For the music i want something that can reinforce the feeling of sadness and monotony but it to feel very subtle. I had in mind something similar to Joy Division but more specifically 2 of their songs "Atmosphere" and "Insight". I chose to find all my music on this database that i have access to called "Bulletproof Bear" and here are some songs that i have found and will likely end up using.
https://catalog.bulletproofbear.com/track/44716472
https://catalog.bulletproofbear.com/track/52803985
Today i made the broken picture frame which is the key prop to the piece. I got the picture frame i kept hitting it with a hammer and it just wouldn't break. It took like 2 minutes of just hitting for it to break here is a photo of a before and after of the picture frame and the video of me breaking it.
here is the video of me well.... attempting to break it. Just a heads up i was hitting it so hard the tripod kept falling, so yeah...
Today i have started recording my voiceover. I recorded it on my phone on the app voice memos and when i was recording i changed the script slightly because some of it didn't come across the way i intended and didn't give the necessary affect. The voiceover is basically the same just very slightly changed but the idea and message is the same.
Here is a excerpt of one of the takes
The sound design for "Manslaughter" i will have it be very purposefully boring for most of it to reflect John's mental space and how he is numb and a shell of himself. To sharply oppose this in the scenes where he is reflecting on his time at war the sound design will shift into a very loud and chaotic mess which will reflect the sharp contrast between his time as a soldier and his current life and how it is all still fresh and vivid in his mind and he can't forget what he has seen. The sound design for his time at war needs to be perfect because i want to create something scary and horrific and play with the mind because what you don't see is scarier than what you do which is why we'll only hear his trauma and not actually see it. Here is a great youtube video that explains why something is scarier and more intense when you don't actually see it, i found it very helpful and it's what ended up making me decide to only have us hear the horror of war and not actually see it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nGk8VCVCWw
For John's costume i want to use very drab colors to reflect how sad of a life he lives. John will only have 2 outfits, when he wakes up he will be wearing a blood stained tank top and underwear to reflect that he is forever haunted by his time as a soldier and how it has left a permanent stain on him. The other costume is his work uniform which will consist of a green polo and black pants (similar to a publix uniform).
The most important prop in the whole film opening is the broken picture frame with the photo of John and his best friend. It is so important that the piece starts and ends with a close up of it. It is very important as it is a visual metaphor for Joh n as the army has left him broken like the frame but underneath there is still something there. I have set aside an old wooden picture frame that i don't use and when i saw it i knew it was perfect.
(This is the picture frame)
I have not taken the photo of John and his friend yet because i have not casted him yet but i am narrowing down my options.
My protagonist John Morgan is a 19 year old war veteran and everything about his character will revolve around that. For example every scene where he is walking he will have a limp on his left leg from battle. Also since he was in the army all his clothes and everything in his house will be perfectly straightened and neat. To subconsciously reflect John's sad and monotonous life his house will consist of mostly beige and gray colors so that it reflects his life and mental state as the war screwed him up so bad that he has pretty much given up and lives his life on autopilot.
Despite his time in the military his house will have no military decorations or anything military related as it reminds him of his trauma all except one broken picture frame that is on his bedstand next to his bed and the framed picture shows him and a friend in their military uniforms smiling and the piece will start and end with a shot of the picture frame as it acts as a metaphor for John's life.
I have finally decided on an idea for my project it will be a drama about a soldier who comes back from war and how his time in the military affected himself. The piece will start with a man who has a limp walking to his kitchen and eating breakfast and while eating breakfast he gets triggers that reminds him of his time as a soldier and instead of seeing anything we just hear it which would make it more powerful because it is left up to the viewer's interpretation like the shark for most of Jaws. As he gets up from the table we will see a title card "Manslaughter" i chose it because the crime of manslaughter is when you indirectly kill someone and that's what the army did to the main character John because he died inside because of it and him coming to terms with that is what the whole film is about. After breakfast we will match cut to him at work as a cashier and we will keep match cutting to him as he goes through the rest of his day and seeing how disturbed he is ultimately until he goes to bed ending the scene. Throughout the whole scene we will hear John giving a monologue through voiceover about his time in the military and this will be the only dialogue in the whole piece.
Identity Theory
Identity Theory is a media theory by David Gauntlett that basically states that we make sense of our identity through our afflation with larger groups. I will incorporate this theory in my video because my main character of John was in the military and his whole life is shaped and affected by his time in the army and how his afflation with that larger group has ruined his life. Here is a video that i found helpful to further my understanding Identity Theory as it is explained by Gauntlett himself https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJ3VbrEo_z4.
On Tuesday i had a group meeting where me and 4 other classmates talked about our ideas for the film opening. The classmates that were in my group were Sergio, Oona, and Keyla.
Oona's film opening was really good and one of the more memorable ones in my group. Her opening is about this gymnast and she will film it at an actual training place where actual gymnasts train and i think that alone will make it stand out. Her story isn't really certain and we gave her feedback to improve and i think it has the potential to be really good and stand out. Keyla's film opening idea was good but i am not sure how she is going to pull it off because of the setting. Her genre is period drama and she said that her piece will take place around the 1800s and i really liked her idea of having an unreliable narrator but i do think she will struggle to convincingly capture the time period. I really liked Sergio's idea and i think it might be my favorite because it's an underdog story about a guy who wants to get really strong for a weightlifting or body building competition (he wasn't sure yet) and is also really smart and a medical student. I personally really liked it because even though he didn't pitch it as a comedy i can envision it clearly in my head as a comedy and i just overall think that his idea has the most potential out of all my group's ideas.
For my piece i will need to research the affects of war on a person and what it's like for the soldiers coming home and this is where i will be posting my research. The main two things i researched were PTSD or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Triggers.
REASEARCH
In my research i have found that PTSD affects most soldiers who go to war and come back home. When most veterans come home from war they struggle with triggers, flashbacks and nightmares that make it hard to return into civilian life and to relate to other people that have not gone to war and can't possibly begin to understand and relate to what they've gone through. Veterans can often get triggers when coming home like specific words reminding them of painful memories or loud noises that could cause panic attacks and all of these things and more make it very hard for veterans to be able to return to a normal life after coming back from war. Their relationships with other people also suffer as previously mentioned with veterans often coming home broken and a shell of their former selves as they can become withdrawn, irritable and or emotionally distant and unavailable. Triggers like sounds, smells even words are very powerful and can often transport veterans back to a specific traumatic moment or memory. Everyday things like a door slamming, or a car revving can evoke strong emotions and bring back painful memories which can cause symptoms of PTSD like panic attacks, anxiety or disassociation. Without proper care these things can lead to depression and on extreme cases suicide which is very tragic that someone can give so much and end up ending their own lives.
For my film opening i changed my idea to instead of doing the one take i will do a piece about a soldier who is home after coming home from the military and we see how it ruined his life and left him with all sorts of mental issues and PTSD. I have created a schedule for myself so that i stay on track and have it done on time. For the rest of this week i will be researching the affects of war on soldiers and how it affects soldiers coming home. For the next two weeks i plan to get the logistics of filming in order, find actors, get props, set filming days that stuff. After that i will set 3 days to film as my idea does not require various locations and is very simple. On week 5 i will take my time to edit because i need to get everything correct because the last thing i want is to misrepresent the affects of war on a soldier because that would be incredibly disrespectful.
FILMING LOCATIONS
When i film my film opening i plan to use my kitchen because most of my piece takes place during breakfast.
For the second scene after the breakfast scene i have not decided what i want to do yet so i have not chosen a location
Today, i researched 3 film opening credits to get inspiration for my own film opening. The opening credits i chose all have something special which i wish to understand so that i am able to utilize it in my opening. I decided on Forrest Gump because it works as a thesis statement for the whole film, i chose Stop Making Sense because of how cool of an opening shot it is and lastly i chose A Hard Day's Night because it sets up what the whole movie will be like in a single sequence.
FORREST GUMP
I chose this opening because it works as a thesis statement for the whole film and i want my film opening to also be a thesis statement for my "whole film". First the whole opening credits is just a feather blowing in the wind and landing on Forrest and you might be wondering how can something so simple be the thesis statement for the whole film, especially such a complex film like Forrest Gump and let me tell you. The meaning of the opening credits and what the director Robert Zemeckis is saying with the scene is simple, the feather blowing in the wind is a metaphor for Forrest's life and that life has just pushed him around like a feather in the wind and life has put him all over history and put him in all these unusual situations and historical events like meeting Elvis and teaching him to dance or being the one to report on Watergate and causing Nixon's resignation. The point ultimately is that life has directed him everywhere not his own choices and that's what the whole film is about and that short 2 minute opening encapsulates what the whole film is truly about.
STOP MAKING SENSE
A HARD DAY'S NIGHT
The opening credits of "A Hard Day’s Night" are pure chaos perfectly capturing the frenzy and chaos of Beatlemania in 1964 and setting the tone for the film’s chaotic feeling and energy. Not even a second into the film's opening credits right you feel the chaos and spontaneity that is ultimately the personality of "A Hard Day's Night". Like a bullet the opening chord of the title song crashes in and we see The Beatles running away from a mob of screaming girls and it immediately establishes what the film will be and this sequence is "A Hard Day's Night" and ultimately the reason why i chose it is because it captures the tone and vibe of the whole movie right from the get go and i want to do the same in my opening scene. In the first shot, George Harrison falls really hard and it looks like he might have gotten seriously hurt, here is the whole scene and the time stamp for George falling is from 0:05-0:08 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-L-LmuKa_o. The fast cuts, handheld camerawork, and breathless pace throw the audience straight into the hysteria and makes us feel just like The Beatles who are in the eye of the storm, these techniques help accurately capture chaos of early Beatlemania that was happening when the movie was filmed and takes place. The opening credits sequence continues with several shots of the chaos and also mirrors the rest of the film because like in the opening The Beatles will spend the rest of the film running away from the chaos and pandemonium that was Beatlemania in 1964 and the hordes of screaming fans. which is what i want to ultimately take away from this scene not the chaos of Beatlemania but that one sequence can capture the tone and personality of an entire film and i will try and apply that to my movie opening.
For my final project to create a film opening i researched 3 other film openings in my chosen genre, Drama. The movies i have chosen all have something special to them which i want to understand so that i am able to utilize it in my project. I chose Inglourious Basterds because of how well thought out every single thing and words the characters say, i chose Apocalypse Now because it feels like a surreal nightmare and that is what i want to recreate and i chose La La Land because it is shot in one take and i want most of my opening to be shot in one long take.
INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS
Inglourious Basterds, perhaps the greatest film opening of all time. What i hope to get from this opening is how well thought everything is and how everything introduced has a purpose. Since i am doing a period piece i want to learn from Tarantino and how to make everything feel important and everything set up by the beginning to pay off by the end of the scene. For example the scene starts and ends with people going in the same direction, it starts by the Nazis riding their bikes to the cabin and ends with Shoshanna escaping and running towards the same direction that the Nazis came from. That is one of many examples of how well thought out the whole sequence is.
Beginning
Ending
APOCALYPSE NOW
Apocalypse Now, where to even begin. The opening for this film is one of the most haunting experiences in film because it transports you into the mind of someone who has been destroyed by war and the opening feels like a surreal nightmare from hell. It opens with a shot of the dense Vietnamese jungle and the music is calm and you feel relaxed until suddenly the whole thing gets bombed and set on fire by Americans.
BEFORE 
AFTER
This immediately throws you off guard and the camera starts to slowly move to the right showing the destruction of the war. Soon Willard's face fades in and we see amidst all the disturbing destruction a haunting face staring right at us and it provides a haunting scene.
The face shows how all of this is in the mind of the film's protagonist Willard and how the Vietnam War has destroyed his head and this feels very surreal almost like a nightmare. During the whole scene "The End" by The Doors plays and it's dark lyrics like "This Is The End, Beautiful Friend" reinforce the surreal feeling of the sequence. As the scene goes on we see different shots of Willard superimposed on the destruction and this one frame where we see Willard laying down and a fire where his head is and a helicopter on half the frame says everything the scene is trying to say by saying that the Vietnam War has set his brain on fire.
Coppola makes this scene feel surreal and like a nightmare by his use of music "The End", The superimposed images of Willard and the disturbing images of destruction of the Vietnam War. To replicate this i will try and get the rights to either the song "Fortunate Son" by Creedence Clearwater Revival or "American Pie" by Don Mclean to add a surreal element to my scene. I will also incorporate the idea of having a very strange element to make my film opening also feel like a nightmare. I want the audience watching my film opening to feel the same thing that you feel when you watch the opening for Apocalypse Now, disturbed.
LA LA LAND
La La Land's memorable opening sequence is filmed entirely in a single long unbroken take and that is what sets the opening apart and what makes it so memorable. The opening starts with tracking shot to the right and we see various people in their cars until a woman gets out and starts singing. As the scene continues it does not cut and we get an elaborate scene featuring multiple extras working together to combine into something impressive.
For my film opening i am considering doing two genres, Horror and or Avant Garde. I will be posting my research on those two genres in this blog.
HORROR
History
The horror genre has come a long way from it's early days with silent films like "Nosferatu" to slashers in the 80s like "Friday The 13th". In the early days of film when movies were still silent horror was one of the first popular genres with films like "Nosferatu" and "The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligeri" paving the way for future horror films to come by laying the basic groundwork of the genre.
("Nosferatu" from 1922)
In the 1930s Universal entered the picture with their classic "Universal Monsters" which is what i bet what most people think of when they think of movie monsters and old horror. Their monsters like Count Dracula, The Mummy, The Invisible Man, The Wolf Man and Frankenstein's Monster were all hugely successful and made horror mainstream. Universal with their monsters created the first interconnected universe of films with their monsters frequently appearing in crossover movies with each other.
AVANT GARDE
What is Avant Garde film? Avant Garde film is basically any film that prioritizes art over a story. Think Andy Warhol.
History
Throughout the history of film there has always been Avant Garde films and they have not really evolved because Avant Garde films have no rules because that is the point of the genre. The only rule is no rules.
("Empire" by Andy Warhol an 8 hour static shot of the empire state building)
CONVENTIONS
Starting from this point all of my following blog posts will be about my Cambridge Final, making a Film Opening. I am considering making an Avant Garde piece as my screenplays have started leaning more and more towards it as i have pretty much mastered linear storytelling and am wanting to do something new inspired my European Avant Garde films and that's all I've been able to think about in terms of cinematic ideas. I will probably not end up going full Avant Garde but instead only having elements of it in my piece.
IDEA
I have an idea for my film opening for a two minute one take that would be a metaphor and critique of the draft especially during the Vietnam war where young poor people were getting mostly targeted by the draft and were being sent to die in war and how it was normalized. As much as i like the idea and have it all in my head i am not committed to the idea yet. The piece would take inspiration from Gus Van Sant's "Death Trilogy" but more specifically the underrated third film of the trilogy "Last Days" about the last days Kurt Cobain. The idea for the piece would be very simple, an unbroken two minute tracking shot from behind a man in a general or soldier's uniform carrying an axe as he walks from house to house killing young people and the working class on the street brutally but ignoring "Rich" people and students all culminating in the last victim who is cornered and as he is about to die he wakes up in a sweat and on his nightstand there is a letter saying that he got drafted ending the opening.
