Filming Problems and Solutions

I ran into a problem filming the car ride scene, as I had to make it believable that the car was moving, this was difficult because the angle at which the camera points shows the view from the driver's seat window. I fixed this problem by pointing the camera more towards the girl driving the car, which blocks the view out of the window a little. This makes it more believable.

Another filming problem I ran into was filming the part of the scene where the car rides fast over a speed bump. Filming it just from inside the car didn't give the audience the idea that the car had driven fats over a speed bump, so I decided to film this section from outside the car using a wide shot to show the entire car going over the speed bump. This way the audience will be able to see the car almost "flying" or lifting off the ground a little after driving over the speed bump and then I will have a cut back to the reactions inside the car as the car went over the speed bump.

Lighting was a relatively small problem, considering I was filming on location. The sun sometimes shone through the windows too much, making it almost impossible to clearly see the people in the scene. To somewhat prevent this I attempted to position the camera as much as I could away from the sun, so that there was no glare, and if a window wasn't going to be seen in the shot I would block it off with a window shade or makeshift shade of some sort to block or lessen the sun as much as I could. Though this would not always work, so I simply had to move the car so that the direct sunlight wasn't facing the front of the car. However the day I was filming it was raining so the light didn't shine too bright.

The angling of the camera was another problem I ran into, because the car was too small for me to be in the car to film it while the other people were in it. So to fix this, to the best of my ability, i filmed through the open window of the car at an angle that showed as much as possible.
During this filming process I also realized that the sound of the dialogue was not very good. The actors had to speak louder, but in certain shots it didn't seem very audible. I will have to fix the majority of the audio sounds in editing.

Updated Costumes

Costume Examples:

-The costumes will reflect those of an average teenage girl and middle-school aged boy.

-Jess's outfit will remain along the same lines as the original idea. Ricky's is the new costume/outfit.


                                  
Jess's Outfit (More casual and laid back)  Ricky's Outfit (Casual, average middle school boy outfit)

Updated Location List/Set Design

The new locations of the film will be:

1. Inside of a bedroom (Jess's)

2. The exterior of Jess's house (instead of Sophie's)

3. The interior of the car

Updated Film Shots

Examples:

1.  Wide shot of room

2. Close up of reactions in car

3. Long shot of car driving over speed bump that transitions to a tracking shot of the car as it goes past the speed bump

4. High angle shot from over bed looking down on Jess

5. Full body shots of Jess and Ricky walking to car

Updated Script

[Opening credits play over opening scene]

Scene opens up to a teenage girl sitting in a chair in her bedroom on her phone, clearly bored. Jess is an average teenage girl (16) who doesn't care too much about responsibility.

                                                                              JESS:
                                       Ugh! There's nothing to do. I'm so bored. (flops onto her bed)

Her bedroom opens and her younger brother, Ricky, walks into her room. Ricky is Jess's younger, middle-school age, brother.
                                                                            RICKY:
                                   Hey, Jess, can you drive me over to my friend's house? Please?
                                                                             [Pause]
                                                                              JESS:

                                           Sure, why not. There's nothing better to do anyway.

Jess and Ricky walk out of the room and Jess grabs her keys as she walks out.

                                                                               JESS:
                                   Now here's the deal. You better not complain about my driving. Okay?
                 
                                                                             RICKY:
                                                                      Yeah, whatever

They walk to the front door, and Jess yells back into the house that they're leaving.

                                                                               JESS:
                           I'm driving Ricky over to his friends house! I'll be back in like half an hour.
                     [she shuts the door and starts to lock it. She turns to Ricky to ask him a question]
                                               Where does your friend live anyway?

                                                                             RICKY:
                                                       Down the street and around the corner a bit.

Ricky and Jess walk to her car and get in. Camera jumps to them driving int he car a short time after. Jess turns the radio up real loud and starts singing.

                                                                               RICKY:
                                                      Stop singing. You're not even paying attention.
                                           
                                                                                 JESS:
                                                                   I told you not to complain.

                                                                               RICKY:
                                                  Mom and Dad would tell you to stop. [turns radio off]
                                           
                                                                               JESS:
                                                                           Ugh. Fine.
 [reaches back and grabs a bag of chips from the back seat and proceeds to eat them while attempting to keep control of the steering wheel]

                                                                             RICKY:
                                                                   What are you doing?!

                                                                               JESS:
                                                                     Eating. I'm starving.

                                                                            RICKY:
                                                                 We're going to get hit.
                                     
                                                                               JESS:
                               Don't be silly. We won't get hit. [swerves a little and horns honk] Whoops.
                                                     
                                                                             RICKY:
                                         Whoops?! I told you we were going to get hit. I'm going to get hurt.

                                                                                JESS:
                                                       You'll be fine. The wheel just slipped a little.
[Car goes over a bump real fast and you see Ricky bounce up and down in the car; Ricky looks over at Jess exasperatedly]
                                                                                JESS:
                                        I don't believe in speed bumps. [smiles and takes a sip of her drink]
                                   
                                                                             RICKY:
You don't believe in speed bumps?! You're the worst driver I have ever seen. Pull over Jess, I'll walk to my friends house. It's safer.

                                                                             JESS:
What are you talking about? You won't walk there. I'm a perfectly fine driver. [starts looking at phone while driving]

                                                                           RICKY:
                                          Jess, I said pull over! [grabs phone and throws out window]

[Jess and Ricky both look at each other angrily and confused]
[Fade out to black]
                                                                     
                                                                       

Updated Storyboard

Change of Plans

Due to an inconvenient chance of one of my other friends traveling (again) , I was not able to have her in the film. Due to this empty casting spot, I had to find yet another person to fill it. However with the holidays coming up not many people were available. So I was forced to change my original script with two teenage girls driving to school to a teenage girl driving her younger brother to a friends house. The idea of the teen girl being not so great a driver did not change however, only the character and certain locations/settings. Due to these change of plans I will have to modify everything accordingly; i.e. the script, costuming, character descriptions, shot and location list. The new location lists and script will be posted in the following blog posts.

Shooting Progress

I ran into a problem with casting. A friend of mine, who was going to play a part in the film, unfortunately traveled and could not be available for filming. However I have found another friend of mine to play the part of Jess in the film. I'm still looking for someone to play the part of Sophie.

Update:
I have also been able to find somebody to play the part of Sophie. I will now be able to begin filming.

Shot List

SHOT LIST:

• 1st shot- Wide shot of room (short take)
• 2nd shot- Close-up of phone screen for texts
• 3rd shot- Mid-shots of Sophie and Jess in car with jump-cuts during conversation
• 4th shot- Close-ups of Sophie and Jess's face
• 5th shot- Point of view shot from Sophie's view when car swerves

Costumes and Set Design

The costumes will reflect the clothing of a modern day teenage girl.
Example:
                                                                                                                          
Sophie's Outfit (more girly and preppy)                Jess's Outfit (more laid back and casual)



The set design will be the interior of a bedroom, a car, and the exterior of a house.
Examples:
            

Script

Alarm goes off during credits. Camera shows girl waking up. Jess is a teenage girl in high school who is very care-free and laid back. She doesn't take anything too seriously.

Jess gets up and gets ready. Phone goes off and she checks it.

Camera goes to phone screen where we see a text "I need a ride to school. Can you drive me?"

                                                                              JESS:

                                Sure, why not. [texts back "Yes. I'll be there in 10 minutes."]

Scene changes to in front of friends house, waiting to pick up her friend Sophie. Sophie is Jess's good friend who is typically more uptight than Jess and a stickler for the rules. She tries to seem very mature.
                   
                                                                            SOPHIE:
                                                        Hey, thanks for picking me up.

                                   
                                                                               JESS:
                                           No Problem. [Starts to drive away and turns radio up real loud]

                                                                             SOPHIE:
                                                                 Can you turn that down?

                                                                                JESS:
                                                                                Why?

                                                                             SOPHIE:
                                                               It's distracting. [turns radio off]
                                             
                                                                               JESS:
                               Ugh. Fine. [gets bagel out and starts to put cream cheese on it while driving]

                                                                             SOPHIE:
                                                                   What are you doing?!

                                                                               JESS:
                                                                        Eating breakfast.

                                                                            SOPHIE:
                                               You're supposed to be paying attention to the road.
                                       
                                                                               JESS:
                                                        I am. [swerves a little and horns honk] Whoops.
                                                       
                                                                             SOPHIE:
                                                            My god, we're going to die.

                                                                                JESS:
                                                       You'll be fine. The wheel just slipped a little.
[Car goes over a bump real fast and you see Sophie bounce up and down in the car; Sophie looks over at Jess exasperatedly]
                                                                                JESS:
                                                  I don't believe in speed bumps. [drinks coffee]
                                     
                                                                             SOPHIE:
You don't believe in speed bumps?! How did you even get your licence? You are literally the worst driver I have ever seen.

                                                                             JESS:
       What are you talking about? I'm a perfectly fine driver. [starts looking at phone while driving]

                                                                           SOPHIE:
                              No!--I value my life. Pay attention! [grabs phone and throws out window]

[Jess and Sophie both look at each, Sophie and Jess can't believe that Sophie just threw her phone out the window.]
[Fade out to black]
                                                                       
                                                                       

Storyboard

Marketing/Distribution Research

The average movie gross for comedies is $25,679,852 (http://www.statisticbrain.com/motion-picture-industry-statistics/). One way to market a film is to release it to a film festival. This way people will be able to view the movie and the movie makers will be able to see the viewers reaction. Another way to market the film is to do promotions and trailers for the movie in theaters and on television commercials. Promotions, trailers, and publicity pictures can also be spread across social media. An important part of marketing is creating a good 'hook' to catch the target audience and make them want to come see the movie. A publicity stunt is yet another way to market a film. For bigger budget films that are expected to have high box office sales, the best way to market is to host a premiere. When distributing the film, it is best (and usually traditional) to release the movie to theaters on a Friday, because then more viewers will be able to see it early during the "work-free weekend".

Location List

My location list will be small because I won't be filming in many places. There are really only two locations I will need to use for filming.

Location List:
-My friends house

-Car

Project Decision

For the project I will be doing the film, because I think it'll be more interesting to do than the magazine and I will learn more than if I was to do the magazine. I will be working by myself for the project. The film will be about a teen driver with her friend who doesn't drive very well. My target audience will be high school level students, who would be able to relate to the feeling of driving and how sometimes not everyone is really good at driving. I will be market it to them the way other movies market themselves. I know this is a viable media product because many movies are made and enjoyed around the world. I will distribute it the same way movie marketers will.

Why the Magazine?

The magazine would be a good thing to do because it would be easier compared to the film and take less time. The magazine layout would be much easier that putting together a film. It would be easier to get information for the magazine because you'd mostly just have to conduct interviews and do research. However it would be a bad thing to do for the project because it would be harder to book interviews for the magazine articles.

Why the Film?

The film would be good to do because it would be interesting and would be more of a learning experience than the magazine. The film script would be shorter and easier than writing a news story for the magazine. The film would be bad to do for the project though because it would take more time than the magazine and it would take much more effort to create the film than it would to create a magazine.