Portfolio Project 2021: Trailer 1 Storyboard

I reviewed the trailer ideas and shots that I had posted about in another blog and I've made some additions. 

I've finally come up with the names for the characters. The older sister's name is Azlynn Vanderbilt and the younger sister's name is Aurora Vanderbilt. This trailer is going to be from the younger sister's perspective, Aurora. She's going to be giving background information on her older sister, Azlynn. The purpose of this trailer is to inform the audience of who Azlynn is and the criminal activity that she's involved in. 

I'm not a fan of drawing storyboards. I'm a visual learner but drawing doesn't really help me, descriptive words do. Instead of using a traditional storyboard, I used words to describe exactly what shots I want to be paired with the words of the voiceover. I used the same method for last year's project. I color-coded the words from the script with its shot descriptions. This method is a lot more effective for me because I can visually see and read exactly what actions I imagined happening during the trailer are. This method also helps me during the production and filming aspect because I have laid out every shot that needs to be filmed.

Here is the official storyboard for the first trailer of my film:

TRAILER 1: Voiceover Script

SCRIPT

Meet Azlynn. She was varsity cheer captain, prom and homecoming queen,

valedictorian of her high school graduating class, and she’s my sister.

SHOTS

Mid shot of me flipping my hair over my shoulder and smiling

Senior pictures in a collage of me with pom poms

Split-screen left side prom right side homecoming of her smiling and waving on a

car if possible

Senior pictures of me in cap and gown (collage)

Picture/ video of me and Aneesa smiling, laughing, hugging each other, etc.

SCRIPT

Azlynn’s been my legal guardian since I was 16. Our parents died in a car accident

right after she graduated high school and that’s when she started taking her talent of swindling men a lot more seriously.

SHOTS

Closeup of me putting on lipstick in the mirror.

Mid shot of me sitting at Aneesa’s desk and looking at a picture of our parents.

Slow tilt upwards of a closeup on my face making a smug facial expression

SCRIPT

But she didn’t start scheming men out of their monetary possessions after the death of

our parents, It started off in elementary school. Taking little boy’s toys, taking

their lunches, then taking their lunch money. Then as she got older, it escalated to expensive pieces of jewelry, cars, money, and businesses. She has more bank accounts

than I can keep up with.

SHOTS

Tracking shot of me walking down the street, camera’s focus is on my feet walking.

Following is an upward tilt that showcases my outfit and my face (midshot)

High angle of jewelry on a table, then cut to a closeup of me wearing a necklace.

Another high angle of car keys followed by a video of me standing next to cars

dangling the keys (sound of car honking). High angle of a stack of money thrown

onto the table (sound of cash register), and another high angle of a stack of papers

being thrown onto the table then a midshot of me standing in front of a building.

Closeup of me reading a book

SCRIPT

She’s traveled the world, stayed at luxurious resorts, shopped at stores I've never even

heard of, and she's brought me along with her of course. She’s been proposed to

11 times by 8 different men. She’s kept every single ring too, I guess as keepsakes.

SHOTS

Pictures from vacations (Cozumel, Mexico, Puerta Maya, etc.)

Video footage from Hard Rock Guitar Hotel

Picture from SHEIN pop up shop

Pictures of me and Aneesa together on vacation, at restaurants, at SHEIN pop up shop

Pan showing all 11 rings. Closeup of ring finger wearing the ring.  Midshot of me

looking at the box the ring is in and closing it.

SCRIPT

She’s gone by a million different names: Lily, Sapphire, Jasmine, Angelina, Victoria, Coco, and a few others.

SHOTS

*TRANSITION*

Closeup of me sitting down sipping a cup of tea wearing a hat and glasses

Long shot of me getting out of a car

Midshot of me toasting a glass to someone off-camera

Low angle of me putting on a pair of sunglasses

(other option: closeup of me reading a book)

Tilt-up of me greeting a person (the camera) I’ll say “Hello, my name is Victoria”

in a British accent. Tilt is made all the way up to the sky.

Tilt down of me greeting another person (the camera) “Hi! I’m Coco”

said by me in an English accent.

SCRIPT

She studies her targets for months until she knows everything there is to know

about them and then, she goes in for the kill.

SHOTS

OSS of me in the car looking out of the window.  Low angle of me ruffling through papers.

Midshot of me taping a piece of paper on the wall. Closeup of me crossing of a name and

circling a time and place on a whiteboard.

Closeup of a smirk on my face.

SCRIPT

She’s the best at what she does and I want to help her out as much as I can. She’s gonna teach me the art of manipulation.

SHOTS

Long shot of me walking towards the camera in slow motion

The title of the film is shown followed by the release date of the film

Portfolio Project 2021: Trailer #1 Voiceover Script

 Here is the finalized voiceover script for the first trailer for my film!

TRAILER 1: Voiceover Script

Meet Azlynn. She was varsity cheer captain, prom and homecoming queen, valedictorian of her high school graduating class, and she’s my sister.

Azlynn’s been my legal guardian since I was 16. Our parents died in a car accident right after she graduated high school and that’s when she started taking her talent of swindling men a lot more seriously.

But she didn’t start scheming men out of their monetary possessions after the death of

our parents it started off in elementary school. Taking little boy's toys, taking their

lunches, then taking their lunch money. Then as she got older, it escalated to expensive

pieces of jewelry, cars, money, and businesses. She has more bank accounts than I

can keep up with.

She studies her targets for months until she knows everything there is to know about

them and then, she goes in for the kill.

She’s gone by a million different names: Lily, Sapphire, Jasmine, Angelina, Victoria, Coco,

and a few others.

She’s traveled the world, stayed at luxurious resorts, shopped at stores I've never even

heard of, and she's brought me along with her of course. She’s been proposed to

11 times by 8 different men. She’s kept every single ring too, I guess as keepsakes.

She’s the best at what she does and I want to help her out as much as I can. She’s gonna

teach me the art of manipulation.

Portfolio Project 2021: Production Schedule

I just spoke with Mrs. Stoklosa and she helped me get organized because I was looking at the huge overall picture of the laundry list of things that I have to do and was completely overwhelmed. My brain felt scattered and I shed a few tears during our conversation but I'm fine now! She helped me chunk the tasks that I have to complete so that it's not so daunting. She advised me to use my time accordingly and this is the schedule that I have created:

TODAY

-plan the content for trailers 1 and 2

-revise the shot list that I created 

-plan out what I can film today and tomorrow

-film the shots that I can tonight

TUESDAY

-create the social media page

-film the rest of the content needed

-write the official script for the voiceovers

-post content on the social media page

WEDNESDAY

-edit the trailers

-start designing the movie poster

-post on the social media page

THURSDAY

-last-minute editing (if needed)

-finish designing the movie poster

-post on the social media page

FRIDAY

-review final trailers

-review movie poster

-post on the social media page

I can still research characters from films and other mise-en-scene elements while in the production stage, I'll be taking a different approach that's all. I do things in an unorthodox way sometimes and I've come to accept it. I just have a unique way of doing things at times but it gets done no matter what. 

My sister offered to help me with the project and I'm sure I can ask my peers, other friends, my mom, Mrs. Stoklosa for help and ideas. Now that I have a set plan I feel a million times better about this. I think that as long as I can knock the trailers out this week and get my social media account started and posts up, I'll do just fine. I just had to take a second to breathe and get focused. When we were discussing the project and the due date I could feel my anxiety skyrocket. Sometimes it's good to talk to someone and just let whatever you're feeling out. I'm not alone and even though I'm working independently on this project, I don't have to do it all alone. I want to do a good job on this project so I'm going to devote as much time as I can to it. I feel good and motivated right now which makes me so happy. Get ready for a lot of blog content, it's the final push! We got this, see you in the next blog!

Portfolio Project 2021: Project Update

 I am so behind!

This probably isn't the best thing for me to be blogging for the people that are grading my project to read but it's true, I am so behind in this project. I have 2 weeks to film, edit, create a movie poster, and create a social media page for my project and I'm not even halfway finished. I am so overwhelmed right now and I feel like I've made no progress at all with my project. I'm going to have to kick everything into overdrive. My blog postings, my research, planning, filming, everything is going to have to be done ASAP. 

I want to do a good job on this project and I want to be proud of the final product but I wasn't being very cognizant of the time that I have available. I'm going to have to work on this project daily and post multiple blogs a day for me to meet the requirements and the deadline. I told my friend Paola who is another A level student that it felt like we had a lot more time for this project last year. I think it felt like that because I had everything planned and figured out when we were assigned this project. This year my brain can't seem to figure out what to do. It's like my brain just shut down and isn't able to think of anything creative. 

I don't have time to fall in love with an idea, I have to make decisions now. I tend to get attached to an idea that I really like and if I don't like it, I don't work on it or I ponder my options for too long. I need to choose ideas that I want to work with and just go with them because it's life or death at this point. I'm going to try my best not to stress and just do my best with the time that I have left.

I'm probably going to go insane this week and have a few mental breakdowns in the process but as long as this project gets done that's all that matters. I can't fail and I know this so I just have to keep a fire burning within me until the due date. I'm praying that I get this project done with as few mental breakdowns as possible but who knows at this point. See you in the next blog!

Portfolio Project 2021: Trailer Rough Draft Ideas

Hello everyone! Today while I was at work I decided to jot down some ideas that I had for the trailer. I know it may sound weird that I wrote down these ideas during work but I had to write these thoughts down while I had them. Sometimes ideas come to me at random times and I have to write it down or else I’ll forget it.

This list is messy and unorganized so in this blog I’m going to rewrite my ideas so that we both can understand what I’m talking about. Again, I wrote this list during work today so it doesn’t make sense on paper but I’m going to make it neater in this blog.

As you can probably tell I tried to number my ideas to make it somewhat organized but that didn’t work out at all. Instead of trying to go in chronological order I’m going to write down all of the shot ideas that I wrote down on the pictured list as well as any other ideas that may come to me while writing this blog. 

SHOTS FOR TRAILER

- Older Sister walking on the sidewalk with a nice outfit on, heels, and sunglasses. She’d be holding a shopping bag/ purse in her hand as the introduction is made.

- The montage of the OS training the YS:

• YS jogging down the street

• YS walking with a book on her head for measurement of poise

• OS counting how many push ups she does. 

• Little girl showing her Tae Kwon Do moves and being asked to demonstrate/ practice on the little girl and failing miserably.

• lifting weights by using shopping bags 

VOICEOVER IDEAS

“She could melt a man with her eyes and then freeze their assets with how cold she gets in the blink of an eye.” - Younger Sister (YS)

“She’s been proposed to 16 times by 10 different men.”- (YS)

“I’m kind of a tech nerd you could say. My sister’s always been good at hacking people while I was always better at hacking computers. Hacking into computer software is way easier than what my sister does.” - (YS)

“I got accepted into MIT but I hate the fact that my sister would have to help me pay for it. She shouldn’t have to do that. After our parents died she’s been taking care of me and now it’s time for me to repay her back for everything she’s done for me.” - (YS)

“Let me help you (OS name). It’ll be much easier for me to just learn how to be like you than it would be for me to teach you computers. All I’d have to do is get close enough to this guy to hack into his life and get the information we need.” -(YS)

“Don’t concern yourself with the little fish in the pond, we have bigger fish to fry.” - (OS)

“Preparation is key. Always have a Plan A, B, C, D, and E and if you’re in need of a plan F, you know you’ve failed ” -(OS)

“Rule #1: Details matter. Your first interaction with the target, your choice of words, your tone, your mannerisms, the topic of conversation, what color your wearing, the style of your hair, everything down to the perfume your wearing matters. This is a profession and if you want to be successful you have to play the game well.” (OS)

“Always research your targets. Whatever information you can find on them use it, no matter how small or insignificant it may seem. What charities they donate to, their interests, hobbies, when they walk their dog, where they go hiking, which chipotle they eat lunch at, any and everything that you can find out about them is crucial information.” (OS)

These were a few ideas of things that I wanted to include in the voiceover(s) of the trailers. I’ll be adding more quotes later on so that I have a full script for both trailers.

These were my main ideas that I wanted to share with you all for the trailer! This is just the rough draft so I’ll be adding more ideas to it and expanding on these concepts more once I have the storyboard drawn out. See you in the next blog!

Portfolio Project 2021: Film Trailer Research

Hello everyone! After watching the trailer for The Hustle (The Hustle: Trailer) I have a few notes that I wanted to share. 

Chronological order of events:

-It started off with Penny scheming a man on the train that she meets Josephine on.

-She asks to be mentored by Josephine

-Voiceover from Josephine explaining to Penny the basics of being a femme fatale

-Introduction of male target

-Discussion of manipulation of men

-Inclusion of shots of main characters from the movie

General Notes:

-High key lighting

-Voiceover

-The editing pace fluctuated between fast and slow (towards the end of the trailer the editing was faster)

-Pregnant pauses for comedic effect

-The music is upbeat and references women 

-Editing effects are used throughout the trailer

-Diverse shot types and footage 

The voiceover aspect of the trailer is something that I want to utilize in my trailer. It fits well and will help explain the plot of the movie a lot better than if I didn't include it. I use voiceovers in almost all of my productions because they are so helpful in communicating your story to the audience.

Like I mentioned in the last blog I loved the montage of Josephine training Penny. I'm going to include a montage in my trailer of the femme fatale training process that the younger sister goes through. Since my film is a comedy this would serve as a comedic element in my trailer.

It wasn't discussed if Josephine ever killed any of the men she schemes but I liked how murder wasn't touched on in the film. I talked about it in a previous blog about how I don't like the idea of the older sister murdering the men she schemes. I've been inspired to not include murder in my film. I'll just imply that the men she's schemed are either unaware of the fact that they've been scammed. I could also not discuss the previous men she's schemed. It would be easier to just focus on the new target that she has her eyes on and how training her younger sister will benefit her.

I have to create 2 different trailers that serve a similar purpose, engaging my target audience. I have to identify my target audience first in order to successfully do this so I’m going to research my target audience. Once my target audience is identified then I can customize my trailer to align with their likes and preferences. 

This trailer was wonderful! Watching a trailer is very different when you’re analyzing it and when you’re just watching it for entertainment. I enjoyed watching it and it had comedic moments in there that I liked. Since this is my first time working with the comedy genre, this trailer is going to be my guide so when I plan out my trailers, I have an example to follow.  See you in the next blog! 

Portfolio Project 2021: Film Research Notes

Hello everyone! This blog was posted a couple of days later than the schedule in my last blog stated it would be posted. I wanted to take the time to truly enjoy spring break. I had a lot of fun over break and stepping away from school work was definitely what I needed. But I’m back and ready to get back to working on this project. In this blog I'm going to be going over my thoughts and observations about the film.

I watched The Hustle and it was a good movie! The main characters in this film were referred to as con artists but the femme fatale trope was utilized.  

Josephine is sophisticated, elegant, witty, charming, and intellectual. She has made an impressive career out of being a femme fatale as she lives in a large mansion on the coast of France. She has expensive taste and is extremely rich. She’s a businesswoman that’s taken the money she gets from scheming and has invested it so that she continues to generate wealth and assets. Since she is a businesswoman and scheming is a large part of her job, she works with a small team that ensures her operations run smoothly. She’s mastered the art of manipulation which helps her go undetected and remain prosperous.

Penny is obnoxious, uncoordinated, and ungraceful. She’s impulsive which is an issue because her uncalculated moves always end up getting her in trouble. In the opening scene of this film, her scheme fails and it appears that she is not the best at her job. She doesn’t have any class which most likely contributes to her failed attempts of scheming for money. This is why she decided to go to France, she is looking for more opportunities to make more money. This is when she meets Josephine and their relationship begins.

The movie started off showing Penny, who is deemed the lower class femme fatale, using one of her schemes to get a man to give her money. She fails and is chased by police. This incident prompted her to make the decision to travel to France because there are supposedly a lot of rich men there. I loved how the stark contrast between Josephine and Penny’s level of scheming men was conveyed. Josephine is on a much higher and advanced level than Penny in terms of being a con artist and the scene used to convey this idea was fascinating. In the scene, the stakes were higher, Josephine had a team working with her, and she was successfully able to steal the expensive bracelet from the man. Josephine is a pro femme fatale and Penny is a rookie. 

A similarity between my film and this one is that both Penny and the younger sister want to be taught how to be a successful femme fatale. Another similarity is that the women are trying to use a scheme on a tech billionaire in order to get money. This film has some similarities to my film but there are many differences. The women that are mentoring them, their reasons for being taught, as well as the relationship between the characters are different. Josephine was apprehensive about mentoring Penny but she was being blackmailed by Penny. The older sister in my film isn’t being blackmailed by her younger sister, she’s willingly mentoring her. 

Even though a similarity is that the women are scheming a tech billionaire, their intentions for doing so are different in my film. The women in this film were scheming him out of money because they had a competition going on and whoever lost had to leave France while in my film the sisters are scheming him out of money because they want financial freedom.

In this film it was never discussed how either of these women became con artists/ femme Fatales, it just shows how they use their femininity to swindle men out of their money. Discussing how both of the sisters in my film became femme fatales is going to be crucial for me to incorporate into the trailer(s).

There was one scene in this film that I definitely plan on incorporating into my trailer and it was the montage of Josephine training Penny. Penny had to complete tests after she was taught a skill and it was a really funny montage. I think montages are amazing and can be effective if executed well. 

In terms of mise-en-scene, the setting of this film took place primarily in France. There were different locations used in this film like hotels, resorts, mansions, and restaurants. Since I live in South Florida it won’t be hard for me to find potential film locations that are high-end and expensive-looking if I decide to use different locations.

The costuming fit the character’s personality traits and conveyed their differences perfectly. I’ll be discussing costuming in greater detail in a later blog. The lighting used in this film was high key lighting. There wasn’t any manipulation of shadows or lighting which makes sense for the tone of this particular production. The color palette of the film was warm and natural. 

This film gave me a lot of things to think about which I am glad about. I enjoyed watching it and it was interesting to think about my project and what aspects of this film inspired some of my creative choices. I’m going to go into greater detail on the choices I’ll be making soon. There is a lot more to be researched, planned, and discussed so I’ll do my best to blog and update as frequently as possible! See you in the next blog!

Portfolio Project 2021: Film Research & Blog Schedule Planning

SPRING BREAK IS FINALLY HERE!!!

Hey everyone! It's officially spring break! I am so excited to just chill and relax before we go back to school and us seniors graduate. It's crazy to think about how fast this year has gone by. It's been a weird one but we're almost done, we just have to hold on for a few more months! It's the final push!

FILM RESEARCH

Tonight I'm going to be watching the film that Mason recommended to me during our group meeting. I'm going to be watching the movie "The Hustle" starring Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson which I am so excited to watch! I love Rebel Wilson and Anne Hathaway is amazing in all of the productions she's affiliated with. I read the plot summary when I searched for the movie and this movie's plotline and my film's plotline are similar in a lot of ways. I hadn't even watched the film or remembered it existed until Mason recommended it. I saw the ads for it on Youtube when it was first released but had completely forgotten about it. Maybe my subconscious mind was thinking of this movie's plot when I was coming up with plot ideas, who knows!

During this film, I am going to be taking notes. I am going to be taking notes on both Rebel Wilson and Anne Hathaway's characters, costuming, the film intro as well as other mise en scene elements. Shot types and editing techniques are also going to be included. This film has a plot that is similar to mine so I'm going to try to model after the characteristics of this film while still incorporating my style. I have no intention of copying this film, the plotlines are kind of similar but portraying the femme fatale trope is my main objective. Watching and analyzing this film is meant to inspire me in regard to my creative choices and artistic direction. 

I will also watch the trailers that were released for this film and analyze the technique used to engage their target audience. All of the notes from my viewing will be discussed further in another blog as well as the trailer analysis.

SPRING BREAK BLOG SCHEDULE

I mentioned in another blog how I was pushing my previously scheduled blog content until spring break so here we are! I've revised this week's blog schedule to align with my spring break schedule and the blog requirements for this week.

I wanted to post this blog before I watched this movie because I wanted to give an update on the blog posting schedule for the week of spring break and the format of my film research. I'm going to watch the movie now, I'll tell you all about it soon. See you in the next blog!