Sunday, February 13, 2022

Week #1 Inception of the Movie Opening Project

Going into this portfolio project, the task is to create a fictional movie opening of about two minutes. I have decided to map out my thoughts towards this project by breaking it down into several steps.


Step 1. Research/Decide on Genre. 


To start out, I need to watch movie openings of various genres on Youtube. This is so that I can narrow down exactly what type of opening I would like to make and what the conventions are of that genre.  Once I decide on genre, I can understand my target audience. Once I know who I’m creating for, I can also have a better idea of exactly which conventions I want to try to challenge, which groups I’d like to represent, and how I can effectively distribute my work. Essentially, I can identify which techniques to employ in the opening in order to actually capture their interests. 



Step 2.  Brainstorming 


In a TedTalk, Pixar’s Andrew Stanton advised that the key to good storytelling is talking about what you know. Therefore, keeping my selected genre in mind,  I need to think of personal experiences or interests of mine that I can realistically recreate. That being said, I don’t want to just retell something that I have experienced, I need to find a way to make it interesting for my audience. I also need to think of how many characters I will need, what the setting will be, and what the conflict will be, and how to introduce all of this within the span of two minutes without shoving information down the audience’s throat. 


I know I want my opening to be engaging but I don’t want to reveal too much of the plot. That being said I think that I need to set the tone for what the conflict will be in the rest of the movie so I’m struggling with ideas that may be too simplistic and ideas that will be way too much. 



Step 3. Challenges of Production.


I think I’m going to choose to work alone on this project. Since it will be a reflection of my knowledge to Cambridge, I would prefer to remove the factor of compromise with other people on my ideas. By working alone, I believe that I have a better chance of putting forth a project that feels more authentically mine. 

However, working alone also comes with pros and cons. 


Pro: 

  • I get way more freedom. I get to choose exactly how I want it to look, what I want to say, and my own schedule.   

  • I don’t have to compromise my own ideas with those of a groupmate since I don't have one. 


Con:

  • Not collaborating means that all the ideas I come up with are my own and so I don’t get input on how to improve or what might be a better option (i.e. “two heads are better than one” not happening here). 

  • My skills in editing and production are not at a level that I can be comfortable with and I won’t have the option of working with someone who has better experience in this area (i.e. TV production kids). 


Acknowledging these cons, I have come up with the next step. 



Step 4. Trying to Fix Cons


I think that to prepare for this project I will definitely need to watch more tutorials about editing on Adobe Premiere. I also want to watch more videos on Youtube for inspiration on different ways to use dialogue, lighting, composition  and camera movement to improve the quality of my work. I will also need to spread filming/editing dates out so that I still have the ability to refilm things that I would like to change and adequate time to produce quality editing. 


Lastly, just because I don’t have a partner does not mean I can’t ask other people for their opinions. I think I should ask friends who I trust to be objective with their thoughts on my ideas and my work. That way, they can give me suggestions on what to change and I can decide if I will employ their suggestions.


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Final Product!

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