Describe the development of your narrative, script, and storyboard. How did you contribute to your group? How did your ideas change as you discussed and planned these stages?
Include:
Planning notes- including early ideas that you have changed or discarded
Script -annotate this to indicate where you have made changes
Storyboard- show rough work and changes with notes on why the changes were made.
In the beginning, Dima and I were brainstorming for our narrative. Dima sent me a YouTube video titled “Sandy Hook Promise: Gun violence warning signs”. We both liked the idea of how there is a character that is often overlooked as an antagonist because of their quiet demeanor, with this we both agreed that our protagonist is also the antagonist. We also wanted to incorporate a similar scene wherein in the end the kid pulls a gun, but for our film, it will be a knife. We also took this video as an inspiration for a library scene.
Among these 4 films, Carrie and Black Swan were the most similar. For Carrie, it is similar because it's set in a Highschool and I think the quote "If they knew she had the power" was very relatable to the concept of the character Dima and I wanted to have. As for Black Swan, we had a similarity because of the psychological theme of the film, Dima and I also want to incorporate mental disorders. This interest was mutual because we are both psychology students and we both noticed how in a lot of films, the representation of mental illnesses is not very accurate, or sometimes the distinction of a specific mental disorder is not clearly represented in a film which leads to misinformation or stereotyping by the general public.
Taglines from Carrie that share a similar theme with our visioned film opening:
"You were warned never to push Carrie to the limits. Now you must face the evil consequences."
"Carrie may look perfectly innocent, but she'll shock you right out of your seat... and that's a promise!"
After a few days and time during class periods given to us by Mr. Wunker, I told Dima that I had an idea for a psychological thriller genre. This was heavily influenced by films like Black Swan, Brick, Carrie, and a Beautiful Mind. He agreed to most of my ideas so moved on to some more brainstorming. Since I did Drama before, I volunteered to act as a protagonist in the film. However, Dima and I still need at least another person to be a part of our sequence. We tapped some of our Yr 12 schoolmates to help us with the casting. We were thinking about the setting of our film opening and I suggested to conform on thriller conventions such as having mysterious characters, having plot twists. I also suggested having the film opening in a school setting so we can utilize our Media Studies class time that was given by Mr. Wunker.
If I'm not mistaken, Dima & I were one of the first groups who finished their script before 2021 ended. When we started writing the scene, we simultaneously thought of where the scene will take place? what equipment do we need in the scene? and who's the character(s) we need in the scene? We had a lot of vision for camerawork, such as having a drone shot especially since Dima owns a drone that we can use for filming.
However, an issue is that here in Beijing, the government has strict rules on where drones can only be used. We
thought of going to places farther from the 1st - 3rd Beijing Ring Roads in hopes that there will be fewer restrictions on flying a drone. Since I lived for 2 years in Changping, Beiqijia, I suggested that we can potentially go there. Since Dima is fluent in Mandarin, he said he can do more research on local websites about drone restrictions and parks that has a lake where we can shoot at. He said he wanted to look for a park similar to 北京大杨山国家森林公园 (Dayangshan National Forest Park)'s aesthetics and atmosphere.
For the script, Dima and I both contributed by having a shared file in OneDrive. This was possible because our school gives all students their own OneDrive storage along with their emails. We also made a shared folder for our coursework materials, personally,
both of us don't primarily use the Microsoft word version of our script. What we did is the OneDrive copy of our script is a backup but we had our own local copies that we edit via pages since both of us are Apple device users.
one of the early things we have thought of is the character names. I strongly suggested the name Elise, in which Dima immediately agreed with. I got the name Elise from Analisse which is a name I often used when I write my script for my drama monologues when I took drama. another inspiration is from a Filipino Telenovela adaption titled "Nasaan ka Elisa?" of the Chilean telenovela "Dónde está Elisa?" Both languages would translate to "Where are you Elisa?" This telenovela is a crime thriller, and although not especially the sub-genre we had, I believe, I'll be able to apply some ideas to our film opening. We started brainstorming and building Elise's character, we both agreed that she is a quiet, socially awkward, and always the anxious type of person. In school, she isn't really friends with anybody, and we wanna show this in the film by doing a lot of shots that only involve her so the audience can have a thought of "why is she by herself in a school?" "where're the other people?"
Before, we wrote our script both of us asked Mr. Wunker to send us materials that we can read and study so we would how to properly write scripts. From there, we were able to know the basic rules of writing a screenplay.
We initially thought of Diana's character to be a guy, so the thought of fear from Elise's character will be more obvious because of Gender dynamics.
However, Dima and I decided that our schoolmate, Erykah Hylton can play as a false antagonist.
Dima and I think that it's nice to have her in our cast because it gives diversity and representation. Plus, Erykah took Drama for LAMDA before, so we think she can use some of the skills she learned in our film opening. We decided to give her the role of Diana, and her character; she is tough, and she doesn't like having people in her way. So Dima and I thought a confrontational scene between Elise and Diane is a good idea.
Below is the script for a scene we shot last April 17, 2022. Among all the parts of the script written this one is the important one because this bit gives our opening bigger hints of how the story will develop.
Link for a guide on writing a screenplay: https://thescriptlab.com/features/screenwriting-101/8886-15-simple-screenplay-rules-you-need-to-know/
This is the full script written:
Dima and I struggled with making our storyboard because both of us lacked the talent for drawing. Although Mr. Wunker said stickmen illustrations are fine, I personally think an aesthetically looking storyboard would be nicer since it will also help people to understand our plan better. For some of our scenes, we tried using Previs Pro, this is an app introduced to us by one of our classmates (Arina L.). I think this digital way of making our storyboard is really cool and helpful, especially for people (like me and Dima) who are not the most talented when it comes to drawing. However, the major challenge with using this application is that you only have limited app features if you only have the free version. Although buying a subscription is possible, I think it is not the wisest decision because it's not worth it for the short time period that we'll be using it.
Below are our brainstorming notes
Some things you'll be able to see
*A shot of a candle being lit. This was a potential scene wherein Elise is in her room, and what I told Dima is I pictured her character lighting a candle because she was restless and had a lot of anxiety in her head. She was thinking that someone is after her.
*The triangles below are supposed to be trees, Dima and I wanted a shot in a location like a park or anywhere that can mimic a forest-like vibe. We wanted to have a scene wherein Elise is running in a forest thinking that someone is chasing her, so to save herself she runs away.
*On the right corner, there is a stickman and circle-like stuff (footsteps), our idea here is just a shot of Elise walking or Elise's footsteps. We think it can create a mysterious atmosphere and also builds an enigma for her character that the audience will need to build.
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