Props

    To start the week off, I decided to create a basic list of specific props and set pieces I need to get for my film opening. Creating a checklist helps me to keep track of everything I need to get and what I already have.

                                       

   I was lucky enough that one of my friends told me I could use her old salt lamp for Cecilia's room. That same friend also gave me the idea to print out music posters for Roman's room rather than going out and buying a bunch of posters because it'll end up being cheaper. As for the fairy lights, although they aren't marked off in the photo above, I do have some from an old birthday decoration I used a few years back. 

    For Cecilia's room, I wanted a vase of the Cecilia English Rose, so I went online and found some faux flowers that look very similar to the real thing that I plan to order later this week so that they arrive by the beginning of next week (here's the link in case you want to get a better look: https://www.amazon.com).

This week I plan on developing my storyboard as well as my screenplay for my project!

Mood Boards

    To create any sort of film or film opening, it's essential to establish the looks and vibes of the characters, primarily since my entire film opening focuses on introducing Cecilia and Roman and the dynamic between them. The best way to do this was to create two Pinterest boards, one for each character. 

Cecilia

    For Cecilia, I wanted to give her a soft feminine look, almost princess-like to visually illustrate her hopeless romantic personality. She wears many soft colors (white, light pink, etc.) and floral patterns to highlight her femininity, as well as a lot of flowy and lace-trimmed tops. 

Roman

    For Roman, I wanted to go for a more "down to earth" type of vibe. Unlike Cecilia, he is not the type of person to spend his day daydreaming about happily ever after and he likes to take in the world around him. That's why for Roman's look I decided to still go for a very cozy welcoming look where he wears a lot of sweaters and a lot of Earth tones. 

Opening Idea !

    As mentioned in my previous post, this post will focus on what I want to do for my film opening.

    The opening is going to take place in Cecilia's room and Roman's room. It will show Cecilia in her room sitting on her bed or at her desk typing away writing yet another short story romance, while Roman is in his room messing around with his guitar. He decides to call Cecilia in an attempt to ask her out on a date, but when he asks she's preoccupied with her writing and doesn't realize she's being asked out, even suggesting they bring along one of their friends. Roman agrees to go out with their friend anyway and hangs up defeated.

The Rooms

    Each of the character's rooms will be showcased in the opening, and I want them to have almost differing aesthetics. For Cecilia's room, I want her room to give off a very cozy, warm vibe with books all over her room, candles, fairy lights, and some fake plants. 

{Image of inspiration for Cecilia's room}

    Roman's room, however, will be more simply decorated, with some LED lights in the room, and some instruments scattered about, with a few posters of different artists on his wall. I have already asked a friend of mine if he'd be willing to be in my project, and he agreed. If all goes well, we will be able to use his room to film as well which already has the exact environment I'm looking for. While I sadly don't have a picture of it to show here, I did find a picture of a room on Pinterest that does have a very similar aesthetic.

Group Critique

    Today in class, we spent some time in groups getting some advice for our portfolio project. I heard some really awesome ideas, and I'm really excited to see what my classmates will end up creating. 

{My awesome classmates and I!}

    As for my project, I presented my classmates with my idea and they seemed to like it! I talked through my idea for my opening (more details on that in the next post) because I wasn't too sure if my idea would work very well and my group said that it was a good idea. I had given background for why I named my characters Cecilia and Roman, and one of my group members pointed out that there is a flower named Cecilia that I could incorporate into my film somehow. I looked it up and it's a beautiful flower! I will probably include the flower in my title screen, and maybe try to find some to put in Cecilia's room!

{Cecilia English Rose}

Project Plan: The Schedule

     To start this new week off, I decided to properly organize myself, and create a schedule to go by for the rest of this project. I thought the best way to split up and schedule the project was by week, so I  created a page on Notion to keep track. This page allows me to then edit and check off any tasks that I need to complete, or have already completed while working on my portfolio project. 

    The goal of making this schedule is to help me stay more organized and to be better prepared for what needs to get done every week. I find that having a schedule set and written down makes the tasks I am doing feel more urgent, and makes me want to complete them in a more efficient manner. It also helps me stay on top of my work and lets me make sure that I do not miss any component of the project.

Film Opening: Film name and Characters

    After coming up with a basic idea of the plot for my film, I decided I wanted to name the film "Short Story Lover", which hints at the whole idea of the short stories that one of the two protagonists writes. Once I had the name of the film, I realized I also needed names for the characters. I wanted to make sure that the names had some form of meaning and not just random names I pulled from a hat. So, I named the girl Cecilia, which means blind and represents the fact that she is blind to the romantic advances her best friend is making. Her best friend, our second protagonist, will be named Roman, which from Italian origin means "romantic lover".

    Cecilia and Roman are best friends since their childhood when they met in the third grade. They both enjoy the arts, although Cecilia is more of a writer while Roman is better with instruments. Cecilia is a first-generation American with her parents being of Colombian descent and she speaks both English and Spanish. She is a sort of hopeless romantic who spends a lot of her free time writing short story romances, that she hopes to one day compile into a book of short stories to publish. She has a younger brother who is around 10 years old, Cecilia is 17, and she is often left at home to babysit her brother while her parents are out, which usually gives her plenty of time to write.

     Roman is also 17, and his family is of European descent, mainly from Italy. He is a fun-loving person, enjoys hanging out with friends during his free time, and is overall a pretty extroverted person, especially compared to Cecilia. He has an older brother who is around 19 and who he is very close with. In the movie, the idea would be that Roman goes to his brother for advice as to what to do about winning over Cecilia, to which his brother will, almost jokingly, suggest that Roman uses the romance short stories that he finds in Cecilia's room as inspiration.

    For the upcoming week, I plan on further developing characters, maybe even doing some mood boards, as well as finalizing any ideas for my film plot, and starting to properly map out what I want to do for my opening.

    

Film Opening Movie Idea

     For this week, I spent a good majority of it doing research on my specific genre researching movies within it and some sub-genres. I was not sure what to research next and thought that it was about time I actually started paying a bit more attention as to what I want to do for my actual film plot. I wanted to be able to still incorporate my idea of writing love letters, but every idea I had to do with writing love letters reminded me too much of the Netflix rom-com To All the Boys I've Ever Loved, or I would not seem to find a way to get a cohesive plot going. I also wanted to involve a childhood crush type of situation, where one of the two protagonists is head over heels for their friend, while the friend has no clue what is going on. I was absolutely stuck. That's when I remembered how in a lot of romances, there's almost always a character who comes up with some sort of scheme to get the girl (think 10 Things I hate About You). 

    That's when I got the idea to change the love letters, to romance short stories instead. The idea is that one of two best friends will be a writer, and she spends her free time writing all kinds of short stories about fairytale-like romances but she doesn't really like people reading them. Her best friend has always had a crush on her, but doesn't know how to get her attention. One day while in her room, he finds the stories and decides he will copy whatever the stories say the guy does to win her over, and It works, until she catches on and finds out he's been reading her stories and thinks that he is mocking her. For the opening itself, I'm thinking of having a back and forth of the two, the girl writing her stories, while the guy is getting ready to go pick her up to hang out (or go to school?). I'm not sure if he will see the stories during the opening or if I should reference to the fact that he knows about them yet. Either way, I am so excited to finally have an idea for my film plot, and a general idea for the opening!!