One can not brainstorm without first hearing thunder.
Today in class, my fellow peers and I gathered around a round table, as if we were at the "first" supper, and sipped on the wine of our imaginations. One by one, we shared ideas, critiques, and suggestions regarding the planning and production of our film openings which I really enjoyed and appreciated. As a student in this day and age, I often find myself noticing that I am not put into many situations that enable my mind to run wild and free. I tend to conform to this box of systematic learning and replicate what I've been taught rather than understanding and applying this information in my own way. So, when I first began to work on my portfolio project, I kinda had this "Oh, shoot" moment in realization to the fact that I would now need to "think outside the box".
And in this moment, with my blue ink pen in hand, I got to work and composed a brilliant 2 minute film opening, written in complete detail and edited to perfection............just kidding. My initial brainstorming session went a little something like this (and please bare with me): I really just sat there for 5 minutes straight, staring at a blank piece of paper, asking myself "how does someone bring them self to write, direct, and edit a story of any kind?" Then, for another 5 minutes, I had a mini panic attack because seriously!! HOW does someone truly produce a film opening, let alone make an entire film???
Despite my first obstacle faced within this process - which was really nothing more than just 10 minutes of my internal conflict - I finally gained the reassurance needed by consulting with my group about what genre we want to portray in our film opening. My group, whom consists of Alex, Fabiana, and Vicky, and I have decided that we want to gravitate more towards a suspenseful genre such as a thriller. At first, Vicky suggested doing a Drama, while I wanted to do a Horror film opening. Deciding to do a Thriller became our "happy medium" which our other group members agree will be an interesting genre to portray. Although we are yet to come to a definite decision about the content of our opening, in class, we did discuss some elements and techniques that we would like to incorporate within the intro of our scene. Since our genre is a thriller, we hope to capture the innate attention of our audience by including only digetic sounds while keeping the audio to a "minimal to none" factor. Silence is often an element of film that is not typically used, however when it is used, it entices viewers to pay closer attention as if by saying "you don't want to miss this", while also building suspense and anticipation. For instance, a perfect example of using the element of silence to capture audience interest is the 2018 Drama/Thriller "A Quiet Place", directed by John Krasinski. And when I'm telling you that this technique leaves an impact on viewers, I remember watching this film in theaters and being able to hear a pin drop within the room. I have never seen so many people so captivated and willing to remain quiet for the entire 1 hour and 31 minutes of a movie.
Additional to maintaining silence within the opening of our film, some visual approaches that we want to incorporate are using tight medium shots/close-ups. The purpose of doing so is because my group and I want to create a more personal connection to the audience, while also limiting the vision of the viewers. In a recent Ted Talks I watched (which I have linked down below), the presenter stated that "we connect through stories" and this statement really resonated with me. Enabling a story to possess the trait of relatablility is what differentiates it from a decent story to a great one. I want my portfolio to be more than just a grade, I want it to be meaningful and enticing and something that people can remember. This will be done by ensuring the audience has a more intimate relationship/perspective on the character and what he/she may be going through. Using tight shots also limits the POV of the character while eliminating dramatic irony to further establish the suspenseful tone of our thriller film opening.
Link to Ted Talks, title "Andrew Stanton: The clues to a great story"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxDwieKpawg
No comments:
Post a Comment