How not to burn down a house.

In my last blog post I made use of the image below:

It's pretty cool, but it got me thinking, How The Heck Is That Possible?!?! As someone who passed their Astronomy class last year with all A's, I know that light is invisible; the only reason we see light is because it reflects into our eyes, but we shouldn't be able to see light rays. In order to achieve having visible light rays, the production crew has to create literal atmosphere for the light to reflect off of tiny particles in the air that go on to form what looks like a ray of light.

In the past I've actually tried to make use of this technique with my music video, Me + Michael. For the production I had arranged to check out equipment from BECON-TV; among the camera gear and lights I decided to also check out a fog machine for 1 specific shot. I personally have never used one before, but my co-star Michael Orlando apparent had. The shot was meant to be a reveal with red light spilling into a hallway of purple light, and I thought the fog machine would all me to get a few light rays in the shot. 

When we went to film, we ran into several issues. We first found that most of the fog from the machine would just fall straight to the ground rather than linger in the air for a bit. We then began to notice that the smell wasn't pleasant to be around. And lastly we realized we forgot to account for ventilation when my smoke detector went off. Persistent as we were we tried for a little bit more only to give up. Luckily for you we captured this moment on video when we were still testing the setup.

Its now been about 10 months since the events of Me + Michael, and I lowkey want to give the fog machine a second chance. This time though I was going to do my homework; I found this video about how a photographer goes about adding smoke to their sets. In this video I learned that there are actually different types of fog machine fluids. Since for my film I don't need nor desire heavy streaky smoke, I might just stick with light fog fluild to create a hazy look. This would allow for light rays to be visible while also not over doing the amount of smoke and making the house look like it was actually burning. While I'd still check out a fog machine from BECON-TV, I would use my own fog fluid as opposed to their's that might be very old (now that I think about it). Switching to a newer fuild might also help with the smell so that's always nice.

I found this Light Fog Fluid for about $10

Pinterest!

Last year I began to implement Pinterest in to my creative workflow after using it for a music video I made last year, so of course I'd be using it for this short film.

What You Watch Mood Board

As of writing this blog there's about 70 or so pins to the mood board. My goal with this pins to to nail down a general feel for how the film would look as well as and establish a tone. Many of the first few pins consist of images and graphic design art involving the human eye. Eyes are often said to be the window into the soul, but Eric isn't presented with one; I found the image of the girl with the clear reflection in her eye which made me think that the reflection can literally show the viewer that Eric's soul is just what he watches. I haphazardly took a test shot with my personal camera with an macro lens add-on and got a similar effect. To avoid the reflection of the camera lens, the scene where I'd capture a show like this would be very dark (with the only light source being the TV screen), so I could hide the lens among the dark background.

On the mood board I also saved lighting schemes that I can reference for my film. Being that for the scenes in the house there'd be 1 primary light source, I think it'd be fitting to light the film as if it were a noir. I could of course show the TV screen as the only source of light in a frame from the front to show the viewer what Eric sees, but I can also show how the TV is lighting the world around it. I could show the light rays coming from the TV to add some depth and texture to the frame, or I can maybe show what the screen is showing on Eric's face with the help of a projector. I think showing the light rays would help to create a sense of wonder and awe for Eric to be fully immersed with, while focused light on the subject may be useful to develop symbolism or irony.

 

Narrowing a piece of light onto the eyes like the first image below would be cool, but probably not super fitting for when the TV is on and fully immersing Eric. Instead I'd imagine a light setup like this begin used towards the end when Eric is panicking and shuffling away from the Host. Now when the thunder cuts the power and Eric is left alone, I would need to establish a window  for there to be some motivated light in the scene. If there are blinds the lighting would be softer  and more evenly spread out throughout the set like the third image. If there weren't any blinds, I could get away with using an harsh light source like a street lamp to motivate lighting just the subject like in the second image. I probably wouldn't want to include the light rays from above like in the photo, but the idea of backlighting Eric to create a shape of his figure without lighting distinguishing features like his face creates a mysterious and uncomfortable feeling.

 

As for ideas with the set, I already know I want to keep it fairly baren as another way to develop Eric's lack of character. If I film at my house (which I feel is very likely) I have tiled flooring that would work to reflect light and create some texture, similar to how the first image below does. I also feel as though I might lean towards making the shadows on the greener end of things to create a bit of a grimy look (maybe not to the extent of the image below, but the idea is still there).

 

These are just some of the ideas I've thought about while making the mood board. I still got some more to do like think up the exterior scenes, but I feel this board has definitely help put me on the right track.

The Robert De Niro Double Feature

 After speaking my my buddy John of the film and it's plot, he asked about the parallels with the movie Joker. I acknowledged how I there were parallels in the characterization, but that I was knowingly pulling more from Last Night in Soho, American Psycho, and Se7en. Last Night in Soho involves a main character, Eloise, who begins to mirror aspects of of life after a performer from the 1960s, Sandie. American Psycho since for it's main character, Patrick Bateman, is void of expression and emotion (at least when he's not killing or being insane). And Se7en, mostly because of it's line about Envy towards the end of the film.

Regardless, we then had a conversation in which neither of us could remember the exact reason behind why the Joker went on the Murrey Show; I believe it was out of a revenge plot while John believed it was because he wanted to be on the show, but neither of us were really sure. Just from collection though, I thought the story would share more elements with The King of Comedy than Joker, so that brings us here.

THE KING OF COMEDY

The movie follow Rupert Pupkin, who desperately wants his big break in show business as a comedian. While he's inspired by a talk show host, Jerry Langford, he doesn't want to be him; Rupert would rather have a spot on his show than be him. Rupert resembles a psychopath for his lack of empathy for others in his actions, he cares only for his personal gain and delusions of grandeur. He can't even process criticism towards himself; the closest he comes is telling Langford that he is jealous of Rupert's talents. 

Rupert is a narcissist and has motivation for his actions, this is different to Eric who would be shown as an ignorant character who watches TV to learn how to behave. It's only towards the end of the film that Eric would begin to show any of his own emotions in his fear. 

JOKER

Now when it was released, Joker received many comments about it's heavy inspiration from film like Taxi Driver and the aforementioned King of Comedy (the inclusion of Robert De Niro basically confirms it). Anyhow, in the film Joker is shown multiple times to imagine scenarios such as forming a relationship with his neighbor and having a conversation with Murray after he noticed as an audience member.  So when compared to the very early ideas I had where Eric would see himself in the shows he'd watch, but in my film Eric isn't necessarily seeing himself in the show; Eric and the Host would actually be more similar to Joker and his neighbor.

Through the imagined scene of Joker talking with Murray, the viewer sees how Joker projects his beliefs when Murray says he'd love to have him as a son. Later when Joker confronts Thomas Wayne, he explains that he doesn't want money or pity, but instead just time together where he feels accepted. Joker also explains in the movie how he feels no one notices him, but when he does starts to get attention he likes it. Joker's desire for finding inner peace in a chaotic world differs from Eric's need to mimic what he watches to gain a sense of social satisfaction. Murray's character would also differ in the sense that he would invite Joker to the show, where as the Host in my short film wouldn't dare consider Eric to be on his show or allow him to mimic him. And yes, Murray invites Joker to the show to make fun of him, but he at least acknowledges his existence where as the Host in the the short film simple hates Eric.

Even if the two films differ to the story I have in mind, it was still cool seeing similar elements play out differently. Thanks John!

Talk vs Game

In my last blog, I outlined a possible structure with several undecided elements. While details of certain scenes can be developed during the script writing process, the part I wanted to nail down as soon as possible was the type of show Eric watches. Initially, I thought it'd be a no brainer for the show to be a very overstimulating Game Show, but then in doing research of Bob Barker and hosts in general, I was exposed to the idea of Talk Shows. It got me thinking more about how I wanted to use the character of the Host and how Eric would "interact" with him within the film.

I want to show the host as indifferent to Eric, at least at the beginning when showing Eric's hyper fixation with just some show. By the end of the film, it'd be shown that the Host actually dislikes Eric, so having the two talk in indirect conversations would highlight the one-sidedness of their relationship. Shaun of the Dead uses a similar technique in which clips from shows are taken out of context and stringed together to form a coherent sentence for the viewer. While in that film its done for comedic effect and done by switching channels, my film would remain on one channel as bits of dialogue are taken out of context to sound like a normal conversation with Eric. The biggest issue with this is providing a reason for the Host to be talking.

TV Scene from Shaun of the Dead (2004)

After watching a few episodes of The Price is Right, while Barker is charismatic and has conversations with contestants, those conversations are usually brief or far and in-between; a lot of the spoken parts of those shows are allotted to contestants, commentary, or for the Host to explain caveats of a certain game. Not to mention, Game Shows are practically very difficult, especially with a little to nothing budget. Many of these sets are grandiose and extravagant, with many moving parts and many people and extras involved. While I only want to show what's on the TV by filming a literal TV screen, and I might be able to get away with a lack of detail in the set due to compression and distortions, I still want to make sure the original footage looks good. More recently there has been to shift for virtual sets and there are prebuilt 3D models I could use to make a set, compositing those shots I feel would be very time consuming. And because of my lighting niche, I'd want to make sure lighting is consistent with both the real base footage and the virtual sets.

With those obstacles in mind, I then thought about Talk Shows. When l was researching about Bob Barker I came across this video, where the Late Night Host, Stephen Colbert gives his opinion on what makes a solid host to a show which got me thinking about the role of the host in a Talk Show. Most shows follow the format of opening monologue, featured guests, and then a live performance, so there's plenty of time for the Host to express their personality. The longer exchanges that come with interviews would also give a reason for the Host to speak allowing Eric to have "conversations" with him. Unlike Game Shows, Talk Shows tend to include other high status celebrities rather than regular people, meaning that people's admiration for Talk Show Hosts mostly come from the live studio audience. 

Also practically speaking Talk Shows would be easier than Game Shows to set up, with only an area for a monologue and a space to conduct the interviews. Not the mention I wouldn't need an array of actors. Still though, I have no really budget or a studio space I can turn into a Talk Show, so I have to come up with ways to make the show more professional than what it seems. In terms of the interview set, I'd probably stray away from including wide shots and stick shot/reverse-shots. And for monologues, I really don't have to go all out for it, I mostly would just have to focus on creating two sets that have similar aesthetics or colors to create a sense of unity among the sets.

So with all this information said, I think given the needs of the story and my practical limitations, I will be sticking with a host from a Talk Show. Later this week will begin to flesh out scenarios on the Talk Show as well as rewatch The King of Comedy for addition research. Until then, bye bye! 

Loose Narrative Structure

 I'm just going to start by saying that this by no means is finalized, but very much so an loose initial outline of events. Official decisions and specific interactions are yet to be made, but I though it'd be helpful to bring together the ideas I've had that have been scattered around in my sketchbook, notes app, and my head.

I'd like to open with the main character, who I'm thinking of naming Eric, watching a TV show in a dark room. Nothing out of the ordinary happens, the viewer is just shown Eric immersed with the show, more specifically the host. The Host would either be giving a monologue or interacting with a stage hand or guest to show off his likeable charisma.

It would then hard cut to Eric in the real world outside of his safe space. He is forced to interact with someone and has a moment of hesitation before going on to quote the lines he had heard the Host say the night before. The other person continues the conversation as Eric continues to speak and act like the Host. The other person then has to leave to go on with their day leaving Eric alone is happy with the interaction, as he succeeded in getting others to respond similarly to how they do with the Host.

When he's back home and sits down with the TV on playing the show. The Host begins by asking a guest how their day was, but when it's their turn to speak Eric answers the Host; he tell the Host about his successful interaction earlier in the day. Eric's obsession with the Host and his show is further explored in this scene, as Eric truly believes he's having a meaningful conversation with the Host, who's responses with the guest on the show encourage Eric. 

The Host would eventually cut the conversation short as he lead into the commercial break. The first commercial is of a remote control that sold as giving the user "the power of the world, in the palm of their hands". Eric still holds the same attentiveness in watching the advertisement as when he watched the Host. As the jingle for the product is being played the power cuts and thunder is heard. Eric is alone in the darkness, no longer engaged by the flashing lights on the screen; he's left without a way to behave and is shown motionless.

Another hard cut to Eric at a store buying the aforementioned remote control. As he either in the store or outside of it, he gets into accidently gets himself into altercation with a stranger. Eric refers back to the Host for a method of dealing with the situation, but the stranger has no patience and makes a fool of Eric (possibly by beating him up).

Eric drags himself home after the interaction and tries to vent to the Host, about his unsuccessful outing. The interaction would begin similar to the previous night with the Host talking to a guest, but Eric believing he's the one being talked with. Eric expresses his dissatisfaction with how people perceive him, and wants to know the Host's secret to positive attention. It's around this point, the Host would eventually turn towards Eric and for the first time talk with him directly.

The Host shoots down Eric's request, saying he don't want some co-dependent freak tarnishing his name with mimicry. The confrontation leads to Eric changing the channel, where the Host appears again. Eric turns off the TV, voluntarily isolating himself. Moments later the Host appears in the room approaching Eric, saying that he knows Eric envies him and that he wants to use him as a vessel to escape the confines of the show he's forced to live through. A terrified Eric, refuses to, but the Host grabs the remote control and turns back on the TV. The lights flash on, the theme song kicks in, and the Host is gone; all that's left would be Eric with an unnatural grin. He finally gets what he's always wanted; he now houses the personality of the Host, but at the cost of losing any previous sense of personality.

Like I said at the beginning it's stilly pretty rough. I'm likely going to share this posting with some other people and talk with them about the story and see what they think. And then I'd try to gauge the runtime by writing a rough draft of a script.

The Priceless Bob Barker

So in my ideas for this story, the main character would be a consistent viewer of some kind of show. By focusing on one show, I believe I'd be able to develop the constant presence in the character's life. I feel it'd also prevent repetitiveness in the story, if I had to introduce a new show or piece of media several times throughout the film. That's also the same reason I decided to go with TV shows as opposed to movies, so that I can keep the media consumed simple and have an excuse for multiple viewings from the main character. For the I wanted the show to be some kind of overstimulating show that would imply the main character's obsession with the show, so I thought about Talk Shows and Game Shows.  

I mentioned these ideas to my instructor, and she recommended I watch some early reruns of the Price is Right not only to get a feel for an engaging show, but also to reference the host, Bob Barker. She described him as a very energic and confident personality, that had a bit of creepiness. 

Within the first few minutes of the first episode I watched, I was surprised to hear one of the contestants says, "Bob, everybody always kisses you, but I want to give you a big hug for a change." Almost instantly I got a sense that Barker was an icon of the time and favored by many. His confident yet humble attitude also evoked an appealing attitude; he knew he didn't have to prove that he was the biggest man in the room. His formal attire, the kind inflection he spoke with, and body language all contributed to this likeable personality.

Now in the film the main character would essentially be mimicking the personality of the TV Personality, so modeling a character with similar confident and likeable attributes would definitely be appealing to someone with none of that. While I'm still on the fence about whether the host would be for a Game Show or Talk Show, I do know how I want to present this character and their personality.

Some other episodes of The Price is Right I watched include the following:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5o48YOPVHM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5L_mqwpZUc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bswz5spVO-8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DypqO9TO97U

(this last one is just a clip I find cool)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SEL27xiJGQ

Some Genre Research

While thinking up a loose idea of the story, I'm also trying to land on a genre. The film is going to primarily follow an individual with no inherent personality that relies on the media they consume to convey any semblance of one. The concept can be understood through Erik Erikson's stage of Identity vs. Confusion.

In looking up characteristics of Psychological Thrillers, I found What Is A Psychological Thriller? In talking about characters, they are often used to explore the darkest corners of the human mind. Often characters are shown to be obsessed with attaining a goal or with some kind of internal struggle. Some stories are lead by unreliable narrators that provide a source for the manipulation that may be evident in the narrative. All these factors lead to the viewer developing a sense of tension from the uncertainty of plot elements and how a story will unfold

The Black Hole - Directed by Phil Sampson and Olly Williams

This film follows an office worker who stumbles upon a piece of paper that allows objects to pass through other objects. While initially weirded out, the office worker begins to push the limits of the paper black hole by sticking it against a wending machine and grabbing a bag of chips. This act of curiosity than spirals into a descent into greed as the office worker sticks the paper up against a safe and begins to take money out as he becomes more animalistic in behavior. His greed reaches a breaking point when he reaching into the safe with his entire body before the paper unsticks leaving him trapped in the safe.

Practically speaking, its a fairly shut off narrative with one character and single macguffin. The film explores the fine line between curiosity and greed through the actions of the office worker; we see him become obsessed with the possibilities the paper holds. The character isn't presented as an unreliable narrator, but tension is still built up in the film as his greed is displayed more and more.

Da Capo al Fine - Directed by Isaac Lim

Similar to Black Hole, this film revolves around a character isolated from the rest of the world in order to satisfy an obsession of theirs. In this case, the character is a drummer who tries again and again to perfect a song. Around the midpoint of the film the drummer walks out, only to walk into an infinite loop as sound of drums swells. At the end the drummer is back with the drum set momentarily before stumbling to the ground in a coughing fit, eventually seeming to die.

This film breathes obsession with how it depicts taking over the life of an individual. The non-linear narrative presented to the viewer leads them to question the validity of the drummer as the main point of view for the film. These elements along with the sound design and editing come together to build up tension for the viewer.

These were two of the more interesting psychological thrillers I found and wanted to share. I knew I wanted to show the mind and desires of my main character, but after having done this research, I know I need to build tension on top of that. These examples also were practically simple with few locations and actors, so I can rest assured that I don't need big and elaborate set pieces to create an engaging story. Also doing this research early on in the process is really helpful for building up a story; last year for my film opening, I foolishly put off my genre research up until right before filming which lead to some last minute changes and decisions that were not fully thought out.

Fresh off the Back Burner

     Since I've been looking forward to this project for a while now I've tossed around a few ideas over the span of a year. Back in June I got some inspiration after scrolling through Pinterest; I saw a graphic design piece of a glitching tv emitting light on the floor that read 'YOU ARE WHAT YOU WATCH'. It was a simple saying, but it definitely got me thinking.

Notes from June

    I initially jotted down some ideas about characters, loose plot, and some visuals, but then I kind of just put the idea on the back burning for about 6 months. I was only reminded of the idea during my AP Psychology class when we were learning about Erik Erikson's stages, specifically Identity vs. Role Confusion. This stage is basically a point in life around 16-24 years of age where an individual is expected to have formed some set of beliefs and personality that would allow them to live out the rest of their lives without confusion of who they are. The concept reminded me of the character of this story who has no personality of their own and only survives mimicking the ideas and personalities of others in the media they consume.

Notes from June

    After the recent spark I looked back on my notes and sketches with more critical eyes. The original idea for the story involved the main character at a party who 'saves' what he believed was a damsel-in-distress, but the main character would take it 'saving' too far and come close to beating someone to a pulp. Looking back I wasn't the biggest fan of how the girl was represented, and thought the interactions with the main character would've been cheesy or plan unoriginal. Not to mention the practicalities of making a believable party setting with limited people and budget. I decided to scrap that part of the story all together.

Notes and idea
from my notes app

    I decided to stick with the 'shell-of-a-human' character who has to constantly consume media in order to fit a role in a society since I thought it was an interesting idea that could go many ways. I began to think about taking a more consumerist approach in which the character surrounds themselves to TV advertisements which then lead to me now thinking about a TV Game Show that's meant to be overstimulating and engaging with consumers. It would focus on a dynamic between the individual and the TV personality. This is currently the point in which I am at; I feel if I were to continue with this idea I'd play into some characteristics of the psychological subgenre, but I'd need to do some more research to see which genre is best for the idea and the visuals I have in mind. I'll work on both developing a loose narrative structure and genre research before I confirm anything.

January Notes

Calendars!

    So before I get too distracted by my ideas and forget important details, let's talk logistics. This project is Due April, 13th, so as of the time of writing it's about 9 weeks away. I feel to get an idea of when I could work on this project, I have to figure out when I can not (or at least when there's less chance of progress)

    Being the outgoing student that I am, I'm in the crew of students representing Cypress Bay Television at the 2023 Student Television Network National Convention in Long Beach, California. Now, I competed last year during the first week of the Media Studies AS Portfolio project and I got absolutely no work done. When I got back I had to sit down with my instructor and she basically told me I had to pick up the slack because I was really behind, I made not blog posts in that time and didn't even have an ide of where I wanted to take the project. And whether you believe me or not, I really did try to work on the project whenever I had a moment to myself, but we were kept very busy while on the trip and I also desperately needed to sleep whenever given the chance to.

    This year, STN's National Convention got pushed back to mid-March (the 15th-19th), so I want to make a plan that would involve working around that trip. Though STN, isn't the only thing that may get in the way.  I recently just won Gold at SkillsUSA Regionals (a competition where I make a short film in about 2 days based on a given prompt), SkillsUSA States would take place April 10th-13th. While States last year wasn't as busy as STN, I wouldn't want to rely on the spare time during that trip to finish my work for this Portfolio project.

    Basically what I'm trying to say by all of this, is that in this plan of mine, I will plan my project schedule around those days since I'm uncertain of the amount of work I will complete on those days. Below is a rough outline for a Full Project Schedule (including video, print, and social media component)

Week One: 2/7/23-2/13/23
-choose project genre
-develop project schedule
-begin developing full film plot
-research genre and story ideas
-post 4 blogs

Week Two: 2/14/23-2/19/23
-continue research on project components
-continue to develop story
-begin search for music
-post 4 blogs

Week Three: 2/20/23-2/26/23
-continue to research/plan project components (digital/print)
-develop script
-create shot list/storyboard
-create social media tool
-post 4 blogs

Week Four: 2/27/23-3/5/23
-continue to research/plan project components
-finalize script
-finalize shot list
-develop key art ideas
-make list for equipment
-post to social media
-post 4 blogs

Week Five: 3/6/23-3/12/23
-continue to research/plan project components
-finalize storyboards
-continue to develop key art
-begin production of video component
-document production process (for social media and blog)
-begin planning print component
-post to social media
-post 4 blogs

Week Six: 3/13/23-3/19/23
-begin post-production (review/organize footage)
-finalize print component
-post to social media
-post 4 blogs

Week Seven: 3/20/23-3/26/23
-research information relating to Critical Reflection
-finalize video component
- work on print/digital components
-post to social media
-post 3 blogs

Week Eight: 3/27/23-4/2/23
-research information relating to Critical Reflection
-finalize video component
- work on print/digital components
-post to social media
-post 3 blogs

Week Nine: 4/3/23-4/9/23
-create Critical Reflection
-finalize print component
-post to social media
-post 3 blogs

Week Ten: 4/10/23-4/13/23
-create final, overall project reflection
-post all project components to blog
-Post Critical Reflection to blog

Now since the Short Film is a large component of the Portfolio, below is a more specific outline with deadlines:

START: 2/9/23

SCRIPT FINALIZED: 2/28/23

STORYBOARDS/SHOT LIST FINISHED BY: 3/8/23

BEGIN PRODUCTION: 3/11/23

(STN 3/15/23-3/19/23)

BACKUP FILMING DATES/RESHOOTS: 3/21/23-3/26/23 (Spring Break)

RADIO EDIT/ROUGH DRAFT BY: 3/31/23

FINAL DRAFT BY: 4/7/23

OFFICIAL DUE DATE: 4/13/23

    Generally speaking, I want to prioritize my planning to make sure I have a fully developed story that will serve as the foundation for the rest of this project, so I don't mind allotting more time for that than other areas like post-production. Of course nothing is Final, but I will do my best to stick with this schedule, not only for the project itself, but also for my own sanity.

It's Time

     No beating around the bush (except for this sentence). It's Portfolio Project Time! In all honesty I've been looking forward to this project for about a year and half now. The simple idea of being tasked with creating something like a short film over the span of 10 weeks, while also learning about interesting topics on the side was so captivating for me. Also in that time I've been preparing for this project. Last year I made EXTENSION for the Film Opening for Media Studies AS, a couple months ago I wrapped on a 7 minute documentary, and I've of course been learning about the media as well as some interesting media theories.

This post is only meant to mark an official start to this 10 week project, so I won't give too much away, but what I will say is that I'm very excited about the ideas I have