We have officially finished our opening scene. It honestly turned out so good and I am beyond excited to share it to you guys. Today in class I watched it over with Mariana but we realized that we were missing the final credits. So we went back and Mariana edited them in.
After that we worked on our CCR. Since I have to do two different media forms, I decided that I will be doing a GRWM that answers two questions and then I'll be doing a podcast episode with the other two questions.
I already have the Podcast audio recorded but the only thing I need to do now is add sound effects so that I can make it more interesting and less boring since there is nothing to actually watch and the audience just has to hear everything.
So basically, this CCR thing has been hard to decide exactly what I want to do because I am very indecisive. But I have chosen... GRWM! (Get ready with me). I thought that this option would be the most fun since its not just a talking head but I am actually doing an activity. Since I do have to edit this part on my own and have to include clips plus music, I decided to do some research on which apps would be the most helpful.
For editing I have decided that I'm going to use Adobe Premiere Pro since I have access to it and it is really high quality. I still have to learn a little more on how to use it and I'll be perfectly fine. Other than that I also need to make a script. To create a script I'll just be using a word document and probably print it out.
I think making the script will be the hardest, which is good since its actually not hard, because I need to find how to perfectly word the answers. Not only that but I need to make smooth transitions from question to question since no one is actually asking them. I also need to figure out if I'm going to be answering all the questions or just some. With this script I'll be able to time how long it'll take for each question.
Now, I know I can't edit. But Mariana has been sharing tips and lots of updates about how the editing process is going. For now we have almost the entire thing done and we are both very happy.
This is part of the new shots we took the other day. For now she is setting up a very important editing details like in this part especially when we have the deceased friend appear and comfort her. We then edit her fading away as the main character is nearly just imaging her being there because it is how she copes. It also cuts to a shot from the past of them talking and laughing together as the deceased friend hands her a ring to have as a memory of her.
We used this scene to set up more bond between the two and to make the audience connect and feel our main characters grief.
We also added redid the phone call with the mom. In this part the contact is "mami" with a heart, and we later see that when she is depressed, she has the contact as "mom", indicating that the relationship with her mother has died. Not only this but we also include hispanic representation as they have a whole conversation in Spanish. Because of that we will have to edit subtitles in in order for the audience to understand.
So.... the title/name we thought of for our production is... drum rolls pleaseee.....
ELATION
Elation is supposed to be ironic since she really isn't actually happy but that is all she wants to be. Drugs give her this sensation of happiness and exhilaration as a way for her to cope through her trauma and her depression.
So I decided that I should really start working on my CCR.
So the first step is to brainstorm ideas to make it fun and entertaining.
Some ideas I've come up with are, Vogue 73 questions, a GRWM (get ready with me), an instagram live, jeopardy, late night show, video blogs, a day in the life, and a few others
My number 1 option is a GRWM. I think this would be a good idea since it is trending right now on TikTok and Snapchat. What I would do is basically just do my makeup and hair while I talk. The way I would answer question is basically through answering "comments" I have received. I got this inspiration from the influencer Alex Earl who got famous because of doing videos like these on Youtube and TikTok.
That video is one of her posts of when she went on a brand trip and she gets ready with Selena Gomez.
So a little thing about me is that I really don't like editing. And since Mariana is amazing at editing and finds it fun, she will be doing most of the editing while I learn and try to help with anything she needs.
In this learning process I watched a few videos about Adobe Premiere and how to use it as a beginner.
One of the videos I watched that really taught me something was this one:
Currently, Mariana is on a trip. But as soon as she gets back I will get in contact with her to work more on the new things.
So. Today was last filming day since we decided to do a few things differently.
Instead of having that scene at the cemetery, we decided that we were just going to show the girl in an all black outfit about to go to a funeral. We use different angles and shots to show that she doesn't have the will power to go into the funeral home so she just stands there and starts reminiscing old memories about her late best friend.
In this she starts imagining the best friend being with her and just holding her hand for support. There is a moment of a flashback where you can see the best friend giving her a ring to make their friendship stronger. She remembers this as she is fidgeting with the ring.
So since we felt very uncomfortable with filming at a graveyard, we decided with Mrs. Stoklosa's help that we are just going to record our character pacing in front of a funeral home.
This means having to redo a lot and have to scratch everything that we shot at the funeral home. Not only this but our actress was still very uncomfortable with the idea of a funeral home and all that so she completely did not want to be part of the project anymore.
Since we already have all the other shots and are not thinking about redoing them, we will just use me and just not show my face. It was very disappointing not being able to use our actress but at least we still have a proper and effective solution!!!!
A show that is one of the biggest influences and inspiration for our opening scene is Euphoria. Euphoria was released in June of 2019 on HBO. So far it only has two season with a new one coming out in the future. Produced by Daphna Levin and others, Euphoria shows a different teenagers lives and how everyone has to go through a lot.
The main character in this series is Rue Bennett. She deals with drug addiction due to her fathers passing and just trying to cope with with her depression, anxiety, and OCD that she had been diagnosed with when she was 8.
This show does a great job at demonstrating how a person that is going through something looks and feels.
In this picture for example, we see that her eyes are red and that she has deep eye-bags. This indicates that she is having trouble in sleeping, or that she is not sober.
This show not only shows how she looks but also uses lighting to set a certain mood.
The purple lighting always indicates that she is high on something, or that they are at a party.
When Rue is on drugs they always put slow motion clips of there not being able to balance properly.
In this scene we see Rue do drugs and walk out of the bathroom of the party. There are amazing shots of dutch tilts and zooms to represent how she is feeling and seeing the world. Also when she is walking on the walls and the ceiling, it represent what she is feeling in that moment which I think is so important to show the audience in order for them to understand and connect to the character.
In class on Mariana and I were able to have a conversation with our teacher.
We told her everything and our plan. We also were able to explain to her about what happened with us filming so soon. She was very understanding and actually gave us suggestions.
She told us that our idea is really good and that we should really watch movies and shows that have things related to this such as Euphoria (2019- ) and Beautiful Boy (2018).Beautiful Boy (2018)
Euphoria (2019- )
Because of that, the next step in my plan is to do a bit more exploring into Euphoria since I already researched Beautiful Boy. I have already watched Euphoria so I am going to do some digging into how they used mise-en-scene to portray drug abuse and mental illness.
