Character name!

Hello,

I wanted to share some additional progress Riley and I have made in planning our project.

In the beginning, Riley and I were unsure of our main character's last name. We knew her first name would be Blair, but we weren't sure how to go about choosing her surname. We ended up deciding on the last name Libra. We chose this because we think it has a nice ring to it, but, most importantly, because we felt this last name would establish the complexity of the character.


According to "GaneshaSpeaks," people born under the Sign Libra "are kind, gentle and lovers of beauty, harmony and peace." They are romantic, charming, self-indulgent, and unreliable. We felt some of the characteristics (especially those of beauty, romance, charm, and unreliability) paralleled traits of the femme fatale - our main character. Some of the descriptions, on the other hand, (especially those of kindness, harmony, and peace) contrast those of the femme fatale. This depicts the intricate personality of our character, Blair, that we wish to portray.

Libra Traits-Positive and Negative characteristics. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.ganeshaspeaks.com/zodiac-signs/libra/traits/

Costuming

Hello and happy Friday!

Today I will be further researching costuming for the femme fatale and the victim.


Femme fatale
The color palette for the femme fatale typically includes red and black. These characters usually wear fancy and seductive clothing. Upon searching for a femme fatale outfit in the 1950's - which is when this character gained popularity and when Riley and I are setting our story - I found the red dress below.The style of the dress would work really well with our character. As for the hairstyle, since I have long curly hair, the hairstyle shown in the gif below would work perfectly for me.

The victim
As for the victim, Riley and I intend on buying a casual men's outfit. This would include black shoes, dark and tight jeans, and a white fitted t-shirt. We chose white for the shirt as it fits the conventions of men's fashion in the 1950's. Since the man, Gideon, will be an innocent victim who was murdered unjustly (the reason for his murder would be revealed later in the film), we felt that the white in the shirt would symbolize his innocence and goodness. In our opening, we will show Gideon dead on the floor with blood all over his shirt. The white in the shirt will make the red (symbolizing rage and danger) stand out more.

For these outfits, Riley and I were thinking of going thrift shopping prior to our filming dates, which are March 20th and 21st. We think that if we go to thrift shops rather than mainstream stores like Forever 21, we'll have a higher chance of finding 1950's outfits.

Storyboarding

Today in class, Riley and I began working on our storyboard. I'll be honest, storyboarding was way harder than I had anticipated! Regardless of the difficulties, it was a fun process and even though we still have a long way to go, I'm glad we have a starting point.















So far, we have two shots decided. We found it difficult to estimate the length of our film opening only from what we have on paper. Hopefully when we finish, our project will be close to 2 minutes, as that's what we're aiming for. If it's not, we'll have to add some extra shots, probably cutaways.

We will begin the opening with a black screen. An animation of our company name - we still need to figure this out - will fade in and out. This will be followed by our first shot: the classic close-up shot of a woman stepping out of a car. The close-up will only show the woman's heels. This will create a sense of mystery and uncertainty, since the audience has no idea who the woman is. For the shoes, I will probably wear tall black heels I already own, or I might buy red ones.



This will be followed by a medium shot of the woman's (Blair's) lower body. She'll be wearing a red dress and, of course, the heels. This shot will show the rim of her dress, her legs, and her heels as she walks toward the police facility. I think it would be interesting if she walks by a row of cop cars before reaching the door of the facility. There may be two issues with this, though; we might not be able to film at this location, and police cars in the 50's looked a lot different then than they do today.




I've been gaining inspiration from Shutterstock clips for some of these ideas. I'll add the links down below:

https://www.shutterstock.com/video/clip-30310240-police-interrogation-room-slow-high-angle-dolly

https://www.shutterstock.com/video/clip-1010825780-empty-dark-interrogation-room-metal-table-chairs

https://www.shutterstock.com/video/clip-24664214-police-going-over-fingerprints-database

https://www.shutterstock.com/video/clip-20703178-girl-apply-lip-stick-looking-mirror-holding

Next class, Riley and I will work more on our storyboard, so I'll be adding those details soon as well.

See you next time!

Film Outline

Hello again,

I wanted to include an outline for part of our film opening and for the remainder of the film!

As I have stated in previous blog posts, our film opening will consist of scenes from before/after the crime has been committed. These scenes will all center around the victim, Gideon Andrews, the accused, Blair Libra, and the crime itself, which is the murder of Gideon. Riley and I aren't sure what the murder weapon will be, or if we will depict it. We do want to, however, show Gideon right after the murder takes place. I guess we better stock up on fake blood!

All of these scenes will be shown through flashbacks, as the film opening will center on the interrogation. There will be a voiceover of the interrogation. Throughout the interrogation, Blair will answer with false and contradicting statements. Towards the end of the opening, she will realize how flawed her answers have been and how she hasn't covered her tracks. The interrogator will ask a final question that reveals these contradictions. Her face will portray immense panic, the screen will suddenly fade to black, and the movie title "The Sirens" will flash on screen.



After what is depicted in our film opening, the movie will center on Blair after leaving the interrogation room. The police, as well as the movie viewers, will believe Blair has committed the crime. The rest of the film will depict Blair's fight for justice as she attempts to uncover her innocence as well as the true nature of the crime. The movie will be set both before the crime has happened, and will depict Blair and her relationship with Gideon, as well as after the crime has occurred, depicting Blair struggling through a wrongful conviction. Towards the end of the film, the audience will find out that Blair didn't actually commit the crime, but was actually framed by someone else.

I'm glad Riley and I now have an outline for the rest of the movie, as this will help with our project!

Planning Time!

Happy Monday!

Today in class Riley and I were able to make a great deal of progress in planning our film opening.

First off, we finally decided what time period to set our project in! Drum roll please... we're setting it in the 1950's! Even though this will be more demanding and might cost more, it was our original idea and will be interesting to work on.


We also discussed characterization in our film opening. As of now, this is our character list:

Main character (femme fatale): played by me!

Detective/interrogator: Riley

Victim: we're not sure yet

Witnesses/extras

We're still not sure if there will only be one main character. Our original idea was to have the femme fatal be the leader of a violent girl gang. This gang would be the one committing the crime. Right now, though, we're thinking of focusing on just the femme fatale and have her work alone.

And now for the names of the characters! The femme fatale will be named Blair.
The name, according to MomJunction, "was personified perfectly by Blair Waldorf, the
"Gossip Girls" evil queen. With her icy stare and flawless hairs, Blair Waldorf commanded
both adoration and attention wherever she went..." As a Gossip Girl fan, I highly agree
with this, and think it will fit our character's personality perfectly.

Riley and I still have a lot of work in terms of outlining and storyboarding, but we're confident in our idea and excited to see where we can take it!

See you next time :)

Navuluri, B. (2018, October 16). 53 Badass Baby Names For Girls And Boys. Retrieved from https://www.momjunction.com/articles/badass-baby-names-for-girls-and-boys_00399241/#gref

Schedule

Hello and welcome back!

Since me and Riley's ideas are starting to come together, it is time to create a schedule for our future work on the project. This is the schedule I have created and will hopefully stick to:

Week 1 
During this week, we focused mostly on the genre, characters, and plot of our project.

Week 2 
During this current week, I have continued research on the crime drama genre and thoroughly studied film openings of other films of this genre. I have also researched the femme fatale character, as well as conventions of the 1950's. Through the group meetings, I received very helpful ideas and insights on my project, like the suggestion of using a voiceover of the film opening. This meeting, as well as the research, was extremely helpful to narrow down me and Riley's ideas and to further understand our selected genre.

Week 3/4/5
Next week and the two weeks following this, I plan to further narrow down our ideas. Riley and I still have to plan out the rest of the movie. This step is vital; without a basic framework of the rest of the film, it will be extremely difficult to properly create a film opening for it. We also have to cast for the main characters (we haven't decided who will play what character) and have to decide on the characters' names/backgrounds. During these weeks, we also need to make sure the interrogation room will be available to film in. If not, we're going to have to come up with a plan B (we would probably end up filming in the garage). During week 3, I plan to have finalized a story board for the film opening. I plan on starting the filming process around week 4 and/or week 5, since week 6 is spring break and I will probably be out of town. During these weeks, we will have to invest in mis en scene elements, such as costumes, makeup products, and props.

Week 6 
And...Spring Break! As I stated before, I plan on having finished most (hopefully all) of the filming in the previous weeks. This would allow Riley and I to focus mainly on editing during week 6. Since we'll be out of school, we're going to have to plan appropriately and, if we travel, we'll have to make sure to bring all necessary materials to work on our project.

Week 7
During this last week, Riley and I will be completing final touches on our project, as well as completing the Creative Critical Reflection. By the 7th, we will have completed the CRR, the blog, and the film opening.

Group Meetings

Hi again,

Yesterday in class, we had group meetings to showcase our blogs/projects. In these meetings, we presented our project ideas, our progress, and any issues we may have been facing.

I really liked this meeting; it was helpful to hear different perspectives and thoughts on my work. My group, as well as Riley's group, really liked our idea. Our groups, however, had different thoughts on what time period our film opening should take place in.

My group, for example, felt that we would be more successful producing a more modern work based in the 21st century. They said it would be difficult to find the appropriate props for the 1950’s. We would have to, for example, buy clothing reminiscent of this time, like a sheath dress, which has a long and narrow silhouette. We might also have to buy a wig or arrange our hair differently, as both Riley and I have longer hair that wouldn’t fit with the conventions of the 50’s.

Riley's group, on the other hand, thought we should go with our initial idea of setting our work in the 1950’s. They said it would be more interesting and would create another rendition we should explore.

Honestly, I’m still really stuck on this. I see and understand both groups’ points. Basing it in the 1950’s would be really interesting and fun, but it would be really difficult to achieve successfully. Basing it in the 21st century would be, obviously, way more familiar to us and might produce more rewarding results. This would allow us to focus on other elements, like character development and lighting. I’ll have to discuss this with Riley so we can decide together. I’ll update you on our final decision!

As for the character, my group really liked the idea of having a femme fatale as the main character. They said they pictured the woman being in her early 20’s and said that, with the appropriate makeup, I could pass off as this age. This was a very useful suggestion, as I hadn’t thought before what age the main character should be. My group also said that the interrogator should be played by an older person. I had previously stated that either me or Riley would play this character, but as my classmates stated, this wouldn’t be believable, as interrogators are often older. It would take a lot of effort and makeup if we were to fake this.

I agree with their suggestion and have, therefore, decided to find someone else to play this role. Riley doesn’t think her parents will be interested, so we might have to find someone else. This will be challenging hecause I don’t know how many people we’re allowed to bring into the interrogation room.

Overall, the group meeting was very helpful to improve my project. All of my group members had new and interesting ideas that hasn’t crossed my mind yet. I also like how, every time, the groups change; this allows for refreshing perspectives each time we have these meetings.