Valentina’s Blog

    Today was the first day filming!! Overall, I am extremely pleased with the results. With the excuse of some hilarious bloopers, the time spent was not wasted at all. Every shot was made several times to be perfected and to make it easier to edit with a greater variety of clips. The dolls with the eyes covered came out absolutely perfect. I loved the look.     With several tweaks to make sure the bedroom was transformed from a guy’s room to a phobia-ruled girl’s room, the location was great. We took some old baby photos from my eldest cousin’s photo album to make it seem more homey and realistic. I wrote MANY post-it notes to fill the walls and make it appear the way I wanted it to as well. (The blindfolded bears on the bed were created just incase and did not end up appearing in the filming process.)     Today we also filmed the bathroom scene. Changing this location was a mess. The bathroom was being remo...

     The last thing to do for everything to be perfected before filming day is to create the dialogue. I have some options that I have come up with, so I will write them below and have my friends and family choose the one that fits best.   Option #1: Cecilia- “Hi, yes, what do you need?” Idk- “Someones having a day, huh?” Cecilia- “No, I’m sorry. My moms been out of town for three days now and I haven’t been able to sleep. You scared me.” Idk- “Hey, listen. This thing is taking over your life. When was the last time you left the house?” Cecilia- “This ‘thing’ is scopophobia. As in…. Phobia. A real phobia.” Idk- “I know I’m sorry. Okay if you refuse to leave the house then I’m coming over in an hour.” Cecilia- “Okay, yes please.” Idk- “Oh I wasn’t asking. As one of the few people you can still see without freaking out I have the right.” Cecilia- “Oookaayy. Love you” Idk- “Love you”   Option #2: Cecilia- picks up the phone, still panting Idk-...

    I want everything in my film opening to have a meaning… a purpose. This means that even the names will symbolize something. Although it might seem irrelevant to some, I enjoy perfecting the little details and giving everything a reason as to why it is the way it is. Nothing will be accidental, except for the things that I want to make seem this way. The two names I will have to find are for the main character and for her friend. Although the friend will never make an appearance, her name will appear on the cellphone screen as the call rings and it will be said throughout the conversation. I began to do some research into names with hidden meanings relating to the plot. The whole film surrounds the idea of being watched and the irony in the main character not ‘seeing’ the man in her home, since she believes it is her fear making her slowly go insane. After searching for names meaning what I wanted, I found that many people do not give their children name...

    It is almost filming time! Now that I have the storyboard, mise-en-scene, and credits finalized, I need to prepare the equipment and props. My first step was to create a list of everything I will need to film the opening: ·       DJI Osmo Mobile (for smooth camera movement) ·       Post-its     (to fill the walls) ·       Red and black markers (to write on sticky notes) ·       Cellphone     (to ring in the beginning) ·       Teddy bears     (for pop-up scare) ·       Black tape     (to cover cellphone camera & teddy bears’ eyes) ·       Coffee Maker     (for coffee scene) ·       Coffee Mug     (for coffee &...

    Now onto the next step, the wardrobe. The first step in doing this is asking myself, “what do I want audiences to think when they see the characters?” Their ‘look’ has to tell a lot about what they do and who they are.     For the main character in the film, I want a comfortable, casual look. She has scopophobia, meaning she is scared of being watched. This results in her staying home most of the time, away from the public eye. While being at the house all day, she has to dress in clothes that keep her comfortable and look very casual to show that she stays alone most of the time. For this reason, I have chosen to dress her in sweatpants and a basic shirt. Sweatpants are the typical stay-at-home pants, making it very obvious for viewers that she has been home all day, and the shirt will be a single color, because something fancy would make it seem like she is going out. Since the entire atmosphere will be very dull and dark, I do not wa...

    My actress said yes! Due to the fact that I have been unable to reach my partner and that I am going to Argentina for ten days, I needed someone to be available and willing to play the main role. I was thinking about filming this weekend, but I wanted more time to perfect the scene and make sure there are no ‘surprises’ on filming day. Once the camera starts rolling, I want everything to be perfected. Instead I began to consider the alternative option, filming in Argentina. The only negative would be that if any clips are missing, I can’t film because I will not be there.     After thorough consideration of the pros and cons, I decided to film my opening in Argentina. The location and actress would be absolutely ideal. As previously discussed, my house is way too large so I was going to film at my partner’s home. But he has a family of four, so it is still quite big for a scene involving two people living together. My cousins home, wher...

Giving credit to whom it belongs is just as important as the filming and editing processes. I wanted to begin by coming up with a title that made sense with what the movie would be about. A bad title can hurt a film and a good one can help. [1] After some thought about some titles including "Watch Out" and "He is Watching," I chose "You Are Not Alone" because the length is nice, while it is a creepy phrase that could scare anyone. At first, I considered putting the title in the very beginning before anything is shown. However, I vetoed that option because I would like for it to have some previous context to show why that specific name was chosen. I then decided to do the very opposite and show it at the very end. The entire opening would build up to the title and finish with the creepy typography used. I have decided to use a post-it to show both the movie title and credits because it is what best suits the scenes and goes with the story. In the las...

    After a very long talk with my family and hundreds of ideas flying back and forth, the plot is finalized. I think it is perfect and doable without seeming too ‘childish’ or like it was filmed by a 17-year-old. The film will open with a close-up of a cell phone screen. It will start ringing with a call from a random person (whose name I want to symbolize/mean something, so it is undecided at the moment). A teenage girl will be lying down in her bed, awakened abruptly by the call. She will answer the phone and have a conversation with her girl friend. The opening is “the audience’s initial entry into the world” and has to contain the vital information needed to understand the film. [1]  This phone conversation will provide that knowledge. It will contain the information telling viewers about the scopophobia the character is dealing with. After hanging up, she will walk to the bathroom and wash her face. While walking downstairs, some teddy bears will be ...

    Hey everyone! So, lately I have been dealing with some hardships relating to the opening. I start one idea, but then I never seem to be able to finish it because they are never up to the standard that I want them to be at. I am strongly leaning towards the idea of basing the film off of scopophobia and playing around with the “someone is watching you” theme. But honestly, I have absolutely no clue as to how I am going to make it apparent to the viewers that what is happening is due to the fear. I also can not come up with an interesting beginning that is not extremely abrupt or an ending that leaves the audiences ‘creeped out.’     As I entered my classroom today, to my surprise, the teacher told us that we were peer reviewing the projects to help us get some insight. The feedback I received made a huge difference! My peers went first and by listening to their ideas, it helped me see what others were doing and how I could get creative. Wh...

Now that the plot is set, the next step is preparation. It is time to plan exactly what we will do, how we will do it, and when. There will need to be two/three actors. The main character will be a female around the age of 17, the possible friend will be a male around the same age, and the grandmother will be played by anyone willing to wear a creepy mask I own or makeup I can attempt. For the main character, I was thinking of asking my good friend Madelyn Lima or of acting myself. I took drama in middle school and get very ‘into the character’ when needed. I am also short and quite a small person, fitting in with the whole idea of being scared and appearing weak. My partner, Tomas Vilas, could play the role of the friend who goes to visit. He is very outgoing and friendly, quickly becoming a likeable character, and is extremely tall, giving off the sensation of being able to protect the fearful teen.     As for the location, we will need a house big enough ...

I got it! I truly think I have come up with a plot that is perfect with its originality and ‘spooky’ factor. The film will play on both the fears of being watched and the idea of spirits. Since I wanted to do something that played on actual fears to make the scene realistic and leave audiences with the feeling of “what if this happens to me?”, I decided to use the fear of being watched. After finishing horror movies, many tend to check behind them and look around to make sure there is no one watching. But I did not know if this was an actual fear, so I decided to go speak to a psychology teacher at my high school, Ms. Fonseca. She told my partner and I that it not only was very common, but it is called scopophobia . Anxiety-related scopophobia affects younger people and tends to be caused by some traumatic event, although it is more likely to affect people with pre-existing social disorders. Some of the symptoms include avoiding any activities putting one in public eye, greater c...

My partner and I had a long, intense discussion on what to do for the opening scene. The first idea I had was to have have the main plot be a guy impersonating someone else. It would begin with this teenager throwing a party at his home and shots of him talking with everyone there. The camera would follow him through the house as everyone is seen hugging and telling this man they love him. Towards the end, the guy is seen going downstairs to his basement to get more beverages for his friends. As he grabs the beer and the fridge door closes, the same guy is seen tied up on the floor next to him, bleeding and trying to scream. This would make it seem as if a man kidnapped and tortured someone and changed his look to steal his identity and infiltrate his life. It would freak out audiences as they see that a friend everyone loves and trusts is not actually him, meaning everyone around him is in danger. It also plays on the fear that it could happen to anyone. However, I kept t...

Getting started with planning for my opening requires knowing my target audience. So, that is where I chose to begin. After conducting some research, I found that 60% of the horror genre audience is between the ages of 15 and 30, compared to 40% for the average film. [1] I decided that my target audience will be the same for this reason and because I plan on reaching not only the minorities that makes up 33% of the audience, but also want to appeal to the older fanatics who grew up with the classics including the Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street franchises.  When discussing the characters, I would like to possibly include the typical archetype ‘nice girl’ who tends to be the last survivor and is the most pure compared to the rest. The movie watchers fall in love with this character as the film progresses, leading to a greater thrill and more suspenseful climax when the character gets in trouble. Aside from this role, I would like to include some sort of ...