Frantic new genre notes

 So, as evident with the change of my opening’s plot, I am having to switch my genre as well. Found footage simply does not work with the new story I have planned. Because of this, I have decided to switch to the dramedy (drama-comedy) genre, a personal favourite of mine. I have seen countless dramedy films before, my favourite of which being “The Grand Budapest Hotel” (dir. Wes Anderson, 2014) and “Jojo Rabbit” (dir. Taika Waititi, 2019). 

For the sake of this genre exploration, however, I decided to watch a film I hadn’t seen before: “Little Miss Sunshine” (dir. Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton, 2006). I had heard of it once before because of TikTok. You see, when the recent “The Batman” (dir. Matt Reeves, 2022) came out, Paul Dano found a major boost in his career on the platform. Young teenage girls who watched the film were…attracted his character’s charm (I will admit, I do not see it) and established what became known as “The Dano Nation”. They would watch all of his movies and obsess over every little thing about Paul Dano. Did you know he was in a band? I certainly didn’t before the Dano Nation’s founding. 

It was because of this small TikTok community that I learned about “Little Miss Sunshine”. The film revolves around a girl who wants to participate in a beauty pageant, and rallies her dysfunctional family together in order to drive to and participate in one. The film is absolutely amazing, one of the best I’ve seen in recent memory. Here are my notes on it’s first opening minutes. 

My notes on the opening to “Little Miss Sunshine” where I constantly misspelled pageant

As with “Little Miss Sunshine”, I wish to have my opening be character driven. In a hypothetical scenario, the rest of the film would mainly revolve around Joan and the effects quarantine has had on her life. These opening minutes are essential to understanding her character, as well as her struggle. Because of this, I will be drawing a lot on “Little Miss Sunshine” when it comes to both cinematography notes and character introduction.

Storyboards

 Here are my storyboards! The order of the montage scenes can mostly be rearranged, and I will most likely add more to fill for time. I didn’t draw every single one because I didn’t have enough paper to do so. Hope you enjoy my minuscule drawings!

A small collection of my storyboards

Titles and Characters

 Naming is a big task. I should know, I have had the pleasure of naming a lot of different things in my life, ranging from simple objects to characters I hold near and dear to my heart. In fact, when I was younger, I used to claim it was my favourite pastime. I would cycle through characters faster than ever, all for the sole purpose of creating something new and being able to name it. 

An old tactic of mine was to hyperfixate on a name, in which a random name would pop into my head one day and I’d repeat it for months upon months. This mostly generated some great results, such as Willow, Scarlett, and Minerva. It also held some…questionable results, with names like Molly and Milennius (don’t ask how that happened, I don’t know). Recently, however, I have been blessed with a name for the first time what feels like years: Joan. 

Therefore, my main character’s name will be Joan, but I believe I already told you that. Joan will be played by me, and wear more grunge-style clothing, as well as multiple jewellery accessories. She is an artistic kid, who prefers to spend her time writing or drawing. When she isn’t exercising her artistic endeavours, she’s actively consuming artistic media by watching films/tv shows, playing video games, or reading books. She is very expressive, but has lately pulled back in that side of her due to

constantly being down because of her destructive procrastination habits. 

A quick sketch I made of Joan

On the other hand, we have the name of my opening. I decided to dig more into my experiences with intense procrastination, and draw upon what stimulated the worse of my destructive habits. COVID was catastrophic for everyone, but when it came to my personal experience with the virus and quarantine, it practically destroyed my study habits. I’ve been able to rekindle some of them now, but most remain lost in the depths of COVID’s senseless nihilism. 

Since I’m mainly drawing upon post-quarantine experiences for this opening, I’ve decided to name it “Two Years After”. The title details how this takes place in 2022, two years after the initial start of quarantine. 

There is one or two more planned characters that will be appearing vocally (not physically) in my opening, but I’m leaving their creation to the people who play them. One of my friend’s strives in character creation, having helped me with detailing characters for a personal film project once before, so I believe they’d want to be able to come up with their own character. The other person, on the other hand, is just a mom character played by my mom. Nothing really special about that. 

And here is where I lay out my heart for you, pulsing and bleeding

 I’m going to be brutally honest with you. I practically despise the story I already have conjured up and planned out. It mainly draws inspiration from a book I haven’t finished reading, which is a problem of grand proportions when it comes to discussing parallel themes. It falls along the found footage genre of film, something that is notoriously known for it’s gritty realism and horror, and I simply don’t like conveying strict realism. I always have some fantastical element that is rather strong in its presentation in the story. To put it bluntly, I can’t do realism. And, of course. there was the problem with the credits too. 

However, all of these pale in comparison the the greatest roadblock in my journey with this project. I just don’t like it. It feels pretentious, like something I would’ve written when I was 15, obsessed with the existential horrors of the SCP Foundation and pouring my heart and soul into supporting the content creators of the Dream SMP. Needless to say, I don’t like looking back on this point in my life. The drama pertaining to my father was just beginning to bubble, all thanks to my grand stupidity, and I was battling with a constant state of depression. A lot of my art at that time reflected that, horror pieces surrounding insanity and eldritch occurrences out of the characters’ control.

I want to branch out of that writing style—I have to branch out of it, which is why I am going to be abandoning my former story idea. This time, it revolved around something that is still personal to me, but in a much more comedic and frustrating way compared to hopelessness depression. Bonus is I don’t have to worry about mis-placed credits anymore.

It will revolve around a young girl named Joan. She’s someone who, despite all of her best efforts, struggles immensely with procrastination (go figure, I’m writing this at practically 1am). She struggles with getting even the simplest homework assignments done, constantly battling with the urges to pursue what she prefers to be doing (i.e. playing video games, drawing, writing, etc.) and what she should be doing. The opening will portray this with the use of heavy editing and stylisation. 

Needless to say, I am much more excited with this story to follow compared to my last one. It feels fresh, like something I’ve never really tapped into before. I cannot wait to begin my pre-production as of tomorrow. You’ll be getting my story boards and rough outline soon, as well as character and setting details. In fact, here is a teaser. 

A small oasis outside the window in my room

Okay, fine, I’ll talk about the story now

 I already know how I want to format this. Taking everything I have learned from watching and reading similar projects, I will act on this:

- An opening establishing the story (The Blair Witch Project, Marble Hornets “Introduction”)

- Shots showcasing random events that will happen later in the movie (House of Leaves Chapter One “Exploration #4”)

- Intercut with the landscape/story shots is the credits in Times New Roman against a black background 

- The black backdrop eventually fades into a coherent image that starts the film (not concrete, still workshopping)

This is main layout of how my opening will work. I need to focus on balancing character and tone, both of which I have a solid idea of. For tone, I’m obviously going for something bleak and unnatural, following alongside all three pieces I’m drawing inspiration from. For characters, I want to focus on a sibling dynamic. 

Siblings is something I am inherently familiar with, having grown up with a brother rather close in age to me (a year and a half apart). The story will focus on how their relationship deteriorates as their single mother leaves for a week during summer break for a wedding, leaving something sinister in her wake. 

I want to film this in my home, of course. I feel like having that familiar environment will make it all the more familiar. I also plan to have my brother act alongside me, as I will be playing the only other character in the opening. This leaves the question of who will record; that, I hope, my mother will help out with. 

I will come up with the storyboards and overall story outline, and post them here next week. I am hesitant to go any further in the details of the story, as I still don’t have all the details fleshed out. You will just have to trust me. 

A very trust-worthy face that happens to be very excited for this project

Revisiting an Old Friend

 Not literally, mind you. I have no old friends to speak of. "Marble Hornets" is my friend in the same way my favourite YouTuber is; parasocially! I guess I should introduce the series first because unlike "The Blair Witch Project", this rather self-contained internet horror ARG was not exactly an international phenomenon. 

"Marble Hornets" revolves around a man named Jay, who after years of not having any contact with an old college friend named Alex Kralie, rediscovers old video tapes taking place during the filming of a student project (ironic, really). Throughout the course of watching these tapes, Jay begins to notice something strange changing in Alex's behaviour. He documents the alien tapes on YouTube, thus beginning the series. 

“Entry #1” from YouTube horror ARG “Marble Hornets”

I first watched this series when I was in seventh grade and around twelve years old.  I also happened to be deeply interested in games such as "Five Nights at Freddy's"  and "Bendy and the Ink Machine", so going for classic ARGs was the obvious next step in my progression within the horror genre. I still remember my first time watching this series, how utterly entranced I was and being unable to discern if the story playing out in front of my eyes was real or not. 

This is my first time in recent memory where I’ve begun to rewatch the series. It’s been in my subconscious for months at this point, as a Twitch streamer I occasionally watch recently watched the series on stream. I tuned in to a couple of those streams, but I don’t count them as a true rewatch. This is my first time rewatching the series, alone and with no one else around. Here are my notes on “Introduction” and “Entry #1”: 

My notes on the first two videos listed on the “Marble Hornets” YouTube Channel, I actually wrote on the whole page this time yippee

If anything, watching “Introduction” and rewatching “Entry #1” has taught me what not to do when it comes to my opening. I need to establish story and tone, instead of relying on only one or the other to do the heavy lifting. 

I should say that characters is something else “Marble Hornets” strives at, as I still remember the chill personality of Brian and realist traits of Tim years later. It will be difficult, however, to establish characters and an intense tone within two minutes, but not exactly possible. I’ll just have to be careful with how I want to convey my story. 

The Biggest Roadblock Yet

 In preparation for this project, I decided to watch the found footage horror movie that started it all; "The Blair Witch Project".  Of course, I had heard numbers about the effect of the film. An old friend of mine had an uncle that worked in movie theatres at the time of it's release, and he described the experience as stressful and horrid. I always carried that conversation with me, and after finally getting around to watching "The Blair Witch Project" for the first time, I can see why it was such a big success.

Even by today's standards, there is still nothing quite like it. Maybe it's because of the use of intense improvisation, something that gives the film an intense sense of realism. The closest thing I can compare it to, considering my lack of knowledge within the genre, is "Marble Hornets". Alas, I will not get into my favourite internet horror ARG just yet. I shall save that for a later blog post, one you will be seeing later today. 

However, upon watching "The Blair Witch Project", an issue has cropped up within my own; how do I handle the credits? Part of what makes the film so believable is the lack of opening credits, instead beginning with a statement informing the audience of the backstory concerning the characters and their disappearance before cutting to Heather informing whoever is holding the camera about her documentary. I took notes on this as well, which go more in-depth on my credits crisis.

My notes on "The Blair Witch Project", don't ask why I only wrote on one side of the paper

The sad conclusion is that I will not be able to create such an intense atmosphere, or at least an atmosphere to my liking, if I have to ruin it by telling the audience that this isn't real. There are some ways around this, such as having the film slowly switch from found footage to a professionally-filmed movie the longer it goes on (an idea I had the previous night while trying to come up with a remedy for this situation). The main problem with that is it's a change made throughout the course of an ENTIRE film, not one I can make within a two-minute opening without making it feel rushed. 

Right now, my only option is to include credits, which is something I'm not too excited about. I already have an idea of how to implement this, though it would force me to follow along with "Exploration #4" (see my previous post) as my main source of inspiration for the project. In between the sporadic shots of my opening, I could include the proper credits. It's not the best considering the believable tone I wish to set, but it will have to do.  Who would've thought, sacrificing tone for a good grade. 

Which to choose, which to choose

 This book is interesting,  to say the least.  In my attempt to formulate a cohesive story for my project, I reread the first chapter of this book...again. You see, there is some backstory concerning the relationship I have with "House of Leaves".  When I originally began to read the novel, I had skipped the Introduction assuming it was some sort of drab writing from another accomplished author explaining how wondrous the book is. Then the further I read, I realised just how dense the story really is. I came to the conclusion that I had to start over, both in order to gain the context I know I missed in the Introduction and annotate so I can follow along better. 

Then, this project was announced. Immediately, I knew I wanted to do something following along the horror genre. I also happened to be in the midst of rereading "House of Leaves". I decided then and there that I should do something that draws inspiration from the novel, specifically from the shorts described within the first chapter, "The Five and a Half Minute Hallway" and "Exploration #4". Both, in their own different ways, make for perfect tone-setters and opening scenes for a film. 

So for the third time, I reread the first chapter of "House of Leaves". I took some notes on interesting things I found within the story, and though I initially only planned to do this for my self-imposed assignment, I am going to continue this for the remainder of the book. That is beside the point, however. Here are my notes, most of which taken on a day in which I got 0 hours of sleep due to personal reasons outside of my control. I apologise if they don't make sense. 

My notes on "House of Leaves" Chapter One

Essentially, I have not come to a conclusion on if  I will use "The Five and a Half Minute Hallway" or "Exploration #4" as my main source of inspiration.   Of course, drawing upon "Exploration #4" would make for a more bombastic opening, something so clearly darker and filled with unexplained circumstances. Still, there is something about "The Five and a Half Minute Hallway" that initiates a greater sense of intrigue. 

I am yet to make a decision. Right now, the more likely option seems to be "Exploration #4". Fear not, I will figure it out soon enough. My decision will come as of tomorrow, as first, I believe I should sleep on it.

New Beginnings

The time has finally dawned upon us; a new beginning for this red landscape of genre studies and snapshots of past projects. You knew this was coming, as did I, so I can’t exactly that this is much of a surprise. Nonetheless, I am excited for what this could turn into. Ideas run rampant in the flurry haze of my mind, though there is already one I am clinging to.

Have you ever heard of “House of Leaves” by Mark Z. Danielewski? It’s a rather interesting book, one I heard of years ago. I had never read a horror novel before, and I still haven’t to this day. “House of Leaves” is my first, and in some ways I regret it. The bar for horror novels has now been set incredulously high, not even solely because of how masterfully written such a piece is, but also because of it’s creativity. It was a very nostalgic feel, which isn’t exactly the safest feeling when reading this book. It makes you feel like this has happened before.

My copy of “House of Leaves” by Mark Z. Danielewski

I’ve decided to draw inspiration from “House of Leaves” and create something that would emulate the fictional home video documentary within the story, “The Navidson Project”. Naturally, this project will be classified within the found footage genre of film. I have never seen a found footage film before, as I was under the premonition that all besides “The Blair Witch Project” were bad. However, I soon came to the dawning realisation that the analogue horror videos on YouTube that I love so dearly count as found footage.

I now have a line-up of films and videos I’ll watch to get a general feel for the genre. This is of course subject to change, as my blind assumption of every found footage movie after “The Blair Witch Project” being terrible is rather unforgiving. I will certainly look into more films that utilise the genre. However, for now, my current list is:

- The Blair Witch Project

- Skinamarink

- Marble Hornets: Season One (to save for time)

- EverymanHybrid (I forget how to spell this)

- The Walten Files (this is definitely more stylistic compared to other entries, but I still believe it counts nonetheless)

- The Mandela Catalogue

- Old Home Recorded Videos

Music Marketing Project: A Retrospective

 The process of creating this project was rather interesting, to say the least. Of course, we were cursed with a bad omen on day one, being left with a group member who was notorious for not doing their side of the work and quite frankly abandoning their past members when it came to responding to even the most simple questions. By a completely expected turn of fate, they did just that. A group of four rapidly became a group of three as we all soon realised what was happening. 

Of course, that isn't to discredit what our lacklustre group member did contribute on the first day. They helped immensely with our case studies, researching existing bands holding a similar concept to our own under Columbia Records, as well as brainstorming what our music video should be about. The case studies were easy, they were knocked out in practically no time. It was the process of coming up with our music video that had us stumped. 

You see, I felt a personal duty to this bit of the project. I've always had a wild imagination, ideas running rampant and battling constantly and forevermore with my limited attention span. Coming up with ideas was my strong suit, as well as anything on the creative/artsy side of production.  I had an idea--only one, however. Drawing inspiration from popular Korean pop and Indie acts I follow, I had felt inspired to create a cultish theme.

I pitched the idea to my group, confident that they'd shoot it down and claim it was too ambitious. However, I was shocked to find that they actually liked the idea. They thought it was hilarious, having such dark themes pollute the music video to an otherwise bright and happy song. We went ahead with the idea, fleshing it out into a cohesive story; a girl collects grim objects relating to some sort of demonic ritual, even going to the lengths of collecting a dead body. She summons the monster, and just as it offers her a deal, she kills it and inherits it's power. 

We were buzzing with excitement, practically impatient to fully get started. However, a day passed and soon our bad luck began to hit. The aforementioned barely-contributing member left us in the dust for whatever arbitrary reason, leaving a small group of three to put together and produce and entire presentation.

We persevered as best we could, rewriting storyboards and redistributing parts within our music video. We did what we could to salvage the parts our disappointing group member left behind, breaking up graphic design work amongst the two that were most skilled with it. Alas, I am not one of those two. We had decided to stick with our strong suits for this project, so I was completely in charge of the filming and post-production. for our "Liminal Valentines" music video.

I'd like to say that I handled the role rather well, directing my fellow group members as best I could without seeming too pushy and also fighting for what was my initial vision of how the music video would turn out. Naturally, I was left to edit the music video as well. With what bits of footage I had, I turned out something that I am simultaneously proud and embarrassed by. 

The editing workspace used for music video production

I guess that statement can encapsulate the project as a whole. Of course, take my words with a grain of salt; humans are their harshest critics after all.  I went into this project with so much excitement and passion, similar to all my other group mates, yet left feeling like my creative conscious was battered and bruised. What went wrong? Did something go wrong?  I can't exactly tell. 

While I was busy editing our music video, my remaining group members were working hard to put together our presentation. I feel as if that was our strong suit, where we could really effectively lay out our ideas compared to the other aspects of the projects, such as case studies or storyboards. While both were vital to the presentation in varying ways, the presentation itself was key. 

They worked so hard, and I am eternally grateful for it. Editing is somewhat of a talent for me, a skill that comes easy. Needless to say, the post-production of our music video was a breeze for me. I haven't the slightest clue on how the finalisation of our presentation went, though I imagine it was at least challenging. I wish I had more of a hand in it, being able to help more than lend a couple ideas and take on the bulk of a music video that was essentially a walk in the park. 

I guess this project was just a culmination of missed opportunities, though that itself can be a learning lesson. A single thought permeated my mind throughout; I just wish I could have done this by myself. Even though I probably would have produced a project I was much more content with, personal satisfaction isn't exactly the goal. 

I need to get better at social interactions, especially when it comes to producing group projects. It's for the betterment of my future, as well as the betterment of my present grade. I can do better, I will do better. I won't let myself get down about a project not reaching my obscenely high standard. I will learn, and I will grow beyond my shortcomings showcased in this mediocre project.