Filming over the Weekend

On Sunday afternoon, I came to school prepared to film the call to adventure, the scenes with the mentor character, the scenes with the villain and the scenes with the goddess character. However, the people who were supposed to be acting in my film couldn't make it as they were busy filming for their own films. This means that I was left to film all the shots I could with just the main character. This was the call to adventure at the beginning and the ending of the film. 

I will be filming the rest of my film throughout the week next week when everybody is free, and I will spend a day at school on Sunday to get the rest completed as I don't want to leave my filming for during test block. 

My time management has been really bad for this assignment and I really need to improve it for my next film or I will not get it done and will be stressing out about it again. 

Finished my Shot List

I have finally finished my shot list and it took a lot longer than expected. The rough edit due date has thankfully been changed to Monday instead of Friday which leaves me with more time to film. I have a total of 79 shots that I need to film and I was originally planning to finish the whole trailer by the rough edit due date, however, I don't think this will be possible anymore. I just have to try and get as much done as possible. 

I need a total of five characters for my trailer which is a lot, and it is really hard to find people to act. Next time, I'm going to make sure that I have the least amount of characters possible so that it's easier for me to find an actor and not have to rely on multiple actors. This will also mean that finding time to film will be more flexible and easy so that I don't have to make sure everybody's available at the same time.

For the shot list, I finished it all at once, instead of just doing one scene at a time. This took up too much time and I should have just created the shot list for the scenes I was filming first instead. This is what I will do next time in order to save time and get my filming done earlier on before the due date.

I am going to be starting filming next lesson and on Sunday afternoon. I know that I am not going to have the majority of my film done by Monday, but at least some will be done.

Starting my Shot List

I have started creating my shot list and it is taking a while because my trailer has a lot of shots. I am a bit worried about fitting in the time to film all of this because it is going to take a while to do due to the large number of shots. My time management has to be really good this term to get this all finished on time so I have to try and finish this shot list as soon as I can in order to have time to film it all. 

I wanted to finish my shot list over the weekend so I could start filming on Monday, however, I am going away and won't be able to get it finished. I want to try and finish it during Monday's lesson but I'm not quite sure if it will be done because so far, it's taking a really long time to do due to the amount of detail I'm including.

Treatment Final

After handing in my draft of my synopsis, I was given the feedback to make my trailer less linear and chronological, and more non-linear so it is less of a film, and more of a trailer. I have tried to do this but I have had some difficulty writing my synopsis in a non-chronological way. I am not completely satisfied with the trailer idea yet, and I think that once I start to film, I will change stuff around and add stuff in to make it better. Also, when editing, I might change the order of the shots around to make it less linear, etc. I am also going to add in voiceovers which will make the trailer more non-linear. After this is handed in, I'm going to start creating my shot list.

Storyboards and Synopsis - DRAFT

I have created the storyboards for my trailer and this shows the main points of my film. I have also started my treatment, and completed my synopsis. I have a lot of work to do to improve my synopsis because I don't think it's really written the way it's supposed to be written. I also need to make my story less linear and chronological so it is more like a trailer and less like an actual film.

SYNOPSIS:

Lily is shown being escorted to the detention room by her least favourite teacher, [name]. She is left alone in the room for a few minutes while the teacher went to bring back her iPad and she was warned “no items allowed”. Lily is shown looking around the room in boredom, and catches a glimpse of an envelope appearing in between two books on the bookshelf. She stands up and walks over towards the bookshelf, and pulls the envelope from between the two books. She looks down at it and it reads, “Open Me”. She turns over the envelope, opens it up and discovers a note written with the message, “Look under the bookshelf”. Lily places the envelope and note on the desk beside her and kneels down to take a look under the shelf to find out what is there. A book hidden underneath is revealed and she extends her arm to pull it out and read what’s inside. The book is filled with all of the future’s dates, all with a sentence written beside each one warning the reader of a particular event to look out for. She scans the page and finds today’s date, the warning “Hide this, or you will be caught at [time in 2 minutes] and it will be taken” written next to it. A close up of the clock is shown as the second hand changes to that exact time and the teacher returns to the detention room to remind her that she is not permitted any items in the room or they will be confiscated. As this is all happening, there is another teacher watching the girl though the glass door of the room, taking notice of what she is looking at. This character is the school counsellor. The following day, the book guides her to meet with the counsellor and she helps guide Lily to use the book to its full potential and directs her in what she should and shouldn't do. After contemplating whether or not this task is for her, she decides that she would prefer to go back to her regular life and not use the book. That night, her best friend is seriously injured after an event and Lily checks the book’s warning for that day and learns that this accident could have easily been prevented. She decides to continue to use the book and the next day she finds herself saving a stranger from being hit by a car, with the warning from the book. Later that day, there is another meeting with the counsellor and Lily is advised that the original owner of the bps is after it and wants to destroy it. There is a voice over of "She is coming for you" ... "You need to keep it away from her” as shots play of Lily being stalked by the original owner of the book. She overcomes this, however, as there is a warning in the book to "turn around right now” and the girl is standing right behind her. The trailer ends with a close up of Lily’s face, looking shocked and scared.

Trailer Idea

Over the weekend and during lesson time, I have been brainstorming ideas for my trailer and I have come up with a concept. I started by figuring out some details about the hero as I found this the easiest staring point to come up with the storyline. The hero is a 16 year old girl who is just a regular school student. She often gets into trouble at school and she is quite bored with her ordinary life. This led me to set the location as school and for the hero to find her call to adventure while at detention. Here's the story (so far):

- Waits alone in the detention room, looks around and finds an envelope in between two books with "open me" written on the front

- Opens it up and finds a note inside saying to look under the bookshelf

- Underneath the bookshelf there is a book hidden

- Inside the book, it is full of the future's dates and has written next to each of them, a sentence saying what to look out for on that particular day

- She finds today's date and reads something like to hide the book or she will be caught at [time in 2 minutes] and it will be taken from her

- She hides it and two minutes later, the teacher walks in and reminds her that she is not permitted any items in the room or they will be confiscated

- The mentor character is the school counsellor

- They meet after she is instructed by the book the next day to go to a particular spot at a particular time

- She helps her to use the book to its full potential and guides her in what she should and shouldn't do

- Later, she contemplates whether or not she should continue to use the book or to just go back to her regular life

- She doesn't use the book one day and something bad happens to her best friend (who is the goddess character) and she is left injured

- She checks the book after she is left injured and it had a warning  that could have easily helped the hero to prevent it from happening

- She then decides to continue using the book

- Another day, she reads the warning in the book and it warns her of a car hitting a stranger at a particular time

- At that particular time of the day, she pulls the stranger off the road right before the car speeds past

- Next, there is another meeting with the school counsellor

- The hero is warned of the original owner coming after the book and wanting to destroy

- There is a voice over of "She is coming for you" ... "You need to keep it away from her"

- Shots of the girl following the hero, wearing all black, face covered

- Tries to steal the book back

- Goes to the book when the hero isn't watching and writes over the page "WATCH OUT", "MY PROPERTY", etc.

- The hero overcomes this challenge as there is a warning in the book to "turn around right now", the girl is standing right behind her and the hero punches the girl but the shot cuts half way through

- The ultimate boon is changing a small part of the world for the greater good, defeating the girl who was trying to destroy the book and the fact that her bet friend is not fully recovered. Throughout the film, the best friend slowly heals from her injury as the hero does more to protect everyone.

Here is the table which shows the elements of the hero's journey more clearly:

Ordinary World	Regular school student who gets detention in class. She is sitting by herself in the detention room and the teacher has just left the room to go get something.
Call to Adventure	She is looking around the room as she is alone, and she finds an envelope with the words “open me” written on it. She opens it up and is instructed to look under the bookshelf. Under the bookshelf, there is a book hidden and inside the book it is full of the future’s dates and has written next to each of them, a sentence saying what to look out for on that particular day.
Refusal of the Call	After contemplating whether or not she should continue to use the book, she decides she won’t use the book and goes back to her ordinary life, however something bad happens to her best friend. She checks the book after she is left seriously injured and it had a warning that could have easily helped the hero to prevent it from happening.
Supernatural Aid	The mentor character is the school counsellor. She helps her to use the book to its full potential and guides her in what she should or shouldn’t do. For example,
Crossing the First Threshold	She uses the book to be able to stop a stranger from being hit by a car, as the book warned her about it. She pulls her off the road the moment before it would have hit her.
The Road of Trials	The hero is being stalked by the original owner of the book, after being warned about it by the school counsellor. There are multiple attempts for the girl to get the book back and destroy it but the hero avoids every attempt and saves the book.
Meeting with the Goddess	The goddess character is the hero’s best friend (the one that was injured). This is the character that the hero fights for and continues the journey for.
Atonement with the Father	The hero overcomes the original owner of the book and all of her attempts to destroy the book. She finds a warning in the book telling her to “turn around right now” and finds the girl standing directly behind her. Punches her and the shot cuts half way through.
The Ultimate Boon	The ultimate boon is changing a small part of the world for the greater good, defeating the girl who was trying to destroy the book and the fact that her best friend is now fully recovered. Throughout the film, the best friend slowly heals from her injury as the hero does more to protect everyone.