Staring at something....

 I want to work with the use of flashbacks in the film. Nati and I need to discuss in which we have to figure out the where the movie is heading. I don't necessarily think we should have it be a love story but more of the theme of reminiscence and how there is a vital loss of life. We have stated doing an opening shot of the hospital while having having the voiceover ion a lifeline be prominent throughout the opening film. We wanted the grandmother to show how she is in the afterlife using the devices such as mise-en-scene of the costume design to emphasize her afterlife and the departure of her life and if it isn't her that is going to be in the afterlife it is going to be the grandfather that is present and having that be the flashback. I was able to contact Cleveland Clinic and we are able to film there and be able to get some shots of back and forth between the lifeline and deathbed.

Sunsets and Lakes


So I was able to do some of the filming today and although I originally wanted to film the very opening at the beach I found this really cool looking bench next to a lake today and I think that should be more symbolic. The main actress would be sitting there on the bench. I want to start off with a very young actress who ages over time.This is suppose to show the love in a very short amount of time since this is the opening scene. Furthermore I believe it would add a really cool effect that i would be able to show the progression of the main character in the beginning of the film is what I want my audience to know. I want them to have a clear message but be highly symbolic of aging and the constant motions of life. Im hoping that by shooting with a young actress and then having different actresses sitting in the same bench in a series of shots show the old age and the waiting of her lover that will never come but make that empty promise. I may add the store throughout the series of flashbacks however it may not be something that would needed to be implemented.

Ideas Ideas.......


So I was able to work on some of the script work and the character ideas. I have decided to scratch the idea of the old era and decided to put in modern times. This will help create more of the effect of having the mise-en-scene, instead I want to direct my setting and stage design on the store and how her costume should show her struggle and life. I know realize that having a foreign love story could be a bit difficult since I want to create the suspense instead of actually showing the beginning of the love story.  While doing some research on the openings of films, I stumbled on the Pixar film Up. This opening showed a lot of depth in love story and I really fell in love with it as it inspired me in a sense and use some of there ideas. In the aspect that this is a couple that is truly in love that does not have much money but they do not care because of the imagination and love for each other that they have. Here is the link to the Up film opening.

Reference

Top 10 Opening Scenes in Film. (n.d.). Retrieved March 31, 2018, from 

       https://www.top10films.co.uk/17387-top-10-opening-scenes/

A look through Black and White......

So in class we got to form groups and discuss our film/magazine ideas with our peers. I was surprised at how much these project meant to my classmates and I as well was excited to present my project to my peers. Some of the things they told me to keep in mind is my mise-en-scene and to make sure that the portrayal of this era is present. They told me that as an audience member they really want to know exactly how I would use editing techniques in order to bring that to life. Furthermore, My peers also mentioned my compositions and thought that it would be really cool to have some of my original music in my piece, however, I had also mentioned to them that I might be using music from a latin singer to which I had completely forgotten that I needed to get rights in order to put any songs that I use throughout the film in with the movie. Nevertheless, in case I do put songs in the film it should work out fine since I have already made a request for it. All in all i do want to stray away from using other music that is not original since there are other procedures that I must follow in order for that to happen. I am also very excited to announce the setting where the film is going to take place for the flashback portion of the movie. The store that I am going to be filming in is called Jumbo Meat Fish and Produce. This location fits well with what I intend to do with the film and I am very excited to see how I collaborate with this store as part of the mise-en-scene in the film.

Road Trip......

So Nat and I talked and we came up with some cool concepts for the film. For starters, we thought the the grandmother should be holding a necklace and that necklace should be what the guy is wearing in the flashback as the mother is explaining the story. Moreover, theres this website known as Celtx that lets you right and automatically gives you correct screenwriting format which includes, stage direction, setting, acting dialogue and expression and much more. It is really unique and something that will further enhance the film. I have established a setting for my film which will be Jumbo meat, fish, and produce located in Kissimmee, Florida. I chose this location because I know the owner of the store and she had agreed to let me film in her store since the film does revolve around having a 60s kind of theme to it in which we would reset the store to look as if it was in the 60s and make the mise-en-scene of the film be heavily portrayed. Here is an idea for the costume design that the Actresses would have. Note that since the main actress would be working she will probably not be dressed up to that extent yet, we want her as a character in this time period to be reflective of culture that was established in that period.  I did some research regarding costume and makeup in that time period to establish the time period set in but we also liked into some editing techniques that could be used such as a memory or faded color that could represent that she is thinking about her old self when she was young. Very excited to start filming very soon stay on the lookout......

 

          Reference

Agrawal, N. (2015, October 28). 6 Decades Of Mexican And Mexican-American Style Evolution. Retrieved March 18, 2018, from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/6-decades-of-mexican-and-mexican-american-style-evolution_us_56211041e4b069b4e1fbc1e6

Love at first sight.......

I realized that the opening of the film should be somewhere reflective of going through the full circle of life. I feel as if though we had her walking through a home and remembering everything that she has gone through until she goes to the backyard and sees the lake and the sunset is when she goes into a full flashback. My greatest struggle with this piece is that I want it to be impactful and I want it to also be a story so profound that the audience should want the movie to keep going. Right now I feel as if my ideas are not enough to make this a great film and I'm trying to think of other ways to expand the concept of this movie and make it something really cool. My dads coworker is letting me borrow his film camera to use so that should be good but one of the actors in the film pulled out last minute so we are stuck with two options one in which it would be that we do not create the idea of a language barrier and cultural difference or the second in which we choose to just follow the opening story of he girl and how much she hates her job until she meets him and thats where will end the opening scene. What will be interesting is if we do not introduce the male character but you get to see parts of his body that would establish that he is someone that is good looking but does not speak nor do you see his face but once the main female character looks at him you will know that she is in love with him and it is a love that is inevitable but ill play out we just need to figure out a story board concept because at this point we have all the ideas yet they are not organized and we need to follow a structure. I am almost done with the scripts and scene movement and then I will post the rough draft on my next blog assignment next time so that you guys can see the dialogue of the characters and so there can also be more clarity as in which direction the film will be going into.

Blue shades of forbidden love.......

So there were mutliple areas that i was looking at today that my group could implement that would seem really cool to film. I was also looking at some of the professional model cameras and seeing if any of my friends had a boy that they used for film and one of my friends actually does and he might let me borrow it which is pretty cool. I was thinking about shooting the grandmother reminiscing of her past in either two locations. One would be in the Miami beach throughout the sunset as she is telling her grandkids her story. This is an image of Miami beach during as the sun is setting. I would implement the design in the beginning of the movie since the sun setting would represent how her love for him is also setting and she must move on but that is also an idea that seems very out there for now. We have already decided the actors that would play in this movie one in which is a Venezuelan female who would play as the young version of the grandmother and the grandfather/lover would be an actor from Germany who will be speaking german throughout the film. What I would really want to emphasize is the international love that should be expressed in the film. This should create an emotional connection with the characters and enforce the cultural differences that should not be condemned when associated with true love. The inspiration for this was the classic story of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare and how he told the story of a forbidden love. More to be told about this particular "forbidden" love soon.

     

      

                                                                       Reference

Sunsets: Oceans Clouds Sunsets Nature Sky Beach Sunset Miami Wallpaper Sunrise Hd

Romeo and Juliet. (n.d.). Retrieved March 11, 2018, from http://events.dom.edu/romeo-juliet

Shakespeare, W., & Levenson, J. L. (2008). Romeo and Juliet. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Foreign Productions.......

So my group has been working on finding exactly what languages we wanted people to use for the film but we also wanted the culture aspect to play a role in the theme of the film. We have established that the film should take place in an area of poverty and that it should represent the main characters environment of having to constantly work in order to to make an ends meet. Furthermore, I was thinking about having a production title as well. Some of the ideas we had included having a lighthouse or a map as a logo that would establish our production company. some of the ideas for the logos included, Castle Rock entertainment. This logo stood out to me because of the use of color and design that really enhanced the image and made it more vivid with color that adds to the effect. Movies that were created by Castle Rock productions include, The Polar express, Seinfield and the Green Mile. As we begin thinking about the idea of production and where we want our opening to take place, the beach had come up in topic. The waves during the sunset would show the appreciation towards the tranquility in a beach but also the chaos as that can erupt when at a beach showing the contrasting natures of the beach and its environment. More will be elaborated on as I figure out where the first setting of the film will be introduced at the beach or not. Everything will be a To be determined but I'll keep you guys updated. 

References

(n.d.). Retrieved March 11, 2018, from https://pro.imdb.com/company/co0040620/

The language of love.....

So Nati and I are still working on some ideas, nevertheless we are currently digging deep and finding more research in order to establish what we want to do in the project. Furthermore, we started looking at some of the genre ideas and we have established that we are going to do a movie in the drama/romance genre with a little humor but the comedy should not engulf the overall movie. Nati and I also talked about the idea of having a foreign couple which would represent the culture difference in the film but would also and would also challenge the development in the plot with the language barrier that is present. Some of the research I have found included that according to  Michael Dean a reporter for Investopedia, "  Dramas and romance don't typically have huge budgets for special effects and sets, so when one really takes off, it can make an incredible ROI. Following the genre research that we have be looking at we also want to see the gender statistics and see whether or not the "stereotypes" of guys not liking romance/drama movies was true and surprisingly it wasn't. According to a psychological study conducted by Peter Wuh in order to investigate whether the stereotypes for gender preferences for movies was actually true In Study 1, female and male participants rated the extent to which 17 movie genres are preferred by women or men. In Study 2, another sample of female and male participants rated their own preference for each genre. The first study showed an accurate representation of gender stereotypes, while the second study showed an inaccurate representation of what they personally like to watch according to the gender stereotypes. This shows how gender stereotypes do not necessarily represent the gender norms. However, one of the aspects of gender stereotypes is true. According to Entertainment Weekly, when conducting an investigation determine whether or not guys liked Romance films, most voted they would go watch the film, however, if the movies was titled as a "chick flick" then the men disagreed to watching the movie. Moral of the story this film will not be considered a chick flick. With that being we had also established a foreign film idea since we want the language presented be a vital role as the film plays out.  I'll start researching more on the language details now and talk about it on the next blog post.

References

Wühr, P., Lange, B. P., & Schwarz, S. (2017). Retrieved March 08, 2018, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5364821/

Deane, M. (2010, April 06). Movie Genres That Make The Most Money. Retrieved March 08, 2018, from https://www.investopedia.com/financial-edge/0410/movie-genres-with-the-best-roi.aspx

Definition of "chick flick" - English Dictionary. (n.d.). Retrieved March 08, 2018, from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/chick-flick

La Musica De Amor.......

So all of today I have been working on new sounds and trying to develop what cool music can be implemented in the opening of the film. Unfortunately, the song "Shout" will most likely not be in the film anymore due to the fact that since it is taking place in a latin country the music should represent the culture where the film is taking place. I was thinking about creating the music myself for this particular piece in which there are two compositions. One in the beginning of the film which has a tone of reminiscence which would be more to the feeling of regret that would foreshadow the rest of the film as it relates to how the grandmother is telling her love story. According to dictionary on music, grave is the slowest tempo in music and is usually reflective of a solemn tone. Although I  have not found any musical selections that I feel I can use for the piece for the first composition,  I am still searching and hopeful that I will find what I'm looking for in order to get the ideas I need to write a killer piece. One of the difficulties in composing music is that it is vital that the music correlates with the film yet, the music should not take away from the film nor have it be the centerpiece since it is specifically background music and that is a challenge I am still working on nevertheless will be working to get better at. The next composition would include once the flashback begins and it goes to the grandmother in a diner in which she works on. The flashback should bring us back to the 1950's and Grandmother should be around 18,19, or 20 it should be a young love story. For the flashback music, the music would not necessarily be uplifting but would most definitely have a lighter tone to it. I was thinking of even adding vocals to the composition to further enhance the feeling as the couple meet and see each other and have the vocals correlate to the dialogue of the actors while still being true to the setting. Here is one of the songs I was listening to that I really enjoyed that had the right musical style I was thinking about. This cover of "Cuando Calienta el Sol"  is done exceptionally well and the artist Helmott Lotti, does a really interesting job in modifying the classic just a little bit in order to make it a little more modern. Nevertheless, I feel as if though the classic can be just as good. I also added the original "Cuando Client el Sol" as well and let me know which one you like better, but I am kind of leaning more towards the cover just based on how his interpretation of the piece is something that I find refreshing and that I feel has not been done before with this song. There has also been a unique twist that I thought I could add although as cliche it may sound I thought about having the grandfather be a foreigner/tourist of the area meaning there is a strong language barrier between the grandmother and grandfather that makes it hard to communicate with each other. I feel the obvious language barrier should be evident and having the subtitles be in english but also be in Spanish in the film should acknowledge to the viewers that this film was intended primarily to Spanish speakers. As the project progresses my partner and I will establish setting as well as the characters and finalize storyboard and concept ideas for this project. This is only the beginning.

References

Ilich, T. (n.d.). What Were the Best Latin Music Hits of the 1950s? Retrieved March 04, 2018, from https://www.thoughtco.com/nostalgia-1950s-latin-hit-playlist-2141375

(n.d.). Retrieved March 04, 2018, from https://www.8notes.com/glossary/grave.asp

(n.d.). Retrieved March 04, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=cuando%2Bcalienta%2Bel%2Bsol%2Boriginal

Rubin, J. L. (n.d.). This Is Why You Can Still Hear MUSIC At Beethoven's Grave... Retrieved March 04, 2018, from https://www.littlethings.com/beethovens-grave/

How i met, your Grandfather?........

Image of How i met, your mother.
You should definitely check it out

So my partner and I were finally able to establish a storyline on what we want to do for this project and it will be very interesting to see how we pull this off because a lot of hands would have to be on deck in order to really make this project work. The story revolves around a grandmother who reflects on her youth as she is telling the passionate love story of how she and her grandfather met to her grandchildren. When I first heard of the idea from my partner Nati, I was immediately taken back to a show that I really loved that a had a similar storyline known as "How I Met Your Mother". The storyline for How I Met Your Mother shows a similar concept in what we intend to do however, they chose to follow the genre of comedy and have that be the focus point of their series. However, our group will focus more on the drama aspect having the story be more personal and very character driven. Moreover the aspect of having it be a foreign film would also be very interesting in the sense that it would further increase the level of emotional connection the audience would have with its characters since the culture the characters live in impacts their identities. The setting of the story has changed since our first idea which is now that since the story might now be a foreign based film the 1950's era would be where the setting would take place and it would most likely bee in a hispanic culture such as Cuba, Puerto Rico, or Colombia. The setting of the film will play a vital role int he storyline and how you se the development of the characters in just the two opening minutes.  I had also found some cool ideas for clothing since this does take part in the 1950's clothing and hair design as well as dialogue all play very crucial points in which the authenticity that the film is trying to represent is shown. 

This is Puerto Rico in the 1950's a potential design idea that could be used.

References

Puerto Rico's History. (n.d.). Retrieved March 04, 2018, from http://welcome.topuertorico.org/history6.shtml

Martinez-Diaz, C. (2012, May 25). I Love them.... Retrieved March 04, 2018, from https://www.pinterest.com/pin/256775616224678672/

IN THE BEGINNING.....

This is my first publication in my blog. Seems a little surreal that the end of the course is coming to an end. Nevertheless, I am very excited to start this project and hopefully do really well. I am excited for the opportunity to be able to present my work and I hope the end result is just as good. I will be working with my partner Nati on this project and so far we have come up with a couple ideas regarding some film opening concepts, yet we still have not been been able to decide on a theme yet. Nevertheless, I have started to write music again which is something I am very excited to do again for the project. I haven't composed in a really long time and I am eager to enhance the opening film with some interesting musical choices that I hope will be beneficial for the film. One of the ideas we had for our film was set in the 1950s therefore, most of the music ideas I would be getting would have a jukebox essence to it that would really establish the setting of the film.  Some of the music that I really enjoyed listening to was the 1950's classic, "Shout" by the Isley Brothers. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPd7C3kEoZI
This groove could be implemented very well in the diner feel that our project wants to represent.
We also had the idea of establishing the 1950's essence by researching some diners of the 1950's. While the project ideas are still new, I'm very excited to see our growth as we develop and watch the viewers "Shout" high praises at our final work.

1950's diner

References    

       E. (2015, September 13). 1950s Diner Meal. Retrieved March 02, 2018, from 

https://evolutionofjill.wordpress.com/2015/09/09/1950s-diner-meal/

      The Isley Brothers - Shout! (n.d.). Retrieved March 02, 2018, from https://www.discogs.com/The-Isley-Brothers-Shout/release/3044339