Change of Plans

    Alright, so we've hit a roadblock. I have, for many different reasons, realized that it will not be possible to use the picture frame/ Arlo watching old video idea I originally started with. The older video not being footage created by me, being unable to find a picture frame that fit my creative vision, etc. So, yeah... it's kind of a big deal, but we're going to adapt and recover. 

    My new plan is the best alternative I could find. I have a mug in my house, really ugly, but in a good way. I made it when I was younger, so it could work as the perfect 'memento' hehe. Here's what I'm thinking: a young Arlo filming themselves, showing off the mug they painted. I plan to use editing and costuming/ mise-en-scene to try and make myself look younger and the footage look slightly older. I don't want to go overboard with the editing obviously, I'm not gonna make it look retro, I wasn't even alive in the 90's. 

A picture of the mug:

Modified storyboard:

Now there will actually be voice lines in my opening. Only in this section however, so there's not a lot. I feel like I can't really call it a script when it's 3 lines but here. 

Arlo: Ok, we're recording!

        Arlo sets phone down to talk to camera.

Arlo: Hi! I would tell you my name but mom told me not to say it on the internet. But anyway, look what I made! 

        Arlo holds out a poorly painted mug. 

Arlo: Isn't it cool! It looked sad and boring in the cupboard, sooooooo I decided I would make it pretty and fun. This is now my favorite mug in the house. I declare thee, Sir Muggy! Oh! I should go show mom! Ok bye!

Sound-Scape Plan

    I have some cool sound ideas that I really think would bring my project to the next level. 

    The past student portfolio project example that I spoke briefly of in another blog post did something super sick that I want to replicate in my own way. During their project, they showed that the music being played for the audience was actually diegetic through a record player (good stuff). I thought I could do something similar but with Arlo's headphones. So, during the initial credits I'll play a song, probably royalty free, and then, when the first scene starts, Arlo can take off their headphones. This action will cause the music to stop, obviously alluding to the music having been playing on Arlo's headphones all along, the audience listening along with them. 

    Most of my project will just be ambient noise since there is no dialogue and Arlo is in a desolate house. However, to add a little spice, I thought it would be absolutely sick to add a ringing sound, kinda like tinnitus (which I have hehe), during the more intense, nervous breakdown scene toward the end of the opening. So I'll have to figure out how to edit that into the sound later on. I'm worrying about visuals right now, sound is most likely going to be next week's problem. 

Editing Progress

     I recently started throwing all my clips into adobe and just playing around with them. After restarting entirely, accidentally deleting footage, and running out of space on my computer and phone many times, I think I finally pulled something together. Geez, I love editing, but it just takes me so loooong, maybe I'm just incompetent. I've only gotten the visual part of the initial credits, no sound or actual text yet, and it took me like 5 hours. O_O  I try my best though, and it's very rewarding seeing everything come together. The following is the work I've gotten done so far: 

    All my hard work here was just going towards that "shutter" effect that I wanted to achieve during the credits. I filmed like 10 different dynamic shots on the same set (the floor of Arlo's room) of Arlo doing something. All the credits will go here, with title going on the last clip wight before the scene change. We're doing good, it's a slow process but we're definitely getting somewhere. Slow and steady wins the race. 

P.S. I LOVE ADOBE! <3

Title Ideas

     Now, I know, I've realized that I've been putting this off. Weather subconsciously or not, I have definitely been avoiding coming up with a darn title for this project. But can you blame me? This stuff is hard. I feel like the title is such a pivotal part of the opening since it has to fit well with the tone, the mood, the VIBE of the film opening. I've always hated making titles for anything, it's like a phobia. On my poems, drawings, essays, film projects... relationships... ANYWAY, I've been brainstorming some ideas for possible titles and I think I'm close. 

1. Memento - It fits with the whole theme of looking back and hating happy old memories because one feels miserable in comparison. "Memento" works since there is a physical object that reminds Arlo of when they were happy. 

2. Vain/ Futile - This one leans more toward the depressing aspect of the film opening, conveying how Arlo feels that life has no meaning anymore and how it's all useless. Arlo feels that their life has amounted to nothing. 

3. Looking Back/ Nostalgia/ Retrospect - Kind of piggybacking off the memento idea but a little more simple. Also apparently Christopher Nolan already made a movie called memento... he's lucky he's one of my favorite directors because OH MY-! So these are just some alternatives that I think could still fit pretty well. I do have to admit however, Nostalgia is really cringe. 

Costuming

     Oh, I almost forgot to post this before, but another aspect I put generous amounts of though into was Arlo's outfit. What would they be wearing throughout the opening. I though long and hard about this and came up with many ideas. I though of a red hoodie and a blue shirt to convey both saddness and anger, but though it would look too unnatural and cartoonish. I though about just going with an all black outfit, but that felt to simple, and Arlo would just fade into the background that way, they needed to stick out somehow. 

    I wanted something realistic and simple, but would still help to express how Arlo feels and make them the focal point of the opening, which they are. So I settled on black joggers, a black shirt with some red in it, and a red zip-up hoodie. I thought the black and baggy outfit could represent Arlos depression as well as fitting well and realistically with a non-bianary characters clothing. The red zip-up then representing the anger and disdain they feel, wearing it as a protective shell of sorts. 

Set #1

     OK, I got a rough draft per say together of what the set will look like for inicial filming tomorrow. There is still defenitely more I can and probably will add to it as well as some tweaks here and there. However, I just really needed to see something to try and invision how this will actually go. There are also already some deveations and changes I made from my original plan, some were voluntary and other weren't. 

    Firstly, during actual filming, this all will be a lot darker, I want to keep the lighting to a mínimum to add to the depressing tone of my opening. Some light will be coming from the computer, some from an outside source, and I'm still debating adding a lama in there. Also, the papers, I decided that the set needed something more, and I though papers were the perfect addition that could give it that sense of frantic disorder that reflecta Arlo's mental state. 

Prepping

    My room had to go through some pretty big changes for this idea of mine to work. As it existed before, the space was too small for anything to be done with it. And, seeing as I wanted "Arlo's room" to be one of the two locations in which my opening was filmed, I had to do something about that. So I did! It didn't take as much as I though it would, just slightly rearranging some things. 

    Here's a time-lapse. Enjoy me struggling to move my huge bed: 

    Now, there's a ton of space in between my bed and desk to decorate, or 'dress' the set, WOO! I've always loved set design and I'm really hoping to do my very best on the mise-en-scene elements, of course with whatever is available to me. It's not going to be Hollywood movie level, but I just wish to make something I can be proud of.