Script is done!

After many drafts and slight changes I, with the role of being the writer, have finalized our script. With much help from both my partners, Alex and Lucia, we all really liked and agreed that this script was perfect. Although this might be a short blog, I thought it was really important for the script to have its own post.

I apologize if it looks blurry, I tried inserting the pages in different ways and it still looked this way. I will link the script file here just in case. I will be back soon to let you all know how our filming day went, see you soon!

Filming "Dear Mara"

Location

After some consideration, we decided to film at my house. Our decision was based a lot on the vibe or mood we wanted our opening to give. We also needed to show two rooms with a lot of contrast, to show Val and Mara's contrasting personalities, which I think are shown well with the contrast of my brother and my room. Below I will insert pictures of my house, both downstairs and the rooms, to give you all an idea.

Filming Day

Now onto our decided filming day. We had a few issues figuring out a day that fit each of our schedules, as well as the ones of our friends helping in acting. We will be filming tomorrow Sunday, March 9th. We knew we needed to film this weekend so we had the rest of the week to review our footage and see what we needed or what we did not need, that way it was easier for the editing process.

I know this was a short blog but I did think it was important to update you all on these big decisions we made this week.  I should be back very soon to show you all our final script. I am super excited to film, especially since I am working with people I already have a good bond with. See you all soon!!!

Stages of Grief Research

 How will we show these stages in our opening?

Yesterday in class we thought of a really good idea. Lucia, who is in my group, suggested that we briefly include the well-known 5 stages of grief in our opening, although we will only show the first one as the opening ends. After showing that Mara has died, Valerie will be seen going through the first stage which is denial.

After thinking about this new idea we also thought it would be a good idea to research this concept so we know how to express it better in our project.

I am going to show each definition of the stages, but I will go into as much detail as possible about how we will show Val's denial stage in our opening. The definitions shown below come from this website, which I feel does a really good job of explaining.

The idea we had in mind of showing Val's denial stage after her sister's death would be the last clip, instead of Mara's death being the last clip. After we show the pills on the bathroom floor, insinuating Mara's death, we will cut to black and have "Denial" written on the screen. This next part has not fully been decided, but I think we will show Val completely numb, maybe just staring directly at the camera or something similar. I really think that something like that will show Val's feelings exactly.

I think including this makes a really big difference in our movie opening and although I know it needs to be discussed a bit better, I am really happy with this new concept in our project. It gives some emotional value and takes into consideration the feelings of someone who experiences it in more detail.

I'll be back soon to discuss our script and the start of filming, see you all soon!

More Research

Dialogue Research

As the person in our group responsible for writing the script, I realized that I needed to better my knowledge of script writing by doing thorough research on common dialogues used in movie openings. Given that the characters in our opening are teenagers, I decided to focus my research on dialogues specifically for this age group. After an extensive search, I came across a website, which I will be mentioning throughout my whole blog. The website shows five elements that must be taken into account when writing dialogues for teenagers. I have linked the website here. 

Here are the 5 elements:

Of the five elements, I feel that the first one is particularly more important, but I believe that I won't be using it in our opening due to the sad topic of the movie. However, I might add a touch of humor to lighten the mood, but it won't be my highest priority. 

I already knew that no formal vocabulary would be used in the script. I want the dialogue in our opening to sound as natural as possible since that's how dialogue should sound in movies. 

The third element really stuck out to me because it reminded me that I could draw inspiration from the conversations I engage in daily to write the script. I want to incorporate the way people talk in real life into the script. 

Although the fourth recommendation is good, I won't be using it. I don't think our movie opening needs to include much humor, as I mentioned before. Including a meme or joke wouldn't be appropriate for the subject and story being told. 

The fifth idea reminded me to have the characters interact casually. I want to make it seem like people are having a natural conversation without any scripted lines.

After looking into and researching dialogue I do feel much more confident in writing the script for our portfolio project. I am glad I was able to find research specifically on dialogue in teenagers since that is the exact age group shown in our opening. Now that I know how and what to write, my next step is the actual writing. I will be back with a blog about our script, see you all soon!

Group Meeting #1

Suggestions

Yesterday we had our first group meeting in class. At first, I was a bit scared to see what others thought of my project but also excited to hear new ideas. I am so glad we were able to do this since I found it very helpful. I even took notes, that I will be inserting below to show my thought process throughout.

From this meeting, I got a lot of good suggestions to make my opening better and it really got me to think. From my classmates and even the lesson my teacher showed yesterday, I realized that not everything can fully be direct. To make things more interesting, I can not just give the details out, instead imply them or symbolize them. In this meeting, I also talked about how I really wanted to incorporate a lot of mise en scene to explain the sisters' dynamic and contrast.

Right after this meeting, during lunch, my team and I discussed a lot. Since my partners were meeting with other classmates we got different perspectives and opinions. We compromised and came to terms with a lot of things. We definitely decided to keep that the motive of Mara's death was from being blackmailed. Below I'll show some text messages of when our group came up with the idea. This is an idea we really liked and we will be keeping it in our project.

Now onto something I was suggested that my team will most likely add. I was told that instead of putting Mara's suicide letter just there as an element of mise en scene, we should show flashbacks and inserts of her writing it. In those moments we can also include a lot of fast cuts and blurriness as a way to show the turmoil going on in her head before she takes her life.

Having this meeting really helped me and I am so happy that I got to hear feedback from other people and other creative minds. This session helped me make my mind up on a lot of stuff and just floating ideas. Ill will be back soon with another blog, I really want to keep researching more openings as a way to find techniques and other little elements I like. See you all soon!

The Girls' Names

Let's Discuss Names & Title

Today in class I knew it was time to finalize our characters' names and finally figure out a title for our piece. Regarding our characters', all my group members and I had individually researched and chosen a couple names as options. Today we compared all our ideas and chose the ones we liked more and that seemed more fit for the characters.

For our main character (Character A or the big sister) we decided to go for Valerie. Valerie, or Val for short, has meaning that ties to a strong person. Below I will insert the definition of the name.

We believe that since Val is the one who will find that her little sister passed away in the bathroom, this characteristic fits since although it's not shown she will keep her strong manner for the rest of the movie. We really want her character to convey strength and toughness.

Now for character B, the little sister, who has an unfortunate fate that ends in her death. We choose Mara as character B's name. Mara's meaning has to do with death. Since the opening shows Mara's life sadly ending we thought this name was fitting for her and her situation. Below I will insert the definition of it as well. 

We wanted her name to signify and show how she was living in an unlucky position of being blackmailed. That is a situation that most people might not know how to deal with, and our opening will show that this character could not cope. 

Lastly, we also discussed Character C's name, who is Val's close friend. We chose her name to be Bella. Within our research, we found that Bella could have meaning regarding tight friendship. We felt this name fitting since Bella will be the perfect friend who accompanies Val through her grief.

We really wanted our characters' names to have important symbols in the plot. I am really happy with the one we chose.


Our Title

While discussing names, we also made some slight changes to the opening. Our slight adjustment really helped in choosing the title. We thought of adding an element of mise en scene in the form of a letter. This letter will be Mara's suicide letter. We are planning on showing her letter somewhere in the mess in her room we will be showing. Placing her suicide letter in the mess of her room is a symbolic choice that shows the chaotic environment and mirrors the emotional confusion Mara may have been experiencing. This letter will be read by Val and later on, she will write a letter back, by the end of the movie, as a way of showing her growth and how much she learned due to the loss of her sister.

We came up with the name "Dear Mara". The title serves as a direct reference to the letters exchanged between the sisters. It adds a personal and intimate touch to the narrative, emphasizing the emotional connection between these sisters. The act of writing a response letter allows Val to express her emotions, reflect on her experiences, and demonstrate the impact of Mara's life on her own.

I think coming up with the names and titles has been such a fun time. I was able to join creativity with my friends who I am working with. I am super glad that we were also able to choose and come up with things that have a true meaning and all symbolize our plot and final message.

Now that our project is becoming more real, our next step is the script. I will be back to discuss our script ideas and final screenplay. See you all soon!

Storyboard

 Our Storyboard

Now that we finally have our plot and are still discussing the name of the project and characters, we decided that we should draw out our storyboard. In our last class, we wrote down our ideas which I spoke about in another blog, but now we really wanted to visualize it. I am going to be showing each individual drawing, which was done by my group partner Alex, and going more into detail about what is going on.

The opening will start with Character B who is the little sister in her room, this will show the setting and the vibe we are going for this character. We will show shots of her messy room and in these, we plan to include the credits. The next cut will show Character A, who is the big sister, coming into her little sister's room to let her know that her friend is coming over. At that moment the big sister will also briefly mention the state of the little sister's room, which is very obviously dirty and messy. In the next cut, we hope to include the title of our piece while showing Character B's face and her reaction.

Then Character A will walk over to her own room, which is very visually contrasting to her sisters. While that happens Character B is still all alone in her room and receives a text message that reveals that she is being blackmailed. The next scenes are crosscuts as Character A is opening the door for her friend who was coming over, or Character C, and we also see Character B walking to the bathroom. The big sister and her friend will start talking about wanting to get food so, as siblings do, she goes to ask her little sister if she is hungry. While Character A is on her way to find Character B, we see her in the bathroom just blankly staring at herself with no expression. This is a key moment to cause worry. As the opening is about to end, the big plot is revealed, Character A walks into the bathroom after not finding her sister in her room and sees pills scattered on the floor. This is intended to show that Character B was struggling mentally and thought there was only one solution.

Since we chose to have our genre as coming of age we knew topics of mental health issues were very common, and we made this plot with that in mind. I really like the way we have our opening planned and it is a movie I would find interesting. I am excited to keep developing it and combining my ideas with my group members' ideas. I will be back on here soon with more updates.