Storyboard Process

    Now that the script is complete, I am able to get started on the storyboard for our short film. One of my group members, Ryan, created a shot list that accompanies the script so that I can use it for the storyboard. I can adapt the shot list into small thumbnail drawings so that we will have a good idea of what our end product will look like. I'm sure that when we actually shoot for the film, the shots will diverge from what I will put in the storyboard, but the point is just to help give an idea. 

    I have only just started the storyboard, but I expect to keep working on it throughout the week. The process will take much longer than it would on another project, because this storyboard will be much longer than any other one I have had to work on. Our aim for our short film will be around 5 minutes but the shots we have so far might be much more than we can fit in side that time frame, so we might have to cut some shots out when we edit the film. 

Wardrobe

    One of the most exciting parts of our short film has to be the constantly changing story. The story changes from an indie film to an action film and then to a drama film. I thought it would be a great opportunity to develop some costume design as my character will change clothes to fit with each genre in each scene. Over the writing process I have been thinking about what I would wear for each scene and I have finalized my first three outfits.

    The first outfit is for the very start of the film where the main character finds themselves in a coming of age indie film. The main character is supposed to be a stereotypical teenage skater which is shown through the outfit. I'm wearing a flannel and a light beige shirt which is a look that is often associated with the skater community. While making the outfits for the film I quickly realized that I really didn't have many pants or shoes to work with, so for each of the scenes I will probably use the same pair of pants and occasionally switch out the shoes. Speaking of the shoes, the vans I'm wearing are synonymous with skating as they are designed specifically to be worn while skating. I'm also wearing some rings I have, but I'm still waiting on the rings and necklaces I ordered that will complete the look. Overall, the outfit is laid back and comfortable which hits all the boxes for the stereotypical teenage skater look.

    The next outfit is for the second scene in which the main character is suddenly pushed into an action film and prepares for a fight. From what is gathered in the scene, there isn't much to go off for the characters background. Characters in action movies can range from gritty fighters to well-dressed spies, so I decided to create an outfit that makes the character seem mysterious and dark. The outfit is all black with a hoodie, a windbreaker, and the same pants and shoes as the outfit before. I layered the windbreaker over the hoodie to give me some more size and make me a little more menacing. (I'm not the most muscular guy) Once the sunglasses come in the mail, the whole outfit will come together and I'm sure will work out great for the scene. 

    The last outfit I have made so far is for the romance drama scene in which the main character walks to their car and breaks down bawling their eyes out. The scene is supposed to be after a nice date that ends in a break up so I thought I would make the outfit look like what someone would wear to a nice restaurant. I'm wearing a dark blue polo shirt with white stripes which is a good change from the previous outfits. The colors should go well with the scene as color grading will make the overall scene look cool and blue. For this outfit the pants and shoes shouldn't matter much because many of the shots in this scene will be from the waist up as I'm sitting in the car. 

Main Character Energy

    Hey everyone! Since early on in our writing process, it was decided that I would be the main character in our film. I am more than happy to be taking on this on, but it still is a pretty intimidating role. I have only acted a handful of times and I've never had to act for very long or even utter a single word. For almost all of the short film I will be in the frame and talking for a majority of it as well. Not to mention for almost the entire production, I will be alone on screen with the exception of one scene. In most of the scenes I will have to be holding a conversation with a character who isn't physically there and their voice will be recorded after. As you can see, there are a number of challenges I will have to face, but I'm taking this role very seriously and can't wait to start.

    In preparation for my role, I have been going over all my lines and getting familiar with each scene before we start shooting. Funnily enough, my biggest concern is actually how I will look on camera since I will be in front of it for most of the film. With the pandemic I have been indoors almost everyday and I haven't really been paying attention to my appearance. Luckily, I have been keeping up a good morning routine by cleaning my face, so hopefully I wont have any pimples when we film. (fingers crossed) Although my hair hasn't grown out to where I want it, I'm sure the filming will go great and my character will very likely be the best character in any film.

Screenplay

    After several discussions and revisions over voice call, we have finally completed the screenplay for our short film. I can tell that everyone in my group is very pleased with the end result and we can't wait to get on with filming. We knew early on in the writing process that we all really liked the basic idea for the story, so it as easy for us to agree on our screenplay and get on with our production. This whole part of our project couldn't have been done without my partners Ryan and Oliver because they are much more experienced with writing screenplays than myself. For the screenplay we used writer duet to give it a professional look that's easy to read.

    Soon we will be moving into the filming process so I have started to read through the screenplay to familiarize myself with all the dialogue and scenes. With how it's going now I will be playing the main character, so I have to make sure that I know my lines. It will make the filming process so much easier if I know the script front to back. Here you can read the full screenplay.

Peer Review 2

     Today in class we had another peer review in which all of the groups in our class were split up and randomly paired together so that we could share our progress with each other. This exercise is a great opportunity to get some advice and bounce ideas of of each other. With the added input from my classmates I can get a better idea of where I should be in the whole process of our project.

    When I presented the basic story around my film it was met with positivity and everyone seemed to like the idea a lot. All the positive feedback made me feel very good about our idea and I got even more excited to start the filming process. I didn't have many concerns or questions to ask my peers, so it was a good way for me to see where everyone else was at with their projects. One important thing I learned from this activity was the importance of variety in my blog posts. From now on I hope to include more variety and quality within my blog posts so that it is much more interesting to read. Overall, the peer review activity was fun and made me feel good about our current progress with the short film.

Schedule

    Hey everyone, now that we are less than a month away from the deadline we have decided to create a clear outline for the coming weeks. The outline breaks up what we need to accomplish for each week up until the deadline. With this outline we can pace ourselves and make sure we get everything finished and ready to go without having to rush. We gave ourselves a goal of 4/10 which is two days before the actual deadline so that we can have a comfortable amount of time in case anything goes wrong in the end.

    For the week of 3/15 my job will be to brainstorm filming locations and set up the wardrobe. For the week of 3/22 I will be busy with the storyboard, setting up the social media, and working on the postcard. And of course, for the week of 3/29 my responsibility will be to act in the film.

• Week of 3/15- Principle photography, location scouting, wardrobe and props
• Week of 3/22- Finding and getting approval for music, social media, postcard
• Week of 3/29 - Filming
• Week of 4/5- Editing
• 4/10 - Finish
• 4/12 - Deadline

Preparations

     As we get closer and closer to filming, I have started to get myself prepared for my role and decided to look into the costumes for each of the scenes. While I'm still waiting for the screenplay to be fully completed before I make any decisions on the clothing, I decided to buy some accessories for the scenes that we have down for sure. 

    For the indie coming of age portion, I decided to buy a number of jewelry pieces in order to fit the skater look. I thought that it would be a good way to kill two birds with one stone because I had been wanting to get some jewelry anyways. For scene I would be wearing some rings and I bought some bracelets and necklaces to see if it fits with the character. Jewelry is a big part of the "skater look" so I wanted to make sure that I got the whole look down to drive the point home about the character. We never really put much thought into the costumes for our previous projects, so I thought it would be interesting to plan it all out and have it change with each scene.

    For the last accessory, I decided to buy a pair of aviator sunglasses to complete my look for the action part of our film. The glasses are an iconic staple of many action movies and gives the feeling of a classic action film protagonist.