Start Over: More Brainstorming

In class we had our first meeting with the whole class on each other's ideas. I gave my feedback on other students and then waited patiently for mine. The only thing is since Sophi and I JUST decided to work on our own, my list of ideas wasn't too large. I talked about the only idea I kind of had in mind, the story of "The Look".

Here's a summary: Girl is at restaurant or in public with friends and she noticed a guy keeps glancing over at her and looking at her, she starts to get weirded out so she goes up to the guy to see what he wants and he just thinks he knows her from somewhere and says sorry to bother.She asks him his name and he says jack. She makes an expression of confusion. Context: her husband had died in a car accident 2 years ago. Camera shows her looking through her old pictures of her and her husband and his name is jack too. Flashback to the guy saying he knows her from somewhere, he repeats his name “Jack”. She goes back to the restaurant to ask about the guy or try to find him. She is then torn into pieces by the loss of her husband. In her desperation, she walks in the night when she bumps into the guy from the restaurant. She asks about a scar he has and he says that it was from a car crash he was in 2 years ago, and he almost died but he survived. 

I talked about this story and I received feedback from it. To be honest, I personally don't love this story. I really like the topic of parallel universes and the "what would've happened" like Sliding Doors (1998), but it just didn't convince me. It was what I had in reach, but I knew I could come up with something I could feel more comfortable with. The meeting didn't go bad at all though, after the meeting I had more of an idea for my liking: drama, romance, post-modern topics.

After this class I have my privilege and I go home, but I realized I didn't want to just go home, I wanted to go somewhere for inspiration, somewhere where I can almost lose myself in my creative process and come up with more ideas.

So about two weeks ago, Sophie and I went to We Got The Beats for the first time. It's a record store about 30 minutes from our town. Before walking in, I expected this place to be just a regular record store. But when I recognized the incredibly welcoming vibe the store had, I fell in love. Not only is the shop playing amazing music 24/7, but it has a room upstairs where you can play your own records in. It has a couch, two chairs, a bunch of cool posters, a wall full of old dvd's, and a video game console. I thought to myself, this would be the perfect place for inspiration.

So after class, I decided to take some of my records and head to We Got The Beats. I was there for the rest of the day. I'M GOING BACK! Wow. This place was such a good place to work on this project. I put my records on, and delved right into new ideas. "Okay", I thought, "now I am working alone, you have total freedom now."

This is a link to the Google Doc I created that day, starting in class with the feedback. As you can see, I came up with many many more ideas, just by thinking deeply and looking around the room, searching for ideas in the songs I was listening to and the objects I observed. I thought about what Tina had said in the scriptwriting lesson: OBSERVE.
 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Hs1pF03RnMzb0z9lYBDs3Q907okjVo3W4WMEqwh9-G8/edit?usp=sharing

 Now I really have to start narrowing it down. I feel like I might start getting a little behind just because of the sudden decision to work alone. Once I have my story picked out, everything will flow :))))

the band broke up MATE

This week, something very unexpected happened. Like I said previously, when Tina informed the class that we could re-pick our partners, Sophie and I decided to team up. However, last class we shared our different ideas with Tina to see what she thought would be something both of us would be able to make. Then she informed us that she thinks we should work by ourselves. Tina is so good at making me see whats right in front of my face; I can be so blind sometimes. When she asked us to consider the partnership, I really did. I thought to my self "God that would make so much more sense."

SIDE NOTE***** For this matter it doesn't have ANYTHING to do with Sophie and her work ethic at all, IT AINT LIKE THAT. She is such a good student and she has great work ethic as well. I actually truly and honestly love her ideas. Even though we collaborated extremely well, I did see our ideas kind of slowly start to lead in different directions. It's also not so much about the theme but also that we are both really passionate about this topic, so this I believe is our opportunity to really shine; we are both very passionate people. AND THERE'S no better position to be than in the position of taking advantage of our potential and everything we have learned in this class. I know Sophi and I both want to have this stuff as a career, so it's super important to us. As most film students do, I constantly find myself daydreaming about becoming a big director or filmmaker one day, hoping to someday leave mark on society.
wait.
that's my goal as a human. THAT IS MY GOAL AS A HUMAN. it's not my ego wanting fame and riches, because all that is meaningless and temporary. This is such a complex world, and I feel my soul will be fulfilled that I did what I was supposed to. to contribute to betterment and growth of society and the social structures that exist.*****

Okay that was a huge sidenote, but anywayyy. We decided to go our own way

luv u bruv, ill miss u mate, I wish you the best of luck in this project, you're going to make something amazing!  *baby face emoji* 

Im scared but excited, stressed but eager, anxious but creatively ready. 

I kinda need this challenge in my life right to wake me up a little bit to kind of get my things together and make a smart decision about where I working on towards my goals. 

LeGO

Genre Research

As you can see, my ideas are all over the place. I feel like I don't have a particular genre defined. I just think of a story I like. However, I think it is best for me to investigate a little more on the genres of movies I like so I am able to find a kind of pattern.

I will use this blog as my thought process documentation:

List of my favorite films & what I like from them: 

1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

• Mix of romance with science fiction
• Intense emotion
• Abstract thought & ideas
• Non linear storyline

2. Amelie (2001)

• Production design
• Unique style
• Quirkiness 
• Dives into someone's mannerisms

3. Frances Ha (2012)

• Relatable !!!!!!!!!!! (I saw myself in her a lot WOW)
• Art house style: music and b&w
• Realism
• Authenticity of character

4. The Florida Project (2017)

• Authentic
• Good portrayal of unrepresented places in society
• Colors, colors, colors. 
• Beautiful shots
• Captures the essence of something rather than a typical storyline.

5. Into the Wild (2007)

• Beautiful BEAUTIFUL shots
• The emotion this movie gave me....
• Subjects of rebelling from standard society
• Ethereal 

6. Room (2015)

• DEEP EMOTION
• Eye-opening

Now that I'm observing what I tend to like and focus on in a film, I think I can make a conclusion as to what I am looking for/trying to make. 

• Emotion: I definitely like passionate stories that move your soul in one way or another. I need something to pierce me the same way my music does, and I want to be able to do that to others as well.
• Aesthetics (Colors and set design): I don't believe I need to explain how aesthetically pleasing things capture my heart. 
• Cinematography: Beautiful shots just get to me. It's just art. 
• Human Soul: Looking at all of these movies, I believe I like movies that have to do with the struggles of being a human in general, and all of the emotions we experience as lost beings in this universe. 

I think I have a clearer understanding of my type of movie taste/style. I think I will use this to think better about a storyline as well as my purpose for it. 

Oh and its my bday today :) Feels weird to be nineteen. 

Bye!

Sleepover dayz

Okay!

Time to get to work!

At last, Sophie and I had a sleepover. Like I said before, we were planning on staying up all night and forcing ourselves to come up with something exactly during that time. We were desperate to start this project just because we were so excited. We hung out, laughed, bonded, and ate cheese, chocolate, and ketchup. Before we knew it we were in deep sleep.

I think sleep helped spark our creativity as we woke up with a bunch of ideas! That morning we were coming up with different ideas and storylines. Looking for ideas, I played shuffle on my playlist to see if I can get inspired by my music. Surprisingly, I found myself making a whole storyline for every single song that was played, so I let Sophie know my source of inspiration.

Also, Sophie and I kept going on about how we picture little scenes or ideas so well!
She even sent me a song, asked me what I pictured without knowing what she thought, and we pictured the exact same thing. You can tell we both have something for movies in our head.

Here are some of the stories I came up according to the songs:

Me: Wildflower by Beach House
Girl goes to study at park and she sees a wildflower that captures her attention. She takes it home.
Scenes in black and white
She dies suddenly
Reincarnates as the flower

My love for Beach House is something I am not able to describe. This band's music makes me feel like I am floating in space. Anyway, I love this song from them. I tried to capture the dreamy essence of the band into a story. It is a simple story, but I feel like with certain techniques, this story can bring deep emotion into the audience.


Me: Luna by Zoe
Snippets of someone's life and everyday tasks
Closeup of getting a tattoo
Getting ready and looking in the mirror
Washing the dishes
Driving

Personally, I correlate this song with a point in my life where I was deeply in love. The snippets are supposed to be the little things one can fall in love with that no one really thinks about. The story would touch on love, loneliness, and bittersweet emotion. It would be simple, quiet, yet with a goal of grasping the heart.

Weekend Wars by MGMT
We are always waiting for the weekend
ALWAYS
That is the only time we ever really feel good. Because ew Monday and work and school.
Is our life really two days out of seven? We try to fit what we love doing in two days. Story: Text shows day of the week -------Monday------- and person bored, not having fun, just doing stuff, all the way until Friday. Then a fun weekend pops up and then back to Monday.

I feel like to make this a good piece we would have to really magnify the emotion and drama, because otherwise it is going to seem rather bland; just a story about someone waiting for the weekend. This pretty much talks about this concept.

This one Sophi came up with and I.... love it. 

Porcelain by RHCP
Teen struggling with pregnancy and drug addiction

**Sophi's vision of it might be a little different from mine**
Opening scene: Credits are shown in the beginning when person is driving, face isn't shown. When the person gets home, camera pans left to reveal person, she's pregnant.
She lives alone, is tired, puts away groceries, room shows empty crib ready to be used, she smiles and is happy her baby is coming. Her smile then turns into tears, she is really sad inside.
She injects heroin, and then she remembers being a little girl

I would probably have to explain my vision a little bit better when I think about it more.

Sophie and I talked about this song specifically and how melancholy we felt when the singer says "Little Lune." We want to capture that feeling. 

Sophie also had some more very good ideas. We are both consulting, reviewing, and compromising with what type of story and aesthetics we like. As you can tell we are both very very passionate people with some very good music taste so I feel like we will come up with something we both agree on soon!!
:pppp

Making the Decision

Hello! Welcome to my blog posts for this year!

It feels nice to say that this is my second year in this class and this is my second time doing this project. I feel like I have the opportunity now to truly make something good since it is my second year and I have the chance to take what I learned last year along with this year. I have learned so much this year in this class, and it is the best class I've ever had in my high school years.

Okay now I'm sorry for going off on that little dramatic tangent but, it was a bit needed.

OKAY SO. This year I was actually going to pair up with someone else in the class. But our teacher gave us the opportunity to change partners, so I decided to team up with Sophie after realizing we were both really content each others precense. We actually met in this class and she's actually so cool!!!!!!!!! We share lots of interests and I knew that we could make something good together the moment I knew I could chose a new partner.

Even before our partnership in the project was official, the day we were told we could chose new partners, we were already having our first brainstorming sesh THAT night. We started a shared Google Doc, and as soon as we got home we started to talk about how we could approach this project. I made a table with a column for each person to write down their thoughts and ideas, but then we ended up just typing under the table. It was kind of funny because her and I were literally communicating through Google Docs, and then the postmodernist thoughts kicked in after thinking how funny it is that we are "texting" through a school assignment.

Anyway, after we both shared a bunch of links and little ideas, we got excited and decided to plan a sleepover so we could heavily brainstorm on this project. Unfortunately, we realized that the best ideas come up in the most random times, because at the sleepover our brains ultimately decided to not come up with many things, and then we fell asleep. We really thought we would stay up all night but... we love sleep as well.


This Google Doc shows our whole thinking process.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sc0ioqgjPdy5PzHqYypalUDbaYa1Tupa2AMYj9mr9kc/edit

And the thing that sparked our whole brainstorming idea was the music video for At the Door by the Strokes.