Final Group Meeting

    We had our last group meeting before the submission today and I got some pretty good feedback on my final video. People thought it was pretty good which surprised me! I thought it was a bit worse than that! The main feedback they gave me was the audio/dialogue was a bit hard too hear at times. I was also recommended to add sound from Aba having a tantrum which I like so I will be doing. Pretty good group meeting all together, benefitted from it a lot actually. I also asked my teacher if I need visuals for my podcast CCR and she said no SO I WIN!! THAT'S SO MUCH BETTER!! A groupmate gave an idea for a logo and a little picture of a character that moves when someone talks and I really like that idea so I'm using it. I'll finish up the CCRs this week and the opening as well. Hooray.

Filming CCR 2

     Yesterday I decided to film one CCR to get it over with. I had the idea of a podcast called the Sleepycast Podcast. I'm not really sure how I came up with this idea, it's probably because I was tired. Anyway, I wasn't sure, since it's a podcast, if I needed visuals or not, so just to be safe I filmed it with visuals. I filmed it on my bed to fit with the whole sleepy theme and put as many plushies I could find in the bed's corner. Unfortunately, halfway through filming my phone ran out of storage so I had to record the second half of the CCR in a different shot. I think it would've worked better if my phone didn't fail on me but I improvised. I also had an idea where the guests on the podcast aren't physically there, as they call in from long-distance, so they have a plushie representing them. I'm going to ask my teacher if I even need visuals as soon as I see her, but this will do for now. I followed the script I made in the last blog post to answer questions 1 and 4. I was going to record the ending right then and there, but the video was already so long (about 5 minutes) that I decided to record an entirely separate video for that. I'll record the milk interview (feels weird saying that so casually) some time this week, and I'll record the final statement this week as well. Nearly done! Home stretch! 

Sleepycast Podcast set: 

CCR Development Day 2

    As of right now I don't have an idea for what creative thing I'm going to do for my second CCR, so I'm just gonna spend this blog post answering the questions straight forward and I'll figure it out later. I'm going to be filming the first CCR probably this week, maybe next week if it comes to it. I've been feeling a bit under the weather this week so, who knows. 

    Question 1: How does your project use of challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?

    I Want to Destroy the World is a coming of age film, and a main factor in that genre is a protagonist who grows during adolescence. Usually, they start off immature and childish, but as the story progresses, they learn to become more adult and mature. Additionally, most protagonists in comin of age films are teenage women. Movies like Lady Bird, Booksmart, thirteen, and Eight Grade fit into all these conventions. I Want to Destroy the World's protagonist, Mika, is a teenager but isn't a girl. This isn't uncommon as Perks of Being a Wallflower and Mid90s are popular coming-of-age films with a male protagonist. My film does not challenge the basic fundamentals of coming-of-age films as Mika's development throughout the film is him learning to accept and love his apocalyptical brother and not try to 'fix' or control him. Mika goes from an immature mentality of having his little brother to need to be a certain way, to a more mature and responsible mentality of acceptance. I Want to Destroy the World's Aba, however, does challenge conventions. Although not being the 'protagonist', Aba is just as important to the film's story as Mika as. Aba conforms to the genre's conventions by developing from a child who does not understand his powers and is deeply hateful of them to a more mature person who understands and accepts himself. But, unlike most coming-of-age films, Aba is not an adolescent, Aba is a 10 year-old. Aba's age serves the story, as it adds on to the disconnection between the brothers. Mika's more mature age, 17, causes him to be more not-understanding of Aba than he would have been. Aba's age also offers something new to the audience, a child with apocalyptic powers in a coming-of-age movie. The film's stakes are also higher. While most coming-of-age films deal with small, intimate conflict, I Want to Destroy the World's character vs character conflict deals with the apocalypse that Aba causes and Mika tries to prevent, which starts with Aba's proclamation at the end of the opening. Considering representation: Aba's powers are an analogy to neurological disorders like autism, ADHD, and ODD. Of course, I tried my best to avoid representing these disorders as harmful or violent and instead tried representing it as something that isn't fully understood and needs to be treated with care. In the opening, this is shown through Aba's behaviors. Selective mutism, the inability to speak under overwhelming or anxious situations found in autism, is shown through Aba's silence throughout the opening, only speaking one sentence at the end. Aba also has a meltdown, similar to a temper tantrum, which another symptom of autism. I tried representing these behaviors as something Aba doesn't do out of spite but uncontrollable responses to the situation he's in. Mika's inability to understand is also shown here, as he tries to push Aba out from his selective muteness, physically agitates Aba when the meltdown starts, and blames the meltdown on him immediately. Mika's way of stopping meltdowns, guitar playing, represents coping mechanisms that can stop meltdowns. Though, sometimes these coping mechanisms don't work and can't stop meltdowns, which is what happens at the film's climax. 

    Question 4: How did you integrate technologies - software, hardware, and online - in this project?

    Throughout the entire process, I used Blogger to document any research, brainstorming, and general production of the opening. For instance, there was a post researching genre conventions in the openings of coming of age films like Perks of Being a Wallflower and Ladybird and also drama films like Whiplash and Before Sunrise. Drama is researched at first as well because I wasn't sure which genre I'd be going with but it ended up being coming of age. Blogger was also used to write the script for the opening. For the storyboard, I used Procreate on my iPad, which in hindsight maybe I shouldn't have done due to my own fault. I became too detailed during the storyboarding process and it ended up taking hours longer than it should have. Weirdly enough, I feel like if I did it on paper with a pencil, I would have completed it much faster. Filmic Pro was used on my iPhone to film the opening. I used it because a majority of the opening takes place outside at night, and I didn't want constant and apparent grain throughout the opening. Filmic Pro has a feature where you can adjust IOS, so there's less grain in dark shots, so I used it. I used CapCut to put together all the shots in my opening and for any sound added during editing since it's the editing software I'm most familiar with. Adobe Premier Pro was also used as an editing software for the color correction and editing in the text/credits. Premier Pro proved to be a hassle to work with. I still am not sure why, but the editing software would constantly stop working while I was editing. Screens would go black, I'd click buttons and nothing would happen, and I ended up having to restart and computer and the program countless times. 

    Ending:

    All in all, I'm pretty happy with the story I've created. I'm proud of Aba and Mika as characters and the story they're in. Looking back, and I'm not sure if this is me being pessimistic, I feel like my opening could have been a lot better. Maybe it needed more time in the oven, maybe two minutes wasn't enough time for it, maybe this maybe that. This is not to say that I think it turned out bad, I think it turned out pretty good, but to my own standards for myself, I feel like I could have done better. With this project I really feel like I've learnt to take my time with what I make and to be more of a perfectionist. A lot of the time, I found myself saying "it is what it is, I'll work with what I got" during this process. For instance, with casting I was unable to find a girl to play Aba, who was originally Mika's sister instead of brother, but I couldn't so I settled. Looking back, I wish I would have tried just a little bit harder to find someone to play Aba, but looking back I also think I would not have been able to find someone. I guess I just wished I would have gone the extra mile, even if it wouldn't work out, and it probably wouldn't frankly. All this to say, I learnt that I should give it my 110% and learn to settle less. One thing I would've done differently was how I communicated my ideas and vision with those helping me. I really should have communicated better to my friend who helped me film what exactly I wanted, and I should have communicated with my little brother (who played Aba) what the opening was and what he was doing before arriving at the filming location, but I didn't. It's a silly thing but I should've done it, I think the project would've turned out a little better if I did. Next time, I'm definitely going to be over-communicative with what I want and I'm going to take my time developing my idea. I'm also going to be sure to be more of a perfectionist during the production process. I'm pretty excited for next time, I really think I could do better. Well that's that, I'm gonna miss my little characters, and I hope you enjoy my opening, I enjoyed making it. 

https://thebookwyrmsden.com/2020/10/31/what-makes-a-good-coming-of-age-story/ 

https://www.rdiconnect.com/selective-mutism-what-is-it-and-why-does-it-happen/ 

CCR Development Day 1

    I came up with an idea for the first half of my CCR while brainstorming about two weeks ago. The idea is a talk show where they only invite guests who are lactose intolerant to a show, and throughout the interview they hand the guest glasses of milk that they have to drink. I got this idea from First We Feast's famous Hot Ones series on YouTube where they have their guests eat spicy wings throughout their interview. My idea is very stupid but I find it funny and creative and possibly entertaining so it works. Below is gonna be my script for this interview where I answer questions 2 and 3 for my CCR, the talk show will be called Milk Milk Milk (I am funny)

INT. MILK MILK MILK TALK SHOW - DAY

Fanfare plays as MR. MILK sits at his interview desk.

MR. MILK

Hello one and all to your favorite milk based show, Milk Milk Milk, I'm your host, Mr. Milk

The audience cheers

MR. MILK

Our special guest today is the director of  a new indie film, I Want to Destroy the World, please give a warm welcome to Victor Guimaraes!

The audience cheers as MR. GUIMARAES takes a seat.

MR. GUIMARAES

Thanks for having me.

MR. MILK subtlety slides a glass of milk over his desk to MR. GUIMARAES

MR. GUIMARAES

Oh... thank you but I'm lactose intolerant-

MR. MILK aggressively looks at MR. GUIMARAES and then back at the glass of milk

MR. GUIMARAES

Th- thank you.

MR. GUIMARAES drinks the glass of milk.

MR. MILK

So, Mr. Guimaraes, we're all so excited to know more about your movie. Tell me, is it a drama? A thriller? What genre were you going for and how did you really engage with that audience that the genre targets.

MR. GUIMARAES

Wow you sound like my high school teacher. No, but uh, at it's core my film is a coming-of-age film centering around an older brother and his younger brother who has the power to destroy the world. The older brother is 17 and the younger one is 10. Considering the age range and genre and gender of the characters, my target audience would be, I wanna say, 14-18 year old boys. Y'know adolescents.

MR. MILK slides another glass of milk to MR. GUIMARAES, who drinks it 

MR. MILK

Interesting, interesting, and how-

MR. GUIMARAES

And since it's a coming-of-age movies, it deals with struggles that teens face and can relate to. Like Aba, the younger brother, struggles with fitting into his school and the world as a whole, due to his apocalyptical powers. 

MR. MILK

Right, and-

MR. GUIMARAES

Recently I read an article by Shobini Iyer, who wrote about how coming-of-age films have always dealt with the internal, relatable, struggles that characters go through while progressing from childhood to adulthood. I really tried to focus on that in my film.

MR. GUIMARAES drinks another glass of milk given to him

MR. MILK

And... and... okay and how would you say your film appeals to teens today?

MR. GUIMARAES

That's a great question, so my film takes place in the late 90's which kids love nowadays y'know. I mean Stranger Things on Netflix, a coming-of-age show takes place in the 80's and got super popular and really popularized that 80's and 90's aesthetic. An article by Courtney DeLong had a great discussion about Gen Z's liking of 90's fashion which I think applicable here. DeLong wrote, something like, the 90's has an appeal to Gen Z, it's like a far off but still recognizable aesthetic that they really like. 

MR. GUIMARAES drinks another glass of milk

MR. MILK

Wow you really like articles-

MR. GUIMARAES

Another super interesting thing is that a lot of teens today love media made in the 90's. I mean, Scream 6, a franchise started in the 90's, came out this year and had an opening box office high for the franchise. Teens are still clearly interested in the 90's and the aesthetic and entertainment that the decade brings.

MR. GUIMARAES drinks another glass of milk handed to him

MR. MILK

My god you talk a lot.

MR. GUIMARAES

My characters also say stuff like fuck and shit. Curse words are heavy in teens' dialogue today like it or not.

MR. MILK

And how can we find your film?

MR. GUIMARAES drinks another glass of milk handed to him

MR. GUIMARAES

Well, it is an indie film, we don't have a distribution company at the moment, but the film will be released for free on YouTube on May 18th! YouTube is super accessible and it's a social media app that's popular with teens so it's a perfect place to start. If it gets enough traction, I definitely want to submit it to film festivals like the Northeast Film Festival and the Hilltop Film Festival of Diversity and Inclusion.

MR. GUIMARAES drinks another glass of milk handed to him

MR. MILK

Sundance isn't on your list?

MR. GUIMARAES

In my dream list, yeah.

MR. MILK

Hahahaha. As a first time film-maker, how would you describe your process while making this film.

MR. GUIMARAES drinks another glass of milk handed to him, his stomach grumbles.

MR. GUIMARAES

Stressful, is the first word that comes to mind. The idea of the plot came to me pretty quickly, then I started doing research and really planning it out. The casting process was hell. Originally, Aba was supposed to be Mika's younger sister, but I couldn't find a child actor to play the sister, so I had to settle on my own little brother to play the character. Storyboarding took me hours, script writing was fairly quick though. The process really made me realize that I have a long, long way to go. I still have so much to learn about creating a film and improving on that creation process.

MR. MILK

It's to my understanding that the opening of your film takes place at a gas station, was that difficult to get access to?

MR. GUIMARAES drinks another glass of milk handed to him, he adjusts how he's sitting.

MR. GUIMARAES

That's an oddly specific question but yes. The original gas station I wanted to shot at actually shoot me down, so I had to go on a goose chase from gas station to gas station trying to get an OK from one of them and I eventually did. Only for me to end up shooting the majority of my opening outside the first gas station I wanted to film at in the first place. 

MR. MILK

Wow, what a roundabout huh?

MR. GUIMARAES

You said it.

MR. MILK

How would you compare yourself from the start of the production of this film to the end?

MR. GUIMARAES drinks another glass of milk handed to him, he throws up in his mouth.

MR. GUIMARAES

Well, I started excited, y'know, excited to make it as best as I could. I think I might have started too confidently, I should have approached this a little more cautiously I think. And now at the end, I feel like I understand the process of storytelling and film production a lot more. There's a lot more planning than I had expected, and communication is very necessary. I guess you could say I started pretty naïve, but learnt about how important planning is and discussing your vision is, and now I'm better because of it. I'm saying this because, with hindsight, I feel like I went into production a bit too soon and should have illustrated my idea and vision to people on set more clearly.

MR. MILK

Well I think it is wonderful that you're so self-aware and attractive.

MR. GUIMARAES

What?

MR. MILK

That's Mr. Guimaraes everyone! Check out I Want to Destroy the World on YouTube on May 18th and have a milky day!

MR. GUIMARAES

My stomach hurts really bad, where's the bathroom.

Sources:

https://spartanshield.org/29522/arts-entertainment/the-evolution-of-the-coming-of-age-genre-in-film/

https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/gen-z-y2k-millennial-90s-fashion-nostalgia

https://collider.com/scream-6-global-box-office-116-million/

https://filmfreeway.com/festivals

https://filmfreeway.com/NortheastFilmFestival

https://filmfreeway.com/HilltopFilmFestivalofDiversityandInclusion

Credits (Editing Day 4)

     Did credits today, way, way more stressful than it was supposed to be. First thing I did was look up on YouTube how to get the font I wanted into Adobe Premier Pro. I found the font a couple weeks ago, it was Cinemair on dafont.com. I watched a video and didn't really understand what his instructions were so I just semi-followed them and it ended up working out fine, the font was in Premier. After that it was smooth sailing, I used my name for the director/writer, I used my friend who helped me film as the cinematographer, and made up fake names for the rest of the credits. For the producer and editor I took the names of members of my favorite band, Her's, and just swapped their first and last names. We have fun around here. 

    Here comes the problem, when making the title text, Premier just stopped working. The little preview window on the top left kept going black and whenever I clicked the play button, it wouldn't play. After restarting my computer, resetting my workplace, changing the rendering program over and over and over and over it ended up working an hour later. I restarted everything so, so many times, I got overly upset at this I am not kidding. There was no reason that Premier just quit working, it just did whenever I tried working on the title text. Ruined a majority of my day, I was stressed out. Anyway, I did eventually end up finishing the opening! Yay! I feel like I finished this way too soon so I might try getting some opinions from other students on how I could still improve the opening but for now, I am done. Gonna work on my CCR for the rest of this week. 

Fonts tutorial: https://youtu.be/2j3J-7lfP2o

Color Correction (Editing Day 3)

     Color correction ended up being a lot simpler than I thought. All I did was look up a tutorial on YouTube and went from there. I wanted the opening to have a greenish tint especially outside so that's what I went for. So yeah I just gave the video a green tint, made it a bit more saturated and I like how it turned out. I'll do the credits tomorrow and then I'll be done with the opening. I will be working on the CCR all week next week. 

Before:

After:

YouTube Tutorial: https://youtu.be/2j3J-7lfP2o

Sound (Editing Day 2)

     Finally done.. with... sound.

`    This process took so much longer than I thought it would but it is over. I started my sound process by realizing that the sounds in my clips sound weird. As in, when put together, the sound in my clips would dip, making the cut from shot to shot super apparent and noticeable instead of a clean cut. So, I had to practically mute or lower the volume on each shot. In the market sequence, I had to mute ever shot since the sound in between the cuts were so noticeable. I got free background noise from YouTube (I'll put all the links to all the sounds used at the bottom of this post) and the rest I made. I rubbed a pair of pants together, I opened my wallet loudly, I crinkled a pack of cookies loudly. This was easy enough. I also got a bell sound effect from YouTube to show Mika leaving the market instead of a shot of him doing so. 

    Then the outside sequence. Oh boy the outside sequence. It was a long process and I'm tired. Again, I had to lower/mute each clip and recorded background silence/noise/ambience (I don't know what to call it) outside in my backyard. Then, I got to the first piece of dialogue, and I couldn't use it. It was too quiet, and even if I did use it, the whole sound in between cuts thing would still be a problem. I knew this was a problem I was definitely going to come across. During shooting, we didn't use microphones, so I considered the possibility of ADR. The outcome ended up being yes, I would have to ADR each line. Luckily, there aren't many lines. So, as one does, I went through and rerecorded each line, trying to line it up to the best of my ability. Honestly, I think it turned out fine. Good even. I hope so anyway. I also had to bring in my little brother to rerecord his one line. 

    I had mentioned before that I had to rerecord Mika's guitar playing to shorten it, and now I had to rerecord Aba's stomping during his meltdown. Doing this was simple enough, going outside with a pair of shoes and repeatedly slamming the heels into the ground. I used the Shepard Tone found on YouTube to show Aba's mysterious power that reveals itself during his meltdown. I edited a fade out to occur as Mika starts playing his guitar, so as Mika plays, the Shepard Tone slowly diminishes. Another sound I got from YouTube was the sound of a cigarette being put out. Thanks again YouTube. Writing all that I did down makes it seem like it wasn't that hard or long to do but it took about four hours so. I win. Most of the diegetic sounds were loud enough to be heard even with the lowered volume on each shot, so I got pretty lucky there. All in all, I am tired. I'm gonna finish the rest of the editing this week.

Market background noise: https://youtu.be/fXsKZUMAsUI 

Store door sound effect: https://youtu.be/eZAhY79OYyk

Shepard Tone: https://youtu.be/BzNzgsAE4F0

Put Out Cigarette sound effect: https://youtu.be/iNh96IhHxvA

Additional Footage

       Went back to the Circle K today to get additional footage to include the credits in. It was all just environmental stuff, shoots of the building, the gas station, the sky, etc. I tried leaving specific space for the credits to go on, here’s some examples. Finishing editing this week, then working on my CCR. So close. Weird how quickly this past.

Uh Oh (Editing Day 1)

     So, on Thursday I put all my clips together to get the rough draft of the finished opening and it was 3 minutes long. Three minutes. A minute over the limit. Jesus. Christ. I tried cutting it down as much as I could and got it to around 2:40 and decided to talk to Mrs. Stoklosa about it as soon as I could. After asking, she straight up just told me that I'll have to cut it down to a 2:15 maximum. So I did. First thing I did was cut down Mika's guitar playing to only two progressions. I think that's what it's called. So, Mika's guitar playing consists of 6 different chords repeated 4 times (a tune I came up with myself), but when editing, I rerecorded the playing so the chords would only be played twice. I'd say it went from being 30 seconds of guitar playing to 15 so perfect, that helped a ton. I then went through the video and meticulously cut down as much as I could. 

    I cut a shot of  Mika stealing from the gas station market, now only implying that he does that. I trimmed the shot of Mika pulling out cigarettes, honestly most, if not all, of the shots are now trimmed. I also had to cut out some dialogue portions. Mika no longer asks Aba if kids at school keep picking on her. He no longer says that some people are saying someone had died, instead only asking if anyone died. The dialogue kept was kept to serve the purpose, developing the characters while also adding a bit of a mystery to Aba's character. I want to have the audience think "What does he mean by 'break?' Did he kill someone? What is up with this kid?' and the dialogue kept pushes the audience to ask these questions. The dialogue kept also fits with the coming-of-age genre's common opening 'essentials,' developing characters and their dynamics while also starting the plot (Aba's "I want to destroy the world" line). All that's left before I can get the final runtime for the opening is to get that extra footage to put the credits over, which I will have to record tomorrow since no one is home today and I cannot drive to Circle K myself. After that is sound editing, putting the credits on the screen, and maybe color correction but right now I'm not sure if I'll do that. Should be done before spring break then I could work on my CCR (already have an idea for one) (teenager humor).

(Cut shot. So sad.)

Filming Day

     Filming of the entire opening took place on Sunday, March 5th. I spent the time before filming making sure I had everything ready (outfits, props, confirmation from actors/people on set). About an hour before filming, Teddy's actor (Sunnie) texted me that he was sick and wouldn't be able to make it. He apologized profusely. Everything was ready for filming and it would be very, very hard to reschedule. I'd have to check on Panna to see if it was okay to film another day, which they could have said no. I would have to get confirmation from the friend who helped me film (who would have been unavailable that weekend and the next). So, I decided to just cut Teddy from the opening. There are positives to this: It keeps the opening more focused on just Aba and Mika, which does make sense for coming-of-age openings since the ones that I researched mostly focus on central characters anyway. 

    So the time came, and my dad drove me and my little brother to the Panna and met up with my friend who helped me record (Ale). I was a little worried that the manager might've changed her mind in the moment, but we got the okay to film there. We went in and quickly filmed in the aisle and avoided accidently filming anyone. I was using Filmic Pro to film, thought I should mention. While I was there, I was carrying a guitar on my back and a random guy I didn't know kept asking me if I was going to perform. I had to tell him multiple times that I was not. After filming the instore segment, which took a lot shorter than I thought it would, we stepped out to film the outside portion of the opening, but realized that it was way too noisy film. Panna had two inflatable tube men posted up outside, waving their arms, and making a LOT of noise. It was going to be practically impossible to film out there. After discussing with my dad where we could film, I had mentioned Circle K as a previous option I had thought of and he said that it should be ok to film there since we would only be filming outside. I asked him if he was sure, multiple times, and he said he was. So we drove to the Circle K.

    We got to the Circle K and found a quiet, solitude, little area behind the building and sat there and began filming. We had the storyboard and script printed out to follow while filming which made things a lot easier. For the cigarettes, my dad bought a real pack earlier and I used it as the box that Mika pulls out, but when I smoked the cigarette, I used the herbs. Just a little thing but it turned out pretty realistic I think. Movie magic. The cigarette smoke kept blowing in my face and eyes and nose which was agitating and annoying. They also kept going out or burning too quickly. This resulted in having a new shot where Mika puts the cigarette out about halfway through the opening. Another problem we faced was low storage on my phone, so between every other shots I had to go through my phone and delete and apps or information I wasn't using. It took a lot longer than I thought, but eventually, we had finished recording. I was exhausted, I was tired, I went home. 

    After looking through the footage, I realized my hair looked horrible during the entire recording. I also realized that I should have added shots where credits can be placed since there isn't really and appropriate place for them to be with the footage that I recorded. So, I will be going back to the Circle K in order to film just a little bit more of extra footage to put the credits in. All in all, recording went great. We had to cut Teddy, but that turned out well enough. I don't think there would even be enough time to include him in the opening after looking at the footage so yeah. I'll start editing later this week. I'm still tired. Three days later I'm still tired. Those cigarettes tasted horribly. 

Outfits

     Tomorrow we film, today we collect the wardrobe.

Mika:

    Mika's green jack represent his nurturing for Aba, but it's a mossy-green since he isn't a fit caretaker for her. He's still far too young to be responsible over another human being, though he tries his best, it isn't enough due to circumstances. Not shown here is his white button up (It's at the dry-cleaners), which is representative of the multiple jobs he has to work in order to take care of himself and Aba. The pants add to his employment. Mika works constantly nearly everyday, and doesn't have time to change into casual clothes, just putting a jacket over his work semi-professional clothes. I'm not sure if the photo fully shows his shoes, but they're a little beat up. Most of his wardrobe emphasizes his place in socioeconomic society as a low-middle class working man just trying to make enough money to take care of himself and his family. As stated before, most of his money comes from his parents' will, but that only covers so much, and most of it is in savings. Poor guy. I created him but I feel bad for the fella.

Aba:

 

    Not much to say about Aba's outfit. It's primarily black to represent her destructive and evil behavior with red shoes to represent the violence. If I were making an actual movie, Aba's outfit would change throughout the falling action, as his brother accepts him for who he is, his clothing would get lighter with more whites and whatnot. Also I'm referring to Aba as a he because of the casting of my little brother, but in my heart, Aba is still a sister. As for Teddy's outfit, I told Teddy's actor (Sunnie) to wear more 90's clothing and sent him Teddy's mood board so that covers that. Teddy wears lighter colors because of his energetic personality.

    As I said before, filming tomorrow. I'm feeling a mix of anxiety and readiness, mostly anxiety. I hope it goes well, but we will see. 

Location Update

     After calling multiple times and either having no one pick up or not being able to reach the manager, my sweet mother drove me to the Circle K only to get a "No" from the manager. Yay. In order to be able to film in the Circle K I would have to get corporate approval, which is practically impossible to fit into my schedule. If I were to do this, filming would have to be pushed by two whole weeks and who knows if everyone is going to be available or not. Better to just find a new location, which we did. We went to another gas station near the Circle K who also said no due to needing corporate approval, but they directed us towards Panna. The Panna, which is usually a dine-in restaurant, is located right in front of a gas station and right next to the gas station. Fortunately, we go the OK to film there on Sunday! Awesome! Yay! Thank god! 

    At school, I was thinking about getting at least one more shooting location as an alternative just in case Panna doesn't work out. I remembered someone in my media class had shot at a gas station for a project earlier in the year and by pure luck I saw them walking around in between periods. They told me that they had gone day of filming and asked if they were able to film there and they stayed mindful of the customers and that they had filmed at a Chevron. Luck is on my side today. Would've been more on my side if I got the OK from Circle K but I digress. Here are some pictures of each location, tomorrow I'm going to finish getting set up to film on Sunday. Yay.

Panna:

Chevron:

Casting Process

     Now for (probably) the biggest problem I've been facing during this pre-production process. Casting. I decided pretty early on that I should play Mika. Since he's the main character being shown in the opening, he has the most lines and the camera is on him most of the time. Because of how central he is to the opening, me playing him makes sense since I created him and have a full grasp of his mannerisms/personality. That and I wanted to. I wanted Mika to be played this very specific way that I'm not sure would come across if anyone else played him. I'm not saying that I'm a good actor, I wouldn't know, but I am saying that Mika's part makes sense to me. Additionally, having myself play one of the characters makes it easier to schedule a shooting day, as I have less people to depend on.

    Aba's casting was the most difficult. Aba is a 10 year old girl, and finding a girl around that age to play her is hard. Throughout a week or two, I asked my friends around school if they had a little sister who was willing to participate or knew someone who did. I ended up having only two options: both of them being sisters of friends of my friend, Ale. Ale helped me out a lot during the casting process to the point where I'm for sure going to put their credits in the opening. Anyway, option A would soon drop out due to a lack of communication. We would send texts and there would be no response, it was hard to get in touch. Option B also dropped out, being unavailable with no reason given. It was also going to be hard to convince a parent to let their child be a part of a school project that had swearing and prop cigarettes, so... it was really is where I'm getting at. Finally, I reached my last resort, my little, 10-year-old, brother. I really didn't want to have him play Aba since Aba wasn't a boy, and I really do feel that Aba and Mika's dynamic works better if Aba is a little sister. Nevertheless, my brother will play Aba, who's name will not change because I don't feel like there's a need to. A positive of using my brother is that I wouldn't have to meet and engage with a random child I never met before, so that's a plus. Me and my brother already have that sibling familiarity and an established chemistry. In the end, this was probably the best option.

    Teddy's casting was extremely easy. I have a friend who I had in mind when creating Teddy. My friend, Sunnie, fits Teddy's general goody-energetic-vibe. Previously mentioned friend who helped me with casting, Ale, is also friends with Sunnie and helped me get the yes from him! It was too easy, I wish Aba's casting was as easy. Now, casting is complete and I don't see it changing anytime soon. We're scheduled to film on Sunday (previously Saturday, but had to change due to Sunnie not being available) and all that is needed to be resolved before then is a confirmation on the Circle K (which I previously called a K-Mart, my bad) as the shooting location and choosing the specific outfits for each character. I honestly didn't think I would start shooting this soon, but I'm glad I am.

Prop Cigarettes

     My prop cigarettes arrived yesterday! They're made from herbs and have no tobacco, nicotine, or any addictive material which is good because I don't want to deal with that. It'd also be illegal if I used it, but luckily these herb cigarettes work fine! I had heard about these prop cigarettes a few years ago, but it's only now that I get to use them. They're much safer than actual cigarettes and I (of course) won't be using them without adult supervision and guidance. I find it really cool that a lot of movies use these to simulate tobacco cigarettes and now I get to use them. That's a little awesome. I included some examples of movies that actually use these herbal cigarettes. I found that it's actually most movies that use herbal cigarettes over tobacco. It makes sense, I guess most actors share my same opinion of not wanting to deal with that.

Joker (2019)

Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood (2019)

Mad Men (2007-2015)

Better Call Saul (2015-2022)

    As cool as it is that I get to use these prop cigarettes that they use in films: I do not condone smoking! It is bad! Not a fan! Felt like that should be said.

Herbal Cigarettes that I will be using.