Final Script

          As Klaus and I get closer to our production day, we have been working on our script and storyboard to make sure it will be completed before we start filming.  Klaus and I gave ourselves enough time to go through the script and the storyboard thoroughly so we have everything that we need to film on Saturday down to a T.  Finishing both of these a few days in advance also helps up gather any last minute props and location scouting for our short film.  Also, since we finished both, we have finally casted our main character, Alex, for shooting on Saturday.  We have been moving fast in this process since completing the script and storyboard so we are very prepared for filming.  Here's our finalized script:

Setting:  Alex has been alone for a few months, not having any human contact in months.  
Alex is currently living in a Post Apocalyptic world where he is continuing to travel throughout
South Florida to find any form of human contact.

1

Alex has a serious face, walking around, continually watching for anything that could
be following him.

2

Alex’s eyes continue to travel to his walkie talkie, making sure it doesn’t say anything
as it flickers on/off.

3

As Alex continues to walk, he sits down at a table, going through his backpack to know
his provisions.  

4

Alex

1, 2, 3.  1, 2, 3, 4.  I’ll need to stop at the next town over for more food.

5

Alex writes down this information, keeping track of what he had just counted.

6

Alex also takes out his constellation map, tracking the date, and how far he has travelled
since the last time he had checked, also writing that down in his journal.

7

Alex

Only a few more miles and hopefully only a few more miles until another person.  Haha.

8

Alex laughs to himself, a small smile on his face, trying to make light of the situation.

9

*Flashback*

10

Alex is on the road, driving his car with the windows downs as he drives during sunset.

11

Alex

*singing a song that will be need to pick* (maybe a country station or something)

12

*Flashback*

13

Alex wakes up, packing up his stuff to continue to walk to his destination,

14

As Alex walks, he looks around while humming, trying to get his mind off of the heat.

15

Alex takes his backpack off his shoulder, looking for his water bottle, drinking the last
of the water that is in there.

16

Alex

Well, that’s depressing.

17

Alex veers off his path, heading for a stream to fill up his water bottle.

18

Alex stays there for a little, admiring the scenery before he gets back on his path,
making sure to get a certain distance before setting up camp for the night.

19

Alex falls asleep, dreaming about his past.

20

*Flashback*

21

Alex is smiling, playing fetch with his dog.

22

Alex wakes up, still smiling from his dream.  Alex packs up his stuff to keep moving to
his unknown destination.

23

Alex is walking and it is already midday, when he hears his radio turn on by itself.

24

Radio

Don’t spe...ak to...m...e like that...I..d...on’t….und...er….stan...d you.

25

Alex freezes, shocked to hear voices and grabs his radio, hoping to get a response

26

Alex

HELLO?!? IS ANYONE THERE?!

AGAIN:

HELLO?!? IS ANYONE THERE?!

27

The radio switches off right after Alex gets off, leaving him in silence.

28

This continues to happen throughout the day, different pieces of a fight being broadcasted
from the radio.  Each time Alex hears no signal radio sound, his shoulders slump a little
more and he walks slower and slower.

29

Alex

I was that close, that close to having another person to talk to.  After months of being alone,
I go and ruin my chances. *exhale of breath*

27

Radio

W...e...al...ways get…..in...to...these….fights….a...nd...I….m….sick…..a...nd….ti...red...of….it

28

Alex begins to run, seeing a car on his way.  Knowing he’d get there faster. In the car there
is a GPS with an address with the destination already set.  Alex drives, listening to every
direction that the GPS gives him.

29

Radio

Do….n’t...ev...en…..come…..nea...r…..m…..e….right….n...ow

30

Alex is driving faster and faster until he gets to his destination.  The GPS brought him to
a house and in the living room window he sees the couple that he has been hearing.  They
are fighting, and their voices are muffled but Alex can tell they are yelling. Alex sees the
couple and he runs out of the car, leaving the driver door open.

31

Alex runs out, waving his arms towards the couple and yelling, hoping that they hear him.  
His heart is beating fast as he continues to run to the front door, slamming it open and
running towards where the couple is.

32

When Alex gets to the room where the couple was, he sees that no one is there.  
He runs throughout the house, hoping to see them.

33

He leaves the house to go back to the car, falling to his knees and covering his face with
his hands, crying because he was so close to having human contact.

34

As the camera pans out, it fades into a tv showing the same shot, with two people sitting in
front of the screen.  As they see Alex dropping to his knees, they look up, staring at what he
is doing. The guy on the right looks at the screen and then looks down,
reaching for the phone.  He picks up the phone.

35

Guy

He’s passed the test.

36

The phone is put down to end the call.

          It was really important to get this done on time and now that we have, we took a deep breath of relief.  We also finished the storyboard (which our script is based on).  We changed a few things as we talked about how we want our story to go, but I'm really happy with these changed.  One of the changes we made was so that we can really imply that Alex is being watched is including a person and a drone in the background of a few shots.  This is used to not only imply, but to show our audience that Alex isn't necessarily only living by himself in a Post Apocalyptic place, but is being "watched" throughout the entire sort film.  This is the link to our storyboard.  I'm really happy with our preplanning and can't wait to film this weekend.

Script: So Far

          As I started to write the script, I realized that it was a really good idea to start with the storyboard.  This is because in our summary, the main character, Alex, is on his own for most of the short film so there is little to no dialogue throughout our entire film.  The storyboard will be our main source of reference of filming because of our stylistic choices when thinking of our plot line.  In the script (so far) I have written about mostly his actions, using as a more in depth storyboard of our film.

Script:

Setting:  Alex has been alone for a few months, not having any human contact in months.  Alex is currently living in a Post Apocalyptic world where he is continuing to travel throughout South Florida to find any form of human contact.

Alex has a serious face, walking around, continually watching for anything that could be following him.

Alex’s eyes continue to travel to his walkie talkie, making sure it doesn’t say anything as it flickers on/off.

As Alex continues to walk, he sits down at a table, going through his backpack to know his provisions.  

Alex

1, 2, 3.  1, 2, 3, 4.  I’ll need to stop at the next town over for more food.

Alex writes down this information, keeping track of what he had just counted.

Alex also takes out his constellation map, tracking the date, and how far he has travelled since the last time he had checked, also writing that down in his journal.

Alex

Only a few more miles and hopefully only a few more miles until another person.  Haha.

Alex laughs to himself, a small smile on his face, trying to make light of the situation.

*Flashback*

Alex is on the road, driving his car with the windows downs as he drives during sunset.

Alex

*singing a song that will be need to pick* (maybe a country station or something)

*Flashback*

Alex wakes up, packing up his stuff to continue to walk to his destination,

As Alex walks, he looks around while humming, trying to get his mind off of the heat.

Alex takes his backpack off his shoulder, looking for his water bottle, drinking the last of the water that is in there.

Alex

Well, that’s depressing.

Alex veers off his path, heading for a stream to fill up his water bottle.

Alex stays there for a little, admiring the scenery before he gets back on his path, making sure to get a certain distance before setting up camp for the night.

          This is what we have written so far, based off of our storyboard.  This goes a little further than our storyboard because I wanted to make sure that Klaus and I are on the same page on our vision and not only the summary.  I do think that once we finish both the storyboard and script we'll go back through them to make necessary changes in our story whether that be deleting or adding a scene or a shot.  I really like what we have so far for our story and I'm going to continue to collaborate with Klaus and both the storyboard and script, keeping them equal to each other.

Storyboard

          With our outline complete, we wanted to start our storyboard immediately.  We are going to be filming our short film a week from now and our storyboard will help prepare us for getting everything necessary for our short film.  We are choosing to start our storyboard first because we have a lot of ideas of different shot compositions that we want to make sure are included in the film (Klaus and I are both more visual people).  I think basing our script off of our storyboard will be more beneficial because of the way that we both work.

          This is all we have so far, and the drawings are mostly so that we can get an idea of what we want when referring back to our storyboard when filming.  I think our storyboard will really help the process along and help us get the shots that we know we need.  We want to finish up our storyboard by Friday, March 1st so we can go over it and fix anything if needed because our script will be done by Thursday, February 28th.  Klaus and I want to make sure that our storyboard and goes together cohesively so that when we film Saturday, March 2nd we shouldn't have any issue as to filming every scene.

Summary Completed

          After talking with Klaus this week, we decided on our summary.  We mostly stuck with the summary that I made, adding a few touches of his to our final summary.  This summary is mostly so that Klaus and I can start the script and storyboard, so we wanted to make sure it was done the week before filming.  This is our completed summary for our short film:

The main character's name is Alex and he is living in a Post Apocalyptic world.  Alex has been on his own for months, living off the land and constantly moving around, only carrying a backpack with him that holds everything he needs to live. He hasn't had any human contact in months, and is always listening to his radio to see if he can hear anyone out there.  In Alex's solitude, he is always flashing back to the past, to his family and what his life was like before the "apocalypse". Alex begins to notice weird things, his radio turning on by itself, cars showing up on the deserted roads, etc. Alex suddenly hears a voice and tells him to get into a car. As he approaches the car, the radio turns on once again, with a couple yelling and fighting. At the same time, he notices that the car is on with music playing and the windows down. As he gets in the car, GPS navigation is set and he drives off (at night, drone shots). He gets to the location of the programmed onto the gps, finding somebody who was killed.  Alex has no idea what to do (need something for him to do with the body or something, maybe like he cries or something because it’s the first person he’s seen in months), but the film ends with a shot of the people watching him and saying “he’s passed the test”.

This summary perfectly captures our vision for our short film. In my next few blog posts, Klaus and I will be working on our storyboard and script to have that fully completed by the time we go to film. Having this done is a huge breath of relief, especially since I know now that Klaus and I are in agreement about how we want our short film to be.

More Planning!!!

          I have already made a plan of how each week is going to go for our portfolio project, but now I want to get specific for our shoot.  Klaus and I have talked about our shoot, but not in much detail.  We both have the same end goal of having our shoot go as smoothly as possible and pretty much shoot all of it on March 2nd.  I want every single minute of Saturday to be planned so we can be as efficient as possible when we shoot.  Saturday is going to be a long day and knowing what we need to get done will be easier, especially using a storyboard and a finalized script for shooting.  I have planned this for filming:

The night before (March 1st):
-have props ready
-script and storyboard should be finalized by this date
-get equipment ready (cameras, mics, tripods, lights, reflector, headphones)
-confirm with actors of filming for next day

The day of (March 2nd):
-meet at 9:00am with supplies
-go to first location for shooting (most likely not filming scenes in order)
10:00am - second location
11:00am - third location
12:00pm - fourth location
1:00pm - fifth location

          I have allotted one hour for each location so far because once the storyboard and script is done, we will know how long we will need to be at each location.  Keeping with a tight schedule will keep us on track and film everything that we will need to so we don't have to go back for reshoots.  This plan will help with the overall process of filming on that day.

Butting Heads

          Klaus and I have decided to each write a summary before we start working on the script and storyboard.  We both agreed on the same genre and storyline, but now we're going into specifics.  This is my summary for what we were thinking (at least what we have discussed about):

The main character's name is Alex and he is living in a Post Apocalyptic world.  Alex has been on his own for months, living off the land and constantly moving around, only carrying a backpack with him that holds everything he needs to live. He hasn't had any human contact in months, and is always listening to his radio to see if he can hear anyone out there.  In Alex's solitude, he is always flashing back to the past, to his family and what his life was like before the "apocalypse".  Alex begins to notice weird things, his radio turning on by itself, cars showing up on the deserted roads, etc.

          This is all I have so far, but Klaus has other ideas of how our story might go.  In Klaus's summary, he writes about the world Alex living (which isn't necessarily as Post Apocalyptic as mine, but is more sci-fi with another dimension).  This is where we are having a hard time deciding on whose to choose as our main story line.  In my last couple of blog posts, all the research I have done is for a very post apocalyptic world (like I Am Legend and A Quiet Place as I have mentioned in previous posts).  I personally want more of a world that is the same and as realistic as it can be to the world we live in today. I'll have to discuss with Klaus and see what idea we prefer more, sticking with the same title of course.

Officially In the Back of Beyond

         After talking to Klaus, we officially have chosen In the Back of Beyond as our short film title.  We both thought that this title fit our idea for our short film perfectly.  The way we have planned the production aspect of our short film is that we are filming on Saturday, March 2nd.  Since we have only two weeks until our shoot, I wanted to create a prop list for what we may need to get prepared for our shoot.  All of these items are still subject to change until we create our storyboard next week and write and finish our script.  Klaus and I want to make sure we are fully prepared for filming our short film on March 2nd.  This is what I have so far:

-Ripped/dirty clothes (t-shirt, pants)
-Radio
-Knife
-Computers (specifically a desktop computer)
-Headphones
-Water bottle
-Backpack
-Blanket
-Lighter
-Lantern

           I think all of these items are crucial for our story and to develop it, but I do think I will be adding even more things once our script and storyboard are finalized.  This weekend, I'm going to be working on getting all these items and maybe even a little more if I see something that I think would be important for our short film.  Klaus and I have already been scouting out locations like the TV studio at our school, the Everglades, a local park that has a forest, and a house.  Location is super important for our short film to be able to become our vision, so we wanted to make sure we were able to capture what we want.  So far we have one location we have actually visited (tv studio at our school) and decided on:

          The weekend before we start shooting, we want to scout the rest of the locations so we can make a schedule of where were filming and at what time on March 2nd.  We want to be as prepared for this as possible.

Titling Our Short Film

          Klaus and I have been feeling good about the progress we've been making and now want to officially title our short film (at least somewhat).  We've looked into our Post Apocalyptic genre and found that a lot of the movies are titled very broad (more about the place they are in, etc.  We want our short film to take place in the Everglades or somewhere empty so I don't think we would want to be calling it where it's taking place.  For example, the movie The Road is about a son and father having to walk a road during a post Apocalyptic world to survive. Another movie called 28 Days Later has to do with a deadly disease that spread across the world.
          I personally like the idea of a title that has a time frame (like 28 Days Later) because it is very ominous and unclear about the where the movie will go.  Klaus and I haven't really specified the time frame that the movie takes place, but we definitely want to focus on the loneliness factor and I think by using a number (like how many days our main character has been alone) would be beneficial for our type of short film.  I also noticed that most titles for Post Apocalyptic films are short, either one or two words.  When looking at different words about being alone I found some that I like as a movie title:

Void
Limbo
Isolation
Forsaken
Outcast
Solitary
Desolate
In the Back of Beyond (a synonym I found for loneliness)

Out of this list, I really love In the Back of Beyond.  I have to talk to Klaus to make an official decision about the title of our movie, but I'm definitely going to be pushing for this one because I think this one fits our idea for our movie perfectly.

Creating a Plan

          Since a short film is very detailed piece, Klaus and I wanted to create an organized plan of how we wanted to go about creating our short film.  Since we already have chose our genre and sub genre, we now want to start planning even more and figure out when were going to film.  This is what we have:

Week 2/11: create a plan for our shoot (props, cast, equipment, etc.)

Week 2/18: finish story board, finish script, get any items necessary for shoot

Week 2/25: plan for shooting this weekend, film all scenes/foley sounds, etc.

Week 3/4: begin editing, revise shot footage (plan for reshoots if necessary)

Week 3/11: create first draft, revise and fix first full edited version

Week 3/18: finish up project

          This schedule is really important for us because we have a certain vision for what we want out short film to look like, so we want to make sure that we cover all the bases before we start shooting and editing.  We wanted to map out as much time for editing as possible so we can create the most "perfect" version that we can, and even have time for reshoots if we need to do any.  I'd say for this project, the planning is the most important aspect and we want to stay on track.   I've also been looking at even more movie posters and I really like this movie poster from The Maze Runner:

I think this really captures the sci-fi Post Apocalyptic genre that this movie has and I also like how the main character is placed at the front of the poster.  This is another good example of a movie poster that Klaus and I can take inspiration from for our own short film.  In a movie poster like this, we want to fully capture the genre that we are going for.

Brainstorming

          Now that Klaus and I have a set genre for our short film, we now want to focus on the story line.  In my last post I talked about thinking of making a short film about being alone like in A Quiet Place (which has little dialogue) and in I am Legend (where it was just the main character and his dog for most of the movie).  Klaus and I really like the idea of basing our story off of someone alone in the Post Apocalyptic world and there is little to no dialogue which further instills how alone the main character is.  For the title card I can definitely picture something with just the person in it, maybe far away from the camera to really show the loneliness that will be prominent throughout our entire short film.

          I really like this, but I think I would prefer the person to be more centered in the photo.  I like that the person is just barely noticeable, kind of like our idea for our short film.  I've also been researching movies that have little to no dialogue and they aren't as well known/made as movies full of dialogue.  According to BFI, movies that have little to no dialogue focus heavily on the "visual nature of cinema".  Most of the movies of BFI's top 10 movies with little to no dialogue are about people being alone, whether they be stranded on an island or an animated movie.  Klaus and I want to stick with the convention of movies having little to no dialogue be about loneliness, and in this case, in a Post Apocalyptic world.

Inspiration...

          After deciding on our genre and then choosing our sub genre, Post Apocalyptic.  After finding our specific genre, I wanted to look into other movies that have a similar genre to ours.  The first movie I can think of is A Quiet Place, which I think is a good example of where we want to take our short film.  From IMDB, A Quiet Place is referred to as "In a post-apocalyptic world, a family is forced to live in silence while hiding from monsters with ultra-sensitive hearing."  I think this movie is really good inspiration for our short film because it doesn't have a lot of dialogue.  Not only does this show how they are alone with just their family, but that they have to stay in constant sound "hiding" from these monsters.  I like the implication of the loneliness, and Klaus and I want to include something like that in our film, especially since we have never  made something like this before.

          Another movie that I want to take inspiration from is I Am Legend, as this movie also plays off the lonely factor with just the protagonist and his dog.  There is more dialogue in this film and not a monster but more of a deadly virus that spread in Humans, causing them to be similar to a zombie.  Even in the movie poster, there is only the protagonist and his dog, further exemplifying the loneliness factor that is prominent throughout the whole movie.

          A lot of the Post Apocalyptic films that I have been researching are focused on titles pertaining to the film, so I think Klaus and I want to start thinking of titles having to do with being alone.  I think once we have a title, we'll be able to research different characters and be able to further our story research more before writing a script for filming.

Officially Choosing the Genre

          Klaus and I have officially chose our genre, sci-fi.  We think with this genre we'll be able to make the best short film and have the least amount of mistakes like we would have if we did an action movie with action sequences.  When I was doing research about different technical conventions of a sci-fi, I found out that the technical elements are really similar to the horror genre.  Sci-fi is similar to horror because of the establishing shots used at the beginning of the film to set the time and place.  Also, most of the sounds used within a horror and sci-fi film are non-diegetic since most of the characters or things in these types of movies don't exist in the real world.  Sci-fi films are generally edited to be as realistic as possible to make the viewer think the movie is the most believable of a scenario.

          Most sci-fi movies are set in a hyper-realistic setting with booming technology that is set in the far future.  This includes utopian societies and an extreme focus on scientific innovation.  Sci-fi movies also focus a lot of the movie on time and where the film is exactly set, whether that be someone going into the future (Back to the Future II and Tomorrowland) or going back in time (Terminator).  The setting may also differ a lot from natural settings that we are used to to show a key difference in the time period that the movie is set in, or where the movie takes place.  A lot of sci-fi films also feature futuristic weapons, even putting it on their movie poster to exemplify the futuristic elements of the film. 

          Sci-fi films stick to a similar narrative, following a protagonist that is trying to stop an evil force.  Movies like Life and Alien don't have a specific protagonist but do have the same evil that they are trying to defeat.  Sci-fi movies have many different sub-genres, and the one Klaus and I have decided on is a Post Apocalyptic genre.

Introduction and Choices, Choices, and even more Choices

          My name is Taylor and I chose to make a short film with my partner, Klaus.  This is my last year blog.  We chose to do a short film and our first goal for this project was to think of a genre.  Klaus and I are between the two genres of action or sci-fi and we wanted to do a little bit of research before for sure choosing which genre we wanted to focus our story off of.  Action movies generally have a fast paced plot and a lot of violence and the main character is usually a hero.  The hero is usually placed in threatening situations, fast paced chase scenes, etc.  This type of short film would require a lot of cutaways in the post production side of the film.  With films like Die Hard and the Marvel Franchise, there is always an evil that the heroine has to fight against throughout the entire movie.  The posters also include all the big names from the movie and some type of scene from the movie with fire or carnage from a big fight at the end of the movie.

          For sci-fi, a lot of cgi effects are used to create a different type of world, as a sci-fi movie is set in a post apocalyptic era.  New technologies are introduced with the use of close ups and a clear indicator of the setting that the movie takes place.  A lot of hypothetical themes are introduced in these types of movies and political, social and philosophical issues are mentioned with futuristic elements.  Movies from the Marvel Franchise are set in a different future of the world, where super heroes exist with aliens coming to Earth in supernatural situations.