March has just begun, which marks another month closer to the end of my AICE Media Studies course. January and February were the months of pre-production for my partner and I, as we took major advances towards the opening scene of our film, Balancing Act. Throughout the last two months, we wrote the final script for the opening, arranged budgeting and location details, and compiled everything into one pitch that we will soon present. With the filming process starting soon, it is time to reflect on the processes that built up to that phase.
January had us each craft our own mood boards for the film, leaning into the high school, dramatic, and comedic elements of the film that would be used as a basis for our film and our opening scene going forward. We also wrote up a plot synopsis for our film, detailing how Clark Sharp will face the pressures of high school as he tries to keep his youth intact. We rounded out the month with a projected budget to bring the opening scene to life, as well as the final drafts for the script and storyboard for the opening scene. February saw us complete a location recce for our film's opening, a character list and a prop list, a production calendar, a call sheet for filming, and a PowerPoint pitch presentation that is designed to showcases to bigger companies the value of our production company, Mirrored Reality Productions, and Balancing Act.
The pre-production phase will be instrumental for the filming phase of our film opening. While we were completing these individual milestones, we incorporated techniques that we learned throughout the course of the class to better craft an immersive and smart film opening. When crafting the bulk of the character list, the prop list, and the script, we utilized are new understanding of Mise-en-scene to add subtle details to the scenes and shots we were creating. Before this class, we would have went for the most simple approach, having shots that only focused on the core characters present, not even thinking about the finer details. However, in our film opening, we have taken into account lighting, coloring, costumes, and shot emphasis to make our story feel intelligent. There is a shot where lighting only shines on a textbook, implying that Clark's attention is only on his school work, which showcases our understanding and utilization of Mise-en-scene. We now will place more of an emphasis on semiotics, including denotation and connotation, instead of obvious dialogue to convey the story. This reflects our script, as only the 11th and 12th shots in the film's opening having spoken dialogue, with the majority of the scene being wordless storying, told through the use of signs.
This planning process has been a huge success for us, and we look forward to translate our works and these concepts into a immersive film opening.
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