Challenges

 Alright, I finally started filming but I faced some problems. Unfortunately I would have to film by myself because my dad was not able to help me as I had planned so I improvised and used this ring light as a tripod.

Another problem I faced was my fault, but I thought it would be easier to film all my takes in one video then shorten it to the one scene I liked. However, I realized that it would make the editing process much more complicated and I might put in the wrong take so I went back and refilled those scenes.

Costume creation

 Now the next step is to make me look how I envisioned Zoe.

First off I changed my outfit so I would wear grey and black and I put my hair into a ponytail.

(I know this picture is awkward I was still setting things

up)

Next I did my makeup so I could have bags under my eyes and to make myself slightly more pale. Here's a photo of what I used and a photo of me putting it on:

Set preparation

Today I began my production process!!!

Before I started actually filming I had to switch some things around in my room to fit my scene. 

I put trophies and medals around and took out some unnecessary items, here’s what i changed. 

Character development

 Character development is really important in any story because it makes the story feel real and allows the audience to connect with the character.

My main character is names Zoe. She is a teenage girl who has been dancing since she was young, she loved dancing and it was her whole life. She worked hard and earned trophies and medals. She was focused on becoming a better dancer and maybe even pursuing it professionally but then she started using drugs. At first she thought it was no big deal but then she started skipping dance class, everything she had worked so har for was being thrown away. She wouldn’t see her friends anymore and avoided all texts from her best friend Sami. 

She's also struggling with her relationship with her parents. She doesn't even realize she's changing.  

The story focuses on her inner struggle with drugs, she knows what she's doing is wrong but she just can't quit. She tries to quit, and does for a bit, but ends up relapsing. Her journey through this struggle is what makes her a realistic character and some people may even be able to relate to her.

Costume design

Costume design is very important in films. It shows who the character is without using words. It reflects their habits and preferences.

For Zoes costume design I want her to appear messy and worn out. She would wear a lot of dark and dull colors. She would wear a lot of hoodies and and sweatpants, she looks like she puts little to no effort into her outfits. She has smudged makeup and messy hair all the time to show her struggling.

Here is a mood board of what I was thinking:

props

 Today I will be figuring out what props to use in my opening scene.

The most important prop will be the drugs however I obviously don’t have any, sooo I need to get creative. I decided pills would be the easiest to fake, my plan is to use an old medication bottle I got when I was sick a few weeks ago and fill it with tic tacs. Here’s how it would look.

Another prop I want are my trophies and awards I got from dance competitions. I currently don’t have them out in my room but I'm going to put them around my room and have some close ups of the awards.

I also have a frame with a picture of my old dance team and my ballet shoes that was gifted to me when I left my old dance studio, and I want to include that.

At a competition I earned a dog tag necklace, and I want my character to wear it and have a scene where she holds on to it. Here’s what it looks like.

 

 

 

Storyboard

 After figuring out my plot It is time to create my story board. This will help me visualize my film and help me during the actual filming process. 

Here is a photo of my storyboard, I've highlighted my shot types. 

Plot

 After a lot of thought I’ve decided on the plot for my opening scene.

It will be about a teenage girl struggling with drug addiction. I got inspiration from the movie Beautiful Boy however, unlike Beautiful Boy, which focuses on the father son relationship, my movie would focus on the internal conflict (man vs. self) of the main character Zoe. Shes conflicted on whether she should stop using drugs because while part of her wants to, the other part of her can’t. I want to show how drugs sort of ruined her life so It's going to show how she used to be a competitive dancer by using flashbacks but now she's stopped, friends from dance always text her about it but she just ignores it. I also want to find a way to show how her grades have declined.  

Media theory research

 My teacher gave us a handout of different media theories and today I will be picking one to integrate into my project! 

After looking over the list I think Todorov’s Narrative Theory of Equilibrium is a good option for me. Todorov’s theory has many parts to it but for my project I will focus on the equilibrium part. It states that the audience is introduced to the characters and beginning of the story. This can be used in my opening scene because I will introduce my main character, the audience will see she's a teenager and she is a dancer. The beginning of the story is also introduced as I will show her struggling with drugs and how she's facing internal conflict.

Group meeting #1

Group meeting #1

 In class we got into groups of 5 so we could share our project ideas, and we could help each other improve them. My group included Lucia, Juan, Nico, and Benjamin. 

Lucia’s genre was coming of age, she didn't have much of an idea for the opening scene, so we all brainstormed and helped her come up with an idea. We suggested it could be about a popular girl with lots of friends, but she is also a bully/cyberbully and she has a bad home life. Juan also added that she could do something like Gossip Girl where her character would post a blog. 

Juan’s genre was thriller/mystery/horror (he hasn't decided yet), his idea was that a woman would be shown getting ready and cooking for a date when she receives the notification of a text saying “I'm outside” once she opens the messages app it would show multiple past texts saying the same thing, it would then show the title and he was thinking of MANslaughter; however he hasn’t decided yet, then you would hear a knock and it would end. We all really liked his idea but thought that he needed to show that they were all getting murdered, so the audience doesn't just think she's going on multiple dates. 

Nicos genre was sports drama, his idea was that the main character would be about a body builder or powerlifter who was bullied and had a disease, and he was working out to deal with it. We had concerns about how he would show that he was being bullied and had a disease, so he said he was going to show him journaling about it. W suggested that he should do flashbacks instead. We also said that there was a lot going on and it would be hard to make it fit into the 2 minutes, so we suggested taking out the part of him having a disease. He also said he would include rock/old rock music. 

 

Benjamin’s genre was also sports drama, his opening scene would be about 2 best friends working out to motivate each other and he would show it through a montage, they both play high school. He was inspired by inspired by rocky and iron claw. We suggested they should have a motive for working out because he said they were motivating each other to work harder but there was no goal, and we felt that would help his story. 

 

My genre as you know is drama, I want it to be about a teenager in high school dealing with drug addiction and how it ruined her life. My idea was to film in my bedroom but my group suggested I could film part of it in school so I could show how badly it affects her and to show her grades declining. 

Credit scenes

I want to find a way to integrate my credit scene in a way that fits with my opening scene. To do this I'm going to get inspiration from some opening credits in movies.

The first film I’m going to look into is Manchester by the sea. You can watch the opening scene here. This opening scene is for a drama movie which is the same genre I plan to use. It uses simple and small font that fades in and out and it also changes color from a pale blue to black. It’s placed on empty areas in the scene in the corner of the screen. I like the simple and small font. It looks clean, and I may take inspiration from this.

The next movie I’m looking at is The Shining. You can watch the opening scene here . The credits are super simple, just a blue font scrolling up the screen. What makes it creepy is the music and the long, slow shots of a car driving through the mountains. Even though nothing scary is actually happening, the whole scene feels unsettling, like something bad is about to go down. I like how it makes you feel uneasy without doing much. I might use a similar approach to create a mood while keeping the credits clean and subtle.

The next movie I’ll look into is Se7en.  The credits in this movie use a font that looks scratched and handwritten and it flickers on the screen. The background is a bunch of close-ups of cutting pages and writing in a journal. It all feels messy and chaotic and gives off an unsettling tone. I like how the text and visuals work together to make you feel uneasy, even though my film is a drama I might use a similar style to make my audience feel something right away.

Works Cited

Franco Seguer. “Manchester by the Sea (2016) - Opening Credits [HD].” YouTube, 25 Feb. 2019, www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrP1Tl8xuNo. Accessed 5 Feb. 2025.

Just The Titles. “Seven (1995) – Opening Title Sequence.” YouTube, 4 Aug. 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhDMIaPyOwg. Accessed 5 Feb. 2025.

Sandro. “The Shining • First Scene.” YouTube, 13 July 2013, www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiV3J_e977Q. Accessed 5 Feb. 2025.

Character Background

To help me create the storyline for my opening scene I decided it would help to come up with a background for my character. I already know that for my story I want it to be about drug addiction, which as I've mentioned in other posts I got inspiration from the movie Beautiful Boy, but I don’t know much else so I think creating the character background will help me.

My main character will be a 16 year old girl and I've chosen that her name will be Zoe. Zoe lives in a small town where everyone knows each other. She used to dance competitively and was really good at it. She started when she was five and for years dance was her whole life. She would wake up early for practice, travel for competitions, and even won a few trophies. But everything changed when she started using drugs. At first, it was just something small but soon it became a habit  and she started missing dance practices. She told herself she could quit anytime, but she never did. Her grades dropped, she stopped talking to her old friends, and her parents started worrying. Now she feels stuck, part of her wants to stop but she doesn’t know if she can.

I used to dance competitively so I got inspiration from that, I also have a few trophies and awards I could use when filming which is why I liked the dance storyline. The part about her feeling stuck and not knowing what to do would be a good way to help me keep the audience engaged.

I think this helped me a lot and I'm going to start planning more very soon!