The call sheet is one of the most important document for my production, and since I am a type-A person who strives on organization, I want to make sure my call sheet is as efficient as possible. During our Chess Film, my call sheet went through a lot of renovations, I had about 4 different revisions because I didn't know how to properly create one. I decided to watch a couple of videos on call sheet making. Luckily, StudioBinder has a playlist filled with useful information for making a call sheet.
Anatomy of a Call Sheet- Studio Binder
Studio Binder made a video that simply breakdown everything that should be on a call sheet, which was very easy to follow by. I would've preferred to use their template, however I would have to pay to access it. An inexpensive solution was to find a free downloadable template on Google. I was able to find one that closely resembles StudioBinder's template, therefore I can still refer to the video whenever I need more guidance.
Additionally, I can watch this video for a more in-depth, detailed breakdown. While creating my call sheet, I can watch it at the same time to ensure I won't miss anything that is needed.
How to make a Call Sheet: Step-by-step walkthrough - Studio Binder
Soon enough, When my script has it's first revision, I will be able to get with the rest of my crew to finalize a call sheet for 4 filming days.
Before I began creating the script for our film, I wanted to get more insight on the basic elements of a film script and its anatomy.
Basic Elements of a Film Script for BEGINNERS! - Makayla Lysiak
This video simply break downs every aspect of a script, making it very effective to create our script while going through the video.
First, I wanted to create a real rough draft of the script. Then, after analyzing the script with the rest of my crew, we can decide if anything needs any revision. Hence where trials come in play.
Trial 1: on my own
I've came to a dead end, halfway into my script. I had to make a decision between two different scenes that would be used in that moment. In order to decide, I attempted a voice over of what I had so far; just to see how many seconds that took and how much I had left over. That would determine if I would take the scene that occupies more screen time or the scene that does not. During the voice over, I acted like how the actor should do it to decrease variables. Unfortunately, it seems this trial would over extend our limit, which is NOT what we want. Fortunately, this is just the planning phase, so trials are necessary. I have made plans to meet with my crew and discuss revisions, because we definitely need it.
Moreover, deciding which scene I ended up using also came down to the location. Because the plaza is not an actually school, it only looks like one, it wouldn't make sense to film the introduction of the other characters there. Therefore, I went with the scene that would have the introduction be set at Barnes & Nobles, a public bookstore, which will stand as the school's library. This also would've been easier cinematography wise as it is an interior shot, so every aspect will change but be more easier to control.
Screenshot of script rough draft 1
This is the complete rough rough draft, may be the first of many but I hope not. I will continue updating revisions that I have made with the script during further trials. So far the run down voice over took 2 minutes and 50 seconds. Big issue, but I feel that it is better to have more and cut down from it to get down to 2 minutes rather than to not have enough for the story. The parts that i have emphasized in red highlight are specific details that I need to discuss with the rest of my crew in order to decide, like the camera transitions for each shot.
Finding a cast amongst our peers did present some challenges. After doing plenty of research, we had a clear idea of what we needed to find in order to cast the best person for each role.
Character in our film include:
Dariah Clemonte - Main lead protagonist
Natalia Harding- Main lead antagonist
Quinton "Quincy" Malone - Second lead antagonist
Reagan Odelle - Third lead antagonist
Natasha Clemonte- Main lead's Mother
Bystander 1
Bystander 2
Old Friend 1
Old Friend 2
Main lead protagonist
What we wanted- we want someone who is on the shorter side. We would prefer someone with acting experience as her role is more serious. Ethnicity and race does not matter.
In order to find someone who could potentially fit this role, we looked at our school's drama club, people who are in the musical or have some acting experience. At first, we found the a really good fit for the role. But, come to find out that she was already taken by another group, we were too late. This nearly threw off everything and we struggled to find a replacement. Still we have found no one good enough to fill in the role; we may have to consider holding auditions at this point ahahaha.
Cady, Mean girls, looks less bedazzling (compared to others) but is still pretty, in the inside at least
Main Lead antagonist
What we wanted- we wanted some who is tall, preferably taller than everyone else but at least taller than the main lead protagonist. Ethnicity and race does not matter. She has to be conventionally attractive.
The other 2 antagonist
What we wanted- wants from the main antagonist applies to these two as well. Gender does not matter, but preferably we want one male and one female. The male will preferably be gay to represent heterogeneity in social class. The female does not have any requirements we are looking for, but we would like her to be diverse for the same reason as the male.
The main 3 antagonists from Mean Girls (because evil comes in 3s)
Main Lead's Mother
What we wanted- We want someone that looks older than the cast. She should at least be the same race/ethnicity as the main character. If we do not end up finding that, we can imply that she was adopted in the film.
Bystanders and Old Friends
What we wanted- We do not want anything in particular. They are glorified extras but they are still extras. We need people that can follow directions and match the vibe of the character; meaning, not stealing the show but not looking out of place.
Additionally, we would love to find someone with a mean of transportation (car) because it would be extremely beneficial for all of us, both transportation and filming wise.
Choosing locations for our film is very vital during our planning phase, especially since our film will be in a highschool setting. Figuring that out was one of our earlier obstacles; although we could film at the highschool we already attend, this school is not the fit that we need in terms of Mise en scene. Everything like the background, foreground, props and etc. should be taken in close detail as it also represents the characters. The students that attend the "school" (we will determine the name momentarily) are put to high social standards because of their surroundings. Students backgrounds will mostly consist of middle class and upper middle class, therefore, the students will hold themselves to higher titles and looks.
What we wanted:
We wanted to find a location that is not a school, but resembles one. Doing this makes it easier to film, so that there are no public distractions or noises and we have more public access to the location. I already had a location in mind that I often see, and feel that it could resemble a school. Fortunately for us, we will only need exterior shots, so only the outside appearance of the building matters.
What we found:
A two-story strip plaza, called The Walk, that closely resembles a nicely constructed school. It is located close to everyone, which is a benefit. A weakness is that because it is a public area, people may get in the way or the shop/restaurants could accidently appear in frame. But, there is a Barnes and Noble that is close walking distance. Barnes and Noble is a public bookstore, which I know can be shot in; therefore, we can use it as the "school's library" in certain shots.
The Walk, plaza
Barnes and Noble
Additionally, for our montage, we wanted a location that is more convenient. Rather than running around the city, taking montage photos at multiple different locations; what we needed was a mall and a big one. We needed shopping outlets, preferably luxury brands to show her past lux lifestyle. Restaurants to show how she likes to dine out. Entertainment areas like movie theaters or arcades that demonstrates how lively she was in terms of her social life. Even areas that are just for site seeing, perfect for picture moments.
What we found:
Town center at Boca Raton was the perfect fit for this. It's luxury branded stores and many restaurants would make the perfect montage locations. We need many different scenarios with her hanging with friends and just being by herself, so this mall will be most convenient to film in. The mall is also very modernized, and gives a richening experience everywhere you go. The only downside is that it is far in distance to everyone. To fix this we may have to resort to carpooling and only bringing a minimum amount of people. This makes it easier to manage transportation and the group at the location.
I decided to start CCR planning in my pre-production research phase. So recently, I was scrolling on TikTok, as I usually do, when I came across a very intriguing edit of the Blair Witch Project (1999). I never seen the film before, but I started imagining how I could transform that film into my CCR. I decided to talk about my friend who knows more about the film then I do about how I can combine one of my ccr questions and the Blair Witch Project edit. This is out of my comfort zone completely since I really dislike the horror genre, therefore I would have to learn how to shoot, how to act, and how to edit; however, its a risk worth taking. It is just an idea for my ccr but the film in general is not made for me, so I may put my own twist in it.
TikTok edit of Blair Witch Project film I will be taking reference from
Idea #2
For my second question, I was thinking of doing a live stream like ones done on Instagram or TikTok. Well not a real livestream actually, but it will be edited to look like an actual livestream, which is very fun and creative in my mind. During the "live" I can act like a livestream Tiktoker, saying very generic things they say on the lives to gain for traction and money. The whole gist of tiktok lives is to "gift" the live streamer with money gifts, so I can play around with the role and pretend to speak to my "viewers" while incorporating my answer the ccr question. I looked on Tiktok to see if I could find a filter that looks like an actual livestream, but I ended up finding a whole app dedicated for making fake lives. The app is called Fake Bluff, it incorporates AI to generate viewers, comments, and interactions that are based on what the person is doing and saying. This way, I can have the most realistic live stream without actually creating a live. This will still be in the works as I get closer to post-production phase.
A still of a Tiktok live
Idea #3
During my chess film days, I made a skin routine ccr, where I basically did a skin routine like a Youtube influencer, and discussed one of my ccr questions. I really enjoyed doing this idea since I have a lot of interest in skin care. After getting great feedback from classmates, saying that it was very aesthetic and they definitely enjoyed it, I decided to do another one. I felt that it may be a little repetitive so I hope to bring in new products to showcase for this skin routine video.
Idea #4
For my final one I wanted to do something more written. I searched a few written social formats and a few that took my interest were:
A diary
A conversation via text message
An advertisement
A newspaper article
A journalist article
A magazine
A social media post
A book blurb or back cover
I still have time to fully explore these options and decide which one I want to roll with for my last CCR. It's helpful to have ideas brewing now so that later I will not have any last minute struggles trying to figure out my CCRs.
While researching more films for inspiration, I was recommended to watch Spider-Man (2002) "Peter VS Flash" bullying scene. The main difference between my film and this study is that Peter does have powers and my main character is essentially "powerless". With that in mind, my purpose of watching this scene is more so for style and cinematographer rather than narrative.
Narrative
Starting with the main bully, I have to achieve a "big bully" intimidating look. In order to figure out what exactly that looks like, I viewed these bullying scenes from Spider-Man (2002) and Mean girls (2004). For this casting I need to find someone conventionally attractive and taller than the victim being bullied. Finding someone to match that description and can decently act will be a challenge, the costumes, on the other hand would be fairly simple. Anything that is branded and looks of high quality is preferred for the main bully, therefore she can achieve a "bougie", rich girl personality.
As you can see, the bully is intimidating because of his height and his goon looks, although he is no match for Parker
For the main character (the victim being bullied) we want a style that is not really comparable to the main bully in looks wise, but have a personality that makes up for her less fortunate look. The main reason she will look this way is because she wants to hide her famous background and cosplay an ordinary student so that she can live a normal life.
In the Disney Tv series, Hannah Montana (2006), we can see that Miley hides her popularity from everyone so that she can be treated just like everyone else. She goes to these extents to find real friends and have an authentic childhood and upbringing. Miley's biggest fear is being used by her friends because of who she is; my main character has that same fear. Like Miley, my main character will do everything she can to make herself unrecognizable.
Time stamp: 7:11
Mise en scene
Regarding our main female lead, we want darker colors, greys, browns, very muted pinks, blues, greens, purples etc. We will include contrasting when we do the montage scene, that shows her previous, lavish lifestyle. This contrast engages viewers, creating curiosity on to why the main character currently looks so dull when she had a life full of color and riches. It also clears up any ambiguity because the film is "easy to watch".
For the three main bullies, we want contrasting colors, bright colors like yellows and pinks. We need colors that represent high class like golds, matt black and burnt oranges. Even red, which is a strong color that represents confidence and strength, hence the bullies are more confident and stronger ( power-wise) than other ordinary students.
To fully understand how to properly create an opening scene of a drama/comedy (that does not seem unfinished or show lack of representation), we took a few opening scenes from Mean Girls (2004), Clueless (1995), and Perks of being a Wall Flower (2012).
Majority teen films open with a scene that introduces the main character, usually with a narrator speaking in a non-diegetic voice. As I was discussing with my cinematographer, she explains how we could do a tracking shot, establishing location and introducing our main character by using a narrative voice. Originally we planned to do flashback opening style, however we've realized that committing to a flashback would go over the 2 minute mark and leave the opening scene unfinished.
introduces the main character using a narrative voice over, Mean girls (2004)
Moreover, The Perks of being a Wallflower really modeled what we envisioned. Besides the fact that the main character is male and his character and personality is different, he essentially wanted a clean slate and turn his life around as he first starts school, similarly to my main character. The films begins with a narrative, just like how we want to execute and the main character talks about his situation, his hopes and who he genuinely is as a person. We also see who will be the main bullies in the first few minutes, the audience can already tell that their will be a conflict that involves them later in the film.
Opening scene of The perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)
Ideas for our opening scene:
Idea 1:
We wanted to show our main character's "lavish lifestyle" by doing some sort of montage; preferably we want the main character to be the narrator and introduce who she is and why she is in the situation she is currently in, then it will pan into the conflict of her being confronted by the other main characters. We also want to include very upbeat, teen vibes type music while the montage occurs.
To achieve the montage, we could either actually film a variety of shots that shows every fun aspect of her life. Or, we can take pictures, preferably on a disposable camera for the aesthetic, and present each fun moment in a collage style, almost like a slideshow. After discussing, we are leaning more towards the camera idea because it would be more convenient to do and take less screen time.
model films for this suggestion:
uses a montage of her lifestyle while introducing who she is, Clueless (1995)
Idea 2:
For the opening scene, we could do a tracking shot of the main character walking until she is rudely interrupted by the second main character and supporting characters. We still want to keep the narrator voice over idea, but this time it goes straight into the conflict rather than first presenting a montage of her life then the conflict, like in suggestion #1.
Furthermore, we want her narrative voice over to be rudely interrupted by the main bullies, even include a loudly interrupted sound track that resembles a record player scratching or breaking. This will stop the upbeat sound track that was previously playing as well and we can immediately introduce the following characters.
My sound director and editor will continue to play around these ideas and see how their role will come in play as well. The biggest obstacle we currently have is deciding which idea will be most effective and follow the genre. This is where test runs and feedback tests will come in play during our pre-production planning phase.
Final Decision
After so more debating, we decided to combine the two ideas. Basically, we will start with a tracking shot of the main character walking and speaking in a narrative voice like in idea 2, but instead of the audience just watching her the entire time, the montage of her previous lifestyle will appear in quick flashbacks. Essentially she is day dreaming on how her life used to be as she explains why she is in the situation she is currently in. This way we can combine both the ideas. Committing to the montage part of our opening scenes means that transportation will be necessary. We need to find the best places that screams luxury to take shots at for the "montage". This will require a lot of effort, and communication with everyone involved.
Choosing our title
To make it easier for us to decide on a title, we use AI to generate a few titles to inspire us to create one. We thought of intriguing and direct titles or short and catchy titles. I was really leaning towards Masquerade. The actual definition means to pretend to be someone your not or to pose as someone else, which is essentially what our main character is doing when she pretends to be poor. We can also play with the masquerade idea in the title, I was thinking of doing a tilt, medium close up shot of a table. Then the main character's hand would appear placing a fancy masquerade mask on the table, the title then appears next to the mask. I want the mask to be big compared to the words to give a more dramatic look. The mask in the title also foreshadows a Masquerade ball that will occur at the end of the film, during this our main character reveals who she truly is to everyone in the school.
After much consideration, I have decided to do a drama for my next film. I had to ask myself what genre do I feel most comfortable with and what would my crew enjoy creating the most. I quickly realized that we are most familiar with teen dramas that consist of comedy, especially since we are dramatic teenagers. In specific, we will be dealing with high school teenage dramas and will be researching on many successful teen films. Although I already have much knowledge in that genre, I need to fully assess what a drama film should consist of.
While researching, I found a quick video essay of the teen film, Riverdale, and what key components make the film is so successful.
Riverdale- How to make every Teen Drama - Alex Meyers
Key take aways from this video:
There are norms in majority (maybe all) American teen dramas
Male characters often have a "copy paste" personality or character
When female characters act on their own they tend to be very shallow
Female characters usually act as a set to form a cohesive unit that represents teen girls ages 13-18
Representation
Later on in the video, Alex explains how psychology is even involved in this idea of representation. It is called the "Sigmund Frued, school of thought". He explains how in most teen dramas that show 3 female characters, they often represent ego, super ego, and id of the average teenage girl. The norm in teen films is that the characters show the balance between what you want, what you know is right, and how to balance between the two. He expresses the biggest representation that teen dramas have: every girl has feelings of awkwardness and uncertainty of herself, trying to survive on that thin line between what she wants and what her parents and friends want for her. If I follow this formula, I can commit to the "Follow the Genre" technique and represent teen girls ages 13-18. With this I understand the genre, I will apply the stereotypes and the norms of a teen drama; but I will attempt to make my creators feel as real as possible (not shallow).
Hello, Again! Happy new years. I am reintroducing myself, as 2024 Enilrah was a rookie. Now I am basically reborn, I have improved in many of my skills as a director and I am going for a completely different approach for my new film. I feel like a Teen Drama film is the best thing where I can fully show my skills.
This year, I hope to bring more to the table, like more representation, more proper use of my resources, and especially more research. My first attempt as director was pretty rough and I have managed to get my group and I through it and have a succesful (for a first-timer) film published. I hope this time I learn from my previous mistakes and become more innovative and open minded so that I can achieve this role as director. Let's go Director part 2. Can't wait!
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