Production Process Two

Today was the second day of filming, and we spent our Friday night at the track, shooting more footage for the project. It was calm, with the cool evening air making it a great time to be out there running. We focused on getting different angles of our movements, including wide shots of the track and close-ups of our strides. As well as two shots of us running side by side. The goal was to make the footage feel engaging. It was tiring but exciting to see our effort reflected in the quality of the shots and how they turned out. I'm looking forward to seeing how they are going too fit into the final project.

Production Process One

 The first day we started filming me and Lucas went out to a running path and workout bars to film some scenes of us there.

 We planned out our shots and recorded ourselves running and exercising. At the workout bars, we did pull-ups and dips, making sure to get different angles. It took some time, but we were excited about the footage we got.

On the second day of filming, we will go to the track to record our scenes. We’ll film different angles of running to make the shots more interesting and focus on not being too repetitive to keep things different and fresh.

Casting

Casting the characters in my film opening was easy because both were based on me and my best friend. Since the characters are young student-athletes like us, it made sense for us to play the roles. Our real-life friendship would make the on-screen connection feel natural, and being athletes ourselves helped make the story more realistic. Choosing ourselves also made the casting process simple since we already understood the characters and their experiences.

We already understand each other’s personalities and emotions, making our scenes more believable.

Since we are both athletes, we can give an accurate portrayal of the physical side of our roles without needing to pretend or train leading up to filming. Our own experiences matched the story, making it easier to act. Choosing ourselves also made casting simple since I didn’t need to find other actors or explain the vision to someone else. It'll the film personal, relatable, and true to our real lives.

Planning Audio

 My plan for audio is to use most of the real sounds that are made while doing the drills but I am also planning on creating some foley sounds with the grass on the field to enhance some of the audio like footsteps on the grass. I am planning to use the same method in the weight room with the weights and dumbells clanking together.

Planning Mis-en-scene Elements Pt.2

 Props: For the props in my film opening I will use a football, cones, a speaker, and a ladder.

Lighting: For the lighting, I am going to use a more yellow warm lighting with a light grain filter rather than opting with darker greys and blues like most sports movies use. I love the vibe it gives off in the film the iron claw(2023) and it inspired me to use it in my own project. 

Planning Mis-en-scene Elements

 Costumes: The clothes I have in mind are similar for both characters, both containing sleeveless shirts, athletic shorts, football cleats, and in other scenes workout shoes. Lucas is going to wear cleaner more fit, nice clothes; Benjamin is going to wear more gritty and old-school clothes like shirts with cut sleeves.

Sets: For the filming locations I'm planning to film at Tequesta Trace Park, which includes the football field and the track which will be used for filming the football drill and running scenes. As well as the weight room which will be used for the workout/gym scenes at my school 

Development Of Characters

              The two main characters are football players Benjamin and Lucas. 

NamIng:

I did not think too much about naming the characters due to the plot and characters being inspired by my real life, therefore I chose my own name and my real-life best friend's name as well.

How my characters will be developed:

Throughout the film's opening, the characters will be developed through dialogue and the music that will play during their montage. The two best friends also have a handshake which will show how good of a relationship they have as well as the motivating dialogue they will be exchanging before, during, and after their workouts.

(we will look a lot cooler than this)

Script For Film Opening

                                                          The Grind by: Benjamin Marchan

(Bedroom early in the morning)

An alarm clock goes off. A hand turns it off. The room is dark due to early morning light. A young athlete named Benjamin who's 16 gets out of bed. His best friend, Lucas also 16, does the same.

(Immediately after getting out of bed)
Benjamin drops to the floor, knocking out push-ups. Lucas does the same, breathing heavily. They both chug protein shakes for breakfast, grab their football cleats, and head out.

(Football field in the morning)

Benjamin and Lucas stand at the 50-yard line, football in hand.

Lucas says "Season’s coming fast."

Benjamin replies "That's why we have to go harder. Every rep, every sprint, every lift has to be max effort. No excuses."

(They do a handshake. The speaker starts blasting rock music)

Training montage begins: Sprinting down the field, pushing each other to go faster. Lifting heavy weights in the gym, sweat dripping. Running side by side down a long road, looking exhausted in their faces but determination in their eyes. Lucas struggles with a rep; Benjamin yells encouragement.

(Football field starting to get dark)

The music fades as they finish their last sprint, both collapsing to their knees, breathing hard.

They stand, locking eyes with mutual respect.

Benjamin says "We keep this up, no one’s stopping us." 

Lucas replies "No one."

Benjamin then gets up and helps Lucas up, determination in their eyes as the sun sets behind them they do their handshake once again.

THE END.

Plot of My Film Opening

The plot of my film opening will show two friends both pushing each other during the off-season to be in top shape for when football season starts. It will show friendly competition between them motivating each other to improve at football and the weight room. It will have a realistic representation of a friendship. It will contain a montage of the two friends training on the football field, weight room, and road they will be running on. It'll show how hard they push one another and the blood, sweat, and tears put into the everyday 24/7 grind to be the best version of themselves for football season together and strive to be great. It's going to open with them both waking up early in the morning to immediately do push-ups and then eat breakfast. They will both be shown talking on the football field about needing to get better for football season starting soon. Then rock music starts and there's a montage of them training together at the fields, gym, and on a run. It then ends with the music and montage ending with them shaking hands after finishing their workouts.

Discussing a Media Theory - Genre Theory

Genre Theory

This theory created by Steve Neal is about how genres work by staying the same but also changing a little. People enjoy movies that feel familiar, but if every movie within the genre is the same it can get oversaturated and people wont enjoy it. But, if a movie is too people might not enjoy it because its not what someone expects. Each genre has something to make them special and different from each other. Like horror movies have jump scares, and rom-coms focus on corny/comedic love stories. But if every horror movie or rom-com was exactly the same, people wouldn't watch them. That’s why adding fresh ideas works but without straying to far off the genre to keep things familiar and enjoyable for the audience. Genres can also mix as well. Its called genre hybridity. Some movies take two genres and put them together like action/comedy (Suicide Squad) or a sci-fi/horror (Alien).

 These mixes within genres  help create new interesting stories that still feel familiar. Genres aren't just about story telling either. If the movie has a clear enough genre it can attract many fans and also be used to make a lot of money. Guardians of the Galaxy is a good example of the theory. It mixes sci-fi with comedy keeping the superhero story fresh. The film uses familiar ideas but adds comedy and space to make it fun and different.

I want to integrate this media theory into my project due to the genre I'm trying to take on which is sports/drama which has heavy aspects of both genres. 

CITATIONS: https://media-studies.com/steve-neale-genre/

Reflection Of Group Meeting

During todays class, my teacher put students in group and we each discussed our early ideas on each of our projects. I was placed in a group with four other students Nico, Lucia, Amanda, and Ricardo. We took advice and learned from each other's feedback and ideas.

Ricardo was the first to share and his story consisted of a similar theme as mine. Following the sports/drama genre his idea started off with a teenage boy that is being bullied because he has some sort of disease and he is motivated to start getting into shape and working out. An idea that I suggested for his plot was showing flashbacks of him being bullied and/or being rejected by girls etc. while he was working out to motivate him to work out harder. He also had a color scheme in mind for his film opening which is inspired by many sports/dramas by having a lot of greys and blues. He is also planning on shooting in a make shift garage gym to have more control of the lighting.

Then I explained my ideas and a common question all my group members had was what is the goal in my film opening because it is going to consist of two best friends trying to one up each other in various aspects. There question was well what are they working so hard for? I tried my best to explain that it would act more as a traditional opening to a show or movie not a short story type of thing. I am considering adding an end goal of football season starting soon which is motivating the characters during the off-season.

Next was Lucia, she did not have an idea but as we went through her various blog posts she had decided she wanted it to be in a coming of age genre. Her final idea which I suggested is the story of a typical mean girl bully. But not the ordinary depiction of a fun, cool life. It dives deeper into the roots of her home life and why she is the way she is and many things she struggles with by her self. 

Nico's project had the most developed story and was in the horror genre. His plot starts off with a woman setting up her home for a date and is getting various flashes of blood everywhere in her mind and then her phone displays a message from a man saying "I'm here" but in the background you can see a couple of other old messages saying the same thing as the last message. Which then leads to the doorbell ringing and then that's it. He discussed wanting to use multiple different horror lighting, sfx, and camera techniques. 

Finally, Amanda's idea was simpler and straight forward. She wants to tell a story of a young teen with a drug addiction and her life. She didn't have much of a plot idea yet but she's going to play the character and was discussing her research on how to portray that type of character and what mannerisms, speech, and costumes she would have to utilize to give off a convincing young drug addict.

I think this activity was very productive and greatly benefited everyone that had participated!

This Is The Research Blog Of My Choice

I'm not going to lie I lowkey do enjoy this blog stuff more than I'd like to admit. Anyway, I do not have the biggest-scale project in mind but I do want it to have a connection with the audience. Inspired by the real-life relationship with my best friend who I would call my brother we both push each other to be great whether it's football, academics, the weight we move in the gym, or who dresses better. We always have had a friendly competition during our everyday lives since the second grade. I want my film opening to have a realistic representation of a friendship as strong as mine that can resonate with anybody who watches it. It's going to contain a montage-like thing of us competing in an assortment of things. I'm planning to film on the fields, weight room, a classroom, and a road or some running trails. It'll show how hard we push one another and the blood, sweat, and tears put into our everyday 24/7 grind to be the best version of ourselves together and the never-ending strive to be great.

Creating The Project Schedule

 

This is my 6-week schedule for my film opening project.

6 Week Schedule

Week 1 2/10-2/16: Research & Planning 

• Research film openings and plots.
• Finalize movie idea and start scripting.

Week 2 2/17 2/23: Pre-Production

• Finish script.
• Find crew and locations.

Week 3 2/24 3/2: Production

• Film scenes.

Week 4 3/3 3/9: Editing

• Edit footage.

Week 5 3/10 3/16: Revision

• Finalize the film.

Week 6 3/17 3/25: Reflection

• Research and write reflection.
• Edit and submit.

Discussing Credit Sequences

 Rocky II (1979)

Directed by Sylvester Stallone the credits are shown at the end of the film and I really like the artistic and bold approach taken. The credits are very readable with a nice contrast between the gold and black.

The Iron Claw (2023)

Directed by Sean Durkin the end credits are accompanied by pictures of the cast and the real-life family the film is based off of. I like the inclusion of the pictures of the main cast. Very simple and classic but well done.

When We Were Kings (1996)

Directed by Leon Gast the credits are shown in the beginning accompanied by dynamic pictures of the cast in action and because it is a documentary it shows pictures of them in real life. The contrast again with the gold and black is beautiful and very pleasing.

Discussing Film Openings

 The genre I chose was sports. Many incredibly real, and emotional stories within the genre inspired me to finalize my decision on a genre. I will discuss the opening sequences from three films I will be taking inspiration from. 

Rocky (1976)

Directed by John G. Avildsen the opening scene of the film begins with panning across huge text saying "ROCKY" in big bold letters. It then zooms out of a mural of Jesus and shows a boxing event taking place in an old rundown church-turned-boxing ring. Here we see Rocky fighting and looking very beat up. He goes on to beat his opponent to a pulp.

    This scene is very raw and shows what this man does regularly. I enjoy the realism of his struggle and again the rawness of the whole scene displaying two men trying to kill each other while in a religious place with a mural of Jesus Christ watching them. The zoom-out of the mural of Jesus which is a symbolic representation of peace and kindness then shows two men fighting represents the realness of the world Rocky is living in. I'm greatly inspired by how something so little that isn't even talked about holds so much symbolism.

The Iron Claw (2023)

Directed by Sean Durkin the opening scene in black and white shows a lit-up ring with darkness all around it then fades into a wrestler's screaming face while he is beating his opponent up. It then again fades to display text saying "THE IRON CLAW" in black bolded letters. The rest of the opening sequence contains the wrestler greeting his wife and two sons outside the event their father then begins talking about how to be successful and that you have to be the toughest. There is an emphasis on one of his sons while he is talking showing that he is really listening and taking this to heart.

This scene inspired me because of the way it depicts the grit and fearlessness in this wrestler to then him being vulnerable to his family and having a meaningful heart-to-heart with his sons.

Facing The Giants (2006) 

Directed by Alex Kendrick opens during a football game and we are immediately shown a player tackling someone. We see the coach on the sideline call a play and then the players break the huddle. This next play is important because the announcer reveals that if they win the game on this play it will be the first winning season for this head coach in 6 years. After the play is started the player just can't make the throw leading to a big loss for their team. At the end the announcer while blocking the microphone talks about how the head coach might not be keeping his job next year.

I enjoy this opening scene because it displays something that happens quite a lot which is losing. As a football player myself this was realistic. Not every play is going to go your way. It sets the rest of the tone for the film and does a great job of expressing how important a moment it is for the head coach.

 

Exploring Possible Genre Choices

 For the 2 minutes of a film opening, my first thought of a genre for this project would be sci-fi due to being mainly inspired by the film TRON: Legacy 

While also being one of my favorite movies it also has a lot of great cinematography and stunning visuals. This movie's genre is science fiction, or "sci-fi", a genre of fiction that explores the possibilities of the future through advanced science and technology. It often features space travel, time travel, and other imaginative concepts.

The second genre that came to thought was sports movies. While being underlined with motivation to get you going Rocky is a generational classic. 

This would inspire my film due to the many training montages and high stakes set for the character. It wouldn't have to be a good guy. It could be menacing, vigorous training depicting a certain character. Either take on this could be great.

Transitioning into the Cambridge Portfolio Project

 My blogs for the next few weeks will be all about my Cambridge Final Project. With all the notes I've taken, I'm starting to form some ideas. I looked at and studied many film openings and how to make them interesting.

My main idea consists of developing a character in 2 minutes that the audience finds mysterious. I need to find out how to make a 2-minute film opening without giving too many details about the character. To do this, I need to figure out how to grab attention and make people want to know more, but without giving away too many details. I’m exploring different ways to make it work.

The second idea consists of focusing more on the character's world and surroundings. Which could consist of a couple things shown in the film opening that revolve around making it feel familiar to the character in a way that the audience understands and believes this is a "real" person going through the motions of his "routine". I'm using that term loosely because my video will not be a getting-ready type of thing more of a montage to go hand in hand with my first idea of developing the character and his surroundings.