And so it begins...

 Filming has commenced! Today I only focused on filming the small oasis outside my room, though I did run into a little trouble. I couldn't find a way out there, due to the fact that the surrounding foliage of the area was so intensely overgrown. I went outside via my backdoor, and circled around all of the shrubs and palm trees only to find no clear entrance inside. Besides, I'm positive that an iguana lives in the tree (I named it Skeletor), and I'd rather not disrupt it.

Eventually, however, I did find a way outside; I simply crawled out my window. It took a bit, due to the fact that there was a screen door covering half of the window. However, with the power of me just wanting to get this over with and listening to the Notorious B.I.G., I was able to bust down the small insect screen. Fret not, as it is perfectly reattachable, if not possessing a...small dent.

So with this small obstacle overcome, filming has finally started! In honour of this monumental moment, here is a sneak peak of what is to be expected in the final product.

A still shot of the oasis outside my room

Screenplay: Completed

Fantastic news! I have finally finished what is probably my favourite aspect of these projects; writing screenplays! It's not something I've done often, but when the opportunity arrises I can't help but enact. Writing has always been my strong-suit, starting when I was eight and realised that I can write my favourite Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu characters in situations I deem fit. I've honed the skill during the years since, and it has since become one of my favourite pastimes. 

When we were instructed to write a screenplay for our final project for the first semester of this school year, I was ecstatic. I had dabbled in screenplays before, but this would be my first time taking it seriously. I immediately called dibs on working on the screenplay, working hard on it--and you know what? We got a 100 on that aspect of the project! Needless to say, I am confident in my screenplay-writing abilities. 

I decided to write one for this project, as I always planned for some dialogue to show up and I am horrible at coming up with improv dialogue. I needed something to keep my thoughts straight, something I could read off of. So here it is, my screenplay!

Screenshots of my small screenplay, as I couldn't find a  way to insert the actual photos of the PDF file and love making life harder for myself

Details for the montage can be found on my "Storyboards", as I have planned shots drawn out there.

Fresh Character Alert

As previously mentioned my "Titles and Characters" blog post, here is the character my dear friend  has created for this project! I meant to post this absolute ages ago, however I had to wait for my friend to send me her character's design, something she was adamant about doing.

The character's name is Gráinne O'Niell, played by my dear friend Cáragh McGovern. I've known her for the better part of two years now, and when I first mentioned this project to her essentially a month ago, we both discussed the possibilities of her having a cameo. This is a verbal cameo, however, so she won't be visibly appearing. We both would've loved for her to make a physical appearance, alas she lives in England so that is rather impossible at the current time. 

However, Cáragh did sketch out a headshot of what Gráinne would look like. She also described her as a rather accident-prone individual who frequently daydreams. Joan has similar qualities, possessing a creative mind and an active imagination that causes her to daydream. It's no wonder that the two of them became friends. 

A sketch of Gráinne, courtesy of Caragh

A detailed description of Gráinne's involvement in the opening can be found in a post I'll be uploading rather soon!

Non-Frantic New Genre Studies

 I have made the executive decision to further research tropes within dramedies, as even though I am incredibly familiar with the genre, I thought it to be best to do some research to see if there are any tips I can come away with--and boy, did I ever!

Something I was already familiar with is that character is what ultimately drives a dramedy film, as compared to conflict. That much is true for my opening, focusing more on how the internal conflict Joan has to deal with affects her, rather than the conflict itself. I am showcasing this indirectly with the use of character design.

Character design is absolutely pivotal to understanding a character upon their first introduction. One of my favourite examples of this in a live action film is with the main character M. Gustave in "The Grand Budapest Hotel" (dir. Wes Anderson, 2014). Gustave is first introduced with a voice over describing  his nature within the hotel, and little facts about him, such as  how even after he leaves a room the smell of his perfume still lingers. However, it's his design that ultimately speaks more volumes about his character. 

Gustave wears a lavish purple velvet concierge uniform, his hair slicked back and moustache perfectly groomed. The design purely of his hair speaks volumes about how well-groomed he is; above all else, Gustave values a perfect image not only for decency's sake, but for the sake of the hotel's reputation. It even extends to his uniformed outfit; the colours are extravagant and in any other circumstance, it would make his stick out like a sore thumb. Alas, the purple velvet colour scheme is the chosen design for all of the other hotel staffs' uniforms. As well as it establishes his character, it also showcases how he is simply another cog in the system. Gustave is not an important man, and no matter how much love and care he pours into his career, nothing will change that. Unless, of course, someone writes a book on him.

M. Gustave on a train

As my previous blog post outlined, Joan's wardrobe is definitely more relaxed. She wears minimal make-up, if any at all, and doesn't bother to wear anything flashy. She instead settled for a brandless hoodie, and even though her shorts  hold at least some sort of brand in the form of the animated class "Akira" (dir. Katsuhiro Otomo, 1988), it's not exactly something people outside of those who either love anime or animated films in general would recognise. Overall, I aim for Joan's design to be incredibly personal. She cares not for the love or adoration of others, only for herself to feel happy and comfortable in her clothes.

Something else essential not only to dramedites, but good films as a whole, are scripts. Upon reading this StudioBinder article on the essentials to a dramedy film, I have decided to make a short script for my short. Of course, there isn't a lot of dialogue attached to my project, but I feel like creating a script will iron out not only character interactions, but shot details as well. 

To help with the production of this script, I have decided that I will be reading a dramedy script to prepare myself. I will either read the script for "The Banshees of Inisherin" (dir. Martin McDonagh, 2022) or, yet again, "The Grand Budapest Hotel" (dir. Wes Anderson, 2014). I promise I have seem more dramedy films outside of "The Grand Budapest Hotel".

Title page for the script for "The Banshees of Inisherin" (dir. Martin McDonagh, 2022)

I will, of course, upload my script here in PDF form as a point of reference for those reading my blogs. 

Slight Change in Character

 After some long and deep consideration, I have decided that changing the aesthetic concept of Joan's character would fit more. You see, my target audience with this opening are teenagers of my age who are just as obsessed with popular internet culture as I am. However, having my character be designed around the grunge aesthetic, as much as I love it, is rather alienating. Grunge just simply as popular as it was back in the 90s, but you know what is? Korean pop music. 

I've decided to incorporate  my love for Korean pop music by changing  the original grunge music jam out scene I had planned. Instead of Joan dancing around to grunge music, I will have her attempting to dance to "TT" by TWICE. Mind you, I will not actually be playing the audio, as the process of gaining permission to use the song within my opening is too complicated.

TWICE in the music video for their  2016 song "TT"

I will instead have Joan dancing to the song and humming the lyrics. She will be watching a dance practise video as well; I am still conflicted on to either have the dancing along with a video implied, or reach out to a content creator to gain permission to use their video instead of an official dance practise. Alas, I will keep you posted on this process.

Due to the change from the grunge aesthetic to a more relatable one, I have changed the planned wardrobe for my character. She will be wearing a more relaxed, loungewear type of outfit--complete with house shoes!

Joan's character design; pale grey hoodie, "Akira" (dir. Katsuhiro Otomo, 1988) branded shorts, and house shoes

Something else added to the character design is a Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh necklace my mother bought me a few months ago. It's something I love greatly, and feel I have a great personal attachment to. I feel as if adding it to the design of Joan's character makes her all the more personal. 

Scheduling

 The time has come, dear blog reader. The day has dawned upon which filming must begin! Well, not literally, mind you. This upcoming week marks the beginning of me filming this dear project. I anticipate beginning on Friday; I would begin Thursday, as that's when Spring Break begins, alas my family is having an outing to watch the highly anticipated "Cocaine Bear" (dir. Elizabeth Banks, 2023). 

Cocaine Bear, the perfect family film

So alas, this upcoming Friday—March 17, 2023—will mark the beginning of my filming process. To expand upon this, I plan on at least getting a head start on editing over the week as well. My family has no plans and since my brother will be visiting our father for the latter half of the break and my mother out of town with her boyfriend, I will be home alone. Still, I wish to at least get a decent ways through editing by March 24, 2023—which is when CAPCOM releases their remake of Resident Evil 4, one of my most anticipated games of the year.

This game is why I wish to at least be relatively finished with my film opening before it's release because I know myself well enough to say that I will be ignoring the project for at least a few days. Of course, once I snap out of my neglectful haze, I will begin work on my CCR, and if it isn't finished already, finish my film opening. All of that is matter of editing, something I actually enjoy very much. Here is a detailed schedule I have put together to keep myself on track:

My schedule I will be strictly sticking by

Contemplating The Eventual CCR

 I would like to create a post speaking of my ideas for this CCR. I will be honest when I say that I am rather worried about this. I consider my creative skills to fall more easily amongst writing compared to  visual media. Writing is definitely something I've spent longer honing my skill in, possessing hundreds of hours on the Google Docs app on my phone. Recording visual media is just something I can't practise too often, since my brother is virtually always home and practically lives in the living room, the only place in my house I like to record in.

Basically, I am scared for the CCR, but I will do my best to approach them with a positive and creative mindset.  The first of these is a direct parody of one of my favourite YouTubers; TheVolgun. However, before  I show you examples of what I want to draw from his content, I have to brief you on what his content surrounds.

The SCP Foundation is a fictional multi-national program that aims to protect the general public from anomalies that range from mildly threatening our basic way of life to destroying the world. In actuality, the Foundation is a multi-cultural internet horror project that started on 4Chan back in 2008 with the post detailing a creature labelled as SCP-173 "The Sculpture", which is still one of the most iconic creations to come from the project. Some other notable creations include SCP-049 "Plague Doctor", SCP-096 "The Shy Guy", and SCP-999 "The Tickle Monster". 

Original photo of SCP-173, as the design has changed in recent years

TheVolgun is a prominent YouTube channel within the SCP community. His content revolves around reading out SCP files under the alias "Dr. Millar". His style is very distinct and high quality compared to those who have similar content, making him stand out. He's personally one of my favourite creators within the SCP sphere, and I'd love to try and replicate his style of content for my CCR. 

Screenshot from TheVolgun's latest video  as of March 5, 2023

For the other media style I'd like to replicate, I aim to make a parody of Late Night talk hosts. This form of media is one that is deeply engrained in my childhood; I remember my mother showing me the latest viral clips from Jimmy Fallon, and carpool karaokes of James Cordon and popular artists before he become widely hated. Because of my experience with Late Night shows, I believe I have all of the knowledge needed to create the perfect parody.

Except, I'd like to add a little twist. You see, there is an already-existing perfect parody; The Eric Andre Show. The show aired on Adult Swim, and has a total of five seasons that can now be viewed on Hulu. Of course, the show is intensely vulgar, and that is an aspect I don't plan to replicate in the slightest. However, the inherent awkwardness and plainly weird jokes are something that I cherish outside of grotesque humour. That is what I wish to replicate more than anything. 

Eric Andre and Hannibal Buress interviewing a grizzly bear

These are my goals with my CCR, as well as the existing properties I wish to parody. 

Half-Baked Convergence

 Let me get this out of the way before I officially start this post; I meant to take notes during this exercise of group criticism, but ended up forgetting that fact halfway through. Due to this, there will be no accompanying media for this post, as I have nought a suitable picture and/or link to fill in extra space. It was a mistake on my end, and one I hope not to repeat for the rest of this blog. 

Now, on February 27, 2023, my media studies class separated into five groups  in order to peer-review the current outlines we have for our project. Initially, this process was rather awkward given that I am not the most skilled when it comes to social interactions (why do you think this project is a one-man effort?). This awkwardness was shared  amongst not only me, but all five of my assigned group. In complete and utter honesty, I don't think we really moved past it. 

I believe by now you have realised that I am rather frustrated with this peer-review exercise.  There wasn't any real critiquing going on, we were all either joking about how stressful writing blogs are when you have no prior experience or saying that we liked each others' ideas. Personally, I wouldn't commemorate it as helpful. The stories the other kids in my group had were good, and I think it's great so many of us decided to stick close to source material we knew. However, details pertaining to the story weren't exactly given; it was just a rundown of what our blogs looked like and what posts we had.

I am fully part of that problem as well. I barely did anything to offer advice beyond saying that the two kids who have so far neglected their blogs should probably get a move on and actually start posting. 

As of now, I am seeking out advice from other sources i.e. friends with creative minds such as my own. I don't want to be told that everything I'm doing is good because I know there will always be an aspect of this project I can improve. I want criticism, I want to be told that what I have could be made better compared to the "I really like your idea!" I heard from everyone in my peer-review group. 

That's all I really have to say about this  experience.  I wish I got more out of it.