Ready, SET, Go!

     Set is the last thing I need to worry about before I get to filming! Since this will all be filmed in my house, I need to figure out how to make it work in a way that will allow for the film to look like it takes place in a dorm rather than a house, unless it really doesn't work out (that's when I rewrite the script to make the two leads in a fraternity so that my house just works out as their frat house.) For now, I am relying on my house doing the job. 

    Me or my sisters bedroom are the only options, and I think mine will be way easier to redecorate. I already have a ton of posters and such in my room that will work, I just need to make more decorations that work, and also move my vanity out of the room for the film.

    For the decorations, I am printing out a few music artist posters such as Kendrick Lamar, Childish Gambino, and Frank Ocean since that goes with the age and demographic I am making the main characters. I know for a fact (since I'm in it) that this generation is very connected to music, so I think including all of these posters will be good options to decorate my walls for this set. I realized while planning out the set in my head that it would make the most sense to move my desk to where my vanity currently is to give Charles and Jackson a workspace to make it more accurate to a college dorm. I obviously need some sort of an alarm for the film, but to keep it time period accurate I think a phone alarm would be the best option so writing that into the set is kind of pointless. Some items I know I need in the set too would be a laptop, pencils, pens, and really any usual school items to scatter along the desk. This would give Jackson a place to sit and study during the opening scene where he asks Charles if he will study at all too.

    For the part of the film where the friends are studying outside, I had decided to scrap the idea of it being a student-center style set and instead have it be outside with benches. Right by my house, there is a plaza with an area perfect for this. Since my Dad owns the bar next to this area, clearing it out will be super easy. My main concern about using this area to film would be the lighting and weather, since those are uncontrollable factors. If all else fails, I have a large patio at home with a table and couch that would work great for this scene, then  I could control all of the factors mentioned before. Although, this could look less realistic if done incorrectly which is why it's my backup option.
 

    

Creating props!

     This week, I need to have everything I need to film this project. I've been working with my friend Brandon who often helps with technical aspects of productions to help me create a prop list. My current largest issue prop wise right now is the need for textbooks. Obviously, I am NOT trying to spend over $100-200 per textbook when I need about 1-2 for each character, excluding the Figment. To solve this issue, me and Brandon will be using old large books (Most likely math books that we are given for free from school) that we have no need for anymore and creating new covers for them to match the actual film. Luckily, we never need to show the books being opened so I think this solution will work well.

    

    Using these as my textbook covers then having 2-3 of them would honestly be enough for the film. Although I don't know much about forensic programs, which is what I wrote the characters in for their classes, my sister will be majoring in that in college and they told be a bit about the curriculum. I think forensics is the perfect pick since they need to take a psychology class which I wanted to be somewhat included in the storyline, without them outright all being psychology majors. 

    Making these props will be super easy for me, since all I need to do is print these photos and cover the fronts of my old text/work books. I need to make sure I cover all sides of the 'textbook' with the same color to make the books look realistic, especially since these will be made from old ones. I didn't want that to be obvious for the audience so using pain or even copying the hex code of the background colors of these covers and printing just a whole page of that color to cover the sides would be a great solution to this issue.

Costume Creating (and introducing the actor of the Figment!)

     Knowing the setting of my film, I knew costuming wouldn't be a big issue. Everything I could need is most likely already in my actors closets. The only character I was worried about was the Figment. Since I wanted his costume to be kind of clown-esque I knew this would be a bit of a challenge to costume without spending a ton of unnecessary money.

    I called the actor of the Figment, Jaden Mantis, and we discussed possible costume options. I sent him his mood board and asked him if he had any possibilities he thought would work so we could work out if we needed to purchase anything. By some strange miracle, he had exactly what I needed. When we were discussing the main points of the costume, I brought up how I needed him in red, and to dress in a way that very clearly puts him apart from the 'real people.'  Our main point of discussion, though, was that even if the costume wasn't crazy and extreme, his makeup needs to be on point. Something I absolutely love about Jaden, though, is his willingness to do outside-the-box characters. He was absolutely down to do a drastic clown-style makeup look and said yes with no questions.

    This is the costume we decided on. He will be in a white ruffled dress shirt and black dress pants, but with red suspenders, Although this outfit is fairly simple, it clearly isn't something you'd expect to see on a sort of college campus, so immediately he would stand out. Again, his makeup also plays a huge part into this though since it will determine just how normal he looks. The reason we have the Figment in red would be to specifically connect him to Charles. Aside from any meaning the color has at all, Charles is also the only human character that wears this color throughout the whole film. Although people will change into it as the film goes on, that's what will connect them to the change Charles has them going through. This is why I chose to have the Figment in red, too. Red would be the perfect color to have viewers subconsciously connect the two together even before it gets revealed he only exists in Charles' head.

Makeup inspo. for the Figment!

I am not equip with proper equipment.

     While planning for the filming process, I realize what happens behind the scenes is more important. I need a good idea of all the equipment I need for the film before I film and realize things like "How am I supposed to make the lights blue?" I think researching and purchasing these options needs to happen as soon as possible so I need to have this done literally the moment I publish this.

        For lighting, these are my options to have some colored lighting. My main issue with the lighting I already own is that it is a singular lightbulb that can change color (I know, the least convenient thing I could say.) Having any of these options would be a cheap way to get a controllable form of lighting. The middle one is my top choice right now, since it has more natural lighting options and I could make the color exactly what I want using the plastic film.

    Another form of equipment I need is a form of stabilizer for my recording device. I asked a friend to help me with some technical aspects, and luckily enough he does own a recording camera and a tripod, but I know I want to get a stabilizer that is compatible with my iPhone in case I need to use it as a backup. Even if the tripod he brings is compatible, I know that some shots may need to be handheld and the stabilizer will be of great use to me so it doesn't bring unnecessary panic to the more calm scenes. 

    Overall, The use of the equipment mentioned will be crucial to my film, especially the lighting. Other necessary equipment for filmmaking is already owned by me or my tech helper, so luckily I don't need to make too many large purchases. The last thing equipment wise I would need would be for post production, and that would be a good editing platform. Luckily, timing in life is great and my current laptop is on the brink of no longer having a screen. The upside to this is that I am getting a new laptop before the filming date and will actually be able to utilize Adobe Premiere Pro. This is going to be amazing for me since I will be able to use a more complex editing tool and be more specific to get things the way I want them. So maybe everything happens for a reason.

Sound!!!

     My biggest challenge that I've had to think about has been sound. Since this film will require a lot of silence, I am worried about the normal parts of it being completely fine.

    One of my biggest ideas on what I wanted to do was have a light buzzing/white sound effect whenever the Figment appears to give him a sort of eerie appearance to him (video with described sound attached below.) I also plan on using some form of music, and while all the songs I have in mind are made by large artists that probably wont give me their permission to use their songs, I am also looking on social media apps to find smaller ones that have a larger chance at seeing my messages and responding. While the music wouldn't be 100% necessary, I think it would add more to the film if it went completely silent as the first clip started since the film is about silencing.

    Another challenge I am facing is deciding every single sound effect I would need for the scenes. I would even possibly add in some background chatter noises during the dorm room scene since that would help further establish setting and also add dimension to this scene. I would definitely add in common noises found outside for the studying scene. Another sound effect that is going to be 100% crucial to the film opening will be the alarm clock, since that kicks the whole film off.

 Overall, I think I know the audio I want to use, I just need to find it, and finding the specific audios is super difficult since if it's not already perfect I need to edit it a bit to make it perfect and suitable for my film. This will be a challenge, but I bet I will be able to figure it out in the long amount of time I've given myself to edit.

Mise-en-scene : Set

     For the set of this film opening, I need multiple locations. I honestly gave myself a lot of work here since I made the opening set in two different places. For one of them, I can easily use my house. I'd have to redecorate to make it seem like a dorm room, or at least an apartment that Jackson and Charles live in for college. The other would be preferably be made to look like a student center of sorts, where the friend group would go to study.

These two pictures are my inspiration for the guys' dorm room. I like how the first one had the defined sections for each person, while the second one is much more believable (which makes me realize whatever room I use will have to be a bit messy). Although, this would be difficult for me to achieve a look like this, since I have my own bedroom and it is decorated very specifically to my taste. I definitely will consider using a lot of decoration to help make me or one of my family member's rooms fit the look I'm going for much better if none of my actors have a room that will work.

    This is my inspiration for the recording location of the second part of the opening. This would be a lot harder to control, though, since it would be outside and very unpredictable for filming. I have a backup idea of redecorating my living room a bit just to make it seem like a dorm or apartment living room that the friend group possibly just decided to meet up in to study. My biggest challenge set wise is deciding where exactly I am going to be, since I need to get decorations depending on that. I think I could honestly just use my house for the entire film, though. For now, I will buy decoration for the set as if it was at my house, and adapt to my new surroundings if it changes.

Mise-en-scene: Costumes

    Although my last blog focused on Jackson and Charles, this one will be focused on the Figment and Charles. To help me envision what I would do for the character's costuming, I had created mood boards for them.

    This mood board is for Charles' costuming. I picture him mostly wearing reds and occasionally some muted colors like sage green or blue-grays to pair with it. Knowing color theory, reds would definately match the true nature of this character, while the greens, blues, and grays would neutralize it until his actual effects had been revealed. I plan to put him in a lot more relaxed and casual clothing, to help establish the ages of these characters and Charles' personality.

    The Figment's mood board, on the other hand, includes a lot more stage-like elements to it. I really liked the idea of him being more elaborate and, for lack of better words, silly. I think if I gave the Figment a very elaborate and different costume I could establish how he only pushes things along, but isnt a part of the story. The use of the colors I put at the bottom of the mood board would also help tie him to Charles since he is already in these colors.

Character Development (And introducing my amazing leads!!)

    In this film, The two characters I want to focus on developing most are Charles and Jackson. Overall, I want it to become obvious who the real protagonist is, and although the two most featured characters in the opening would be Charles and the Figment, the two leads of the whole film concept would be Charles and Jackson.

    This is Luken Aldazabal! He will be the actor playing Charles. After talking with him a bit about this character, we had established how this film would end for him. As the film starts, you see him as the average college 'party guy.' Obviously he would have a great connection with his friends, but still have some ups and downs. The goal for his character would be to show that from his own perspective, he is a good guy. Knowing the audience would be seeing things the way he sees them, he needs to develop into the antagonist very slowly. The goal and message of this film will heavily rely on how well his perspective is shown. Charles' character will have a build up of seeing the Figment silence people and questioning why this is happening, until he finally has a breakdown. During this peak of his character, it will begin to become evident that his character had become the bad one, and the Figment just executes what he wants to happen. This is when Jackson's role in the story will become very important.

    This is Matthew Squeri, the actor of Jackson. Jackson's character will definitely develop much differently. Since he will be the representation of revolution, he needs to clearly differ from the rest of the characters in the way he reacts to being silenced. I had already written that in the first scene he rips the tape off of his mouth, showing how he doesn't follow what Charles wants. He will also be the only character that doesn't change into the colors Charles often wears throughout the film. Jackson will be shown as Charles' best friend at the beginning of the film, showing the audience the bond between the two and how their relationship dynamic is, to make the change later on far more evident. As the film progresses, Jackson slowly distances himself from Charles. Finally, by the time Charles is having his breakdown from the Figment's influence, Jackson will lash out on Charles and finally confront him for his actions. This is when everything will turn into reality and it will be scene by Jackson's point of view, where everyone is in their regular colors but they do not want to even be associated with Charles and how he had been silencing them without it going noticed. Jackson is now seen as the protagonist while Charles is now the antagonist, and the characters true natures will have fully developed by this point.

The Script!!

     I finally finished the script! To be so honest, this has been in the works for a long time, even before I fully knew my project idea. I also finally made a groupchat with the full cast so that we could work on everything related to this film. Luckily, since my whole group does theatre we are able to access a ton of resources to avoid unecessary purchases. My sister will also be there to help me with any technical aspects of the film, since I'm better at the creative process rather than the tech.

    My biggest challenge for this script was definately not spoiling the whole plot within these two minutes, and also making sure it was clear from the beginning the Figment character is NOT REAL.

    I also really aimed to make sure all the dialogue is believeable and the scenes tie together well enough to be cohesive for just the opening. Since my idea is so different, ther isn't a lot of referance I can use for this. So I'm really glad this turned out the way I wanted it to, especially for my first time writing a script for something like this!

Title: Silenced 

 

Extra info. On film (To help me write this script): 

Psychological Drama 

Cabaret-esque w/ theming 

Freedom of speech 

More inspo. from newer cabaret, main character is secretly the bad one. 

Whenever someone says something the main character doesn’t like their mouth gets covered in tape and character is next shown wearing MC’s colors 

Everyone in college 

Parts may be cut out as needed, script will be updated during filming.

 

Characters (and cast): 

Charles (Luken Aldazabal): Main character, represents a new govt. 19 

Jackson (Matthew Squeri): Charles’ best friend. 19. Represents revolution. 

Maria (Ale Aldana): Charles’ Friend. 19 Represents the oppressed 

Leyla (Mariana Aldana): Maria’s cousin, 18. Represents the oppressed 

Dylan (Clara Pangalangan): Leyla’s best friend., 18. Represents minorities. 

The Figment (Jaden Mantis): Not a real person, only able to be seen by Charles. Represents silent oppression. 

 

 

Script: 

Open w/ credits as a bunch of clips roll of the side characters getting silenced by the figment while talking to Charles 

Charles & Jackson’s dorm room 

Jackson. Hey Charles! Are we going to study later? We have a huge exam next week. 

Charles. No...? I thought we were gonna go to your cousin's party... 

Jackson. Trust me, my cousin will throw plenty more. I’d rather we pass, then we can go out later. 

Charles. Well, study all you want. I know I’m passing. 

Jackson. Big talk for someone who failed the last quiz.

The figment walks up behind Jackson.

Charles. Shut up you know I was running on like two hours of sleep that day.

Jackson. And that will happen again on the day of our exam when you choose to study last minute.

Charles. Ok. Maybe you're right. Still won't stop me from going out tonight, though.

Jackson. You can’t be serious? It's literally MY cousins party. You're MY plus one.

Charles. You're being difficult for no reason. It's my life. Let me live it.

Jackson. I thought you wanted to be successful- 

The figment puts tape over Jackson's mouth (silencing)

Jackson turns away and rips the tape off of his mouth while walking off. 

Next clip. 

Next day, Charles is studying with his friends Leyla, Dylan and Maria. 

Leyla. Charles, you can't be serious about switching majors. 

Maria. Yeah- I thought we were all gonna complete the forensics program together. 

Leyla. Plus, like no other schools offer this major. 

Charles. Guys, it’s not a big deal. 

Leyla. It kinda is. 

Dylan walks over 

Charles. No, it’s fine. We’ll still all graduate at the same time. 

Maria. But the whole point was that our friend group would be doing this together.

Dylan. Charles? You're switching majors??

Charles. It's seriously not a big deal!

Leyla. Ok even if you think it's not, think about how it affects us.

Charles. Well...I guess. I didn't think of it like that.

Dylan. Charles it's your choice, but we just don't wanna let you pick the wrong one.

Charles. I mean...thanks for looking out for me?

Maria. Jackson told us about how you went to party instead of studying...and failed.

Leyla. We just think you don't need to change majors for this.

Charles. Guys it's not about the party.

The figment walks up behind Charles, clearly not being seen by the others.

Maria. Fine. Do whatever you want.

She walks off.

Dylan. I think you should take some more time to at least think this through-

Leyla. Yeah, It's a big choice.

The Figment puts tape over Dylan's mouth.

The Figment puts tape over Leyla's mouth.

Next clip(s) 

Sequence of shots of multiple different people (Named characters for this opening + extras) saying Charles’ name, they begin overlapping and a shot of just Charles’ face is shown looking paranoid as the Figment stares at him. 

Black screen, silence. 

Alarm clock goes off. 

The figment appears on screen in a room that appears to be Charles’ 

It rips a piece of Tape off Charles’ mouth. 

Charles wakes up, panicked. Heavy breathing. 

End of film opening.