Changes Are Hard

Wow is this hard!
Coming up with unique ideas but not too extreme was the hardest part. Also, to have ideas that are not usually portrayed in films. Overall Julia and I had writers block and had no idea what we wanted our purpose to be. We still wanted to have the film have teenage issues. To help ourselves we watched openings to films such as "Ten Things I Hate About You", "Love Simon", "Eighth Grade" and "The Perks of Being a Wallflower." In the end the purpose will be to show the hard hitting reality teenagers can be faced with. The genre will be drama with some comedic elements in the script. We went back and fourth with having stereotypical friends who broke the conventions the media portrays. We thought of the friend that is a nerd but also a cheerleader. Or the jock who is sensitive and is going to a good school for his brains and his athleticism. 

Julia and I came up with an overview for what we want the main character to be portrayed as:

Main character: Outcast

Name: Amber Chase

Personality: She is a smart and does try to do some school work. She is also a slacker because of her personal responsibilities at home. She may have a job that doesn’t let her study as much as she would like to. She is a generally nice person but doesn’t show how stressed she really is. She is acting like everything is okay even though it’s not. Her individuality is seen as cool.

Costume Design: She will have a light and girly aesthetic. She will have a secret talent of being extremely good at art. Possibly crop tops, high waisted pants, chipped nail polish, short nails and hair in a bun,

Plot: Amber has a job that she works more hours than she should. She gives all her money to her mom so the bills can be paid. She tries to balance this and school while not telling any of her friends about it. If we show her friends we want to show contrasting stereotypes such as the sensitive jock, pretty nerd with friends or the smart cheerleader. 

 

Julia came up with a rough draft for our script: 

INT. BEDROOM - 7:00 PM

Camera opens on AMBER’s face. She is filming a video. AMBER looks hesitant before she begins filming.

AMBER

(exhales)

Hey, guys. It’s been a minute since I’ve filmed. To sum it up, I guess today’s been a bit of a busy day.

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EXT. SCHOOL - 8:00 AM

School is shown in an establishing shot.

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INT. CLASSROOM - 8:15 AM

AMBER (VOICE OVER)

My morning started off with a math test, which I’d basically pulled an all nighter studying for.

(AMBER is shown looking at her hand for cheats, then looking up, concerned.)

While she did that I came up with ideas for the story board. Here we wanted to have the girl making video diaries for her YouTube channel of her life. However her persona online is different than the one in real life. She makes her life sound a lot better online. We also feel that the making YouTube videos can reflect for our target audience. For the first few opening scenes are shown below: 

First box: Girl pressing record but awkwardly introduces herself. In a mid shot. 

Second box: Establishing shot of school/wide shot

Third box: She says to the camera "I've been having a busy day. I pulled an all nighter studying for a test today." Same mid shot from first box. 

Fourth box: Point of view shot of Amber looking down at her hands with math formula's, the audience can assume she is cheating. 

Fifth box: Back to her talking to the camera "I just got my paycheck and I bought new heels"

Sixth box: Over the shoulder shot of Amber giving her mom the paycheck she received at work. The mom thanks her and says it will do towards this months rent. She shows gratitude toward her daughter. 

After this we decided to change the rock song Julia had because it did not fit the time period. We are leaning towards modern rock such as Fall Out Boy. 

Lastly....Shooting schedule:

One week to work on script and storyboard, finish by 3/10th. Choose cast in process.

Take ten days to film. Try to finish by 3/20th.

Edit/record voice over up until 3/30th.

Seven days for the CCR. Finish on 4/6th. Submit on 4/7th.

During all of this we really did struggle which we wanted our purpose to be so it wasn't a stereotypical teenage movie. However with research we were able to figure out what we wanted to show to our audience. We are both happy with the results but there's much more work ahead!