Portfolio Project

SCHEDULE

Sunday, March 19, 2017

Throughout the rest of this week, I need to hear back from each person I contacted previously (music and filming locations) before I have to contact them again. I also am planning on doing a sample film before this Thursday, which I will post. I also need to order each character's outfit and have all my props together for my filming weekend.

CLOTHING

Daniel's clothing: matching color shirt and pants + skii mask
Jay's clothing: matching color shirt and pants + white apron

I'm planning on filming sometime during the evening, around 5/6. I don't want it to be THAT bright outside, and I'm also thinking about incorporating a scene during a sunset. I'll elaborate further when I continue my storyboard!

xx Maria

Storytime ~

Sunday, March 19, 2017

OK! here is the post you have all been waiting for: my film's story. I want to make my story weird and artistic, including some elements of drama and comedy. I also want the main focus of my film to be about robberies, putting it under the crime genre (even though I don't want the crimes to be looked at as seriously, rather humorously).

I want my film to reflect my own interest in the art world while still making it an engaging story for the audience. So far, this is the main story:

Daniel, a boy from a small town in California, always grew up doing bad things. Ever since he discovered a lighter and had an everlasting obsession with lighting things on fire, it has gone downhill from there. After multiple expulsions from school and trouble with the police, his parents give him an opportunity to straighten out in High School before kicking him out of the house. Unfortunately, the offer didn't last too long. After trying to stay out of trouble for about 3 years, he meets Jay, a girl who would completely change his perspective on things. Jay is a reflection of everything Daniel wants to be. She's just as rebellious as he once was; maybe even more. Daniel and Jay become inseperable, and begin to do all sorts of crazy things together. However, they aren't involved romantically, strictly being friends (almost like a brother-sister relationship).

**This part of the film would be very brief, more like a flashback**

Daniel and Jay are now in their early 20s, and it's been a while since they dropped out of school. They own an art studio together in a random warehouse in Miami, where they have been living ever since. For the last couple years or so, they've continued to execute their biggest scheme of all. Daniel steals paint from different stores around the area, and Jay paints a canvas with only a line of one color he steals. They then go to different art museums around the country, and plant them on fake display. The whole idea is a statement on how sometimes the "abstract" elements of contemporary art may be more analyzed than they should.

As they continue to do this, the whole story is a roller coaster of trying not to get caught and the media trying to find the anonymous artist(s). Daniel makes sure never to repeat a single color, and they both always go to different stores and museums throughout the entire film.

As you can probably tell, my story is still very new and still developing. I'm going to post about each character and describe them a bit further, that way the story gains more depth. I'll also continue to add on to the plot, adding more details associated with the humor, other people involved, and maybe even some romance.

The first two minutes of my film are meant to establish the setting and introduce the main characters. I want to include a paint store and their studio, as well as Daniel and Jay introducing their main roles portrayed throughout the story. I've made a digital storyboard to visually put together what I have in mind:

(From top left to bottom right) The bike pulls up close to the camera and stops. The camera is then shifted a front angle, and the rider gets off and locks his bike in place. Notice how his head isn't shown throughout these scenes, cropping the composition. He then walks to the left as the camera pans until he reaches the door, and then it stays still as he walks in and the doors shut.

He goes into the store. the Camera follows him from the back, placing the subject in the middle making the shot symmetrical. He walks down aisles in the store. The camera then tilts to his feet, and you see paint cans on aisles surrounding him. It then switches back to a front angle of him approaching the paint swatch wall, and he observes (the camera is still cropping out his head).

He then begins to pick out paint swatches, which have the titles on them (directed by.. written by...). These shots will be extreme close ups of only the hand grabbing the paint samples.

The subject then walks off to the right (or towards the camera, haven't decided), and it the camera switches to an over the shoulder shot of a person standing behind a counter. The man approaches the counter, and the camera tilts up. The man is then revealed with a ski mask on, and he says "Give me the paint" to the worker.

For now, that is all I have planned for the story. I'm going to add more, including Daniel leaving the store and an introduction to Jay and the studio. Also, I'll work on my sketches a little more!!

xx Maria

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

Portfolio Project

SCHEDULE

Storytime ~

Oh no

Music & Sound

Character & Genre Ideas

About Me

Blog Archive

Popular Posts