The Creation of ClickClock

The news story that we are going to show can not be an actual TikTok video, therefore we need to make our own video on ClickClock. Our editor can make the video look like a TikTok video with editing, but we need to plan to film this in addition to our movie. 

Starting off with the location, it does not really matter where we film the video but it has to be quiet with no loud chatter or noises in the background. We can do it after school somewhere once the crowd dies down or outside the hotel when we go there to shoot. 

Either myself, the cinematographer, or the sound designer can be the "news reporter". It's going to be filmed like a tiktok so the cinematography is not all that important. For the script, I really want to keep it short and concise. That way we have time to do the conversation and kidnapping scenes without rushing it. It should be something along the lines of  "Serena Smith, age 22, went missing on February 27th, 2024. She was last seen at the Happy Cafe in downtown where multiple witnesses report having seen her enter the establishment. Police are asking for your help in finding Serena, please call the station if you have any information but her disappearance".

Green Light to Shoot Our Film

Today we finally received the green light to start shooting our movie. On our 3rd revision of the script, we are starting off by having the daughter scrolling through tiktok when she comes across a news story. The news story is about the disappearance of Serena, the Caucasian woman. In the video, it says she only went missing 2 days ago, and that the police are asking the community for help in finding her. After the video is done playing, a call will pop up on screen from Chantal, her mom. They will have a short conversation before Chantal hangs up and walks out of the hotel. This is where she gets kidnapped, only the flower is left behind.

The tiktok is meant to show how the media pays attention to Serena's kidnapping, but ignore Chantal's. The police don't care about Chantal's case. The mysterious "deal" that they talk about is the reason Chantal is kidnapped, someone wants her to sign that deal. The certificate is important because it introduces our main characters biggest strength, her knowledge. This knowledge is what is going to help Adira solve the case and bring back her mother. The flower still holds the same meaning of justice and light overcoming the darkness. 

Version 3 of the script

Version 3 of the script

The next steps are to revise the foundation portfolio and adjust everything to fit the new script. We also need to fill out the equipment request form and plan our schedule so we know what days to shoot. 

(Re) Revisions to the Foundation Portfolio

My group still did not get a green light to film yet. One of the biggest issues is that we still did not develop the story enough. The main conflict was that the daughter, Adira, is going to solve the case of her mothers disappearance because the police won't take on the case. The beginning of the movie was the kidnapping of the 2 women, the middle was Adira tracking down clues, and the ending would be Adira successfully solving the case and finding her mother. There needs to be more story elements to our movie. What is the motive of the kidnapper? Why is he kidnapping all these women? What do the women have in common? What is the best attribute of our main character? These are all questions we need to answer in order to tell a good story through our film. 

Another big issue was the use of the newspaper. Majority of young people don't actually read physical newspapers nowadays. Most of our news comes from social media; TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, etc. The kidnappings were a lot of work to do in 2 minutes and it didn't make sense to keep both. It was better to do something where we show one kidnapping already happened, then do the other kidnapping, then introduce our main character. This order would make more sense and allow us to use our two minutes efficiently. We can utilize social media in our film by having the Caucasian woman's kidnapping appear in a tiktok video or an Instagram post. The first scene will convey how the media pays attention to her kidnapping, then the next scene will be the actual kidnapping of the Black woman. The third and final scene will introduce Adira, the Black woman's daughter. In order to figure out how to portray her, we need to decide what her strength is. She is going to be smart, knowledgeable, but knowledgeable on what? How is this knowledge useful to helping her solve the crime? More elements of our opening need to be planned out thoroughly before we get a green light to film.  

                

Revisions to Foundation Portfolio

My group did not get a green light to film our movie yet. We have to rethink our storyline. There is too much story packed into a two minute opening scene. Both kidnappings and the interrogation scenes would go by way too fast to show everything. We have to fix it so its doable in 2 minutes. There is also a location problem, we have permission to film in the hotel, but there is no part of the lobby that we can use for the interrogation scene. We also have to think specifically about how the movie would play out. The story we are trying to tell, and how to portray that effectively. 

For our revision, we were thinking of cutting out the police scene entirely. The whole point of the interrogation scene was to show how the police and the media focus on the Caucasian woman's kidnapping but not the black woman's kidnapping. This whole scene would take too long so its better to take it out and do something else. One thing we could do is show the daughter, Adira, sitting on a bench reading a newspaper. We can show a closeup of the newspaper which will have a fake article about the disappearance of Serena. This idea still needs to be worked out before we can resubmit it. 

Call Sheet + Casting Report

There are a few documents left to complete before we submit the production portfolio. I need to complete the casting report and call sheet. 

We only have 3 actors right now, one for the roles of Chantal, Adira, and Serena. This is an issue because we still need more people to be the detective and witnesses. The sound designer and I may need to become actors if we do not get anyone else to participate. 

All actors will provide their own clothing and props. The actor for Chantal will be dressed more formally to show her wealth, the actor for Serena will be in normal jogging clothes. They have all agreed to work whenever they are free and we need to shoot.

The call sheet

The casting report 

Title Research

 My group and I are close to finishing the foundation portfolio, all we need is the casting information and location documents. Today I focused on doing title research. I wanted the title to be something meaningful and not basic. It should relate to the actual movie in an important way.

I wanted the title to be the name of a flower, this flower would be an important motif throughout to movie. I looked up movies that had a flower in the title and some variation of black roses were very common. I did not want to use roses because they signified a more romantic kind of love and black roses mean death or rebirth. These were themes that did not fit our movie. 

The link to the website with movie titles:

https://www.imdb.com/search/keyword/?keywords=flower-in-title&sort=moviemeter,asc&mode=detail&page=3&ref_=kw_nxt

While doing research on flowers, I came across the black-eyed Susan. 

Black-eyed Susan

The link below is the website I found that explains all the different meanings and symbolism of the flower. 

https://florgeous.com/black-eyed-susan-meaning-symbolism/

Excerpt from article

The article says that Black-eyed Susan's are associated with perseverance, the flower can thrive is drought and low temperatures. This can relate to our main character as she is determined to meet her goal despite facing difficulty. The Black-eyed Susan represents justice and truth. The gold petals show goodness overcoming the dark center. This relates to our movie because we are going to show the racial injustice of how the police treat the kidnapping of the Black and Caucasian woman. This injustice and the will come to light at the end of the movie. We all agreed to use this flower as the title of the movie.

An example of a pin she could wear.

Genre Statement

Writing the genre statement for this movie was little difficult. I didn't know how to really explain why our film was considered a drama when the whole film isn't planned out. 

Genre statement 

The film was under the crime genre from the start, then we had to decide what direction to take it in. Mystery is always closely related with crime and that helped with coming up with our representation. Drama was difficult to write about because I didn't know exactly how we would show that in just the beginning alone. 

Finding The First Location

For the first location, we want to use the Fort Lauderdale Marriott Coral Springs Hotel & and Convention Center. This location is ideal because we can use it for the first 2 scenes. Starting from the beginning to the end of the kidnappings.

The actors we need for these 2 scenes are to play the roles of Chantal and the other woman (names are in progress). I hope to shoot both scenes in the same day but it might not work out. We still need to verify our actors schedules and availability. Regarding the time of day, it should be around evening time, maybe around 4:30pm. It is a big hotel so there will be many guests and workers around. I think if we film on a weekday, there should be less of a chance that a lot of people will be there.

First things first though, we need to get permission to film on the hotel property. While the lobby is technically a public space, we can still get in trouble for filming other hotel guests. The link below provides helpful information on how to get permission to film at a hotel.

https://beverlyboy.com/filmmaking/how-to-get-permission-to-film-at-a-hotel/

Excerpt from article

The article says that permission is not usually necessary to film, however if you sign a contract to stay at the hotel, your rights to film may be taken away.

Excerpt from article

It is better to get written permission from the hotel, especially big resorts. This way we can ensure that there will be no legal problems that arise in the future. 

Excerpt from article

The best way to get permission from the hotel is to send an email to the hotel owner/manager. In this email, we have to say; who we are, the size of our crew, what our movie is about, why we want to film at the hotel, how long the shoot will take, and how much people will be involved. 

If we don't get any approval, then we have to find another hotel to shoot at. If we do get permission, then we can go ahead and start shooting once we get our green light.

Lobby of the hotel

Will be used for the first couple of shots where Chantal is talking on the phone.

Exterior of the hotel

This is where the kidnappings will happen. The road between the hotel and the fountain is important for the car to drive by.

First Draft of the Official Script

 I completed the first official draft of the script for the movie opening. When rereading the draft of the opening scene, we decided to add more context in the opening. The woman (Chantal) is standing in the lobby of her job, talking on the phone, something important about a 'deal' being made, (this provides a clue to the possible motive of the antagonist). From here, she walks out of the building and the rest of the scene stays the same as before. 

First page of the script

From the very beginning, we want to establish Chantal as a successful business woman. She should be dressed professionally and look like an important person. For the kidnapping, it is more implied than shown, her successfulness shows why someone would want her to disappear. We also want to make the other woman seem ordinary and 'lesser' compared to Chantal. Showing no obvious reason as to why she was kidnapped. 

Second page of the script

I wanted to put the title after the kidnapping as a way to transition into the next scene. With the crescendo of police sirens then the immediate silence following, it should emphasize the importance of the kidnappings. 

We have not completely finalized the ending, it still needs dialogue. I am not too sure about how this is going to run time-wise. I think that it will hit two complete minutes. I would rather write a little bit more in the script than have too little. This way we can prevent the problem of having to go back and add filler parts instead of quality footage. If I write a little bit extra, we can always just cut it off where it is. 

Foundation Portfolio: Finding Locations/cast

Before we continue on the next half of our opening scene, we do need to start looking at locations and the cast members. 

For the roles, we need: two African American women (one is the successful business woman, the other is the daughter), a Caucasian woman (jogger), the kidnapper, a female detective, a male detective, and around three witnesses/family members (for the Caucasian woman)

This might be a bit challenging as we have to find all these people and make sure they can work with us. 

We also need to find locations to shoot. Public places would work best but they need to fit our story. For the first few shots, a corporate/office looking building would be the best fit, but then we need to have a road that is not a main road. Then the setting across the road will have to be something that a person could safely jog on. 

For the 'police station' we could use a library study room, its quiet and it shouldn't be to hard to set it up like an interrogation room. 

The walk at university 

The walk at university 

Commercial Bank plaza 

The Walk at university and the commercial bank plaza can be used for the first sequence where they get kidnapped.

North regional library 

Here is a possible place for the interrogation. Another library study room will work as long we have permission to film.

Foundation Portfolio: Representation

 A major part of our movie opening is representation. We want to show how females in minorities can be overlooked and face racial injustice compared to Caucasians. Depending on who we can get to act on our film, we are leaning toward using African American women.

In the beginning, we see the successful (ethnic) business woman get kidnapped. Then a Caucasian woman gets kidnapped later that same day. The police call on the Caucasian woman's family, questioning suspects, releasing her story to the press, putting in every effort to find her and get her back. Meanwhile, they ignore the ethnic woman's case, call her unimportant while she is more important compared to the Caucasian woman.

We want to main protagonist to be a complex character, show proper representation of a woman of color. She is smart and stays connected to her roots, not westernized. There has been too much misrepresentation of women of color in Hollywood. 

This article shows how African American women are treated in Hollywood by playing stereotypical roles in movies

https://www.rubiconline.com/incorrect-portrayal-of-black-people-in-movies/

Excerpt from the article

This part of the article talks about how black characters are portrayed as not smart, needing the white people to 'save' them. In our movie, the protagonist is the intelligent one. She is not going to rely on the white people to save her. 

Excerpt from the article

As for the 'sassy, black friend' trope, where fat, darker women are used as the sidekick/comic relief to the light-skinned, thinner characters. In our movie, a dark-skinned woman is our protagonist, and while we don't have a solid plan for the sidekick, they are likely to also be black and smart. 

Foundation Portfolio: Opening scene

 The opening scene is in the works. Only the part of the script has been worked out and a few details added. This is just a draft, we still have to modify and revise it again.

Opening scene: First thing the viewer sees is the business woman standing in front of her work building, establishing her as someone important from the very start. It is somewhat dark, late evening where we see a shot of her standing alone on the sidewalk with a car in the distance. She starts crossing the road, the car drives past, we don't see her on the other side of the road. Cut to that same setting but its darker, now almost nighttime. A Caucasian woman is jogging down the sidewalk and stops to tie her shoe. She is also alone with a car in the distance. The woman crosses the road, car drives past, never makes it across. Now here is where we could insert the title card but I am not sure about that. What I was thinking is that we cut to black and play a crescendo of police sirens. There is no dialogue in the first sequence. The next scene is silent, here is where we see the two detectives preparing to interview family/suspects of the Caucasian woman. (This part is lacking in detail) The police go through everyone until they get to the daughter of the business woman who went missing first. They ignore her concerns, disregarding the case and focusing on the other woman. 

 We are really thinking about the movie as a whole and want to include a motif to carry out through the rest of movie. For example, the mocking-jay pin in the hunger games, this pin represents the rebellion that is a theme throughout all the movies. Our motif might be a color with symbolism that is associated with the business woman or something like a brooch or flower pin that she wears. We still need to think about other elements such as mise en scene.  All of this will be added into the next draft of the opening scene.

Foundation Portfolio: Plot

 After our initial research my group has come up with our baseline plot. The beginning is the most important part but the rest of the plot isn't completely filled out. We don't need every single detail for the rest of the movie just an idea of how its supposed to play out and how we can tie it to the opening scene. We are definitely using the technique of opening with the crime that is central to the plot.

Plot summary: After a successful business woman goes missing, her daughter investigates her disappearance despite facing obstacles. 

Plot: A successful business woman is leaving work when she gets kidnapped. A little later on the same day, another woman gets kidnapped while jogging at night. The police investigate the second woman's case, calling on family, finding suspects, releasing her story in the papers. The first woman's daughter is the only one who shows up at the station concerned about her mother (This is around where the opening scene will end). 

The daughter goes on to conduct her own investigation, digging up all the cold case files. She continues to face challenges as she goes deeper into the case. Her mother is not the only one to mysteriously disappear. As she gets close to solving the case, the daughter realizes the extent to which these crimes have been happening. 

This is the basic storyline of what will happen but it will still be further developed. I don't think we can fit in a red herring but a MacGuffin could be possible if we decide to modify it. 

Our initial brainstorming

Foundation Portfolio: The beginning

Starting today, my group and I will be working on the foundation portfolio. We wanted to do something in the mystery/crime/thriller genre. It felt a little basic but we want to include meaningful representation in our opening. 

Some conventions of the crime genre that I have researched are include: An intelligent protagonist who is determined to solve the case, the sidekick of the protagonist who is smart/daft, the crime is related to the protagonist in some way. 

We definitely want the protagonist to be a woman of color to show representation. The crime that she is trying to solve will be the disappearance of her mother.  As for the sidekick, they most likely will not be introduced in the opening.

I researched techniques to the opening scenes of movies. I was thinking about using a Red Herring or a MacGuffin that will carry on later in the film. I am not sure how exactly we can incorporate it though. 

One of the techniques in the video below opens a movie with The Crime. This crime is central to the plot and the protagonist will spend of the rest of the movie trying to solve it.    

https://youtu.be/LdEgQGdoFQA?si=qm7QXghJM4VocjQW

An interrogation scene is also something we want to have, using good cop, bad cop. It might not be an interrogation but more of a questioning of family members and/or witnesses. 

This is just the start of the our research on movie openings. 

Foundation Portfolio: Intro

 Hello everyone! My name is Amara Singh and I am very excited to be starting the foundation portfolio. I enjoy watching movies (good or bad), playing the piano, and hanging out with my friends. I decided to take Media Studies because it sounded interesting and I get to work hands-on to create productions unlike my other classes. 

 After creating the chess film last semester, I knew I wanted to be the director for this production. I was the director for that project but I think I could have done more to help. For the Foundation Portfolio, I really want to do my part and have a direct say in the decisions that we make. I could not achieve this project on my own, so I joined a group. We have a cinematographer, sound designer and director. Everyone wanted they roles they have so there was no conflict there. I feel like in this group I can have a more collaborative role with creating the movie proposal. Creating a 2-minute movie opening is going to be different than the chess film but once we have our overall plot it shouldn't be too bad.

I can't wait to start planning our movie concept and shooting the movie opening.