Film Opening Idea Explained

Hey everybody! Today we met in groups once again, and we were allowed all class to discuss and work on our projects, and I must say that we get a lot done.

First off, I would like to start out by discussing our whole camera issue. I know I blogged about it, but we finally realized that Camila's iPhone 7 Plus has a sensational camera, and all we really need to buy is a tripod to ensure stability while filming. So, we have decided that I will buy a tripod from Amazon Prime and we can begin to film very soon. This idea also helps our budget very well, as this investment will not dig as deep into our pockets as a camcorder would.

We then decided to discuss our opening scene, and exactly what elements will be used during this opening. My group and I decided that we would love to open up our film with a short sequence of around 25 seconds of lots of baby pictures, or pictures of children going through their childhood. We want to start out our film in a similar sequence to how Love Actually does, which is a sequence that has a wide variety of characters displaying the theme of the film, and the voice-over is used quite well in the film. Below is a video of the opening I am describing above.

Our film is going to then transition from the childhood pictures to the routine of a man who appears to be pleasingly successful. The man will be followed by the camera in a long shot, showing the man walking through his office, which he is loved by every single one of his co-workers. The man will enter his office, which appears to be rather nice and very well-decorated. The audience will then be told through the voice-over that the man displayed in the office is not truly our main character at all. This will be used to show our film in a comedic fashion. The camera will then cut to a shot of miscellaneous characters discussing how the film is not about them either, breaking the fourth wall to the audience. The film then finally transitions to a shot of a dead-beat man who is sitting on a park bench who appears to be rather poor. The man is wearing no clothing other than a piece of cardboard, and the audience then realizes that this is our main character of our film, and the rest of the film will display how this man went down the wrong path in life, and how the man reacts to tragedy that is shown later in the film. 

In my next few blogs, I am going to show you all the casting of our film opening, as well as our representation of all these characters. I will also discuss our storyboard and how we will use homemade dollies to our advantage, and my filming schedule will also be realized very soon!! I hope you all enjoyed the blog and I cannot wait to see how this film will begin to play out. Thanks for reading!!! 

Resources: 

Peters, Chuck. "8 Tips on How to Use a Tripod." Videomaker.com. N.p., n.d. Web.