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)
Now, this project is starting to get real serious. As my I get my idea more sorted out for the project, I have started moving into the phase why I need to get a schedule going to make sure that everything is organized and moving smoothly. To do that, me and my other group members have devised a plan on a week by week basis.
The Timeline
Below is the week to week schedule that I have established with my group and made work for my own personal needs.
Week 1 (1/29 - 2/2)
Introduction to the project
Start brainstorming ideas
Research possible genres
Week 2 (2/3 - 2/3)
Solidify project idea
Further research on chosen genre
Look into film opens of that specific genre
Start thinking about storyboard/ conventions we want to include
Week 3 (2/10 - 2/16)
Storyboarding and writing script
Start researching locations (try to solidify by the end of the week)
Compile any sound effects. we may want to use
Week 4 (2/17 - 2/23)
Confirm location
Buy/ obtain props
Costuming layout
Final tweaks of script or storyboard
Week 5 (2/24 - 3/2)
Main filming time
Record any sound effects (foley)
Check footage (decide if we need to reshoot)
Week 6 (3/3 - 3/9)
Begin the editing process (try to get a first draft)
Any reshoots or re-recordings (if need be)
Begin working on research for CCR
Creating answers for some of the questions/ compile any visual media
Week 7 (3/10 - 3/16)
Final edit of the opening (any finishing touches)
Edit the CCR (record any video/ VO)
Week 8 (3/17 - 3/25)
Finalize CCR (if not done already)
Complete anything leftover
Going Forward
Sticking to this schedule is imperative. By following as closely as I can, I'm sure I can be as successful as possible with this project. Some slight deviation here and there may occur, but overall I am feeling confident about the project. Also, I fear we are conjuring up something amazing for the plot, so stay tuned for that...
And now for the movie quote of the day...
"I pledge allegiance to the band of Mr. Schneebly and will not fight him for creative control and will defer to him on al issues related to the musical direction of the band." School of Rock (2003)
It is getting close to that eventful time of picking a genre, but before that we must embark in an extremely important process: RESEARCH.
Now, as soon as the project was introduced, I had two genres in my head: thriller and drama. A combination of the two would be an ideal choice for me, but first I must look at them both separately and with that research I can find the best way to combine them.
Thriller
Thriller is a genre that has a plot completely driven by anxiety and suspense that often includes some kind of plot twist and/or a heavy plot. The entire point of watching a thriller movie is feel on the edge of your seat the entire time, just aching to find out what happens next.
One extremely important aspect of making a good thriller is having great music and sound effects. Music is one of the best ways to build tension, even if nothing inherently bad is happening. The music acts as a signal to the audience that something big is happening.
An example of good us of music is The River Wild (1994).
I have a personal vendetta against this movie because I swear it gave me a heart attack with just how insane I was going.
This film follows a family going down a river rapid for a family vacation. But, as they do down the river, they come across two men who seem to be completely helpless, but it turns out they are much more sinister than what meets the eye.
The scene embedded below is one of my favorite examples of using both music and silence to create tension.
This scene is particular has a great balance of sweeping, thrilling music but also an eerie silence to go along with it. With the tense music as the family is trying to escape, there is that loud sense of urgency and fear, and the music immerses the audience in that fear. This loud music then works to juxtapose the silence of when the family gets caught by their captors. When Kevin Bacon comes on that screen with no music in the background, just some slight diegetic nature sounds, the audience knows something is going to go down. The silence creates suspense in a whole new way, which makes the scene feel overall more dynamic.
I would like to incorporate this technique into my film opening as it would be an excellent way to establish the tone of the piece. I'm not sure exactly what context this could be used in, but I think it would be interesting to have a part of the opening when the music is really loud and intense, and the suddenly it goes silent.
Another aspect of thriller that I would like to incorporate in my film opening is a sense of building oddness. What I mean by that is when something starts out "normal" and then builds up to something that leaves the audience feeling like something is just no quite right. This is typically done through the mise-en-scene or camera techniques that leave the audience feeling uneasy.
An example of this is in the opening scene of American Psycho (2000).
This film takes place in 1980s New York and follows a businessman who by night becomes a psychotic serial killer. Obviously, it's a fun watch.
What I find so compelling about the opening scene of this film is how it escalates so quickly from a very metrosexual man doing a skincare routine to a cold, robotic shell.
Let's take a look.
What stands out to me most in this scene is how the voice over and the music in the background deeply juxtaposes what he is saying. He sounds professional and somewhat cordial as he discusses how he fully lacks feeling and a soul. This paired with her the scene starts out with him listing all the products he uses on his face (which is already a little odd), but then he goes on this rant about he is an illusion.
What I am taking away from this clip is the ability to create a sense of unease and building confusion/tension by using juxtaposing elements. For my purposes, having the characters and their actions juxtapose the setting they are in could create an interesting dynamic that works to build that mystery and unsettling tone.
Drama
Drama is often thought as a sort of all encompassing genre that is typically tied to another one, whether that be romance, comedy, horror or what have you. But some conventions that span all of the combinations are characters having a deep inner conflict and the plot often revolves around a more realistic topic.
One characteristic of drama film that I would like to incorporate into my film is their distinct color palette. Yes, this does depend on what kind of drama film it is, but most of them have a distinct color vibe to them.
An example of a color palette that I would like to reflect is that of Prisoners (2013).
This movie... When I tell you this movie absolutely destroyed me, I mean it.
This film follows a father who is trying to find his daughter who got kidnapped in broad daylight and a detective who ends up uncovering a much bigger mystery.
The clip below has a great representation of the color pallete that I would like to reflect within my film opening.
The muted, greyed out colors of the scene are completely reflective of the darker tone of the scene and of the film in its entirety. By using this color palette, it establishes the tone and keeps it going throughtout the film as the whole thing is pretty much tragedy after the next.
In my film opening, I definitely want to establish a distinctive color palette for the film. When compiled with the other components already discussed, this would work splendidly to create the proper tone for the entire opening.
Another technique commonly used in drama films is continuous closeups. This technique when used in a specific manner can create some serious tension and unease, which can be used in conjunction with a variety of content types and genres.
An example of using consecutive closeups to create tension is in The Silence of the Lambs (1991).
In this film, a rookie detective for the FBI is assigned a case to find a serial killer, but the only way to find him is to get help from the notorious cannibal, Hannibal Lecter.
From the clip below, I found the use of closeups profound and creating a great amount of tension between Clarice and Hannibal Lecter.
In this clip, Lecter is getting into Clarice's head. Sure, this is represented through his words and facial expressions, but it furthered by how the camera composition is. Throughout the clip, we get closeup of both characters, but each character gives off a different energy. The closeups of Clarice portray her fear and concern about the evaluations that Lecter has made about her. But the closeups of Hannibal Lecter show his assurance in himself and make him look even more insane than what he already is. Furthermore, it almost pains the two characters in a similar light, almost like they are two sides of the same coin, even though that is unexpected by the audience.
In my own project, I could use closeups in this manner to convey different emotions for different characters with similar looking shots and composition. This could create in interesting dynamic within my film opening that is more nuanced than giving the audience outright answers.
With all this research in mind, I will try to create a combination of these two genres using the techniques I have discussed. If I combine these in all the right ways, I think I could make something that is truly reflective of both genres and some of my favorite films of each.
And now for the movie quote of the day... (except it's from a TV show)
"The work is mysterious and important." - Mark S., Severance (2022)
As we move into the second semester, we have our biggest and most important task thrust upon us. The project this entire course has been culminating in. The big kahuna.
THE PORTFOLIO PROJECT
This is where I will get to show off all of my sweet, sweet skills that I obtained in this class. For this project, we are tasked with creating a two-minute film opening while documenting our entire production process, plus creative a follow up creative reflection.
I am very excited for this project because this is my chance to just fully exercise all of my creative liberties and create something that I am truly proud to call my own work (not that I haven't done that already).
My approach heading into this project is to make sure that before any serious action taken, that there is a solid idea behind my film opening. Without a concrete, strong idea, the whole project is a risk of falling flat and not being the greatness that I want it to be.
With that being said, the way to make sure that my idea has a good potential for an intriguing film opening, I will be diligently keeping the concepts that we learned about when making a film opening. here are some of the notes that were covered in class when the project was introduced:
With these tactics in mind, I want to focus on the creating mystery and establishing tone. Right now, I am not exactly sure what form or genre this will take, but it is a good baseline to know what I want to focus on for the future.
And now a special movie quote of the week (maybe I'll switch it to day)...
"Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary." - John Keating, Dead Poets Society (1989)
