Today we had our first group meeting. I was in a group with 5 other students, and we all shared our blogs and unique film ideas with one another.
Sidetracked - We may or may not have spent the last 20 minutes of class debating the most disturbing movies we could think of (Tusk, Terrifier, Human Centipede), but other than that we were very productive and effective in terms of exchanging ideas and inspiration.
Surprisingly, the majority of my group members (Ana, L, G, and B) seemed to have their openings figured out, and the most we could do was really just talk through some potential difficulties or weak points. For example, Ana was planning on kicking off the opening with a verbally violent diatribe from a father to a daughter, and we discussed how it would be more effective to introduce us to the characters or even establish the setting before taking such a violent turn. This way, the piece would flow more cohesively in the long run, and it wouldn't feel like she was trying to cram all of her ideas into a 2 minute timeframe. There would also be practically no room for a credit sequence within a 2 minute time frame.
Initially, we helped our classmate 'O-dog' resolve his internal conflict of choosing between a Gangster/Mafia opening and a romance/drama. We discussed the potential difficulties of creating an opening within the former such as finding an actor, costume design, and special effects. He seemed to be perceptive and we got into discussing the romance/drama option, explaining how it would be much more practical as it can really follow any age and any setting. However, he seemed to have a deep desire pulling him towards the Gangster opening, and we found it. The opening would follow a rich mafia man who was relaxing in his home. Nothing crazy or impractical had to happen, he would just purpose to develop the character as a family man who did not appear to have any violent/criminal intentions. He could be doing something as simple as eating dinner with his family This would serve to be juxtaposed with his true ways of living later on. For practicality's sake, we determined this would be the best way of approaching the opening.
For my opening, I had a pretty complete idea of what I wanted to include, but my groupmates were pretty helpful at offering valuable input. I shared my idea of starting the opening off with credits over a short montage of family pictures on a wall, and then transitioning into a father and daughter packing up and preparing to leave to an undisclosed location. This would be hinted at with a pamphlet that would be shown briefly for a religious group in a remote village (a cult) with a slogan - something along the lines of "Embrace Christ, Start a New Life" - something that made it clear that the pamphlet advertised a far away Christian group, and that the family was attempting to get away from something. My groupmate, L, had the brilliant idea of transitioning out of the credit sequence with a zoom out, revealing the daughter to be looking at one of the framed pictures being shown. I think this idea is great and would aid in creating a smooth, flowing opening scene. It really helped me envision how I would transition from the credits in my mind, and I can easily establish the rather detached relationship between the father and daughter after the transition. Thanks, L!
Overall, despite getting sidetracked a teeny bit, this group meeting was very effective in helping us further along the planning process for our openings, and I believe we are all on the right track to developing film openings that we would be proud of.
