Connecting with the Public!

     As I start planning out my film opening, I started to look at what I want my characters to stand for and represent throughout the movie. Although my main character is a white brunette teenager, I will be incorporating many different characters with different cultures and customs. Next, a list of some of the characters that will be included in the story and their characteristics that will connect with the public!

- Main Character: white, brunette, has anxiety, bisexual, somewhat alternative, artistic

- G1(best friend/neighbor): latino, funny, adopted

- GC(girl crush): mixed, very hippie, popular, insecure, lesbian, musical

- MC's Younger Sister: white, light brunette, stubborn, center of attention

- MC's parents: white, hard-workers, overachievers, distant but caring

- MC's teacher: female, artistic, connects with MC as a motherly figure

- MC's new friend group: 

-Asher: male, black, sensitive, reads, smart

-Kane- male, asian, gay, optimistic

-Bella: GC's girlfriend, hispanic, petty, immature, controlling

-Brooke: white, friendly, submissive, smart but hides it

    As shown, there is going to be a great variety of different characters that the public will be able to connect with. I believe that understanding a character and their stories is one of the most important things in a film. As long as the viewers can see a character and relate to their stories, more and more people will connect to it, bringing in a bigger target audience.

Scenery Creation

    While I decided on the storyline, I started thinking of the different types of settings and backgrounds I would like to include. The main storyline revolves around the new house, a High School, her neighbor's house, the neighborhood park and streets, Coffee Shop, the house the party is at and the woods for the bonfire. Next, I have created moldboards for the Coffee Shop, the Park, the Party scene and the Bonfire.

                                                                      Coffee shop                                                                                                 Park

                                                                           Party                                                                                                     Bonfire

                            

Storyline

     As I dove in looking toward the next few blogs, I decided to settle on a storyline. At first, I was going toward a story about seriously bad mental health, but now I decided my story will be a coming of age film about a new girl, with mental health issues, that is moving to a new town. The following bullet points are my overall ideas about how the storyline will go:

• MC moving to a new town - packing
• Meets G1, who is a neighbor
• MC - lesbian
• Bad first day of school
• Dinner with family
• Ignores homework, smokes in secret
• Hears rocks at window
• Meets with G1 and goes on walk together to the park
• Strong friendship starts
• Sleeps, goes to school 
• MC sees GC - love interest who is taken
• MC and G1 meet up at coffee shop after school
• GC is at coffee shop, they end up meeting
• MC is scared, GC invites them to a party then leaves
• MC is nervous, but later on goes to the party
• MC embarrasses herself, but G1 runs after her
• They go to MC's house and eat ice cream watching movies.
• Next day MC and G1 smoke in park, GC surprises them there
• GC and her girlfriend invites them to bonfire and leave
• MC freaks out but still goes with G1
• They all meet up, things start of awkwardly
• GC's girlfriend starts a fight with MC
• Everyone stays in MC's side, especially  GC
• Conflict is resolved
• MC and GC go on a walk/drive home talking
• Goodbye kiss, MC gets home and sleeps
• MC and G1 meet up to talk day after - park
• They have fun and MC realizes she's happy she moved
• The end

     This is a brief list of what the main characters are called on the list above.

  MC- Main Character

  G1- Guy number 1

  GC- Girl Crush

Who's the Fan Club?

     Inicially, I imagined this movie would be for a more mature audience, but after getting many ideas together, I have settled on reaching people more into coming of age films. These are some genres, topics and ideas I am exploring and bringing into my blog that affected my decision on my target audience.

    -Drama

    -Coming of age

    -Art

    -Anxiety-Mental Health

    -Feminism

    -Helping others

    -Music Artists

    As I started looking at my film from the audience's perspective, I realized it was time to set and decide on my target audience. I researched and found out that Drama is the most preferred genre by women, while it is in 5th place for men. I have recreated some graphs that can shows the statistics for both genders' preferred genre.

                                                   Female                                                                                               Male

    I decided that the target audience for my film will be mainly women from the ages 16 to late 20s. I think that women are more often attracted to these topics than men, making it more suitable for female audiences. I decided on that age range because those people will be able to connect with the main character and their life better. I think the movie will be more popular in the United States and some European and Latin countries, but I do not believe a specific area in the US will be more directed to it than others.

The It Girl

    As I started thinking about my story and my characters, I knew I wanted my protagonist to be a female in her late teenage years or at a young adult age. I thought of some characteristics I would like her to have and noticed she was starting to seem very similar to me. There are many aspects of her I created based of myself and many other characters I am familiar with. I still have not started my casting process, and I believe that character's names and personalities should adapt to the character's physical appearance; Therefore, I will be waiting to decide he name until I have decided on an actress.

    Some characteristics I will be bringing into her storyline are:

• Brunnete
• Painter
• Anxious
• Stubborn
• Sarcastic
• Funny
• Enjoys television
• Enjoys listening to music
• Often is underestimated
• Smarter than she looks
• Fun hairstyles
• Supernatural TV
• Assimilated blue, green, black and purple
• Smokes weed, doesn't drink
• Loves but always kills plants
• Likes Pop, Pop-Rock, electronic and alternative music

   I also created a mood board based off what she likes, how she is portrayed and how she really is. I think the best way to understand a character is to visualize them. I really enjoy designing and editing, so a mood board allows me to project my research and ideas into a more physical and concrete plan.

Topics Research

     As I started the planning process, a couple hundred questions came up to me. Firstly, I’m going to be focusing on the research of other similar movies and TV shows that have inspired my Intro. 

      The movie “Perks of Being a Wallflower” has been a great inspiration to me when deciding the type of story and what character interactions will be like. I believe this movie has a nice dynamic between the character’s relation. My intention is to make the movie revolve mostly on the main character and in their mind, much like how Charlie, the protagonist, is portrayed in this movie. I also really enjoy how the opening scene is directed towards only him and has a slow, gloomy and out of sorts feeling to it.

    Another example of a movie I was very inspired by is called "All the Bright Places". This movie is based off an amazing and heartfelt story about two teenagers and their struggles. I was interested in this movie because I think it shows a good part of the reality of how people with mental health issues often feel around others who understand them. This movie can be considered by many as a part of the "I hate everyone but you" troupe, which I think is a great touch to the genre and storyline and increases my interest in adding a character that understands my main character in my opening scene.

    Lastly, the film "The Fallout" also served as inspiration for me. This film is about a group of high school students who were trapped in a restroom during a school shooting. This movie was one of the most intriguing movies for me in terms of how characters and individuals react to adversity. My goal is to have my main character understand, relate and react similarly to the main character, portrayed by Jenna Ortega. I believe that piece of fiction has very realistic details about the characters' attitudes and reactions, and I would like to bring that into my Intro.

The Game Plan

    Today was the first day of the Big Plan. This project is most likely the hardest and most demanding projects I've had to do up until now, but somehow it is also the most exciting one. As soon as we were told we were to produce, direct, film, and basically create an entire 2 minute film opening by ourselves, I was in shock. About a minute later my head got exploded with a billion different ideas.

    I knew from the start I would want to create a piece about mental health. After I struggled for years with it, I believe I can create a good piece about it. I knew I wasn't interested in genres like crime, horror or action, but I would aim for a more dramatic and modern film. I think that drama can be one of the most diverse and open genres, whereas other genres can be more limited. I am still researching and finding ideas of what I like and what I don't, but these are some of my main ideas I am looking into at this point.

• Drama
• Mental Health - Anxiety
• Feminism
• Friendship
• Accidents

Clearly, there is still a lot to be planned... but don't worry, I'll keep you updated!