Two Introductions

 The main problem I have with pre-production at the moment is there is currently two introduction that I have ideas for, and each are equally viable. I brought this up with my Media Studies teacher and he suggested to do a Feedback Test. What I would do in this test is that I make a script for each introduction and ask people to read them to see which one resonates more with audiences. I thought this was a really good idea so I'm currently working on them both. 

The two ideas are...

1. A script introducing the villains
2. A script introducing the heroes

Outline for the villain script

Villain script

The hero introductions are not yet ready.

Outlining the Story

I found this video detailing who professional screenwriters outline their story. Since I'm not shooting the entire film I won't need to make a script for the entire movie, but I should outline the story beyond the first two minutes. 

One thing that I want to keep in mind is that dialogue is the cherry on top, the real writing is making the skeleton of the story. This is coming from Vince Gilligan, the creator of Breaking Bad, so it would to me some good to listen to him. 

Some advice from Quentin Tarantino was also added, and he says don't try to plan out everything. Try to get to the point where the characters tell you what's going to happen which for him is the middle. 

An interesting idea is the sequence outline from Michael Arndt. In it, you break down the film into around twenty to fifty sequences. Outline 1st act on one sheet, the 2nd on another, and repeat for the 3rd act and whole film. I quite like this approach and will try to implement it into pre-production.

The video circles back to Vince Gilligan with a reminder that I definitely needed to hear. Although outlining the script is important, it's not the hardest or most crucial. I have seven weeks left to make everything so I got to work fast.

How to Make Characters

When making the characters for my film I wanted to look at how the writers for Shaun of the Dead(Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg) wrote the characters in that film. When researching I found a video analyzing the building blocks of the characters and how it makes the comedic elements work. What stood out to me was that the writers focused on keeping the characters grounded in a fantastical setting. It also talked about building the world and supporting characters around the protagonist which I found interesting. I predict that remebering to keep the characters grounded will keep them reatable to the audience even in the zany setting of my film.

In this video it talked about the various aspects of character design. Not what they look like but from a writing perspective. The movie used is Soul and they analyze the construction of the movies main character Joe. It goes into depth about how Joe's want's and need's are built by the writers, how they are presented visually in the film, and how Joe's wants and needs are connected to the movie's theme of living life in the present and not attaching your happiness to a goal. This video reminded me that in order for a story to work, it needs to be built around a theme and I haven't quite figured out what that is for my hypothetical movie. I will need to figure the story's message and characters before I film the intro to it. 

Hello World Again

Hello world! I am Milo and I'm currently working on my Foundation Portfolio film. Something I'm a big fan of is zombie films so my film is going to be playing around with this genre. My favorite zombie film is Shaun of the Dead because of how it mixing comedy with the typical horror of zombie movies, and how it matches what's happening on screen with sound. Just in general, I'm a fan of Edgar Wright as a director. 

I am also a fan of the classic Universal monster movies and would like to incorporate some elements from the movie Frankenstein and it's masterpiece of a parody Young Frankenstein. 

Overall, with the two minutes I've been assigned, I hope to capture the ridiculousness and how zany these concepts are while intriguing people enough to want to see more.