Changes

I was looking back at a previous post and realized I am behind schedule :(

 Linked here is the blog post about the Calendar I will be addressing!

The calendar I created weeks ago no longer fits what I have been posting about. I created this calendar as a guideline, but I have found it difficult to stay on track. When I created this, I had left a week in the end to spare, just in case something went wrong. However, it meant I would have fewer days dedicated to research. As a result, when I began writing these blogs, I realized there were topics, such as social criticism and character avatars, that were necessary to address. If I had followed the schedule, I should be filming next week, but I have yet to cast the characters and create a script! However, I do not regret it because dedicating time to the research components has allowed me to create a deeper analysis of my target audience, which will drive my cinematographic choices in order to gain their attention.

 The topics are written on the calendar no longer fit my plan, so I have to create an updated version of it. What I have written there will just be pushed back a week. For instance, this week I was supposed to blog about typography, set design, costuming, and light scheme. This will be addressed next week, or maybe even while I am filming. For the days I set apart to film, I wrote "Filming" but did not say what exactly I would be blogging about. Therefore, some topics such as set design and the light scheme could be discussed during filming and give me even more space to generate new topics. As far as filming goes, I am going to film during spring break, which begins on the 19th. This will also increase the chance of availability for actors since many people are staying home this break and will have free time.

I'm glad I was able to sort this out because not staying on track was stressing me out!

Story Outline

 Hey guys, today I am finalizing the story outline!!

The film opens in silence, with a nondiegetic sound of a clock ticking as several shots of the inside of Isabel's house are displayed. The shots include her messy kitchen, an empty kid's room, and her sleeping alone. Her alarm rings and she wakes up to take pills and drink coffee before going on a walk. She begins walking around a school park watching the parents with their children. As she does so, she begins having flashbacks of Leo. The flashbacks include her pushing him on the swings she sees before her and sitting on the bench with him which she now sits in alone. The clear distinction between Isabel then and now will be marked by the costume design, lighting, and her attitude, which indicate that she was once happy. However, these flashbacks turn dark when she remembers that she left Leo alone in the park to grab something in the car and was unable to find him when she went back. Back in real-time, a boy that looks like Leo appears before Isa and smiles at her. Taken aback, she begins asking the boy if he is Leo, but the boy is mute. She walks away and sees the kid following her, so she takes him by the hand and they go to the car. Ecstatic she buckles him into the car seat she still has and drives away.

She arrives back home and starts to fix the boy's food until she hears police sirens in the distance. This breaks her hypnotic-like trance and she realizes what she had just done. She realizes that is not Leo and begins to freak out upon discerning that she had just kidnapped a kid. Isa goes to pick up the phone, but quickly puts it down and is in an internal conflict with herself as she questions whether to report herself or not. Hearing the sirens again, she becomes paranoid and believes the authorities already know what she has done. She panics and takes the boy to her bathroom and locks them both in there. The boy simply stares at her as she begins pacing back and forth waiting for the police to arrive. She begins apologizing to the boy, explaining what she had done and why but he simply stared back again. Isa realizes the cops are not actually after her, but after confessing everything to the boy, she knows what she must do. 

Isa unlocks the door and they both leave the bathroom. She makes the boy sit on the couch as she picks up the phone and calls 911. She tells the officer that she has kidnapped a boy and that he is sitting with her right now. Another officer is heard on the phone saying, "That's just Isabel, she does this at least once a week. Just leave her alone she will realize soon enough".The story flashes back to when she found the boy in the park, when she was driving him home, when she was preparing him food. and when they were in the bathroom, except in these flashes the boy was never there. Now revealed to the audience that Isa has been imagining everything, it flashes back to the present time where she is on the phone with the police. Confused, she hangs up and looks over to the boy, only to find out he is not there.

Casting

 While I finalize the story concepts, scripts, and scenes, I need to begin looking for actors. It is important to begin looking for them now in order to be able to schedule appropriate days to shoot the scenes. 

I created a google form where people who are interested in playing a role can apply to see if they fit the character. The form includes name, age, the character they are interested in, physical description, dates available, and Instagram account. While the physical description they provide can be helpful, the Insta account will give me more insight into the person and if they resemble the character. This google form is mainly focused on the casting of Isa and the police officer. Since Leo is a little boy, I will need to get in contact with cousins and family friends for his role. 

In order to get the attention of people, I will be creating flyers calling for actors/actresses to play the parts. During this week, I will be posting the flyers on Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter and will be checking next week to see who filled out the form. I think posting these flyers will not only help cast the characters I envision but also serve as a great advertising tool for my film. My target audience is mainly teens and young adults, so promoting the casting towards where my TA spends most of their time will certainly get their attention. Even if they do not audition, the constant exposure to my flyers is a marketing technique itself to start introducing my film, so I get to kill two birds with one stone!

Character Avatars

 Hey guys! I thought I should start looking for people to cast Isa Ramirez and her son Leo! I have a couple of ideas as to how I envision each character. I used the website facemaker.uvrg.org to design what I imagine them to look like. I know that due to limited casting options my character may not look the same, but this will help further develop the identities of the characters. 

I see Isa as a worn-down girl. She has dark circles around her eyes and wears no makeup to cover them. She looks like a stereotypical Hispanic with dark brown hair and eyes and a kind of tan. Her lips are slightly downturned to demonstrate discontent. I envision Isa to be short and appear younger than her age. This will make her seem like a child, therefore explaining why society does not take her seriously. Isa's hair color and eye color are not a necessity, but I do need whoever plays her to look rough and constantly tired.  

 I see Leo as more of a white-washed Hispanic, to indicate that his father is not of Latin descent. His big eyes and slightly upturned smile portray innocence and wonder. He's short, kind of chubby, and an introvert who mainly only spoke to his mom. Whoever I find to be Leo does not have to have light hair and eyes, but I will try to aim for this because it shows how he does not even look like his mom, therefore showing another factor of disconnection between the two characters.

Using this website was honestly kind of creepy because of how real the people look! It was also a little hard because I did not get to choose an age, so I had to play around with the eyes, chin, and face size to help portray certain ages. I really hope I get to find people to cast who resemble these avatars!

Social Criticism

I wrote a little about this in my last blog post and wanted to elaborate more on it, so I will be covering the social criticism of mental health. 

In the final scene of my short film, Isa will realize she was hallucinating when she said she had kidnapped a child. The police officer's reaction to this is what I want to represent in this social criticism. As stated before in the last blog post, Isa came from a low resource and dysfunctional household. When her child "dies", she is completely devastated with nowhere to turn. The police officer is meant to represent the hypocrisy found in the powers of authority in our community. An officer is supposed to be a leading example and role model as to how society should function and how people should act. The fact that this one brushes off Isa's illness shows how authorities often act on situations when it is too late. 

 The NCBI reported that "In a survey that included respondents from 27 countries, nearly 50% of persons with schizophrenia reported discrimination in their personal relationships. Up to 2/3 of these people anticipated discrimination while applying for work or looking for a close relationship" "Generally, people want to keep greater social distance from a person with schizophrenia than from someone with depression. For unclear reasons, this social distance has increased during the 21st century. One possible reason might be that the process of deinstitutionalization increased public discussions about community psychiatry and associated perceptions of risk." This represents how society thinks today. Due to the growing sense of individuality, many people often think of themselves and lack community involvement. Therefore, something that is deemed as risky such as schizophrenia, is a mental disorder that people do not want to get involved with. 

During the 21st century, the growing use of technology has caused isolation among people and as a result lack of empathy. As a result, people like the cop in my film will not act upon a situation until something bad actually happens. The fact that Isa is not being helped is also a criticism of the distinction of social classes. While there are therapists and psychiatrists to help with her disorder, it is not something she can afford. By the officer disregarding her illness, he is demonstrating that those who have less money are deemed as less important. This creates the thought of, "If they don't have the money to help themselves, why should I even do anything? 

Character Identity

I think it's about time I developed the identity of the main character I keep writing about so much. My main character's name is going to be Isabel Ramirez.

Isa comes from low socioeconomic status and grew up with no mother figure and a younger sister. When she was 16 years old, she got pregnant and had her son without the father's help. She was kicked out of her house because her dad did not want Isa's sister to grow up with a bad example; therefore, she has had to maintain jobs and live on her own the moment she turned 18. She raised Leo, the son, for five years until he got kidnapped and was presumed dead. My short film takes place one year after his disappearance. At just 22 years old Isa has multiple undiagnosed mental problems such as schizophrenia and depression. Due to her low income, she barely has enough to pay for her necessities, let alone go to a doctor for her untreated trauma.   

According to a study by the National Center for Biotechnology Information, " Exposure to death of a first-degree relative before 18 years of age was associated with an increased risk of schizophrenia in later life, regardless of relationship to the deceased, age and sex of the child. These findings suggest that bereaved children could be considered as a “high-risk” group of developing schizophrenia, particularly those of parents with mental health problems, and public health program is needed to provide health and social support for the bereaved children. "  Although public health plans may have helped her, Isa's low education and income limited the amount of help she received. As a result, throughout the film she will experience hallucinations in which she believes she is kidnapping a child until she goes to the police and realizes she was imagining the whole thing. This schizophrenic disorder developed by Isa is her manifestation of the depressive stage of grief. Although her son's body has not been found, she has lost hope that he is still out there.  

The reason behind her hallucinations being related to how her son went missing is due to the guilt that she feels for what happened to Leo. His kidnapping took place while she left him alone at home while she went to work for the day. Knowing this could have been avoidable, Isa was not only heartbroken that her son was missing, but was also overcome by culpability for what happened to him. This was the reason for her breaking point, ultimately triggering her early age schizophrenia. The end of the film will reveal that when she calls the cops to inform them that she has kidnapped a kid, the police officer shrugs it off, knowing that Isa is schizophrenic. This is also a manifestation of what she wishes the kidnapper would have done with Leo, instead of keeping him unknown. The way the officer reacts to Isa's call by shrugging it off and hanging up the phone is a social criticism as to how society treats the mentally ill, especially in the lower class (more on that in another blog). This idea that nobody is looking out for her is another trigger point for Isa.

Target Audience Pt. 2

 Hey guys! I know I promised to come back with the survey for the adult section of my target audience, but I came up with a better idea instead. I want to make the main character a teen mom, that way my target audience can be narrowed down and I am able to market it better. When I was conducting the survey for the adults, I realized their options were the opposite of what the younger end of my target audience liked. Within the drama genre, they were most interested in romance and violence rather than illness and society. This is when I realized it will be too difficult to direct my film towards such a large target audience. Seeing as I am a teenager myself, I believe it will be easier to market a film to a target audience around my age since I will know some information firsthand. 

The idea of including a teen mom is going to make the TA identify more with the main character. Although many teens are not moms, they do go through mental health issues that are more relatable when it is presented in a character their age. In addition, this will make the casting much easier. As I was beginning to think who I could cast, I realized I had very limited options because not many adults have the time or interest to play a part in this film. A teen mom is much easier to find since I know many people my age that want to act. 

With this said, my final target audience will be teens and young adults ranging from about 14-24. It is known that this age range has a short attention span, therefore I will try not to make the film heavy on dialogue in order to keep the audience engaged. I will also be focusing more on society's influence on the main character's mental illness as a way to try to resonate with the TA. Since my last survey showed that they enjoyed action/violence, I will additionally try to include scenes with sudden movements or camera jerks. 

I know I'm super indecisive and keep changing the idea, but I really think it is starting to come together!