Film Planning

Character:
The protagonist of the film is a teenage girl named Aisa Presley. She is 16 years old, however there is a short clip of her at age 7 in the beginning of the film. Aisa is a troubled teen. She grew up in a happy home with both of her parents on her side, however after a few ill-behaved decisions she and her parents have not had the most pleasant interactions. Aisa is remorseful of her actions and is trying to turn her life around however, she does not understand the process of doing so. Instead of reconciling her past she literally runs away from it. She believes that escaping the ghosts of her past will not only "fix" herself, but mend the relationship between her and her parents.

Location and Timeline:
The events depicted in the film take place over the course of an hour or two, however there is a shot of a flashback. The flashback is of an event that took place 9 years ago. The flashback and the beginning of the film take place inside of Aisa's home. There are scenes inside Aisa's bedroom, her parents' bedroom, the bathroom and the kitchen. The second half of the film takes place outside, in the neighborhood in which Aisa lives and a nearby forest trail.

The indoor scenes will be shot in Redwood Parkway of Vallejo, Ca at my grandma's home using artificial lighting. The outdoor scenes will be shot in that area as well, but further into the abyss of trees using streetlights and natural moonlight (if possible).

Story Arc:
The film is inspired by and is intended to be paired with Czelena's song The New Life. The story arc is as follows:
~Exposition: Aisa has a dream remembering her 7th birthday where she and her family are gathered at the kitchen table. Aisa is opening presents, one of which is a small music box. Those were happy times.

~Rising Action: Aisa wakes from the dream and feels pretty emotional. She goes to the bathroom, showers, and throws on dark clothing. She grabs her school bag, empties it replaces her school items with an extra hoodie and her music box. She goes down to the kitchen and grabs a few granola bars and water bottles to put in her bag.

~Climax: Aisa sneaks out of her home - her parents asleep - and begins to literally run away from her home. She runs for hours, periodically taking breaks to catch her breath and drink water. After a few hours she falls while running and stays on the ground, thinking of her past.

~Falling Action: Aisa reaches in her bag to get another bottle of water but instead grab her music box. She takes it out of her bag and plays a song. She has a flashback/thoughts of her 7th birthday when she received the music box. The music box is reminiscent of the happy memories Aisa had with her family.

~Resolution: Aisa decides to face her past head on and goes back home. Its early morning when she returns home and her parents sit at the kitchen table in a panic. Aisa sits and talks to them about how to "properly" deal with her demons.

The New Life Project

As cliché as it sounds, for The New Life Project I'm thinking of making a short film about a girl stepping into her "new life." The film will feature a girl with a sketchy path that physically tries to run away from her intangible problems. In the beginning of the film the character will awaken late night and take a shower. The shower will symbolize her attempt at cleansing herself. Following that, the character will dress in dark clothing and leave her home. She is a teenager so she sneaks out of her home. The majority of the film depicts her physically running away and battling the ghosts of her past. She runs through cities, forests, and other various locations. In the end of the film, she runs into a large body of water and is able to meditate and escape the ghosts of her past.


Video References:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xLpaQFjSio

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJyaAP8Psno

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYX6XlX14B0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdsPLbtQETk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIDcyI11Ux8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ep5uWoJeet

Film Review #25

Today I watched a short film called Elefante. The film, in essence, seems to be about love and the boundaries in penetrates. In Elefante, a man is diagnosed with a rare disease in which he turns into an elephant. As his transformation becomes more apparent, he begins to be rejected by society and his family. However the youngest of his two children, his (maybe 5ish year old) son continuously loves him and sees him as his father rather than an elephant. I do not want to spoil the film, but the relationship between the protagonist and his son was very sentimental, especially towards the end of the film. Their relationship seems to represent the purity of true love. Technically speaking, the creation of the elephant was generally well done. It looked as if the head piece of the elephant costume was made from latex and it was very convincing. The body of the elephant costume, on the other hand, appeared rushed and unrealistic. It did not compare to the precise detail work put incorporated into the headpiece. Overall, Elephante was a really touching film and I recommend it to every living vessel.

Watch it Here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRxf9HmSo4k

Film Review #24

Today I saw a trailer for a upcoming short film called A Day In The Life Of A Bathroom Mirror. The trailer was about half a minute, but it definitely did its job of interesting me in the film. The film is about a bathroom mirror that is in love with the girl who's bathroom he lives in. The story seems really interesting and I'm excited to see the full film. One of the things I really liked about the trailer were all of the mirror shots. The filmmakers were able to get shots of the bathroom mirror in varying angles and conditions which displays their skill while connecting the audience to what I presume is the protagonist. The audio in the trailer was nice and smooth which is great considering all or most of the mirror's thoughts and words will be narrated. I think this is a really cool concept for a film and I'm curious about the story. 

Watch it here: 

https://vimeo.com/groups/shortfilms/videos/87882523

Film Review #23

Last week I watched a film called Pathology. I hadn't realized it prior to my choosing to watch the film, but this was the second time I had seen it. Pathology is about a group of pathologists that create an underground club. In the club, the participating pathologists play a continuous game to see which one of them can commit the perfect murder. Each night, they rotate who's turn it is to commit the murder. After the murder is committed, the corpse is brought in for diagnosis/examination. If the other pathologists are able to figure out how the victim was murdered, the pathologist that committed the murder loses. The game ends when someone is able to win by committing the perfect murder. The beginning of this film is absolutely disgusting, maybe to symbolize the disgusting nature of the players' minds. Majority, if not all of the shots in this film are either very dark or desaturated. However, the desaturated shots are less desaturated and more so just display the shot's color drowned out by the florescent lights used in the hospital. The character development is rather shallow, but the plot contains interesting elements. I think the filmmakers were headed in the right direction with this one, but they could have expanded on the story and spent a few more hours in the editing process to really take Pathology to the next level. Overall, its was an alright film and I'd recommend it to anyone with a strong stomach.

Film Review #22

Today I watched an adorable, somewhat romantic (because it's valentines day) short film called The Chicken or the Egg. It's an animated short about a pig that has an unhealthy obsession with eggs--eating them, decorating his house with them, you name it. One day in a diner while devouring over 20 plates of eggs, a sexy chicken lady walks in and catches the pigs attention. He tries to flirt with her, but she sees that he's ordered eggs and is turned off. The pig gives her a flower and they hit it off. Out of sensitivity for his "lady friend" the pig stops eating eggs and starts going crazy. More stuff happens, but there is no point to life if films are spoiled. It was a weirdly cute short film and it seemed to contain a few social taboos and that was pretty cool to see in an animated short that was unaffiliated with Seth McFarlane. I would reccomend checking it out.

Film Review #21

This week I watched a short film on vimeo called Blinky. The film is set in a world wear robotics are completely normal and owning a service robot is pretty standard. It is a short film about a 13ish year old boy that sees a commercial for a friendly service robot on TV called Blinky. The boy asks his parents to buy Blinky for Christmas and they do. Blinky is a really cool short film and its plot shall not be spoiled so I recommend watching it. Blinky, the robot, was CG and done really well. There were a few scenes where he stood outside in the rain and both he and the CG water looked very smooth and natural. The poster of the film wrote in the bio that he'd spent 9 months working on the film's visual effects and it was well worth it because they are amazing. I totally recommend watching Blinky because it is 13 minutes of awesomeness.


Watch  it here:
https://vimeo.com/21216091