Post card brainstorming continues

HELLO

OKAY SO I've had an epiphany. I decided that my lat idea really wasn't doing it for me because it was too plain and I was thinking of how those colors wold mesh together and I wasn't a fan. SO what I am now thinking of doing, is having different aspects of each card I'm using in the reading: The sun, star and moon, in the background instead of the 3 colors. I would still be making Eva the main focus and placing her dead in the center, but around her would be little details from each card. I'm even thinking of changing some of the colors around to make it go with the colors of each character of the film. 

 

So I know for sure I'm going to have the white stars surrounding her but not too much so that it doesn't completely take away from her and all the other elements of the card. I'm thinking of making the sky a purple color to go with the colors and making the outline of the sun moon and stars to be red so that all the colors are represented. I'm saying all this now but there's a possibility it may not work because I haven't actually tried to do all of it over the picture I want to use but its good to have options and I'm really excited to see how it comes out!! Here is the picture I decided I wanted to use for the post card and I can't even begin to explain how much I love it.

I really love the way the yellow of her shirt is so vibrant and I love the shadow on her face, kind of showing how a part of her is starting to fade into this darkness because of this relationship. In my next post I'm going to see how I can draw over it and show exactly how I want it!

      Until next time,

          Jess

Post card brainstorming begins

Hello Again!

   SO because of my whole SD screw up, this week I have started to think about my post card as much as I can. Since I haven't really been to Colombia in a long time, it has been difficult to write stuff down in my journal as much as I used to because I am usually out all day. I really wish I had my SD card so I could start trying and learning things on photoshop, but unfortunately this screw up sets me back a lot. Its okay though because I'll figure it out and it'll come out just how I want it. 

   Okay SO, the idea I had for the post card was that I wanted the style of the card to be a tarot card itself. I want a picture of my main character (Eva) to be looking directly into the camera crying with a dark background incorporating the 3 colors I'm using in the film: yellow, red, and purple.  Here is a sketch of what I thought about: 

I was thinking of making all three colors kind of blend into each other to show her transition from her bright self (yellow) to then the version of her self she became because of Aidan (red), and then purple which would represent the love she once felt being ripped apart with the realization of the manipulation she experienced. I'm not 100% sure if I like it a lot but I'm going to keep thinking about different ways to style it. 

     Until next time,

        Jess

Schedule changes..

Hello!

   Okay soooooo theres going to be some changes to my original schedule due to the fact that I just realized I forgot my SD card at home. Unfortunately because of this I'm going to have to work on editing when I get back from Colombia. Here was my original schedule:

Week 2/26-3/4: Begin Research on genre, characters, plot, technological elements etc. 

Week 3/5-3/11: Extra research on genre conventions, create a schedule for shooting, start writing script, storyboard etc. 

Week 3/12-3/18: Start shooting as much as possible until day of trip. 

Week 3/19-3/25: Leave for trip on 3/22, shooting will continue until 3/21. Once I leave for my trip, I will begin working on editing what I can, my postcard, and website.

Week 3/26-4/1: (Spring Break) continue working on website, post card, and editing. 

Week 4/2-4/8: Work mostly on editing and reshooting whatever may not have worked in shooting prior to spring break. 

Week 4/9-4/14: Final posting and spend the rest of time working on CCR.

   The week in red is the week I'm going to have to change because of my whole SD card situation. I would usually get really frustrated about forgetting it at home but its cool because everything happens for a reason and maybe me editing at home is better because there will be less distractions. Instead, this upcoming week I'm going to work on my post card design and website!!

      Until next time,

         Jess

Filming Day 3?

HELLO

SO Monday I started and sorta finished everything I needed to film in regards to the reading scenes.. which kinda means I'm done with filming!!! All I need now is to edit and figure out if I have anything that I forgot or anything that I want to reshoot. I'm going to post some of the pictures and things I did with mise-en-scene to make it seem like an actual card reading!!

   The first thing we used was this table, I thought that with some fabric draped over it and some candles laid on each side it would be a perfect table to try and use compositionally in shots and to do the reading on as a whole. Another cool thing we did with the table was add some old little vines and cut up yellow flowers around the table to represent Eva and who she used to be. 

   We ended up putting a bed sheet over the table where the reading would take place, and then using all the other fabrics to hang over the walls.
   I would also now like to talk about lighting and how Carlos Ramirez is not only one of the greatest people I've ever met but he is also a lighting GOD. I was struggling a lot with lighting because on my camera every shot would look way too dark and I was getting so stressed out and couldn't find a way to figure it all out. I then asked him if he could come on down to my house and help me figure out how to move the lights around and add and take away lights to make it look good on camera. Carlos also let me borrow his camera to film because since my camera is a DSLR, it doesn't work very well in dark lighting. I tried everything to make my camera work, I played around with the aperture and my settings and nothing was working, even when the lighting was all figured out and the same thing had happened last year with my previous project. Here are some behind the scenes pictures from the shoot!

Peep Carlos being amazing and
perfecting the lighting!!

   I'm really happy with the way everything came out!! Although I'm probably going to have to reshoot some stuff, I'm really happy with what I have and am super excited to edit it. I'm going to be going on my trip soon so I'm glad I was able to finish what I wanted to do and if I need more then at least I know where to start!

      Until next time,

         Jess

Progress report!

Hello again!

So basically more problems with filming have come up. I was supposed to film yesterday at night but my lead actress unfortunately got scheduled to work last minute and my whole plan try and film Sunday at night was completely out the window. I was able to reshoot some stuff that I originally wasn't happy with in regards to their flashback scenes and I really like the way they came out. I think because of all the excitement I missed the most important parts of what the flashbacks were intended to do which was show the lack of affection and not just the affection itself. The whole Isa not being able to film Sunday thing did set me back a day but on the plus side she is coming to my house today to start filming the reading scenes!! The struggle now is finding out how I'm going to set up my house and my room to make it look like an actual card reading. I know I'm going to use all the fabric I bought from Walmart that I posted on my other blog post and I'm thinking about hanging them on the walls or over some tables. I'm also going to rely a lot on the candles to give it this eerie feel with the lighting but I'm really not all that good at lighting so we'll see how it all works out!! Although I'm stressed most of the time, I'm actually really proud of myself and the way I've handled all the obstacles that have crossed my path. I usually would just cry and I have cried, just not as much which honestly feels pretty good! Hopefully filming today goes really well!! I'm really excited to see how all this works out.
     Until next time!
         Jess

Final Script

HELLO AGAIN!!

    Okay so I finally figured out the ending that I wanted to show. My whole problem with the ending was the fact that I didn't want to change the part of my story that was showing that sadness and brokenness of realizing that the love she felt wasn't special anymore. I kept turning around a million options in my head and I finally came up with one that I really liked as well as felt didn't completely go against what I had originally wanted. I'm going to post some screen shots below of my entire script after I finished it. I couldn't feel more excited to see how it all turns out! (also I'm sorry if it doesn't come together perfectly I promise it's better than it seems! I hope)

1

2 *first shot after 'If you love me'
no-audio flashback

3

4

5

6

After finishing my script, I sent it to some friends and they made some comments and suggestions and this is what I finally came out with! I honestly feel good about it because although it's not what I had originally planned I feel like it's much better and I just really believe in it. It's pretty late to post right now but I really want to dedicate my day tomorrow on filming and only filming so I can get as much done as possible!!
     Until next time,
        Jess

Filming Day 1

HELLO!    

     Okay so, my first day of filming was yesterday and I'm honestly so happy with the way a lot of shots came out. The lighting in my opinion was perfect in most of these shots and I loved the way all the colors were so vibrant which is exactly what I wanted my flashbacks to look like, something bright and beautiful. I also really got a feel of how my actors were going to be and if I'm bing honest I really wasn't expecting anything amazing, but I was pleasantly surprised with the way both my friends acted. In reality they weren't really acting much because they are usually very lovey dovey with each other, but everything I described and wanted them to do was executed exactly how I wanted it to be. I''m going to post some pictures of stuff behind the scenes!! Looking back now, in all the excitement I didn't film some really important scenes that I needed to tell my story. I needed to film more scenes of Aidan pulling away from Eva, and making that lack of interest more evident. I did get footage that I'm going to use in the film which is going to show the happy memories and that sense of love Eva thought was there. Because my friends are helping me out and being a part of my film, I have to work around the days that they can film with me which this week is getting a little more complicated. We started filming Wednesday and Thursday Isa (Eva) worked so she wasn't able to film. Friday and Saturday we all worked until late and now the next day we can shoot is on Sunday. I already know and feel I'm not going to finish filming by the time my trip comes around but as I'm on my trip I'm going to try and work on my post card and my website so that when I get back I can fully focus on whatever I have left to film and edit. As I literally always say I really hope it works out! In the next couple of posts, I'm going to post my final decisions on my script because I think I finally figured out what I wanna do.

      Until next time,
          Jess

My ending struggle continues

Hello once again!

   Over the past couple of days, all I've thought about this project. Every second all I'm thinking about is how I can make it better, or picking it apart and thinking of what doesn't work anymore. I've written and rewritten my script a million times to figure out how exactly I'm gonna organize my story so that it makes sense, and after talking with Stoklosa she made me realize the reason the order of everything is coming out weird is because I still haven't figured out my ending. I wanted to originally end it with my main character crying into the camera after her realization. Unfortunately since the film is only going to be 5 minutes and I am not Luca Guadagnino, crying into the camera is not the move. She told me to take a day to just not think about the project and relax. I realize now that that was the best idea because after not working on it for a day, I realized what tunnel vision I had. I wasn't allowing myself to look at the big picture because I was only looking at part of it. Later today I'm going to  start filming shots of my two main characters being happy and in love. I'm really excited to see how this turns out because I want so badly for it to be good. I'm going to continue looking over my script and trying my best to look at the big picture and not get so frustrated with myself if something goes wrong because that's literally all I do. I think my move as of right now is to keep telling myself that I'm not stressed and that everything is great until I speak it into existence.

     Until next time!

          Jess

Did I mention I was stressed?

Hellur

   So basically, this whole post is going to be about how I'm pretty stressed out and I got new props and costumes for my project. Today I went out with a friend and went to American thrift and Walmart. At American thrift I found these cool candle sticks to used as props in the reading as well as a purple dress and headscarf that I want the tarot card reader to wear.

Over her, I have this white long scarf that ill drape over her shoulders to add to the tarot reader look.

   When I went to Walmart, I bought different colored fabrics that I could use to hang over walls and put over the reading table. I chose these colors because when I did research on tarot readers rooms and things like that, I saw a lot of darker colors to make it all more mystical and mysterious. I also bought 4 different fake flowers that I'm planning to cut up and lay over the table or in the background. Each flowers color represents a character: yellow is Eva, red is Aidan, and purple is the tarot reader. I also added in a white flower to add more color and a sense of purity. 

 

   I still have to figure out how I'm going to set all this up in my hallway but I'm going to try my best and figure it out.  I feel so behind because although I did the beginning of my storyboard, I've been working on my script and I feel like nothing is working out so I keep starting over. I feel like I don't have much time to do anything anymore and I even asked my parents if I could stay home from my trip on spring break but that was a FAT no. I'm going to try my best to figure this stuff out and eventually I'm going to have to but right now its rough. We'll see what happens.
    Until next time,
       Jess

Reading Research and Stress

HELLO

   Okay so as promised, I did more research on how exactly to do a card reading and although I'm not  entirely sure how it all works, I have a pretty good idea on how the cards are pulled. In the video "Beginner Tarot card reading lessons made easy: learning the basics part 1" I saw how the reader gets the energy of the client into the cards with how the cards are shuffled and then chosen. I want my entire opening to be a variety of shots showing the act of shuffling and organizing these cards. While this is happening I want the opening credits to be playing ending with a shot of eyes looking up from the cards and then the title of the film. I wanted to do Opening credits as opposed to ending credits in my short film because since the early 80s, opening credits just identify the major actors and crew, while the closing credits list an extensive cast and production crew which in this case I don't really have. 
   In other news, I have a yellow journal that I carry with me everyday in which any time I hear or see something that creates a spark of something new I write it down. Here are a couple of pages from my journal of research an ideas I've gotten for my short film. (please excuse dumb little notes of me writing to myself)

   As shown I have done a good amount of research on the cards I want to use and how I want my story to go. I also watched a video on visual story telling so that I wouldn't have to shove the reading down the views throat and could just show them it. After meeting in groups today to help each other figure out whats going on in our short films, I really wish I felt better about my film but I'm actually really stressed out. I like the feedback obviously because it helped me think of things  I hadn't thought of in the past, but now that I know everything I don't have and what I have to do I feel really stressed, frustrated, and behind on what I waned to do. At this point I'm just hoping it somehow all works out.
     Until next time,
        Jess

The Sun, The Stars, and The Moon

Hello Again!! 

    So a good amount of things have changed since my last blog post, especially about my idea. With help from Mrs. Stoklosa, I decided instead of having just 2 characters I will have 3. I realize this is a better idea now because I need to be able to show the manipulation through the reading. Having the reader be the antagonist would be incredibly difficult to show within the 5 minutes I have to tell the story. I decided Eva would still be Eva and Aidan would still be Aidan, same qualities same everything, except the aspect of Aidan being a tarot card reader would be changed so that instead the tarot card reader would be someone else entirely. Before I get into a detailed structure of what how I want the story to go, I want to share some tarot card reading research I came across over the past couple of days. I decided I wanted to tell my story within 3 parts of the reading: The Sun, The Stars, and The Moon. In that order exactly. In doing research on these 3 cards, I found that each card has it's own individual meaning based on the way it is faced to the person reading it.

      The Sun. 

   The Sun is a card that is "an image of optimism and fulfillment." The sun represents the source of life itself. The naked child on the horse is representative of having nothing to hide and the white horse and flowers in the background represents purity and fruitfulness of the spirit. These are all qualities that Eva starts off with. She is young and full of life. When the card is presented upright, it represents fun, warmth, success, positivity, vitality, and abundance. Upright it represents this feeling of enlightenment and finally being able to see the path in front of you. The Sun represents light after going through a difficult time. 

   When the card is presented reversed, it represents this temporary depression and lack of success. It can indicate that the person may be too positive on a certain situation, making them overly optimistic and unrealistic. This can signify that they do not have a good sense of self and what they are capable of. This can cause and individual to become out of touch with who they are.
      The Star
   The Star is a card that represent cleansing auras and the quality needed to accept your faults and love yourself in spite of them. When The Star card is presented upward, is represents hope, spirituality, renewal, inspiration, and serenity. It brings this sense that you are truly blessed by the universe at the time and your life is full of courage, fulfillment, and inspiration. It represents the entrance of a loving phase in your life, it also can represent having gone through a difficult time in your life and now being open to healing and transformation. A new you with a new perspective.
   When the card is presented reversed, it suggests the ones spiritual mission is distorted and instead of hope, they are feeling despair. It is representative of negative thoughts that arise and wear away at this person to the point where they may give up control of a situation all together and concede defeat. Reading a reversed star can also indicate that you are beginning to feel disengaged and uninspired with components of your life. It may reflect loss of faith in a particular situation. 

      The Moon
   The Moon tarot card represents a "card of intuition, dreams, and the unconscious."  The Moon provides light as a reflection of the sun, the difference is that this light is dim and barely illuminates our path. The creatures presented in the card represent the disturbing images that appear from our inner depths, like the crayfish coming out of the water at the bottom. The wolf and the dog represent the tamed and wild aspects of our minds. When The Moon card is presented upright, it represents illusion, fear, anxiety and insecurity. When upright, The Moon often represents a shadow self. Dr. Carl G. Jung says that shadows represent being instinctive and irrational and is prone to projection. The Moon represents a psychological card that projects fear into your present and future which is usually based on memories. It can represent a time of illusion and deception, suggesting that something is not as it appears to be. This card usually appears when someone has lost their way and only have their inner light and intuition to guide them.
   When the card is presented reversed, is can indicate that you have recently experienced a time of self-deception, illusion, fear and anxiety. A reversed moon may indicate a fundamental unhappiness with ones present situation. It represents unhappiness with your present situation, but also confusion as to what else you could do and what it is you really want to do.

   The way I want to structure my narrative is through the reading. I want to tell the story through each card and connect it to the way that she is feeling in her current her relationship. I want to show how her mind is changed throughout the reading, showing this love that she feels and the life she believes she is full of so that at the end, she comes to a harsh realization with the last card pulled that the life and relationship she believed to be so beautiful really wasn't. Like I said I promise I'm not depressed, its just the story!! In my next few posts I'm going to talk about more research I've done on how to do readings and how I want to show that manipulation through visual storytelling as well as storyboarding.
   Until next time,
      Jess




Citations
“Sun Tarot Card Meanings.” Biddy Tarot, www.biddytarot.com/tarot-card-meanings/major-arcana/sun/.

“Star Tarot Card Meanings.” Biddy Tarot, www.biddytarot.com/tarot-card-meanings/major-arcana/star/.

“Moon Tarot Card Meanings.” Biddy Tarot, www.biddytarot.com/tarot-card-meanings/major-arcana/moon/.

Genre, Characters, and Research... All that good stuff

Helloo!

    This week has been one of the most stressful weeks of my life up to date. I've had a lot of personal problems going on but being able to work on this project has given me an outlet for all of that which in a way is really exciting for me. Anyways, in better news little by little with all the brainstorming I've been doing I have more and more options on how exactly I want to tell this story. In terms of Genre, I think this short film is leaning more towards being a Drama.
    Typical characteristics of drama films are the intense social interactions between characters, representation of realistic characters, settings, and stories, and most of all its purpose is to move and audience emotionally. Usually drama films have happy endings with a nice resolution despite the problems at hand. They also show some type of journey with emotional peaks and sometimes complex plots. Usually the protagonist within this genre is going through some kind of emotional journey and is seen as very vulnerable and unstable. The protagonist also tends to have things in common with the target audience making the character easy to relate to. Another typical trait of the drama genre, is the challenging of ignorant stereotypes, connecting on a complex and personal level, and having therapeutic qualities by showing how the protagonist has overcome these issues.
    In relation to the Drama genre, there are a few things I would like to embrace, but also many I want to challenge. I want to embrace the fact that I'm telling the story of a girl who is real, meaning that she just wants to find her place in her world, and that is something I feel like anyone can relate to. I'm also embracing one of the main points of the genre which is to move the audience emotionally. This will hopefully happen with the ending of the film because it doesn't end with this happy ending, but more of a broken one. I also would like the embrace the idea of having a complex plot. I want it to be something intriguing and different, and not something that has been told before.

Brad Pitt as Detective
 David Mills in Seven

    Although there are many things I want to embrace, there are some things I want to challenge. The main idea that I want to challenge in my short film is the idea of a happy ending. Although it does create the 'therapeutic quality' of the protagonist overcoming an obstacle, I feel it just isn't truthful to the story I want to tell. Even though, there are people who lose themselves in their lives and find a way back to being who they were, there are cases where that just doesn't happen. Where as much as someone would like to be who they were, they are just too far gone. A film that I found interesting that went along with this idea was Seven directed by David Fincher. The reason I was so intrigued by this film wasn't just because of the ending , but because of the way the story was told. The film revolves around Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman, who play a detectives that are trying to solve a series of murders from a serial killer targeting people based on the seven deadly sins. I was so intrigued by the way this story was told because it was explaining these seven deadly sins and at the end it all comes together with the last deadly sin on the list left to complete: Wrath. I like the way the film embraces the lack of a happy ending and also shows someone completely losing themselves. Although really depressing, given the circumstances I felt it was truthful to the story.

Jennifer Connelly as Marion Silver
in Requiem for a Dream.

    Another good example of this to me is the film Requiem for a Dream directed by Darren Aronofsky.  In this film we are shown different story lines of different characters who have in different way lost who they were because of their desire to love and to be loved and in the end they are just too far gone to come back to reality. When looking back at the first time I watched Requiem for a Dream to now, I am amazed at the way it challenges that idea of a happy ending. The film delves into the reality of what the influence of drugs can do to someone and how lost a person can become because of their desires.
    Moving on to characters, I decided that to use my 5 minutes wisely, I would tell my story using only 2 characters: Eva and Aidan. I don't want there to be any type of distraction from them and how  the relationship they develop affects Eva mostly as an individual. Eva is a young girl who is innocent, kind, and full of life. Her greatest desire, as many peoples, is to find her place in the world and where she belongs. Eva being so innocent and kind, finds herself to be easily manipulated by others. The reason I chose the name 'Eva' is because the meaning of this name is 'life' or 'living one', and I wanted to emphasize the life she had before she met Aidan. Aidan is older than Eva by around 1 or 2 years. Aidan is beautiful beyond words, yet she is selfish and manipulative, using the way she reads cards to manipulate the easily manipulated. I chose the name 'Aidan' because the meaning of the name is 'like a fire.' I wanted to use their names as symbols to show how Aidan 'lights a fire' in Eva's life and brings something new and different, and at the end, burns her of that life.
    That's pretty much most of what I have for now. I promise I'm not as depressing as I seem it's just the story!!
     Until next time,
       Jess!















Citations:
“Requiem for a Dream.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 28 Feb. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Requiem_for_a_Dream.

“Seven (1995 film).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 3 Mar. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_(1995_film).

Upton-Dance, Hattie. “Drama as a Genre : Codes and Conventions.” Prezi.com, 4 Oct. 2012, prezi.com/rb5k_semwcvg/drama-as-a-genre-codes-and-conventions/?webgl=0.

Shazmindina Follow. “Conventions of drama & action.” LinkedIn SlideShare, 15 June 2014, www.slideshare.net/shazmindina/conventions-of-drama-action?next_slideshow=1.

Scheduling

Hello Again!! 

This years project is a little different from last years when it comes to how I'm going to manage my time. If I'm being honest, last year I was really bad at time management and this year I'm still learning how to balance school, work, and life in general. As recommended by my teacher, I decided to create a schedule for myself since I do have to deal with balancing work with everything else and give myself those important deadlines. 

Week 2/26-3/4: Begin Research on genre, characters, plot, technological elements etc. 

Week 3/5-3/11: Extra research on genre conventions, create a schedule for shooting, start writing script, storyboard etc. 

Week 3/12-3/18: Start shooting as much as possible until day of trip. 

Week 3/19-3/25: Leave for trip on 3/22, shooting will continue until 3/21. Once I leave for my trip, I will begin working on editing what I can, my postcard, and website.

Week 3/26-4/1: (Spring Break) continue working on website, post card, and editing. 

Week 4/2-4/8: Work mostly on editing and reshooting whatever may not have worked in shooting prior to spring break. 

Week 4/9-4/14: Final posting and spend the rest of time working on CCR.

I'm going to put as much of myself as humanly possible into this project and keeping up with all the deadlines because I really care about the story I want to tell. Also I feel like whenever I'm stressed or have stuff going on in my life, it's important to throw myself into something I believe in and enjoy. Fingers crossed this all works out and even if it doesn't at least I would've learned something from it. 

  Until next time, 

     Jess