So I started writing this on Monday. I was the only one in the group with a computer that first day so I kind of got a mini advantage. I started to come up with a basic concept for what the movie would be about. The project we were given came with a template, "You are to tell the story of a couple, from first meeting to break-up, in a series of shots overlaid with music", so there wasn't make planning in that sense other than to just fill in the blanks. You can see if you watch my movie all the blanks that were filled in. I started to look up the types of shots that we were required to use. I knew most of them, and a lot of them were self explanatory. I found a page in the Shot to Shot book that explained a lot with a picture that was given.
I had already written out a script before I started to figure out the shots I would film. I had a general idea for some of the more interesting shots, like when Ingrid looks up from the Bible and sees Regina and other more complex shots. It was the next day, Tuesday, that I started to draw, and write out more in more detail what it was I had to film. I wrote it out in Celtx but I also started to draw it. The stuff that I drew really didn't help me at all, I use it for one scene, but by the middle of filming it I just stopped using it.
I realized that I couldn't think out every shot like I had planned to do because the space that I would be in was limited. I realized that once I started filming inside I couldn't just put the camera wherever I wanted to and that if I filmed from certain angles then you would see something that you weren't supposed to.
This is the Celtx of what I wrote.
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EXT. Park
Far Shot: Ingrid Swinging
INGRID, a 14 year girl, is swinging on the swings alone while she reads the bible.
CLOSE UP: Ingrid's face.
Ingrid looks up from her book.
POV: Looking at Regina
Ingrid puts down her book and her eyes meet REGINA'S, a 16 year old girl, eyes. Regina is smiling.
CLOSE UP: Ingrid's face
Ingrid smiles back.
INT. Restaurant
Far Shot: Restaurant Table
Regina is sitting at the restaurant table.
EXTREME CLOSE UP: Regina's Face from her mirror
She takes out her mirror and fixes her hair.
MEDIUM: Regina at the TABLE
She takes her phone out of her pocket and checks it.
Full Shot: Restaurant Table
Ingrid enters. A hostess directs her to her table. She looks around, nervous. Regina looks up from her phone.
OVER THE SHOULDER: Regina Looking towards Ingrid
The hostess leads Ingrid to the table. She sits down. Ingrid continues to look around nervous.
MEDIUM: Regina and Ingrid
Regina takes Ingrid's hand and Ingrid stops focusing on everyone else.
EXT. PARK
TWO-SHOT: Ingrid and Regina on Jungle Gym
The two girls and laying down on the jungle gym. Regina talks. Ingrid is holding onto her bible. Regina puts her head on Ingrid's shoulder.
POV: Regina To Ingrid
Regina looks at Ingrid. Ingrid clutches her bible a little more.
INT. Basement
OVER THE SHOULDER: Ingrid and Regina Watching TV
Ingrid and Regina sit a good distance from each other. A TV show is playing.
MEDIUM: Ingrid and Regina
They are holding hands but other than that they are not being romantic. Ingrid seems focused on the show. Regina looks back at Ingrid's face.
Full Shot: Ingrid and Regina
Regina moves closer to Ingrid and puts her arm around her. Ingrid smiles and gets comfortable under Regina's arm. Regina kisses her on the check and then Ingrid turns and smiles, then proceeding to cuddle with Regina. Ingrid puts down the bible she has been holding.
PAN: To bible
EXT. PARK
Tracking: Regina walks toward the swing
Ingrid is swinging on the swing where they meet. She is again reading her bible.
CLOSE UP: Ingrid Looks up from bible
Ingrid looks up from her book.
POV: Ingrid to Regina
Ingrid looks at Regina who has a smile that fades as she begins to look down.
Far Shot: Ingrid and Regina
Ingrid touches Regina's hand, and hands her the bible.
Full: Regina and Ingrid
Regina takes the bible and looks down at it as Ingrid begins to try to explain to her something. Ingrid repeatedly points toward the sky.
CLOSE UP: Ingrid
She says very clearly so we can see it without hearing her say it "It's not right".
TWO-SHOT: Regina and Ingrid
Regina smacks Ingrid and Ingrid drops the Bible and runs away.
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When I was filming the break up scene I had very limited options on where I could put the camera. I put a sheet over the wall to try and cover the couch, where the two of the had been before, because that would have looked very weird. That last scene originally wasn't part of the break up, it was part of the two falling in love. The break up was supposed to happen at the park, next to the swings where they first meet, but it was far too cold for us to stay outside that day and my fingers started to feel numb so I decided to just forget about that last scene and try to figure something out when I had gotten home. I started filming the dinner scene and then I realized that that scene could be the break up scene because originally that was the first date that the two went on and she was supposed to be nervous, and once we started filming I saw that I could turn that nervousness into a nervousness into a nervousness about having to break up rather than the fact that it was their first date. It worked out pretty well too, better than I thought it would because I had been improvising the last part.
So in editing I was teaching myself as I was going. I am still relatively new to the Mac ownership world, so I didn't know how to use IMovie but I was able to figure it out with the help of google and YouTube. I originally had picked out a song called Pour Que L'amour Me Quitte by Camille, but that was too short so I changed it to Ingrid Michaelson's version of Elvis's "Can't Help Falling In Love" . I had made a list of songs that I could use while I was writing and working on this movie. I wanted a song that wasn't too happy because my movie was generally depressing. I had a list of 23 songs that I could see work with this movie but I settled for this one because it was the correct amount of time that I needed for my movie, if you notice the song ends exactly when the movie ends, which is why I have not credits, and because the song is about love. Ingrid wants to love Regina but can't because she feels that it's wrong, and the song is about not being able to resist the falling in love.
So here it is...
