'. There are two types of conflicts that we like show in this. One is the real actual battle and conflict between the characters as they fight for love; the Sport Guy trying to get love (and attention) from the girl, the Girl resisting the Sport Guy and yet falling for the Music Guy, the Music Guy trying to maintain a good relationship with everyone.
"Ain't nobody perfect, but we're perfect for each other." - KARD - Don't Recall
The other battle/conflict is within the character itself. The Sport Guy struggles to stay professional and an 'ace role model student' as he slowly finds himself turning back to his childish, immature, playful self when his 'past' returns (the Girl and the attachment to the necklace). The Girl struggles to find her true identity as there's conflict as her 'real' self before the accident and the person she is now. The Music Guy also suffers a small internal conflict of continuing his friendship as best friend with the Sport Guy but also unknowingly being so friendly towards the Girl. He gets hated on for unintentionally attracting the Girl by his best friend. He also gets another type of conflict as he has to choose is continuing his future career path as a musician or maintaining close relationship with all of his friend.
Other film inspiration with similar meanings
Page Turner
Theme of battle/conflict highlighted between the characters, both betweens friends and family.
The of Youth highly represented.
Boys Over Flowers
a lot of Love involved, the discovery of love. the theme of transformation through love is also highlighted in here.
Goblin: The Great and Lonely God
theme mainly revolves around love, fate/time, and justice.
PLANNING ISSUES
This task takes us to continue our planning journey in much more detail and in depth. It forecasts what we should do to prepare for our filming in the future and confirm if we have everything ready.
planning issues location - 11.10.18
We're supposed to assess each location and carefully think about things that could occur and think if it will fit our scenes. We should get first hand videos and put them on here.
Why choose this place?
Because it has flowers and the bridge gives of the feeling of something different and something from the country side. It's beautiful as well and the park is a very green area which we're aiming for to show in the film. And the destination is close to our locations.
Do you have the permission to film here?
We have not been there yet so we do not know - 10.Oct.
CHATUCHAK PARK
Why choose this place?
Because it's right outside Lumpini Park and it would make sense to film here for our third scene as the protagonist walks out of the basketball court and the park on the way back home. The road also has characteristic I want to add in the film such as some traffic noises and restaurants along the pavement. The colour scheme also fits what I wanted.
Do you have the permission to film here?
RAMA IV ROAD
Why choose this place?
Because it has a proper basketball court and it has many different actions going on (such as people exercising) which adds dynamic to our film.
Do you have the permission to film here?
We have not been there yet so we do not know. - 10.Oct.
LUMPINI PARK
Why choose this place?
Because it's easy to access this place and it is a concert hall which we wanted exactly. It also has seats not being in used as well as a stand alone grand piano which we want to add in our film. It's very fitting for the Music Guy to act in here.
Do you have the permission to film here?
It is in our location radar where we can have access to it as long as we tell the authorities beforehand.
STEINWAY HALL
CHAKTUCHAK PARK
LUMPINI PARK
STEINWAY HALL - TBA
RAMA IV PARK
Summary:
We learned about the location we were supposed to film at. The decision was difficult but now we have to schedule the transport. But we assed the location based on what we wanted with our reference to the environment research.
planning issue props - 04.10.18
This is to plan what we will need as additional materials apart from the costume and how we can add it for extra features and how it could help us portray the characters better.
planning issues costumes - 04.10.18
This is to help us think about how we are to present our characters in the film and to reflect on their image even more to tell the audience about the story.
01/
the ring necklace
this prop acts as the most vital thing in our film as it bears the responsibility of bringing mystery to the audience as well as the connection between the characters.
we do not have it currently but i believe it's not hard to obtain. we will use it for the scene where the two children (protagonist and the girl) breaks up and also show it as attached as part of the Sport Guy as he grows older.
02/
phones / earphones
these are extra accessories which isn't any prominent in our opening but it is there to show the current trend of teenagers all having the latest phone brand with their earphone in their ear.
03/
Basketball
This is to represent the Sport Guy as he plays basketball as part of his hobby. The opening scene have him playing the sport against his teammates and we pick this sport because it's very commonly wide used to picture a high school boy who is famous and is good at sport.
04/
Musical instrument / sheets / scores
These props are used to show the Music Guy at the very end of the opening. The time that we show the actor is pretty short but we want to show him as a character that is very serious in what he loves which is music.
planning issues budget and resources
This is to help us identify the props that we would need and look at their functions and how it would affect our production like in terms of budgeting, etc.
01/
Video camera
We are using our own DSLR camera for filming since it's the best choice we have and it is recommended that this DSLR camera is the best for filming usage as well as taking still shots. It also has a built in microphone which we mostly will rely on. But most of our scenes will have sound cut off except dialogues.
we do have it secured and have 2 of them just in case or for filming at the same time.
dates needed: not yet set.
02/
Camera (still shot)
This is for taking still shots mostly for progress updates or behind-the-scene shoots. Some pictures would be taken by the DSLR camera but we can use this as a camera for record-keeping.
Yes we do have it secured.
Dates needed: not yet set.
03/
Tripod (exceptional)
This is to help us film with stability but most of our camera movements are fast as we follow the characters around a lot that's why a tripod is exceptional as part of our resources. But it does not hurt to have it and it may come in handy while filming scenic scenes.
Yes we do have 2 of it secured for both of our DLSR cameras.
Dates needed: not yet set.
04/
Microphone (attached to camera)
This is to help us record voices and dialogues better. This is to improve sound quality. We might record some nature sound and we have a separate role for who records and manage sound recording so she will be taking the lead of what sound we should be focusing on when recording.
We do not have it secured yet.
Dates needed: not yet set.
04/
lighting (additional)
This indoor lighting equipment may not be important for our film because most of our scenes takes outside. We added this to our resources because we do have 1 indoor shoot; but we are thinking of using this for photography such as to make the poster for our film.
We do not have it secured.
Dates needed: not yet set.
01/
White Shirt + Jean + Shoes
Character: the Sport Guy - child actor
do you have it? : no we currently do not.
We chose this simple yet fashionable outfit for the child actor as the main protagonist because his background is supported by a wealthy family. He wears white to show his innocence as a child and the jeans and the shoes are to make him stand out as a child from a outstanding family (with a good fashion sense.)
dates needed : not currently planned yet.
02/
Brown one piece dress
Character: the Girl - child actress
do you have it: no, not currently
We chose this one piece outfit for the girl to represent her simplicity and kind mindset and show her innoence as a poor country girl falling in love with the protagonist. The colour of brown represent the environment she lives in, a country field connected to earth and to home.
dates needed: not currently yet.
03/
casual tee + sports short + sport shoes
Character : The Sport Guy - grown up
do we have it: yes, hopefully we do.
this outfit is to show the casual life the Sport Guy have grown accustomed to. this outfit is going to be used to show him playing street basketball. the white shirt is used again to show the transition of the protagonist growing up from the child to a teenager and to show the audience that he's still the same person.
dates needed: not yet set.
04/
black shirt/dress + heels
characcter: the Girl - grown up
do we have it secured: no, not yet.
this dress is used to show the (transformed image) of the Girl as she's grown up. we use a totally different vibe of clothing from the child actress to show that she have changed completely. this is to confuse the audience as well as the protagonist character himself.
dates needed: not yet set.
04/
casual formal: white shirt + black long pants
character: the Music guy
do we have it: hopefully yes.
this casual formal style is use to portray the Music Guy as a passionate person who takes his job seriously. in this case the scene includes him working on his piece of music. we go with the 'casual' theme to fit the idea of youth and being a little carefree after school time.
dates needed: not yet set.
planning issue budget - 10.10.18
This is to help us manage our money and budget and to outline if there were any cost to make. We were able to see what we could manage and what we could not.
Equipment tips and tricks and guides
Summary:
It had helped us carefully plan what we would need in order to achieve our goal for the perfect shots and to schedule the time we would be needing it so that nothing can go wrong, hopefully.
These videos are from professionals and experienced film makers so I take the advantage of the videos they post to learn and apply it to our filmmaking. We are not professional filmmakers so most of the videos are about filming when on little to no budget and how we are able to use daily materials to integrate with our film making process. They were very helpful and informative and helped me gained more knowledge on how I can film more efficiently.
planning roles and specialism - 05.10.18
This task is supposed to assign roles to everyone in the team and make clear of who is in charge of what so scheduling is done easier in terms of deadlines.
I’m Sweety
Head of management and planning
Director
Cinematographer
Writer
Production Manager
Art Director
In charge of making things look good in the outcome
In charge of planning and being on schedule
In charge of writing the script of each scenes
In charge of how each scenes must look
In charge of making the film in general
In charge of making a planned schedule
Line Producer
I’m Prim
The only editor and in charge of completion
Editor
Producer
Gaffer
Writer
Make-up and costume
In charge of the make-up and costume for the actors
In charge of writing the script
In charge of lighting to help out with the scene
In charge of producing the film
Both picture and sound
In charge of taking and recording the film
Camera person
I’m Ling Ling
The missing 2% of our group; finishing touches such as aesthetic and sounds.
Assistant Director
Composer
Sound Recordist
Writer
Narrator
In charge of narrating the film if needed.
In charge of writing the script
In charge of recording sounds we need for our film
In charge of finding authentic background sounds and music for the film
In charge of helping out the director
In charge of helping out the Line Manager sorting out schedules.
Assistant Manager
Summary:
It really helped us see who is capable of doing what and in the end it helped us manage our time better with division of labour and improved our efficiency overall.
planning issues other considerations - 8.10.18
This task takes us through proper consideration while giving us a chance on reflecting on all our planning. It makes sure if we're following the correct rules and regulations of the public standard.
Summary:
This helped us think about making our film ethical in a way that it will be generally accepted in society. It made us warned about some things we did not notice such as standard rules and regulation of the film industry.
GROUP PLANNING
group treatment 10.10.18
This task is kind of like a summary of what we're doing and it's in a form to make sure it sounds official and declarative.
Summary:
This helped us summarise what we've been doing and remind what are goals were.
initial research into role - 8.10.2018
This task is supposed to help us have a clearer understanding on the role we will be taking to accomplish the film.
I would be taking the role of...
Director - interprets the script or proposal into film, and directs actor and production crew through the production manager and assistant director.
Cinematographer - sets up shots according to the wishes of the director.
Writer - writes the script, commentary and dialogue.
Production Manager - draws up the budgets and schedules and manages them for the duration of the shoot.
Art Director - creates the look of the film through the use of sets, lighting, costumes and props; and works with the Designer to achieve the final look.
Line Producer - coordinates all financial and scheduling aspects of the shooting phase of the production.
Most of the roles and jobs I take on are actually quite huge and plays a large role in the production of a film. I've never took on such big responsibilities before so these videos helped me summarise what I'm supposed to do and I could even say they made the job look easier. I understood what I'm supposed to do better and understand the role and responsibility of the job I'm taking and I now know where I stand in the production.
Summary:
I learned about the roles and responsibility of the jobs I'm taking and the in depth research led me to more deeper knowledge about the filming industry.
group script - 10.10.18
This is the written part of our opening with details of the description of the location, actions and dialogues.
I have searched up on the Internet on rules and guidelines on how I can write the most 'perfect' script. I have no expereince in writing one so I had to search from the basics. These are some videos I have took advantage from and the website I used to guide myself when creating the final script.
SCRIPT - DRAFT SCRIPT 1
SCRIPT - DRAFT SCRIPT 2
SCRIPT - DRAFT SCRIPT 3 (final)
Summary:
I have learned how to write a script! I know there is a lot I can do to improve it. Most of the videos I referenced to had a standard format of writing the 'entire' film so basically I just watched the first part of the film which helped me out a lot. I could say this is part of my Skill Development.
group casting - 12.10.18
This task is supposed to help us identify our main cast and give information about them.
Aiden's backstory is that he had to move away from his hometown and leave his best-friend, Clara, because his parents wanted him in a better learning environment. He is the only child from a wealthy family and as the only child, he feels much more pressure in trying to satisfy his parents. He finds it hard to go against their decisions. Even though it was against his will, he had to move away and separate from his old school. But till the end, young Aiden still positive and innocent, stays optimistic about his departure.
But as he grows older, he had started to change in his new school. It was more demanding and more stressful. In the bigger city where most of the talented students goes, his parents wants him to stand out amongst the crowd. He is very sporty and excels in his academics; has a nice and mature personality to impress people on first impression, but he is still a child at heart.
We selected this actor, Phukao, because I think he fits the image we have of the character as well as the actor have some acting experience before. He was willing to help us out when we were facing difficulties casting.
Although in the opening we see Aiden playing basketball, Phukao cannot play basketball professionally.
Aiden - the Sport Guy
Phukao Poosalawat
Eric's backstory is that music had always been his friend and companion. He does not live his parents as they're always away. When Eric was 9, his parents had divorced. He did not get enough parental love but his grandmother was always there for him throughout his entire childhood. Eric is very disciplined and has a very kind heart; he always smiles to everyone and takes pride in making others happy through his music. He got into his high school with a music scholar and his grandmother could not be more proud.
Even though Eric is always seem to sweet, his lack of care from his parents was not able to be replaced fully. He had always suffered from it and is scarred in his heart. This leads to his seriousness and cold composure when he gets angry or mad, which is much scarier because everyone do not see that side of him mostly.
We selected this actor, Tim, because he actually is a music scholar from my class and he was also willing to help us out. He've been on camera before so I think he has experience being on screen which will reduce any sort of awkwardness or fright. Tim's image also fits Eric very well.
Tim plays the guitar professionally which will help us improve the character of Eric very well.
Eric - the Music Guy
Tim Vadakan
They are the girls that have fallen head over knees for Aiden and follows where ever he goes. You can say Aiden is one of every high school girl's crush.
We casted those girls because I think they'd do a perfect job at what they're supposed to do and are very willing to help us out.
background actor - fangirls
Year 10 girls from school
Sample/practice/ shots and takes of the script
These are some of the videos I've used as guidance to refer to when casting for a role. As much as we focus on getting the right image of the character we would need to know the ability of the actor being able to fufil that role.
Summary:
We have learned about the actors we are casting and have repeated some information from previous researches. It also gave us an insight of the advantages and the disadvantages of the actors we are having.
group release forms - 11.10.18
In this task we are to get official signature asking for permission to film our casted actors. A talent release form is a document that gives you (the filmmaker) permission to distribute and sell your video or film with the permission of your talent. The form protects you from your talent getting cold feet after the production has wrapped.
Summary:
I've never known of a group talent release form, I've always thought of it as a contract but now I have learned something new. I have learned the components of what goes in the talent release form.
group storyboard - 13.10.18
This task helps us with the visual aid of our opening and includes every single detail of the scene we want to capture. This includes camera angles, movement and so on.
These are some of the visual help we referenced to when making our story boards. This is from a document called Pre Production Help which our teacher provided us with. There were many ways in which we could choose to display our story board in but I think hand-drawing was the best and the most efficient way to display our work.
These are some of the videos I used to watch on Youtube to help us give in depth explanation on how we could do to improve our storyboard and what type of information should be included in our story board. Most of them are from experienced film/story makers but what I put up on here was the ones I found most helpful to me (eg. the video about storyboard for people who can't draw.)
StoryboardThat is one of the ways I started to create an online storyboard for our film. Even though the free version had it's limits, there were a lot to explore including being able to customize our characters and background. It was easy to create and even faster than I thought, but the drawback is that we cannot write any description needed and it would not give out the final product without the watermark.
FINAL STORYBOARD
Summary:
We learned something new again as well! We've done some sort of story telling before but with the research that we did helped us more on this certain subject and we now know a lot more about storyboarding.
group shotlist - 13.10.18
A shot list is a full log of all the shots you want to include in your film; essentially it is a checklist filled with minute details that will give your film a sense of direction and efficiency. This task is going to help us write out all the shots we need for our 2 minute opening.
Example - Memento's Shot list
These are some of the videos I've found on Youtube to help out my team with writing our shot list. We couldn't get to use the main terms and abbreviations because we didn't get to fix the document after we made it.
Shotlist - First Draft
Summary:
We learned that we should have done our planning more carefully and miscommunitcation was the key to our mistake. We now know we could've done it better and we know what to improve on. We should use the key terms used in Media rather than the way we understand. We could've edited it digitally to make it look neater.
Shotlist - Second Draft
risk assessment - 12.10.18
Risk assessment is a term used to describe the overall process or method where you: Identify hazards and risk factors that have the potential to cause harm (hazard identification). This task is supposed to identify any risk or harm there is when we are to film at our location and anything we need to prepare to prevent them.
Because we've never done a risk assessment before, I watched these videos to introduce me on what Risk Assessment sheets really are and what the components of it are.
FINAL RISK ASSESSMENT SHEET
Summary:
We learned and analysed any possible harm that could have occurred and we have prepared and backed up what we need in case of any emergency.
call sheets
Call sheets are classically used in film to disseminate information to the cast and crew to make sure everyone is prepared and on schedule. This task is supposed to help us time our filming schedule and make sure we are on time and so everything can be done smoothly.
These videos (and some website examples) have helped me understand the components of a call sheet and what I'm supposed to be writing on it. As I take the role of the Line Producer and Production Manger, I have the responsibility to complete this.
FINAL CALL SHEET
Summary:
I have learned how to create a call sheet! I have never done it before so this is learning something new. Now we have set plan and schedule on what we should be filming and when. We also have decided on the roles for each day and have full plan for our actors.
ALL DONE? NOW YOU'RE READY TO FILM!
