CCR 1 of 4 (omg no way)

     soooooooooooo... In addition to the film opening I have to do this apparently (i knew this but it sounds funny if im completely oblivious). so yeah

this is how i feel when joking on the blog

Ok, so, the first question for the CCR talks about how my opening handles genre conventions and how it represents social issues. One of those parts is infinitely easier than the other, which is going to suck, but, whatevah.

    Ok, the first part of the question is going to be rough. My opening follows genre conventions because of its focus on character development and emotion, which are typical characteristics for films of the genre. Obviously, since this is just the film opening, there isn't going to be character development....... like almost at all (except for when Derek gets mad because Will doesn't want to hang out with him), but, I do leave hints at potential development through the ending scenes and the behavior that Will presents...

    Ok, so the second part of the question is pretty chill just cause the representation legit stares at you right in the face. It's mental health bitches!!!1111! 

i need space for photos on my blog..

    ok, so im being serious now, yeah, Will has a mental illness. Will has severe deppression to the extent where he doesn't want to hang out with anyone or even go outside, keeping him holed up in his room all day. Yeah, not fun. It's a coping mechanism, or a way to combat the negative effects of mental illness. Not all coping mechanisms are good though. Like, this one. Will's life is going right past him. He is a teenager he is supposed to be experinece his life to the fullest extent, but, instead lives like crap!

    I have a solid enough grasp on the question to make a script now. I'll post the script when I have them all done. But, that's enough for my yapping about this question for now. Bye biscuits.

Group Meeting #2

    We're back with another group meeting! This time, it's with a new group! My group consisted of Maia, Amanda, Noah, Jade, and Brennan! We all shared our ideas, including some of the footage we had. For me, the group meeting was really helpful as I know have some ideas for my CCR!

LET'S GO

    Ok, so, first, i'm just going to talk about the ideas other people had and then my own idea and others reactions.

    Brennan went first and he explained his project, where a friend murder's his classmate, where he worked on a project by himself, where his friend was supposed to help him. Overall, I found the idea to be pretty funny because I can definetely relate to having terrible partners during class projects. I liked the idea, and, from the footage I saw, it looked good. I am excited to see how his projects turns out!

    Next, Jade went. Her projects revolved around a girl in a mental asylum who gets questioned by the police. The aspect that really stood out to me when she was sharing was how she filmed the "jail cell". She used her dogs fence and put it up on a table to create the allusion of an a character behind bars, which I though was very clever.

    Then, Noah went. He hasn't filmed yet, but he did explain his idea. Lowkey... I didn't really like it that much, but.... I was too scared to say that straight up so I kinda just kept it to myself. The title is "Straight A's". It's about this high school student asshole, who is also rich. That just sounds not fun to watch. But, still, I am waiting to be surprised.

    Then, Maya went. We saw some of her footage of her film, Maia, Unfiltered. It is a story of a girl who gets bullied because she is still seen as childish. I really liked the idea for her story and her footage looked really good aswell! I am very excited to see how her project turns out!

    Finally, Amanda went. She discussed her project about a girl who breaks her ankle doing Taikwando. It's called Mind over Matt. I thought it was a neat idea and I am happy to see how it turns out!

Ok my turn now

    omg they loved the idea(i think). When I explained my script the group smiled when I revealed that Derek was outside, even though it's kinda a simple plot device, butttt...... its okay. I showed them some of my own footage and I explained how I did not really have any ideas for my CCR. But, it's okay cause they gave me some! The best advice(and the advice I will probably use) for the CCR is fan-mail where people come up with theories as to what the letter actually says at the end of my film, where I can discuss what truly is in the letter, among other information, which goes with the questions I much answer. I reallllyyyyy like this idea. I feel like it is creative and could use it effectively to answer questions. I also like how it ties back into my story. it's kinda neat.

Me and da group

    Anyways that's gonna be it for you biscuits. (that's something that I'm going to start doing now)(like calling you biscuits) (If you don't like it then just leave you don't have to keep reading these). I am highkey procrastinating hard because it feels like nothing matter until this school field trip/competition that I am SO excited for. ok bye. 

The Challenges of the Second Scene...

     Now that I have gone over scene 1, you already know what the deal is. We filmed scene 2 first due to the timing and how scene 2 had to take place during the day. I did not know how much time it would take to film scene 1 and if we would have enough time before the sun went down... yahtah, yahtah, yahtah. That's boring and lowkey just a recap of the last blog post and I know that you all read the last post so yeah... ok... let's start getting to the new stuff.

LETS GO

    Ok, so the main challenge of this scene was the sun. Let me explain. So, the sun outside on Saturday was strong as hell. Like brightly burning bright outside. It was painful for my eyes to be outside. It would have been a great day to go to the beach, but, not a great day to film with a painfully average camera. For every shot, it's like I had to choose between lighting Derek or lighting the background. This was a problem. But, fortunately, I find solutions. So, let me explain the solution to this problem and one more challenge that arose that the solution to the previous problem could not solve.

    The last part of the last paragraph probably made no sense, but, let me explain. I found the solution to the first problem. It was the reflector. I was shooting with Wesley (the actor playing Derek) facing towards the house, in which the trees in front of my house blocked the sunshine of the sun, leaving Wesley dark with a normal background. But, if I turned up the ISO (basically the camera's brightness function), Wesley's face would be normal, but, the background would be bright. I did not want any of these options. But, the first option is the most probable. This is because, using the reflector, I could hold the reflector in the sun and aim the rays back at Wesley's face, making his face light up. Problem solved! Granted, the shot looks like Wesley is placed in front of a green screen, where the background seems separated from himself, but it is the best I could do with my current equipment and experience. But, I am still proud of myself for coming up with a solution.

    Unfortunately, the problems don't stop there. The second part of the scene happens on my front porch, where Wesley faces my door and drops off a letter. The problem is that Wesley is facing the door, so, there is no way to get sunshine on his face. This is an issue because my shots that I wanted to shoot relied on Wesley's face being in the frame. However, I could not film those shots now and needed to pivot. On the spot, I needed to be creative and come up with new shots to replace the old ones, without showing Wesley's face because of the uneven exposure of the previous shots I had in mind. I ended up shooting a lot of close-ups. Close-ups of mainly the letter in his hand as he walks towards the door and close-ups of the letter as he drops it on the doorstep. I tried getting plenty of angles and I thought I did pretty well in doing that. I just wish I could have fixed in somehow in production, even though I do not think it would be possible with my current equipment. But I realize that it's ok. This is a student production and I realize that there are going to be many problems with my end result that are simply out of my control. I know that and I am fine with it. I bet I am still going to be happy with the final result, no matter what critiques are thrown my way.

On the Set of Scene 2

    Those were the issues that I had with the production of the second scene. Problems are bound to happen on every production and I felt like I did pretty good overcoming the solutions in this scene. I am proud of myself for that. Enough of me ranting, I am going to be leaving now. I will be seing you all in the near future. Seeyah!

The Challenges in Scene 1...

     Ok, so, we just finished the production for the film. It's a wrap!!! It was a lot of fun and much less stress-inducing than I thought! With that said, there were some difficulties in our production that I feel the need to highlight.

P.S.- I am going to be splitting production into two different scenes. Scene 1 will be the scene of Will inside his room, talking with Derek. Scene 2 will be the scene of Derek dropping the letter off at Will's doorstep.

LETS GO

    Before we begin, I think it's good to mention how we produced scene 2 before scene 1. The main reason I did this was due to time and locations. Wesley and I began filming at about 2 in the afternoon. I knew I wanted the plot for the opening to take place during the day. I was worried that I wouldn't have enough time to film the first scene before getting to the second scene, where it would already dark outside. So, I decided to film the second scene first to effectively film during the day without worrying about time (even though it still became an issue). Also, the first scene did not need to take place during a specific climate since it's all inside.

    Anyways, the first challenge arose with the lighting. My room is incredibly dark. The tube light was strong enough to light up my face, but, the shot looked to dramatic. I ended up turning on the light in my room and matching the kelvin from the tube light with the one in my room, so that they had the same kind of light. I shot brighter than what is going to be the final product, just so I could fix any lighting in post-production and editing.

    The second challenge existed with the tube light, which gave rise to a whole other array of problems. Halfway through the production of the first scene, the tube light ran out of battery. Fortunately, we had a charger to charge the light. I thought we were able to film while charging the light, but, I was wrong. We had to wait out the charging until it was charged to a sufficient amount in order to keep filming. "This wasn't going to be a problem", I thought. Wesley and I had nowhere to go. We could wait out the light and finish the filming in no time. 

    That was until my parents came in and reminded me of something, which made me feel like a bad son. My family and I were going out for dinner at 5:30. It was 5:00. I had forgetten of this event. I began stressing. But, I calmed down and found a solution. I still needed to film the still shots of various objects around the room and a shot of both Will and the phone in the frame. So, while waiting for the tube light to charge, I filmed the still shots around the room. 

    How could you do that without the tube light if your room was so dark?, you might ask. Well, I realized something and it's a setting in my camera that I never bothered to touch before filming these stills. It was the shutter speed. Shutter speed is the time the shutter of the camera opens for the sensor to capture light. For my camera, shutter speed is recorded in fractions of a second. Typically, the rule is to always put your shutter speed at twice the frames per second you are shooting at. I was shooting at 30 fps, so, I put my shutter speed at 1/60 and never touched the setting. But, I know shutter speed affects the brightness of the shot. So, by putting the shutter speed down to around 1/8, the shot looked a lot brighter, which fixed my problem with filming in the dark. 

    However, the issue with a low shutter speed is the presence of unnatural movement in the shot, where subjects that move look sludgy and awkward, which is why I could not use the 1/8 shutter speed for the other shots besides the still shots around the room. So, Wesley and I did have to wait until the tube light was charged. Once it was charged, we filmed the final shot quickly and everything turned out fine. On top of that, I had enough time to get ready for my family dinner!

On the Set of Scene 1

    Anyways, that's that for this blog. I will go over the challenges in second scene tommorow, so, I will see you all when I get there. Peace!

Introducing... Deer Studios!

     For the portfolio Project, I needed to create a studio logo. Personally, I really wanted to make an animated graphic for the logo, but I am not skilled enough to make them. Since I want to make them myself, I feel as though making a still logo is the next best option. Sooooo, yeah.

Deer Studios Presents

    I made this logo in Canva. An online creative resource that can be used to create images, resumes, graphics, videos, and much, much more. As for me, I used to make the logo for the "fake" production company that created the film! I say "fake", but the truth is, I am Deer Studios and it is the first production they've ever released! I chose the name "Deer Studios" because Dierking is my last name. All my life, people have made jokes about my last name and how it relates to Deer. So, I took control of the joke and made it my own studio! Take that, everyone!

    I am like the logo that I created, especially since graphic design is definitely not my strong suit. It took me around 20 minutes,  just because I am not the most experienced with using canva. I ended up finding non-copyrighted clip art of a deer and added quite a bit of transparency and added the deer to the background of the text. The text was put in first, using the font, "Inlander Rough". On top of that, I added the neon effect from canva, and put it on the lowest setting, just so the text glows. I personally think the effect looks cool when used at a low quantity. But then, I realized that I need the logo on a black background since that is typical of studio logos. So, I changed all of the white images and texts to white! 

    Anyways, that's all I have for today! Wesley and I still plan to film on Saturday, so the next time I appear, you guys will see some photos and some discussion about production, which is fun, but also kinda scary... But I am sure it will turn out great. Alright, enough yapping, I'll see you guys later.

My Cast & Equipment

    Ok, it's time to get physical. that sounded weird. i'm sorry.

    

    Ok. Correction: It's time I talk about the physical aspects behind the production of my film. Not all of them, but my cast and the equipment that I will be what I am talking about.

LET'S GO

    For my, cast me and my friend will be acting in the film. I will be playing Will, the anti-social teenager living in his room. My friend will be playing my other character, Derek. I am kind of nervous about acting and directing in one film, while trying by the cinematography, but the actor that I asked to help me is confidant enough to assist in cinematography, directing, and anything else on the production.

    With that said, the actor that agreed to help me is Wesley Heuer. He is a good friend and is also part of the Television Production program that I am part of at this school. Anyways, he will be playing Derek and helping me film the shots with Will in it (which will be played by me), since it may be difficult to both film and act at the same time.

Wesley Heuer (The Actor Playing Derek)

     As for the equipment that I will be using, I will be using the equipment that my Television Production class hands out, which I can check out. So, for the equipment, I will check out the following:

• T8 DSLR Canon Camera
• T8 Camera Battery and Charger
• Tripod
• Hollyland Lark M2
• Tube light
• Sunlight reflector

    The camera is a piece of equipment I am very familiar with, which will make it easy to use, along with the tripod, to capture steady shots, and the Hollyland Lark M2, which will be used to capture the audio for the first scene in my script. The tube light and reflectors may be a challenge to use, since I am not the most familiar with modifying lighting to use for specific scenes. The lighting in the room will be dark and the lighting outside will be bright. But, I am excited to learn some more about lightning and improving my skills with this type of production. 

T8 Camera

     That's going to be it for today. I will let you know how my filming goes when I film this Saturday! I will see you all later! ✌️ 

Creating my own sound and some other stuff aswell!!!

     There are two different scenes for the short film, which include the scene with the characters talking on the phone and the scene where Derek leaves a card at the doorstep. Both of these scenes will contain very different aspects of sound.

    All sound effects and music will be taken from Epidemic Sound as I have a subscription for the use of that platform. I will mention this fact when I create the opening credits for my opening as well.

    The first scene will contain no music and highlight how quiet Will's room truly is. It showcases just how far he's gone to live his life in complete isolation. The only sounds I wish to use are sounds of the air-conditioning within the room, the fan moving, and footsteps of Will walking as he prances around his room. These sounds will all be taken by Epidemic Sound.

    The second scene will only be accompanied by non-diagetic music, which will build up until the title card. I tried finding music that was hopeful, but, still goes along with the darker tones presented in the first part of the opening. Currently, I have found one song that I would like to use for this part of the opening. However, it does take a long time to get to the drop. But, with some clever editing techniques I can easily skip to the last part while having the build-up to the drop in the opening. But, I really like this music.

Here is the Link. Check it out! It's Circumstances by Magnus Ludvigsson on Epidemic Sound!

Scene2Music

Note: This is the full song. I will be editing this music so that it does not include its full runtime. This will be done during the editing process.

    

I'm gonna make myself look like trash...

    Yeah, I'm going to be the one acting as the shut-in. I feel like I could play the part well and the other actor who is going to be on set can also help me film. But, that's not what this post is about.

    

    I have an outfit picked out for myself(which I will show a picture later). The pants will not be visible in the shot, so I don't have to worry about anything below my waist. The other actor will be wearing a polo and jeans. I want them to wear a black polo, but, I haven't yet asked if they have one. If they don't, it's okay, but, it is the color I want them to wear, just to showcase his professionalism, which conflicts with Will's unproffesional attire.

    Anyways, the outfit that I am wearing is a baggy shirt that my dad gave me a long time ago. I never wear it since it genuinely massive on me, but, I am going to be using it here because it showcases a sense of comfort for my character, just because the shirt should not be worn anywhere in public. It is also good to mention that the shirt has holes in it, which I think also adds a lot to the character, showing how he is too lazy to get another shirt/outfit and would rather live with broken clothing.

   It should be noted that the shirt is wrinked, also adding to the fact that Will could iron out the wrinkles or get another shirt, but, would rather live in ignorance.

    Lastly, my hair will be rather messy. Before filming, I will wet my hair and use a towel to scrunch my hair around.

Here is the shirt that I will be wearing

(Wrinkled and has Holes in it)

Im going to have to make my room look like trash...

     I mean, it kind of already is, but, I have to make it more like trash.

     I say that because my room is almost always dirty just because I am often too lazy to put away clothes or neaten anything up. So, making the set design for the film should not be too difficult. I have a few ideas that I want to implement into my film. So, I will go over them now.

                                  LET'S GO

LINK TO MY SCRIPT

     To start, I want to have trash bags laying in a corner for a shot and for the set. This showcases how Will does not even leave his room to take out the trash, and would rather pile up his trash in bags instead of leaving his room. Alluding to this through envrionmental storytelling is something I want to implement into my film.

    

    I also want my set to be relatively dark. In the plot, Will just woke up, so, having a dark room is only fitting for someone waking up from a slumber. The only issue with making the room dark is the lighting. I have a grasp of how to light my scenes, but is something that I will have to spend some more time researching and setting up for the actual production day. I want the shots to look dark, but, I still want the viewers to see Will. I think I will be able to pull it off but, it will obviously be difficult. But, I am willing to be challenged!

    As for the outside, my suburban neighborhood during the daytime will work just fine. 

    I've begun asking some friends to act in my film and I want to knock out production all in one day. I have also worked on a shot list, which I hope to finish in the coming days! Sorry for the short post, but I have been rather busy with classes and extracurriculars. That's it for now... See ya!

My Characters...

    Hi everyone! Obviously, this is only my film opening, but, I think it's still important to discuss both in my characters in detail, and how they relate to eachother in the opening. Let's go!

WAIT

please read the script before reading about these characters

The script is down below.

Not At Will Script

    Will is the main character of my film. He is a shut-in, spending his days stuck up in his room. His clothes are baggy and barely fit. His hair is messy and he is almost never presentable. He became a shut-in after an event in his passed took place, in which he developed mental illnesses that forbid him from stepping out into a world he perceives as stress-inducing, which is why he rejects Derek in his proposal to hang out with him.

       Speaking of Derek, let's talk about him now. Derek is a character I wrote to be very social and very caring, which go hand-in-hand. He is constantly busy with social activities, like working at his job, in which he goes to before attempting to hang out with Will. The way he cares is very direct. He is a character who needs affirmation. He knows what Will is going through, yet, still wants the best from him. He understands that he has a mental illness, but still cares for his friend, even if he does not want to hang out with him, even if it makes him a little upset. He is also direct in the way he cares for others, giving Will a card at the end of the film opening. The audience will have no idea what is in the card, but, I think Derek would give him a card of affirmations, pushing him to keep going, reminding him that there is a friend out for him. Since I am the writer, whatever I saw become the law in the narrative, so...... yeah.

    I wrote the two characters a perfect contrasts of eachother. Derek seems to have his life figured out, while Will seems to be very far behind due to the coping mechnaisms of his mental illness. Derek still holds on to the version of Will that he knew before his accident, which is why he still contacts Will, which Will rejects because he does not want to go out in the real world. It is an endless cycle of rejection, but, Derek understands and he also understands that one day, Will will say yes, and they will be reunited. Also, Will's accident is still a mystery to me too, but, this is only the opening, so I do not really have to worry about writing the cause of his mental illness in the opening. But, just know that, whatever the accident may be, it must be serious enough to cause such an extreme coping mechanism within Will. 

    That's all for my rant today! Seeyah!

Media theory acktchually!

🤓... i wanted to put this emoji in my title, but, Blogger didn't let me, so I'm just putting it here(i hope you enjoyed that joke)

    Anyways, Hi everyone! Progress is going well on the project, so, I wanted to take the time to mention my project and its relation to a media theory we are actively discussing in the classroom!

    There are plenty of media theories that appear in my opening. But, I would like to discuss the prescence of narrative codes by Roland Barthes as my media theory.

An Image showing the Various Narrative Codes

    Narrative codes refer to common tropes or styles that are often presented in film. During my film opening, an Enigma Code is used. The Enigma Code refers to when the plot actively withholds certain ideas to retain its mystery.

    During my film opening, a character named Derek withholds information when he converses with his friend, Will. Derek states "I know what happened to you was rough", showcasing a conflict before the film opening. But, the film opening introduces the backstory as to the life Will had before the film opening, and, perhaps, even before he was a shut-in in the plot (if you havent read the script, this may not make sense, but, it's on the blog). Enigma Codes work so well in film openings as they intrigue viewers and foreshadow future events of the story. If my film opening was created into a feature-length film, I would discuss what happened to Will, but, as is, my audience will have no clue what the backstory of Will is, whch is the point. The point is to develop mystery and intrigue, while foreshadowing plot points that will happened earlier and later in the story.

    My progress is going well. Next week, I will contact one of my friends to act and help film as I want to be able to act as well. But, this is a discussion for another day. See you!

Script Completed!

     Hi everyone! I have a very important announcement!

    ahem... i made a script... (i know its not very exciting but im having fun)

    soooo..... yeah, that's what I did over the past day, and I am actually very happy with how it turned out.

    The script is a screenplay written by me and is about two characters. Will has just woken up to the sound of his phone ringing. He is getting a call from his friend, Derek, who just got off of work and wants to hangout. Will is a shut-in and has trouble with social skills. The script is the introductory conversation between these two characters. The link to the script is below. Enjoy!

WAIT!

Before I give you the script, I just want to say that the script is still in its early stages of development. I have read it through multiple times, but still want to acknowledge that this may not be the final iteration of the script. Thus, the title of the film is also still in the works and the current title is just a placeholder.

With that said, here is the link. (for real this time)

To Will Script

That's it for now, everyone. I will see you all in the future blog posts! Peace!

inspirations for my opening!

     I am going to love making this post about inspirations, but I know that it's going to make me sound like an absolute geek. But, I don't really care. I mean, the only people seeing these posts are my teacher and Cambridge, so... here we go.

    (deep inhale) (deep exhale)

    its two video games that gave me inspiration.

    I know what you're going to say... who is this kid and why does he think video games are an actual piece of media that can be used for inspiration for other, different, forms of media (this is sarcasm). I wouldn't blame you for thinking that, but let me explain (in detail) about these two video games that actually cover the topic of "shut-ins", which is the topic I wish to explore in my own piece of media that I am creating.

Let's go!

Persona 5 Royal

Promotional Art for Persona 5 Royal

    Persona 5 Royal is a video game released in 2019 and is an updated version of Persona 5, released in 2016. Persona 5 Royal was created by Atlus and is a Turn-Based Action JRPG (Japanese Role Playing Game). The narrative of the game surrounds The Phantom Thieves, an organization who hopes to reform society by changing the personalities of various evil figures, like corrupt politicans and kingpins of human traffickers. In the game, You play as the leader of The Phantom Thieves, where you must use the metaverse, a dimension where people's desires are manifested, to steal people's distorted desires, which revert them to their normal selves. Distorted desires are the source of evil that these figures embody. But, to enter the palace of these people, the group must know the persons' name, location on  where they perform their desires, and what they see this place as in the metaverse. This information is important to consider for the portion of the game I will be discussing.

    The game is broken up narratively into palaces, where you have a certain amount of time to steal their desires, or, as The Phantom Thieves call it, "Steal Hearts". Typically, The Phantom Thieves must do research on evil criminals to enter their palace.

    But, the 4th palace in the game features a girl named Futaba, who actually reaches out to The Phantom Thieves to change her own heart. At first, it was extremely strange to reach out to change your own personality. I mean, who in their right mind would do that? Well, she wasn't in her right mind. She is a shut-in and is one because she thought she was responsible for her own mother's suicide. This was
because she thought she was being bothersome to her mom because she was a child bringing her down because her mom had to continuously care for her. 

A Scene Depicting Futaba After The Phantom Thieves Steal her Heart

Futabas' Palace Consisting of a Pyramind in a desert

    She did not want anybody to know who she was and felt bad reaching out at all. She originally went by the nickname "Alibaba" to remain anonymous and eventually gave them all of the information they needed to enter her palace. Upon entering the palace, the group traversed through a pyramid in the metaverse to reach a tomb. A tomb is the cognition that Futaba believes she resides in because she believes that she will die being a shut-in as she will be one for the rest of her life. That is why she reaches out to The Phantom Thieves, to change her distorted desires of remaining in her room for her entire life. 

    Futaba's palace was really impactful as it showcased just how helpless Shut-ins actually are. The fact that Futuba had to reach out under an anonymous name and even had to reach out at all is extremely distressing. It just showcases how helpless these Shut-Ins can actually be and also showcases how they do not wish to live this way, but, have to in response to a traumatic event or a fear that they cannot overcome.

    Also, for anybody reading this, Persona 5 Royal and the whole series is actually really good. Even though the games can be extremely long, the writing is great and really makes you grow with the characters in ways that I've never seen in a video game. So, it's really great. 

(also as of writing this, I actually haven't finished the game... but, have gotten past Futaba's palace, which is why I'm writing this...but there could be things that are wrong, straight up. Sooooooo sorry not sorry. this is still one of my inspirations.)

Omori

Promotional Art for Omori

    I swear I cannot talk about this game without being genuinely distrought (I will talk about it later, but you should be prepared). I think it may be one of the darkest pieces of media I have ever interacted with. But, at the same time, it does such a good job with its psychological horror and its interpreations of mental illness.

   

    Omori is a game released in 2020 and was released and published by OMOCAT, an independent game studio. The independent game style really makes its prescense known in this game due to its unique artstyle, which blends pixel art with hand-drawn rough sketch, which looks incredibly good and also highlights the feeling of childhood nostalgia which is key to the integral themes and messages the game presents. The game is, once-again, a Turn-Based RPG, where you play as Sunny, a 16-year old teenager. As a typical teenager he... wait... no. He is a shut-in. He spends his days couped up in his room. In fact, he has spent 4 years in his room, where he doesn't go to school and occasionally steps out of his room to eat and use the bathroom. That's it.

Omori and His Friends look at a Mirror

    Sooooo, that's it? NO. In his room, he actually sleeps and goes into his dreams to have adventures with his friends, where he transforms into his alter-ego, Omori. Omori is the personification of coping habits that have been damaging his life for years. Their adventures take them through different worlds where they fights Space-boyfriends, whales, princesses, and everything in between. On the surface, it seemed as though these dreams are perfect, where one can live out their greatest fantasies. But, in reality, life continues on outside of his dream, in the true reality. Before he was a shut-in, Sunny used to have many friends, but after an incident where Sunny's sister, Mari (one of the many friends in the group) commited suicide, the group split apart. The group split apart because everyone grieves in different ways and they all needed space to handle the loss.

    Sunny took the news especially hard (by sheltering himself in this room) because he was her brother. But, he also took the news hard because Sunny was actually the one who killed Mari. In the final hours of the game, it is revealed that Mari did not commit suicide. Sunny killed her. In an argument over their musical duet (Mari and Sunny played instruments together), Sunny accidentaly pushed her sister down the stairs, killing her. Once that occured, one of Sunny's friends suggested that they set up her death as a suicide, so Sunny would not be responsible for her death.

Sunny's Room

   That's the true reason why Sunny shelters himself from the outside world, as punishment and guilt for killing his own blood in such a shameful way.

    When I played the game for the first time, I was haunted by its deep story and messaging about death and mental illness and really opened my eyes to the ways people grieve when faced with serious adversity, which leads into why I chose these narrative video games as my inspirations.

    I don't reccommend playing this game. I know I talked about it to a great extent. But, I pretty much just spoiled the game and the gameplay is not that great. The story is what kept me captivated throughout its runtime. But, if you are still interested, I do recommend picking up the game as there is some great writing and symbolism within the dream world that hint to Sunny's past and reality in the real world. 

WHY?

    The recent exposure to media focusing on the grieving process of shutting yourself in has has motivated me to create my own piece of media surrounding the issue. Many films and media nowadays does focus on mental illness, but, very few pieces of media actively discuss the signs of mental illness and the ways people cope with illness. In my opening, I hope to overtly discuss mental illness without directly telling the audience of the conditions the characters have. I feel as though it would be much more impactful if we showed the viewers the effects of mental illness through the portrayal of "shut ins".

    So, yeah, my film is about shut-ins, which I find to be a really unique topic which I hope to explore in my opening...

    That's it for this post! I know that it was a lot to process, but I love discussing video games, and these video games really intruge me, despite their dark tones. So, I'll be seing you all later for future posts, where I post my script and more! Bye!

Sources:

OMOCAT. (2020). Omori [Video game]. OMOCAT.

P-Studio. (2020). Persona 5 Royal [Video game]. Sega.

 

uh...group meeting #1

    Hi everyone, we had our first group meeting yesterday! yay! It was a lot of fun seeing everyone's ideas for their films and getting to talk with other teammates.

    The meetings were random, which wasn't going to be an issue because lowkey I don't really talk to anyone in my class, so I didn't really care about who was in my group. But, if you want to know, Maia, Mia, Isabela, Emma, Giovanna, and Vanessa.

Me and The Group

    Overall, the meeting was really informative and was actually really helpful for me. In fact, I actually have an idea for my opening now, which I am actually really happy with the idea I came up
with! But, the group helped me come up with the idea, so, I owe it to them for some inspiration.

    When it was my turn to present my ideas for my opening, I did not know what to talk about. Even though we had two full weeks to come up with ideas for the opening, I was still stuck thinking about a specific opening. I knew I wanted to do some kind of drama/comedy opening, so, I told the group I wanted to do this genre, but that I did not have a concrete idea.

    Out of the blue, I said that I wanted to have an opening about a conversation between two very different personalities, where one person is super extraverted and one person is super introverted, so it feels like a conversation that is very one sided. The group members liked the idea and gave suggestions about what the conversation should be about. One of suggestions alluded how the extraverted person should talk about a random fact. I liked the idea, but also said that the dialogue of "random facts" would not develop a complete narrative for the film. Overall, through our conversations we did not directly come up with an idea for me.

    I say "directly", because the idea for my film actually stemmed from someone elses discussion. You see, I was the fourth person in the group to present, but, the sixth person, Emma, actually had a pretty unique idea for their opening which indirectly gave me an idea. Emma had an idea for her thriller/horror opening where a woman is kept in a room that looks like a prison. Her idea was unique, but, it also reminded me of a phenomenon i've seen a lot in recent media I have consumed. The phenomenon of "Shut-Ins" is something I have seen a lot within the past few months and is a main topic I want to discuss in my film now. I actually find the idea really unique, where people shut themselves into their room, usually due to a traumatic event, where they would rather sit in the comfort of their room at all times rather than going out into the world, which they may perceive as dangerous. In my next blog, I want to talk about the media I have seen this phenomenon and actual research on the real-life cases of the problem.

    But, that's for another day. The group meeting was extremely helpful for me and I found an idea for my film! It was also great to give advice to other people, both because it was most likely helpful for them, and broaden my horizons into new film opening genres.

    But, yeah, that's about it for it for this blog... wait... in the group, we also talked about our blogs, and I kind of realized that I should be more "like myself" in these blogs. It's my blog, so, I realize that I don't have to be overly formal. So.... yeah, expect more jokes and stuff.

    Ok, that's actually it... progress is going well and I am actually really excited to make a script in the following days.

The Schedule for My Project!

    So, the project is due on March 17th, but I know what must go into this project, which is why I have decided to create a calendar of what I should be doing every week while making my project. The schedule is tentative and also includes a school field trip I will be participating in, but I still wish to be as accurate as I can with this schedule. So here is my schedule!

2/1-2/8

Create a full script for the film opening

Create a list of every prop and character outfits that need to be in the film

2/8-2/15

Locate and Contact all actors for the film

Find a fonts to use for the opening credits and title card

Make a Group Chat with all of the actors to effectively communicate with them

2/15-2/22

Get read to Film the Opening

Film the opening, most likely over the weekend

2/22-3/1

School Field Trip

Work on editing the Project

3/1-3/8

School Field Trip

Work on editing the project

Work on the CCR

3/8-3/15

Edit the Rest of the Project

Work on the CCR

3/15-3/17

Ask for critiques from my family and friends to see what they I can do after Production

Finish the CCR

This is just a brief outline of the schedule, but I still wish to follow this outline closely. I also want to make sure I film before going on my trip.