I finally found out what I wanted the name of the title to be! My short film will be called, "A blink away"
I decided on this name because it can be interpreted in two ways. Those who watch the trailer or the short film will think this phrase is figurative, meaning Leo is so close to the mom she could blink and find him again. However, it is also foreshadowing what happens at the end of the film, where he was literally a blink away from reality.
I begin editing and started to look closely at the piece I am creating!
As I was playing back the scenes, I realized I would have to redo some shots and rethink the concept a bit. This is due to the fact that you can see people walking in the background of some of the shots, While this is normal in public places, when Isa is at home there should be nobody in there with her, so a couple of legs in the back makes the shot unprofessional and fake. I also noticed some shots were a bit shaky, so I would like to be able to redo them to be able to get stiller shots.
I also noticed there was a flaw in my plot as I was rewatching my work. In the story, Isa is supposed to think that she kidnapped a kid and mistook him for her missing son. For that to be possible. there would have to be two boys, her son and the boy she kidnapped, which I do not have; therefore, I would have to tweak the idea a bit in order to make sense of the plot. What I’m thinking is to make it seem as if she finds her son in the park and she’s very excited, she takes him home and calls the police to let them know that her missing son is found. This way I would only have to have one boy play the part because I wouldn’t be able to find two little boys who look the same and would be available to help on the same days.
Now I have to be able to tell my friend and schedule another day for me to be able to go back and re-shoot the scenes
Hey guys! I wrapped up filming and am very please with what I have been able to accomplish.
Many things will be post-production, such as the edited police sirens, so I have my work cut out for me. Regardless, I found this very fun to film. I had to redo a couple of scenes, for example, when Isabel takes the boy to the bathroom because she is paranoid that the cops are there. I redid this scene a couple of times in order to get Bekah into the character and get more emotion out of her. I found it really easy to film Leo’s parts because he was mostly standing still with no expression on his face. Whenever she spoke to him he showed no expression, which caused her to be more remorseful and further develop her paranoia.
I mostly had trouble with the POV shot of Isabel blinking. Basically, when she was on the phone with the police officer and she overhears the police officer saying that she was just imagining everything and there is no kid, I wanted her to be staring at Leo, and with a literal blink of the eye, he was gone. Honestly, I think I was thinking too much into it because I kept trying to use a shirt, for example, but I wanted to include the eyelashes by getting pieces of floss, coloring it black with eyeliner, and taping it to the shirt. This did not look good because eyelashes are curved. I was getting frustrated and decided not to be stubborn, so I looked up videos online. I felt so stupid that the method could be that simple! I got a beanie and I wrapped it over my phone and then closed the beanie over the camera slowly.
While it was painfully simple, it still took me a while to close the beanie at the right pace. Her blink could not be too slow because the purpose behind this POV shot is how quickly reality can change. However, in that blink I had Leo move out of the frame so it was just one long take, but since I moved the beanie so fast, it just didn't look good on camera. I finally decided to make the scene in slow motion. When she overhears the officer, her vision blurs and she dissociates and drops the phone. Since she slowly turns towards Leo, her blink is in slow motion as well and there was time for him to get out of the frame.
Honestly, I did not know how frustrating it could be to film something that is just a couple of seconds long, but I'm glad I was able to figure it out!
I'm so happy I finally came up with a title for my film!! I want to call it "Inconstant" with the tagline "Nothing is What it Seems".
I came up with this name as I was explaining the concept to my mom. At one point she described Isabel as "Inconstante" in spanish and I liked the verbiage. This word can be used to describe both Isabel and the film itself. Isabel's mental stage is very inconsistent; She has her sane moments, but her manic episodes and hallucinations turn everything around. I also liked the title because it foreshadows what happens at the end and presents the idea that the lens through which the audience will watch the film is not the most reliable. My young target audience will has grown up believing what the media presents to them. It is for this reason that they will also believe that Isabel's story is being told straightforward. The plot twist at the end that she has schizophrenia is the inconstant part of the seemingly predictable plot.
Today was my first day of filming and it went well!
I decided not to write a script for this because many scenes do not have much dialogue. This is done not only to demonstrate Isabel's inner struggle but also to keep my target audience attentive to what is going on. Since my younger target audience tends to have a shorter attention span, including sporadic pieces of dialogue will keep their eyes on the screen. The first thing I filmed was the playground scene where Isabell "kidnaps" the boy. I decided I wanted to shoot for three days and each day working with a different part of the plot, so I would film the climax and end on two separate days. I'm glad that I did not do a script because Bekah was a natural. I often gave her stage directions and when I filmed, she thought about doing it exactly as I told her rather than acting and making it look more natural.
Taking advantage of spring break, I went to a local park in the middle of the day when it was most full to film the flashback scene from when Isabella was playing with her son at the playground. I then waited a couple of hours for the kids to leave in order to get to the park all alone. In those couple of hours, while I waited, we filmed the opening scene. We went back to the house and I filmed the establishing shots and Isa getting out of bed and ready to go to the park. Upon going back to the park, I filmed Isabel sitting alone at the bench looking at the empty playground in order to juxtapose the flashback from reality. We had extra time so we also shot the "kidnapping" scene where she sees a boy who looks like Leo and takes him back home.
Hey guys, I went looking for the props I am going to use!
I will be using a family friends house which they have let me use because they’re going to be away during spring break, so I have the chance to move around the rooms a bit. They have a younger son which is perfect because I can use that room for the opening shots. I also thought of the idea of putting all of his toys in boxes because it is a way of demonstrating that the boy isn’t there anymore. The idea of the boxes of toys shows how Isabell is still waiting for Leo to come back but is trying to move on. This also works in my favor because I won’t have to fill the room up with many props, as long as I have a couple that are just on top of the box, it can be portrayed that a boy used to live there.
I really want to emphasize the social class they live in, which means that Leo played with hand me down toys or did not have as much as other kids. I found old toys of mine, as well as some of my actressess's toys in order to show worn down, ragged items. I will also include other details around the house to hint at Isabel's lifestyle. For example, she will not wear clothing with brands and will drive an inexpensive car. There will be Bustello coffee in the kitchen during one of the scenes, which not only represents a cheap drink alternative, but also shows her Latin descent. A stack of bills will also be seen around the house. It is mostly small details, such as low popcorn ceilings, which also bring it together.
Bad news! As I was looking at the Google Form I made for potential actresses in the film, I realized that only a couple of people actually filled out the form. :(
Of the three girls, two did not fit the character of Isabel. Although they had experience in acting, they were blonde and did not look Hispanic. For my film, it is important that Isa is Latina because I want this piece to reflect how society treats those in a lower social class, specifically Hispanics. The other girl who was interested is Hispanic and fit my character well, but she was going on vacation during spring break which is when I intended to film. I could have cast her, but that would mean I had to postpone filming for a week and that would just set me back even more.
The good news, however, is that I was able to find someone else!
I had initially thought my friend could act as Isa for the film because she fit the character perfectly, but she did not like acting or being filmed. However, once I told her my situation and begged her for hours, she decided I could cast her. This worked out perfectly because she has a younger cousin who is six years old that can play the part of Leo. The idea of the two actors knowing each other is a good idea because that way they will both be comfortable with each other and get along well. I had planned to hang out with her during the break, so I will take time before we meet to film. Although my sign up sheet was not successful, I think it worked out for the best because I was able to find a much better person to play Isabel!
A Blink Away finished product! Film: https://www.wevideo.com/view/2143390901 Instagram: _ablinkaway Postcard Ad:
