CAP Hollywood Update

In all honesty, I don't have much of an update. Since Connor's editing at home, I can't really say how the editing's going (though he has shown us periodic rough cuts, and they look BEAUTIFUL). We're finishing up filming today--thank you, Mr. Mayo, for helping me find the equipment and for lending us your own camera (!)--but that should only take half an hour or so. Really, the most pressing problem I have right now in regards to CAP Hollywood is figuring out what to wear, because I have no idea. (Also persuading Olivia and Everleigh to wear ball gowns like they promised). I have full faith in Connor to make our film excellent, and I'm excited to see how it turns out.

CAP Hollywood Update

Well, we're trucking along.

Last Sunday, we came very close to finishing our filming. We finished almost all of the montage, and we finished everything involving the girls. We just have to do the bits with the guy typing, and then we'll be done. We'll probably film that one evening this week, after the AP or after school.

The montage stuff with the girls looks AWESOME, thanks to Connor. It's super artsy and pretty and I am a big fan. Olivia and Everleigh were very good sports as we trekked all over kingdom come, going from Connor's house to the park to along Sligo Creek and back, then to downtown Silver Spring, a couple bus stops, and the train station. (Since the montage is meant to span lots of time, they also had to keep changing their outfits, which they were also nice about. Both of them brought big bags filled with outfits, and just changed every time we changed locations. It was great).

So far, this has been my favorite project that we've done in media. I appreciate the creative free reign we get, and it's so exciting to see my story becoming real. Connor's doing most of the editing, and he's doing a great job. I'm really excited to present the films in--yikes!--17 days. (All of my actors are gonna get super dressed up and come. It'll be awesome).

Unfortunately, I missed two of the three media classes this past week, due to sickness and Change Project stuff, so I haven't got much to report by way of what we've been working on, but I know it'll be great.

CAP Hollywood Update

I am so freaking excited about our movie.

To be honest, I've been excited about it since I wrote my short story. Ever since I started it, I've been able to picture it in my head. When I discussed my story with Ms. Fillman, we talked about how easy it'd be to film, and how good it would look. (We agreed that it would make for great indie, artsy cinematography, which I love). When it was picked to be made into a movie, and our group started discussing filming, it seemed only natural: my story already was a movie, at least inside my head.

Last Saturday, we had our first day of filming. It was one of the most incredible things I've ever seen: the characters in my head, once only imagined, now real and beautiful and emotional, saying the things I wrote for them. My friend Olivia, who was in my Conservatory at Imagination Stage, plays the main character, and Josh, the father of a friend, plays her scene partner. They are both so talented and professional, and it was amazing to work with them. Going back and watching the footage, I can't imagine the scenes any differently. Olivia in particular is fantastic--at one point in the scene, she was actually crying, and we have one beautiful shot of a tear falling down her face. I fully expect her to be at least nominated for Best Actor.

We also got a lot of filming done on Saturday--namely, all of our dialogue and the majority of our script. Tomorrow, we have our second day of filming, and while that'll be a bit of a pain--it requires us to move around a lot, to a bunch of different locations--I'm excited for it, not in the least because it'll be the most fun part to film. It's going to be a montage of cute scenes between Olivia and Everleigh (another actor), and Connor's filming it in a super artsy indie hipster beautiful way.

I'm a little worried about editing, just because we have SO MUCH footage. Luckily, Connor's offered to edit at home in addition to editing at school, so that we can get everything done in time. (Which we will).

We also have great music--we found some good stuff on Creative Commons, but we also emailed an artist that we like and asked if we can use their music. They said yes, so we'll be using 'Big Jet Plane' by Angus and Julia Stone in our film.

Basically, it's gonna be great.

The Cure

"The government has created a perfect society. Through Citizens United to Revitalize Equality, or C.U.R.E., no citizen goes hungry: if citizens are struggling in any way with money, unemployment, or disease, the government provides food for them via N.U.R.S.E. Nancy, or Network Used to Ration Supplementary Eatables. A suffering family will receive a visit from a Nurse Nancy within the week. If they are ill, the food is enhanced with medical spray. The standard of living has reached an unprecedented high. Every citizen is healthy. Every citizen is equal. Every citizen is happy.

Except for one. Jess’s parents were on C.U.R.E. for over a year. Now they are dead. In terror, Jess runs. She meets Anna, a Nurse Nancy who has begun to question the food aid she has been distributing. Together, they must somehow untangle the web of government secrets to learn the truth about the C.U.R.E., and what is really happening to their citizens."

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This is our Dystopian Trailer Project, created by myself, Ravyn, Esther, and Song-Binh over the past month or so. We've had lots of fun and many adventures, which took us from school to Value Village to my house to the editing suite, and then to another computer when our computer literally died. The development of the story and subsequently the trailer was really cool to watch and experience: from our first story idea, which was terrible, to the final color-correcting and music-editing touches, we've learned a lot. We hope you enjoy the trailer.

Children of Men

Children of Men. Alfonso Cuarón. R. 2006.
In 2027, after two decades of mass infertility have left society on the brink of devastation, Theo Faron (Clive Owen) must help get a miraculously pregnant woman to a safe place where scientists can use her child to save humankind from extinction.

The trailer for 'Children of Men' is exemplary because it clearly relates the dystopian premise through the use of voiceovers, clips from the movie with relevant information, text and images, all of which convey the terror associated with the society and the urgency in the hero's mission. The trailer begins with Theo, in a voiceover, stating the premise: "Since women stopped being able to have babies, what's left to hope for?" Shots of the world-at-large are mostly gray and black, reflecting the despair and numbness felt throughout civilization. Light and color enter when a catalytic character does: Theo's ex-wife, who introduces him to the girl and the mission that are at the center of the plot. A key shot of the girl's pregnancy, combined with a change in music and pacing (not to mention a character saying, "Now you know what's at stake"), helps the audience understand the focus of the movie. The given information, combined with the chaotic mob scenes, police brutality, and random explosions, makes it clear that the dystopian control is post-apocalyptic, with the infertility of women crippling the development of society. Theo, as the protagonist, feels hopeless and depressed; when he is given the chance to (as the text displayed throughout the trailer states) "fight for our future", it is clear he will do anything it takes to complete the mission, get the pregnant girl to safety, and save humankind. Though the premise my group is using is very different from 'Children of Men', I am hoping that we can relate information in a similarly straightforward but creative way: 'Children of Men' is shot with largely documentary-style technique, making it more realistic and therefore more comparable to modern-day concerns. Also, we will likely also use grim street corners and alleys to convey the corresponding despair of the people. The simple text appearing onscreen will be a good way of getting the meaning across, and hopefully our music, lighting, and cinematographic effects will lend the appropriate emotions to the trailer.