Chapter 14: Choosing a title

 What's up! Welcome back, in this post I'm going to walk you through how I chose my title.

While creating my idea, I had absolutely no idea what I was going to title the film. I was honestly going to wait until I had an idea hit me, rather than actually thinking about something. But then I realized I had to start with my social media page for the movie, so I had to figure out a title. Before this realization though, I had actually tried thinking of a title, and since I was inspired by music, I tried looking into the lyrics to see if something would spark. However, nothing did, and that's why I was going to just let the title come to me. 

Anyway, getting back on track, when I had the realization, I spent almost the entirety of my class period trying to come up with a title. I once again went back to look at the song lyrics for inspiration. I was aiming to incorporate the word "dilemma" in the title because it correlates with the album 2 of the songs were in as well as the content of my trailers. However, I ended up not using it. I also thought about titling the film "the unholy trinity" because one of my previous chapters that gave background on the characters was titled that, but I didn't like the idea of it being the title of my whole project.

Another thing I tried to do was incorporate Greek mythology references because the names of my characters do so. I was thinking of using the theme of 3, so like the 3 fates or the big 3 gods, or being more specific, in the Percy Jackson series, when a prophecy is given for a quest, only 3 can go and any others would most likely die. I thought of using this 3 fates thing seeing as I have 3 characters. I thought of titles like "Prophecy of the 3" or "Fate of 3", but I honestly hated them. They were just not fitting the vibe. I literally couldn't think of anything, no thoughts, head empty.

When I finally did think of my title, I wasn't going to choose it at first, but then I just decided eh, why not? It made sense and fit with my idea to a T. So the title I chose was, "Escapism". It didn't come to me on a whim, I honestly just thought "oh they want to escape reality, what word/words can describe that? escapism sounds cool". I also double checked that I had the right word, in case I get the definition wrong. The definition of escapism is, according to google, the tendency to seek distraction and relief from unpleasant realities, especially by seeking entertainment or engaging in fantasy. When I read the definition, I was like yeah that's definitely what my characters and story represents.

So that's how I ended up with the title Escapism. I think it's cool, simple, and straight to the point. That's all for this post, catch you in the next one.

Chapter 13: Story Boards Pt.2

 What’s up and welcome back! I’ve done a couple more storyboards so I’m here to share them with you again.

This is a scene in the conflict trailer that is going to continue the bathroom scene of C3(whom I’ve now named Ares). The scene shows Ares getting a text from Iris and Perseus and then follows Ares as they go to meet them outside. This scene is going to be the last scene in the conflict trailer. I’m going to use a variety of eyeline matches, following, pov, medium, and close-up shots.

This scene is also going to be included in the conflict trailer. I drew this to highlight a transition I want to do. It starts from the end of C1’s solo scene where their parent is yelling at them and C1(whom I’ve named Perseus) gets up and walks out mid scolding. The transition is when Perseus slams the door shut and then the next scene starts where C2’s (whom I’ve now named Iris) friend/sibling opens a door to find Iris blacked out. I’m going to use medium, long, following, and close-up shots for this transition scene.

Alrighty, that’s all for this post. I’m going to be honest I’m really proud of that first storyboard in this post. I did it pretty quick but it looks kinda swag for some stick figures. Anyway, thanks for reading and I’ll catch you in the next one.

Chapter 12: Trailer Outline Pt.2

What’s up! In this post I’ll be sharing the outline I made for the conflict trailer(finally😋).

Conflict Trailer: Showing the personal conflict of each of the teens.

First 5-10 seconds: 

As screen fades in.

[VO: You ever just want to continue living in one moment.]

a very fast cut montage of the friend group doing their stupid stuff

[VO: Where don’t have to return to your shitty life]

*black screen*

Fade in on Perseus’ parent’s hand aggressively shaking car keys. Close up on the mouth of Perseus’ parent yelling at them. Muffled yelling in the background. Cut to a slow zoom on Perseus who’s seemingly out of it. 

[VO: Us too]

*Voice yelling is clear now*

“You good for nothing garbage excuse for a child!”

*something is seen thrown past Perseus*

Cut to Perseus as they get up and silently walk out of the room.

Shot of a door slamming

Transition to a door opening.

[VO: We can’t though.]

close up pan of messed up room.

shot of one of Iris’ friends shoes running and crouching down to Iris’ body.

Close up of Iris as they’re getting shaken by the friend.

“Not again. Iris! Iris! Wake up!”

Iris POV shot showing a close up of the friend as they shake Iris.

[VO: It’s so sad it’s almost funny.]

Shot showing the friend lowering their head.

Transition to Ares lifting their head to looking into the mirror.

Cut to a pan showing sticky notes stuck onto the mirror.

[VO: How we choose unhealthy ways to cope.]

Medium shot from behind Ares so we see Ares’ back but their face in the mirror.

Quick cut to a scene of Ares having a mental breakdown.

Cut back to a close up of Ares as they look into the sink.

Cut to a close up of something red washing down the sink drain.

Cut back to Ares.

Last few seconds:

[VO: But at least those moments help just a little bit.]

Voice over as we see a text show up on Ares’ phone from Perseus saying “Here.”

Quick few cuts of Ares walking out of the bathroom, down the stairs, and out the front door to see Perseus and Iris waiting.

Fin?

That’s all for this post, thank you!

Chapter 11: The Unholy Trinity

What's Up! Welcome back, in this post I'll be giving some information about my characters. I finally picked their names as well so that's fun. Let's get into it.

I chose the names Perseus, Iris, and Ares for my characters. I chose these names because they're related to Greek mythology, and I just think they're cool to be honest. I haven't given them gender identities as of right now, but they have ages and grade levels.

Character 1: Perseus

~Senior in high school

~17 yrs old

~Has divorced parents

~Toxic relationship with parents

~Frequently sneaks out, drinks, and smokes as a coping mechanism

~Likes to steal parent’s car

~Second oldest out of the three friends

~Somehow gets good grades in school

~The more chill one

Character 2: Iris

~Senior in high school

~18 yrs old

~Inattentive parents

~Has a drinking problem

~Frequently parties and sneaks out with Perseus

~Has a fake ID to supply her addiction

~Likes to drink until they black out

~Doesn’t care about school

~Just want to have fun and drink

Character 3: Ares

~Senior in high school

~17 yrs old

~Struggles with depression and anxiety

~Has a past of self harm

~Used to have frequent mental breakdowns, but they slowed down

~Also likes to sneak out with Perseus and Iris to feel something

~Unmotivated in school and life in general

~Always stuck in their thoughts

These are my characters yayyy; I think they're pretty swag. They definitely have issues, but that's what I'm going for. Anyway, thanks for reading and see you in the next post!

Chapter 10: Story Boards

 What’s up! Welcome back, in this post I’m just going to share some story boards I drew in class.

In this page I have drawn two different scenes, the first being the scene where character 1 is being yelled at by their parental figure. C1 is blank faced, just waiting for it to be over. I want a zoom into their face to capture the emotion of just being tired of the situation. This scene is short because it’s going to be included in the appealing trailer where I’m not focusing on the conflict as much. The second scene drawn is the scene where character 2 is blacked out and one of their friends/siblings/someone is trying to wake them up. I want to include a pov shot and extreme close ups to capture the worry on the extra character’s face. This will also be included in the appealing trailer.

This second page includes one scene that will be included in the appealing trailer as well. It’s where character three is looking at the mirror trying to compose themselves and stop themselves from reverting back to harmful coping mechanisms. There are sticky notes on the mirror that I want to emphasize with close ups, so that the scene doesn’t just look like C3 looking in the mirror.

This is what I have for now, but I’ll be continuing my storyboarding. I just drew the scenes that flashed in my mind first. These scenes I shared here are scenes that will be in the middle of the appealing trailer. I’ll probably end up including some form of these same scenes in the conflict trailer for cohesiveness, and to make it easier for me.

Anyway, that’s all for now, I’ll see you in the next post!

Chapter 9: Trailer Outline Pt.1

What's up! In this posting I'll share the outline I made for the appealing trailer.

Appealing Trailer: Showing the reliance and the euphoric escape the group gets when they get together.

First 20-30 seconds: The group having a chill conversation about what they should do. “We should bla bla bla” “Nah I think we should bla bla bla” “How about…” The character pulls out car keys from behind their back.

After stating the last idea, include a variety of shots that show them coming to a shared consensus. With an overlapping VO.

[VO: We’re always looking for an escape]

Cut to the group running out of a house stealing one of their parents cars.

[VO: Anything to just forget about reality]

About 20 seconds: Montage of them after stealing the car driving, blasting music, etc.

[VO: Sometimes we don’t have very bright ideas]

A couple seconds of faded parents yelling at one of the characters. The character however is zoned out, seemingly used to and not phased by this. 

A couple seconds of another character blacked out and someone scared trying to shake them awake. 

A couple seconds of the third character, in the bathroom, obviously distressed, staring at the mirror and writing can be seen “Days Clean: *insert tally marks*”

[VO: But anything works right?]

Last few seconds: Show the car parking, them hopping a fence. And then a small montage of them night swimming. During the montage you hear the VO.

[VO: Even if it’s just for a few moments]

Fin?

As I film I'll probably change some things but for now this is what I came up with, but that's all for this post so bye for now!

Chapter 8: Small (and messy) Outline

What's Up! Welcome back, in this post I'll be giving you a look into where my head is at with my idea. 

Idea: A group of friends struggling with their own darkness but find a salvation/escape in each other.

I'm still thinking about how I'm going to map out each trailer, but I know I want one of them to build up the appealing aspects of the production (so this would focus on depicting the friendship) and the other to develop conflict.

Appealing trailer: I think I would want this trailer to open with some sort of conversation the main friends are having, probably them planning to do something like go on a car ride or late night swimming or something. Then it would cut to a montage of them doing that planned activity. I would want it to embody the vision people have when they think of teenage years. I would want the montage to pause and introduce brief conflict, like maybe the camera could show each character and a cut or voiceover or something to just barely introduce each problem they're dealing with as if they start thinking about it; and after that, I would want it to show how each character snaps out of it and just focuses on living in the moment and escaping reality.

Conflict trailer: For this trailer, I'm not sure on whether I want it to focus on one of the friends or all of the friends. I'm leaning towards all of the friends. It would start similar to the appealing trailer, where the friends are just hanging out. Then I want to indicate them parting ways to go home or something, and this is where I would cut from character to character introducing each conflict. I would probably end it by each character sort of paralleling each other by an outburst of anger of frustration and then they meet up to escape their problems.

As you can probably tell, this is pretty messy, but it honestly sums up the jumbled ideas in my head. I think as I develop each character and the conflict, as well as a full story outline, creating the trailer outlines will become easier.

Chapter 7: Title Fonts

What's up! Welcome back to another post! In this one I'm going to be showing some titles/fonts I like based on some drama movie posters.

The first title font I found and liked was, to no surprise, The Breakfast Club. I think it really follows the drama norm of simplistic but bold titles, and the red against the white is eye catching. I also think that the title itself is well chosen. It's not cringe and ropes in the potential viewer to wonder what "The Breakfast Club" is/is about.

 The next poster I found is yet another one of my favorite movies [if we remember from AS level ;)] The Perks of Being a Wallflower. I liked this font because, once again, it is also simple. I liked the boldness of the more important words, as well as the style; It looks like the title is actually being drawn on the wall. I also really like the all lowercase for some reason. 

This is poster is for a movie I have never seen, but I still like this title font for The Diary of a Teenage Girl. It's another simplistic one, but I like how it looks a little bit like ink, tying into the "diary" portion of the title. The maroon color is bold yet not overpowering, and the center placement of the title are things I like as well.

Chapter 6: Royalty Free

What’s up! I’m back and I’m going to recount the frustration that was ✨looking for music✨. Spoiler alert: I haven’t found anything yet.

Once upon a time… I was in 3rd period. I decided to start trying to find background music for my trailers because, as can be gathered from Chapter 5, music has heavily inspired my idea. I need music that matches the vibe that the songs I previously shared gave me, and that’s very difficult. I was thinking that I should get this part done early because without good music, this is not going to fulfill my vision. I looked through my notebook because I had remembered a classmate recommendation a website to find non-copyrighted music; and I found the note which said “chosic.com”. Now don’t get me wrong, I found a lot of nice potential bgm on chosic.com(background music), but only for specific moments. 

I spent a good chunk of my class period scavenging for something that fits, but nothing was satisfying me. It was honestly pretty frustrating, but I kept looking. By the time the bell was going to ring, I still hadn’t found anything. However, even though I didn’t find the right music yet, I learned which genres/tags to avoid on chosic. I went on the tags “adventure” and “fast”, and the pop genre and I couldn’t find anything I liked because everything was too chill or just weren’t what I was looking for at all. Despite my frustration I’m not going to completely give up on chosic, but I’m still going to try and find other sites that can hopefully help me out. Sadly I haven’t gotten my “happily ever after” yet, so for now I’ll say “to be continued”…

Chapter 5: Music Inspiration

 Don't you forget about me, don't don't don't don't. What's Up! I'm back again and in this post I'll be talking about the music and other things which have inspired me for this new portfolio project.

When T-Stok first introduced the portfolio project in the beginning of the year, I had already been thinking of ideas, I just wasn't set on it yet. But, one song that inspired me was "Tamed-Dashed" by the kpop group Enhypen. The song just gives summer vibes and I imagine friends having their movie moments together: late night drives, beach days, blasting music, those moments. I think this song really inspired me with the friendship aspect of my idea. Even if kpop isn't you're cup of tea, you can tell that the song is upbeat and fast paced and gives summer vibes (they literally say the word "summer" in the the chorus).

Tamed-Dashed (friendly reminder to turn on subtitles)

This next song is also by Enhypen, and it's titled "Attention, please!". This song also inspires me in the way that I imagine strong friendship when listening to this song. When I listen to "Attention, please!" I see a group of troubled teens letting loose and letting their worries go, living in the moment with each other. On the other hand, when I read the lyrics I feel like it would be cool to have the personality and inner thoughts of the song become a character. The song is about this person having a lot of attention and popularity, but the one person they want to give them attention just doesn't notice them and gives no care at all. I think that would be fun to play with, if I made a character the embodiment of this song. Just a thought though.

Attention, please! (another subtitle reminder)

The last song I was inspired by was released very recently, less than 2 weeks ago actually, and it's titles "Stay Alive". It's by 2 BTS members, Produced by SUGA of BTS and performed by Jungkook of BTS. The song helps inspire me to think of the conflict I want to represent in my trailers. The song's lyrics also match up with my idea. The song is very emotional, representing the feeling of darkness but the speaker of the song addresses "you" as their salvation, someone who keeps them going and in turn the speaker helps keep them going. I think this song really encapsulates my idea of a relationship where even though they're dealing with their own darkness, they are each other's salvation. This song helps put me into that creative mindset where I try to play out my story in my head.

Stay Alive  (I usually try to link music to the original artists however, the full version of the song is only on Apple Music, Spotify, etc. I will link the original promotional video released for the song which is the shorter version of it.)

Stay Alive Original Webtoon Promo

That's it for today's post, hope you enjoyed! BTW if you caught that Breakfast Club reference in the beginning, I give you a firm handshake. Byeeee.

Chapter 4: Basic Tropes

 Welcome Back! In this posting, I'll be mentioning some basic Drama tropes that relate to my idea, and some tropes that I want to avoid. 

My basic idea still surrounds the troubled group of friends so one of the tropes that I've found that's popular with Drama and ties in with my idea is troubled youth. The troubled youth trope is exactly how it sounds, young people dealing with their personal issues whether that be familial, school related, mental health, addiction, etc.

Another trope similar to troubled youth is misfits. I don't think I would apply this trope with my idea because I don't plan on making my characters outcasts (at least for right now). However, I do think this trope would be a good one to come back to if needed. I mean some great characters have been the embodiment of this trope, like John Bender from The Breakfast Club; so I'm open to this trope.

One trope I will stay away from is teen pregnancy. I find that this trope can sometimes be included in teen dramas, mostly TV series but still: the show Glee is one example. I'm staying away from this trope because, I can't relate to it in anyway seeing as I'm not pregnant lol. Although this is a great topic to bring to light, the fact is that I have no knowledge, experience, or relatability with this, so I would feel uncomfortable having it be a trope.

That's all for this post! In some upcoming posts I'll delve deeper into my ideas and outlines for the portfolio project.