I Hate It

Week Eight: Time Crunch  

    I have been thinking, thinking hard, and... I don't like the opening. Of course, it isn't a final copy, but it seems more like a two-minute short film focused around a concept, that concept being teenagers. That's a problem. Openings don't give away the film in two minutes. Most of the movies I have seen contain very minimalistic film openings. And you may be thinking, "Hey! Maybe she just watches bad movies!" No, most of the movies I watch are coming-of-age, which is terrible BECAUSE THAT IS MY FILM OPENING GENRE. And it is not like I am breaking genre conventions or thinking outside of the box. It is simply a bunch of shots and information thrown at our viewers. 

    I feel defeated, but I am not entirely hopeless. I need to speak with Hannah. Half of being a teenager and growing up is your environment, where you live, and who you interact with. So maybe we edit it to focus less on the storyline/concept and more on the initial stage of who these girls are. In short, who are Maxx and Sami, and what makes them who they are. Before we began this project, our instructor, Mrs.Stoklosa, showed us a TedTalk on creating ideas from scratch. "2 plus 2 but not 4" was the big takeaway. Our current opening SCREAMS FOUR. When I tried mentioning this to Hannah, she almost seemed insulted, or maybe she felt helpless too. I can't blame her. We are running out of time, so how would we fix it? 

The current opening has six sections: 
Beginning nature shots, bike riding, running into the house, records, reading, love attack on to the bed, girls pause and have an intimate moment. 

I think it needs more in between, more details embedded into the significant sections. Also, remove one extensive selection. The long, drawn-out pause and Maxx brushing Sami's hair to the side. I know. I sound like I have lost my mind, but hear me out.

1. Nature Shots

2. Bike Riding 

3. Arrive at House/Run Inside

4. More Nature/Setting Shots

5. Sami Looks through Vinyl

6. Shots of Maxx's Room

7. Maxx Reads a Book

8. More Shots of Maxx's Room 

(This is where it gets rough)

9. Love Attack Scene 

10. Laughter from Maxx and Sami 

11. "It's Complicated."

Everything I listed above has already been filmed. It would simply be a matter of re-ordering our footage and dragging out certain shots to emphasize location or a character trait. Instead of the ending revealing that the girls are lesbian, that would be revealed or hinted at through Maxx's room shots. If this were to be developed into a full-length production, the details would be developed later in the story. I am glad I could write all my thoughts out. Tomorrow I see Hannah, and we have the entire class period to work on it, so I will re-order the shots and hope for the best.