Cool Props

 So now is the the time to start production process! 

As you know, I plan on beginning to film on March 9th, so this week I have to get all my props together.

First props that come to mind are:

-Venezuelan flag for Vida's room

-headphones?

-fake baseball/softball bat

-fake blood

-posters to decorate my friend's room

-baseball/softball posters or any type of room décor to highlight that she is on the team

For the baseball bat, I was thinking of adding some sort of wire or nails (like Stranger Things) to make it a more dangerous weapon. I could also put it in the dirt to make it look dirty and used, along with the fake baseballs I plan on using as room décor. 

Here's what I have in my cart so far:

I do plan on returning anything I can right after I use them, so I hope I can take good care of everything..

I also am most likely going to be using the Bluetooth headphones that my sister owns (if she allows me). If not, I will have to use AirPods, which works as well. I also have a speaker of my own, just in case neither option looks good. 

About the Villain

So this blogpost is coming a little late in the week because my school....had issues! (We had two suspicious/dangerous items found on school property so I was stuck in a classroom for....awhile!)

Fun Fact: This was written during a lockdown!

Update! I made Alice a mood board:

Anyways! So everything I said before about my villain is probably not true anymore! This is the official story of my villain! 

The killer's name will be made up by the police based on the weapon and the symbol/things she leaves next to every body. 

Basically, next to some of the bodies, she adds notes. Next to Lily's note will be "Karma" and the rest of them will have "I know what you did", "confess", etc. 

The weapon will be a softball bat (also will explain later in the blog post). The name of the killer is "The Softball Killer" because she targets the softball team and kills with the bat. However, her real
name is Alice Mortem. (Mortem means death in Latin). 

Background and motivation: 

Alice is part of the Highschool softball team, and one night, she went through a traumatic event, losing her mother. Alice was at a party with her teammates, and they were all very drunk because they just made the team. However, she quickly sobered up when she found her boyfriend, Liam Cooper, cheated on her with one of her teammates, Vida. She had seen them together at a party and got a glimpse and quickly ran away from the scene. Liam is part of the baseball team and they were the "it" couple. Alice isn't necessarily popular, but she is well known because Liam is popular. She also  doesn't tell anyone that she knows and she doesn't confront anyone about it. Moreover, the audience finds out that Alice has always been jealous of Vida, because she's very pretty and very loved by everyone around her and Alice hated that, but she is one of Vida's best friends. 

What Alice doesn't know, is that Vida didn't actually want to kiss Liam. Basically, Liam unintentionally fell in love with Vida. One drunken night, Liam decided to act on these feelings. He was super drunk and went up to Vida. She was confused, but she didn't like Liam, she wouldn't do that to one of her best friends. Unfortunately, Liam kissed her, but what Alice didn't see is that Vida pushed him away. 

Instead, Alice ran off and called her mom crying, which then her mom quickly went to pick her up. Alice had gone into the bathroom, making her mother wait 20 minutes in the car, worried. Eventually, when Alice was able to pick herself up and she walked outside, she witnessed her mom in the car get into a car crash because a drunk driver ran into her car. Unfortunately, her mom didn't make it, and Alice blames Vida and Liam for doing that to her, because if not she never would've called her mom. Therefore, her mom would still be alive. 

The next day, Vida was going to explain to Alice what had happened, but Liam had stopped her. He convinced her that Alice wouldn't understand, and that she would believe Liam over anyone, as she's obsessively in love with him. He also told her that she shouldn't tell Alice anymore bad news, as she just lost her mother. Vida began to overthink, and decided to ask her other teammates for advice in the locker room, before Alice came in.  They all agreed that for Alice's protection and the fact that Alice simply wouldn't believe her, they thought it was best to keep it a secret. 

What they don't know, is that Alice overheard part of this conversation. Although, the only part she heard was "Yeah, definitely don't tell Alice, she'd hate you and never talk to you again", (which was said by Lily Abrams, the girl that dies in the opening scene). This angered Alice, as only the day before she saw Vida kiss her boyfriend.

However, Alice is kind of..... crazy. Instead of being a normal person and confront everyone, she devised a plan, to kill the entire softball team, starting off with Lily, and finishing with Vida, for vengeance since she blames them for killing her mom. Obviously, that doesn't happen, and gets to only 5 out of the 15 girls on the baseball team because she becomes reckless and gets caught.

Group Meetings

Hii okay so UPDATE!

Okay so my teacher had us get into mini groups of 5 people so that we can talk about our plot and ideas that we could add!

Matthew and Olivia mentioned how I could do a POV shot of the killer outside of the window and adding a heavy breathing Foley sound. I think that's pretty cool and I could add that to make it more suspenseful. Also, Dylan said that for dialogue I should add Vida calling out her friend's name (which I still haven't decided) and then there's no response. Then right as there's no response, adding a sting right at that moment would be really cool. Then she'd get suspicious and then walking out of the bathroom and turning the corner and seeing her body. 

They were saying I should add the title right after her friend gets killed, and then add those extra seconds of Vida getting out of the shower and being suspicious. They also said to add dark lighting and footsteps. 

This is my group btw!

Storyboard

 Hi!

Okay so I finally was able to complete my storyboard. I will probably be adding some scenes so I plan on printing this to be able to make adjustments on pencil and paper :) 

Here’s my story board (so far) :

Hispanic Representation

 The main character, Vida Martinez, is a Hispanic character that lives in South Florida. Vida was born in Venezuela and lived there for half of her life.  I plan for her to show her culture and occasionally speak Spanish with her family or with her friends. Vida will be introduced in the opening scene, and she is the girl that finds her friend dead. Her room will even show her heritage, with flags, colors, pictures, paintings, posters, etc. If I can find good copyright free music to incorporate in my film, then there will even be music playing in a speaker. 

However, many Hispanic women are represented with a negative stereotype. For instance, they're loud, annoying, complain, and are mean. Vida will hopefully create more positive stereotypes. For example, she's kind, super intelligent, funny, and a bit intense. She is quite the opposite of the other stereotypes but in a good way. This way, if this were a real movie, it can create good representation for all Hispanic women out there

Anyways, I decided to create a mood board for Vida, so that you see more of her dynamic!

This represents her culture and her interests. I've even added my friend, Faustina that would be playing the part. 

By the way, I made sure that the actress is actually Hispanic, instead of adding someone that has no background or intense knowledge about the culture. That way, it feels like it's actual representation.

Plot Aspects

 

SO! As you can see I made a plot elements short. If you can't understand my hand writing (I know it's bad) I will explain it to you!

Exposition:

-Characters are introduced 

-setting is shown

-a little bit of their personality is shown 

Conflict: 

-one character is killed in the opening scene 

-danger is presented 

Rising Action: 

-investigation has begun by the police 

-main suspects are presented

-more main characters are introduced

-more deaths 

Climax: 

-the killer and the main characters are stuck in the same house

- all are slowly and quietly being murdered

-killer is revealed

Falling Action: 

-killer reveals motivations

-characters that survive are able to escape and kills the killer

Resolution: 

-police investigation has ended

-everything seems to go back to normal

-last scene/end credits scene provides a clue/cliffhanger that there will be a new killer and a second movie

Technical Elements

 Soo, I've realized that it can be pretty hard to make a horror film. Considering I need to create suspense and tension in order to scare my audience. I'm not ready to give up on my idea, so I decided to research: how do you make a good horror film? The video I watched is here 

How cinematography, editing, and sound come together to create suspense: 

Cinematography: 

Every scene can be shot in different ways and they convey different meaning. For instance, looking up at a person (low angle) portrays dominance and looking down at a person (high angle) portrays weakness. A way to evoke suspense is to show a fear of the unknown. Using dark lighting, to create a sense that something might be there that we can't see, creates that fear. The "monster" could potentially be in that dark corner. Also, using a pov shot shows the perspective of the character, it creates a lotttt more suspense. Also, an empty space creates more fear, as if "something is missing". For my opening scene, I definitely plan on including tight shots (close-ups), dark lighting or using some type of flashlight, and some pov shots. 

Editing: 

Holding a shot that normally seems uninteresting, helps create some more fear. It'll raise flags and show that something is about to happen. Also, cross cutting could show the audience the danger, and the protagonist does not know. This is definitely a method I want to use for my movie. Also releasing tension keeps your audience on their toes. Adding a scene that calms your audience, brings their guard down and doesn't get them bored of the tension.   

Sound: 

Sound is very important to create suspense. Stings and foley sounds are the type of sounds I want to make and use. For instance, a floorboard creaking or scratching on the window is a foley sound I would incorporate in my film. Also, stings will be added in during a jump scare or leading up to the jump scare. They usually act a warning sound for the audience that something bad is about to happen. No sound at all, silence, also creates more tension for the audience, while they are having a fear of the unknown. It usually creates a tension that something bad is about to happen. 

Overall, of the elements come together to create a suspenseful scene, and are all elements I will consider and incorporate into my opening scene :)

Planning

 So basically 

I think I finally came up with a schedule??? Possibly??? Maybe???

Basically, this is what I have so far!

March 3rd, 4th, and 5th are days of filming. My friend offered for me to use her house but if she ends up not being available on those days then I can switch it to my house. If my actors aren't available then I can easily switch it to March 10th, 11th, and/or 12th. Because I also planned on having that weekend to re film scenes that just weren't that good and I caught that while editing. 

Okay so turns out, we are filming on March 10th. I just asked my actors and they said they can't on march 4th. Sooo we are fixing up the schedule! If anything, I'll meet up with them March 9th and March 10th. If I need to, I will be filming on March 11th. I plan on taking pictures and videos of behind the scenes so stay tuned for that :) 

Anywaysss, filming should be done on March 12th. Which means I want to be done or almost done with editing on March 19th, to give myself a whole week of editing. After that, I will be working on the finishing touches and the CCR! 

This schedule is flexible enough and gives me enough time in the end that I can afford delays of filming and/or editing!!

Research of Genre and Characters

  If you look at my previously made blog posts, you'll see I already researched the Horror genre. 

But I want to research more about it and what characters I should have and all that fun stuff!

     
While thinking of my plot, the film that inspired me was Scream. I honestly love those movies and I'm really excited for the new one that is almost coming out. Anyways, I liked the idea of the killer getting into the house while the girl is home alone. And I wanted to do something like that, but this time, she's not home alone. This will portray how strong my killer is and how brave but also stupid and reckless she can be. This makes her able to be caught at the end of the film. I really like how Scream adds a lot of suspense and intensity throughout that opening scene. While I'm not going to copy their signature phone call, I do plan on the killer sneaking into the house. 

While researching horror movie characters, I decided a cast. Only three will be introduced in my opening. 

The victim that gets killed will be the "ditzy friend that won't make it" and girl 2 will be my "final girl" 

The victim will be portrayed as the "ditzy friend that won't make it" by showing how clumsy she is. For example, she'll have the headphones in and she'll be dancing and singing while the killer is in the house. She also won't notice there's a killer until the time is too late. Once she notices there is a killer, she won't grab a phone nor a weapon. Also there might be a scene here she even locks herself in the room that the killer is also in. 

I will try to portray this in the opening scene that my final girl is smart and that she is the main target but she still makes it. For example, adding close ups so that the you can see her face and see her concern and facial expressions. You'll also see her grab a weapon of some sort and have her phone in hand that is ready to call 911. I hope that this shows her attitude and little bit of her way of thinking that it makes the audience suspect that she'll make it through the whole movie. 

Lastly, the villain. So I'm pretty sure I'll have two killers and the main one will be a girl and the side kick is a boy that will do anything she says. My main killer has a strong motivation, which I'll discuss later when I am describing the plot again. She's driven by revenge and has terrible anger management skills. She will also be someone you least expect, almost like one of the fan favorites. She doesn't have a specific type of target (ex: male or female). She just kills anyone that is in her list. She's not alone though, she has help. Her side kick is typical in horror movies. He is dumb and only follows orders. He kills aggressively and reckless. Which makes it very obvious that there are two killers. He is crazy and should definitely see a therapist! His motivation is unclear, just the sole purpose that he loves to kill and would do anything for the main killer. 

Recourse: 

Jackie. “7 Standard Characters in Almost Every Horror Movie ...” All Women's Talk, 13 Feb. 2023, https://movies.allwomenstalk.com/standard-characters-in-almost-every-horror-movie/.

Opening Scene

 Hi! For the next 8 weeks, I will be working on my opening scene. These blogs will be documenting my journey!

Nothing is official, but starting off, I already have an idea/ 

I want to do a horror movie. My initial storyline is of a serial killer. 

So basically, there will be three actors introduced in this opening scene. Girl 1, Girl 2, and the killer. So, starting off, the scene begins in a house and it is night time. The scene begins with girl 1 getting ready in a room while she has headphones in and is listening to music. Girl 2 will be in the shower and she doesn't hear anything. While these girls are distracted, the killer sneaks into the house and there are shots of a mysterious person sneaking in. However, the camera will never show his face. The killer eventually gets to the room where girl 1 is. Once she sees him through the mirror, she starts running and screaming. However, he gets to her. I won't be showing the actual killing scene, only alluding to it with the use of fake blood and a weapon. The killer escapes the house, leaving girl 2 in the shower. The scene goes back to her and she is seen leaving the shower (obviously not showing any nudity) and her getting ready. While she is in the bathroom, she realizes how quiet the house is. Once she gets out of the bathroom, she finds the body and screams. 

For representation, I will try to incorporate diverse character for girl 2. Especially because the opening scene alludes to her being a final girl. 

Well, that is all I have so far. I don't know if I will change it, but that is what these blogs are for.  

Music Marketing

 Hello there!  

I have now finished my Music Marking project.. The point of it was to develop a brand for a new artist and make a music video. 

Even though it was difficult to decide, we ultimately went with Jarle Bernhoft's C'mon Talk. We had a difficult time selecting the song because we were looking for the perfect song for the music video we wanted to do. We chose that song since we wanted to create a promotional/artistic music video. In addition, we built a storyboard for the music video and went back to it. I made a storyboard for a promotional video that matched the lyrics. The editing would incorporate the creative component. Even though my drawings aren't flawless, I used the setting's information to build the storyboard. Many of the photos would contrast the lighting to make it easy for the editor.

We ultimately chose Jarle Bernhoft's C'mon Talk despite the fact that it was difficult to choose. We struggled to choose the song because we were trying to find the ideal song for the music video we wanted to do. Since we intended to make a promotional/artistic music video, we selected that song. We also created a storyboard for the music video and revisited it. For a promotional video, I created a storyboard that matched the songs. The creative element would be incorporated into the editing. I built the storyboard using the details of the scene, despite the fact that my drawings aren't perfect. To make the editor's job easier, several of the photographs would contrast the lighting.

Then we looked at the genre. I started by doing some research before choosing a management business. The choice of management that has worked with R&B and Rap artists was the finest option. We eventually focused on performers from RCA Records and Atlantic Records after conducting extensive study. My gang members looked up Lil Uzi Vert and Kodak Black on Atlantic Records. I looked up Doja Cat on RCA records, then the other group member looked up SZA. Researching Doja Cat was simple because she is a well-known artist. Finding marketing tactics that were appropriate for a new artist, however, was difficult. Her tactics frequently involved working with brands and other artists. However, how would a young artist get access to that? However, researching a fresh artist wouldn't have been any better because there wouldn't have been much information available.

The following step was production. I wasn't part of production, the boys said that wanted to make this music video. However, I provided the storyboard. 

For post-production, I didn't aid with editing; although, I completed the presentation.  

The project as a whole taught me a lot of things. For instance, it taught me about marketing plans that are specifically designed for your target audience. Moreover, I learned about the genre and 4 different artists from it. When developing my Cambridge project, I will be using what I learned about target audience for it. For instance, knowing your target audience can help you develop a story based on that. For example, for romance movies, you would have a target audience of teen-young adult girls. With that information, including trends and specific things in the scene would be very helpful. It might show the examiners how you understand the genre and the target audience