Planning Process

Hello again,
Julia and I began discussing a rough planning period. We have a several ideas we want to incorporate into our film opening.
Plot
Julia and I began by making a list of what we value most and wanted to make a message about. We want our theme to be around alcohol abuse and negative relationships. However we are thinking about breaking a genre convention where the boyfriend will be the one who is receiving domestic violence. This will be between two high school students and a few friends. The boy/girl relationship will have the boy being abused by the girl. Most likely physically or emotionally but he is expected to "be a man" and not show how it effects him. The boyfriend will start to slowly turn to alcohol to forget about the relationship he is in. The setting will start in the girl or boys bedrooms in the morning then have then be in a middle class high school. The costume design will be modern and brightly colored. We were inspired by the film "Sixteen Wishes" because of how she woke up in the morning and how she started getting ready for school. We want to mix our coming of age drama with a comedic satire spin. We want the main character to be sarcastic and witty with how she interacts with the world. She won't be cheerful about waking up instead she will act tired, grumpy and slowly move around has she does her routine. The goal here would be to make fun of movies that have done an exaggerated version of how teenagers act. We got this idea from the film "Not Another Teen Movie." We hope to convey our message in the first two minutes or so of the film.

Technological Elements 
As we learned in our research the lighting will be normal/everyday for a more realistic effect. We were inspired by the film "The Breakfast Club" because the lighting always seemed like it was just the lights at the school. We are leaning towards a voice over so the main character can be more connected with the audience and explain what is going on in their head. Most teenagers tend to keep their negative thoughts to themselves especially around family or peers they dislike. We may have stings of the school bell ringing, students talking in the hallways, phones ringing and car radio. If we have music it will be using an alternative rock song by The Breeders for an upbeat but a not too happy vibe. We are currently in the process of asking the band if we can use the song in our film. The props will include cell phones, headphones, computers, alcohol bottles and  food. The costume design will have personalized clothing for the characters personality.

Characters
 We want the female lead to be direct and have an attitude of not caring what others think. Even though all teenagers really care what others perceive of them we may highlight her that. We would let her use her humor and wittiness to express the downsides of teenage years. She will wear bright non trendy clothes because she wants to be different. Overall we want her to be comedic and a bit rebellious. The male lead may have the same dominant personality as she does. He will wear darker clothes but will have a laid back attitude. However he will show a more vulnerable side later on when he is feeling upset about what to do about his abusive relationship. The friends that will somewhat be involved in the film should have characteristics we see in most teenage films. However they will highlighted and made fun of to show how unrealistic they are. Possibly having someone look one way but their personality says otherwise. We want the lines to have today's slang to relate to the Target Audience (teenagers.) The characters may have the stereotypical characteristics however we want to break some conventions in a humorous way.

Come back next week for a new post about more detailed plan, reflecting on research and more!!