Guys, I am sorry to report that Willem Dafoe never responded. I know it was a terrible reach, but you never know. I thought he would be a somewhat charitable guy, but I guess he is too busy. Understandable. But just think how cool it would have been to say that THEE Willem Dafoe was in our project. I'm thinking of maybe reaching out some other people, but maybe that's too much. I don't know. I might be a little too optimistic. But I digress, I'll get back on task.
The crux of this intro scene and the entire feature film is the therapist's office. In every loop, we are brought back to this office over and over again. So, it makes sense that most of our shooting was in the same location.
Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I am pretty proud of most of the shots that I conjured up. Yes, I was following the storyboard do a certain degree, but because of the state of our set, some of the hsots we had planned were not possible. Also, we completely changed the ending when we were writing the script, so (as the director) I did have to improvise on the day. Do not get me wrong though, I was completely mentally prepared to have to do this, and I think I executed it well, but I suppose that I will find out when it comes to editing.
Watch Me Whip
I know I promised some raw footage and I am a woman of my word. But before I show you the shot, I would like to explain myself a bit first. So, the shot I am about to show you takes place after she first experiences the time loop and is reliving her therapy session. In the original scene, the assistant comes into the room unexpectedly and simply asks the therapist a question. The first time we see this interaction it is shot kind of far away from a sort of outside perspective, but when we show it in the loop, we wanted to show it from Alice's perspective.
To make this distinction, I cultivated the idea to do this shot that is all in one with several whip pans going from character to character. Now this could have been a disaster, and it almost was. But, I think after many, many shots I got one that worked pretty well.
Now, I know that I could have probably made it a little more stable, but I can fix all of that in post production. But, it's pretty good, right? Maybe I'm just gaslighting myself, but with a few touch ups, I think it could be pretty cool. What I wanted to get across by using the consecutive whip pans was the fear and franticness that Alice is feeling, as this is meant to be shot more from her perspective.
And, yes, this shot was also decided on a whim. I did have an idea for this part prior to shooting, but in the moment, it felt like this moment could not be shot stagnantly. It was lacking movement that would give it that urgency. So I was like, why not give it all the movement. I think that my whim was right, because I am proud of how I composed this shot.
Improving on the spot is not always the ideal situation, but adaptability is a key skill to be successful with projects like these. Yes, in a perfect world, everything would turn out as you planned, but we do not live in a perfect world (obviously). Sometimes, I come up with my best ideas when they are unexpected. Of course it is still important to plan things out as much as you can, because as they say to fail to be prepared is to prepare to fail (that is corny). But, if something arises, you must be prepared to improvise.
And now for the movie quote of the day... (but it's from a musical)
"Although it’s true I was never attention’s sweet center, I still remember that girl." - Jenna Hunterson, Waitress the Musical (2016)
Let me set the scene. Sunday, February 23rd. It was a rather sunny day. Nothing particularly interesting happening, except for this. It was a four and a half hour ordeal with at least 45 minutes of that time allotted to the cast giggling out of control. It was just four students, a light, a tripod, a camera and a dream.
Going into the filming process, I have to admit I was shaking in my boots. Yes, we had dome filming days before for other projects that the process itself was not new to me, but it just felt like there was a lot riding on this one. It felt as if there could be no mistakes, no missteps without jeopardizing the outcome of the project. Safe to say I was stressed to the max. I was just happy I was not one of the actors.
The day before filming, I had just finished staging the set, and below was the video I sent to me team to just check in and see if they would have me change anything.
Side note, I do not know why I was breathing so heavily in the video, but just ignore that. There are a few things that I will say as a follow up to this clip. First off, I did figure out what to do with the window, and by figuring it out I mean closing the blinds all the way. It was not exactly how I pictured it, but it was good enough to get the job done. Also, I said I might end up pitting a coffee table in the center, and that ended up being a total lie because I never did that. I almost did, but then I thought the table I had was too big and was do dark to make sense in the space.
Here is what the set ended up looking like on the day of. You can see how I dealt with the window into the backyard. One thing I was worried about was the window above the main one. As you can see in the picture the sun would shine through it directly onto the actors and we could not have that. It was directly on Rachel, our actress for Dr. Schultz, when we started filming, so we decided just to shoot Maiya, our Alice, until the sun went away (which it eventually did).
Strictly speaking of the set, we also ran into another issue. Since we were filming in my house, which is obviously not an office, I just make this side of the room look like the office, but there was no fourth wall. If you were facing the other direction, you would be met with the rest of the junk i had to take out of the room to make it transform into this office. So, when shooting it was a bit of a challenge to get all the necessary shots without getting the part of the room that was not staged.
We shot in this room for the majority of the day, but when we finished all the indoor scenes we had to get to the exterior. All the exterior shots took place in the parking lot of the therapist office, so for this setting we went (like I planned) to a medical plaza about five minutes from my home. With all the whirlwind of shooting (and a designated BTS picture taker who was not treat at their job) I did not get any photos of the location. But, in the next blog post I'll share a little bit of raw footage as a little treat.
But for now, I will just share a silly little piece of BTS of the crew heading to the parking lot location, reminiscing about our music video project.
And now for the movie quote of the day... (but it's from a tv show)
"I love you too Richard, but I love me more." - Samantha Jones, Sex and the City (1998-2004)
We did it! Ah yes, I can hear the cheering from the crowd. Yes the rumors are true. We finished filming. Last Sunday we ripped that bandaid off of filming and got it done. But that's not really what I'm here to talk about today. I just wanted to tease you guys. But do not fret, you will all get the tea soon enough.
But for today, we are going to talk about one of my favorite parts of the planning process: THE COSTUMES.
Alice
In a previous blog post, I did talk about what alice was going to wear, but I thought I would just share how that came to fruition.
Here is what Maiya, our actress for Alice, wore for the shoot. When we were talking about what Alice would wear, we wanted her to look almost restricted by her clothes.
One of the big characteristics of Alice is that she feels trapped and stifled in every way. Yes, she feel trapped by her relationship with her mother, by her therapy sessions and eventually she will be trapped in a time loop, but we wanted to strengthen that resolve even more.
With that in mind, we made the decision for her to wear big, baggy clothing that sort of swallows her up, bringing that trapped feeling into something so personal as clothing.
Dr. Schultz
This is a character I really have not talked about in my blog posts because I really wanted to focus more on Alice, but I shall introduce her now.
Dr. Schultz is the epitome of the therapist that is just in it for the money. Yes, she will listen to people yap about all their problems and ask them how they feel about it a bajillion times, but will never really get beyond the surface of that and never reaches the source. She works at her convenience for her convenience and only tries when she feels like she might loose money.
To incorporate all of these personality traits into our character's clothing choices, we wanted to give her a classic coastal grandma doctor vibe. I know that was a lot of adjectives but trust me on this.
On the right are some inspiration pictures that encapsulate Dr. Schultz's style. I don't really know why, but in my mind coastal grandma/granddaughter is the most selfish style that is also putting on a façade of kindness. Actually, I rescind that statement. I know exactly why. Because this is exactly what all the rich, old money people wear and I feel like Dr. Schultz gives off that exact vibe. She most definitely comes from old money but only does this therapist job as a way to look good for her parents.
I feel like Willem Dafoe (who never responded to our email) when he was in that one clip describing how he comes up with the backstory for his character (if you have never seen that here is is).
T. Jacobs
Now for all you OGs, you will all know the lore for T. Jacobs, AKA Texas Jacobs. This is of course a reference to ur music video project where the lead singer of our band, Tainted Roots, was named Texas Jacobs. I would like to add that this film will be apart of the TRCU (Tainted Roots Cinematic Universe), in which Texas Jacobs turns from Bluegrass superstar to actor extraordinaire. The lore may be too much for your minds to comprehend.
But, I digress, T. Jacobs is the extremely nonchalant assistant to Dr. Schultz. He does not have a massive role within the film, but he is instrumental in the demonstration of the time loop. He is one of those constants that will appear in each loop, even if it is for a short time.
I am not even playing around when I say that this was our main inspiration for T. Jacobs' costume. We wanted him to be the ultimate "chill guy", so why not take inspiration from the original "chill guy".
The sweater and jeans combination was exactly what we needed from T. Jacobs to portray his position in this therapist's office. He was not so important that he needed to be dressed up in any way, but he is instrumental enough that he has to wear presentable clothing. This also ads to the overall dynamic of the office, as Dr. Schultz does not really care at all what T. Jacobs does as long as he does not get in her way.
Anyway, literally no one else will know that this is a reference to our music video unless they read the script (or this blog) but it was really just a fun easter egg for us.
Picking the costumes has genuinely been one of my favorite parts because it really allows us to dive deep into the characters and come up with their motivation for what they chose to wear in the morning. This really allows me as the director of the project to choose the best way to present them on screen and it allows the actors to get it in their heads what their character motivations are.
And now for the movie quote of the day...
"Put some Windex on it!" - Gus Portokalos, My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)
Guys.... we emailed Willem Dafoe. The rumors are true. Willem Dafoe may be in the project. I even have proof.
If we were to get Mr. Dafoe on our project, we would simply have him voice the mysterious phone caller that keep trying to contact our protagonist. he would simply be the perfect fit and we know he would nail it.
In all seriousness, we know we probably are not going to get Willem Dafoe on the project, but you never know. If he does do it though, I expect a payment of $10 from every single person who doubted me.
But now I will digress from the potential of having an Academy Award Nominated Actor in our film opening and get to the real meet of this blog post: SOUND.
I imagine that if our film was feature length, sound would be a vital part of the plot, so it makes sense that our introduction would be reflective of that. Since our film is about a time loop, it is important that throughout the film, and especially the opening that there are sound motifs. With that, we also want to ensure that non-diegetic music that we are using is reflective of that mysterious/eerie tone we are trying to evoke.
What Programs?
To find the sounds that will be included, I will be utilizing a variety of sound libraries that allow users to download music and sounds that are royalty free and free of charge (because I am cheap).
Pixabay (pixabay.com) is a library that I have used for several of my other projects and it has come in clutch time and time again. This one is really great for music just because it has such a variety available. This one is more for music choices I would say rather than sound effect, but it still has some minor sound effect options.
Freesound (freesound.org) is another library that I have used before and has gotten me through many a project. This one is more for sound effects which perfectly balances out with Pixabay. This is what I will be using for any sound effects that I cannot create through foley. Hold on. Maybe I should talk about foley.
FOLEY
In this household, we are all about the practical effects. So, there is quite literally no other option but foley. For most of the sounds in the opening I will try to use foley methods. Some examples that I might use some foley for is door noises, the clock ticking, rattling of a pill bottle, phone vibrations, footsteps, and a lot of other things that I cannot think of it the moment. I think that the best thing to do will be to rewatch the footage and see what sounds I need to input to see whether we need to enhance the environment or if any of the sounds were too low.
The Soundscape
What I image for the opening scene is that there is a stiffling amount of small sounds. I want the audience to feel what Alice is feeling, which is being trapped. Even before the time loop starts, Alice feels trapped within her circumstances, and she feels even moreso trapped after the time loop starts. I want the sound to be reflective of this.
How I will achieve this is by ensuring that there is always a sound happening, whether that be the tapping of a foot or the rumbling of the AC turning on or a subliminal ticking of an internal clock. Whatever it is , it must be absolutely stifling. Even when she leaves the therapist's office, the sound of the outdoor traffic will just be whirling in the back. I don't really even want to to be silent. There will also be some music in the background. I am not exactly sure what that music will be, but I want to ensure that it is consistent and fits with the footage that we have.
We are filming tomorrow and I must say I am nervous. Right now I am praying to Steven Spielberg and E.T. that everything will go well. I mean we might have Willem Dafoe on the team. So it will definitely work out.
And now for the movie quote of the day...
"I have to believe in a world outside my own mind. I have to believe that my actions still have meaning, even if I can't remember them." - Leonard Shelby, Memento (2000)
Many things have happened in the past 24 hours. Okay, well maybe not that many things but a couple of big things have happened. Was that evil of me? Who is to say.
One of the things that has happened is we have secured our filming date. On Sunday, the gang will be getting together to film this thing. This is already feeling reminiscent of our music video project. I expect that it should not take too long to film, maybe 3-4 hours. The scenes are not super demanding, but we have to ensure that everything is set in stone before we begin.
Speaking of set in stone, we have finalized the script! After two full class periods of going back and forth, we finally got it all written down and ready to go for filming. Writing the script was actually really fun. Getting to put down all the stage directions and the dialogue really helped me feel secure in our idea as it was all getting written out.
When we were righting the script (as pictured above) we did find that we had some (a lot) of disagreements, but compromise was definitely the key. In the end, I thin kwe came up with a great script that will work as an effective introduction for this film
And by the way, I do not think I ever shared the title of the film. In that case, without any further ado, meet Regression. The background for the name comes from a type of therapy called regression therapy which aims to help people remember past events that lie deep in their subconcious. The typical method for regression therapy is hypnosis (which freaks me out on a whole other level) and hypnosis. Also, regression therapy has two subcategories, those being age and past life. The age subsect deals with having a person regress back to an earlier age in their life, typically that of childhood. One the other hand, the past life sect deals with having a person regress back to their past life and picking out information from that other consciousness.
We chose to name our film after this type of therapy because of all the timey wimey stuff that goes along with it. Since our film has our protagonist constantly relieving her therapy session, it reminded us of how in regression therapy people are always trying to go back.
Now, let's get into the bulk of this post (sorry for yapping).
COLOR
Color is one of the most important things in any production. It can evoke a specific tone, give backstory, or even convey specific personality traits for any given character.
For our film, color will most definitely play a big role, especially when differentiating our protagonist from our other characters.
Our protagonist, Alice, is a big of an emo girl. She's dark and broody and we want her color palette to reflect that. I image that her clothing will definitely be exhibiting a lot of darker shades of blue and green and obviously with some black and maybe darker greys. Along with that, the actress who will be playing Alice has dark hair, which works perfectly with the emotions we are trying to evoke.
With one of our secondary characters, Dr. Schultz, we want to visually prove that she is fundamentally different from Alice. Therefore her clothing, hair, makeup and environment (as this is her office) will be filled with lighter colors. It is very fortunate that our location already has a lighter aura to it, which will work well to contrast how our main character is presented.
Speaking of the environment, like I said earlier, we want it to contrast Alice. But, a detail I thought could be pretty cool, is that the couch that Alice will be sitting on is also a dark color, which when compared to the setting seems out of place, and by extension that applies to Alice.
As for the overall color washing of the entire project, I have pictured it as having a blueish filter over it that works to dull down the colors.
This color palate example from Birdman (2014 dir. Alejandro González Iñárritu, digitalsypnosis.com) is pretty much the color palate that I am going for and what I will try to achieve throughout in post production. Using an adjustment layer on Premiere Pro should make this pretty easy.
The reason I want to use this color scheme is to show the monotonous nature of our protagonist's life, both before and after the time loop has started.
I obviously do not want it all to look super intentional, but I will know that all of the color choices are intentional and important even if they are subtle. It is super important to consider all of these aspects, because you never know what might give an audience clues about your story and you want to make sure you are always in control (the control freak in me is screaming).
And now for the movie quote of the day...
"So, this is how liberty dies, with thunderous applause." - Padmé Amidala, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005)
Sources:
Kashyap, N. (2024, January 25). What is regression therapy?. Verywell Health.
Now that we have been ever inching closer to the momentous occasion of filming this opening sequence, I have established where we will film.
To be completely frank, I did struggle with finding a location to shoot this. The majority of the opening takes place in a therapist's office. Now, I'm not sure how other people live, but I do not have a readily available therapist's office on standby. So, as any resourceful filmmaker, I have to flesh out the options. I don't know why, but my initial thought was just to rent an office for $30 an hour, but several people talked me off that ledge. And I am glad they did. It was definitely not the best option for a few reasons. One, we would realistically be filming there for 2-3 hours, which would add up to about $90. I personally do not have that kind of cash. Also, renting would sort of limit us if we needed to do any kind of reshoots. Because of that, I hopped off that idea.
My next idea was to go to an office building of either my parents or any of my teams' parents. An office building would have been good to give us the look of a sort of liminal space and have a kind of authentic field. While this seemed slightly solid, there were also a few issues with this plan. The only office building that we could have access to on the days where we were going to film was my dads, and that one is deep into downtown Miami. It would have been terribly inconvenient to have to drive such a distance and deal with the trafic that comes out of that area. Another con is that it would be really hard to bring any props or set pieces to make the therapist's office come to life. So, we hopped of that idea.
Therefore, the location we settled on was to do it at my house. At first, I was not entirely keen on this idea because I don't have an office room in my house to convert to a therapist's office. But then, with some convincing from my teammates and even my own mother, we decided to turn a corner of my house into a therapist office.
Above is the corner of my house that will henceforth be known as a therapist's office. I will also be converting the wall opposite the one pictured into the other half of the office. What I am planning to do is entirely gut the room and replace the living room elements with office elements. I will be keeping the couch because that was the one thing that needed to be in the office, because it is really therapy if there is no couch.
Somethings that I will need to be hyper aware of when filming is to make sure that the blinds are securely closed so that it does not look out into the the backyard and to ensure than some of the shots include anything that has not been morphed into therapist mode. These things have the pontenial to make the facade of the this office fall completely apart, so I want to make it look at polished as possible. With some creative angles and a lot of tighter shots, I think there should be no problem making this location work.
As for the other locations, the scouting is fairly simple. For any scenes that take place outside of the office, we will be going to a medical plaza that is about 5 minutes from my home. It just has a bunch randmom medical offices, but we do not really need those. It's mostly just for the parking lot. This has pretty much always been the plan from the start for those outside scenes.
We also have a really short few shots at the end of the opening that entainly our main character going into a bathroom. For these shots we will most likely just use the bathroom in my house, but make the shots so that it doesn't show the showed because obviosuly bathrooms in medical offices do not have showers in them.
This has been one of the most stressful parts of the project for me so far, because I feel like it has to be perfect. But honestly, as long as I can sell it with the shots and angles, these locations should make for a good background for the story we are trying to tell. At least I hope it will.
And now for the movie quote of the day... (but it's from a TV show)
"Dream of sheep ranches on the moon." - Joel Miller, The Last of Us (2023)
One of the main things I am working to develop in my film opening is character. How does one do that you may be asking? Well, the first thing we are going to need a character. So let's talk about it.
Meet Alice
Our main protagonist is Alice (last name?). She is a young woman, aged 18-23 who has some serious familial issues, specifically with her mother. These struggles are why she is in therapy because her significant pushed her to try to get these issues sorted out.
My team and I decided on the name Alice for a few reasons. One, because we wanted a name that felt sort of timeless, that could fit well into any age. Another reason we chose this name is because it is not particularly special, nothing too out of the ordinary that would portray her as regal or out of this world. Something else that we kind of realized after we landed on the name was that is ties into the story of Alice in Wonderland which alludes to the out of the ordinary circumstances this ordinary girl is put into.
Here is the moodboard I have created for our girl Alice. I imagine her as being kind of sad all around. That's why I have included all these darker images with lots of desaturation. Also, I envision her as a sort of artist, like she does not love talking about her feelings but she can most definitely draw them. This may not have an inherent connection in the opening of the film, but i just though I would add that little detail. With that, she is probably that person in your life who is absurdly messy, which is certainly a reflection of her mental state.
I want the qualities that I mentioned above to be apparent in Alice's physical appearance. For instance, the clothes she wears, how she carries herself and how she acts, especially when put in an uncomfortable situation like therapy.
I am absurdly attached to the idea that she had a tic when she is nervous. Something like cracking her knuckles compulsively of messing with her necklace. Anything to that degree to display her constant state of discomfort. Moreover, her costming will be extremely vital to her character introduction. I am envisioning her with a grungier sort of look.
Here I've compiled a little bit of outfit inspiration for Alice. As you can see they all look the same (this is me being funny). No, but in all seriousness, I want her clothes to feel heavy, like she is being consumed by them. This will work as a visualization for how Alice is feeling in her overall life, and kind of foreshadows that she herself will be trapped in a time loop. I hope that makes sense.
With all of this aspects of our girl Alice, I hope that we can create a compelling story surrounding this character. I wanted to create a person who everyone can see a little bit of themselves in because our story at its core is about mental health, and in this day in age, I think that everyone needs to be a little more conscious about that.
And now for the movie quote of the day... (but it's from a musical)
"Just remembering you've had an 'and' when you're back to 'or' makes the 'or' mean more than it did before..." - The Baker's Wife, Into the Woods (1981)
Now, with our idea pretty much fully solidified, we have gotten the planning process running full speed. We started out our planning by creating a storyboard for the opening of our film. For right now, we really just wanted to get a general overview of what the progression is going to be throughout the opening.
The Storyboard
Here is what we have created as our storyboard for now. This visual outline of the plot and the events that are going to take place is super useful for writing the script and especially for when we are filming, which is set to take place next weekend.
Now, this may not be the most comprehensive storyboard of all time, because I do picture there being a lot more inserts of the setting, especially before the time loop occurs, but those will be accounted for as we get closer to filming and we have all the necessary props that we want to get shots of. WIth a time loop film, it is extremely important that we get shots of all those objects that tell the audience that we are in a time loop, or else we are severely cooked.
We have also started working on a script, and if I do say so myself, I think it's turning out pretty good. I myself have never really written a script, but I think I am doing an okay job so far. It is definitely helping reassure myself that my vision will come to life. I do want to look into some more examples of scripts before I get to far into it, but just to show off a little, here is what I have so far.
I'm not sure if this is entirely correct, but for a novice it is not too shabby. Also, you get a little sneak peak at our working title... Anyhow, I think my team and I are making some good progress, and by the time we are filming everything should hopefully be into place. I hope that soon I can provide some updates on the locations we will be shooting in (which is proving to be slightly difficult).
And now for the movie quote of the day... (day after valentine's day edition <3)
"I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible." - Harry Burns, When Harry Met Sally (1989)
We have made an amazing developments over here in think-central, and my project idea has been entirely (for the most part) solidified. I am glad to report that it was only a slight struggle. Hot take: getting a bunch of people to agree on a plot and structure is difficult. Nevertheless, we have done it. So, without further ado, here is the idea.
The FULL Plot
Before I delve into the specifics of the opening scene, I want to present the greater plot of the film. Here it goes:
When attending a therapy session, a young woman, Alice, who has been dealing with terrible family trauma for some time, receives a series of mysterious phone calls, which effectively thrusts her into a time loop. Now, as she relives the same therapy session over and over again, Alice must find a way to get out of the time loop and figure out why she was put there.
For the film, I wanted there to be a lot of sci fi elements, that being the time loop, but I felt the need to include a lot more of the human elements, especially within Alice's character. It's never enough just to have cool sci fi effects. You have to care about the characters for those to even be cool.
With that plot summary from up above, there are still some other facets of the story I would like to touch on. For instance, the reason that Alice is in therapy is because of some issues she has with her mother. Now, what these issues are, I am not completely sure. Perchance, abandonment issues. Nevertheless, we are certain that the phone calls that Alice gets will have something to do with her mother, whether that be that her mother is the caller or something else (but it will probably be the former).
The Opening Scene
To create an opening scene based on this plot was a bit of a struggle for us, but I think we have create as structure that does a good job of doing several things: one, establishing character and two developing mystery. When we were conjuring up the idea, the main thing that we had to accomplish was establish she was in a time loop without it looking like a mistake.
So, how we decided to remedy this was to make the structure of the intro so that the protagonist along with the audience has to reconcile with the fact that she is in a time loop.
Above is a visual representation of the structure we came up with for how the time loop will work. So, the opening will begin towards the end of the therapy session, maybe there is ten minutes or so left. After a little while of talking, Alice gets a phone call. When she looks at the number, she does not recognixe it, so she hangs up. Her and the therapist talk for a little while longer, and then she leaves as usual. As she is about to get into the car, the phone rings again. The same number. She decides, to pick it up. Maybe it is important. Right as she picks up, a voice through the phone says something ominous, and just as she wants to say something, she finds herself appearing back in the therapists office, at the same time when she did not answer the call the first time. When she realizes what happens, she has some interesting dialouge with the therapist, and then runs out and starts essentially freaking out.
Okay, I understand that was a lot to digest. But, I think it makes a lot of sense. We get some good tme to be introduced to our main protagonist and we learn the conflict and get the audience roped into it. I understand that there could be some serious problems with the timing, but I'm hoping that as we write the script, we will get a better visualization of how long this will actually take to develop.
Personally, I have a lot of high hopes for this film intro. From the moment we started this project, I knew that to make it work we had to have a solid idea, and I think that is what this is. The main thing is not to be boring, and I fear that this is the exact opposite of boring.
And now for the movie quote of the day...
"I didn't expect to get so old." - Thelma, Thelma (2024)
Theories, everybody has them. Whether it is part of a scientific investigation, a conspiracy theory or, in this case, a MEDIA THEORY. For the purposes of this blog I will not not be delving into my personal theories (drop a comment if you want more on that), but what I will be talking about is a potential media theory that could apply to my film opening.
Todorov's Narrative Theory of Equilibrium
Todorov's Theory of Equilibrium says that every narrative story has distinct parts. The two main parts that I will be discussing are equilibrium, disequilibrium. There is another part called new-equilibrium that has to do with resolution, but that won't really be super necessary in an opening sequence.
Equilibrium
Equilibrium is the part of the narrative story where the characters are being introduced and the story is being set up. During this portion of a story, characters are being built up to become how people and the audience gets a grasp on the setting and what is going on.
One of my favorite examples of this is in Legally Blonde (2001 dir. Robert Luketic). In the opening scene of this film, the audience gets a lovely look at how the sisters of the Delta Nu sorority live their life.
For those unaware of the plot of this important piece of cinema, this follows a college girl named Elle Woods who, after her jerk boyfriend breaks up with her, decides to go to Harvard and become a lawyer to get her boyfriend back.
In this scene, we get a perfect introduction for our main protagonist, Elle Woods, but also the entire life that she and her sorority sisters live. This is a great example of the equilibrium facet of Todorov's Theory. By showing how Elle and her friends live their life in this girly, pink world, it works to contrast what happens later in the movie and how the harvard environment is completely different than what she is used to.
Towards the beginning of the film intro, before we start introducing the conflict, I would like to do some establishing of character in setting as this film does. Since my film has to do with a time loop, I probably would not use the equilibrium of the start to contrast a later setting in the film, but more so to establish the motifs for the rest of the film. This would either take form of mise-en-scene elements or diegetic sound. I want it to sort of create a baseline for the rest of the film.
Disequilibrium
Disequilibrium is the next step within the plot. This is where stuff starts going wrong, but all of it is before the climax. This is including the first "disruption" that is what upsets our main protagonist's life or situation. Obviously this is what sets up the main conflict of the film, but can be used as more and more rising action until the climax of the plot.
A fun example of this is in the film Panic Room (2002 dir. David Fincher). This film follows a mother and daughter who move into a new New York City apartment but, after a few weeks, have that apartment broken in by two criminals who are interested in the money that is in their panic room.
This film is actually a good representation of both equilibrium and disequilibrium but I will mostly just talk about the one.
In the scene below, we get a look at the disequilibrium that brings the mother and daughter's quite life into a daring escape from two criminals. In this scene, we see when the mother realizes that their home is being broken into. The filmmakers do a great job of making this problem seem urgent and portraying how the mother and daughter are in serious danger. This is the main conflict, and the rest of the problems that occur until the climax are all building up the the tension until that big moment. In this film specifically, there are so many little side problems that keep the audience at the edge of their seat, making it all so purposeful.
When the disequilibrium occurs within my film opening, I am very attached to the feeling of it being something gets built upon throughout the film, but also feels urgent at the start, similarly to this movie. Just by the nature of the portfolio project, I am limited to two minutes; therefore, I have to keep in mind these time constraints when trying to build the balance between equilibrium and disequilibrium.
After looking at these examples and learning about the theory itself, I think this is extremely important to include within my project. With the theory, it gives the plot a solid structure with different segments signaling progress within the story. Without it, I fear that the plot could go all over the place.
And now for the movie quote of the day...
"Good morning, oh and in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night!" - Truman, The Truman Show (1998)
Sources:
Media Studies. (2024, March 1). Todorov’s narrative theory of equilibrium and disruption. https://media-studies.com/todorov/
Today was such a lovely day because we got to do our first GROUP MEETING. In the group meetings, we meet with our classmates to discuss each of our projects and give each other ideas and critiques. The purpose is just for the betterment of the entire class, allowing students to get ideas from other and give out their own constructive criticism.
The Team
I was placed in a group with five people, and what I really liked about my group in particular is that all of our ideas for our blog posts were really varied. Yes, some people in the group had the same overarching genre, but no idea was that similar to the other. One member is doing a horror film about a man who can switch astral planes, another doing a science fiction end of the world drama, and another doing a coming of age film about having one last great night out with your friends.
And then there is little old me with my time loop. (I can definitely tell everyone was so impressed)
What is the Verdict?
As I was explaining my idea to the group, I could sense a bit of uncertainty in the air, specifically around how I would make it look like a time loop. This is most definitely and understandable concern. I agree, it is going to be a bit of a challenge to ensure that the audience understands that a time loop is occurring and not just a devastating mistake in the editing process.
The wisdom that was offered by the group as a potential solution was more just a warning. They said many times to be very diligent in the planning process of how I am going to shoot it to make sure it is abundantly clear that a time loop is going on. I will most definitely take this to heart and keep that in mind as I move forward into the planning and storyboarding phase of the project.
Another topic I was actively seeking out advice on was how I could possibly shoot it, but speaking more location wise. As I've said, the majority of the introduction takes place in the therapist's office. As I am but a student, I do not have a therapist's office at my disposal.
So, I asked for some suggestions about where I could shoot this thing, and one of my group members suggested that so I don't have to drive myself insane finding a location, I could stage a corner of my house or a room very well and just use some creative angles to give the illusion of a small room. At the moment, this might be my best option. I do have a few other feelers out there, but nothing that is as solid as my own home.
Other than that, it felt good to get some validation on my idea. Honestly, I'm just glad that people like it. I know for a fact that people will like it even more when they see the epic product (this is me manifesting by calling it epic).
Overall, this is one of the most helpful and productive moments I think I've had since starting this project. It was extremely useful to get to hear other people opinions in a safe and not too critical space. In the future, I would like to both share what I've accoplished iwth the same people and get to hear what they accomplished as well.
And now for the movie quote of the day... (but it's from a tv show again teehee)
"We can be the good guys or the guys that save the world. We can't be both." - Cecil Steadman, Invincible (2021- current)
It's the time you have all been waiting for. The big reveal. The curtain over the whiteboard of my idea is about to be pulled off for the entire world to see. Get yourselves ready, because it is wild.
Two words: TIME LOOP
Okay, enough jokes (never enough jokes). Let me explain. The basic concept is that there is a girl who is trapped in a time loop of a therapy session. Everytime she gets in her car to leave the complex, she instantly reappears back in the thearapists office inexplicably. Now, my team and I haven't come up with all the details yet, but I think what we need to do most right now is do is to learn more about time loops.
The "Science"
From what I have been reading, time loops are a subject for contingency. Obviously this is not a real occurrence (as far as we know), but there are several theories and ideas as to how they could occur. One of the recurring theories involves something called at Closed Time Curve (CTC), which is when a segment of linear time is essentially taken out of the time steam and made so that the endpoints meet up together to form a circle. This is often something that film and video game developers turn to when attempting to create a plotline following a time loop.
But, some have found issue with this as a valid explanation for a realistic time loop. one reason is that the CTCs are often depicted as being depended on one person either dying or falling asleep. It is often not explained whether the world keeps on moving with the protagonist or if everyone in the timeline is reset. It are these circumstances in which CTCs are not a great explanation. For a CTC to work correctly, everyone in the timeline - or at least the protagonist - would have to be unconscious for a long time to wait until time itself moves backwards, running through all the events in reverse, which could take an ungodly amount of time.
Another explanation that was posed as an opposition to the CTC is the idea that time is not necessarily looping, but that time is breaking of at a specific point an infinite amount of times. Now, I understand that is kind of confusing, so I have included a video explanation derived from my research.
Now, this one has overall less application and research backing it up, but it is a theory out there that I think would work best for my purposes. The idea of two major events in the protagonists life setting of a major scientific event sounds like an extremely compelling story that has a lot of room for character development.
In Television and Film
Time loop movies and shows can either be a completely cheesy gag that has no real substance to it or it can be one of best pieces of media that has ever been created, there is no in between.
One of the better time loop movies I watched in research for this project - recommended to my by my teacher - was Palm Springs (2020 dir. Max Barbakow). When I stated watching this movie, I genuinely had no expectations of what I was getting into. All I knew is that it had to do with a time loop. I had no idea I was going to fall in love with Andy Sandberg and Cristin Milioti.
This film all takes places on a wedding day that Nyles, the boyfriend of a bridesmaid, has been reliving for God knows how long. When he accidently drags the sister of the bride into the same time loop, effectively trapping her.
One thing that I love about time loop movies that this film does really well is showing the impacts of being stuck in a loop on the human mind. My favorite part is when they both lose any semblance of right and wrong and just start doing the most insane things with no repercussions. Like this scene below.
This relates to the concept of nihilism, which is the philosophy that there is no meaning of life. Those who follow this philosophy are devoid of religion or morals, which is typically what happens in these film. As seen in the clip above, our two protagonists, Nyles and Sarah, have been in the time loop for quite some time and have resorted to tormenting the people that inhabit their loop. This obviously plays for some good comedic moments, but it also shows the mental impact these people are facing when they have deemed their lives devoid of meaning.
The topic of nihilism is something the would definitely depicted within my film opening. Personally, if I was stuck in a time loop of the same therapy session, I too would lose all sense of meaning. Now, how nihilism will be shown, I have not decided yet, but I will incorporate it in some way.
Another time loop film that is most definitely not a comedy is Edge of Tomorrow (2014 dir. Doug Liman). My mom is utterly obsessed with this movie, so I have been forced against my will to watch it many, many times. This movie combines all of the classic science fiction tropes: aliens, the future, and time loops. A triple threat if you will. But for now, let's just focus of the time loop element.
In a future where the Earth has been invaded by nearly invincible aliens, a military agent gets killed in combat thrusting him into a time loop where he must relive the same terrible battle and death every day. Now, he must try to use his knowledge of the battle to defeat these terrible creatures.
What i enjoy about the time loop elements in this movie, which is sometimes a common occurrence in the these kind of films is that the main protagonist has one person they are always trying to find.
Alright Emily Blunt, I see you and your calisthenics. Seriously though, this scene is a good representation of how throughout the film Tom Cruise's character is constantly coming back to Emily Blunt's character. In every iteration of the time loop, they find each other and every time she helps him. This ultimately helps drive the plot forward, bringing something new to each iteration of the loop, and each time the audience and the characters get new information about their situation.
Therefore, to give the overall film a kind of plot and to give the protagonist of my film any dimension and growth, there needs to be a character to which they always go to for help. I do not think that that person is the therapist, but maybe someone else in the office.
I wasn't going to talk about anything else after this, but when writing about how there is always a person that the protagonist goes to, I could not help but think of The Good Place (2016-2020, creator Michael Schur). This is not an inherently time loop based series, but there is a pretty big chunk of the show where our main characters keep getting their memories erased in a time loop fashion. Also, just don;t read this part if you have not watched The Good Place because I will be spoiling the show immensely and I would not wish that upon my worst enemy.
This series follows a woman named Eleanor Shellstrop, a morally underdeveloped person, who has died and gone to the afterlife, or what they call The Good Place. At first she is excited for her new home ,but then realizes that she definitely does not belong in The Good Place. To try to secure her spot there, she recruits a nervous philosophy professor, Chidi, to teach her how to be a good person.
Like I said, this show is not directly about time loops, but (here are the spoilers), after Eleanor deciphered that her and her friends were actually in The Bad Place, their demon architect, Michael, has to reset their memories a bunch of times (802 to be exact). This show is also a good example of the consistancies that can exist in each new iteration of a time loop.
Above is just a silly little compilation of everytime Eleanor realizes that she is not in The Good Place but in The Bad place. This compilation is actually really good to see altogether because it shows how things could be different in each iteration of a time loop, but that there will always be some things that never change. There is another clip that I could not find for the life of me where Michael tells Eleanor that in every reboot of the neighborhood she would always realize that she didn't belong, always realize she was in The Bad Place, and that Chidi would help her be a better person every time.
This example proves that it is important to have hard set consistencies, things that will happen in every single loop. This tell me that I have to have either an event or object that will reoccur every time. The only difference is that in this show, the characters memories get wiped every time, whereas in my film, the protagonist will retain her memories. But, I think we can incorporate what The Good Place does without the memory erasure element.
Now that I have all this lovely information about time loops, I can create a time loop mechanic that works best for my purposes. I can include elements from all of the media products I discussed, but also use the "scientific" background knowledge to try to make the mechanic make as much sense as possible (hopefully).
And now for the movie quote of the day... (but it's from a TV show)
"I'm telling you, Molotov cocktails work. Anytime I had a problem and I threw a Molotov cocktail, boom! Right away, I had a different problem." - Jason Mendoza, The Good Place (2016)
Sources:
- Creative, V. (2021, September 15). The science behind (and in front) of timeloops. Vox Creative Next. https://next.voxcreative.com/ad/22676555/time-loop-science-deathloop-video-game
- Saleh, B. (2023, February 9). The physics of Time Loops. climbing the giant - The Physics of Time Loops. https://climbingthegiant.com/posts/physics-time-loops/
In any film opening, there is something that is usually consistent throughout, and that is that we must credit the cast and the crew (which is arguably the most important part of any production).
But before we get into looking at some example opening credit sequences, I would just like share that my idea has been solidified (I can hear the cheers from the audience). I think I could explain it better in a later blog post, but what I will say is that we are definitely leaning more into the science fiction elements, but wanting to keep that strong character development with the dramatic elements. So as we go through, there will be predominantly more science fiction film openings, but I will try to incorporate some on the more dramatic side.
Back to the Future (1985)
In this ultimately rewatchable film, a teenage boy accidentally takes a time machine back in time 30 years to the year 1955 where he almost prevents his parents from ever meeting.
This film has one of the most infamously genius title sequences. It's simplicity allows form the plot development to be told through the mise-en-scene in such a delicate way.
Something about this credit sequence is how well it balances the inclusion of the important information without squandering how plot elements are being developed through the mise-en-scene. If you have rewatched this film as many times as I have (you haven't), then you will obviously pick up on just how many details lie within this opening scene. Because of the scene's intricacies, the credits have to be simplistic and not something that will take away from the elements of the environment.
With the concept of my short film, which will be revealed in my next blog post, it can get a bit fuzzy. I want to ensure that the credits are obviously noticeable, but not so noticable and loud that they take away from the content that is being developed. The Back to the Future opening scene simply does an amazing job at that.
Gattaca (1997)
This film follows a man who dreams of being an astronaut but has had his path blocked as he is deemed to be genetically lesser. As a result, he pays a man who has good genetics and assumes his identity in order to achieve his dreams.
What works well about this opening credit scene is how the text sort of correlates to the themes of the film, that being genetic and structural perfection.
This opening credit scene makes the content of the scene itself and the text meld together seamlessly, as if they were filmed at the same time. Like I said before, a major idea throughout the film is genetic perfection, and it feels (at least to me) like the text reflects that sort of "perfection". This can be seen through the font choice, as it is very clean cut and readable. Also, it ties to the genetic aspect of the film as the letters G, A, T and C are all in bold, which for those who are not familiar with biology are the first letters of the nucleotide bases.
For my film opening, I would like to do what this film did but making sure that the way the credits are presented feel connected to the content of the film. A big problem that I can foresee with making the credit sequence is that it feels unnatural or out of place. I would like to try to prevent that by keeping this film intro in mind when conjuring up the opening scene.
It (2017)
In the small town of Derry, Maine, a group of friends are tormented by an evil, shapeshifting clown who comes out every 27 years to steal children to the sewers.
The opening credits to this film are another example of matching the text to the tone (put that on a t-shirt right now). This ensures that there is no deviation or separation from the content.
This is generally one of my favorite opening scenes of all time (I included the whole thing just to bring me joy). The part where the credits are rolling is supposed to be illustrating a dull life for the boys. Bill, the older one, is sick and Georgie, the younger one, just wants to go play in the rain. The whole scene is has a dull coloring, representing the boys' worldview at the moment. The way the credits are presented reflect the sort of calm and dull life before the storm, that being Georgie going missing.
I sort of like how the credits are toned down while still attributing to the state of the characters at the moment. I would like to include that sort of attention to detail within my credit sequence. The best thing I could probably. do with them is create that balance between understated, but also adding to the experience of the opening scene.
All of these opening credit scenes have something to add to my project, and I just hope that I can take the wisdom I have gathered from all this research and execute it well. I am feeling very confident i that is not apparent (I'm kind of losing it <3 ).
Nevertheless, now for the movie quote of the day...
"Don't be what they made you." - Logan, Logan (2017)
After some serious deliberation and some ideas have been thrown out and discussed, my team and I have made the decision for the film opening to be a sci-fi drama. This is a slight devation from what I origially had in mind, but the idea that we have attached to it is (and not to toot my own horn) very cool.
As a result of this decision, I am going to take some time now to look at some film opens for sci-fi dramas and see what elements I could pick up on to use in my own film opening.
Arrival (2016)
When several alien spacecrafts land on Earth, a linguistic professor and a team of scientists enter one of the ships with the intent to communicate with the aliens with the hope of saving the world from international crisis.
The main purpose of the opening scene of this film is to develop character and to establish why she is the way she is for the rest of the film.
This scene does an excellent job of developing character. Through the shot composition and the mise-en-scene the audience can instantly understand that our main protagonist is a mother, who was/is married, and it is understood the deep, intense relationship she has with her daughter. With that, the understanding goes deeper with the voice over, which establishes (at least to the main character) the beginning, middle and end of her proverbial life.
With the idea my team nad I have been cooking up, establishing character is extremely important to make our film opening work. There are going to be some more dialogue bits then are in this opening scene, but I think we could go even deeper into the character development of our character with costuming elements and props, as this opening does.
The Prestige (2006)
Two rival magicians are vying to have the best magic trick of all time in their shows. After one of the magicians performs the ultimate trick of teleportation, the other drives himself insane and to dangerous measures trying to replicate it.
Can I just say before we get into that this movie... this movie. The plot twist at the end of this movie had me gnawing at the walls of my enclosure. Truly.
Anyway, the opening scene of this movie does a great job establishing a mystery and intrigue
What I find interesting about this opening scene is how it leaves so many questions, but in a way that leaves the audience longing for more answers. Through the face paced editing and the cross cutting between the magic trick and the old man, it allows the audience to learn about what is going on and the steps of a magic trick along with an example, that being Hugh Jackman's character's magic trick. Also, it acts as a signal that everything that is being said and shown now will most likely be important later on in the film.
The premise of my film opening does depend a lot on that element of mystery and it is what will keep views watching til the very end. I do not think it would work to do it in the exact same way that this film does it, but I like how it creates the mystery is such a casual and flowy way where it does not feel forced upon, and I would like to incorporate that.
Signs (2002)
A family living on a secluded farm gets their lives inturuped when they notice a crop circle engraved in their cornfields. Now, they are not alone in this as there have been hundreds spotted around the world as a predecessor to an alien invasion.
What stuck out to me with this film's opening scene is the use of diegetic and nondiegetic sound, and I would like to incorporate this balance in some way.
Throughout most of the scene there is only diegetic sounds; the wind, the floor creaking, the dogs barking, etc. This creates a tone that feels serious and unsettling , which makes sense since the family has obviously discovered something very strange. But the interesting part about the sound is that the nondiegetic sound does not come in until we get that high angle shot of the crop circle. There is a sort of eerie yet epic music that plays as it is revealed. This plays of the juxtaposition between the small down farm and the big scope of the crops circles.
To be able to use sound as it is used in this intro scene would add not only ambiance and atmosphere, but give subliminal messages to the audience. I am not exactly sure how I could incorporate this, but I really want to use a lot of diegetic sound to make the atmosphere feel very realistic, plus the sounds in my film opening are genuinely important to the plot.
That's all for now, but I feel like there is just so much information running through my head that it's hard to keep it all in my brain. I'm so glad that my trust blog is here to hold all my ideas.
And now for the movie quote of the day... (maybe it's a little hint to my project idea)
"I'd rather die with you than live in this world without you, emphatic period!" - Nyles, Palm Springs (2020)
