Set Props

     Since the setting of my opening is in an office, and I’m planning on using an empty boardroom, I need to gather some props for my set.  Most of the props I want are things I already own, like a desk lamp, and a notepad and pen.  I have a blue desk lamp, and also a little globe that’s navy and maroon, which would both go well with the blue and brown tones of the room. A lot of desks I saw had little knick knacks and sculptures on them, which adds to the personalized feel of the set.  This is the purpose of the globe.  I know my dad has little bobbleheads and other small items like that at his desk at home, so I can also bring a couple of those.  I have a landline phone at my house that I can bring to put on the desk as well, since every businessman’s desk has a telephone on it.  I might incorporate a phone call into my scene, so the phone would be essential for those shots.  A lot of photos I found of desks also had a stack of tan files on it, which I know my dad has so that works out well.  Another important “boss” prop is a name plaque, which I thought my dad might have, so I texted him about it and he let me know that he is in fact too cool to own one.  So, I just ordered one off of Amazon that will arrive next week.  The one I found is under ten dollars and personalizable, which will be perfect for the set.  A lot of desks have computers on them, and I might have an old monitor at home to bring.  If I don't have it anymore, I just won't utilize a computer, since a bunch of movie desks didn't have one either.  Lastly, I’m going to bring a plain coffee mug, since most of the images I looked at included a mug on the desk.  By doing this, it brings a casual element to the set.

Sources:
https://www.theraffon.net/~spookcentral/journal/gb2016_location09-01_lg.jpg
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3AANd9GcSQJlGX9A1AHa1Lvf72u5ErjwDiyA6rdVS87sCMfgvwNo1peQEH
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/f9OT0HTauKU/hqdefault.jpg

Set Design

     For my opening, I plan on it being set in the husband’s office.  I’m planning on using my dad’s office space, but he works in a big office with a lot of communal space, with no big “boss” like office.  This being said, I’m hoping to be able to either transform part of the office or to frame it in such a way that it looks like an important person’s desk.  My dad was down at his office today, and sent me a couple options.  I could either use his real office space, which is a nice space that I could definitely add a few props to in order to up the professional aspects.  My other option is to use the boardroom, which could look really cool because it has an impressive skyline behind it.  With this, I think I could be able to move the chairs around, add some desk props, and frame the shots to make it look like it's a boss's office.  As long as I can get the windows in the background correctly, I think I can use the edge of the table as the desk.  I don't like the yellow tones of my dad's personal space, and I think the windows in the boardroom look really neat, so I'll most likely end up trying to utilize the boardroom.  A lot of dramas (like American Psycho, Birdman, and Django Unchained) stick to a cool toned color palette, and I like the idea of keeping with cool blues and grays for my opening.  Because of that, the boardroom would work nicely. Since I haven't seen the office in person, I won't know for sure which will work best until I'm able to check out the space myself.

Color Tones Source:
https://digitalsynopsis.com/design/cinema-palettes-famous-movie-colors/

Costume Design

     For my opening, I want to make sure that the outfits of the actors fit the image that I want them to represent.  My parents are going to be playing the part of the parents in the film.  For my dad, I want him in a suit, to portray him as an important business man who is high up in his profession.  For my mom, I want her to be dressed like a stereotypical mom, but in a way that still makes her look respected and nice.
     Businessmen in movies typically wear navy or dark gray suits, appearing very put together and professional.  This can be seen in basically any movie with a boss or corporate worker in it, such as Wall Street and Margin Call.  Their ties also seem to stay in muted color tones, staying away from any bright colors.
      For the woman, most wives to working men are shown wearing nice and conservative outfits.  Typically they wear blouses, with either jeans or slacks, and also don’t wear very bright colors.  Staying away from bright tones keeps the movie on a serious note, and the outfits work to establish the women as people to be respected, but also as people who place their kids at a higher importance than their work.  My mom has a lot of blouses and nice clothes, so this outfit will also be easy to coordinate.

SOURCES:
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/810EYBOXFWL._SY445_.jpg
https://m.media-
amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTU5MDEzMzYwMF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNTcwMjUxMw@@._V1_.jpg
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg1hkrF5svr7X4etEQ0A2Mh9s5og9LHQOi_YXTB0ZDMGqEdaGxNdwacE2MBhlIM9KA-WygFPZsXxkC8rFHFMtIbMRQkk9PRy3sPCOVfB2mKEbmpK-eYQgv3r-80K3afpFUud4wSA0IKow/s1600/pic+1.jpg
https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2017/11/09/wonder_custom-17b3e3feb5cef1f485b86848e4e78e762d920f5d-s800-c85.jpg

Film Openings

     To get a better grasp on how to formulate my opening, I decided to watch a few film openings for dramas that focus on family life.

The Blind Side
     This movie, a widely popular sports drama, begins with a clip from a football game.  A woman, who will be one of the main characters of the film, begins a voice over walking through what is going on in the play.  She then goes on to explain the importance of one position, and one player (Lawrence Taylor), as pictures show his body parts.  Right after, a clip is shown of Lawrence walking in slow motion towards the camera.  This opening serves to establish the sports element, and also introduce the main character.  By the way she speaks about the boy and about herself, it is clear that she is a traditional motherly figure who holds a lot of love for the boy.  The opening very clearly shows that the film will be about football, and the narrator's relationship to the boy spoken about.


Wonder
     Wonder starts with a cute shot of an astronaut floating, before moving to show that it is a child wearing a helmet.  A narration then begins of the boy talking about himself, explaining what he's good at, what he isn't, and what he likes.  At the same time, clips are showing examples, but the face of the boy is not shown.  He then goes in to explain how his birth was a roller coaster, and then it cuts to a clip of his parents arguing about the kid attending school.  After, it goes back to narration, as the kid says he is going to start attending school, and his face is shown.  Through this opening, the man character was shown and his backstory was developed.  At the same time, we get a glimpse at the side story, which is how his parents are affected by the boy's life.  It foreshadows the issues that the parents are going to have, and that all of their relationships are about to drastically change.


Waves
     The opening for this film starts with all diegetic sound, as heavy breathing is heard and a girl is shown slowly biking through a street.  It then fades into a loud car of two teenagers singing and driving on the highway.  Close ups show the characters acting careless and light.  It then transitions to a teenage sports practice, with a coach yelling, before showing a school campus and the same boy from the car in different parts of the school.  As the clips continue, differing adult figures are heard, all of which are giving some sort of inspiration to a younger audience. This opening serves to show the setting that the main character is in, showing that they are a high school student and also an athlete.  It shows the many moods of the film, by transitioning from a dramatic tone, to a lighthearted one, to a hardworking and demanding setting.  Through this, it communicated the different themes of the movie, as well as lightly introduced the main character.

                                     A Quiet Place
    A Quiet Place starts with a clip of a father taking away a toy that made noise from his son because it was too loud.  The rest of the family is silent, and the dad is speaking sign language.  The family walks out, and a little girl secretly hands the boy back his toy.  Then, the family is shown walking through a forest silently, all barefoot with no sounds heard.  All of a sudden, the boy's toy starts making noises, the parents and girl all freeze, looking terrified, and the dad then sprints to the boy, as a creature swipes him away.  This opening set the tone for the movie, through the dramatic music and intensity of the characters.  The family is introduced, as well as the main conflict of the film- not being able to make noise.  Through this opening, the audience feels the overall emotion of the film.


OPENINGS:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMLSd6NSuqs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YH1C6yH_nFM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYia52U6lyg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_FdjXqSZlc

Opening Plot

  After lots of thinking and going back and forth, I've finally decided on my film opening plot.  I had a lot of different ideas and different routes I wanted to take, so it was hard to pinpoint the idea I wanted to settle on, but I'm finally satisfied with my plot.
     My film is going to be about a boy in high school battling anger issues and depression, but it's going to focus a lot on the parent's perspective.  This is something not done very often, and while films about kids' character development are popular, it's less popular to look at how the parents are affected.  The film is going to include the parents hearing about yet another issue the boy has caused in school, but this time he made a death threat to the school, upping his consequences.  His parents decide that it's time to transfer him to boarding school.  The movie will look at not only how the boy reacts to the changes, but how the parents try to hide what he's going through, and how it drastically changes their lives and relationship as well.
     I'll go more in depth into the overall film plot later, but for now I'll explain my opening scene.  My opening will show a woman (the mother) walking through an office building and arriving at her husband's office.  The husband reluctantly stops what he's doing, hanging up the phone and beginning to talk to his wife.  The wife explains that their son sent a death threat about other students to the school; the man starts to ask how much money he's going to have to pay the school this time, but the wife cuts in and says she thinks they need a new route.  The husband seems annoyed, and asks her what she means; the wife says she wants to send their son to boarding school.  The scene ends with the husband looking increasingly annoyed and frazzled.
     I'll continue to develop the details of the opening, and get back to you guys with a storyboard soon!

Project Schedule

     In an attempt to keep myself organized, I created a timeline for the pace I want to be at.  Since it's super easy to get behind or put off work, I figured having a set calendar would help to keep me focused and to keep the process moving.  I created my calendar digitally, so that I can easily modify my timeline and change it as I need to.  If I follow along with these dates, I'll have plenty of time to complete the project and have time built in for when I run into any issues.  This way, I won't be stressed and overloaded when the due date gets closer.
     Even though I don't have a set plan for my opening or any concrete ideas yet, having a schedule will make sure I get my plans together before I loose track of time.  Here's the link to my calendar:

https://www.keepandshare.com/calendar21/show.php?i=2860459

Popular Dramas

In order to gauge what my film opening should be sure to include, I did some research on highly successful and popular drama films.

                                     The Godfather
     The first drama I chose to investigate is a classic: The Godfather.  Produced in 1972, this film is a crime drama set in the 1940s that focuses on a family patriarch.  After the family son is almost killed, the father plots revenge and causes a gang war.  The movie follows the fighting drama as well as the character evolution and change; the tone remains quite serious throughout.  Because of how the movie focuses on the track of the characters and the moves they make, it is a perfect example of a drama.  The opening for the film includes super dramatic low key lighting, with a man telling an emotional story of his daughter.  It explains a backstory, introduces characters, and sets a grave tone for the film.  This film is also based off of a book, as many dramas are.  The Godfather was politically relevant at the time it was released, and included immigrant perspectives and current events that appealed to audiences.  Because of this and the film's intensity, it was widely popular.

The Shawshank Redemption
     The Shawshank Redemption is another extremely successful drama.  Released in 1994, this film is a mystery drama that follows the story of a prisoner convicted for a crime he is innocent of, and how he forms relationships in prison.  It fits into the genre well as the movie revolves around the main character's progression in prison, and how his character changes over the course of his sentence.  The film shows how he evolves, exemplifying his struggles and how he overcomes them.  Like most dramas, it is rated R for its intensity and also for its violence.  The opening for the film is the supporting main character narrating and introducing the main character and his backstory.  At the same time, the setting is panned through and introduced.  With drab colors, the serious tone is set for the film. The Shawshank Redemption is also based off of a successful book, which they used to market the film; they also made use of popular actors to increase interest in the movie. 


Birdbox
     Birdbox is a good example of a more recently successful drama.  It came out in 2018 as a thriller drama, and follows a group of individuals trying to escape an uncontrollable force and find safety in a post-apocalyptic world.  It ends up focusing on one women with her children, and how she manages to navigate through the dangerous forces.  As in the other films, the main characters evolution is closely tracked.  The film is intense and emotional.  The opening for Birdbox introduces the main character and introduces conflict as the mysterious force starts causes destruction.  The force is not revealed right away, so the viewer is left as confused as the characters are, trying to figure out what is happening. The opening is immediately chaotic and intense, throwing the viewer into the story and showing the highly emotional aspects of the film.  Birdbox is based off of a book, but used modern marketing strategies like YouTube advertisements, Instagram posts, and actor interviews to promote the film, making it successful. 

Overall, I can see that all successful dramas focus strongly on character development, and are pretty intense and serious.  In addition, many are R rated and targeted at an older audience, with film openings that introduce the main character of the film.


Sources:
https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Godfather-film-by-Coppola
https://www.quora.com/What%E2%80%99s-so-great-about-the-Godfather-What-makes-it-one-of-the-greatest-movies-of-all-time-Why-is-it-considered-a-masterpiece
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIBpHO1gZgQ
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111161/plotsummary
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oM9c_MleWYY
https://cinematicslant.com/2018/12/18/bird-box-marketing-recap/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0-5BWUtesE
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2737304/plotsummary