Story Outline

Title Ideas

•  Both perspectives

• Whoever gets him first

 

• Broken promise

• How to break your friendship

• The promise 

Setting:

Mc 1’s Bedroom, Mc’ 2s Bedroom, House, front yard,

Characters 

Mc 1, Female: Sabrina-  14-years-old, dressed in baggy clothes, has straight hair, and is Latina. Likes to play volleyball and loves going out. extrovert 

Mc 2, Female: Ellie-  14-years-old, spontaneous, artistic, extrovert, ballet dancer, Latina, wavyish hair, very into music.

Sc, 1 Male: Tristan: just turned 15, sporty, extroverted, curly/wave hair, tall, also into music, Hispanic, photographer

Plot outline

This story is going to be about two best friends who like the same guy.  They both go to summer camp and they meet this guy. Both were immediately star-struck by him together they both shared that they spontaneously had a crush on him and they thought nothing of it because they both didn’t think they had a chance with him. They realized that this guy was going to the same high school as them the next year Once they found out the news they both realized that they wanted to try and at least get a chance with him so they decided to create a plan. They were going to find info on him his hobbies, lifestyle, classes, interests, etc, and before school starts so they could find ways for both of them to interact with him.  After getting the main piece of info they piece the plan together and one of the girl's houses and they realize that if one of them does end up getting with them what will happen to their friendship? 

They decide to make a pact/promise that they aren't going to let a silly guy get in between their 6-year friendship but little do they know.  After signing the fake pact, they make a silly joke saying “WHOEVER GETS HIM FIRST AHAHAHAH” and that's when the film opening ends.

Group Meeting

Today in class my teacher had an activity set out for us. We had to get into groups that she chose for us and we had to discuss our projects progress. I was in a group of 6 people, and we went around in a circle sharing our blog post, brainstorming progress, and story outline. We all gave each other constructive criticism and tips we thought could help our classmates improve their projects. What did I learn, well most importantly I learned that I NEED TO HURRY UP. 

 Everyone else has already started/finished their scrips and they all have their plot planned out. I was dealing with some medical issues so I'm very behind, but I will catch up this week. I learned tips from the group meeting was tips on how people found out their stories and scripts. There was this girl in my group who was also doing coming of age and she really helped me bring my ideas together and even suggested some. She recommended that I should watch the movie 13 Going on 30 and try to use some characteristics from an opening like that and include my own ideas. 

For now I'm planning on a more transitional introduction with minimal dialogue, I want it to have depth without dialogue. We watched the Andrew Stanton TED talk in class about storytelling and Andrew said that a "story without dialogue makes things more attractive". So that inspired me even more to follow through with my original plan of no dialogue, I will enhance the coming-of-age genre by including a preppy pop song that one my classmates gave me a website that included a bunch of songs that are copyright free but sound like geunie songs. The website is called https://www.bulletproofbear.com/ and I have gone over it and found some potential options. I really think that this group meeting was really affective in helping my project process it provided me with a lot of motivation and inspiration that I am using to move even farther along with my project. 

Storytelling Ted Talk

 Hello! Today in class we had a special lesson. We were reviewing storytelling in class and my teacher decided to show us "The Clues to a Great Story" the Andrew Stanton Ted Talk. For those of you who don't know Andrew Stanton is a vice president at Pixar, he is the filmmaker for feature projects like Finding Nemo, Wall-E, Toy Story, A Bugs Life, etc. Here's the link to the TED talk feel free to watch and come back! https://www.ted.com/talks/andrew_stanton_the_clues_to_a_great_story?language=en Anyways in the TED talk Stanton shares insights from his experiences in storytelling, offering valuable lessons for aspiring storytellers and anyone interested in the film creation. Stanton emphasizes the importance of connecting with the audience emotionally. He suggests that storytellers should strive to evoke genuine feelings and create characters that resonate with the audience. He says "Make me care emotionally, physically, mentally." This advice is beneficial because I feel like when doing projects and assignments in school the main goal is to finish the assignment that's how we have been trained our whole life, do the assignment by the due date. But Staton offers another insight he says to make your main purpose to make people care and create something meaningful and good. Not only is this motivation to strive but it has given me ideas for what I want to do with my film opening, I want to connect it to something that I feel personally, something that I can relate to and feel and care about.

Another thing he said was "Don't give away the answer," make them work for it: Instead of spoon-feeding the audience every detail, Stanton advocates for engaging their curiosity. He believes that leaving some things to the audience's imagination can make the story more compelling. Stories aren't good if they are predictable but good ones are inevitable. What I learned from this is to have a balance and create something that the audience has to feel to find they have to search for the answers within and leave them with that sense of anticipation afterward. I don't know if this is just me but after a lot of movies, I watch Immediately go and look up analyses and videos on the movie. I feel like that represents a good movie because you want to know the mystery behind it the hidden details that the creators made, reasons behind why scenes were the way they were, the double meanings to things, etc. What I want to take from this also deals with the emotional aspect, I want to do more research on movie opening making so I can leave the examiners with that same sense of wonder that I get when I watch my films. Something that Staton said that also goes along with this is "make a promise to your audience". When starting a story, Stanton suggests making a promise to the audience about what they can expect. This promise sets expectations and helps to guide the audience through the narrative. He says "A well-told promise brings you from the beginning of the story to the End. Now I know that I am just creating the film's opening scene but I also have to create a storyline, and I also want to make sure I incorporate that finished feeling into my film.

Film opening approach

 What have I been doing for the past week and a half? Watching coming-of-age movies and film opening. As I stated in the previous blog Huge inspirations have been films like "the edge of Seventeen, spiderman, the Florida Project, and The Breakfast Club. When brainstorming our film opening we came down to 3 options. Both carry many of the same characteristics as these films. For example, for OPTION1 the film opening of "The Edge of Seventeen" begins pitch black when finally we see the title in bold letters and the music starts. We took huge inspiration from that and we wanted to do sort of the same idea with the music starting at the climax of our scene and then the title popping out in big bolded letters. In the coming-of-age genre, there is a common theme of the usage of the color yellow for the titles, this is done not only because it is a bold color but also because the color yellow represents youth, happiness, and growth, other colors that are frequently used are red and white, what all of these colors have in common is that they usually stand out compared to the poster. Another inspiration we have taken for our OPTION 2 is the Spiderman movie pause. This may be super clique and we are still in the works of brainstorming but we were thinking of starting things pretty climatic and then abruptly pausing before doing a rewind. For OPTION 3 we decided to see inspiration from movies like "Jessica Darling It List" and "16 Wishes", there is a unique transition style of editing that goes through different places of the set and it lists the names of the actors, casting directors, etc, this is accompanied by an adventurous pop song usually representing getting ready, growing up, perfect days. Of course, another option would be a combination of these things considering they all represent the youthful attention-grabbing aspect that the genre needs, it all comes down now to our finalization of what we want to do for our film opening.

Project Schedule

 

Week One  (2/12-2/18)

-Being discussing what genre we will be doing, characters, plot, mood/emotion

-Review movies within our chosen genre and discuss the key elements

 

Week Two (2/19-2/25)

-detailed planning 

-create outlines, layout drawings, storyboards

- develop script

 

Week Three (2/26-3/3)

-create a shot list

-discuss filming locations

-develop filming/editing

Week Four (3/4-3/10)

-begin and finish filming

Week Five (3/11-3/17)

 -begin and finish film editing

Week Six (3/18-3/24) 

-review editing

- peer review our editing

-get rid of any mistakes

 

Week Seven (4/1-4/2)

-overall project reflection

Researching Film Openings

Analysis

The Edge of Seventeen

The opening scene gives viewers a glimpse into the way Nadine sees the world. It begins with a black screen showing the music chosen for this film's opening creates a sense of adolescence and rebellion, and mirrors the protagonist's life. It begins with a black screen showing the producers and distributors with moving transitions and then the title of the movie in a bright yellow font. The use of vibrant colors, bold font, and creative transitions captures the attention of the audience and creates a sense of youth energy. Then it cuts out to a low-placed angle of a high school, a car comes in and the main character steps out and we are shown her shoes, in the bottom of the screen we are also provided the names of the actors. There is a tilt shot and we are only seeing the back of the main character, then there is a cut and now we see her face she Is stressed out and shaking her hands. The entire time she is seen walking in the opposite direction of her peers and the shots usually go to her feet. The pacing and facial expressions establish the emotional tone for the film which would be, anxious, isolated, and feeling like an outcast.

Analysis 2

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

This one begins very differently. It establishes the producer and distributors aswell in a black screen but it also tells us the names of the main characters. This film's opening has a chalky font and in the background, we hear typewriter noises. This creates a joyful but also somber mood. The typewriter makes a noise that it has finished and we are introduced to the title of the film. A song begins to play in the background it reflects a bittersweet nostalgic feeling of youth and the longing for connection. We begin to see a shot of the roof of a tunnel, it is assumed we are in a car and the names of other characters are displayed on the screen, casting directors, the music supervisor, the costume designer, the editor, the production designer, the producers, and the distributors. There is a tilt movement and we see more of the road and the sides. We are constantly seeing the roof with lights and it is dark outside because it is night. The film's opening, rhythm, and overall mood of the film opening take us into the world of the characters and it gives us a sense that there will be an emotional transformation journey throughout the film.

Coming of Age

  So it was time to pick a genre. With so many options it took a lot of work to narrow it down one. We wanted to choose a genre that we both enjoyed but felt like we could create a decent film opening with. We came to the agreement of picking coming of age. Coming of Age genre focuses on focus on the growth, development, and maturation of its main characters as they transition from childhood to adulthood. We had many inspiring films to watch to do research and fully grasp all the quirks that make the genre the genre. The Edge of Seventeen, Perks of Being a Wallflower, and Breakfast Club were huge inspirations and we want our film opening to give off the same feelings as those. The cool thing about coming of age is that we can relate to it, considering we are the target demographic for those kinds of films it gives us an advantage because we are the plots of the movies, teens struggling through high school, mental health, growing up, etc. 

The coming-of-age genre captures the journey of personal development and self-discovery, offering an emotional reflection of the human path from childhood to adulthood. We explore the emotional and psychological development of its protagonists as they deal with the difficulties of puberty. In the genre there are a lot of interactions with peers, mentors, and romantic interests that play a crucial role in the protagonist's journey, shaping their perspectives and influencing their decisions. Loss of innocence is a key theme in this genre because as the protagonist encounters the complexities of the adult world they lose their innocence and naivety. Whether set against the backdrop of a small town, a bustling city, or a fantastical realm, coming-of-age narratives offer a mirror through which audiences can reflect on their own paths to maturity.