Script...

      When I write I like to be in a particular setting. My setting is key to my mood and thus my writing. With that being said, what's a better time to write than when on an airplane at 1:00 A.M.?

       On the plane home from my spring break trip, I felt very inspired. I had just spent a week out of the country with some of my closest friends, at a place similar to one of my key inspirations for this film. I knocked out the whole script (for the most part). Not everything in my film will be scripted as I want some scenes to capture real causal conversations between my friends. I want to capture real laughter and fake despair in my end scene.

      When writing I referred back to my copy of Into the Wild as well as some of Jack Kerouac's lines and quotes. They really helped me for the scenes where my character would be reflecting on his current life.

       I'm not going to lie it was hard to not sound cheesy, as well as just overall pretty difficult to know what my characters need to say and when they need to say it.

Lonely Bird: The Website update

     I began creating the website a few days ago. Since I have yet to film (I know I suck), my home page has default photos provided by Wix. I chose Wix to build my website, because I’ve ised it for most project and know it really well. I also feel as if it gives me a lot freedom to create exactly what I want.

     I’ve decided to share a sneak peek of my website with you guys. I’m sure it’ll be different when you see the final piece, but for now here’s the homepage and the credits page.





     The homepage has the title boldly displayed in a light blue. The title of the film lies over the photo(s) i will be including. Below is an “enter” button that leads viewers into the rest of the website. The website is easy to navigate, as at the top there will be an icon Tha\T’ can be clicked on to see the various pages my website includes.

     The credits page will list everyone who helped (cast, crew, etc.). There probably won’t be too long of a list as i will be doing a lot by myself, but it’s always important to shed light on everyone who contributes, as films wouldn’t be what they are without even the smallest helper.

Lonely Bird: The Website

      I've begun to create the website for Lonely Bird. Not knowing what exactly belongs on the website of a short film, I included an about the film page, a donation page, and a credits page.

      Under the about page, I'm going to include a short description of the film and possibly a short description of myself. I decided to include a donation page, where I will include a description of why people should support smaller artists. I believe the donation page can be very useful and beneficial to someone like me, an independent/low budget director/producer. the credits page will have the cast and crew listed, with a word from myself, thanking everyone. I want to include a page that links and gives viewers access to my other (non existent) short films. This way my fans are able to easily check out other pieces I've created.

      I looked up the websites of The Silent Child and My Nephew Emmett. Both short films are award-winning and both have very similar websites. The home page has a photo which I’m assuming is a shot from the film along with the title. Both websites are very simple and have similar pages: about, etc. My website will also have a home page that contains a photo (or two) from my film. The photos I️ choose will be significant in representing the film, as well as aesthetically pleasing. I️ will also have the title boldly placed.

Cast and Crew

As of now, these are the only people who will be assisting me with my film, this could be changed later, by either adding or reducing people.






Cast and character description:

- Main Character: Alex Lynch played by Julio Lemus (subject to change): has family issues, no siblings, has friends but none he really cares to lose or not, free spirited, trusting, intelligent, lonely, always looking for more

- Main character's parents: Mary Lynch and Mark Lynch played by my friend's parents: tough on their only child, never showed Alex much attention, cares in a weird way, critical people 

- Extras: The nomads played by my friends (about 5 or 6): free spirited, they've all been with one another at different times as this group almost takes in lost souls, very friendly, outgoing, not enough for Alex though, all similar in age, all in the group for their own reasons

Crew:

- Music: As of now I have my sister's boyfriend (Christian) making me some music, but it's hard for me to convey to him exactly what I'm looking for. On top of that, he works 3 jobs, so I may just resort to bensound or epidemic sound

- Cinematographer: Me, for a view scenes I may bring in a friend or two to help me get multiple angles

- Writer: Me, though I will run it by my friends who enjoy writing and ask them for tips, etc.

- Editor: Me

- Set Designer: Me, I plan of gathering objects from home and taking them to my sets, I will also go buy GoodWill and see if there are any items that would fit nicely 

Blue and yellow

     The color blue is usually associated with sadness, where as the color yellow usually symbolizes happiness.

     With that being said, the beginning of my film when Alex is alone, I would like to have the scene softly tinted blue. I will do this by adjusting the white balance on my camera or maybe adding a filter, depending on what looks better. When Alex comes across the nomads I would like to have a yellow tint, to represent his new found happiness, but by the end of the film the the tint will start returning back to blue representing a cycle of emotions and the inability to escape past issues, as he will have his epiphany realizing he can't just tape over his past.

Example:

This is just old footage I had from a previous project. I was testing the coloring on iMovie as I think I prefer to use this rather than messing with the white balance in case I change my mind on using the tints.

     Since, I now plan to include a few flashbacks into my film, I need to figure out how I plan to incorporate them. Whether I make them black and white, sepia, vignette, fade into them, etc.

     I'd like to have the flashbacks layered over Alec as he walks, like such:

This too is just old footage I had from the same project. I used it just to figure out layering 

on iMovie not expecting it to be so simple. Thankfully it was that easy. 

I think this would look really cool and isn't the typical cheesy black and white flashback, it may be a bit cheesy, but I like the product it produces. It feels reminiscent of some 'old' films I enjoy. 

Revisions

      After speaking about my film with multiple people, I've decided to change up the story a bit.

      My main character will still be a hitchhiker with a broken family. I originally wasn't going to visually show his old family life and was going to indicate it through the script, but now I'm going to show flashbacks of old negative interactions. These thoughts will occur as he's still alone, lost, looking for somewhere to go. By including these flashbacks, I will also be able to fill time, so a large majority is not my main character walking around alone.

     Also, when he does come across what he thinks is his new found happiness aka his nomad friends,  he will be happy and believe that this is all he needs, but now he will only believe that temporarily. At the end he will come to the conclusion that he cannot completely escape the issue of his past by filling holes, he will realize that he has to manually heal his past problems to be able to completely move forward. His realization will come when gathered with his friends, I'll show him in the center of all of them, spaced out, while they carry on having  a good time. I will slowly zoom into him, while incorporating a voiceover of his thoughts and his epiphany and then end the film that way.

Lonely Bird

The name of a film, is a HUGE aspect, as you must already know. It must represent the whole being of the film, but with still be careful in not being to blatant. 

The title that I have decided to use (at least for now) was one I took some time to come up with. I looked at some of my favorite songs, that would also give me inspiration for the film, thinking of names similar to song titles. 

I came up with the name Lonely Bird. Birds are often symbolic of freedom and perspective. Birds fly solo, but also fly in flocks. Lonely comes from the idea of the life lived by nomads and well my hitchhiker. I don't have much os backstory for him, yet, but he is most definitely a lonely soul looking for a home.

location location location

     Living in the suburbs of South Florida makes finding a woodsy area a bit difficult, but we do have some parks that I think could be pretty good fits for my film.

     There's a park near known as Markham park, here there are small areas of trees, that could be used as the location for the home of the friends that my main character will meet.

     There is also a section of the park that has a long road surrounded by trees that people don't use often.  This road will probably be used for the hitchhiking scenes, aka where he attempts to get rides but is ignored.

Markham is a beautiful place to be during sunset and during the golden hour. Both times of day are ideal for the atmosphere and feel I want my film to portray.

On the Road

      I've put off watching the On the Road for some time now, due tot he fact that I've always wanted to read the book and the movie just doesn't seem incredibly great, but it too seems to have the adventurous vibe I'm looking for. So with that being said I must take the leap and watch it.

       I'll be back later with an update on my thoughts and to let you guys know if any inspiration was drawn from the film.

Update: The film really wasn't that great, but an adaptation of a very well known novel like this one probably shouldn't have been done in the first place, unless it was going to be done incredibly well. So much disrespect, shake my head.

But, having purchased the book months ago, I will probably resort to it for inspiration when writing my script/characters. Also, having read Into the Wild, I will use that as inspiration for my script and characters as well.

Quotes from Into the Wild that have stuck with me:

So, in the beginning of each chapter, the author includes an excerpt of writers that seem to have an importance to Chris McCandless. One is by Jack London, as the book claims a quote reading "Jack London is King" was carved into wood nearby the famous bus.

"Dark spruce forest frowned on either side the frozen waterway. The trees had been stripped by a recent wind of their white covering of frost, and they seemed to lean toward each other, black and ominous, in the fading light. A vast silence reigned over the land. The land itself was a desolation, lifeless, without movement, so lone and cold that the spirit of it was not even that of sadness. There was a hint in it of laughter, but of a laughter more terrible than any sadness -- a laughter that was mirthless as the smile of the Sphinx, a laughter cold as the frost and partaking of the grimness of infallibility. It was the masterful and incommunicable wisdom of eternity laughing at the futility of life and the effort of life."

Into the Inspiration

      SO, I've been looking over some shots from Captain Fantastic and Into the Wild and I after seeing this photo:

 I think I've decided to channel my inner adventurer and create a film about a hitchhiker. I haven't quite figured out anything else, but I really want the film to revolve around a hitchhiker.

I went to a music festival this weekend and they had a section known as "The Tea Lounge." This section of the festival was in a small area surrounded by trees, but there were couches, coffee tables, old TVs, tea sets hanging from the trees, etc. and I think it would be awesome to have the hitchhiker come across a place like this where he meets tons of people who decide to take him in.

My idea is barely an idea, but I'm excited for it. So I'll just leave some photos below, to make it easier for you guys to understand my inspiration and thoughts.

Almost ideas

I’ve been thinking about some ideas for my short film and I’ve come up with a few things.

- a boy who day dreams so often and so vividly he begins to have trouble differentiating reality and day dreams
- an adaptation of a book, poem, or play (not exactly sure which book/poem/play)
             - I was thinking maybe The Stranger (because I also had the idea of a french short film) or the play No Exit (also french-y)
- a story of a group of friends who take a trip to Colombia (as I will be taking one with my friends over spring break)
- a film that would be inspired by Into the Wild/Captain Fantastic
             - I really like this idea because I feel like I could have a lot of fun with mise en scene elements and get some really cool shots

Who am I?

I am an 18 year old, high school senior who will morph into a director/producer/editor/etc. for the duration of 7 weeks. 

So far I have absolutely no idea what I will be creating, but have created a loose schedule that will hopefully, maybe keep me on track. 

Key: 

Planning - In regards to brainstorming, casting, location, costuming, mise en scene, research, overall brand idea I wish to achieve, outline, story board, etc. 

Blog - I plan to update this blog at least 3 times a week, but will hopefully reach up to 4 or 5. It'll change weekly depending on what I need to focus on.

I think I'll probably end up doing a little bit of everything through my 7 weeks, instead of having specific weeks for editing, filming, creating the website/post card, etc.