Two Trailers, Comin' Up!

Trailer 1:

Music licensing:
"The Escalation" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) 
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Trailer 2:

Music licensing:
"Undaunted" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) 
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

If There's a Minimalism, is there a Maximalism?

Posters are hard. There. I said it. I am not a graphic designer, have never taken a class on computer programs, and I only know how to use basic tools on Photoshop.

However, I know more than Lisa, so this wonderful task was handed over to me (to be fair, the website was handed over to Lisa).

Because of my lack of knowledge with all things design, I took to researching. I started with "what makes a good movie poster." Next, I researched drama movie posters. Then, I thought about how to make ours different, so I looked into minimalist movie posters (minimalism is in right now, right?). From there, I noticed that many minimalist posters are also graphic posters, so I took the time to look into those.

With all these poster ideas running through my head, I got stuck on the idea of branding. We need a central image that can carry over between all media, as well as one that can be used for the campaign we're our production companies are starting to go along with the movie.

That, my dear friends, was when I recalled The Hunger Games poster:

It's a graphic, central image that is representative of not only the movie but also the cause. Granted, this cause is fictional, but the idea is still the same. The best part was that The Hunger Games has just about the same target audience as Alma's Angel, so I knew that this marketing technique would work. Picking an image was easy: The movie is called Alma's Angel, so our graphic should be wings. I had the perfect movie poster sitting in my brain.

After all this, though, I still didn't know how to make the poster, so I once again took to the Internet, uncovering this little beauty:

A wonderfully large photo of a basic outline for a movie poster.

We already had a font, I had our central image, and we knew who the actors all were. I quickly came up with a hashtag (#BeTheChange) and less-quickly came up with a tagline (It only takes one person to make a difference). All that was left was putting it all together.

Wow. I just made that process sound so much easier than it actually was. Suffice it to say, Photoshop is not a user-friendly program. But I did it! It's complete!

Ladies and gentlemen, I am so much more than simply proud to present the completed movie poster for our film,  Alma's Angel. You may begin the applause.

The completed poster for Alma's Angel, credits, ratings, and all.

And, because no long message is complete without a P.S., here's mine: I also made a campaign poster. Here it is:

This poster will be featured in our trailers.

And Again

Our second trailer will be much darker. We decided to make a more sad, struggle-driven trailer to appeal to those who enjoy more dramatic films. The script is as follows:

Black screen.

NORA

Something happened. Something bad. And nothing will ever be the same.

Abridged version of suicide scene, interspersed by flashes of black, fading in and out, more somber music. Drinking alcohol, grabbing pills, sinking into bathtub. A drum beat per shot

REPORTER

In other news, 17-year-old Alma Rodriguez committed suicide last night (pause). The Harrison High school junior was reportedly being bullied at school for being gay and died from drowning herself in her bathtub.

Shot of grieving family, sitting at table covered in black. Shot of memorial made by students with pictures, teddy bears, flowers

RAINA

Why are you doing this?

NORA

To make what happened to Alma never happens to anyone - gay, straight, whatever - ever again.

A bully stands, screaming, with a crowd surrounding him, laughing.

BULLY

You’re nothin’ but a bunch of FAGGOTS!

Nora riding bike, with fliers under her arm. Nora looks broodingly at mirror. Nora stares into her bath.

RAINA

You can’t do it. It’s impossible - the people, the prejudices - they’re not going to change. You can’t possibly take on the world.

Large crowd of people flocking to table and signing up.

NORA

You can take on the world, or let it take you. But it should always be your choice. It only takes one person to make a difference.

Completions and Reflections

I am proud to introduce our complete AS-level two-minute opening*:

The following is my critical reflection of the above project:

*Because our music is Creative Commons, we were required to include all of the extra information about the creator, the website, and the piece in our credits.

Forwards and Backwards, in G-flat

So, Glassnote Records never responded. We called them several times, and they only picked up once. That conversation simply established that some upper-management people somewhere were looking at our request.

We waited as long as we could. Literally. I only added the music an hour or so before Lisa and I posted our video. But alas, the news never came. Our Glassnote plan fell flat.

But it was some kind of blessing in disguise. After watching our opening with Heart of Nowhere, we were thrilled with the outcome. We both love the effect of this dog and the feelings it evokes in the viewer.

And now it's over. Our AS project is officially complete, and we can begin the journey that is our A-level promotion project.

Undecided and Indecisive

So, we filmed. We recorded. We got varying shots and angles. We've only done the suicide scene.

Yet our time is up. Based off of my quick editing, that bit alone is one minute and forty-four seconds.

So now I'm conflicted. Do we shorten this to include this rest of the script? Do we just keep this as our opening? If we cut it down, what do we eliminate? 

How do director's do this? I've always watched deleted scenes from movies I loved and lamented the loss of wonderful scenes, criticizing the people who decided it would be a good idea to leave them out. Now, I get it. Not every decision; I can't be swayed that easily. But some of those decisions, I now understand 100 percent.

First Filming Fiesta

Note: This video was made on Friday, March 14.

Unnamed: The Complete Script for the Two-Minute Opening to a Film We Haven't Named Yet

Low angle shot of a girl’s bedroom with the door closed. We see a Alma open the door (alcohol in hand), walk in, and close the door as she tosses her backpack to the side, taking swigs from the bottle. MUSIC starts playing. She kicks off her shoes and walks into the bathroom, turning on the tub. She then goes to the medicine cabinet and pulls out several pill bottles, downing an indeterminable amount from each, using the alcohol to help them go down. By this time, the tub is full and she steps into it, fully dressed. She closes her eyes, sinks til she’s almost under the water, and the screen fades to black. Over the black screen, we hear a casual news report about a lost dog being found.

REPORTER

The Grayson family is very grateful they were able to find Spot after a large group from the community got together to search for him on Friday. They will be offering free ice cream at their parlor, Berries and Cream, tomorrow, Sunday March 12, to everyone who helped out.

Cut to ELEANORA making eggs in the kitchen.

REPORTER

In other news, 17-year-old Alma Rodriguez committed suicide last night.

ELEANORA whips around, dropping the egg-y whisk on the ground. Report takes over the screen.

REPORTER

The Harrison High school junior was reportedly being bullied at school for being gay and died from drowning herself in her bathtub.

ELEANORA walks forward, grabbing the remote.

REPORTER

A memorial service for close family and friends will be held on Tuesday at 4 in the Rodriguez's home. The school has refused to comment, and our hearts and thoughts go out to the family during this troubling time.

ELEANORA shuts the TV off, then clutches the remote to her chest. Fade to black.

Open to ELEANORA at the door to RODRIGUEZ house. She knocks. SISTER opens door.

ELEANORA

Hi, my name’s Eleanora. I, um, I went to school with --

RAINA

This is for friends and family only. We don’t want anyone from school here.

RAINA starts to close door.

ELEANORA

Wait, please,

RAINA stops.

ELEANORA

I know, I understand. I just wanted to say that I thought Alma was really brave. She put up with a lot of shit just for being gay, and I always admired her. I’m bi, and I never really told anyone and she just… I dunno. It’s my last year, and I want to make sure that what happened to your sister never happens to anyone again. Or, y’know, at least try.

RAINA

Listen, I really appreciate that, but now isn’t the time. I just can’t right now.

ELEANORA

I understand. I’ll go. I just wanted you to know.

RAINA closes door. ELEANORA walks back to her car, closes the door, sighs, and turns the car on. Cut to TITLE SCREEN.

Progress

I feel like Lisa and I are on the right track and moving at a great pace. I know, big disparity from my last post, but we've accomplished a lot in the past couple of days. Let's enumerate in order of size of accomplishment because, as I've shown, I'm a big fan of lists:

1. Finished first draft of our script
2. Made plans to begin filming on Friday (!!!)
3. Tentatively cast actors
4. Began planning settings
5. Narrowed down list of possible songs for suicide scene
6. Finished first draft of our script (I know. It's repeated. I'm that proud.)
7. Thought about costumes

The more progress we make, the more excited I am to see the final result, which in turn pushes me to want to work faster. Progress is happening, people, and I couldn't be happier.