Composition

     Making my storyboard was an important step in this film opening process. I had begun it a few days prior, but took a break and was able to do it quite easily. I never find it hard getting my ideas onto paper I just have a hard time explaining them. I tried to show to the best of my ability show the techniques I wanted to incorporate, but I think it would be better if I just elaborated on them here. 

Color: I really want to have red curtains for the opening scenes, but the place I am filming at has blue. No matter what the main character will be wearing a white dress. This will be done to demonstrate her innocence in the situation. She doesn't want to live like this and doesn't know what's really going on inside her own head. 

Eyeline Match: An eyeline match is done to show the viewer exactly what the character is looking at which I plan to use in the story. When the people begin talking to her this will allow the viewer to see her and then what the person talking to her. The repetition of this is going to be used to display her stress as the pressure becomes too much. 

Long shot: The use of long shots in the production will be extensive. I want her to be seen in full and then be brought closer. This will also allow her wardrobe to be seen. 

Medium & close-up shots: These two shots will be used to bring the audience closer to the main character. The medium shot introduces her in a closer light which will then turn into close-ups as her situation intensifies. 

In reference to sound, I'm not sure if I'll be adding music. I want it to feel authentic to the piece and nothing has come to mind. 

Thanks for reading, be back soon! 

storyboard

 These are the first two slides of my storyboard. The beginning of my film opening is displayed here. I wish I could draw better so you could see my vision more but it’ll be good I promise! This helped me get it out of my head and onto a piece of paper. 

I'll tell you more about it tomorrow. 

moodboard

 This week has been kind of crazy for me and I’ve been very tired, but tomorrow or Sunday I will be posting my storyboard. Today I’ve created some more mood boards for the overall opening. I want to display my thoughts through the board so you can have more of a visual. My idea currently lives fully in my head so this is a visual representation of what I’m thinking.

I want to explain a little bit of what you're seeing here. The red curtains and microphone are the setting portion. I would love to have red curtains, but I think the location I have access to has blue ones which are fine. Then to the left is a shot of a person who is backlit. I want to incorporate this shot into my production. I just think it'll fit really nicely. The rest of the photos are meant to represent her and what is going to be portrayed in the opening. The storyboard will elaborate on this through bad stick drawings, but I promise it will come together. 

Schedule

I would have posted a schedule for this week, but it really didn't go to plan. Tuesday which was supposed to be a day to get a lot of work done in class didn't really go as planned. 30 minutes into class we were put into lockdown meaning all work is supposed to stop. Even though we were safe, I was anxious and really couldn't focus on anything but texting my friends and family to inform them of what was happening and making sure they were okay. Rumors were spreading faster than wildfires and anxiety were thick in the air. We sat there for three hours and I really just sat there and stared at the wall or my phone trying to understand why this is such a problem in the United States. Anyways, my schedule would have been useless. I'm in a funk and exhausted and truly don't know what to talk about so here is next week's schedule that maybe ill hold myself accountable for. 

This is subject to change hope you enjoyed my little rant. Better blogs are coming. I promise

Plot

    I don't want too much judgment here when I explain my opening. It's a rough draft, but I've grown fond of the story over these past few days. My dream is to make this work and it's kind of reaching since I'm a perfectionist in some aspects. I was going to sleep stressing about the project and then an idea dawned on me. Always hearing write from experience stressed me out because my experiences don't seem so unique. My parents got divorced and my dad is the worst person I've ever met fighting for years in court wasn't really what I wanted to put out there. I didn't want to rehash trauma to get a grade it's something I don't like. 

    Taking AP Psych last year introduced me to a whole new world. Learning about mental illness opened my eyes to something that seems ignored in many circumstances. People turn a blind eye to serious illnesses and they don't get coverage. This leads people to live in silence their whole lives looking for help, but not knowing where to go for help. So what does this have to do with my story? In one of my past posts about psychological thrillers, I talk about schizotypal personality disorder. Learning about this last year showed me that people could think they are going crazy when in reality they need help. Enough with the foundation here's what I'm planning.

    The first shot will open to red curtains, this is where the title would appear introducing you to the movie. The main character would be a girl who opens the curtains. She shyly pulls them back and then introduces herself through a mic, but before she can get much further people in the crowd begin talking to her and telling her every wrong thing she's ever done. This would not be her reality. This is inside her head. After that occurs the credits would be shown as the shots change to different people. Eventually, the noise will be too much and she will scream, leading to the screen going black. The returning shot will be the girl in her bed confused as to what happened. These delusional thoughts are making her live a more complicated life than necessary, but since she doesn't know what's going on it seems like a never-ending cycle. 

    I'm excited to start developing more of this. Thanks for reading, see you soon. 

Characters

 I plan to introduce you to the full story tomorrow, but today I'll introduce you to the main character. She is also the only one who has a name in the story. With two minutes there's a whole world of possibility and choosing to have one character that's the focal point is scary, but I think it's possible. I'm not sure of her name right now so I'm sorry for such an informal introduction. I'm leaning toward a name like Ivy. 

    In the story, she is dealing with something close to schizotypal personality disorder, but it's clearly untreated. This mental illness is in close relation to schizophrenia though it lacks hallucinations. It leads to unusual thinking, paranoid thoughts, and odd styles of dressing. I hope to display this through her room and style of dress. Her thoughts will be portrayed in the main portion of the opening. 

  

I created this small mood board to just give an idea as to who she is. I'm excited for what the future holds see you there!

Genre: psych thriller

     Psychological thriller is the genre I feel fits my story the best. This genre combines thriller and psychological fiction highlighting the emotional state of the main character while including an in-depth dramatic plot. This separates it from the thriller genre by giving it its own twist. 

    Psychological thrillers follow certain themes like death, reality, and mental issues. When the story follows a theme of death, either a death has traumatized them and sent them on this path or they seek out death. The movie Law Abiding Citizen would be a good example of this as the death of his wife and daughter set him down a path to justice. When they follow a theme of reality it is to show the character struggling to grasp the world around them so in an attempt to escape they create their own world. An example of this would be Don't Worry Darling the main character Jack is unhappy with his life in the real world so he moves him and his wife into a fake world where everything is perfect. When the story follows mental issues it shows the struggles of the main character. Black Swan is a perfect example as she slowly slips into darkness throughout the movie. 

    Conventions of this genre include location, sounds, flashbacks, low light, and quick edits. All of these combined create a suspenseful atmosphere. Some directors that have mastered this are Alfred Hitchcock and Martin Scorsese. Hitchcock known as the master of suspense created the hit film Psycho which perfectly encompasses all a psychological thriller is made of. Scorsese highlights these conventions in his films like Shutter island. I plan to watch these movies and others to get an in-depth understanding about how to display these conventions properly and do the genre justice.