hello,
so in my last posting I discussed my research into different types of religions and their rituals... I now come to realize that although my film is about exploring religion that doesn't necessarily  mean it has to be apart of a specific religion it just has to be associated with spirituality.
I have found that I want to work with
- meditation
-spiritual readings ( tarot cards)
- weed
-shrooms
In my later posting I will discus each one, why I choose it and how I envision it in my film. For now i want to establish more of a structure to my film. I feel like it is very disorganized and is going to have trouble following, thus I had this idea of it being lead or guided by a conversation between the main character #1 and her hippie friend #2. The conversation would go a little like this...

Begging

#1 "I have heard the same prayer for my whole life, I have just closed my eyes and followed blindly. I feel like I never choose to be christian, i was kind just born into it.
#2 Then why don't you choose it
#1 what do you mean
#2 Decide weather you want to follow this faith or not... explore things outside of your religion and see how you feel.
#1 like what exactly
#2 I mean, I have been getting really into meditation and energies... I think you would be into it
#1 yeah... ok

SCENE OF THEM DOING MEDITATION AT THE BEACH

(they discuss how people can achieve that state of relaxation with such a busy mind... leads into weed)

SCENE OF THEM DONG MARY JANE

( Talking about problems... friends advises that she has something that can help guide her .. tarot cards)

SCENE OF THEM DOING THE READINGS

This makes the main character want to connect with the spiritual world more... shrooms)

SCENE OF THEM DOING SHROOMS

End

Bonjour,
so I was thinking about the religious experiences that my main character is gonna have and found that they are all very similar. All rooted in hallucinogens or something to that degree. So I tired to find rituals or practices that other religions do that does not involve hallucinogens. I found nothing...
unless i want to film canabalism ...
Update
something called spiritual comedy
confused ... laughing is apart of a religion nvm... its people making fun of religion

mmmhhhh...
I still have a lot of research to do...

Bonjour,
I'm excited to announce that I have found my hippie character my cousin veronica and I think I am going to be the main actress. That way I know this time around no one will bail last minute.
I am trying to plan a day where my whole family can sit down for dinner and be recorded. However, I am worried that because my grandfather is actually a priest he would somehow be bothered by the idea behind the film or bothered that I would record him praying but hopefully not. It may sound stupid but my grandfather is a complicated man.
so thats, that for cast....

Next weekend, I am planning on filming the magic mushroom scene.
For this I HAD TO DO SOME RESEARCH....
cause drugs
ok
I found that magic mushrooms are often associated with spiritual experiences and self-discovery. which is perfect for the message I am trying to get across. I also found that many believe that naturally occurring drugs like magic mushrooms, weed, and mescaline are sacred herbs that enable people to attain superior spiritual states.... I think two scenes before this... she should do weed. She was skeptical about doing this but since weed and mushrooms are closely associated it convinced her. I found that mushrooms have been reported to induce anxiety, frightening hallucinations, paranoia, and confusion. So i am going to try to portray this fear while she is under the influence that eventually leads her back to her faith.
so its going to begin
with the hippie friend pulling out a bag with a mushroom ( the wild ones... the actual look like drugs) then they both take a bite and lay down. Then everything goes wild. I want to do a similar shot like in euphoria where she is under a blanket, then a shot of them dancing very slowly, then a shot of her freaking out, then a shot of them laughing, then a shot of her in a ball saying "I need to wake up", then them eating Cheetos, then a shot of her praying. I feel like the organization of the shots like this will add a humorous effect that I want.

Bonjour!
So I was sitting in class and I had an epiphany... in terms go what exactly I want to film
I want the short film to start with a long shot, perspective of the girls family sitting at the dinner table, then I want it to move down the table into a close up of her grandfather  saying a prayer in Spanish. The camera moves around the table doing a lose up on all the members of her family till stopping at her. Her grandfather says amen and her eyes open.
The next shot is a mid shot of her and her mom in the kitchen doing the dishes, they have a conversation about religion, ultimately ending with this idea that her mother never felt forced into her religion but she choose it .
The next shot is of the main character on the bed with loud music on as she hangs her head off of her bed as she ponders looking at a poster of Jesus. ( maybe a little to much)
The next shot is of her and her hippie friend walking into school or in the car talking about the main characters revelation.
The next shot is them planning everything they want to explore.
- magic mushrooms
-weird teas
-meditation
-readings
-a preaching of some sort
The next couple of shots would be them doing all of these things but ending with the mushrooms and her realizing that she feels comfortable and safe in the confines of her religion.
(I actually came to this end during our class discussion... everyone was very helpful and engaged)
byeee

Bonjour,
Today is a holy day... the day of Jesus. Its only fitting to post a blog about my film...

So I already established my idea and my genre-ish ( Teen Films and comedy-ish )... I now have to begin drafting up a story board and the rough film schedule.

I am going to split the film into Four sections:

#1- The Establishment of the main characters setting ( her father being  a pastor and her confinement)  and her desire to find her own way. ( own religion ) As well as her friends desire to help her through this journey.

#2- The journey, not exactly sure as to what this entails. I think doing magic mushrooms would be cool to edit ( hallucinations), meditation, etc. I have to decide which religions I want to be represented and look into them. Max- 3

#3-  The twist - finding her father and getting put into a convent.It would be more the filming of her getting sent away not the actual convent but convent is implied.

#4- The escape- the cheesy end, break out and go live in the Swiss mountains with the goats.

I hopefully will start filming not next week but the following when I have a complete story board and shot list set up... this post was just to show where exactly my mind is at.

bye, bye

My Short Film Idea + a Quick case study ...

Bonjour,
Hope everyone is having an awesome Saturday!

If y'all didn't know I am a senior in High school and so, so, so very close to Graduating... Yikes
Its been hitting pretty hard. One chapter in my life in ending and another one in begging! For my short film, I would like to harness this "in distress" energy and create an awesome sauceome coming of age short film.
However, I am Unsure which angle to take.
-a girl who is trying to discover who she is through way of her style before leaving for college. She dresses as a different stereotype for weeks at a time...hippie, gothic etc.
- a teenage girl who has been so caught up in trying to get into college that she feels she has never really experienced life. She goes on an adventure in order to make up all those experiences and ends up taking a gap year.
-a teenage girl goes on a journey to find herself spiritually
-the daughter of a priest has been safe guarded her whole life, she goes to college and goes wild.

I thought about it a little more and I think I can do a lot of cool editing for a girl trying to find her self spiritually and do a lot of artistic playful things. possibly even make is funny...

The story line:
-She is the child of a priest and feels as though her religion was imposed upon her. She feels like she didn't have a choice to choose her religion and what she wants to believe. She starts to look into other religions as well as beliefs. However, she has a hippie friend that wants to guide her on this journey. The film spans their journey as she tries to find herself spiritually. On one of these endeavors she finds her father and he is appalled, he decides to send her to a convent but then her hippie friend breaks her out and they run away to practice and believe whatever they want.

COMING OF AGE FILMS CASE STUDY:

1. Book Smart

The Main character Amy and Molly thought staying focused on only school would allow them to be more successful than their high school peers. But on the night before graduation, they realize that they have missed out on the high school experience. Determined to make up for lost time, Amy and Molly try to experience four years of high school fun into one night.

*This Film can help with my development of the dynamic between two friends and the comedic effect I want to try to achieve*

2. Love Simon 

The Main character Simon hasn't told his family or friends that he's gay, and he doesn't know the identity of the anonymous classmate that he's fallen for online. This film documents his journey as he resolves both issues.

*This Film can help with the development of secrecy, keeping the truth of who the main character is form their parents*

NOTE: I was gonna add a third one but couldn't find on representative of what I trying to achieve.

Im actually really excited... i think this short film is going to be very artistic and just overall fun...CAN'T WAIT TO SEE THE OUTCOME!!! 

Why a Short Film and its Conventions...

Bonjour,
I hope everyone is doing well!

 For this years portfolio project, I would like to tackle the short film out of all of the options offered.
Why a short film?
At first it was so that I could submit it to colleges...however, at the time I didn't realize that the deadline for the submissions were so early in the year.
On that note, I did create a short film and submitted it to a few of the colleges. This exposed me to the short film world and I really liked what I saw. I liked that it could be more expressive and artistic than a typical film.
I began to look into short films and even attended the short film festival in Miami called " Nothing short of Epic" ( This play on words made me happy). Here I got to see a sample of what people in this field were working on and the techniques they were using. I loved everything screened but the one that really stuck with me was actually the winner called "Atlas". I thought this was a vey funny and creative film.  Like this director and like I said in my first blog posting, I want to make something that makes people smile.

so know that I have established exactly why I want to do a short film, I think its important that I establish and understand the Codes and conventions.

Storylines

- are kept simple and easy to follow and will be based over a short period of time. It will have limited dialogue....Instead characters will be developed through images and actions.

Character

-a short film will usually introduce between 1 and 3 main characters as creating back stories and developing characters is limited. This is done to keep the audience engaged and be able to follow the storyline.

Twist

-Including a twist is a common convention in short film although this is not a general rule and not all short films will use this format.  It  allows the film maker to tell a short story in an interesting way... easy to achieve as short storyline gives less clues to the ending.

Creativity

-short films allow for much more creativity and abstraction. They are made up of a number of creative shots and soundtrack making up an artistic piece.