Blog Post #15 Film Opening Concept

    I created a rough guideline that would help me consolidate and fill in gaps for my pre-production planning including the purpose of my opening, what I plan to include, the conventions of my genre, etc. This will help me later as I create my storyboard and screenplay since I believe I worked out most of the kinks in planning and figured out things that I need to include that I hadn't thought of before. 

Short Written Plan  

• Genre: Science Fiction with secondary thriller and drama elements (animated)  

• Target Audience: Younger audiences (16-30) that enjoy retro dystopian mixed genre sci-fi films 

• Core idea: People motivated to resolve undiscussed issues in their relationship after a space-related natural disaster threatens to destroy the planet in less than 3 days. People are isolated in their homes leaving no choice but to hash things out.  

• Tone: suspenseful, dramatic  

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Define the Opening’s Purpose  

The opening will hint at the main conflict and character dynamic but clearly demonstrate the mood. The opening will mainly feature an emergency news broadcast that will warn people about what is happening, but it will be vague. It will be suggested that something extremely bad is going to happen, but important details will be cut out with ominous glitches. The characters will not be fully introduced, but their shadows will be visible and demonstrate a general dynamic and show that there is conflict that will remain between them for much of the film. The opening raise questions of what exactly the broadcast is talking about and what the conflict is between the characters. The opening will hook the viewer by being eerie and suspenseful with the glitchy and distorted broadcast.  

Create your Characters 

C1 

Larry Chelten, 42 y/o, Newscaster, defining trait – panicky, characterized by newscaster costuming (official suit but messy – tie untied, etc) setting: broadcast.  

C2  

Madyson, 24 y/o, creates main conflict – defining trait stubborn, characterized by the taller, overbearing shadow.  

C3 

Libby 22 y/o, defining trait: dependent, unconfident. Characterized by her smaller, weak looking, shadow.  

Choose the Setting & Mise-en-Scene  

There will be one main setting which is the inside of a house, specifically in a living room Infront of a TV. The location on the TV, which will be a news station, will be the secondary location. The time of day will be around dusk since the red/yellowish coloring will add more to the uneasy feeling that will be conveyed. The only prop I need is an old-looking TV which I'll be borrowing from Cristian in exchange for my incredible acting skills in his opening. The prop will help display the genre because there will be a strange mix of futuristic and retro technology shown in the opening that will help show that it is science fiction based.  

Outline the 2 Minute Structure  

0:00-0:25 calm before the storm  

0:25-1:25 broadcast (inciting incident)  

1:25- 1:45 glitchy flash forwards  

1:45-2:00 cliffhanger argument