Oh no

Saturday, March 18, 2017

So I decided to go to Home Depot, Lowes, and Sherwin Williams today (a local paint store) to ask the managers if I could film in their stores. I want the setting of my film to be in a hardware store, since the whole plot is based on that (I'll explain my entire story in detail in the next post... don't worry). Anyway, I gave the managers my contact information and I'm waiting on them to get back to me with permission to film. However, I also wanted to go to these locations to get a "feel" of what it would be like. I'm not sure if it matches exactly what I have in mind, since I want it to be a more clean and artistic; hardware stores don't exactly fit that description. But in order to fully see if my chosen location is appropriate, I'm going to film some samples this weekend and see what I can do with camera techniques and editing (I'll post the samples too). 

Here are some pictures I took at Home Depot: 


  I feel like there is an EXCESSIVE    
  amount of orange, but obviously, its Home
  Depot. There are also signs/ads 
  everywhere, which I'm not sure will take 
  away from the central idea of my film. 







This is just one section of the paint aisle in Home Depot. I don't like how there's not really a longer wall of paint selection of continuous paint swatches. It'll be difficult to make it symmetrical. 



   This is a close-up of the paint swatches. I
    actually like the name "SWATCH" for the 
    film... but for now it's just a developing 
    idea. This is the background I want for a 
    certain part of my film. Hopefully I can 
    find a location with a more continuous 
    wall. I also gathered some samples to 
    test out the kind of font I want to display 
    the titles.


Overall, I'm not sure if I want this to be my filming location, but I'll explore each option a bit further to narrow it down. Check out my next post for a sneak peek of the story, that way it will be easier to visualize. I'll also be sure to post an update once the managers get back to me!

xx Maria

Music & Sound

Sunday, March 12, 2017

I briefly want to discuss the type of music and sound I've been considering for my film. I want the introduction and ending of my production to include music, which is where I think there will be no dialogue. Since I think the introduction will basically consist of a robbery scene, I also want to include side effects that will resemble alarms and sirens. 

Some of the music I have been considering is that of Moow, Grimes, Spirit Ghost, Tame Impala and Manu Chao. All of these music groups seem to "fit" with the film direction I am planning, but ultimately I won't know what is best until I actually produce the video. Here are some samples of what I have in mind:

Grimes: Oblivion


Moow: Honey


Tame Impala: The Less I Know The Better


Spirit Ghost : Young In A Garden



Manu Chao: Bongo Bong




Besides Tame Impala and Manu Chao, the bands above are still relatively small and independent. Since these songs are also copyrighted, I would need to get permission to use them. I decided to research each music group and see how to contact each: 

-Grimes: via website | Contact: Lauren Valencia info@grimesmusic.com

-Manu Chao: via website | management : manuchao.mgmt@corida.fr 

-Moow: via bandcamp | contact : moow.contact@gmail.com

-Spirit Ghost: via bandcamp | contact : spiritghostbooking@gmail.com

-Tame Imapala: via website | mangement: tameimpala@spinningtopmusic.com

By the end of this following week I plan to contact each of these bands to ask permission to use their music. Hopefully I'll have good news soon! 

xx Maria 

Citations: 


(n.d.). Retrieved March 12, 2017, from http://www.tameimpala.com/

G R I M E S. (n.d.). Retrieved March 12, 2017, from http://www.grimesmusic.com/

I can't tell you how much it hurts, by moow. (2017, January 27). Retrieved March 12, 2017, from https://moow-beat.bandcamp.com/

Manu Chao.net. (n.d.). Retrieved March 12, 2017, from http://www.manuchao.net/


Satan's Hands, by Spirit Ghost. (2014, July 01). Retrieved March 12, 2017, from https://spiritghost.bandcamp.com/album/satans-hands


Character & Genre Ideas

Sunday, March 12, 2017

As stated in the article from No Film School, I want to deeply develop my character in order to have a more intriguing story. Usually movies (such as Memento and Inception) have multi-dimensional characters that help the audience gain a more intimate relationship with them. Since I want my film to be especially character driven, I want to develop my main character before I start developing the story around him. 

As for specific characteristic, 'Wes Andersonism' strikes again. Like many of the director's protagonists, I want my main character to be quirky, mysterious, and charming. I also want to incorporate some of MY personal traits to shine through within the the film. Since I'm an artist, I figured it would be an good choice to make the film about something I'm passionate about. It led me to creating the overall idea for my introduction, and develop some traits that would fit with it for the main character. 

Introduction idea:
A man walks into a hardware store and steals paint.*

The concept of it seems simple enough. Just a robbery scene? No, not really. Apart from the overall action of stealing the paint, I want each scene to be aesthetically pleasing and have underlying symbolism that foreshadows future events within the film. But stealing the paint does serve a purpose, it connects to the overall genre ideas I have compiled for the rest of the film. Like Anderson's 1996 film Bottle Rocket, I want my film to have some components associated with the crime genre. I want my film to have the overall essence of a comedy and drama, but I also think the main story will be about multiple robberies. This puts my production under the CAPER genre. The caper genre is basically a story about organized crime, more specifically, robbery. However, it is separated from heist films, since capers usually include elements of comedy. 

The following video also exemplifies the kind of character(s) I want to include in my film, similar to Anderson's: 


*Adding on to my idea, since I want my piece to be very artistically centered, I also want to feature my titles (Directed by....Produced by....) on paint swatches as the main character picks the colors.

Maybe after developing my story further I will decide to incline more towards other genres. But for now, those are the ones I have in mind. I also will build my character further in order to expand on what exactly the story will be about.

xx Maria

Citations: 

Capers and Heists: The Movies. (2015, November 17). Retrieved March 12, 2017, from http://www.genrify.com/2014/10/capers-and-heists-the-movies/

Renée, V. (2016, March 22). Jake Gyllenhaal on How to Make World-Changing, Character-Driven Films. Retrieved March 12, 2017, from http://nofilmschool.com/2016/03/jake-gyllenhaal-how-make-world-changing-character-driven-films

W. (2016, January 22). Top 10 Greatest Wes Anderson Characters. Retrieved March 12, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCLVxFpftwo

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